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How Nigeria did in less than 70 years what England and Wales could not do in over 700 years

By Worgu Boms (emeritus AG, Rivers State)

WHAT NIGERIA ACHIEVED IN LESS THAN 70 YEARS ENGLAND AND WALES SHALL BE ACHIEVING IN 755 YEARS AFTER

Today, Sunday, June 10, 2023, I received an email that excited me exceedingly and made me laugh uncontrollably.

It was a mail from a Law Teacher in Cambridge University, UK.

In it, he said he was proudly pre-informing me that the UK was about to do what I jocularly taunted it as unable to do throughout all its history but which Nigeria did in less than 70 years.

I instantly recognised what he was referring to and I anxiously read on for the evidence.

In 2003 or so, I was at Cambridge University- not as a student (I schooled in Nkpolu- Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria) – but as one of Key Note Speakers in a symposium there that year.

At the Dinner after the Opening Ceremonies, I was honoured with the assignment of proposing the Toast to:

” All Heads of Government and Sovereigns here represented”.

It was a huge honour and a proud moment for me.

At the Dinner, seated on the High Table, was Nigeria’s then Chief Justice, Justice Mariam Alooma Mukthar. She was Nigeria’s first woman to occupy that position.

Justice Amina Augie, also of the Supreme Court, was in the audience. Coincidentally, it was her – Justice Augie’s-  Birthday that day.

When it was time, during the Dinner, and I was called upon to perform the Toast, I applied for two indulgences, before proposing the Toast and was permitted.

Firstly, I informed the Dinners that a Justice of Nigeria’s Supreme Court, Amina Augie, was dining with us and that it was her Birthday. My Lord stood up, and took a bow to Happy Birthday wishes from the fellow Dinners. Later, a Birthday cake was arranged and presented to her by Prof Berry Rider.

Secondly, I asked my audience whether, in the entire History of England and Wales, in particular, for the over 700 years that the office of the Chief Justice of England and Wales was established in 1268 or so, a female had ever occupied it. I answered in the negative myself and to which answer they all concurred; or at least, no one negatived.

I then proudly introduced to them, the Hon Justice Marriam Alooma Mukthar, Nigeria’s first female Chief Justice.

Something England and Wales had never accomplished. We beat them to it, I triumphantly announced.

It was after that, that I proceeded to propose the Toast as requested.

That was more than a decade.

Today, in the email I referred to earlier, my learned friend informed me that the UK, soon, very soon, would have a female Lord Chief Justice FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME in over 700 years and more than 10 years after we attained that feat in Nigeria within 70 years of our own nationhood.

According to him, only two (2) persons have made the Final Shortlist and they are women.

Both were QCs ( senior advocates, as we call them here in Nigeria) before they joined the Bench.

One is of the Court of Appeal and the other, of the UK Supreme Court.

They are:

1. Dame Victoria Sharp

2. Dame Sue Carr

From analysis, it seems it will swing to Mrs. Sharp, with a reputation for hard work and diligence. She is said to work from 7 am to 9 pm on weekdays and at weekends.

A twin sister to Richard Sachs, the legendary banker with Goldman Sachs, Justice Sharp so loves hard work she rejected any leave on the birth of any of her children!

(This workaholic habit reminds me personally of the 1960’s Lord Chief Justice of England, Renner Goddard, whose Biographer stated that for all the period Justice Goddard was both a High Court Judge and the Lord Chief Justice, spanning a combined period of over 2 decades, his Lordship missed Court only one day -on the insistence of his doctor. And that he never was late for one day!)

To me, and indeed it is so, this is a truly historic moment- a position, for over 700 years that over 100 men had occupied with no woman ever occupying it, is about to be occupied by a woman- Dame Sharp or Dame Carr, Lord (or Lady) Chief Justice of England and Wales!

Since there is no NJC there ( NJC is Nigeria’s National Judicial Council that constitutionally makes such recommendations),  Prime Minister Sunak and the Lord Chancellor Chalk, would put heads together, recommend one of the two women to the King, and the appointment of the first woman Chief Justice of England and Wales since over 700 years is made!

We rejoice with the UK people and congratulate Justice Sharp or Justice Carr, whoever finally makes it.

For me, and returning to the Theme: What England and Wales could not do in over 700 years, Nigeria did in less than 70 years!

Is God our God, not great?

My name is WorguBoms

Godwin Emefiele’s Overdue Desserts

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

In November 2017, it emerged that suspended Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, had significant interests in an off-shore company registered in Bermuda, which held an account with UBS in London. UBS is a multinational investment bank and financial services company with its headquarters in Basel and Zurich in Switzerland.

Disclosures released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in the Paradise Papers revealed that Mr. Emefiele owned 49% of Oviation Asset Management since 2009 and was a director in the company from January 2013.

According to The Guardian newspaper in London, “Oviation was part of a structure that imported two jets via the Isle of Man. The latest purchase, a $50m Gulfstream G550, arrived in November 2015. It replaced a $33m Gulfstream G450, imported in 2013.”

15 months before the import of the second Gulfstream, in June 2014, Mr. Emefiele became the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). In this capacity, he also chaired the board of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting PLC, which is responsible for printing Nigeria’s currency.

Section 9 of the CBN Act of 2007 requires of both the Governor of the Central Bank and his deputies that they “shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the Bank and, while holding office, shall not engage in any full or part-time employment or vocation, whether remunerated or not, except such charitable causes as may be determined by the Board and which do not conflict with or conflict with their full-time duties.”

This prohibition places three constraints on the CBN Governor: one substantive, another procedural, and a third ethical. Substantively, it bars him from moonlighting in any other job or vocation, whether or not remunerated. Procedurally, he needs the approval of the Board of the CBN before taking on any role outside the bank. Implied in this is an obligation of full and honest disclosure on the part of the CBN Governor. As an (additional) ethical standard, the Act precludes the CBN Governor from putting himself in a position that conflicts with his full-time duties.

As the head of a “public corporation” (which the CBN is), Mr. Emefiele, as CBN Governor, is also subject to the Code of Conduct for senior public officers contained in the 5th Schedule to the Nigerian constitution, which imposes on him standards of conduct with reference to asset disclosure, acceptance of gifts and donations, and holding of overseas interests.

For Mr. Emefiele, these standards were ornaments of convenience. Three years into his office as the CBN Governor, his interests in Oviation were still intact. Contacted by The Guardian for an explanation in November 2017, Mr. Emefiele claimed that he “gave instructions for his shares to be handed back” to his former employers, a Nigerian bank, in 2014. For a central banker, this claim showed either a tendency for the cavalier or habit of casuistry.

On or about 4 May, 2022, Mr. Emefiele was a guest of President Muhammadu Buhari in the presidency. The following day, some characters claiming to be armed Niger Delta militants endorsed Mr. Emefiele for the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), promising to lay down their arms if the party were to hand the ticket to him.

Two days later, on 6 May 2022, it emerged that one Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) and two other shadowy organizations had purchased for Mr. Emefiele forms to run for the presidency on the ticket of the APC. On the same day, Reuters reported that “news of Emefiele’s presidential bid sent the Naira close to a record low”.

Reacting to these developments, Ondo State governor, himself a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Rotimi Akeredolu, put the issue pointedly: “it is difficult to imagine that a person who occupies the exalted and sensitive office of the Governor of the CBN will be this brazen in actualizing his ambition.”

The following day, 7 May, Mr. Emefiele claimed that he was waiting for “God’s Divine intervention” which he hoped to receive “in the next few days”. His political organization, called “#Meffy2023”, was launched three months earlier in February 2022 by The True Green Alliance (TGA), an organization that, bizarrely, “promotes caring for the earth and sustainable living practices throughout the societies and governments of southern Africa.” Nigeria is in West Africa.

Mr. Emefiele was nothing if not consistent in his convenient attitude to rules. As CBN Governor, he maintained a ruinous regime of multiple exchange rates, sustaining a deliberate scheme of arbitrage that oiled both insider abuse and cronyism.

From taking over the management of the National Theatre (despite pending litigation) to making himself a willing instrument for the persecution of #EndSARS protesters, Mr. Emefiele got the CBN involved in schemes and scams that almost assuredly violate Section 34 of the CBN Act. Premium Times in a February 21, 2021 editorial feared that his tenure at the CBN will be remembered for having wilfully “shredded” the guardrails in the CBN Act.

In a country where consequences follow malfeasance, Mr. Emefiele should have been unemployed and in prison. In Nigeria, he longed for the presidency.

The question of Mr. Emefiele’s presidential project was, even more, a legal issue. Two of his predecessors preceded him into elective politics. Clement Isong, the second Governor of the CBN from 1967 to 1975 became the first elected governor of old Cross-River State in October 1979. Chukwuma Soludo, who was CBN Governor from 2004 to 2009, is currently serving as the governor of Anambra State, having been elected on 6 November, 2021. Both Dr. Isong and Professor Soludo, however, ran for office after the expiration of their terms.

But section 9 of the CBN Act makes it quite clear that the CBN Governor just cannot choose to run for elective office while still holding on to office. He could, of course, have chosen to resign in order to pursue his ambition. For this, though, section 11(3) of the CBN Act required him to give “at least three months’ notice in writing to the president of his intention to do so.”

Mr. Emefiele did neither. Instead, he used the time and money of the Central Bank to set up a partisan bid for the presidency. As with his holding in an offshore company despite being prohibited from doing so, Mr. Emefiele wished this prohibition away as yet another inconsequential encounter with an inconvenient guardrail.

In pursuit of his presidential project, Mr. Emefiele did not encounter any guardrails that he was not willing to destroy. When citizens objected to his pursuing the presidency from the office of the CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele procured a fly-by-night order from the High Court of Delta State in Kwale to see them off. In December 2022, the Federal High Court in Abuja issued two orders, one declining the application of security agencies to question Mr. Emefiele; the other restraining anyone from touching him.

As with the launch of his presidential ambition in February 2022 and the purchase of his presidential forms in May, Mr. Emefiele managed to find another faceless NGO to be his Mother Theresa. The plaintiff in the latter case was “Incorporated Trustees of Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership”, registered in May 2018. The case took only five working days; they filed on Monday 19 December 2022 and had a 22-page judgment on 29 December! When the same courts encountered a suit seeking accountability by Mr. Emefiele, they ruled that citizens did not have standing to question him.

Mr. Emefiele has always been relaxed about having his fate decided by Nigerian judges, a tribe with whom he has had many favorable encounters. While he was the boss of The Mint, he could issue enough notes to buy any number of court orders he fancied. Now that he is no longer there, he can still afford the most expensive lawyers in the land and can get courts who will give him orders to send him on medical tourism whenever he wants. But if at any point he were to suffer a bloody nose, I’ll not cry for him because that will be just desserts for a man who clearly believes everything can be bought and sold.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at [email protected]. This article updates an earlier version which appeared in May 2022 under the title “#Meffy2023: A Joke Taken Too Far”.

Olisa Agbakoba: He remains the head, the fountain and indeed the very source of  hope for many of us…

By Tunde Akanni

It wasn’t surprising that the 70th birthday anniversary of a foremost human rights campaigner in Africa, Olisa Agbakoba, appeared to have sneaked away May 29 2023. There wouldn’t have been any basis to struggle in the media for attention on a day already officially and repeatedly faulted as the contraption of  one man alone who had proclaimed himself to be evil-genius. But Olisa  means every other thing in the contrary.  He remains the head, the fountain and indeed the very source of  hope for many of us in the human rights movement in Nigeria till date.

My favourite teacher of all time at the University of Ilorin, Olu Obafemi, in the course of cultivating me and my classmates in the relentlessness of seminality of ideas, had introduced literary works like Trial of Dedan Kimathi by Ngugi Wa Th’iongo to us. Little did I know, courtesy of the efforts of someone like Olisa, I was going to be demonstrative of Obafemi’s many submissions on the great play in not too distant a future. Kimathi, seemingly replicated in Olisa Agabakoba, is the indomitable anti-oppression champion in Kenya who remains undaunted in the face of all intimidation and torture and yet defies all officialdom and even goes ahead to talk wisdom into the heads of those being used to perpetrate injustice.

Way back in 1998, taking advantage of my exposure to human rights work to which I got exposed at the Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, I was a Visiting Scholar to Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, SIPA.  One afternoon in the month of February that year, the lot fell on me to speak out to the world on my major concern with the Nigerian situation under the military siege then. While I was shouting myself hoarse at Columbia University on the downward slide of press and in fact all other genres of freedom, the military government of Coupist Sani Abacha was pounding OA at Yaba, Lagos Nigeria. 

OA as we hailed the CLO President then, had staked his life to lead a 5 million man march beginning from Yaba against the fascist regime. It was a counterforce against Abacha’s grand falsehood in Abuja in form of one million march he had funded to advertise an unfounded support for his dictatorship. My audience at Columbia University felt a palpable pity for me. To most of them, it was unimaginable that Abacha could still feign support for himself in spite of the visible signs of resentment for his government nationally and internationally. OA left the grand march ground with swollen, bloodshot eyes.

Here’s hailing the real big brother in organized human rights campaign in Nigeria. From me to you sir, 70 gbosas!

Tunde Akanni, an associate professor and acting head of Journalism Department at LASU, is a multi-sectoral development consultant. Follow him on Twitter via @AkintundeAkanni.

Intimate Affairs: Before you agree to that abortion

By Funke Egbemode

Why do women agree to have repeated abortions for the same man or any man at all? What kind of woman is it who rationalises why she should stay in a relationship with a man who risks her uterus and future? What kind of woman doesn’t know or refuses to admit that all the risks taken each time an abortion is carried out are borne by the woman?

Why do women who have had three, four abortions for one man think there won’t be consequences down the road: blocked tubes, damaged uterus, and so on and so forth? Why do we not know when to quit a bad relationship? Why would a woman believe that a man who risks her womb loves her? What kind of satanic love is that?

If you let a man swim in your pool without swimming trunks, then you must let him know there are repercussions. Indeed, you must show him photos of baby dresses and maternity wears each time he insists on taking a dive without wearing ‘something’. No matter how good the sex is, it is absolutely stupid to let a man plant a ton of his seeds in you, let him walk away while you are left alone to open your legs for another man to prod your insides with medical forks and knives to bring out lover boy’s unwanted harvest. He even gets to read newspapers or watch CNN while you are in the slab. That is if he even follows you there. He may have a meeting or commitment more important than your delicate womb and the medical equipment running around in it. You are somebody’s precious daughter for God’s sake! Don’t let another person’s child ruin your own mother’s dream of becoming a grandmother. Don’t let foolish love leave your mother childless.

Deaconess Tutu’s husband, a pastor has just moved out of their matrimonial home after 11 years of childlessness. And guess who he moved in with? The young ‘washerwoman’ who came regularly to wash and iron for the couple. She is seven months pregnant. Pastor Mrs didn’t know that her husband had been ‘washing’ the girl for more than a year. The innocent-looking domestic staff simply strolled through the door and took the trophy ‘Madam’ had toiled and sweated for all of a decade and 12 months. While Pastor Kolade and Tutu were ‘still in the world’, she got pregnant three times and allowed herself to be talked into abortion those three times. They eventually got ‘born-again’, got married, and in those long 11 years, she never missed her period once! She prayed. They fasted. They attended many deliverance services. Do you think there are adequate words to describe the depth of her pain and sorrow when she was told she would never conceive, by many doctors? She kept on hoping and praying that God would have mercy on her and grant her that one single wish. But that didn’t and hasn’t happened. Now, her husband has moved on, and moved in with another woman, a fertile woman, leaving behind the one he damaged with her damaged goods.

A young man went for a deliverance service in a popular Pentecostal church. He waited after the service to see the pastor. As soon as he knelt, the pastor told him that someone else accompanied him to church. The young man shook his head and told the pastor he came alone. The pastor knew the young man could not see what he was seeing. According to the pastor’s narrative, the man kneeling before him was accompanied to church and into his office by a spirit in female form. This she-spirit was also carrying a small coffin and indeed followed the young man everywhere. About two years before that day, the guy had taken his girlfriend for an abortion which led to her death 24 hours later. The spirit of the woman was determined to avenge herself and the young man had just six days left on the surface of the earth when he went for that deliverance service.

The pastor asked the young man what really transpired between him and a girlfriend in his past. He broke down and told the sad sordid story when the pastor revealed what the Lord had shown him. Of course, pastor left out the part about the six-days-more-and-you-are-dead. The guy confessed that he and Susan started dating when they were both in 300-level in the university and she had had two abortions for him. The third one that took her life was left for too long because Susan wanted to keep the baby. She was already in Law School and the guy had also graduated. She didn’t see why they couldn’t just go to the registry and start their lives but the guy threatened to deny paternity if she kept the pregnancy. She wept. She begged. The guy stood his ground. Unfortunately, she stood her own ground too long. By the time she decided to have the abortion, it was too dangerous but she did not want to be a single mum. She was the first child of her parents. Her father is an elder in an orthodox church too! What would everybody say? She couldn’t afford the shame. That was how she traded shame for death. She was found dead in her room the day after the abortion.

Now, her spirit had returned with a coffin to convey her mean lover boy home, to a place where they would live happily ever after. According to the pastor, the death sentence hanging over the head of this young man was irreversible but wise pastors do not say unwise things. He prayed for him and told him to go. Six days later, the lover boy died.

Did you say the pastor should have reversed the death sentence with prayer? I feel you, but I must quickly remind you that pastors do not answer prayers. Only God does that. Secondly, not all death sentences are reversible. For even thinking it, here is your homework:

Find out five judgments and death sentences that God did not reverse in the Bible.

But wait, is this another Sunday School? Maybe, maybe not. Or not exactly. But have you ever asked yourself why women do what they do in the name of love? Yes, once in a blue moon, the scenario above plays out; a vengeful spirit ‘returns’ to take her ‘husband’ home. But how many such stories have you heard? How many men do you know that died because they took their girlfriends for an abortion? See? You can’t even remember a single case. Now compare that with the number of women you know who are suffering from the consequences of many abortions and or one single badly done abortion. The figures and ratio are sad, right? My point exactly.

If you let a man ruin you and the rest of your life just because he carries the right weight in between his legs and pockets and delivers a pitch better than a marketer, the only person you can blame is yourself. Infertility, a uterus that can’t carry a baby to term, or barrenness of any brand are not always the work of witches and wizards. Moving from one prayer house to the other, jumping from one deliverance service to the other, and generally stressing every prophet and pastor you can corner, five years from now would be exercises in futility. The time to take the right decision is today, now. Don’t donate your womb to that guy to use as a shooting range or football pitch.

No matter how in love a man is when he shoots a woman full of his seeds and tells her to abort four times, he’s never too in love to forget when to move on. Very few men ‘wait on the Lord with a woman with a destroyed womb. The nice ones apologise profusely and install new wives outside. The mean ones impregnate the maid and or bring new wives in to flaunt their babies.

Babes, you can’t, must not, give up your womb for a man, any man. It is always better to give up a man, any man, for your womb. It may be tough to let a man go when he threatens: ‘Consider this relationship over if you keep that baby.’

Especially if you have invested everything and you thought he is everything. But you can’t put him first and yourself last. Think of what you stand to lose if you capitulate: your baby, your womb, and the rest of your healthy life. Compare that with what you stand to gain if you don’t: your unborn baby and maybe five more after him or her, a healthy womb, a healthy future, and then a chance to love again, a chance to find a better man.

Think of these things.

▪︎Egbemode ([email protected])

What you need to know about the Electricity Act 2023

With the numerous natural resources, capable of generating electricity, but lying fallow and begging to be used, in nearly every Nigerian state, the days of power outages might be over with the passing into law of the Electricity Act 2023.

With the passing of this new law which replaces the 2005 Electricity and Power Sector Reform Act on 9 June 2023,  states can now generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

 Here are 10 benefits of the assented 2023 Electricity Act

1. The passage means that anyone may construct, own, or operate an undertaking for generating electricity not exceeding one megawatt in aggregate at a site, or an undertaking for distribution of electricity with a capacity not exceeding 100 kilowatts in aggregate at a site, or such other capacity as the Commission may determine from time to time, without a licence.

2. Electricity generation licensees are obligated to meet renewable generation obligations as may be prescribed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.

3. Electricity generating companies will be mandated to either generate power from renewable energy sources, purchase power generated from renewable energy, or procure any instrument representing renewable energy generation.

4. Lawmakers are granted the power to carry out oversight responsibilities and function over the NESI through its respective Committees on Power in the Senate and House of Representatives.

5. Empowerment of states, companies, and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

6. States can regulate their electricity markets by issuing licences to private investors who can operate mini-grids and power plants within the state. However, the Act precludes interstate and transnational electricity distribution.

7. The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission will be able to regulate the electricity sector within Nigeria.

8. The commission can transition regulatory responsibilities from itself to state regulators when they are established.

9. Until a state has passed its electricity market laws, NERC will continue to regulate electricity businesses in such states.

10. Only three states -Lagos, Edo, and Kaduna—have electricity market laws and can start regulating their markets. But NERC will regulate the electricity generation and transmission for states without such laws.

Buried Natural Power Generator

Sometime in 2022, wrote Ikenna Emewu, the people of Enugu State were rattled by a wildfire at Amaoji Nike in Enugu.

This location is not far from the capital city of Enugu where a wildfire burned briskly and defied the concerted efforts of the relevant agencies to put it off.

After some days of fruitless battle against the fire in the forest, the spokesman of the Civil Defence, Enugu Command, CSP Emmanuel Iwuchukwu spoke through a short video on what happened.

He explained that the efforts to put off the fire also attracted the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) which confirmed it has no oil pipeline route in the area. This was on the suspicion that it could be a fire from ruptured gas or oil pipeline.

That revelation by the NNPC started raising questions on what should have caused the fire that could not be put off from deep inside the earth.

In the meantime, the security agencies cleared all vegetation around the huge flame so that it doesn’t escalate into burning homes and property

Through questions from the Caritas University Enugu that alerted the authorities about the fire, the government authorities found out that it emanated from deep inside the belly of the earth.

Caritas University had engaged a water borehole drilling company to get water for the use of the institution.

It was while the company hit a depth of some 100 feet that they encountered some liquid which proved not to be the water they needed.

On examination, they noticed that what they accidentally uncovered was natural gas and an admixture of crude oil.

While discussion was still on about what to do, fire started emanating from the deep hole. It possibly would have been ignited by solar heat in the daytime.

Like a joke, and through this accident turning serendipity, natural gas that is the lifeblood of today’s economy seems to have been discovered in Enugu especially as the flame is exactly the same with those from gas flaring in the Niger Delta.

History

In March 2010, I toured the five states of the southeast to document a report on oil finds in the region the government has abandoned to go searching for non-existent oil in the Lake Chad region.

My report exposed oil finds in Edda, in present Ebonyi State with a test well at the premises of Orienta Primary School, Ezi Edda. That was the first oil find in Nigeria by Shell BP way back in 1928, 94 years ago.

I also visited Anam in Anambra State to see another Shell oil well at Umueze Anam just by a road that was later named after Shell as a result of the oil find in 1972. The capped test well has a date of April 1972 on it and the locals call the road – Ezi ndi Shell (Shell Road)

The locals also told me about some other oil wells by Shell also at a place they call Akpu Nnunnu, another at Oroma, Umuikwu, Mmiata, and all parts of Anam in Anambra East LGA.

My next visit was to the National Archives Enugu where I found documents to support oil finds in Awgu and Ehalumona in Nsukka, all in Enugu State today

The oil find document about Awgu is one of the oldest after Edda.

The archival documents have details that the Ehalumona find is about 90 percent natural gas. Experts say that beneath any natural gas find at the deeper level is the presence of crude oil.

So, with the way geologic formations exist, it’s little surprise to informed people that natural gas and possibly crude oil was accidentally found in Nike last week, which is in the same vicinity as Awgu.

The good accident has opened our eyes to a wealth hidden under our feet we never knew about.

The challenge is now to the federal government that enacted laws to appropriate all mineral deposits in Nigeria as their personal belonging.

We challenge the NNPC to do the needful and go for a proper and detailed seismic survey of the area, take samples from the hole and deploy resources to tap natural gas in Enugu State, and also commence similar surveys in Edda and the environs for exploration and development.

It should also revisit the Anam oil deposits which had attracted so much attention over 20 years ago with Orient Oil Company promising to build a petrochemical plant to refine oil around there.

Certainly, there are more such natural power generators in many Nigerian soils.

The real subsidies are not for the poor, but the rich

By Femi Falana, SAN

Globally, subsidies, whether for food, transportation, energy, or housing, are part of good governance. So, the issue is not subsidies but who benefits from them. In Nigeria, subsidies are primarily for the rich, by the rich, and for the rich. I will highlight a few, how they are being manipulated, and how huge sums of money can be recovered not just to subsidize fuel but also to provide funds for development.

1.            Diversion of N40 billion from Federation Account

A company, Continental Transfert Technique had been hired by the Ministry of Interior to collect the Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Alien Card (CERPAC) Fee of $2,000 per annum from every expatriate in Nigeria. The revenue from 2019 comes to an average of N40 billion per annum. This collection which violates Section 162 of the Constitution and provisions of the Immigration Act 2015, is then shared on percentages of Federal Government, 30, Interior Ministry, 7, Immigration Service, and Continental Transfert Technique, 58 per-cent.

We challenged this illegality at the Federal High Court and won the cases. The court directed the NIS to collect the funds henceforth and remit same to the Federation Account. But the contractor and the federal government appealed against the judgment and have continued to share the N40 billion per annum.

2.            Additional Revenue of $1.5 billion payable to Federation Account

In July 2015, I drew the attention of the Federal Government to the fact that the 15-year fiscal incentives given to the oil and gas companies operating under the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act had expired in June 2014. When the Federal Government ignored our request, we drafted a Bill for the amendment of the law. The Bill which was adopted and sponsored by Senator T. Orji scaled the first reading in the Senate but was not passed before the dissolution of the 8th National Assembly.

However, the same Bill was modified and passed by both houses of the 9th National Assembly and assented to by President Buhari on November 4, 2019. In justifying the passage of this Bill, Senate  President Ahmed Lawan announced that the new law would increase the revenue of the nation by not less than $1.5 billion per annum.

3.            Outstanding royalties of $62 billion

In campaigning for the amendment of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act, I requested the Federal Government to collect outstanding royalties payable by the International Oil Companies under the Act. The Federal Government admitted that the country had lost a whopping sum of $60 billion. But my demand for the collection of the huge fund was ignored.

The governments of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa States then approached the Supreme Court which on October 20, 2018 ordered the Federal Government to collect the royalties for the past 18 years. The Federal Government confirmed that the outstanding royalty withheld by the IOCs is $62 billion but has refused to collect it.

4.            FG denied revenue of $500 million by a group of corrupt public officers

The international Cargo Tracking Note Scheme to protect international shipping and prevent the movement of dangerous cargo and arms shipments was introduced into Nigeria in 2010 via an agreement between the Nigerian Port Authority and TPMS, a private company. Barely a year later, the agreement was suspended. When our attention was drawn to the illegal suspension of the Cargo Tracking Note system, we protested and the suspension was lifted on May 28, 2015 only to be suspended again in 2016.

In 2022, President Buhari issued an executive order which authorized a company to operate the Cargo Tracking Note. But 5 companies sponsored by top government functionaries overruled the President and hijacked the contract. The company that won the contract has since sued the federal government at the Federal High Court. Meanwhile, Nigeria has lost at least $500 million while the security of the nation has been compromised by a bunch of corrupt public officers.

5.            Sale of public assets and enterprises

Successive regimes have been selling assets and enterprises owned by the Federal Government to members of the ruling class in the name of privatisation. The buyers turned round to engage in  asset stripping.  According to the Bureau of Public Enterprises, between 2004 and 2002, the federal government sold 142 public enterprises to members of the ruling class.

The 10 percent shares reserved for the staff of every privatised enterprise have been cornered by the so-called “core investors” contrary to the provision of section 5(3) of the Privatization and Commercialization Act.

6.            $7 billion fixed in 14 banks

Sometime in 2006, the CBN yanked off $7 billion from the nation’s foreign reserves and fixed it in 14 commercial banks in Nigeria. The deposit and the accrued interests were not recovered from the banks. When I reported the matter to one of the anti-graft agencies, the CBN claimed that it had forgiven “the forbearance”.

7.            Sale of Polaris by Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Union Bank and Polaris Bank by CBN

The CBN took over Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Union Bank, and Polaris Bank, spent trillions of Naira to revitalise them only to turn around to sell them under the table. For instance, CBN invested N1.3 trillion in Polaris Bank but sold it for N50 billion!

8.            Theft of Crude oil

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at N16.25 trillion ($46.16 billion) to crude oil theft between 2009 and 2020. Immediate past National Security Adviser, General Babagana said that Nigeria might lose $23 billion in 2023 to crude oil theft.

9.            Theft of gold and other solid minerals

The theft of the nation’s mineral resources is not limited to crude as solid minerals are equally smuggled out of the country by highly placed criminal elements. Former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uche Ogah recently disclosed that private jets are being used by the rich for gold smuggling in Nigeria. He stated this at an investigative hearing on $9 billion annual loss to illegal mining and smuggling of gold organised by the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Mines, Steel Development and Metallurgy. During his contribution at the hearing, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu disclosed that Nigeria lost close to $54b from 2012-2018 due to illegal smuggling of gold.

10.          AMCON is owed N5.4 trillion by the rich

A few years ago, commercial banks were going to collapse due to toxic loans taken by members of the ruling class. To prevent the impending economic doom, the Federal Government set up the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to buy off the loans with trillions of Naira provided by the CBN. AMCON has not been able to recover the loans of N5.4 trillion from about 370 corporate bodies.

11.          Indiscriminate import duty waivers

A few privileged members of the business community buy dollars at official rate while they are allowed to import all manners of goods into the country. In the last 5 years, import duties worth N16 trillion were waived for them.

12. Efforts to track and monitor tankers conveying fuel sabotage by NNPC

On August 8, 2018, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the installation of technology monitoring schemes and structures under the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) for N17 billion. The technology which was designed to track and monitor tankers conveying fuel and other petroleum products was not acquired while the N17 billion approved for it was diverted.

13.          N10 trillion diverted by CEOs of Government enterprises

The Buhari government revealed on December 19, 2018 that government enterprises including the CBN owed about N10 trillion in unremitted operating surplus as at August 2018. The details were provided. The said sum of N10 trillion remains unpaid.

14.          N6 trillion unpaid ground rents by buyers of Government Properties

On March 29, 2023, the Senate noted that since 1992, over two million houses across the 36 states and the FCT had been built and allocated to beneficiaries by the federal government without evidence of payment of ground rent on the properties. Consequently, the Senate set up an Ad Hoc Committee to recover over N6 trillion unpaid ground rents from property owners in the country.

15.          Stolen crude oil valued at $29.17 billion

A group of lawyers engaged by NIMASA confirmed that 60.2 million barrels of crude oil valued at $12.7 billion of crude oil was stolen and illegally exported to the United States of America between January 2011 and 2014. This has not been recovered. Also, the House of Representatives investigated and confirmed that undeclared crude oil worth $17 billion was exported to global destinations during the same period. The affected companies are known but government seems to lack the will to bring them to book and recover the sum of $29.7 billion being the value of the stolen crude.

16.          Oil theft of N16.25 trillion

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) revealed that between 2009 and 2020 Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at N16.25 trillion ($46.16 billion) to oil theft. The security forces have not been able to stop the stealing and smuggling of crude oil from Nigeria.

However, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Ltd (TSSNL), a private company discovered pipelines through which crude oil was being diverted from a 40,000 barrel per day Forcados pipeline to the high seas for export. The indicted oil companies including an IOC involved in this grand theft are yet to be prosecuted.

17.          Deduction of collection costs by FIRS & NCS

The Federal Inland Revenue Service and Nigeria Customs Service are allowed by their enabling laws to deduct percentages of the taxes and duties collected by them as collection costs. Thus, the FIRS between 2016 and 2020 made N533.39 billion deductions while Nigeria Customs Service withdrew N128.64 billion as cost of collection in 2022.

The laws which allow agencies of the Federal Government to deduct collection costs are contrary and inconsistent with section 162 of the Constitution which provides that all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation shall be paid into the Federation Account.

18.          Diversion of $6.065 billion approved for turn-around maintenance of refineries

Between 1993 and 2016, successive regimes spent, through the NNPC, about $6.065 billon on the so-called turn around maintenance and rehabilitation of the four refineries at various times.

It is public knowledge that the turn-around maintenance of the refineries was not carried out. Therefore, the contractors should be invited by the EFCC and compelled to refund the said sum of $6.025 billion.

19.          Investment in Dangote refinery and rehabilitation of 4 refineries

The Federal Government has invested $2.7 billion in Dangote Refinery while the NNPCL will supply the refinery with 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Furthermore, the Government has awarded the contracts for the rehabilitation of the two refineries in Port Harcourt for $1.5 billion, as well as Kaduna and Warri refineries for $1.4 billion.

We are compelled to call on the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress to monitor the ongoing rehabilitation and upgrade of the 4 refineries.

20.          Special salaries for top public officers, security votes, and pension for governors

Top public officers have illegally taken themselves out of the general salary structure. For instance, contrary to section 70 of the Constitution which provides that the salaries and allowances of legislators shall be fixed by the Revenue  Allocation Mobilization and Fiscal Commission the members of the National Assembly are paid emoluments ranging from N13 million to N15 million per month.

In addition to their salaries the 36 State Governors are paid security votes running into hundreds of millions per month. The largesse has since been extended to all senior public officers, including heads of ministries, departments, and agencies of the federal and state governments, as well as local government chairmen. The security votes paid to senior public officers are about N241 billion per annum.

As if such subsidy is not enough, state governors have been placed on scandalous pension of billions of Naira. But due to public criticisms, the Lagos State Government has halved the pension for ex-governors while the Governments of Kwara, Imo, and Zamfara States have abolished the payment of the outrageous pension to former governors and deputies. We call on all other state governments to emulate the example of the aforementioned 3 state governments.

21.          Diversion of dividend and feed gas of $33 billion by NNPCL

Nigeria LNG Limited is jointly owned by Nigeria and the OICs. The 49% shares of Nigeria in the joint venture were paid for from the Federation Account in 1989. On March 29, 2021, former President Buhari disclosed that the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) had generated $114 billion in revenues, paid  $9 billion in taxes, $18 billion as dividend and $15 billion in Feed Gas Purchase to the Federal Government. However, rather than pay the fund into the federation account as constitutionally directed, the $33.9 billion dividend and feed gas was diverted by the NNPCL.

22.          Diversion of trillions of Naira through fuel subsidy fund

Notwithstanding the allocation of 445,000 barrels of crude oil  to NNPC  per day for domestic consumption, it has been confirmed that the figures for fuel importation in Nigeria between 1999 and 2023 are as follows:

1. 1999-2006 =N813 billion;

2. 2007-2009= N794 billion;

3. 2010-2014= N3.9 trillion;

4. 2015-2023= N11 trillion.

Last week, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari stunned the nation when he said that the federal government still owes the company N2.8 trillion in fuel subsidy payments. But the monumental fraud that has characterized the fuel subsidy scam has been confirmed by the Buhari regime.

Thus, on March 27, 2022, former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva publicly lamented the controversies surrounding the amount of petrol that the nation consumes daily, said the subsidy regime encouraged criminal activities like smuggling, which in turn impact negatively on the nation’s oil resources. He said that, “I am told the figure sometimes rise to as high as 90 or over 100 million litres. I don’t know how that happens. At this rate, I have said if anyone is looking at a criminal enterprise, look no further than the fuel subsidy.” The criminal enterprise ought to be probed by the Bola Tinubu administration.

Conclusion

It is crystal clear form the foregoing that members of the ruling class are heavily subsidized by the peripheral capitalist system while the masses are subjected to excruciating economic pains. We are therefore compelled to call on the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress as well as the progressive extraction of the civil society to mount pressure on the federal government to stop the dollarisation of the national economy, indiscriminate grant of duty waivers, theft of crude oil, gold, and other mineral resources and recover the nation’s looted wealth. In other words, these ‘subsidies’ should be recovered while the nation’s refineries are fixed so that the country can provide genuine subsidies that can make life livable in Nigeria.

Gonorrhoea and syphilis on all-time high England

For the first time in many years, England is recording an exceeding level of gonorrhoea and syphilis sexually transmitted infections, sequel to a dip during Covid years, according to figures.

According to bmj.com, “Gonorrhoea diagnoses increased by 50% between 2021 and 2022—from 54 961 to 82 592, the highest number since records began in 1918, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned. Cases of infectious syphilis diagnoses also increased to 8692 in 2022, up 15.2% from 2021 (7543) and the highest number since 1948.”

Currently, people are being urged to practice safe sex to protect themselves and get tested if they may be at risk. Meanwhile, doctors have been told to stay alert given rising records.

Also, data show that people aged 15 to 24 remain the most likely to be diagnosed with an STI, with over 400 diagnoses every day last year among young people.

There were 82,592 cases of gonorrhoea in 2022 – up 50% on the 54,661 recorded the year before, the UK Health Security Agency says.

Syphilis cases increased by 15% from 7,543 to 8,692.

 

The age group most likely to be diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) is people who are 15-24.

Some of the rise will be due to increased testing, but the scale of the surge strongly suggests that there are more of the infections around, says the UKHSA.

Condoms are “the best line of defence” it advises.

The figures show:

•             There were 2,195,909 sexual health screens or tests carried out – 13% more than in the previous year

•             Chlamydia was the most commonly diagnosed STI overall, with 199,233 cases recorded

•             Syphilis cases reached the highest in any given year since 1948

•             Gonorrhoea numbers were the highest since annual records began in 1918

Dr Hamish Mohammed from the UKHSA said: “STIs aren’t just an inconvenience – they can have a major impact on your health and that of any sexual partners.

“Condoms are the best defence, but if you didn’t use one the last time you had sex with a new or casual partner, get tested to detect any potential infections early and prevent passing them on to others. Testing is important because you may not have any symptoms of an STI.”

Richard Angell, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said cuts to sexual health services were making a bad situation worse: “Sexual health services and public health budgets have been cut to the bone.

“This was exacerbated and laid bare by last year’s mpox outbreak, which left sexual health clinics in the most affected areas unable to provide HIV and STI testing, HIV prevention and access to contraception due to the displacement of these core and vital services. Until sexual health is properly resourced – with an appointment easier to access than a – we won’t see the number of STIs heading in the right direction.”

What is gonorrhoea and how can you get it?

The disease is caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The infection is spread by unprotected vaginal, oral and anal sex.

Symptoms can include a thick green or yellow discharge from sexual organs, pain when urinating and bleeding between periods.

However, vaginal and rectal infections often have no symptoms.

An untreated infection can lead to infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and can be passed on to a child during pregnancy.

Credits: BBC

Ending LGBTQ+ totalitarianism

By Sonnie Ekwowusi

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other queer behaviours (LGBTQ+) world community is increasingly resorting to violence to force innocent people to adopt the LGBTQ ideology and lifestyle against their will and rights. We are experiencing a one-world government of untrammeled LGBTQ+ tyranny. Through the corrupt mainstream media, the LGBTQ+ tyrants use psychological techniques to manipulate people and influence their behaviors and actions. In this regard, the U.S. has positioned itself as the LGBTQ+ policeman of the world. As far as the U.S. is concerned, any country that has not legalized LGBTQ+ rights is not in the good books of the U.S. Former President Obama plotted against former President Goodluck Jonathan for outlawing LGBTQ+ rights in Nigeria. U.S. President Joe Biden has made LGBTQ+ the centerpiece of American foreign policy. To this effect, Biden has ordered that the American flag should be flown alongside the LGBTQ+ flag, portraying America as an LGBTQ+ country. Vice President Kamala Harris is tirelessly visiting African countries and putting pressure on African leaders to legalize LGBTQ+ rights. The U.S. government is now imposing sanctions on Uganda for enacting the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act. The U.S. is also contemplating restricting the issuance of U.S. visas to Ugandan government officials.

The European Union (EU) is presently pressuring Africa-Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) to sign the controversial and deceitful EU-ACP agreement. The EU-ACP Agreement aims to replace the controversial Cotonou Agreement of 2000. Any ACP country that signs the agreement consents to the legalization of abortion, transgender rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and the inclusion of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in its schools, which covers topics like safe sex, safe abortion, masturbation, kissing, hugging, and intimate touching. Moreover, the EU-ACP agreement is targeted at overriding the domestic laws and constitutions of ACP countries. The first meeting of the parties to the agreement took place in Maputo, Mozambique, in late October 2022. That meeting ended in a deadlock as most ACP parliamentarians vehemently opposed the signing of the agreement. Another meeting of EU and ACP ministers took place in Brussels on November 28, 2022, with the aim of exerting greater pressure on ACP ministers to convince ACP heads of government to sign the agreement. Another meeting on the agreement has now been scheduled to be held from June 19 to 28, 2023, in Brussels.

The tragic aspect is the forceful sexualization and homosexualization of little children. They want to catch the children in order to damage their character with illicit sex and LGBT. “Little children are sexual beings who must have sexual partners and must begin to have sex as soon as possible. For this reason, kindergartens and elementary schools must teach children to develop lust and sexual desire, learn masturbation, build same-sex relations, use online pornography, and learn different sexual techniques such as oral sex”. This is one of the official guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations to educational authorities worldwide, Nigeria included. In fact, sexualization of kids is part of the UN Agenda 2023. To this effect, the United Nations has directed that elementary schools must teach little kids about masturbation, sexual behaviours, sexual attractions, and sexual stimulation aimed at getting them to have sexual partners in their tender ages. The WHO instructs schools to encourage little children to engage in homosexual relationships with their friends. Right in front of is the syllabi for teaching little kids LGBTQ+. I have in particular the LGBT curriculum issued by Rutgers Foundation. Rutgers operates in 27 countries including Nigeria and Ghana. Rudgers works closely with WHO. Rutgers is funded by Bill Gates and the United Nations. Rudgers’ LGBT curriculum which is meant to be pasted in elementary schools aims at luring the lids into LGBTQ+ lifestyles. Two girls are shown kissing. Another two girls are shown looking for a “safe place” to have lesbian sex.  Two boys are shown holding hands and saying” “Yes, we both want it”  Afrikindness, an NGO in the UK that specializes in teaching toddlers and kids the ABCs of LGBTQ+, in conjunction with the  National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) of Nigeria are recruiting Nigerian teachers and teaching them the principles of LGBTQ+ and how to impart LGBTQ+ in children.

For instance, as part of their activities marking the last Children’s Day Celebration last month, Afrikindness and NAPPS organized on May 20th, 2023 an online LGBTQ+ Teachers’ Training Workshop with the theme: investing in our future is investing in our children. Disney now produces gay cartoons of all kinds. Many Nigerian parents do not know that their under-7 toddlers are clued to the TV watching gay cartoons such as The Loud House, Big Mouth, The Legend of Korra,  Scooby Doo Mystery, Steven Universe, Hey Arnold, Clarence, Adventure Time. What they are doing is to acculturate under-7 children into LGBTQ+. Therefore parents should be cautious of their children on TV. There is another LGBTQ+ catchy book for children in circulation with the title: Mary Has a little pussy. It contains very graphic sexual and LGBT illustrations to get children to imbibe the pervasive sexual and LGBTQ+ lifestyles.

In 2010 Mr. McAlpine, a Christian preacher in the UK, was handing out leaflets explaining the Ten Commandments when a lady passer-by came up and engaged him in a debate about his faith and he told the woman that homosexuality is a sin. For saying this, he was arrested and locked in a cell. In April 2021 John Sherwood, 71, a Christian pastor, was arrested and led away in handcuffs by the police and detained overnight after being accused of preaching from the Bible and making homophobic comments which amounted to hate speech outside Uxbridge Station in West London. A new MP in the UK has called for school hours to be extended to 6 pm so that the school kids will find time to have sex among themselves.

A Canadian court has ordered a father to henceforth address and treat his 11-year-old transgendered daughter as a boy. In fact, the parents of the gender-confused 11-year-old girl who is on hormone blockers are divorced, and the father disagrees with the mother with regard to the treatment of the child’s condition. In Germany and other countries, sex corners have been carved out for school children where they are taught masturbation, how to wear condoms, and how to engage in so-called safe sex all in the name of sex education.  In Canada, a lady goes to a barber’s shop that only cuts men’s hair and insists that the barber must cut her hair. The barber refuses because his faith as a Muslim prohibits him from touching women who are not family members.  The woman files a complaint at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal claiming “gender discrimination” She refuses the barber’s referral to another shop willing to give her the desired haircut because she wants to force that barber to give her men’s hair. In America and Europe, some bakers who have refused to bake cake for gay “couples”, have either been jailed or have their bakeries shut down.

I can’t remember now whether it was in the UK or Ghana that I first met Paul Diamond, Esquire. Paul is a UK attorney who specializes in defending those persecuted and prosecuted for publicly professing their Christian beliefs. He has brought leading religious liberty and human rights cases from the House of Lords to the European Court of Human Rights. For instance, in the case of Eweida & Others v United Kingdom, Paul defended a lady who was fired by British Airways because she wore a necklace containing a crucifix. The British kingdom had argued that wearing a necklace with a crucifix offended the secularity of the British Kingdom. The paradox is that while employees of other faiths were permitted to manifest their beliefs, Christians cannot wear a crucifix. In the case of Ngole v University of Sheffield – one of the most important cases on freedom of private religious speech – Paul defended Felix Ngole, who was recently removed from his master’s social work degree after calling homosexuality “a sin” on Facebook. Paul was a counsel in the case of R v Overd, in which the court considered whether quoting the Bible was hate speech in the criminal courts.

A 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Workington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it is against the law of God. For saying that, he was arrested and charged in court. Police officers alleged that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act. In July 2022, in the UK, Bainbridge man Ryan Williamson, 44, was arrested in Larne and Dundalk last August and September respectively after preaching against homosexuality and was charged with public order offenses. However, his defense lawyers successfully defended him from all charges, citing his European Convention Human Rights of freedom of expression and association. In April 2023, a Christian school in north London punished a pupil who said that homosexuality is a sin.

Recently, a schoolgirl in the UK was punished by her school for stating that homosexuality is a sin. It wasn’t that the girl condemned homosexuality. The girl was asked by a teacher to give her opinion on homosexuality, and she expressed that homosexuality was a sin. That was all. When withdrawing the girl from the school, her mom said to the school authorities, “You asked my daughter for her opinion, and after she expressed her opinion, you punished her.”

A Nigerian engineer working in the UK has recently been fired by his employer. Why? Because, after delving into his past, his employer is now alleging that twelve years ago he made an uncomplimentary remark in Italy about the gay lifestyle.

The foregoing attests that gay totalitarianism now looms large in the world. What used to be regarded as human civilization is being reinvented and, in the process, eroded. Studies on the rise and fall of civilizations show that most civilizations are brought down by combinations of factors, which obviously include the collapse of objective moral standards, and the superstructures for the construction of societal ethos. For example, empires such as Greece under Pericles, Rome under Caesar, France under Napoleon, Germany under Hitler, and others collapsed due to a combination of political and moral corruption. In fact, the Roman Empire collapsed under the weight of moral corruption. Today, Western civilization is crumbling or has completely crumbled. Sad.

Therefore, the African continent must rediscover itself and rise above the present challenges clipping its wings. Afro-pessimism should give way to Afrocentrism. Laws are made in accordance with the values of a people. Every country is interested in protecting what it holds dear or its cherished values. LGBTQ+ is a complete break with African civilization. The consensus reached at the various United Nations Conferences is that the laws passed in every developing country, including Nigeria, must reflect the diverse social, economic, and environmental conditions of that country, with full respect for their religious, cultural backgrounds, and philosophical convictions. LGBTQ+ shows no respect for the religious and philosophical convictions of the Nigerian people and therefore cannot be imported into Nigeria. African countries must adhere to our own values, traditions, and identity. It is suicidal to import practices and lifestyles that are alien to Africa and seek to impose them as laws in African countries, all in the name of observing the so-called international obligations. You cannot stay in Washington D.C. and dictate to African countries how they should enact their laws. If Nigeria and African countries do not dictate to the US the type of laws they should enact, why should the US usurp the sovereignty of Nigeria and African countries to dictate to them the kinds of laws they should enact?

The Nigerian government, parents, churches, mosques, censorship institutions, and all stakeholders must come together now to put a stop to the sexualization and homosexualization of our children. Enough is enough. Indoctrinating children into LGBTQ+, transgender, abortion, and so-called safe-sex lifestyles under any pretext is criminal. Nigeria must remain resolute with its anti-gay law. We have the right as a sovereign country to decide for ourselves the kind of laws we can enact for our own good. A country without identity is a misshapen country. We should reject anything that compromises our territorial sovereignty. The European Union and other foreign countries have no right to interfere in the way we run our country or enact our laws.

Stop lying, you always blame alcohol after beating and abusing Me – Ondo Deputy Governor’s Wife tells husband

The wife of the Ondo State Deputy Governor, Seun Ayedatiwa, has faulted her husband’s defence over allegations of assault, maintaining that she is a serial victim of abuse in his hand.

But the deputy Governor in a statement through his media aide, Kenneth Odusola, said he had never raised a hand to hit his wife since they got married.

He described the allegation as baseless, false, nothing but political blackmail taken too far,” to cause political unrest in the state. But in a statement from London titled, “My Ordeal At The Hands Of Lucky”, Mrs Ayedatiwa narrated her experience, adding that she could no longer endure his temperament.

According to her, she had endured physical, emotional, and mental abuse from her husband—beatings, torture, and constant mistreatment.

“I have come across numerous comments regarding the statement released by the Women Group, the Society for Women Empowerment (SWE).

“Although I cannot ascertain the existence of the group or the true intentions behind the story, I feel it is important to express my pain for the sake of other women.

“I am a woman who deeply respects and supports my husband. Our story, like many others, has been one of grace and growth. While I am sociable, I am always mindful of my husband’s position. I have dedicated myself to nurturing our home and children, as any wife and mother would. I have done so with unwavering strength.

“Prior to Lucky’s appointment as the deputy governor, we had ongoing issues revolving around abusive behavior. Each time, he would apologize, often attributing his actions to alcohol. Our children have witnessed this on two occasions. They implored me to have him arrested, but I explained that Nigerian culture does not provide room for such measures.

“I am not happy about revealing my personal struggles publicly. It is a painful reality I must confront. I have reached the conclusion that concerted efforts must be made to eradicate the scourge of violence against women. I have endured physical, emotional, and mental abuse from my husband—beatings, torture, and constant mistreatment.

“On December 1, 2022, during a minor argument, I experienced one of the most severe beatings of my life at the hands of my husband. I was left bruised and battered, to the extent that I could not attend the birthday ceremony of Toyin Akeredolu, the younger sister of Governor Akeredolu, in Ibadan. He threatened to kill me, uttering words of disdain.

“On Friday, December 2, I traveled to Ibadan to meet with the First Lady, Chief Betty-Anyanwu Akeredolu, to report Lucky’s actions. When she saw my battered face, she was enraged. She subsequently reported Lucky to the Governor. Lucky used to be the First Lady’s favorite, but since that day, she has distanced herself from him.

“Upon returning to Akure, even with my bruised face, Lucky slapped me again. He accused me of exposing him to the Governor and First Lady. He not only slapped me but also poured Hennessy on my head, berating me as a worthless woman.

“A few days before the FOWOSO summit, I was burdened with depression and numerous issues. I had already made up my mind not to attend the program. However, Lucky approached me, pleaded, and promised never to harm me again. I had to apply heavy makeup and wear dark glasses to conceal the bruises on my face, just to attend the event.

“By the end of January, Lucky resumed his abusive behavior. As much as I am a strong supporter of his aspirations to succeed the Governor, I have consistently advised him to exhibit decorum in his public life.

“Every time I mentioned this, he dismissed it as jealousy and insecurity, showing no regard for my feelings. Disrespectful calls were frequently received at our home, especially from one Ambassador Tolu Taiwo, one of his girlfriends.

“During the first week of February, we had a conversation about his political aspirations, and I advised him to refrain from making certain remarks to people. Instead of considering my advice, he unleashed his anger on me, subjecting me to further physical abuse. He threatened to kill me and make another woman the First Lady when he becomes Governor.

“Lucky not only assaulted me but also locked me out of the house. I had to spend two nights at St. Jacob Hotel. He instructed the gatekeeper not to allow me entry. From there, I had to travel to Lagos and eventually moved to Ilesa, my hometown.

“After being locked out, my driver eventually went to the house to retrieve my bag, which contained my passport. Since then, I have relocated to London.

“I am aware that Lucky may attempt to deny this story once again. However, I urge you to question him: Why have I not refuted the allegations of his abuse?

“He is my husband, and no woman would want to falsely accuse her spouse. If he claims that all of this is untrue, ask him to call me and put our conversation on speaker. He is well aware of my position on this matter. I refuse to continue hiding and suffering in silence.

“Once again, the First Lady is fully aware of this situation.

If Lucky denies it once more, I will come out with pictures and videos, no matter how humiliating it sounds. I am taking this step because I can no longer endure this situation silently.”

OLUWASEUN ESTHER AIYEDATIWA

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
7TH JUNE, 2023.

Credits: Eagle Online

Nigerian President assents to 70 years retirement age bill for all Judicial Officers

Following the president’s assent to the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Uniformity in Retirement Age of Judicial Officers, judges in Nigeria’s High Courts will now retire at 70 years like their senior colleagues at the appellate courts.

A statement from President Bola Tinubu’s Director of Information, Abiodun Oladunjoye disclosed the assent was given on Thursday at the State House.

The statement reads: “President Tinubu signed into law the ‘Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fifth Alteration) (No.37), 2023’ presented by the outgoing 9th National Assembly. 

“With the signing of the Constitutional amendment Bill, retirement age and pension rights of judicial officers have been effectively brought into uniformity and other related matters.

“While signing the amendment Bill into law, President Tinubu pledged his administration’s dedication to strengthening the judiciary, ensuring the rule of law, and empowering judicial officers to execute their responsibilities effectively.”

In May,  the National Assembly passed the bill abolishing the dichotomy between the retirement age of judges in Nigeria’s High Courts and those at the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court but former President Muhammadu Buhari failed to give his assent before exiting.

The Constitution provides that justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal retire at 70 while those at the High Court retire at 65.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the National Assembly directed its Clerk to transmit the Constitution Alteration Bill 20 which approved a uniform retirement age for judicial officers in Nigeria to the president for assent.

This is sequel to the adoption of a motion titled: “Passage of Constitution (Fifth) Alteration Bill No. 20 (Uniform Retirement Age for Judicial Officers), 2023” at plenary.

The motion which was sponsored by the Chairman of the Senate Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review, Ovie Omo-Agege, was in line with provisions of the Authentication Act.

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