Quite easily, the law can be made to negate its very spirit. That is what we are experiencing in Nigeria with the arrest of some Cameroonian nationals residing in Nigeria. The citizens of Cameroon did not commit murder, rape a Nigerian or disrupt life in their country of residence. They are not arrested because they subverted our politics or are plotting to overthrow our democracy.

They are under arrest because they seek secession in their country and are perceived by the state of Cameroon as criminals. The victims include Julius Ayuk Tabe, Prof. Che Awasom, Nalowa Bih, a lawyer; Ojong Okongo, Dr. Fidelis Che, Dr. Nfor Nfor, Dr. Henry Kumeng, Elias Eyambe, a lawyer; and Dr. Cornelius Kwanga.

The persons were whisked away peremptorily as though this were a military government. For instance, Tabe was arrested at about 19:00 hours in an unnamed hotel by about 15 armed men in military gear.

The arrest of the men is against the background of the declaration of autonomy in the English-speaking parts of the republic of Cameroon. They call the new secessionist area The Republic of Ambazonia. Since its declaration in October last year, the streets of Cameroon have erupted with protests and dozens of its citizens have been killed, including police officers. Out of fear of arrests and persecution, some activists have left the country. About 40 are believed to be in Nigeria at the moment.

The English-speaking people want to assert themselves by separating from Cameroon, which is predominantly French-speaking. Its leader, Paul Biya, has been at odds with the movement and wants to treat the secessionists as treasonous.

Civil rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) raised the alarm and called for the release of the Cameroonians. Hear Falana: “Since the Cameroonians entered Nigeria legitimately, the arrest and detention by the Federal Government cannot be justified under the law. As Africans, the detainees are entitled to human rights, to personal liberty, freedom of association and freedom of expression guaranteed by the Nigerian constitution.”

The barrister, who is standing for them as their lawyer, is right. The arrests were another chapter in official impunity under attorney general Abubakar Malami. The families of the victims have not been able to reach their loved ones, and this is a charge that Falana lodged in the heart of this government. Malami and the Federal Government have not been able to offer an explanation for this in a democracy.

“You will agree with us that by not disclosing information on the abduction to the relatives of our clients, the State Security Service (SSS) has violated section 6 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act,” noted Falana. He explained that the act imposed on any authority “having custody of a suspect to notify the next of kin or relative of the suspect of the arrest at no cost to the suspect.”

If the relatives cannot see them, even the lawyer is also denied access. This is a sort of de facto double jeopardy for the arrested. To arrest them is wrong, and to hide them only equates with the activities of banana republics.

The Cameroonians have been meeting in Nigeria under a body known as the Governing Council of Ambazonia. As Falana explained, they are entitled to the protection of the fundamental rights provision according to Article 20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights that Nigeria and Cameroon ratified.

The charter says, “1. All peoples shall have the right to existence. They shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they have freely chosen. 2. Colonised or oppressed peoples shall have the right to free themselves from the bonds of domination by resorting to any means recognised by the international community. 3. All peoples shall have the right to the assistance of the State Parties to the present Charter in their liberation struggle against foreign domination, be it political, economic or cultural.”

This should be clear to the attorney general and the SSS. But what is going on is the escalation of impunity that we have seen visited on the leader of the Shiite group, Ibrahim El-ZakZaky and the former national security adviser Sambo Dasuki. Both men have been arrested for many months without trial.

Some analysts have advanced the view that Nigeria should not be seen to counter the leadership of Cameroon because they are cooperating with Nigeria in the war against Islamic insurgency. But that has nothing to do with the rule of law. Both countries are signatories.

Again, we should not forget that Nigeria is not the only country that hosts secessionists around the world or persons regarded as treasonous. Recently the Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont left Spain and was not harassed in Brussels where he fled.

We should not forget that our democracy is a beneficiary of so-called subverts who rallied Nigerians and the international community against military dictatorship under Sani Abacha. Our fellow citizens were accommodated and even encouraged in Europe and the United States.

Arresting the Cameroonians is a case of malignant ingratitude and amnesia.

www.thenationonlineng.com

A passenger jet skidded off the runway at Trabzon Airport on Sunday morning, coming to a stop just meters before the Black Sea.

Footage shows the tailplane of a Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800, which had departed from the capital, Ankara late on Saturday, rising from above the cliff edge surrounded by emergency services.

All 162 passengers and crew on board were evacuated safely, according to a local government spokesperson.

(Source: Reuters)

Moscow has deployed a new regiment of its advanced S-400 air defense missile system to Crimea amid simmering tensions with Kiev over the security situation in the Black Sea Peninsula.

The new division of the S-400 surface-to-air missiles was stationed in Crimea on Saturday, according to Russian media, the second such deployment on the peninsula after a first one in the spring of 2017 near the port town of Fedosia.

Russia’s RIA news agency had reported earlier that the new division would be based next to the town of Sevastopol and would control the airspace over the border with Ukraine.

“Starting today, the entire Crimean air defense group has been provided with the latest S-400 air defense missile system, which has no analogues in the world,” Lieutenant General Viktor Sevostyanov, the commander of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Forces, said on Saturday.

The Russian Defense Ministry says S-400 missile systems, known as “Triumph,” are capable of destroying airborne targets at a range of 400 kilometers and ballistic missiles at a range of 60 kilometers. The systems were first introduced to the Russian military’s arsenal in 2007, according to the ministry.

Crimea voted for unification with Russia in March 2014. The West brands the development as Moscow’s “annexation” of the territory.

An armed conflict erupted shortly afterwards in Ukraine’s eastern regions, collectively known as the Donbass. The US and its allies in Europe accuse Russia of having a hand in that conflict, an allegation denied by Moscow.

The fighting has left over 10,000 people dead and more than a million others displaced, according to the United Nations.

The warring sides have so far inked two ceasefire deals, dubbed Minsk l and II; however, fighting has continued almost regularly, and both parties have traded accusations of violating the ceasefire.

Source:Presstv

Cameroon Concord News Abuja city reporter who went to Nera Hotels was refused CCTV footage of the DSS action and assault on the leader of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Betek Kingsley of the political desk met the manager and the designated premises supervisor at The Nera Hotels in Abuja on Saturday the 13^th of January 2018.

We also heard that the hotel refused to hand over the CCTV hard drive to the legal team representing the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The management of the hotel pleaded to us that they have been dragged into the Ambazonian crisis for letting Atam Millan out of the hotel.  A journalist with a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report  who contributed to this report revealed that Atam Millan successfully left Nigerian territory by road and he is now en route to South Africa.

A very flippant but reliable source also hinted Camcordnews that members of the DSS were lifted to the CCTV camera and they removed the hard drive.  A cleaner at the hotel was heard murmuring privately that the manager was told to get rid of the CCTV.

All attempts by Cameroon Concord News at getting to the licensing officer in Abuja met with a stone wall. “The Buhari administration was between a rock and a hard place,” noted a receptionist at the hotel.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai  with files from Betek Kingsley and Rita Akana

The chairman of the House of Representatives committee on IDPs, Refugees and Initiatives on North East, Sani Zorro, has condemned the arrest of Cameroonian separatist leaders by the Nigerian government.

The group leads a movement for an independent English-speaking Ambazonia State, which seeks to break away from the domination of the French-speaking Cameroon.

The men were arrested by security operatives in Abuja and have been held incommunicado, a lawyer representing other members of the group said.

The decision of the government to arrest them has drawn condemnations, with Amnesty International warning against extraditing the activists.

Mr. Zorro said the arrested officials are asylum seekers, and should not be deported because their lives would be in danger. “Deporting them is illegal and it contravenes section 33 of the United Nations Geneva convention under treatment of refugees,” Mr. Zoro told PREMIUM TIMES.

“Nigeria will be committing a major illegality if it deports them back to Cameroon.” He said Section 33 of the Geneva convention prohibits forceful deportation of asylum seekers to where their lives are in danger. He said there is a need for Nigeria to benefit from the policies and best practices of the United Nations as well as countries that have also experienced this kind of crisis.

He added that some of the refugees are less than 2km away from the Cameroonian boarders and Cameroonian soldiers cross their borders in pursuit of these refugees, which is illegal. “They cross Nigerian territories to go to the camp where they are and arrest some of them on allegations of the refugees bearing arms,” he said.

He said the implications are that hostilities can break up between Nigeria and Cameroon. Cameroon has witnessed months of unrest as the push for the independent state intensifies, resulting in clashes between protesters and the police which has led to the death of many nationals.

Anglophone Cameroonians say they have been marginalised for years by the central government and the country’s majority French-speaking population. The agitation for secession heightened in October 2017 when the “Ambazonians” declared an autonomy over their region during the anniversary of their union with the French-speaking side.

www.premiumtimesng.com

All African member states of the United Nations have blasted US President Donald Trump’s “outrageous” and “xenophobic” remarks about immigrants, calling on him to apologize for the vulgar comments.

In a statement issued on Friday, a group of 55 African countries demanded a “retraction and an apology” from Trump after the US president referred to countries such as El Salvador, Haiti and certain African nations as “shithole” countries.

The American head of state further urged lawmakers at a White House meeting to make efforts to stop immigrants from those countries entering the US, and instead accept immigrants from wealthy and overwhelmingly white countries such as Norway.

The African Group of UN ambassadors further said in the statement that it was “extremely appalled at, and strongly condemns the outrageous, racist and xenophobic remarks by the president of the United States of America as widely reported by the media.”

The group also stressed that it was “concerned at the continuing and growing trend from the US administration toward Africa and people of African descent to denigrate the continent and people of color.”

Angered by Trump’s comments, Jessie Duarte, the deputy secretary general of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress said, “Ours is not a shithole country and neither is Haiti or any other country in distress.”

“We would not deign to make comments as derogatory as that about any country that has any kind of socio-economic or other difficulties,” he said, adding that much like their African counterparts, millions of US citizens were affected by problems such as unemployment.

The United Nations also denounced the remarks made by the US president as “shocking,” “shameful,” and racist.”

During the 2016 presidential race, Trump campaigned for “a total and complete shutdown” of US borders on those he deemed as undesirable.

Last week, the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 260,000 immigrants from El Salvador, forcing them to gradually leave the US.

The US president also angered Muslims worldwide by imposing travel ban on citizens of six Muslim-majority nations.