Professor Hamman Tukur Saad, Chairman of the Federal Government Visitation Panel on the University of Lagos (UNILAG) said he regretted signing the report of the panel.

He stated this in a letter to the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari. His letter was dated Tuesday, November 10, 2020.

Professor Saad said, “As Chairman, I didn’t want to sign the final report but I felt that would be a slap on the face of the government and it would generate so much bad publicity in the public domain, that I would rather sign on the understanding that the matter would be referred to the Shehu of Borno as the Chancellor.”

He told Professor Gambari that as soon as the panel was inaugurated, he secured the mandate of the Federal Ministry of Education to bring in the Chancellor to mediate in the UNILAG crisis and that the “Final recommendation of the panel was that the matter should be referred back to the Chancellor, irrespective of what the panel recommended.”

Professor Saad lamented that “As it stands now I feel I was made a fool of and stabbed on the back by people I trusted.” He added that “Furthermore, It will be impossible for any Council to manage a university in this country if the recommendations of the panel are implemented in a Whitepaper.”

He complained that “A Whitepaper based on the report submitted by the panel and neglecting the final recommendation of referring will raise many questions.”

Professor Saad had also in a letter to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, cast doubt on the integrity of the report submitted by the panel on Thursday, 17^th September 2020.

In the letter dated October 7, 2020, titled RE: SUBMISSION OF REPORT OF THE VISITATION PANEL ON UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS CRISIS TO HONOURABLE MINISTER. , he said the panel report was one-sided because the majority of the members were biased in support of Professor OluwatoyinOgundipe while the Terms of Reference (ToR) were also skewed against Dr Wale Babalakin SAN.

He told the Minister that “When you read the Report you will notice that it was very one-sided, so to speak, the option was for the Chairman to refuse to sign the report and that would have been a slap on the Government’s face. In any case, the issue is not that the report was false but it contained half-truth in order to protect one party and magnified the facts from the other party by pushing the blame to one side, omitting what could have balanced the report.”

He stressed that “In case you may like to read between the lines on some of the recommendations as they affect the Management, especially, the Vice-Chancellor. As far as the majority of the team was concerned they would like to save the VC’s who was presented as a victim, having been sacked by the Council and no effort was spared in minimising his faults, which were often obvious:

• Take the issue of splitting contracts so that the figures would be within his approval limits; in the renovation of his house and that of some Principal officers the evidence was clear, one Contractor would be given four contracts on the same project on the same day each package to be within VCs approval limit. A number of such cases were evident, but the only way the Chairman could get that in the report was to compromise by rendering such as “Contracts were packaged in a way that bordered on contract splitting, in order to keep them within approval limits”.
• The recommendation was VC should be cautioned against contract splitting. To me, this was enough for the Government to reject this recommendation and subject the culprit to the consequences.
• On the issue of frivolous expenditure at the expense of the core mandate of the University, teaching and research, within the period in question VC and his cronies undertook 75 external trips costing hundreds of millions of Naira, while the total annual DTLC of all the Departments of the University was just N35 million per annum.
• Again the recommendation was that the money they took for local travel while on overseas trips should be refunded by beneficiaries. While the VC got approval for his own trips from Chairman, he, in turn, approved all the others which Council was never aware. Again Chairman of the panel could not obtain a consensus on how to handle this. So it was left to Government.
• On the accusation of Management hiding the financial status of the University from Council, the Bursar disclosed that he only presented Budget Performance to the F&GPC, not the whole Treasury content. Apparently, some almost N10 billion was never visible to the Council, yet interested parties in the panel harassed him and cajoled him in to retract his statement, swearing that they have seen reports to council that contained such information. The perception was that as a non-academic staff he wanted to rope in the VC. The recommendation was that the Council should be abreast with the finances of the University at ever quarterly meeting.
• There are a number of other issues that may have been glossed over in the report to save the VC but this is not the time to delve into them. The recommendation that the VC should be reinstated was limited to the procedure of his termination. It did not mean he should be absolved of all wrongdoing. If among the faults enumerated in the report the Government believes he should be sacked, that does not contradict our recommendations.”

On Babalakin, Professor Saad said, “There are a number of memoranda sympathetic to the Chairman of Council for the good work he was doing and for his being above the board when it came to financial probity, but these did not show up in the report because it appears three of the ToRs were targeted at the Chairman in his role of removing a VC and appointing an Ag VC.”

See Prof. Saad’s letter below:

PROFESSOR HAMMAN TUKUR SAAD, OFR, FNIA
Department of Architecture, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria,

Email: [email protected]                         Tel:+234808*6*40*6
REF: P5662/SPVP/UNILAG/01                 DATE October 07, 2020

Honourable Minister of Education
Malam Adamu Adamu
Federal Ministry of Education, Federal Secretariat,

ABUJA

Dear Malamin Malamai

RE: SUBMISSION OF REPORT OF THE VISITATION PANEL ON UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS CRISIS TO HONOURABLE MINISTER.

This is to once again thank you for considering me worthy of undertaking the onerous task of acting as Chairman of this important Panel and giving the panel a free hand to undertake the assignment. This is very rare in government assignments, in my experience.

Having submitted the report to you and listened to your reaction in private to the panel after the public ceremony, I really got disturbed, especially your honourable comment on the intervention of the Chancellor at the late hour.

On the whole, the Terms of Reference of the panel were framed in such a way as to fish out culpable parties and dish out punishment to them. This I believe is the mindset of legal practitioners who may have been involved in framing the ToRs.

However, the omnibus ToR 5 provided an opportunity for us to explore other channels of resolving the conflict and saving us the bitterness that would ensue after the White Paper might have vindicated some parties. That was why we made frantic efforts to get the Chancellor and Shehu of Borno to wade in and save the day.

A lot of time and human resources, especially that of the Chairman were channelled towards that effort, instead if issues of punishment which were the preoccupation of the lawyers among us, and we had more than enough of them. In our working team of 9 persons, 5 were lawyers by accident or design.

Be as it may, a Visitation Panel cannot stand the rigours of the judicial process and that is why the Visitor’s decision cannot be overturned in a Court. The mechanism affords the academia with their idiosyncrasies an alternative way of resolving conflicts and issues within their domain.

Consequently, having got the Chancellor involved and got him to commit himself to resolve the issue I as Chairman felt relief because no matter what legal rigmarole the lawyers in the panel were able to push the panel into the final say will be from the Minister of Education.

In fact, the recommendation of the Report was to the effect that “no matter what was recommended in the report, Government should utilise the offer presented by the Chancellor to resolve the matter” On a lighter mood, the Chairman is not a Japanese and not a serious student of Japanese Culture but knows some smattering of anthropology to understand that that is how conflicts are resolved among the Japs, since no party was willing to commit hara-kiri and close the matter.

When you read the Report you will notice that it was very one-sided, so to speak, the option was for the Chairman to refuse to sign the report and that would have been a slap on the Government’s face.

In any case, the issue is not that the report was false but it contained half-truth in order to protect one party and magnified the facts from the other party by pushing the blame to one side, omitting what could have balanced the report. But the content of the Report is to a greater or lesser extent valid.

The recommendations may be contentious but knowing fully well Government with go with the Chancellor, I agreed to sign. The issue was rancorous and was attracting the attention of NUC staff where the meetings held. That was not healthy.

In case you may like to read between the lines on some of the recommendations as they affect the Management, especially, the Vice-Chancellor. As far as the majority of the team was concerned they would like to save the VC’s who was presented as a victim, having been sacked by the Council and no effort was spared in minimising his faults, which were often obvious:

• Take the issue of splitting contracts so that the figures would be within his approval limits; in the renovation of his house and that of some Principal officers the evidence was clear, one Contractor would be given four contracts on the same project on the same day each packaged to be within VCs approval limit. A number of such cases were evident, but the only way the Chairman could get that in the report was to compromise by rendering such as “Contracts were packaged in a way that bordered on contract splitting, in order to keep them within approval limits”.
• The recommendation was VC should be cautioned against contract splitting. To me, this was enough for the Government to reject this recommendation and subject the culprit to the consequences.
• On the issue of frivolous expenditure at the expense of the core mandate of the University, teaching and research, within the period in question VC and his cronies undertook 75 external trips costing hundreds of millions of Naira, while the total annual DTLC of all the Departments of the University was just N35 million per annum. Again the recommendation was that the money they took for local travel while on overseas trips should be refunded by beneficiaries.
• While the VC got approval for his own trips from Chairman, he, in turn, approved all the others which Council was never aware. Again Chairman of the panel could not obtain a consensus on how to handle this. So it was left to Government.
• On the accusation of Management hiding the financial status of the University from Council, the Bursar disclosed that he only presented Budget Performance to the F&GPC, not the whole Treasury content. Apparently, some almost N10 billion was never visible to the Council, yet interested parties in the panel harassed him and cajoled him in to retracting his statement, swearing that they have seen reports to council that contained such information.
• The perception was that as a non-academic staff he wanted to rope in the VC. The recommendation was that Council should be abreast with the finances of the University at ever quarterly meeting.
• There are a number of other issues that may have been glossed over in the report to save the VC but this is not the time to delve into them.
• The recommendation that the VC should be reinstated was limited to the procedure of his termination. It did not mean he should be absolved of all wrongdoing. If among the faults enumerated in the report the Government believes he should be sacked, that does not contradict our recommendations.

On the side of the Pro-Chancellor, his case is straight forward and does not need much elaboration:

• The procedure and steps he took to remove the VC left a lot to be desired, so also were the steps he took to appoint an acting VC. Even me as Chairman felt I could not follow the complicated legal arguments he used in justifying the action.
• Even the lawyers among us were at a loss. So we were unanimous that the removal of VC and appointment of Ag VC did not comply with due process.
• On the other hand, the steps taken by the government even before the panel was inaugurated has presented the panel with a fete accompli. Government by nullifying the appointment of acting VC by the Council has shown where it stood, so the matter was scarcely deliberated upon.
• Again, the Vice Chancellor’s resorting to Court shows his ignorance of the Laws governing the University. I believe in the report the VC was recommended to be reprimanded even though he had withdrawn the case.
• There are a number of memoranda sympathetic to the Chairman of Council for the good work he was doing and for his being above the board when it came to financial probity, but these did not show up in the report because it appears three of the ToRs were targeted at the Chairman in his role of removing a VC and appointing an Ag VC. These other positive sides of him and the Council did feature.
• The Recommendation that the Council be dissolved is a very controversial one. On one hand to single out the Chairman for whatever faults or errors the Council may have committed would be unfair since it is a collective responsibility.
• The Only fair treatment of the issue would not be in keeping with the tradition of the University System and Laws. Whenever a Council is dissolved Internal members from Senate, Congregation and Convocation, as well as Ex-Officio members, stay put waiting for the government to reconstitute its members to come and join them. This ensures that internal members who usually perpetuate the problems are always safe.
• This was one of the reasons why I opted out for settlement through the office of the Chancellor. We are going into serious crises in the university system if we adopt the Dissolve the Council Formula.
• I am never in favour of the dissolution of the Council, even though the Chairman has committed hara-kiri by resigning, rightly or wrongly.

Once again, thank you very much for your consideration, I hope this clarification can aid you in looking at the issue in another light.

Yours Sincerely

Prof. H. TukurSaad
ABU ZARIA

…warns it may trigger another protest

Ohanaeze Ndigbo has frowned at the reports that bank accounts of key members on the EndSARS movement were frozen by the Federal Government.

Ohanaeze warned that such action could trigger another protest that no one knows how it would end.

A statement by the acting Secretary-General, Prince Uche Achi-Ogbaga and the media adviser to the president general, Chief Nnia Nwodo, Emeka Attamah, the apex Igbo group said there was no need to freeze the accounts, noting that their protests were legitimate.

The statement reads in part: “The protest is a legitimate weapon of complaint in a democracy.

“The right to protest any perceived negative action of government or organisation is upheld in the Constitution of the country.

“In fact, President Buhari himself led many protests against former President Jonathan.

“The #EndSARS protest was peaceful and legitimate until some hoodlums were sent to disrupt and make it violent. So, freezing the accounts of the alleged leaders of the protest is high-handed, ill-advised and unnecessarily vindictive.

“Moreover, it has the capacity of triggering off another wave of protest, the end of which nobody can fathom.

“The frozen accounts should be released immediately to allow sleeping dogs lie. “Some people are sponsoring Boko Haram, have they frozen their accounts.

“The protesters were peaceful until some SUVs were seen in viral videos dropping hoodlums we started causing chaos. Have they fished out the people. “Let this Government be sincere to itself”.

Situated on Ibadan-Ijebu Ode road, Onipe village is an agrarian community in Oluyole local government area of Oyo state. It has no electricity or pipe borne water supply and the dwellers are majorly farmers and petty traders. Apart from Onipe, there are about 40 other villages in the area, all relying on two primary health centres.

Frolence Opaleye, a 76-year-old wife of the baale (community head) is a drug dispensing volunteer for these communities. She has been on the field for more than 20 years, helping government and international health agencies to distribute certain categories of off-the-shelve drugs to people afflicted with neglected tropical diseases and other ailments.

Among the drugs the septuagenarian helps to distribute is Mectizan, which is used in the treatment of Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, one of the several Neglected Tropical Diseases in Nigeria. She also helps distribute Albendazole, a medication used to treat tapeworm infections such as neurocysticercosis and hydatid disease. These are two of the prevailing NTDs in the communities.

But lack of incentive to compensate for her effort is discouraging Opaleye and other volunteers from carrying out the task, putting victims of these diseases at the risk of not getting the required drugs for treatment. Opaleye is the leader of the volunteer team in the area and each time drugs are brought to her for distribution, she gets N1,000; the same amount is also given to each of the volunteers she engages.

She said she used to have several women volunteers in her team, but because they were not adequately compensated, the women left her to continue alone.

Babatunde Balogun, a health official

“I am a volunteer for the distribution of drugs to people who need them in communities that government cannot reach. We have several streams in the villages under these communities. There are also Fulani herdsmen in these communities so we have flies from their cattle which transmit river blindness to and other diseases to humans. In these communities, there are victims of these diseases. Many people have been cured with the free drugs supplied by government and distributed by the volunteers to them,” she said.

“We have also distributed other drugs that had helped women to conceive. Unfortunately, our people do not realise how much effort it takes for volunteers to reach them; they think we have been adequately paid for the job.

“I hardly find people to work with me again. Majority of the volunteers are women and I had to beg their husbands to allow them do the work as if it is my personal business. They (the husbands) do not see it as volunteer work. Each time the women distribute drugs to those in need in the villages, I must give them little money for transportation from my own pocket.

“Sometimes I hire commercial motorcyclists to take them to the villages. We are paid N1,000 each for the work but it is too small and not enough for transportation, so I use my own money to encourage the volunteers and ensure success of the work. Most of the drugs are distributed once in a year and we return any remaining tablet to government.”

Opaleye: The 76-year-old volunteer

According to her, the burden of reaching out to all those who need the drugs is one she cannot shoulder alone. Apart from the volunteer work, she also sells petty household items in front of her husband palace. Each time she has to distribute drugs, her business suffers.

“I cannot do it alone. I also do volunteer work for World Development Committee and other health development agencies. In this ward under Oluyole local government, there are villages that vehicles cannot reach because of rivers and poor roads. But we ensure that we go there to distribute these drugs,” she said.

“We know how expensive these drugs are and we appreciate government effort to bring them to us. But they also have to appreciate the volunteers and encourage us. Each time I have to go and distribute the drugs, I have to close my shop until I complete the work. Sometimes it takes more than a day. We need more money for transportation and compensation. At my age, it is becoming difficult for me.”

But despite the obstacle to her charity work, Opaleye said she would still persevere for the sake of the sick in the communities.

VICTIM OF RIVER BLINDNESS SPEAKS

Sunday Solomon, 50, a church sexton and labourer in the village, is a victim of river blindness. According to him, he contracted the disease seven years ago but got cured after using one of the drugs supplied by government. He, however, said there has been short supply of the drug lately, leading to fear of relapse.

“When I contracted the disease, I would feel that there was spider web in my eyes. Sometimes, I would fall while walking, I could not work to cater for myself. But I no longer fall again. I can see better now after taking the drug for six years. I can now work and earn a living. But I am worried because I no longer get regular supply of the drug,” he said.

However, Solomon’s claim of not getting regular supply was disproved by Balogun Babatunde, the health officer at Onipe Primary Health Centre. Babatunde explained that the drug Solomon is using for his optical challenge is taken once in a year and that supply had already been made in March.

MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AT RISK

Speaking during a media dialogue organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ibadan on Thursday, Michael Igbe, programme manager, National Onchocerciasis Elimination Programme, federal ministry of health, said river blindness is already prevalent in 481 local government areas across Nigeria, with 50 million people at risk.

“At inception Nigeria had interventions covering 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Now, (intervention is in) 27 states and FCT, with 481 endemic local government areas. About 50 million persons in Nigeria are at risk of onchocerciasis.

“It is caused by the nematode Onchocerca volvulus, the second leading cause of preventable blindness, transmitted by the bite of an infected black fly called Simulium damnosum and other species breeding in fast-flowing streams and rivers or well oxygenated water.

“Infection with Onchocerca volvulus leads to reduced immunity and resistance to other diseases which can lead to reduction of life expectancy of up to 13 years.”

TheCable

The marriage between 82-year-old Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, and one of his wives, Queen Aanu, appears to have ended as it was revealed that she walked out of her marriage.

However, the estranged Queen who welcomed the monarch’s third set of twins in 2018, has now revealed that her life is being threatened.

In a post shared on her IG page, Queen Aanu raised an alarm that her life is in danger after she took the decision to walk out of her marriage with the monarch.

According to Aanu, she took the decision to walk out of the union as she couldn’t continue to live in bondage.

 She said that since she moved out of the palace, her life has been under serious threat. She said she recently survived a failed attempt to kidnap her.

By Joseph Erunke THE Action Peoples Party, APP, has appointed  Barr. Uche Nnadi as its Acting National Chairman. The appointment which is with immediate effect, followed an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council, NEC,of the party held in Abuja in the early hours of Wednesday. The party in a statement, in Abuja, said the change of guard was to enable the national cairman of the party,  Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere proceed on medical leave due to what it described as his reoccurring voice infection contracted during his recent police detention. Barr. Nnadi,who was until now the deputy national chairman of the party, is expected to oversee the affairs of the party pending the time the substantive national chairman is certified medically fit to resume duties, a process it noted, “is line with the party’s constitution in such circumstances.”

APP in a one page letter to the Acting Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Dr Leonard Nzenwa,dated November 10 , 2020, said the choice of Nnadi was done after due consideration by the party leaders and the relevant provisions of its constitution. APP is one of the existing political parties after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, axed 49 other political parties. The party in the statement directed all state officials to report to the new acting national chairman until further notice. Vanguard News Nigeria

A lawyer, Joseph Nwaegbu of Pathfind Attorneys, has filed a criminal complaint against Femi Falana (SAN) before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague, for allegedly instigating the #EndSARS protests, which he claimed, led to the killing of innocent citizens, destruction of property, among others.

The complaint dated 4th November 2020 was addressed to the Office of Madame Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor ICC by Nwaegbu, who claimed to be acting for his group, Make Nigeria Better Initiative (MNBI).

Nwaegbu alleged the role played by Falana before, during, and after what he described as “the mother of all protests in Nigeria” is not only ignoble but criminal.

”On the recent #EndSARS protests which turned violent across the country, we beg to submit that the role played by Mr. Falana before, during, and after what observers described as “the mother of all protests in Nigeria” is not only ignoble but criminal.”

He accused Falana of spreading fake news to further incite the youths in the country against the government which killings and destructions of properties.

Nwaegbu added: “We have seen how the type of incitement spearheaded by Mr. Falana worked in Rwanda and other parts of the world and the resultant effect was genocide.

“In the case of Nigeria, the misguided youths who acted based on Falana’s posture, character and utterances employed crude methods to illegally murder about 22 (Twenty Two) police officers in cold blood during the #EndSARS protests that lasted between the period 3rd October, 2020 till 21st October, 2020.

“We strongly believe that Mr. Falana is a highly placed Nigerian citizen, senior lawyer, and politician that without the timely intervention of the ICC he will get away with justice in this case.

”At Oyigbo Police Station in Lagos alone, a total of 3 (Three) police officers were killed and roasted like Christmas goats with their facilities destroyed,” he said.

”It is our further submission that what Falana is doing gives room for suspicion that another brand of the terrorist group may be created to hide under the cover of “human rights activists” whilst sustaining the evils already bedeviling our people through the activities of the disbanded Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Boko Haram and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

”Overall, we submit that prima facie cases of instigating violent protests that led to the killing of innocent citizens, wanton destruction of properties and other heinous crimes against humanity have been established against Femi Falana SAN vide this Criminal Complaint for which the ICC can investigate, prosecute and mete out appropriate sanctions to him.”

He urged the ICC Prosecutor to open an investigation of Femi Falana, SAN, on her own accord under Article 15 (1) of the Rome Statute;

Nwaegbu urged the ICC Prosecutor to compel Femi Falana SAN upon conviction under the Rome Statute to pay the sum of $2,000,000,000 (Two Billion US Dollars) as punitive damages for causing death, injury and maiming of several citizens as well as wanton destruction of public and private properties through his instigation of the violent #EndSARS Protests across Nigeria from the period 3rd October, 2020 till 21st October 2020.

The ICC has acknowledged the receipt of the complaints in reply signed by the Head of Information and Evidence Unit of the ICC, Mark P. Dillon.

Dillon said the communication has entered the Registry of the Court and will be considered accordingly with the procedure and Rome Statute of the ICC.

He however added: “Please note this acknowledgment letter does not mean an investigation has been opened, nor that an investigation will be opened by the Office of the Prosecutor.

“As soon as a decision is reached, we will inform you, in writing and provide you with reasons for this decision.”