The FCT Police Command’s Scorpion Squad, have announced the arrest of fourteen suspected kidnappers and the rescue of twenty-three victims, all foreign nationals, from captivity.

A statement by the FCT Police Public Relations Officer Josephine Adeh, showed that the intelligence-led operation took place at about 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 22nd October 2025, at Angwan Adamu Ruga Fulani Zone B, Riverside, Ado Mararaba, Nasarawa State.

“In a major breakthrough against kidnapping and human trafficking, operatives of the FCT Police Command’s Scorpion Squad, have successfully arrested fourteen (14) suspected kidnappers and rescued twenty-three (23) victims, all foreign nationals, from captivity,” Adeh said in the statement on Friday.

The operation followed a report indicating that several foreign nationals had been lured into Nigeria under the pretext of lucrative job offers and upon arrival, they were held hostage by their abductors, who demanded ransom payments from their families via WhatsApp and other online platforms.

FCT police authorities said preliminary investigation revealed that the syndicate is coordinated by one Abubakar Jigiba, a transnational criminal kingpin with known residences in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria while his younger brother, Sougule Zoubere, handles the recruitment, kidnapping, and smuggling of victims from Mali into Nigeria, where they are detained pending ransom payments.

“Further investigations revealed that the victims were trafficked into the country through illegal border routes in a journey lasting about three days. They were subsequently confined in two fortified two-bedroom apartments under inhumane conditions.

“Acting on actionable digital and reconstructive intelligence, the Scorpion Squad traced the hideout to the above address where a total number of twenty-three (23) victims, comprising fourteen (14) males, eight (8) females, and one (1) child, all unhurt, except one who sustained a minor ear injury and has been taken to the National Hospital, Abuja, for medical attention,” the police said.

Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja has stopped the planned 2025 National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) until the party complies with the statutory requirements of the party, the Constitution and the Electoral Act are met.

Delivering judgement in a suit filed by three aggrieved members of the party, the judge also restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting report on the outcome of any national convention of the party without following the due process of the law as well as its guidelines and regulations.

The judge held that INEC is not entitled to give effect to the convention a party not done in accordance with the Constitution, Electoral Act and the guidelines/regulations of political parties.

The plaintiffs instituted the suit seeking to stop the planned November 15 and 16, 2025 National Convention of PDP scheduled for Ibadan in Oyo State where new National Officers are expected to be elected on the ground of breach of the party’s Constitution.

The nine defendants are, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), PDP, Samuel Anyanwu, National Secretary of the party, Umar Bature, National Organizing Secretary of the party, National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum, Ali Odefa and Emmanuel Ogidi

The detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has filed a fresh motion before the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking the dismissal of all charges against him and his immediate release.

In the motion dated October 30, 2025, and titled “Motion on Notice and Written Address in Support,” Kanu argued that there is no valid charge against him under any existing law in Nigeria. He said the charges currently before the court are “a nullity ab initio for want of any extant legal foundation.”

The IPOB leader, who is representing himself, filed the motion under Sections 1(3), 6(6)(b), and 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution, the Evidence Act 2011, and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.

He maintained that the prosecution relied on repealed and non-existent laws, including the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), which was repealed by the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, and the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013, repealed by the TPPA 2022.

Kanu said the reliance on such repealed laws violates Section 36(12) of the Constitution, which prohibits trial for an offence not defined under an existing law. He therefore urged the court to strike out the charges in their entirety, insisting they do not constitute any offence known to law.

Citing the Supreme Court’s decision in FRN v. Kanu (SC/CR/1361/2022), he argued that lower courts are bound to take judicial notice of repealed laws under Section 122 of the Evidence Act 2011, adding that failure to do so renders all proceedings void.

Kanu also contended that the counts against him were allegedly committed in Kenya, in violation of Section 76(1)(d)(iii) of the TPPA 2022, which requires validation by a Kenyan court before such acts can be tried in Nigeria. He said this omission nullifies the court’s extraterritorial jurisdiction and breaches Article 7(2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

He further maintained that under Sections 1(3) and 36(12) of the Constitution, any law or judicial act inconsistent with the Constitution is void. He cited previous court decisions such as Aoko v. Fagbemi (1961) 1 All NLR 400 and FRN v. Ifegwu (2003) 15 NWLR (Pt 842) 113, where convictions based on non-existent laws were nullified.

Kanu urged the court to direct the prosecution to respond to his motion strictly on points of law within three days and to deliver a ruling on or before November 4, 2025.

He stated that his application raises only constitutional and legal questions derived from existing laws and therefore does not require an affidavit.