A worried President Muhammadu Buhari has scrambled a meeting the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, after #EndSARS protests continue to heat the polity and lead to violence in parts of the country and the Federal Capital City.

There was a report of a policeman killed in Delta State, where youths took to the streets to protest to protest the unprofessional conduct and extortion by men of the special squad of the Police. The Police has since banned the activities of the squad, but anger appears to be spiralling out of control.

Monday night, the President’s office released a statement quoting the President as saying he met again with Adamu over the conduct of policemen.

His words: “I met again with the Inspector General of Police tonight. Our determination to reform the police should never be in doubt. I am being briefed regularly on the reform efforts ongoing to end police brutality and unethical conduct, and ensure that the Police are fully accountable to the people.

“The IG already has my firm instructions to conclusively address the concerns of Nigerians regarding these excesses, and ensure erring personnel are brought to justice. I appeal for patience and calm, even as Nigerians freely exercise their right to peacefully make their views known.

“The vast majority of men and women of the Nigeria Police Force are patriotic and committed to protecting the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians, and we will continue to support them to do their job”.

Meanwhile, The Punch reports that many commuters were stranded around the Alausa and Berger areas in Lagos State as protesters blocked the Alausa section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The PUNCH gathered that the protesters moved from the entrance of the Lagos House of Assembly to block the highway on Friday.

The placards-carrying protesters barricaded the highway from the Secretariat bus-stop, opposite Magodo Phase II.

The effect of the gridlock had begun to extend to the Otedola Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The PUNCH had reported that thousands of Nigerians are protesting against police brutality in the country.

Apart from Lagos, protests are taking place across the country, including in the capital Abuja and Osun State.

The movement initially targeted the federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, widely accused of unlawful arrests, torture, and murder, but has since broadened to include all police forces.

While the SARS unit was suspended on Sunday, groups such as Amnesty International said the government had not gone far enough, pointing to previous unsuccessful attempts to ban the force.

Several Nigerian celebrities have joined the protest.

There was violence in Osun and Abuja on Friday as youths protest against police brutality and extortion.

The PUNCH gathered that in a bid to disperse the protesters, policemen shot indiscriminately.

In Osogbo, the protest caused gridlock at the Ola-Iya junction.

It was learnt that the protesters pelted stones at the security operatives in a bid to resist any attempt to stop the protest.

The security operatives, who initially took cover beside their Armoured Personnel Carriers stationed at the junction, later shot indiscriminately to disperse the angry youths.

In Abuja, security operatives teargassed and shot indiscriminately to disperse the protesters.

In a video that surfaced online, the protesters were seen running helter-skelter.

Some of them were heard shouting “they are shooting at us”, “don’t kill us with teargas”, “you must #EndSARS”.

One of the protesters in Abuja, @BrianJDenis, tweeted, “Police officers have opened fire at us with live bullets at Central Area, Abuja. Some people are injured.”

Earlier, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, condemned the violent attack on policemen and damage to police operational vehicles and other assets by #EndSARS protesters in Ughelli, Delta State, on Thursday.

He also ordered a probe into the incident which resulted in the death of Corporal Etaga Stanley attached to ‘A’ Division, Ughelli. 

Additional reports by The Punch

The Chief Judge of Delta State, Hon. Justice Marshall Mukoro has requested Notaries Public in the State to provide their biodata on or before 29th day of October, 2020.

This is contained in a circular with reference number CS.654/2 dated 8th day of October, 2020 issued by O. Aforkeya, Acting Chief Registrar which was made available to TheNigeriaLawyer.

“I am directed by His Lordship, the Honourable Chief Judge of Delta State to inform all Notaries Public resident and practicing in Delta State to furnish the Office of the Honourable Chief Judge the following:

(i) Recent passport-size photograph
(ii) Delta Sworn-in
(iii) Office address
(iv) Phone Number
(v) Email address”.

However, it was noted that the information is expected to be forwarded to the Focal Officer, Tim Agbaragu, Esq., Functioning Director, Protocol/PR, High Court of Justice Asaba, on or before 29th October, 2020.

Also, he can be reached via 08108094202; 08058472589 or [email protected].

TheNigeriaLawyer

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has condemned “unequivocally” the “brazen” and “serial” breaches of the fundamental rights of Nigerians including in some cases the right to life by officers of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), a specialist unit of the Nigerian Police and other security agencies.

This is contained in a statement in the social media handles of the NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata, sighted by TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL)

Akpata applauded the Inspector General of Police for banning SARS and urged him to ensure enforcement and monitoring of the new directive.

“The NBA welcomes with cautious optimism the latest statement from the IGP banning FSARS, STS and IRT from routine patrol on the streets, amongst other measures and promising to apply sanctions in cases of breach. We however note that there had been previous statements following similar agitations but without appreciable changes.

The @NigBarAssoc (NBA) condemns unequivocally the brazen & serial breaches of the fundamental rights of Nigerians, including the right to life, by officers of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) a specialist unit of the @PoliceNG and other security agencies. pic.twitter.com/4PCAalJKOc

— Olumide Akpata (@OlumideAkpata) October 9, 2020

“It is therefore of utmost importance that this time around it should not be business as usual. The Police must put in place demonstrable measures to ensure proper enforcement and monitoring of the new directives.” the statement reads in part

According to Akpata, the purpose of government is the welfare and protection of the people that’s why the people surrendered some of their freedom to the State in exchange for the protection of their rights and maintenance of the social order.

He said, “It is thus regrettable that the organ of the Nigerian State, entrusted with the protection of the people, has constituted itself into a source of constant and predictable terror especially to young Nigerians, to the extent of matching or even surpassing the criminal elements from whom they were designed to protect the people.

“The actions of FSARS are both inconsistent with the social contract which the people have with the government and are also in flagrant disregard of the Police Establishment Act and all our laws including the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The NBA therefore called on President Buhari, the National Assembly and the IGP to strictly monitor and enforce the current directives regarding banning of FSARS, and put an end to the flagrant abuse and extrajudicial killings of Nigerians by these officers.

He added that his administration will be setting up dedicated helplines in the next few weeks to receive complaints about human right abuses by the Police and other security officers and pledged that the complaints will be adequately tackled.

He said, “In the meantime, we urge all # EndSARS protesters to remain constructive in their agitations while calling on the different formations of the Nigerian Police to respect the fundamental rights of Nigerians including the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression.

“While the current administration of the NBA has rightly prioritised the welfare and interest of Nigerian lawyers, our role as the Bar necessarily extends to acting as a watchdog of the society and speaking out in instances of abuse of power and trampling of rights of other Nigerians as has been on the rise lately.

“I do not believe that the activities of the FSARS and other elements of the Nigerian Police represent the best intentions of the President and the IGP for the Nigerian Police and I will be taking this up further with them with a view to ending this menace.

“The NBA is willing to proactively engage with the IGP to undertake urgent training and enlightenment of Police Officers in accordance with the recently passed Police Establishment Act to ensure the effective implementation of the Act and more respect for the rights of citizens in a democratic State.

“The NBA is also willing to collaborate with Civil Rights Organisations and Advocacy Groups to deal with this menace and we shall deploy our human and material resources in this regard.”

Some elder statesmen and prominent activists says Nigeria is on autopilot.

John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd.), Prof. Attahiru Jega, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, Dr. Nguyan Shaku Feese, Dr. Usman Bugaje, Adagbo Onoja, Amb. Fatima Balla, Ambassador Zango Abdu, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Chris Kwaja, Dr. Hussaini Abdu, Kemi Okenyodo, Jim Gala, Aisha Muhammed Oyebode and Tsema Yvonne said this in a joint statement on Thursday.

They spoke under the auspices of the Nigeria Working Group on Peacebuilding and Governance (NWGPG).

They called themselves a group of Nigerian civic and thought leaders.

According to them, the Nigerian State is on autopilot and is currently not being governed.

“The result is that corruption has gone completely out of control, as there is a concerted effort to dismantle anti-corruption agencies and render them ineffective, while evidence of corruption is growing, prosecution has slowed down considerably,” they said.

They said the time for citizens’ action was now, asking Nigerians not to agonize any more, but organise.

“The civil society actors noted that in the absence of a binding narrative, there are series of conspiracy theories that have emerged, with immense capacity to divide the country along the sharp lines of ethnicity and religion, which is further sustained by the absence of strategic communication between the Nigerian state and its citizens.

“This situation is further heightening the level of desperation among the citizens that are increasingly been detached from the everyday governance of the Nigerian State,” they said.

The group lamented that increasing insecurity across the country continues to gallop towards the abyss due to the lack of political will and the inability of the country’s security architecture to manage the multiple challenges.

They also warned that confidence towards the Nigerian State is very low, heightening the divides in the federation and creating widespread demands for dialogue and consensus building on restructuring which the government has been tone deaf to.

“Indeed, the presidency has adopted the strategy of responding to demands for urgent and holistic review of the basic structures and governance processes of our nation with demeaning statements.

“This tendency to abuse those who legitimately ask those with responsibility to listen to popular voices is alienating more Nigerians from the administration and playing into the hands of those who feed off desperation.

“The nation needs to adopt a sense of urgency in the way it deals with rapidly accumulating liabilities.

“Nigerians cannot wait for the convenience or pleasure of leaders in deciding what is important.

“We must avoid the tendency to ignore our problems until they become a lot worse in terms of the capacities of leaders to deal with them.

“We call on younger Nigerians in particular, to get involved in the search for a future without current levels of bitterness and dislocations,” they said.

They, therefore, recommended that Nigerians in their communities, associations, civil society groupings, women’s groups and youth groups should accelerate on-going discussions to deepen the emerging consensus of how to build a national platform to address Nigeria’s political structure and process.

They said the coalition building process was aimed at the convening of a Peoples’ National Conference.

The phone line of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, was repeatedly busy when called last night.

He also did not replied a text message sent to him by our reporter.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, on Thursday, lambasted the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria, NHRC, Tony Ojukwu for allegedly going cap-in-hand to foreign operated businesses in Nigeria to beg for sponsorship.

HURIWA said the alleged move by Ojukwu was inappropriate and clearly violates the provisions of the enabling act setting up the rights commission as would be cited below.

In a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko asked the management of NHRC to rescind its beggarly tendencies and properly discharge her mandates.

The rights group noted that the commission’s mandates did not envisage that the management could go to the ridiculous extent of becoming a corporate beggar to even companies set up by foreigners in Nigeria, which are amongst the largest abusers of the employment rights of Nigerians with many of them using Nigerian workers as modern day slaves.

According to HURIWA: “It beggars belief and is indeed an unprecedented act of betrayal and compromise that the public funded national rights commission that should act as an independent investigator of all human rights-related infractions including the pervasive human rights violations against Nigerians working in foreign owned and operated companies in Nigeria is seen openly or clandestinely in an unholy communion with these same entities that the commission ought to provide oversight functions.

“It is the height of ethical depravity and the greatest show of shame that the head of this government funded agency that became financially and operationally independent in 2010 with wide ranging amendments to its enabling Act costing the taxpayers’ hundreds of millions of Naira to be seen begging companies to fund a movie. So what will happen if these companies are accused by their staff members especially Nigerians of gross human rights violations given that in recent times there have been well documented empirical evidence of grave human rights abuses of Nigerians by owners of foreign administered businesses in Nigeria?

“There is no doubt that the commission is the only government institution statutorily mandated to promote, protect and enforce human rights in Nigeria, we cannot do it alone.

“Our determination to keep advancing the course of human rights has brought us here today to partner your esteemed organisation to support the commission in its quest to take the knowledge of human rights to the doorsteps of every household in Nigeria.”

HURIWA recalled that the NHRC (Amendment) Act, 2010 has conferred on the Commission additional independence and strengthened the Commission’s power with respect to promotion and protection of human rights, investigation of alleged violation of human rights and enforcement of decisions. The Amendment Act has also widened the scope of the Commission’s Mandate to include vetting of legislations at all levels to ensure their compliance with human rights norms.

The federal government yesterday banned commercial activities under the Marine Beach Bridge, as rehabilitation works are completed for the bridge to reopen to traffic.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, while inspecting the bridge directed ministry officials to adopt measures against street trading that sparked up the fire that destroyed the bridge several years ago leading to its degeneration.

Fashola said construction works on the Apapa-bound lane under construction have been completed and the section would be opened to traffic “in a few days’’.

While inspecting ongoing construction on the Apapa-bound lane on the top of the bridge, the contractors on the project explained that work was ongoing beneath the bridge while vehicles plied the top.

The minister, who commended the level of technology being applied, warned against allowing illegal activities under the bridge.

“You have to ensure no trading or illegal activities take place here again, in the first place that was what caused the fire that damaged this bridge,’’ he directed his officials.

He appealed to residents and other stakeholders in Ijora and Apapa to desist from abuse of the bridge

The over 40-year-old Marine Beach Bridge was damaged by a fire incident and repair work was first awarded for it in 2012.

It went through another round of six months repairs in 2017, before the current ongoing rehabilitation that began in phases in 2020 with the entire repairs expected to be completed in March 2021.

Ade Adesomoju, Abuja

The Federal High Court in Abuja has declared that magistrate’s courts lacked the power to issue an order freezing bank accounts.

The court also ordered banks to desist from acting on “bankers order” served on them, particularly by the police, to freeze or place a post-no-debit order accounts on personal accounts.

Justice Inyang Ekwo made the declaration in a judgment in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1635/2019 on Tuesday.

The suit was instituted by five children of the late Chief E. A. Esiso against one of their siblings, Yoma Esiso, four banks which had frozen their bank accounts, the Inspector-General of Police and the Commissioner of Police in charge of the IGP Monitoring Unit.

The five siblings who were the plaintiffs who instituted the suit are Mrs Eunice Oddiri, Beauty Ogbodu, Chief Sunny Esiso, Edirin Esiso, and Mrs Emuobosa Consin.

They stated in their suit that in September 2019 one of the landed assets of their late father in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, was sold and the proceeds were shared among the deceased’s children, including Yoma.

Yoma was said to have petitioned the police after which his five siblings were arrested and detained.

The plaintiffs were later released on bail but realised that their accounts had been frozen by their various banks which claimed to have received letters authorising them to so do from the office of the Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of the Police in charge of the IGP Monitoring Unit.

The banks said the letters from the IGP office were accompanied with a document called a Bankers Order from a magistrates’ court, ordering the freezing/post no debit on the accounts.

The plaintiffs on December 24, 2019 sued their banks – Zenith Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank and First Bank Place – along with the IGP, the IGP Monitoring Unit, and Yoma.

They contend among others in their suit that that the order to freeze/post-no-debit obtained from the magistrate’s court and placed on their accounts on the strength of a non-existent law was illegal null and void.

Only GTB filed processes in response to the suit, while the rest of the defendants did not.

But in his judgment, Justice Ekwo ruled that GTB failed to effectively controvert the case of the plaintiffs as he held that there was no existing Nigerian law or relevant foreign law empowering magistrates to make such an order for freezing of persons’ accounts.

He therefore declared that “the Bankers Order/Order freezing and/or enabling the post-no-debit” on the listed accounts of the plaintiffs “cannot be validly issued pursuant to a non-existent/repealed Bankers Order Act 1847 and any other irrelevant foreign law”.

The judge also ruled that “a Magistrate lacks the powers to make Bankers orders and/or order freezing or enabling a post no debit on bank accounts pursuant to non-existent/repealed section 7 of the Banker‘s Order Act 1847.”

The judge therefore ordered the four banks “to unfreeze the accounts of the plaintiffs and desist from further giving effect to the non-existent Bankers order served on the prompting of the 5th and 6th defendants (IGP and the IGP Monitoring Unit).” (punchng)