MASSOB expels Uwazuruike, appoints new leader

The leadership crisis rocking the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereignty State of Biafra (MASSOB) has taken a new dimension as the group on Monday expelled its leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, over alleged corruption and deceit. This is even as members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) has warned traders across markets in Aba, Abia State not to open for business today (Tuesday) as they continue their protest calling for the release of the detained leader of the IPOB and Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

It was gathered that IPOB members visited Ariaria International, Ngwa road, Cemetery and Ekeoha markets with public address system announcing to the traders to shut their shops. Meanwhile, announcing the expulsion of Uwazuruike, MASSOB alleged that since 1999 to 2014, members of the separatist group had contributed over N300 million cash to his account and N200 million also allegedly paid into Zenith Bank Accounts of Confidence Uwazuruike. According to them, the MASSOB leader bought houses in various locations in Owerri, the Imo State capital, as well as 28 plots being part of money contributed by MASSOB members. The group also further alleged that MASSOB members had contributed over N4 billion since its inception 16 years ago which the group alleged that Uwazuruike has converted into personal use.

In a communiqué read by newly elected National Secretary, Mr. Ugwuoke Ibem Ugwoke, at Okigwe, the MASSOB headquarters, the group said the vote of no confidence and total rejection has been passed on Uwazuruike and his leadership of MASSOB. Ugwuoke said Uwazuruike’s inability to maintain Ojukwu’s dream of Biafra Actualisation, deviation into mainstream of Nigeria politics, abandonment of Biafra struggle, using the struggle to enrich himself were some of the reasons for his expulsion from MASSOB.

He said: “The introduction of Biafra International passport was a gross and dubious means he generated about N100 million to himself. The existence of the passport without Biafra sovereignty is illegal, as many who attempted using them were landed into trouble. Today, this passport is useless to thousands of holders even Uwazuruike does not see it”. The MASSOB National Secretary noted that Uwazuruike had continued to romance with some enemies of Ndigbo which posed serious danger to the actualization of Biafra.

Source: http://dailytimes.com.ng/massob-expels-uwazuruike-appoints-new-leader/

Posted by Ike Onwubuya

RIP Jonah Lomu

HRest In Peace #Unstoppable Jonah Lomu. Gone too soon.

Liberia's Abraham M. Keita Wins International Children's Peace Prize 2015

In the presence of the world press in The Hague, the Netherlands, Abraham M. Keita received the Prize from Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee, who in 2011 was the first Liberian to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in Liberia's peace-building process.

Gbowee said, "It is a great honor to award the Prize. It is very special and inspiring that Keita, already at such a young age, demands that perpetrators and would be perpetrators be held accountable. I recognize in him a true change maker--fighting to end the extreme violence against children!"

In September, Keita was nominated by Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu, Patron of KidsRights and the International Children's Peace Prize, together with Aziza Rahim Zada from Afghanistan and Jeanesha Bou from Puerto Rico. Keita's tireless work as a campaigner, bringing attention to crimes against children and campaigning until the perpetrators are locked away, stood out and convinced the jury. He also played a leading role in the Liberian Children's Parliament where he successfully lobbied the Liberian Parliament to adopt the Children's Law to protect children's rights.

The KidsRights Youngsters, the group of winners of the International Children's Peace Prize, which includes Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yousafzai, congratulated Keita wholeheartedly: "We are happy to welcome Abraham to the Youngsters. Together we will continue the fight to improve children's rights and advocate for an immediate end to violence against children."

Upon receiving the Prize yesterday, Keita confirmed that their work will continue: "Together with my peers and I have successfully lobbied for children's rights laws, but they now need to be put into practice. Children worldwide are still exposed to violence and injustice while thugs often go unpunished. I want people across the globe to acknowledge that this is unacceptable and that every world citizen, whether young or old, can be an agent of change."

The International Children's Peace Prize is an initiative of KidsRights, the foundation committed to defending children's rights worldwide. The award ceremony is held annually in The Hague, the Netherlands, the international city of peace and justice.

KidsRights Report 2015 - The Silent Majority: Justice for child victims of violence

To celebrate the 11th Anniversary of the International Children's Peace Prize, the KidsRights Foundation in association with Leiden University Law School has published the report The Silent Majority: Justice for child victims of violence. The comprehensive report focuses on the rights of children as victims of violence, and how justice can be achieved to offer these children opportunities to recover and reintegrate into society, and to prevent violence against children in the future. The report can be found on KidsRights.org.

Culled by Ike Onwubuya 

Vatican arrests 2 over leaked documents

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said Monday it had arrested a high-ranking priest and another member of a papal reform commission on suspicion of leaking confidential documents - a stunning move that comes just days before the publication of two books promising damaging revelations about the obstacles Pope Francis faces in cleaning up the Holy See's murky finances. 

The developments threatened to become a new "Vatileaks" - the 2012 scandal that began with the publication of a blockbuster book by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi detailing the corruption and mismanagement in the Holy See. The scandal ended with the conviction of Pope Benedict XVI's butler - and Benedict's resignation a year later. 

The latest arrests of two advisers hand-picked by Francis to help in his effort to overhaul Vatican finances threatened to further expose infighting and rifts surrounding the pontiff's efforts at reform and a more open church. 

Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, a Spaniard, and Francesca Chaouqui, an Italian public relations executive, had served on a now-defunct financial reform commission set up by Francis in 2013 as part of his drive to clean house at the Vatican, especially in its scandal-tainted economic affairs. 

A Vatican statement said the arrests followed a monthslong investigation and that the two had been interrogated over the weekend. It said Vallejo Balda was being held in a jail cell in Vatican City, while Chaouqui was released Monday because she was cooperating with the investigation. 

The Vatican's statement stopped short of linking the latest leaks probe to the two potential bombshell books that go on sale Thursday. 

But a clearly irritated Vatican contended publication of such exposé works risk hurting Pope Francis' clean-up drive. 

The Vatican described the books as "fruit of a grave betrayal of the trust given by the pope, and, as far as the authors go, of an operation to take advantage of a gravely illicit act of handing over confidential documentation. 

"Publications of this nature do not help in any way to establish clarity and truth, but rather generate confusion and partial and tendentious conclusions," the Vatican said, noting that "the leaking of confidential information and documents is a crime" under a law enacted in the first months of Francis' papacy. 

Nuzzi's 2012 best-seller, His Holiness, based on leaked papal correspondence detailing corruption, infighting, and intrigue in the Vatican has been cited by some as inspiring Benedict XVI's stunning resignation in 2013. 

According to the publishers, Nuzzi's new book, Merchants in the Temple: Inside Pope Francis's Secret Battle Against Corruption in the Vatican, promises to reveal "heretofore untold, unbelievable stories of scandal and corruption at the highest levels." 

"A veritable war is waging in the Catholic Church," a news release quotes Nuzzi as saying. "On one side, there is Pope Francis' strong message for one church of the poor" and on the other, "there is the opaque and aggressive power systems within the Vatican's hierarchy." 

The other book, Avarice: Documents Revealing Wealth, Scandals and Secrets of Francis' Church, is by Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi. According to the publisher, the book maps out the church's financial empire, from the luxurious lives of the cardinals to the big businesses of Catholic-run hospitals in Italy.