Sunday’s Headlines: Ekweremadu: Why Obasanjo’s plea for mercy matters, Tinubu Not Under Pressure Over Cabinet-Alake

Why Obasanjo’s Plea For Mercy Matters.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote to the chief clerk of the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, in London, last month, pleading with the court to temper justice with mercy in respect of Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice. They were tried and convicted by the court on charges of organ trafficking and are awaiting sentencing by the court. Obasanjo’s letter was an unprecedented step with, I believe, a genuine feeling and purpose. Continue Reading>>>

Ekweremadu’s case is sad, unfortunate, and pathetic. He and his wife were arrested in May last year by the Metropolitan Police and eventually “charged with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely, organ harvesting.”

No parent who has followed their dramatic change of fortune from important people to prisoners would fail to be touched by their trauma, their ordeal, and their plight. There is no contesting the fact that Ekweremadu and his wife broke a British law on modern slavery, but neither he nor his wife is a criminal in the business of organ harvesting or trafficking.

As parents, they were faced with the health challenges of their daughter who needs a kidney transplant. They were duty bound by their moral and sacred parental responsibilities to take whatever steps they deemed necessary, within the law, of course, to save the life of their daughter. All responsible parents would do the same to save their ailing child. That they took what they believed was the right step, but which turned out to be a wrong step, does not make them criminals. Still, they have to pay the price for their error of the heart before the law. Continue Reading>>>

Tinubu not under pressure over cabinet – Alake

The Director of Strategic Communication of the All Progressives Congress Campaign Council, Mr Dele Alake, has denied reports that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is under pressure to choose his cabinet, with just six weeks to his inauguration.

He also dismissed rumours that Tinubu travelled abroad for medical attention. Rather, he said Tinubu was following developments in the country and was working ahead.

He said Tinubu was in a relaxed mood, working with little or no distraction in Paris and not in a rush to return home.

He stated, “He is relaxing in France and out of the range of pressure. He is taking his time to do his thing. Despite being away for a while, we are always following the news and developments in the country,” he stated.

Meanwhile, mixed feelings have continued to surround reports that the President-elect might be seeking to include people from the opposition parties into his cabinet.

The tension became heightened when a former presidential aspirant on the APC platform, Nicolas Felix, disclosed on an Arise TV programme on April 4 that Tinubu would look beyond the party lines to choose his cabinet and ministers. Continue Reading>>>

Sudan Conflict: UK PM Sunak Calls For Emergency Meeting To Begin Evacuation.

The Sudanese army says it is leading efforts to evacuate foreign diplomats and citizens from the country on board military transport planes, amid growing fears for their safety.

Here, Rishi Sunak has held an emergency COBRA meeting to discuss how to help British nationals who are trapped by the fighting, as officials said they were “doing everything possible”. Continue Reading>>>

All British embassy staff to be evacuated from Sudan.

All British embassy staff in Sudan will be evacuated “as soon as feasible” due to safety concerns following increased attacks on diplomatic missions, according to a British Government source.

Ministers are eager to assist British officials in leaving the African country, which is currently embroiled in bloody internal fighting between the Sudanese army and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

However, a British Government source said any evacuation would be “extremely limited” and focused on the small number of British civil servants based in Khartoum.