BIAFRA NEWS : IPOB's Nnamdi Kanu Hires Another U.S Lobbyist in N300 Million Deal

 

The deal appears to be part of Mr Kanu's quiet but broad efforts to win the support of U.S. government, congress, policymakers, and opinion leaders for IPOB.

The leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has engaged new American lobbyists in a bid to secure the support of the U.S. for the separatist group.

If the deal runs for 12 months as agreed, it will cost Mr Kanu $750,000, which is over N300 million at the current official exchange rate.

PREMIUM TIMES on Monday obtained the details of the one-year deal which Mr Kanu signed with the BW Global Group (BWGG), LLC, earlier in February.

The firm, co-owned by Jeffrey Birrel and Alan White, is registered in Washington D.C, the U.S. capital city, which parades top government officials, lawmakers, policymakers, and opinion leaders, who are the targets of the deal.

The agreement, which took effect from March 1, came months after an earlier one struck by Mr Kanu with another U.S.-based lobbyist, Mercury Public Affairs, LLC, expired in September last year.

Under the old contract agreement, Mr Kanu was to pay $85,000 per month from September 23, 2019 to September 22, 2020, with $5,000 one-time compliance fee.

This implies that a full execution of the contract for 12 months, as it was agreed to run, would have cost Mr Kanu a total of $1,025,000, which is close to N400 million at the prevailing official exchange rate at the time.

In June last year, the Nigerian government fumed about the old deal which has now been replaced by the new one. The use of paid lobbyists to get the support of the U.S. government and its organs is legal in the country.

PREMIUM TIMES got the details of both the old and new IPOB deals from the contractors' registration statements and agreements filed at the Foreign Agents Registration of the U.S Department of Justice.

The registration, mandatory under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 and for "public disclosure", entails filing documents including, completed predesigned forms marked Exhibits A and B, and the agreements stipulating the full details of the contract.

Failure to provide this information is subject to the penalty and enforcement provisions established in Section 8 of the Act, it was stated on the documents.Services

The terms of the successive contracts with strict focus on the U.S appear to be part of Mr Kanu's quiet but broad efforts to win the support of U.S. government, Congress, policymakers, and opinion leaders for IPOB.

The filings by BW Global Group (BWGG) after the deal was hatched in February show that the firm was engaged by Mr Kanu to undertake "political activities" in the U.S. on behalf of IPOB.

The activities including engaging the U.S. government, the Congress, the Department of State, the equivalent of foreign affairs minister in other countries, and engaging policy makers on behalf of IPOB.

"The registrant (BWGG) expects to advocate on behalf of the IPOB within the US Government (including the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Department of State) and otherwise engage policy makers and opinion leaders," part of the registration statement marked Exhibit B reads.

The agreement signed on February 24 by Mr Kanu; a representative of IPOB, Rita Eze, and a co-owner of BWGG provides further details of what the job entails.

"BWGG shall provide the IPOB with services relating to the promotion of human rights and democracy and shall otherwise act as an advocate for the indigenous people of Biafra," the document read in part.

It added that BWGG "may also undertake other similar services that might be referred to BWGG from the IPOB from time-to-time by mutual agreement."

The deal has the same scope with the old one executed by Mercury Public Affairs, LLC

Under the old agreement which expired in September last year, the consultant was engaged to "provide strategic consulting and management services specific to issues facing the client in the areas of government relations and issues management."

Mode of payment

BWGG is expected to provide the agreed services under the new agreement to IPOB for a period of one year from March 1 through February 28, 2022.

The firm is to receive its payment for "professional services" of $750,000 based on monthly instalments.

But $100,000 is to be paid at the signing of the agreement covering the first two months - March and April 2021 - "leaving a balance of $650,000".

The balance of $650,000 "will be paid in monthly installments of $65,000 USD per month commencing on May 1,2021 and paid successively on the 1st of each month until the total fee of $750,000 USD has been paid to BWGG by the client."

"Payment to BWG shall be by bank wire or bank draft," the document added.

The firm, under the agreement "will provide monthly status reports as deliverables regarding the progress and status of the project."

IPOB

Mr Kanu, a British and Nigerian citizen, is engaging lobbyists to help in winning U.S support to overshadow bad publicity by many Nigerians and the Nigerian government.

His IPOB is known for its agitation for an independent Republic of Biafra, which has led to series of violent confrontation between its members and security agencies.

Mr Kanu wants an independent Republic of Biafra made up of Igbo-speaking people largely in the South-east part of Nigeri. He fled Nigeria in 2017 while enjoying the bail granted him during his treasonable felony trial.

He fled after the 2017 invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, Abia State, by security forces, following a clampdown on IPOB members by soldiers in the South-east region.

The Nigerian government, in the wake of the violence, on September 20, 2017, obtained a court order designating IPOB a terrorist group and proscribing it.

But despite that, the UK government granted asylum to Mr Kanu.

With the charges of treasonable felony still pending against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the Nigerian government has repeatedly fumed about the asylum granted him by the UK government.

Since leaving the country, Mr Kanu has continued to engage IPOB members through his social media channels, with government often attributing escalating violence in the South-east region to the group.

The group has been blamed for recent attacks on police officers and facilities as well as other public infrastructure in the South-south and South-east regions. Dozens of police officers have been killed in the past two months in such attacks.

IPOB has, however, denied responsibility for the attacks.

BIAFRA NEWS : N300 Million Deal. IPOB Confirms Hiring Firm To Lobby US To Facilitate Biafra Independence

 

N300 Million Deal: IPOB Confirms Hiring Firm To Lobby US To Facilitate Biafra Independence 

 

The Indigenous People of Biafra has confirmed that it has engaged an American firm in a N300 million deal to lobby the self-determination agitation of Biafra with the American government. 

PREMIUM TIMES has reported on Tuesday morning that the Nnamdi Kanu-led group has hired a lobbying firm in the United States to help win the support of the Joe Biden-led government in securing a Biafra sovereign nation.

It was said that the one-year deal is scheduled to last for 12 months and is costing Mr Kanu and IPOB $750,000, which is over N300 million at the current official exchange rate of N410 to one U.S. dollar.

PREMIUM TIMES is in possession of the contract papers which Mr Kanu signed with the BW Global Group (BWGG LLC), in February.

The firm, co-owned by Jeffrey Birrel and Alan White, is registered in Washington D.C, the US capital, which has a high concentration of top government officials, lawmakers, policymakers, and opinion leaders, who IPOB is trying to engage on the rightfulness and necessity of its cause.

The agreement, which took effect from March 1, 2021, came months after an earlier one struck by Mr Kanu with another U.S.-based lobbying entity, Mercury Public Affairs LLC, expired.

Under the old contract, IPOB, through Mr Kanu, paid $85,000 per month beginning September 23, 2019, in addition to a $5,000 one-time compliance fee.

That means Mr Kanu paid $1,025,000 for the 12-month contract, which is approximately N400million, based on the prevailing official exchange rate at the time (N380 to a dollar).

Reacting to the report on Tuesday, the IPOB’s spokesman, Emma Powerful told SaharaReporters that the Biafra separatist group hired a lobby firm in a N300 million deal to win the support of the US in fast-tracking the Biafra agitation.

“Yes, it’s true we hired another lobbying group in the USA to facilitate the coming and recognition of Biafra independence. We engaged them with the wholesome amount of N300 million about $750, 000 to lobby for Biafra freedom in America and the whole world,” Powerful disclosed to SaharaReporters on Tuesday morning.

Last June, the Nigerian government fumed at the deal, which it claimed was aimed at discrediting the country in the US and Europe.

PREMIUM TIMES got the details of both the old and new deals from the contractors’ registration statements and agreements filed at the Foreign Agents Registration Unit of the US Department of Justice. The registration, mandatory under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 and for “public disclosure”, entails filing documents, including completed predesigned forms marked Exhibits A and B, and the agreements stipulating the full details of the contract.

BIAFRA NEWS : Did Attahiru say there will be no Biafra, Oduduwa?

 

A few hours after Ibrahim Attahiru, chief of army staff (COAS), and 10 other officers died in an aircraft crash in Kaduna, on Friday, some reports began to circulate on social media that the late security chief once said there will be no Biafra or Oduduwa Republic as long as he is alive.

In a series of blog and social media posts in March, Attahiru was said to have said the army would deal with people agitating for secession in the country.

It was claimed he made the statement while speaking at the first commanding officers’ workshop in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state capital, earlier in the year.

“As long as I’m alive, there will be no Biafra or Oduduwa. We’re one Nigeria,” Attahiru was claimed to have said in March.

The claim has been reshared by different social media users after the death of the late chief of army staff was announced on Friday.

On Facebook, Leopold Onyeuwa wrote: “Power in the tongue! Need we any more prophesy to know what will happen? Man is not God. This man prophesied his own death in ignorance. Too bad! May his fellows learn from this.”

VERIFYING THE CLAIM

Going through online resources, it was ascertained that the first commanding officers’ workshop was held in Akwa-Ibom state capital in March — with Attahiru present.

On March 22, the media unit of the state government said Udom Emmanuel, the governor, received Attahiru at the government house in Uyo.

“The Chief of Army Staff is in the state for the First Commanding Officers’ Workshop 2021 with the theme “Repositioning The Nigerian Army To Defeat Contemporary Adversaries In A Joint Environment” hosted by 6 Division Nigerian Army at Ibom Hall, Uyo,” the media unit said in a statement.

Attahiru with Udom

According to several news stories from six national newspapers on the event, the late chief of army staff said he would “decisively deal with individuals or groups that threaten the peace, security and stability of our great nation.” However, none of the analysed news sources quoted Attahiru to have said, “as long as I’m alive, there will be no Biafra or Oduduwa. We’re one Nigeria”.

A statement by Mohammed Yerima, army spokesperson, on the event did not also contain such a quote.

VERDICT: No sufficient evidence, video or audio, to prove that Attahiru said there will be no Biafra or Oduduwa Republic as long as he lived. The statement credited to the late chief of staff can be classified as false.

Tags biafraChief of Army StaffFact Checkfake newsIbrahim Attahiru

BIAFRA NEWS : Cholera outbreak claims 20 lives in Bauchi

 

Cholera outbreak claims 20 lives in Bauchi

A fresh cholera outbreak in Bauchi State has killed at least, 20 persons in some parts of the state.

It was gathered that about 322 persons have been infected with the disease.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Aliyu Mohammed Maigoro, gave an update on the situation during a media briefing on Tuesday morning.

He said the outbreak has spread across nine local government areas since the first case was recorded in April.

According to the Commissioner, the index case was a 37-year-old patient, who was admitted at Burra General Hospital on 24 April, 2021.

BIAFRA NEWS: Drama as traditional worshippers invade, disrupt govt’s housing project in Ondo

 

Drama ensued on Monday at the site of an ongoing Housing Estate project in Ondo State following the invasion of the site by traditional worshippers.

Tension was said to have engulfed the site of the project situated along Igbatoro road, Akure, the state capital after the workers on the site scampered to safety.

The worshippers who were 21 in number were said to have maintained that their presence on the site located opposite the state police headquarters was necessitated due to an annual ritual required to be performed on the site.

The worshippers who stormed the estate with black fowl, white pigeon and other objects to perform the purported ritual were led by Chief Abisoye Adigun Asoga of Akureland.

Following the development, the worshippers were invited to the police headquarters after the developers of the federal housing estate, and its Managing Director, Otunba Ademola Akin-Benson, sought the intervention of the police.

Speaking at the police headquarters, Otunba Akin-Benson, alleged that the worshippers were being sponsored by land grabbers to use the ritual at the site to scare away the federal housing estate developer and site workers as he insisted that the land had been legally acquired by the federal government for the estate.

According to Akin-Benson, thugs and ritualists had in the past attacked site workers at the estate, which made him to approach the court and the court had ordered all parties including the Deji of Akure, Oba Ogunlade Aladetoyinbo, to maintain status quo and allow the project to continue.

On his part, the leader of the worshippers, Chief Adigun said contrary to allegations of land grabbing, it was the tradition of Akure to perform the ritual at a small rock inside the estate, at least once in ten years.

In a petition signed by the developers’ lawyer, Femi Emodamori and addressed to the state Commissioner of Police, the Deji of Akure, Oba Ogunlade Aladetoyinbo was fingered for allegedly sponsoring the ritualists.

Mr Emodamori described the invasion of the federal estate site as traditional hooliganism.

Reacting, the Deji of Akure, Oba Ogunlade Aladetoyinbo who described the allegation by the developer as false, stated that the site belongs to Akure traditional worshippers.

The monarch who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Michael Adeyeye, maintained that the ritual at the estate site was in line with the Akure’s tradition.

BIAFRA NEWS: stop election in Anambra until our members in prison are released – Biafra group

 

A pro-Biafra group, Biafra National Guard, on Monday, warned the governors of the South-East to release all pro-Biafra agitators detained in various correctional facilities whose only offence was holding Biafra insignia.

THE RESTORATION OF BIAFRA NATION  

The group demands their release before May 31, 2021, warning that there will be no election in Anambra State if the demand is not met.

BNG noted that their members are held in various prisons across the South-East, especially in Onitsha and Awka Correctional Centres, adding that dozens of them have been there for over 15 years without trial.

They threatened that if their members were not released on or before the deadline, what the so-called ‘unknown gunmen’ were doing in the region would be child’s play.

 https://saviournicodemus.blogspot.com/

A statement by the BNG titled ‘Biafran National Guard to set a standard onward the 30th of May 2021,’ and signed by its Head Nsikak Akpan, warned Nigerian security agencies to stop the illegal arrest of pro-Biafra agitators and dismantle checkpoints on all the roads in the region, which they alleged had been converted into extortion points.

Describing as provocative the illegal imprisonment of several Biafrans, the group stated that “in no circumstance must any harm or injury be done to these prisoners of conscience; Mrs. Onyekachi Orji, Miss Okwudiri Bassey, Uche Idikaigbo, Michael Okezie, Uchenna Nicholas, Peter Igbokwe, Ikechukwu Aghara, Chima Asor and Chinweike Irondi. “Others are Sabastine Amadi, Casmir Odakara, Ojemba Anyanwu, Eni Kalu, Ndubuisi Okam, Ikechukwu Chikwem, Emmanuel Orji, Chukwuma Kalu, Chidiebere Chikwem and Mmaduabuchi Asika”.

It added, “Why should innocent women be made to suffer for the supposed crime of their husbands? Even among those incarcerated is a pregnant woman who has not set sight on her child since she gave birth in prison.

“The BNG will kick start her activities in Anambra State. We emphasise that the slated November governorship poll will not be allowed to hold and the state shall nonstop be disrupted from being governed.

“The Nigeria security forces must desist from authorising arrest, patrol, checkpoint or show of uniform in Biafra territory”.

The group disclosed that it will not partake in any negotiation or meeting of pro-Biafra groups initiated or facilitated by any Igbo politicians or groups, even as it warned that it would not tolerate any “utterances against the restoration of our sovereignty. It is either you are supportive or remain silent.”

BIAFRA NEWS: Biafra group to S/East Govs. Release political prisoners or forget Anambra election

 

A pro-Biafra group, Biafra National Guard (BNG) has warned southeast governors to order the release of their members held in various prisons in the region or they should forget conducting the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.

The group noted that their members had been held in various prisons across the southeast especially in Onitsha and Awka Correctional Centers, where dozens of their members had been held for over 15 years without trial.

A statement issued in Enugu on Monday by the head of BNG, Nsikak Akpan, the group described as provocative the illegal imprisonment of several Biafran prisoners of conscience held for over 15 years in various prisons.

It warned that “Under no circumstance must any harm or injury be done to these prisoners of conscience: Mrs. Onyekachi Orji, Miss Okwudiri Bassey, Uche Idikaigbo, Michael Okezie, Uchenna Nicholas, Peter Igbokwe, Ikechukwu Aghara, Chima Asor and Chinweike Irondi.

“Others are Sabastine Amadi, Casmir Odakara, Ojemba Anyanwu, Eni Kalu, Ndubuisi Okam, Ikechukwu Chikwem, Emmanuel Orji, Chukwuma Kalu, Chidiebere Chikwem and Mmaduabuchi Asika.”

The group gave the southeast governors May 31, 2021 deadline for the unconditional release and compensation of “these Biafran prisoners of conscience held in the Onitsha and Awka Prisons.”

“Why should innocent women be made to suffer for the supposed crime of their husbands? Even among those incarcerated is a pregnant woman who has not set sight on her child since she gave birth in prison,” the statement added.

According to the release, “The BNG will kick start her activities in Anambra State. We emphasize that the slated November governorship poll will not be allowed to hold and the state shall be disrupted from being governed.

“The Nigeria security forces must desist from authorizing arrest, patrol, checkpoint or show of uniform in Biafra territory.”