Echotitbits – Nigeria News

Category: Nigeria

Police Brutality: Ruggedman asks Nigerians to take advocacy beyond social media

By Tobiloba Kolawole.

A Nigerian music artiste, Ugochukwu Stephens popularly known as Ruggedman has charged Nigerians, who through social media actively advocated justice for the slain Kolade Johnson, to attend the hearing of the case against the killer cop, which comes up on Monday.

In a post he uploaded on social media, Ruggedman admonished interested persons to take the advocacy against extra judicial killings by officers of the Nigerian police force outside social media.

The rap star who is one of the few celebrities that has lend their voices to protest the killings of Nigerians, especially youths by police wrote on his Instagram handle @ruggedybaba:

“Forget social media brouhaha, the man that killed Kolade Johnson will be in court tomorrow at Ebute Metta. Are you all mouth and no action? All of you that have hashtagged #justiceforkolade I hope you will be in the court tomorrow morning.”

He also noted that “revolution won’t start with you behind your keypad.”

The hearing will hold inside Court 14 at Ebute Meta Magistrate court at 9am.

The alleged killer, former Inspector of police, Olalekan Ogunyemi was found guilty in April at an orderly room trial conducted by the Nigerian Police Force after an outcry against the murder of Kolade Johnson in Lagos.

At the end of the trial, the adjudicating officer, CSP Indyar Apev ruled that the accused officer, Olalekan Ogunyemi was found guilty of shooting and killing Kolade Johnson.

Apev described Ogunyemi’s act as a discreditable conduct that is prejudicial to discipline in the Nigeria police Force.

He said Ogunyemi is guilty of “unlawful and unnecessary exercise of authority by using unnecessary violence, by using AK 47 rifle on the deceased in total neglect to the provisions of Force Order 237 on the use of Firearms.”

Apev described Ogunyemi’s act as a discreditable conduct that is prejudicial to discipline in the Nigeria police Force.

He said Ogunyemi is guilty of “unlawful and unnecessary exercise of authority by using unnecessary violence, by using AK 47 rifle on the deceased in total neglect to the provisions of Force Order 237 on the use of Firearms.”

May 5, 2019
Lawyer demands governors justify N360 million funded NGF
- Tobiloba Kolawole
Governors of the 36 states of Nigeria have been tasked on the need to justify the existence of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and the about N360 million expended annually to run its secretariat.

A legal practitioner, Adedayo Edun made this demand today in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital when he spoke to frontpage.ng on what is expected of governors.

Edun lamented that the NGF, which ought to be a rallying point for cross fertilization of ideas bothering on development and good governance aimed at uplifting the lives of Nigerians, has been reduced to a mere political machinery.

He said: “It’s all about politics, how do we win this and that, which is of no concern to the electorate. The electorate wants something that will impact on their lives.”

The legal practitioner emphasized that Nigeria is in critical need of good governance for any meaningful development. He stressed that the current make up of the NGF is more of a merry making platform for the governors since the impact of such entity have not been seen on the masses.

He stated further that: “If they are converging at all, it is precisely to create a synergy. And what is the synergy? To answer this question is to say it is to make positive impact on the citizenry, that’s the purpose of that convergence.

Unfortunately, they have missed the purpose for which they are in office. They tend to see their position as an opportunity to amass wealth, to exercise authority, particularly arbitrarily.”

Their objective for me should be how we make positive impact on the people we are governing. So each governor will share experiences on how to make the people happy. How do we create purposeful governance in our respective states? And what is the opinion of those citizens in relation to their governance” he said.

Although, Edun believes that the N360million naira expended out of the billions they receive from the Federal Government annually would have been insignificant if it was used to better the lives of citizens in their states.

“If they are attaining positive ends with that amount, and what I mean by positive ends is what really concerns and affects the populace in their respective states; maybe we may say that it is justified. This is because we would see prompt actions and outcomes from their forum that clearly deals with how to make citizens in their states happy”, he said.

Edun added that: “If you have spent 360million in a year in 36 states, well, that is still reasonable to make your people happy. What they collect in a year put together is over N40 billion. So N360 million in itself would be insignificant if what they have been able to achieve is to make their people happy.”

He lamented that nobody is happy: “Look at electricity; they can do it in their respective states. If they are so determined to give their people electricity they can do independent power projects and the citizenry will know that these governors are working.

But unfortunately, they are all on a frolic of their own. They determine what is good for the citizenry by their own opinion and that’s not the thing. It is not your own opinion that matters. You must determine where the shoe pinches the citizenry to understand their needs and decide to address the problem”, Edun said.

The Nigeria Governors Forum had come under severe criticism. It had been referred to as a boys club especially because of its heavy politicking over leadership and the tendency to become machinery for divisive politics as experienced during the Jonathan administration.

However, in his reaction, the Head, Media and Public Affairs, Nigeria Governors Forum, Abdulrazaq Bello-Barkindo refuted claims that the forum is merely a boys club.

He disclosed that as part of the induction ceremony that was held in the week for governors-elect, there was a spouses day aimed at bringing together for the purpose of training male or female spouses of elected governors.

Barkindo noted that: “The reason for which the Nigeria Governors Forum was set up is imperative.”

He explained that: “We can’t have governors come together as individuals just fighting for different things at the same time. So the governors in 1999 thought they needed to come together.”

We took a cue from the National Governors Association in the United State where governors come together, rub minds and put together a certain front that will emancipate their people from their own problems”, Barkindo Said.

He said further that the NGF is concerned about eradicating poverty, mis-governance, hunger and starvation, which is why it has 6 key mandate areas that include infrastructure, policy, economy, environment and security.

He stated that it is “preposterous” for Nigerians to say the NGF has not had positive impact on the lives of the people across the nation.

He said: “Over time we have seen improvement in how governors relate to each other. Today there is no bickering among governors, they are all together and they approach matters in a uniformed solution seeking way.”

One of the arguments against the forum is that the peer review function that it tries to sell to Nigerians has not changed the way governors deliver governance in their respective states. This has fueled questions as to what role the NGF plays in the running of states.

Barkindo however disclosed that: “We are a service intuition that serves from a consultancy point of view. We serve every governor according to his specific needs. What we try to do is to provide tailor made services that governors need at a particular time.”

The NGF official also revealed how the forum is funded.

“The NGF is funded by dues from the governors; dues of only N10 million per annum. That will surprise you, that there is not a lot of money that comes into the services of the NGF”, Barkindo noted.

In order to prepare incoming and returning governors for the task of delivering purposeful and effective governance, the NGF organized a 3day induction event which started last Monday and ended on Wednesday.

Speakers at the event include the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria, Ibukun Awosika and other notable local and global leaders.
May 3, 2019
9th NASS: “Oshiomhole’s party supremacy position against presidential democracy” – Nwaokobia
- Tobiloba Kolawole
As the inauguration of the 9^th National Assembly draws close, some politicians have taken a different view from that of the APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole on how the leadership election of the Senate and House of Representatives should be approached.

Days after the public declaration by the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, saying that his party has the numbers to take all the key positions of the national assembly without the help of the PDP, some politicians think it is alright to discus and negotiate with the opposition.

While responding to questions on a breakfast show in Lagos, a member of the Bauchi state House of Assembly, Ibrahim Bala Hassan said:

“Politics is all about discussions, listening to people and coming to terms with using diplomacy to agree on certain issues. So you have to agree to disagree.”

Hassan, who referred to himself as a strong party man who believes in the supremacy of the party stated that In the case of the upcoming national assembly leadership elections a number of things would happen.

He said: “There has to be series of discussions, there has to be series of disagreements, and what we expect in the upcoming election is to have less rancorous kind of election unlike the 2015 elections whereby there were series of rebellion against the party as we call it.”

Hassan noted that all candidates put forward by the APC leadership were only mere recommendations and not an imposition on the incoming 9^th National Assembly.

“So Senator Ahmed Lawan and the house leader, Femi, they were not imposed, they were recommended. It is left for the two candidates to convince their colleagues that they are after the task to be the speaker and the senate president of the Federal Republic”, Hassan said.

The Bauchi state House of Assembly member reiterated that lawmakers at both the state and national level have the right to decide for themselves without being dictated to.

“Even if the party chairman, with all due respect, has his own position, as members of the national parliament we have our own opinion about how to make our party to win the leadership. We are not arguing with the chairman but there has to be a different approach’, Hassan said.

In his own reaction to the issue, the Spokesperson of the Turaki Vanguard, Chris Nwaokobia expressed worry that the concept of party supremacy, which according to him is only an element of parliamentary democracy, is imported into a presidential democracy like Nigeria’s.

Nwaokobia said “Very often you hear people in presidential democracy talk about party supremacy, you wonder what information they are leaving our children with. Party supremacy is primarily a dogma of parliamentary democracy.”

That is why in this country we have seen a speaker of the House of Reps from a minority party, Ume Ezeoke in the second Republic, also a senate president from a minority party. That is why we have the uproar about whether the APC can do it alone or they would have to negotiate and discuss with the PDP”, he said.

Nwaokobia explained that “the party, based on how we practice our democracy appears to be supreme. But in a presidential democracy, that is why when you talk about the leader of the APC, you talk about either President Muhammadu Buhari or Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, you are not calling the chairman.”

To drive home his point that the idea of party supremacy that is being sounded aloud by the APC National Chairman does not hold in Nigeria’s presidential democracy, Nwaokobia made effort to distinguish the parliamentary democracy.

He said: “I’ll give you a practical example. You do not perhaps know the name of the Democratic Party chairman in the United States of America, the name of the chairman of the Republican Party, even in Ghana. This is because they run a presidential democracy.”

It is simply about the people. I am not saying that the party position should not be respected. In parliamentary democracy basically, the party that wins forms government and follow in totality the ideology of the political party”, he explained.

Chris Nwaokobia also stated that while the APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole insists on having APC members taking over all leadership positions at he National Assembly, he advises that the Nigerian people and the nuances of governance under the country’s current presidential democracy should rather be supreme.

He noted that: “In the United States of America, you must go into proper negotiation with the opposition parties. You must understand that in the chamber what you have are representatives of the people. And the representatives of the people must decide who becomes Speaker of the House of Reps or the President of the Senate.”

I am not throwing away the fact that the party has policies of programmatic that it needs the speaker and the senate president to push. But I am saying that the grand standing, the headmaster-pupil proclamation of the chairman of the APC, the nuances and body language of the APC does not run in tandem with the normative of presidential democracy”, Nwaokobia said.
April 27, 2019
Nigeria ranks second highest with 60 million who do open defecation
- Tobiloba Kolawole
Nigeria with about 200 million people is at the risk of a national disaster that could stem from diseases associated with open defecation.

An environmental activist, Hamzat Lawal, who spoke to TVC News in Lagos on Monday stated that a situation where over 60 million people cannot access toilet facilities is dangerous.

In November 15 of 2108, the Federal Government through the Ministry for Water Resources led by Engineer Suleiman Hussein Adamu launched a strategic document for Open Defecation Free Campaign.

It is however worrisome that according to current information on the website of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Nigeria is ranked second highest in the world with cases of open defecation.

The environmental activist stated that to avoid an uncontrollable breakout of cholera, government needs to declare a state of emergency to tackle open defecation.

Lawal said: “they need to consolidate on their effort and this is not the sole role of government alone. As much as government needs to put in place policies and regulatory framework, this presents an opportunity here.”

I think we all shy away from the fact that this is shit business; we need to ensure the private sector is involved. If you look at our major cities today, they don’t have mobile toilets where citizens can have access”, Lawal said.

He emphasized the need for a policy roadmap that will encourage private sector investment in dealing with open defecation because government effort alone is not enough.

“I think most importantly someone has to pay the price. We need to look at the investment chain, create an enabling environment to bring in the private sector’, Lawal said.

He expressed worry that many Nigerians still do not understand the health Implication of open defecation.

“Today we are experiencing cholera outbreak in most rural communities because where they defecate is the same place they have streams, which goes to the river bank and people will drink this water and use it to cook food.”

Nigeria is battling with infant mortality, if we don’t deal with open defecation, particularly at the grass root, especially rural communities, we will keep losing lives and value for money”, Lawal said.

He also spoke on how quickly the menace of open defecation should be dealt with and meeting the 2025 target for eradicating the scourge.

“I think we need to decentralise. What I mean is that Federal Government must not only lead the effort. What are our local institutions doing, what are our state governments doing, most importantly how much is government budgeting at the local, state and national level?”

Also, how much of this budget are being released and how are civil societies able to track the effective use of public resources?”

I believe if we can effectively ensure that public resources are put to public use, then we will ensure that every citizen has access to public toilet facility.”

Frontpage recalls that in 2016, during the 6th National Roundtable Conference on Community led Total sanitation, which held in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, the Ministry of Water Resources launched a campaign document titled Making Nigeria Open Defecation Free by 2025.
April 23, 2019
NSCDC official kills 8 young boys in road rage incident

– Tobiloba Kolawole

About ten people have died in a road rage incident involving members of the Boys Brigade and an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC).

The incident, which occurred around 11:30pm on Sunday at Alheri Junction, Biu Road, Gombe State, was said to have happened after an unidentified NSCDC official, who was driving with a police friend met a company of Boys Brigade consisting members of different churches in the state.

The boys had embarked on an Easter rally, a usual procession to celebrate the death and rise of Jesus, which turned tragic this time.

It was gathered that after the NSCDC official, who was the driver rammed into the procession a mob of youths chased the car, caught up and descended on him and the police friend, beating both men to death before calm was restored.

Speaking to newsmen, the Chairman of the Gombe State Battalion Brigade of the Boys Brigade, Isaac Kwadang confirmed the incident that has led to the horrible death of about 8 young boys who were only out to celebrate the Easter festival and two other persons including the alleged raged driver and another passenger who was reported to be a police personnel.

Kwadang said “The boys went out for a rally; this man came with his car after he was allowed passage. The man came back and this time around he even switched off his car light and went into these boys killing about 8 boys. Right now, 11 boys have multiple fractured bones. There are other 32 causalities apart from these.”

There are concerns that the driver involved might have been provoked but Kwadang said:

“There was nothing. They did not do anything to him. The first time he passed, they allowed him. After he now dropped some passengers and then came back”.

While speaking to news men, Chief Medical Director of the Gombe State Specialist Hospital said that dead bodies of victims were received at the hospital.

Family members of victims have besieged the hospital, where some of the injured are receiving treatment, hoping they survive.

Although, it was gathered that the angry youth have been calmed, there are palpable fears of further confrontation.

April 22, 2019
Is Senator Amosun really an “Alaseju”?

By Atanda Odewole

Keen observers of Ogun State political developments are still trying to discern the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries. On one hand, the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) seems to be irreconcilably divided with the Dayo Adedayo led faction emerging victorious through the judicial process. This has almost certainly assured Senator Buruji Kashamu the gubernatorial ticket.

On the other hand, the Ogun APC primaries brought a different dimension. While the PDP gladiators fought their battles in courts, the Ogun APC leaders opted to settle scores through the ballots. A former Governor of the State, in tango with an erstwhile Governor of Lagos State have pitched their tent with the official APC candidate, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who emerged through a process described by most observers as lacking democratic participation by APC party members. In essence, Prince Abiodun’s emergence as the gubernatorial candidate was ordained by the aforementioned erstwhile Governors through the National Chairman of APC Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

The other party in the Ogun APC, simply opted to restructure their electoral participation through the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), where Governor Amosun’s preferred gubernatorial candidate and many others emerged as INEC recognised candidates for various elective offices.

So what could have led to this scenario? Is this a case of Ogun APC becoming the jewel of the shrine in the 2023 political calculations of Capo Du Tutti? Or as some have suggested that the Governor is an “Alaseju”.

Be that as it may, the point must be made that as fractious as APC appears, the opposition, as personified by PDP, is equally so weak that it poses little threat to the outcomes of the 2019 Ogun electoral battles.

But in order to comprehend the causal factor of the Ogun APC fracture, it is necessary to highlight the departing pressure points. First is the October 2nd 2018 gubernatorial primary and second the October 7th primary. Both primaries were conducted by two different NWC panels led by Indabawa and Col. Ali Ciroma (Rtd.). The October 2nd 2019 primary conducted by the Indabawa NWC panel became controversial following the annulment of the primary results that threw up Hon. Abiodun Akinlade as the winner. On another note, the October 7th national and state assembly primaries were rancour-free and the results were declared by the NWC Panel Chairman Col. Ali Ciroma (Rtd). These results, won fairly by Amosun loyalists, were also jettisoned by the Chairman of APC Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on the instigation of the aforementioned erstwhile Governors. It is this that finally led to the parting of ways by the Ogun APC leaders.

Bearing these in mind, the question that lingers in the minds of some who desired mechanical unity is that “Is Amosun an Alaseju?” As the leader of APC in Ogun State, Senator Amosun has tried his best to keep the party together as one family. Up till September 2018, before the primaries, the party was strong and united. If all other things were to remain equal, there is a high probability that the APC will coast home to victory in the 2019 governorship election without much ado.

But the same cannot be said of Ogun APC today. The party is now in a big mess following the controversial primary election in which the mandate given to Hon. Adekunle Abdulkabir Akinlade was annulled and handed over to Mr. Dapo Abiodun by the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party. This was a rape of democracy, the height of injustice and the most inglorious electoral robbery ever perpetrated in the history of APC.

It is only natural that the governor, who is the leader and conscience of the party, must respond to that development. In the midst of his response, which was not palatable to his detractors, we often hear a riposte that Senator Amosun is an “alaseju”, meaning, when literally translated, that he is overdoing things and cannot be kept under check. Haba! I am tempted to say that this kind of riposte on the part of some supposedly learned individuals lacks a sense of history and fails to understand the power play within the party.

A recount of how the APC under Senator Amosun got to where it was, before hell was let loose, will clear the air. Prior to the 2015 elections, a group within the party led by a respected former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, stirred the hornets’ nest and decided to organise a parallel governorship primary in Ogun APC, which did not jell. In an attempt to avoid the shame of losing out in the primaries, Chief Osoba and co, including all their disgraced candidates, left APC to contest the election under the banner of Social Democratic Party (SDP). Osoba boasted to high heavens that the SDP would win the 2015 elections and put the Amosun-led APC to ignominy. As it turned out, the results showed that Chief Osoba and his group were electoral liabilities as they lost the 2015 elections woefully.

The Amosun-led APC won the said elections with a landslide victory. Senator Amosun immediately initiated policies that transformed the APC into a virile and the most organised chapter of the party in the country. As it were, the rancour-free congresses of the party in May 2018 had kept the other chapters in the country wondering how the Ogun State chapter did it.

Though Chief Osoba and co found themselves back in APC on the eve of 2015 elections, one cannot really blame them for this. Chief Osoba is a well discerned politician. He realised that while he was outside the APC, Senator Amosun had used his resources to build the party. There is nothing bad in wanting to be part of the success story. However, Chief Osoba and co had a different agenda; the intention was to come and hijack the APC structure and feed fat where they didn’t sow.

What happened before, during and after the primaries in Ogun APC is no longer news. Chief Osoba, in concert with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Chairman of the party, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, upturned the will of the people and imposed Mr. Dapo Abiodun as the governorship candidate of APC in Ogun State. The imposition of Mr. Dapo Abiodun was a volte-face.

In his response to this treachery, Senator Amosun didn’t do anything unwieldy to warrant the shout of “alaseju” as some gullible observers would want us to believe. He only allowed those who were cheated in the primaries to exercise their democratic rights. Would it be right for Senator Amosun to stop them from dumping APC and moving to a new party?

Indeed it is unreasonable to expect Senator Amosun to agree to the Oshiomhole-led treachery. It would have amounted to committing a political hara-kiri, just as Wole Soyinka said: “The man dies in him who keeps silence in the face of tyranny.”

Senator Amosun is perceived to have acted rightly by standing firm without betraying his conscience.

January 21, 2019
Ogun 2019: GNI, Amosun aide disagree on OGD vs SIA administration

By Tobiloba Kolawole

The governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Ogun State, Gboyega Isiaka, says the Ibikunle Amosun led government ranks low compared to the administration of former governor, Gbenga Daniel.

The governorship hopeful bared his mind while speaking to Seun Okinbaloye of Channels TV in Lagos recently.

He said the APC led government has not done well in eight years “in the sense of even development of the state, in the sense of priority setting for the state, in terms of looking at potentials for the state, particularly economic potentials for the state and try to wake them up”.

Isiaka accused Amosun of favouring Abeokuta central, where the governor hails from, by concentrating many of his projects there.

He stated that: “Amosun’s development approach is lopsided and not balanced to benefit all parts of the state. He concentrated largely on one area, which is road construction in the centre. I do not have any problem with developing the centre, but that should not be done at the extreme expense of other areas and other sectors particularly human capital development.

“At the end of the day, what this generation will leave for the next generation is the knowledge that we have left in the heads of our people. I think that the government now has not done enough in that area. Again, I think we have too much economic potential that we needed to have continued and do a lot about but he did not do”, Isiaka said.

Isiaka who was appointed a pioneer Group Managing Director of Gateway Holdings in 2004 by former governor Gbenga Daniel reacted to rumours that if he won the governorship election, he would be a string tied to the apron of his former boss.

He said: “I don’t know what that means. I had an opportunity of working with that government, I will not deny that. I think you should ask an average person on the street of Ogun state today and now that they’ve had the opportunity of another governor for 8 years, to pick out of the two. I believe very strongly that majority will pick the government of Otunba Gbenga Daniel.”

The former Special Assistant on Investment in the last administration reiterated his plan to rule the state through a strategy he calls ‘7 Steps to Abundance’. He explained that: “What we mean by that is that an average Ogun state man and woman, young and old should live a fulfilled life, should be able to achieve his potential giving the wherewithal and resources that we have as a state; should be able to live a decent life giving what we have.

While answering questions on his claim to return missionary schools to private founders, which is generating reactions among stakeholders, Isiaka denied making such promise.

He stated that: “It was wrongly reported by the press. What we said is that we will encourage NGOs, private institutions and missionaries in whichever religion, to participate and partake in school development. But that will be done within laid down rules, guidelines and principles.”

“We also said that immediately we get into office, we will call an education summit because the state of our education in Ogun State now is nothing to write home about. We are going to have a comprehensive education summit. We are of the view that we should encourage private sector involvement and this is done everywhere. In Lagos state you have own a school; you have alumni participating in schools, you have all manners of these things happening”, Isiaka said.

However, a member of Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s cabinet, Adeniyi Adesanya has described Isiaka’s claims as erroneous and an attempt to score cheap political goals that is bound to fail.

Adesanya, who is a consultant with the Ogun State Government, warned that people should not hide under politicking to spew erroneous information just to malign the sitting governor.

He said: “When you talk, you must back it up with reasons. I am bold enough to say that erroneous impression will not augur well for any development issue especially now that we are politicking.”

“Governor Amosun has done very wonderfully well in social, economy etc. My dear aburo there, Isiaka, of course going back the days we would say that Yewa people deserve governorship but that is not to say that we should malign anybody, Adesanya said.

The former Special Adviser to the governor on Political Affairs added that it is only logical and sensible to ensure there is adequate development at the capital, which serves as the centre of all economic activities in the state.

He further said that “when we came in to government in 2011, the internally generated revenue was around N700 million. So I ask one of them talking now, where were they when Amosun in his energetic self called all of us that we must all be on our toes at ensuring that we raise the revenue of the state? Now as I speak, the revenue of the state is about N7 billion. That happened because somebody is there who pays attention to details and fears God.”

Adesanya emphasized that a capital city should have the trappings of its status: “When you go to the UK, are you saying Kent should be developed more than the centre, which is London, or Manchester, Glasgow more developed? The capital is the centre of economic sanctity. Therefore, when you have a capital, it must look like a capital. Abeokuta for too long has experienced a lot of underdevelopment. It is the benefit of the capital that will spread to all other parts of the state.

“I will ask this person that is talking (Isiaka), is Imeko Afon the way it used to be? In Ilaro, Aiyetoro, go and see what we did there, it is monumental, even my own town in Sagamu”, he said.

January 5, 2019
Dino’s brother vows to hold Buhari accountable; Court refuses ex-parte application

By Tobiloba Kolawole

As the standoff between the Nigerian Police and a lawmaker in the Nigerian Senate, Dino Melaye enters day 5, a brother to the embattled Senator has vowed to hold the Nigerian Police Force and President Buhari accountable should anything happen to the embattled Senator.

Dino’s brother, Moses Melaye who spoke about the Senators’s plight on Wednesday during a TV programme monitored by Frontpage.ng accused the police of an illegal take-over of the home of a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Melaye stated that the police under Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris are bent on making the life of his brother a ‘living hell’ having tried to arrest the Senator severally in 2018. He also reacted to the allegation of complicity in the murder of a police sergeant, Danjuma Saliu, which happened in July 2018. He berated the police for lying, saying no member of Dino’s entourage (thug) shot at any police officer. He said the allegation is unfounded and untrue.

Melaye said: “When injustice becomes a norm, resistance becomes a duty. This government and the police have made the life of my brother Senator Dino Melaye a living hell for the past few months.

“The case they are raising against him happened in July, I was there. The policemen shot at us; my car has over two bullet holes. So how can they turn around all of a sudden that we were the ones shooting at the police? Our police and security men have been taking away since over seven or eight months ago. So how do we now become the person shooting? That story is not true and unfounded”, he said.

The brother to the embattled Senator further stated that: “Because of the injustice on a daily bases, we cannot trust or believe anything they say or they do. I believe they are out to harm my brother, if not what is the desperation? American police protects lives, Nigerian police takes lives everyday…they came into the compound arrested the security man, beat him up, handcuffed him, the cleaner, the same thing.”

When asked about the current location of his brother (Dino), Moses Melaye denied having any knowledge of where the Senator might be. He claimed the Police took over the Maitama residence without an arrest warrant and dislodged family members and staff who live with the Senator.

Officers of the Nigerian Police Force at Senator Dino Melaye’s Residence

“I cannot confirm categorically because they did not allow anybody into that compound. They shut his house; they are the one opening gate and closing gate, there are dogs in that house, we have cook, my parents are supposed to be in that house as we speak. Dino is not the only occupant of that house. So we don’t even know, they did not allow anybody, family members or staff into that house. We are going to hold the police and the government of Buhari responsible if anything happens”, Melaye said.

In the same vein, a lawyer and member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Daniel Bwala believes that both parties are overdramatizing the situation.

Bwala said: “I don’t know why the police will lay siege for a number of days. When you have a search warrant or warrant of arrest, what you will need to do is when you go to the place if the person does not surrender you break into the house, make the arrest where necessary and leave the place. In other words, in less than a day, they ought to have performed the arrest they wanted to perform so that people like Dino’s brother, mother and other family members will not suffer for the sins of Dino, whom by law is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

“On the other hand, everyone knows that Dino is a dramatist. Otherwise, the constitution is clear about your fundamental right. It states in clear terms, anybody who alleges that his right is being infringed, or has been infringed or about to be infringed can approach the court for the enforcement of his fundamental rights”, Bwala said.

The lawyer stated that Dino ought to have approached the court rather than resort to self help. He further noted that: “To evade arrest when you are aware that the law enforcement agencies are demanding your attention in itself is an offence. So when you look at the combination of the activities, on the part of the police, you will see that they are overdramatizing it. Now they have met with a super actor and the whole thing now is unnecessary for the Nigerian nation.

“I think that the Inspector General of Police should make a decision, if you want to arrest Dino, you know what to do. So to lay siege in front of the house of a private citizen for days as if he’s a terrorist who has come to overthrow the government of Nigeria is unnecessary” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where Senator Melaye belongs has described the incident as unfortunate and against norm.

In his reaction, a PDP Presidential Campaign Spokesperson, Sanni Umar claimed that the police is biased and is not being fair in the matter since the case against the Senator involved their own.

Umar said: “This is an abuse of state power. The police are an interested party in this matter. They are investigating over the shooting of one of them. So the police is not expected to be fair and equitable.”

He said further that: “There are other motives by the police. Someone who is being looked for since July, why is it taking this time for the police to now make a manhunt for him clearly knowing that elections are approaching.

“This is not unusual of the police. The police has done that with Senator Ademola Adeleke, when it was only 2 days to Osun election, they now preferred charges of forgery and other things to take him to court. This is to demoralize him and his supporters, to intimidate him and his party and this is not acceptable”, Umar said.

On Wednesday, Dino Melaye said via his twitter handle that he will not surrender to the police because he fears the Inspector General of Police will inject him to death.

Latest report however indicates that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja this Thursday has denied Melaye’s request to have the police vacate his residence and stop its officers from making further attempt at his arrest.

In the ruling given by Justice N. E. Maha, the court refused the ex-parte application by the Senator but ruled that the substantive matter be granted accelerated hearing.

The controversial Senator faces two separate charges of attempted suicide and arming criminal suspects. The Nigerian Police Force remains adamant on arresting the Senator.

January 3, 2019
Lagos Ports: ‘Irresponsible government destroying lives, businesses and bridges’

By Tobiloba Kolawole

The Federal Government has been advised to decentralize Lagos ports in order to achieve efficiency in the sector and solve the perennial gridlock on the Apapa-Oshodi expressway, which continues to cripple economic activities and make life difficult for residents of the State.

The Chairman, Association of Corporate Governance Professionals, Sam Ohuabunwa made this call in a chat at his Maryland home in Lagos. He said that a long lasting solution to the hardship that is being experienced on the road by Lagos residents is to decentralize Lagos ports and get other ports in the South South and the recently inaugurated dry port in Kaduna functional.

Ohuabunwa decried the lack of will by government in bringing sanity back to the Apapa-Oshodi road. He said ‘everyone’ is forced to use the Apapa port because it is the only port that is allowed to function and service the entire nation.

“Nigeria has Port Harcourt port, Calabar port, Onne Port, Warri port; why are they not being put to use? Everyone is forced to come to Lagos port; it is the port with the best facility, why?” Ohuabunwa said.

The former CEO of Neimeth Pharmaceuticals PLC said that the use of the Lagos Port and the neglect of others in the east dates back to the Nigeria civil war, which started in 1967 and ended in 1970.

Ohuabunwa said: “It was like a policy, during the war, those eastern ports were shut understandably so that arms couldn’t go to Biafra. Since the war ended, we have maintained a form of discrimination against those ports. Some of them have become so shallow, government says it has no money and they are not willing to properly privatise the ports so that people with money can come and deepen the ports.

“I think that the issue is that government should decentralise port operations. If government says in the next six months nobody should open Apapa or Lagos ports, the place will change. Or remove some of those restrictions that are making it more difficult to do business in other ports.”

It is obvious that the traffic constraint as a result of activities in Lagos ports is not the only issue to worry about. The trickledown effect on infrastructures like road and especially some bridges in Lagos is of critical concern as Ohuabunwa stated.

He said: “It is just that everybody is coming to Lagos. Do you see the vehicles occupying the streets? Do you see where stationary trucks stay on bridges for months? You think that’s a normal thing? Bridges that are supposed to carry transient weight are carrying static weight and not only blocking traffic but also damaging those infrastructures. Wait until a few years and we shall see the impact of these static weights these flyovers are carrying. It is irresponsible governance; I have not seen anything like it.”

Traffic gridlock along the ports in Lagos, especially around Apapa and the indiscriminate packing of trucks on the highways, including bridges has become a menace that has defied government interventions. Last July, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had ordered a 72-hour operation to remove trucks parked indiscriminately and restore order in the area. But in less than three months, the wrath and perennial gridlock persist.

Some road users who spoke to The Guardian said the order didn’t go far because security and traffic management personnel in charge were inefficient and corrupt. They also noted that one critical underlying factor causing the menace – bad roads has not been fixed.

January 2, 2019
2019: Atiku doubts Buhari’s commitment to free and fair elections

By Tobiloba Kolawole

The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to assent the Electoral Act 2018 Amendment Bill. Atiku, who appears to be the main opposition to Buhari’s reelection bid, expressed doubt about the President’s commitment to free and fair elections in 2019.

The former vice President made his position known on Friday via his Twitter handle: “Mr. President, assurances that your administration will conduct free, fair and credible elections cannot be taken seriously. For Nigerians and especially us in the opposition, you just missed an opportunity to walk the talk.”

Another prominent PDP member who has voiced his disappointment over Buhari’s decline to assent the Electoral bill was former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, who said that the President’s action can only mean he does not trust the judgment of his party members at the National Assembly that actively took part in the passing of the bill.

“What is President Buhari’s fear concerning this Electoral Bill? Can the interest of a single individual be placed above that of Nigeria and its people? Is he saying that even his party members in the NASS were wrong to have passed the Electoral Bill? May God save our country?” Fayose wrote on his twitter handle.

Meanwhile, some Nigerians have alleged that the real reason President Buhari declined assent to the Electoral Act 2018 Amendment Bill was to benefit from faceless voters who had no permanent voters cards (PVCs). One of those making the accusation is a former aide of ex President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to Reno Omokri, who made reference to a data by DeepDive Intelligence that is now circulating online, President Buhari won the 2015 Presidential election because over 13 million people with no PVCs voted.

“The real reason Buhari does not want to sign the Electoral Act is because 75% of the faceless voters who voted without PVCs in 2015, voted for Buhari. That is how he rigged the 2015 election. That is what the new Electoral Act will stop”[SIC], Reno said.

This is the fourth time President would decline assent to the Electoral Act 2018 Amendment Bill. Reasons for previous refusal had been hinged on errors in the document sent by the National Assembly.

According to the President’s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), “President Muhammadu Buhari has taken decision on Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2018. In accordance with his power under the 1999 Constitution, he has communicated that decision to the Senate and House of Representatives, in accordance with the law.”

Enang was however unwilling to give specific reasons why the President withheld assent to the bill for the fourth time but only stated that Buhari has communicated to the National Assembly.

However, if Nigeria’s membership of the Economic Community of West African States is anything to go by, President Buhari would have breached the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. Article 2 of the protocol forbids member countries from making “substantial modification” to their electoral laws less than six months to elections “except with the consent of a majority of political actors”.

December 8, 2018