News
UK court to hear final Assange appeal against extradition to US

By Francesca Hangeior
The High Court in London Tuesday will begin hearing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s final UK appeal against extradition to the United States to face trial over publishing secret military and diplomatic files.
Washington wants the 52-year-old Australian citizen extradited after he was charged there multiple times between 2018 and 2020 in connection with WikiLeaks’ 2010 publication of files relating to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The long-running legal saga in Britain’s courts is now nearing a conclusion, after Assange lost successive rulings in recent years.
If this week’s two-day bid to appeal set to begin at 10:30 am (1030 GMT) Tuesday is successful, he will have another chance to argue his case in a London court, with a date set for a full hearing.
If he loses, Assange will have exhausted all UK appeals and will enter the extradition process, although his team have indicated they will appeal to European courts.
His wife Stella Assange has said he will ask the European Court of Human Rights to temporarily halt the extradition if needed, warning he would die if sent to the United States.
“Tomorrow and the day after will determine whether he lives or dies essentially, and he’s physically and mentally obviously in a very difficult place,” she told BBC radio on Monday.
US President Joe Biden has faced sustained pressure, both domestically and internationally, to drop the 18-count indictment Assange faces in federal court in Virginia, which was filed under his predecessor Donald Trump.
Major media organisations, press freedom advocates and the Australian parliament are among those decrying the prosecution under the 1917 Espionage Act, which has never been used before over publishing classified information.
But Washington has maintained the case, which alleges Assange and others at WikiLeaks recruited and agreed with hackers to conduct “one of the largest compromises of classified information” in US history.
Assange, detained in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in southeast London since April 2019, was arrested after spending seven years holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy.
He fled there to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault which were later dropped.
The High Court had blocked his extradition, but then reversed the decision on appeal in 2021 after the United States vowed to not imprison him in its most extreme prison, “ADX Florence”.
It also pledged not to subject him to the harsh regime known as “Special Administrative Measures”.
In March 2022, the UK’s Supreme Court refused permission to appeal, arguing Assange failed to “raise an arguable point of law”.
Months later, ex-interior minister Priti Patel formally signed off on his extradition, but Assange is now seeking permission to review that decision and the 2021 appeal ruling.
If convicted in the United States, he faces a maximum sentence of 175 years in jail.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief, told reporters last week that caveats included within the US promises meant they were “not worth the paper they are written on”.
On the same day, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denounced the years-long legal pursuit of Assange, saying “enough is enough”.
It followed the country’s parliament passing a motion calling for an end to his prosecution.
News
Finally, Senator Shehu Sani Dumps PDP For APC

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A former lawmaker who represented Kaduna Central at the 8th Assembly, Shehu Sani, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, welcomed Sani alongside 49 other political stalwarts who defected to the APC at the Murtala Square at a mega rally held on Saturday.
Sani stated that the defectors would enjoy the same rights and privileges as other party members, stressing there was no difference between a party member who joined it recently and those who were in APC ten years ago.
Sani urged the decampees to notify their supporters of the readiness of APC to accept them into the party as their doors were still open to receive more defectors.
According to him, the popularity and acceptability of APC is because of its just leadership at both the state and federal levels.
He said: “Someone who joined APC today and the one who has been a foundation member 10 years ago, they are of the same status. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges.
“Politics is different from governance. We will be fair to all, whether or not they voted for us, because that is the oath of office that we swore to uphold as leaders.”
Governor Sani, who argued that leaders were not infallible and were bound to make mistakes like anyone, pleaded with the leaders to always point out their mistakes to correct them.
The Governor reminded the APC faithful that the leaders would be held accountable hereafter regarding how they led the people God entrusted to them.
Prominent amongst those who decamped to APC were former Governor of the state, Alhaji Muktar Ramalan-Yero, Sen. Shehu Sani, Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi, the gubernatorial candidate of NNPP in the 2023 General Elections, also former gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Sani Sha’aban, Sen. Danjuma Laah who represented Zone three at the Senate on the platform of PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha, former National Organising Secretary of PDP and Amb. Sule Buba, former Nigeria’s Envoy to South Korea.
News
Gates of Hell to Open in Gaza: Netanyahu cautions Hamas

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to unleash devastating consequences on Gaza if Hamas fails to return all hostages, warning that the “gates of hell” will open if the militant group does not comply.
In a joint statement with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Netanyahu emphasized that Israel and the US have a shared strategy to tackle the Palestinian militants, and that Hamas’s military capability and political rule in Gaza will be eliminated. The Israeli Prime Minister also expressed his commitment to bringing all hostages home and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.
Netanyahu’s comments come as US President Donald Trump has proposed a bold and controversial plan for Gaza’s future, suggesting that the US take over the territory and transform it into a “Riviera of the Middle East”.
First priority for Trump is to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack
The plan, which involves resettling Gaza’s two million Palestinian residents in other countries, has sparked widespread outrage and criticism. Rubio, however, defended Trump’s proposal, saying that it represents a bold and courageous vision for Gaza’s future, one that breaks away from the “tired ideas of the past”.
The US Secretary of State emphasized that Hamas cannot continue to operate as a military or government force, and that it must be eradicated. He also stressed that the first priority for Trump is to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack. With tensions escalating in the region, it remains to be seen how the situation will unfold, but one thing is clear: the stakes are high, and the consequences of inaction could be devastating.
News
Tigran Gambaryan: A Despicable Agent of Malice Against Ginger Onwusibe ,Colleagues

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
A group of civil society organizations under the aegis of Alliance for credible legislative conduct has carpeted Tigran Gambaryan, an American personnel of Binance for attempting to soil the integrity and great reputation of some Nigerian congressmen over unfounded bribery allegations
Top parliamentarians from the Nigerian House of Representatives which include, Ginger Onwusibe who is Chairman House Committee on Financial Crimes, Hon Phillip Agbese ,Deputy spokesperson and Hon Peter Akpanke , are beign spotted by the American for alleged sleaze.
According to the group, the American is attempting to use cheap blackmail to hound and payback the lawmakers after they investigated him for various financial infractions and misdeeds in Nigeria
“It is clear that Tigran Gambaryan having made solo attempts on behalf of Binance to commit huge financial crimes in Nigeria, and having failed miserably to have his way, which led to his investigation and ultimate incarceration, has now turned full circle to unleash a pound of flesh against patriotic Nigerian law makers,( who investigated him) which has now manifested in his fictional claims that he was asked to pay the sum of a $150 million bribe while he was in detention”, the group which is an affiliate of the United of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, stated
Alliance for Credible Legislative Conduct in a statement issued and signed by its President, Abdulrasheed Rufai, PhD and Secretary, Benson Alfred Akor, noted that Tigran was a drowning man who wants to drag credible Nigerian lawmakers along
They added that his case is a baffling orchestrated web of malice and a piece of garbage concocted against honourable members of House of Representatives, and as such should be disregarded by Nigerians.
*Below is the full text of the Press statement:*
“Our attention was drawn to the recent allegations of bribery made by Tigran Gambaryan, an American personnel of Binance against Hon. Ginger Onwusibe, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes; Hon. Philip Agbese, Deputy Spokesperson, House of Representatives, and Hon. Peter Akpanke.
Having looked at the matter painstakingly and exhaustively, we discovered that Gambaryan, who was recently tried in Nigeria for financial crimes; held for months over allegations of money laundering and aiding criminal activities, and was released on humanitarian grounds, after the charges were dropped following U.S. government intervention, is indeed a despicable agent of malice.
It is clear that Tigran Gambaryan having made solo attempts on behalf of Binance to commit huge financial crimes in Nigeria, and having failed miserably to have his way, which led to his investigation and ultimate incarceration, has now turned full circle to unleash a pound of flesh against patriotic Nigerian law makers,( who investigated him) which has now manifested in his fictional claims that he was asked to pay the sum of a $150 million bribe while he was in detention.
Having dissected the position of both the Federal Government of Nigeria, and that of the House of Representatives about the unfortunate saga of Tigran Gambaryan and Binance, we as civil society organizations …… conclude, that what is playing out is a case of baffling orchestrated web of malice and a piece of garbage concocted against honourable members of House of Representatives.
In the light of the above, we hereby use this medium to tell Nigerian people never to fall for the desperate antics of a man already in the pit of disgrace looking for who to rob with his mud.
In condemning this insane, ridiculous and absurd development, it is very obvious that
Tigran Gambaryan is simply on a calculative mission to create unwarranted tension within the National Assembly, embarrass and disrespect the Federal Government of Nigeria. This we will not allow to happen”
Signed:
ABDULRASHEED RUFAI PhD
PRESIDENT
BENSON ALFRED AKOR
SECRETARY
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