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Defence of freedom in perilous times, By Osmund Agbo

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Defence of freedom in perilous times, By Osmund Agbo

“The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.” 

– John Philpot Curran 

A colleague of mine once told a story about her husband, John. Actually, let me rephrase that: the tale was more about John’s love for the cycling legend, Lance Armstrong. Lance, the former American professional road racing cyclist was a seven times winner of the prestigious Tour de France. When it came to Lance, John, a celebrated heart surgeon was but a hapless groupie. His obsession became total when the legend rose from fighting a potentially fatal testicular cancer to win one more of his highly competitive race. 

Not long after those quick succession of victories and to his fan’s utter disappointment, cycling’s most decorated champion became the subject of a doping allegation. It all came to a screeching halt on 17 January 2013, when in front of a national audience, Lance Armstrong, considered one of America’s greatest athletes, confessed to have deployed a cocktail of performance enhancing drugs that included growth hormone, erythropoietin and diuretics to cheat his way to victory. Not suprising, John took the story of his hero’s fall so hard and was completely devastated. The sad news served him the kind of gut punch that obtains when the Spider-Man in your life comes crashing. 

Despite his hero’s admission of guilt, John remained in total disbelief and as a matter of fact, decided thenceforth that Lance Armstrong was above reproach. That meant that any report unflattering of him got to be someone else’s fault. My colleague was shocked that her highly regarded and supposedly informed husband deliberately chose not to face the truth. ”He would weave his own story to escape from reality and refused to hold his hero accountable for any of his infractions”, she stated.

Another experience describes a similar concept though differently. Birtherism and the 44th President of the United States. 

Even after Donald Trump, the arrowhead of the conspiracy theory finally acknowledged that Barrack Obama was born in the US, there were still a good chunk of his followers who despite the fact that Mr. Obama showed his birth certificate in both the short and long form, continued to insist that he was born outside of the US. These were the same group that likely would dismiss Trump’s salacious and creepy ”grab ’em by the….” comment as boys being boys. If you can’t blot it out of your consciousness, the second-best option is to water down the seriousness of it all. Boys being boys for sure sounded way better than ascribing the label of a sex predator to Mr. Trump. Of course, without the infamous video clip those followers would have sworn with their lives that the fake news media was out to get their messianic President. 

In those two separate scenarios, believing in anything else meant the individuals involved would face the onerous task of having to deconstruct what was built in the mind over the years. To them, it sure was much easier to live in an alternative universe instead. Such is a not too subtle form of psychological manipulation that gaslights one into a state of cognitive dissonance. This may sound a bit strange but funny enough, most of us are victims of such except when an individual makes a conscious effort to rid oneself of those primordial shackles to become free.

Truth is everyone has a bias. We are either born with it or grew up having some form of it. It doesn’t even matter that one may not acknowledge it. Most times it exists within the subconscious and that’s why we are often in denial. We are first a product of our own genome and later our growth environment. That is something we just can’t help. Well, we actually can to a good extent but it takes a lot of effort and hard work to overcome. 

Make no mistake, humans are more emotional than rational creatures. Have you ever wondered why someone may decide to find every reason to latch tenaciously onto an obvious falsehood despite all the available evidence to the contrary? It may also not be unconnected with the reason why we tend to click and share things that are more likely to support our positions. That means that if you are a fan of Barrack Obama, you are more likely to share whatever positive thing someone might say about him while conveniently ignoring those critical of him. The converse is also true.

One of the ways Putin helped Donald Trump win the 2016 US presidential election was through the use of a sophisticated Russian disinformation campaign that exploited both individual and system bias. The same way you are surprised to see a product you clicked on Amazon show up in your Facebook feed is same way peddlers of conspiracy theories look out for a would-be victim. They utilise a complex algorithm that tracks our predilections and use that to figure out individual bias in order to predict behaviours.

Among the main target of the Russian campaign was the African-American community, a core base of the Democratic Party. Russians knew the impact of bringing up racial issues among this group and wouldn’t stop talking about Bill Clinton’s 1994 crime bill. This was the bill that prosecutors seized upon to send lots of young black men to prison. I don’t believe Clinton consented to that bill specifically to target blacks but it was nonetheless a very effective propaganda tool. They knew exactly what to say to sow the seed of distrust in people’s mind. They took to Facebook, Twitter and attacked from multiple fronts. They were everywhere and you just couldn’t escape their reach. The attack was relentless.

In the end, folks in the black community who already knew enough not to vote for Donald Trump, were also dissuaded from going out to vote for Hilary Clinton. The result was that in many states that Trump ended up winning in the electoral college, black turnout was an all-time low. The black voter’s turnout rate declined for the first-time in 20 years in a presidential election, falling to 59.6% in 2016, after reaching a record high 66.6% in 2012. They stayed home and the rest they say is now history. That was how black America unwittingly handed out victory to the one she loves to hate. That was the pervasive power of disinformation and the art of modern warfare. Truth is, by our actions and inactions we are all unwilling soldiers recruited in this fight. If you have ever shared an article on Facebook, WhatsApp or any other platform, you may have helped magnify a voice for good or evil.

In this age of Russian troll farms, Infowars and fake news, we all have a little choice to make. One such is to educate yourself, do a little digging and maybe step an inch closer to the truth. But that’s only if you care for the truth. The alternative is to conveniently join the army of click and share across social media platforms. With that you can then elect to help sketchy characters propagate whatever conspiracy, bigoted and quite often hateful ideologies they sell every day. Or better still, spread misinformation as long as it reinforces your own personal bias. 

The choice is definitely ours to make. Maybe the next time you are tempted to share a controversial essay or an inciting video, first do your best to verify if the source is even credible. Ask yourself commonsense questions. Make sure it passes those basic tests and resist the urge to believe everything and disseminate quickly. Such restraint may be a small but very consequential role you play in defending our freedom and shaping our world. A better world for us today and that which we one day hope to pass on to our children. So, help us God.

•Dr. Agbo is the president/CEO of African Center for Transparency and writes from USA. Email: [email protected]

El-Rufai: A critic’s desperation for silence

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El-Rufai: A critic’s desperation for silence

On October 26, 2016, Dr John Dan Fulani, public commentator and lecturer at the Kaduna State University, was arrested and detained for 13 days. His offense: he made a Facebook post criticizing the government of Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State. A reporter with a local newspaper, for publishing a story claiming the governor had assets worth billions of Naira, was equally detained for 13 days. Luka Binniyat, a Kaduna-based Vanguard journalist, published reports on the recent Southern Kaduna killings. For so doing, he was constantly harassed by agents of the state government, and was even tagged “a threat to the security of the state” by a media aide to the governor. Rights activist Gloria Ballason’s radio programme was shut down and reassigned to another person, never mind she owned the intellectual property rights. The state government had found the programme “troubling and upsetting.”

To be fair, it didn’t start with governor el-Rufai, this persecution of free speech. For posting pictures of Fulani murders in Southern Kaduna in 2013, Reuben Buhari, a former aide to former Kaduna State governor, Patrick Yakowa, was repeatedly questioned and harassed. But el-Rufai’s media repression strikes a brow-raising effect for its element of contradiction. For a man who reached power standing on the pedestal of free speech, if not scandalous anti-government parroting, media gagging is such a tragic irony.

A recent survey by a non-governmental organization, Spaces for Change, assessing freedom of expression within the Kaduna civic space, reports gross abuses. All 13 civil society actors interviewed bemoaned incessant government harassments and especially social media muffling. The social media invites more intimidation for its more democratic nature, its dynamic of spread. While the conventional media can be silent to ensure its survival from government patronage, the social media, like el-Rufai’s Twitter account, is sustained by cheap, powerful clicks. It is depressing that the governor, an otherwise shining example in brilliant and intellectual capital idealized for Nigerian leadership, is the one manning the dark work of blighting expression. Being accused, sometimes plausibly, of Fulani sectionalism, is bad enough.

Sometimes plausibly, like in his handling of the recent Southern Kaduna killings. When they do not smack of appeasement to Fulani sense of entitlement, his utterances inspire little or no confidence in the victims. “The Fulani have lived in Southern Kaduna for over 200 years. How can they be calling them non-indigenes?” the governor was reported to have said on the Hausa edition of Voice of America. The Christian Association of Nigeria, Kaduna State chapter, believes “the posture of the government encourages the killings”. The leadership of the Southern Kaduna People’s and Union, SOKAPU, has no faith in the government. Such loss of confidence does not bother the governor, it appears, who says those preaching self-defence are guilty of hate speech and will be arrested. This, even as certain reports alleged security agents stood as people were hacked to death. There was the case of Pasokari village, where a village head and six others were invited for a “peace meeting” by men in military uniforms. They were brutally killed and nothing happened.

Nor has there been remarkable effort at remediation. “Government has not shown sufficient interest in bringing unprovoked attacks in Southern Kaduna to an end”, said Dr Solomon Musa, SOKAPU leader. Unless recently, only one IDP camp caters to the massive humanitarian crisis in Southern Kaduna. Children are out of school; people are displaced from work; hunger bites. Yet in all these, the state government is more interested in siting a grazing reserve in Southern Kaduna. Why not in Northern Kaduna–why propose to grab the land of the violated to appease the violator? Why does the humanitarian predicament of hunger, death, and displacement not earn priority? Why does prosecuting the murderers not reach the gravitas it deserves?

On sectionalism, the governor may have his defense: that he has been equally repressive to specific Muslim interests and rights. In other words it has been a democratic intolerance. There is the Shiite killings and more to his credit, there is the proscription of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, even though his detractors might insist he share that credit with the commission of inquiry that recommended that proscription. The locals detest the IMN, whose members allegedly do not allow the police and army into their  neighbourhoods, who are also accused of traffic obstruction and harassment of motorists. But the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, among some other commentators, accuses the government of anti-Shia bias, of giving a dog a bad name to hang it. The IMN has not been found guilty of any treasonable offense, hence its repression might be political in line with governor el-Rufai’s perceived allergy to tolerance.

One must admit: governance, especially in a volatile state like Kaduna, may sometimes warrant some form of state censorship. Reuben Buhari, for instance, was being harassed for sharing images that “could incite public anger” and cause reprisals. From the regulation of public preaching to the proscription of the IMN, the sentiment of necessary censorship by government seems like apparent motivation. But a government should not be so paranoid of expression as to become desperate for silence–if not for yesmanship.

“The governor does not want to be criticized, even though he enjoys criticizing people”, said Mordecai Ibrahim, Kaduna-based journalist and publisher, a view echoed by Saxone Akahaine and Israel Isue, journalists in the state. Reports say some journalists who published “anti-government stories” were abruptly transferred away from their duty posts. Others maintain a squeamish silence having been cowed by this climate of civic unease. Even civil servants have allegedly not been spared in this calculated raid on dissent.

Meanwhile, the state government denies all these charges. Either there is a conspiracy for false witness against the government by the Kaduna civil society or the denials are misleading.

For several reasons, the NGO’s report is unsettling. “The civic space in Kaduna…oscillates between repression and obstruction”, reads the report. El-Rufai is one of the symbolic faces of the current administration with respect to his closeness to the presidency  and thus, his actions against freedom of speech and minority concerns come at a high cost. The impunity of Fulani violence across the country finds imprimatur in government indulgences such as in Southern Kaduna. Failing to protect a people and yet threatening to punish them for self-defense are blatant acts of oppression. What is more, muzzling and harassing those who express such injustices is plain evil.

How did a popular beneficiary of media freedom and magnanimity reverse to such a crude muffler of speech?  Governor Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday’s critical automation, should reverse himself from desecrating the principle by which he rose to power.  In a polity lacking in constructive thought and erudite political engagement, the intellectual in government has a duty to elevate political conduct above the backwardness of civic muting. An intelligent leader in whom there is much expectation especially among the Nigerian young, the governor should live up to his bidding and review an approach that unites civil society groups in his condemnation.

spacesforchange

Lego hand comes out of boy’s nose after two years

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Lego hand comes out of boy’s nose after two years

Samir Anwar, from Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island was playing with the Lego piece in 2018 when he put it up his nostril.

His dad Mudassir shone a torch up Samir’s nose at the time but couldn’t see it.

The GP told the family it would quickly find its way out naturally through his body, but it didn’t.

“Since then we were pretty confident that he didn’t have anything in his nose,” Mudassir tells Newsbeat.

Samir and his dad Mudassir

However Samir wasn’t so certain that the hand from his Lego set had made its way out the other side.

His dad says he was complaining in the days after: “He was saying ‘no, there is something in my nose’.”

But two years on the family had assumed it had passed through his system.

Then this week Samir was out with his family having a muffin with some fairy dust on the top that agitated his nose.

According to his father: “He started getting anxious again and we said to him just go and blow your nose. So he did.”

That’s when he says the black Lego hand came out into the tissue, leaving them all really surprised.

“We were shocked, his eyes were wide open and he was like, I found the Lego, I kept telling you that it was there, but you were saying that it was not.”

Read other health stories from our team of reporters like Greg Rutherford’s story

Samir had the hand in his nose for two years

Today Samir has been to the doctor once more and has been told for the second and hopefully final time, that he has the all-clear.

“I was surprised and a bit scared,” Samir tells Newsbeat, adding he is still a massive Lego fan and that he’s impressed that the piece had stayed intact.

“It [still] looked like a hand,” he says.

There is guidance if something similar ever happens to you. The NHS advises parents to take children to a minor injuries unit, rather than try and take out foreign objects from children’s noses, in case it pushes them further up.

BBC

AT 71, ARTHUR EZE HAS LOST IT -By Joseph Okemmadu, MD

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AT 71, ARTHUR EZE HAS LOST IT -By Joseph Okemmadu, MD

Prince Arthur Eze:  Humiliated by President Buhari

Controversial as Prince Arthur Eze, has become in his desperate bid to become the godfather of Anambra state which has earned him the moniker of “Money Miss Road”, he may not be a fool, after all.

 Aware that his mission of taking a handful of obscure traditional rulers from Anambra state on Wednesday, August 5, to the Presidential Villa with the sole purpose of criticizing Governor Willie Obiano, before President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, August 7, was dangerous, he carefully made sure that his half-brother, Dr Robert Eze who is the monarch of Ukpo in Dunukofia Local Government Area, did not make the trip.

 Dr. Eze received the 12 traditional rulers in his palace while they were on their way to the airport, but did not follow them to Abuja.

Humiliated by President Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja and now suspended by the Anambra state government, the traditional rulers are feeling swindled.

 Arthur Eze’s brother, a medical doctor, did not suffer any humiliation because he committed no offence. Why didn’t he join?
 He probably felt that they are not in the same class. The 12 traditional rulers are pipsqueaks; they are individuals whom most Anambra people have never heard of.

 In a state which boasts of such monarchs as Prof. Laz Ekwueme, winner of Nigeria’s highest honour for intellectual and artistic excellence, just like Prof. Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike, and Agbogidi Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, an alumnus of Stanford and Columbia universities, who used to be a director of Shell International in London, it is unimaginable that a handful of villagers would arrogate to themselves the prerogative to represent the Anambra state Traditional Rulers Council on the national scene. 

Despite President Buhari’s decision not to grant audience to these fellows because they are insignificant and were on a less than noble mission, they chose to remain in Abuja for another week to see if any state House official would see them even for a minute.
 Taking a cue from his boss who had directed Arthur Eze to make peace with the governor “who is doing a very good job,” Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, turned down the request from Arthur Eze and his putative monarchs to see him. 

Chief Chris Uba: Failed in his bid to be godfather in Anambra state

Interestingly, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, who had arranged the botched meeting between the President and these traditional rulers led by Arthur Eze on Friday, August 7, declined meeting the chiefs whom Prof. Olatunji Dare once famously described as sociological artifacts. 

The President’s Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, decided, out of pity, to see them on Thursday, August 13, for a few minutes. 

Prof. Gambari, 75, is a diplomat of international repute who not only represented Nigeria at the United Nations, but also served the UN in different capacities.

 He adopted the policy well known to diplomats as “Let us keep the fool happy,” and so met Arthur Eze, together with those now referred to in Anambra state as “ndigwe Arthur”, that is,   Arthur Eze’s monarchs.
 Even so, it was on certain conditions, including that not even one line in their speech would be critical of Gov. Obiano in recognition of his impressive record. In fact, the speech was vetted very well in advance. 

This vetting led the monarchs to claim that they were in Abuja not to abuse Gov. Obiano because they know his good record. but to praise President Buhari, for his work in Anambra state like the reconstruction of failed federal roads in Anambra state; the building of the Second Niger Bridge, and the completion of the Zik Mausoleum.

 It is also worthy of note that only two out of the five traditional rulers were allowed into Prof. Gambari’s office, as the other seven had left Abuja the previous week out of frustration.

 Indeed, one fellow who has been pretending to be the Awka monarch but has never been recognized, Chief Austine Ndigwe, has even denied going to Abuja with the monarchs in spite of various trending videos showing him conspicuously everywhere!
 To add insult to injury, the monarchs were last Thursday kept at the outer Banquet Hall at State House for long. And yet they all endured! What for!

It is a pity Arthur Eze has brought the royal institution to its lowest ebb in Nigeria’s history. Last Friday, for instance, the suspended traditional ruler of Alor in Idemili South Local Government Area, Igwe Mac-Anthony Okonkwo, was on the Anambra state Broadcasting Service apologizing profusely to the Anambra people and the state Traditional Rulers Council for his gross misconduct.  The video, as expected, went viral. 

Still, this degrading video is not as bad as a series of videos showing the monarchs collecting raw cash from Arthur Eze, in both Anambra State and Abuja to do his bidding!

 There is hardly any person from Anambra state, whether at home or abroad, who has not watched the videos. 
Thanks to the ubiquity of modern technology, the videos have been watched far more than the popular Sani Abacha video of the late 1990’s showing top generals in government and elsewhere crying like babies when their coup plot against Abacha was discovered and they were matched to the military ruler, Sani, who pretended to be moved by their cries and so offered someone like Gen. Oladipo Diya, his second in command, a handkerchief to clean his face and running nostrils.  

Why has Arthur Eze brought the revered traditional institution to these depths? Just in a desperate bid to become the godfather of Anambra State! 

Why would anyone aspire to be called Anambra state godfather after the notoriety which the term has acquired in the state, thanks to such inelegant fellows as Chris Uba? 

After the state’s liberation by Dr. Chris Ngige, on July 10, 2003, from the stranglehold of godfathers, it will be a tragic mistake for anyone to seek to be considered a godfather. 

Since the liberation, Anambra State has been witnessing fantastic growth and development up to this day. Therefore, our people can never, never tolerate a situation that will remind them of the dark days of godfatherism, let alone take them back to the days which the locusts consumed.  

Finally, people who know Arthur Eze should counsel him to desist from acting in a way which confirms the worst notions about him. 
Whether in State House in Abuja or in his village of Ukpo, people refer to him as a money bag in a way they do not refer to wealthier Nigerians like Femi Otedola, Mike Adenuga, Tony Elumelu and Aliko Dangote because they consider these younger people thoughtful.

 In fact, they call Arthur Eze in his back a “Money Miss Road”. Quite painfully, he seems to be acting in ways which validate this unflattering reputation.

 Probably with his blessing, his agents posted on the social media last Thursday the story that he has donated a Lexus SUV to each of the 12 traditional rulers who travelled to Abuja with him on Wednesday, August 5.

 Of course, no one has seen any of the monarchs with the fabled vehicles. But must Arthur Eze behave in a way which suggests that his world begins and ends with money, money and money? 

At 71, Arthur Eze has lost it completely.

 Dr Okemmadu is a Lagos-based medical doctor and writer. 

Evacuation Flights To End On August 22 — PTF

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Evacuation Flights To End On August 22 — PTF

The Nigerian Government has concluded plans to end evacuation flights following the repatriation of thousands of citizens stranded in various parts of the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Boss Mustapha, who is the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, disclosed this to reporters on Monday in Abuja.

“We wish to state that all evacuation flights will end on August 22, 2020, after which airports will be given sufficient time to prepare for reopening,” he said.

Following the outbreak of the disease which brought the world on its knees, thousands of Nigerians trapped abroad had indicated their interest to return home.

While some of those seeking to be evacuated had travelled for holiday, business, and education purposes, others left Nigeria in search of greener pastures but only got to the foreign land to become victims of human traffickers.

In the last few months, the Federal Government had partnered some groups and organisations to evacuate its citizens back home.

Away from the evacuation of stranded persons, Mustapha who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) commended the level of compliance with the COVID-19 protocols in various schools.

This comes as students in Senior Secondary School 3 classes begin the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) administered by the West African Examination Council (WAEC).

“Today, the Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) examinations commenced all over the country, like in other West African States, and the PTF is happy to note the high level of compliance with the protocols for the re-opening of exit classes,” the PTF chairman stated.

He added, “It is in this light that we appreciate the call by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) for the reopening of tertiary institutions.

“As a listening government, we wish to state that education is topmost on the priority list and the reopening of our institutions remain critical, within set safety parameters.”

Mustapha, however, decried that while a good number of Nigerians were sharing their experiences with the coronavirus and encouraging others to take responsibility, a few others were bent on spreading misleading information.

He stressed that the war against COVID-19 would only be won when the people take responsibility individually and collectively.

The SGF urged Nigerians to continue to comply with the measures, wear their face masks properly, wash their hands regularly, stay away from crowds, maintain social distancing, and join the campaign to curb the virus.

thenigerialawyer

EFCC Arrests Soldier, 26 Others For Alleged Internet Fraud In Lagos

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EFCC Arrests Soldier, 26 Others For Alleged Internet Fraud In Lagos

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal Office, has arrested a serving military personnel, Lance Corporal Ajayi Kayode and 26 others for alleged internet fraud in the Lekki axis of Lagos State.

Kayode, with service number NAF18/34732, was arrested in his military attire during an early morning raid at 6B, Fatai Idowu Arobike, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, on Saturday, August 15, 2020, following intelligence received from concerned members of the public about his alleged involvement in criminal activities.

He was arrested alongside Kalu Emmanue; Hassan Sunday; Odinaka David Okem; Victor Ochiabuito; Christopher Prince; Victor Ologhu; Alex Aka; Miracle Onyekwere; Habeeb Ayomide; Olakunle Ajeigbu, Rasheed Olanrewaju and Salam Hakeem.

Others are: Adeniran Nurudeen; Opeyemi Ojo Chris; Derrick Moris; Shehu Oluoti; Fuad Akinbayo; Babatunde Idowu; Uzo Igwe Nathaniel; Debowale Adedoyin; Shegun Emmanuel; Godswill Maduchem; Samson Kazeem; Oluwatobi Oluwatoba, Olaitan Ajao and Oyindamola Kareem.

In his statement to the EFCC, Kayode said the “big shot yahoo yahoo boys” in whose company he was arrested, were his friends and that they had been teaching him how to make money through cybercrime.

While the “boys” are members of Organised Cyber Criminal Syndicate Network, OCCSN, the ladies arrested with them confirmed the involvement of their “boyfriends” in internet fraud.
Items recovered from the suspects include diamond jewelry, exotic cars and expensive phones.

The suspects will be charged to court soon.

thenigerialawyer

International Flight Resumption Date Not Sacrosanct — PTF Coordinator

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International Flight Resumption Date Not Sacrosanct — PTF Coordinator

The Coordinator of Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr. Sani Aliyu, has clarified that the resumption of international flights will be from the August 29, 2020, and not on that date.

According to him, August 29th is not sacrosanct but if aviation authorities meet the criteria for resumption on the 29th, they will be given the green light to resume.

The Minister of Aviation, Heidi Sirika, explained that the resumption will begin with Lagos and Abuja as did with the domestic flight resumption.

Aliyu said: “We will spend a whole day discussing international travel and how this will be done. We are grateful to CACOVID and it’s partners for helping to support this process because it would help us to expedite the opening of the airport.

And if I may clarify, we said from the 29th of August, we didn’t say on the 29th of August.

So, very similar to what we did for the domestic. Don’t come back and say that we promised we will open on the 29th, that 29th is not sacrosanct but we will work towards it, we will seriously try and deliver it but from the 29th as far as the PTF is concern, if aviation comes to us and say they are ready from the 29th, we will say please go ahead.

thenigerialawyer

UPDATED: Why you should not use the NIMC app yet

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The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) reportedly has a mobile app that allows registered citizens to generate their National ID card. But our investigation reveals that this might have been used to steal people’s private credentials.

On the surface, it seemed like the Nigerian government wanted to optimise the National Identification card collection process which has dragged for more than a decade.

It outlined the processes involved which included a link to download a mobile app. The app, named Mobile Web Service (MWS: NIMC MobileID) supposedly powered by NIMC, was available on Google Playstore and Apple store.

Typically, the information quickly began to get attention on the social media platform, but after the excitement, it began to draw other emotions like frustration and confusion.

There were a series of complaints on Twitter and on the app’s review page on the app store. Most of these complaints were either about getting another person’s information or encryption errors.

As at press time, the app no longer exists on the mobile app stores. While there’s no verified reason behind this move, it confirms a number of suspicions.

If this isn’t a case of NIMC plucking out a faulty system, it could be that the supposed tech team behind the app found a way to cover their tracks.

What is clear, however, is that a lot of data has been exposed to risk.

Meanwhile, Techpoint Africa reached out to the Commission for clarification without any response. But further investigation revealed a possible case of mass data phishing.

What’s it about MWS?

The result of our investigation showed that the app was released on Google Playstore on July 15, 2019. And as of August 15, 2020, there were already more than 10,000 downloads.Advertisement

We also noticed that app reviews dated back to August 2019 even reflected unresolved issues. Asides this, the most recent update, which probably drew the attention of most Nigerians, took place on July 31, 2020.

On the app’s description, it was stated that another update for version 2.0 — the current version was 1.90 — was set to be released by August 2020. The app claimed that the Federal government of Nigeria will release an official press statement informing citizens of the mobile application after the update.

MWS: NIMC MobileID app description

While this came with its own confusion, we scoured the NIMC official website for any hint of this claim but found none. Apparently, the only national ID detail you can get digitally is by dialing a USSD code — *346# — to get National Identification Number (NIN).

What we found disturbing from the reactions on social media is that Nigerians were more worried about the faulty app than the credibility or even an important issue like data privacy.

What could have gone wrong and why you should be worried?

Despite the similarity in the web interfaces, we discovered that the MWS: NIMC MobileID website is a subdomain — https://m.nimc.gov.ng/ — of the official website of the NIMC — https://www.nimc.gov.ng/. Asides the concern of whether or not the former is official, there’s no link on the official site redirecting to the MWS website.

Comparing NIMC official website and MWS MobileID website

Since the NIMC handles large datasets, this could have been a case of information mix up. However, the high number of complaints, even after a supposed second upgrade in July, gives cause for alarm.

How this app was able to get the information of some people right is not clear. Recall that something similar occurred where details of some African tertiary institutions were exposed.

Unscrupulous entities can easily harvest data from one source and upload it on another platform to probably mine for more data.

While data privacy issues might not be taken seriously in African climes on many levels, there are several reasons this should be a cause for worry.

In a previous report, we revealed how Nigeria ranked the second-highest victim of Cybercrime globally in 2020.

Given the government’s silence on this recent event, it is expected that some steps will be taken to salvage what has happened whether or not the Commission has something to do with it.

Meanwhile, as Nigeria works towards achieving a unified database, it should also put data protection plans in place.

Subsequently, we recommend that users should download apps only from trusted developers. Ordinarily, there should be a link to the developer’s website on the app store to do this, but when it is not, check the Internet to verify.

Featured image credits:  Jerry Durojaiye from Twitter

UPDATE [AUGUST 17, 2020]: NIMC released an official press statement. Here’s an excerpt:

Our attention has been drawn to several complaints about the NIMC Mobile App. We will like Nigerians to be aware that the App is a novel innovation by the Commission, but it is yet to be officially approved for public consumption.

The app is still in the test environment and currently being fine-tuned to give users the best experience with adequate privacy and data security safeguards. Once the test stage is concluded, the Commission will issue a formal statement regarding its usage by our esteemed NIN registered persons.

In the same vein, we want to assure Nigerians of the security of their data. The data is securely encrypted both in transit and at rest.

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How is the Controller-General of Nigerian Correctional Service Appointed?

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How is the Controller-General of Nigerian Correctional Service Appointed?

There are no prisons in Nigeria! Yes, prisons in Nigeria are now Correctional Centers, following a statutory change of name in mid 2019. The former Nigerian Prisons Service is now the Nigerian Correctional Service, headed by a Controller-General. Following the enactment of a new federal law in 2019 (ie, Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019), laudable changes were ushered into the Nigerian Correctional Service; they include the introduction of non-custodial services/measures and a self-purging mechanism that allows Correctional Centers to reject prospective inmates when full to capacity (out of space). 

The Controller- General of Nigerian Correctional Service is the man/woman that must superintend over all correctional services, both custodial and non custodial. He/She must prepare yearly plans for custodial and non custodial services as well as deploy officers. And, also create platform for interfacing with criminal justice institutions, while He/She performs duties and exercise powers vested by Administration of Criminal Justice Act. 

The President of Federal Republic of Nigeria has powers to appoint the Controller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) upon the recommendation of the Board and subject to the confirmation by the Senate. An appointee must be one out of the serving Assistant Controller-Generals of the Nigerian Correctional Service, who have attended and performed satisfactorily on mandatory courses and field command positions, with vast experience in correctional management and service as well as good leadership and track record in the NCS.  

My authorities are:

  1. Sections 1, 3, 46 and 47 of the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019.

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Minimum Number of Guests for Marriages in Nigeria.

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Minimum Number of Guests for Marriages in Nigeria.
  • by Onyekachi Umah, Esq., LL.M, ACIArb(UK)

English marriage is highly regulated in Nigeria, from venue and time to the number of witnesses that must be present. By the way, there are two types of marriages in Nigeria; English Marriage and Customary Marriage. Customary marriage (Traditional, Native, Cultural marriage or Pure religious/church marriage without government notices) is a marriage conducted according to the native law and customs which often allows a man to marry more than one wife. English marriage (Statutory, Court or Registry marriage) is a marriage between one man and a woman in accordance with the federal government laws and policies on marriage.

In English marriage there is a minimum number of witnesses that must be present before a marriage will be valid. This is because, unlike courtship/friendship, marriage must be conducted and known to more persons part from the couple and the Clergy/Minister/Registrar conducting the marriage. The federal law that regulates English marriage in Nigeria, is the Marriage Act; made since 31 December 1914.

After issuance and expiration of valid marriage notices at a Marriage Registry, an English marriage can then be conducted by a Registrar of Marriage or a Minister/Clergy of a recognised church/religious denomination in the presence of at least two (2) witnesses, excluding the Registrar/Minister himself. Marriage must be conducted only in the office of a Registrar of marriage or licensed place of worship/any other licensed place. And, marriage must be conducted between the hours of 8.00 am and 6.00 pm if in a licensed place of worship, or between the hours of 10.00 am and 4.00 pm with open doors if in a Marriage Registry/court.

My authorities are:

1. Sections 1, 21, 27, of the Marriage Act 1914.

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Speak with the writer, ask questions or make inquiries on this topic or any other via [email protected] or [email protected] or +2348037665878. To receive our free Daily Law Tips, follow our Facebook Page:@LearnNigerianLaws, Instagram:@LearnNigerianLaws and Twitter: @LearnNigeriaLaw

Please share this publication for free till it gets to those that need it most. Save a Nigerian today! NOTE: Sharing, modifying or publishing this publication without giving credit to Onyekachi Umah, Esq. and “LearnNigerianLaws.com” is a criminal breach of copyright and will be prosecuted.

This publication is the writer’s view not a legal advice and does not create any form of relationship. You may reach the writer for more information.

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