By The Guardian Editorial Board

The eventual delivery of justice on a sex offender, Olawale Olarewaju, after he was practically abandoned in prison for eight years, speaks volumes of the crass misnomer in Nigeria’s justice administration system. The case in review is more pathetic because it is a criminal case in which the victim and her relatives probably had foreclosed getting justice. Under normal circumstances, criminal cases are to be tried without undue delay, so that the innocent is not unduly deprived of his right to liberty inordinately.

After all, justice delayed is justice denied, as the saying goes. When a criminal justice system consistently fails to fast-track the dispensation of criminal justice over the years, its consequences for society and citizens can be very grave and disastrous.  Nigeria’s deplorable criminal justice system not only arises from delayed justice but also from the outright perpetuation of injustice, including unlawful arrest and the endless detention of awaiting trial inmates (ATM) in Correctional Centres without bail, arraignment, trial, and sentence.

Recently, Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, Ikeja, Lagos, sentenced Olawale Olarewaju to life imprisonment for defiling a 12-year-old girl who has now attained the age of 18 years. She had testified at the court a year after the incident. Before sentencing the accused, the judge frowned at the abusive way the convict was abandoned at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre for eight years without arraignment and without trial.

The delay in justice was caused by the inability of the Ikoyi Correctional Centre officials to produce the convict in court for arraignment between 2016 and 2019, despite the issuance of a warrant to that effect. On September 18, 2019, Justice Nwaka struck out the suit against Olarewaju, bearing the suit No. LD/2359C/2016 for want of diligent prosecution; yet the accused person, as he was then, was kept in Ikoyi Correctional Centre for eight years until he was produced in court on January 3, 2023, for arraignment.

Instead of bringing the accused timely for arraignment and trial in court, the Ikoyi Correctional Centre kept him in detention since 2016 and only brought him to court for the first time in 2023. It is obvious that the Ikoyi Correctional Centre’s dereliction of duty was responsible for the detention of the convict in prison for eight years.

The catalogue of instances of derailed, denied, and delayed criminal justice in this country is simply nauseating. From keeping Awaiting Trial Mates (ATM) and detaining criminal suspects in suffocating tiny cells without arraignment and trial, preferring trumped-up charges against criminal suspects, protracted criminal investigations, failure to apply the protocol provided by law in the remand of suspects charged with indictable offenses to the non-availability and non-production of prosecution witnesses to proffer evidence to support the charge brought against the defendants, the anomalies characterising Nigeria’s criminal justice system seem to know no bounds. The bad situation constantly defies remedial measures embarked upon by the government and many non-governmental organisations.

A visit to one of the Correctional Centres in Lagos with Zarephath Aid, a Lagos-based NGO providing pro-bono legal services to wrongly and unjustly detained prisoners aimed at facilitating their freedom revealed shocking oddities, inhumane treatment of ATM, and manifest injustices in the Correctional Centre. To begin with, three-quarters of the prisoners languishing in the Correctional Centre are ATM, many of whom were picked by policemen on patrol in their operational vehicles and carrying out mass arrests of ‘suspects’ who end up in the Correctional Centre.

It is commonplace to see policemen round up young people and search their bags, laptops, and other devices to ‘find’ incriminating evidence of their involvement in one crime or another. Sadly enough, many of the young persons are driven to the nearest police station and detained there or charged for various offences despite the victim’s protestation. Not infrequently, the police aim at extortion and where this fails some investigating police officers (IPOs) threaten to detain ‘suspects’ out of circulation for a long time.

However, the most tragic aspect of Nigeria’s criminal justice system is the detention of criminal suspects in the Correctional Centre for years without arraignment and without trial. Zarephath Aid narrated that in one of their visits to the Correctional Centre, they met a young man who was arrested by the police on his way back from work. He was accused of armed robbery, which he denied. At the Police Station, he was asked to provide N150,000 (One hundred and fifty thousand Naira only) to purchase his bail, but he pleaded that he did not have such an amount of money. In fact, he told the police that he worked as a trainee clearing agent in Apapa, Lagos Wharf, but the police waved his pleas aside. He was charged later with armed robbery and remanded in prison custody. His arrest was in 2000. But in 2005 when the advice from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Lagos was released, it stated that the man had no case of robbery to answer. The court discharged him. He had wasted five years of his life in a dungeon where he was kept without little or no food.

Another chilling case involved 34 ATMs who had been unjustly detained in a Lagos Correctional Centre. One of the inmates there was a young man who had stayed 12 years in prison awaiting the DPP’s advice. The DPP’s officers told the court that the police refused to forward the duplicate case files of the inmates to their office in line with the law. Dissatisfied with the injustice of the case, the then Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon Justice Ade Alabi immediately ordered the young man’s release. His fellow prisoners who were similarly released by Justice Alabi had stayed between eight years and 10 years in illegal and iniquitous detention.

The organisation had to intervene in another case involving three suspects who had been arrested for conspiracy and robbery by the dreaded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in 1999. They were remanded in prison custody, and one of them died not long after they were remanded in prison. However, it was discovered that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had issued legal advice in 2000 stating that the remaining two suspects had no case to answer and therefore should be set free. The police, however, hid the advice from the court. Eventually, a duplicate copy of the legal advice was presented to the court, and the court relied on it in granting the two remaining suspects their freedom. Prior to that, the two suspects had endured an additional gruelling five years in custody due to a police officer’s negligence and inefficiency.

To be continued tomorrow.

Culled from The Guardian

At the time Roberta Kaplan, E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer was making her closing arguments, the embattled former President Donald John Trump walked out of the Manhattan federal courtroom where his sexual abuse defamation trial is ongoing but that did not stop the jury from finding that the ex-president and 2024 Presidential hopeful had acted maliciously in persistently attacking Carroll.

Last year, he was found liable of sexually abusing her.

According to New York Times, the directive for Trump to pay $83.3 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll was because he not only defamed her in 2019 after she accused him of a decades-old rape, but continued attacks on her person in social media posts, at news conferences and even in the midst of the trial itself.

New York Times reports that Ms. Carroll’s lawyers had argued that a large award was necessary to stop Mr. Trump from continuing to attack her. After less than three hours of deliberation, the jury responded by awarding Ms. Carroll $65 million in punitive damages, finding that Mr. Trump had acted with malice. On one recent day, he made more than 40 derisive posts about Ms. Carroll on his Truth Social website.

Aljazeera also reports that a jury of seven men and two women on Friday awarded E Jean Carroll, a former columnist for Elle magazine, $18.3m in compensatory damages and $65m in punitive damages.

The civil order, which was met with an audible gasp in the New York courtroom, far surpasses the more than $10m in damages sought by Carroll.

The award comes after a different jury in May found Trump liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll and ordered him to pay her $5m in damages.

Both trials were civil cases, which use the lower standard of preponderance of evidence to make findings and do not determine criminal guilt.

Jurors were only asked how much Trump, 77, should pay Carroll for two statements he made as president when denying her claims, not whether the sexual assault occurred.

Carroll has accused Trump of forcing himself on her in 1996 following a chance encounter at a New York department store.

Trump denied the allegations and accused Carroll of being a “complete con job” who sought to boost the sales of her memoir.

In a statement issued through a publicist after the verdict, Carroll, who testified that Trump’s denials “shattered” her reputation as a respected journalist, described the verdict as a “great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been knocked down, and a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down”.

Trump, who is the strong favourite to be the Republican nominee for president in November, slammed the verdict as “absolutely ridiculous”.

“Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon,” Trump posted on social media. “THIS IS NOT AMERICA!”

Trump had attended the trial earlier on Friday but stormed out of the Manhattan courtroom as Carroll’s lawyer was making closing arguments.

The former president returned for his own lawyer’s closing argument and some of the deliberations but left the court again before the verdict was announced.

Trump is also awaiting a verdict in a New York civil fraud trial, where state lawyers are seeking the return of $370m that they claim are ill-gotten gains from loans and deals made using financial statements that exaggerated his wealth.

Trump additionally faces multiple criminal cases, including a case in Georgia alleging that he conspired to overturn the outcome of his 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden.

Source: Aljazeera and New York Times

Mrs Mosekola Adegoke, who slipped into coma recently due to administration of wrong medications by a nurse at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), is eventually dead. She was aged 59.

She died on Wednesday, according to her son-in-law, Mr Tunde Awosedo.

Law & Society had on January 20, 2024 published a report by her daughter, Mrs Damilola Awosedo detailing how negligence by a nurse, who administered on her another dosage of anesthesia instead of antibiotics after a successful surgery, sent her mother, who was in a recovery process, into coma.

Mrs Awosedo had also paid a pathetic picture of the hospital’s lack of duty of care and how it had played the Ostrich by keeping mum and carrying on as if nothing had happened.

In a riposte to media reports, the management of LASUTH had reacted, announcing that it was investigating the claims of wrong administration of medication due to alleged negligence, assuring the family that the findings of the investigation would be made public.

The Director of Clinical Services and training at LASUTH, Professor Adebowale Adekoya had reportedly intervened with a promise that the hospital management would take care of all intensive care treatment expenses incurred by the family.

Professor Adekoya’s visit had come on the heels of a statement by LASUTH management on X (@lasuthikeja) about 12 noon on Sunday, January 21, 2024, entitled: “LASUTH IS INVESTIGATING THE ALLEGATION OF WRONG MEDICATION ADMNISTRATION”

Read the statement: “The management of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital is currently (sic) investigating the allegation of wrong medication administration on one of its patients who had surgery.

“A high-powered panel has been constituted to look into the allegation.

“The hospital management wishes to affirm that there will be no cover up and any worker found guilty will be administratively dealt with.

“In the meantime, the said patient is receiving FREE intensive care treatment and all hands are on deck concerning her case.

“Some members of the family had a fruitful meeting with the Head of Our Quality Assurance on Friday 19th January at about (sic) 3 pm. We are therefore surprised at the unnecessary escalation of the issue to the social media.

“Unusual adverse events do occur in Medicine. Some may truly be due to human error but others may be not be. The important thing is to carry out a thorough investigation, which is what we are currently (sic) doing.

“We will make our findings available when we are through with the investigation.”

Signed

LASUTH Hospital Management

In a counter reaction, Mrs Damilola Awosedo’s husband, Mr Tunde Awosedo, had accused the LASUTH management of distorting information, pointing out that contrary to its claim that his mother-in-law had been receiving FREE intensive care treatment, the family had spent almost N1,000,000 between last Tuesday (January 16, 20240 and Sunday, January 21, 2024) on her treatment.

Mr Awosedo had said that, for the records, his mother-in-law had not been receiving free intensive care treatment, as claimed in the statement by the LASUTH management.

According to him: “I have all the receipts of payments made. The man (Prof Adekoya) just came this (Sunday) morning and as I speak with you (Sunday afternoon), they have not done anything so far.”

Below is a reproduction of our January 20, 2024 story culled from The Conclave.

Medical Negligence at LASUTH: Lady narrates how mother slipped into coma over wrong medications

This is a story that touches the heart. It is about medical negligence that has put the life of an otherwise healthy woman in the balance. She is in coma even as her distraught daughter, Mrs Damilola Awosedo pens her pains and calls on the Lagos State Government and the public to come to the aid of the family to get the management of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital [LASUTH] to take responsibility instead of playing the Ostrich by keeping mum and carrying on as if nothing has happened.

Read the story as told by Mrs Awosedo:

My mum was scheduled for an adrenal mass surgery in October 2023 at LASUTH. This is someone that wasn’t having any symptoms and only discovered this tumor because she did a general check up.

On the day of the surgery (12 Oct 2023), it was rescheduled but they didn’t give a date.

January 1st 2024, urology department of LASUTH called my mum to come in for her surgery on the 2nd, which was on a Tuesday. My mum and I went there on the 2nd, and they scheduled the surgery for 4th as she had to be admitted few days before the surgery.

On the 4th of January, the surgery was cancelled again as the first patient’s surgery ended late and they only do surgeries on Thursdays (as they said); so we went back home again. She wasn’t really bothered because she was very healthy and wasn’t feeling any type of way except for the fact that she knew that she had Adrenal mass.

On the 9th of January, they called her again and asked her to come in immediately. She told them it was too sudden and she’d come in the next day, which was Wednesday, 10th of January. The next day, she went to the hospital as planned.

On the 11th, they took her to the theatre and commenced the surgery around 2:45pm. At around 5pm, a doctor came out and told me to start looking for blood…i got the blood and by 9pm , they finished the surgery and told us to go and pay for ICU without any explanation…the initial plan was for her to return to the surgical ward.

Later that night, a doctor explained that they mistakenly punctured a blood vessel during the surgery and she lost 4 litres of blood; her heart stopped and they had to do CPR for about 3 minutes before she came back, which resulted in the emergency. This aside, we all know that bleeding might occur during surgery but the patient management fundamentally failed us as they had no preparation for that.

After 3 days in the ICU, which was Sunday, 14th of January, they discharged her to the female surgical ward as she had recovered quickly.

At the female surgical ward she could now walk, talk, and play. The doctors concluded that she was fit to go home on Wednesday, 17th January.

Tuesday night, a nurse came to give my mum her medications. She was injecting her a particular IV when my mum said her eyes were closing. I asked the nurse what she was giving her and she replied that it was antibiotics and told my mum to lie down that maybe she was feeling sleepy before; then, she proceeded to push in the rest…immediately, my mum said “I can’t breathe anymore” and started seizing. I ran to ask for help and some people came in to attend to her.

They sent me out of the room and I tried peeping and saw them snapping the drug so I entered and checked the name…I realized the nurse gave my mum VECURONIUM (NEOVEC), an anesthesia used in the theatre to paralyse patients before surgical procedures. Even in the theatre they only inject 5mg and this nurse gave my mum 10mg..which means, she gave her the wrong injection, and still gave her overdose.

My mum was rushed to the ICU again fighting in between life and death. This is a patient that walked into this hospital healthy.

According to the doctors, after administering the injection, it immediately stops air passage and the patient is supposed to be put on ventilator immediately. failure to do so, it can affect any of the vital organs in the body.

In my mum’s case, it affected her brain and she hasn’t come around since 16th that she had been taken to the ICU and is having continuous seizures. The doctors are telling us that the chances of her coming around is 50/50 and we should keep praying.

Now, this injection is not part of the prescriptions since she has been in the hospital. The doctors made it clear that we can’t have access to, it and it is only sold in pharmacies close to the operation theatre.

How the injection got to the normal ward, they refused to explain.

The nurse that made this grave mistake, they refused to provide her.

They are refusing to take any responsibility whatsoever and we sense that they are trying to cover it up.

We have been paying this additional bill and have spent over 400k in 48 hours, excluding the millions we spent before and after her surgery.

I still can’t fathom how a medical nurse will still not know the difference between an anesthesia and antibiotics. This is the height of incompetence and how the injection got into the ward is still a MISERY.

But LASUTH is saying absolutely nothing about it.

PLEASE COME TO OUR AID🙏🏽

Also, according to the doctors, she could have lived with this tumor, but they created fear in us and operated on her only out of their curiosity as this was their first case of ANDRENAL MASS.”

The Conclave

By Nick Olagoke

In scope and operation, the Mastercard Foundation has grown to be one of the world’s largest foundations.

Founded in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard (the corporate) when the payment solutions company went public, the Mastercard Foundation is a Canadian charity organisation.

In concert with other organisations the foundation works to advance education and financial inclusion to enable young people in Africa and indigenous youth in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. In Africa it has offices in Kigali, Rwanda; Accra, Ghana; Nairobi, Kenya; Kampala, Uganda; Lagos, Nigeria; Dakar, Senegal and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Between 2018 and 2020, the Foundation launched its Africa Works programme which it says it aims to use to help 30 million young people (out of which 10 million will be Nigerians) secure dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.

The Foundation also offers scholarships and information made available on its website indicates that since 2012 it has supported nearly 40,000 transformative leaders.

The foundation also said that “To enable Scholars and young people across Africa to succeed, we know there is a need to address systemic barriers in higher education, strengthen capacity, support innovative solutions across critical sectors, and connect ecosystem actors together to amplify our impact across the continent.”

It further said working together alongside young people, universities, NGOs, and other higher education stakeholders, the scholarship programme strives to create the conditions that will enable young people to attain inclusive and relevant education, transition smoothly into dignified and fulfilling work, and lead transformative lives.

For its financial inclusion, the Mastercard Foundation has made great impact expecially in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, its financial inclusion programme has found expression in agricultural projects in different parts of the country and in this area it has recorded resounding success over the years using the Young Africa Works strategy. Its goal is quite ambitious – to enable 10 million young people in Nigeria secure dignifying employment by 2030.

The success it has achieved in agriculture can be ascribed to the painstaking process of selecting reputable non-governmental organisations as partners, professional programme design and setting ambitious goals.

A look at some of the programmes will reveal the impact Mastercard Foundation has made in Nigeria. In May 2020 the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) partnered with the foundation to start the Young Africa Works-IITA Project.

Young Africa Works IITA-project was designed to advance agribusiness opportunities to over 40,000 Nigerian young women and men with special focus on skills development, decent employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities to secure work in agri-food value chains for the next five years.

In August 2021 Mastercard Foundation partnered with Value Seeds Limited, an indigenous crop seed production, solution, and development company, to empower 10,000 smallholder farmers in Nigeria with the distribution of farm inputs, training and access to market.

In 2021, 4,000 women and youth were provided with farm inputs and training for agronomical practices, especially in maize and rice farming and an additional 6,000 women and youth were impacted in 2022. Between May and July 2021, Value Seeds was able to complete the first and second distribution of inputs to participants.

Value Seeds Limited Managing Director, George Zangir, said he was excited to see a large number of Nigerian youth and women participating in the programme given how far-reaching the impact will be on the economy. “It is good to know that women in these locations are showing great interest in agriculture and especially farming. They are now fully involved in the entire agricultural value chain, which will directly impact our economy. As they say, when you empower a woman, you empower a nation,” he added.

These are a few of the milestones the Foundation has recorded in Nigeria. This has been made possible because of the strict corporate governance policies put in place by the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

And here lies the contradiction. While the foundation lays claim to international best practices and strong ethical standards in its operations, it doesn’t appear that it follows that thoroughly.

The 6th function of the Board of Directors of Mastercard International, the parent company of the foundation is “Ensuring processes are put in place for maintaining an ethical corporate culture.”

In its policy document entitled ‘Nigeria Code of Conduct and Appendix’ the Mastercard Foundation forbids staff against “engaging in activities that cause embarrassment to fellow employees, partners and stakeholders of the foundation.”

Specifically in Section 1.01, the Foundation notes “In order for the Foundation to be effective and be recognised as a thought leader, we must earn and maintain the trust and respect of others. We operate in a time when public expectations for how not-for-profit and philanthropic organisations conduct themselves and deploy their resources are high. Over the years, as our programmes have expanded, the Foundation has earned a high degree of trust among our partners. Our partners experience the Foundation as an ethical organisation that focuses on the poor and uses its resources wisely to ensure long-term impact in Africa. This trust is a testament to the integrity of our employees, who are stewards of our resources. As we grow, we must continue to build upon this trust.”

Section Two is CODE OF PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND CONDUCT

2.01 What is a Code of Ethics?

It applies to, and is binding on all Employees of the Foundation irrespective of title, role, responsibilities, or level of accreditation. It is not goal-orientated in nature, but directional and, as such, adherence to the contents of the Code is obligatory. Any contravention of the Code is grounds for action under disciplinary regulations.

2.02 What is Conflict of Interest?

A conflict of interest is an interest or activity that influences or appears to influence the Employee’s ability to exercise objectivity or impairs the Employee’s ability to perform his/her duties and responsibilities in the best interests of the Foundation. Employees must make full and fair disclosure of all matters that could reasonably be expected to impair their independence and objectivity, or interfere with their respective duties to clients, prospective clients and the Foundation. Employees must ensure that such disclosures are prominent, delivered in plain language and that the relevant information is communicated effectively.

(a) Conflicts of interest can arise in many situations. It is impossible to cover them all, and it will not always be easy to distinguish between proper and improper activity. In doubtful cases, the Employee should consult with the Foundation’s Reputational Risk Leader and/or Director of the People and Culture Department where there is no Reputational Risk Leader before taking any action. In general, a conflict of interest is considered to have arisen when:

(i) An Employee or any member of the Employee’s family’ may receive a financial or other significant benefit;

(ii) An Employee has an opportunity to influence the Foundation’s charitable activities, investment, administrative, operations or other material decisions in a manner that leads to personal gain or advantage; or

(iii) An Employee has an existing or potential financial or other significant interest which impairs or might appear to impair the Employee’s independence in the discharge of the Employee’s duties and responsibilities to the Foundation; or

(iv) A serious enough offence that merits a possible dismissal.

The President and CEO of the foundation, Reeta Roy, was in 2022 accused by her husband, Chong Wei Min of infidelity. Chong Wei Min, a professor of medicine and inventional cardiologist, went public on the allegation in a Facebook post on 14 March 2022.

In the Facebook post, the professor accused his wife of sleeping with James Mwangi, Group Managing Director/CEO, Equity Group Holdings Plc, Kenya.

Wei Min is Reeta Roy’s second husband. Her first husband, Jim Muldoon, was diagnosed of stomach cancer in 2014 and he later died.

Considering the ethical principles which Mastercard Foundation lays claims to, Wei Min said the charge of adultery is so weighty that Mastercard Foundation should have eased Reeta Roy off. He likened the Mastercard Foundation CEO to Madame Bovary, the protagonist in Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners, the novel by French writer, Gustave Flaubet, published in 1857.

The estranged husband wrote:

“I suggest that you make a clean break of it as especially everyone in Africa,  Chin Graeme, and the whole of the members of Cabbage town knew that you not only were sleeping regularly with James Mwamgi of Equity Bank and that you were not only his mistress but betrayed all which everyone held dear in both Mastercard and although you thought you got away with it everyone in Cabbagetown knew that you not only destroyed a beautiful man, Jim Muldoon and decimated him, the Roadhouse painting is really a subtle red patch on a tainted woman and I honestly dont think anyone much less Christina or HE Johnson or poor Christina or James Mwangi or his long suffering wife or my dear beloved Claire would perjure you by denying the prima facie case that you should have been terminated for cause for adultery on MasterCard expense and you give Microfinance a lamentable reputation with your sordid indiscreet acts which would have put Madam Bovary to shame.”

This is the link to Prof. Chong Wei Min’s Facebook post: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid05kptVpUx2m9tsqNdtNe8bPRPCQaC6kKct72QLEs1hubMvJANSsqFRNjFroDXKADcl&id=100041132719458&sfnsn=scwspmo

In Kenya, Mastercard Foundation and Equity Group jointly sponsor a scholarship programme called The Wings to Fly Scholarship Programme.

Information put out by the Equity Group said the initiative was started “to support secondary education for top performing children from financially challenged backgrounds. With support from other partners, the program offers access to leadership training to previously marginalised children in all counties.”

It further said: “The programme offers comprehensive support for the scholars through provision of tuition fees, accommodation, books, uniform, shopping, pocket money and transport to and from school during their 4 years of secondary education. It has so far supported 26,304 bright but economically challenged scholars.”

A source with deep access to both the Equity Group and the Mastercard Foundation said the Wings to Fly Scholarship Programme is the programme funded by the foundation which is linked to the Facebook outburst by Reeta Roy’s husband.

The source further noted that the more curious thing about it is that there was massive sexual exploitation and abuse of indigent mothers of the vulnerable poor girls that the programme was designed to support (mothers were compelled to have sex with the scouting teams in order for their daughters to be enrolled for the scholarship) as well as incidents of rape of some of the girls leading to suicide by one such victim.

Our source further said journalists in Kenya have been trying to gain access to one Emmanuela (a beneficiary of the programme, who is “believed” to have had some difficult experience and may hold deep information on the girl that committed suicide) but that it appears the foundation has blocked her from speaking to anyone.

According to our investigation, the foundation is said to be fully aware of all the sexual abuses; the Wings to Fly Programme also sacked many staff and agents on account of the horrible sexual abuses.

The source asked if the Mastercard Foundation was truly committed to its values, and if Reeta Roy is not in any illicit relationship with the Group Managing Director of Equity Group, Kenya, as alleged by her now estranged husband why is the Wings to Fly Scholarship still being managed by Equity Group? Why has Mastercard Foundation not pulled out of the partnership after all these happenings?

More importantly, given Prof Wei Min’s Facebook outburt, there appears to be a conflict of interest in Reeta Roy’s relationship with Equity Group. Reeta Roy has also been accused of high handedness and running the foundation as a fiefdom with a very weak EXCO that panders to her bidding, no one dares express strong contrary opinion that may displease her, leading to extremely high non-exco level staff turnover over the last three years.

Even for the Nigeria operation, Mastercard Foundation hasnt fully followed its laid down rules. It has an excellent recruitment policy which appears elaborate and painstaking but on paper. Insiders say the process is not entirely transparent. They cite as example the appointment of Rosy Fynn, the current Country Director for Nigeria.

Investigation reveals that Rosy, then Country Director for Ghana, started overseeing the Nigeria office in acting capacity when the then country director, Mrs Chidinma Lawanson, went on maternity leave in late 2022. Upon return in 2023, Mrs Lawanson chose to resign and Rosy continued to act as country director. The role was then advertised and many Nigerians applied but the process was terminated before a shortlist could be drawn. Rosy was confirmed substantive Country Director for Nigeria in May 2023. Prior to that she had never worked in Nigeria and has no country context. It is not known how many Nigerians applied for the Mastercard Foundation top job in Nigeria but a reliable source said each time a position was advertised the Foundation usually receives not less than 200 applications with 99% of them being Nigerians.

Insiders say there is no clear reason why the Foundation did not proceed to shortlist and interview applicants to fill the position of Nigeria Country Director when there are qualified Nigerians who applied for the position.

Nigeria’s Ministry of Budget and Planning allows only a maximum of 30% foreigners to be brought in to occupy positions that should be left for Nigerians except in exceptional cases of special competence not available,  which in this case does not apply.

Insiders say there is discontent and disenchantment among staff in the Nigeria office since Rosy Fynn took over as country director.

•Olagoke, a development economist, writes from Lagos.

A popular Bishop in Lagos Nigeria will not only spend the rest of his life in prison but have his name registered in the Sexual Offenders Register maintained by the state government.

Hon. Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos High Court on Friday sentenced Bishop Oluwafeyiropo Daniels to life imprisonment for raping a 23-year-old female member of his church, and 3 years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old member of the church (count three of the four-count charge).

 The sentences will run concurrently. Rape contravenes Section 260(2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Describing Daniels as a liar who does not have any regard for truth, the judge however, discharged and acquitted him on count two of the charge, which is the rape of another member of the church (name withheld).

Justice Oshodi held that there was an element of consent between the said church member and the Bishop.

On May 29, 2023, the 23-year-old female assistant pastor told the court that the man popularly known as Feyi Daniel, raped her twice.

Feyi Daniel, the founder of  iReign Christian Ministry, was first remanded in prison custody on April 17, 2023, for allegedly raping two of his church members.

He was later arraigned on three amended counts bordering on rape and sexual assault, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Led in evidence by Lagos State counsel, Mr Babajide Boye, the victim told the court that she was an assistant pastor of 1 Reign Christian Ministry founded by the bishop.

The victim told the court that she heard her cousin listening to the bishops Feyi Daniels sermon on the phone while they were at her sister’s shop in Osogbo on January 2, 2019.

“I told my cousin the sermon was nice and he told me the name of the church which I searched for and followed its page on Facebook,” the victim said.

“After that, I was able to chat with Feyi on Facebook and he added me to a WhatsApp group called spiritual sonship group.

She further told the court that the bishop, who she regarded as her spiritual father, raped her at his residence in Ikota Villa Estate, Lekki, Lagos State, on June 21, 2020.

In his defence last year, the convict said three of the four women accusing him of sexually assaulting them conspired to turn against him adding that one of those ladies lied because he did not help her out with some financial issues.

The pastor was accused of sexually assaulting three of his church members at his residence in Lekki and on his church premises in Ikeja.

President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Y. C. Maikyau, SAN, has described the recently passed revered Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief George Nwokocha Uwechue as a man who displayed the highest standard of professional ethics and discipline; a statesman to the core.

Maikyau, SAN in his address at a valedictory court session held in honour of the departed Owelle of Ogwashi Uku also charged those present to use “the opportunity of our father’s passing to contemplate our mortality…”

Read the entire address below.

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE NBA, MR YAKUBU CHONOKO MAIKYAU, OON, SAN, DELIVERED AT THE VALEDICTORY COURT SESSION HELD IN HONOUR OF THE LATE CHIEF GEORGE NWOKOCHA UWECHUE, SAN, FINALS ON 25 JANUARY 2024 AT THE HIGH COURT OF DELTA STATE, ASABA

PROTOCOLS
My Lord, the Honourable, the Chief Judge of Delta State, Honourable Justice Theresa O. Diai, and My Lords, the Judges of Delta State Judiciary herein sitting en banc, it is with a heavy heart that I stand today on this solemn occasion to pay tribute to a distinguished member of the legal profession and my elder brother at the inner bar, the late Chief George Nwokocha Uwechue, SAN, FNIALS (the Owelle of Ogwashi
Uku).

Valedictory Court sessions, irrespective of the circumstance, are sober and solemn moments; they both speak to the transience of the positions we are privileged to hold in life and the fleetingness of life itself. When it is about death, it comes with it an additional feeling of sadness for an irreparable loss. Although the learned silk could be said to have lived to a ripe old age, his passing is nonetheless painful for his friends and loved ones.

Owelle George Uwechue was an active and committed Barman. He was a representative of the Nigerian Bar Association in the Body of Benchers for 17 years before his appointment as a Life Bencher. He also served our nation to the best of his abilities and in varying capacities, having served as Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Member of the Rules Advisory Committee that drafted the Supreme Court Rules, 1985 (as Amended) and Member of Federal House of Representatives representing Aniocha Federal Constituency, in the old Bendel State.

Indeed, he was a statesman to the core. He distinguished himself as a true professional who practiced law with dignity, honour, displaying regard for the highest standard of professional ethics and discipline. The learned silk will be remembered for his commitment to the Bar and the cause of the nation.

As we commemorate the end of a life that was birthed 86 years ago, I will not fail to remind us here today to take the opportunity of our father’s passing to contemplate our mortality, our sincerity, and our eternity. We should reflect on our own lives, our fading moments, and the coming day of reckoning.

Let us see to it that we walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, making the most use of time because the days are evil (Ephesians 5: 15 – 16). We must remain conscious of the transient nature of life and daily rely on God to “… teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). We must not, as the Scripture admonishes, mourn as those without hope.

On behalf of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), I commiserate with the learned Silk’s children – 4 of whom are our learned friends, members of the extended family and the entire people of Ogwashi Uku.

I also extend my condolences to the lawyers and staff of G. N. Uwechue & Co. on our collective loss. I pray that God will comfort the hearts of all members of his family, colleagues, and friends.

May the peace of God, which is beyond human understanding, protect our hearts and minds through Christ our Lord. Amen.

I thank you all for your attention.

May it please my Lords.

It is no longer news that the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, revoked the temporary bail earlier granted the embattled Prof. Cyril Ndifon, suspended Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Calabar (UNICAL), and directed that he should again be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre.

What is ear tingling is that one of his lawyers was remanded along with him.

While the action filed against his client was already in court, Sunny Anyanwu, the lawyer was alleged to have, sometime in November 2023 or thereabout, in Abuja called one of the prosecution witnesses on her mobile telephone.

He reportedly made the call on the prompting of the professor.

Attorney Anyanwu was alleged to have threatened her not to honour the invitation of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in respect of the criminal investigation against Ndifon, which conduct he knew was intended to perverse the cause of justice.

The offence was said to be punishable under Section 182 of the Penal Code Cap. 532 Laws of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, 2006.

Hon. Justice James Omotosho also held that Anyanwu, to be remanded in the correctional centre pending the hearing of their bail application.

At the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, Justice Omotosho gave the order after Ndifon was re-arraigned alongside Anyanwu on an amended four-count charge bordering on alleged sexual harassment and attempt to perverse the cause of justice.

According to reports, while the ICPC) is the complainant, Ndifon and Anyanwu are 1st and 2nd defendants in the amended charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/511/2023.

In count one, Ndifon was alleged to have, between May and September 2023 while being in the employment of UNICAL as Dean of Faculty of Law, caused one Miss TKJ (not real name), a diploma student of the university, to send pornographic, indecent and obscene photographs of herself to him through his mobile telephone number: 08037066222 vide WhatsApp charts.

The offence was said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition & Prevention) Act 2015.

Count three bordered on the allegations against Anyanwu.

Justice Omotosho had, on Jan. 10, ordered the release of Ndifon on a temporary bail to enable him go for a glaucoma surgery.