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According to the court filing SaharaReporters obtained from Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel to Kanu, the detained IPOB leader filed the application in person praying the Appeal Court to stop Justice Omotosho from delivering judgment on his case on November 20, 2025, as scheduled. ArticlesRead More
Hot SourceGroup: Abia ‘ll Not Collapse if Aba State is Created
Boniface Okoro in Umuahia
Members of Aba State Movement have demanded the creation of Aba State as the sixth state in the South-east, allaying fears that its creation would lead to the collapse of the present Abia State.
At a press conference in Aba yesterday, the Aba State Movement maintained the demand for Aba State is about 70 years and predates others in the country.
Calling for massive support, both from Abia people and the entire South-east and Igbo nation, for the creation of Aba State as the sixth state, the group dispelled fears in some quarters that Abia would collapse if Aba State comes into being.
The proposed Aba State has nine of the 17 local governments of Abia State.
There are fears that being the economic house of Abia, if yanked off, the remaining eight local governments which make up the Old Bendem Division and currently, five local governments that make up Abia North Senatorial Zone, as well as three local governments in Abia Central Senatorial Zone, would collapse.
But spokesperson for the Aba State Movement, Chief Theo Nkire, dismissed these fears with a wave of the hand.
He asserted that the part of Abia that would be left out if Aba State is created would be economically viable, saying that the area was richly blessed with mineral resources and vast arable land for agriculture, and could therefore fend for itself.
“The richest part of Abia is Abia North, rich in diamond, rich in magnesium; we haven’t even touched our wealth in the northern part of our state.
“ It’s (North) far wealthier, far richer than the (Abia) South. In the Abia South, the concentration is on trade, on commerce, on industry. Nobody has talked about what is in that area (Abia North),” Barr Nkire said.
“There’s even gas. People don’t know. There’s so much untapped resource in Abia North.
“So we’re not believing, like they say, that creation of Aba State will lead to the collapse of the present Abia State.. There’s no way, there’s no way Abia would collapse,” he declared.
He recalled that some of the states recommended for creation alongside Aba in 1983 include Adamawa, Jigawa, Katsina, Kogi, Taraba and Enugu, noting with great pain that only Aba had not been created.
“The area called Abia today is made up of two whole divisions. The Old Aba Division and the Old Bende Division. During the colonial administration, these were two existing divisions on their own.
“All of us on that whole were the province. If you go to the North today, most of those Divisions are states of their own. Most of those colonial divisions have become states.
“So why are we tied together here when we too deserve to be separated?, he queried. “And people talk about size, population. Population is no issue. Land mass is no issue. The issue is what would the people want? How can they sustain themselves?
“And I’ve told you that we have cultural affinity, all nine local governments here.
“And we’ve had that before the white people came here. We are not a creation of colonialism. We’ve always been together.
“We are gathered here to address why Aba is that 6th South-east State that we have been clanouring for. Aba’s case is different, distinct and unique, he said, explaining that committees set up by Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in 2015 and 2018, voted that Aba State should be created as the sixth state in the South-east.
“We are asking the National Assembly to confirm Aba State as the 6th South East State as none of the other proposals has these different, distinct, unique qualities than the proposed Aba State,” Nkire appealed.
He assured that Governor Otti was in support of the demand for the creation of Aba State.
Boniface Okoro in Umuahia Members of Aba State Movement have demanded the creation of Aba State as the sixth state in the South-east, allaying fears that its creation would lead to the
Read moreHot SourceGroup Warns JNI against Defending Muslim Extremists Killing Innocent Citizens
Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Enugu
The Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has been urged to stop using the prism of religion to form its position on every national issue, including the current security situation that has claimed thousands of lives in many part of Nigeria.
The warning was handed down to them by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Digital Group (ADG), a political think-tank in the ruling party, saying that it’s appalling that JNI was rationalising the atrocities of Muslim extremists wreaking havoc across the nation.
In a statement issued yesterday by the group, the Director-General of ADG, Ikeagwuonwu Chinedu Klinsmann, said that it was appalling that JNI has chosen to engage in whitewashing targeted religious violence against Nigerian Christians.
He said that such denials smacked of “cowardly betrayal of truth and justice,” adding that it would be difficult for Nigeria to succeed in the fight against terrorism if JNI keeps defending the heinous activities of Muslim extremists.
The Jama’atu Nasril Islam had in its reaction to the threat by the United States
President, Donald Trump, to take military action against terrorists in Nigeria, dismissed his claim of Christian genocide in the country.
The Muslim organisation linked the killings to “criminalities” and “poverty-driven clashes” thereby absolving the Muslim extremists of religious-motivated crimes.
But Klinsmann insisted that JNI was being dishonest in trying to cover the role of Muslim extremists in the systematic extermination of Christians across Nigeria.
He described JNI’s rejection of genocide and its assertion that violence affects all faiths equally and stems from non-religious factors, as “a blatant lie that shields jihadists and insults the graves of thousands of innocent Christians.”
He said: “This is not random banditry; it is a deliberate campaign of religious cleansing by groups like Boko Haram, ISWAP, and Fulani militias, who target churches, priests, and Christian communities with impunity.
“JNI’s refusal to acknowledge this– claiming the US genocide classification is ‘exaggerated’-exposes their complicity in allowing the blood of our brothers and sisters to cry out unanswered.”
The APC Digital Group DG stated that the JNI and other groups and individuals in its mould “must stop hiding behind excuses of climate change or economic woes when the evidence screams of faith-based hatred.”
He called on JNI “to retract their denials, condemn these extremists unequivocally, and join in demanding justice. Nigerians of all faiths deserve peace, but truth must precede it.”
Using documented incidents and accompanying body counts, Klinsmann challenged JNI to death tolls and highlighted irrefutable evidence of this targeted extermination,
“Beginning with the staggering toll documented by Genocide Watch: Since 2000, at least 62,000 Nigerian Christians have been murdered by Islamist jihadists, including Boko Haram and its splinter ISWAP, with over 18,000 churches razed to the ground,” he said.
Nonetheless, Klinsmann acknowledged that “moderate Muslims have also suffered, with 34,000 killed in the same onslaught, underscoring the jihadists’ broader war on non-conformists.
“But Christians remain the primary targets in a pattern that meets the UN Genocide Convention’s criteria for intentional destruction of a group.”
Klinsmann noted that “violence against clergy is particularly egregious, with Catholic priests and seminarians systematically hunted,” adding that since 2009, “over 50 Catholic priests have been killed or kidnapped.”
According to him, the figure represented a 300 percent surge in attacks on clergy, driven by Islamist extremists who view Christian leaders as symbols to eradicate.
On blasphemy accusations, Klinsmann said that JNI has never condemned the attendant mob lynching, including the 1996 beheading of Gideon Akaluka, an Igbo Christian trader in Kano, paraded and decapitated by a Muslim mob for allegedly desecrating the Quran.
“More recently, in 2022, Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a 22-year-old Christian student in Sokoto, was stoned, beaten, and burned alive by fellow students for sharing a WhatsApp message deemed blasphemous, sparking international outrage that JNI dismissed as overblown.”
Klinsmann said that the federal authorities should rise up to its responsibilities of securing life and properties, and not allow religious extremists and their support groups to continue shedding innocent blood.
“The Nigerian Government must act decisively, or this silent slaughter will consume us all,” Klinsmann said.
Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Enugu The Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has been urged to stop using the prism of religion to form its position on every national issue, including the current security
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