Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Friday 27th November 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 27/11/20
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Despite Video Evidence, Minister Of Information, Lai Mohammed, Denies Announcing N5m Hate Speech Fine
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has denied announcing an increase in the hate speech fine to N5m despite video evidence.
Mohammed had announced the increase in hate speech fine during the unveiling of the Reviewed Broadcasting code in August.
Days after the announcement, the minister while featuring on a TVC programme on Friday, August 7, 2020, explained that the fine was increased to deter people willingly violating the provision to destabilise the country.
However, Mohammed in a counter-affidavit in response to an originating motion filed to challenge the fine before a Federal High Court in Lagos by human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, denied making the announcement.
Effiong is currently challenging the fine by the National Broadcasting Commission on Nigeria Info FM.
The radio station was fined for alleged hate speech.
Obadiah Mailafia, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, had alleged that a Northern governor was one of the leaders of Boko Haram.
“Paragraph 19 is denied. The 2nd defendant (Mohammed) did not announce an increment in any fine for hate speech from N500,000 to N5,000,000 or any other because there is a governmental body or institution mandated to regulate and enforce the Nigerian Broadcasting Code,” an affidavit deposed to by a Litigation Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Sunday Ojobo, reads.
The minister further stated that the constitution allows for human rights to be suspended for the sake of national interest.
He wrote, “The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for derogation from fundamental rights in the interest of public safety, public order and for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.”
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Another Nigerian Man Shot Dead In United States
A 50-year-old Nigerian living in the United States, Kamilu Boyede, has been shot dead at his home in South Ida on Wednesday by some gunmen.
The incident occurred around 3:00am on Wednesday, a statement by Captain Wendell Nicholson of the Wichita Police Department, said.
Captain Nicholson said neighbours called the police after seeing a door left open at a home in the 600 block of South Ida.
“We talked to some neighbours in the area and they indicated that this morning at about 12:30, they saw an unknown male walking in the area.
“They were concerned because earlier this morning they heard some shots fired, they didn’t call the police, but this morning when they walked past the residence in the 600 block of South Ida, they saw the door was ajar so they contacted 911,” he said.
Recall that another Nigerian, Alexander Nwogu, was shot dead in upper North-West Washington on Monday, October 5.
One of his best friends and classmates said Nwogu graduated in May from Virginia Tech with an engineering degree and had just started working at a consulting firm in Northern Virginia.
A police report said Nwogu suffered blunt trauma to the back of his head and a single gunshot wound to the middle of his back.
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E2%80%99s-wife-demand-n10m-ransom Kidnappers Of DELSU Lecturer’s Wife Demand N10m Ransom
Gunmen, who kidnapped the wife of a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Delta State University, Abraka, have demanded a ransom of N10m to set free their victim.
Speaking with SaharaReporters, the victim’s husband, Sunny Ojoboh, revealed that the kidnappers had established contact with him and demanded N10m to free the woman.
Lamenting how Nigeria had degenerated to the current state of insecurity, Ojoboh appealed to abductors of his wife to kindly release her unconditionally, adding that those, who kidnapped her were boys from the area.
The victim, who is a staff of Erho Secondary School, Abraka, was kidnapped on Monday evening at her shop on old Eku-Abraka Road by gunmen numbering about five.
The kidnappers, it was learnt, also made away with her Lexus Sports Utility Vehicle.
Delta State Police Command spokesperson, Onome Onovwakpoyeya, who confirmed the incident on Wednesday, had said the police were already on top of the situation to rescue the victim.
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Lawmakers Slam NNPC, Demand Details of Expenditures On Rehabilitation Of Refineries, Others
The House of Representatives on Thursday frowned at the management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for concealing information on its expenditures.
The lawmakers also asked the corporation to open up its books on all the expenditure incurred on Joint Venture Cooperation, pipeline maintenance, rehabilitation of refineries.
The House committee on Petroleum (Upstream), made this known during the 2020 budget performance and 2021 budget defence of the NNPC at the National Assembly.
Chairman of the committee, Musa Sarkin Adar, expressed displeasure at the attitude of the NNPC management for not coming up with the details on the expenditure during the financial year.
He said, “Most of your details are not projected at all. On expenditure of the pipeline you never gave us any details, a budget of N57.90bnn, we need to know the details. Your JVC is negative. Rehabilitation of the refinery, you didn’t give status of the refinery as of now.”
Though he commended the NNPC management for presenting the corporation’s budget for the first time to the parliament, as well as its contribution towards the introduction of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
“Going by what has happened initially, most of the problems come from NNPC, they see PIB as something that could undermine them and take away their privilege and rights. We appreciate them for cooperating to bring the PIB at this very important time. Nobody wants their power ceded so I salute their courage,” he added.
Responding to questions by members of the committee, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, assured the National Assembly of transparency and accountability.
He said, “We need to see that every data we have is available to this National Assembly, we are not hiding anything. On details of the gas project we have track of how much was spent on all projects and we will provide all.
“On details of pipeline security, we have 5000 kilometres of pipeline, we have 13 fuel depots, apart from two pipelines, others are not active. We cannot flow products into these lines, because they have aged. But the real reason is that the level of vandalism activities on these lines is gross and profound
“When I came on board we sought support of investigative agencies to contain this. In 2019, from January to June we’ve lost petroleum products close to N43bn in just one night in six months stolen and that level of loss have come to less than N3bn. We’re proud to have done this but to this we maintain an architecture of security which is needless in a very sane environment. This is reality, the alternative is to do nothing.
“In terms of production, our estimate for production is 1.88 million barrels per day away from the 2.3 initially down in the 2020 budget.”
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E2%80%99s-2023-elections-pursuit-electoral-reforms-serve-common-good-samson-itodo Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: In Pursuit Of Electoral Reforms That Serve the Common Good By Samson Itodo
Nigeria’s 21 years of democracy was tested with the conduct of last year’s 2019 general elections. The elections presented an opportunity for Nigeria to consolidate on the gains of the 2015 elections and deepen her democratic transition, but the polls substantially failed to do so.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) introduced reforms to deepen electoral integrity and citizen participation before the elections, yet the elections were fraught with the same shortcomings that marred previous national elections in Nigeria. As in past elections, INEC’s logistical challenges coupled with misconduct on the part of political parties and candidates undermined the elections’ integrity. Not to mention the assault on voting rights by desperate politicians who recruited thugs and security agencies for voter suppression. The judiciary was no bystander. In most cases, it determined the final vote by substituting justice for legal technicalities with its logic of constitutional finality. The Supreme Court suffered a reputational setback when it declared a candidate who came fourth in an election the winner, despite computational inaccuracies and disputed results from polling units where elections did not hold.
The landscape for electoral reform looks promising. Over 10 proposed electoral amendment bills are under consideration at the National Assembly. Although these bills are at different stages of the legislative process, they contain proposals that can potentially fix Nigeria’s pressing electoral challenges, especially the predatory behaviour of the political class. The bills include proposed amendments that promote the independence and impartiality of INEC by strengthening the legality of INEC regulations, guidelines, and manuals and prohibiting the employment or appointment of members of political parties into INEC. Also contained in the bills are proposals for electronic voting and transmission of election results. Comprehensive amendments were proposed to Section 87 of the Electoral Act on the nomination of candidates. They introduce new procedures for direct and indirect primaries and provide thresholds for party nomination fees. It restricts parties to the qualification criteria fixed by the 1999 Constitution as amended for elective offices, thereby stripping parties of the power to introduce additional measures often used to disqualify less favoured candidates.
Recently, INEC released its agenda on electoral reform. The commission is proposing amendments to strengthen the electoral Commission’s financial autonomy, confer power on INEC to suspend elections under certain circumstances, and the power to disqualify candidates. Other proposals include new timelines for campaigns and candidate nomination, review of election results declared under duress, diaspora voting, and improved oversight on political parties, amongst others. Civil society groups have also proposed amendments to the electoral legal framework. Signals from the National Assembly thus far shows that the electoral amendment process may be concluded by 2021.
A cost-benefit analysis of public expenditure on elections is an essential component of the electoral reform agenda. This analysis is highly recommended given the country’s economic recession due to bad economic choices, disruptions in public finance, and negative externalities. Political scientists will argue that the high costs of elections are an investment in democracy; therefore, countries should earmark adequate resources for election conduct. This seems like a plausible argument, especially for nations still evolving with a democratic culture. But what happens to equity and efficiency? What is the benefit of expending scarce resources on elections that fail to maximize utility or promote happiness for the greatest number in society, or elections that yield just outcomes? Should
Nigeria spent N139 Billion (N1,893 or $9 cost per voter) for the 2011 elections; N116.3 Billion (N1,691 or $8.5 cost per voter) for the 2015 elections; and N189.2 Billion (N2,249 $6.24 cost per voter) for the 2019 elections. All three elections recorded a poor turnout of voters. In Nigeria, the law compels the electoral Commission to use the voter register as a basis for election planning as against the figures for collected Permanent Voters Card (PVC). In the 2019 elections, INEC printed over 427.5 million ballot papers (of currency quality) for 80 million registered voters in the six scheduled elections. Less than 30 million ballots were used in the elections because only 35 percent of registered voters showed up to vote. Billions of Naira went to waste due to a large number of unused ballots papers. These scarce resources plowed to produce the unused ballot papers would have been allocated to health, education, or jobs given Nigeria’s place as the world’s poverty capital. Efficient allocation of scarce resources should be a priority agenda for reformers of our electoral process. This should encompass a clear strategy for reversing the deeply entrenched culture of waste in public finance management.
No doubt, the current proposed amendments can foster popular sovereignty. Still, it is uncertain whether the ruling political class will pass these laws, given the potential of reforms to limit future chances of electoral victory. The apparent assumption is that most politicians will be reluctant to legislate themselves out of office. Therefore, they employ diverse tactics to dictate the pace and influence the outcome of reform efforts, leaving society to manage the tensions between individual and collective interests.
A just society is one that places the maximization of happiness as a key basis for decision-making. Moral decision making should be premised on maximizing the total happiness of members of society and advancing the common good, not just the interests of a few. As legislators consider decisions on electoral reforms within the ramifications of options available to them, they should be guided to choose options that serve the common good. In other words, in the spirit of democracy, they should pass electoral amendments that promote the common good of the Nigerian majority, in essence, the people and not the political class. After all, political authority is expected to serve the interests of the people, not individual interests. As Xunsi puts it, ‘Heaven did not create the people for the sake of the Lord, heaven established the Lord for the sake of the people.’ If an electoral amendment reflects the aggregate of the greater good, it indicates its responsiveness to the will and aspirations of the people. Suffices to say, the greater the number of citizens who participate in designing a new electoral legal framework, the greater our chances of producing just outcomes and advancing the common good.
Citizens bear the burden to hold the ruling political elite to higher standards. Electoral policies should place a premium on moral principles, ethics, and maximization of happiness. The 9th National Assembly will be judged by the extent to which the proposed electoral amendments promote happiness for the greater number and not just the political elites. Any piece of electoral legislation that will not guarantee the people’s participation, protect the sanctity of the vote or advance electoral justice may not serve the common good. Suffice to say that there’s nothing special about the ongoing electoral reform process if it does not yield the greater good for the greater number, instead of yielding the greater good for the one percent who control political power.
Samson Itodo is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. He serves as Executive Director of Yiaga Africa and Convener of the Not Too Young To Run movement. Send comments and feedback to sitodo@yiaga.org. He tweets @DSamsonItodo
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Again, Time To Remember By Edwin Madunagu
Edwin Madunagu
This is a combined personal tribute to two personages: Flt-Lt Jerry Rawlings and Comrade Bassey Ekpo Bassey. I have isolated them from a longer list of personages that came to my mind to publicly remember—at this time. The other personages, all comrades, who will also be publicly remembered in no distant future, include Curtis Joseph, Arthur Nwankwo, Olu Adebayo, Bjorn Beckman, Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, Ingrid Essien-Obot, Yima Sen and Balarabe Musa.
I have here isolated Jerry Rawlings and Bassey Ekpo Bassey because of my particularly intense ideological and political relationship with each of them at certain periods in my more activist past. Here I mean relationships of specific compatibility and absolute trust, the type that early Marxist revolutionaries regarded very highly in proposing the composition of groups for sensitive or delicate assignments.
But side by side with what Jerry Rawlings and Bassey Ekpo Bassey have in common in this combined tribute are things that separate them. One of them is this: Whereas I know that Jerry Rawlings is dead, I can only say that Bassey Ekpo Bassey has travelled for a long time. This is because my knowledge of the latest segment of Bassey’s life is limited. And this limitation reflects the limitation of my knowledge of the politics of the revered traditional institution which he entered—a politics that dominated his life before he travelled. Beyond this hard difference between Rawlings and Bassey are the differences of nationality and age as well as differences of location, date and circumstances of my first meetings with them.
Now, should a young comrade or compatriot wonder why Jerry Rawlings, a recently departed Ghanaian Head of State, would qualify to be lumped together with my comrades I would, in turn, return to the need to return to serious study and appreciation of history. I would thereafter go back to the time, about 40 years ago, that Rawlings exploded on the scene, the immediate impact of that explosion in Ghana and beyond, and the possibilities (I mean just possibilities) that the explosion threw up in the struggle against neo-colonial capitalism, corruption, imperialism and dictatorship in Africa. Rawlings’ dramatic emergence drew several of the continent’s best-known revolutionaries to Ghana.
Edwin Madunagu
However, should an older Nigerian Leftist raise the issue of Rawlings’ inclusion I would go beyond my answer to the hypothetical question from a young comrade and ask the older Leftist (better if she or he is a Marxist) to consider the following 27 randomly selected list of “big names” in modern political history of Marxism and Marxist Revolution: Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Rosa Luxemburg, Alexandra Kollantai, Leon Trotsky, Broz Tito, Nikita Krushchev, Kim Il-Sung, Mao Zedung, Liu Shao Chi, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Amilcar Cabral, Eskor Toyo, Ikenna Nzimiro, Ola Oni, Balarabe Musa, Paul Sweezy, Hugo Chavez, Antonio Gramsci, Ernest Mandel, Santiago Carrillo, Pol Pot, Salvador Allende, Imre Nagy (Hungary, 1956), and Alexander Dubcek (Czechoslovakia, 1968). And my first question will be: Which of the personages listed above was not a Marxist? My second question: What does the selection tell us about the complexity and expanse of the composite universe of Marxism and Marxists?
Although this is a combined personal tribute to two personages, the circumstances in which I met them were not personal. It is these circumstances and what happened immediately after our first meetings—rather than the personages’ careers and larger lives—that are here remembered. I met Comrade Bassey Ekpo Bassey in Zaria at the end of July 1977. This was at the start of that year’s All Nigeria Socialist Conference, otherwise known, in the history of Nigeria’s Socialist Movement, as the Zaria Conference. He was just below 28; and I was just above 31. I met Jerry Rawlings in Accra, Ghana in January 1982 shortly after a particular form of armed popular uprising, principally in the capital city, at the end of the preceding year. I was 35 and a half; and I took the slim Air Force pilot in combat uniform to be about the same age with me.
In my first meeting with Jerry Rawlings in Burma Military Camp, Accra, he challenged me to ask Ghanaian intellectuals, mainly academics, in economic exile in Nigeria to return to Ghana and join the revolution. He said he was prepared to serve the revolution only as a fighter pilot. On my return I was able to persuade some of them to return. What happened on their return—and, indeed, what happened to the incipient revolution—is another story. In all my revolutionary expeditions to Ghana, I insisted, and Rawlings was persuaded, that the regime should only be responsible for my accommodation and security. Nothing more.
Comrade Bassey and I came separately to the 1977 Zaria Conference from Calabar with nothing more than the knowledge of each other’s existence as young Nigerian Marxists. He was the Political Editor of the Cross River State-owned Nigerian Chronicle and a popular Leftist columnist of the newspaper. He called his weekly column “Unpopular Essays”, inspired, perhaps, by Bertrand Russell’s collected essays of the same title. I, myself, had just relocated from Ode-Omu in present Osun State after a 12-month rural conscientisation. I came to Calabar to join my wife, Bene, who had also just been confirmed a lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Calabar.
In Zaria Bassey Ekpo Bassey and I were introduced by an older comrade from Calabar, Chief Ernest Etim Bassey, a veteran journalist trained in Eastern Europe, a Leftist activist and self-determination agitator. As soon as Comrade Ernest mentioned my name, Bassey Ekpo Bassey, rather than take my extended hand, confronted me: “I heard you are a Trotskyite.” I withdrew my hand and responded: “I learnt you are a Stalinist.” But the older comrade persuaded us to shake hands. To cut a long story short, Bassey and I not only settled our “differences” at the conference, but travelled together in his Volkswagen Beetle car out of Zaria at the end of the conference. At Onitsha, I alighted and took a bus to see my mother in our hometown, Nnobi, in the present Idemmili South Local Government Area of Anambra State. Bassey continued to Calabar.
To cut this long still shorter, a few days after the Zaria Conference, the Calabar Group of Socialists (CGS) was formed and the Movement for Progressive Nigeria (MPN) was transformed into a radical Students’ Movement in the University of Calabar. Bassey and I had discussed these steps on our way from Zaria to Onitsha. Now joined by Bene, we hit the ground running, as they say. Agenda? Peoples Power and Socialist Revolution.
Let me dramatise the closeness between Bassey Ekpo Bassey and myself with the story of a real domestic “accident.” From late 1970s to late 1990s three comrades could come into the bedroom which I shared with Bene without knocking. These were Biodun Jeyifo (BJ), Assim Otto Assim Ita and Bassey Ekpo Bassey. One day Bassey came in and almost met my wife and I in an early morning “encounter.” Rather than scuttle away in embarrassment, he merely chuckled, quietly closed the door, went to the living room, and asked one young person to prepare him a cup of “black” coffee. He was calmly taking the coffee and reading a newspaper when I came out to join him.
In conclusion: How did Comrade Bassey Ekpo Bassey and I resolve our “Trotskyism-Stalinism” allegations? When we returned to Calabar from Zaria I formally rejected the “Trotskyism” charge but admitted that I had been influenced by Leon Trotsky just as I had been influenced by several other early revolutionary Marxists with Lenin as my primary ideological inspirer outside Marx and Engels. Much later, I presented Bassey with one of Trotsky’s earliest and most romantic formulations of his theory of “Permanent Revolution.” Here it goes: “The permanent revolution, in the sense which Marx attached to the conception, means a revolution which makes no compromise with any form of class rule, which does not stop at the democratic stage, which goes over to socialist measures and to war against reaction from without, that is, a revolution whose every stage is anchored in the preceding one and which can only end in the complete liquidation of all class society.”
We both accepted this formulation and agreed to ignore all labels.
Madunagu, mathematician and journalist, writes from Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.
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Robbers Attack Bank In Ondo, Kill One Person
Armed robbers on Thursday attacked a bank at Ode Irele under Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State, killing one person in the process.
According to an eyewitness, the bandits numbering nine stormed the bank at about 4:10pm, carting away an undisclosed amount of money from the bank.
The witness said the robbers gained entry into the bank after using explosives to destroy the security door.
“The robbers started shooting sporadically to scare people away and to ease their escape after robbing the bank.
“While they were shooting, stray bullets hit one person and he died while others were injured,” he said.
Tee-Leo Ikoro, spokesperson for the Ondo State Police Command, confirmed the incident to SaharaReporters on Thursday.
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EFCC Opposes Release Of Ndume From Prison Until Maina Is Found
Ali Ndume, Majority Leader of the Senate
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has opposed the release of Senator Ali Ndume from Kuje Correctional Centre.
Ndume was remanded in prison for standing as a surety for ex-Chairman of Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, who has absconded trial.
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Federal Court Orders Remand Of Senator Ndume Over Disappearance Of Maina
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Justice Okon Abang had ordered that Ndume be detained at the Kuje Prison as the facility’s management has also restricted visit due to COVID-19 restrictions.
At the hearing of his bail application on Thursday, Ndume’s lawyer, Marcel Oru, moved the bail application, saying Ndume should be freed as being a serving senator in the National Assembly, The Nation reports.
Oru said his bail application was intended to have his client released from custody pending the determination of his appeal, which he said, could take a while.
He argued that the court had the power to grant his client’s application, noting that it was not intended to make it sit on appeal over its earlier decision.
Oru pleaded with the court to show sympathy for his client, who he noted had spent four days in custody over the “despicable conduct of Maina”.
“Only God knows from the lesson learned, whether a Nigerian with a good heart will ever stand surety for anyone anymore,” he added.
The prosecuting lawyer, who argued that the court had jurisdiction to entertain the bail application since the appeal had not been entered, faulted Oru’s contention that sending his client to prison amounted to double jeopardy when he should have only forfeited the bail bond.
Abubakar added that the remand order was not indefinite but pending when he met any of the three conditions set by the court.
“What was forfeited by the applicant before this court is the bail bond of N500m and not the property in Asokoro. The property in Asokoro is the security for the bond and the forfeiture of the bond cannot by itself actualise itself.
“And that was why the court ordered that the applicant should pay the bail of N500m in satisfaction of the fulfilment or we sell the property and recover the bail sum.
“So, it is our submission that our selling of the property is dependable on the inability or failure of the applicant to pay the sum of N500m. And, until he informs us of his inability, we cannot go ahead and sell the property. This is to forestall double payment,” Abubakar said.
Justice Abang after listening to arguments by the lawyers, adjourned until Friday for ruling.
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BREAKING: Kidnappers Kill Monarch In Ondo State
Oba Adegoke Adeusi, the Olufon of Ifon under Ose Local Government Area Ondo State, has been murdered by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers, SaharaReporters can report.
Oba Adeusi was killed on Thursday evening at a spot around the Elegbeka axis of the town.
The monarch was returning to his palace from Akure, the state capital, when he was killed.
A security source told our correspondent that Oba Adeusi was earlier kidnapped before he was killed.
The source said, “The king had earlier attended the meeting with all Obas in Akure and while on his way he was kidnapped which caused apprehension in the community.
“But while we were trying to ensure his rescue, we saw that he had already been killed by the kidnappers. It is very sad.”
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Blasphemy: Kano Appeal Court To Rule On Death Sentence Of Musician By Sharia Court
The Kano State Court of Appeal has reserved judgment on the appeal of the death sentence on Yahaya Aminu-Sharif, a musician sentenced to death for a song deemed blasphemous against Prophet Mohammed.
The case was heard on Thursday (today) by the appellate court in the state.
The musician through his lawyer, Kunle Alapinni, prayed the court to declare the Kano State Penal Law 2000 (Shariah court) is unconstitutional, null and void, having grossly violated and conflicted with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended.
He also urged the appellate court to quash the judgment of the Sharia court.
The court presided over by Justice Nuraddeen Sagir, however, reserved judgment, adding that the date of the ruling will be communicated to both parties.
The court also reserved judgment in the case of 17-year-old Umar Farouq sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
The case was also handled by Alapinni, who sought the quashing of the Sharia court and its judgments.
The United Nations and rights groups have condemned the sentence of the Sharia court over its infringement on fundamental rights.
The UN held that international law protects the expression of opinion and beliefs, “including what is seen to offend religious sensibilities”, adding that applying the death penalty for alleged blasphemy also violates Nigeria’s obligations under international human rights law.
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