Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that the current federal structure in Nigeria, which he termed unitary federalism, has been a creation by, and for the military governments of the past. “As more power was concentrated in the centre, the federal government appropriated more resources and expanded its responsibilities. All of these were done in the name of promoting national unity. And the process was relatively easy as the unified command structure of the military ensured little opposition.” In a speech delivered at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi today, the former Vice President made it clear that fixing Nigeria will require reversing decades of over-centralization of power and over-concentration of resources at the centre. According to him, whereas the purpose of the unified federal structure was to foster national unity, “the notion that over-centralization and an excessively powerful centre is equivalent to national unity is false and had indeed, made our unity more fragile and our government more unstable.” Atiku suggested the re-negotiation of Nigeria’s union in order to make it stronger by granting greater autonomy, power and resources to states and local authorities. These tiers of government, he said, will ultimately unleash the people’s creative energies and spur more development. The chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) said that the structure of government should be a major focus of delegates at the on-going National Conference, adding that the current federal structure arrogates too much functions and resources to the government at the centre, and thus killing the spirit of innovation and enterprise among the people. These, he said, are a critical component in building a self-sustaining economy. Atiku reversed his initial stance on the constitution of the national conference, saying that he wanted delegates at the conference to make the best use of the opportunity, adding: “I want to assume that a new and improved Nigeria is the goal, and I believe that any opportunity for people to talk is better than to fight. “The National Conference should focus on designing a political and governmental system that empowers local authorities and gives them greater autonomy to address peculiar local issues, and enhances accountability, while contributing to the general good of the country.” He said the envisaged robust federal system would reduce the tensions that are built into the nation’s current over-centralized system. Atiku would not buy the notion that the top-heavy federal arrangement as is currently being operated is working to the favours of a section of the country.
One is really at a loss to comprehend the macabre dance, albeit out of tune with the civilised world today, of Police in glorification of the “Lord” Governor of Abia state, Chief Theodor Orji, using outdated laws to shoot down one of the citizens of the state that happened to be vocal and allegedly wrote words that were not so pleasant to the ears of the governor. The drama that played out on Friday last week when Policemen, owned and controlled by the federal government, blindly carried the instruction of the “Emperor” Governor. About 7 of them from the CID Department travelled all the way from Umuahia, the state capital, to Lagos, swooped on the residence of the outspoken Associate Editor of The Sun newspaper, Ebere Wabara, bundled him in handcuffs into their vehicle and drove off, like killing commandos, back to Umuahia, even before he was told what he did wrong. It was as unbelievably baffling as it was eye-opener on the level of civilization the Police and, some of our leaders, have been able to imbibe in their systems so far, despite years of coming into the open world, from the stone age. All the moves, the arrests or abduction, the psychological and physical trauma which Wabara was subjected to happened just last week, in this computer age, when, as old Africa man would say “the day has broken!” In all my years of practice as a writer and journalist, the only case I have heard similar to this incidence was that of Amakri in Rivers state. That incidence, of Amakri, of course, happened in what one would like to say “the darker” period of Nigeria’s civilization. And in any case, it was during a jackboot military era: the then crude military whose mental formation brooked no civilian insubordination and whose stock-in-trade was kill-and-go. I had waited patiently to hear what type of charges the Police in Abia state would make against the “little rat” who as much as wrote in media to offend the “Emperor” Governor. When the charges came, it took the dangerous form of sedition, making even the matter to appear not only childish but copletely out-of-place and ignoramous. The charges are, inter alia: “That you Ebere Wabara ‘m’ on the 19th day of February, 2014 at Umuahia in Umuahia North Magisterial District, conspired with others, now at large, to commit offence to wit: seditious publication and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 517 of the Criminal Code cap 80 Vol. 3 Laws of Abia State of Nigeria 2005. “That you Ebere Wabara ‘m’ and others now at large, on the 18th day of February 2014 in the aforesaid Magisterial District with intent to bring into hatred or contempt or excite disaffection against the person of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Abia State, Chief T.A Orji, did publish a seditious publication entitled: Buffoonery by Mezie Abia Organization in Sun Newspaper of 18th February, 2014 page 22, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 50 (2)(a) punishable under Section 5(1)(c) Cap 80 Vol. 3 Criminal Code Cap 80 Vol. 3 Laws of Abia State of Nigeria 2005. “That you, Ebere Wabara ‘m’ and others now at large, on the 30th day of January 2014 in the aforesaid Magisterial District conspired to commit offence to wit: seditious publication and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 517 of the Criminal Code Cap 80 Vol. 3 Laws of Abia State of Nigeria 2005. “That you, Ebere Wabara ‘m’ and others now at large, on the 30th day of January 2014 in the aforesaid Magisterial District with intent to bring hatred or contempt or excite disaffection against the person of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Abia State, Chief T.A Orji did publish a seditious publication entitled “T.A Orji Self Delusion” in the City Reporter, a daily publication also circulating within Umuahia North Magisterial District and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 50 (2)(a) and punishable under Section 51(1)(c) of the Criminal Code Cap 80 Vol. 3 Laws of Abia State of Nigeria.” Wabara was also accused of sedition for publishing articles such as: “Demystify a Master Strategy”, “Go to Akwa Ibom, Weep for Abia”, “T.A. Orji’s 7 years Demystification of Kalu,” among others. By all intent and purposes, all the charges put together point to only one direction; that is libel or defamation of Governor Orji (alleged) which is a civil case. As a matter of fact, the charges are showing that Governor Orji is angry because the little Wabara had the guts to ‘abuse’ him on the pages of newspapers, and in law, it translates to libel, because it is an attack on Chief Orji and not Abia state. After all, Wabara would not have been charged for sedition if he did all the “offensive” writings against Governor Orji when he is out of office. It is not very clear since when what is supposed to be clearly libel or defamation which is a civil matter, has suddenly become sedition in the Nigeria’s statute books? Who says that attack on the person of governor amounts to attack on the entire state? Has Abia state laws overshadowed Nigeria’s legal system or even the Constitution under which Democracy has been flourishing? As a matter of fact, if President Goodluck Jonathan has had similar emotional fragility, people like Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Nasir El-Rufai, Femi Fani Kayode, and many others who sometimes call him (Jonathan) uncomplimentary names in prominent and not-so prominent national and international media would have since been abducted, prosecuted for sedition and shot to death at stake, like common armed robbers. In deed, people like some of us who have been campaigning for state-controlled police are definitely reversing our stand now, seeing the great danger and saddistic use to which some, if not all the governors would put the police. The obvious manipulation of police, which, for now, are still exclusively under the control of the Federal Government, by the Abia state governor doesn’t speak well about the advancement in human civilization, in the Nigerian leadership context. This action of a single individual that is today, weilding absolute power, takes Nigeria back to the dark days in the history, and in a democrcy that has survived for about 15 years? One would be kind to advise the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Dikko, to withdraw his men from this show of executive brigandage, an ephemeral power, from whence the occupant would soon climb down to our level. There are a lot of security challenges facing the country, including Abia state, to which the few police in the system sould be put, for amelioration, away from the pleasure and privilege of a single person who has the wherewithal to sue for libel. Without anyone looking into a crystal ball, it is clear that the case being pursued with all the hysteria by Abia state police at the behest of governor Orji, against Mr. Wabara, to say the least, is dead on arrival. The worry is that it will leave in its trail, a foul air of executive arrogance and ingorant pursuance of self at the detriment of the good of the democratic ethos which has brought Nigeria in particular, from before the amalgamation of the protectorates!
Former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Canada, Ambassador Professor Iyorwuese Hagher has accused Nigerian Army of joining force with Fulani ethnic militia to effect Tiv ethnic cleansing in Nigeria, even as he called on the international communities, including the United Nations, the United States of America and others to quickly intervene to save Tiv people.
In a statement he issued in Abuja today, Professor Hagher said that the recent attacks and sack of Tiv towns by a joint operation of the army and a Fulani ethnic militia signifies the degeneration of security in Nigeria and further proves the glaring evidence of the lack of control and inability of the Federal Government of Nigeria to protect Nigerian citizens from harm’s way.
“It is condemnable and reprehensible that large scale pre-colonial tribal wars have been reignited, fester and are being relentless re-waged in the 21st century in Nigeria. It is sad and disheartening that the Nigerian government and the world, is refusing to acknowledge the current systematic ethnic cleansing of the Tiv people, which has been on-going since 2011.
The attack of Gbise town in Shitile, in Tiv homeland in Benue State, by an ethnic militia, aided by the Nigerian army, is a signal of an accelerating humanitarian disaster, already in motion and which needs must stop at once.”
The former Nigerian envoy said that in light of the foregoing is calling on the United Nations and the International community to intervene with responsibility to protect the Tiv people and call the Nigerian Government to order.
He said that the United Nations should, immediately set a United Nation’s peace keeping force to protect Tiv lives and avert the violations of human rights and crimes against humanity; (including murder, rape and mutilation of dead bodies) committed against a defenceless civilian population.
Professor Hagher further called on the International community to set up immediately, a high-powered tribunal to establish: the extent of the violations of International humanitarian law involving the ethnic militia and the extent of the Nigerian military’s involvement in tremendous outrages on personal dignity and inhuman and degrading treatment meted to the Tiv people by their attackers.
He also called on the United States and Canada to take note that the Tiv ethnic cleansing agenda today, is more heinous and expansive in scope, than the horrendous Zaki-Biam massacres of hundreds of un-armed men, women and children by the Nigerian army in October 2001, which was roundly condemned by the International community.
He further asked the United States and the International community to note that the Nigerian Government has lost control and credibility in this systematic Tiv-ethnic cleansing agenda by the army’s involvement in the latest attack on Tiv targets at Gbise town on 29th March 2014, previously on Jato Aka on 6th March 2014, Anyiase and Kashimbila, between 18-20 February 2014.
He called also on the United Nations and the International community to investigate the use of chemical weapons deployed by the ethnic militias and their collaborators against the Tiv people of Nigeria as evidenced in the large number of Tiv; old defenceless men, women and children, that have died in the war zones simply by inhaling gaseous substances deployed by their attackers at Gwer East, Ayillamo and Tor Damisa on 26th of March 2014.
“The United Nations should help mitigate the effects of murder, rape and displacement of affected Tiv people.
“The International community can no longer ignore the fate of over five million Tiv people marked for ethnic cleansing in the Benue valley to avoid the repeat of the unashamed world; passively watching the slaughter of the minority Tutsi population by the Hutu in 1994. The unfolding drama in Nigeria’s Benue valley is poised to make the Rwanda massacre of 1994, the Balkans of 1995 and the Kosofo of 1999 pale into insignificance. The time to act is now.”
President Goodluck Jonathan has attributed the suspension of the operations of Ajaokuta Steel Company to what he called privatization scam. “The key thing is that we have some challenges with the privatization process. The people that got it, there were some issues. Because of litigation, the project was held down. And all along, we have been trying to meander one way or the other but the project cannot take off very effectively. We want the private sector to come in robustly if we must get out from where we are. But they will find it difficult except the legal issues are sorted out.” The President was responding to a compalin by Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue state on behalf of other five governors from the North Central Geopolitical Zone, who were among the leaders and stakeholders of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the zone that visited his on Monday. Jonathan said that the government has similar issues with the Lagos- Ibadan expressway because of the private sector involvement. According to him, Bi Courtney could not do the job and to bring a private sector in became a problem. “So government had to take over, until we can sort out everything. The private sector cannot come in. Ajaokuta is a little more complicated. The Lagos Ibadan road was owned by government, but although Ajaokuta is a government company, it was the one that runs itself. “So, what the Attorney General of the Federation is saying is that the issues are being sorted out because without mines and steel, the nation cannot industralize. President Jonathan said thst it is not in the economic interest of the country to be importing what Nigeria can easily get from Ajaokuta and Itape. He said that there is a great difference between when one is producing locally, “because we believe that Ajaokuta will be one of the bedrock for our own industrialization programme “So, it is a project that is dear to anybody who wants to move this country forward. The North Central is of course known for solid minerals, especially in places like Jos. The zone is a zone that provides food for the whole country, provide power for the whole country and other good things.”
Abia State Police Command has charged The Sun newspaper Associate Editor, Ebere Wabara, whom they abducted on Friday last week from his Lagos residence and transported to Umuahia, Abia state in handcuffs, to court, with charges of sedition. Wabara, who is now bed-ridden in a hospital, was handed with a 10-count charge, bordering on seditious publications against Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji. Also, the police command on Monday got a warrant from the state’s magistrate’s court, in Umuahia against Wabara and The Sun correspondent in Umuahia, Mr. Chuks Onuoha, who stood surety for him. Policemen from the command had abducted Wabara from his Lagos home last Friday and took him to Umuahia, Abia State capital, in handcuffs. Following the dehumanizing treatment the police meted to him in the more than 30-hour abduction ordeal, Wabara, who was released on bail on Saturday, took ill and was admitted in a private hospital. Owing to ill health, he could not honour the invitation to appear at the state police command headquarters yesterday. In a suit number U/11/C/ 2014, between the Commissioner of Police and Wabara, the Associate Editor was alleged to have committed sedition with his articles in The Sun and other local media within the period, spanning January to March 2014. Parts of the charge sheet read thus: “That you Ebere Wabara ‘m’ on the 19th day of February, 2014 at Umuahia in Umuahia North Magisterial District conspired with others, now at large, to commit offence to wit: seditious publication and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 517 of the Criminal Code cap 80 Vol. 3 Laws of Abia State of Nigeria 2005. “That you Ebere Wabara ‘m’ and others now at large, on the 18th day of February 2014 in the aforesaid Magisterial District with intent to bring into hatred or contempt or excite disaffection against the person of, the Executive Governor of Abia State, Chief T.A Orji, did publish a seditious publication entitled: Buffoonery by Mezie Abia Organization in Sun Newspaper of 18th February, 2014 page 22, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 50 (2)(a) punishable under Section 5(1)(c) Cap 80 Vol. 3 Criminal Code Cap 80 Vol. 3 Laws of Abia State of Nigeria 2005. “That you, Ebere Wabara ‘m’ and others now at large, on the 30th day of January 2014 in the aforesaid Magisterial District conspired to commit offence to wit: seditious publication and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 517 of the Criminal Code Cap 80 Vol. 3 Laws of Abia State of Nigeria 2005. “That you, Ebere Wabara ‘m’ and others now at large, on the 30th day of January 2014 in the aforesaid Magisterial District with intent to bring hatred or contempt or excite disaffection against the person, the Executive Governor of Abia State, Chief T.A Orji did publish a seditious publication entitled “T.A Orji Self Delusion” in the City Reporter, a daily publication also circulating within Umuahia North Magisterial District and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 50 (2)(a) and punishable under Section 51(1)(c) of the Criminal Code Cap 80 Vol. 3 Laws of Abia State of Nigeria.” Wabara was also accused of sedition for publishing articles such as: “Demystify a Master Strategy,” “Go to Akwa Ibom, Weep for Abia,” “T.A. Orji’s 7 years Demystification of Kalu,” among others. Wabara was arraigned in absentia, as he could not honour the police invitation owing to his ill-health, occasioned by the trauma and the treatment he received from policemen, who had stormed his Lagos home at about 6.30am last Friday and abducted him. The editor was first taken to Sholoki Police Station and later to Oyingbo Police Station, all in Lagos. He was left in the police car for hours, in handcuffs, under the excruciating sun. Wabara was later taken to Umuahia still with his hands manacled, accompanied by 17 armed policemen. The policemen that abducted him in Lagos arrived Umuahia at 12 midnight, where the editor was clamped into detention without food or the privilege of brushing his teeth or having a change of clothes. Wabara was said to been allowed to eat by his captor only on Saturday afternoon, for the first time since he was abducted in Lagos on Friday. He was eventually released on bail at 10.15pm on Saturday, following intervention by the Inspector General of police, Mohammed Abubakar. On his return to Lagos on Sunday, to take a few things he would need for his appointment at the Abia State police headquarters yesterday, Wabara fell ill and was hospitalized. A letter from the doctor to the Managing Director of The Sun Publishing Limited granting him sick leave stated: “This is to certify that Mr. Ebere Wabara of The Sun Publishing Limited, No 2, Coscharis Street, Apapa is on admission and shall be unable to attend his duties for five days from March 31, 2014.” Despite Wabara’s ill-health, the Abia State Police Command went ahead to charge him to court in absentia. The case was adjourned till April 10, 2014. Meanwhile, Wabara’s lawyers have written to Abia State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Muhammed Abubakar, intimating him of his hospitalization. In a letter dated March 31, 2014, Chief D. O. Ogbode of Daniel Ogbodo & Associates, stated: “It will be recalled that our client was released on bail on Saturday at 10.15pm following his arrest by police from the state CID Umuahia. He was subsequently instructed to report to the commissioner of police on Monday, March 31st 2014. “However, we wish to inform you that our client is currently on admission in the hospital due to shock of his arrest and the stress of the journey from Lagos to Umuahia by road, which took toll on his health. In view of the foregoing, we regret to inform you that our client will not be able to keep his appointment with the commissioner of police today (March 31, 2014). However, as responsible and law-abiding citizen of this country, he will honour his invitation to the police as soon as his condition improves.”
Last week, two major events happened that signposted further that law and order have given way to the rule of brute force. The first was the police repression of the protest peacefully staged by Ibadan, Oyo State residents, who were angered by the seeming collapse of the law enforcement capacity of the Nigeria Police Force, which enabled the men of the underworld to run a ritual shrine in a forest not too far away from the residences of law abiding citizens. The second incident, which is even more sinister and points dangerously to the possible role of some operatives of the law enforcement agencies in the widening spate of kidnappings for ransom payments across the country, was the forced abduction by armed Police operatives of Ebere Wabara, a senior editorial staff of the Daily Sun newspapers, one of the most respected newspapers in Africa. Wabara, who is unarguably one of the best things to have happened to Nigerian journalism given his prodigious learning and vastness in the English language, was kidnapped by the armed police operatives, who travelled all the way to Lagos State from the Abia State Police Command to effect the arrest of this gentleman of the press over some of his recent articles criticizing the goings on in his state of birth, Abia. Few hours after he was kidnapped from his family home in the presence of his family members, including very young children, the Abia State Police Command had the effrontery to announce that he would be charged for sedition, an offence that is unknown to the Nigerian statutes and the constitution. This unfounded charge of sedition was a colonial weapon used by the foreign occupiers of Nigeria long before independence to suppress voices of opposition to their dictatorial regime. Section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution gives media workers the fundamental human rights to serve as watchdogs of public officials without let or hindrance. First, I got an alert about this sad incident from one of Nigeria’s emerging human rights advocates and poets, Odimegwu Onwumere, who posted on his Facebook page to tell Nigerians about this unfortunate event. According to Onwumere, the veteran media expert, Ebere Wabara, was arrested in the early hours of March 28, 2014 at his Lagos Residence and taken to Aguda Police Station before being taken away to Abia State based on the alleged order of Governor Theodore Ahaefule Orji of Abia State, who was said to have ordered the Commissioner of Police in the state to effect the arrest. It was reported that those armed police who effected the abduction of this senior journalist rebuffed the pleas of the Force Publci Relations Officer, Frank Mba, to only take his statement and let him be but decided on their own terms to drive this gentleman to Abia State. It was learned that it was the son of the governor, Chinedu Orji, popularly known as and called Ikuku, who allegedly influenced the father to order for the arrest of Wabara. The Abia State Government reacted belatedly to the story making the rounds that it was involved in the sinister plot to abduct the Lagos State-based journalist, who in recent times is known to have consulted for the erstwhile Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, as media adviser and who has written profusely to criticize the misrule going on in Abia State. It is public knowledge that the Abia State governor and his erstwhile godfather, Orji Uzor Kalu, are no longer best of friends following political differences. The Abia State Government has spent huge public funds in hiring writers who have in the last two years written several articles published in some Nigerian media to lampoon the former Abia State governor. Orji is known to have gathered some political jobbers from his state who headed to the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja to oppose the decision of Kalu to return to the political party he actively helped to become realistic through numerous huge financial donations. In the first instance, Orji Uzor Kalu, one of the original founders of PDP, was literary chased out of the party by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who engaged the former governor in serious political warfare. Kalu staged a come back to his party on finding out that Obasanjo has lost out significantly in the control of the party’s hierarchy but little did he know that his political enemies are his own brothers and sisters from the same state. Right thinking members of the public are therefore shocked to find out that the Abia State Police Command has decided to become partisan in the ongoing political fight between a former godfather (Orji Uzor Kalu) and his former god son (Theodore Orji). Though Nigerians have been accused of having short memory, but it is hard to forget that Orji Uzor Kalu singlehandedly handpicked his then Chief of Staff, Theodore Orji, and installed him as governor even when the current governor was incarcerated in the maximum security prison in Kirikiri, Lagos State. Orji Uzor Kalu’s then Abia State administration used the legal instrument to secure his (Theodore Orji’s) bail from gulag, which facilitated his being sworn in and clothed with the immunity from arrest and prosecution in accordance with Section 308 of the constitution. It is heart warming that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, intervened and ordered the release from police captivity of Wabara, who was kidnapped by the police over his professional affinity with the former governor of Abia State. Confirming the story to media specialist, Onwumere, the wife of the kidnapped journalist, Mrs. Wabara, said: “In the early hours of today (last Friday), I was about to drive my children to school. My husband came down from the upstairs to view how we were preparing unknowing to him that there was a siege. The supposedly police people arrested him and took him to Aguda police station, before informing that they were taking him to Abia State on the orders of the Governor.” The woman added: “I am not sure when a right to opinion, which my kind-hearted husband was doing, becomes a crime in Nigeria. I presupposed that this is a democracy, but with the supposedly act of the governor; I am afraid that dictatorship has returned to Abia State. “I’m calling on all media practitioners to follow-up immediately to find out, where they have taken my good-natured husband to and, make sure that he is released unconditionally. I’m calling on the authorities in the country and away, to swoop into action and fight against this inhumane act that is being meted out to my husband, as injustice to one Nigerian, is injustice to all.” It is gratifying that the Nigerian Union of Journalists and the Nigerian Guild of Editors raised the alarm, which compelled Abubakar to do the needful by ordering the immediate release of Wabara. But beyond the release, there is the immediate need for the Federal Povernment to probe the possible linkage of the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force to the widespread cases of forced kidnappings that have been happening all across Nigeria because since the Nigeria police practices illegal hostage taking and now forced abduction of Nigerian citizens in broad daylight, it is not impossible that some of their operatives may be aiding and abetting kidnappers.
Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria.
The Nigerian Army has announced the commencement of what it called, a major operation to put an end to the activities of all armed men and criminal gangs who have been engaging in wanton killing and destruction of lives and property in three states of North Central part of Nigeria. It said that troops have already been deployed for a major offensive which is covering Benue, Nassarawa and Plateau States. A statement from the Director of Defence Information in the Defence Headquarters, Major General Chris Olukolade said that the Internal Security Operations is meant to capture and neutralize all the enclaves of criminal gangs. “The Nigerian Air Force, Police and other security agencies are also participating in the operation, designed to restore peace in the affected states.” It called on the law abiding citizens to cooperate by providing timely and useful information to facilitate the operation as it affects their localities.
Ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has floored its 37 members of the federal House of Representatives who defected to opposition All Progressive Congress (APC), as a Federal High Court in Abuja today asked them to vacate their seats. The court perpetually restrained the legislators from effecting any leadership change in the assembly. The court, today, delivered judgment in a matter brought by PDP asking that the legislators should not be allowed to take part in the activities of the assembly. The Judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, held that the lawmakers no longer had any business, morally and legally in the assembly. He said they should honourably vacate their seats as members of the House of Representatives, having moved to another political party while their tenure had yet to expire. “Having perused the arguments of counsel and the constitutional provisions, it is clear and unambiguous that the defendants were sponsored by the PDP and won the election on its platform. “It is also the court’s opinion that their tenure has not expired and there is no division in the PDP. “The defendants are, therefore, not competent to vote or contribute to any proceedings in the House of Representatives. “An order of perpetual injunction is, hereby, ordered, restraining them from altering or attempting to change the leadership of the House of Reps,’’ Ademola said. The PDP had on Jan. 7 instituted a suit seeking to restrain the House of Representatives from altering the composition of its leadership. The party had commenced the action following the defection of 37 legislators, who won elections on its platform, to the opposition APC. Yunus Usman (SAN), PDP’s counsel, had, while arguing the originating summons, faulted the cross-carpeting of the lawmakers, saying that the legislators did so during the dependency of a judgment. He argued that by virtue of the Oct. 2013 judgment of Justice Evoh Chukwu, which said there was no division in PDP, the matter had been laid to rest. Usman further submitted that by virtue of the provision of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Nigerian constitution, as amended, the lawmakers ought to have vacated their seats immediately. Mahmoud Magaji (SAN), counsel to the defendants, had in his submission, argued that it was wrong for the PDP to have sought to restrain its former members from activities of the assembly for defecting. Other defence counsel, Mr Niyi Akintola, SAN, Mr Sebastian Hon, SAN, Mr James Ocholi,SAN, Mr Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, and Jibril Okutepa, SAN, had prayed the court to dismiss the suit.
Fulani people in Benue state, under the umbrella of Miyetti Allah Association have disassociated themelves from the latest attacks on farmers in many parts of Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states in particular by those claiming to be Fulani herdsmen. Governor Gabriel Suswam, who said that this position was made known to him when he held an all-night meeting with leadership of Miyetti Allah at the Government House in Makurdi last night, insisted that the attackers are mercenaries that infiltrated the state and other parts of the country to excerbate the security challenges. Governor Suswam spoke today at the Presidential Villa, when leaders and stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), paid solidarity visit on President Jonathan. “I have interacted with a lot Fulani friends and they have told me that those people are not the fulanis that are indigenous to Nigeria. “Last night, the President General of Miyetti Allah spent the night with me in Benue state. He told me there was a need for us to form a joint force: that is the Benue and the Fulani communities to fight these people who are creating these problems which clearly shows that these are people who are foreign even to the fulanis that we know.” He said that the people are worried because elections are around the corner, adding that he had always believed that it is not just the Fulani herdsmen that are doing what they are doing in the zone but some insurgents who are camouflaging as Fulani men. “Mr. President, what we have witnessed lately are well trained people who are trained to kill and destroy and the manner of destruction is so massive and is unimaginable. The North Central is very worried. The state mostly affected are Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue. Governor Suswam said that the Fulani men that are well known and who have lived with Nigerians are part and parcel of the North Central, adding: “we know that they carry sticks and at times, few of them carry dane guns to catch bush meat for Tiv people.” The governor expressed surprise anf worry that inspite of the magnitude of destruction that is going on, no one person has so far been arrested. “We are worried that without appropriate sanctions, they will continue with impunity because once people are not sanctioned, they don’t take that serious and I think the appropriate example must be shown. Mr. President, you must insist that your security must arrest these people. If you see the level of destruction and the fact that no person has been arrested, It becomes worrisome. Mr. President, how these people get their arms, because they are carrying very sophisticated weapons, is also an issue that we are worried about and I believe that Mr. president is also very worried because all of us swore to the constitution to protect lives and property. “But in a situation where we have some evil men deliberately conniving with some forces that we believe are subterranean, to destroy this country and the good achievements that you have put in place should be something that should worry all of us. So, the governors of the zone ask me to urge you to continue to put in all efforts in addressing these very important security problems.”
President Goodluck Jonathan has finally opened up on the circumstances leading to the crisis in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, saying that at a point, the Forum, under governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State was a monster. The President, who spoke today when leaders and stakeholders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from North Central geographical zone, paid him a solidarity visit at the Presidential Villa, thanked the zone for saving him and his office from embarrassment by producing governor David Jonah Jang of Plateau state to lead the Forum. “When the Governors’ Forum became a monster and we had a lot of challenges, it was the North Central that came on board to stabilize the governors’ forum. “The way some of the governors talk and behave, if 50 percent of the governors behave that way, probably, we would have vacated this place and allow others to come and manage it for us. But they (the North Central) have been able to help to stabilize the whole country. The President acknowledged that North Central zone has been able to produce very great leaders that are patriotic leaders. He promised to continue to work with the zone and encourage the people to be more supportive. “As we approach elections next year, let us know the problems on time; we will work with you to ensure PDP continues to maintain the zone. On security challenges facing Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa states in particular, President Jonathan said that already security personnel have been drafted to and are moving in to the trouble spots to strengthen the conventional security apparatus. He said that he is working very hard with the National Security Adviser’s office to make sure that the security challenges across the country, whether in Borno state or the kidnapping in Edo state, Bayelsa state, Rivers state, Abia state and so on are tackled. “We are coming up with different architecture that will deal with this insurgency. As we progress, we will begin to bring the situation under control.” The North Central PDP stakeholders were led to the Villa by former National Chairman of the Party, Senator Ahmadu Ali and made up of PDP governors, Senators (including Senate President, David Mark), House of Representatives members, elders and party leaders from the zone.
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Abia And Return Of Gestapo Operations By Police By Emmanuel Onwubiko
Last week, two major events happened that signposted further that law and order have given way to the rule of brute force. The first was the police repression of the protest peacefully staged by Ibadan, Oyo State residents, who were angered by the seeming collapse of the law enforcement capacity of the Nigeria Police Force, which enabled the men of the underworld to run a ritual shrine in a forest not too far away from the residences of law abiding citizens.
The second incident, which is even more sinister and points dangerously to the possible role of some operatives of the law enforcement agencies in the widening spate of kidnappings for ransom payments across the country, was the forced abduction by armed Police operatives of Ebere Wabara, a senior editorial staff of the Daily Sun newspapers, one of the most respected newspapers in Africa.
Wabara, who is unarguably one of the best things to have happened to Nigerian journalism given his prodigious learning and vastness in the English language, was kidnapped by the armed police operatives, who travelled all the way to Lagos State from the Abia State Police Command to effect the arrest of this gentleman of the press over some of his recent articles criticizing the goings on in his state of birth, Abia.
Few hours after he was kidnapped from his family home in the presence of his family members, including very young children, the Abia State Police Command had the effrontery to announce that he would be charged for sedition, an offence that is unknown to the Nigerian statutes and the constitution. This unfounded charge of sedition was a colonial weapon used by the foreign occupiers of Nigeria long before independence to suppress voices of opposition to their dictatorial regime. Section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution gives media workers the fundamental human rights to serve as watchdogs of public officials without let or hindrance.
First, I got an alert about this sad incident from one of Nigeria’s emerging human rights advocates and poets, Odimegwu Onwumere, who posted on his Facebook page to tell Nigerians about this unfortunate event. According to Onwumere, the veteran media expert, Ebere Wabara, was arrested in the early hours of March 28, 2014 at his Lagos Residence and taken to Aguda Police Station before being taken away to Abia State based on the alleged order of Governor Theodore Ahaefule Orji of Abia State, who was said to have ordered the Commissioner of Police in the state to effect the arrest. It was reported that those armed police who effected the abduction of this senior journalist rebuffed the pleas of the Force Publci Relations Officer, Frank Mba, to only take his statement and let him be but decided on their own terms to drive this gentleman to Abia State.
It was learned that it was the son of the governor, Chinedu Orji, popularly known as and called Ikuku, who allegedly influenced the father to order for the arrest of Wabara.
The Abia State Government reacted belatedly to the story making the rounds that it was involved in the sinister plot to abduct the Lagos State-based journalist, who in recent times is known to have consulted for the erstwhile Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, as media adviser and who has written profusely to criticize the misrule going on in Abia State.
It is public knowledge that the Abia State governor and his erstwhile godfather, Orji Uzor Kalu, are no longer best of friends following political differences. The Abia State Government has spent huge public funds in hiring writers who have in the last two years written several articles published in some Nigerian media to lampoon the former Abia State governor.
Orji is known to have gathered some political jobbers from his state who headed to the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja to oppose the decision of Kalu to return to the political party he actively helped to become realistic through numerous huge financial donations. In the first instance, Orji Uzor Kalu, one of the original founders of PDP, was literary chased out of the party by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who engaged the former governor in serious political warfare.
Kalu staged a come back to his party on finding out that Obasanjo has lost out significantly in the control of the party’s hierarchy but little did he know that his political enemies are his own brothers and sisters from the same state.
Right thinking members of the public are therefore shocked to find out that the Abia State Police Command has decided to become partisan in the ongoing political fight between a former godfather (Orji Uzor Kalu) and his former god son (Theodore Orji). Though Nigerians have been accused of having short memory, but it is hard to forget that Orji Uzor Kalu singlehandedly handpicked his then Chief of Staff, Theodore Orji, and installed him as governor even when the current governor was incarcerated in the maximum security prison in Kirikiri, Lagos State. Orji Uzor Kalu’s then Abia State administration used the legal instrument to secure his (Theodore Orji’s) bail from gulag, which facilitated his being sworn in and clothed with the immunity from arrest and prosecution in accordance with Section 308 of the constitution.
It is heart warming that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, intervened and ordered the release from police captivity of Wabara, who was kidnapped by the police over his professional affinity with the former governor of Abia State.
Confirming the story to media specialist, Onwumere, the wife of the kidnapped journalist, Mrs. Wabara, said: “In the early hours of today (last Friday), I was about to drive my children to school. My husband came down from the upstairs to view how we were preparing unknowing to him that there was a siege. The supposedly police people arrested him and took him to Aguda police station, before informing that they were taking him to Abia State on the orders of the Governor.”
The woman added: “I am not sure when a right to opinion, which my kind-hearted husband was doing, becomes a crime in Nigeria. I presupposed that this is a democracy, but with the supposedly act of the governor; I am afraid that dictatorship has returned to Abia State. “I’m calling on all media practitioners to follow-up immediately to find out, where they have taken my good-natured husband to and, make sure that he is released unconditionally. I’m calling on the authorities in the country and away, to swoop into action and fight against this inhumane act that is being meted out to my husband, as injustice to one Nigerian, is injustice to all.”
It is gratifying that the Nigerian Union of Journalists and the Nigerian Guild of Editors raised the alarm, which compelled Abubakar to do the needful by ordering the immediate release of Wabara. But beyond the release, there is the immediate need for the Federal Povernment to probe the possible linkage of the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force to the widespread cases of forced kidnappings that have been happening all across Nigeria because since the Nigeria police practices illegal hostage taking and now forced abduction of Nigerian citizens in broad daylight, it is not impossible that some of their operatives may be aiding and abetting kidnappers.
Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria.