You are lucky it’s not yet night,” said M. B. Shehu, a dark-skinned mobile police officer. nd lanky. A one-star Assistant Superintendent of Police, he was probably younger than me but that meant nothing. My companion and I got what he meant because, earlier, the savages he supervised had assaulted us and boasted that they would’ve killed and erased every trace of our existence if they had caught us in the dark.
“I don’t even care,” he said about the possibility of our murder. “I will waste you right here and nothing will happen.” He spoke confidently, as if he had the mastery of “disappearing” citizens, which, in a deadly irony, instigated the #EndSARS protests I had just attended in Abuja.
A few minutes earlier, surrounded by a number of savages Nigeria had granted the permission to bear guns, I wasn’t too sure of seeing the next minute. They hit us with sticks, as though anticipating “self-defence” to justify the use of a more lethal weapon.
Our nightmare had begun on the way to Louis Edet House, the Nigerian Police headquarters. Our #EndSARS procession was intercepted by projectiles of teargas canisters and truck-mounted water cannons, with battle-ready brutes marching to confront us. They looked like villainous extras in a Rambo movie. Even the protesters who rushed to lie flat in resistance had had to move when they realised the trucks had the same sense of humanity as their owners. Not even the journalists covering the protests were spared.
About an hour later, I called a police officer friend at the Complaint Response Unit in Louis Edet and informed him that cars belonging to journalists and some protesters were parked at Ralph Shodeinde Street in the city’s Central Business District, and he offered to speak to the rank-and-file who had blocked all roads leading to Louis Edet.
The officers at the first check-point obeyed the instructions of their superior on the phone and let us through. When we got to our cars, we found them vandalized. My car was dented and three of my tyres slashed. We were then ambushed by the police officers responsible.
The officers were deaf to our explanation that we were authorized by their colleagues a check-point away. I called my friend again and passed the phone to the officers. They collected my phone and smashed it. They struck it repeatedly until it was scattered, with their superior still on the line.
Sani Inuwa, one of my companions, fled in the car that brought us there as the brutes cornered Ibrahim Usman (aka Morocco) and me. “So na una make them ban SARS?” they said. They began to hit us from all angles. I attempted to show an ID card to prove an affiliation to the media, hoping that would stop them. But it only drew their ire. “Na una we dey look for sef,” one said. At that point, I knew I was in trouble. We were in a barricaded area with no civilian witness, and as I blocked the multiple hits with my arms, I lost the endurance to keep up.
Suddenly, they stopped. One of their colleagues was approaching us and had issued an instruction. He wasn’t in a uniform. They agreed to send us to the Louis Edet House for torture, and then hand us over to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, the same unit that had been announced as disbanded, threatening that we must feel the aggression of that brutal sect before they finally close shop.
When we met ASP Shehu on our way to their torture chamber, he said, “Why didn’t you go to the SARS office to protest?” As Morocco attempted to say it’s because Louis Edet House is the highest authority of the police, they descended on him, slapping, kicking, and hitting again and again.
I had learned long ago that provoking these brutes in an isolated area is Russian roulette. So, throughout the encounter, I refused to be offensive, refused to take their bait, refused to fight back, and even refused to resist arrest. I was lucky that Inuwa, at least, had fled and must have informed our colleagues and other people that we were with the police.
When we got into the Louis Edet premises, there was an instant disapproval of our dehumanizing treatment from a lone voice. He was also a mobile police officer and bore the tag “Ibe King N.” He asked us to be brought to an office instead of the proposed torture chamber. The junior officers had not only broken my phone, they had also broken one of Morocco’s phones and his Apple wristwatch. Luckily, Morocco had hidden a second phone.
The plain-clothed officer, who was probably from the intelligence unit of the police, confiscated Morocco’s WiFi device, saying it’s a recording device. We were searched and made to submit all we had on King’s desk. They made me remove my prescription glasses, which, in their stone-age thinking, was worn for fashion. I complied.
King, a two-star ASP, left the room and spoke to the officers who arrested us. He returned and asked us to sit on the bench. He was the first to allow us to introduce ourselves—to listen to us at all. He was alarmed that we had been profiled and presented as criminals. He gave us our wares.
“I would’ve let you go right now,” he said. “But these guys outside are still going to manhandle you.”
Meanwhile, Aisha Yesufu, Maureen Kabrik, and Florence Ozor, fellow protesters who had been alerted by Sani, called Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, the former Minister of Education and a long-standing soul of Nigeria. She was ill but came to Louis Edet for our sake. Strangely, King’s decision to release us wasn’t a consensus because Auntie Oby was told we were not in police custody and not in the building. She protested and insisted the police must produce her “two sons”. They knew her well enough to know she wasn’t bluffing.
King left the room again to find out the reason for the altercation outside and then returned to ask us to come with him. His colleagues, who had lied that we weren’t in their custody, were visibly disappointed that he brought us out and handed us over to our rescuers.
Our crime, unfortunately, was choosing to abide by the law in demonstrating disappointment in the system that arms this breed of animals and expects civilised engagements with the public. We were powerless. We are powerless because we didn’t pick up arms against the state. These government-sponsored thugs who dehumanized us are strangely incapable of doing the same to the citizens who’ve chosen arms and function as invincible in armed robbery, banditry, kidnapping and terrorism.
The formula applied in our brutalization has radicalized various generations of Nigerians and has contributed to the making of the Boko Haram. But this encounter has also renewed my faith in Nigeria. Our “death warrant” was signed by ASP Shehu, whose full name is Mala Baba Shehu, a fellow Muslim and northerner who, as I have found out, is from Borno State—the same state as Morocco. But the warrant was voided by a Christian and Southerner – ASP Ibe King.
But that is insufficient. Privileges and connections can only go so far in situations like this: Because even if I had the Inspector-General of the Police on the phone with me that day, it would have meant nothing, absolutely nothing to those savages endorsed by the Nigerian state.
I arrived Awkuzu office of the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on August 1, 2013 with my boss Chief Bonaventure Mokwe-Dikeh in a weakened body after six hours locked up in a police ‘Black Maria’ van, with 12 other staff of Upper Class Hotel, Onitsha.
I had kept my mind alert refusing to faint or collapse in the van. Upon arrival, I could read the bold inscriptions on the wall of that abattoir camp which says “Welcome to hell fire”.
I quickly told myself that we are in for the worst. I have heard tales of this abattoir. I always thought and believed that it was the land of mongrels and that it was absolutely reserved for hardened criminals until I arrived.
But no, I was mistaken. It was a center for butchering both the innocent and the guilty, a theatre of human death and sale of human parts.
Remind me, I shall tell you about the doctor who was always on flowing white agbada at Awkuzu SARS, who comes to treat gunshot wounds. His expertise is in negotiating sale of human parts.
I was marshaled straight by the almighty O.C SARS to an open rickety hall upon our arrival. All other victims were separated, each to his or her own fate.
Torture in the abattoir is what only the lucky survives. Standing by one end was a police officer with two suspects who were chained together, tempo of the interrogation was getting higher. Momentarily forgetting my own ordeal, I kept a gaze on all corners of the hall abandoned with an ominous look of a World War II torture camp.
Ropes streamed down from ceiling tops, bags of sand were elevated on perimeter wall fence of the hall and all types of rod and metal varying in shape, length and size were staring at us while we hear shouts of people from the back of the hall screaming the name of their late great grandmothers to come and intercede on their behalf.
Buckets of water are kept on standby in case one faints or opts to die before appending signature to already written statements. I was still mentally surveying the entire facility when I was jolted back to reality by the sound of a rapid military rifle, ‘tem tem tem’.
“You no wan talk…you wan follow am go, you wan travel”?, were the words resonating from the other end of the hall. I tried looking but slaps from my Investigating Police Officer (IPO) reminded me that I was not in this camp for excursion or tourism.
“That guy don travel ooo”, said my IPO. “So make you tell me the truth otherwise I go travel you”, were the words from the officer.
Meanwhile, the O.C SARS, the second in command and about four other police officers started asking me questions ranging from personal to family to academic background.
When I got to the part that I was a PhD student, the questions ceased and the O.C shout, ”Mr. Tell us what happened”, or in his Abakaliki accent,”ma agbajisie gu okpa la abo (I will shoot your two legs).
I started my story of what happened but that was not what they wanted to hear. The questions were already made and I must be categorical in my answers
“Your director kills people”, “No Sir”, I retorted! And the torture started properly.
Make him talk, ordered the OC James Nwafor, before he went to supervise the torture of Chief Bonaventure Mokwe at the back of the hall.
Ropes were tied to my two hands, the two legs, then both legs and hands bent and tied together with a rod passing through them and then elevated to a perimeter wall.
In fact, if you have watched a goat being prepared for suya barbecue, then you are close to the picture.
At the turn of each question and non-compliance, a bag of sand is added at my back to add extra pain. Cries upon wails until you pass out. “Ooh you want to die?”. A cold bucket of water quickly spoils your trance and brings you back to reality.
From minutes to hours, the torture lasts on top of the beam. In the cell, we call it ”hanging”, the boss of the cell will always differentiate ”ndi agbara” hanging with others because you will be laid flat at the cell for at least three days before your joints start to heal.
The ”hanging” never stops until finally you start saying that you killed XYZ so that you can be brought down meanwhile XYZ is alive.
From hanging on the beam, tying of rope in a strangulation mode around the neck, inserting of pin and rope inside the penis to shooting of bullets in a circular fashion, increasing the tempo of the questions at each turn, one is immersed into a theatre of pain and your pre-written statements, a product of individual pain threshold.
In the midst of my torture, I opted to set forth at dawn, dragging myself to crossover the threshold of death but they were Anthills in the Savannah.
On his part, Bonaventure Mokwe was undergoing his own routine hanging and strangulation and his shouts of “nne mooo, nne moooo, nne moooo”, was reverberating from the back of the hall.
“I will kill you and nothing will happen”, were consistently echoing from the chief butcher James Nwafor. At this point, everybody was carrying his own cross, nothing I could do to help the old man but to soak my own some are better than the others. Cell 5 is the worst because it is tagged “condemned cell”. If you happen to be there, then you are not in Awkuzu SARS because that cell for them does not exist. High profile criminals caught with military rifles are kept there awaiting execution and because our case had all the above element, I smelled the cell for six hours and was transferred out in the morning of the next day while the director remained there till the 5th of August.
From Cell 5, I was moved to Cell 1 and to Cell 4 where I rotted away without taking a bath or brush, defecating in a nylon polythene and not seeing the light of day for 81 days.
Cell 4 and Cell 3 in Awkuzu SARS are dark cells. No light, no ventilation and no windows, completely dark from morning to evening. People who are tortured return back with ambulance services performed by inmates since you can neither walk, move or shift any part of your body. The demand for water is the case consistently but no one gives you. Your cell boss knows the implications of giving you water and so brotherhood of men is preserved for it transcends the sovereignty of nations.
Cellmates die from suffocations.
Cellmates die from torture effect.
Cellmates die from gunshot wounds unattended to.
Cellmates die from trauma.
Cellmates are summarily pulled out and executed in the middle of the night.
Another huge task for the police to comtain
Akwuzu SARS was a theater of death. An abattoir.
Dying in the cell is a normal occurrence and the ambulance duty each morning is to take them to the back yard for the diabolical looking doctor to confirm.
Cells 4 and 3 were total blackout cells filled with the stench of inmates purportedly caught with locally made pistols and kidnapping cases.
In my days at Guantanamo bay, I rekindled my pastoral skills and led the two twin cells of 3 and 4 in morning, afternoon and night devotions. Sleeping was with one eye open because gunshots fill the air at all times and people are summarily judged through the barrel of a gun. Answering your name at odd hours is risky and mentioning of your name reminds one of the ambulance job we do each day for fallen comrades.
A room of not more than two square feet size packed by 29 to 31 suspects. Heat kills, hunger kills, mental switch on and off kills, and police bullets do the rest.
Who will be the next to be killed? At the abattoir, talk of going to court is freedom itself and remanding one…
Dr. Nwankwo told this story in a twitter tread. I hope he returns to complete it
*As Current President Denies Nominating Himself, Sister, Into the NJC
Controversies continue to surround the representation of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in the Body of Benchers and National Judicial Council, due to the nominations of certain persons into the two bodies.
Firstly, it has been alleged that the former NBA President, Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN nominated himself and his wife Mfon Usoro into the Body of Benchers, before his administration came to an end.
Decrying this, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu in a tweet on Sunday stated that the ongoing #EndSARS protest across the country is not the only problem facing the nation, drawing all Lawyers attention to the nomination.
“By the way, for the lawyers here, while we #EndSARS, hear this: the former President of @NigBarAssoc, as his parting gift, nominated himself & his lovely wife to represent the Association in the #BodyOfBenchers.
“The rot goes well beyond @PoliceNG.”
However, a source disclosed to TheNigeriaLawyer that the current NBA President, Olumide Akpata has told Paul Usoro, SAN of the impossibility of the couple representing the Association in the Body of Benchers, as such, that one of them has to drop.
Meanwhile, in a telephone conversation with the ex-NBA President, he disclosed that the statement suggesting that his wife was nominated to the Body of Benchers is lame & ‘idle’ noting that he was very selective in his choice of sending people to the Body, adding that “it wasn’t based on cronyism”.
“So, because she’s Paul’s wife, even though she’s in a position and she can contribute and she has a CV and she’s a Lawyer, not a Lawyer of yesterday and she has the spectrum that she can contribute, so she’s no more qualified”, he said.
He also stated that Mrs. Mfon Usoro credential makes her qualified for the nomination saying “she’s a fit and proper person who can actually be there to provide service”.
Besides, he noted that being the NBA President as at that time, he was qualified to be part of the Body of Benchers adding that he does not have a problem at all, if he wants to be removed.
In another development, it has been alleged that the incumbent NBA President, Olumide Akpata has equally nominated his sister into the National Judicial Council.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Founder, Rules Watch, Dame Carol Ajie which was made available to TheNigeriaLawyer, stating that the NBA President should consider the ‘Federal Character Act’ and ensure that the distribution of the five slots reserved for the NBA at NJC is shared across the six geo-political zones.
However, Mr. Olumide Akpata when asked denied the allegation of nominating himself into the NJC.
“This is absolutely false, NBA has not nominated anybody since my inception. There are some members whose tenure are yet to expire and the NJC has informed NBA to renew. I’ve not renewed, I’ve not sent any list to NJC. I’ve not written any letter to NJC appointing anybody including myself”, he added.
Meanwhile, the source further disclosed to TheNigeriaLawyer that Akpata did not nominate himself but rather nominated his sister.
He said “There is a possibility that should anyone retire from the Council in the foreseeable future, the NBA President may step in as a replacement.
Lawyers have insisted on holding its planned protest slated for 19th October 2020 despite the alleged move by the Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, to swear in new Acting Chief Judge the same day.
The lawyers, in a statement made available to TheNigeriaLawyer by Enome J. Amatey, described the governor’s move as a “greek gift” and a “ploy” to put the state in another state of uncertainty
They said, “Upon getting notice of the protest organized by the Concerned Lawyers in Cross River State against tomorrow, his Excellency the executive governor of CRS has quickly acceded to one arm of our demands by slating the swearing-in of ANOTHER Acting Chief Judge for 8am tomorrow.
“We are neither moved nor deceived by this Greek gift. We are not persuaded by it. It is just another ploy to run away from doing the right thing and put the Judiciary and indeed the State in another situation of uncertainty.”
Therefore, they said the protest will continue as planned. They are not moved by the step taken by the Governor as only appointment of substantive Chief Judge will solve the problem
“To this end, we shall proceed with our planned protest, until all our other demands are met. We are not deterred and remain unshaken in our resolve to insist on the right thing being done.
“Cross River State deserves a substantive Chief Judge and that is the only practical solution to this quagmire.” the statement further reads
TNL recalls that the Governor of Cross Rivers State, Prof. Ben Ayade had, via a press release statement by his Special Adviser on Media & Publicity, Christian Ita, disclosed his decision to swear in a new Acting Chief Judge.
However, the name of the new Acting Chief Judge to be sworn in was not disclosed in the statement but a source disclosed to TheNigeriaLawyer that the third in rank High Court Judge in the State, Hon. Justice Eyo Ita, will be the new Acting Chief Judge to be sworn in.
The Notice of swearing-in of new Acting Chief Judge came after the Eastern Bar Forum (EBF) earlier announced its decision to stage a protest come October 19, against the non-appointment of a Chief Judge, that left the office vacant for 50 days.
The charitable activities of a Chinese humanitarian group CFPA in Ethiopia, including support for school feeding programs, women empowerment and provision of clean water to households, mirror the view that China has bolstered efforts to eradicate poverty across the African continent.
African leaders, policymakers and scholars said the continent is leveraging on robust cooperation with China to acquire capital, skills, technology and best practices required to back the war against deprivation.
Namibia’s President Hage Geingob said in a statement in early April that Namibia would like to draw lessons from China in poverty eradication, through closer bilateral cooperation and support.
Geingob said the eradication of poverty and hunger in Namibia is a key policy objective of the Namibian government.
“The Namibian economy has been severely affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus, which threatens our socio-economic stability, and the gains we have made to reverse poverty,” Geingob added.
The World Bank said in a report titled “Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa” that the share of Africans living in extreme poverty has fallen substantially, from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015, but due to high population growth during the same period, the number of poor people in Africa has actually increased from 278 million in 1990 to 413 million in 2015.
According to the African Union, the COVID-19 crisis has increased poverty with the African Development Bank estimating that the pandemic will push between 28.2 million and 49.2 million more Africans into extreme poverty.
China’s development experience over the past decades offers key lessons to Africa, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said at the sixth African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development in Zimbabwe in February 2020.
“Just as China’s remarkable achievements in lifting its people out of poverty contributed to major advances under the Millennium Development Goals (SDGs), so can Agenda 2063 have similar impacts on SDGs,” said Mohammed.
Agenda 2063 is Africa’s strategic framework that aims to deliver on its goal for inclusive and sustainable development.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing July Moyo said China’s success in poverty alleviation offers valuable lessons for Zimbabwe as the country aims to attain a middle income status by 2030.
“They (Chinese) were able to lift themselves out of poverty by using their own resources, by mobilizing their people, by using organizational methods that make sure that there is cohesiveness, that there is a sense of direction and strict adherence implementation guidelines,” he said.
The Nigerian government in 2019 set a 10-year target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the most populous country on the continent.
For Efem Ubi, a senior research fellow at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Nigeria can learn much from China in the process of poverty alleviation.
Ubi said the question for African countries is how they can achieve Goal 1 of the SDGs, which aims to end poverty in all its forms by 2030. One way is to find out what lessons African countries can learn from China.
Ubi said Africa can benefit from the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, because it will provide African countries with great opportunities to build their infrastructure as well as develop industrial capacity.
Inspiring Africa
African officials hold that the phenomenal success of China’s poverty alleviation initiative that hinges on political goodwill, reform and opening up to the outside world, inspires the continent.
George Kwabena, a liaison officer at Ghana’s Northern Development Authority, felt inspired during his visit to poverty-stricken areas in southwest China last year.
“Actually, I was shocked by the infrastructure there, especially the transport connectivity, and the way the government resettled poor people is quite impressive,” said Kwabena.
“Through my trip, I learned grassroots officials in China have established standard databases for poor people, and that allows them to take targeted measures to alleviate poverty, which is a useful lesson for Ghana to learn,” he said.
The Ghanaian government has rolled out “One district, One Factory” policy in recent years, which aims to further open up its rural areas and woo more investors there.
He praised China’s innovative poverty alleviation efforts in developing rural communities through the use of e-commerce platforms.
Raphael Tuju, secretary general of Kenya’s ruling Jubilee Party and minister without portfolio, said he was impressed by China’s achievement in lifting more than 700 million Chinese people out of poverty over the past few decades.
“There is no precedent in the history of mankind. If China can achieve that, it gives us a flicker of hope and light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
According to Tuju, his first encounter with China was when he was a child. He said, “The enduring image of China was mostly about the Chinese with straw hats in the rice fields.”
Afterwards, the picture about China was about streets with thousands of bicycles, he said. “But now, if you ask any Kenyan about China, the first thing is about the Standard Gauge Railway linking Mombasa and Nairobi, and Guangzhou, where the Kenyans go to buy clothes and other things they need.”
“There are problems of disease, problems of infrastructure and problems of poverty. Africa is just overloaded with problems,” he said, adding that one of the biggest slums in Africa is in Nairobi.
“But if you look at what has been achieved in China,” Tuju said, “it gives us hope that something can be done in our lifetime.”
LAGOS – The #EndSARS protesters at Lekki, Lagos State have arrested and handed over a protester, Yusuf Lawal of Ojuelegba area of Lagos for stealing a phone.
Lawal, a 25-year-old, was apprehended on Saturday.
The protesters, who were angry about the incident, descended on him.
They then handed him over to the police at Maroko Police Station.
However, the stolen phone has not been recovered as the suspect passed it to his fleeing gang members.
The spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the development on Sunday, said the police are working on the useful information gathered from Lawal to track down his gang members who are at large.
The Command’s Commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu, has reiterated that this incident is a clear indication that the protests, across the state, have been hijacked by some hoodlums who hide under the #EndSARS protests to steal, loot and cause damage to people’s property.
Odumosu therefore advised protesters to be watchful of those who have infiltrated into their processions or gatherings to cause pains to innocent Lagosians. (TheEagleonline)
Verification of recovered assets behind Magu is flawed, says Wahab Shittu, Magu’s lawyer
By Wahab Shittu, Esq.
Our attention has just been drawn to a sponsored and jaundiced story in one of the national newspapers in which our client, Mr Ibrahim Magu, the suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is being portrayed in a negative light by Justice Isa Salami- led Judicial Commission of Enquiry.
In the story entitled- “Magu: Presidential panel begins verification of assets,” the sponsors of the story within the panel was quoted as saying that Magu did not give satisfactory answers to its questions on recovered assets.
Ordinarily, we would have ignored the media report like the previous orchestrated stories against our client.https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-1103034130049335&output=html&h=280&adk=404415988&adf=1374904074&pi=t.aa~a.3212008142~i.12~rp.1&w=720&fwrn=4&fwrnh=100&lmt=1603052579&num_ads=1&rafmt=1&armr=3&sem=mc&pwprc=5679722703&psa=1&guci=2.2.0.0.2.2.0.0&ad_type=text_image&format=720×280&url=https%3A%2F%2Feveryday.ng%2Fsalami-panel-is-desperate-to-indict-magu-says-wahab-shittu-magus-lawyer%2F&flash=0&fwr=0&pra=3&rh=180&rw=720&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&wgl=1&fa=27&adsid=ChAI8M-v_AUQh7Ck7MaB3JNJEkwAMTaiyEdaLsSOil29OlMqtB9wp4f0o7lWOMHvtg3VK21FBxpEa3NrWj5cUhRT03lUZa_cOxJEHw-j-493f3zeHHhRraxeR3V_OQHK&tt_state=W3siaXNzdWVyT3JpZ2luIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hZHNlcnZpY2UuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbSIsInN0YXRlIjowfV0.&dt=1603052576192&bpp=41&bdt=2447&idt=42&shv=r20201014&cbv=r20190131&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3De8d9fd989137e735-227c644f4ca600b3%3AT%3D1602951378%3ART%3D1602951378%3AS%3DALNI_MYqTaWv3YXdXw_pNoEhIiNmwSBKwA&prev_fmts=0x0%2C468x60&nras=2&correlator=4115258372170&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=1879276788.1594360372&ga_sid=1603052576&ga_hid=279470735&ga_fc=0&iag=0&icsg=615720786329599&dssz=46&mdo=0&mso=0&u_tz=60&u_his=1&u_java=0&u_h=1280&u_w=800&u_ah=1280&u_aw=800&u_cd=24&u_nplug=0&u_nmime=0&adx=40&ady=1179&biw=800&bih=1160&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=42530672%2C21067601%2C21066819%2C21066973&oid=3&pvsid=2800203005634931&pem=645&rx=0&eae=0&fc=1408&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C800%2C0%2C800%2C1160%2C800%2C1160&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7Cs%7C&abl=NS&fu=8320&bc=31&ifi=5&uci=a!5&btvi=1&fsb=1&xpc=RsyL4GaxIo&p=https%3A//everyday.ng&dtd=3147
But we are of the opinion that the timing is suspicious and there is the need to take up issues with the media report on the grounds that the reporter quoted sources close to the panel as the arrowheads of the story with a predetermined agenda.
It is apparent that the panel is trying at all cost to indict our client before the submission of its report to President Muhammadu Buhari.
It is on records that our client closed his defence two weeks ago without the opportunity to call any witness to strengthen his innocence as applications to call witnesses and subpoena certain individuals including AGF Abubakar Malami (SAN) were blatantly refused by Salami.
We wish to say with high sense of responsibility that our client has nothing to hide unlike the panel that refused to give him fair hearing and has been sitting for about six months without timeline and numerous illegalities.
We say categorically that this publication was made without any attempt to get across to Wahab Shittu, our client’s Counsel on record who represented our client throughout the proceedings and inspite of the apparent unwillingness of Mr. Tosin Ojaomo (a counsel in the defence team) to “…respond to calls” according to the published story. https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-1103034130049335&output=html&h=280&adk=404415988&adf=878961651&pi=t.aa~a.3212008142~i.27~rp.1&w=720&fwrn=4&fwrnh=100&lmt=1603052579&num_ads=1&rafmt=1&armr=3&sem=mc&pwprc=5679722703&psa=1&guci=2.2.0.0.2.2.0.0&ad_type=text_image&format=720×280&url=https%3A%2F%2Feveryday.ng%2Fsalami-panel-is-desperate-to-indict-magu-says-wahab-shittu-magus-lawyer%2F&flash=0&fwr=0&pra=3&rh=180&rw=720&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&wgl=1&fa=27&adsid=ChAI8M-v_AUQh7Ck7MaB3JNJEkwAMTaiyEdaLsSOil29OlMqtB9wp4f0o7lWOMHvtg3VK21FBxpEa3NrWj5cUhRT03lUZa_cOxJEHw-j-493f3zeHHhRraxeR3V_OQHK&tt_state=W3siaXNzdWVyT3JpZ2luIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hZHNlcnZpY2UuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbSIsInN0YXRlIjowfV0.&dt=1603052576314&bpp=33&bdt=2570&idt=33&shv=r20201014&cbv=r20190131&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3De8d9fd989137e735-227c644f4ca600b3%3AT%3D1602951378%3ART%3D1602951378%3AS%3DALNI_MYqTaWv3YXdXw_pNoEhIiNmwSBKwA&prev_fmts=0x0%2C468x60%2C720x280&nras=3&correlator=4115258372170&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=1879276788.1594360372&ga_sid=1603052576&ga_hid=279470735&ga_fc=0&iag=0&icsg=615720786329599&dssz=47&mdo=0&mso=0&u_tz=60&u_his=1&u_java=0&u_h=1280&u_w=800&u_ah=1280&u_aw=800&u_cd=24&u_nplug=0&u_nmime=0&adx=40&ady=2005&biw=800&bih=1160&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=42530672%2C21067601%2C21066819%2C21066973&oid=3&pvsid=2800203005634931&pem=645&rx=0&eae=0&fc=1408&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C800%2C0%2C800%2C1160%2C800%2C1160&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7Cs%7C&abl=NS&fu=8320&bc=31&ifi=6&uci=a!6&btvi=2&fsb=1&xpc=wRR0LxvFVN&p=https%3A//everyday.ng&dtd=3102
It is instructive to note that the the source of the story was attributed to the source close to “the panel” without disclosing the identity of the source.
But since the media story attributed to the panel made several prejudicial comments against our client, we are inclined to respond as follows to set the record straight:
However, our client has noticed a consistent pattern of orchestration/planting of prejudicial stories in the public space, one of which is the story that we are now forced to react to for its prejudicial consequences on the work of the panel.
In the past, many of such false stories against our client had featured in the public space only for such unfounded allegations to collapse like a pack of cards during the proceedings of the panel.
Based on the proceedings, we are certain that our client will be exonerated completely from all these allegations orchestrated in the public space and many others in that category during the proceedings of the judicial commission of inquiry inspite of stories planted in the public space to the contrary. Our view, arising from the media story, is that the fate of our client is being predetermined even before the panel submits its report to the President and this will be tragic. This is because it is elementary that the panel is a judicial commission of inquiry, established pursuant to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry Act 2004. That being so and by virtue of being an inferior tribunal, the panel “ought not to descend into the arena lest it faces the danger of being blindfolded by the dust raised by the combatants.”https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-1103034130049335&output=html&h=280&adk=404415988&adf=2216820192&pi=t.aa~a.3212008142~i.42~rp.1&w=720&fwrn=4&fwrnh=100&lmt=1603052579&num_ads=1&rafmt=1&armr=3&sem=mc&pwprc=5679722703&psa=1&guci=2.2.0.0.2.2.0.0&ad_type=text_image&format=720×280&url=https%3A%2F%2Feveryday.ng%2Fsalami-panel-is-desperate-to-indict-magu-says-wahab-shittu-magus-lawyer%2F&flash=0&fwr=0&pra=3&rh=180&rw=720&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&wgl=1&fa=27&adsid=ChAI8M-v_AUQh7Ck7MaB3JNJEkwAMTaiyEdaLsSOil29OlMqtB9wp4f0o7lWOMHvtg3VK21FBxpEa3NrWj5cUhRT03lUZa_cOxJEHw-j-493f3zeHHhRraxeR3V_OQHK&tt_state=W3siaXNzdWVyT3JpZ2luIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9hZHNlcnZpY2UuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbSIsInN0YXRlIjowfV0.&dt=1603052576424&bpp=29&bdt=2679&idt=29&shv=r20201014&cbv=r20190131&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3De8d9fd989137e735-227c644f4ca600b3%3AT%3D1602951378%3ART%3D1602951378%3AS%3DALNI_MYqTaWv3YXdXw_pNoEhIiNmwSBKwA&prev_fmts=0x0%2C468x60%2C720x280%2C720x280&nras=4&correlator=4115258372170&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=1879276788.1594360372&ga_sid=1603052576&ga_hid=279470735&ga_fc=0&iag=0&icsg=615720786329599&dssz=47&mdo=0&mso=0&u_tz=60&u_his=1&u_java=0&u_h=1280&u_w=800&u_ah=1280&u_aw=800&u_cd=24&u_nplug=0&u_nmime=0&adx=40&ady=2909&biw=800&bih=1160&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=42530672%2C21067601%2C21066819%2C21066973&oid=3&pvsid=2800203005634931&pem=645&rx=0&eae=0&fc=1408&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C800%2C0%2C800%2C1160%2C800%2C1160&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7Cs%7C&abl=NS&fu=8320&bc=31&ifi=7&uci=a!7&btvi=3&fsb=1&xpc=9iUam7UhUE&p=https%3A//everyday.ng&dtd=3027
We urge Mr. President on whose authority the Judicial Commission of Inquiry was established to note this development including the trauma and prejudice to which our client is being subjected by these endless prejudicial publications being attributed to the panel even before the report is submitted to the President.
The story had said the panel was embarking on verification of seized assets across the country in the absence of our client or his counsel inspite of our client being the main subject of inquiry by virtue of the instruments establishing the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
It is an exercise in futility for the panel to conduct verification of recovered assets in the absence of Magu and his lawyers and thereafter proceed to write a report without clarification from him.
This is particularly worrisome since the report said: “We visited some of the houses which Magu claimed to have seized. However, some of them which he claimed to have been seized had no markings of ‘EFCC Keep Off’ while in some other cases; the alleged looters were still living in them.
“Some houses are also being occupied by strange persons. Magu claims to have obtained presidential approval to allocate the properties to them. Unfortunately, he has not been able to provide the letter of authorisation he purportedly got from the President.
“A lot of vehicles that were seized were also in a bad shape. Some of these vehicles had some parts of their engines removed while for some others, tyres had been removed. We are compiling all the reports.”
The above conclusions concerning our client are being made prejudicially and allegedly attributed to the panel in our client’s absence even before the report is submitted to the President.
And for those who are bent on planting false stories against our client with a view to convicting him at all cost, we have news for them because they do not understand the nature and limitation of judicial commission of inquiry. In the case of Donbraye & Anor v Preyor & Ors (2014) LPELR-22286 the Court of Appeal held as follows: “A Judicial Commission of Inquiry is normally constituted by virtue of and under a Judicial Commission of Inquiry Law or Act as the case may be, to inquire into certain affairs and/or conduct of some individuals and after the inquiry, which is investigative in nature, the said commission turns in its report to the government which set it up to study the recommendations and take further necessary actions, as it deems fit On Nature and effect of findings and recommendations of a judicial commission of inquiry the Supreme Court in Olagunyi v. Oyeniran (1996) 6 NWLR (Pt. 453) 127 held as follows:
“The findings and recommendations of a judicial commission of inquiry are not to be regarded as a judicial decision having binding force on the Executive Council or Government that set it up. They remain findings and recommendations upon which the Government may act and, in so acting, it is not to be expected that the Government will adopt the findings and recommendations intoto.”
The position was made clearer beyond doubt by the Court of Appeal in Bariga- Amange v Adumen (2016) 13 NWLR (Pt. 1530) 349 which held as follows: “A judicial commission of inquiry is not a court of law or a judicial tribunal. This is obvious because nobody can be convicted by a judicial commission or administrative panel or a tribunal of inquiry established by law. There is no prosecutor because there is no prosecution. No one is formally accused, as it is not a criminal proceeding. In essence, it is a fact finding inquiry.”
The late Burkinabe leader, Thomas Sankara, once opined that a creedless, untrained, half educated man armed and put in uniform by the state is nothing but a licensed criminal. Call that man a Nigerian policeman and unleash him on streets and highways to protect good people and sniff out bad people and you will have completed the creation of a monster. There are few places in the world where the police embodies this frightful caricature as in today’s Nigeria.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Nigeria police remains largely a force for good. In the best of times and places, the police would be the guardian and protector of citizen rights and the first arbiter in inter citizen friction. In a good democracy, the police should protect good people from bad guys and act as the enforcer of law and order. In our 60 years of nationhood, the Nigeria police has performed these roles tolerably. On international peace keeping assignments, the Nigeria police contingents have acquitted themselves honourably most times. But in dealing with the domestic populace that pays its bills, the police has witnessed the same incremental institutional decay that has afflicted most of our public departments over time.
A perennial parody in Nigerian street parlance is the cliché: “the Police is your friend!” However, no one except the police high command who originated it believes this marketing pay off line. Rated easily the worst police force in the world in 2017 by the International Police Science Association on the World Internal Security and Police Index as 127th out of 127 police forces in the world, the Nigeria police has come to represent for the Nigerian public a tainted protector of citizen rights and sometimes a veritable nightmare. Amnesty International has in recent years copiously documented an annual litany of human rights abuses by the Nigeria police. These range from extra judicial killings, torture, illegal detentions, extortion and blatant criminality. A long tradition of systemic corruption has become the signature of Nigeria’s police culture from colonial times to the present. To most ordinary Nigerians, the police checkpoint down the road is nothing more than a private toll gate. The stop and search team on your way home is an extortion ring with well rehearsed antics and choreographed protocols.
But sometimes, the instruments of darkness tell us some good truths. The recent nationwide mass protests against the Special Armed Robbery Squad (SARS) of the police may have yielded a beneficial dividend. The upheaval of spontaneous nationwide citizen protests has revealed the power of contradiction as a force of history. A concerted series of protests against a rogue police formation originally established to combat armed robbery and other violent crimes has ended up as a great galvanizer of youth energy across the nation and beyond.
The Special Armed Robbery Squad (SARS) was no doubt established for good. No one can deny that armed robbery and all manner of violent crimes had become a major challenge far beyond the capacity of conventional police protocols, hence the need for some specialized unit. It is of course unclear whether the existing Mobile Police unit could not have faced this challenge with a bit of targeted training. But SARS was allowed to go rogue by years of systemic abuse. Now the public, especially the vast army of youth, have turned up to angrily reject SARS and its supporting culture of police brutality.
From Lagos to Maiduguri, Sokoto to Yenagoa, Ogbomosho to Enugu, Nigerian youth aged averagely from 14 to 45 have trooped out daily to demand that the government ends the SARS menace and its enabling culture of police brutality.
From several first hand testimonies and citizens experiences in the hands of the SARS squads, the unit had become an instrument of systematic harassment and brutality all over the country. In the eyes of SARS operatives, every other Nigerian youth on the streets going about their legitimate business is deemed a criminal who has to prove his innocence to SARS operative. In their violent but hasty encounters with innocent citizens, SARS officers were the trial judges, the jury and sometimes the instant executioners. They could readily clamp their victims in crowded police cells, detain them in dinghy police stations, ferry them around town in unfriendly vehicles or reluctantly release them on the payment of a hefty ransom.
In extreme cases of recalcitrant or bold suspects, they are either tortured, or ‘wasted’, another name for routine extra judicial killings. Many young lives were wasted this way without any accountability. Clearly, then, SARS went beyond its mandate of apprehending real armed robbers and other dangerous criminals but instead zeroed in on profiling and harassing mostly young citizens.
This rogue police outfit morphed into an instrument of social discrimination and nefarious citizen profiling. To qualify for the SARS brand of jungle visitation, their victims only needed to be young, wear braided hair, faded or ripped jeans, carry a laptop computer, some wireless device or a smart phone. They had unconsciously consecrated our youth into a distinct identifiable tribe fit only for routine harassment or instant execution if need be. Often, young people were profiled by their choice of career: footballers, information technology, music, acting, blogging, etc. At other times, their crime was their choice dress codes: t-shirts, jeans, bracelets, good wrist watches. At times, it could be their mode of transportation: decent cars, SUVs or power bikes. Even their mode of speech was criminalized: their real or conscious affectation of American English or some other Western accent of their choice. In depressing instances, it was their boldness in demanding to know why they were being stopped and frisked on the road. Their simple assertion of assertion of their rights as citizens of a free society in a country they are proud to call theirs became a crime by the laws of SARS. Young people were criminalized for the contents of their electronic devices devices- SMS or Whatsapp messages to friends and associates or bank statements showing their legitimate earnings and transactions. If you were adjudged rich by these goons, you were a criminal unless you proved otherwise.
The most ridiculous development in the decadent metamorphosis of SARS was when they extended their mandate to the fight against cyber crimes. No one has explained to us how a hardly literate policeman on the streets would be an investigator of complex cyber crimes involving complex computer hacks and code breaking. These are crimes that require the expertise of knowledgeable and dedicated teams at dedicated police departments with specialized training and specially trained personnel working with other security agencies to uncover the conspiracies and networks of cyber criminals who often operate through complex international networks. But in the eyes of greedy SARS extortionists, every youth that fitted into their peculiar profiling template was a suspect that needed to be arrested, instantly processed, hastily investigated, arrested, detained or executed as the inquisitor may deem fit.
Before our very eyes, the state created and encouraged the thriving of a killer gang, an invidious force of social destabilization. Recent footages of atrocities by SARS squads went viral on the internet and infuriated a cross section of Nigerian youth and concerned parents. Spontaneously and with incendiary anger, the youth have risen to challenge the state to scrap this nefarious outfit and investigate its crimes. From major urban centres across the nation, throngs of youth powered by social media influencers and sundry celebrities trooped out in droves to protest te excesses of this devilish squad. This is not the first time. Over two years ago, sporadic protests against SARS had swept through parts of Lagos and Abuja. Government then made some tepid noises. No concrete action was taken to rein in the errant cops or bring the worst of them to book. Now the real gale has swept through the nation, bringing together a rainbow of voices from across the nation.
The message seems to have sunk home at last. The government has decided to scrap SARS all over the country. In addition, it has announced a new police unit, SWAT, to combat violent criminals. Moreover, the atrocities of the rogue outfit are to be investigated and where necessary compensations could be paid to families that heave suffered irreparable loss as a result of the excesses of SARS. No one is sure whether these hurriedly announced measures are enough to assuage the anger and restiveness of a virtual youth army that has been activated and charged to call out the government on sundry human rights abuses and brutal police practices.
Underneath the SARS protests, a few conspicuous benefits have come as unintended consequences. Nigerian youth, hitherto seen as largely docile, divided and apolitical have found a voice around a unifying subject. In the process, they seem to have discovered their strength in numbers and sheer diversity. How they will react to future aggravations, including political grievances, is now clearly discernible from the anti SARS protests. A certain undercurrent of political restiveness has been clearly discernible from the flaming voices in the protests.
The anti SARS protests represent a vernacular for so many other things that are hard to name. This is a rude awakening for our youth. Our children have risen at last in spontaneous unison across the country to assert their dignity as persons and their rights as citizens. Their collective humanity and self -preservation has given them a voice to say a loud ‘No’ to decades of insensitivity and brutality by men and women paid by the public to protect them but now turned a gang of killers and mindless extortionists.
We, their parents, long cowed by vested interest and cowardly submission to a succession of gangster regimes now have to bow to the audacity of these youngsters. They are the generation of possibility, the children of light for whom hard work, best practices, global standards and technology have emboldened to demand justice and fairness every inch of the way. Nnamdi Azikiwe urged our founding political leaders to beam the light so that the people can find the way. The new generation is impatient to wait. They are both the torch bearers and the pathfinders rolled into one.
They are the ones that we have been waiting for. They have arrived with the express wagon of the ENDSARS protests with fire in their eyes, anger in their hearts and patriotic fervor in on their tongues. They are the ones who have the courage to reject the countless insults that have been heaped on us by those we ‘elected’ to rule over us these may seasons. They look at our ugly state and shake their heads in disbelief. They have come with a resolute refusal, to free us from the shackles of our own complacency and inertia.
They may not look exactly like us or want the things that make us happy. They go shopping and return home with bags of torn and shredded jeans as new ones! They wear their hair in dread locks. They are content to travel the world in t-shirts or even bare chested. What we call indecent nudity is for the girls a proud and shameless display of the beauty of the human form. These people are the new books of deep knowledge and know how that cannot be judged by their covers. Our youth have content and want their dignity respected. Most of them hurt no one but only demand to be left alone to pursue their dreams and to follow the desires of their robust hearts. They can no longer be lectured by ancestors and we the ambassadors of a wasted generation.
The other overwhelming beauty of the ENDSARS youth spring is something we thought was lost: national solidarity. The anti SARS youth protesters came out as Nigerians united against police brutality and official impunity. Their common humanity and concern with decency, fairness and justice knows no ethnicity, religion or geo politics. They came out as Nigerians, not Yorubas, Igbos, Fulanis or any other ethnicity. They were not Northerners, Southerners, Christians, Moslems, animists or atheists. They were just, simply, NIGERIANS. In one flash moment, the divisive antics and clannish rhetoric of our politicians has been thrashed.
The youth of the ENDSARS protests have shown us something of their awesome global strength. The technology of instant communication has made them part of a global wave and restless community. Their pains and struggles have been transmitted instantly, real time in living digital colour to everyone in this wired world. That is why the ENDSARS protests spread instantly to New York, London and Paris. From Lagos, the message went to Cairo and Johannesburg and Pretoria. All over the world, our youth have been joined by artists and artisans, singers and dancers, plumbers and plebians, teachers and technicians. Support for ENDSARS has crossed colour lines: blacks, whites, brown, Asian, Europeans have in one one instant, all the protesters became Nigerians. The world became Nigeria and Nigeria became the world.
We have in this process and at this moment lost the crude virginity of our primitive isolation, the illusion by our governments that they can casually inflict assorted ancient cruelties on our citizens while the world looks the other way. The red sign is up: STOP! DANGER!
As we celebrate the historic audacity of our youth, the dangers that lurk in our midst should not be lost on us. These protests will be infiltrated by agents of state and the dark forces that bestride this land. Scape goats will be sought, single out for sanctions and blamed for all this. The solidarity and unity of our youth will be assaulted by the merchants of division and power hegemony. The conservative deep state will strike back with ferocity out of fear and insecurity. The lessons of this moment should comes from the history of similar uprisings elsewhere. A revolution without leadership, structure or unifying creed is the harbinger of dangerous anarchy. Crowds of protesters not united by a common consciousness soon degenerates into roving bands of mindless brigands and looting mobs. That danger will be fed by the sea of poverty and desperation all over the land. These are the real dangers of this moment’s triumph.
Yet, whatever happens after this hour, our youth have found their voice and delivered their message clearly. Now they are ready to speak to us and for us all in the language of unmistakable anger. They are likely to deploy this power to other good causes on the road ahead. Out of the searing crucible of police brutality and its enabling reckless abuse of power, something supremely beautiful has birthed. It is, in the words of the Irish poet W.B Yeats, such “a terrible beauty”.
The Nigeria Diaspora Network (NDN) has begin collation of names of its members who have fallen victims of alleged brutality of the officers of disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad Unit of Nigerian police. NDN, an association of Nigerians living abroad, stated this in a statement in Abuja by its International Coordinator, Mr Samuel Atolaiye. Atolaiye also hinted that the group would make strong representations for the victims in their various states as state governments began setting up commissions of enquiry to probe all the cases.“Imagine a police service unit that is originally put together to protect the citizens from terror and armed robbers and is funded with taxes paid by the public, but the same unit became too powerful to earn the trust to protect the people.“The NDN is already working here to get a list of Nigerians who have gone home from here but fell victim of the SARS and we would make strong representations for them in their states now that the states are now setting up commissions of enquiry to investigate all the cases,” he said.Atolaiye, who backed the suppprt for the current agitation for a better policing, appealed to Nigerians “to listen to President Muhammadu Buhari who has promised to ensure that all those responsible for misconduct are brought to justice.”According to him, this should at least be the beginning of the needed healing.
The Nigeria Union of Traders Association in Ghana (NUTAG), has carried out a peaceful protest over Ghanaian authorities’ refusal to open shops owned by Nigerians in that country.
The President of NUTAG, Mr Chukwuemeka Nnaji, who led the protest, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview that Ghanaian authorities’ refused to open their shops since 2019.
He noted that the Ghanaian authorities’ refusal to open the traders’ shops was despite several meetings between top officials of both governments of Nigeria and Ghana.
He said that the protest was to press the Ghanaian authorities to open shops owned by Nigerians living in Ghana, to enable them tackle economic challenges amid COVID-19.
According to him, the shops owned by Nigerians under lock and key since past one year should be opened to enable the traders return to normal businesses, urging the Nigerian central overnment to evacuate them.
Nnaji said: “I am in talks in with my leader, Mr Ken Okoha, National President of Nigerian Traders, and he has assured us that he will take our case up to the highest level in Nigeria.
“In fact, plans are on for him to move to institutions that are related to trade; I have known him for five years now and I know what he is able to do.
“I am rest assured that the leadership of Nigerian traders are working towards achieving this goal; some of you, who still have funds, should also continue to help other traders.
“Be law abiding citizens, COVID-19 is still on and lots of businesses are affected; many of us are living from hand to mouth due to the downturn.
“If you do not have anything to do, stay at home; rest assured that at the end of October, if we are not evacuated, we will keep ourselves at the border.”
Receiving the traders, Mrs Easter Arewa, Charge de Affair of Nigeria High Commission in Ghana, said that government would remain committed to protecting Nigeria citizens.
According to her, the letter by Nigerian traders has been well received and their message will be conveyed to the highest authority.
“Government is not resting on your case; it is because of you Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of House of Representatives, came to Ghana.
“Likewise, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was here. In spite of his busy schedule, he came here and met with the leadership of NUTAG. He promised to continue with the cause on his return to Abuja.
“He has not failed; very soon your situation will be addressed because a hungry man is an angry man. It is not nice to hear that in a brotherly country as Ghana, you are being treated like this.
“We have Ghanaians in Nigeria too and they are treated as brothers, so do not worry. It is a government-to-government dialogue.
“I believe, very soon, we will get to the end of this matter and we will all be at peace,” Arewa said. (NAN)
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