Deputy Senate Majority Leader and Chairman Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Ajayi Boroffice, has revealed that the space agency that should be employing scientists and engineers are employing graduates of religious studies and other unrelated courses.
The senator that said the agency needs to be sanitised, adding that presently, such actions amount to misemployment, considering that the support staff of the agency constitutes about 80 per cent of the workforce.
He stated that for efficiency, the agency needs scientists to constitute about 70 per cent of the workforce instead of what is in existence at present.
Boroffice added that the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is presently scrutinising the employment documents of the agency.
He said this on Friday in Abuja at the annual national space dialogue/media conference on space science and technology.
The Deputy Senate Majority Leader also added that he learnt that people are made to pay between N2 million to N2.5 million for employment, describing it as sad.
He said: “How can you be taking people with religious studies in space centre? It is misemployment when the support staff that constitute about 80 per cent are the workforce. It is wrong.
“We need experience. We need scientists to constitute about 70% per cent of the workforce but the reverse is the case.
“I learnt that the ICPC is around, scrutinising employment documents, I heard employment is earned with N2 million, N2.5 million. It is sad.
“We have to reexamine ourselves. We have to sanitise the space agency so that we can achieve the purpose of nation itself.”
In response, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said the government was determined to correct the mistakes made.
He said: “I want to assure you that this administration is very interested and this minister here is a big champion for space science and technology, and we will continue to do the best we can.
“We are trying to ensure that some additional satellites are put in orbit.
“I will like to assure the deputy majority leader of the Senate that we agree with you about the mistakes that were made here.
“They are also mistakes that you can find in government institutions. But we are determined to correct those mistakes and we are taking the neccesary steps to make sure they are corrected.”
A three-judge panel of the ECOWAS Court has ordered 10 of the third party applicants in a proceeding relating to the payment of compensation by the Federal Republic of Nigeria over its management of the remnants of the country’s civil war, to file before its next sitting, the terms of their settlement.
At the resumed hearing of the suit on Monday, November 30, 2020, the ten third party applicants informed the Court, presided over by Justice Edward Amoako Asante that they have complied with the Court’s earlier order to reach a settlement among the parties.
But during Monday’s sitting, the Court urged the third party applicants to revisit the terms of settlement in the suit, which relate to the remnants of mines and explosives from the war, in order to ensure the outcome was inclusive of the 4th and 5th parties who were excluded from the process.
The Court also fixed 11th February 2021 for judgment in the suit by the third party applicant, (TP3) which had requested the Court to deal separately with their application and also applied for a stay of execution of the 30th October 2017 judgment of the Court in which it adopted the terms of settlement by the 20 applicants in the original suit filed by Vincent Agu and 19 others.
At an earlier hearing presided over by Honourable Justice Dupe Atoki, the judge rapporteur, the Court said it was amenable to settlement while emphasising the need for diligence in the process to avoid wasting its time.
Her Lordship added that the Court for a period longer than requested by the parties to enable them conclude the settlement and file the terms of settlement in Court before the next adjourned date, failing which the Court will proceed to hear the preliminary objection filed by the Plaintiffs, Vincent Agu and 19 others.
The plaintiffs had filed an application challenging the propriety of the Third Party Applicants’ before the Court. But at hearing of Wednesday, 18th November 2020, they informed the Court of an on-going discussion among the parties that had reached a substantive agreement stage.
In the initial suit no ECW/CCJ/APP/06/12, Vincent Agu and 19 others claimed the violation of their rights by the Federal Republic of Nigeria and five others including the Ministry of Defence, the Minister of Defence, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice as well as the two companies retained by the government to undertake the demining exercise.
In the present suit no. ECW/CCJ/APP/06/12 consolidated, ten of the eleven third party claimants sought to be joined as parties to guarantee the adequate and equitable distribution of the benefits of the Court’s Consent Judgment no ECW/CCJ/JUD/14/17 of 30th October 2017.
The Third Party Applicants comprise traditional leaders of all impacted communities, sites and settlements as well as victims of mines and explosives remnants of war in the country’s Rivers, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Ebonyi, Cross River, Abia, Enugu, Anambra and Benue States. In the application which was filed on behalf of themselves and as representatives of the victims and affected communities, the Third Party Applicants are seeking an amendment and variation of the Court’s judgment to reflect their names.
They averred that the first defendant, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has consented to settle the plaintiffs and affected communities but that the suit was to enable the Court order the variation of the mode of payment of compensations beyond the initial plaintiffs so as to include hundreds of other communities impacted and identified in the Court’s judgment.
They added that the persons in whose accounts the monies are to be paid on the basis of the Court’s judgment of October 2017 were unfamiliar persons and were not their representatives.
They equally submitted that the initial applicants approached the Court in secrecy wherein they claimed to be also acting on behalf of the Third Party Applicants, whereas these applicants only heard about the suit in the media after the judgment had been delivered without clarity on the mode of payment.
They are therefore demanding that the monies and compensations be disbursed through the solicitors of all parties including those of the Third Party Applicants, to ensure equity, fairness, transparency, probity and justice for all affected victims and communities.
On the reconstituted panel for the case were Honourable Justices Edward Amoako Asante (presiding), Dupe Atoki (judge rapporteur) and Januaria Moreira Costa. Justice Asante replaces Justice Keikura Bangura who was absent.
“It’s going to be available in very large amounts — it works pretty well. And it’s going to be very low-priced,” Adrian Hill, director of the institute, said.
After promising early trials, the vaccine is going into the final-stage phase-three trials, where it will be tested on 4,800 children in five sites in Africa.
The announcement is the latest good news for British science after a month in which…..
When I read the other day that some powerful patriots in the governing party, the APC had concluded plans to return former president Good-luck Azikiwe Jonathan to power, my soul magnified the Lord that at long last, the most populous black nation on earth would fulfil destiny sooner than later. I hope most right-thinking members of the public could recall part of the last words of the iconic Nelson Mandela on how the destiny of the black race and indeed the future of Africa could be tied to Nigeria’s ecosystem, sorry development. The respected old man, Madiba had noted to a Nigerian diplomat who visited him before he joined his ancestors that: ‘The world will not respect Africa until Nigeria earns that respect. The black people of the world need Nigeria to be great as a source of pride and confidence…’
It is even on record that Madiba granted the interview from which this quotable quote emerged to Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, then permanent secretary, foreign affairs ministry when Dr. Jonathan was in power. It was again unfortunate that some artful dodgers and powerful campaigners in APC outwitted the then ruling party, the PDP and plotted the defeat of President Jonathan who sources said had in April 2015 prepared a blueprint on how to fulfil the vision of Madiba for Nigeria. I understand that the man of destiny from Otuoke, Jonathan took those Mandela’s words on marble seriously because the leader whose tenure prepared South Africa to be a member of both the G-20 and BRICS did not predict his country to lead Africa and the black race. He saw Nigeria as the authentic Giant of Africa.
Again, the APC moneybags we didn’t see as ‘enemies of Nigeria’ truncated Nigeria’s dream of becoming the undisputed leader of the black race when they plotted the strange defeat of Jonathan in 2015. Meanwhile, top sources in Abuja have said that a few oracles in the ruling party have seen that some angry patriots are prepared to sue the party and indeed those who packaged the presidential candidate then for truncating Nigeria’s destiny through the 2015 presidential election. I understand that those who are in the vanguard of revamping the ruling party’s rickety structure before restructuring the country within the construct of the much-needed federalism everyone is clamouring for are behind the risk, sorry expediency of bringing back Jonathan. They want to bring back the good man, the first president who came to office with a doctorate degree. They want to return him with a mandate to take Nigeria from a Third-World, debtor nation to First . It is understood that the arrowheads of the right-the-2015-wrong strategic campaign for Jonathan’s return have bought hundreds of copies of Lee Kuan Yew’s auto-biography, ‘From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000’, which details how the legend, Yew led Singapore from Third to First World. The copies of the book are said to have been distributed to members of a shadowy implementation committee of the #Bring-back-Jonathan campaign.
There is therefore a sense in which we can understand the born-again patriots who have specialised in choosing our leaders. They took us to where Madiba recognised us. They want to bring back Jonathan for a strategic rebound from the brink Ambassador John Campbell, a former American envoy has written about several times. That member of the United States Council on Foreign Relations, Campbell is a ‘prophet of doom’. We should not allow him to weep more than the bereaved anymore about the most populous black nation on earth. Campbell has been part of the people who were looking askance and standing akimbo when Jonathan’s government was being pilloried by the then opposition party, APC, which asked Jonathan to resign because of the level of insecurity confined to the North East then. The then opposition party pointed out through the then national publicity secretary (today’s minister of information and culture) that Jonathan’s administration’s attempt to tag the Boko Haram insurgents as terrorists, was clearly illegal. What was worse, the Obama administration then citing our anti-gay marriage law, failed to sell arms to Nigeria. And when the same Jonathan’s government resorted to a black market in South Africa, to procure arms to defeat Boko Haram, the same opposition elements tipped off the Jacob Zuma-led government and the money for the black market deal and the aircraft chartered for the operation were seized.
Who understands till the present that the man of God whose Mission owns the chartered airplane hasn’t recovered from the trauma of demonisation of the dark time for Jonathan and the Word of Life Ministry of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. That is why I feel that critics of the bring-back-Jonathan campaign should deepen their understanding about the ingenuity of the masterminds behind the deal. It is good for their remorseful moment especially now that they too are beginning to note that people can now understand the artful packaging they did in 2015, which has led to the present darkness. They need to rehabilitate, sorry return Jonathan who recruited foreign mercenaries that once squared up with the insurgents the present administration rejected.
They want to bring back Jonathan who constituted a remarkable cabinet comprising some of the brightest including a Princess, an architect and oil-industry aficionado who turned around the oil and gas industry and institutionalised fuel subsidy as sweeteners and slush funds for party and election management. Now that the fuel subsidy has gone haywire on the watch of the 2015 packaged candidate whose integrity they now know has been grossly overrated, they can bring back Jonathan who can also bring back Diezani Alison Madueke who though is still facing trials on massive corruption charges and has quietly exploited plea bargaining mechanism and returned some dollars to the EFCC treasury being investigated. They can bring back our Jonathan whose wife, a famous wordsmith, an impresario can excite the nation again with some quotable quotes that can make a way for millions of dollars worth of gifts she once confessed to the court she got from executive admirers of her artistry and effervescence. Don’t we need that kind of First Lady again who would not need to disturb, sorry court the apex bank for forex to make wealth? Would you recall the thesis of that wizard called Chinweizu (Ibekwe)? In a remarkable book, ‘The Anatomy of Female Power’ during the IBB wonderful regime, he noted after a reality check, that we should live with a ‘thesis’ that although men rule the world, women actually rule the men that rule the world. It thus appears that the ruling party’s masterminds have just studied Chinweizu’s un-putdown-able book and come to terms with its reality.
Don’t get it twisted please, the bring-back-Jonathan campaigners are post- #EndSARS protest patriots who would like the country to fulfil its destiny. Can’t we all see that what the iconic Chinua Achebe noted in 1983 in his classic, ‘The Trouble With Nigeria’? Achebe the prophet, had in that pocketsize book noted that, ‘the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership’. The ruling party’s restructuring committee may have just realised that the trouble with the Nigeria they now govern is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. Yes, failure of leadership that has lost control over insecurity they promised to deal with in 2015. We need to understand their dilemma: they may have just realised that though they promised to deal with corruption as a bad ulcer that thrives on the medications applied to it over the years, their regime has woefully failed to deal with it. What is worse, for them, even the (yet-to-be confirmed-by-the-senate since 2015) head of the anti-corruption agency, EFCC they have relied on to deal with the public enemy called corruption has been dealing with only few enemies of state actors. And behold, the anti-graft acting chief executive is curiously facing corruption charges. You Why won’t they look for Jonathan’s return, after all, as they may have realised that, in the main, corruption index in his (Jonathan’s) administration was more favourable. Or so it seems.
Some gossips and fake news carriers in the country have been spreading some incredible items around why Jonathan have to return to Aso presidential villa to rebuild the country’s ruined walls. Some have said that it is a masterstroke by some northern elements who want to bow to the clamour for a southern president in 2023 and Jonathan fits in as he can spend only one term having spent one legal term from 2011-2015. The ordinary analysts are saying that in this plot, there will be a strong vice presidential candidate from the north who will eventually succeed Jonathan and spend another eight years. Other mere risk analysts (not oracles) in this regard who claim to be close to the power house in Abuja and the north are saying at different pepper-soup joints that Jonathan’s name has cropped up at this time for a strategic reason: that president Buhari has come across so many documents of some corrupt transactions (in Jonathan’s government) that the former president might not be aware of while in office. So, they want to blackmail him to accept some terms that are still hazy on the 2023 presidential election. I don’t believe in these conspiracy theories at this time. What should be discernible to all is that a game is on. Those who have been playing their beautiful game with Nigeria are at work again. They have seen some good in the man of destiny from Otuoke. They have suddenly remembered the magic wand and statecraft he used to confine insurgency to only Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in the North East. In Nigeria, their Nigeria today, banditry competes with insurgency and kidnapping everywhere we go in the 36 states. We can’t go home for Christmas and New Year because even the government is saying it is hazardous to travel this year. Even the years the locusts ate in Jonathan’s time were not as perilous as we have now. Why won’t they campaign for the man they demonised in 2015 while repackaging a man whose body language they told us could produce electricity megawatts? Since that is the limit of their understanding and knowledge of where they think we should be, let’s doze off again as the artful fixers continue with their sophistry that will lead us to where Mandela would want us to be on behalf of the black race.
The total pension assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme rose to N8.49tn as of the end of November 2018 financial period, latest figures obtained from the National Pension Commission on Tuesday revealed.
The pension commission said 72.5 per cent of the fund had been borrowed by the Federal Government and invested in the FGN securities totalling N6.16tn during the period under review.
The Pension Fund Administrators also invested 6.87 per cent or N584.321bn of the fund in domestic ordinary shares, while 0.71 or N60.529bn of the fund was invested in foreign ordinary shares.
According to the Pension Reform Act, the PFAs manage the funds which are in the custody of the Pension Fund Custodians.
The commission stated that it continued its consultative philosophy in the regulation and supervision of the industry.
According to PenCom, the risk-based examination approach was implemented as a way of promoting transparency and providing early warning signals as well as encouraging pension operators to regularly self-evaluate their positions.
The Acting Director-General, PenCom, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, said in an effort to promote a stable and sustainable pension industry, the commission adopted zero tolerance for non-compliance and consultative supervisory philosophy in the issuance of guidelines and the review of existing ones to further promote sound corporate governance in the industry and ensure the security of the pension assets.
In addition, she said, the commission in 2018, moved to a more risk-based approach to supervising pension operators by aligning its supervisory framework with that of the Financial Services Regulation Coordinating Committee.
“We believe this will promote better risk management in licensed pension operators,” she stated.
She said the commission, last year, released the framework and guidelines for the implementation of the micro pension scheme, which was targeted at increased participation of employees in the informal sector, multi-fund structure and revised guideline for fund accounting as well as revised circular for branch opening and service centre by the PFAs.
“Similarly, circulars on pension enhancement and processing procedures of deceased benefits entitlement were also released by the commission,” she stated.
According to her, the monitoring and reporting of non-compliance with regards to the implementation of these guidelines and other existing regulations remained part of the responsibilities of the compliance officers.
The acting director-general said the commission would continue with its consultative philosophy, transparency and good corporate governance in the implementation of the CPS in Nigeria.
Billionaire businessman, Chief Harry Akande, is dead.
A statement by his son, Olumide Akande, disclosed that the Agba Oye of Ibadanland, who was born on March 3, 1943, died in the early hours of today, Saturday, December 5, 2020.
According to Olumide, “In the early hours of Saturday December 5, 2020, our patriarch Chief Harry Ayodele Akande passed away following a brief illness.
“Chief Harry Akande was an astute businessman of international repute whose legacy and influence cut across continents.
“But by far his greatest passion was for a better Nigeria that guaranteed equity and justice for all. It is our fervent hope that this will be a reality in the not too distant future.
“His passing is a huge shock to his immediate & extended family, friends & associates. We are all grappling to make some sense of it.
“As we seek the repose of his gentle soul, we ask you to in turn to uphold us in your prayers while we pass through this very turbulent period of our lives occasioned by the loss of someone as dear as him.”
The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) acquired equipment to spy on calls and text messages by Nigerians, according to a new report by CitizensLab.
The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto in Canada. The lab focuses on investigating digital espionage against civil society.
According to its latest report “Running in Circles: Uncovering the Clients of Cyberespionage Firm Circles,” Nigeria’s foremost military intelligence agency, which reports directly to President Muhammadu Buhari, may have been spying on your calls.
The lab found that DIA and another body in Nigeria had acquired Signaling System 7 (SS7), a protocol suite developed for exchanging information and routing phone calls between different wireline telecommunications companies.
DIA is reported to have bought the system from Circles, a surveillance firm that reportedly exploits weaknesses in the global mobile phone system to snoop on calls, texts, and the location of phones.
“Our scanning identified two Circles systems in Nigeria. One system may be operated by the same entity as one of the Nigerian customers of theFinFisher spyware that we detected in December 2014,” the report read.
“The other client appears to be the Nigerian Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), as its firewall IPs are in AS37258, a block of IP addresses registered to ‘HQ Defence Intelligence Agency Asokoro, Nigeria, Abuja.’”
DIA’s public address is at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase II, Shehu Shagari Way, Three Arms Zone, Abuja, but the IP trace shows the agency’s location in Asokoro, about 15 minutes drive from the secretariat.
The spy equipment has been active under the leadership of President Buhari as the trace showed their activities from June 2015 — just after the president took office.
In 2019, the president also inaugurated the National Command and Control Centre as well as the first phase of the Nigeria Police Crime and Incident Database Centre, and electronic surveillance vehicles to maintain order in the country.
Members of civil society in Nigeria have faced a wide range of digital threats in the past.
A recent report by Front Line Defenders, a human rights group, concluded that Nigeria’s government “has conducted mass surveillance of citizens’ telecommunications.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also reported multiple cases of the Nigerian government abusing phone surveillance.
All calls by TheCable to the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) were neither taken nor returned.
An investigation by Premium Times had previously found that former governors of Bayelsa and Delta states purchased systems from the same surveillance firm employed by DIA.
The Circles system was reported to have been used to spy on political opponents in past elections in the country.
The CitizensLab reportdid not state instances where the Circles’ SS7 were used to spy on citizens and politicians, but this was the use case in some other countries employing the same systems.
Other governments who may have acquired this equipment are Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Serbia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
A man who was thrown into prison has been set free 24 years after he was found innocent.
The Nigerian man identified as olaide olatunji narrated how he was wrongly arrested, falsely accused of conspiracy to commit murder and thrown in jail after the torture and beatings by the police.
The man who was condemned to death – narrated his story to joint legal action aids after his release from prison.
Read below:
How it started.
I trained as a photographer but back in the 80s, I didn’t have enough photography work to sustain me so I worked with my father who traded in cattle. My father was an old man so i joined him and I used to go to the bush to buy the animals. I was married with two sons…
That year, as the time for the ileya festival drew closer, we were going to supply some companies with cattle so i had to go and buy them from niger state. He listed all the things that i was going to buy – cows, rams and goats. I left Lagos on the 30th of May, 1988 to gwari in niger state. I had to go inside the bush to select the animals I wanted so that I would get a trailer to convey them to Lagos.
The arrest.
Because of the language barrier, I needed an interpreter for the negotiations. We were in the bush when some policemen came and asked me if I was a visitor. I said yes, I was a visitor that I had been coming to the village for many years. The man said they were looking for people who ran into the bush.
I said I didn’t know anything about it that I was selecting rams there. Then they arrested me and took me to the police station even though the interpreter told them I had been coming to the village for some time.
The next day, the 1st of June, they said the case could not be handled at that station and it was transferred to the State CID at niger. From there they transferred me to Ilorin in Kwara state. All the while, I never knew what they were accusing me of. After a week, some policemen came from Lagos, they said they were from the anti-terrorist squad and they conveyed me and some people that were arrested with me to Lagos.
I was with n325,000 cash which i wanted to use to buy cows at niger. The money followed me up to Ilorin but when we got to Lagos, I didn’t hear anything about the money again. The policemen did not give me or my family members.
Pain, torture and trial
They took me to Adeniji adele police station, Lagos. That was when they started giving me hell. They hung me, beat and tortured me. That was the day I knew they were accusing me of murder. They said somebody was killed in Lagos and his car was snatched and they later found the car around the village where I was in gwari.
The policemen said the people fled into the bush that was why they were looking for visitors around that area. All the while I had no idea why i had been arrested. The confessional statement in my case file, they wrote it themselves and forced me to sign. After that they transferred me to ikoyi prison and that was where they resumed another round of torture.
I spent almost 9 months there before they took me to court with four other men. I didn’t even know those men. They charged us all for conspiracy to murder. My lawyer told me to plead ‘not guilty’ so I did and from there they took me to kirikiri medium-security prison.https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ZxUDGQeDA4?autoplay=1&controls=1
Sentenced to death
Four months later, they said we had a case to answer at apapa court. Osibodu jaydis babajide after reading the charges, they took us back to ikoyi prisons. The trial started in 1989 and it ran on for 6 years.
On February 15, 1995, justice da silva sentenced me to death. I told the judge that day, “you have condemned me, but God did not condemn me.” My mum, my dad, my children and family members were in the court that day. I was transferred to the Kiri Kiri maximum security prison.
Life as a man sentenced to death.
They put me in a condemned cell. It was hell on earth. They kept 9 of us in a very small room. That was where we took our bath, ate, slept, defecated and eased ourselves. There were no beds. Who would give us beds? By law, they don’t let any condemned man come out. But sometimes, they let us out for about one hour in a day. Life in the prison was very rough. There, i hardly slept. The prison authorities gave us food but not good food.
In the condemned prisoners cell, you wouldn’t know which day they will call you and just execute you. In 1996, i can’t remember the date, we were 9 in the cell. They took 8 of them out, they never brought them back. When they call your name like that, you know what will happen. They executed all of them.
Then, when we want to communicate with our family or our lawyers, we go to the welfare unit and write a letter. We must wear our blue uniform and they’ll put handcuffs and chains on our legs. Any time we wanted to come out to welfare, or clinic or for visitation, they’ll put the handcuffs on us. That was until 2002 when we protested and they stopped it.
I have been hearing of what has been happening in nigeria. I have been hearing of boko haram, of obasanjo, of goodluck jonathan. All the information we have there is carried over information, you can’t get the exact information. It is what they say to us that we will believe.
My brothers used to visit me. My parents died when i was in prison and they told me. I felt bad but i could not do anything. I just prayed to god not to let me die in prison.
Around the millennium time, my family members brought a phone to me at the prison but it was not approved. I had to sneak it in and we hide to use it. If the prison wardens catch anyone with a phone, they will send the person to prison inside prison. Real torture.
Wife and children
As a young woman, if my wife was my sister, i would have even advised her to marry someone else because no one knew when i was going to come out. I won’t advice my sister to wait for a man who doesn’t have hope of coming out. She has married again and i don’t feel bad about it. My children used to come once in a while but they don’t really know me. Now that i am out, they will know me better.
What keep me going.
My biggest encouragement there were the christian brothers. They were very good to me. They took care of us, especially the catholics. They didn’t want to know whether you are an idol worshipper or whatever, they will just embrace you. I’m very close to the church now. When god does something for you, you just have to give thanks to god.
I thank god for pastor ariyo popoola. He had been coming to prison for a very long time. He used to come and talk to us, preach to us, tell us that this is not the end of life and that we could become something in future. At that time, so many lawyers had duped my family, collected money and just dropped my case.
One day in 2005, he came to me and said he wanted to take up my case. Then, they used to call me mr. No hope. I didn’t believe him, i said he should go. He came back again after some months and said he wants to take my case. I said “is it by force, i won’t give my case to you”. But somebody encouraged me telling me that afterall, he was not asking me for money or anything like that. He introduced me to chino obiagwu, the executive director of ledap and kingsley ughe,the chief lawyer of jlaa.
When i met them, the first thing they said to me was “my friend, we am taking up your case and we are going to win that case. Are you ready to sign for us?” I said i will not sign with biro, i will use thumbprint. Then they said “i will give you a warning. Don’t call us, don’t send anybody to us. Are you going to have patience?” I said, “is it me that you are talking to about patience?”
The final appeal
I didn’t even have faith at all. Sometimes, when pastor popoola came to prison, i would hide from him. The prisoners don’t go to the court of appeal, it is only the lawyers that were representing us. He didn’t even tell me anything and i didn’t bother to ask. Sometimes they were communicating with my family but i didn’t believe anything will happen.
The call to change and go home.
On the 5th of june 2012, they called me to come to the welfare unit to get the progress of my case. I said i wasn’t not going there. Some people that were sitting with me said i should go but i said i wasn’t going, that they will just be lying to me. Later i called pastor popoola. He said “egbon” (big brother), i said “wetin be dat” (what is it?). He said “o ti sele o” (it has happened). He said the court of appeal has let me go. I just started shouting, i didn’t know what to do, how to thank him. I was very happy.https://www.youtube.com/embed/xK4_NfwHEHE?autoplay=1&controls=1
My views about police and the nigerian justice system.
The police are bad, they are not doing a good job. They are killing innocent people. Lawyers will collect your money, they will not do any job. If a person has spent 6 years on trial and is sentenced to 15 years, they will not count the years spent on trial, they will just start counting the 15 years from the judgment day.
Justice was not done in my case. Justice is for only people that are rich and it is not supposed to be so. Justice is supposed to be for all nigerians. The man who calls himself a judge will see the truth and will not even listen. My judge was biased towards me and i don’t know why.
We still have people languishing in that prison. People that have spent 28, 30, 33 years. The government is not doing well. How long will somebody be in prison? Which time will he spend the rest of his life? Let the justice prevail.
People are changing there. A lot of people are becoming born again. Imagine, somebody who did not go to school for his whole life will attend primary school, secondary school and go to open university there. Let the government come to the aid of these poor men. A 14 year-old boy is in prison there charged for robbery case.
Looking ahead.
I will still go back to my job. If the government wants to help me, fine but i believe my family and my children will take me up. I’m very hopeful. The rest of my life is going to be a very good life because i am going to take everything so easy. If it comes, i give thanks to god, if it doesn’t come, i give thanks to god almighty
Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu was the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC. He is a human rights activist, lawyer and writer.
He is currently the senior team manager for the Africa Programme of Open Society Justice Initiative. In this interview, he x-rays the fight against corruption by the present administration and gives a damning verdict.
He also argues that the damage which the current Service Chiefs have done will take a long time to heal By Clever Advertising Excerpts: Establishment of EFCC, ICPC has not deterred corrupt practices in the country, how else can we fight corruption? Corruption has been a crime that looks like the only people who commit it are those whom the government doesn’t like or who have fallen out of favour with the President.
The institutions you mention as well as the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal have been captured for the most part by government. That is why the CCB will be resistant to access to asset declarations by politicians. And why will the CCT issue an ex-parte order to depose a Chief Justice and appoint his successor? You see, as we speak the former Chair of the Asset Recovery Panel, Okoi Obono Obla, is under trial for allegations of corruption. Ibrahim Magu who was at EFCC has been recommended for prosecution.
You will notice that every Chairman of EFCC since Nuhu Ribadu has left under a cloud or been hounded out. I am not even speaking here of inter-agency rivalries as between the Attorney-General and the EFCC Chairman. So, to answer your question briefly, anti-corruption has itself been abjectly corrupted. Some have suggested traditional means of oath taking as a way to discourage corruption, do you think this can work? We are too invested in appearances of piety rather than conviction, honesty and accountability.
There is nothing in the laws or processes to preclude anyone who wants to swear with a matchete or on coral beads or inside a coven full of witches and wizards, from doing so. That is their problem. But no one can be forced or compelled to take an oath in a manner they don’t necessarily believe in or subscribe to. If we have no rational means of nurturing civic virtue and persuading people to take it seriously, all the shrines in Africa and beyond will be irrelevant to us.
Can we find a Nigerian, whether in public or private sector, who is not corrupt? Of course there are loads of honest Nigerians, in the millions indeed. I meet them every day. They are in some of the places we call awful too – police, universities, judiciary, armed services. And some quite corrupt people are also in some of the places we regard as virtuous – like churches and mosques and ashrams and temples and places of worship.
The country has been arrested, however, by bandits masquerading as politicians. Is it possible to rid society of corruption? What is important in my view is to have a country in which people know there will be consequences for corrupt malfeasance. Which part of that is difficult? Nigerians want someone who will do something resolute to diminish corruption, end impunity for it or the selectivity which makes it a crime that only enemies of the President are tarnished with. What are the challenges of fighting corruption? You need capable institutions to do it. And you need determined leaders too. You need clear rules and dedicated professionals who will apply the rules with clarity and consistency. In Nigeria, we run a system that is still largely based on affinity rather than rationality and evidence. That requires committed leadership to change it and we have not had that in a long while, surely not under Buhari. The reason this is so galling is because Buhari explicitly made fighting corruption his campaign platform. That turns out to have been a lie. He didn’t believe it. READ ALSO: We’re not sure of reopening in 2020 ― ASUU regrets No place or vocation is immune to corruption. No place is also immune to virtue. The real challenge is creating a system of rational incentives that encourages civic virtue and discourages vice. That requires fidelity to rules and a sense of fair shakes. The problem General Buhari has is that his regime has no regard for rules and fairness for him means sectional partisanship. In his response to weekend massacre of Borno farmers by insurgents, Buhari said he had given all the needed support to the armed forces to take all necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory. What else do you think still need to be done? Where did you see Gen. Buhari’s response? Or where did you hear him speak? We may never know the number of Nigerians killed in Zabarmari, nor their identities. I have read 43, 45, 78, 110. In a sense the filigree of numbers tells you all you need to know really. In any case, these were scores of Nigerians killed in the most gruesome possible manner: bound, gagged, drawn, quartered, decapitated. All for the heinous crime of going to their farms. What has the President done? He is MIA, bunkered inside the presidency. No one can see him. Instead, he sends out one of his horde of inebriated spokespersons to say something deranged as usual and to abuse the victims with the idea that they did not get clearance to go to their farms. President Buhari has gone to Ndjamena. He has gone to Bamako. To get to Bamako, he’d have to overfly Southern Kaduna. To go to Ndjamena, he’d overfly Borno. But he doesn’t have the time to drop in and visit the victims and communities or show he cares. It is evident that as a leader, the man is devoid of empathy or fellow feeling. He cannot say he has given all the necessary support to the armed forces when he has kept the same inept Service Chiefs for over five years while all this death and destruction has unfolded over growing killing field. The consequence is that morale in the officer corps is destroyed. Generations of successor commanders have retired while these Service Chiefs are presiding over a growing despondency in the Armed Forces. Do you believe sacking the Service Chiefs will have any impact? Let me ask you: “Do you believe that keeping these Service Chiefs is the answer to our present security crisis? The damage they have done will take a long time to heal (if at all it will heal). Vanguardngr.com
Backpack strapped to his torso and lunchbox subdued by the firm grip of his right palm, Boluwatife Omelaja had left his home at Isawo, Ikorodu for school in Igbolomu — stout and ready to take on the day’s activities. He never knew that bidding his parents goodbye would be the last shot he gets at seeing their smiley faces. It was the same day his school brought home the 14-year-old boy’s corpse to his parents, stating he slumped in front of the class while attempting a mathematical equation.
It all started at around 9:57 am on November 26, 2020. One moment Ramon Omelaja, his father, was busy with an apprentice at his furniture workshop. Another, he was headed for Elihans College in Ikorodu on an Okada after he had received a panic call from the school’s proprietress, whom he said cried over the phone that Bolu, his son, had a medical emergency. According to him, it was along the way that he spotted the school ambulance inside of which he sighted his boy lying motionless in the company of some staff of the school.
“On entering it, I lifted my son’s arms and it fell off lifelessly. I touched and he wasn’t breathing. We started hitting his chest; he didn’t budge. At that moment, I had started weeping. I demanded to know what happened again and I was told they rushed him to a medical centre and were redirected to the General Hospital, Ikorodu. I interrupted, saying, ‘But this boy you say you’re taking to the hospital is actually dead’. Yet, as a father, I hoped that if my son received oxygen therapy, we would be able to resuscitate him,” Ramon said in an interview with TheCable Lifestyle.
“I suggested we head to the nearest hospital since the place where this incident transpired was far from the General Hospital. We got to Victory Hospital, Isawo. They ran tests and noted there was no pulse. Panicky, I pleaded, asking if we can rush him to another medical centre. They agreed. We were still along Isawo road when the husband of the proprietress called. They were coming from home because Victory Hospital, which we got to, is close to them. I had panicked such that I was unsure what to do next. We all headed for another medical centre called Bethel Hospital.
El-Bethel Hospital
“The attendants protested that we shouldn’t have brought him out of the vehicle, noting that they’d rather examine him there. I begged them to get started irrespective. They tested to no avail, at which time I was already sprawling on the ground hysterically. They started asking the proprietress’s husband how he’s related to Boluwatife. As an adult, I knew that sort of question meant something had gone wrong. ‘I’m his father,’ I replied them. ‘Tell me what has happened’. That was when he was declared dead. As Muslims, we’re required to bury our dead under 24 hours.”
It was when Bolu’s elder brother, who was in the SS2 class of the same school, returned that fresh claims surfaced.
‘They left him without medication’ — brother alleges Bolu was flogged, punished
Bolu’s elder brother speaking with TheCable Lifestyle
An older brother to Bolu, who is only one class ahead of the deceased boy, told TheCable Lifestyle that he was in an English class when he was informed his brother had fainted. He said water was poured on his head to resuscitate him while a spoon was stuck into his mouth as in the case of a seizure to prevent a patient from biting their tongue. He said Bolu was transferred to the school’s sickbay, which he said had no one in it as of when he paid a visit.
“I was surprised because he wasn’t sick before then. When I saw him, his face had changed. They took him to the sickbay and, for five minutes, they did nothing. I suggested alongside the vendor woman that he is rushed to the hospital. But we were told a vehicle was coming. Bolu was breathing heavily. This prompted Mr. David, a teacher, to ask if he had asthma. I told him there was no such thing. The bus arrived. My brother was put in while three teachers joined in for the hospital. I asked to follow but Mr. Seun, my teacher said ‘no need’,” the boy (name withheld) narrated.
“I cried back to my class and lost interest in the English session. At this time, my brother’s class in SS1 had started leaking information to my class that Bolu only fainted after he was flogged and that he was initially being accused of pulling a fainting prank. I returned to SS1 and his classmates confirmed the story. I met my teacher during the long break to ask how my brother was doing. He’s said he had recovered but the bus with which they took him had yet to return. I was at the cafeteria when his mates kept saying he was flogged. I went to meet my teacher during the seventh period when I noticed the ambulance had returned to the school without my brother. He said all was well.
“I fetched his bag, trousers, shoes, and lunch box when the school closed because he left only with a shirt. His meal was untouched. I asked my teacher for money to go home because of the luggage I had. I noticed something was off. At home, I met my elder brother and my other younger brother. They were locked out. It was one of my friends in the neighbourhood that took me to the sidelines and broke the news of Boluwatife’s death. That was when I started explaining what happened at the school. My brother and I were both Art students. He was in SS1 and I’m in SS2.”
On November 27, Ridwan Oyewunmi, Bolu’s eldest brother, who went public with the case, alleged the school and one Emmanuel Kayode, a teacher alleged to have flogged Bolu, were trying to cover up what caused the boy’s death.
‘We went to police but it won’t bring Bolu back’ — family backs down on suit, withdraws case
Ridwan: ‘They had time to save his life but left him in sickbay’
On the day TheCable Lifestyle visited the family, Ramon and his eldest son had left home for the High & Magistrate Courts, Ikorodu, to get an affidavit evidencing their resolve not to file a lawsuit against the school. Ramon said they had reported the case to Owutu Police Station in Ikorodu a day after the death. He added that Emmanuel was also asked to write a statement, which he did, but the family decided to withdraw the case after Margaret Okonkwo, the DPO, asked what they would like to do. According to him, he decided he couldn’t go through the rigour of court sittings while mourning the loss of a son.
Ridwan, who expressed doubts about the standard of the sickbay in Elihans College, claimed to TheCable Lifestyle that the school had enough time to have Bolu hospitalised after he was initially resuscitated but didn’t until he died. While corroborating his junior brother’s account, he alledged the school authorities had made up lies to preserve its image in a move that prompted him to go public. Ridwan also mentioned that the family isn’t filing any lawsuit.
“Boluwaife is my younger brother, our second born from my mother’s side. I didn’t intend to raise the alarm. It was when they cooked up a story that my brother slumped without anyone touching him that it became clear I had to do something. One of my brothers narrated what happened when he returned from school but the school denied it, saying no such thing happened. I took to Twitter out of anger. Why would they lie just because they want to protect the school’s image? I was at home that day, on Thursday. Mum left because my dad told her to come,” he explained.
Owutu Police Station
“He talked about oxygen but didn’t tell her anything about my brother. He came back around 11 am; I was sleeping. But he later told me my brother died after the school said he slumped. I was like, ‘How’s that possible when nothing was wrong with this boy?’ It was until around 5 pm before we started hearing the teacher had actually flogged him.
“I was actually pissed because they had enough time to save his life, yet, transferred him to the sickbay instead of taking him to the hospital when he woke up. They had enough time but they abandoned him in the sickbay without any treatment —nothing. They just kept saying the bus was coming until the boy died. We’ve withdrawn the case. Let’s leave everything to God. There’s nothing we can do. If we do anything else, it won’t bring my brother back.”
‘We’re looking into it as directed by CP’ — Lagos police breaks silence as school shuns press
On the case, TheCable Lifestyle visited the police station where Emmanuel is believed to have been held to speak with the DPO but she declined to comment. Muyiwa Adejobi, the Lagos police spokesperson, however, said the force was expecting the report from its investigation. “The matter was not reported to the police. Our attention was called to it in the news. However, the CP (commissioner of police) has directed the DPO to look into it and do the needful. We’re presently looking into the case as directed. We’re waiting for the interim report from the DPO,” he said.
Jolaoso Michael, a staff of the school identified as a vice-principal, was severally contacted but refused to comment. TheCable Lifestyle also reached out to a certain Oludashe, who was identified as a member of the school management, but he stated that he had been ordered to make no comment on the case. TheCable Lifestyle visited the school, which had been shut temporarily with the exclusion of final students, who are presently writing their exams, and was denied both entry and access to the school officials. State government officials deployed to examine the death case also refused to address the press.
Health expert suspects blood sugar drop, says autopsy could have revealed the cause of death
When contacted, Goke Akinrogunde, TheCable’s health analyst, who doubles as chairman of the committee on medical negligence for the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Lagos, deduced that the deceased boy could have suffered a case of hypoglycemia, a medical condition marked by a drop in blood sugar to abnormal levels. He said this could cause a variety of symptoms including loss of consciousness, seizures, or death if not well managed. He, however, noted that conducting an autopsy on the deceased before he was buried would have revealed the cause of his death assertively.
Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) deployed to examine the school
“Based on my deductions on the 14-year-old’s case from experience, if the young boy doesn’t have an acute case of any pre-existing illnesses, then he most likely must have missed his breakfast, although it can be added that an autopsy would have brought the cause of the death out assertively, the physical stress of that punishment he was given apparently led to a hypoglycemia crisis. This simply means that his blood sugar could have taken a drop and the body needed to maximally limit stress on the whole system. That’s why one would likely faint,” Goke explained.
“If that was not reversed by the simple mechanism of just taking a bottle of sugary drink, it affects the brain. Since the brain controls heartbeat and respiration, permanent damage can result or even sudden death. For that young child, it’s unfortunate. From the description that the child fainted; was later revived and kept in the sickbay; started gasping for breath, it’s possible it was a problem that started with just missing breakfast. The public health message that some of us have drummed is that there is no basis to have a physiological fast beyond 12 hours of the last meal.
“Before you leave your house, make sure you eat something. It could be two slices of bread. Other combinations can go but make sure that your body doesn’t have sudden blood sugar demands that can cause crisis under stress. Also in the public domain is the campaign that what is worth doing at all is worth doing well. When the government sets up a protocol for school registration, there is always the clause that there must be a sickbay. A sickbay isn’t about having the finest furniture there. There should be qualified personnel. Some require just one, starting from a nurse.
“Others could be as big as the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) schools that you have a doctor and a retinue of experts. This is something we should all emulate because there can be a critical situation like what happened in the Ikorodu school. The presence of a health practitioner would have ensured there was someone to raise alarm and apply first aid. Sometimes, you just need glucose-containing intravenous infusion to save the person. In the absence of that, you have situations like this, which can be checked with a glucometer which should be available in health facilities. So aside from the need to end physical punishment in these schools, they must be equipped no matter how small.”
Lagos commissioner kicks against flogging students, says the school has been summoned
Folashade Adefisayo, the Lagos commissioner for education, reiterated the state ministry’s stance on corporal punishments for students among both public and private schools while speaking with TheCable Lifestyle on Thursday.
She said the ministry has had a policy statement pursuant to the Child Rights Act, which was introduced in Lagos back in 2007. Adefisayo noted that the Elihans College teacher involved has been detained. The commissioner also said that the ministry has initiated procedures to address the school as investigations continue.
A representative of DSVRT speaks with TheCable Lifestyle at Elihans College in Ikorodu
“We don’t allow flogging as a matter of principle. The Child Rights Act states that discipline shouldn’t be punitive but corrective. It is a law but, pursuant to that, we do have a policy statement about flogging. We don’t flog in any Lagos public schools. It’s not allowed. By extension, it applies to the whole school system in the state. So whatever that man did is not allowed. We’ve gone there. The man is under arrest. We spoke with the school principal. We will be having a meeting with her and the owner of the school tomorrow (December 4) in our office,” Adefisayo said.
“You’re not the one who told me about it. Immediately I was informed about two days ago, we went down to the school. So that teacher who flogged the boy denied it but he’s already in police custody. We have seen the parents of the child who was flogged. Quality Assurance (department of the ministry) has done a lot of things. It’s a police case. We won’t do anything in the ministry other than what we have done. As soon as the case is cleared and we’re sure of the directions, we will address the issue of the school. As for the teacher, he’s definitely under arrest.”
Our site uses cookies. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you direct Law and Society Magazine to store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Statement: cookie policyACCEPTREJECT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
