Sahara Reporters Latest News Monday 29th April 2019
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 29/04/19
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E2%80%98international-organisation%E2%80%99-appointed-saraki-ambassador target=_blank>UNVEILED: The Two-Year-Old Phony ‘International Organisation’ That Appointed Saraki ‘Ambassador-At-Large’
On Saturday, the media office of Senate President Bukola Saraki announced his appointment as Ambassador-At-Large by an organisation known as the ‘International Human Rights Commission’ (IHRC), painting the impression of global recognition. ‘Senate President Saraki gets international appointment’, one newspaper headline even screamed.
However, checks by SaharaReporters have confirmed the so-called IHRC as a paperweight organisation without any relationship with the United Nations.
Making the announcement in an undated press statement by Rafa? Marcin Wasik, its General Secretary, the group had written, in part: “Under the visionary leadership of General Secretary Sir Rafal Marcin, IHRC is working to strengthen & support all Nations capacity to engage in sustainable development through educational access, relief programs, ecological & bioethical reflections & actions, while taking in to consideration the traditional, social & cultural values of each Nation. Promoting Human Rights Peace, Gender Equality, Health, Economic development, awareness regarding the rights of women, children & youth in developing nations & where ever needed.
“With our ongoing expansions in operations worldwide, we are pleased to inform that The President of Senate H.E Senator Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has joined the International Human Rights commission as our Ambassador at Large…”
Friday Sani, the person who announced the appointment, is actually a relatively unknown Nigerian, even though the agency recognized him as the ‘Diplomatic Head of the Commission to Nigeria and other African countries’ and also describes him as an ‘Ambassador-At-Large’ on the IHRC website.
Funded by donations via PayPal, IHRC is only two years old. It was established on March 29, 2017 when Rafal Marcin Wasik, a Pole, teamed up with Ladislav Tesarik, a Czechoslovakian, and Iurii Kiperman, a Ukranian. The so-called international organization has no office outside Czech Republic, where one of its founders hails from, and only has a liaison centre, which it creatively describes as a “representational office”, in Ukraine. Although it claims to have a presence in a few other countries, there are no records of real-time activity in those countries, for instance as can be seen with Belarus.
Also, IHRC claims it was an official observer of Nigeria’s 2019 general election, but there is no proof of that in public domain. Even the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) list of accredited domestic and foreign observers it circulated on its own website does not contain its name.
Finally, to give itself some semblance of a UN agency, IHRC’s logo is designed to resemble UN’s. The agency also lists the ‘United Nations’ as one of the sub-menus on its website. However, although the UN is umbrella to a total of 36 funds, programmes, and specialized agencies, IHRC is not one of them.
For the avoidance of doubt, below, in full, are the 36 UN-affiliated agencies:
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
UN-Habitat
The United Nations Children’s FundU (NICEF)
The World Food Programme (WFP)
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
The International Labor Organization (ILO)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The International Maritime Organization (IMO)
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
The Universal Postal Union (UPU)
The World Health Organization (WHO)
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
World Bank
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
The United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC)
UN Women
The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO)
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
The International Organization for Migration (IOM)
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The World Trade Organization (WTO)
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target=_blank>BREAKING: Police Declare State Of Emergency On East-West Road
The Police in Rivers State have declared a state of emergency on the Rumuji-Ndele-Rumuekpe axis of the East-West Road where gunmen have been killing, maiming and kidnapping innocent civilians unrestrained.
Among the series of attacks on innocent civilians on that road, two Shell Nigeria workers were kidnapped and their police escorts killed last week along the Ahoada-Ndele-Rumuji-Emohua axis of the East-West Road, Rivers State.
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Gunmen Kidnap Two Senior Shell Workers In Rivers, Kill Their Police Escorts
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Both victims of the kidnap were senior staff members of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), and they were returning from an official trip to neighbouring Bayelsa State when the incident happened.
Also last week, a driver with the Abua Odual Local Government Transport Service was shot dead by kidnappers along the Emohua axis of the same East-West Road. All the other passengers in the 30-seater Coaster Bus were also kidnapped.
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Rivers Gunmen Shoot Bus Driver On East-West Road, Kidnap All The Passengers
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On Sunday, Nnamdi Omoni, spokesman of the Rivers State Police Command, announced the state of emergency to SaharaReporters, saying: “Yes, confirmed.
“We have declared a state of emergency on the place, which means we have declared war at fishing and flushing out all criminals in that axis. All eyes hands and apparatus have been put to task to end all vices along that road.”
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target=_blank>BREAKING: Gunmen Kidnap Canadian, Scot In Rivers
Gunmen have attacked and kidnapped two expatriates and a Nigerian at a rig belonging to Niger Delta Petroleum Resources (NDPR) rig at Ogbele, Rivers State.
The kidnapped expatriates are a Scot and a Canadian.
SaharaReporters gathered that the kidnappers stormed the facility at about 7:00 am on Saturday.
Confirming the incident, Major Ibrahim Abubakar of Operation Delta Safe said: ”At about 8am on April 27, some gunmen visited the rig belonging to Niger Delta Petroleum Resources and carried out the attack and kidnapped two expatriates. Their nationals were not given.
”When we heard about the incident, we mobilised to comb the swamp but to no avail; we couldn’t arrest the perpetrators. Efforts have been intensified to rescue and arrest culprits, but we have also advised the management to provide adequate security to their operations.”
NDPR is an indigenous and independent operator of small to medium-sized fields.
The latest incident happened two days after two oil workers of Shell Nigeria were kidnapped in Rivers State, with the police escorts attached to them killed.
That kidnap happened on Thursday evening along the Ahoada-Ndele-Rumuji-Emohua axis of the East-West road, Rivers State.
Both abductees were senior staff members of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), and they were returning from an official trip to neighbouring Bayelsa State when they were attacked.
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target=_blank>VIDEO: 45MVA Transformer Destroyed As Fire Breaks Out At Apo Transmission Substation
There was a fire incident at the 132/33 kilovolts (kV) Apo transmission substation in Abuja on Sunday afternoon, resulting in the destruction of a 45MVA transformer.
The substation is operated by the transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Confirming the incident, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), which feeds directly from the substation to supply the end users, said the fire had been brought under control.
“Our technical team is right now working with the TCN engineers to see how to absorb the load on the 45MVA transformer that was affected by the fire,” AEDC said in a statement.
Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, also confirmed the tragedy, saying the fire had been extinguished, with plans underway to redistribute power to communities served by the burnt transformer.
Video of 45MVA Transformer Destroyed As Fire Breaks Out At Apo Transmission Substation
45MVA Transformer Destroyed As Fire Breaks Out At Apo Transmission Substation
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target=_blank>Falana Cries Out Over ‘Illegal Detention, Torture’ Of 15 Nigerians By Nigerian Navy
Human rights lawyer Femi Falanan (SAN) has called on Abubakar Malami (SAN), Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, to prosecute the naval officers who have allegedly detained and tortures 15 Nigerian citizens, including three top military officers, for seven months without charging them to court.
He made the call in a statement he emailed to SaharaReporters on Sunday.
According to Falana, all 15 were arrested in September 2018 and were “immediately dumped” in a military detention facility at Apapa in Lagos, but they were not charged to court, prompting an Apapa magistrate court to order their release.
“But in utter contempt of the valid order of the Magistrate Court the Authorities of the Nigerian Navy transferred the detainees to another military detention facility in Abuja,” Falana said, adding: “As if that is not enough, the detainees have been denied access to their family members, medical doctors and lawyers.”
He urged AGF Malami to intervene, saying this would “curb the growing culture of official impunity in the country”.
THE FULL STATEMENT
Sometime in September 2018, the Nigerian Navy arrested 15 Nigerian citizens including Group Captain Dada Labinjo, Lt. Commander Sherifat Ibe Lambert (also known as Mrs Bola Labinjo) and Benjamin Gold for an undisclosed offence. The detainees were immediately dumped in a military detention facility at Apapa in Lagos. In order to legalise the arrest and detention of the detainees the Naval Authorities obtained a remand warrant from a Magistrate Court sitting at Apapa. But as the detainees who were incarcerated for over 3 months were not charged with any criminal offence the Magistrate Court reviewed their case on January 7, 2019 and ordered the Naval Authorities to release them from illegal custody forthwith.
But in utter contempt of the valid order of the Magistrate Court the Authorities of the Nigerian Navy transferred the detainees to another military detention facility in Abuja. Following the application by Lt. Commander Bola Labinjo filed for the enforcement of her fundamental right to personal liberty the Federal High Court directed the Naval Authorities to release her from illegal custody. But the valid order of the Federal High Court has equally been ignored by the Naval Authorities without any legal justification. Even though the civilians among the detainees are not subject to service law, the Naval Authorities have continued to detain them in military detentuon facilities.
As if that is not enough, the detainees have been denied access to their family members, medical doctors and lawyers. Furthermore, the fundamental right of the detainess to dignity has been violated, as they are being held incommunicado in solitary confinement while they are subjected to physical, mental and psychological torture in total contravention of section 3(2) of the Anti Torture Act, 2017 which provides that “secret detention places, solitary confinement, incommunicado or other similar forms of detention where torture is carried out are prohibited.”
As the prolonged incarceration of the detainees cannot be justified under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended or the Armed Forces Act they should be released from custody or arraigned before a competent court of law if there is reasonable suspicion that they have committed any criminal offence whatsoever. However, to curb the growing culture of official impunity in the country we are compelled to call on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN to charge the naval personnel responsible for the violations of the fundamental rights of the detainees with contempt of court and acts of torture under the Criminal Code Act and the Anti Torture Act.
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E2%80%98rule%E2%80%99-anywhere-reply-garba-shehu-inibehe target=_blank>Stop Misleading Nigerians, The President Cannot ‘Rule’ From Anywhere: A Reply to Garba Shehu, By Inibehe Effiong
In a response to an enquiry by the Punch Newspaper on the controversial ‘’private visit’’ of President Muhammadu Buhari to the United Kingdom and the President’s refusal to transmit a letter to the National Assembly which would have enabled the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to become the Acting President pending Mr. Buhari’s expected return to the country on May 5, 2019, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu told the Punch Newspaper thus:
‘’No, that is not necessary. The President can exercise authority from wherever he is as he is currently doing. This is a relatively short absence. If you check Section 145 (1) and (2) of the Constitution, you will see that the law is only infringed upon when such absence externs to 21 days.’’
In faulting Mr. Shehu’s position above, it is pertinent to reproduce Section 145 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), which will subsequently be referred to as ‘the Constitution’, cited by him in aid of his defense of his principal.
145 (1) ‘’Whenever the President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his Office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to that effect, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, the Vice-President shall perform the functions of the President as Acting President.’’
(2) ‘’In the event that the President is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the National Assembly shall, by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of each House of the National Assembly, mandate the Vice-President to perform the functions of the office of the President as Acting President until the President transmits a letter to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives that he is now available to resume his functions as President.’’
The literal, grammatical and commonsensical reading of Section 145 (1) and (2) supra evinces the true purport of the said provisions and does not leave any room for ambiguity or debate as to the actual intention of the framers of the Constitution. The law is trite that the Constitution is a living document and must be given a liberal interpretation to fulfil the intention of its framers. The celebrated Supreme Court decision in BRONIK MOTORS LTD & ANOR v. WEMA BANK (1983) ALL NLR 272 is instructive on this point.
According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, whenever means ‘’every or any time’’. The same dictionary also defines vacation as ‘’a time when someone does not go to work or school but is free to do what they want, such as travel or relax’’.
President Buhari does not have the discretion or prerogative to embark or proceed on vacation outside the mandatory constitutional framework of Section 145 (1) and (2) of the Constitution. It is immaterial that the President’s spokesperson, Mr. Femi Adesina, mischievously decided to play with words when he referred to the President’s 10-day visit to the United Kingdom as ‘’a private visit’’.
If Adesina by his evasive statement, intended to distinguish the instant foreign trip of his principal from the vacation enshrined in Section 145 (1) and (2) of the Constitution, he unfortunately, has ended up exposing his ignorance of the law and contempt for the Nigerian people. The President’s so-called private visit is a vacation simpliciter. It is a distinction without a difference to assert a contrary view.
I am convinced that Mr. Garba Shehu did not seek sound legal opinion on the subject from the Attorney General of the Federation before clothing himself with the apparel of ‘a self-taught constitutional guru’ when he quoted Section 145 (1) and (2) of the Constitution authoritatively and proceeded to interpret it wrongly.
For starters, Section 145 (1) of the Constitution imposes a duty on the President. It is not a provision of convenience. The word used in Section 145 (1) is ‘’shall’’ which is a word of command and not permissive. See UGWU & ANOR V. ARARUME & ANOR (2007) 6 S.C. (Pt. 1) 88 where the Supreme Court reiterated the compulsive meaning of the word shall when used in an enactment.
As shown earlier, ‘’whenever’’ in this context implies that every or any time the President is proceeding on vacation he must transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to that effect.
The Constitution does not say that the President should transmit a written declaration if his vacation externs to or exceeds 21 days. That is a strange and indefensible attack on the spirit and letters of Section 145 (1) of the Constitution. Mr. Shehu’s proposition is with respect, an invention of his imagination. The Constitution expressly says ‘’whenever’’ (every time or any time). The fact that the president is proceeding on vacation for less than 21 days does not derogate from his duty to transmit a written declaration to the National Assembly.
Section 145 (2) only becomes operative and applicable if the President violates his constitutional duty under subsection (1) of Section 145. In other words, the National Assembly is authorised to intervene and pass a resolution empowering the Vice President to become the Acting President where the President violates subsection (1) by refusing or failing to transmit a written declaration as enjoined for a continuous period of 21 days.
There is no legal or moral justification for the President to commit such grave constitutional infraction even for one day. A grave violation of the Constitution amounts to gross misconduct which is an impeachable offense under Section 143 of the Constitution.
To say that Nigeria should remain for 10 days without a president or an acting president, is to say the least reprehensible. It becomes grossly offensive for the president’s spokesperson to go further to claim ridiculously that the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can exercise his presidential authority from anywhere.
The Nigerian Constitution does not have extra-territorial application. The President of Nigeria cannot exercise presidential powers from anywhere.
To put it in perspective, two examples will suffice: First, President Buhari cannot exercise his authority under Section 58 (1) of the Constitution to assent to Bills passed by the National Assembly in the United Kingdom. He also cannot exercise his authority under Section 148 (2) of the Constitution to preside over the regular (weekly) Federal Executive Council meeting from the United Kingdom, or anywhere outside the territory of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The authority of the British Prime Minister over the affairs of the United Kingdom cannot be exercised in Nigeria, neither can the President of Nigeria govern or exercise authority over the affairs of Nigeria from the United Kingdom.
There is a reason why responsible foreign leaders in saner climes usually abort their foreign trips and return home upon the occurrence of national disasters or emergencies in their countries. It is not just for convenience sake; it is also because their constitutional authority either as President or Head of State, cannot be insulated from their state (country).
It is also apparent that Mallam Garba Shehu is either not aware or does not appreciate the traumatic historical mischief sought to be cured by the National Assembly when Section 145 of the Constitution was altered in 2010 by Section 14 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (First Alteration), Act, 2010 and replaced with the now Section 145 (1) and (2) of the Constitution (as amended).
To refresh Mr. Shehu’s memory, it bears restating that Nigeria was thrown into palpable tension and deadly constitutional crisis when the Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was flown abroad for medical treatment and he failed to transmit a written declaration (letter) to the National Assembly to enable his then Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, to become the Acting President in his absence.
Following the dire situation which had prolonged resulting in an abuse of power by a vicious unpatriotic cabal who took advantage of the vacuum and arrogated powers to themselves, undermined Jonathan and overreached the nation, the National Assembly changed the law on the issue.
Before discussing the constitutional amendment embarked upon by the National Assembly in response to the ill-health crisis of the late Yar’Adua, it is important to reproduce the former (now repealed) provisions of Section 145 of the Constitution, it provided that:
145 ‘’Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President.’’
The National Assembly subsequently decided to bury the lacuna in the now repealed Section 145 of the Constitution above by doing three things essentially:
First, Section 145 was spited into two subsections which is now Section 145 (1) and (2) as reproduced above. Second, under subsection (1) of the new Section 145, the discretion of the President to determine when or whether to transmit a written declaration to the National Assembly whenever he is proceeding on vacation or unable to discharge the functions of his office was taken away.
The new subsection (1) now reads: ‘’Whenever the President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his Office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to that effect…’’ This means that any time the President is proceeding on vacation (irrespective of whether he chooses to call it a private visit or whatever name), he must transmit a written declaration to the National Assembly upon which the Vice President will become the Acting President.
The new position of the law as contained in subsection (1) of Section 145 will not only be lost, the ghost of the lacuna in the repealed Section 145 buried by the National Assembly in 2010 when the new constitutional regime was birthed will also be resurrected, if Mr. Shehu’s skewed interpretation were to be followed.
The third essential amendment to the repealed Section 145 is contained in subsection (2) of the new Section 145 of the Constitution wherein the National Assembly is authorised to bypass the President and pass a resolution empowering the Vice President to become the Acting President where the President violates subsection (1) by refusing or failing to transmit a written declaration as enjoined, for a continuous period of 21 days. The National Assembly did not possess such power under the repealed provision. That was why they resorted to the infamous ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ which was invoked for Mr. Goodluck Jonathan to become the Acting President.
Let me say that Nigeria will continue to be an gigantic embarrassment to the African continent and retain its disgraceful dark spot on the map of a progressive world until the leaders of this country and their appointees appreciate and accept to abide by basic tenets of democratic and civilized societies.
It is to the shame of the present administration that citizens of a 21st century Nigeria, have been arrogantly told that their President, who rode to power on a mantra of change, will be out of the country for 10 days for reasons that the presidency has classified and treated as official secret, not subject to full public disclosure.
Mr. Buhari must first resign as president if he wants to be accorded his right to privacy under Section 37 of the Constitution. But as long as his oath of office subsist, and he continues to enjoy the benefits and privileges accruable to the office of the President of Nigeria, he remains a public institution and his activities both at home and abroad, must be subjected to public scrutiny.
The health of the President of a country is never a private affair. The President cannot be using taxpayers’ money to fund his vacation (or private visit as they choose to call it) and at the same time tell the same taxpayers to shut-up and not interrogate his activities. There is nothing private about the office of the President.
This egregious effort to reduce Nigeria to a banana republic must be resisted by all Nigerians of good conscience.
Inibehe Effiong is Lagos-based Constitutional Lawyer and Human Rights Activist.
inibehe.effiong@gmail.com
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target=_blank>Lagos Monarch Kidnapped By Unknown Gunmen
Chief Razak Olaseinde Adamson, Baale of Apese Resettlement Scheme of Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos, has been declared kidnapped.
According to the family, the monarch has been missing since Tuesday when he left the palace to meet some visitor.
A member of the family told SaharaReporters that the monarch received a call from some people who claimed they were coming to the palace, but he has not returned to the palace since he went to receive them.
“He received a call and was giving directions to the palace to some people over the phone. When he dropped the call, he said he was going to meet them but that was the last time we heard anything from him,” the source said.
“We tried to call his phone but it was switched off. As we speak to you, today makes it five days since 7am on Tuesday that he has been missing.”
The family claimed to have reported the issue to Ajiwe Police Station, Ajah, but notable progress is yet to be recorded as the kidnappers are yet to be arrested.
Confirming the development, an officer at Ajiwe station who asked not to be named said some suspects had been arrested and investigation was ongoing.
“The kidnap was reported to the station and we are currently investigating it,” she said.
“Those suspected to be the masterminds have been arrested and taken to the kidnapping unit at Surulere division.”
The Police source added that the family had been assured that the Police would work round the clock to secure the monarch’s freedom.
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E2%80%99s-conscience-ugochukwu-ejinkeonye target=_blank>Who Is Nigeria’s Conscience? By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
Monday, April 22, was the 81st birthday of Gani Fawehinmi, the late brilliant and successful lawyer and one of the very few credible human rights activists that ever walked on Nigeria’s soil. As rulers impose themselves on the people and ride roughshod on them with utmost impunity, Gani’s brand of selfless activism is being sorely missed. He was a true hero.
Sadly, Nigerians of today are very good at crowning false heroes. Just open any Nigerian newspaper you can find near you and see how many people that are recklessly described on its pages as “credible” politicians, “honest and selfless” Nigerians, or worse, the “conscience of the nation.” You would be shocked to see the number of people that carelessly allow themselves to be associated with such superb, ennobling qualities even when they are fully aware that by their personal conducts, it might even appear as a generous compliment to dress them up in the very opposites of those terms.
Over the years, these words and phrases have been so callously and horribly subjected to the worst kinds of abuses in Nigeria with hardly anyone making any attempt to intervene and seek their redemption. I won’t in the least, therefore, be surprised to wake up tomorrow and hear that decent people in this country have begun to protest and resist any attempt to associate them with such grossly debased terms.
As a people sharing the same country with an ever-growing tribe of shameless, exceptional experts on the egregious art of effective and perpetual devaluation all that ought to inspire awe and noble feelings, it should not come to us as a shock any day to be assaulted by the news that some Nigerians felt grievously insulted that their dogs were, for instance, nominated for “National Honours.” Even the poor dog may bark all day to register its dismay! But do we need to wait for this to happen before we quickly rouse ourselves from our long-lasting moral slumber and hurriedly stop this overly revolting charade of “honouring” people whose only contribution to their fatherland may just be their ecstatic participation in the mindless looting of its resources and effective supervision of its wholesale devastation.
Yes, Nigeria’s “National Honours List” has indeed worked extremely hard to distinguish itself as a worthless piece of paper always starring people who ought to be in jail for the humongous effort they had contributed to the brutal abortion of this country’s lofty dreams and aspirations.
And as you look at the haggard and impoverished nature of a country that celebrates this long list of “illustrious” and “honest” sons and daughters who are honoured for their “selfless” and “invaluable” services to their fatherland, you cannot help wondering why it is very difficult, if not impossible, to see any positive impact their so-called “immense contributions to the growth and progress” of the their country were able to register on that same country and its people.
Why is a country that has over the years accumulated such a very long and intimidating list of “patriotic achievers” and “nation builders” still one of the most backward in the world despite being also endowed with rich, abundant natural resources? How long shall this debilitating self-deception continue to plague Nigeria? What beats me is why some otherwise decent people still allow their names to be used to add some pinch of dignity to that totally worthless list and actually carry themselves to the venue of that festival of the philistine to be decorated with those medals of dishonour?
The problem is that when we look around and there are no genuine heroes to celebrate, we simply invent some. For instance, today, it can safely be said that Nigeria as a country no longer possesses any “Conscience”. If we had any persons that truly qualified to be described as such, they are long dead and buried or yet to hug the limelight. But because we are unwilling accept that very stark reality, we just had to pounce on anyone we find around and proclaim him the “Conscience of the Nation,” whether he merely represents a debasement of that term or not.
It should be quite clear that anyone seeking to be crowned “Nigeria’s conscience” should be able to rise above partisan and other considerations in his interventions in the country and always stand on the side of the truth and the oppressed.
It is not everyday that we produce the likes of Gani Fawehinmi or Chinua Achebe who would always use the same yardstick to evaluate either an Obasanjo or a Jonathan, and if they were still alive today, would use the same for a Buhari. Not for them the sudden, unabashed revision of their well-considered and widely circulated opinion on an any ruler, not because of some new “evidence” of redeeming qualities they have suddenly stumbled upon about him, but merely because the fellow has now banded together with their friends to capture political power. Those who truly qualify to be referred to as a “country’s conscience” always put their country first – always place the welfare of the hapless, long-suffering citizens far above the primitive interests of their politician friends.
When President Jonathan, for instance, sought to decorate Achebe with a “National Honour,” the legendary writer rejected it by saying that the situation that made him to earlier reject the same “Honour” awarded to him by the Obasanjo regime had not changed under Jonathan; and so, he had to once again excuse himself from it. That was his way of telling those rulers that unless they deployed conscientious efforts to fix Nigeria and make life more tolerable for the citizenry, they lacked the qualification to honour him. Achebe would have told the same thing to the now clearly groping Buhari regime were he still alive and such an “Honour” extended to him?
Of course, Gani Fawehinmi would have done the same thing too. He was not one to brazenly take sides in a political conflict, offering high-profile support to one party in the conflict even when it was public knowledge that he was in some way benefiting from his association with the public officers he lending some support. He would have hastened to realize that there was something called “conflict of interests,” and that you do not unduly stretch the people’s trust, beyond its malleable limits. Put another way, you don’t sleep on Delilah’s lap and hope to wake up in Abraham’s bosom.
Somebody who allows himself to be described as “Nigeria’s conscience” cannot afford the luxury of a credibility perennially stained by his very close association with (if not public endorsement of) people generally perceived as strategic, generous contributors to Nigeria’s current chronic problems, a people whose mere appearance anywhere immediately inspires unqualified disgust in the citizens. Anybody can occasionally throw front-page-grabbing “bomb shells” (it is not rocket science), but such pronouncements only make sense to informed people if the person who throws them is able to demonstrate that he is not merely a “situational activist” who only finds his voice when the target is a “safe” one. To him, corruption does not lose its egregious hue when accusing fingers are pointing at a friend.
The danger now is that a growing number of people have already begun to look a bit too closely and have begun to discover that even the loud “king” whose ill-fitting, borrowed costume had engaged their unqualified admiration and awe for a very long time now is actually unclad like the rest, and that beyond well-aimed pronouncements, much of what they had witnessed so far is just an unduly stretched farce, despite the unending, drab “oriki” booming from tireless praise singers.
I think we should just tell ourselves the plain truth: for now, this country has no conscience! Indeed, conscientious and discerning people will know when one eventually emerges. When Gani was here, we all knew and acknowledged his worth.
*Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye is a Nigerian journalist and writer (scruples2006@yahoo.com)
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target=_blank>Blood-Thirsty Demons Of Zamfara (IV): Relentless Bandits, Helpless Policemen And Soldiers
Some villages in Gusau felt an unusual sense of safety on February 10. Policemen and their patrol vans became conspicuous in parts of the town. Helicopters were hovering around; soldiers were stationed at checkpoints. The security presence was fierce, depicting a determination to crush any unfortunate bandit who chose the day to wreak havoc.
“Military choppers were flying round the town,” said a disappointed resident.
This was only a façade — a momentary necessity to ensure the safety of a single man. President Muhammadu Buhari was in the city to campaign for votes as part of his reelection bid. Five days earlier, February 5 precisely, bandits had attacked villages in Gusau Local Government Area, where Buhari — guarded with heavily armed military personnel — had attended his party’s mega rally. Fourteen people, including a senator’s sister, were killed; seven were kidnapped; hundreds were displaced, and houses and farm lands razed.
But throughout the 18 minutes, 14 seconds that Buhari canvassed votes in this city, he made no mention of the unholy incident that had claimed innocent lives barely a week ago; neither did he offer any solution to the carnage in the state. The denial was clear, but also cleared were doubts about the inaction of the federal and state governments towards providing adequate security in Zamfara State.
The government at both levels had been repeatedly accused of doing too little to end the massacre of people in the state. While the President plays to the gallery, the Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, has repeatedly admitted inability to end the killings.
The security apparatus in the state are inhibited by the perennial problem of lack of weapons and necessary intelligence to wipe out the bandits.
Inadequate Security Presence: A Policeman to 914 Residents
Zaria Kabiru, a mother of four, sat on a mat as she attended to her youngest child suckling at her breast. Zaria was thankful to have left Mallamawa alive. She had left the dreadful village months ago. So time had started healing her pains. She now can smile. In fact, she laced some of her responses with some humour.
But, this warm, receptive countenance suddenly changed when asked what assistance the village got from any of the security agencies. Zaria and other women, who had been listening quietly throughout the interview, were now angry. They spoke almost in unison like they did not trust one another to tell the tales of desertion they had suffered.
“The security agents have never spent a day in our village when they come, they spend some hours and leave at night when the bandits would come and kill us,” the women said.
Many of the communities in Zamfara do not have a single police station. Investigations revealed that there are only two to four designated police out-forces in a local government, except for Gusau, the state capital. The 14 LGAs in Zamfara State have five area commands with an estimated police strength of 3,610 personnel. Zamfara State has a population of 3.3 million, according to the 2006 census. This implies that a policeman is responsible for 914 defenceless civilians.
Zamfara State, with a land mass of 38,418 square kilometers, is the seventh largest state in Nigeria. Most of the communities are separated by long stretches of thick forests and farmlands. Driving through the communities, across eight LGAs — Anka, Birnin Magaji, Gusau, Maradun, Maru, Shinkafi, Tsafe, and Zurmi — the apparent lack of security presence in the state was jarring.
Between Anka and Maradu, two LGAs hit hard by the unrest, there was no security operative seen throughout the 75 kilometer drive, except for few vigilantes by the road sides. The well-tarred road was flanked, on both sides, by thick forests. The villagers claimed these forests are perfect hideouts for highway bandits.
Hundreds of road users had been kidnapped, maimed and — in worse cases — killed on Zamfara roads. Many of the incidents went unreported to the police.
Twenty days into 2019, Halidu, a commercial cab driver was coming from Kaduna when he was shot, dragged out of his car and left to die. He was rescued by a Good Samaritan road user who noticed his almost lifeless body by the highway.
“The bandits shot me and the car stumbled,” he said as he wriggled to balance his left hand draped with a bandage on his chest. Halidu’s car was stolen and its six passengers were kidnapped. No security official came to their aid, he explained on his hospital bed.
Police PRO: Villages in Zamfara are remote and inaccessible
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Zamfara State Police Command, Mohammed Shehu, refused to speak on these issues. He asked that all questions be sent to him via text message so that the commissioner can prepare ‘robust’ response. When the questions were sent, the command gave no response, neither did Shehu respond to multiple follow up calls to his phone number.
Back at the State Police Command in Gusau, Shehu said sending interview questions before hand was the procedure for seeking the command’s comment on issues. He rambled through his phone and read out prior questions sent by reporters who wanted clarifications on issues.
“That’s how we do it, so that we can give accurate information and the position of the command” Shehu claimed.
However, the police PRO struggled to reconcile his words with his countenance as he tried to defend the command. Shehu became defensive —and a little irritated— when told that sending interview questions beforehand was not the practice at the Lagos State Police Command, where the reporter is based.
“Lagos is easy to police” a defensive Shehu said. “What happen in Lagos are routine crimes but Zamfara is different. We are dealing with insurgency here.”
In his bid to protect the image of the command as his job requires, Shehu validated claims that the state is heavily under-policed. “Zamfara is 70 percent bush; the villages are in remote and inaccessible places,” he said.
Although he was mindful of his words, as his job requires him to protect the image of the command, every attempt to reject comparison with the Lagos State Command revealed the complete helplessness of the Zamfara State Police Command against the bandits.
He hinted about the lack of equipment to adequately combat the bandits and how many policemen easily get killed in ambushes.
“These people understand the terrain more than us. They set ambush for our men when they are going to attend to distress calls. Sometimes, before we manage to get to point of distress, the culprits are gone. You cannot compare Zamfara with Lagos. Lagos has everything,” he said.
Soldiers: We are outnumbered by Bandits
The Nigerian Army, expected to crush out the bandits and fill in for the inadequacies of the Nigeria Police Force, are also hapless due to lack of adequate ammunition and enough foot soldiers, a soldier serving in Zamfara lamented.
The soldier, an experienced foot soldier who has faced the fiery darts of the bandits, argued that it would have be easier to defeat the bandit but for inadequate ammunition. “It is not that we cannot fight these people (bandits),” he said.
“We can fight them. They should not even take us two days to clear out but there is no equipment. You see soldiers with one magazine while bandits are carrying three or six magazines. If you want to fight with five people, you have to go with 15 soldiers. If not, you cannot fight. Bandits are more than 400; you will see them like this. How can you go with a hundred soldiers and without supporting weapons?” he asked.
Another officer, more senior in rank, corroborated the claim. He revealed that the Nigerian Army does not have the numerical strength to defeat these bandits, who he claimed have arrays of ammunition.
This senior officer had suffered multiple gun injuries from armed bandits in a recent ambush. He believed that the sound of the gunshots he heard during his attack could only have been from sophisticated rifles. He recalled that the bandits were over a hundred against him and 12 other soldiers.
“They have our type of weapons and other ones that we don’t even have,” he said. “When they attacked us, their strength was much… they were about 100 and we were 13. How can 13 soldiers face 100 people?” he also asked.
Ona Ekhomu, a security expert, reckoned that invasion ration of soldiers fighting rebels in the encamped region should be 3:1 or 2:1 at the minimum. Soldiers being 3. However, Ekhomu said the lack of intelligence within the Nigerian security agencies makes proper estimation difficult.
“First of all,” he began. “We don’t know the size of the enemy, so how do we know what is their one and what should be our three? We are flying blind. This is where intelligence comes in. if we have good intelligence, they will be able to tell the terrorists in each foliage, so that we can more expertly use our resources.”
The absence of this intelligence, Ekhomu said is one of the reasons Nigerian soldiers, combating the bandits, are being killed in their numbers.
In June of 2018, following a spat of attacks in Zamfara State, the presidency came under harsh criticism from Nigerians. President Buhari, through series of tweets, announced that he had ordered deployment of 1,000 military personnel to quell the insurgency. Many Nigerians thought 1000 soldiers was a piecemeal effort. Of course, scores have been killed since this claimed deployment.
Five months after the president’s announcement, the state governor revealed that there were only 1600 military personnel in the state.
A senior officer in the Nigerian Army said this number, even if accurate, is grossly inadequate to muscle out the bandits in Zamfara State. He revealed that the Nigerian Army is overstretched with crisis in different pockets of the country, hence the deployment of soldiers is rationed.
“This is not just in Zamfara,” he said. “Soldiers in all the crisis prone areas are bound to be outnumbered. The army is overstretched. So where 50 soldiers ought to be deployed, they would deploy 10 or 15… That is the situation everywhere.
“The only solution to this is for soldiers to get modern weapons to fight with. That will supplement the foot soldiers. If they have more fatal weapon, advance weapons, the number of soldiers you are supposed to deploy will be minimal because the weapons will do the job. For instance, if there is an apache helicopter, the helicopter can be fighting from Lagos and hitting its targets in Ibadan. This will reduce the number of soldiers to deploy.”
Forced to pick up arms
With almost non-present police attention and sparse military presence, the people resolved to self help. The men in the villages dropped their implements and picked up machetes and guns. They became watch over themselves and their family members.
For some of the vigilante members, they have lost too many; their family members and means of livelihood have been destroyed. Imrana Abubakar is a young Hausa man who seems in his early twenties. He was red eyed as he retold the traumatic story of how his father, two brothers and favorite friends were slaughtered all in the space of a week.
He said picking up the weapon was his only option.
“I had no other option,” he said. “They slaughtered my father just three days after he visited me in an Islamic school. My father was killed on a Tuesday in Dan Jibga.”
Friday of the same week, Abubakar lost his brother and a friend.
“I left my elder brother Muhammdu Lawali on Friday, I told him that I want to travel to Gusau and he wished me good luck. I had not got to my destination when they called me that my brother, Lawalli, had also been slaughtered, along with his friend Mallam Musa Mai Rafanai.
“Also, my junior brother Ishaq was killed nine days after he came back from Kano State and went to work on his groundnuts farm. The bandits met him there, he tried to escape but the bandits killed him.
“I don’t know how many people we have lost due to these attacks. We are holding these local guns to protect our lives. We don’t sleep in our homes anymore. Our wives are no more with us because every day we are in the bush. I abandoned my business as a bread baker because of this disruption. Now, I don’t have any business I am doing; because even if we bake, people are not buying as they are leaving the village.”
They face AK47 with Sticks, Cutlasses and a Praise Singer
Governor Yari recruited 8,500 young people from the 17 emirates in Zamfara State as civilian Joint Task Force, also known as JTFs, in 2018. These young men, 500 from each emirate, were promised a token of N15, 000 monthly. They were never trained neither were they provided with any weapon, no matter how crude.
Kabiru Adamu was one of the 8, 500 recruited. He is the head of the vigilante group in Unguwar Maza village in Bungundu LGA. Adamu and his boys know they are no match for the bandits’ AK47 riffles, but they face them anyway; with their crude weapons and emboldened by the melodious eulogies of their praise singer.
“It is not possible to face AK47, 49 with sticks” Adamu admitted. But, every night they — knowing they are disadvantaged — climb trees and hide in bushes to keep watch over their village. “It is done for protection of people. We step forward as it is known to everyone,” he added.
This boldness is not insulated from danger. Many of Adamu’s boys had lost their lives to the bandits’ bullets. Some have been maimed. Rabi’u, one of the boys, had been perforated in many parts by bandits’ bullets. He was just healing from a gunshot on his left knee when he spoke with SaharaReporters.
Another of Adamu’s boys, Shehu, has a bullet lodged in his left eye. The wound, swollen, one could see yellow puss leaking out of the bandage. His brown teeth were held together with iron braces. As he struggled to narrate his experiences, he dabbed a dribble of saliva from his mouth. Rabiu and Shehu were shot on the same night. The bandits had come for their boss, who escaped by a whisker.
“They came purposely to attack our leader, Rabi’u said. “We were in the room when they attacked us. This one (pointing to Shehu) did not know it was not our leader. He went ahead and opened the door. They entered and continued raining ammunitions. One of them dazzled me with torchlight and said that there was someone here. Before I realized, they shoot on my leg. I fell down at one side. Again I got another shoot here (pointing to his chest).
“They shot me three times. They thought I was dead. One of them touched me to see if I was dead but I pretended. Then they went away. From there, I don’t know what happened next, I only found myself in the hospital the next day.”
Asked if they ever feared losing their lives. Shehu, with his left eye gone, said he was ready to give his life for “community service”.
This brazenness is partly induced by the melodious eulogies of Musa, the praise singer. After a dreadful incident, Musa would remind the group of their exploits, psyching them out of their pains and miseries.
“We feel courageous by the songs,” Adamu said. “We can enter the forest that we wouldn’t have been able to when he praises us. We do remember what happened before because he sings about your previous victories, therefore you have to be courageous.”
Indeed, the moment Musa started singing, Shehu, overtaken by emotions, began trembling.
The blind vigilante who shoots in any direction
Salisu Aliyu is one of the vigilantes in Dan Jibga. Aliyu has similar story with many of the other men who joined the local security group out of frustration. He had lost his brother, brother-in-law, son and wife to the banditry. He has also lost his business and means of livelihood. All his cows were stolen and his poultry farm burnt to the ground.
However, unlike the other men in the village security group, Aliyu is blind but that would not stop him nor make others stop him.
One need not be told to know Aliyu is blind. He has a glittery green shine in his pupils that gave away the fakeness of the eyeballs. Although Aliyu claimed he lost his sight due to depression caused by the loss he had suffered, a medical expert said his claim is far-fetched.
He said his colleagues help him around, and once he hears gunshots, he shoots in the direction of the sound. As the harsh Zamfara sun subdued for a darker cloud, accompanied bythe much cooler breeze, the vigilantes got ready for their hideouts where they take watch every night. Aliyu was guided on both sides by two men. They were his eyes as he meticulously followed the flow of their movement.
The Effort of Aliyu and Co is the way out for Zamfara
Despite the lack of trainings and weapons for the civilian JTF to adequately protect their communities, Ekhomu, a security expert, said the civilian force is about the only right decision the government has taken against the banditry.
However, for the initiative to be efficient, Ekhomu said adequate training must be given to the vigilantes. adding that there must be proper control of all the vigilantes’ weaponry to prevent other cases of gun violence in the nearest future.
“We need to get to the level of having vigilante services in every community… it is only vigilante that can solve it banditry because we don’t have enough police personnel to police every community or even soldiers. JTFs in every community is an effective model… but there must be control of the arms.”
Similarly, Captain Bish Johnson, a retired U.S. Army, said the local security groups must be properly trained and equipped to provide adequate security for their community. He, however, said the vigilante groups must institutionalize into a well trained and equipped state police.
Of course, this is hardly the came in Zamfara State. The vigilante groups sourced their guns independently. Kabiru, the head of the group inUnguwar Maza village, said he buys gun power from the stipend he receives from the state government.
‘Bandits’ Say No Retreat, No surrender
As the state government grapple with ineffective and poorly executed security strategies, the bandits are determined to unleash more violence. Residents of some of the villages visited said the bandits are not any least frightened by the Nigerian military.
One of the bandits whom SaharaReporters contacted through a phone number that called Bakenawa village to deliver a threat, said their attacks are reprisal for years of segregation the Fulanis have suffered in the communities.
“The government cannot do anything to us,” the who simply identified himself as Buhari said. “If they will treat us like citizens, we will stop killing them. For 5 years, the villagers were killing us, the government did nothing about it. We Fulani were being segregated from having full citizenship rights. Now, that we are killing them, the government want us to stop.
“We are not scared of the soldiers. We have guns just like the soldiers. Our leaders get them from the city. We are not afraid of them at all. The soldiers have guns; we have guns too. Our leaders always give us gun. We are not afraid.”
These bandits are emboldened by the strength of their ammunition. The sources in the military all said the bandits have sophisticated assault rifles. Many of the kidnapped victims who were lucky to be released after millions of naira was paid in ransom, also claimed the bandits are well armed.
Wasilat, one of the 16 women kidnapped from Kayayi village, recalled an encounter the bandits had with the soldiers. It was one of the usual military air raid that Wasilat had witnessed.
“The hideout is inside a forest and there are a lot of weapons there. Sometimes, securities aircraft use to fly around. There was a time the bandits were attacked by air force, but only one of them bandits was killed. They were hailing and shouting that the government cannot do anything to them. Every day, weapons get delivered to them by their colleagues living in the cities.”
When Wasilat and others in the bandits’ custody saw the military aircraft, they were excited. They had thought their rescue was finally in sight. This feeling was short lived as the military was unable to overpower the bandits. Shortly after the bandit engaged in counter-attack, Wasilat said they noticed the sound from the fighting jet became distant, signaling that it was disengaging from the battle field.
“We gave up and knew we were all going to die when the soldiers left,” Wasilat said.
Captain Johnson, suggested a secure border — particularly in the northern part of the country— as the only way to restrict the bandits’ access to ammunition.
He reasoned that the porosity of the Nigerian borders aids arms smuggling which is the source of weaponry for bandits and other militant groups in the country.
Way Froward
Security experts and security focused Non-Governmental Organizations agreed that the crisis in Zamfara state can only be tackled with a two prong approach. Murtala Abubakar the Project Coordinator of Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), a non-governmental organization with a focus on highlighting issues that affect the northern states, said both the manifestation and the root cause of crisis must be addressed simultaneously.
He said the case of banditry which has become rife in the state is a consequence of the poor educational system and high rate of unemployment in the state.
Zamfara State is one of the states with the least educated person in Nigeria. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) only 19.16% of the entire population in Zamfara state are literate. This simply implies that 2.7 million of the state population can neither read nor write.
“The root-causes need to be dealt with first and one of the areas that should be given attention are the education… and creating jobs for the teeming youth,” he said. “Also, dealing with the manifestation requires, perhaps, more redeployment of troops and there has to be justice. People must be able to get justice, particularly those in the rural areas who are at the mercy of these bandits.
“Government need to deploy intelligence to understudy the dynamics of the crisis and the identified culprits must be brought to book. If this is done, it will discourage so many people who have the desire to go into this thing banditry.”
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Banjo Damilola
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Dangote Bemoans Low Funding Of Education By Nigerian Government
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has lamented the underfunding of education in Nigeria.
While speaking at the 41st convocation of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Dangote also stressed the need for private partnership to be employed to bolster the quality of education in the country.
Dangote, who constructed a hostel for the institution, also spoke on the increasing number of students in the country without enough infrastructure.
He said: “Student population at the country’s universities has recorded significant increase without a corresponding growth in terms of infrastructure.
“This is a subsisting and growing major challenge as Nigerian public universities continue to grapple with underfunding.
“We do acknowledge that the Federal Government alone cannot shoulder the entire burden of funding tertiary education due to competing needs of other sectors that also demand priority attention.
“This is where Public Private Partnership (PPP) can and should come in to fill the gap. I strongly believe the private sector must go beyond just the payment of 2 per cent education levy.”
He also tasked individuals to join hands with governments at all levels to ensure improved funding for tertiary education in Nigeria.
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SaharaReporters, New York
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