There seems to be an urgent need to review the law authorising the establishment of charity homes especially in Imo and Abia states. In the two states, if reports in recent times in newspapers are a measure, there is a prevalence of baby factories, masquerading as charity homes. So, the governments in the two states, should take legal and social steps, to stem the ugly development. Perhaps, the first step should be, a law criminalising the turning of charity homes, into a baby vending factory.
The picture of 14 expectant girls, rescued last week, from one so called Mma Charity Home, at Umumkpe Village, in Isiala Ngwa South local council area of Abia State, is a common feature in recent years. The report that the parents of the teenagers are not aware that their teenage girls are somewhere trying to ‘earn’ between N300-N350 thousand, (depending on the sex of the baby) by getting pregnant and selling their unwanted baby, rankles. How can parents not know where their wards are for at least nine months?
After recklessly wasting their youthful ages, selling the fruits of their womb, the girls may end up trying to buy babies when they get married, and the wages of their sins become infertility. Of course, while infertility may be a biological challenge, which deserves sympathy, it could become the deserved punishment, for those who had traded on their fertility earlier in their lives. So, the pandemic of teenagers producing babies for sale, for few pieces of naira, deserves the attention of state and local governments, in the southeast states.
Perhaps, there may be the need to commission a survey on the psychological make-up of the teenagers who have engaged in that infamy, to understand what really drives them. Is it merely their love for the money they would be paid, or a manifestation of parental and societal neglect, or a form of psychotic disorder or merely disoriented moral values? Of note, under the criminal code, there are laws to punish those who procure underage persons for defilement or prostitution or provide abode for such; but the code did not contemplate prostituting pregnancy for money.
‘It is also important that moral institutions, like churches, rise up to the new challenge facing the society. Like Mary Slessor, the famous Scottish missionary, who fought to eradicate the killing of twins, new champions should rise up to fight the scourge of prostituting pregnancy, with the intent to sell the infants’
To make matters worse, the criminal code did not contemplate that persons like Mrs Mma Achumba, who run the ‘charity home’, would set up a charity home, and use it to aid underage girls, to trade in pregnancy and new babies. Of course, if a charge is preferred against Mrs Achumba, under section 219 of the criminal code, which provides punishment for an owner or occupier, who permits the use of his premises for the defilement of underage girls, such charge may be difficult to prove.
While some of such charity homes, may allow the impregnating sessions to take place within their premises, akin to breeding of animals, it would be easy for their owners to fend off the charge of being a brothel, and insist that they are charity homes who merely provide succour for teenagers who are pregnant; even when their main intent is breeding and selling babies at infancy. So, there is need for a new law to catch up with the likes of Mrs Achumba, and those who work with them.
As bizarre as it may sound, could Mrs Achumba and her ilk, be said to be engaged in child labour, which is prohibited by the Labour Act? Well maybe it is child labour, figuratively and literally speaking. For truly, while it may be a dishonourable contract, there is the likelihood that the teenage girls operate under an unenforceable contract that there are to be catered for while they are pregnant, and paid the agreed fees, at the birth and sale of their child.
Of note, the Labour Act, prohibits child labour. Section 9(3) of the act provides: “Except in the case of a contract of apprenticeship, no person under the age of sixteen years shall be capable of entering into a contract of employment under this Act.” Section 59 of the Act, which deals with the kind of work and the working period a young person can be engaged for, could not have contemplated the type of work, Mma Charity Home and their type, provide for the young girls.
Again the Labour Act, in section 60, prohibits the employment of young persons during the night; and most likely, the sweating job usually takes place during the night. But regardless of what the parties may have agreed, a contract to breed children for sale, is unenforceable; if for no reason, for being reprehensible to public morals. Talking seriously, except the states have domesticated Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law, and Child Rights Act, which will be applicable to punish the botched sale of the twins harvested from a 25-year old Onunwa Grace Nwachukwu, from Imo State, there may be no appropriate laws, to deal with the challenge.
So, if the laws to punish Mrs Achumba, for converting a charity home, to a centre for warehousing pregnant young women, with the intent to subsequently sell their babies are not there, she may just suffer some indignities for a while, after which she goes home, to enjoy the loot from her nefarious trade. Of note, with the stated age of Mrs Nwachukwu, whose community’s youths’ protest for her shameful conduct, triggered the investigation, it may even be wrong to call the girls engaged in the bizarre trade, young persons as defined by our laws.
Perhaps if the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act to Provide Measurers against Trafficking and for other related Matters has local variants in the concerned states, the equivalent of section 13(4)(b) may provide the states, the opportunity to punish those involved, in the botched sale. The section provides: “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation, shall be considered trafficking in persons even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in the definition of trafficking in persons in this Act.”
It is also important that moral institutions, like churches, rise up to the new challenge facing the society. Like Mary Slessor, the famous Scottish missionary, who fought to eradicate the killing of twins, new champions should rise up to fight the scourge of prostituting pregnancy, with the intent to sell the infants. Such persons or bodies, should train their searchlight on persons who run Charity Homes, and help alert security agencies, whenever there is a gathering of pregnant girls, like vultures.
Parents should also wake up to the vocation of parenting, and take responsibility for the upbringing of their children. Those involved, must also know that such immoral behaviour, will hunt them forever.
IF you have not watched one particular video currently trending in the aftermath of the victory of Yahaya Bello in the just concluded gubernatorial election of Kogi State, you may have missed out on one vital element in the understanding of the blood-fest that the election and its aftermath turned out to be. In this, the nation surely owes the much vilified social media a debt of gratitude for not missing out on minor but important elements as the nation grapples not just with its electoral future but also its future as a stable, organic entity.
I am here referring to the one featuring a group of young ladies dancing to pulsating tunes rendered in a hybrid of English and one of the local dialects in Kogi.
The refrain went thus:
Who is saying that Yahaya Bello will not be governor? Dem go hear am ta-ta-ta-ta-ta…What are you saying? What are you talking…etc?
Coincidentally, another version, just as boisterous, has since surfaced with the latter featuring a group of young men (more like rough-necks) popping champagne in some wild celebration over the governor’s victory. As if an anthem of sorts, it was the same song; same message with the underlying fatwa on anyone who dared to stand in the way of the governor’s second term ambition
Dem go hear am ta-ta-ta-ta-ta…
I suppose those for whom the message was meant for have heard loud and clear. To be sure, the governor, despite initial projections of an emphatic shellacking, has won his election by a wide berth. For his opponents, theirs have been weeping and gnashing their teeth both on accounts of the scale of electoral loss and of the near dozen lives lost. By the reckoning of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), 10 deaths in the 79 cases of violence and election malpractices were recorded across the 21 LGAs in Kogi State.
However, much as each case of death is deemed tragic enough, one particular one stands out in unsurpassable bestiality –the murder of Salome Abuh, woman leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ofu local government area of the state said to have been burnt alive in her home by jubilant Bello supporters and thugs in what the various accounts hinted as a case of pre-meditated murder.
As the gory details of the murder filtered out – and this came days after President Buhari had congratulated the governor for a well fought victory – an obviously anguished president caused to be issued an unequivocal denunciation of the gruesome act even as he called for “scrupulous investigation into the heinous murder”. Specifically, he charged all “security agencies involved in the investigation to do a thorough and expeditious job on the matter, so that justice could be served without fear or favour”.
In calling for justice to be meted to the perpetrators of the heinous crime, the president obviously means well; however, considering that nine other cases of murder were reported, the president ought to have gone the full hog by empanelling a body to investigate every single case and the circumstances of murder during the election to ensure that perpetrators are duly punished.
If I may put things in proper context, Madam Abuh’s murder was merely the climax in the long string of impunities unleashed by the different actors in the farcical play that the Kogi gubernatorial election turned out to be. In Kogi, we saw a supposedly unbiased electoral umpire attempt to shut a candidate on a ground that would ordinarily be deemed flimsy. I refer to the SDP candidate Natasha Akpoti which INEC attempted to shut until the courts stepped in at the last minute to rescue the ticket. Thanks to the social media, we saw ‘live’ pictures of helicopters dropping tear-gas as eligible voters scampered for safety; there were also images of “fake policemen” not only running rings round the hordes of security men and women deployed to maintain order but carting away ballot boxes in broad daylight!
As it is, the world knows better than to describe the charade of November 16 as an electoral contest. It was democracy by conquest – the conqueror being the party that had the superior firepower, a contest in which the elector was at best a spectator!
It was truly as yours sincerely had predicted on this page given the vast the army of enforcers already on the leash in the build-up to the poll: it would hardly matter how many heads will be broken or lives lost, an electoral contest would have taken place and democracy a la Kogi would be deemed on the march!
It is just as well that President Buhari has called for justice for Madam Abuh. The people of Kogi deserve no less. I am not talking here of the electoral abracadabra under which three local governments would deliver nearly half of the entire votes cast to one contestant. That is the job for the electoral petition tribunal – the turf of lawyers. Trust the lawyers – head or tail, they win – never mind that the electors are more often than not – bewildered.
What the president owes the people of Kogi is the burden of establishing what went wrong. Interestingly, his Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has given Nigerians a clue: the ‘policemen’ that disrupted governorship poll in parts of Bayelsa and Kogi States were “fake” and not the personnel officially deployed for election duties. According to him, all security personnel, who worked during the poll, had “special identification tags”, and that anyone without the tags was on illegal duty. He couldn’t have been referring to the ones graphically captured by the social media.
Or could he truly be referring to those seen with the appurtenances of government at their beck and call as “fake”?
What about the helicopters? Were they “fake” too? Or could they have been receiving fake orders?
The people of Kogi surely deserve to know. And who else but their president can help them unravel the mystery more so as they have to now live under the terror of those guns freely deployed by the fake policemen on the election day!
‘The world knows better than to describe the charade of November 16 as an electoral contest. It was democracy by conquest – the conqueror being the party that had the superior firepower, a contest in which the elector was at best a spectator!’
PDP, Nigeria’s leading opposition party, craves sympathy — drip! drip! — over Bayelsa and Kogi. Not from these quarters!
Whatever its present angst, it merrily inflicted such on others, in those halcyon days of dreaming power, in the first instance, for 60 uninterrupted years — and was beastly about it.
It’s grim to see the crude also cry!
Power without conscience does neither the aggressor nor the victim any good. In politics as in other spheres of life, that famous saying is trite: as you lay your bad, you lie on it.
After 16 years as Nigeria’s ruling party, PDP grates from a bed of spikes; to which it condemned the opposition, during its high power days.
APC, the current central lord of manor, is only in its fifth year. But whatever holds true for PDP holds true for APC too: whatever APC does as a ruling party would also be its lot as future opposition.
That is the ultimate lesson from the November 16 elections; and that is why APC must think more, and joy less, over the Bayelsa and Kogi polls.
Kogi, particularly, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth — the violence, the thuggery, the general election-day anarchy, in some voting precincts.
True, the violence may have been both ways. But the Kogi meltdown would appear the greatest threat, thus far, to President Muhammadu Buhari’s solemn pledge to bequeath Nigeria a saner electoral system than he met it.
Bayelsa, despite allegations from the losing camp, followed its normal poll pattern since 1999. If there was any fraud, as the PDP claims, it wasn’t more — or less — than frauds in the past, which the PDP rapturously claimed.
To now howl, simply because it’s no beneficiary of the latest “fraud”, is the height of cant and hypocrisy.
Which takes the discourse to what, beyond partisan fealty, really shaped the November 17 elections: the triumph and defeat of clannish politics.
In Bayelsa, the tribes — or more accurately, the clans — gathered, with a vengeance, to hand APC’s David Lyon a rousing upset: the political equivalent, to echo Reggae great, Bob Marley, of Exodus, movement of Jah — sorry Ijaw — people!
The Zionist rime, in this showdown, appears manifest: David, Lyon, lion, Zion — a study indeed, in scorched earth clannish mobilization, for a devastating election victory!
But in Kogi, the tribes — Igala, Ebira and Okun Yoruba — scattered, to hand a rather desperate Governor Yahya Bello (GYB) victory, which optics nevertheless weren’t pretty!
Even now, Kogites would appear in a bind: which is more tolerable — a GYB victory, with all its warts? Or a Musa Wada one, with its spectre of umpteenth Igala hegemony, simply because the Igala are the “insensitive” majority?
On this question alone, Kogi politics is ruptured, far more ruptured, beyond mere partisan differences. That needs urgent fixing.
But back to Bayelsa. Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, in the PDP camp, provoked the angry banding of the clan, by his pre-election Nebuchadnezzar complex.
Remember the biblical Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, felled by the hubris of own glory, but who ate crow, en route to redemption?
Perhaps only Dickson would feign ignorance on the disaster that struck his party. Barely one week to the polls, the new Bayelsa Speaker from Southern Ijaw, imposed after a gun clatter deposed the former Speaker, quit and defected to APC.
Before then, the PDP suffered a gale of high profile defections, from high officials of state, almost on a daily basis. Of course, there was the little whispering campaign of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s alleged entente with APC, over Dickson’s alleged intransigence.
Then, horrors of horrors! The outgoing governor had “imposed” an Urhobo, as PDP deputy governorship candidate! But pray, isn’t the Urhobo a Bayelsan? It’s the making of the political Osu (Igbo for outcaste), in an Ijaw state!
The PDP lost the Bayelsa election simply because almost all critical influence centres left the party in the lurch — Exodus, movement of Bayelsa people!
And if you jeer, that Lyon, the governor-elect and proud lion of that Zion train, is rather grammatically challenged, these good people had it all figured out, right from the feverish campaign stump: who grammar help?
The PDP is clearly peeved that Bayelsa, it’s South-South pearl, is in “enemy” hands, just as APC would grimace at the PDP gubernatorial capture of Oyo, its South West political capital. But both “outrageous” feats have been achieved more by elite gang-up, than ideological shift.
Still, with Bayelsa, the ultimate loser would appear outgoing Governor Dickson. His humpty-dumpty crash, though induced by a Nebuchadnezzar complex, appears bereft of that post-fall Nebuchadnezzar humility, that Dickson needs to grasp a ticket to redemption.
But then, it’s early days yet; and politics is all so fluid!
Now to Kogi, the ultra-violent face of November 16. The true tragedy of Kogi would appear a macabre post-election victory dance, with partisans grooving and singing their opponents would “hear am ta-ta-ta-ta-ta”! — an onomatopoeia for raking gunshots!
Such glamourization of electoral savagery must never be tolerated, for elections are no wars! The government must start by rounding up and prosecuting all those involved in the Kogi violence.
Still, Kogi might be the latest of such election barbarity. But it’s certainly not the worst. Indeed, the Kogi violence rubbed shoulders with the electoral massacre of Osun, in the 2007 election, which the then outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo christened “do-or-die”.
Even if it was worse than Osun 2007, it certainly held no candle to the free-killing and maiming Rivers fields of 2015, complete with election-time opportunistic rape.
A Rivers State Commission of Inquiry, chaired by Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, then chair of the National Human Rights Commission, put the figure of slaughter, between 15 November 2014 and 11 April 2015, at 19 daily.
The murder of Mrs Salome Abuh, the Ochadamu PDP women’s leader, burnt while locked up in her home, headlined the Kogi gory counts.
But even that pales into relative insignificance, compared to the fate of the tragic Adubes, in Rivers’ Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA. Patience Adube told the Odinkalu Commission how partisan thugs massacred her husband, three sons, Ikechukwu, his son-in-law and one of the deceased’s security guards — all six, for their APC sympathies!
There is no evidence that those killers, among others, have been brought to book — or will ever be brought to book.
The fact is since the 1st Republic when Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, Deputy Premier of the West, told folks his Demo party would win — and they did — whether voters voted them or not, provoking the “we tie” protests; to the Ondo anti-rigging “war” of 1983 that signalled the beginning of the end for the 2nd Republic, to Obasanjo’s do-or-die show of 2007, and the Rivers killing fields of 2014/2015, electoral savagery has always threatened to hallmark Nigeria’s voting culture.
Kogi is only the latest reminder of that nightmare. That is why concerted efforts must be made to uproot the menace. No democracy thrives by thuggery and allied election-time brigandage.
SIR: The much talked November16, Kogi/Bayelsa elections have come and gone. Expectedly, the winners were announced by the Independent National Electorate Commission (INEC) even as the next phase of the battle shifts to the courts. In Kogi, Governor Yahaya Bello, was declared the winner. Although, the candidate of PDP, Engineer Musa Wada and his party have rejected the result of the poll, INEC has since issued the certificate of return to Governor Bello. Notwithstanding the pocket of violence, ballot snatching, votes buying and other malpractices that characterized the polls, President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Yahaya Bello and described his re-election as well deserved.
In Bayelsa State, the outcome of the election surprised many Nigerians and even political pundits. In the last 20 years, Bayelsa has remained a PDP state. However, with the emergency of David Lyon of APC as governor-elect, the ruling party has gradually extended its influence in to South-south states which in the previous elections proved a hard nut. Now, Bayelsa has become an APC state.
The outgoing governor, Seriake Dickson should carry the blame for the PDP’s resounding defeat at the poll. The failure of PDP to win the election was a self-inflicted problem hatched by Dickson. He imposed his candidate and failed to carry other party stakeholders along. Now, it is history. There are numerous lessons to take from the just concluded polls.
Election in Nigeria is still a do or die affair. Both in Kogi and Bayelsa states, there were reported cases of disruption of elections by the armed political thugs. The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), in its reports put the death toll at over 10 people in Kogi State alone. Even after the election, it was reported that a PDP women leader was set ablaze by suspected political thugs. The desperation of our politicians to win election at all costs has continued to pose great challenges for the growth and development of our democracy.
We keep pointing accusing fingers on the electoral umpire for its imperfections or shortcomings but fail to remind our politicians that election should not be a matter of do or die. There is the need to play the game according to the rules. Sadly, in the last elections, our politicians failed to conduct themselves within the ambit of the electoral laws.
It seems also that performance which should serve as a requirement or criteria for electing our leaders have been discarded to the dust bin. While in developed democracies, political leaders are elected based on their track record of services delivery, in Nigeria reverse is the case.
Imagine a governor having to knell down during the campaigns to apologise to the electorate on behalf of his party candidate saying that his candidate was young and bound to make mistakes. Does it mean that the electorates should continue to elect leaders even if they have failed to discharge their constitutional responsibilities?
With the conduct of Kogi and Bayelsa elections, our democracy is still at rudimentary stage. With the reported cases of violence and other electoral malpractices that marred the polls, unless we change our attitudes, 2023 elections would be worse than the previous ones.
SIR: On December 7, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari gave assent to NOUN (Amendment) Act thus paving the way for law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to attend Nigerian Law School. The gesture drew ovations from every nook and cranny of the country not least among the graduates of the university. The 8th Senate had earlier conducted a public-hearing with all the stakeholders including the Council of Legal Education (CLE) during which the latter pointed out that “Correspondence” as mode of learning in the NOUN Act was inconsistent with the rules and regulations guiding the admission into the law school and assured that if rectified, NOUN law graduates will be included for admission into the Nigerian Law School.
Consequently, the senate moved into action and after rigorous legislative processes, passed the amendment bill and transmitted it to the president who without any delay gave his assent. On his part, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu had put all machinery in place to see to the resolution of the conflicts to enable the innocent citizens caught in the quagmire to conclude their academic programme.
Regrettably, since the gazette of the NOUN (Amendment) Act few days after its assent by President Buhari which made it an implementable legal instrument, CLE has been allocating admission quotas to its ‘accepted’ universities in the country for vocational training in the Nigerian Law School excluding NOUN.
In fact, not less than three sets or sessions had been admitted, concluded and called to the Bar. In addition, the body had publicly invited applications from foreign students for admission into the Nigerian Law School. Meanwhile, law students that graduated from NOUN; a federal institution still roam the streets with no defined offences.
A stakeholder meeting mandated by the presidency finally held for the first time on October 29, at the Federal Ministry of Justice with the Minister of Justice/Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) and management of CLE, Nigerian Law School and NOUN after much pressure. However, it is sad that no communique or resolution has been made public in respect of the meeting.
Could the silence be another ploy to keep the students in endless waiting while fresh graduates from other universities are admitted to pursue their legal careers? Sadly, most of the arrowheads behind the maneuvers have their children studying either abroad or in expensive private universities in the country. Or is the Nigerian Law School; a facility owned by the federal government, a personal property of some privileged citizens?
Nigeria cannot continue to display ‘commando’ leadership styles, channeling muscles and powers which are most unnecessary. These students didn’t admit themselves into NOUN but by a management legitimately put in place by government.
The continued frustration of these innocent law graduates from completing their career is not only insensitive but a big threat to national security.
A law degree without vocational training and call to bar is akin to a graduate in aviation, architecture, medical studies and other professional courses without professional endorsement to operate. By implication, these law graduates have been technically encumbered from working, deprived means of livelihoods for many years except those that are already in employment.
President Buhari should use his good offices to ensure that the quagmire comes to an end. Enough of the gimmicks and tactical delays!
HOW did a young lion found at a house on Victoria Island in Lagos get into the megacity? How did the lion get into the country in the first place? The public expects answers to these questions as news of the presence of the wild animal caused quite a stir.
It is believed that the lion was brought to the house about two months ago. A crèche and elementary school are located opposite the house, which means that the lion was a potential threat to children, apart from others in the neighbourhood.
The two-year-old lion had to be tranquilised before its removal in an operation that involved officials of Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and personnel from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ibadan. The lion’s removal by officials of Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit on November 18 can’t be the end of the story.
It is a cause for concern that the lion owner, who is said to be an Indian, is still at large, according to the head of the task force, Yinka Egbeyemi. “Instead, what he did was to send three Nigerians, who claimed to be his workers. But we are working with them to know where we can find him. Our primary concern now is to remove the lion from the house, which we have done,” he stated.
Egbeyemi was quoted as saying: “The lion was found on No. 229 Muri Okunola Street…The Indian man rented the apartment and lied to the owner of the house that he wanted to be staying there. He claimed that the house was under renovation and brought the animal there. The neighbours saw the thing and that was how we got a petition from them…He will have to tell us why he is rearing a lion in a city; that is a wild animal and anything can happen. So, he may be prosecuted.” Indeed, the lion owner has a lot of explaining to do.
It is commendable that people in the neighbourhood were vigilant and promptly alerted the authorities. It is also commendable that the authorities responded promptly. Egbeyemi urged “every member of the public to be observant in their immediate environment and report any strange or unusual activity to appropriate government agencies for prompt action.” Such cooperation is beneficial to the society.
Investigation showed that the Indian may have brought the lion into the country from Cameroon about two years ago. This calls into question the effectiveness of those who are supposed to monitor animal importation. It also raises questions about their fidelity to import regulations concerning live animals. It may well be that the lion was brought into the country after money had changed hands at the entry point.There is no doubt that the lion posed a danger to the neighbourhood and the larger community. Lions are predators, and some have been known to hunt humans. The hypercarnivore naturally inhabits grasslands and savannas, and has no place among humans.
It is noteworthy that the veterinary authorities advised members of the public not to harbour wild animals in their homes in order to avoid attack and contagious animal diseases.
The lion has been taken to a zoo at Omu Resort, Lekki, Lagos, where it can be better managed without causing fear among the populace. Its presence in a residential building was scary.
However, the authorities must take this issue to its logical conclusion. The lion owner should be apprehended and sanctioned for harbouring a lion in a residential building, and thereby showing a lack of consideration for the safety of others.
‘The authorities must take this issue to its logical conclusion. The lion owner should be apprehended and sanctioned for harbouring a lion in a residential building, and thereby showing a lack of consideration for the safety of others’
SIR: There must be a reason for any action to be taken. While some may be altruistic, others can be entirely obnoxious. I consider the ‘unofficial’ proscription of Keke riding business in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as ill-thought out. The directive itself, apparently orchestrated by the Federal Government, is crassly illogical and grossly absurd by every estimation.
It would be recalled that many Abuja residents penultimate Tuesday woke up to the shocking news that commercial tricycle activities have been “abolished” in some parts of the city. One can safely conclude that with the FCTA authorities’ directive, the Keke ‘guys’ have been declared as persona non grata by those behind the prohibition. Already, the federal government which (though, openly has not) announced the suspension of Keke business, has maintained that their (the Keke riders) activities is constituting a nuisance to several parts of the nation’s capital.
A sane mind will be compelled to ask: is this the first time Keke operators and riders are legitimately doing their business in Abuja? If no, then why are they being ‘victimized’ now? The reality is that the Keke riders didn’t come to the FCT yesterday, or this year. Certainly not last year, or even the year before. They have been in Abuja since only God-knows-when. And not only that, they have through their dignifying business, been offering invaluable service to teeming Abuja residents. Never mind the fact that the Keke business has since become a passport to ‘prosperity’ for many youths, in their struggle to keep body and soul together.
Since the proscription, I have seen how hundreds of people regularly trek from major highways in Abuja to their distant houses located in housing estates, communities and areas. How workers also trek to their offices on daily basis. I do sincerely bemoan their haplessness as the scorching ‘Abuja sun’ vents its anger on them. This development as unfortunate as it is, could not have been unavoidable.
This is the time when government should devise ways to alleviate the suffering, while also cushioning the hardship of Abuja residents, and other Nigerians. It should not, and I repeat, should not be the time for unveiling or introducing anti-masses policies, directives or programmes. Is it not the height of ‘cluelessness’ for government to outrightly criminalize Keke business without providing a palliative for the affected youths?
The FCT administration surely knows better the threat those directly affected by the clampdown pose to their immediate society and the FCT in general. If we are not careful, many a youths whose daily bread is riding tricycle will soon be recruited into Robbery United, One-Chance Madrid, and Kidnapping Golden Stars FC, among other infamous ‘crime clubs’. For that not to happen—at least any time soon—we must continue to ask this pertinent question: Why should they proscribe Keke in Abuja?
MEDIA report that one Hope Olusegun Aroke, who is serving a 24-year jail term at Kirikiri Maximum Correction Centre, Lagos, successfully perpetrated a $1 million internet fraud while he is supposed to be in the correction centre, sounds like a fairy tale. But it is not, as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating those who may have aided the convict to ridicule our correction centres. Instead of living its name, the Kirikiri Maximum Correction Centre has proved to be a haven, where a convict can conveniently continue to ply his nefarious trade.
That is a shame to the authorities of the prison, and those who colluded with the convict to perpetrate what is clearly a crime. How can a person who is supposed to be serving a punishment for his bad ways, and undergoing a procedure to live a normal life, be accorded the opportunity to continue in his bad ways? We demand that those responsible for the show of shame should be fished out and made to pay for their evil ways. It is also important to conduct an audit of the systems in all the correction centres.
According to media report, Mr. Aroke, in contravention of standard procedure, had access to internet and phones with which he was able to perpetrate the alleged crime. Indeed, he was said to have secured a transfer to the police hospital in Falomo, Lagos, from where he takes off to lodge in hotels, stays with his wife and children, attends parties, and literally paints the town red. He was also reported to have bought choice properties and cars, while he is supposed to be serving term.
‘It is unbelievable that our country’s maximum correction centre is run like the report showed. Not long ago, we had complained about such atrocities, as in the case of Mr Aroke, when it was claimed that supposed inmates of prisons in Nigeria…usually don’t really serve their term of imprisonment, as they could procure other persons to serve for them’
In the correction centre, he was Hope Olusegun Aroke serving a prison term, but simultaneously in the outside world, he is Mr Akinwunmi Sorinmade, who operates two bank accounts. The report notes that while his trial was ongoing in 2015, he bought a four-bedroom duplex at plot 12, Deji Fadoju Street, Megamounds Estate, Lekki County Home, Lekki, at the cost of N48 million. Back in 2012, he was arrested at the 1004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos, and upon interrogation, he claimed to be a student at Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University, Malaysia.
Among the choice items recovered from him then were a Mercedes Benz Jeep, a 4Matic Mercedes Benz car and a Range Rover SUV. Justice Lateefa Okunnu who tried him, convicted him for obtaining by false pretense, cheque cloning, wire transfer and forgery. It is the jail term for these offences that he is supposedly serving at the Kirikiri Maximum Correction Centre. But instead of being corrected, he was given liberty to continue his nefarious activities even in the correction centre.
It is unbelievable that our country’s maximum correction centre is run like the report showed. Not long ago, we had complained about such atrocities, as in the case of Mr Aroke, when it was claimed that supposed inmates of prisons in Nigeria, especially those who are convicted of drug trafficking, usually don’t really serve their term of imprisonment, as they could procure other persons to serve for them. Some others enjoy the special privilege of sharing their terms, partly at home and partly in the centre.
Well, our intervention was before the name change from Nigerian Prison Service to Nigerian Correctional Service. The argument for the change of name is that a prison should be a correction centre, instead of a mere imprisonment centre. After all, an inmate will later re-join the society to live a normal life. But alas, it appears that those employed to correct need serious reorientation themselves.
The University of Benin (UNIBEN), on Saturday has conferred honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D) Honoris Causa on Kolawole Shola Okeaya-Inneh, Richard Oma Ahonaruogho and others as part of its convocation ceremony.
Others conferred with honourary degrees at the event include: Prof. Ivor Ralph Edwards, who was conferred with honourary Doctor of Science (DSC) Honoris Causa and the Managing Director of BUA Group, Alh. Abdul Samad Rabiu, who was conferred with Doctor of Science (DSC) Honoris Causa.
Others who bagged the rank of Emeritus Professor include: “Prof. John Oamen Igene, Prof. Esosa Bob-Osaze and Prof. E.A.C. Nwanze.
The event held at the Akin Deko main auditorium.
The man Ahonaruogho
Chief Ahonaruogho is the Ogwatumise of Owo Kingdom and a former member of the UNIBEN Governing Council, Ad-Hoc Committee member for the 2011 Christian Pilgrims Welfare Committee of Lagos State and former Chairman, Conference of Alumni Associations of Nigerian Universities (CAANU),
He was born in Warri, Delta State on July, 1961, to Mr. Jeremiah Oma Olu Ahonaruogho and Mrs. Josephine Ajua Ahonaruogho. His father is a Petroleum Marketer at Mobil Oil Nigeria Limited (as it then was) and his mother is a Trader. While his father hails from Ughoton in the Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State, his mother hails from Warri in the Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
Ahonaruogho attended Maryland Convent Private School, Ikeja, Lagos. He obtained his West African School Certificate (WASC) at Victory High School, Ikeja, where he was Labour Prefect in 1978/79.
He obtained his Higher School Certificate from Baptist Academy, Obanikoro, Lagos in 1981.
Chief Ahonaruogho attended the University of Benin and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Honours degree in 1986. He proceded to the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos and was called to the Nigerian Bar and enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on October 22, 1987. He participated in the one-year mandatory National Youth Service and had his primary assignment with Chief Samuel Olasupo Morohundiya & Co. (Legal Practitioners) Ikeja, Lagos at both their Rivers State and Lagos State offices between 1987 and 1988.
Law practice
Since then, Chief Ahonaruogho has been in active legal practice. He became a Notary Public on 9 January, 1997. He is the principal partner of Richard Oma Ahonaruogho & Co; Ahonaruogho, Ahonaruogho & Co. (Paradise Law Firm) Solicitors, Advocates & Notaries Public of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He is also a Partner in the law firm of Idahosa, Ahonaruogho & Ize-Iyamu.
12 kid-robbers case
Early in his practice, Chief Ahonaruogho was given to public interest cases. In 2008, his friend, to whom he lost the election of the President of the Students’ Union of UNIBEN, Yesufu Abubakar, called at his Ahonaruogho’s Law Firm, then located at No. 10 Pepple Street, Ikeja, Lagos, with a copy of the Evening Times, which bore the headline – 12 kids robbers to die by firing squad. As one who prided himself as a Constitutional lawyer, Ahonaruogho spotted a constitutional question, took up the gauntlet and instituted his first action in his name in Suit No. ID/392M/88 – Richard Oma Ahonaruogho VS. The Military Governor of Lagos State & 2 Others, which was decided by the Honourable Moronkeji Omotayo Onalaja (as he then was, later Justice of the Court of Appeal) on the 23 November, 2008 (same date as the Founder’s Day of the University of Benin; Chief Ahonaruogho’s father’s birthday, Pa. J. O. O. Ahonaruogho and this historic event of his conferment with the Honorary Doctorate Degree of Doctor of Law), The case is reported in the Book- Cases and Materials on Human Rights in Nigeria, Pages 185 to 204 (a publication of Huris Law, 1994), wherein the Editor in his editorial note, stated as follows
“The applicant, a legal practitioner, brought the action on behalf of one of 12 condemned boys sentenced to death by a Robbery Tribunal for Armed Robbery. His contention was that the boys were under 16 years during the time of the offence; hence, they could not be condemned to death in view of the provisions of Young Persons Act of Lagos State. The Court dismissed the application, holding that it had no jurisdiction to hear the case in view of the ouster clause in the Armed Robbery Decree, but held that the applicant had the locus standi to institute the action”.
Although the court could not sit on appeal on the decision of the Armed Robbery Tribunal, the fact that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of Lagos State, Mr. Abiodun Kessington (as he then was, later the Honourable Justice Abiodun Kessington), did not contest the age of Augustine Eke to be less than 17 years as at the time of the alleged offence, his Lordship, recommended that the Government should take a second look at the conviction and sentence.
It was a very tough and challenging case for a very young lawyer, who was on his second year in practice but with conviction, and determination he followed-up the process with letters to the then Military Governor of Lagos State and later with Governor, Sir Michael Otedola, who later granted State pardon to Augustine Eke and nine others, two of the others having died in prison. For Augustine Eke and his co-travellers, the judgment delivered on 23 November became a light in the filament which eventually led to their liberation.
Bar activities
As a legal practitioner, Ahonaruogho has been very active in contributing to the growth of his noble profession. He has been a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) 1998-2006 and 2010-date; International Bar Association (IBA) Country Representative from Nigeria from 18 April, 2000 to 2006; Chairman, Human Rights Law of the International Bar Association from December, 2002 to 2006; Secretary, Council of Section on Legal Practice of the Nigerian Bar Association from 03 August, 2004 to 02 August, 2005. He has also been Vice-Chairman, Access to Justice Committee of the International Bar Association from January, 2005 to 2006; Council member, Professional and Practice Interest Division (PPID) of the International Bar Association from January, 2005 to 31 December, 2006 as well as Coordinator, University of Benin Alumni Lawyers from 1998 to date.
As a student, Ahonaruogho was the founding Vice-President of the Law Students’ Association (LAWSA) of his alma mater, University of Benin. He was also a member of the Nigerian Bar Association Committee for Remuneration of Junior Lawyers (1989-1990). Apart from these important positions already listed, he has also been Rapporteur, Annual General Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association held at Benin City (1990); member, Nigerian Bar Association Human Rights Committee (1990-1991); member and coordinator, Media Relations, Nigerian Bar Association Public Affairs Committee (1990-1991); member, Public Relations Sub-Committee of the 6th Biennial Conference of the African Bar Association (AfBA) (1991); member, Nigerian Bar Association 1992 Law Week Planning Committee, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria; member & secretary, Nigerian Bar Association Ikeja Branch Committee for the Resolution of the Nigerian Bar Association National Crisis (1995-1998); Secretary, 1996 Law Week Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch, Lagos, Nigeria; Secretary, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch (1996-1998).
As a ‘Bar Man’, Ahonaruogho has not missed any opportunity to be part of the local, national, regional and international conferences of his professional body. Thus, he has attended the following conferences and even played strategic roles: all Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch Annual General Meetings from 1988 to 2005; all Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conferences from 1989 to 2004; African Bar Association (ABA) 6th Biennial Conference in Abuja (1991); African Bar Association Meeting in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, 17-18 October, 1997; African Bar Association 7th Biennial Conference in Accra, Ghana, 16 – 18 May, 2000; African Bar Association 8th Biennial Conference in Abuja, 29 – 30 November, 2002; inaugural meeting of the West African Bar Association (WABA) in Abuja, 20 – 21 August, 2004; International Bar Association (IBA) Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland (1995); International Bar Association Conference in Berlin, Germany (1996); International Bar Association 50th Anniversary Celebrations/Meeting in New York, United States of America (1997); International Bar Association Conference in New Delhi, India (1997); International Bar Association Conference in Vancouver, Canada (1998); International Bar Association Conference in Boston, United States of America (1999); and International Bar Association Conference in Barcelona, Spain (1999).
Others include International Bar Association Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2000); International Bar Association Conference in Cancun, Mexico (2001); International Bar Association Conference in Durban, South Africa (2002); International Bar Association Conference in San Francisco, United States of America (2003); International Bar Association Conference in Auckland, New Zealand (2004); International Bar Association Conference in Prague, Czech Republic (2005); International Bar Association Conference in Chicago, United States of America (2006); International Bar Association Section on Legal Practice (SLP) Regional Conference in Lagos, Nigeria (1995); International Bar Association Section on Energy and Natural Resources Law (SERL) Conference in Accra, Ghana (1998); International Bar Association Section on Energy and Natural Resources Law Conference in Abuja, Nigeria (1999); International Bar Association Section on Energy and Natural Resources Law Conference in Abuja (2000); 54th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland (1998); International Bar Association Section on Legal Practice Officers, Council Members and Committee Officers Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey (2001).
He has also participated at the International Bar Association Section on Legal Practice Officers, Council Members and Committee Officers Meeting in Cancun, Mexico (2001); International Bar Association Section on Legal Practice Officers, Council Members and Committee Officers Meeting in Durban, South Africa (2002); International Bar Association Section on Legal Practice Officers, Council Members and Committee Officers Meeting in San Francisco, United States of America (2003); International Bar Association Section on Legal Practice Officers, Council Members and Committee Officers Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand (2004); International Bar Association Professional and Practice Interest Division (PPID) Council Members, Officers and Meeting in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2005); International Bar Association Professional and Practice Interest Division (PPID) Council Members, Officers and Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic (2005); International Bar Association Professional and Practice Interest Division (PPID) Council Members, Officers and Meeting in Florida, United States of America (2006); International Bar Association African regional Conference in Accra, Ghana (1999); International Bar Association African regional Conference in Nairobi, Kenya (March, 2001); International Bar Association African regional Conference in Lagos, Nigeria (April, 2004), and the Annual General Conference of the African Bar Association (AfBA) held at the Ministerial Complex, Monrovia, Liberia from 21st to 25th October, 2019, at which he was the Chair of the first and second Sessions on contemporary issues facing Africa on Tuesday 22nd October, 2019.
Earlier Chief Ahonaruogho, participated in the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch, Continuous Legal Education and Practice Development 2 days seminar – the 21st Century Lawyer- held on 8th and 9th October, 2019 and served as discussant of the paper presented by Kemi Pinheiro, san, – “effective utilization of garnishee proceedings in recovery of debt and effective defence thereto: prospects, challenges and avoidable pitfalls”
Chief Ahonaruogho’s organizational acumen has been demonstrated in his playing active roles in the organization of conferences relating to his professional calling. He participated in the organization of the Plenary Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association Branches at Coordinating Secretary in Jos in August, 1997; organization of the Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference in Abuja in August, 1998; Coordinating Secretary, Committee of Chairmen and Secretaries of Nigerian Bar Association Branches (1997-1998); Secretary, Committee 19 (Human Rights Law) of the Section on Legal Practice of the International Bar Association (2000-2002).
On the spiritual front, Chief Ahonaruogho has not been found wanting. He has actively served God in various capacities. He has been member, Board of Trustees, MicCom Evangelism Foundation of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (1990-2000); Legal Adviser, First Baptist Church, Ikeja (1995-2000); Trustee, First Baptist Church, Ikeja (1997-2000); and Vice-Chairman, External Fund Raising Committee of First Baptist Church, Ikeja, Lagos (01 January, 2012 – date). He also served as Member, Ad-Hoc Committee of the Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board of Lagos State (15 September, 2011 – April 2012). On the 7th July, 2018, Chief Richard Oma Ahonaruogho was appointed the Honorary Patron of the Royal Ambassadors of Nigeria of the First Baptist Church Ikeja, Lagos, and he has been a mentor to many young men and women.
•From left: Prof Igene, Prof Osaze, Prof Nwanze and UNIBEN Registrar and Secretary to the council, Mrs Otasowele A. Oshodin at the event.
He has also participated actively in the development of legal education in particular and educational development generally. This he has demonstrated in his capacity as member, Board of Trustees of the Olasupo Morohundiya Foundation for Legal Education Development of the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan (1992- date); Member, Board of Governors, Mayors Heights College, Ikeja, Lagos (2004 – date), and Member, Governing Council, Chrisland University (2015 – 2018).
At the Faculty of Law of his alma mater, he has, together with the support of his wife, Mojisola exhibited uncommon philanthropy and selflessness, not only in the developing the Faculty facilities but also in the award of scholarships to students. His first Ward was sponsored to the Nigerian Law School in 2007. He has since paid the school fees and provided Laptop Computers for at least other 25 students (11 in a given year) attending the Nigerian Law School after their graduation from the Faculty of Law, University of Benin (UNIBEN) and in one case of a Law Graduate from the Benson Idahosa University (BIU). He has also sponsored undergraduates of the University of Benin even in distant departments like Theatre Arts, where he has sponsored 2 students (who are visually challenged), and a Part-Time Student then working at the UNIBEN Guest House, who graduated with a Second Class (Lower Division) Public Administration in 2013/2014. In 2012, when Miss Mavis Oghogho Abada became the first Student to graduate with a FIRST CLASS from the Faculty of Law, University of Benin, which news was made known to him at the formal presentation of the book – THE MAKING OF AN AMBASSADOR’ – LEGAL ESSAYS BY LAW STUDENTS’ ASSOCAITION (LAWSA) UNIVERSITY OF BENIN (UNIBEN) PUBLISHED IN 2012 IN HONOUR OF CHIEF (BARR.) RICHARD OMA AHONARUOGHO, he wasted no time in adopting Miss Abada as his ward and supported her to the Nigerian Law School, where she again bagged a FIRST CLASS and later to Harvard University for Masters of Law Degree (LL.M) 2015/2016.
This rare commitment to the welfare of students and addition of value to his alma mater has endeared him to Staff and students of the Faculty of Law and indeed the University of Benin. His role as a bridge builder has also seen him coordinating efforts that fundamentally saw to the building and full equipment of the Alumni Law Library at the Faculty of Law, a feat that is rare in the annals of Nigerian university system.
His zest in pursuing issues that concern the welfare and future of his beloved alma mater, the University of Benin, has also influenced his playing prominent roles in organizing other alumni to rub minds in the quest to move the institution forward. Thus, Chief Ahonaruogho has been Chairman, University of Benin Alumni Association (UBAA) Lagos Branch (2001 – 2003); Vice-President (West) University of Benin Alumni Association (2002 – 2006); President, University of Benin Alumni Association Worldwide (2006 – 2010), a position he ran effectively to the admiration of all stakeholders. He was elected member representing Convocation on the Governing Council of the University of Benin and served meritoriously between 28 September, 2007 and 23 September, 2011. He was elected Chairman of the Conference of Alumni Associations of Nigerian Universities (CAANU) and has served from 17 September, 2011 to 26 September, 2016..
In demonstration of his bottomless love for matters concerning his alma mater, the University of Benin, and his selfless commitment to the addition of value to the name of the school, Chief Ahonaruogho has attended all important meetings of the institution’s alumni association both in Nigeria and in the diaspora. Thus, he attended the University of Benin Alumni Association, North America Branch (UBAANA) 2nd Re-Union Dinner and inaugurated the Branch at the Hilton Hotel, University Place, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America on 23 June, 2007. He also attended the University of Benin Alumni Association North American Branch 3rd Re-Union General Assembly and Dinner at the University of Maryland, University College, Maryland, United States of America from 6th to 8th June, 2008 as well as the University of Benin Alumni Association North America (UBAANA) 5th Re-Union in Philadelphia, 2010; the University of Benin Alumni Association North America (UBAANA) 7th Re-Union in Dallas, 2012; the University of Benin Alumni Association North America (UBAANA) 8th Re-Union in Los Angeles, 2013; the University of Benin Alumni Association North America (UBAANA) 9th Re-Union in Chicago, 2014, the University of Benin Alumni Association North America (UBAANA) 10th Re-Union in Miami, Florida, 2015; the University of Benin Alumni Association North America (UBAANA) 11th Re-Union in Newark, New Jersey, 2016.
Chief Ahonaruogho was the first President of the University of Benin Alumni Association Worldwide to attend the University of Benin Alumni Association, United Kingdom (UBAAUK) Re-Union in London in 2009, which was then being steered by Mrs. Patricia Aderibegbe. He equally attended the formal inauguration of the University of Benin Alumni Association United Kingdom (UBAAUK) in London 2011 by his able successor, Engr. (Dr.) Clement Kayode Oghene. He also the University of Benin Alumni Association United Kingdom (UBAAUK) Re-Union in London 2016 and the University of Benin Alumni Association United Kingdom (UBAAUK) Re-Union in Sheffield, United Kingdom 2019.
Outside the University of Benin, Chief Ahonaruogho had as Ward, a former pupil of the University of Ibadan Staff School after reading a public interest story in ‘The Punch’ newspaper of Monday 12 April, 2012, (Easter Monday) to the effect that ‘Pupil weeps for failing to win laptop or scholarship in raffle draw marking the 50th anniversary of the Polytechnic Ibadan’. Chief Ahonaruogho took the trouble to telephone the Editor of The Punch and got the newspaper’s Reporter who linked him to the Pupil’s parents. He provided the laptop and sponsored her from Primary 4 in 2012 to Primary 6 in 2014 and from 2014 to date where she is now in Senior Secondary School 3 (SSS3) at Starlite College, Ibadan on his scholarship. Also outside the University of Benin, Chief Ahonaruogho has as Ward, a Student of International Relations from 2015 – September, 2019 at the Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State. Some of his former Staff have also benefited from his scholarships which assisted them through various institutions, including Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, (1993 -1999) (Quantity Surveying); University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), 1999 – 2004 (Electrical Engineering), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), 2005 – 2009 (Political Science); Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye 2004-2010 (Economics); University of Lagos (UNILAG) 2011 – 2015 (Insurance); University of Lagos (UNILAG) 2010 – 2014 (Creative Arts), to mention but a few.
Among the Chief Ahonaruogho’s international assignments have been International Bar Association (IBA) Representative on the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) Mission to Liberia from 17 November to 28 November, 2003 at the invitation of Ambassador Jacques Paul Klien, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) Administrator and Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations to assist in the setting up of a court structure to try criminals in post 14 October, 2003 period in Liberia. Significantly, the delegation met with civil society groups and prominent Liberians, including, Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who later became the President of Liberia. Chief Ahonaruogho has also been member and Secretary, Host Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) African Regional Conference held in Lagos, Nigeria from 05 to 08 April, 2004.
Among the numerous awards in recognition of the invaluable contributions of Chief Ahonaruogho to the legal profession, civil society and indeed mankind include but not restricted to recipient of the Nigerian Bar Association Merit Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Nigerian Bar Association at the 1998 Annual General Conference at Abuja; recipient of gift from the Nigerian Bar Association Abuja Branch at the 1998 Conference for outstanding contributions to the Association; recipient of the service award presented on 23rd November, 2000 by the University of Benin Alumni Association in recognition of meritorious service to the Association as Chairman of the Lagos branch; recipient of the Nigerian Bar Association Plaque for Sponsoring a Session at the 2003 Annual General Conference at Enugu; recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the University of Benin Alumni Association, Asaba Branch in 2005; investiture as Grand Patron of the Law Students’ Association (LAWSA) of Faculty of Law, University Of Benin on 03 August, 2006. He has also been the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the University Of Benin Alumni Association, Lagos Branch on 21 October, 2006; recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the University Of Benin Alumni Association (UBAA) Worldwide on 26 November, 2011; and recipient of the Plaque of Appreciation for his role as Chairman of the Conference of Alumni Associations of Nigerian Universities (CAANU) on 4 December, 2011.
The Department of Theatre Arts of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Benin in
2010 was given the sum of Five Hundred Thousand Naira for the purchase of band set for the
University’s Musical Band. Chief Ahonaruogho was in 2010 honoured by the Law Students’
Association (LAWSA) of the Faculty of Law, University of Benin with the CHIEF
RICHARD OMA AHONARUOGHO CHAMBERS, during the tenure of Mayor Ernest
Ogbonna as LAWSA President.
As an active sportsman, Chief Ahonaruogho was frequent at the Senior Staff Club of the University of Benin where he played Table Tennis, Scrabble and other sports with Professor Eddy Erhagbe, Professor Lawrence Ezemonye, Professor Chike Okolocha, Professor Mike Oreso, Professor Friday Okonofua, Dr. Marcel Okhakhu, Mr. Richmond Omagbemi, Mr. Eguasa Omagbon, Mr. Brodricks Osewa, amongst other. Amongst his donations to the Senior Staff Club were Scrabble Sets and Dictionaries, two split unit standing air conditioners and one window unit air conditioner. He had close relationships with various Presidents of the Club, including (in no particular order) Professor Eddy Erhagbe, Professor Victor Omozuwa, Professor E. C. Ikhuoria, Professor Lawrence Ezemonye, Professor Myke Omoigberale, Professor Sam Ike and Professor George Eriyamremu. Also, Chief Ahonaruogho donated four split unit standing air conditioners were installed at the Jural Court of the Faculty Law, UNIBEN; while the Faculty of Law Library got one of the split unit standing air conditioners in 2011. In 2018, Chief Ahonaruogho was honoured by the Law Students’ Association (LAWSA) of the Faculty of Law, University of Benin with the naming of its Secretariat as the CHIEF RICHARD OMA AHONARUOGHO LAWSA SECRETARIAT, during the tenure of Nelson Olumakaiya as LAWSA President.
Again, outside the University of Benin, the Alumni Association of the Ekiti State
University (EKSU) also received three split unit standing air conditioners from Chief Ahonaruogho in 2012 during the tenure of Mr. Bola Ogunlakin as the President of the Alumni Association of Ekiti State University (EKSU), while Chief Ahonaruogho was the Chairman of the Conference of Alumni Associations of Nigerian Universities (CAANU).
The slogan “We Love Our Vice-Chancellor” began when Chief Ahonaruogho, was the Chairman of the Lagos Branch of the University of Benin Alumni Association, where he adopted the slogan – WE LOVE OUR VICE-CHANCELLOR, during the tenure of a greater Richard, Professor Abhulimen Richard Anao, as Vice Chancellor. It was at the End of Year Party and Award Night organized at the Golden Gate Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Saturday, 7 December, 2002, at which Mr. Gamaliel O. Onosode (of blessed memory), Chairman, Dunlop Nigeria Plc (as it then was) was the distinguished Chairman, Professor Abhulimen Richard Anao was the Special Guest of Honour, and Professor (Mrs.) Grace Alele-William, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University was the Guest Speaker. Under his Chairmanship of the said Lagos Branch, several seminars were organized including – (i) “Aids – Unemployment and the Nigerian Economy’ on Thursday 7th February, 2002 at the Banquet Hall of the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, at which Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, FPSN, MON was the Lead Speaker, Mr. Paul Enebeli FPSN, Dr. John Obodo, Mr. Alex Okoh and Mr. George Onekhena were Discussants. The Chairman was Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, the First Visitor to the University of Benin. The Special Guest of Honour was Professor Abhulimen Richard Anao, Vice-Chancellor, University of Benin. The Guests of Honour were Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, President, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Dr. Leke Pitan, the Honourable Commissioner for Health of Lagos State and (ii) “A Nation in Transition: Citizens Rights and Responsibilities” on Thursday 3rd April, 2003 at the Regency Hall, Otunba Jobi-Fele Way, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, under the distinguished Chairmanship of Professor Itse I. Sagay (SAN). The Special Guest of Honour was Mr. Paul Osogbe Enebeli, FPSN and the Lead Speaker was Professor Julius O. Ihonvbere, The Discussants included Otunba Mohammed Jobi-Fele, Hon. Ehiogie West-Idahosa, Dr. Reuben Abati, Mr. Dele Adesina (as he then was, now Learned SAN) and Mrs. Funke Fadugba.
Upon his election to the office of Vice-President West of the Alumni Association in 2003 at the end of the tenure of Professor Patrick Uadia in that office in a keenly contested election, Chief Ahonaruogho, decided not to re-contest for the Chairmanship of the Lagos Branch and he handed over to Mrs, Betty Igbeyi as Chairman of the Lagos Branch of the Association. Chief Ahonaruogho served as Vice-President West from 2002 to 2006, before succeeding Dr. Mike I. Okonofua, JP, as President of the University of Benin Alumni Association, unopposed.
Under the leadership of Chief Ahonaruogho as the 11th President of the University of Benin Alumni Association, the Alumni Association organised the 39th Founder’s Day Lecture/Award and Dinner/Raffle Draws and 1st Global Home Coming on Saturday 21st November, 2009, following the successful inauguration of the University of Benin Alumni Association North American Branch (UBAANA) in 2007, and the commencement of serious activities in the United Kingdom, in 2008. The inauguration of the North American Branch of the Association was made possible by the work of his predecessors in office, Dr. Mike A. Ohiorenoya (1979) – the 1st President, Dr. (now Professor) Alfred E. Ehigiegba (1980/82) – the 2nd President, Dr. (now Professor) Emmanuel E. Obaseiki-Ebor (1982/83) – the 3rd President, Mr. Gordon Osagiede (deceased) (1983/85) – the 4th President, Dr. (now Professor) Marcel J. Ikenebomeh (1985/88) – the 5th President, Chief Makole Omo Azugbene, JP (1988/90) – the 6th President, Hon. Dr. Ja’ Belo-Osagie (1990/93) – the 7th President, Pharm. Paul Osogbe Enebeli, FPSN (1994/88) – the 8th President and first President to be elected into the Governing Council of the University, Mr. Osa I. Ikponmwosa (1998/2002) – the 9th President, and Dr. Mike I. Okonofua, JP (2002 -2006) – the 10th President, all of whom he remained most grateful for their leadership and service. Special mention must however be made of Dr. Mike I. Okonofua, JP and his Secretary General, Professor (Mrs.) Mary Olire Edema, who linked Chief Ahonaruogho with Dr. Tonia Ajao, the Steering President of UBAANA and to Professor Emmanuel A. C. Nwanze, the then Vice Chancellor, who wasted no time in supporting the vision of taking the Alumni body outside the shores of Nigeria. In the same vein, the Alumni Association has remained strong under the able leadership of his successors, Dr. (Engr.) Clement Kayode Oghene the 12th President, Sir (Hon.) Ifaluyi Isibor the 13th President and Engr. Ikenna Obiasor the 14th President of the University of Benin Alumni Association Worldwide!
Upon his election in 2006 as the President of the University of Benin Alumni Association, Chief Ahonaruogho and his team, namely Dr. Mike Okonofua, JP – Immediate Past President IPP, Mrs. Agnes Ologide – Vice President West, Mr. Nnamdi Cheizea – Vice President East, Chief (dr.) Benjamin Abadua – Vice President North, Mr. Stephen Obeki Obeki (as he then was, now Dr. Stephen Obeki Obeki) – Secretary General, Mr. Victor Igweonwu (as he then was, now Dr. Igweonwu) – Assistant Secretary General, Mr. Kehinde Omo Oisemaye – Treasurer, Engr. John Osarenwinda (as he then was, now Professor Osarenwinda) – Financial Secretary, Sir Egert Omoneukarin – Legal Adviser, Mr. Austin Obi-Omovoh (as he then was, now Dr. Obi-Omovoh) – Public Relations Officer, Mallam Abdul-Rahman Izuagie – Auditor, Dr. John Ikimalo – Ex-Officio and Chief Ola Orimoloye (of blessed memory) – Ex-Officio; immediately embarked on far reaching projects which benefitted the Association and the University immensely. It is on record that Chief Richard Oma Ahonaruogho, within five months of being elected President of the University of Benin Alumni Association, got Access Bank Plc. during the tenure of Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukheude as Group General Manager to re-build and equip the present Secretariat of the Association; a Banking Hall and this was capped with the donation of a brand new Toyota Hiace Bus which was registered as UBAA1. It is also on record that Chief Richard Oma Ahonaruogho led efforts of the ‘UNIBEN ALUMNI LAWYERS’ to build for the Faculty of Law, a Library apart from the Departmental Library, at a time when accreditation of the Law program was threatened by the Council of Legal Education. His administration began the ALUMNI ONE RADIO which was later taken over by the University as UNIBEN RADIO. Two plots of land was also allocated at the SITE A (main Campus) and another Seventy Hectares of land was also allocated to the Alumni in the SITE B of the University for the development of an International Conference Centre/4-IN-1 ALUMNI building during the tenure of Professor Emmanuel A. C. Nwanze as Vice Chancellor.
The Executive Committee for the 2008 to 2010 tenure had only two new members, namely Hon. (Mrs.) Anne Osakwe who replace Mr. Nnamdi Chizea as Vice-President East, Mr. Chizea having relocated to Lagos and Dr. (now Professor) Mrs. Mary O. Odema, as the Immediate Past Secretary General following Constitutional amendment to that effect, an innovation that has proved very useful to the Association.
Chief Ahonaruogho played a pivotal role in the Governing Council of the University of Benin during his tenure. He was the one that proposed the appointment of Professor Osayuki Godwin Oshodin as the Vice Chancellor of the University out of the three shortlisted finalist during the turbulence of the 2009 appointment of the Vice Chancellorship at the time, a very brave and patriotic feet. The ‘Campus News’ of the University of Benin in his Vol. 3 Number 2, of April 30, 2010, produced its Special Edition, with the caption “The Winning Team, which celebrated Professor Oshodin’s 100-day in Office and the Governing Council which made his ‘historic’ appointment possible.
It is on record that Chief Ahonaruogho has been celebrating the achievements and elevations of others and in this wise he organised and facilitated the Dinner Parties in celebration of the elevation to the rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria on Chief Charles Uwensuyi Edosomwan (SAN), Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), Mr. Oluwakemi Pinheiro (SAN), Mr. Augustine Oyarekhua Alegeh (SAN), Mr. Roland Otaru, (SAN) and Professor Epiphany. Azinge (SAN), at various times at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos, where he enjed the support and benevolence of the then Chairman of Ikeja Hotels Plc Mr. Goodie M. Ibru., owners of Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos and used the same facility of the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos as the main sponsor of the monthly meetings and annual End of Year/New Year Party of his Victory High School/Victory College Old Students’ Association for about 4 years! On 5th October, 2019, Chief Ahonaruogho was presented with Golden Jubilee Celebration Distinguished Victorian Golden Jubilee Award by the Victory High School/College, Ikeja.
Still celebrating others, Chief Ahonaruogho as a serving member of the Governing Council of the University of Benin, spared no effort in seeing to the success of grand installation of His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III mni, The Sultan of Sokoto, as the 7th Chancellor of the University of Benin, as he enlisted the support and goodwill of Alumni, notably Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, the then Governor of Lagos State; Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, the then Governor of Delta State, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukheude, the then Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc., and Mr. Okey Nwosu, then Managing Director of the then FinBank Bank Plc and Professor (Mrs.) Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, OON, then Director General of the Nigerian Stick Exchange.
It is on record that on 18th February, 2013, Chief Richard Oma Ahonaruogho was sworn-in by His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, then Governor of Lagos State as a member of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the Fire and Explosion Incidents at Ojo-Giwa Area of Lagos Island. Government White Paper published in respect of the said Panel of Inquiry gave kudos to the Tribunal for a job well done.
Still on record, Chief Ahonaruogho donated paints for the painting of the High Court of Lagos State Library during the tenure of the Honourable Justice Ade Alabi as the Honourable, the Chief Judge of Lagos State and with Mrs. Flora F. Koleosho as the Director, Library Services.
Chief Ahonaruogho was the Chief Presenter of the Book – “National Development And Human Security – Essays and Materials” published by the University of Benin in honour of a Distinguished Alumnus, the Minister for Works and Housing of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Babatunde Raji Fashola( SAN), at the Akin Deko Main Auditorium of the University of Benin on Thursday 14th November, 2019.
He was conferred with the chieftaincy title of High Chief Ogwatumise of Owo Kingdom on 14 November, 2006 by His Royal Majesty, Oba David V. Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi III, OFR, the Olowo of Owo Kingdom, Ondo State who was then the 6th Chancellor of the University of Benin.
Chief Ahonaruogho, a widely travelled man that has touched all parts of the globe, is a consummate philanthropist and loves travelling, writing, reading, table tennis, lawn tennis, scrabble and football. He has presented papers to distinguished audience and published in journals and leading newspapers. Chief Ahonaruogho is happily married to the amiable Chief (Yeye) Mojisola Abiola Ahonaruogho, the Yeye Ogwatumise of Owo Kingdom, also a Legal Practitioner. Their marriage was consecrated on 3 November, 1990 and they are blessed with three lovely children, two sons and a daughter.
Former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Onitsha branch, Mr. Chidi Onyiauke has said the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) is yet to issue an admission letter to his son Akachukwu Onyiauke.
JAMB released Akachukwu’s Universities Tertiary Matriculation Exam (UTME) scores last week – several weeks after other candidates’ results were published – following protests by his parents and public outcry.
He scored 80 in Use of English, 86 in Physics, 77 in Biology, and 88 in Chemistry to make a total of 331.
Mr Onyiauke told The Nation that his son’s high score qualified him for an admission letter to his tertiary institution of choice, the University of Ibadan.
“I remain grateful to the Senate for their timely intervention in the matter which made JAMB to eventually release the boy’s result.
“Though JAMB changed his examination centre and altered his result, there is no problem. We are waiting for them to issue him an admission letter into the University of Ibadan to pursue his academic career,” he said.
