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Re: As terrorists abduct over 100 girls from IDP Camp, HURIWA says reintegration of ‘repentant’ terrorists futile

By Nkereuwem Akpan 

Those who floated and started the whole issue of “Repentant Terrorists” are the real enemies of Nigeria. They simply gave the terrorists opportunity to regroup, rearm and return to Sambisa. The goal of every Boko Haram Jihadist is to turn Nigeria and indeed the world into one massive ‘”caliphate” where the existing world order is replaced by Shariah.

This is common knowledge and the information is already out there in the public domain. So when Boko Haram Jihadist find themselves in position of weakness or imminent defeat , their beliefs allows them to pretend that they’re reformed and pretend that they’ve abandoned or forsaken their terrorists ideology.
It is there in their teachings and everyone knows that it is called the Doctrine of deception”

So firstly a Jihadist can never recant even if you tie him to the stake to shoot. Infact if you tie a Jihadist to the stake to shoot, he’s happy to die in martyrdom and go to “paradise”.

No true Jihadist ever repents and the proponents of the policy knew what they were doing .They knew from day one that it was all about reinvigoration and relaunch of the Jihadist agenda of Boko Haram.

So ultimately it is this DOCTRINE OF DECEPTION that leads to the mistrust and deep seated animosities between those who say they have “repented’ and those who know that the whole thing is a grand deception indoctrinated and pronounced in the Boko Haram Jihadist ideology

Ultimately they pretend to have repented and we pretend to believe them when we laugh at their stupidity knowing what we know that they cannot repent .

So let all of us keep pretending.

Victim’s mum sues JAMB, CBT & Employee for privacy & data protection infringement

The mother of a 15-year-old JAMB applicant has taken the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), a Computer-Based Test (CBT) center, and an employee to court for allegedly infringing on her privacy and data protection rights.

The lawsuit, filed at the Federal High Court with suit number FHC/L/CS/371/240, was brought on behalf of the mother by the law firm OLUMIDE BABALOLA LP.

According to the mother’s claims, a JAMB official unlawfully used her telephone number to send inappropriate messages to her teenage daughter. The suit seeks several declarations, including:

a. That the 3rd Respondent’s actions constitute an interference with the Applicant’s right to private and family life under section 37 of the Nigerian Constitution.

b. That JAMB and the CBT center are jointly and vicariously liable for the employee’s act of processing the Applicant’s data without legal basis, as per section 53(2) of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.

c. That the 4th Respondent, as a principal officer of the CBT center, is deemed culpable for the wrongdoing under section 53(1) of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.

d. That JAMB and the CBT center’s failure to publish a privacy policy on their website violates section 27(3) of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and interferes with the Applicant’s right to be informed.

e. That JAMB and the CBT center’s omission to file a data protection compliance audit since 2020 violates article 4.1(7) of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation 2019 and impacts the Applicant’s right to private and family life.

The mother is seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the Respondents from further using her personal data for unauthorized purposes and damages amounting to N100,000,000 (One Hundred Million Naira), payable jointly and severally by all the Respondents.

The case argues that JAMB and the other Respondents violated several provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, thereby interfering with the mother’s right to private and family life. The suit is yet to be assigned to a judge in the division.

This case highlights the growing concern over data privacy and protection in Nigeria, particularly in the context of sensitive personal information handled by organizations like JAMB.

The Nigeria Lawyer

On a respected learned New Wig’s undignifying bravado after Call to the Nigerian Bar on 06 March 2024

By Sylvester Udemezue

A video currently making the rounds shows respected learned friend Deji Adeyanju in the company of Human Rights Activist Omoyele Sowore (Deji Adeyanju, Esq, is said to have been admitted into the Nigerian Bar on 06 March 2024) engaged in an open altercation and shouting match with people said to be EFCC operatives in front of the gate of “an EFCC office, in Abuja.”

As the viral video shows, Learned friend Adeyanju was partly robed during the incident, indicating that he may have just departed the venue of the Call to the Bar, and perhaps walking across the EFCC office to his car, alongside Omoyele Sowore, when the altercation (albeit needless) ensued.

The question this raises in the minds of existing and many a discerning new member of the Bar is: Is he a roadside lawyer, like roadside mechanic or charge and bail? I’m sure he’s not, which is why he should not act if he’s. Apart from that engaging in such an open confrontation with law enforcement agents is unnecessary and avoidable, the display itself by a supposed noble man of the Bar, may be adjudged undignifying, unprofessional, more so while he had the lawyer’s robe on.

Well, it’s my humble opinion that such was an unnecessary, unprofessional gra-gra; an undignifying grandstanding perhaps calculated to announce (a wholly petty display) that I have arrived as a New Wig; I’m now a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Well, congratulations to learned friend Deji Adeyanju; it’s not easy. He is however respectfully advised to avoid such open public, and especially pointless, confrontations and shouting matches with lay men or even colleagues. He must know that he’s now a noble member of an honorable profession, and that quite often, the public judges the legal profession by the standard of its erring members, hence the need to continue to highlight the various duties and responsibilities of the lawyer and the need for members of the Bar to be fully alive to these duties and responsibilities in order to check the falling ethical standard in the profession, be examples to the society in which they find themselves and ultimately promote the honour and nobility of the profession.

Discipline at the bar is very essential. Society views lawyers as custodians of a high moral value and distinguished members of the society, whose personal conduct and activities (in private and public) should serve as a light to the rest of the society.

Learned friend Adeyanju ought to recall what he was taught at the Nigerian Law School, that it was in a bid to maintain this ethical and professional standard and in an effort to meet the high expectation of the society on the lawyer, that the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (Legal Ethical Code) has been put in place to guide and regulate legal practice and the conduct of legal Practitioners in Nigeria. This Professional Legal Ethical Code imposes upon lawyers duties which cut beyond mere legal regulation, into the fundamentals of our moral lives as lawyers.

These duties are meant to uphold the honour and nobility of the legal profession and to guard the integrity of law as a science. As Lord Denning once said, “The code which requires a barrister to do all this is not a code of law. It is a code of honour. If he breaks it, he is offending against the rules of the profession and is subject to its discipline.”

Mr Deji Adeyanju should beware, lest he falls foul of this Code. Perhaps his conduct today, which appears to be unbecoming of a noble man of the Bar (see Rule 1, RPC, 2023) might easily be overlooked as part of the usually petty, childish displays and euphoria that accompany the date of call to the Bar in Nigeria. But by next time (unless he’s careful henceforth to avoid a re-occurence), he might not be viewed as a first offender. It’s also crucial to recall the need for lawyers to eschew pendanticalness, vainglory and ostentatiousness and embrace hard-work, humility, professionalism, and integrity, which are the hallmark of a great lawyer.

Finally, and I need to add this, that such a public shouting bravado, just as NBA-SPIDEL’s pointless penchant for writing threat letters to everyone, and filing needless lawsuits, hardly achieve much in reality. On the contrary, diplomacy and tact are at the foundation of effective and enduring rights activism and advocacy.

Once again, congratulations.

Respectfully,
Sylvester Udemezue (udems)
Proctor,
Reality Ministry of Justice (RMJ)
08109024556.
[email protected].
(07/03/2024)

                                                                                        

As terrorists abduct over 100 girls from IDP Camp, HURIWA says reintegration of ‘repentant’ terrorists futile

Following the abduction of over 100 girls on Sunday, March 3, 2024, when terrorists struck three Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Ngala tow, the headquarters of Gamboru Ngala Local Government Area at the border of Cameroon, an activist group, Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) has expressed shock stating that “the continuous attacks by terrorists on Innocent victims they initially displaced from their ancestral homes, show that the reintegration of the so-called repentant terrorists is an exercise in futility.”

A statement from the group reads:

Frontline activist group- HUMAN RIGHT WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA)- has condemned the large scale abduction of girls from internally displaced persons’ camp in Borno State by terrorists even as the Rights groups said the continuous attacks by terrorists on Innocent victims they initially displaced from their ancestral homes, show that the reintegration of the so-called repentant terrorists is an exercise in futility.

HURIWA said it was a fraud for anyone to say that persons who participated in massive killings of citizens can choose to repent and then some kind of reintegration programme has the potential capacity to turn them into better citizens. HURIWA has therefore called for an immediate end to the reintegration programme.

HURIWA described as shocking and a humiliating misplacement of priority, the decision of the Nigerian Government to invest substantial amounts of public funds to carry out a reintegration programme for so-called repentant terrorists, whereas thousands of victims of terrorism languish in many internally displaced peoples camps.

“How can any sane government prioritize the welfare of terrorists who reportedly surrendered rather than investing heavily to compensate, to house, re-settle the actual victims of the perennial terrorism? The report that over 100 girls were kidnapped violently from IDP in Ngala, the headquarters of Gam borou Ngala in Borno State, demonstrates the lack of utilitarian value and the absolute futility of the programme for the reintegration of repentant terrorists.”

HURIWA recalled that Boko Haram insurgents have reportedly abducted dozens of female internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ngala, the headquartres of Gambarou Ngala in Borno State, a local source told Daily Trust.

A security source, who confided in a Journalist, also confirmed the abduction but said, “what we heard is around 113” were abducted

However, a source from the Babban Sansani IDPs camp, stated that the incident happened last Sunday, when the women went to fetch firewood in the bush for domestic and commercial purposes.

“They were surrounded by the insurgents in Bula kunte bush in the western part of Ngala town. They freed the old-aged and entered the bush with 319 abled young girls and some young boys.

“But, three of the girls who escaped and returned to Ngala said the boys (insurgents) took them to a bush close to Bukar-mairam village in Chad republic.

“They escaped in the dead of night after the insurgents fell asleep, trekking for two days before they arrived in Ngala.

“Most of the IDP girls abducted were from Babban Sansani camp, and the rest from Zulum and Arabic camps.

“They went to the bush to fetch firewood for sale because the food we are getting from the camp is not enough to feed us. Life is so difficult here,” he said.

HURIWA recalled that Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, has recently disclosed that no fewer than 3,478 repentant terrorists have been reintegrated to the society between 2016 and 2022.

He also said the military had up-scaled the use of hard and soft power in counter-insurgency operations to contain the emerging and changing nature of adversaries.

The CDS stated this while delivering a lecture entitled ”Non-Kinetic Operations and the Nigerian Armed Forces,” at the opening of a national security course on Psychological Operations and Strategic Communication (PSYOPS) yesterday in Abuja.

The course was organised by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) with the theme, Winning Hearts and Minds for National Cohesion and Development.

HURIWA however blames the releases if terrorists for the increasing attacks on IDPs even as it is asking the Federal government and the relevant state governments to put the welfare and well-being of the victims of terror far higher than believing in the so-called repentant terrorists which is a fraudulent scheme that empowers freed terrorists to reintegrate with their former terrorists colleagues to continue to unleash violent attacks on civilians.

Press statement dated on 6th March 2024.

By Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko;

National Coordinator of HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA).

Sons of terror invade School in Kaduna, shoot Pupil, abduct dozens

There was pandemonium in Kuriga town of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State when bandits invaded LEA Primary School, Kuriga (1), and abducted dozens of pupils.

The number of persons abducted couldn’t be ascertained as of press time, but residents said they were about 100.

Head teacher of the school and some other staff are reportedly among the victims.

Daily Trust gathered that the incident happened at 8:20am immediately after the assembly on Thursday.

The junior and secondary school relocated to the school building inside the Kuriga town a few years ago due to insecurity concerns, abandoning their former school building located outside the town.

A resident, Shitu, confirmed the incident, saying most of the pupils ran out of their classes when they sighted the bandits on the school premises.

Another resident, Lawal Kuriga, also told Daily Trust that abducted victims were marched into the forest.

As of the time of filing this report, there was no official reaction from the state government as the Overseeing Commissioner of the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, didn’t react to a text message sent to him.

The State Police Command Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansir Hassan, couldn’t be reached on the phone and is yet to reply to a text message sent to him too.

Daily Trust

Dismiss suit challenging appointment of 12 judges — CJN, others to FCT High Court

Sequel to an application filed by a lawyer, Azubuike Oko, seeking to stop the appointment of 12 judges to the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, and others, on Thursday, prayed a Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss the suit.

Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN) who appeared for Ariwoola, the Chief Judge (CJ) of FCT, Hussein Baba-Yusuf, and the National Judicial Council (NJC), made the plea while adopting their processes and presenting their argument against the suit.

In a preliminary objection filed on March 1, 2024, Kehinde urged the court to strike out or dismiss the for want of jurisdiction.

The Senior lawyer, who hinged his arguments on four grounds said, under Section 6(6)(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution said, the suit is non-justiciable.

He argued that Oko, the plaintiff, lacked the locus standi (legal right) to institute the action adding that, “Under Section 245C(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the National Industrial Court of Nigeria has the exclusive jurisdiction to determine matters relating to or connected with the employment of judicial officers.

Kemi Esene, a litigation secretary in the law firm of Kehinde and Partners said, in an affidavit in support of the preliminary objection that the court had dismissed a similar suit marked: FC/ABJCS/602/2020 filed by JRP Foundation Ltd against the former President Muhammadu Buhari and 24 others in 2020.

Esene said the suit had challenged the recommendation of 21 persons by the NJC to Buhari for appointment as judges of the High Court of the FCT.

She said the plaintiff had alleged that the Judicial Service Committee of the FCT acted in bad faith and grossly abused the power vested in it when it submitted the list of nominees for appointment as judges of the FCT High Court to the NJC.

The lawyer averred that the court, in its judgment, upheld the preliminary objection of the defendants on the ground that, since the plaintiff was not a party to the procedure for the appointment of the judicial officers, the foundation had no locus to institute the action.

Besides, she said the court held that the Federal High Court had no jurisdiction over the matter because the subject matter had to do with the employment of the persons recommended by the NJC to be appointed as judges by the former president.

The trial Judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned the suit till March 15 for judgment.

It would be recalled that the judge had, on February 23, rejected Oko’s ex-parte motion seeking to stop Baba-Yusuf from appointing 12 judges into the bench of the court.

Justice Ekwo, in a ruling on the ex-parte motion moved by Emmanuel Emerenini, directed the plaintiff to put the defendants on notice of the motion ex-parte within two days of the order, for them to show cause why the prayers on the motion ex parte ought not to be granted in the next adjourned date.

Oko, in the motion, joined Justice Baba-Yusuf, NJC, the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), the CJN, the President of Nigeria and the AGF as 1st to 6th defendants respectively.

The plaintiff sought an order directing the parties in the suit to maintain status quo ante bellum pending the hearing and determination of his motion on notice.

Oko said he hails from Ebonyi, which had been routinely excluded and marginalised with respect to the appointment of judges of the High Court of FCT by Baba-Yusuf, NJC and FJSC.

The lawyer averred that, as a matter of fact, it was the CJ (Baba-Yusuf) that computes the names of qualified lawyers from selected states of the federation and transmitted to FJSC for recommendation to NJC for appointment by the President of Nigeria as judges of the FCT High Court.

He averred that the states mentioned for the nomination of lawyers for appointment as judges into the 12 positions were Bauchi, Bayelsa, Enugu, Imo, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, and Zamfara.

He, however, alleged that currently, Oyo and Kogi “already had two serving judges in the FCT High Court, and the two states were given additional slots, to now have three judges, despite the fact that Ebonyi State has no single serving judge in the High Court of the FCT.”

Story by Nigerian Tribune

E

Hurrah for Admiral Madueke! The cat with nine lives is 80 years old today

By Chuks Iloegbunam

An Igbo saying goes like this: If a man’s chi (personal god) is not a party to the scheme, death will not kill him. On the morning of July 30, 1966, Midshipman Alison Madueke, boarded a KLM, Royal Dutch Airline plane for London, via Amsterdam. He was on his way to officer training at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Devon, England. The plane started taxiing for takeoff. But midway, as it gathered speed, the attempt was aborted. The pilot addressed the passengers through the intercom: “This is the captain speaking. Will the three Naval officers flying to London please alight? They are wanted by the military authorities.” Down on the tarmac, Alison was seized and manhandled by Northern Nigerian military officers and men. The July 29, 1966 countercoup, the bloodiest putsch in African history, was underway.

By sheer miracle, Madueke survived the coup that took the lives of 40 Igbo officers and 128 other ranks. He eventually got to the Naval College. After a course that lasted a little over a year, he was commissioned as Acting Sub-Lieutenant in September 1967. He was declared the Best Commonwealth Midshipman in Home Waters. At this time, the Nigerian civil war had started. Rather than return to his formation, he crossed the English Channel into mainland Europe and headed for Lisbon, Portugal where Biafra had an accredited representation. Assisted by Biafran officials, he made a beeline for Port Harcourt, where he joined the Biafran Navy. He saw action in the Niger Delta Creeks and on the River Niger, near Onitsha.

Despite sustaining three injuries, he survived the war. He returned to the Nigerian Navy in 1972, still marking time as an Acting Sub-Lieutenant. Despite this, he became 21 years later, the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) in the rank of Rear Admiral. As the Naval Chief, he was a member of General Sani Abacha’s Provisional Ruling Council. He and the late Major General M. C. Alli, the Army Chief of Staff, were thrown out of the PRC and retired. General Abacha could not stomach their contrary views to his June 12 stance. Their exit led to orchestrated reports that the duo had planned to topple Abacha’s junta. He survived the sinister schemes.

Admiral Madueke went into the shipping business and, thereafter, into the communications industry. His international passport was seized for the eight years that the Truthful Lie was in power. During this period, he wrote his autobiography titled Riding The Storms With God In My Sails. (Eminent Biographies, 2019.) This book of 509 pages gives a comprehensive account of his life from birth until 2019. From it, we learn that he had attended the Our Lady’s High School, Onitsha. This school has produced countless national figures, including Professor Ben Nwabueze, Eze (Professor) Green Nwankwo, Professor B. I. C. Ijomah, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, and Justice Ezebilo Ozobu. It was established by a Grade Two teacher, Sir Peter Chukwurah from Abatete. He also built the Fatima High School in Aguobu Owa and was a member of the Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly. In 1962, Madueke passed the School Certificate examination in Division One. We also learn that he was the Military Governor of the old Anambra State from January 1984 to September 1985, and the Military Governor of the old Imo State from September 1985 to July 1986.

The book contains Admiral Madueke’s long list of achievements in Anambra and Imo States. Only two will be mentioned here. The administrations he headed built the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu, and the Sam Mbakwe Airport in Owerri. This article will conclude with a word on the Owerri Airport. Suffice it to say that, of all his achievements, none ranks higher than his autobiography. The book is a treasure trove of information that everyone, especially rampant commentators on national issues, will do well to read. Unfortunately, the country seems not to have discovered the value of knowing its history and the great importance of biographies in historical development and archiving. There is hardly a major American, Asia, or European politician or military officer whose story has not been written by himself or by someone else. There is hardly a journalist from those continents who has practiced for a decade without the account of his stewardship in book form. Yet, there is neither a biography nor an autobiography of a personage like Commodore Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe, the former Nigerian Chief of General Staff. There hardly is a biography of any Igbo traditional ruler. Why shouldn’t there be a biography of a great bureaucrat like the late Alhaji Shehu Musa?

We must extend the questions. Where are the biographies of Brigadier-General Zakariya Maimalari, Lieutenant Colonel Joe Akahan, and Lieutenant Colonel James Yakubu Pam? Mazi Mbonu Ojike, a preeminent pre-Independence politician and statesman, was the Boycott King. Why was he so called? If there was a biography of him, the answer would be in it. There is no biography of Sir Peter Chukwurah. His schools have produced professors, judges, governors, senators, military officers, and much more. If someone wrote his biography, he may discover why governments took over his schools decades ago without paying his family as much as a single Kobo in compensation to this date. Where are the biographies of soccer legends Albert Onyeanwuna and Tesilimi (Thunderbolt!) Balogun?

It was to help fill this nasty chasm that I decided to strike a blow in recording contemporary history in my own little way. (I have so far written three biographies – those of General Aguiyi-Ironsi, Eze (Professor) Green Nwankwo, and Mr. Peter Obi.) That was why I published Riding The Storms With God In My Sails. That is why my publishing house is currently working on three different biographies. There are other biographers, of course. But many more are urgently required. It is the reason I urge Nigerians to introduce fresh and heightened interests in the noble business of documenting and disseminating the stories of our people. Books engender far more education than the mere structures that are otherwise known as schools.

Now back to Admiral Madueke’s stint as the Military Governor of Imo State. He wrote that his administration constructed the Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri. Admiral Madueke tells the story of how he built that airport from page 279 to page 295 of his book. It contains five photographs related to the project. These are (1) The picture in which he and some of his officials posed with the traditional rulers of Logara-Obiangwu and Umuohiagu on whose lands the airport is situated. The picture was taken when the foundation stone of the airport was laid. (2) The picture where Admiral Madueke (then a Captain) was laying the airport’s foundation stone surrounded by his officials and some dignitaries. (3) A group picture of Madueke and the six members of the Airport Task Force. All their names are listed. (Behind them can be seen the peering head of Lieutenant Dele Ezoba, Madueke’s aide de camp, who later became the Chief of the Naval Staff in the rank of Admiral. (4) The fourth picture is of Madueke presenting a bowl of kolanuts to Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, the Chief of General Staff, who attended the launch of the Imo Airport Appeal Fund at the Aba Sports Stadium. (5) The last picture is the front view of the airport’s terminal building.

Shortly after Madueke’s book was launched in 2019, I as its publisher, started receiving angry calls from friends who said that, given my posture as “an honest man,” they could not understand why I subscribed to the fallacy that the Imo Airport was built by Alison Madueke. Some even spoke at me. Had any one of these accusers read the book? Hardly! But some of its readers told them that they encountered the lie’s repugnant face within the book’s covers!

Well, Rear Admiral Alison Amaechina Madueke is alive and well. I am certain that he is willing to answer those who publicly state their disagreement with his Imo Airport story. His book has not run out of stock. Some bookstalls still have it. Besides, it is always available at the annual Lagos International Book Fair which takes place during May. People should read the book and make up their minds. Not only on the matter of a facility at which aircraft take off and land. But also, on the numerous questions raised in the book that can still do with the joined issue.

For today, this is from me to Admiral Madueke: Many Happy Returns Of The Day!

Chuks Iloegbunam. Abatete, Anambra State. March 7, 2024.

Odinkalu’s Anambra Truth, Peace and Justice Commission submits final report, Soludo promises swift action

By Christian Aburime

The Anambra Truth, Peace and Justice Commission set up by Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo to investigate the remote and immediate causes of insecurity in the state and by extension, South East region has submitted its final report .

At the event held at Government House Awka, Governor Soludo commended the members and the Commission’s chairman, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, for his dedication and the “historic” nature of the report.

The Governor highlighted the report’s potential to serve as a national framework for addressing security challenges.

Governor Soludo expressed concern about the impact of crime and violence on young people, calling their deaths a waste when their camps are invaded.

He pledged swift action based on the Commission’s recommendations, outlining plans to dissolve his cabinet into sub-committees in analyzing and implementing the recommendations.

The Governor emphasized the need for collaboration with federal agencies, regional governments, security services including the State Vigilante Group, and the local communities, stating his plans to share the report with national security agencies and work with neighboring states to address the cross-border nature of criminal activities.

The Governor reiterated his commitment to achieving sustainable peace in the region, assuring citizens that he will “read every sentence” in the report and ensure its recommendations are implemented for a safer future.

He stressed the importance of community involvement, including religious institutions, in tackling the challenges, describing the necessary approach as a “crusade” requiring collective action.

Earlier, Chairman of the Commission, Professor Odinkalu, thanked the Governor for entrusting them with the task.

Professor Odinkalu who was the former Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, noted that the biggest structural factor in violence is the political economy of land, not IPOB/ESN.

Odinkalu pointed out that while Lagos is gaining land, Anambra is losing land due to ecological pressure, crises in leadership, and impunity.

“The Commission surveyed 66 communities in the state, documenting cases of traditional rulers, security agents, presidents-general (PGs), and community members who have disappeared and remain missing”.

Professor Odinkalu however, emphasized the need to end the use of the term “unknown gunmen,” especially by the media, develop a 25-year security strategy to reform community governance and establish an agency for the protection of victims and accountability for violence.

A delegation including the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu, members of the Anambra Executive Council, Secretary of the Commission, Amb. Bianca Ojukwu, and representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) attended the event.

888 law students fail Bar finals, 251 bag First-Class

While a total of 888 students of the Nigerian Law School failed the bar final examination conducted in November 2023 by the Council of Legal Education, 251 came out with first-class.

In all, 4,412 candidates were successful out of a total of 5,300 who sat for the examination.

The  Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Prof. Isa Hayatu Chiroma, made this disclosure at the Call to Bar ceremony held in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said,  “Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Body of Benchers, I will be presenting at this Call to the Bar ceremonies a total of 4,412 candidates who were successful at the November 2023 Bar Final examinations as well as 14 candidates from previous Bar Final Examinations

“I am happy to report on the good performance recorded by the candidates as seen in the Executive Summary below: Outstanding/General Performance.

“Total number of students who participated in the Examinations: 5,300.

“Total number of successful candidates: 4,412

“The Nigerian Law School is proudly happy to report that a total number of 251 candidates bagged first class grade in the last Bar final examination. This is indeed an outstanding excellent performance and, of course, unprecedented.

“These figures translate to 83.3 per cent success at the Bar final examinations.”

The Chairman of the Body of Benchers, who is a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Mary Peter-Odili, described the current period as bad for the judiciary.

She noted that the confidence in the judiciary was dwindling as a result of the spate of conflicting judgments and in discipline among lawyers.

Peter-Odili said,  “It is a bad period in the sense that the judiciary is being bashed and public confidence in the legal system is dwindling, occasioned by incessant conflicting judgments in our courts and flagrant indiscipline amongst lawyers.”

She said the Body of Benchers had set up a committee to see to the issue of conflicting judgments.

The Punch

Electronic Signature of Court Process: An open letter to the Chief Registrar, High Court of Lagos State

By Olumide Babalola

Ahead of other courts, the High Court of Lagos State had acquired the bragging rights as the progenitor of e-filing in the Nigerian judiciary. However, many lawyers have argued that e-filing remains a mirage in Lagos State but that is not why I am here.

In 2022, the Hon. Chief Judge – Justice Kazeem Alogba commendably took things further by approving digital oath-taking and thereby dispensing with the erstwhile physical visits of deponents to the court registry.

Interestingly, in 2023, the Evidence Act was amended to accommodate electronic signing of documents. Section 84(C) provides that: “A person may authenticate any electronic record by such digital signature or electronic authentication technique.” While in the interpretation section ‘electronic signature’ is defined as: “authentication of any electronic record by a subscriber by means of the electronic technique specified in the Second Schedule and includes digital signature.”

In January 2024, on the heels of all these legal innovations, from my office in Manchester, I appended my digital signature to a court process, emailed it to our litigation clerk and instructed him to file at the registry of the High Court, Lagos division. Alas!, the process was rejected for filing because, according to the court official, my signature was “scanned” hence the process could not be accepted for filing. Following this development, I wrote a letter dated 26th January 2024 to the Chief Registrar seeking clarification but the acknowledged letter remains unreplied up till the time of this open letter.

While the court official concerned may be forgiven for not updating his/her knowledge of the law, the Chief Registrar may not enjoy the same sentiment since the occupant is not only deemed to be learned, but the office is also a statutory one invested with wide powers to ease administration of justice according to the extant laws of the land. Even before the amendment of the Evidence Act, the Court of Appeal had defined a person’s signature as “Any name, mark or writing used with the intention of authenticating a document” so if a counsel chooses to use a digital mark, I think the court should respect same until the contrary is proved. (See The Vessel MV Naval Gent v Associated Commodity Int’l Ltd (2015) LPELR-25973(CA)

Conclusively, to avoid unnecessary arguments at the court’s registry over the propriety of the electronic signing of court papers, it is my respectful advice that the learned Chief Registrar informs the registry staff of the current position of the law so they can also join the technology transition that our law now enables.

God Bless the Nigerian judiciary!

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