Wife of Kogi State Governor, Hajiya Hafi Bello has given birth to twin baby boys in a private hospital in Abuja. Hajiya Hafi is the second wife of the Governor,
A statement released by the Special Adviser on media and strategy to the Governor, Abdulkarim Abdulmalik, said the children, who were delivered in the early hours of today are in sound health with the mother.
Abdulkarim saidthat the governor received the news with joy after just over a month into his administration.
Governor Bello is the first Kogi state governor to be blessed with twin babies while in office. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the new Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji Aje Ogungunniso 1 not to depart from the foot-steps of his predecessors as he formally mounted the throne today
In a message at the coronation, President Buhari celebrated Oba Adetunji’s ascension to the ancient throne of his forefathers, saying that as the 41st Olubadan, he should follow in the worthy and commendable footsteps of his predecessors by working diligently for peace and development in Ibadan, Oyo State and Nigeria.
The President called on Oba Adetunji to also do his utmost best, in his new role as the chief custodian of the traditions of his people, to preserve and propagate the admirable culture and customs of Ibadan.
President Buhari assured the new Olubadan of the full support and cooperation of the Federal Government as he strives to lead his people forward and contribute meaningfully to the development of his domain, Oyo State and the nation.
He prayed to God to grant Oba Adetunji long life, good health and the wisdom he needs for a successfully reign. [myad]
Nigeria’s former president, President Olusegun Obasanjo has lamented what he called the hypocrisy of the Western countries which introduced democracy but are not practicing it.
According to him, the western countries are not doing enough in the practice of democracy and good governance, which they push developing nations to practice.
“Is there any justice in this? No. Any fairness? No,” he said even as he traced some factors of violence, insecurity and radicalization to the homes, schools, churches, mosques and states.
Obasanjo spoke today at the 2016 National Summit and 4th International Colloquium, with the theme: ‘Human Security, Violent Extremism and Radicalization: seeking a Sustainable Solutions’ organized by Centre for Human Security at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, as part of the retired General’s 79 birthday.
He challenged the international community to rise up to the challenges on global insecurity, stressing that the international community should ensure there is justice and fairness in the fight against global insecurity which is the only way to sustainable peace.
He cited some countries whose citizens are suffering from injustice due to negligence from the international community, an ugly development he described as regrettable and not to the best interest of the victims and nations affected.
“I went to Syria when I was President of Nigeria. One of the places I was taken to was a refugee camp where those refugees have been since 1948, nothing has been done to them. How do you want their children to think.
“In Norway, I met some members of the Taliban. We spent two days together. They are in the second echelon of the leadership, I was told the top ones will not come out and when we listened to them. We are bound to say yes, they can get something better than they were getting.”
Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said that Senator Dino Melaye is suffering from what he called verbal diarrhea for delving into a matter as private as his marriage to his heartthrob.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Peter Okhiria, Governor Oshiomhole described Melaye’s comment on the floor of the Senate yesterday on the need to patronize made-in-Nigeria goods as an unprovoked verbal assault launched by one Senator Dino Melaye on the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, while making a contribution on the floor of the Senate.
“As a nephew of the Governor and members of the same party, we expected Senator Melaye to tender an unreserved public apology to the Comrade Governor, to no avail. It is an open secret that Senator Melaye cannot maintain a decent matrimonial home hence he could descend to this pedestrian level of using the hallowed chambers to “cargorise” women as if they were pieces of items for purchase.
“Any responsible individual that is truly worth to be called a Senator, a position that convokes respect, decorum and decent public conduct, should know the limits of his verbal diarrhea.
“The liberty of free speech guaranteed in the hallowed chambers does not impose lunacy on anyone to disparage other Nigerians, let alone pry into their matrimony in a very derisive manner. We had intended to ignore this uncomplimentary comment as one of the several empty displays of the Senator, but the fact that it tends to reduce women to pieces of tissue calls for this response.
“As we probed into Dino Melaye’s humanity, we were reminded that he is a man known for his vainglorious rodomontade and the childish display of his ostentatious lifestyle complements his love for foreign items.
“Many of such euro-centric mentality he has persistently displayed on social media, to underscore his materialistic eccentricity, hence his dialectical opposition to made-in-Nigeria goods.
“But an attempt at making women wear the garb of goods to be picked off the shelves was to take the issue to a ridiculous and irresponsible level. By delving into the private affair and marriage of the Comrade Governor, Senator Melaye has exposed himself as a simpleton and a court jester whose words and tactlessness cannot be taken seriously by matured people.
“We advise that Melaye should mend his ways with his ex-wife and concubines before coming to the village square to display his crass ignorance and emptiness to the Nigerian people. If he has anything to offer, Dino Melaye should concentrate on making good laws for the people of Nigeria rather than descend to a ridiculous level, thus displaying to the whole world his unworthiness to sit in the hallowed chambers of the Nigerian Senate. Vanguard. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who turns 79 tomorrow had made personal sacrifice, carried out extensive local and international networks with God-given wisdom all for Nigeria.
In a congratulatory message to the former President as he marks his 79the birthday tomorrow, Buhari emphasized that the near octogenarian, has contributed immensely to the institutionalization of democracy in Nigeria and Africa.
President Buhari believes that Chief Obasanjo’s place in global history is assured for successfully handing over power to a civilian government in 1979 after serving as a military Head of State, and returning to power in 1999 through elections to stabilize the polity, during which he most remarkably negotiated a debt relief for Nigeria.
The President commended Chief Obasanjo’s vision and commitment to the growth of Nigeria and Africa, which translated into a historical growth rate of 6 percent for the Nigerian economy after a long period of slow growth, and also created a rippling effect that buoyed other African economies.
President Buhari said that the former president’s regular shuttles across Nigeria and Africa to counsel on economic, social and political issues, and his willingness to head election monitoring teams that have heralded smooth transitions in many countries are legacies which generations will remain grateful.
He prayed to God to rant the Balogun of the Owu lineage, who is also the Ekerin Balogun of the Egba clan, long life and strength to continue his service to humanity. [myad]
Brazilian billionaire and once World’s 7th richest man, Eike Batista was reported to have thrown the sum of 700 thousand Brazilian reais (£130,000) in gold coins into the sea off the coast of Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema beach. He was said to have been advised by a Brazilian African religious leader on the need for him to appease a water deity, known as Yamanja, the queen of the seas, for his past ‘ungrateful’ actions.
The flamboyant businessman, who recently suffered one of the largest personal and financial collapses in corporate history, performed the rituals in the hope of rebuilding his billion-pound empire.
“He came to me for help and I told him that everything he had taken from the sea has to be returned in some way and this could be done by a ritualistic gesture showing gratitude,” said Ubirajara Pinheiro, a medium and a priest of the Umbanda religion – a syncretic polytheistic belief that draws on African spiritual traditions mixed with elements of Roman Catholicism. “Most of (Eike’s) recent business explorations were connected to the ocean and you cannot remove ore from the earth without thanking and giving back,” warned Pinheiro, who has been a practicing mystic for over 30 years.
“It’s only after we’ve been punished by God do we then see the wrong we have done,” he added. In 2013, Batista lost 99 percent of his estimated net wealth of £25 billion when his six company commodities empire, which included offshore gas and oil exploration, and gold and iron ore mining, busted defaulting on the largest corporate debt in the history of a Latin American company.
But Batista who admitted that he is being highly superstitious and using psychics in the past to guide his businesses, believes he will be able to roll back the tide of misfortune.
Chartering a yacht, he took to sea to perform a ceremony that involved placing the gold coins in a small vessel with flowers, perfume, champagne and a statue of Yemanja. The little boat was then pushed out to sea in the presence of Pinheiro who led prayers, meditation and chanting. Asked if this is an expensive way to make amends, Pinheiro who is based in Rio said: “It is not about the quantity it is a matter of faith. Many years ago when (Eike) visited my house, I warned him what would happen.”
In an interview with Brazilian network RedeTV! in June 2015, Batista revealed he is rebuilding his company and had ‘zeroed his debts. With his recent ceremonial offering, Pinheiro is prophesying Batista’s return to the top will be ‘in only a matter of months.’
The businessman, known for his lavish lifestyle, dropped from number 7 to number 100 on the Forbes Rich List. The father-of-two, who bought his first gold mine at the age of 24, lost a vast chunk of his fortune when his oil conglomerate, OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA, lost 90 per cent of its value. It left Mr. Batista with an estimated net worth of $200 million when the debts he owed to investors were deducted, according to the Huffington Post, and he was later accused of inside trading. However, the case was suspended after the judge was seen driving one of Mr. Batista’s Porsches. Last year, federal police went to his house, seizing a Lamborghini and six other cars, additional assets and 90,000 reals (£22,000) in cash from the homes of Brazil’s once-richest man.
A Federal Police statement said the assets seized – including computers, cellphones, watches and jewelry – would help guarantee potential compensation if Batista is convicted on charges of insider trading and market manipulation. However, he has still not been prosecuted and during an interview in 2015, he said that he had ‘zeroed’ his debts and was well on the road to rebuilding his company. [myad]
Three different incidents in the last week cast, poignantly, in bold relief the plight of the girl-child in Nigeria. Thanks to The Punch newspaper which launched the #FreeEse, #JusticeforEse campaign and the civil society groups that took up the fight in a spirited manner. With the outrage and outcry that followed, within 72 hours, this same 14-year old girl who was abducted from Yenagoa, Bayelsa state and taken to Kano, seven months ago, by one Yinusa Dahiru alias Yellow, is now free. While we were still grappling with this bizarre story, on Monday, a group of criminals stormed a school, Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in Ikorodu, Lagos state and abducted three girls.
And if that was not shocking enough, on Wednesday, there was this other report about a 15-year old Benue girl, Patience Paul, who had been abducted by two neighbours and married off to a certain “Sarkin Musulmi” in Sokoto state. Her brother cried out, obviously motivated to do so by the Ese Oruru story. Set against the background of the abduction of 219 Chibok girls in 2014, a story that is well known internationally, Nigeria must by now appear in the eyes of the world as a large den of sexual predators, who seem to be obsessed with young, under-aged girls, and the adolescent female.
The international community would be correct to conclude that something terrible is happening here. Indeed, can we blame any analyst who may soon conclude that a girl child is abducted, assaulted or violated per minute in Nigeria, and that Nigeria is not a safe place for either a girl child or a female? The sanity and moral temperature of a society should be measured by the manner in which that society treats its underprivileged and vulnerable members. The powerful trample upon the weak, the privileged despise the less fortunate; a long journey to Hobbes’ apotheosis, which is in truth a comment on the state of our development as state, country, people, and society.
It is instructive, for example, that the girls that end up being abused in the manner of the aforementioned are usually from poor backgrounds and perhaps this makes them specially vulnerable. But all the adult males who abduct other people’s daughters, marry them by force, put them in family way and convert them to Islam, not only make the entire country look bad, they give the rest of us a very bad name indeed. In the end, Nigeria is the victim, and this is why the various government agencies, which were in a position to make a difference when it mattered most in the Ese Oruru case, or similar cases, and failed to act, did the entire country a disservice. In some other countries, certain persons would have honourably submitted their resignations.
But you can be sure, it won’t happen here. The standard response in quarters that should be responsible is likely to be: “ah, wetin? So? “I beg”; Nigeria go stop because of one girl wey follow man?. And life will go on and go on, and the tragedy foretold gets moved to the future. Which is why the protesting small community of men and women with conscience, who have helped to rescue this one girl from sex slavery and forced conversion to a religion that is not of her choice deserve special praise.
The Ese Oruru case is a metaphor for the plight of the Nigerian girl-child. She is a living symbol of the assault on the integrity of the girl child and her hopes and aspirations in a deracinated, dispossessed and conflicted society. She was taken away from her parents at 13 by a man who of course was well-known to her family as a tricycle rider. Initial reports identified the abductor and tormentor as Yinusa Dahiru or Yellow, but from that moment, the story further got coloured by the usual politics of identity, ethnicity and religion. Yellow was branded “Kano man”. There were also references to a North-South cultural divide: a Northerner stealing a Southern child! And then of course, Ese’s conversion to the Islamic religion was a source of boiling anger – most abducted girls tend to be Christians.
There is also the role of the Emir of Kano in the matter. Too many loud and silent indications: conflict between traditional and modern institutions, with particular accent on the relevance, influence, and undue superiorization of the traditional institution in the North, ethnic and regional dichotomy, power dynamics, distortions and historical fault lines and the power of the media, old and new, to change trajectories. No one should fail to notice in this entire saga, how Nigeria and its many ugly complexities are again, sorrowfully on display. But the more urgent and painful part is that the life of a young girl has again been scarred forever. Ese could well have been one of the Chibok girls! Everyday, we are back to Chibok either as symbol, metaphor, painful reminder or elemental fact.
Mr Yellow not only abducted her and turned her into a Muslim, all without her parents’, consent, he also allegedly put the girl in a family way. She is said to be five months pregnant. How sad and annoying. Perhaps if there had been a strong follow up mechanism in place at the Kano Emirate Council, the Emir’s order that she should be released would have saved her the ordeal of being turned into a sex slave. Perhaps if the police in the Kano zone had done their job, seeing that this was nothing but a crime in the eyes of the law, and they had remembered that the primary job of the police is to protect lives and property. But sorry, they just all forgot!
There must be sanctions and civil society must not get tired of this case. There are many other Eses out there, whose future hangs in the balance because certain persons remain morally trapped in the Stone Age. The atrocities that have been committed against innocent children in this land, are despicable: in Ese’s case, her right to education was truncated, she had to miss her JSS 3 exam because a man was busy changing the course of her life; she was subjected to undue imprisonment, and now she is a child bearing a child.
It is shocking to say the least that some persons, carried away by religious and ethnic prejudices, chose to justify this madness. Now that the truth is known that she is indeed a minor, and that Yellow is an adult who took advantage of her, I hope such persons will be reasonable enough to apologise, hide their heads in shame and return filthy lucre. The point has been made ad nauseam that Yinusa Yellow must not be allowed to get away with his brazen crime. The Zimbabwean sit-tight ruler has recommended castration as punishment in this kind of context, but castration not being part of our extant criminal law, we take solace in the realization that there is more than enough in the statutes to put Yinusa Yellow away for a long time, to serve as a deterrent to his ilk. He should be tried expeditiously and a proper closure put to this particular case in line with natural justice, equity and good conscience. His accomplices if there are any, no matter who they are, should also be identified and made to face the full wrath of the law.
This is clearly a case of man’s cruelty to man. In an interview with The Sun, her innocence and vulnerability shine through, as compellingly as the madness of her tormentors. She knows Yinusa as one of her mother’s customers who comes around to buy food at their shop, and she being with her mother at the shop knows and relates with everybody, without any special relationship with Yinusa. “He is not my boyfriend”, she tells us. “I just followed him. I don’t know how I followed him.” She says she doesn’t even know how she found herself in Kano.
She was obviously hypnotized or bewitched. Her kidnappers made her to recite lines she did not understand. They even gave her some strange water to drink. They changed her name to Aisha. She comes across as a child whose childhood and spirit have been polluted by wicked souls. When Ese saw her mother at the Emir’s palace during an earlier attempt to rescue her, she had been so polluted she could not even recognize her mother: “I just looked at her. I did not know her and I did not talk to her.”
She has now regained her senses enough to now ask her mother for “Banga soup and starch”, but there are many lessons involved. She offers advice, for example, to young girls like her: “They should be careful with the people they play with or talk with because it’s not everybody that is good.” Indeed, we live in a society where “not everybody is good” and that includes those callous ones who turned this episode upside down and spilled much ink trying to protect a fictitious Northern interest. At stake is the human interest, and it is not geographical.
Child labour such as the type Ese was involved in, assisting her mother in her food vending business is, let’s admit, culturally correct in Africa, but it also comes with grave dangers. The children are exposed to risks and accidents: crazy customers who can’t keep their eyes or fingers off the female child labourer and kidnappers like Yellow who go the extra length. Parents must be careful. They must be vigilant. The need to survive and deploy all possible hands in the house may be given as an excuse, but the truth is that children lack such negotiating skills that could protect them in an adult context. Caution is the word.
The argument that obsession with children as brides is cultural and religious is the most unreasonable thing I have ever heard and to think that some of the most enlightened and privileged men in a part of our country are part of this, beggars belief. The girl child is a child, not a bride, not a sex slave: she deserves her rights to human dignity, access to education, freedom from discrimination, a decent life in a decent society and the right to fulfill her potentials as a human being and a citizen. From Chibok to Kano, to Ikorodu, to Sokoto in the episodes under consideration, we lament the shame of a nation, and proclaim the right of the girl-child to dignity. [myad]
Another judge of a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, Justice Peter Affen, has ruled that the continued detention of the immediate past National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki did not violate his order granting the ex-NSA bail on December 21, 2015.
The judge dismissed the application by Dasuki seeking to stop his trial for alleged diversion of N19 billion arms funds on the grounds that his re-arrest on December 29, 2015 violated the order of the court granting him bail.
Justice Affen ruled that the application lacked merit and ordered that the trial of the ex-NSA, who was charged along with others, must continue.
The judge fixed April 20 and 22, April for trial.
Earlier, Justice Baba Yusuf of the same court had also today, made similar declaration that the detention of the former NSA is not in breach of his order granting bail to him on December 18, 2015.
The judge had fixed March 23 for commencement of trial.
Dasuki had also filed separate applications before the two judges asking for orders prohibiting the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from further prosecuting him on the two separate sets of charges pending before the judges.
Among his other prayers anchored on alleged violation of the orders of the court by the EFCC, Dasuki prayed the court for an order discharging him of the alleged crime or alternatively staying proceedings.
Meanwhile Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja had fixed April 4 for ruling on similar application filed by Dasuki to stop his trial on four counts of money laundering and illegal possession of firearms.
Dasuki was re-arrested by operatives of the Department of State Service on December 29, 2015 shortly after he was released from Kuje prison upon fulfilling the bail conditions imposed on him by the two judges of the FCT High Court in Maitama.
Justice Affen ruled today that since it was clear that the ex-NSA was not re-arrested by the EFCC but by the Department of State Service (DSS), the EFCC could not be said to have violated the said order granting him bail.
The judge ruled that though the EFCC and the DSS were both federal agencies, the wrongdoing of one could not be blamed on the order.
He also ruled that the order granting bail to the defendant did not preclude him from being re-arrested by other agencies of the Federal Government in respect of other alleged crime.
In his ruling delivered on December 21, 2015, Justice Affen had directed that if Dasuki or any of his co-accused was needed by the prosecution for further investigation, they could only be held between 9am and 6pm and be allowed to return home on each day.
The judge ruled that if the prosecution needed the accused beyond the stipulated period, it must first obtain the leave of court.
“The order of court made on December 21, 2015 did not in any way contemplated any government agencies other than the EFCC to whom the order was directed,” Justice Affen ruled.
While ruling that the EFCC had not violated its order, the judge added even if it did, Dasuki’s lawyer did not show how that could constituted grounds for discharging him or stay the criminal proceedings.
He also ruled that the ex-NSA should have pursued the enforcement of his fundamental rights to liberty in an independent civil suit.
Dasuki and others are being prosecuted on 22 counts of diversion of N19bn arms fund.
His co-accuse include a former Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the NSA, Shuaibu Salisu, and a former Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda.
Others charged along with them, are a former Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, the ex-governor’s son, Sagir Attahiru, and a firm, Dalhatu Investment.
The EFCC is also prosecuting the ex-NSA and others on separate set of 19 counts of alleged diversion of N32bn arms fund before Justice Baba Yusuf.
His co-accused in the case are Salisu, a former General Manager, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Babakusa and two companies – Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited. [myad]
Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has said that the abduction of Ese Oruru from Bayelsa to Kano in August last year should not be treated from the viewpoint of culture, tradition or religion, but rather as a case of an infringement on Ese’s fundamental human rights and law enforcement. The governor, who formally received the 14 year girl today in Yenagoa, the state capital however insisted on a comprehensive investigation into the abduction and subsequent prosecution of the culprits.
A statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, quoted Dckson as saying during an interview with journalists in Yenagoa, shortly after receiving Ese and her parents in Government House, Yenagoa as wondering why it took so long to secure her release.
“This matter has to do with enforcement of the laws of this state. This matter is not religious; It is not a matter that has to be swept under the carpet, because of one tradition or the other. We as a government is seeing this matter as one of law enforcement; the rights of a young girl, innocent childhood, her right to proper development and her right to grow up in the company of her parents and also practice for now the faith of her parents. A lot has happened. “I want to use this opportunity to assure all that, the Nigeria Police Force is working hard and I have directed the Ministry of Justice to collaborate effectively with them to ensure that this matter is prosecuted to a logical conclusion. “I also trust and believe that, the Police investigations would also extend far and wide, because there are questions begging for answers and we as a government, we want to know why adults, fathers and grandfathers, who saw a minor taken away from here down and into circumstances she found herself in in far away Kano did not make it a priority of returning that child; that minor to the lawful and proper custody of her parents. “We want to know why it took this long; we like to know those who knew what was going on, but did not say something we like to know those, who could have saved this situation much earlier, but did not. Like I said, we are looking at this issue not from the prism of culture, tradition or religion. From now on, this matter has to be looked at purely and simply as a case of law enforcement and as a case of state responsibility and protection and safety of our children; in this case, a minor. I have had preliminary briefings by the Police Commissioner and his team.” The Governor, who said he has received preliminary briefings from the Police Commissioner, directed that a team of medical personnel and counsellors be set up to liaise with Ese and her parents, in order to offer support and expressed the government’s preparedness to take appropriate steps to reintegrate her to the society. “We have directed that a team be set up, made up of medical practitioners, counsellors, who would liaise and work with Ese and her parents to offer support we are prepared to support and stand by Ese, not just now, but most importantly in the days, months and years ahead. “I like to thank all Nigerians for their legitimate concern in this matter, I appreciate the efforts of the parents and the Oruru family. I thank my counterpart, the Kano State Governor, since this matter became public knowledge. I like to thank the media.” [myad]
The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has ordered the closure of the popular Mile 12 Market and imposed curfew on four streets in the area. The governor’s order was as a result the mayhem that engulfed the Mile 12 area today.
Members of the Hausa and Yoruba community in the area had clashed, leading to the burning of houses and churches.
Ambode, who spoke at the State House, Ikeja, said the closure of the Mile 12 Market and the curfew would help security agents to restore peace.
He said that the curfew would only affect four streets — Oniyanrin, Maidan, Agiliti 1 and Agiliti 2.
“In order to further restore peace to the community, I have ordered that the Mile 12 Market be temporarily shut. I advise traders and other stakeholders to eschew violence and be law abiding. Furthermore, I have ordered temporary restriction of movement in four streets, namely Oniyanrin, Maidan, Agiliti 1 and 2.”
The governor said that the police and other security officials were managing the situation, adding that some hoodlums had exploited a minor clash to cause a breakdown of law and order in the area.
“After the intervention of security agencies, the dispute appeared to have subsided. This type of clash does occur from time to time in a multi-ethnic city like Lagos. And the government has always responded appropriately.
“The public is thereby assured that we will not shy away from our responsibilities to protect life and property in the state. Ee will deal decisively with those criminal elements involve in the clash. I have been assured by the Commissioner of Police and other security agencies at the scene that the situation has been brought under control.
“I want to assure residents of Lagos State that the state is home to every ethnic group. No one should give this clash any ethnic colouration. Every law abiding citizens should go about their businesses.”
The CP, Fatai Owoseni, said policemen had already been deployed in the area to enforce the order of the governor, adding that nobody died in the clash.
“I was there personally; there was no record of death. There was no fire in the market, and as I speak to you, over 50 persons have been arrested.
“But within agility community, houses were burnt by miscreants,” he added. [myad]
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Wife of Kogi State Governor, Hajiya Hafi Bello has given birth to twin baby boys in a private hospital in Abuja. Hajiya Hafi is the second wife of the Governor,
Ese Oruru, The Girl-Child And A Nation’s Shame, By Reuben Abati
Three different incidents in the last week cast, poignantly, in bold relief the plight of the girl-child in Nigeria. Thanks to The Punch newspaper which launched the #FreeEse, #JusticeforEse campaign and the civil society groups that took up the fight in a spirited manner. With the outrage and outcry that followed, within 72 hours, this same 14-year old girl who was abducted from Yenagoa, Bayelsa state and taken to Kano, seven months ago, by one Yinusa Dahiru alias Yellow, is now free. While we were still grappling with this bizarre story, on Monday, a group of criminals stormed a school, Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary in Ikorodu, Lagos state and abducted three girls.
And if that was not shocking enough, on Wednesday, there was this other report about a 15-year old Benue girl, Patience Paul, who had been abducted by two neighbours and married off to a certain “Sarkin Musulmi” in Sokoto state. Her brother cried out, obviously motivated to do so by the Ese Oruru story. Set against the background of the abduction of 219 Chibok girls in 2014, a story that is well known internationally, Nigeria must by now appear in the eyes of the world as a large den of sexual predators, who seem to be obsessed with young, under-aged girls, and the adolescent female.
The international community would be correct to conclude that something terrible is happening here. Indeed, can we blame any analyst who may soon conclude that a girl child is abducted, assaulted or violated per minute in Nigeria, and that Nigeria is not a safe place for either a girl child or a female? The sanity and moral temperature of a society should be measured by the manner in which that society treats its underprivileged and vulnerable members. The powerful trample upon the weak, the privileged despise the less fortunate; a long journey to Hobbes’ apotheosis, which is in truth a comment on the state of our development as state, country, people, and society.
It is instructive, for example, that the girls that end up being abused in the manner of the aforementioned are usually from poor backgrounds and perhaps this makes them specially vulnerable. But all the adult males who abduct other people’s daughters, marry them by force, put them in family way and convert them to Islam, not only make the entire country look bad, they give the rest of us a very bad name indeed. In the end, Nigeria is the victim, and this is why the various government agencies, which were in a position to make a difference when it mattered most in the Ese Oruru case, or similar cases, and failed to act, did the entire country a disservice. In some other countries, certain persons would have honourably submitted their resignations.
But you can be sure, it won’t happen here. The standard response in quarters that should be responsible is likely to be: “ah, wetin? So? “I beg”; Nigeria go stop because of one girl wey follow man?. And life will go on and go on, and the tragedy foretold gets moved to the future. Which is why the protesting small community of men and women with conscience, who have helped to rescue this one girl from sex slavery and forced conversion to a religion that is not of her choice deserve special praise.
The Ese Oruru case is a metaphor for the plight of the Nigerian girl-child. She is a living symbol of the assault on the integrity of the girl child and her hopes and aspirations in a deracinated, dispossessed and conflicted society. She was taken away from her parents at 13 by a man who of course was well-known to her family as a tricycle rider. Initial reports identified the abductor and tormentor as Yinusa Dahiru or Yellow, but from that moment, the story further got coloured by the usual politics of identity, ethnicity and religion. Yellow was branded “Kano man”. There were also references to a North-South cultural divide: a Northerner stealing a Southern child! And then of course, Ese’s conversion to the Islamic religion was a source of boiling anger – most abducted girls tend to be Christians.
There is also the role of the Emir of Kano in the matter. Too many loud and silent indications: conflict between traditional and modern institutions, with particular accent on the relevance, influence, and undue superiorization of the traditional institution in the North, ethnic and regional dichotomy, power dynamics, distortions and historical fault lines and the power of the media, old and new, to change trajectories. No one should fail to notice in this entire saga, how Nigeria and its many ugly complexities are again, sorrowfully on display. But the more urgent and painful part is that the life of a young girl has again been scarred forever. Ese could well have been one of the Chibok girls! Everyday, we are back to Chibok either as symbol, metaphor, painful reminder or elemental fact.
Mr Yellow not only abducted her and turned her into a Muslim, all without her parents’, consent, he also allegedly put the girl in a family way. She is said to be five months pregnant. How sad and annoying. Perhaps if there had been a strong follow up mechanism in place at the Kano Emirate Council, the Emir’s order that she should be released would have saved her the ordeal of being turned into a sex slave. Perhaps if the police in the Kano zone had done their job, seeing that this was nothing but a crime in the eyes of the law, and they had remembered that the primary job of the police is to protect lives and property. But sorry, they just all forgot!
There must be sanctions and civil society must not get tired of this case. There are many other Eses out there, whose future hangs in the balance because certain persons remain morally trapped in the Stone Age. The atrocities that have been committed against innocent children in this land, are despicable: in Ese’s case, her right to education was truncated, she had to miss her JSS 3 exam because a man was busy changing the course of her life; she was subjected to undue imprisonment, and now she is a child bearing a child.
It is shocking to say the least that some persons, carried away by religious and ethnic prejudices, chose to justify this madness. Now that the truth is known that she is indeed a minor, and that Yellow is an adult who took advantage of her, I hope such persons will be reasonable enough to apologise, hide their heads in shame and return filthy lucre. The point has been made ad nauseam that Yinusa Yellow must not be allowed to get away with his brazen crime. The Zimbabwean sit-tight ruler has recommended castration as punishment in this kind of context, but castration not being part of our extant criminal law, we take solace in the realization that there is more than enough in the statutes to put Yinusa Yellow away for a long time, to serve as a deterrent to his ilk. He should be tried expeditiously and a proper closure put to this particular case in line with natural justice, equity and good conscience. His accomplices if there are any, no matter who they are, should also be identified and made to face the full wrath of the law.
This is clearly a case of man’s cruelty to man. In an interview with The Sun, her innocence and vulnerability shine through, as compellingly as the madness of her tormentors. She knows Yinusa as one of her mother’s customers who comes around to buy food at their shop, and she being with her mother at the shop knows and relates with everybody, without any special relationship with Yinusa. “He is not my boyfriend”, she tells us. “I just followed him. I don’t know how I followed him.” She says she doesn’t even know how she found herself in Kano.
She was obviously hypnotized or bewitched. Her kidnappers made her to recite lines she did not understand. They even gave her some strange water to drink. They changed her name to Aisha. She comes across as a child whose childhood and spirit have been polluted by wicked souls. When Ese saw her mother at the Emir’s palace during an earlier attempt to rescue her, she had been so polluted she could not even recognize her mother: “I just looked at her. I did not know her and I did not talk to her.”
She has now regained her senses enough to now ask her mother for “Banga soup and starch”, but there are many lessons involved. She offers advice, for example, to young girls like her: “They should be careful with the people they play with or talk with because it’s not everybody that is good.” Indeed, we live in a society where “not everybody is good” and that includes those callous ones who turned this episode upside down and spilled much ink trying to protect a fictitious Northern interest. At stake is the human interest, and it is not geographical.
Child labour such as the type Ese was involved in, assisting her mother in her food vending business is, let’s admit, culturally correct in Africa, but it also comes with grave dangers. The children are exposed to risks and accidents: crazy customers who can’t keep their eyes or fingers off the female child labourer and kidnappers like Yellow who go the extra length. Parents must be careful. They must be vigilant. The need to survive and deploy all possible hands in the house may be given as an excuse, but the truth is that children lack such negotiating skills that could protect them in an adult context. Caution is the word.
The argument that obsession with children as brides is cultural and religious is the most unreasonable thing I have ever heard and to think that some of the most enlightened and privileged men in a part of our country are part of this, beggars belief. The girl child is a child, not a bride, not a sex slave: she deserves her rights to human dignity, access to education, freedom from discrimination, a decent life in a decent society and the right to fulfill her potentials as a human being and a citizen. From Chibok to Kano, to Ikorodu, to Sokoto in the episodes under consideration, we lament the shame of a nation, and proclaim the right of the girl-child to dignity. [myad]