1
00:00:00,160 –> 00:00:03,759
Speaker 1: Nigeria Police Force under the leadership of the Inspector General

2
00:00:03,799 –> 00:00:07,759
of Police IGP, car Yode egg Beethoven has kept months

3
00:00:07,839 –> 00:00:11,960
since her video went viral on social media platforms wherein

4
00:00:12,400 –> 00:00:16,239
allegation of bringing people illegally to settle inside forest in

5
00:00:16,440 –> 00:00:20,640
Edo State was made against the Divisional Police Officer the DPO,

6
00:00:20,760 –> 00:00:24,079
who is currently serving at the Divisional Police Headquarters at

7
00:00:24,120 –> 00:00:28,440
Oboha community in the Essen Southeast Local government area in

8
00:00:28,480 –> 00:00:31,480
the state, a state that have witnessed rampant cases of

9
00:00:31,600 –> 00:00:35,600
kidnappings in recent time, especially since the beginning of this year.

10
00:00:36,039 –> 00:00:39,679
Despite the fact that the Edo State Governor, Monday Okpapolo

11
00:00:39,840 –> 00:00:43,759
has executed the destruction of numbers of houses or properties

12
00:00:43,799 –> 00:00:47,240
of apparent innocent landlords or people who may not have

13
00:00:47,399 –> 00:00:50,359
direct connection with the crime. It may be recalled the

14
00:00:50,439 –> 00:00:54,640
early twenty twenty five, the governor demolished a residential property

15
00:00:54,799 –> 00:00:57,640
on College Road simply because it was linked to a

16
00:00:57,719 –> 00:01:02,240
kidnapping gang operating in the aduam Ean and benin Auchi

17
00:01:02,320 –> 00:01:05,640
Rode Bypass axis, even when the building belonged to a

18
00:01:05,680 –> 00:01:10,000
woman based in Italy, just that her brother ossamede Asimota,

19
00:01:10,400 –> 00:01:13,480
the alleged key leader of the gang allegedly used it

20
00:01:13,560 –> 00:01:17,280
to coordinate abductions. This is just one of many properties

21
00:01:17,280 –> 00:01:21,000
demolished by the Edo State government over kidnapping in the state.

22
00:01:21,519 –> 00:01:25,040
Yet records of kidnappings in the state continued to grow

23
00:01:25,120 –> 00:01:28,840
higher and recent police and military arrests indicated that Edo

24
00:01:29,000 –> 00:01:32,799
State is perhaps under siege of foreign invaders who may

25
00:01:32,920 –> 00:01:36,040
have taken over larger part of the state forest to

26
00:01:36,079 –> 00:01:39,400
co ordinate kidnappings in the state while working with some

27
00:01:39,480 –> 00:01:42,719
of the local residents to perpetuate the criminal act. It

28
00:01:42,799 –> 00:01:45,799
may be interesting to note that another set of non

29
00:01:45,799 –> 00:01:49,359
indigens of the state arrested by the police recently included

30
00:01:49,439 –> 00:01:53,640
two persons caught inside the Specialist Hospital in Auchi. The

31
00:01:53,680 –> 00:01:56,200
two suspects, who were said to be non indigenes of

32
00:01:56,280 –> 00:01:59,040
the state, were among the gang of kidnappers behind the

33
00:01:59,079 –> 00:02:02,959
abduction of doctors doctor Abu Babatunde, who regained his freedom

34
00:02:03,079 –> 00:02:06,640
after his family reportedly paid a sum of fifty million

35
00:02:06,760 –> 00:02:10,159
nairas ransom. After the doctor and his younger brother were

36
00:02:10,159 –> 00:02:14,439
abducted on January second, twenty twenty six while opening the

37
00:02:14,479 –> 00:02:18,879
gate to their residents for long City Pride Road, Igbira Camp, Auchi,

38
00:02:19,199 –> 00:02:22,759
and unfortunately, the younger brother was later found dead on

39
00:02:22,919 –> 00:02:26,520
January fifth near the Auli River Long City Pride Road,

40
00:02:26,919 –> 00:02:30,240
with police suspecting he was killed by the abductors. And

41
00:02:30,319 –> 00:02:34,199
the alleged illegal settlers who confessed the Ugbohadipo as their

42
00:02:34,240 –> 00:02:38,159
facilitator are said to be non Nigerians from foreign countries.

43
00:02:38,919 –> 00:02:42,360
According to one of the vigilantes who called the illegal settlers,

44
00:02:42,680 –> 00:02:45,560
the arrested illegal settlers in the forest will be taken

45
00:02:45,599 –> 00:02:49,520
to the station. The vigilante member also said the illegal

46
00:02:49,599 –> 00:02:53,439
settlers are not Nigerians and close watchers said people are

47
00:02:53,439 –> 00:02:56,599
brought in and smuggled into Edo forests illegally and such

48
00:02:56,639 –> 00:02:59,599
people may be responsible for the act of kidnapping in

49
00:02:59,639 –> 00:03:04,319
the state. Available records indicated that the kidnapping situation in

50
00:03:04,360 –> 00:03:07,520
the state is currently happening almost daily, with numbers of

51
00:03:07,560 –> 00:03:10,759
the state residents and intera genes also recorded dead or

52
00:03:10,840 –> 00:03:14,800
killed by kidnappers since Governor Monday Okpepolo came into power.

53
00:03:15,520 –> 00:03:18,479
On the recent arrest of two suspects at the Specialist

54
00:03:18,479 –> 00:03:22,599
Hospital in Auchi, the Edo State Command public relations officer

55
00:03:23,039 –> 00:03:26,400
Eno Ichiodom the first breakthrough came on the third of

56
00:03:26,479 –> 00:03:30,360
February twenty twenty six, operatives of the Auchi Division. Day

57
00:03:30,400 –> 00:03:34,719
after the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, personally

58
00:03:34,840 –> 00:03:37,840
led troops of joint security operatives at the dead of

59
00:03:37,879 –> 00:03:41,639
the night to launch offensive attacks against kidnappers in the forest.

60
00:03:42,080 –> 00:03:46,360
The Commander four Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General r.

61
00:03:46,400 –> 00:03:50,039
Me Ed Balagan, also personally led troops of joint security

62
00:03:50,080 –> 00:03:54,360
operatives to the kidnappers hideouts and launched massive military clearance

63
00:03:54,400 –> 00:03:59,039
and offensive actions against kidnappers. Both security operations led to

64
00:03:59,080 –> 00:04:02,599
the arrest of seven oral suspected kidnappers allegedly caught in

65
00:04:02,639 –> 00:04:05,919
the act inside the bush, with the identities of the

66
00:04:06,039 –> 00:04:10,400
arrested suspects indicating that most of the kidnappers terrorizing Edo’s

67
00:04:10,439 –> 00:04:13,639
State are from the far northern part of Nigeria, an

68
00:04:13,719 –> 00:04:17,680
observation which appeared to have challenged the public policy statement

69
00:04:17,839 –> 00:04:21,240
made earlier in January twenty twenty six by the Edo

70
00:04:21,360 –> 00:04:25,360
State Governor, Monday Okpapolo, who stated that many of those

71
00:04:25,439 –> 00:04:28,600
involved in the kidnapping surge in Edo’s State are inder

72
00:04:28,680 –> 00:04:32,120
genes of the area, saying that maybe the reasons some

73
00:04:32,199 –> 00:04:35,600
kidnappers wear space masks. The governor made this statement as

74
00:04:35,680 –> 00:04:38,399
kidnapping in the state appeared to have become worse in

75
00:04:38,480 –> 00:04:41,279
twenty twenty six and very rampant, in a manner that

76
00:04:41,360 –> 00:04:44,519
indicated that an average of one to two persons of

77
00:04:44,639 –> 00:04:47,639
being kidnapped in a day in Edo’s state, as more

78
00:04:47,720 –> 00:04:51,759
than sixty persons became new victims of the increasing criminal

79
00:04:51,800 –> 00:04:55,519
activities in the state since the beginning of twenty twenty six.

80
00:04:56,079 –> 00:05:00,360
Like in January second, twenty twenty six, two brothers doctor

81
00:05:00,399 –> 00:05:04,079
Abu Ibrahem babbitton Day, a medical doctor on housemanship, and

82
00:05:04,160 –> 00:05:07,240
Abu Tahir, a fresh graduate, were kidnapped at the gate

83
00:05:07,319 –> 00:05:11,680
of their residence along City Pride Road, Igbira, Cambinauchi. The

84
00:05:11,759 –> 00:05:16,240
kidnappers initially demanded the two hundred million nairas ransom and tragically,

85
00:05:16,600 –> 00:05:20,000
on January fifth, one of the two brothers was found dead.

86
00:05:20,439 –> 00:05:24,120
On January ninth, twenty twenty six, eight indigenes of a

87
00:05:24,160 –> 00:05:28,399
Moga community in the Arcoco Edolocal Government area of the

88
00:05:28,439 –> 00:05:31,600
state were abducted from a hotel along a Billow road.

89
00:05:32,120 –> 00:05:35,399
Since the start of twenty twenty six, Edo State has

90
00:05:35,480 –> 00:05:40,360
experienced a significant surge in kidnappings, leading to widespread protests

91
00:05:40,399 –> 00:05:44,240
at Dicpoma in the Edo Central Senatorial Zone, with multiple

92
00:05:44,240 –> 00:05:49,399
police rescue operations, including the incidents reported early February twenty

93
00:05:49,519 –> 00:05:54,160
twenty six, where police rescued nine victims, including five children,

94
00:05:54,199 –> 00:05:58,480
and a separate group of fourteen victims. This is that earlier,

95
00:05:58,519 –> 00:06:03,000
on January twenty second, twenty six, a farmer named Monday

96
00:06:03,000 –> 00:06:06,560
Adero was kidnapped and later rescued, and in late January,

97
00:06:06,920 –> 00:06:11,160
another farmer, Abraham Bodwer and his two wives, Brinda and Anna,

98
00:06:11,199 –> 00:06:15,600
were abducted from Aguro Amende community but successfully rescued by

99
00:06:15,720 –> 00:06:19,680
security forces. In mid January, A K Favour and a

100
00:06:19,720 –> 00:06:24,480
former student union leader were kidnapped in Edo Central. Troubled

101
00:06:24,519 –> 00:06:27,839
by the surge in kidnapping in the state, residents and

102
00:06:27,920 –> 00:06:32,959
students of Ambrose Ali University AAU staged a major protest

103
00:06:33,120 –> 00:06:38,199
on January tenth, twenty twenty six, citing daily kidnappings and

104
00:06:38,279 –> 00:06:42,120
the abduction of a university professor and numerous students. On

105
00:06:42,240 –> 00:06:45,759
February second, twenty twenty six, a family of nine was

106
00:06:45,800 –> 00:06:49,879
ambushed to echo abeku ioa road in Ovia Northeast Local

107
00:06:50,000 –> 00:06:53,839
government area and the kidnappers demanded a two hundred sixty

108
00:06:53,920 –> 00:06:57,600
million niers ransom for four children and two women still

109
00:06:57,759 –> 00:07:01,079
held after five others were rescued. In this write up,

110
00:07:01,360 –> 00:07:05,079
a legal practitioner in Joku Dude in Joku pinpoints and

111
00:07:05,160 –> 00:07:09,560
fundamentals in the judgment passed against Marzi Namdi Kanu by

112
00:07:09,759 –> 00:07:13,920
Justice James Amitosha which convicted and sentenced the Bafra Republic

113
00:07:14,000 –> 00:07:17,759
agitation leader to life imprisonment, and in this press release

114
00:07:17,800 –> 00:07:21,639
the legal practitioner issued in late twenty twenty five entitled

115
00:07:21,959 –> 00:07:25,319
the twenty fourth of November twenty twenty five, The day

116
00:07:25,360 –> 00:07:30,000
evidence ceased to matter in Nigerian courts. Judicial silence, selective

117
00:07:30,160 –> 00:07:35,959
justice and media complicity described Justice Omitosho as unprofessional, stating

118
00:07:36,040 –> 00:07:39,480
that the most dangerous aspect of the judgment delivered by

119
00:07:39,680 –> 00:07:43,120
Justice James Kaomatosho is not merely that it reached a

120
00:07:43,199 –> 00:07:46,360
fore ordained conclusion, but that it did so by deliberately

121
00:07:46,399 –> 00:07:50,360
suppressing evidence he already admitted on record in his own court,

122
00:07:50,759 –> 00:07:54,839
thereby converting a judication into a procedural facade. This was

123
00:07:54,879 –> 00:07:57,199
not an error of law or an oversight of fact.

124
00:07:57,680 –> 00:08:01,319
It was a calculated refusal to engage with material evidence

125
00:08:01,319 –> 00:08:05,879
whose evaluation would have fatally undermined the prosecution’s narrative, and

126
00:08:06,000 –> 00:08:09,439
paysing that this case is no longer about one man.

127
00:08:09,879 –> 00:08:13,560
It is about whether courts may openly disregard admitted evidence

128
00:08:13,639 –> 00:08:16,759
and still be treated as legitimate, and whether the media

129
00:08:16,839 –> 00:08:20,720
will continue to mask such conduct through silence. A judiciary

130
00:08:20,759 –> 00:08:24,199
that can ignore evidence without explanation has ceased to function

131
00:08:24,319 –> 00:08:26,920
as a court of law. A media that refuses to

132
00:08:27,000 –> 00:08:31,519
question that silence has abdicated its public duty. Together they

133
00:08:31,600 –> 00:08:36,080
place the rule of law itself in existential peril. Continuing

134
00:08:36,399 –> 00:08:40,559
in details, in Joku said, once evidence is admitted, it

135
00:08:40,639 –> 00:08:46,200
binds the judge absolutely. The conduct protest, silence, or alleged

136
00:08:46,200 –> 00:08:50,279
boycott of the defendant Marzi Namdi Kano is legally irrelevant

137
00:08:50,279 –> 00:08:54,399
to that obligation. Judgment writing is not a negotiation with

138
00:08:54,440 –> 00:08:58,519
the accused. It is a solitary judicial duty anchored exclusively

139
00:08:58,600 –> 00:09:02,799
to the evidentiary record. A judge may reject defense evidence,

140
00:09:03,080 –> 00:09:06,639
but he must first confront it, evaluate it, and explain

141
00:09:06,720 –> 00:09:11,919
why it is rejected. Silence is not neutrality. Silence is suppression.

142
00:09:12,200 –> 00:09:16,600
Had Justice Omitosho evaluated the admitted video exhibit of Theophilis

143
00:09:16,759 –> 00:09:20,240
t y Danjuma, he would have been confronted with the

144
00:09:20,279 –> 00:09:24,519
inescapable reality that public calls for communities to harm themselves

145
00:09:24,559 –> 00:09:27,919
in self defense against murderous violence were not unique to

146
00:09:28,039 –> 00:09:33,759
Namdikrnu nor criminalized when made by powerful establishment figures. Proper

147
00:09:33,759 –> 00:09:37,200
evaluation would have compelled the court to accept that Carnu’s

148
00:09:37,240 –> 00:09:40,440
calls for guns and bullets in Los Angeles, USA or

149
00:09:40,519 –> 00:09:44,279
during broadcasts were framed as community self defense against the

150
00:09:44,360 –> 00:09:48,960
ravages of armed Fulani killer herders, not incitement to lawless violence.

151
00:09:49,759 –> 00:09:53,799
Had Justice Homitosho evaluated the admitted video evidence of Governor

152
00:09:53,879 –> 00:09:58,039
Hope Uzobenma, he would have known because Uzodamer stated it

153
00:09:58,080 –> 00:10:01,399
publicly that neither Namdi Ka nor the I po B

154
00:10:01,720 –> 00:10:05,000
had any hand in the killing of Ahmed Gulak. That

155
00:10:05,200 –> 00:10:08,600
single evaluation would have punctured one of the most politically

156
00:10:08,600 –> 00:10:13,840
weaponized allegations surrounding this case. Had Justice Omatosha listened to

157
00:10:13,879 –> 00:10:18,840
his fellow Yoruba kinsman and Nigeria’s intelligence chief Hadeola olawatos

158
00:10:18,879 –> 00:10:22,639
and Ajai, whose statements were also admitted in evidence, he

159
00:10:22,679 –> 00:10:25,120
would have been forced to acknowledge that the formation of

160
00:10:25,279 –> 00:10:29,039
armed vigilante groups for community defense was openly endorsed at

161
00:10:29,039 –> 00:10:32,159
the highest levels. GI