Police in Nigeria have discovered the severed head of a state legislator who went missing last week in the southeastern state of Anambra, where the government accuses separatists of carrying out a spate of killings and kidnappings, police said on Sunday.
The southeast, homeland of the Igbo ethnic group, is agitating to secede from the rest of Nigeria and the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group has been leading those calls.
Okechukwu Okoye, a legislator in the Anambra state assembly and his aide went missing on May 15. His head was found on Saturday night in a park in the Nnewi south local government area, Anambra state police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said.
"The lawmaker was killed. His head was found along Nnobi road. There is no suspect in custody yet," Ikenga said.
The Anambra state governor has put up a 10 million naira ($24,000) reward for information on the killers.
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Early this month, gunmen killed and beheaded two soldiers in neighbouring Imo state. The government accused IPOB, which denied the charge.
The violence in the southeast is another layer of insecurity in Nigeria, where kidnappings for ransom are common in the northwest and an Islamist insurgency has been going on for more than a decade in the northeast of the country.
Amnesty International said last August that Nigerian security forces had killed at least 115 people in the southeast in the first eight months of 2021 and arbitrarily arrested or tortured scores of others. The government did not comment.
Monday, May 23, 2022
Severed head of missing Nigerian lawmaker found in park -police
Friday, May 20, 2022
Kidnappers Of Nigerian College Students Arrested One Year Later
The Nigerian police have arrested two men suspected of being behind the high-profile kidnapping of two dozen students in April 2021 in northwestern Nigeria, and the murder of five of them.
"They have both confessed to the abduction of the students from the University of Greenfield, Kaduna State, and the murder of five students before the payment of ransom and the release of the other students," police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
The two suspects, Aminu Lawal known as "Kano" and Murtala Dawu known as "Mugala", who was involved in several kidnapping cases, will be brought to justice at the end of the investigation, Adejobi said.
In April 2021, gunmen stormed Greenfield University in Kaduna, abducting about 20 students and killing a staff member.
A few days after the attack, the kidnappers executed five hostages to force the families and the authorities to pay a ransom, which was later obtained.
The remaining 14 students were released after 40 days in captivity.
Heavily armed criminal gangs, known as "bandits", have been increasing their attacks in north-western and central Nigeria, looting, kidnapping and killing many villagers.
Last year, the "bandits" particularly targeted schools and universities to kidnap students en masse for ransom from their parents and the authorities.
In all, about 1,500 students were abducted in 2021 by armed men, according to Unicef. While most of the young hostages have since been released for ransom, some still remain in captivity in the forests, where armed groups hide
Related story: Video - Why are school children increasingly being kidnapped in Nigeria?
Relatives of Nigeria Train Attack Victims Oppose Resumption of Railway Service
Families of people kidnapped from a train in Nigeria's Kaduna state two months ago are protesting a decision by authorities to resume service on the railway next week.
Officials of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) said trains would begin running between the capital, Abuja, and Kaduna city again on Monday.
Relatives of kidnapped victims met Thursday morning to protest the planned resumption of train service on the Kaduna-Abuja line.
Authorities suspended service indefinitely on March 28, the day armed men blew up tracks in Kaduna and attacked a train. Nine people were killed during the attack and scores are still missing.
During Thursday's protest, the spokesperson of the group, Abdulfatai Jimoh, said at least 61 people were believed to be held captive, including Jimoh’s wife.
He said the government has been insensitive to the families’ plight.
"Our relatives kidnapped are still in captivity and we want them to be freed first before they can start thinking of that," he said. "We want the NRC management and the Ministry of Transportation to put adequate security measures in place to guarantee the safety of passengers before train services can resume. These are the minimum conditions we require from them."
Idahat Yusuf's two sisters, both in their 50s, are also among the abducted passengers. She does not understand why the NRC would restart train service.
"It's a national pain, it's not only the families' pain, so why would they choose to move on like that?” she asked.
The NRC said the decision to resume operations was not a sign of insensitivity to the situation and said efforts to have the captives released were continuing.
Security experts said negotiations have been deadlocked since the kidnappers demanded that authorities release members of their gang in exchange for the abductees.
Jimoh said the families have been given few details about the talks.
"We have information from government sources that discussions are ongoing with the abductors," he said. "We just don't know the extent or how far they have gone in these negotiations.”
The kidnappers have freed only three abductees, including a pregnant woman who told local news organizations that she was freed out of pity.
Northern Nigeria has seen a wave of kidnappings for ransom over the past 18 months.
This week, police arrested 31 people on charges of abducting students from a school in Kaduna state last year. Authorities also recovered 61 firearms, 376 rounds of ammunition, 22 cartridges and $5,000 cash.
By Timothy Obiezu
Related story: Video - Rail staff killed in ‘unprecedented’ attack on train in Nigeria
Nnamdi Kanu: Nigerian separatist allowed to watch Liverpool games on TV
A Nigerian separatist in detention on treason charges has been allowed by a judge to watch the matches of his favourite team, Liverpool, on TV.
Nnamdi Kanu, who denies the charges, leads the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) group.
In detention since last year, his privileges have not extended to watching whole football matches live.
But thanks to the judge, a fellow Liverpool fan, Mr Kanu can now view the climax to a possibly historic season.
Having already bagged the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup, Liverpool are just two matches away from winning the English Premier League title and the European Champions League.
Bizarrely, the change in fortunes for Mr Kanu did not come at his request and resulted from the discovery that Mr Kanu, his lawyer and the judge were all Liverpool fans.
He was in court on Wednesday for a hearing on a bail application following his arrest last year for campaigning for the independence of south-east Nigeria, which he refers to as Biafra.
The bail application was refused but during the discussions about whether he should be granted bail, Justice Binta Nyako complained that Mr Kanu had disobeyed a previous order that he stop appearing in court wearing clothes from the Italian luxury brand Fendi, when he had other options.
She may have been referring to a tweet in which Mr Kanu was seen in an Atletico Madrid tracksuit during a visit by Charles Soludo, the Anambra state governor.
The judge, then joked that she was a Liverpool supporter and asked Mr Kanu's lawyer, Mike Ozekhome if he was also a fan of the football club. The lawyer said: "Yes."
Mrs Nyako then turned to Mr Kanu in the dock. "What is your team?" she asked.
"My team is Liverpool even from age of seven," Mr Kanu, standing upright in the dock, responded.
The judge then ordered the prison representative to allow Mr Kanu to watch next week's Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool and any other match of his favourite football club.
"You must allow the defendant to watch the matches any day they are playing," she said, adding that she was going to make an order to that effect.
Mr Kanu may now be able to sit down and watch Liverpool's last Premier League match on Sunday, but whether that will be an enjoyable experience is another matter.
Manchester City are currently one point ahead of Liverpool in the title race and are favourites to retain the trophy.
Related story: Nigerian separatist Nnamdi Kanu's Facebook account removed for hate speech
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Video - Nigerians turn to charcoal as cooking gas prices soar
Fuel prices have tripled in less than a year, forcing many people to use firewood to cook their meals. Officials hoping to increase the use of cooking gas say expanding liquefied petroleum gas would save millions of trees and the environment. But the rising prices threaten that objective. Nigeria’s state oil company blames the rising costs on global price increases. But with the country still importing most of its gas, users are bracing for more price hikes. Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reports from Kano, Nigeria.