The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, on Thursday called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to release Senator Shehu Sani from detention.
However, SERAP, in a statement on Thursday by Yinka Olomojobi, accused the anti-graft agency of violating both the national and international law for detaining the Senator.
The statement said: “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should immediately release activist, Senator Shehu Sani detained on allegations of extortion or charge him with a recognizable criminal offence. I will return in 2023, Shehu Sani boasts
“By prolonging his detention without charge or trial, Mr Sani is being treated like a convicted criminal, in violation of national and international law.
“The continued detention of Mr Sani without charge is against the principle of being innocent until proven guilty.
“Nigeria is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 9 of the ICCPR states that “anyone who is arrested shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power.”
“There are similar provisions in the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended). The EFCC should promptly investigate any allegations against Mr Sani and release him on bail pending the conclusion of any such investigation.”
According to Mr Olomojobi, “The right to personal liberty is one of the most central human rights as it is connected to the essentialist rudiments of an individual’s physical freedom.
The right to liberty requires that the arrest or detention of an individual must be in accordance to the law.
“The right therefore protects the individual against the excesses of the government and its agents.
“The right to personal liberty is essentially a personal freedom in which no government can abridge.“This right is juxtaposed with other human rights and can be formally traced back to the English Magna Carta of 1215.”
Recall that Mr Sani, who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th Assembly, was arrested on the 31 of December 2019, for alleged extortion of $20,000 (N7.2m), from the owner of ASD Motors, Sani Dauda.
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday, jailed the Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Olusegun Runsewe, for contempt of court.
Justice Jude Okeke in a ruling ordered the Inspector-General of Police to arrest him and hand him over to the Nigerian Correctional Service in Kuje, Abuja.
The judge ordered him to remain in prison “until he purges himself contempt”.
Runsewe was committed to prison on Thursday following his disobedience of an order made by the court on December 15, 2017.
The order was in respect of a suit filed by Ummakalif Ltd for the sealing of the Arts and Crafts village in Abuja.
The suit was instituted against the Director-General of NCAC, the FCT Minister, the Federal Capital Development Authority, and the Minister for Culture and Tourism.
The plaintiff had alleged in his suit that the sealing of the village was a violation of the contractual agreement for him to develop a part of the village.
He filed a June 21, 2019 motion seeking Runsewe’s imprisonment for allegedly violating an order of the court made on December 15, 2017 directing parties to maintain status quo.
The order, according to the plaintiff, implied that no step should be taken to shut the village.
The plaintiff’s motion filed in line with Order 47 Rule 10 (1), (2)and (3) of the High Court of the FCT Civil Procedure Rules 2018, prayed that Runsewe be committed to prison for disobeying the court order.
Granting the application on Thursday, Justice Okeke held that committing Runsewe to prison for contempt would serve as a deterrent to others in the habit of abusing their office and disobeying court orders.
Justice Salisu Umar who was handling the case before his elevation to the Court of Appeal, had on March 6, 2018, descended on the NCAC for sealing up the village in violation of the earlier order of the court.
The matter was reassigned to Justice Okeke following Justice Umar’s elevation.
When we allow the very foundation of adjudication to be eroded with disdain then we should be ready to say ‘goodbye’to Rule of Law – Kayode Eso
President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Mr. Garba Abubakar as the new Registrar-General of Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.
Prior to this appointment, Abubakar was Director of Compliance at the Commission.
Meanwhile, a number of women groups have described the situation as sad, fuming that the present administration has absolute no regard for women and rule of law.
A January 7th, 2020 letter with reference number: SH/COS/42/3/A/507, signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the President, Abba Kyari conveyed the directive.
The letter which was addressed to the Honorable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, as well as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, specified that the tenure of the appointment should be in line with the provisions of the Company and Allied Matters Act.
On the 6th of January, 2020 barely a day before the letter was signed, the Code of Conduct Tribunal said it may vacate the order it made asking Lady Azuka Azinge to step aside as the acting Registrar-General of the Commission, pending the determination of her trial.
A member of the CCT three member-panel, Julie Anabor, made the statement on Monday, while responding to a complaint made by Mrs Azinge’s lawyer, Abiodun Owonikoko.
Owonikoko had told the Tribunal they were not aware of the ex-parte application filed by the prosecution.
“The order was given by this tribunal as an interim order and not perpetual. All the counter and better affidavit put together would be looked into and the interim order can be vacated,” Mrs Anabor said.
Azinge is being prosecuted by Federal Government on charges of breach of code of conduct for public officers amongst other charges.
Mrs Azinge pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to her on December 23.
Though the interim order was meant to have expired on the 6th of January, 2020 considering that an ex parte order has a life span of 14 days, the order was not vacated and Azinge was not recalled.
An ex parte application is usually taken in cases of extreme urgency, where failure to take it will result in destroying of the res (subject matter) or where an irreparable damage could be done if not granted.
Meanwhile, the tribunal had fixed January 29, 2020, for the commencement of her trial.
Rather than vacate the interim order or see to the end of her trial, the federal government has installed a substantive Registrar General.
It would be recalled that Hajiya Saratu Shafii had earlier replaced Lady Azinge as Acting Registrar General.
Hon. Justice Kayode Eso, JSC once said: “When we allow the very foundation of adjudication to be eroded with disdain then we should be ready to say ‘goodbye’to Rule of Law, Peace, and Orderliness and welcome to ‘anarchy’, and ‘chaos’, and the whole society suffers for it.”
Likewise, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, has said that the only “thing” preventing a civil war in Nigeria was the “peaceful tenets” of Christianity in Nigeria.
He made the remark while claiming that the Federal government was using different methods to achieve the goal of Islamic dominance in Nigeria.
Kukah said: “The only difference between the Federal Government and Boko Haram is that Boko Haram is holding a bomb. The Federal Government is using different methods to achieve the same goal of Islamic dominance.
“They are using the levers of power to secure the supremacy of Islam which then gives more weight to the idea that it can be achieved by violence. They have created the conditions to make it possible for Boko Haram to behave the way they are behaving.
Little wonder why the President of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN described the entire process as an abnormality.
Usoro in his New Year speech remarked that the process leading to the removal is an abnormality that does not portend good for the security of tenure of our public officers.
“Economic growth can only be attained in an atmosphere of predictability and certainty. This new practice of tripping and removing our public officers through contrived CCT ex-parte orders corrodes confidence in the system.”
Other Nigerians have been unanimous in their objection to the speed/urgency of the entire proceedings.
A staff of the Commission who spoke under anonymity had this to say: “Ordinarily, a court must hear the other side before determining a matter. And so having granted an ex parte order which has a 14 day life span, the other side must be heard, hence the 6th January date. The public outcry is, why make such an order at that stage? It’s as if waiting for 6th January will make the heavens fall or the subject matter (res) destroyed; which are the principles guiding ex parte applications.
“These and other steps taken by the CCT leaves a reasonable person watching the proceedings to have an impression of likelihood of bias on the part of the Umpire, hence the huge outcry.”
Speaking on the matter, Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association Abuja branch, Folarin Aluko joined in condemning the procedure adopted by the CCT.
Aluko in a statement released on the 31st December, 2019, observed that there were grave concerns among members of the public about whether the Code of Conduct Tribunal, an organ of the Executive, is being used to achieve partisan objectives as it would be clearly against Nigerian Law for the Tribunal to direct the Hon. Minister of Trade & Investment to suspend and/or replace a Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission.
The statement reads: “By virtue of Section 8 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), it is only the Corporate Affairs Commission that has the statutory mandate to appoint the Registrar General of the Commission. This power is granted by the CAMA to the exclusion of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and his agent, the Minister of Trade and Investment.
“Interrogating the issue further, Section 11 (1) (c) of the Interpretation Act goes on to state that where a law confers a power of appointment, that power also includes the power to remove or suspend. By implication of a community reading of these two provisions, only the Corporate Affairs Commission can suspend or remove an Acting or substantive Registrar General. The rationale for this is not farfetched- there is clearly a need to insulate the operations of the Corporate Affairs Commission, and by implication, the economy, from the politics and bureaucracy of the Civil Service.
“This position which has been affirmed by our Courts, was recently tested in a public interest lawsuit filed on behalf of the Intellectual Property Lawyers Association Nigeria, represented by the firm of Trumann Rockwood Solicitors. I was privileged to appear as Lead Counsel in that suit.
“Although established in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) as an agency of the Executive, the Tribunal is also a quasi-judicial body with a narrow scope and limited jurisdiction. The Tribunal is subject to the rule of law and is bound to observe the principles of Natural Justice and Fair Hearing.
“It is trite that justice must not only be done, it must manifest and be seen to have been done. The Tribunal should not place itself in a situation where the confidence reposed in it by the public to do justice is eroded.”
Meanwhile, Lawyers Network Against Corruption (LAWNAC) have disclosed that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act Request to determine whether the administrative predication for the charge against Lady Azinge is in compliance with the provisions laid out in the 5th Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act and the Code of Conduct Practice Directions 2017.
In a statement released on the 3rd January, 2019, via its official Twitter handle @lawnacng, LAWNAC said it is concerned about the allegations of bias, ethnic targeting and abuse of process in the commencement and prosecution of charges against Lady Azuka Azinge by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
The organisation said it is of the firm view that justice must not only be done, it must manifestly be seen to have been done. This means that the Code of Conduct Tribunal must never place itself in a situation where the confidence reposed on it by the public to do justice to all parties before it in all circumstances is eroded. The stream of justice must be kept clean and clear without any suspicion of pollution.
“LAWNAC is more particularly concerned about these weighty allegations following the shocking use of ex parte orders by the Tribunal, noting that the Court of Appeal recently chided the Tribunal and the Chairman for conduct creating a likelihood of bias.
“LAWNAC is concerned that the current trajectory on which the Tribunal is headed is against the spirit and letter of the laws establishing the Tribunal and will derail the Tribunal and erode any public confidence reposed in the Tribunal.
“LAWNAC recognizes that the Learned Justices of the Court of Appeal have had course to reprimand the Chairman of the Tribunal in the case of Rasheed Owolabi v. FRN, Suit No: CA/A/623C/2016 decided on the 2nd March, 2018, where the Court of Appeal overturned the ruling of the Tribunal headed by Chairman Danladi Umar against the Defendant, Mr. Owolabi.
“In the words of the Court of Appeal: ‘The pertinent question is whether in the circumstances of this case, it may not be inferred that right-minded persons of the public would have the impression that there is a real likelihood of bias against the appellant. Any reasonable man observing the proceedings will definitely have the impression, in the prevalent circumstances of this case, that the appellant will not get a fair trial from such a Tribunal whose chairman has had some grievance or embattlement with the appellant.’
“It is in fact noteworthy that the chairman was not completely absolved of blame in the petition filed against him to EFCC by the Appellant. Though the EFCC, after investigation had concluded that there were no sufficient facts to prosecute the chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Umar over the allegation of graft made against him by the Appellant, yet he was vilified for ‘a most unethical and highly suspicious conduct in his part” for the chairman meeting privately with the Appellant in his chambers at the Tribunal. It is also significant to note that the Personal Assistant to the Chairman is being prosecuted for some amount of money paid into his account by the Appellant over the same matter.’ See E.F.C.C. Investigation Report at pp. 68-69.
“Part of the EFCC Report specifically stated thus: ‘There are indications that the tribunal Chairman might have demanded and collected money from the complaint through his said personal assistant. However, efforts made to recover the telephone handset used by Justice Umar proved abortive, as he claimed that he had lost the telephone in 2012. This has made it impossible to subject it to independent scientific analysis with a view to corroborating the allegation. Justice Umar also admitted that he met privately with the complaint in his chamber at the tribunal. This is unethical and highly suspicious conduct on his part.” (See p. 69 of the Record of Appeal)
The Lawyers Network Against Corruption is a network of Legal Practitioners in public and private practice from all 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria dedicated to the fight against corruption Nigeria, and especially in the legal profession and the justice delivery sector.
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, has disclosed that the only “thing” preventing a civil war in Nigeria was the “peaceful tenets” of Christianity in Nigeria.
He made the remark while claiming that the Federal government was using different methods to achieve the goal of Islamic dominance in Nigeria.
The cleric warned that the Federal Government was fanning the embers of Islamization in Nigeria if more Christians don’t get key appointments, Vanguard quoted him as saying.
He said: “The only difference between the Federal Government and Boko Haram is that Boko Haram is holding a bomb. The Federal Government is using different methods to achieve the same goal of Islamic dominance.
“They are using the levers of power to secure the supremacy of Islam which then gives more weight to the idea that it can be achieved by violence. They have created the conditions to make it possible for Boko Haram to behave the way they are behaving.
“On Boxing Day 2019, ISWAP released a video beheading 10 Christians and shooting one Muslim, saying they were avenging the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghadi, Daesh, ISIS leader, and other senior Daesh members killed during a US raid in October.
“The beheading of the 10 Christians followed a Christmas Eve attack by Boko Haram, in which seven were killed in cold blood, adding that the United Nations estimated that over 2.2 million people have been displaced by Boko Haram’s actions between 2013 and 2015.
“More than 11,000 innocent people were killed by the rampaging Islamist group. The Nigerian government, by packing key government positions with hardline Muslims, gives tacit approval to such groups.
“If the people in power don’t do enough to integrate Christians, then they give oxygen to Islamism. If they have countries where everybody in power is Muslim, then you give vent to the idea that Islam should be supreme.
“The western nations are not doing enough. They have shown that the resources of Africa are more important than the ordinary people.
“Clearly, the Western nations could have reduced the influence of Boko Haram by 80 or 90 percent. They have deliberately not done enough. The only thing preventing Nigeria from being engulfed in civil war is the peaceful tenets of Christianity”.
First published in my column, #TheAlternative, in Sunday ThisDay of January 5, 2020.
I just watched probably the saddest video I have ever seen in my life. It is a video on the website of The Cable and it shows the sheer number of private jets that landed in Maiduguri on December 28, 2019, bringing guests for the wedding ceremony of the son and daughter of Kyari Mele, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
I have lived in America for decades. I schooled in the United Kingdom. I traveled to over 30 countries last year (2019), campaigning for #FreeLeahSharibu, yet I have never seen private jets converge in such profusion at one place and for one event in my life. The only possible exception is when I watched a clip on CNN of guests arriving for the World Economic Forum in Davos, but to a large extent, they arrived on commercial planes.
Sadly, on the same day that The Cable reported that 40 private jets rained out of the sky into Maiduguri, ferrying guests to the wedding fatiha of the children of the NNPC GMD, the British press was agog with photographs of British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, flying economy to the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, to mark the New Year. To put this in perspective, note that Boris Johnson is the most successful politician or Earth right now. Yet he flew Economy. The NNPC has made a ₦547 billion loss in the last 3 years, yet its GMD’s guest flew into town with 40 private jets. And Nigeria wants to borrow $29.6 billion!
I urge my readers to note that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which this fellow heads, has consistently turned a loss for the past five years. In June this year, The Punch reported that the NNPC has lost a total of ₦547 billion in the last three years alone.
I again urge my readers to note that this is happening at a time when the amount being spent on fuel subsidy hit ₦1.5 trillion in December, 2019, according to Daily Trust (meaning that we are now spending more than twice what we spent on the ‘fraudulent’ subsidy of the Jonathan era).
Are we a serous nation at all? We are about to take loans totalling $29.6 billion, meanwhile we have an official of state flexing in such a manner. You might say that it is his friends that are spending the money, and I would ask you if they would spend such monies for nothing without expectation that they would benefit from his high office?
His boss (General Muhammadu Buhari is the minister for petroleum), claims to be fighting corruption and profligacy in government. Please tell me what can be more profligate than this?
The other time when I complained of oil billionaires of the Northeast and especially of Borno state living large in the midst of the worst poverty on planet Earth, bar none, the Indimi family took umbrage and railed at me like banshees. My fellow Nigerians, have I not been vindicated?
This is the type of wastage in the midst of mind-boggling poverty that Mohammed Yusuf saw and which radicalized him and his followers.
According to The Cable, the jets at the Maiduguri airport on that day numbered no less than 40. It costs about $20,000 to charter a mid-sized jet in Nigeria, so we are looking at expenditure on aviation alone at $800,000, maybe more. The amount of money spent chartering private jets to that event could have fed 100,000 IDPs for a year. If we calculate the cost of feeding at the ₦30 that Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Muhammad Sabo Nanono, claims can feed an adult in Buhari’s Nigeria, then the number increases to 300,000 IDPs for one year.
What type of country are we? Private jets landing besides public suffering? Wedding of the decade holding alongside suffering of the millennium. Naira spraying on the dancing couple when hundreds of IDPs are dying because their IDP camps have not been sprayed with insecticides? Boko Haram beheading 11 Christians while Nigeria’s high and mighty are chewing on chickens that have recently been beheaded!
Again, I ask, what type of country are we?
The sheer display of opulent wealth in the world’s headquarters for extreme poverty last weekend in Nigeria showed that there is no social justice in Nigeria under General Muhammadu Buhari. None at all.
Recently, the Governor of Borno, Professor Babagana Zulum, told us how Boko Haram still controls territory in his state. He cried for help in the interview. Sad to say that the number of planes that invaded his airspace on Saturday, December 28, 2019, is far more than the number of planes the Nigerian Airforce has fighting Boko Haram.
When you ask why there are not more planes operating sorties in the Northeast, you are told that money is tight. Those making such a claim should watch the video of private jets raining on Maiduguri on The Cable’s website. Many things are the problem. Money is not one of them.
Are we not the same country about to spend ₦37 billion to “renovate” a building the Obasanjo administration built from the scratch with just ₦7 billion? I can just imagine the angst in the minds of the millions of Borno IDPs as they saw those planes flying above them. What a recruitment propaganda for Boko Haram!
Just a week to this obscene wedding, at least four humanitarian workers were killed, and two others abducted by Boko Haram. In total, over 40 UN and NGO humanitarian aid workers have been killed by Boko Haram in around Maiduguri since the insurgency began. These were people who left the comforts of their safer and more prosperous countries and cities, to sacrifice themselves for a people whose own elite would rather party in grand style when their communities are collapsing.
Yet, as the world grieves for these recently killed four humanitarian workers, the owners of Nigeria could not care less about them. They amassed in Maiduguri to celebrate the wedding of the year. As I watched, I shed a tear for the recently married soldiers killed not too far from Maiduguri by Boko Haram. I feel ashamed that these are the type of rapacious elite that they are fighting for.
They remind me of Nathan Sharibu, Leah Sharibu’s father, who was busy guarding a big man in Yola at the very moment Boko Haram was abducting his daughter in Dapchi.
To those Nigerians who were expecting things to improve after General Buhari lied his way to power, I quote from George Orwell’s Animal Farm:
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
The elite of Borno state should note that as long as they continue to titillate the masses with such obnoxious display of wealth is as long as they will be unable to sleep. How can they sleep, when the masses cannot sleep? Not possible. Not possible at all.
On the same The Cable website, I read the testimony of a woman from Borno celebrating the fact that for the first time ever. her children ate an egg at school during the now discontinued school feeding programme-initiative of the Federal Government. An egg. An egg! Her children have never eaten an egg in their lives. And this is the same environment where it is now raining private jets! May God have mercy on Nigeria.
In the last four years, our national psyche has been so brutalized that we have lost all sense of what is appropriate. We have been called ‘criminals’ by our ruler, who has also called our youths lazy. What is more, we are all poorer than we were four years ago. Poorer in morals, poorer in charity, poorer in compassion and much poorer in monetary terms.
The sad truth is that no one in Nigeria is exempted from the mismanagement that General Buhari has foisted on this nation in the name of first change, and then next level. Absolutely no one.
Under former President Jonathan, Aliko Dangote was the 24th richest man on Earth with a net-worth of $25 billion. Please Google it. Under General Buhari, Dangote has just been named the world’s 96th richest man with a net-worth of $14.8 billion. Scripture has a word for this.
“Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”-Proverbs 13:20.
Two days after the clouds of Maiduguri were raining private jets, we celebrated the New Year. On the New Year’s Day, India’s leaders announced a plan to LAND on the MOON, while Nigeria’s ruler, General Buhari, announced a plan to LAND Nigeria in DEBT. Nations RISE and FALL on LEADERSHIP. Nigeria’s leaders should not borrow more MONEY. Rather, he should borrow more WISDOM.
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked bears rule, the people mourn”-Proverbs 29:2
By Bolaji Tunji (First published in The Guardian on Saturday in 1999)
OLABISI Ajala. The name may not readily ring a bell to the younger generation of Nigerians, but the older generation would certainly remember him as the happy-go-lucky bearded globe-trotter and socialite who put the nation on the world map, as he traversed the globe on his motor scooter. Ajala explored the unexplored and charted the hitherto uncharted areas of the world.
He wined and dined with heads of state and leaders including the late Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, first Republic Prime Minister of Nigeria; the late Paudit Nehru of India; the late Abdel Nasser of Egypt; the late Golda Meir of Israel; the late Marshall Ayub Khan of Pakistan; the late President Makarios of Greece; the late General Ignatuis Acheampong of Ghana and the late Odinga Oginga, one-time vice-president of Kenya. The list, indeed, is endless.
But on the February 2, 1999, the man fondly known as “Ajala travel” died. He died in penury. The world famous Ajala died unsung and unrecognised. His grave in central Lagos is no different from any other. For more than a year, Ajala suffered. He had a stroke which paralysed his left limb. But his army of children were not there to give him succour.
He only had two of them around, Olaolu Ajala, a 20-year-old student of Baptist Academy, Lagos, and Bolanle Ajala, his 17-year-old daughter who had just finished her senior secondary education at the Baptist High School, Bariga, Lagos. With him also in his last hour was another teenager, 14-year-old Wale Anifowoshe. Wale was especially fond of him. He kept all Ajala’s money, the little there was.
Some of his children who could not be with him include Dante, Femi, Lisa and Sydney all of whom are based in Australia. They are thechildren of his Australian wife, Joan. Some of his other children are also spread around the globe. There are Taiwo and Kehinde in the United States as well as Bisola in England. But all were not around to bid their father a final goodbye except Olaolu and Bolanle.
Indeed, it is a sad end for a man whose scooter is now a national monument. None of his numerous wives was around to bid him goodbye tothe world beyond. His first wife, Alhaja Sade, could not find time during the year-long sickness of her husband until he finally died. She lives in Ikotun, a suburb of Lagos. “We told her that he was sick and she told us she would come, but we never saw her,” Olaolu said.
He was not sure whether she is aware that her husband is dead. Joan, only got in touch with him through correspondence. There are also Mrs. Toyin Ajala in England and Mrs. Sherifat Ajala, mother of his last daughter, Bolanle. But they were not around to tend to the man when he was battling with his sickness. A neighbour in Bariga who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “He could have survived if he had had adequate care.” Adequate care was indeed far from the late globe-trotter. In no other place was this manifested than his residence, a rented apartment in a two-storey building on Adenira Street, Bariga.
Climbing two flights of stairs to the top floor, one is immediately confronted with the way life had treated Ajala. A passage leads into a 16-by-12 feet sitting room. The sitting room, devoid of carpet has a table with about five locally made iron chairs in a corner. This, the reporter gathered, serves as the dining table. An old black and white television set sits uncomfortably in all ill-constructed shelf. The cushion on the sofa hurts the buttock as it has become flat. The curtains on the windows of the two bedroom flats show signs of old age. It is indeed a story of penury.
But his two children in Nigeria still hold fond memories of their father. They eagerly answered questions and consulted calendars to give precise dates which they had marked on the calendar. The mantle of responsibility falls on Olaolu who printed the poster that gave the details of his father’s death. Narrating the last days of his father, Olaolu told {The Guardian On Saturday} that he had a stroke on June 18, last year. “On that day, I had gone to school. When I came back, he told me he fell down on the balcony. We went to call a doctor about three blocks away. It was the doctor who told us that he had a stroke.”
According to Olaolu, medications were prescribed. “We bought the drugs and we followed the doctor’s instruction that we should allow him to rest.” The doctor, who came from a private hospital further advised the children to get their father a physiotherapist. “We got one for him at the Igbobi Orthopaedic Hospital and he was always coming home to give him therapy. And we noticed that he was getting better.”
But the picture changed after three months of home medication. “After three months, we realised that he had relapsed. He was able to walk if he held on to someone. But this suddenly stopped. He could no longer walk.” That was when divine intervention came from a family friend, Morufu Ojikutu, who arrived from Germany. “He advised that we should take him to the hospital when he saw his condition. He also gave us money for his treatment,” Olaolu said.
The reporter gathered that what really stopped the ailing Ajala from going to the hospital was the lack of funds. Says Olaolu: “When he got sick, he did not have money but later my sisters and mum sent in some money for his treatment. And it is this that we spent to keep ourselves together.”
But Bolanle chipped in that at times, money sent to their father doesn’t get to him. “Brother Femi (his second son) sent him £500 but he never received it and that was what he was harping on until he died”, she said.
In spite of the lack of funds, Olaolu believes that he died because he did not get quick medical attention. “When Mr. Ojikutu came, it was already too late. I think he also knew he was about to die and he did not want to die at home. That was why he insisted that he should be taken to the hospital.” Ajala eventually ended up at the General Hospital, Ikeja. “He was there for 11 days. Prior to his death, his younger sister also deposited money with an aunt at the hospital to take care of him,” Olaolu said. It was gathered that before his death, Ajala had demanded that his relatives should bring a more comfortable chair, radio and orange juice. “But when the things were taken to him on February 2, he was already dead,” Olaolu said.
According to Wale, who was with him in the hospital, Ajala had been restless since the weekend before his eventual death. “When he first got to the hospital on January 25, he was always playing and joking with the people in the ward. But from Sunday, January 30, he could not breathe very well. He was always breathing through the mouth until he died on Tuesday, February 2,” Olaolu said.
`Ajala explored the unexplored and charted the hitherto uncharted areas of the world. He wined and dined with heads of state and leaders including the late Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, first Republic Prime Minister of Nigeria; the late Paudit Nehru of India; the late Abdel Nasser of Egypt; the late Golda Meir of Israel; the late Marshall Ayub Khan of Pakistan; the late President Makarios of Greece; the late General Ignatuis Acheampong of Ghana and the late Odinga Oginga, one-time vice-president of Kenya. The list, indeed, is endless.
An Ebonyi State Magistrates’ Court, on Friday, remanded a 26-year-old man, Christian Nweke, in a correctional facility for beheading a two-year-old boy, Onyedikachi Nwali.
The suspect, Southern City News gathered, allegedly beheaded the two-year-old boy and drank his blood, while the mother went to fetch water from the stream.
It was learnt that the suspect, who confessed to the crime, was a barber in Onitsha, Anambra State, and was allegedly suffering from chest pains, until he was brought to the Church of Christ Mission, Ugbaenyim Ezza, Umuhuali community, in the Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, where the boy and his parents were seeking spiritual help.
Asked if he was a ritualist or sent to kill and suck the blood of the boy for money rituals, the suspect said, “No. I’m not a ritualist. Nobody sent me to kill anybody. But I noticed that since the prophetess of this prayer ministry prayed for me, a lot of things have changed and I no longer reason right.”
It was alleged that the suspect committed the crime on December 13, 2019, at the premises of the Church of Christ Mission, Ugbaenyim Ezza.
He was, on Friday, arraigned before the magistrates’ court on one count of murder.
The police prosecutor, Sergeant Sebastine Alumona, said the offence was punishable under Section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 33, Vol. 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.
The defence counsel applied to the court that his client be admitted to bail as he would not interfere with lawful investigation into the matter.
Alumona, however, opposed the bail application and told the court that the suspect would jump bail and interfere with investigation into the matter.
In her ruling, Chief Magistrate Nnenna Onuoha, said the court lacked the jurisdiction to grant bail on such cases.
She directed that the accused be remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Centre, Abakaliki, while his case file should be transferred to the Director of Public Prosecutions in the state for advice.
She adjourned the matter till January 17, 2020, for the report of compliance.
Experts have called on Nigerians to embrace crypto currency irrespective of government resistance, as the system would help eradicate poverty.
They noted that the system provides a platform to curb corruption because every transaction is accounted for in the block chain.
They made this call during the opening of The Billion Cion (TBC) office in Bariga, Lagos.
Manager, TBC, Nigeria, Solo Amanotu, said, “The Billion Coin is derived from the envisage of one billion total human membership of that private contract society called The Billion Coin (TBC). TBC is, therefore, a special crypto currency of its kind, because it is purely private and not public like other crypto currency worldwide.
“By the time TBC reaches it maturity (one billion verified members) it will have created 1.1billionaires who will then undertake their assignment of employing the 4billions unemployed of the world,” he added.
He explained that new members of the system receive a gift of TBC ‘krinkle’ worth over $2,500, and an account grows through reward given after attending tutorials and the currency can be transacted with.
According to Amanotu, TBC operates its own structure and formula, which depends on the total number of users for its growth and value.
“The value of TBC increases by 1-5 per cent daily, meaning your investment appreciates by 1-5 per cent daily. TBC is not in coin marketcap because it is a decentralised, abundance-based crypto currency and not a centralised, market-based crypto currency,” he added.
Coordinator, TBC, Ogun State, Amayowa Adebiyi, said TBC is the only way to create a parallel economy, as it is a private pair to pair society, which makes it impossible to be bought over by a financial institution.
According to him, one needs just a smart phone and an email to join the system, adding that it allows for wallet-to-wallet transaction.
“TBC uses ‘anthropic’ value instead of market value. That’s why it’s on no exchange and its price can function as desired,” he explained.
“Every thing in this office was purchased through TBC. We have some merchants in the group that require you pay a certain percentage as krinkle and as cash to buy their products,” he said.
• ‘It is obnoxious, provocative policy’ • What we have done, by agency
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other stakeholders have rejected the alleged rise in electricity tariff, even as the regulatory agency denied approving any increase.
There were reports at the weekend indicating that electricity consumers in the country would pay more tariff from April this year, based on a minor review of the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) 2015 and the Minimum Remittance Order (MRO) for 2020 published by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
NERC has the mandate to implement the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act 2005, especially Section 32, which allows it to ensure prices charged by licensees (distribution companies) are fair to customers and sufficient to allow the licensees finance their activities and make reasonable profit for efficient operations.
In August last year, NERC published a minor review of tariff order indicating that from 2020 consumers would pay a maximum N14 addition for every kilowatt-hour of energy, depending on their status and their distribution companies.
While the increase was expected to start from this month, the new order has suspended the directive till April, stating that “the Federal Government’s updated Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSPRP) does not envisage an immediate increase in end-users tariffs until 1st April 2020 and a transition to full cost reflectivity by end of 2021.”
In its reaction yesterday, the PDP described the planned increase as draconian and completely against the interest and wellbeing of Nigerians.
The party charged the Federal Government to immediately rescind what it called “the obnoxious and provocative policy and consult further with Nigerians before any such tariff hike.” It also urged the National Assembly to rescue Nigerians from such a draconian policy by deploying its statutory legislative instruments to call the Federal Government to order in the interest of the nation.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, described the alleged increase in electricity tariff as an attempt to worsen “the fleecing of Nigerians, who are already overburdened and groaning under the weight of high costs, economic repression and heavy taxes foisted by the insensitive APC administration.”
According to the opposition party, “It is lamentable that Nigerians, who are already suffering the devastating negative impact of the recent increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT) from five per cent to 7.5 by the APC administration, are now being further suppressed with increased electricity tariff.
“Our party holds that the increase in electricity tariff, under the prevailing harsh economic conditions, is injurious to the wellbeing of Nigerians as it will further stress the productive sector and lead to an upsurge in the cost of regular and essential goods and services, including food, medicine, housing, education and other critical needs.”
It declared that “the APC policy, if allowed, will worsen the suffering of Nigerians as it will put more stress on already overburdened families, cripple businesses, result in job losses and exacerbate the prevailing frightening unemployment rate under the Buhari administration.”
The National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, said the focus of the Federal Government in the beginning phase of the year should not be to impose grave hardship on the populace just coming out of the seasonal festivities of Christmas and New Year but on how quality education could be delivered to millions of the children of Nigerian suffering families that would be returning to schools in the next few days.
“The government should be focused in this New Year on how to improve health care and on how to curb the internal corruption that has destroyed the so-called schools feeding programme instead of President Muhammadu Buhari working day and night to unleash devastating economic strangulation through unsustainable reviewed electricity power tariffs on millions of Nigerians most of whom are unemployed, hungry, sick and poor.
“The Buhari-led administration should be focused on restoring security of lives and property which is the primary duty of government and for which it has failed to discharge instead of rushing to introduce the wicked policy of electricity power hike in January of a fresh decade.”
But the Coordinator of Electricity Consumer Advocacy Network, AbdulHakim Balogun, said that the increase was expected, as provision had been made for such under the law. He, however, stated that the timing might not be appropriate, considering the state of the economy, increase in VAT and pressure on consumers’ disposable incomes.
The Director General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf, said the power sector problem was multifaceted, adding that the approach to addressing it should be holistic, otherwise the consumers would be vulnerable.
“The tariff question is no doubt one of the problems. But what is NERC doing about the issues of the capacity of the Discos, estimated billing, technical and commercial losses, metering problem, quality and adequacy of investment by the Discos, transmission, proposal on the decentralisation of the sector, promotion of off grid solutions and incentives for renewable energy solutions? All of these need to be addressed in order to inspire the confidence of consumers.
“NERC should protect the interests of consumers as well as those of the investors. There is also the social dimension of electricity provision to those at the bottom of the pyramid. It is also critical to disaggregate and interrogate the components of cost being claimed by the Discos. Already, many small businesses have complained about prohibitive tariffs by Discos following the last review. What is needed is a holistic reform rather than the simplistic solution of tariff review,” he stated.
But the regulatory agency, NERC, said it had not approved any tariff increase yet.
The General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Usman Arabi, made the clarification in a statement issued on the agency’s website and obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday.
Arabi said: “The attention of the NERC has been drawn to the publication in several electronic and print media that end-user electricity tariffs have been increased following the approval of the minor review (2016 – 2018) of the 2015 Multi Year Tariff Order on August 21, 2019.
“We wish to provide guidance that the minor review implemented by the commission was a retrospective adjustment of the tariff regime released in 2015.
“This is to account for changes in macro-economic indices for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 thus providing certainty about revenue shortfall that may have arisen due to the differential between tariffs approved by the regulator and actual end-user tariffs.
“The commission therefore wishes to notify the general public that no tariff increase has been approved vide the order.”
He said, however, NERC, in the discharge of its statutory responsibilities enshrined under the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, would continue to undertake periodic reviews of electricity tariffs in accordance with the prevailing tariff methodology.
Lawyers, especially Senior Advocates of Nigeria, who spoke with Sunday PUNCH on Saturday, were divided over whether the visa-on-arrival policy needed the approval of the National Assembly.
A SAN, Sebastine Hon, said the President lacked the power to begin the implementation of the visa-on-arrival policy without it being first enacted into law by the National Assembly.
Hon said the implementation of the policy without the parliamentary validation through the making of a law would amount to usurping the powers of the National Assembly.
He said, “It falls outside the executive powers of the President. It falls within the Schedule to the Constitution that grants the National Assembly the legislative powers. So, it is something that is on the legislative list of the National Assembly of the Federal Government. It is the National Assembly alone that can take an action on such issue because it must first enact it into a law.
Another SAN, Ahmed Raji, however, argued that the National Assembly’s intervention was not required in the implementation of the policy, but queried the rationality of the policy.
He said, “I do not think executive powers require the intervention of the parliament. It is a policy for a particular purpose. But the question is, is it a desirable thing? If we allow everybody to come to Nigeria, is that what we need. Can’t we learn from the United Kingdom has gone through with the European Union which is not making them to opt out.
Another SAN, Yusuf Ali, said it was a policy and not a treaty. He stated that since it was a policy, it was within the confines of the executive arm of government to give directions without necessarily going through the National Assembly.
Another SAN, Mr Adeniyi Akintola, who urged the Federal Government to overhaul the nation’s foreign policy, said Nigeria’s foreign policies, currently, had no direction.
Policy has serious security implications for Nigeria – Experts
Meanwhile, speaking on the policy, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof Bola Akinterinwa, describing it as the worst policy he had seen.
He explained that it was a wrong time for Nigeria to take such a decision, especially when agents and mercenaries of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria had just been dislodged from Syria and could be on their way to Africa to join forces with their ally, Boko Haram, in West African.
He said, “Why would any reasonable government want to facilitate the entry of all manner of people. The criterion is if the person holds a passport issued by an African country. Many of these people (terrorists) have no fewer than two to three passports, and don’t forget that these days some countries are said to be aiding and abetting Boko Haram.
“This is the worst and very myopic policy that I have seen as a professional student, because it does not render any help in protecting our national integrity. I do not know whether the situation we find ourselves is truly redeemable with this kind of policy.”
Also, an aviation security expert and former Military Commandant of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Group Capt John Ojikutu (retd.), said the policy could break the standing rules on Aviation Security Defence Layers if the Immigration is the only government agency involved.
He said the National Intelligence Agency should share information with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, which would, in turn, share the information received with airport’s security network.
Citing the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, who was convicted of attempting to detonate plastic explosives while flying from Amsterdam to Michigan on December 25, 2009, Ojikutu said Umar might not have sailed through if intelligence agencies work together with Civil Aviation Security authorities and the airlines.
He added, “It would be expected that the passenger’s home country would share some knowledge of the passenger with the airlines and the country of their destination, in this case Nigeria, before their departure at all times.
“Airports are border areas and there is nothing yet stated that the visa on arrival passengers would get any enhanced security checks by the state security agencies or at the departure airports.”
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