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Tarnongo Mike Utsaha, 5 May, 1969 – 14 March, 2023

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

For 21 years, we had an annual ritual of speaking every New Year’s Day and more often besides. You could always trust him to provide a season’s worth of deep insight wrapped in a bodyguard of fun, humour and hilarity. On 1 January 2023, however, it was impossible to reach him – and try as I did – it was difficult to extract a clear understanding of what the problem was, even as it was evident something was not right. That was until the afternoon of Tuesday, 14 March 2023.

Mbabai, the community in the heart of Tiv-land that gave birth to Michael Utsaha, is in Guma Local Government Area on the flood plains of the Guma River, one of the tributaries of the River Benue. Located just 35 Kilometres from the state capital, Guma used to be part of Makurdi until it orbited off into a separate LGA in 1987. To its west, Guma also shares fragile borders with Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

At birth in May 1969, his family named him Tarnongo. In his native Tiv language, the name evoked optimism, conveying hope for both progress and greatness in the affairs of the world. This hope was not misplaced. He was born into a community that survived the worst of the atrocities associated with the murderous pacification of Tiv-land in the immediate aftermath of Nigeria’s Independence and in a time of turmoil during the Nigerian civil war, during which the country was led by a man from his Benue-Plateau State.

In many ways, Mike embodied these hopes, making them his own mantra. His origins very much made him a frontiersman, able to connect across boundaries and divides, real or situational. He was born into a family with a deep commitment to public service, faith, and community. His father, Augustine, retired from public service as a senior judge; his mother, Mary, worked in public service as a teacher before retiring into community leadership; and his immediate younger brother is a general in the Nigerian army.

Mike began his primary education in what was his state capital then in Jos, before finishing it in Makurdi, the new capital of Benue State, where his family relocated to after the creation of states in 1976. Delayed by the turmoil of military rule which caught up with him during his undergraduate studies at the University of Jos, Mike eventually enrolled at the Nigerian Bar in 1995, following in the footsteps of his father. One decade thereafter, he returned to the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary, for graduate studies as an Open Society Justice Initiative Fellow, one of a cohort of ten from around the world.

Had he not ended up at the Bar, Mike would probably have settled for another vocation of the cloth as a Catholic priest. Such was his faith and his commitment to the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church. That commitment shaped his life-long defence of human rights. In this pursuit, he worked with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), as a programme staff and thereafter, also, as programme officer at the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, OSIWA, in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital. Thereafter, Mike gravitated towards closer association with faith and community undertakings, working in succession with the Kukah Centre and the Lux Terra Leadership Foundation.

In 2015, Mike sought nomination on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for a seat in the Benue State House of Assembly. If he had succeeded, he would have become the member representing the home constituency of the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, who also comes from Guma. In July 2018, Governor Ortom defected from the APC back to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). Mike’s political ambition was one of the casualties of the resulting turmoil created by Ortom’s defection in the politics of the communities in Guma.

By this time, however, he was happy with his work in the communities and appeared to accept that his calling lay in building a constituency for social justice in Benue State. Three years earlier, in July 2015, the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi had installed a Claretian priest, Monsignor Chikpa Wilfred Anagbe, as its new Bishop. Mike worked closely with the new Bishop, adopting the motto of his episcopacy as his personal mission: Ad Iesu et fratres serviendum –  “to serve Jesus and the brethren”. This was entirely in keeping with his commitment to social justice at a time when the Makurdi Diocese increasingly became the epicentre of exposure to murderous atrocities by armed herders. He saw it as part of his vocation to alleviate the suffering of communities affected by the violence and to work with them to discover resilience.

In March 2021, the Makurdi Catholic Diocese constituted a Resource and Planning Commission to upgrade resources at its disposal for supporting communities and adherents suffering from the attacks and displacement in the face of a combination of challenges from both nature and atrocity violence at the hands of armed herders. The Bishop chose Mike to head the new Commission as its Executive Secretary.

Following the inauguration of the Commission in June 2021, Mike threw heart and soul into its work, enlisting his significant Rolodex network to support it. Such was his conviction in its desirability. Unknown to Mike, however, perhaps a majority of the clergy in the Diocese did not share in his enthusiasm for this undertaking. Regarding the Commission with suspicions founded in erroneous fears for the fiscal wellbeing of their various parishes, many of them chose to oppose its mission. While some of them were happy to let matters lie, a few unashamedly appeared prepared to explore the extreme frontiers of African ill-will in frustrating the work of the Commission.

Despite the toxic opposition he faced, Mike forged ahead with significant success, enabling the Diocese of Makurdi to improve its network of supporters within and beyond Nigeria. The ferocity of the determined ill-will from the clergy to whose wellbeing he had dedicated nearly all of his life as well as the apparent reluctance of episcopal support to address it, however, took their toll. Mike found the depth of the clerical antipathies arrayed against him frightfully shocking. It is not open to question that this had a lot to do with his lamentably untimely passing.

When we spoke at the end of October 2022, Mike conveyed that he was in far from optimal shape but hoped to be in better fettle soon thereafter. That was not to be. As the last quarter of 2022 wore on, his health got more fragile, necessitating hospitalization in December 2022. On 13 March 2023, he was transferred to the Federal Medical Centre in Makurdi. The following day, he walked the road of all mortals in the presence of his family. On 1 April, his mortal remains returned to earth.

Mike was one of those people who made you feel they were in your life long before you were conceived. He defined dependability, thoughtfulness, and grace that brooked no divisions among all creation and spread laughter everywhere he went. In his passing, the vocation of social justice in Nigeria has lost one of its most committed advocates.

Tarnongo Mike Utsaha is survived by his wife, Caroline; his teenage daughter, Naomi Ngu’Umbur, his parents, and siblings. 

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at [email protected]

9 years after childlessness, Nigerian woman gives birth to quintuplets

It is almost a sin for a married woman not to have a child in Nigeria. She is scorned by her in-laws, society, and worse still fellow women.

Though findings have shown that men are as responsible for infertility as women, women are often treated as being the cause of the issue and many have been subjected to harsh treatment from their spouses.

Tunde Ajaja in his Travails of the childless wife… published by PUNCH on 23 July 2016 told a story:

“In the company of her only son, Ms. Funmilola, 37, walked the length of the recreation park before settling into one of the benches at the extreme. With her dark sunglasses on, she tried as much as possible to seclude herself from the merrymaking that had rented the atmosphere.

It was a public holiday, and understandably, many fun seekers, comprising women, men, and children had trooped into the park to have a good time. They all seemed to be having fun, except the single mother of one who sat quietly, cuddling the boy, whom she had recently adopted. The three-year-old munched the biscuit in his hands in a guileless manner as if there was nothing in sight to worry about.

Funmilola has virtually become a recluse following the painful experience she had in her marriage of 11 years before her husband finally sent her packing, simply because she could not conceive…” It is a familiar story for many women in Nigeria and one can only imagine what it was like for Chidinma Amaechi before providence smiled on her.

After nine years of being unable to conceive a child, the Amaechis certainly never expected five children in one single birth but that was what happened.

It was a rain of three boys and two girls at a go!

28-year-old, Chidinma Amaechi gave birth to the quintuplets through a caesarian section on Thursday night at Awka, the Anambra State capital.

Mrs. Amaechi, who finished her National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) in July 2022, is married to an Onitsha-based small-time trader, Tochukwu Amaechi.

The couple has called on the government, Nigerians, and other well-meaning individuals to assist them offset the over N7.5 million hospital bill.

Speaking to journalists at the hospital, the woman’s elder sister, Ebele Oranekwu, said the bill for the incubators is N250,000 per day.

She disclosed that the babies, who are currently in the intensive care unit of the hospital, are expected to be there for about 30 days.

“This bill amounted to about N7.5 million aside from other huge bills already accumulated in the past two months of managing the delicate pregnancy at the hospital.

“We are therefore calling on philanthropists, governments, and non-governmental organisations to come to our aid to enable us to offset the huge medical bills so we can reap the full benefits of God’s blessings upon our family,” Oranekwu said.

Lagos 50% bus fare reversal and weaponization of poverty in Nigeria

By Lillian Okenwa

When a rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong said “Lagosians are back to the regime of real Governor Sanwo-Olu that they know, and not the pretentious one who tried to project himself as a populist or respecter of human rights during the campaigns,” a section of Nigerians condemned the utterance which he made with regards to the appeal filed by Lagos State challenging the 14 March 2023 Federal High Court judgment that ordered a 5 Million naira compensation to Adedotun Clement, an Uber driver that was brutally tortured during the first #EndSARS anniversary on 20 October 2021 at the Lekki Toll-Gate.

Following the negative publicity and outrage generated by news reports about the appeal since the action came less than a week after Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s reelection, the Lagos State Governor who has declared his readiness to move the state forward and forge new frontiers for its progress during his second term regime ordered the payment of N5 million compensation to the Uber driver, Adedotun Clement.

But it does seem like controversy is synonymous with Lagos state and as they say in naija parlance gist no de ever finish for Lagos.

While receiving his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) days ago, Governor Sanwo-Olu said: “Today, I stand before you older, wiser, more experienced, and more committed than ever to deliver on the contract that binds me to the good people of Lagos. We have made promises and we have also delivered on so many of them over the last four years, in line with our THEMES Agenda.”

But the Governor has discontinued the 50 percent reduction in the fares of government buses. “This is a major pain inflicted on Lagosians after being re-elected into office”, said Tayo Akinwale, a Lagos realtor.

Likewise, Olatunbosunkanmi a Twitter user said, “Election yaf finished, it’s understandable.”

Sanwo-Olu slashed bus prices by 50 percent on 8 February 2023 following the Naira crunch that drastically increased the cost of living. The Naira scarcity was induced by the Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which phased out old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.

This reduced the Naira in circulation with many unable to access the new Naira expected to replace the old Naira notes mopped out of circulation.

On account of this, Nigerians were buying Nigerian currencies on the black market, paying as much as N1,000 to receive N5,000, as the banks said the CBN didn’t provide sufficient new Naira notes to circulate.

Given the CBN’s decision to accept the judgement of the Supreme Court, which held the old Naira notes are still legal, the scarcity is expected to end in the coming weeks.

However, the havoc that decision dealt the economy and ordinary Nigerians remains unprecedented. Yet, Sanwo-Olu directed that fares for the state buses should be restored to 100 percent starting from April 1, 2023.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) on Tuesday, 28 March 2023.

His decision to cut the fare occurred weeks before the Governorship election in Lagos State. Sanwo-Olu was seeking re-election. Also, the discontinuation was announced weeks after he was re-elected as governor of the state.

Does this mean that the quality of life for Lagosians suddenly improved overnight to warrant to reversal of the 50 percent slash in a flash? Over the years Nigerian politicians have used all manner ploys to lure the electorates.

A part of an article published by Premium Times on 31 March titled: ANALYSIS: Five propaganda strategies politicians deploy during elections reads:

“If you see a typical Nigerian politician stopping by the roadside to buy roasted corn, entering a local restaurant to eat local meals, or even taking a sachet of water, don’t fall for such humility, especially during an election period. Politicians use this propaganda technique to make the common man feel loved or remembered.”

During his reelection campaign, Governor Sanwo-Olu went as far as stationing himself at the entrance of a Lagos megachurch to exchange handshakes with worshippers.

Steven Kefason a political enthusiast shared his thoughts on these matters in his article: The Weaponisation Of Poverty published by Sahara Reporters on 22 November 2019.

“Since the return to democracy in 1999, politicians in Nigeria have continued to cajole the electorates into giving them mandates using different exploitative cum inhuman strategies. This callous exploitation has contributed negatively to the development of democracy in Nigeria. 

“Politicians display lackadaisical attitudes after assuming offices only to show up during election period with huge financial war chests to take advantage of the poverty of the electorates, the politicians themselves have deliberately facilitated for such a time as the electioneering period…

“Because this hunger informed the decision of a larger chunk of the electorates, it has become a tradition among politicians to abandon the electorates to wallow in wants until election approaches so that the politicians can come back with enough money to sway minds directed by their stomachs into making favourable decision for these politicians.

“The trader money and other financial empowerments embarked upon by the incumbent Federal Government is a typical example of how the poverty of the Nigerian masses was used to affect the outcome of the 2019 general elections.

“Funds that should have been channeled towards people-oriented projects that will benefit the generality of the masses are now being used to sway unsuspecting voters to vote for the incumbent government. The poverty of the people is now a political weapon for politicians. And because poverty is a weapon, most politicians would not want to be disarmed of this weapon by ensuring that poverty among the populace is perpetrated and perpetuated. It is responsible for why the country, states, and constituencies cannot enjoy sustainable development, because development will mean disarming the politicians of the weapon of poverty. 

“For power to return to the people, the people must be empowered. The economy must be better.”

Appeal Court yet to give verdict on 35 affirmative action as CJN receives petition over alleged marginalisation in judicial appointment

While Nigerian women await the verdict of the Court of Appeal in the appeal filed July last year by the Federal Government at the Court of Appeal, Abuja challenging a judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which ordered the enforcement of the National Gender Policy by allotting 35 percent of appointments in the public sector to women with bated breaths, a Public Affairs Analyst, Sesugh Akume has sent a petition to the Chief Justice of Nigeria alleging injustice and imbalance in judicial appointments in Plateau State.

It is curious that while the federal government is seeking to set aside the judgment of a Federal High Court which held that the non-implementation of the National Gender Policy on 35 percent affirmative action on the appointment of women into political positions was a breach of women’s fundamental rights, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), has surpassed the 45 percent affirmative action of the United Nations.

The government in one of its grounds submitted that: “The learned trial judge erred in law when he held that the Respondents’ suit was founded on enforcement of fundamental rights, and therefore disclosed a cause of action against the Appellants.

Sesugh Akume in the statement said female judges were marginalized in the recent appointment made by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for the High Court in Plateau.

The National Judicial Council (NJC) according to him, had within the month, announced the “recommendation of its interview committee to appoint five (5) judges of the High Court in Plateau, as follows: i. Charles Donlong ii. Ashashabu Suleiman Wase iii. Shikamma Kassam Shittu iv. Mary Abah Izam v. Nanle Titus Komak.

“It was observed that of the five persons only the fourth on the list, Mary Abah Izam, is female, indicating twenty percent (20%) female representation.

“It should be recalled, however, that the National Gender Policy (NGP) 2006, mandates public institutions in Nigeria to reserve thirty-five percent (35%) of all positions exclusively for women.

“I, therefore, respectfully brought to his lordship’s attention that the NJC’s interview committee’s recommendation not being in consonance with the letter and spirit of this national policy, presents the perception of the continued discrimination against women in judicial appointments up to this day and age.

“Also, that especially, the NJC, the apex and regulatory body which is of the judiciary to be seen as going against a national policy which seeks to create balance, and a fairer society, but rather be seen as increasing inequality and/or being indifferent to discrimination against women should not be encouraged.

“I, therefore, urged his lordship, as chairman of the NJC, to use your good offices to correct this historic injustice and set the pace for the judiciary in Nigeria to reflect more gender balance, now and always, beginning with this latest recommendation for appointment in the Plateau state judiciary”.

Drama, as dead man refuses to enter coffin on funeral day

It was high drama last Friday according to 247 as an unidentified man refused to enter his coffin in the mortuary after all was set for his burial.

A witness who said he watched the entire drama unfold said: “you have just been played April Fool stunt.”

Happy New Month, jare!

Why do you guys love to hear juicy gist?

April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes.

Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting “April Fools!” at the recipient.

Mass media can be involved with these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day.

Historically, the custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one’s neighbour has been relatively common in the world.

Although the origins of ‘April Fool’ is unknown, there are many theories surrounding it.

▪︎ Its origin

A disputed association between 1 April and foolishness is in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (1392).

In the “Nun’s Priest’s Tale”, a vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox on “Since March began thirty days and two,” i.e. 32 days since March began, which is 1 April.

However, it is not clear that Chaucer was referencing 1 April since the text of the “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” also states that the story takes place on the day when the sun is “in the sign of Taurus had y-rune Twenty degrees and one,” which would not be 1 April. Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer wrote, “Syn March was gon”.

If so, the passage would have originally meant 32 days after March, i.e. 2 May, the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381.

In 1508, French poet Eloy d’Amerval referred to a poisson d’avril (April fool, literally “April’s fish”), possibly the first reference to the celebration in France.[9] Some historians suggest that April Fools’ originated because, in the Middle Ages, New Year’s Day was celebrated on 25 March in most European towns,[10] with a holiday that in some areas of France, specifically, ended on 1 April, and those who celebrated New Year’s Eve on 1 January made fun of those who celebrated on other dates by the invention of April Fools’ Day.

The use of 1 January as New Year’s Day became common in France only in the mid-16th century, and that date was not adopted officially until 1564, by the Edict of Roussillon, as called for during the Council of Trent in 1563.

However, there are issues with this theory because there is an unambiguous reference to April Fools’ Day in a 1561 poem by Flemish poet Eduard de Dene of a nobleman who sends his servants on foolish errands on 1 April, predating the change.

April Fools’ Day was also an established tradition in Great Britain before 1 January was selected as the start of the calendar year.

In the Netherlands, the origin of April Fools’ Day is often attributed to the Dutch victory in 1572 in the Capture of Brielle, where the Spanish Duke Álvarez de Toledo was defeated. “Op 1 april verloor Alva zijn bril” is a Dutch proverb, which can be translated as: “On the first of April, Alva lost his glasses”.

In this case, “bril” (“glasses” in Dutch) serves as a homonym for Brielle (the town where it happened). This theory, however, does not explain the international celebration of April Fools’ Day.

In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the celebration as “Fooles holy day”, the first British reference.

On 1 April 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to “see the Lions washed”.

Although no biblical scholar or historian is known to have mentioned a relationship, some have expressed the belief that the origins of April Fools’ Day may go back to the Genesis flood narrative. In a 1908 edition of Harper’s Weekly cartoonist Bertha R. McDonald wrote:

Authorities gravely back with it to the time of Noah and the ark. The London Public Advertiser of March 13, 1769, printed: “The mistake of Noah sending the dove out of the ark before the water had abated, on the first day of April, and to perpetuate the memory of this deliverance it was thought proper, whoever forgot so remarkable a circumstance, to punish them by sending them upon some sleeveless errand similar to that ineffectual message upon which the bird was sent by the patriarch”.

(Citation on April Fools Day culled from Wikipedia)

We are All Igbo

BY Olumide Akpata

On Saturday 18 March 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections to mark the second and concluding round of the 2023 elections. On that day, INEC, the law enforcement agencies and the Nigerian populace were presented with a golden opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of the world that, the below par showing on 25 February 2023 notwithstanding, Nigeria’s democracy had come of age. At the end of the day, not only did we fail spectacularly in this regard, but more dangerously, the fragile unity of the Nigerian State suffered a massive setback. 

For a country recently described by Farooq Kperoghi as, “a frail, imperfect patchwork of disparate nations, that is perpetually on the brink of implosion on account of political and identitarian stressors,” what transpired on 18 March 2023, particularly in Lagos State, was all very predictable and therefore preventable. All hands should have been on deck to avoid the bizzare debacle that we all witnessed. Regrettably, the critical stakeholders, whether by their acts and or omissions, conspired to do the exact opposite and in the process set a precedent that might take a generation to reverse.

The first sign that all was not well on the day came from Frank, my driver, who hails from Onicha-Olona in Delta State, who called to tell me in an emotion-laden voice that clearly, he was not a Nigerian, having been prevented, in his Badore area of Lagos State, from exercising his franchise because “he was Igbo”. Another call that came was from Bernard, a Lawyer and mentee of mine, who is from Gakem in Cross-River State and who also resides in the Lekki- Ajah axis. He too was unable to vote at his Polling Unit where a Police Officer pointedly asked him to go home as his safety could not be guaranteed! Unfortunately, these two were not the exception but were representative of the experience of a significant number of Nigerians, especially from the South-East and South-South geopolitical zones, who were outrightly disenfranchised on account of their ethnic origin.

What made the situation worse was that we should have seen it coming. In the days following the announcement of the Presidential Election results in Lagos State, where the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, it first started as a rumour that there was an institutional strategy to disenfranchise non-indigenes during the gubernatorial election in the State. Predictably, the Igbos were once again the scapegoats, eight years after they were asked to “jump into the Lagos lagoon”. 

Things soon assumed a dangerous dimension when a few days to the election, Mr. Musiliu Akinsanya (more widely known by his moniker, MC Oluomo), the Chairman of the Lagos State Parks Management Committee was caught, in a now viral video clip, issuing threats to one “Iya Chukwudi” and other Igbo residents in Lagos State not to bother coming to the polls if they were not voting for the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the current Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Incredulously, when asked on Channels TV to comment on this unwholesome development, the Nigerian Police Spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi urged Nigerians to view the comments of MC Oluomo as a joke.

It was under this atmosphere that neutrals found it difficult to believe that the timing of, and the wide publicity accorded to the dreaded traditional Oro festival, which was held a couple of days before the election and was concluded on the morning of the election, was a mere coincidence. Little wonder, the election in Lagos State was characterised by voter intimidation and suppression, ethnic profiling and ethnic related violence targeted in the main against Igbos. Ethnic champions were seen boldly parading the streets of Lagos warning people who intended to vote against the APC to stay away from the Polling Units and all of this, in the full glare of officers of the Nigerian Police.

The various new media platforms were awash with videos of election related conflicts, some resulting in fatalities, that were triggered in the main by the implementation of what I have already described as an institutional strategy to disenfranchise non-Yoruba residents of Lagos which said strategy was comprehensively executed with voters being profiled based on warped criteria, such as skin colour, and those who “looked Igbo” (including, ironically, some Yorubas and indigenous Lagosians) were denied the right to vote for the candidate(s) of their choice.

Indeed, the US Embassy in Nigeria, in a post-election publication, noted as follows: “[t]he use of ethnically charged rhetoric before, during, and after the gubernatorial election in Lagos was particularly concerning.”

For at least 48 hours after the elections, I remained traumatized by the experience as it dawned on me that we, the non-Yorubas living in Lagos, are all Igbo. Indeed, all through the period, social media was awash with posts and videos from not a few Yorubas who repeatedly asked why non-indigenes of Lagos State, especially Igbos, were getting involved in the political affairs of the State, wondering what our “stake” in the electoral process in Lagos was – with little or no regard for our constitutionally guaranteed right to move about freely in Nigeria and to vote for candidates of our choice AND our contributions to the economic development of Lagos State in particular and Nigeria in general.

In truth, I was not entirely disappointed by the roles played by MC Oluomo and his ilk. I was also not disheartened by the attitude of Iya Basira, frying Akara in front of the Iyana Oba Shopping Complex, who has been brainwashed into believing that the Igbo man or woman is her worst enemy. Even former Minister of the Federal Republic, Femi Fani-Kayode did not surprise me when, as usual, he began to spew forth his ethnically laced vitriol against the Igbos.

I must however confess that I was slightly taken aback by the utterances of the Spokesman of the Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, who only a few years ago, visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda and, while suing for humanity to live together in peace and love, recommended the Museum, as a bucket-list item for ethnic champions in Nigeria. His sudden volte-face and resort to incendiary ethnic rhetoric during the elections really did take the cake and when he was called out for the ethnic slurs he employed against the Igbos, he doubled down stating that he owed no one any apologies. To date, we do not know that the Bola Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council or indeed the President-elect has done anything to distance themselves from this individual.

But really, I was neither surprised nor was I disappointed by the likes of MC Oluomo, Iya Basira, FFK and Bayo Onanuga as my expectations, where they and their ilk are concerned, were understandably quite low. What aggravated matters for me however, was that I did not see the expected indignation and widespread condemnation from enough of my friends from the South-West, some of whom I have known for more than four decades, or from the dozens of WhatsApp Groups that I belong to, including lawyers’ groups. Instead, my well educated, well exposed and widely travelled friends, who are often quick to condemn instances of racism and other forms of discrimination abroad, resorted to false equivalence and other flimsy excuses to justify this travesty…this tragedy.

It is now obvious to all and sundry that the phrase, “Omo Igbo” is definitely not a term of endearment but an ethnic slur with diverse connotations, most of which are negative. The frightening realisation from the fiasco of 18 March 2023 is that many amongst us are in a race to the bottom to determine who can be the best bigot. What happened last weekend has done incalculable and perhaps irreversible damage to the fabric of our society. What is even more tragic is that this venom is now transgenerational as this ignominious baton has been passed on to an even more rabid generation of tribal irredentists.

It is instructive that some have started to call for true healing in the wake of the election. While that is important, it should not come at the expense of the quest for justice. If those who superintended over the show of shame are under the delusion that life as we know it will go back to normal, then they are obviously not as smart as they would want us to believe they are.

If what transpired during the election in Lagos is not investigated and the perpetrators brought to book, the Igbos and other non-indigenes in Lagos will very soon find it necessary to live in their own enclaves and or areas where they feel safe. It will also become the norm for them to go to their Polling Units on election days, with dogs, guns or other weapons. Worse still, we will begin to witness the resurgence of election migration, whereby people are forced to travel to their States of origin or regions in order to exercise their franchise. We do not need a crystal ball to tell us that this is an ill wind that will blow no one any good.

If the law enforcement agencies are serious about bringing the perpetrators of these dastardly acts to book, they do not require the services of Sherlock Holmes to do this. As the Yoruba adage goes: “Àjẹ́ ké l’ánàá, ọmọ kú l’ónìí. Tani ò mọ̀ pé àjẹ́ àná ló pa ọmọ jẹ?” which roughly translates as, “if a witch cries in the night and a child dies in the morning, we do not go to the soothsayer to ask what killed the child.”

Before I end this piece, it is pertinent to state for the avoidance of doubt, that the crude resort to ethnically charged rhetoric before, during, and after the gubernatorial elections was not restricted to Lagos State neither was it exclusive to supporters of the APC. For instance, one Fred Ajudua whose mysterious release from the Correctional Centre where he was, until very recently, incarcerated, has continued to be viewed by many with incredulity, was also reported to have warned voters in Ibusa, Delta State who were not planning to vote for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to stay indoors and not to bother coming to vote. This and the other instances of voter intimidation and suppression experienced in different parts of the country during the last elections stand condemned.

Having said that, the point must also be made that Lagos State, the subject of the present intervention, is too important to Nigeria to be stunted and stymied by the ethnic squabbles of the type we experienced during the elections. As the Lagos State Government itself stated in October 2020 at the height of the ENDSARS agitations, “Lagos State is the melting point of various cultures, tribes and religions across Nigeria. We have co-existed harmoniously for ages and will continue to live together peacefully.”  It is necessary for the Government of Lagos State to be seen to always walk this talk. The seeming silence of the Government gives room for conspiracy theories including the one to the effect that it had accorded the ethnic irridentists a tacit endorsement.

In this regard, His Excellency, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has his work cut out to convince the populace that he did not sanction the nastiness and divisiveness employed by his supporters to ensure his emergence. The best way to start is to acknowledge that lives have been lost and that people have been deeply hurt, not just physically but also emotionally, and as such some form of reparation is required. More importantly, His Excellency must go the extra mile to ensure that he runs an all-inclusive government that does not pay lip-service to the yearnings, hopes and aspirations of ALL residents of Lagos. This is the only way Frank, my driver, and all of us non-indigenes in Lagos can be reassured that we are indeed Nigerians and that we are truly welcome in Lagos. Only then can true healing take place.

OLUMIDE AKPATA, the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association, writes from Lagos

A New Book on the Business of Making Money in Legal Practice: Law Practice As A Business

By Stephen Azubuike

Background

In the early years when I joined the legal profession, I was privileged to listen to conversations around the idea of seeing Law Practice not only as a profession but as a business as well. 

As years roll by, the conversation has become one of the most interesting issues within the legal industry. Experienced and successful lawyers have continued to deepen the conversation at various fora and roundtables.

On my part, I continued to pick the valuable information flowing from the conversations like pebbles by the seashore.  My love for information is often demonstrated by how much I’m prepared to utilise it. No doubt, all of these inspired me on the journey of starting my own law practice and eventually getting into a successful partnership. 

Given my natural inclination to share information with others and my writing flair—as also demonstrated when I introduced Stephen Legal Digest in 2020—I set out to write a book on the topic.

Introducing Law Practice as a Business

Dear friends, I’m happy to announce the publication of my latest book, Law Practice as a Business. 

Law Practice as a Business discusses a critical aspect of law-practice business—the business of making money in legal practice. It shares some of the vital business strategies and distinct ideas peculiar to the legal industry. The ideas are presented with clarity of thought and simplicity of language. Hopefully, this keeps you relaxed while activating your logical and innovative mind. 

In addition to my knowledge and personal experience, the fundamental business aspects of legal practice discussed in this book also draws from the ideas of well-accomplished legal practitioners and scholars, locally and internationally. Therefore, some of the opinions expressed in the book are authoritative. The ideas are not only authoritative but realistic, with proven degrees of success. 

This book is meant to be a source of information, inspiration, and motivation for all categories of lawyers—especially young lawyers—as well as the lay in law, including law students and people in service-based businesses.

Book Price and How to Get a Copy

Law Practice as a Business is N7,000 (Seven Thousand Naira) only per copy, excluding delivery cost. To grab a copy or more for yourself and your learned friends, kindly make payment to any of the following account details: 

0033024933 

Azubuike Stephen Ifeanyi 

GTBANK 

OR

2025707577 

Azubuike Stephen Ifeanyi 

UBA 

You can share evidence of payment via email ([email protected]) or WhatsApp (+2348063868497) and provide your delivery address. 

NB: For law firms, legal departments, and other organisations, Law Practice as a Business is also available for bulk purchase and is deliverable to all locations. To place requests, please email [email protected]. You can also reach me via call/WhatsApp on +2348063868497.

The book is also available in Lagos at the following locations:

1. Ikeja Bar Centre, Lagos High Court, Ikeja Division. 

2. Udom Emmanuel Book stand, Federal High Court, Ikoyi. 

3. Infusion Lawyers, Vibranium Valley, 42, Local Airport Road, Ikeja. 

TALES MY PATIENTS TOLD ME: Roll at the STOP Sign, start of the woes!

Charlie was leisurely cruising in his neighborhood when he came across a STOP sign. He slowed the car down a little bit, then rolled across the line without coming to a full stop. Flashing lights and blaring siren from an unmarked car parked fifty feet behind him showed that his indiscretion was going to cost him. That was over three years ago, and he had no idea how costly this simple error would turn out to be.

“License and Registration please,” the cop said through the open window. As he sat waiting in his car for the police officer to return after checking out his papers, he had no fear at all. He knew that he was sure to get a violation ticket, and a fine, but he knew that the damages would be limited because he was driving with an Out-of-State Drivers’ license. He would not amass any penalty points on his License. He was glad that he had given up his New York State Drivers License a few years ago. However, the police officer came back and told him to step out of the car, his hand on the butt of his gun, with his partner covering him from the other side of the car. What? He knew that usually means an arrest. An arrest for failing to stop fully at a STOP sign? What’s going on?

“You are under arrest for driving in the State of New York while your license is suspended,” the cop told him. “That is totally impossible”, he protested. Then the cops gave him the details: he had thirty-five outstanding violations and fines to his name which he had failed to pay, and because of that, the State of New York had suspended his privilege to drive in the State, with any State license. Charlie was completely puzzled because he knew that he had no unpaid outstanding violations.

But as soon as the cops told him the name on the tickets, he knew that he was sunk. His first, last and middle names were on the ticket. Charlie said only a few people in his family knew his middle name, which he seldom used. Charlie said that prior to the hijackers’ attack on the US on 9/11/2001, you could give your name, date of birth, and Social Security Number when pulled over by the cops, instead of a Driver’s License, and the cops would use that for the citation. He knew someone in his family had used his identity, and he knew that it would be difficult for him to escape culpability.

In view of his precarious position, Charlie readily accepted when the DA’s office offered him a plea. He could pay the fines, together with late charges, and accept five years of probation. Otherwise, he should be ready to face trial. With his prior, he could spend one to three years in prison if found guilty. It was a no-brainer. He accepted the guilty plea, together with five years probation.

Charlie was a veteran of the Iraq wars, and after the wars suffered post-traumatic disorder, for which he is taking daily alprazolam. Because of the high price controlled medications like alprazolam commands on the black market, physicians do periodic urine toxicology checks on such patients to ensure that the prescribed medications are in the patient’s system, and not being sold for profit. It was on one of those random checks that my office discovered the metabolites of not only alprazolam but oxycodone in Charlie’s urine. I told the office manager to inform Charlie to find another Doctor to prescribe his alprazolam, because we do not want to prescribe controlled medications to someone abusing drugs. I am Charlie’s Primary Care Physician, and I never prescribed oxycodone to him.

Charlie had been asking to see me personally, and I had declined. Finally, he was able to see me last week, and I felt really sorry for him. Apparently, when I refused to prescribe Alprazolam for him, he went for his periodic meeting with his Probation Officer, who then conducted random urine toxicology on him. He didn’t think anything of it until a few days later when the police tore down his door at dawn and he woke up to find guns pointing at his head from various police officers. He was hurled off to jail for parole violation.

It was in jail that he found out his offense: his urine toxicology came back clean, too clean, without alprazolam metabolite. The record showed that he was on alprazolam for his nerves, and it was a violation of his probation for him not to be compliant with his medications. I now understood why he sent someone to come and get a letter from me certifying that I had refused to prescribe alprazolam for him.

And what about the oxycodone? He was involved in a Motor Vehicle Accident three months prior, and he was seeing a No-Fault Insurance Doctor for that, who prescribed oxycodone for his back pains. He had forgotten to tell me about it to put it in the records. He brought copies of the original prescriptions from the other Doctor. I felt really sorry for him, but Charlie’s story was even worse.

Remember that guilty plea? A few months after Charlie copped that plea, and during one of his probation attendances, he discovered that he was actually in jail many years ago, for another unrelated offense, during one of the very days “he” was issued a driving violation summons. Here was the proof at last that he was being impersonated, and that he was telling the truth all along. He appeared before the Traffic Court Judge and presented the evidence.

The Judge threw out the violations, all thirty-five of them, because of the proof that someone else was using his identity during the period the offense was committed. But his joy was short-lived because he was told that he still had to serve the five-year probation, during which, if he committed any offense, he would be hurled off to prison. Why? Well, since he had pleaded guilty, his probation sentence had become non-appealable after 30 days, and the probation stood. Poor Charlie! How was he to know that a roll at the STOP sign would be the beginning of his woes?

Asiwaju Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN is the new Vice Chairman Body of Benchers

Contrary to reports that an ex-First Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Mrs Funke Adekoya, SAN is set to be elected as the new Vice Chairman of the Body of Benchers (BoB), Asiwaju Adegboyega Solomon Awomolo, SAN on Thursday 30th March emerged as the chosen one.

 Awomolo in his acceptance remarks wherein he expressed gratitude to the incoming Chair of the Body, Hon. Justice Mary Peter-Odili (rtd.), the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola and other distinguished benchers, noted that: “The seamless and natural transition of leadership of the body of benchers, wherein I was nominated and overwhelmingly elected as the vice chairman, Body of Benchers, (the body of men and women of the highest distinction in the legal profession in Nigeria) is commendable as this is what had been the tradition from its inception 50 years ago and it is worthy of continuation.”

President of the NBA, Mr Yakubu Maikyau SAN had written to the Body of Benchers notifying it of the nomination of Adekoya by the NBA as its preferred candidate for the post of Vice Chairman.

This is a sequel to the NBA National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held last week at Birnin-Kebbi, Kebbi State; the home state of the Bar President.

Awomolo, the pioneer Attorney General of Osun state who was elevated to the rank of SAN in 1992 was however full of thanks.

Part of his speech reads:

“I thank everyone present at this meeting for the overwhelming support given to me and the confidence reposed in me. I do not take it for granted, at all.

“It is the doing of the most High God, because about 30 years ago in 1992, I was admitted into the membership of this Body, then as the First Honourable Attorney General of the newly created Osun State.

“I recall the great respect, honour and privilege given to me by this Body when at its July 1996 meeting, the Body approved and mandated its sub-Committee responsible for the management of the affairs of the Nigerian Bar Association (which was in comatose) under the Chairmanship of Chief F.R.A Williams, SAN to authorize and approve me to lead a demonstration of the then 44 Branches of the Nigerian Bar Association under the auspices of the Committee of Chairmen and Secretaries of all the Branches of the Nigerian Bar Association.

“I acknowledge the indefatigable, irrepressible and committed Secretary of the Committee of Chairmen and Secretaries, Chief (Dr) Richard Oma Ahonaruogho, SAN and many of you in this hall, who sacrificed your time, money and risked your lives to bring back the Nigerian Bar Association which some of our colleagues are enjoying today.

“This Body on 25th day of August 1998, led by Chief F.R.A Williams, SAN, CON in the company of Hon Justice, Mustapha Akanbi, President of Court of Appeal, Chief (Dr) Mudiaga Odje, SAN, OFR, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, SAN, CON (May God rest their soul in peace)  and others who graced and gave approval to the Annual Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, the first since 1992.

“At the Conference, the new Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association was approved. Chief T.J.O Okpoko, SAN and all other officers of the Bar Association were elected by members from all the branches and they were inaugurated by me.

“It is important that this history and sacrifices of the heroes of the Nigerian Bar Association should not be forgotten.

“Every occasion in our lives soon becomes history, every event in our lives has a lesson embedded in it and every act of man, if it comes from God, brings blessings. Today is historic, in the life of this Body and my life in particular.

“I am grateful to the various leaders of this Body since 1992 who meticulously and painstakingly have taught me many lessons on leadership of this great profession of law. They have led us well and it is now our duty to ensure that the glory, honour and respectability of the Body is not under any circumstance, diminished.

“To my dear incoming Chairman, Hon Justice Mary Ukaego Peter-Odili JSC(Rtd), CFR, I wish to pledge my loyalty, support and commitment to make your tenure a huge success and even better than you met it.

“I assure you, my Lord, that your success as the Chairman of the Body of Benchers shall be my primary concern.

“To the entire members of the Body of Benchers, I promise to promote the objectives of the Body, and uphold the honour, integrity and ethics of the Body. I promise to do what is right, at all times, to all men in my capacity as the Vice Chairman of the Body…”

Come 8th July 2022, Asiwaju Awomolo, SAN a fellow of both the Nigeria Institute of Advance Legal Studies and the Chartered Institute of Arbitration will clock 45 years at the bar and 30 years at the inner bar.

In 2014, then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan appointed him as Constitutional and Legal Consultant to the National Conference convened by his administration.

A former Chairman of NBA, Ilorin Branch (1990-1992), member of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), member of the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Bar Association, life bencher,  consummate family man, Asiwaju Awomolo is married to Chief Mrs Victoria Olufunmilayo Awomolo, the first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, produced by the University of Ibadan.

Chief Mrs Awomolo, SAN was also a former Regional Vice President (West & North Africa) of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA).

For locking up personal assistant in dog cage, FIDA Nigeria secures N30 million damages against Ahmadu Ali’s wife

  • Orders Mrs. Ali to tender an apology in a national newspaper

By Lillian Okenwa

For locking up her personal assistant, Ms. Deborah Longs Nanpon in a dog cage for three days, a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has awarded the sum of N30 million naira as damages against Dr. Mrs. Marianne Ahmadu Ali, wife of a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmadu Ali.  

The court in its judgment of Tuesday 28th March 2023 delivered by Honourable Justice Akanbi-Yusuf agreed with Ms. Nanpon’s lawyers — the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA Nigeria that the Applicant was unlawfully detained by Mrs. Ali and dehumanized by being locked up in a filthy dog cage for three days.

Her Lordship proceeded to grant the declarations sought and awarded N30,000,000.00 (Thirty Million Naira) as compensation to the Applicant along with a publication of an apology in a national newspaper.

Sometime in April 2022, the story broke about how Dr. Mrs. Marianne Ahmadu Ali, wife of a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmadu Ali dehumanized her Personal Assistant.

Dr. Mrs. Ali had her beaten and locked up in a dog cage for three days without food or water. She was constrained to defecate and urinate on herself in that cage.

Luckily for the victim, the matter got to Ordinary Ahmed Isah of the popular reality radio programme Brekete Family, which is broadcast daily from Abuja on Human Rights Radio and Television.

Ordinary Ahmed Isah then requested the attention of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA Nigeria which has a standing litigation team.

The organization immediately swung into action and sought the enforcement of the victim’s fundamental human rights as NAPTIP was not keen on prosecuting Mrs. Ali under the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 (VAPP Act).

Ogechi Abu of Firstrate Attorneys, a member of the FIDA Nigeria litigation team and FIDA Abuja conducted the matter on behalf of FIDA Nigeria.

Mrs. Ogechi Abu

Expressing pleasure with the outcome of the matter, FIDA Nigeria conveyed its gratitude to the Court. “FIDA is exceedingly glad and conveys its gratitude to the Court for the quick resolution of the matter as should be the case in the enforcement of fundamental human rights as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap 10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 (As Amended).”

By Originating Motion filed on 4th May 2022, FIDA sought N500,000,000.00 (Five Hundred Million Naira) in damages and an apology in a national newspaper.

FIDA in the Originating Motion filed on 4th May 2022, sought the following reliefs:

  1. A DECLARATION that the detention of the Applicant at the home of the 1st Respondent by the 1st Respondent between Sunday, 20th March 2022 and Tuesday, 22nd March 2022 without a warrant, court order or legal justification is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and a flagrant violation of the Applicant’s fundamental right to personal liberty guaranteed by Section 35(1) (a-f) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) and Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap 10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 (As Amended).

2. A DECLARATION that the vicious beatings inflicted upon the Applicant by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents at the 1st Respondent’s home on Sunday, 20th March, 2022 and her subsequent confinement in the 1st Respondent’s filthy dog cage by the 1st Respondent between Sunday, 20th March 2022 and Tuesday, 22nd March 2022 without a warrant, court order or legal justification is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amounted to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in gross violation of the Applicant’s fundamental right to human dignity guaranteed by Section 34(1)(a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) and Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap 10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 (As Amended).

3. A DECLARATION that the Applicant’s written undertaking to pay the sum of N1,200,000.00 (One Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira) to Mr. Idris Salim which was forcefully extracted from the Applicant by the 1st Respondent at the 1st Respondent’s home on Tuesday, 22nd March 2022 without any opportunity given to the Applicant to consult with a legal practitioner of her choice is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and of no legal effect whatsoever.

4. AN ORDER setting aside the Applicant’s written undertaking to pay the sum of N1,200,000.00 (One Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira) to Mr. Idris Salim which was forcefully extracted from the Applicant by the 1st Respondent at the 1st Respondent’s home on Tuesday, 22nd March 2022 without any opportunity given to the Applicant to consult with a legal practitioner of her choice; for being illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and of no legal effect whatsoever.

5. AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents whether by themselves or through their agents, servants, privies, employees or howsoever named from further harassing, intimidating and or threatening the Applicant in respect of any matter pertaining to the Applicant’s former employment with the 1st Respondent or for any other reason whatsoever.

6. AN ORDER directing the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents to jointly issue a public letter of apology to the Applicant to be published in ThisDay Newspaper or any other newspaper with national circulation for their violation of the Applicant’s fundamental rights to personal liberty, human dignity, private and family life; and in accordance with Section 35(6) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended).

7. DAMAGES in the sum of N500,000,000.00 (Five Hundred Million Naira) against the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents for the violation of the Applicant’s fundamental rights to personal liberty, human dignity, private and family life and the pain, anguish, mental, psychological and emotional torture/trauma they inflicted upon the Applicant; in accordance with Section 35(6) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended).

A. FACTS UPON WHICH THE RELIEFS WERE SOUGHT

i. The Applicant was a former employee of the 1st Respondent. In the course of her employment, the 1st Respondent accused the Applicant of converting the sum of N1,200,000.00 (One Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira). The Applicant was detained for 3 days between Sunday, 20th March 2022 and Tuesday, 22nd March 2022; at the home of the 1st Respondent by the 1st Respondent without any lawful justification. She was viciously beaten, humiliated and tortured by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents before they confined her in a filthy dog cage for 3 days. 

ii. Prior to her eventual release on Tuesday, 22nd March 2022, the 1st Respondent and her lawyer Mr. Julius Atanawhemera forcefully extracted an undertaking from the Applicant to pay the said sum of N1,200,000.00 (One Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira). They did not allow the Applicant an opportunity to consult with a legal practitioner of her choice in making the undertaking. The Applicant was also not given a copy of the undertaking. 

iii. Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter guarantees the Applicant’s right to personal liberty, human dignity, privacy and consultation with a legal practitioner of her choice all of which the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents flagrantly violated.

iv. Premised on the foregoing facts, the Honourable Court was urged to exercise its powers under the provisions of Section 46(1) of the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter to grant the Applicant redress for the Respondents’ violation of her fundamental rights by way of a public apology and monetary compensation pursuant to Section 35(6) of the 1999 Constitution, the FREP Rules, the African Charter and the Inherent Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court.

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