The National Human Rights Commission (NHC) has condemned the recurring practice of human trafficking and other acts that inhabit citizens’ enjoyment of constitutionally guaranteed rights to liberty, human dignity, among others.

The Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu noted despite the abolition of slave trade several decades ago, many countries including Nigeria are still grappling with other forms of modern-day slavery such as human trafficking, sexual slavery, child/forced labour, prostitution, enlistment of minors in military service, servitude or removal of an organ for pecuniary benefits, osu, ohu and other cast systems, etc.

Ojukwu, in a statement he issued in commemoration of the 2020 International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (IDRVS), called for a concerted effort to end all forms of modern-day slavery to pave the way for full enjoyment of human rights in Nigeria by all the rural and urban poor, the rich, the downtrodden, the displaced and the homeless.

NHRC’s spokesman, Fatimah Agwai Mohammed quoted Ojukwu, in the statement, noting that the long-term effects of the transatlantic slave trade, which also have some trappings of racism still reverberate across various societies globally.

Mohammed added: “He (Ojukwu) said all hands must be on deck to fight the menace, saying it is high time humanity came to terms with the tenets of human rights which are targeted at enhancing human dignity, equality, and respect for fundamental freedoms.

.”The relevant Sections of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, the Universa Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and other regional and international human rights instruments to which Nigeria is a signatory, all condemn slavery in all its ramifications.

“He decried the disturbing trend where young Nigerian men, women, and girls are trafficked to various parts of the world including Saudi Arabia, Italy, Libya, etc in the name of searching for greener pasture only for them to become stranded and face various forms of inhuman and degrading treatments.

“He disclosed that the Commission is working assiduously with relevant agencies to stem the tide of all forms of modern-day slavery, servitude, and other related practices.

“He condemned the action of some parents locking up members of the families in solitary and inhuman confinement for years with little or no food thereby denying them of their human rights.

“Similarly, the Executive Secretary urged members of the public to be vigilant and report any suspected migration, child abuse/molestation, and the attendant human rights violations to the commission (NAPTIP) or the police, for the necessary interventions accordingly.”

The Atyap, Fulani and Hausa communities in Zangon-Kataf local government area held a successful peace and reconciliation summit for peaceful coexistence in the area.

Participants at the summit who committed to peace and forgiveness of each other condemned the killings and destruction that have occurred.

They declared their readiness to help security agencies with information to arrest and prosecute criminal elements.

The summit, appreciated the government for deploying security forces and commended youths from the various communities for their symbolic embrace and agreement not to mount roadblocks anywhere in the chiefdom.

The meeting, which held under the traditional ruler, Agwatyap, Dominic Gambo Yahaya, brought together the three communities in a peace summit held at the Mariyamu and Yakubu Event Centre in Ungwan Wakili.

The summit, co-chaired by AVM Stephen Shekari (rtd) and Dr. Salim Umar, represented the Atyap Chiefdom’s attempted to bring its communities together and stop the bloodshed and destruction of property.

The communique issued after the meeting was signed by representatives of the Atyap, Fulani and Hausa communities, the co-chairs and His Highness the Agwatyap.

In a 14-point, resolution, the summit called on all residents of Atyap Chiefdom not to take laws into their hands and instead submit all grievances to the lawful authorities.

According to the meeting “appreciated the fact that all Nigerians have the constitutional or fundamental right to move and reside anywhere in Nigeria, including Atyap Chiefdom, without any fear, molestation or harassment from anybody or any source whatsoever.”

The summit however called on the authorities to facilitate the return of displaced persons.

It further:“recommended the establishment of a standing peace committee that should comprise of Hausa, Fulani and Atyap and their youth to organise robust engagement/dialogue on security issues from time to time with a view to sustaining peaceful coexistence.”

The resolve for peace by the communities comes hours after the Kaduna State Government reduced curfew hours in Zangon Kataf and Kauru LGAs, citing serious efforts at rapprochement between the conflict communities.

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General Overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), Dr. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya, has denied involvement in any fraudulent activities as being portrayed in some sections of the media, which he accused of being bent on churning out malicious stories against him and the church.

Defending Dr. Olukoya, in a statement, his media aide, Mr. Collins Edomaruse, said the seven allegations laid against the general Overseer and the MFM were without foundation, but intent to damage his reputation and destroy the global image of the church.

Edomaruse also said “It has become pertinent for the purpose of clarity to respond to the false allegations being peddled against the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries and our General Overseer – Dr. D. K. Olukoya in the social media particularly sponsored by SaharaReporters. These allegations are seven (7) in number namely:

No. 1 That Dr. Olukoya falsely claimed residence of US city of Maryland.

Nothing can be further from the truth. Dr. Olukoya is a public figure nationally and internationally. His domicile is therefore a fact of public knowledge. The true position is that the Pastor who wanted to register MFM in Maryland inserted Dr. Olukoya’s name without prior consultation with or knowledge of the G.O because he believed that Dr. Olukoya should be involved but after he consulted a lawyer and received advice that a person’s name cannot be on the incorporation documents unless he is resident in Maryland, that registration was put in abeyance and allowed to lapse. The Pastor is still alive and all the evidence are there for all to see at the Company Registry in Maryland.

No. 2 Allegation is that Dr. Olukoya Illegally Imported books into the United States and evaded payment of Customs duties on those books.

This is also untrue. Dr. Olukoya’s books are sold on Amazon. It is fool hardy for anyone to suggest that he brought in his books to US illegally when he can and has been doing so legally. This false allegation was pioneered by a former Pastor of MFM who tried to steal MFM Branch in Maryland. He conceived this lie as his defence to a civil Suit the Church brought against him in the County Court in Maryland. This concocted lie could best be described as the wild thrashings of a drowning man intent on bringing everybody down with him. However, in defence of this allegation, MFM brought its book keeper to testify in court who produced all the receipts of payment and customs documents and, in the end, the Judge not only thrashed the wild allegation but gave judgement in favour of MFM

No. 3 is the allegation that the Trustees in the UK were suspended.

This is completely false. They were never suspended. They are still in charge of the Church even up till now.

No. 4 is the allegation of fraud against the Trustees of MFM UK.

The trustees were never indicted. We can authoritatively say that no Trustee of MFM-UK has ever committed fraud.

No. 5 is the allegation that Dr. Olukoya connived with someone to steal 150,000 pounds.

This is a complete fabrication from the fevered minds of the defamers. Fortunately, all the people that took money illegally are still alive. The genesis of this allegation is that the lease of one of our branches in London contained a clause which stipulated that any party who broke the Lease for any reason before its expiration would pay a penalty of 150,000 British Pounds to the other party. It happened that the owner of the property broke the lease and sold the property to a third party which necessitated the Church relocating from the building. The property owners honoured their obligation and paid the penalty sum of 150,000 pound which the Pastor of that branch somehow found a way of paying it into his personal account without informing the Headquarters and conspired with the external auditors to shield that income from discovery. It was much later that a member of that branch brought to the attention of Headquarters that such amount of money had been received by the Pastor.

Headquarters immediately set up a panel to investigate the incident and give fair hearing to the Pastor concerned. He attended the sitting of the panel and unequivocally admitted the theft. The Panel directed him to refund the money immediately. Upon receipt of the report of the Panel, the General Overseer issued the Pastor an ultimatum in writing to pay back the money within forty-eight (48) hours whereupon he promised to re-mortgage his house in London to comply. It was later brought to the attention of Dr. Olukoya that this ultimatum had not been complied with by the Pastor who, on his own, began to repay the money by instalments.

From the above narration, it is crystal clear to any unbiased mind that the money was stolen long before the Headquarters and Dr. Olukoya got to hear and that when they did, appropriate internal machineries were promptly put in place to investigate and recover it.

The publication on the Charity Commission’s website which Sahara Reporters quoted out of context does not say or infer that Dr. Olukoya as Lead Trustee of the Church connived at the losses. It simply states, albeit on a false factual basis, that Dr. Olukoya agreed with and permitted the Pastor to repay the money by instalments. The question that flow from Sahara Reporter’s misconception and misrepresentation are:

a. Since the synonyms of connive are: plot, scheme, conspire, plan, hatch up, how can anybody do any of these in respect of an event that had already transpired without his knowledge?

b. Would a person who connived at an act set up a Panel to probe that act and eventually set an ultimatum for the return of the stolen money?

Suffice to say, at this point, that Dr. Olukoya has in letters dated 15th and 16 August 2019 writen to the Charity Commission to challenge the non-factual nature of the report written about him on their website. The Commission in a terse reply dated August 20th 2019 indicated that it would address that complaint.

No. 6 is the allegation that MFM and Dr. Olukoya are land grabbers and were set to lose the MFM Prayer City land.

Besides the fact that MFM has a Certificate of Occupancy, the falsehood of this allegation has been judicially determined by the fact that the lawyer who granted the interview from which Sahara Reporters made the false publication, as usual without independent research, has been damnified in damages for libel in the judgment of a High Court.

No. 7 is the publication by Sahara Reporters that its Publisher Omoyele Sowore and his crew were beaten up and detained by MFM at its Prayer City.

The necessity to re-address this false allegation is underscored by the fact that the incident leading up to it is the foundation of Sowore’s deep seated hatred for MFM and Dr Olukoya and the reason for his sustained rancid and venomous attacks on our Church and General Overseer.

On the Cross-over service held at the MFM Prayer City in the night of December 2012 to the morning of January 2013, Sowore and his Crew, without being previously accredited like all other journalist and newsmen covering the event, gate-crashed and started filming and advancing towards the podium where Dr. Olukoya had already started preaching. Recall that this was a period when terrorist attacks and bomb blasts in places of worship were rampant and security was beefed up in such locations with large presence of uniformed and plain clothed Policemen, DSS operatives, Bomb detection Squads and other security operatives.

These Security operatives stopped Sowore and his crew from advancing further towards the podium, took them out for questioning and after they identified themselves they were advised to restrict themselves to the area reserved for pressmen but Sowore in his conceited perception of himself as having a larger than life image and reputation took offence at the suggestion and left with his crew only to subsequently concoct and publish those lies; and has not relented since then.

Our members and friends are advised to just ignore these false and malicious publications for what they are.

As for those who have made it their preoccupation and livelihood to pour filth on our Church and General Overseer, we love you as God’s creation and will continue to pray that you cease from your steady decline into perdition. We also commend to you the words of the scriptures in Isaiah 33:1 – “Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee,” KJV

everyday

Bashir El-rufai, son of Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-rufai, has told the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to re-direct its invitation for the 2020 Annual General Conference to opposition politicians.

The body of legal practitioners in the country had invited the Kaduna helmsman to the event as a speaker but the invitation was greeted with criticism, mostly from Nigerians on social media. A petition seeking his disengagement was also forwarded to the association.

The development forced the NBA to withdraw the invitation extended to the governor who then described it as unfair.

“For an association, whose bread and butter is about justice to make a ruling based on the stridency of people who lampoon judicial processes against certain individuals without hearing the other side is odd,” the governor, through his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, said in a Thursday statement.

“It bears noting that in its response to pressure, the NBA leadership has signaled an unfortunate embrace of injustice, unfairness, absence of fair hearing and total disregard for the rule of law.

“The defamatory statements in the petition is another matter entirely, and they will get the appropriate response,” he added.

On his part, the governor’s son, described the invitation which his father would have honored as useless.

In a Friday tweet, the young lad advised that it be re-directed to Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers State and Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti State.

“These guys should re-direct their useless invitation to Nyesom Wike or Ayodele Fayose. The true respecters of Rule of Law & decorum. Make the conference have a uniform theme of speakers,” he said in the morning tweet.

Be wary of online media reports — Presidency

Controversy is now brewing over a report that claimed that the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, was almost involved in an air accident on Friday.

Presidency sources have debunked the report as largely a fabrication of its author’s imagination as most of the claims recorded in the report were either half-truths or outright lies.

The online media had been awash with the report of the alleged near air mishap, involving a private jet, carrying the First Lady, Mrs. Buhari, one of her daughters, Hanan Buhari, and four other passengers.

The report, which claimed that the aircraft, supposedly owned by Borno-born billionaire and in-law to the First Family, Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, was heading back to Nigeria from the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Dubai, also claimed that it lost control midair, almost one hour to landing time in Nigeria.

However, Presidency sources said on Saturday that the report was full of lies and unverified claims.

Although Spokesman to the First Lady, Aliyu Abdulahi, said he was still waiting for details of what happened from his principal, when contacted on Saturday, he however warned to treat social media reports with extreme caution, noting that most outlets do not respect ethics of journalism.

“I’m trying to confirm what happened so I can’t really… If you’ll give me time to confirm it’s okay, but if not, my advice is you have to take with a pinch or even a truckload of salt, most of the news coming from these online media, they are not hundred percent or even close to that, most of the time, from my own experience.

“Mostly they give about 10% information and then they go on to escalate and exaggerate their report to 100%. That’s not how journalism works”, he said.

Abdulahi, however, promised to reach back with credible information about what happened after he must have spoken with the First Lady.

However, another reliable Presidency source, who is quite close to the First Family, but who wished not to be named told The Nation that most of the claims of the popular version of the report online boldly dished out lies.

According to the source, besides the fact that the First Lady is back indeed, there was no other fact in the report that justified the truth.

“There’s no flight of Alhaji Indimi that has flown in the last two months, you won’t find it anywhere and that’s a fact, but these people claimed it was Indimi’s aircraft, they even quoted number. It is not true that the aircraft wanted to crash, this is another lie. Since they claimed it was carrying just six persons, how did they come about their story of crash threat? There were normal, air travel turbulences, which was normal. So the so-called ‘control loss for 10 minutes’ is also a fantasy.

“Another outright lie in their news is the claim that Hanan was aboard. This is not true, she did not travel to Dubai, how could she be returning from Dubai? I was with her on Monday. All these people are not journalists because they cannot be journalists and be attacking the image of the profession with lies the way all these so-called online media platforms are doing it”, the source said.

Thenigerialawyer

A Bill that seeks to grant more powers to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister Justice to control the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), scaled first reading in the Senate on Wednesday, July 15, 2020.

The Bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to repeal the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004 (Act NO.1 of 2004) and enact an Economic and Financial Crimes Agency Act which establishes a more effective and efficient Economic and Financial Crimes Agency to conduct inquiries and investigate all Economic and Financial Crimes and related offences and for other connected matters” is sponsored by Senator Sani Musa (Niger East), according to a source in the National Assembly.

Senator Musa is also the sponsor of the controversial “Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill 2019” popularly known as Anti-Social Media Bill.

A section of the new Bill empowers the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to “intervene in the proceedings” of the EFCC after due notification.

It also provides that the EFCC shall handover to the AGF the “prosecution file” and all relevant “documents relating to any matter” on demand.

A section of the Bill reads in part: “The Attorney-General may after notifying the agency, intervene in the proceedings, at first instance or on appeal, wherein the opinion of the Attorney-General, public interest, the interest of justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal process so demand.

“On receipt of the notice under subsection (2) of the section, the agency shall handover to the Attorney-General the prosecution file and all documents relating to the prosecution and provide him with such other information as he may require on the matter within the time specified by him.

“The agency shall furnish returns of all cases handled by it annually and in such manner and at such intervals as the Attorney-General shall direct. Where the agency fails to comply with the provisions of this section, the Attorney-General may, subject to prevailing circumstances, revoke the power to prosecute from the agency.

“The staff of the Prosecution Department of the agency shall be seconded or transferred from the Federal Ministry of Justice or from such other agencies or private institutions as may be approved by the Attorney-General.”

Some of the principal objectives of the Act are to: “Combat economic and financial crimes throughout Nigeria and provide for an effective punitive system.

“Combating, controlling, suppressing, and preventing economic and financial crimes.

“Raising awareness of economic and financial crimes. Taking necessary action for the prevention and investigation of economic and financial crimes, bribery, and other related cases and prosecuting those involved as provided for under the Act.

“Providing comprehensive and accurate information about nature, the extent of financial and economic crimes.”

Thenigerialawyer

Says: ‘We will expose you further’

The Open Bar Initiative (OBI), a voluntary advocacy and justice initiative for lawyers, has dared Kaduna Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to file a defamation suit over various allegations it has levelled against him.

The group was among those who wrote a petition against the Governor which led to the exclusion of El-Rufai as one of the keynote speakers in the forthcoming virtual conference of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).

The National Executive Committee of the NBA at a pre-Annual General Conference (AGC) took the decision on Thursday to remove the Governor as speaker following the outcry by some lawyers and groups which include the OBI.

And following the NBA decision, El-Rufai in a press release issued by his spokesman, Muyiwa Adekeye, stated that the defamatory statements in the petition against him were another matter entirely, and the petitioners would receive the appropriate response from him.

However, in its reaction to the Governor’s statement, the group, on social media, dared El-Rufai to go ahead with his threat.

OBI posted on Twitter: ‘At best, this is laughable. Even at a time that he is expected to be sombre, he is dishing out threats for an imaginative “defamation”. Well, bring it on, the Courtroom will not contain the lawyers for the Defendant & more will be revealed about him. Shame! @ChidiOdinkalu @sjonu.’

…Says 5000 Christians killed in Southern Kaduna

A human rights group, Human Rights, Liberty Access and Peace Defenders’ Foundation (HURIDE), has called on Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, to resign following the unabated killings in Southern Kaduna in Kaduna State.

The group in a statement signed by its Chairman Dede Uzor said that the Governor has failed to provide security to the citizens and cannot exonerate himself from the continous blood bath in Christian dominated Southern Kaduna.

The Chairman of HURIDE also called on International Criminal Court (ICC) to commence the investigation of crime against humanity on Governor El-Rufai.

The group said, “the Governor of Kaduna State should resign or the State House of Assembly should immediately commence his impeachment process.

“He cannot exonerate himself from the continous masscre and genocide in Southern Kaduna. El-Rufai still provides logistics and financial backing to those murderous Fulani Herdsmen to continue to kill innocent christians in Southern part of Kaduna. He is not hiding it. He accepted backing them”.

The group said ICC should beam their searchlight on Nigeria especially in the North, where Herdsmen and bandits have turned Christian communities into killing fields.

“They should not pretend that all are well in Nigeria, when in fact religious killings are the order of the day in Nigeria, especially in Nothern part of the country” said the group.

HURIDE said the international community such as a the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), United States of America USA) Britain omong others should as a matter of urgency also beam their searchlight on the killings of Christians in Nigeria.

The group lamented that no fever than 5,000 christians have been killed in Southern Kaduna since the latest renewed killings..

HURIDE said that federal government has a lot of questions to answer for its inability to stem tide of blood bath in the country.

The group wondered why Presidemt Muhammadu Buhari has found it difficult to sack Service Chiefs when they have failed woefully to checkmate killings from Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen.

“We find it difficult to understand why the Presidemt is still harboouring the Service Chiefs if they actually want to stop the killngs. We want to believe that there is something they know that they don’t want Nigerrians to know about the insecurity in the country,” the group said.

Culled from Thesunnigeria