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George Floyd’s Family Settles Suit Against Minneapolis for $27 Million

The settlement is one of the largest of its kind, but it may make it harder to seat an impartial jury for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former officer charged with murder in Mr. Floyd’s death.

The City of Minneapolis agreed on Friday to pay $27 million to the family of George Floyd, the Black man whose death set off months of protests after a video showed a white police officer kneeling on his neck.

The payment to settle the family’s lawsuit was among the largest of its kind, and it came as the officer, Derek Chauvin, was set to go on trial this month for charges including second-degree murder. As the settlement was announced by city officials and lawyers for Mr. Floyd’s family, Mr. Chauvin sat in a courtroom less than a mile away, where jurors were being selected for his trial.

Mayor Jacob Frey called the agreement a milestone for Minneapolis’s future. Ben Crump, the civil rights lawyer who is among those representing Mr. Floyd’s family, said it could set an example for other communities.

“After the eyes of the world rested on Minneapolis in its darkest hour, now the city can be a beacon of hope and light and change for cities across America and across the globe,” he said.

But legal experts said the agreement might make it even harder to seat an impartial jury in the case against Mr. Chauvin, which was already a challenge because of the attention given to Mr. Floyd’s death and the intense demonstrations that followed. In the first four days of jury selection this week, nearly all of the potential jurors said they had seen the video of his arrest, including all but one of the seven selected for the trial so far.

Mary Moriarty, the former chief public defender in Minneapolis, said that the timing could hardly be worse for the court case and that Mr. Chauvin’s lawyers might even ask for a mistrial.

She added that the defense team might have reason to worry that jurors’ views could be affected by the deal, if they saw it as an indication that Mr. Chauvin’s actions were inappropriate. Mr. Chauvin’s lawyer and a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, which is prosecuting the case, did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Minneapolis said the settlement was “independent and separate from the criminal trial underway.”

The large payment was a sign of the magnitude of the response to Mr. Floyd’s death, which led to protests in hundreds of cities, changes in local and state laws and a reckoning over racism and police abuse. In Minneapolis, a police station and many businesses were burned over several nights of unrest.

A memorial to George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A memorial to George Floyd in Minneapolis.Credit…Joshua Rashaad McFadden for The New York Times

At a news conference, Mr. Crump said the agreement would “allow healing to begin” in the city. He said the family had pledged to donate $500,000 to “lift up” the neighborhood around 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the corner where the police confronted Mr. Floyd on May 25. The officers had arrived after a store clerk called 911 and said that Mr. Floyd had tried to pay with a fake $20 bill.

Mayor Frey said on Twitter that the agreement “reflects a shared commitment to advancing racial justice and a sustained push for progress.”

Some community members, however, were skeptical of his assertion.

“We haven’t even taken a step, let alone a mile, toward fundamentally changing this police force,” said D.A. Bullock, a filmmaker who lives in Minneapolis. “We’re just waiting for the next George Floyd to happen.”

Mr. Bullock said he imagined that Mr. Floyd’s family would return every penny if they could have him back.

“All I want to talk about is how we’re not going to have police out here killing Black folks,” he said. “That’s really my bottom line, regardless of the size of the settlement.”

Two years ago, Minneapolis agreed to pay $20 million to the family of Justine Ruszczyk, a white yoga instructor who was fatally shot by Mohamed Noor, a police officer who is Somali. Excluding that case, the agreement with the Floyd family is larger than the city’s combined settlements related to police misconduct from 2006 to 2020, according to city data.

Understand the George Floyd Case

  • On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, after a convenience store clerk claimed he used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes.
  • Mr. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, one of the police officers, handcuffed him and pinned him to the ground with a knee, an episode that was captured on video.
  • Mr. Floyd’s death set off a series of nationwide protests against police brutality.
  • Mr. Chauvin was fired from Minneapolis police force along with three other officers. He has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and now faces trial, which is likely to begin the week of March 8.
  • Here is what we know up to this point in the case, and how the trial is expected to unfold.

Minneapolis pays its settlements out of a fund for legal payouts and workers’ compensation claims, and residents have expressed concern that their taxes are subsidizing payments for the misconduct of the police while failing to hold officers accountable. Activists have pushed for legislation that would require officers to carry their own liability insurance, with premiums that could rise after cases of misconduct.

Mark Ruff, the city coordinator, said during a news conference that with cash reserves, officials were confident that the Floyd agreement would not lead to an increase in property taxes.

The settlement reflected the rise in payments over police abuse and misconduct in recent years. In September, Louisville, Ky., agreed to pay $12 million to the family of Breonna Taylor, the Black woman whom officers shot and killed in her apartment a year ago.

Five years earlier, the family of Freddie Gray reached a $6.4 million settlement with Baltimore after he was fatally injured in police custody. Also in 2015, New York agreed to pay $5.9 million to the family of Eric Garner, who died after a police officer used a chokehold on him.

In some ways, the escalating amounts are indicative of growing public support for holding the police accountable, said Katherine Macfarlane, an associate professor of law at the University of Idaho who specializes in civil rights litigation. But it is also an issue of precedent, she said.

“I think that once you have an incrementally larger settlement, it becomes, in some way, precedent to ask for at least that,” she said. “It gives an attorney a way to say, ‘This is what’s been done before on similar facts, but this is even worse, so we should go above that.’”

Mr. Floyd’s family had sued Minneapolis in July, saying that the police had violated his rights and failed to properly train its officers or fire those who violated department policies.

Mr. Crump said on Friday that the settlement was the largest ever reached before trial in a civil rights wrongful death lawsuit involving the police. That it came in a lawsuit over the death of a Black man, he said, “sends a powerful message that Black lives do matter and police brutality against people of color must end.”

Tim Arango contributed reporting from Minneapolis.

Credit:Newyork times

Femi Fani-Kayode’s Wife Reveals Damaging Information About the Ex-Minister

Precious Chikwendu has leveled some serious allegations against her estranged husband, Femi Fani-Kayode.

According to her, FFK started the relationship with lies.

Recall that days ago, Media Consultant to former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, Honourable Oladimeji Olaiya, released a statement accusing Precious Chikwendu of trying to kill FFK and their 4 sons.

The mum-of-four has now responded and she said she’s doing this for the sake of her sons.

She addressed each allegation made against her in the statement by her estranged husband’s Media Consultant.

The former beauty queen denied being a golddigger by narrating how she was already independent and successful before meeting FFK.

She also pointed out that FFK’s accounts were frozen at the time she met him.

She said their relationship started with her “caring and having a deep concern for him while he was under EFCC investigation”. She added that it “later transited into a supposed romantic relationship that became oppressive, obsessive, and abuse.”

She added that her marriage to him was “based on false pretence as he lied that he had divorced his last wife, Regina.”

She also alleged that he was abusive and beat her up when she was pregnant with their first son and the triplets. She alleged he would punch her stomach and get his bodyguards to hold her down whenever she resisted.

She also alleged that with the help of police officers, FFK locked her up behind the counter multiple times and once instructed CSP Aisha Yesufu to handcuff her and strip her naked in front of their domestic staff.

She also claimed that he locked up her family members in the police station too whenever they tried to intervene when he’s beating her up.

On the allegations of infidelity, Precious said she couldn’t have because she “walked around with at least four police officers and three bodyguards” and everyone avoided her because of it.

She insisted she never had any extramarital affair. She added that FFK “perceived every schoolmate, ex, cousin, or male voice as a potential lover over the phone.”

She also spoke about what finally led to the breakdown of their marriage.

Read her full statement below.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT ADDRESSING ALLEGATIONS SURROUNDING MY JUST ENDED MARRIAGE TO FEMI FANI-KAYODE (FFK).

My name is Precious Chikwedu, a graduate of the University of Calabar, Miss Untied Nation 2014, and a Nollywood actress since 2007. Naturally, I maintain a calm disposition when in crisis, being goal-oriented and not a talker of any sort. But I am now forced to respond to these allegations for my children, well-being, and career path.

As a student, I lived a moderately comfortable school life with self-sustaining businesses. Upon graduation, I got a job in a construction company. I bought my first car as an undergraduate and have chains of businesses before meeting FFK. I was also into modelling and had several endorsements as an International beauty queen, in addition to my job; these are verifiable facts.

My Financial Status Before Marriage

I am from a middle-class home where my Dad provides for all my needs. Moreover, I have always been industrious and a provider rather than a collector. Before I met FFK, I worked in a quarry/construction company in Calabar and lived an extremely comfortable life. I could afford cars within my means, caring for my parents and siblings. I built my parents a house in Nanka, my hometown, in 2012 before heading over to Kingston to win the Miss United Nations title in 2014

The Gold-Digger

I am tagged a gold-digger due to misconception, ignorance and some people relying on deliberately planted falsehood. It is unfortunate that when I met Femi in 2014, he already had his bank accounts frozen by the EFCC, and they remain frozen to date. He opened another bank account when he joined the Goodluck Jonathan campaign team in 2015. The present government initiated an investigation based on the campaign funds source. And his campaign account was frozen again. Common sense can show that he may have been financially constrained while I was with him.

My relationship with Femi at the time we met was more of me caring and having a deep concern for him while he was UNDER EFCC PROSECUTION. However, it later transited into a supposed romantic relationship that became oppressive, obsessive and abusive. Femi turned into a control freak that tried to control even the very breath that I took.

Femi posed as a lonely and abandoned man who gave his all to his loved ones but was left alone in his moment of need (EFCC trial). He spoke bitterly of a Regina, who he said fled to her country, abandoning him when President Yar’Adua’s government ordered the EFCC to investigate him for money laundering. The court also mentioned her name.

Marriage Under False Pretence

I want to state clearly that my marriage to FFK was based on false pretence as he lied that he had divorced his last wife, Regina. I found his marriage certificate in 2016 during the EFCC raid at our then home. When I confronted him about this, he said that he is about starting Regina’s divorce process and added that he had not seen her in the last ten years. He further explained that he never fancied her and that their relationship was that of a mother and son kind. At the time I left, he was technically married to her former wife.

On Regina’s claim that she gave her consent for me to be married to FFK, this is a ridiculous and blatant lie. How could she have permitted a relationship she only found out about through social media? This event happened precisely on FFK’s birthday when he deliberately leaked my pregnancy photos after another argument between us and I had to leave the house. He did that to show the world that I was pregnant with his baby. Suffice it to say that we had agreed to keep the pregnancy private before then.

FFK’s Aggressive Behaviour

While I was pregnant with the first child and later the triplets, FFK was habitually beating and mostly punching my stomach. Anytime he was angry and moody, describing my unborn babies as cockroaches or “a thing” that he will knock off my belly. In one of these attacks and kicking on my tummy, my late mom and my sister visited, and they threw themselves in between us to stop him from further attacks. In his anger, he hit my mum in the head. After that, FFK ended up accusing my sister of assault and got her detained at a police station for coming in-between his punches and me.

Whenever I resist his humiliation and beating, he will deploy his bodyguards to wrestle me down. In most cases, he called CSP Aisha Yusufu, the then Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Asokoro Police Station. Who usually would come with her team to harass, handcuff, arrest or lock me behind the counter for hours until Femi was satisfied that I have been punished enough. My siblings were locked up countless times as well. He would always boast of his connections to the government and the system, saying nothing any member can do.

During one of his domestic abuse with the DPAisha and her team from Asokoro police station, FFK instructed that they handcuff and strip me Naked. It was done in the presence of his domestic staff, bodyguards and attached VIP police officers. They injected me with a strange substance, and I lost consciousness. I woke up in a facility, which they later told me is a hospital, not knowing the number of hours or days I stayed there. My triplets were six months old at that time.

As I say this, I am very afraid for my life. He keeps threatening me at every turn. I have since petitioned the Police but nothing has been done yet but I’m only trusting God.

The Breakdown of the Marriage

The intervention of family members and FFK’S social circle was one hold back factor that kept me in the relationship much longer. Notwithstanding how dangerous, especially from Femi’s Mental Health challenges. I wanted to leave the marriage a long-time ago but could not due to the fear factor of FFK. He often lectured me on the crime of passion and how I will not live to tell the story or being looked at by another man. The fear of Femi losing it and hurting my children in retaliation for my leaving did not help matters. Moreover, the death of both my parents within a short space of time made me more vulnerable.

The verbal and physical abuse increased upon my refusal to have another set of children he had instructed and further used his doctor. I planned to travel overseas for delivery during my pregnancy, a decision that made Femi uncomfortable. The doctor told lies that I have certain conditions like placenta previa in my early first trimester and made it unsafe to travel. Other events happened where bullet shells were planted in my shop, my siblings accused and locked up by SARS, and my passport seized by Femi also hindered me from travelling. I concluded that something was not adding up and decided to go for a second medical opinion. I had no medical condition and was misdiagnosed. FFK planned all these incidents to stop me from travelling overseas.

I had a myomectomy on 31st July 2020; FFK disapproved of the doctor; after my surgery at the Hospital, he instructed the domestic staff not to give me food or drinks. Upon discharge, I arrived home to his usual stage-managed drama. I had no strength to deal with that at that point, so I picked my handbag and left with nothing to allow him to calm down, considering his mental health challenges.

He shortly sent messages through friends to tell me never to put a foot in his property, or he would get me locked up for good. It was how he ended the marriage; I left with only the clothes I wore from the Hospital. He never allowed me to park my properties or take my children.

FFK Media Story About My Parents

FFK claims presented on social media that he took care of my parents for years, got my siblings jobs and a residential apartment. The truth is that FFK asked for my mother to be brought to Abuja to stop me from my frequent travels to the East. He could not get me to pay less attention to her as my mom and I was inseparable. My mother was already down with cancer a year before I met FFK. I had provided for her needs to help tackle it but based on her religious convictions, and my mom refused to get rid of her lumps. By the time she got to Abuja, her cancer had spread.

Not denying that FFK made contributions to her chemotherapy and some hospital bills, but I funded most of the money from my savings. Furthermore, FFK was locked up in detention then. On burying my mom, FFK made his contribution, which Rev Okey Onyemachi received, my mother’s brother. It was mostly money to tend to his high-profile guests and give them a comfortable sitting area. My family catered for the rest of the burial expenses.

My Dad was in Abuja for treatment in late November 2019 and passed on on 7th January 2020. The apartment FFK claimed to have rented on social media was the house I rented in December 2019 before my Dad’s birthday. It was because FFK refused to bring my Dad down to Abuja to care for him. He claimed that my father’s people are responsible for the lack of financial flow, according to his prophets.

Sadly, my Dad only spent a week in the house I rented for him before he got critically ill on the night of his birthday. After that night, my Dad was rushed to a hospital, where he eventually passed on.

To date, none of my siblings got even a single referral from FFK for anything, let alone a job. As an in-law, FFK contributed 1.5 million Naira to my Dad’s burial and later said that the money was part of my dowry. He grudgingly did it to allow (traditionally) him to mourn my Dad as an in-law. He had earlier refused to do the rights after our introduction in 2015, after my first son’s birth.

Allegations of Cheating

My years with FFK were completely shrouded; I walked around with at least four police officers and three bodyguards. Friends avoided me even in church as I had a heavy security presence even during offerings and thanksgiving. He perceived every schoolmate, ex, cousin, or male voice as a potential lover over the phone.

I have never had an extramarital affair as dubiously alleged. On the contrary, FFK brought strange women into our matrimonial home at the slightest opportunity.

Claims of Cruelty to My Kids

It is laughable to read the claims of cruelty from someone who has never raised any of his kids physically since I have known him. How can I be cruel to children that I took lots of pains to bear, to make an ungrateful man who complained about having no sons happy? Both births were IVF conceived, and I took needles for months before and after. I take my kids to school, church, playgrounds and shopping and every other thing that could make them happy as kids. I practically shared my days in his house on my social media pages out of boredom. People who followed loved my boys’ love, as these memories still linger on my social media walls today. I love my kids, and they mean everything to me.

I run an NGO that deals with education for the less privileged. I started with primary and secondary school projects as miss United Nations. My love for children has been traceable from time. My accuser is the one who deceived innocent children with a scholarship scheme that turned out to be a fraud. He offered scholarships to three hundred students for top schools in the Benin Republic through my foundation in May 2020.

He did not send One kobo to any student or school. To uphold his honour, I went through the detailed vetting of another scholarship scheme in a better school. FFK abandoned these children and plan after making an empty promise and putting them through complete admission procedures. Suffice it to say that the school and I still bear the responsibility of seeing these kids through.

I tried unsuccessfully to see my kids even at natural grounds, but Femi made it impossible. I refused to go back to the house to see them as every corner of the house, Toilets, Bathroom, Kitchen, Sitting room, Bedroom, the Gate, front of the House reminds me of Femi beatings, stripping me naked in presence of his workers, instructing his Body guards to beat me or using the Police to wrestle me down before putting handcuffs.

These were the demons I have been battling including ignoring his lies and fabrications.

An Indictment on his not so Intelligent Person

Honestly, I have just bared my life of over 20years to the world, but then again, what can I say? I take complete blame for my wrong judgment on the choice of FFK based on empathy and naivety. However, I cannot help but wonder if all these frivolous claims of my indecent lifestyle as portrayed by FFK is not an indictment of his insecure mind.

You cannot have a harlot for a wife and showcase her to the world almost every day with the best captions and poetry to go with it if she is not a fantastic soul. Except for cause, he hides the demonic atrocities he committed while trying to appear as an excellent husband. The FFK I lived with will have the said videos shared if any infidelity claims are distantly valid for ALMOST SEVEN YEARS OF MARRIAGE!

After two heartbreaks, I made one wrong decision, believing that an older man will love and make me happy. All I did was love FFK, fight for him and gave him sons he never had. I did everything for him – I was his barber, editor, nurse (before and after he had his presumed COVID 19), chef, image-maker, and stylist without limit. Physical and verbal abuse was what I got for all these sacrifices. Lies, all sorts of inhumane treatment, and now attempting to keep my tender age children away from their mother. (Sundiatapost)

We Won’t Cede Land For Ranching — S-East Govs

The southeast Governors Forum yesterday, said there was no land for ranching in the region. Speaking through its chairman, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, the governors explained that there would be no land for ranching among the states in the region as contained in the National Livestock Transformation Plan, NLTP of the federal government.

The governor, who also dismissed the possibility of contributing security personnel from different states, also said there was no rationale for establishing a joint regional security network for the states in South East.

The governor said that given the scarcity of land in the region, the states would not participate in the ranching arrangement of the NLTP, he, however, said the region embraced other forms of the programme. He equally said the region accepted free movement of animals into the zone in as much as they do not come by foot because of attendant security problems.

On insecurity, the security challenges in the South East states were peculiar and should be handled with different approaches. He stated that the idea of the region to form South East Security Network is not possible, adding that what is obtainable in the region is a Joint Security Committee, JSC, whose personnel train other local security architectures at various states.

Governor Umahi made the statements while responding to questions during the Channels TV breakfast programme ‘Sunrise Daily’.

“What we have in South East states is a Joint Security Committee which trains Neighbourhood Watch and the Vigilante groups or other local security architectures at different states in the region. If anybody tells you that there could be security personnel contributed from different states to form a joint security for this region, it is not a possibility. It is not workable even if the constitution permits it.

“Every state is peculiar and so is their security challenges. The problem is that those complaining about lack of joint security for South East are not living in the region. They don’t have the knowledge of how security works in the region.

“The governors of South East States are comfortable with the different security architectures at various states because the personnel are working very well. There is problem of insecurity in the region, but the issue is not peculiar to the region alone, it is a national problem.

“We are happy with what our local security personnel are doing at different states. We are not God who assures 100% security but we are trying our best and this what our people want.

“You can even imagine that we form the joint security network and put them in Enugu State for instance, if there is a problem at Ebonyi State which is about 200-300 kilometers away, and then you start mobilising to go to the place, or that we are contributing personnel and you deploy someone from Abia State to go to Enugu for instance, then why are we talking about state police? It is the same kind of arrangement.

” Our local security architectures at different states know the terrain and the people very well and are given the opportunity to secure their environment and the people. That is the kind of arrangement we have in the South East,” he explained.

He also said that there is no much difference between the vigilantes and community policing, adding that the region will not allow the Police Service Commission to take care of the community policing.

The governor who insisted that community policing must be in the hands of the natives equally said “the advantage of community policing is that it has the impetus of the law to arrest and detain suspects, but in our case in South East, we also have the state law which is very good in doing this. However, no section of the state laws will run contrary to federal laws.

“We rejected the template which the IGP brought to us at Enugu on community policing because it did not give the natives the power to control the community police. It is being restructured to give the traditional rulers and local government chairmen the power to control the system.” (thenigerialawyer)

Militants ask governors to account for N55trn of 15% derivation allocation

By Simon Utebor, Yenagoa

A coalition of militants in the Niger Delta, under the aegis of the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA), has urged Niger Delta governors to account for the alleged N44.68trillion of 13 per cent derivation allocation from 1999 to 2018.

It claimed that financial records available to it indicated that from 2018 to date, the 13 per cent derivation funds collected by the region’s governors accumulated to between N50trillion and N55trillion.

The coalition demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari should stop paying the 13 per cent derivation funds to the governors.

Instead, the group recommended that the 13 per cent derivation should be paid to the oil and gas producing communities in the interest of peace, since the previous ones collected by the governors did not impact on the host communities and the people.

These positions are contained in an electronic mail on Thursday by the RNDA Commanding Officer, ‘Maj.-Gen.’ Johnmark Ezon-Ebi, after the coalition rose from its emergency meeting allegedly convened in the creeks.

The coalition claimed that the governors of the oil-producing states had collected the whopping amount apart from the internally generated revenue and monthly allocations from the Federation Account, excluding Excess Crude money,  Paris Club bailout funds, monthly security funds and other funds.

RNDA said President Buhari released Paris Club bailout funds to the governors, running into billions of naira, but unfortunately, the debt profile of the oil producing states in the region amounted to over N1.25 trillion.

It said: “The RNDA, the coalition of militant groups agitating for the overall development of the Niger Delta, most especially for the betterment of the oil and gas producing communities in the creeks, has challenged governors of the Niger Delta to give proper account of over N55 trillion they have collected so far from the Federation Account on 13 per cent derivation from 1999 to 2021.

“The amount is without the IGRs and monthly allocations from the Federation Account. From 1999 to 2018, according to financial records obtained by us, the Niger Delta oil-producing states have received over N44.68 trillion and from 2018 to 2021 they have collected over N50 trillion.

“Despite that Southsouth oil producing  governors are of the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has never denied them the 13 per cent derivation funds monthly.

“The President also has never denied them even the Paris Club bailout funds. They were given to them in billions of naira for over two consecutive times, yet these Southsouth six oil producing states’ debt profile is huge and running into over N1.25 trillion.”

The group opposed the claim of the Southsouth governors by blaming the region’s underdevelopment on failure to inaugurate the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

It accused the governors of abandoning and neglecting the development of the oil producing communities, thereby causing the youth to be restive.

Credit:Thenation

Funds Meant For Arms Purchase ‘Stolen’ Under Buratai, Other Service Chiefs — Buhari’s National Security Adviser

The National Security Adviser, NSA Babagana Monguno, has revealed that funds given to former service chiefs for arms purchase can not be traced.

On January 26, President Muhammadu Buhari removed the service chiefs in persons of the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

The president had immediately appointed their replacements in persons of Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral A. Z. Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff.

But in an interview with the BBC Hausa on Friday morning, the NSA said neither the money approved by Buhari for arm purchase nor arms was met on ground when the new service chiefs assumed office.

Asked why the government is foot-dragging on fight against banditry, Monguno said the president had done his best by approving huge amount of money for arm purchase but the equipment was not forthcoming.

“Now that he (President Buhari) has brought new people (service chiefs), hopely they will device some ways… I’m not saying the former service chiefs diverted the money, but the money is missing. We don’t know how, and nobody knows for now,” he said.

Asked whether the matter is investigated to trace the funds or the military hardwares, the NSA said the president would investigate the matter.

“The President will surely probe this matter. As we speak, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum too is also wondering where all the money went. I can assure you the president takes issues of this nature seriously.

“The fact is that preliminary investigation showed the funds are missing and the equipment is nowhere to be found.

“When the new service chiefs assumed office, they also said they did see anything on ground,” said the NSA. (Wazobiareportersng)

Breaking: After Backlash, CAC cancels annual subscription for Lawyers, Extends Period for Revalidation

Owing to backlash from lawyers, The Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC has canceled the yearly subscription it earlier imposed on Lawyers and other professional agents accredited to it. In its place, the CAC has introduced a one-off accreditation renewal payment. which is still pegged at N10000 for individuals and N50000 for firms.

The CAC had earlier  imposed an annually renewable fee of N10000 for individual agents and N50000 for firms, a move which was heavily criticized by Nigerian Lawyers as extortion.

The CAC has also extended the grace period within which agents are required to re-validate their accreditation from 31st March to June 2021.

Credit:barristerng

State Of The Nation: TERRIBLE! TERRIBLE!! TERRIBLE!!!

From page 14 of Francis Fukuyama’s book, THE ORIGINS OF POLITICAL ORDER comes this: “Everyone would like to figure out how to transform Somalia, Haiti, Nigeria, Iraq, or Afghanistan into “Denmark”, and the international development community has a long list of presumed Denmark-like attributes they are trying to have failed states achieve”. 

Oh, the shame! Published in 2011, this book about political order rated Nigeria a failed state – with Somalia, Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan. And since then, Nigeria has been declining impulsively. 

In 2011 Nigeria was a better, richer, gentler and a much kinder country. A decade ago, Nigeria was by far much closer to Denmark than today. “Getting To Denmark”, was the title of a paper co-written by two World Bank social scientists – Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. That “Denmark” stands for anywhere that is blessed with stout and effective political and economic institutions. Fukuyama listed some attributes of such a place: “stable, democratic, peaceful, prosperous, inclusive and has extremely low levels of corruption”. 

Last Sunday, I titled my column REQUIEM FOR NIGERIA and some persons have reacted, mostly to say that I was unduly pessimistic. Pessimism or optimism has no place here, only cold facts do. There are already acceptable ways of gauging a country’s viability or to put it starkly, how alive they are – to their reasons for being. If the well-being of a state depends on the optimism of its citizens, then all we need do is to reprint the dedication page of Morris West’s, 1976 novel, THE NAVIGATOR – “To Those Of Us, Children Still, Who, Even At The Gates of Midnight, Dream of Sunrise, and share among Nigerian so that people would remain ever optimistic about their fatherland. But the realities of life and death in contemporary Nigeria would remain unchanged. 

Here, I have to make it plain that this is not so much a critique of the Buhari administration as it is a cry from the heart. My heart screamed all it could during the Obasanjo administration, when we had the very first opportunities to redirect the affairs of government from the narrow interests of a few to the wholesome interests of the entire nation, with an eye for Nigeria’s responsibility to serve as Big Brother in African and give the black race a sense of pride – by improving the quality of lives of its citizens. I did the same when Goodluck Jonathan was the President. The decay began long ago; the sense of African Risorgimento (Africa rising again) did not go beyond the personality of Zik of Africa. The idea of Nigeria’s ceasing to be a big for nothing country ended with the 1975-79 Murtala-Obasanjo administration. 

As a State House Correspondent when Gen Olusegun Obasanjo was President, I criticised him often, pointing out that all the four aspects of miss-governance (as defined by the late Harvard Historian, Barbara Tuchman, in her book, THE MARCH OF FOLLY) plagued his administration. They are tyranny or oppression, excessive ambition (especially when Nigeria was wracked by the Third Term debacle), incompetence or decadence and folly and perversity. I bewailed the fact that Nigeria needed unification efforts because its components were drifting apart alarmingly. 

In as much as I have to deviate from my original route, to look at the health of the nation, I must try to etch into our collective memory Tuchman’s standard for admitting an error as folly. One, “it must have been perceived as counter-productive in its own time, not merely by hindsight” and its injury to self-interest must have been recognised by contemporaries. 

Secondly, “a feasible course of action must have been available”. A case in point is that of the Cattle Routes, Cattle Ranches, RUGA, free grazing, night grazing, that has heightened over the decades, but has now made the Nigerian political space combustible. Yet, another option, a most natural one, was there all the time but it was disdained; to legalise all cattle and livestock to be confined in ranches. Finish! Think what would have happened if this was done in 1960; an economically beneficial Cattle Economy – beef production, tannery, bone processing, modern milk processing and other ancillary industries would have since resulted. And with the necessity of walking the poor animals from Sokoto to Calabar and from Warri to Maiduguri removed, the children of the Fulani herdsmen would have been attending the normal primary and secondary schools. If such had been happening from 1960, we would not have real and bonafide Nigerian children, in their millions, attending Almajiri schools ONLY, internalising worthwhile moral lessons but learning nothing academic or vocational that would help them earn a living in the world. This is because; even those parents who think the world about Almajiri schools would have been forced to have a rethink when they see educated children of the Cattle Fulanis. Or the states should have legislated such schools out of existence. Just think the wonders that would have come from the inter-mingling of the Cattle Fulani with the others! 

Who remembers “Bauchi Meat”? It was a company that sold beef, refrigerated and in clean conditions, in some cities. Who remembers that the late Bendel state Governor, Samuel Ogbemudia, started Agbede Farms, that had Cattle and even Buffalo for consumable meat? Hey, Obudu Cattle Ranch was actually a ranch the late Eastern Regional Premier, Michael Okpara established. Western Region had its own. So, Nigeria must ask itself how much of what holds the North down and causes trouble in Nigeria, belongs to culture or religion. For instance, against the background of Boko Haram which actually opposes schooling and has been destroying schools and taking students hostage, have we asked about education in, say, Saudi Arabia? From the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, USA, website, (https://www.saudiembassy.net/education) comes this: 

Education is a requirement for every Muslim, both male and female. The Saudi educational system aims to ensure that students are prepared for life and work in the modern world, while meeting the country’s religious, social and economic needs. Eliminating adult illiteracy is another major goal. 

General education in the Kingdom consists of kindergarten, six years of primary school and three years each of intermediate and high school. 

After elementary and intermediate school, students can choose whether to attend a high school with programmes in commerce, the arts and sciences, or a vocational school. The educational curriculums at Saudi schools are diverse. They include a variety of subjects such as math, science, literature, history, Arabic and Islam. The Ministry of Education sets overall standards and oversees special education for the handicapped”. 

Yet, what is the situation in some parts of Nigeria? Some insurgents have rejected modern educational system as satanic. Recently, some state governors agreed to ban Almajiri schools, educate the Almajiri children in modern schools and teach them subjects needed to thrive in a modern country. But some highly placed persons opposed them. So, compulsory education is still on hold. Handicapped children are turned into beggars in Nigeria. Even our Attorney-General and Justice Minister was, just weeks ago, advocating for Nomadic Education; not compulsory schooling for every Nigerian child. The administration in which he is serving has been in office for six years. It did not come in incensed that “Education is both a Human Right in itself and indispensable means of realizing other Human Rights. As an empowerment right, education is the primary vehicle by which economically and socially marginalised adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities”, according to Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (UNESCO). 

Actually, Nigeria had already failed on the education front by 2015 because the second “International Development Goal” had demanded that Universal Primary Education be achieved in all countries by 2015. And in 2021, the Minister was not incensed that Nigeria had not achieved that, instead he was summing up points in support of provision at government expense, modern ranches for herders. The right thing to do is that all persons involved in animal husbandry should bear the cost of their personal business implements and spaces. That is called private enterprise and private ownership and helps development. 

We are now held down by issues involving what some people claim to be the age-old ways of the Fulani ethnic group. Yet, it is common knowledge that human societies were affiliated as families, villages, towns, kingdoms and tribes before modern countries came to be. That is the basic history of the world. Countries resulted when tribal societies developed political institutions, and modified their cultures to fit into given spaces with others, especially centralising the authority that holds the monopoly of military power in a clearly defined territory. The Army and the Police now began to keep the peace, and the legal system administered justice and punished deviants. The result is the rule of law. But does this actually exist in Nigeria? We even hear about the Seriki in Lagos and everywhere! 

Did the rule of law exist for the school boy killed as bandits abducted students of Government Science Secondary School, Kagara? What about all students that had been kidnapped and released or killed? What about Leah Sharibu? Has there been rule of law for the over 33,000 casualties from insurgency since 2011, according to the Nigeria Security Tracker? (The Council on Foreign Relations’ Nigeria Security Tracker is an effort to catalog and map political violence based on a weekly survey of Nigerian and international press. The data presented includes violent incidents related to political, economic, and social grievances directed at the state or other affiliated groups (or, conversely, the state employing violence to respond to those incidents.) Is there real rule of law when we do not enjoy freedom from fear? Any redress for them? 

If not, then that is evidence of political decay; the reverse side of political growth. An egg cannot go on being good. It must either hatch or go bad. Nigeria has gone bad! 

The late Prof Samuel Huntington wrote in the book, POLITICAL ORDER IN CHANGING SOCIETIES, that “Political Order emerges as a result of achieving equilibrium among the contending forces within a society. But as time goes on, change occurs internally as well as externally. New actors appear, economic and social conditions shift. As a result, the preceding equilibrium no longer holds, and political decay results until the existing actors come up with a new set of rules and institutions to restore order”. President Buhari and the APC, here is your chance to bring about a new equilibrium and raise Nigeria from its failed-statedom. Turn this dirge into jubilation. Let Nigeria live and thrive again. Let there be a political discourse and let a consensus emerge. 

Law & Society Magazine celebrates Hajiya Laraba Shuaibu as marks her 60th birthday and bows out of civil service

By Rahila Dauda

Indeed the 12th of March 2021 is a memorable and remarkable day for the amazon and doyen of FIDA Nigeria and the Corporate affairs Commission, Hajiya Laraba Shuaibu who clocked the diamond jubilee today and also retires as a Director at the Corporate Affairs Commission Abuja. She was a former Regional Vice President of FIDA International (North and West Africa) and former chairperson of FIDA Nigeria Abuja Branch.

Hajiya Laraba Ahuaibu was born and brought up in Kaduna State and she is the second child out of 10 children. She attended St Anne’s Boarding Primary School, Kaduna Capital School and also had her secondary school education at Queen Amina’s College Kaduna. She further proceeded to the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where she bagged her law degree, thereafter to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, for her call to bar qualifying tutelage. Hajiya Laraba Shuaibu has been married for almost forty years and is blessed with two children.


Hajiya Laraba Shuaibu is an ardent advocate for women and girls and a crusader against gender based violence, during her tenure as FIDA Nigeria Abuja branch chairperson, the campaign against gender based violence was tremendous and most exemplary, she is also a firm believer and a champion of FIDA’s motto which is promoting, protecting and preserving the rights of women and children, and a lot of FIDANs look up to her both as a mentor and a mother.

Some prominent members of FIDA Nigeria Abuja Branch showered these encomiums on the celebrant. In the words of Chief Mrs Victoria Awomolo SAN, FCiarb, immediate past Regional Vice President of FIDA International (North and West Africa),

‘’Happy, happy birthday, that is what I can say, I wish you many, many happy returns…..Congratulations my dear sis and personal person, Hajia Laraba and happy DIAMOND BIRTHDAY and GLORIOUS RETIREMENT from service! I rejoice with you in your special day today. It’s indeed a double celebration and wish you God’s continued grace, joy, long life and more prosperity in good health and fulfillment. Your star will never dim and you will enjoy the fruits of your labour. You sure look beautiful and fabulous @60!! Welcome to the Elders’ Club!!! God bless you and all yours now and forever. Amen. Enjoy your day to the glory of God’’

‘’A great and happy day indeed! Congratulations to you on this happy anniversary of your birth, my dear lovely lady, my personal person, a quintessential woman, a woman of divine endowments of humility, peace, joy and intergrity, a selfless woman, a woman of deep respect and uncommon empathy, a wonderful lady of panache and distinctive elegance.

A truly happy woman. I rejoice with you as the good Lord continues to lavish His love on you. As you turn this bend and get pulled out of the Civil Service of the Federation in grand style, I wish you an even more spectacular and brilliant life. May you continue to be a beacon of love and light to all whose good fortune lead into your sphere. Here’s to many more great years of celebration. Happy birthday’’ – Lady Ngozi Okogbue. Chairperson, Correctional Centre Service Committee FIDA Nigeria Abuja Branch.

‘’Happy 60th Birthday to my lovely aunty, mentor and all round phenomenal woman, mother and grandmother. Wishing you Allah’s rahama and love on your 60th Birthday and the occasion of your retirement from service. While celebrating an icon at 60, Life with its attendant blessings and exciting possibilities is just beginning for you. Here’s to an amazingly fabulous after-service experience, and to the gloriously memorable years ahead. I love you. Happy 60th birthday Ma’’ – Nachamanda Shaltha, FIDA Nigeria Abuja branch General Secretary.

From all of us at Law & Society Magazine, we say a big congratulations Ma.

World Consumer Rights Day: Danbatta to speak on consumer protection

THE Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has concluded plans to organise a special world press conference to mark this year’s edition of the World Consumer Rights Day, WCRD, in line with its consumer centric regulatory approach.

Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the commission, will address the world press conference virtually on March 15, from the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

This year’s WCRD global theme, “Tackling Plastic Pollution”, is aimed at raising awareness and engaging consumers globally to adopt and promote more sustainable practices which will also focus on the central role that consumer advocates, governments and businesses can play in tackling the global plastic pollution crisis.

Consistent with the theme, the EVC will use the world press conference to present NCC’s initiatives on electronic waste (e-waste) management and other hazards in the country.

During the press conference, he will also spotlight the Commission’s initiatives in ensuring accessible, affordable, and available telecoms services to Nigerian telecom consumers while delving into other initiatives through which the Commission protects, informs, and empowers the consumers.

The highlight of the press conference will be the launching of the NCC Consumer Handbook, a document which provides salient information on the rights and privileges of the consumers and how the consumer can seek redress when their rights are violated by service providers or any stakeholder in the ecosystem.

It will be recalled that the Commission declared 2017 as the ‘Year of the Consumer’ to underscore its focus on the primary place of subscribers of telecommunications services in its regulatory agenda. The year was dedicated to spotlight the consumer not only as a key stakeholder but indeed the most important figure in the telecommunications ecosystem.

With over 200 million mobile voice subscribers and over 150 million Internet users in the country, the Commission has, over the years, demonstrated its commitment towards protecting telecom consumers, making it one of the most consumer-centric public institutions in the country.

The WCRD is celebrated on March 15 every year with the aim of creating global awareness on consumer rights and needs. The WCRD was first celebrated in 1983 and has become an important annual occasion for mobilising citizen actions and solidarity within the international consumer movement.

The Day provides an opportunity to promote the basic rights of all consumers, demand that those rights are respected, and protect them against market abuses and social injustices. (Realnewsmagazine)

Gunmen abduct many female students in Kaduna

Gunmen have abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry in Mando area of Kaduna State in Nigeria’s Northwest region.

According to reports, dozens of young ladies were abducted early on Friday from the school, which is adjacent to the Nigerian Defence Academy.

Arise TV, relying on witnesses, reported that no single male was taken from the mixed school.

The actual number of students abducted had yet to be known as of the time of publishing this report.

Gunmen had recently abducted students from a Government secondary school in Kagara, Niger state.

They had followed with the kidnap of 317 schoolgirls in Jangebe, Zamfara State.

The kidnapped students and others in Niger and
Zamfara states had since been released

On Thursday, kidnappers stormed a college in Uromi, Edo Stste, taking away two persons with them.

Schools would appear to have become easy targets for bandits, kidnappers and terrorists.

Credit :theconclaveng

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