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We nearly had another Ochanya episode in our hands – Joy Ezilo

  • Condemns rising spate of sexual violence against minors

The Dean faculty of Law, University of Nigera Nsukka and Founding Director, Women Aid Collective (WACOL), Professor Joy Ezeilo has condemned the rising impunity of Sexual Violence, particularly against minors while calling for stiff penalty and other preventive measures to stem the ugly tide.

She also disclosed that the nation narrowly missed what would have been another Ochanya Ogbanje incident.

Already, WACOL has commenced intervention on a defilement case involving the 12-year-old girl (name withheld) which nauseous incident happened at Egede, in Udi LGA of Enugu state.

On account of its wide reportage on social media as well as inundating calls from concerned citizens requesting the organisation to take action, the organisation has swung into action calling on relevant agencies of the govenment to do the needful.

A statement signed by WACOL’s Communication Officer, Egodi Igwe, reads:

“It could be recalled that on the 9th of March 2020, a 12 year old girl in primary 3 was brought to hospital by a school proprietor, accompanied by an officer from Egede police division, a nursing mother who claimed to be the little girl’s sister from Ntezi in Abakaliki, as well as a 46yr old man who feigned knowledge of the rapist. The victim was bleeding from the vagina at the time.

“Information available revealed that this little girl from Abakaliki was brought as helper to live with a grandmother in Egede community.

“Unfortunately, one of the sons of this old lady Mr. Ifeanyi Ukwuani, who is married with two children, visited the village to specifically defile and sexually violate this little girl. He also threatened to kill her if she speaks out.

“She was brought to the hospital by the wife and a brother of the rapist, but they lied about their identity, with the rapist wife claiming to be the girl’s sister.

“The nursing mother told the doctors to hasten the treatment to enable her take her sister home. Unfortunately, for them, truth emerged when victim opened up and refuted her story, denying any relationship with the woman.

“According to her, contrary to the woman’s assertion, the woman’s husband was the one who sexually abused her, at his Egede home and threatened her to either remain silence or face a dire consequence.

“While they were at the hospital, the matter was reported to the Police. When Police arrived at the hospital, the nursing mother and wife to the perpetrator, left with her cohorts, while Police took his senior brother for interrogation. He was later released.

“As an organization saddled with a responsibility of defending the rights of women and children by fighting violence against women, we are taking holistic action to ensure first that victim gets immediate medical and material assistance; and secondly that justice is done and perpetrator held to account for this heinous crime and ultimate betrayal of a girl entrusted in their care. WACOL will not relent to ensure that the perpetrator faces the full wrath of the law.

“Furthermore, we have contacted the National Agency for trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP)to investigate the aspect of trafficking in the case.

“At the moment, we are primarily focusing on the wellbeing of the young girl, supporting treatment and counselling to aid her recovery from the pain and trauma inflicted on her as a result of this sad incident.

Igwe further disclosed that: “She is still receiving a comprehensive treatment at an undisclosed hospital (for privacy and her safety) in Enugu and we are taking full responsibility for the treatment and other welfare support. We have a good understanding with the hospital management regarding this, so we are pleased to say that, she is responding well to treatment, although she is still visibly traumatised.”

“Our team is also following up with the 9thMile police division and have already sent a petition to the state CID to investigate the matter accordingly and to bring the alleged suspect/perpetrator Mr Ifeanyi Uwkuani (still at large) is apprehended immediately.

“In addition, we are making frantic arrangement to locate the victims’ relatives and reunite them with their daughter as soon as possible. We have plan to extend a welfare support to the victim’s mother who we learnt is a widow with 10 children to carter for. We will find out the nature of support the family would need, when we meet with her soonest.

“It is part of our mandate to fight violence against women and girls and stem the impunity of sexual and gender-based violence. We remain resolute in accomplishing that working together with likeminded organizations.”

Moreso, Professor Ezeilo hacondemns the rising impunity of Sexual Violence, especially against minors as she calls for stiff penalty and other preventive measures to stem the ugly tide.

WACOL was established in 1997 as an independent, non-political, non-governmental and non-profit organization; registered in 2000 as a company limited by guarantee i.e. as a charitable organization (RC: 388132) with the Corporate Affairs of Commission (CAC), Nigeria. WACOL’s vision is a democratic society free from violence and abuse, where human rights of all in particular women and young people are recognized in law and practice. Its mission is to assist in the education, social, economic and political development of women and young people through a wide range of services: training, research, advocacy, shelter, free legal and financial aid, intra-familial/community conflict resolution, and information and library services. The organization works throughout Nigeria and beyond. It has an observer status with the African union, African commission on human rights since 2001 and it also has an NGO Special Consultative status with the United Nations approved in 2010 by ECOSOC.
Within 23 years of existence, WACOL have assisted over 50,000 victims of gender-based violence, including women, children and sometimes men, with free legal and financial aid. Similarly, over 6000 family relationships were saved from disintegration through our timely interventions and mediation to reconcile the parties.

WACOL in 2014 established the Tamar Sexual Assault Referral centre (TAMAR SARC), as a registered subsidiary of WACOL. This gender justice responsive Centre was set up to provide rapid, holistic and high quality free medical, counselling and other support services to victims and survivors of sexual assault in Enugu State and beyond.

WACOL also provides temporal shelter (safe house) services to women and children in especially difficult situation at the peak of crises.

Last February, men of the Nigeria Police, Enugu Command allegedly attacked WACOL’s office at Enugu. The incident which was related to an investigation of a rape case, left a female lawyer in coma.

She was said to have been rushed to the intensive care unit of the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu.

Election cases have become the oil bloc of legal practice, says Amadi

The depleting number of justices of Supreme Court is becoming worrisome to Nigerians considering the increasing political litigations the apex court has to contend with. In this interview with BRIDGET CHIEDU ONOCHIE, an Abuja-based lawyer, Sam Amadi, supports the appointment of senior lawyers directly to the Supreme Court Bench. He also gave insight into several other issues of national interest.

Considering the depleting number of justices of the Supreme Court, some Nigerians are advocating appointment of practicing senior lawyers direct to the Supreme Court bench, what is your view on this?
Many of us commended that initiative because we have had period in our history when we saw very senior and erudite private practitioners brought to the Supreme Court Bench. Teslim Elias ended up from being the Attorney General to the Dean of Law to becoming Chief Justices of Nigeria at a point. Dr. Augustine Nnamani was an erudite Senior Advocate and was exemplary in the Bench. We have also seen the likes of Niki Tobi, who was the Dean of Law Faculty from the University of Maiduguri. So, the value and contributions of experience, credible, intelligent and distinguished private practitioner’s to the bench is inestimable, and they are very obvious in our history.

Dr. sam Amadi

So, when the CJN then announced the possibility of adopting such, we saw that senior lawyers like Olisa Agbakoba and few others such as Awa Kalu were reported to have indicated interest and had applied. We know that there was a push back by career judges because of the problem of promotion from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. Judges from the high court have the expectations to go to the Court of Appeal and those at the Appeal Court also have the expectation to go to the Supreme Court. And when judges go through the rank, from the entry court, such as the current CJN, from the Sharia Court to the Supreme Court, they feel a sense of obligation to their brother judges at the lower bench to give them career paths to Supreme Court. So, that is probably what is stopping that innovative initiative from taking place.

In countries such as the US, whose constitutional model we practice and where the President from the Executive Branch of government has direct role to play in appointing judges, you wouldn’t have that kind of problem but here, the NJC takes the responsibility to nominate the appointment into these higher benches of the judiciary and the implication is that you will have some degree of reluctance to allow distinguished, capable, private practitioners or academics entre via their private paths rather than cutting their teeth on the bench. There is this believe that those outsiders don’t belong. I will guess that we are witnessing a push back from the institutional force of the judiciary who are trying to keep the job for their colleagues who have also paid their dues and gone through the hardship of judging at the lower bench.

Supposing their fear is that the private practitioners have not garnered enough experience acquired through the process of the entry court, will you buy into their fear?
This is the debate we used to have when I was a Special Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the difference between Career Diplomat and the Academics. The idea in Nigeria is that these guys who are coming from the academia are not trained foreign policy career officers. The diplomatees are those practices you learn – social norms and social graces. So, obviously, a judge appointed straight from private practice may not be conversant with judicial crafts in that sense like a judge who has come from the magistrate court to the high court and to the Court of Appeal and down to the Supreme Court. That is a possibility but the question is, how about erudition? Does erudition necessarily go with being on the bench? Well, you can argue that; maybe some good judges who grow through the bench will acquire what we call judicial temper. Other things being equal, a judge who has gone through the process will acquire more judicial temper than a judge who is coming as an academic or a private practitioner. That is the social grace of being a judge – the way they compose themselves and the way they smile. But erudition is about knowing the law and applying it to cases.

Understanding the jurisprudence of law is not a monopoly of judges who have been sitting in judicial craft and that is why at the level of the appellate court and the Supreme Court, judicial activities become more intellectual, jurisprudential and policy-oriented. So, judges at the Supreme Court hierarchy are not going to be listening to evidence. Therefore, those judicial crafts and distinguishing traits you see at the lower bench may not be required. It does not mean that a new entrance into the bench will not have to learn the rope somehow in terms of judicial norms but it means that you are also adding a judicial value of somebody who has the intellectual capacity and who probably have a better understanding and brilliance than somebody in the bench. For example, private practitioners who have established himself in certain areas of practice such as public law experts, maritime experts, social and administrative law experts, when they come to the bench, they come with some specializations that might not be available to a career judge. You will then have much law when you have people from private practice to the appellate court.

When you talk about special traits and judicial temper, one can also argue that these senior lawyers come to courts and would have acquired such special traits in the course of defending their clients.
Yes. In a way, you cannot distinguish between the temperament of a senior lawyer, properly trained and who has the right ethics and that of a judge, who is also properly trained. It all depends on where you occupy because lawyers are advocates. So, there are some degrees of aggression, some degree of vehement is expected of a lawyer defending his client but when they become a judge, some degree of non-interference, impartiality and some ‘perceivity’, if you like, become the rule. So, senior lawyers are able to understand the role that they are able to shift quickly from being an advocate and aggressive lawyer to a judge who is patient, evaluating and who is perceptive.

Now, we have 13 justices at the Supreme Court bench as against 21 stipulated by law. Is it that we lack experienced manpower to serve at the apex court bench? What in your view is dragging the process and what are the likely implications?
First, the Nigerian system of appointment of judges from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court is even strange. In the US, you don’t have that number of justices. There are about nine justices of the Supreme Court because the work the US Supreme Court does is less than the work that Nigerian Supreme Court does. Nigerian Supreme Court saddled justices with greater responsibilities because of its flawed procedure and its failed jurisprudence. The Supreme Court continues to take cases they should not take and because maybe the original interpretation of our constitutional provision has burdened the court. So, we have a constitution that has spelt out in detail, the workings of the judicial arm, which is wrong compared to American constitution that bestows jurisdiction on the Supreme Court.

So, what has happened is that the Supreme Court has been denied some degree of control over its dockets that policy courts elsewhere have. It is burdened and that is why the failure to have a complete number now looks like a big issue. So, first is the constitutional problem. The Supreme Court is being made to be like a retail court, doing what it should not do because it lacks the decisiveness to throw away cases and of course, shut doors to some persons because the constitution has spelt out in too much details, what it should do. The right of appeal and all those provisions are unnecessary because it makes it easy for everyone to come to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court spends three months to look at a case only to discover that the case is useless and it shouldn’t have come up. And why does the Supreme Court take such cases? It is because the constitution has granted right to appeal as of right to different kinds of situations.

Second is the fact that these vacancies and gaps grow over time. Why are we not having the maximum number? The Constitution says to the maximum of 21 but it is still constitutional to have less than 21 justices at the Supreme Court bench but the question is; should we fill up the bench? Maybe ‘yes’, so that we can have multiplicity of panels dealing with matters such as all these cases coming from states since we have over “judicialised” our elections to the extent that there is no certainty about who gets elected until the Supreme Court says so. After the election, 36 states of the federation went to the Supreme Court. The implication is that the Supreme Court needs to have multiple panels to decide these matters. If they have a full house, they will probably have more and more panels and the burden will reduce.

Also, the cases of seeming or real conflict of interest, the CJN will have more leeway to constitute a panel. It is possible to have almost half of the existing number tainted with one kind of conflict of interest situation, in which case, you will not have difficulty composing a truly objective panel. I think that is an argument in support of composing the Supreme Court to its maximum strength but then, the real issue is that we need to focus more on structural forms of the Supreme Court. For me, it is more jurisprudential, procedural than the idea of multiplying or regionalising the Supreme Court. I think we need to scale back from stipulating by law or creating too many rights to go to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court should be given the power to table what matters it takes and it should be based on coherent jurisprudence that focuses on cases and controversies that require Supreme Court determination. Again, the Supreme Court is also suffering from lack of tender capacity unlike in the US where the court is a guarantor or the underwriter of constitutionalism. There, the Supreme Court has access to smartest people working as interns, working as clerks.

Most of the professors in the US or top lawyers in government in the US clerked at one time. Also, as people are graduating from the universities with law degrees in the US system; they are already over familiar with cases. The method of learning is case matters, which means that students are kept through the cases and when these students who are first class students go to judges to be clerked, they take the responsibility of helping the judges. Even though those judges in the US are also first class judges, they are now coupled with first class brains helping them sight policy decisions in the various cases they encounter. Here in Nigeria, the judges themselves are not very smart, not really brilliant; then they are saddled with very unintelligent backroom staff in terms of registrars and so on. There is lack of digital and technical support and brain-power is very low. It means that the Supreme Court will underperform. Even if you back it up with 22 justices, it will not bring about the real reforms. The real reform has to do with revamping the jurisprudence and procedure for the Supreme Court and allowing it to be a court where justices take full control of the proceedings instead of allowing litigants to flood the court with frivolous cases.

What other reforms would you recommend for the judiciary?
I have made it very clear that we cannot continue to deceive ourselves that the judges are what we were told they are. The legal formalism presents a case of judges as people who are perceptional, who have integrity. Today, we now know that judges are like all of us. They are imbedded in our corruption, they are inherent in our society and as such, they are as corrupt as we are; bias, politicized, dependent and compromised as other arms of government. The judiciary today in Nigeria has been politicized, intimidated, frightened and perhaps, summed up by the political machine. What that means is that we should not be thinking in idealistic and naïve sense of a judge who cannot be reached or compromised.

We should see judges as first, people who are part of the society, they are subject to the same influences and crises of value and therefore, we should design accountability framework, engage the judges from the point of view of scrutinizing them, scrutinizing their decisions, their affiliations and their engagements, and holding them accountable the same way we hold political office holders to say what I call the ‘political responsibility theory of the judiciary’ – that the judiciary as a political branch of government must be held accountable as to whether it is performing its duties. The idea that judges have decided and therefore, we should all go to sleep is no longer valid. The judges have to be held to explain, to show that they are making decisions based on the normative framework of their position.

There are certain basic constitutional values of the judiciary. So, each time, we should scrutinize the judiciary the same way we force political office holders to account within the normative framework of their rules. We should develop the capacity and commitment to hold judges accountable. They are no longer the classical measure of the judge presumed to above board, presumed not to be affected by all the conflicts going on – moral conflicts, political conflicts, financial conflicts and economic conflicts going on in Nigeria. Today’s judge in Nigerian is a Nigerian citizen, who is caught up in a middle of all the conflicts and therefore, I posit that the proper approach to judges is respect, reverence and accountability. Demand that they prove and justify the position they occupy.

Holding the above view and looking at the Nigerian situation, who do you think will police the judiciary? Particularly when you consider the fact that it has allegedly become the appendage of the executive. Do you think it is going to be possible to hold these judicial officers accountable?
We are gradually getting there. You can see, for the first time in the case of Imo State, how the political actors have taken to the street to castigate the justices of the Supreme Court. The justices are not questioned in the classroom or by analysts but by politicians, who went as far as street protest. This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that the political party and its supporters feel obliged, that it is a national duty to protest on the street against the decision of Supreme Court. What that tells you is that we are coming to the political responsibility theory. These people are no longer operating on the illusion that judges are removed from these crises of value that we are in. It is clear now to political analysts or observers that the notion of the judge as an independent wise guardian of the constitution, wisdom and morality has been deconstructed. The very tragic poor performance of the judiciary in the past four years in particular, has totally taken away the illusion of a Pretorian Guard. It has taken away the illusion of a divinity both of reason and character.

The point there is that Justice Walter Onnoghen’s gangster-like removal was the biggest daylight Mafioso operation against the judiciary. The recklessness, the lawlessness and the criminality of the administrative judge to issue ex-parte order to the former CJN was the day Nigerian judiciary collapsed. The Nigerian judiciary is as a matter of fact, dead. If anybody had told me that an administrative judge, a level 14 officer, who is answerable to the President could issue an ex-parte order, suspending a CJN, I would not believe it. So, from that day going forward, the failure of the Supreme Court justices to say that this is wrong and the ease with which they quickly replaced the fallen hero or valiant, the very tepid response of the NJC all point to the fact that the judiciary has lost that protective shell.

So, henceforth, we now wear our lenses to look at every judgment to see if they have acted wrongly or have acted politically. We have not come to a point where we believe that judges are acting in their judicial function and morality, which is independence and fearlessness. They make mistakes but these are mistakes of reasoning, which we as litigants and citizens will accept as some of the deficiencies of our system but today, we are looking for the mistakes of deliberate falsehood, deliberate mischief counseled by political or financial power. Once the judiciary has come to that level, then, it has lost that protective shell and now, the doctrine of popular accountability comes in. People will now say that since ‘you are another branch of government, we will hold you accountable. The same way we protest against the legislature and the executive, we will protest against you.’ We now enter the mode of political doctrine of the judiciary. The judiciary is the political branch of government and it has to justify or defend what it has done politically.

Are we now saying that by this doctrine of political judiciary, the judiciary is no longer perceived as the last hope of the common man?
That is a difficult question to answer. Is it really the last hope of the common man? Maybe it is the last hope of the common man who keeps his eyes open and is ready to ask questions. The common man goes to sleep in the previous theory of the judicial craft in Nigeria. He is sleeping that the wise, old and unbendable man is watching over him to protect him. These days, the common man will open his eyes and ask, ‘are you still there, are you fighting for me or have they compromised you? So, the judiciary is the last hope of the common man to the extent that the common man himself is to fight for his own survival and not assume that the judiciary is fighting for him.

There is this common notion that with the state of Nigerian judiciary, the younger generations are no longer interested or enthusiastic about studying law in the university. How true is this?
I think there is also loss of interest in law as an instrument of social and political justice. Many people are studying law as long as it will afford them a meal ticket, especially now that election cases have become the oil of legal practice. But primarily, there is a loss of interest, loss of trust and reputation. Of course, the attraction of law has lessened significantly these days. Even the law students themselves are not too proud of themselves anymore and who will be proud with the Imo verdict that has shaken the foundation of confidence in the judiciary and what the law profession is.

On the Security situation, the South West is gradually endorsing Amotekun and other regions are also warming up to launch theirs. In your view, is this the way to go?
I am against regional security. It is a vote of no confidence on the Nigerian state. As people believe, Amotekun is a vote for regionalism no matter how much it is masked. It is a statement of failure of national security. A country should have one strong, efficient, universal and nationalist police force. What that means is that you may have state police, community police but each of those police is a national police. What Amotekun and all these other ones suggest is what I call ethnic police.

I think it is totally a way of saying that the security apparatus of the nation has failed. In the last two, three years, the cry has been heavy that the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigeria security agencies have been ethnicised. Somebody as highly placed as General T.Y Danjuma once said that Nigerian army is in the farmer/headers conflict, in a war of ethnic cleansing. The general perception Nigerians have is that out of omission or commission, Nigerian government has created an impression that Nigerian Police force and Nigerian security agencies are under the control of some ethnic champions. Therefore, the objectivity, the professionalism, the power of state to act autonomously has failed.

The state is now under the captivity of an ethnic class. The Nigerian state is a captive, it is a weak state, even a failed state because it lacks that autonomy to act, not being procured at the instance of any ethnic, religious or economic group. How about the man that bombed the church in Madalla on a Christmas day, Kabiru Sokoto? The story is that he has been released. How about the guy who killed the Apo six? So, country whose police force is incapable of acting dis-interestingly and neutrally creates Amotekun basically. So, Amotekun is justified. It is regrettable though but justifiable because it fills a void. The Nigerian state has been hallowed out of secular, neutral authority objective to act to protect its citizens and police its borders. So, Amotekun is structured after regionalism and it is a failure of the country Nigeria.

‘I lost two family members, life has lost its meaning’

By From Templer Olaiya, Sunday Odita, Seye Olumide, Gbenga Salau, Sulaimon Salau, Kehinde Olatunji (Lagos), Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Terhemba Daka, Adamu Abuh (Abuja), Joseph Wantu (Makurdi) and Michael Egbejule (Benin City)

• Tears, grief as Lagos residents relive explosion, count losses
• Death toll climbs to 23, wife with first-class degree, husband die
• It’s like a war zone, says Sanwo-Olu, launches N2 billion relief fund

Twenty-four hours after an explosion rocked Abule-Ado in Lagos State, the tears of its residents continued to flow yesterday as they recounted the ordeal.
As the sun rose, the distraught residents besieged the scene trying desperately to make sense of the terrible devastation that has so far claimed 23 lives, shattered roofs and windows and brought the walls of many buildings crashing to the ground.

“Shoot me if you wish to. It’s the worst you can do. I lost two family members. Life has therefore lost its meaning and I don’t fear death,” said a dark-skinned man probably in his forties.

Loudly, he had protested against official accounts of the blast, which blamed pipeline explosion, and concluded he wanted to hear no more of the falsehood. For all he cared, the incident was the result of a bomb. At this point, security operatives nearby ordered him to shut up. Instead, he erupted in the discharge of angry words.

Few members of staff of Bethlehem Girls College located near the epicentre of the blast had a dry eye. Although they heard about the incident, they couldn’t comprehend the extent to which the school they happily left behind on Friday had been destroyed. Besides, never again would they set eyes on beloved School Administrator Rev. Sister Henrietta Alokha, who died while helping to evacuate the school’s pupils.

With an anguish-laden voice, one Michael Abiye told how his cousin who lived with him has remained missing following the blast. “My cousin came two months ago. He told me that he worshipped in one of the Pentecostal churches in the area. But I don’t know the particular church. Since the incident occurred, I have not seen him, and his phone is switched off.

“I have gone to all the hospitals, including the naval hospital in Ojo, yet I couldn’t find him. I learnt that five more bodies were recovered today. But there is no information on where they took the bodies to.”

Kerry Chukwuma, a friend of the Udoakonobis, a young couple whose life was cut short by the blast, could hardly hold back tears. “The husband (Emmanuel) was a good friend of mine. They went to church that morning for the first service and arrived at home few minutes before the explosion. I am pained. He was the only son. He joked a lot and was very hardworking. Chisom (wife) graduated with a first-class degree in accounting. She was also the only daughter of her parents. So sad! Young promising lives were wasted just like that. May their souls rest in peace.”

An agitated mother, Kemi Kolaosho, also narrated how she rushed to the scene following the explosion and began searching for her daughter, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

As at yesterday, more bodies were still being pulled out of the rubble, sending a flurry of painful emotions through the minds of the residents. Two yet-to-be-identified corpses were recovered at about 11:00 a.m.

For Abule-Ado, the scale and reality of what had happened seem to unfold with bitter realities every hour, and for many of the residents, the tears might only have started to flow.

Sanwo-Olu sets up N2b relief fund for victims, briefs Buhari
LAGOS State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced yesterday that he had set up a N2 billion naira relief fund for the victims. Disclosing this when he visited the scene of the explosion, he said the state government would release N250 million into the funds to provide succour for those affected.

“I will confess that I have never seen anything of this magnitude before. It is like a war zone,” the governor said. He said: “The process of rebuilding this place is beyond what the government, either at the national level or state, can undertake on its own. Given the level of destruction, I am immediately setting up what I have called an Abule Ado/Ado Soba Emergency Relief Fund. It is a N2 billion relief fund and the state government will immediately be putting N250 million in that fund. Three banks have opened accounts for the fund.

“Setting up this fund is to give everybody the opportunity to be part of rebuilding this place and to be able to donate into it. The utilisation of funds, which will be headed by the deputy governor, will also be part of the responsibility that the fact-finding committee will be saddled with. To show our commitment to helping the victims recover, we have three bank account numbers already. The accounts are: Polaris Bank, 4030017510; Zenith Bank, 10171845716; and GT Bank, 0568615688.”

Sanwo-Olu also visited President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja and briefed him about the scale of the tragedy.Disclosing the outcome of the meeting, he said: “I had a very rare opportunity to brief Mr. President about the very unfortunate pipeline explosion in Lagos State. Mr. President was very gracious to receive me and asked me what had happened.

“I was able to show him pictorially the extent and the level of the destruction. It is a very unfortunate incident. It is not something that anyone could have imagined. You needed to be there to see the level of destruction.”

He said Buhari was interested and was looking forward to the findings of a committee set up by the Lagos State government on the disaster.

Explosion suspiciously different, says rights body
THE Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) asked the Federal Government to carry out a forensic investigation of the immediate and remote causes of the explosion.

The group in a statement issued in Lagos by Head, Media & Campaigns, Philip Jakpor, also called on Sanwo-Olu to set up a special task force on pipelines security with the aim of preventing such accidents in the state.

According to Deputy Executive Director Akinbode Oluwafemi, “There is something suspiciously different about this explosion. The scale of destruction is nothing like any of the pipeline explosions we have monitored and documented for several decades.

“The incident’s scale of destruction could only be likened to military grade explosions or aerial bombardment. We can’t treat this casually as an accident caused by a truck.

“With the current security challenges facing this country, it is extremely premature to draw conclusions without conducting forensic investigation of this particular blast. Not even the accidental detonation of bombs at the Ikeja cantonment caused this scale of destruction and ruins. Government must conduct a comprehensive investigation to establish if this was a crime or an accident.

“And there are questions begging for answers: Who drove the truck? What is the truck doing on a pipeline on Sunday morning? Was the gas plant opened on a Sunday? Was the content of the truck weaponised?

“And for the NNPC that has admitted some level of culpability by confirming that the primary explosion came from its gas truck, it should immediately initiate the process of providing remediation for the affected families and businesses while its officials found to have, through negligence, orchestrated this massive destruction, should be made to face the law.”

Gbajabiamila visits explosion site promises action
THE Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila yesterday visited the site of the explosion. Gbajabiamila, who was accompanied by some members of the House on the visit, bemoaned the number of people that died during the explosion.He assured those he met at the site that the government would not abandon the families of the victims to their fate as action would be taken.

“I want to assure the people here that the Lagos State Government is not going to abandon you, the Federal government, the NNPC GMD was the first to be here, you are not going to be abandoned, the local government chairman is here, your representative, Rep Oghene is here. You are not going to be abandoned.

“Right now in the time of sorrow, and a time of grief sometimes, God has a way of doing things. It is at times like this, that He brings us together that we remember that we are all one, and we must act as one. A time for finger-pointing will come later, but let us address this situation.

“We live in perilous times now. There are a lot of things going around, from coronavirus, to this, to that, and we have been advised by international organizations all over the world and every government, that we do not gather in groups like this but you cannot stop human kindness.

“We are all aware that we are all running a race, even as we stand here together but because of the importance of the lives that were lost and the damage, we do not care about that, we are all here, together as one.

“I’ve come to encourage you, do not be discouraged, do not be distraught, many lives have been lost. Those that lost brothers, sisters, family members, God will console you. 

“We encourage you to be strong, and from Abuja, from the Federal government, I bring you the sympathy of the government, and we will do everything that we need to do, and is humanly possible, as far as the government is concerned,” the speaker said.

Gbajabiamila said he had been briefed by the relevant authorities about the incident, saying “I can assure you that an unfortunate incident of this nature is a lesson to all of us, and we must learn from it.

“This happened, and we must learn from it. Lives have been lost. One life lost is too many, not to talk of about 17 or the figures we’re hearing around 20. Twenty lives are too many, among whom there were children. May their souls rest in peace.

“The principal would have escaped, but she was trying to save her children. May her soul rest in peace,” he said, adding that this is the time to assess the damage and take appropriate action.

The General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Mr Femi Osanyitolu was on ground to receive the speaker’s delegation and showed them the devastation the explosion left in its wake. 

He briefed the speaker on the extent of the damage caused by the explosion and also about the efforts of the all emergency responders, including the federal and state agencies and others working together to salvage the situation since the incident occurred.

Tinubu, Afenifere decry incident, want inquiry
THE national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, condemned the explosion.

A statement on behalf of Tinubu by his spokesman, Mr. Tunde Rahman reads: “All those who had a hand in the unfortunate incident must be punished no matter how highly placed. This tragedy should not have happened. Those who lost their lives in the unfortunate incident did not deserve to die so gruesomely.

“I strongly condemn this incident. I commiserate with families and relations of those who died. I also sympathise with those who lost their valued property. In their memories and in order to avert similar occurrence in future, the authorities must get to the root of this incident and curb incessant pipeline explosion in the area.

“All those who had a hand in this explosion, including those who acted in ways to put lives at risk and hard-earned possessions in jeopardy, must be punished, no matter how highly-placed they may be.”

The national publicity secretary of Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said: “Our hearts go to all the families who are victims of this great tragedy as we pray for the repose of all souls who perished in the sad occurrence. We call for an open inquiry into this incident coming three weeks after the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai announced the presence of Boko Haram in Lagos.

“The explosion targeting a missionary girls school and the impact of it being felt kilometers from the scene, with cars parked at far distance having their windscreens shattered, make us to reject the different causes ascribed without any investigation.

“We hold our breath until a forensic investigation is done to ascertain the real cause of this explosion that has left so many families bereaved.”

PDP laments spate of explosions, urge rejig of emergency response
THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it was shocked and grief-stricken by yet another devastating explosion. It said the spate of explosions and other avoidable disasters, particularly in Lagos and other strategic states, raise grave public safety concerns.

PDP National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan said: “Only in January, a pipeline explosion rocked Abule-Egba in Lagos State. Compatriots were killed in an inferno that razed valuables and brought anguish to m any families.”

The party called for a rejig of the national emergency response, saying, “Such an overhaul of the nation’s emergency management must strengthen quick responses to disasters by respective agencies of government and volunteer groups.”

It commiserated with the victims and “urged relevant authorities as well as public spirited individuals, groups and establishments to come to their aid.”

Muslim body, lawmaker mourn victims
THE Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC) Nigeria expressed sympathy for the families of the victims and the people of Lagos State over the tragedy.MPAC’s Director Media & Strategic Communications, Abdulwarees Solanke, said: “We commiserate with the numerous families whose lives, homes and hopes have been shattered by the tragic incident with devastating effects. We take it as part of the trials and travails of life and pray important lessons are taken to prevent future recurrence.

“But as we counsel on patience, fortitude and forbearance in this trying moment and as we pray for the victims, we cannot but speak on factors that prompted these misfortune. Of course, security is being breached daily along the entire distance of pipelines across the country, requiring eternal vigilance, the fact still remains that much of the criminality in the land resulting in tragedies such as these are simply avoidable.

“All Nigerians must take precautions on environmental, health and safety issues and exercise discretion on where they choose to take up as residence or site their businesses.

“As we mourn over this incident, there is no compensation that can replace the lost lives and shattered dreams. This is a development that once again exposes the government as failing in surveillance, compliance monitoring and enforcement of health and safety standards.”

Also, a federal lawmaker, Senator Annie Okonkwo, issued a statement saying: “I feel very sad to read about the demise of Rev. Sister Henrietta Alokha, the Principal of Bethlehem High School Abule Ado, who ensured the successful evacuation of most students from the wrecked building alive but couldn’t make it out of the fire. May her gentle, fearless and patriotic soul rest in perfect peace. Amen.”

Minister advocates posthumous award for school administrator
MINISTER of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu said Rev. Sister Henrietta Alokha deserved a posthumous national award for sacrificing her life to save the children under her care.

His statement reads in part: “Mallam Adamu extends his heartfelt condolence to the executive governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the parents, the management and students of Bethlehem Girls College, Abule-Ado.

“In particular, the minister extolled the courage and bravery of the vice principal of Bethlehem college, Rev. Sister Henrietta Alokha, who died in the process of evacuating the students of the college who were under her care.

“The minister said he understands from media reports that the vice principal may have escaped the inferno if she had chosen to run away. Rather, she chose to risk her life trying to evacuate her students, thereby dying in the process ..”

The Guardian

All you need to know about bail

Against the backdrop of law enforcement agents and agencies detaining people at will even against orders of court, Hon. Justice Usman Bwala in this piece gives an insight into all you need to know about bail.

A person who is imprisoned or detained has a right to early trial or be released on bail James Danbaba vs The State 2000 14 NWLR (Pt 687) 396 at 409. Where there is a delayed investigation or trial a person can apply for bail pending the conclusion of investigation or trial. Bail, therefore, is applicable in three stages

  •  bail before trial
  •  bail during trial and
  •  bail after conviction
Hon. Justice Bwala (Rtd.)

We shall start with bail before trial. What is bail? Bail is a common word in every society, however, its meaning and applicability may not be known or understood by all. Bail is a legal word which has its origin from the French word “brailler” meaning “to deliver” The Nigerian Law Dictionary by S.1 Nichi 71. Bail simply means to set at liberty somebody who has been arrested or imprisoned Emeka Ekwenugo vs F.A.G 2001 6 NWLR (Pt 708) 17 where it was held as follows:  “It literally means to set at liberty a person arrested or     imprisoned on security being taken for his appearance on a day and a day certain.”

          Bail is applicable to both criminal and civil matters. Bail in civil matters is used mainly to secure directly or indirectly payment of debt or performance of civil duties Johnson vs Shaffer 28 N.E. 2d 765. Bail is applicable to both common law and statutes. At common law all felons are bailable In Re Nottingham Corporation 1897 2 Q.B. 502. At common law all courts have inherent jurisdiction to grant bail R vs Spilsbury 1898 2 Q.B. 615 where it was held as follows:  “…court has independently of statute by common law,           jurisdiction to admit to bail.”

          The function of bail in criminal matters is to release a person detained or arrested to regain his freedom by way of bail with or without condition to enable him appear in court on a day certain Johnson vs Shaffer supra held as follows:     “…while in criminal cases object is to secure appearance of a person before the court when his presence is needed.”

          Bail is not only granted to a natural person, bail can be granted to a sea or ocean going vessels, ships, boats etc, that is, admiralty proceedings. A ship seized may be granted bail, based on two principles of law. These principles of law are best arguable case and the value of the ship Delta Steel Co vs Aditya Prablia 1987 – 90 3 NSC 602.

          A person who has not been tried and convicted by a court is presumed to be innocent until proved guilty S.36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. This presumption of innocence of an accused person is preserved and reinforced by granting an accused person bail pending and during trial Stacks vs Boyle 342  U.S 1951 where it was held as follows:  “Unless this right to bail before trial is preserved, the presumption     of innocence secured only after centuries of struggle would loose its meaning.”

The constitutionality if bail is recognised and contained in the common law, all constitutions ever operated in Nigeria and the CPA Sections 118 – 142 and CPC Sections 340 – 355 reinforced by decisions of courts interpreting the constitutional provisions of bail see S 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution, Chief Pius Anaekwe vs COP 1996 3 NWLR (Pt 436) 320. Section 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights have given all those living in Africa the freedom of bail.

Bail is applicable only when the freedom of movement guaranteed to an individual has been restricted or restrained Jahar Mal vs The State 1954 A.I.R (Raj) 279 where it was held as follows:  “The conclusion, therefore, at which we arrived, is that there must be some kind of restraint to him before a person who appears before court, is granted bail by court.”

Anticipatory bail is not granted in most states in the world. However, India practices what may be termed as anticipatory bail Amir Chand vs The Crown 1950 A.I.R. (E.P.) 58 where it was held as follows: “In the case of a person who is not under arrest but whose arrest warrant have been issued, bail can be allowed if he appears in court and surrenders himself.”  

Anticipatory bail is not granted in serious cases or to a person being investigated for serious offences Samunder Singh 1987 A.I.R. (S.C.) 737.

Anticipatory bail is like enforcement of fundamental rights guaranteed under S. 46 (1) of the Constitution, one need not wait unless he is apprehended, a person who reasonably fears his fundamental right is eminently about to be violated can stop it by applying S.46(1) of the Constitution supra.

In the language of bail the phrases “admitted to bail” and “granted or released on bail” is frequently interchangeably used, it has been held in Juhal Mal. Vs The State supra to mean the same thing as follows:  “The basic idea in both these sections is the release of a person concerned on bail, and the use of different expressions namely “released on bail” in one and “admitted on bail” in the other does not, in our opinion make any difference to the meaning, and both sections are meant for the release of a person on bail.”

To grant or not grant bail by court is discretionary R vs Abdullahi Jamal 16 NLR 54 as follows: “The position is therefore clear that I have a clear discretion as to granting bail.”

Though, granting bail is discretionary of a court the discretion must be exercised according to the rules of reason and justice and not according to private opinion Sharpe vs Wakefield 1891 A.C. 173. Discretion is exercised according to common sense and justice Gardner vs Jay 1885 29 Ch. D. 58. A discretion in law must be exercised judicially and in accordance with established principles Adamu Muri vs 1GP 1957 NNLR 5, it must be exercised judicially and judiciously Dana Impex vs Stephen Aderotoye 2006 All FWLR (Pt 308) 1388.

          The purpose of granting bail is for a person detained to regain his freedom, bail conditions must therefore not be excessive or unreasonable to enable an accused person fulfil the conditions and regain his freedom Mathias Onuigbo vs COP 1975 NNLR 34 held as follows:  “…bail must not be excessive. Excessive bail might amount to no bail at all because the accused person may not be able to comply with the term.”

See also El-Alim Mirghani vs Sudan Gov’t 1960 S.L.J.R 68. Where excessive bail conditions are granted it can be reviewed by courts SS 334, 125 CPC and CPA respectively, Mathias Onuigbo vs C.O.P supra.

There are 2 types of bail  Mathias Onuigbo vs C.O.P supra as follows: “Bail is mainly of 2 types: (1) Self recognisance by which the accused person is merely asked to enter into bond of certain sum of money which may be estregated in full in case he fails to turn up on a given date;  (1) Bond with surety or sureties by which he is asked to enter a bond of a fixed sum of money and the surety the same bond by which they bind themselves to forfeit a fixed sum of money in case of default of appearance by the accused person.”

Failure to fulfil bail bond terms can lead to forfeiting the bond, cancellation of the bail and re-arrested of the accused person Ss. 348 and 121 CPC and CPA respectively. A court can order deposition of money in a court as a fulfilment of bail terms Mathias Onuagbo vs C.O.P supra.

          There are procedures for forfeiting bail bond and the procedures must be meticulously followed Aiyegoboyin vs A.G. Oyo 1982 1 NCR 295. The conditions are a court must be satisfied bond was been forfeited, grounds for the forfeiture of the bond and it is discretionary of a court to order forfeiture S. 354 CPC, R vs Southampton Justices 1975 2 All E.L.R. 1075, El Alim vs Sudan Gov’t 1960 S.L.J.R.68. A bail bond must be in writing COP vs John 1981  1 NCR 139; R vs Mc Gary 1945 30 Cr. Ap. R 187.

          Bail before trial is sometimes referred to pre-trial bail and a person who has not been tried and convicted by a court is prima facie entitled to be granted bail unless there are mitigating circumstances Ani vs The State 2002 1 NWLR (Pt 747) 217. Courts have inherent power to grant bail to a person before his committal for trial continues unless it is expressly taken away R vs Augustino 1950 WWR 1075. Bail will be refused an applicant when prosecution witnesses are afraid to testify in the case Bamaiyi vs The State 2001 2 NWLR (Pt 698) 435. An applicant awaiting trial who is refused bail pending trial should be brought to court within a two months period stipulated in S. 35(4) constitution Bamaiyi vs The State supra. There are many factors considered before a court grants bail pending trial Shafiu vs The State 2002 4 NWLR (Pt 757) 265.

          When a suspect will not appear in court to face trial, commit other crimes or has record of previous convictions bail will be denied Girdhar vs R 1960 E.A. 320. When a suspect interfere with investigation bail will be denied James Danbaba vs The State 2000 14 NWLR (Pt 687) 396. The fact that a suspect has grievous charges against him is not a ground to refuse him bail James Danbaba vs The State supra.

          A suspect who has not been tried and convicted by court should be granted bail as a matter of course Emeka Ani vs The State 2001 FWLR (Pt 81) 1715. Bail will be refused to an applicant who admitted committing a crime or investigation of his case was still going on Suleman Adamu vs C.O.P 2006 All FWLR (Pt 298) 1348.

          Prisoners charged with high offences will not be granted bail Re Nottingham Corporation 1897 2 Q.B. 502.  Capital offences are not bailable unless there are compelling and constraining circumstances COP vs Dr Iruoma 1977 1MSLR 80. Inordinate delay in prosecuting a case is a ground to grant bail pending trial COP vs Dr Iruoma supra. An applicant who has history of past convictions and committing other offences while on bail will have his bail revoked H.M. Postmaster vs Whitehouse 1951 35 Cr. A.P.R 8.

          When a prosecutor asks for adjournment on the ground that the facts are insufficient to proceed against an accused person means there is no case against a suspect he is entitled to bail COP vs Dr Iruoma supra. When an applicant for bail pending hearing interferes with the course of justice bail will be denied A. G. vs Duffy 1942 I.R. 529. It is the duty of the prosecution who opposed bail to provide prima facie evidence that the case against an accused person will succeed The State vs Lambert Onwu 1978 IMSLR 154.

          Whatever stage application for bail is made the health of an applicant is a weighty matter to be considered Chief Olabode vs FRN 2010 5 NWLR (Pt 1187) 254.

Bail will not be granted to an applicant who has other cases pending against him Michael Patrick Philips 1948 32 Cr APR 47. Bail must not be refused for personal vendetta, capricious reasons or to force an accused person to plead guilty Ugwumba Elisha vs C.O.P 1974  4 E.C. S.L.R 362.  Difficulties encountered by an applicant is not a ground for granting bail but is a ground to adopt liberal approach Raghbir Lambon vs R 1933 E.A. 337.

          Sections 27 and 332 of the Nigeria Police Act allows police officers to release on bail those arrested for minor offences. Under S. 332 (vii) of the Police Act the second in command in a police station can release on bail a suspect arrested without warrant. Why it is the second in command who grants a bail in a police station and not the head or any other person is not clear. When police officer releases on bail a suspect on conditions and the suspect fails to satisfy those conditions the suspect is no longer illegally detained Eda vs COP 1980 1 NCR 14.

          Political motivation is not a ground to warrant an applicant get bail Aiyegboyin vs A.G. 1982 1 NCR 295. There is nothing in Nigerian law known as “holding charge” a major reason for keeping suspects in custody pending being charged to court Chief Pat Ewere vs COP 1993 6 NWLR (Pt 299) 333.

Hon. Justice Usman Bukar Bwala retired from the High Court of Justice Maiduguri

Making Lasting Difference for Women and Girls

Chiemelie Ezeobi writes on the drive by the British Council Nigeria to make lasting difference for women and girls across board

Globally, every March 8 is dedicated to honouring women’s achievements in different spheres of life. It is also a day that women from different backgrounds and culture come together to fight for women’s rights and address issues of bias. This year, its theme was a timely call to action for improvement of women’s situation globally.

This year, the 2020 International Women’s Day (IWD) themed ‘I am Generation Equality: Realising Women’s Rights’, which aligns with UN Women’s new multigenerational campaign, Generation Equality, which also marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, was marked on Sunday, March 8.

According to the British Council Nigeria, “Gender equality has been the focus for years in developing and developed nations globally. Gender discrimination affects women and girls across strata, tradition and ethnicities though arguably more profound in some localities than others.

“ As Nigeria joins the rest of the world in marking the international women’s day, it is imperative that more efforts are put into enhancing the lives of women and girls, with a view to making a lasting difference.

“In addition, the fifth Social Development Goal (SDG), which is aimed at achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls was a further motivation for the British Council to commission a global report to highlight the work of the British Council in relation to the empowerment of women and girls between 2010 and 2015.

“The report titled Women and Girls – making a lasting difference highlights the different activities of British Council that work towards addressing the SDG goal of increasing gender equality.”

Therefore, as part of their 75th Anniversary celebration, British Council Nigeria intends to highlight the women and girls’ empowerment programmes across their portfolio in Nigeria and some of the outcomes that have been achieved, as featured in the report.

They include empowering women and girls through sport with The British Council’s major sports programme, Premier Skills, a global programme delivered in partnership with the Premier League that uses football to develop a brighter future for young people around the world. So far in Nigeria, 300 female students between the ages of 12 and 16 years have participated.

Also, they are empowering women and girls through volunteering, individual and collective action with the Active Citizens is a project that promotes intercultural dialogue, community-led social development and social responsibility, working to build empowerment through the promotion of social change in communities. In Nigeria, over 1,000 female students and university staff have developed their leadership skills through the project.

Again, they are empowering women and girls through peace, justice and security with the Justice for All (J4A) DFID funded project where British Council is the lead partner. The programme focuses on reform of the justice sector and works across several states. The programme has some explicitly gendered components including supporting the creation of the Mirabel centre situated at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, and the Tamar Centre in Enugu, which provides counselling and medical support to victims of sexual and domestic violence.

With the DFID-funded – Nigerian Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP), in particular, Component 3, which is supported by Social Development Direct, is directed at women and girls with the aim of ‘more influential participation by women and girls in institutions and initiatives relevant to peace building, with reduced prevalence and impact of violence against women and girls’.

According to Dr Eleanor Nwadinobi, who leads the work on this component, “a main success of the programme should be seen in the increased willingness of women and girls to report sexual violence. These young people are willing to report issues and through the peace clubs, sometimes characterised as “safe spaces”’.

Empowering women and girls through partnerships in education through the Northern Nigerian Girls Education Programme targeted especially at states with poor data on educational outcomes, British Council Nigeria has supported the set-up of Girls Education Advocacy and Research networks (GEARn).

The aim is to produce high-quality research on what works in support to education of girls. Research findings have been utilised by GEARn members for advocacy to government and private stakeholders within project states to influence policy aimed at ensuring better educational outcomes for girls.

Empowering women and girls through arts by supporting the Nigerian creative industries, offering opportunities for women artists to showcase their skills some of these programmes include NAIJA STREET STORIES in collaboration with Hatch Africa where young filmmakers were challenged to present ideas for a women-centred documentary through workshops, mentoring and training. There is also the Go Women Go, collaboration by British artist Laura Aldridge and Nike Davies Okundaye of the Nike Arts Centre in, which aims to promote ceramics, textiles and sculpture.

“The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. Using the UK’s cultural resources we make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

”We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications.

”Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. The majority of our income is raised delivering a range of projects and contracts in English teaching and examinations, education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. Eighteen per cent of our funding is received from the UK government,” they added.

ThisDay

Vision and delusions

By Liborious

A vision without a corresponding mission will end up as a mere delusion. Welcome to vision 2020. Years ago, we set national goal and we named it vision 2020 to be among the first most developed nations on earth by the year 2020.

The discerning knew then we were up to our usual jokes. Those were the words of my Senior and mentor, Jide Ogunyi.  But how do we expect to attain such a height, when there’s no legal framework to deal with negligence in our professional endeavors like, medicine, law, building engineering and even the government, apart from, leave am for God?!.

How can we achieve a vision for the Nigerian education, when it is not good enough to educate the custodian of the same educational system? When they would rather send their kids abroad. How can one translate a vision of making a country, a medical hub, when a world class hospital built by a former governor wasn’t found good enough to treat the same former governor’s minor bruises sustained in a motor accident?

How can a nation, whose pastors are the richest in the world with a congregation of the poorest people on earth achieve greatness by mere vision without corresponding effort and mission?

We must be joking. Our manufacturing companies are being bought over by churches and would rather build a 13km auditorium than build a 10 km expressway or a 5km juice making factory, despite the abundance of natural fruits. Let someone shout hallelujah!

Who do you want to achieve such a huge feat, when the worst of us are the ones ruling over the affairs of the best of us? Which country can achieve greatness when its government officials would rather invest in properties in Dubai than set up businesses that would create employment opportunities for the teeming youths?

Dubai had a similar vision 40years ago. They created a mission to actualize same, and today, they are one of the most visited countries on earth with 50 million visitors annually, including our politicians who go there to hold meetings, spending an average of $5000 per visit.

We mouth farming as if that’s all there’s to development. Until we realize that farming without value added, like transportation, storage and processing is poverty, if we like, let us close our borders for a 100 years, we will wake up one day find out that the world has moved on without us.

We celebrate a governor for tarring roads four times the cost price as though he spent his personal money and yet, we expect the realization of a vision.

A politician will rig an election or a close friend is given an appointment, and we troop out to churches and mosques to do thanksgiving, yet we expect them not to steal. A custom officer at our airport border control gateway into the country turns his duty post to a begging post, “oga wetin you bring come for us? Oga, your boys are here” without sanctions, yet we want the world to take us seriously.

Hear Jide again: “Since then the aimless sightedness, will continue to grope. It is clear we are not as serious as we often boasts. When the vision was set two wasted decades ago, year 2020 was a faraway landing post. Now the year is here, but we are in a deeper hole than the one in which we were many years ago.

Hurry, let’s set another vision based on divine hope, with no work, we’ll still reach our destined Eldorado. We need not plan or think to set new goals, after all, our rich land still spills the inexhaustible black gold.

My advocacy today is, until government and every one of us today in position of authority show selfless leadership by example, even if we set visions for eternity, without a corresponding mission, it will still end up a vision of delusional grandeur.

Would Jesus Christ still be needed?

By Frank Tietie

One of my tragic realisations is that there are very few people who have your interest in this world. You really hardly have real friends because people really care only about themselves. Therefore, I have tagged many people in my life as USER-FRIENDLY friends who only use you.

Such tactical friends are in your life for your possible usefulness to them one day. They really don’t care about you. Not that you are indispensable because they ‘ll turn to another the moment you are no longer around or relevant.

The reason why many are tempted to make themselves relevant is to avoid the loneliness and the deprivation of social intercourse. It is a mental health issue.

A greater tragedy that I have come to realise is that the larger majority of self acclaimed followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, appear to be the biggest culprit of self interest. I mean plain selfishness. They have transferred the USER-FRIENDLY mentality into matters of faith.

So Jesus Christ is now meant to be used they way they use people. It is not He using them but they using Him. So it goes like this: “You need anything? Turn to Jesus”. You want to be president? You want to make money? You want a wife? You want a child? You want promotion? Whatever you wants, masked in needs, Jesus will provide. That has been the popular neo- christian message. After all, Jesus Christ, the Lord is quoted to have promised He will supply every need according to His riches in glory.

Meanwhile, who really cares whether the Lord Himself needs anything? I thought even if He didn’t need anything, He does need, more than anything, for the name of His Father (and our Father) to be hallowed, magnified and glorified on earth. He also wants the Kingdom (Government, and God’s way of doing things) done on earth; and equally, importantly, the will of God to be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Does anyone really care how much He needs these to be done? That is the crux of the prayer He taught us.

In the once very prosperous Western worlds of America and Europe, not much fervour has been put into the pursuit of the Saviour for things they already have. People over there have been mostly saved and become the followers of Jesus Christ when touched by the power of His love and the working of His eternal Spirit in the heart and mind of a man.

Now, have we forgotten the message that the Lord’s death as an example of no greater love is to cause us to share His love and life?

Our encounter with the power of His love is to share His blessings and not make a career of amassing transient wealth which takes much of our time and attention?

Jesus’ power has been purveyed to be used to achieve anything. We now have a Christianity that exists only to meet fleshly needs.

Jesus Christ has been marketed as the meeter of all needs hence, the masses have thronged to congregations drawn more out of intimidating assertions of digital prelates who, rather than draw the people to the Saviour’s love, they promote themselves as so highly anointed and thereby draw the people to themselves. They are building kingdoms and empires for themselves rather than for Jesus Christ.

I sometimes see most of these preachers atimes as ‘jazzmen’. They talk and act like magicians by their claims, some of which are factual anyway, yet with skewed motives and wrongful appropriations.

They have wrongly defined successful Christianity by a measurement of how much a believer has used Jesus to acquire material things and not how much he or she looks like Jesus. In fact, dare to look too much like Jesus these days and you might be mocked by the Church till you crave obscurity.

Would Jesus still be needed if all our perceived needs are met? I have recently come to see the poverty of mainstream Christianity. Its empty boasts and a parade of unregenerated lives which have little or no impact in today’s crazy world.

There is no much difference in the style, manner, means and motivation between how adherents of mainstream Christianity pursue material things with how the rest of the world does.

Therefore, like the apocalyptic Laodicean Church, many of today’s churches are poor. I mean those churches that have plenty of money without commensurate good works to all persons whether or not they share the faith in Jesus Christ.

In fact, much of the modern church is very bankrupt on account of biblical standards. The lack of good works which naturally flow from the Saviour’s love is evident that a revival is sorely needed.

One of the biblical principles of good works is that since the Father God gives rain and sunshine to be enjoyed by good and bad people so should Christians do good to all men without distinction, with some preference for believers. That is the principle that caused early missionaries in Nigeria to build hospitals and schools with scholarships even in places, predominantly occupied by non-believers in Jesus Christ. They only hoped their love and faith would become contagious by their good works. They didn’t discriminate.

When modern Christians fail to do good works, it seems they no longer believe in the faith principle of storing treasures in heaven.

Modern churches spend much of their resources in preaching material success and not really to broadcast the power of God’s love to save the soul.

One area one can see so clearly how bereft the modern churches have become is how much the majority of Christians now fear death. They are more afraid of leaving the earth that they have come to so love by over-indulgence. They prefer the earth to meeting with their beloved Saviour in heaven’s sublime. They easily forget the words used to describe saints who made it to Heaven.

A voice in Heaven said concerning the saints: “They have conquered (him) Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death”.

Secretly, most materially successful christians really don’t like the heaven idea because they don’t know what is up there awaiting. Heavenly life has not been much of modern Christian theology. Heaven has been presented by the way, as a place where the soul of a Christian will go to by Jesus’s insurance, on account of accident or unavoidable death.

Heaven is secretly considered by many Christians to be a boring idea.

Majority of modern day Christians are a very weak and fearful people who are full of compromise in order to maintain a puny status quo. They cringe at the enormity of the demands of living out the will of God with a declared public faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Modern Christians have become like everyone else. No more marked distinctions even in ethical matters. Thus, traditional Africans have even become more vociferous against ills, than the church has been.

When Christians lie and compromise it is considered as wisdom, sometimes sacrilegiously attributed to the Holy Spirit. They have forgotten the import of the injunctions to be light of the world and Christ ambassadors.

Abuse the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Christians might be quiet but touch a material interest of the church and the real stuff would be made manifest. Anger and viciousness even against and among Christians will set in from nowhere.

This modern twisted Christian worldview is not without repercussions. It has opened all of us to deceptions. We now even deceive ourselves. Shall we continue in this manner of self-deception?

Well, it looks like the signs of the end, one might say, but do we as Christians still believe as part of our creed that the world will come to an end? That sounds too old-fashioned now.

Therefore, Father, Lord have mercy on us and by Your grace in Christ, lead us in the pathways that You have laid for each of us. Save us from ourselves. May we fulfil the reason and purpose for which You have created each and everyone of us.

May we look to your grace to help us do Your Will. I ask that you bless our country and its leaders. Give peace, love, protection and prosperity to all the people of Nigeria whether or not they believe in You. For Christians and non-Christians, manifest Your goodness to them all. I pray with all that I am in the name of Jesus Christ, by Whose shed blood we are forgiven and restored. Amen.Thank You Father.

▪Tietie, a lawyer & human rights defender, writes from Abuja

PS
Frank first published this writing in September, 2013. This revised edition of the article is published in honour of all Christian martyrs in North Eastern Nigeria, particularly in honour of the Reverend Lawan Andimi, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman of Adamawa State who was recently beheaded by Boko Haram terrorists. It is by the blood of such martyrs that revival and victory will emerge for they overcame evil and the devil by the blood of the lamb and they loved not their lives unto death. The memory of all Christian martyrs will forever remain blessed.

Nigeria’s new anti-rape law still can’t help victims much

Halimah Yahaya

Hauwa Haruna said the man who raped her young daughter lived nearby in an inner-city slum in Jahi area of Abuja. Once, the man asked the 12-year-old to fetch water for him, but when she did, he took her to a security post where he worked as a guard and raped her. The attacker threatened to kill the girl if she screamed.

The second time, the man asked the minor to help get firewood but raped her yet again. The attacks continued whenever Mrs Haruna and other neighbours left for work, and did not stop until the suspect was caught in the act.

But when Mrs Haruna went to the police in November 2017, the officers demanded money to take her daughter to a hospital for examination. Unable to pay, the family agreed to settle out of court. The police released the girl’s attacker, Sanni Abubakar, a father of eight children, who had earlier been detained at the anti-robbery unit.

No one pressed the case further, in many ways conforming to the unstated but widely used approach of the Nigeria police to rampant cases of rape. Activists, who for years have campaigned for a stricter model that involves a comprehensive investigation, prosecution of offenders, and rehabilitation of victims, say that template leaves thousands of Nigeria’s rape victims without much help.

Sexual violence

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund reported in 2015 that one in four girls and one in 10 boys in Nigeria experience sexual violence before the age of 18. Findings from a national survey carried out in 2014 on Violence Against Children in Nigeria confirmed one in four females reported experiencing sexual violence in childhood with approximately 70 per cent reporting more than one incident of sexual violence.

It means that of the 99.1 million estimated number of women in Nigeria, 24.8 million may have experienced some form of sexual violence. And for almost 70 per cent of that number, it was more than a happenstance.

To further explain how grim the climate is, it is interesting to note that it was found that 24.8 per cent of 14,560,417 (3,610,983) females age 18 to 24 years experienced sexual abuse prior to age 18, of which 5.0 per cent (108,549) sought help, with only 3.5 per cent (126,384) receiving any services.

The criminal and penal codes of 1990 are the laws guiding rape justice in Nigeria. The code is deficient in many ways.

For instance, the law defines rape as having unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl without her consent, or with her consent if it was obtained by force or by means of intimidation.

This definition excludes other methods and orifices of penetration, save penile penetration of the vagina. Experts said such is not all-encompassing to help protect citizens.

To mitigate some of the challenges, the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act of 2015 (VAPPA) was enacted with the aim of checking sexual and gender-based violence. It brought with it the expansion of the previously narrow definition of rape, sexual assault and violence.

Heralded as a ground-breaking legislation and proof of government’s refusal at normalising or excusing sexual abuse, the law was drafted to close the cracks through which offenders escape justice.

These gaps include elevating unlawful anal and oral sex to the status of rape, recognising gang-rape and setting a minimum penalty of 12 years imprisonment away from the judge’s discretion for the crimes.

However, despite the grim situation, the law, its implementation and agencies responsible for implementation have all put Nigerian females in a disadvantaged position.

This analysis beams a searchlight on some of the grey areas in the provision of the laws, loopholes in implementation and excesses of implementing agencies.

Absence of rape kits

In organised societies, the first step towards establishing a claim of sexual violation is getting medical examination done with a rape kit. A Rape Kit is a container that includes a checklist, materials, and instructions, along with envelopes and containers to package specimens collected during a sexual assault and forensic examination.

With its innovative methods of thorough data and sample collection, investment in such tools bring an added advantage of “more in-depth documentation, beyond the baseline assessment of Post Exposure Prophylaxis,” explains Dorothy Njemanze, head of the Dorothy Njemanze Foundation, a non-governmental organisation with the focus on amplifying rights of women, children, youth and People Living with Disabilities.

On September 21, this reporter visited the Federal Medical Centre in Jabi, a tertiary health care institution in the FCT. She was told by medical personnel that the kits were not available.

“I suppose that the rape kits are available in some hospital in Nigeria, whereas some hospitals haven’t got them. Ideally, the federal government through the ministry of health is supposed to provide these kits to the hospitals where these cases are reported, but that is not the case. Most hospitals, general hospitals and including my hospital where I work, have never gotten these kits,” a consultant in the hospital said. He did not want to be named since he had no permission to speak on the matter.

The consultant further explained how rape victims are treated in the absence of kits. He added that even though it does not exist, some personnel in Nigeria are trained on how to use it.

Many government-owned hospitals in Nigeria do not have Rape Kits.

“We take vaginal swabs to look out for infections, but hardly take sample for forensics, because that is where the kits come in and because we rarely have it, taking samples for forensics is very difficult”

Mboko Christopher, the Head of the Gender, Adolescent, School Health and Elder (GASHE) Division of the Federal Ministry of Health, said rape kits are only available in specialised clinics in Nigeria.

“There are Rape Kits available but most government-owned clinics in Nigeria may not have it because it is specialised clinics that do such processing and definitely not primary healthcare centres. Doctors are trained to know how to refer their patients to those who have it.”

However, Ms Njemanze, countered the claims, saying that the kit does not exist anywhere in Nigeria.

A Rape Kit is a container that includes a checklist, materials, and instructions, along with envelopes and containers to package specimens collected during a sexual assault and forensic examination.

“A rape kit is not a kit if it doesn’t have specific labelling, that protect the security of the specimens. Even in the Police Hospital in Area 1, Garki that have been a huge support in our work of taking care of victims of sexual abuse, it is only the baseline tests that is available. These sorts of tools should be made available to healthcare facilities, schools, police stations etc. so that every report of abuse can be easily documented even by someone with little experience, speedily,” she said.

Processing of Survivors and Forensics

Looking at investments into forensics testing, which could strengthen medical evidence, the situation is just as grim as ever. Forensics is scientific tests or techniques used in connection with the detection of crime. This is very useful as medical evidence, especially in cases where the perpetrator is unknown, to prove if an accused person committed the crime.

Ms Njemanze told this reporter about two girls, aged five and seven, who while attending primary school in Dutse Alhaji in Abuja were lured with biscuits and raped by multiple people this year. When brought to the hospital, it was seen that one had large deposits of semen and she couldn’t identify who was responsible.

To find out who the perpetrator was, Mr Mboko said this survivor would have to pay for forensics.

“It cost about N150, 000 per sample,” he said. The medical personnel said that the reason for the high cost is the low level of technological development in Nigeria. He added that there are only 2 forensic laboratories in the country, in Lagos and Police Headquarters Abuja.

Ms Njemanze proposed a solution; “These costs and gaps are where policy should come in. We don’t have victim sensitive response protocols. There is supposed to be government support for survivors who have suffered violations. We have beautiful policy action reports on paper but in reality, we don’t have support for abused survivors in Nigeria.”

Zero compensation, huge cost of prosecution.

Reports on rape in Nigeria show that there is a culture of the society normalising or generating excuses for sexual abuse. It is a culture that ignores rape victims’ trauma in complicity with the rapist. Mr Mboko said: “If people do not understand the seriousness no government will go spending so much money to provide these forensic testing facilities.”

The VAPP Act which has established rights of Victims of Violence in Section 38 provides that victims of rape receive the necessary materials, comprehensive medical, psychological social and legal assistance through governmental or non-governmental agencies providing such assistance.

In reality however, victims pay a lot to seek justice and in the end, get little or no support from the government.

Miss Njemanze captured the situation, “If a two-year-old is raped now in Abuja, when this law applies, that two-year-old is expected to pay for filing in the police station, mobilise the police to take the survivor to the hospital, pay for the baseline assessment test for herself and the accused which may end up costing almost N10,000 and then proceed to pay all the necessary filing fees when the case has begun (if not supported by some form of legal aid either from the government of Civil Society organisations).

“This is the plight of those who may already be economically and socially disadvantaged in the society. We make laws to order society in a way that would be beneficial to all, irrespective of one’s status and standing in life. However, if such laws do not empower those seeking redress, can it be said that the law has done its job?”

Furthermore, she explained that even though the government is meant to be working hand in hand with non-governmental organisations, most times officials antagonise the work of NGOs. There is not enough being done to support the work of NGOs to make this law a reality. This was shown in her case against the Nigeria police won in the ECOWAS court.

Psychogical Care and Rehabilitation

Recent studies have shown that it is vital for sexual assault victims to talk about rape. This is vital to the survivors’ healing from the trauma and psychological damage caused by rape and sexual assault.

A six-year-old rape survivor, Omodasola Omibeku, was first abused by a distant relative. Ms Omibeku said she began to rise above the trauma after she met other victims of sexual abuse at Osowobi’s Stand to End Rape Centre. Ms Omibeku wants her story and how she healed to help other women know it is possible to move past the trauma.

All these stories, point to the fact that psychological care is integral to the welfare of survivors of abuse. Section 38 of the VAPPA states that victims/survivors should be provided with mental, social and psychological care and warns against victim/survivor being discriminated against or punished. This duty was given to both governmental and non- governmental agencies.

This reporter reached out NAPTIP to comment on the present situation of facilities for rehabilitation of survivors of SGBV. Contrary to some victims’ account, the agency said the government has provision for rehabilitation.

“There are government sponsored rehabilitation programmes for victims of sexual abuse being implemented through NAPTIP shelters, Ministry of Woman affairs, Social Development etc. The agency has shelters in Zonal Commands namely Enugu, Uyo, Makurdi, Benin, Lagos, Kano, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Osogbo and Abuja HQ. The agency also collaborates with reputable NGOs and caregivers like WOTCLEF, MeCHAT, Idia Renaissanse, etc. in the rehabilitation of sexual abuse victims,” the agency wrote in an email response.

The claim was countered by Miss Njemanze.

“There is no government-owned shelter for victims of sexual and gender-based violence. NAPTIP has a shelter and it mainly has victims of trafficking. All the times we have had with women and children that need to flee their abuser, there was nowhere to keep them, talk more of providing psychosocial care”.

The Way Forward

A lawyer, Nureini Jimoh, said getting relief for victims is a joint task.

“No single agency of government can address sexual assault prevention alone. Portfolios across all levels of government, including education, health, justice, and crime prevention, as well as the non-government sector and community stakeholders, each have a significant contribution to make.”

Miss Njemeze wants the government to show more will in tackling this menace.

“Many organisations like FIDA, Global Rights have come up with protocol documents based on their experiences and research into best practice, to bridge the gaps found. But the institutions that are meant to provide services keep failing and the reason they are is because the government does not see them as important enough to invest in.

“Deliberate investment by the government is necessary. We have a lot of wonderful things on paper like The National Action Plan on the implementation of the UNSCR 1935 and other related offences, it provides for a wide synergy amongst various institutions yet no implementation, the laws are not feasible without a deliberate push from Government and its agencies.”

Premium Times

Japan to amend laws to help elderly work until 70

 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet on Tuesday approved bills to call on businesses to allow their employees to work until the age of 70.

The step was taken to help mitigate a chronic labour shortage and cover growing social security costs in the rapidly ageing country.

The legislation urges corporations to pick one of five options, including abolishing the retirement age, raising it, or allowing employees to work beyond the age limit, Kyodo News reported.

The government is expected to introduce the bills to the current parliament session and hopes to enforce them from April 2021.

The government also plans to cut benefits given to employees aged between 60 and 64, whose salaries drastically drop when they turn 60, Kyodo reported.

Japan is facing an increased demographic burden after decades of rapid ageing of the population and falling birth rates.

Critics argue Abe’s government has done little to reverse the trend.

People aged 65 or older are expected to reach nearly 40 per cent of the population by 2060, according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

(dpa/NAN)

We’re Determined to Address Challenges in Administration of Criminal Justice System

The Chief Judge of Katsina state, Hon Justice M.D Abubakar has assured that Kaduna state is determined to address issues that are critical and that can pose challenges in the administration of criminal justice in the state.

Justice Abubakar droped the hint on Monday at the commencement of the two-day Administration of criminalJustice retreat for Katsina state judges and stakeholders holding in Abuja.

The Justice who gave a historical evolution of Administration of Criminal Justice System(ACJS) said as at the time Katsina state was created in 1987,  recalled how the pioneer Chief Judge , Hon Justice Umaru Adbullahi  initiated the institutional framework which was then lacking.

According to him, as at then there was no institutional framework but through his initiatives, we since then started reforms in the criminal Justice sector through the setting up of the administration of criminal justice committee at the state level and various divisions and since it was not backed by law, the impact, was not very significant, he said.

“With time the criminal cases increased geometrically because in year 2000, you have 5,000 cases 2001it will increase to 10,000 and the rate of disposal of cases was equally hampered with so many impediments such as:  trialwithin trial, transfer of officers, logistics problems of courts, absence of witnesses, transfer of witnesses and so on”.

So they came up with some laws which went through some rigorous processes and eventually passed. As soon as the laws were passed, the ACJS monitoring committee was constituted and inaugurated by the government and we quickly went into action . All the stakeholders were brought under one umbrella and if there is any problem, we solve it there and then.

Also, the Hon Justice Umaru Abdullahi has charged Judges to give Nigerians their due rights and ensure that citizens are protected. Justice Umaru who exoressed worry about what is happening in the judiciary these days asked: what was happening? Are Nigerians benefitting anything from the Judicial system?

He lamented that the protection of citizens in effect is the duty of the state. He bemoaned the situation where alleged offenders are kept in detention longer than necessary without trial and said that by so doing many people are hurt.

It was observed that administration of criminal justice is bedeviled with plethora of problems and one of the things the law is able to do is the speedy disposal of justice.

However, it was suggested that judges should be given the latitude to exercise his discretion.

It was emphasized that the fact that Judges are not involved in plea bargaining is a good development .

The judges were asked to ensure the speedy trial of cases, adding that once one is elevated to the position of Judges, he is no to be guided or supervised.

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