Igbo Corner
Tribunal: Amazon witness is Labour Party’s bombshell — int’l observer
Veteran international human rights lawyer and pro-democracy advocate, Barrister Emmanuel Ogebe, in his third report on election litigation observer mission to Nigeria, has described the Amazon woman witness PW”007” as Labour Party’s bombshell at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), aka Tribunal.
Barrister Ogebe made the remarks in a piece entitled “2023 Election Court Diary Part 3: The Unmasking of mystery Amazonian woman witness PW “007” ~ an international observer’s court side view of LP’s bombshell presidential election witness’ cross examination (Part 2)”, made available to News Band on Friday.
It could be recalled that the Labour Party had presented an expert witness from Amazon who said that there was no glitch on Amazon’s 33 servers worldwide as claimed by Nigerian election officials during the 2023 Presidential Election held on February 25.
Reacting, Ogebe noted on social media that he postponed his departure from Abuja to attend what was arguably the hottest show in town – the cross examination of Labour Party’s bombshell expert witness.
He, meanwhile, decried the failure of the National Network news to air the incidence the night before, adding that “there was simply no mention of this stunning evidence by PW7.
“I was shocked by how bad media censorship had become in Nigeria,” he added.
The pro-democracy advocate recalled that 30 years ago, when a High Court judge, Hon Justice Dolapo Akinsanya courageously ruled that the Interim National Government was illegal, the only court judgment in Nigerian history that nullified a serving federal government, Nigeria’s NTA network reported the news.
“Although veiled, the newscaster said, “the Interim National Government has vowed to appeal against a judgment delivered by a high court against it today.”
“She didn’t state what the judgment was but we all knew the omitted context.
“If NTA could report that then, why wouldn’t they report the mere testimony that INEC’s claimed server glitch was proven false by Amazon reports?” he wondered.
He mused that the damning, far-reaching implications must have been clearly understood by the presenters.
International human rights lawyer and pro-democracy advocate, Barrister Emmanuel Ogebe, at the Court of Appeal, venue of the Tribunal
Back to the burning issue of the “PW 007”, Ogebe wrote:
“I was determined to see for myself the outcome knowing that it might again be blacked out in the news as friends had told me was consistently the case since the election trial began.
The testimony of PW7 was damaging and the adjournment for a day before her cross examination was even more so. This is the classic strategy of lawyers in western jury trials to leave lingering on jurors minds the last witness’s testimony for a long time.
It was a gamble if that was LP’s lawyers’ strategy (although Nigeria is a non-jury country) because it always buys time for the opposing counsel to fully weaponize their counter offensive cross examination.
On Tuesday, June 20, PW7 walked into the courtroom dressed in Ankara giving away a little that this Nigerian American had some ties and identification to her roots unlike her western business professional couture of the day before. But she was walking into a minefield boobytrapped by dozens of heavily-financed lawyers.
We exchanged pleasantries and I got a slight sense of diffidence – or defensiveness (the latter likely because she had probably been prepped for pending fireworks so today was the harder part of play.)
And, boy, was it tough!
INEC’s lawyer Mahmoud, SAN valiantly but unsuccessfully tried to chink her armor as an expert witness by citing a missed item in her listing of project development circle. She was unruffled.
Having effectively survived INEC’s onslaught, Tinubu’s team took her on.
Under cross examination, she admitted that she was an LP supporter who contested in the same election but that she had disclosed that in her affidavit.
Apart from queries about her presence in court on several occasions prior (which witnesses are not supposed to do) and a veiled reference to her Twitter handle’s posts, Olanipeku SAN went in for the kill. He read from an affidavit she’d filed in her personal NASS election petition in which she said that she tried but failed to upload her documents to INEC because of a network failure!
This was epic cross examination.
Many years ago, I was listed as a fact witness against Gen. Abdulsalaami in the US human rights litigation by the Abiola family and Enahoro et al in Chicago.
Some years later I was then called to testify as law expert witness in the same case. I ultimately withdrew from active involvement in the case because I could see the potential conflict. If I was listed as fact witness who was also a torture victim of the military regime, how could I reincarnate as expert and not allow my testimony to be jaundiced by the prior animus?
The witness kept her head quite alright but the oppo research on her dinged her credibility as an expert witness by impeaching her neutrality. To find that much on her within 24 hrs in Nigeria’s archaic legal system where there are no online court databases, I can only suspect that someone betrayed her to APC.
Her LP affidavit was reportedly sworn to on June 19 the same day she testified but APC’s legal team already had her affidavit from her NASS petition in Cross River state by the next day. This was nothing short of a Naija miracle!
In my view, the most significant part of the cross examination was that prior affidavit in which she claimed that her submission didn’t upload to INEC because of a network failure.
However, a network failure on her internet provider is not the same as a glitch on INEC’s server.
Besides, INEC only claimed a glitch on February 25 and not on the day she complained of network failure.
Thirdly and more damningly, INEC’s “glitch” was only for Presidential results and not for NASS results on the same date, time and place which is utterly impossible!
(My interview afterwards with one of the techies who data-mined election results elicited the claim that “There is a guy who used AI to analyse the data. He confirmed that Tinubu and Atiku didn’t score 25% in more than 12 states, including Abuja and that only PO scored 25% in 25 states and Abuja.” He further opined that when INEC saw this trend, they immediately intentionally interrupted the system upload then feigned disruption by glitch.)
Fourthly, PW77 admitted not having access to INEC’s password so clearly she won’t have the same sort of capacity to upload to INEC as INEC staff would.
Fifthly the nature of her upload is different from the type of upload by INEC’s staff. While she may have been uploading from her laptop, INEC staff were uploading from the BVAS which was an integrated system tool.
Frankly, my team of three legal observers from Washington, Lagos and Abuja agreed LP lawyers should have vetted her and selected someone else with less baggage. There are numerous Nigerians in Diaspora with Amazon Cloud engineer expertise who did not vie for election under LP.
Nevertheless, PW7 held her own. The fact remains that the six health status dashboard results showed no glitch and she said these were publicly accessible reports which can be obtained by anyone. That remained sacrosanct despite the barrage of attacks.
Indeed Fagbemi SAN, the third round of cross examination to assail her, claimed there was an AWS glitch in September 2021 to which PW7 replied “the last glitch on AWS was in December 2021” thus solidifying the central thesis of her testimony even more!
At the end of it all, it is now incumbent upon the respondents to adduce their own evidence showing documented server failure on February 25, 2023.
The significance of this testimony is that it casts INEC’s glitch as force minor (act of man) and not act of God. This bolsters the accusations that INEC acted mala fide (in bad faith) and not bona fide (good faith.)
But what we now know about PW7, who I now rename PW 007, as the James Bond Girl who sent shockwaves into the trial, is that she’s a highly intelligent and consummate professional who withstood withering attacks by top notch lawyers and a patriot who returned from Diaspora (and a highly lucrative profession) to serve her people politically.
She knew the risk of bringing her expertise to bear but she courageously stuck her neck into the fray. She joins a pantheon of witnesses for both LP and PDP who took that risk to defy a corrupt and ruthless system.
For all the fossilization of Nigeria’s practice, I must admit that this was one of the most melodramatic cross examinations I have ever witnessed.
I wish Nigerians had had the privilege to watch it in live broadcast but unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, there is no historical live recording of what transpired even by the court. And that is a loss to the public and even the profession.
At the end, even veteran election litigator Wole Olanipekun mellowed down and in his final questions to PW007 coyly asked, “who is the president of America?” To which she answered, “Joe Biden.”
The impending defense of the election will be interesting. I hope the court will allow broadcast of the closing addresses and the verdict thereafter as first done by the presidential election tribunal of 2007. Nigerians deserve greater transparency in the judicial determination of their leadership choice than INEC has availed them.”
About Emmanuel Ogebe
Emmanuel Ogebe, Esq, is a prominent US-based international human rights lawyer and Nigeria pro-democracy advocate with the US NIGERIA LAW GROUP in Washington.
This month, he marked the 27th anniversary of his abduction and torture by Gen. Abacha for demanding an investigation of the assassination of pro-democracy icon Kudirat Abiola over the June 12 election annulment.
His advocacy led to the naming of Kudirat corner by Nigeria house in New York, the US designation of Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization and International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s determination of crimes against humanity in Nigeria amongst others.” Read more.
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There’s something about persecution that does two things to a people: it either breaks them, or it makes them beasts of survival.
For centuries the Jews… they were hunted, hated, and humiliated by empires. But they didn’t vanish.
They evolved. They adapted. And today, the Jews are arguably the most powerful tribe in the world economically, intellectually, and politically. Ruthless when necessary.
They are unapologetic about their survival. Now, look at the Igbo. A tribe known for industry, resilience, and brilliance.
A people who just want to live, do business, and thrive. But Nigeria doesn’t want that. Nigeria wants control.
Nigeria wants submission. And the one thing the Igbo have never known how to do is bow. And that’s the real issue.
So what does Nigeria do? It sidelines them. Isolates them. Provokes them. Bombs their villages under the guise of security.
Locks up their agitators. Shuts down their businesses. Mocks their pain. Ignores their history. Prevent them from voting. Play politics with their education. Sponsored bigotry on them.
And then Nigeria pretends to be surprised that there’s growing radicalization in the East?
Let me be clear: The Igbo didn’t start this fire. Nigeria did.
And history, the very same history we keep refusing to learn from, has shown us that when you keep pushing a tribe that knows how to survive, they evolve into something stronger, something unstoppable.
It’s happened before. With the Jews. Europe tried to exterminate them. Instead, they became the backbone of global finance, media, tech, and diplomacy.
You don’t touch a Jew today without consequences. You don’t push them to the wall and expect them to stay quiet.
Now Nigeria is doing the same to the Igbo, pushing, prodding, provoking.
But here’s the warning: when you push an animal to the wall, it doesn’t stay calm. It fights back. It bites. And this time, when it bites, don’t act shocked.
But this isn’t just about the Igbo solely. Nigeria has perfected the art of creating monsters, then acting surprised when they bite.
The Niger Delta? Radicalized. The region was exploited for oil, polluted beyond repair, and ignored until their youths picked up arms.
The Fulani terrorists? Radicalized. Left behind by the same government that claimed to represent them, now manipulated by religion and resentment.
The Almajiri? Radicalized. Abandoned by an elite that used their poverty as a vote bank and then left them to rot.
The Agbero? Radicalized. Uneducated, weaponized, and unleashed as tools of political chaos.
Even the middle class is slowly being radicalized, not with guns, but with hopelessness. That, too, is a ticking time bomb.
A nation cannot continue to marginalize its most brilliant tribe and expect peace.
The Igbo are not docile. They are not quiet. They are not forgetful. They are survivors, and survivors don’t beg for space forever. At some point, they take it.
The Igbo didn’t set out to be radicals. They were made into one by a country that won’t stop seeing their confidence as a threat.
You can’t keep pretending unity means silence. You can’t keep preaching peace while planting injustice.
The Igbo are not asking for too much, they just want to live, build, and grow.
But if you insist on turning their dignity into defiance, their enterprise into enmity, and their survival into sedition, then you are creating a monster.
And if history has taught us anything, it’s this: when a persecuted people decide that survival is no longer enough, when they decide to stop running and start resisting, they don’t just fight back. They win.
Nigeria must understand this: you cannot keep pushing people into a corner and expect submission.
When you back a lion into a wall, don’t expect it to purr. It will roar. It will claw. It will tear through anything standing between it and freedom.
So here’s the final warning, for those who still care to listen: Nigeria is radicalizing the Igbo.
But worse, Nigeria is radicalizing everyone. And it won’t end well.
When the fire spreads, when the rebellion multiplies, when the beast we created begins to fight back, don’t act shocked; no tribe will be left untouched.
Don’t pretend it wasn’t preventable. We all made it happen. You don’t corner a lion and expect peace.
Abolaji Rasaq is a public affairs analyst.
Palpable crisis is brewing in Nnewi over the election of the President General of Uruagu Community in the industrial town of Anambra State, with a business mogul and owner of Organiser Plc., Chief Innocent Okoli, accused of upsetting the apple cart.
The crisis has led to protests and resignation of members of the Board of Trustees (BoT).
One of the resignation letters sighted by News Band was from a legal practitioner, J. N. Obi, Esq.
Barrister Obi, until his resignation served as the Secretary of the Executive Committee and member, Uruagu Board of Trustees.
Tendering his resignation letter, Obi cited brazen violation of the Constitution of Uruagu Nnewi Community Development Union.
The letter was referenced OB/03 /296/2025, dated May 8, 2025, and addressed to His Highness. Obi A. C. Obi (Ogidi IV).
In the letter entitled “Letter of resignation as member, Board of Trustees (B.O. T) Uruagu Nnewi. Obi announced his resignation based on the following reasons:
- Article 8. 9 (a) of the Constitution of Uruagu Nnewi Community Development Union. 2022 (As Amended) states and I quote:
“The Board shall “Ensure the observance of this Constitution”. - Article 14.4 of the Constitution of Uruagu Nnewi Community Development Union 2022 (As Amended) states and I quote:
“Each ward shall submit a list of the Electors In writing to the Secretary General of the Union, one month before any election.
“The submission of the list of the Electors shall be done by the Ward Chairman In consultation with the Ward’s Obi.” - “The election sought to be conducted on Saturday, 10th day of May 2025, did not comply with the above provisious as it was on the Union’s general meeting of the I3th day of April 2025 that the expiration of the tenure of the Executives was announced.”
The legal pratictioner, however, noted that the election to be held on May 10 will not be up to one month.
He, therefore, resigned his membership of B. 0. T for failure to abide by the above provisions of the Constitution as stated above.
On his part, the former President General of Uruagu Nnewi, Chief Ambassador Charles Nwonye, decried series of illegalities in the proposed election championed by Chief Okoli.
He recalled the efforts of past and present stakeholders to ensure that Uruagu Nnewi Community Development Union is recognised as a legal and responsible entity in the state.
He, however, speaking in a voice note obtained by Diaspora Digital Media (DDM), regretted:
“It’s very, very unfortunate that those counsels that instituted Uruagu Development Union are no longer alive.
“They were the ones who were known for speaking out the truth. But at the same time, we will not all keep quiet.
“I, hereby, wish to bring the following to the attention of all Uruagu indigenes, scattered all over Nigeria and in the diaspora that four years ago, a similar thing happened.
“Uruagu Nnewi Constitution was also flagrantly violated four years ago.
“At the end, a lot of stakeholders asked the former Executive Committee to resign and leave en masse.
“The Constitution, however, allowed them to recontest.
“The Executive Committee then honourably resigned and no one of us recontested, ushering in a new Executive Committee.
“They argued that following the election, the Constitution will be amended to correct all the flaws and ensure no such flagrant abused repeats itself.
“They went for the election and what happened there was the same illegality we’re talking about.
“Some of our youths went and connived with mischief makers, disrupted the election and declared the present Executive Committee members winners.
“The youths stood by them in their misguided thoughts that the Executive Committee members enjoy special gains in the office.
“They disrupted the election and ensured that the present crop of Executive Committee members was ushered in.
“The election was heavily flawed and rigged in favour of Eloka Ike and Innocent Okoli, but we let go and left peacefully.
“The new Executive Committee promised to preside for only four years and leave, but we are currently seeing the same illegalities.
“I dare ask: Should Uruagu be known only for illegalities? I thought Ndi Uruagu are smart people?
“I have observed that there are certain individuals who are hell-bent on ensuring that the Uruagu leadership fails.
“They seem bent on destroying all our efforts, acting as agents of chaos and destruction.
“How can one man gather a bunch of Umuezeagu indigenes and take them to the court, claiming that they sued the union to court?
“They deceived the High Court and got a frivolous injunction against Uruagu people, all in the name of election!
“When I got this information, I knew that something was wrong.
“How can someone, after serving a tenure fraught with irregularities, fight his way to a second tenure against the people’s wish?
“I want to make it clear to all the delegates in the so-called election that it will not be possible to make an illegality legal.
“Anyone who casts a vote in that sham election is an agent provocateur, as well as a villain.
“Let it be on record that I denounced the so-called election founded on illegality and fraud and all participants, be it a delegate or participant in any manner is an enemy of the people.”
Chief Okoli and other responsible people of Nnewi leadership could not be reached for comment at the moment of this publication.
More details will follow…
The remains of HRH Eze Stephen Nwabueze Ugorji, Orji Ukwu 1 of Lorji Nwekeukwu Autonomous Community in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area, will be laid to rest on Thursday, May 22, 2025.
The late Eze Ugorji will be buried in his palace at Orji Ukwu Estate, Lorji, following a Catholic funeral Mass at St. Andrews Catholic Church, Lorji.
News Band was informed that His Excellency the Catholic Bishop of Ahiara Diocese, Bishop Okezuo Nwobi, has been invited to officiate at the ceremony.
Bishop Nwobi, it was learnt, has also accepted the family’s invitation to officiate at the funeral rites of the late grand traditional ruler.
This information was provided to members of the press in Owerri by the Opara Eze (First Son of the Eze), former Commissioner for Homeland Security and Vigilante Affairs, Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji.
His Lordship Bishop Okezuo Nwobi, the Catholic Bishop of Ahiara Diocese (Mbaise) and Eze Nwabueze Ugorji’s First Son, Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji
“The family is grateful to His Lordship for granting us a rare request to officiate at a funeral on a Thursday,” Dr. Ugorji said.
“Our father will feel honored and appreciated because he was not just a devoted Catholic, he shouldered the building of the St. Andrews Catholic Church at Lorji until his death,” the former commissioner added.
Igbo Corner
EXCLUSIVE: Ngozi Orabueze dissolves Biafra Govt In Exile as Simon Ekpa may spend longer time in prison
Dr. Ngozi Orabueze has abruptly dissolved the Biafra Government In Exile following secret information that his former boss, Simon Ekpa may not be coming out from Finnish detention in a hurry.
News Band reported that Mrs. Orabueze, a former Chief of Staff to Mr Simon Ekpa, the self-acclaimed Prime Minister of Biafra Government In Exile, toppled his principal after he was thrown into prison for promoting violent agitation and terrorism in the Southeast of Nigeria.
Ekpa’s trial is scheduled to start in May 2025.
Ngozi, a former chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Atlanta, United States in a statement on Wednesday, announced the dissolution of Biafra Government In Exile.
She said all assets of the Biafra Republic Government In Exile and it’s affiliates shall be transferred to the secretary of the State of the United States of Biafra.
Orabueze also directed all officers of the former exile government to report to their counterpart with the United States of Biafra for reassignment.
The statement reads, “It is resolved that the Biafra Republic Government In Exile (BRGIE) is hereby dissolved as it’s reason for the existence has been superceded by the November 29, 2024 Declaration of the restoration of the Independent United States of Biafra
“All assets of the Biafra Republic Government In Exile and it’s affiliates(BRGIE corporation ID: D237527271) shall be transferred to the secretary of the State of the United States of Biafra.
“All officers of the former exile government shall report to their counterpart with the United States of Biafra for reassignment. All activities of the Biafra Republic Government In Exile shall cease as of February 15, 2025”.
Meanwhile, an insider source in the movement reliably told News Band that Ngozi decided to dissolve BRGIE after receiving intel that Simon Ekpa might spend longer time in prison.
The source also revealed that the Nigerian government is doing everything within it’s power to nail Simon Ekpa for all his atrocious acts in the SouthEast region.
So, the only way to keep the agitation going in the absence of Ekpa is to dissolve BRGIE.
“Yes, Ngozi Orabueze dissolved the Biafra Republic Government In Exile so as to be fully in charge of the assets belonging to the movement. With the way the Nigerian government is going about the case of Simon Ekpa, he may spend longer time in prison”, the source said.
Moreover, before now, Orabueze has been at war with some arrowheads of the separatist movement who refused to acknowledge her authority.
This however, has led to series of fights, accusation and counter accusations among the agitators.
We celebrate the life of Mrs. Roseline Udu Eze, a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and pillar of strength.
Her unwavering love, kindness, and selflessness left an indelible mark on all who knew her.
Though we mourn her passing, we take solace in the legacy she leaves behind and the cherished memories we hold. Rest peacefully in the arms of the Lord, dear Roseline.
You will forever be missed.
May her soul rest in perfect peace.
Amen.
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