The Nigerian Bar Association mourns the passing of Honourable Justice Muhammad Lawal Uwais, GCON, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, who departed this life today.

Justice Uwais was more than a jurist; he was a pillar of the Nigerian Judiciary and a beacon of integrity, scholarship, and reform. His tenure as Chief Justice of Nigeria, from 1995 to 2006, remains one of the most defining periods in the history of the nation’s judiciary. As the second-longest-serving Chief Justice, he was a staunch advocate of judicial independence, ethical discipline on the Bench, and the preservation of democratic principles.

A man of exceptional intellectual depth, Justice Uwais delivered landmark judgments that significantly advanced constitutional interpretation and civil liberties in Nigeria. His judicial philosophy, anchored in clarity, depth, and an unyielding commitment to justice, earned him widespread respect within and beyond the legal profession.

Even in retirement, Justice Uwais continued to serve the nation with distinction. As Chairman of the Electoral Reform Committee established in 2007, he proposed far-reaching recommendations, including the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the creation of an Electoral Offences Commission, and the depoliticization of key appointments in the electoral process. These proposals remain foundational reference points in ongoing national conversations on electoral reform.

His legacy is one of legal brilliance, public service, moral discipline, and visionary leadership. Justice Uwais leaves behind an indelible imprint on our national conscience, the legal profession, and the system of justice in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Bar Association extends its heartfelt condolences to the Uwais family, the Nigerian Judiciary, and the entire legal community. May Almighty Allah (SWT) grant him Aljannah Firdaus and console all who mourn his passing.

The Bar has lost one of its finest!
Nigeria has lost a patriot!

Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN
President

Dr. Mobolaji Ojibara
General Secretary

The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, Intersociety, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has revealed that Jihadist Fulani herdsmen are now overrunning Christian communities in the country’s South East.

A fresh report by the NGO –

The report claims that jihadist-Fulani herdsmen and allied others now occupy at least 950 locations in Nigeria’s largely Christian South Eastern states of Abia, Enugu, Anambra, and Ebonyi.

“All the strategic locations in Igbo Land have been saturated by Fulani herdsmen with the aid of the Nigerian military,” said Nigeria’s leading criminologist and head of Intersociety, Emeka Umeagbalasi.

He said the jihadist herdsmen use these locations to kidnap, disappear and even kill people, mostly Christians.

The research by the leading research and investigative advocacy group revealed that the 950 locations are spread in over 800 communities in the region, saying that about 40 percent of the entire 1,940 communities in the zone are gravely suffering under bandits and herdsmen threats.

“By our research and investigative findings, South-East is presently dotted with 1,940 Igbo trado- judeo Christian communities involving Abia State 771, Imo 700, Enugu 190, Anambra State 183 and Ebonyi State 96; all compressed in 29, 525 square kilometers of landmass,” the report states.

It noted that as of 2015, the region was home to about ten Jihadist Fulani locations. By August 2019, the jihadists were already occupying 139 locations.

“The number of Jihadist Herdsmen locations increased to 350 by the first quarter of 2020 and doubled, alarmingly, to 700 by April 2021 including locations found in Igbo parts of Delta, Edo, Kogi, Benue, Nasarawa, Rivers and Cross River States,” the report states.

The report alleges that Igbo communal lands, forests, farm settlements as well as forests for ancient deities and oracles, have been ceded, procured or simply forcibly occupied by the Fulanis, who use them as hideouts for their operations.

And the operations which usually take place at night are largely known to the security forces, the report alleges.

“It was also found that the greater number of non-sedentary natives of the affected communities especially those in the Diaspora are rarely aware that their ancestral forests or bushes or farm settlements have been compromised, procured or ceded and handed over to the patrons of the Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen and allied others for swift establishment of jihadist settlements in such procured or ceded locations, preceded by alleged secret allocation of Certificates-of-Occupancy by ministries of lands and survey of the State Governments involved or in charge.

“It was further alleged that once the above is done, secret linking of the affected location to Northern Islamic Sultanate follows and a new Fulani leader (Emir) secretly designated, turbaned and placed in charge,” the document says.

The report blames some traditional authorities as well as government officials for conspiracy in the continued acquisition of land by jihadists.

“Some of them [the Fulanis] came to occupy the areas through the involvement and conspiracy of community leaders and state governments that promptly issued them with certificates of occupancy with the alleged promises of “electoral victory and post-election court victory,” it states.

“It is also our finding and information that all the governors in the zone are involved in the conspiracy in aiding them to have access to the land,” said Umeagbalasi.

“This is widely believed to be the reason they don’t speak out or rise in strong condemnation of the genocidal jihadist activities of the Fulani herdsmen,” he added. “They have also bluntly refused and failed to act or take action as Chief Security Officers of their respective States.”

An earlier report by Intersociety revealed that over 20,300 Christians had been killed in Nigeria’s South East since 2015 – the killings carried out by Jihadist Fulani herdsmen, the Niger Delta jihadist militants, and the Jihadist Fulani bandits, the Fulani Muslim vigilantes as well as the Nigerian military deployed to the region.

“It is so saddening that no day passes without recorded deaths of innocent people who are being killed just because they are Christians,” Umeagbalasi told Crux.

He said while the “butcheries” of Christians continue unabated, the security forces tend to look away. Instead, the security of Fulani cattle has become more important, because the butchers of Christians “get state protection round the clock to the extent that the safety and security of their livestock are valued far more than those of members of the human family.”

“It is unfortunate,” he remarked.

The head of Intersociety blasted not only various government operatives for their apparent complicity, but he also criticized the country’s Catholic bishops whom he said had “cocooned themselves to the graveyard of silence.”

Nigeria has since 2009 been plagued by jihadist violence, with the advent of the Boko Haram insurgency that seeks to establish a caliphate across the Sahel. It has since seen other partner terrorist organizations emerge, including the Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP and Jihadist Fulani herdsmen.

• Lion kills businessman at luxury safari lodge in Namibia

There was a wildlife alert when a passenger smuggling dozens of venomous vipers was stopped after flying into the financial capital, Mumbai, India, from Thailand.

Mumbai Customs, in a statement on Sunday said the snakes, which included 44 Indonesian pit vipers, were “concealed in checked-in baggage.”

“An Indian national arriving from Thailand was arrested,” it added.

The passenger also had three Spider-tailed horned vipers, which are venomous, but usually only target small prey, such as birds — as well as five Asian leaf turtles.

Mumbai Customs released photographs of the seized snakes in a post on social media, including blue and yellow reptiles squirming in a bucket.

The snakes are a relatively unusual seizure in Mumbai, with customs officers more regularly posting pictures of hauls of smuggled gold, cash, cannabis or pills of suspected cocaine swallowed by passengers.

However, in February, customs officials at Mumbai airport also stopped a smuggler with five Siamang gibbons, a small ape native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Those small creatures, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, were “ingeniously concealed” in a plastic crate placed inside the passenger’s trolley bag, customs officers said.

In November, customs officers seized a passenger carrying a wriggling live cargo of 12 turtles, and a month before, four hornbill birds, all on planes arriving from Thailand.

In September, two passengers were arrested with five juvenile caimans, a reptile in the alligator family.

Last July, a man was caught trying to smuggle over 100 live snakes into mainland China by cramming them into his trousers.

In 2019, the BBC reported officials at the Chennai airport seized a horned pit viper snake, five Iguanas, four blue-tongued skinks, three green tree frogs and 22 Egyptian tortoises from a man travelling from Thailand.

In another animal–related incident, a man was killed by a lion at a luxury lodge in the remote northwest of Namibia, authorities said.

The victim — identified by local media as well-known businessman Bernd Kebbel — was camping with other tourists at the tented resort when the early morning tragedy unfolded, police said.

Kebbel, 59, was camping with his wife and friends near Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp in the Sesfontein area when he was attacked by the animal, the Namibian newspaper reported.

He was attacked when he stepped out of his tent to use the toilet, environment ministry spokesperson Ndeshipanda Hamunyela told local news outlet Informante.

Other campers managed to scare off the lion but Kebbel was already dead by then, he said.

Police were “attending the scene and a full report will be submitted in due course,” spokesperson Elifas Kuwinga said.

According to the Daily Mail, Kebbel was a philanthropist who supported wildlife conservation in Namibia and once owned Off-Road-Centre, which sold accessories for safari vehicles.

Desert-adapted lions roam the remote northwest of the country where mountains and sand dunes meet.

In 2023, they were estimated to be around 60 adults and more than a dozen cubs.

But their numbers have dipped in recent months following a drought-induced drop in prey and conflict with humans.

Last August, Namibia authorized the culling of hundreds of animals, including elephants, as part of a plan to feed people in the drought-stricken country.

The mauling marks at least the second deadly lion attack in Africa in less than six weeks. In April, a lion killed a 14-year-old girl outside Kenya’s capital in a ranch to the south of Nairobi National Park.

cbsnews.com

President Donald Trump told CNN on Friday he is “not even thinking about” billionaire Elon Musk and won’t be speaking to him in the near future.

“I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem,” Trump said in a brief phone call.

The comments come after a day Trump and Musk traded barbs on social media as their relationship deteriorated in spectacular public fashion.

Trump said Thursday he was “very disappointed” with the tech billionaire for criticizing his massive tax and spending cuts package while Musk fired back that “Trump would have lost the election” without him.

In his call with CNN Friday morning, Trump talked about the forthcoming jobs report, which has since been released, inflation and gas prices. Asked if he had a call with Musk, the president responded: “No. I won’t be speaking to him for a while I guess, but I wish him well.”

As the two powerful onetime friends duked it out online on Thursday, their shared allies sought to quietly broker a truce, CNN previously reported.

Musk, for his part, appeared open to a thaw.

“You’re not wrong,” Musk responded to a post from billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who wrote on X: “I support @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk and they should make peace for the benefit of our great country. We are much stronger together than apart.”

In a sign of their break, however, Trump is planning to get rid of the Tesla he purchased in March, a senior White House official told CNN. The red vehicle may be sold or possibly given away, another official said.

Trump had previously allowed some of his younger staffers to use the car. As of Friday morning, it was visibly parked in the West Executive Driveway.

Back in March, Trump transformed the South Lawn into what resembled a Tesla showroom, an apparent gesture toward his then-adviser. Later that day, Trump publicly announced he was purchasing a Tesla and had even bought a Cybertruck for his granddaughter.

“I think (Musk has) been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people, and I just want people to know that he can’t be penalized for being a patriot,” Trump said at the time.

As the two billionaires’ clash over Trump’s sweeping tax and domestic policy bill turned increasingly personal on Thursday, several people familiar with what was happening behind the scenes — who were desperately making phone calls to one another and trying to tamp down the escalating feud — described Musk’s invocation of the Jeffrey Epstein files as the tipping point.

“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk wrote, stunning those with close relationships to Trump and Musk.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Musk’s claims an “unfortunate episode” in a statement to CNN Thursday night.

Musk has not detailed how he would have gained access to unreleased files related to the disgraced financier and has not provided any evidence of where his information was coming from.

Credit: CNN

• Ogun is an exception — State’s Attorney General

Human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has accused the Nigerian judiciary of aiding the unlawful detention of poor citizens by failing to enforce the mandatory monthly inspections of police stations and detention facilities prescribed by law.

Speaking at the 1st NBA Western Zone Human Rights Summit in Ibadan on June 3, 2025, Falana said that despite the enactment of Section 34 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in 2015, Chief Magistrates and Judges have neglected their duty to carry out monthly inspections.

According to Falana, the inaction of the judiciary has left the poor vulnerable to arbitrary arrests, torture, and prolonged detention, while wealthy individuals can afford legal representation to protect their rights.

“From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that visiting Chief Magistrates and Judges are empowered to order the release of detainees, or grant them bail or direct that they be arraigned in court,” he said.

According to Falana, since the passage of the ACJA, which should challenge illegal arrests and detentions, its protective measures have been observed in breach.

“But since the Act was enacted in May 2015, Chief Magistrates and Judges have failed to enforce the provisions of section 34 of ACJA by visiting all police stations and other detention facilities at least once a month,” he said.

He lamented that while the Chief Justice of Nigeria had directed state Chief Judges to enforce these provisions in 2018, there has been little practical compliance, and the Nigerian Bar Association’s Human Rights Committees have also failed to ensure these inspections take place.

“But in spite of the clear provisions of the ACJA and Police Establishment Act, Chief Magistrates and Judges have failed to conduct monthly visits to police stations and other detention facilities in the country,” he said in his address.

“Hence, the incessant arrest, detention and torture of poor citizens by the Police and other security agencies have since become the order of the day.

“The Nigerian Bar Association has not helped matters as the Human Rights Committee in its 130 branches have failed to ensure that Chief Magistrates and Judges conduct visits to police stations and other detention facilities.”

Falana called for immediate action to protect the fundamental rights of detainees and end what he described as systemic injustice against poor Nigerians.

“Section 34 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 provides that the Chief Magistrate, or where there is no Chief Magistrate within the police division, any Magistrate designated by the Chief Judge for that purpose, shall, at least every month, conduct an inspection of police stations or other places of detention within his territorial jurisdiction other than the prison,” he said stressing the provisions of the ACJA.

The Attorney General of Ogun State, Oluwasina Ogungbade (SAN), however, acquitted of his state.

“Our CJ here does periodic Jail delivery exercises. I also visit the custodial centers occasionally to identify inmates whose cases require urgent intervention. Just this morning (Thursday), we facilitated the release of a mother and her daughter who had been in custody for three months over the alleged theft of 5 chickens. They had been granted bail but were unable to meet the bail conditions.

“They were arraigned solely on a so-called confession extracted by the police from the woman’s 9-year-old son, who himself was detained for several days. So we took over the matter and expedited action on the legal advice, which exonerated them of any wrongdoing. They went home this morning.”

Press Release

Otu Oka-Iwu Abuja strongly condemn the actions of the Enugu Police Command in summoning Hon. Chijioke Ezugwu, Chairman of Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, for fulfilling his duty to protect his people where the Nigerian security apparatus has consistently failed.

For years, communities in Uzo-Uwani and other parts of Enugu State have made desperate calls for security intervention, submitting countless petitions to the police and other law enforcement agencies regarding the persistent killings, rape, and destruction of farms by marauding herdsmen. Yet, the police have failed to take decisive action, leaving these communities vulnerable to unchecked violence.

We note with nostalgia the following instances where urgent pleas for police intervention were either ignored or dismissed, leading to the destruction of lives and properties. In 2022, residents of Adani and Ukpabi-Nimbo communities wrote several petitions to the Enugu State Police Command, pleading for protection following deadly attacks and no meaningful intervention was carried out.

In March 2023, farmers in Umulokpa and Nkpunato petitioned law enforcement regarding the destruction of their farms and killings of villagers by armed herdsmen; no arrests were made, and the perpetrators remained emboldened. In August 2024, multiple community leaders from Uzo-Uwani held emergency meetings with police authorities, providing evidence of planned attacks, no proactive measures were taken, and the attacks occurred as predicted, leading to loss of lives and property.

Despite repeated cries for security and law enforcement, the police response has been one of negligence, disregard, and indifference. Instead of fulfilling its constitutional duty to protect Nigerian citizens, the police command in Enugu has now resorted to intimidation of local leaders who have courageously stepped up to fill the security void left by the authorities.

It is deeply troubling that while the Enugu Police Command is harassing Hon. Chijioke Ezugwu, similar community security initiatives have been established in Northern Nigeria without council chairmen being summoned or intimidated by the police. For example: in Katsina State, the Yan Sakai vigilante group has been actively combating banditry, with full support from local government officials. No council chairman has been summoned for questioning.

In Zamfara State, the Community Protection Guards (CPG) were formed to defend villages against armed bandits. The police did not summon the council chairmen who backed this initiative. In Borno State, the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) has been operating alongside security forces to fight Boko Haram insurgents. Nobody has been harassed for supporting this effort.

Similarly, in the Southwest, for instance, Oyo State, the Amotekun Corps was established as a regional security outfit to combat criminal activities, including herdsmen attacks. Despite its proactive measures, no summons was issued by the police. In Ondo State, the State Government has backed the formation of local vigilante groups to protect farmers from violent herdsmen and in Ekiti State, communities in Ikole and Oye LGAs set up self-defence groups to combat rising insecurity. Again, nobody was harassed by the police.

Incidentally, the Ebube Agu security outfit, established by South-East governors on April 11, 2021, was meant to tackle rising insecurity in the region. However, it became non-functional due to multiple factors, including inadequate police backing. Reports suggest that security agencies, including the police, did not fully integrate or support Ebube Agu, which further contributed to its failure.

These examples highlight a disturbing double standard in law enforcement. When other regions take proactive security measures, they are praised for their efforts. Yet, when an Igbo council chairman does the same, he is summoned and intimidated.

In the face of rising insecurity and police negligence, security stakeholders, including retired army generals, have publicly encouraged communities to establish their own security outfits to protect lives and property. Distinguished retired officers such as Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd) and Gen. Onyeabor Ihejirika (rtd) have repeatedly warned that Nigerian communities must not rely solely on the police, as recent failures in law enforcement have placed innocent citizens in grave danger.

Otu Oka-Iwu Abuja fully supports community-driven security measures and affirms that these initiatives are constitutional, as established under Section 33(1) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), which guarantees the right to life and self-defence against imminent threats. Section 14(2)(b) which states thatthe security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. Section 20 of the Police Act 2020 which allows communities to collaborate with security agencies in ensuring local peace and stability.

We maintain that the actions of Hon. Chijioke Ezugwu in setting up a vigilante group to combat violent criminal activities within Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area should be commended, not criminalized and demand for the immediate cessation of all intimidation tactics against local government officials and community leaders who dare to act in defence of their people. The Nigerian Police Force must recognize that its failure to ensure security has emboldened criminals while leaving innocent civilians defenceless.

Instead of summoning leaders like Hon. Chijioke Ezugwu, we demand that the police redirect its focus toward arresting and prosecuting violent herdsmen responsible for the attacks, deploying adequate security personnel to protect vulnerable communities, and investigating past failures to act on written petitions by affected Communities in Enugu.

Until these demands are met, communities across Enugu State and beyond must take proactive steps to safeguard their existence, because when the government fails, self-preservation becomes a necessity, not a choice.
Otu Oka-Iwu Abuja stands firm against this continued neglect of duty, and demand that security forces prioritize justice, law, and order above political intimidation. The people must be protected, not persecuted for taking responsibility when the government fails.

Sir. Chidi Udekwe
PRESIDENT
Otu Oka-Iwu, Abuja

By Steve Benen

As the week got underway, Donald Trump and Elon Musk were pals. At an Oval Office event, the president sang the praises of his top campaign donor as he officially exited his White House office, and even handed the billionaire a golden key emblazoned with the White House insignia.

A lot can happen in a few days, however.

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