The Defence Headquarters has clarified on the attack by terrorists on Borno State convoy on Friday. In a statement released on Sunday, it said 18 persons were killed in the Book Haram ambush on the Borno State Government’s convoy.

In the statement, the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, said 10 policemen, four soldiers and four civilians were killed in the ambush at Barwati village.

According to the military spokesman, the victims were killed by an explosion from the multiple Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted on the road by the terrorists.

He further revealed that two police vehicles were carted away, but adds that Troops on hot pursuit of the insurgents successfully recovered the vehicles and captured a Boko Haram gun truck.

According to General Enenche, the Nigerian Army has since deployed bomb and IED disposal teams to ensure effective route scanning and clearance to forestall future occurrence.

Below is the full statement as sent out by the military spokesman.

“The convoy of the Borno State Civilians Relocation Committee comprising Armed Forces of Nigeria, Nigeria Police Force and Civilian Joint Task Force was ambushed by members of the BHT/ISWAP at Barwati village on 25 of September 2020.

“The attack/ambush was however successfully repelled by the gallant troops. Sadly, a total of 18 lives including 4 soldiers, 10 Policemen and 4 civilians were lost during the sad incident.

“Troops on hot pursuit of the insurgents successfully recovered 3 vehicles.

“Two of the vehicles belonging to the Nigeria Police that were earlier carted away by the terrorists during the attack. Similarly, one BHT gun truck was also captured.

“The casualties recorded were as a result of the explosion from the multiple Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted on the road by the terrorists.

“The Nigerian Army has since deployed bomb and IED disposal teams to ensure effective route scanning and clearance to forestall future occurrence.”

Members of the dreaded secret cult group popularly called Black Axe were on Wednesday September 24, 2020, in a ceremonial procession in honour of their dead colleague, when everything came to an abrupt end.

Police operatives from Ogijo in Ogun State swooped in on them, arresting eight members of the cult.

The procession was being held as a ritual to mourn one of their members who died recently.

The arrest of the cultists followed a report lodged at Ogijo Police Station, where a 16-year old boy, Onome Iduru, was rushed to after being shot in the stomach by the cultists during the procession 

Ogun CP, Edward Ajogun

It was learnt that the cultists reportedly dispossessed the deceased of his phone, after shooting the victim and also went ahead to unleash terror in the community.

Upon the report, the Divisional Police Officer, Ogijo, CSP Muhammed Suleiman Baba, led his men to the scene, where eight members of the violent group were apprehended.

The suspects arrested were; Olatunji Opeyemi,, Ayuba Oduola, Sobowale Abiodun, Sobowale Sunday and ,Adelowo Olalekan.

Others included; Kareem Lanre,, Emmanuel Adebisi, and Tobiloba Wasiu.

They were all successfully rounded up after serious encounter with the combat-ready policemen.

A banner designed with the group insignia to announce the death of their member was recovered from the cultists while the injured victim was taken to nearby Oladayo Hospital for medical attention.

Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the story.

The Commissioner of Police, CP Edward Awolowo Ajogun, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation. 

The CP, therefore, warned that any group or individual who engaged in any activity capable of undermining the peace of the state would be dealt with in a very decisive manner,.

Ogun PPRO, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi

Ajogun then appealed to parents to warm their wards not to be part of any unlawful society or group as the results may be catastrophic.

Tobi Soniyi

Three legal practitioners, Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, Gloria Ballason and Abiodun Baiyewu have written to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho to stop judges from humiliating female lawyers when they appear before them.

In their letter, which they copied the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the lawyers said judges of the federal high courts often insist that a female legal practitioner indicate her gender after announcing their appearance in court.

They wrote: “It has come to our attention and we have independently verified that several judges of the federal high court in different places insist on asking female counsel appearing before them to indicate whether they are married or single.

“They require them to make a mandatory choice between the honorific titles ‘Mrs.’ or ‘Miss’ when they announce themselves in their courts.
“In some cases, female advocates, who balk at being treated in this way run into trouble with conducting their cases, suffer unacceptable bullying from the court or jeering and sniggering from the bar and the court gallery and generally get subjected to indignities entirely unrelated to their abilities or the merits of their advocacy and cases.

“We note that men, who appear in the court, are not at risk of suffering a similar fate,” the letter said.
The lawyers argued that this treatment had no basis in the rules or the laws applicable to proceedings before the federal high court.
According to the letter, treating female lawyers in this manner is inconsistent with the right to personal dignity guaranteed by section 34(1) of the 1999 constitution as amended.

They also cited section 42(1) of the constitution, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. They consequently called on the CJ to put an end to this ugly practice of maltreating female lawyers.

The letter said: “Sadly, the treatment of female counsel by these judges of the federal high court violates high constitutional principles, in addition to basic courtesies.
“We are pained that this is coming from a superior court of record that should be at the forefront of the defence of these principles”, the letter said.

A group of lawyers, under the aegis of House of Justice, have written to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, seeking protection for female lawyers appearing before judges of the court.

In their letter dated September 21, 2020, the groups said they were not comfortable with the usual practice of Federal High Court judges demanding the marital status of female lawyers appearing before them.

The letter, titled, ‘Re: Guaranteeing the Dignity of Female Counsel Appearing before the Federal High Court,’ was signed by Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, Gloria Ballason and Abiodun Baiyewu.

The letter reads partly, “It has come to our attention and we have independently verified that several honourable judges of the Federal High Court in different places insist on asking female counsel appearing before them to indicate whether they are married or single, by requiring them to make a mandatory choice between the honorific titles ‘Mrs’ or ‘Miss,’ when they announce themselves in court.

“In some cases, female advocates who balk at being treated this way run into trouble with conducting their cases, suffer unacceptable bullying from the court or jeering and sniggering from the bar and the court gallery and generally get subjected to indignities entirely unrelated to their abilities or the merits of their advocacy or their cases.

“We note that men who appear in court are not at risk of suffering a similar faith.”

The group contended that the practice of asking female lawyers their marital status had no basis in the rules of the court, and amounted to a violation of their constitutional right to dignity.

They added, “Sadly, the treatment of female counsel by these honourable judges of the Federal High Court violates high constitutional principles, in addition to basic courtesies.”

PUNCH

The just concluded Edo State gubernatorial election has produced some winners and losers. A message has been sent, lessons have been learnt and the event has been recorded in history for posterity.

The much-anticipated mayhem, violence and destruction did not occur. The usual electoral irregularities and manipulations were mainly accentuated in their relative absence. There were no widespread post-electoral protests. The consensus was that the people of Edo State took their destinies in their hands, protected their votes and ensured that their will prevailed.

So how did we get it right in Edo State? There is an argument making the rounds that most of the dramatis personae were intimidated by the threat of visa ban by the United States of America on Nigerian electoral offenders that they generally avoided any action that would likely incur the wrath of Donald Trump’s global policemen. In as much as the timing of the visa ban threat is auspicious, yet I believe that it played a negligible part in the success of the election. Some of the eligible transgressors may have already soiled their hands elsewhere and are already on the banned list meaning that any further electoral misdemeanour committed in Edo State would only make them repeat offenders.

Admitted the United States reserves the right to allow or disallow whoever she wants into her country, the propriety of the threat of visa ban leaves some probing questions. How do you determine who has committed an electoral offence worthy of the sanction? Are you going to use media reports when most of the Nigerian media are known to be biased because they are controlled by political interests or aligned with political parties? Are they going to rely on the opposition who would readily celebrate the ‘maturity of the electorate’ and ‘advancement of Nigeria’s democracy’ when they win but will start screaming ‘democracy is in danger’ each time they lose? Are you going to use the pronouncement of Nigerian courts?

The most plausible way would be the use of the famed US intelligence agencies. However, notable failures in places like Iraq and Libya that cost the US the loss of precious lives and waste of hundreds of billions of dollars mean that the US intelligence services and personnel are not infallible. Additionally, Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policy has led to the defunding of the State Department, which has consequently impeded the capacity and efficiency of American intelligence gathering in foreign countries.

The eve of Edo Decides 2020 witnessed some altercations between the security agencies and some PDP governors who were in the state and the aftermath of the elections saw some people ‘lionising’ and ‘canonising’ the governors, insinuating that their presence and strategies in Edo State ensured that the party’s candidate prevailed. Aside from the fact that this is insulting to the majority of Edo electorates who seemed determined to make a statement with the elections, this is a clear case of misplaced adulation. Without any capacity to control the security agencies, incapable of suborning the electoral umpire or financially inducing the electorate for a favourable outcome, these external forces were only bystanders to history, mere onlookers in a momentous event of a favourable outcome. As someone noted while analysing the election outcome, it would be preposterous for Edo people to consciously cast aside a homemade godfather while embracing a foreign-made one.

It may be difficult for some to admit but the obvious non-interference of President Muhammadu Buhari, or rather his interference to ensure that there is non-interference and the relative degree of impartiality by INEC and the security agencies may have strengthened our electoral system and helped deepen democracy. The President may have his faults and the worsening state of the economy, and attendant hardship do not do him any favours, the way incumbent presidents are usually unpopular in periods of economic hardship. The perception in some quarters that most of the appointments by his government are lopsided in favour of the northern part of the country does not win him many friends in the south.

However, in many of the elections conducted under his administration, the President has demonstrated an admiring penchant for non-partisanship. He does not personally interfere in the polls beyond campaigning for the APC candidate as a loyal party man. This attitude may be frustrating to the APC apparatchik because he is a president elected on the platform of a particular party and is expected to further the interest of the party.

Whatever is the real reason behind the president’s commendable approach towards the election, it made him come across as a statesman rather than a combatant. And in the process he must have garnered some badly-needed goodwill.

The vast deployment of security agencies (the legendary federal might) to

Edo State before the elections led to widespread fears that they would be used to subvert the electoral process in favour of the President’s political party. Some have argued that Edo 2020was an “over garrisoned election”. If you divide the total voter turnout (550,000) by the number of security personnel (30,000), it means that every 18 votes were protected by one policeman on the average. It is worthy of note that in a general election this is a difficult scenario to achieve.

It should be noted that in fragile and developing democracies like we have in Nigeria, ‘militarisation’ of elections is most times unavoidable. As we saw in Edo State, the law enforcement agencies were able to ensure a credible election by protecting the electorate and INEC officials from political thugs and other undesirable elements intent on disrupting or manipulating the exercise. The President was said to have given strict instructions to the Inspector-General of Police that under no circumstance would the police be used to perpetrate electoral fraud. This approach is in sharp contrast to what happened during the Olusegun Obasanjo era or specifically in Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, where ‘federal might’ was liberally used in 2015 general elections in many places.

The President was one of the first persons to congratulate the PDP candidate, Governor Godwin Obaseki, immediately he was declared the winner of the election by INEC. This act must have helped in reducing post-election tension and anarchy as it would have undermined the losers’ ability for incitement to violence and calmed APC supporters who may be disappointed and incensed by the unfavourable outcome.

The President’s non-partisanship extends beyond our elections. Our nascent democracy has witnessed in recent past statutory federal allocation to opposition states being withheld even after a Supreme Court ruling that they should be released. It has seen state assemblies impeach some governors under the pressure and supervision of agents of the President. Some Legislators were induced by the President to impeach senate presidents and speakers of the House of Representatives. State of emergency was declared and governors consequently removed and replaced by an appointee of the President mostly because the state chief executive had fallen out of favour with the President.

However, under Buhari, governors have superintended the affairs of their states without any interference from the Federal Government. Some governors have even taken advantage of this by brazenly challenging and undermining federally-controlled law enforcement agencies in the process of performing their duties. In the case of Rivers State, the President in June 2020, approved the refund of a whopping sum of N78bn owed the state by the Federal Government. It is instructive to note that some of these funds were monies owed the state when the past administration in the state was in a party that was in opposition to the federal government. The current governor of the state has wisely or unwisely, and vociferously positioned himself as a bulwark of the opposition party’s resistance to the ruling party.

INEC, although not enjoying the confidence of Nigerians to conduct credible elections, came out with a lot of credits from the Edo elections. From the conduct of most of its agents to the orderly way the results were collated and announced, the Mahmood Yakubu-led body has demonstrated that it can organise elections that meet standards of impartiality and fairness to some degree.

Much of the criticism the current INEC leadership has received may not be a true reflection of the state of things, in my opinion. Their good intentions may oftentimes have been undermined by some desperate politicians who are always inventing new ways to manipulate the electoral process and an opposition party that consistently refuses to take responsibility for or accept unfavourable electoral outcomes.

Improvements in the functionality of card readers and PVC’s have led to better electoral results. Still, some politicians strive to undermine these by ballot box snatching and stuffing by hired thugs and inducement of election officials. Even when some of these elections are successfully concluded, INEC faces court judgements, which are contentious sometimes.

Despite that the last general elections are considered free and fair by many foreign observers, the opposition has consistently cast the election as duplicitous, with some going as far as comparing it with the travesty conducted by a certain Prof. Maurice Iwu in 2007. The 2007 election was so poorly executed that even the most significant beneficiary in the person of Late President Umaru Musa Yar-Adua publicly decried the process that brought him to power. The bad losers of the 2019 elections would neither mention the fact that the ruling party lost the presidential election in five states where the incumbent President’s political party occupied the state governor’s office nor lost the governorship election in three states controlled by the APC.

So much has been said about the President signing or not signing the latest version of the Electoral Act but as the Edo election has proven, the laws in place can be adequate to give us credible polls. What is needed is the will on the part of all stakeholders to make the process less flawed and more effective.

There are lots of areas INEC can improve. Still, the bottom line is that the sanctity of the electoral process will always rely more on social reorientation and institutional reforms than leadership or personnel of the electoral umpire. At the end, there is a general consensus that on the scale of Nigerian elections, Edo 2020 was significantly an improvement.

By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja

The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) is to cough out a whopping sum of N3.8B and another $4.9M for engaging in unlawful seizures of containers of rice legally imported into the country by a trading company.

This followed the Court of Appeal in Abuja upholding a N3.82 billion and $4.95 million monetary judgment against the Customs Service Board (NCSB) and its Chairman.

A Federal High Court also in Abuja had last year ordered the Customs to pay the trading company, Maggpy Trading TFZE the huge sum lost by the company as a result of unlawful seizures of its rice consignment in its warehouses.

Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo had on July 10, 2019 in a judgment issued the order upon finding Customs liable for loses incurred by the company as a result of unlawful actions against its business in Nigeria.

Dissatisfied by the high court judgment against it, the Customs had approached the Court of Appeal with prayers that the judgment be set aside to escape the payment of the huge sum awarded against it.

But a three-man panel of the Appellate Court, in a unanimous judgment by Justice Emmanuel Agim, dismissed the appeal filed by the Customs and its chairman.

In dismissing the appeal, the Appellate Court held that the Federal High Court was right in ordering that the plaintiff – Maggpiy Trading TFZE – be paid the huge sum as damages for the loses caused it by Customs in its legs businesses.

In the Appeal Court judgment, Justices Emmanuel Agim, Peter Ige and Yargata Nimpar were unanimous in holding that the appellants (Customs and its chairman) failed to fault the judgment by Justice Ekwo.

They therefore upheld the high court verdict and affirmed the order on the Customs to pay the huge sum to the company.

Maggpiy Trading had sued the Customs its Chairman and the National Security Adviser (NSA), claiming that on March 18, 2017, officials of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) unjustly sealed off its warehouses located within the Tinapa Free Trade Zone and Resort (TFTZR) in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

It averred that the warehouses, at the time they were sealed off by men of the NCS, contained 90 containers of rice with each of the containers holding 540 bags of rice.

The company added that without any breach of law and after accepting N53M from it as stamp duties, men of the Customs also detained by the road side at Onne, Port Harcourt in Rivers State, 40 trucks with which it was transporting 317 transit containers of rice to its Tinapa Free Trade Zone and Resort facility.

Maggpiy Trading also said its warehouses were eventually unsealed after over four months and that it was compelled by the Customs to re-export the imported rice to Cotonou in Benin Republic on July 28, 2017.

The firm stated that it found that some of the containers had been stolen making it to incur heavy costs and that most of what was left of the consignment had been destroyed.

The Customs denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the plaintiff (Maggpiy Trading) breached Federal Government’s fiscal policy on the importation of any physical goods into Nigeria.

They argued that the plaintiff’s action of importing rice into the country “was calculated to undermine the government’s fiscal policy on food security, which is meant to encourage local production of rice, and the ban on importation of rice through the land boarder.