The Nigeria Police through the official Twitter handle of the Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyinwa Adejobi, said that the INEC technology guru Chude Franklin Nnamdi, who was transferred to the South-East few months to the 2023 General elections is in their custody. This was contained in a press release written as follows.

“The Nigeria Police hereby confirms that one Mr. Chude Franklin Nnamdi with Twitter handle ‘@chude__’ was arrested in Onitsha, Anambra State on the 18th of March, 2023, and he is being investigated by the Nigeria Police Force National Cyber Crime Centre (NPF-NCCC) Abuja, for cyberstalking, pursuant to a complaint received via a petition, about his activities on social media which contravenes the provision of Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 and other criminal laws.

Furthermore, a prima facie case has been established against him while the case file has been forwarded to the Force Legal Department for further action.

The Nigeria Police Force therefore urges members of the public to familiarize themselves with provisions of the law and be aware of the penalties for violating them most especially cybercrime laws with the new trends in the digital media space.

CSP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI, mnipr, mipra,
FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER,
FORCE HEADQUARTERS,
ABUJA

22nd March, 2023.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on Friday against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during its one-year invasion of its neighbour.

The ICC arrest warrants “have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel.

She added that Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty underpinning the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal.

In its first warrant for Ukraine, the ICC called for Putin’s arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this week Reuters reported that the court was expected to issue warrants.

Separately the court issued a warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, on the same charges.

Russia has not concealed a programme under which it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, but presents it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine a year ago. He highlighted during four trips to Ukraine that he was looking at alleged crimes against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure.

“Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, born on 25 October 1984, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the  President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute.”

According to the statement,  the ICC decided to keep the warrant documents a secret “in order to protect victims and witnesses and also to safeguard the investigation.”

The ICC said in a statement Putin stands accused of the war crime of unlawful deportation from the occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

“The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes.”

The Russian-Ukraine war began on February 24, 2022 after the Russian army invaded the neighbouring country.

(Reuters)