The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Reward for integrity

    Reward for integrity

    NIS officer who rejected N10m bribe deserves the encomiums and gifts showered on him

    It is not all the time that we hear good news, especially that having to do with integrity. This explains why we celebrate the few people who exhibit such tendency. We have to single out such people for special recognition, first to appreciate them and second, to encourage others to emulate them.

    This must have been Governor Alex Otti’s reason for publicly commending a Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) officer, Ugochukwu Orji, who rejected a N10 million bribe offered by a native doctor accused of ritual killings.

    The Abia State governor chose the occasion of the visit to him by a 30-man delegation of the organisers and sponsors of the Oha Isiala Ngwa Grand Civic Reception held in his honour to commend the NIS officer.

     “I have always made this point that we are straightforward people, we are not criminals. We don’t steal, we don’t cheat. Of course, out of every 12, there must be a Judas. Sometimes the Judas is so loud that he drowns the good jobs of the other 11,” Otti said in a statement by his spokesperson, Njoku Ukoha.

    Otti said that Abia people are industrious and they don’t like to depend on handouts for survival, but would rather work to earn a decent living. This is why they would reject gifts from questionable sources.

     An apparently impressed Governor Otti was not done yet. He noted that what Orji did was a reflection of the values of Abia people: “What you did is typical of us; you represented us very, very well.”

    Orji hails from Obikabia, Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of the state.

    It is significant this would not be the first of its kind by Gov. Otti. The governor had sometime ago similarly honoured a tricycle rider who returned a large sum of money forgotten in his vehicle.

    The NIS officer was the one that arrested a wanted native doctor, Onyeka Obu, who was last month accused of burying several people, including a pregnant woman, in a pit at Umumba Ndiagu, a community in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, for ritual purposes.

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    Obu’s boys were arrested by the police but he fled.

    He was however sighted by Orji at the Badagry-Seme border area of Lagos while attempting to flee the country, and consequently arrested.

    It was at this point that he reportedly offered the NIS officer the N10 million that the officer rejected.

    Orji said he was motivated by his desire to uphold his personal and professional ethics by promoting a culture of integrity within Nigeria’s law enforcement framework. ‘’Taking this stand not only upholds my personal and professional ethics but also encourages a culture of integrity within our law enforcement framework”, he stated.

    According to him, bribery undermines the rule of law and perpetuates crime and corruption. This is the point that is lost on many law enforcement agents in the country who fall for peanuts in their respective beats. They do not seem to realise that for every bribe they take, they are undermining justice and giving criminals an opportunity to escape instead of facing the law, thus giving them an opportunity to commit further crimes.

    We join the governor in celebrating Orji. Indeed, as Governor Otti noted, there is a lot the NIS officer could do with N10 million if he had chosen to accept it. That he rejected it because it was not earned is commendable indeed.

    Again, as Gov. Orji counselled, Orji should not be discouraged by criticism from those who might have felt he acted foolishly by rejecting the bribe, especially in our kind of environment where many people would have seen such as ‘manna from heaven’.

    It is gratifying that this display of exceptional bravery and dogged integrity has attracted the attention of some appreciative Nigerians who have also rewarded Orji their own way. Here, we refer to the N5 million gift that he got from Ebuka Onunkwo, an industrialist and senatorial aspirant, and N1 million by Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere of Omega Power Ministries. This is the way it should be.

    We should give honour to whom honour is due.

  • Death for kidnappers

    Death for kidnappers

    Ondo joins the train, but is this sufficient as deterrence?

     Kidnappers face the gallows in Ondo State if apprehended and convicted of the crime. This is courtesy of a new law being processed by the Lucky Aiyedatiwa  administration. The law, which prescribes capital punishment for kidnappers upon conviction, is a hard tackle by the government on the growing menace of insecurity that has seen a good number of people abducted in the state, as elsewhere, and involving payment of ransoms by victims’ families – in some cases, the death of abductees even where ransoms were paid.

    State attorney-general and commissioner for justice, Kayode Ajulo, SAN, said kidnapping and cultism had become major threats to safety and public order, informing the state government’s resolve to strengthen existing legal framework as could deter such crimes and improve the overall security landscape. According to him, a meeting of the state executive council presided over by Governor Aiyedatiwa deliberated on the worsening security trend and adopted proposals that included capital punishment for kidnappers.

    The council also resolved that property used as hideouts or operational bases by kidnappers be demolished. “Kidnapping and cultism have become a menace to the peace and safety of residents. We are committed to restoring law and order through robust legal framework,” he noted.

    Ajulo spoke against the backdrop of incidents of kidnapping in the state amidst modest gains by security agencies in terms of suspects’ arrest and rescue of victims. Briefing journalists following the weekly state cabinet meeting in Akure, the state capital, he said the proposed law would soon be transmitted to the Ondo State House of Assembly for necessary legislative action. The All Progressives Congress (APC) that controls the executive also has an overwhelming majority in the state legislature and is expected to approve the law.

    With the proposed legislation, Ondo joins other states that have stipulated capital punishment for kidnappers in their statute books. The legal framework hitherto is as enacted by the administration of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko, prescribing life imprisonment for the offence of kidnapping in the state. A former House of Assembly speaker, Taofeek Abdulsalam, was last year reported acknowledging that the law was passed by the sixth state assembly. “It was passed into law during our time (sixth assembly) and the penalty is life imprisonment,” he said.

    Other officials, however, indicated the possibility of the law being reviewed; among them a former Majority Leader of the state assembly, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, who was reported saying: “The bill was passed and signed into law by the previous assembly, but we will study and know if it needs to be reviewed or not.”

    Kano State has the anti-kidnapping, abduction and forced labour law enacted by the administration of immediate past Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in 2019, and which has been adopted by the incumbent administration of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf. “The law stipulates the death sentence for kidnappers who abduct and kill their victim, while kidnappers who abduct but did not kill their victim, if apprehended and found culpable, would be jailed for life,” Ganduje had said while signing the bill into law.

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     In Benue State, there is the anti-kidnapping law that stipulates death sentence for abductors, which the administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia inherited from the former Samuel Ortom administration. It was former Governor Ortom who signed into law the Abduction, Hostage-taking, Kidnapping, Secret Cult and Other Related Offences Act, 2017, which further prescribes, among other things, that anyone whose house was used for unlawful detention and kidnapping, if found guilty, is liable to the death sentence. Also, whoever permitted his premises to be used for hostage-taking will forfeit the property to government.

    Bayelsa State has the anti-kidnapping law enacted in 2013, which prescribes the death sentence for offenders. The legislation, assented to by former Governor Seriake Dickson after its passage by the state legislature, empowers the governor to sign the death warrant of a person or group of persons convicted of kidnapping and related crimes.

    In Nasarawa, the state kidnapping prohibition bill signed into law in 2020 by Governor Abdullahi Sule stipulates the death penalty on conviction, and forfeiture of any property used by kidnappers, while the owner of such a property would be liable to 20 years in jail.

    There are other states with capital punishment prescribed for kidnapping.

    But, besides the broad debate about the propriety of capital punishment in administering justice, its effectiveness in curbing the menace at issue is highly moot. In other words, it is doubtful the states that have had the provision in their laws for some have kidnapping under control by now.

    Besides the slow pace of court processes that delay conviction of suspects, governors have generally been reluctant to sign death warrants of convicts, resulting in ballooning death rows in congested custodial centres. Perhaps these are contributory factors to the stipulation not serving as deterrence in states that already have it in their statute books.

    This is why we recommend that rather than wait to apprehend offenders and subject them to the penalty, all efforts should be made to put security architecture in place that forestalls the offence.

  • Soothing balm

    Soothing balm

    • That is what pardon and honours for Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogonis is

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu showed his determination to heal some of the gnawing wounds in the Niger Delta region, with the posthumous pardon and honours granted the famous ‘Ogoni Nine’, led by Ken Saro-Wiwa, a highly acclaimed environmentalist and human rights crusader.

    While Saro-Wiwa was conferred with the national honour of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), the other eight, namely, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine, were decorated as Officers of the Order of the Niger (OON).

    Many people, including leaders of the Niger Delta region, have hailed President Tinubu for the pardon and the honours, but some civil rights campaigners are insisting that Saro- Wiwa and his co-travelllers committed no crime and so should be exonerated by the Federal Government, and their convictions annulled.

    The President exercised the powers conferred on him by section 175 of the 1999 constitution (as amended), on the Prerogative of Mercy. A reading of the section shows that the president has acted within his powers. Those who contend for the annulment of the conviction must look to the judiciary, perhaps through the process of appeal or judicial review.

    While statutorily time has ran out for such remedies, interested parties have only such option to explore, pleading special extenuating circumstances, for leave for appeal or a review out of time.

    We agree that the charge against the ‘Ogoni Nine’ may have been politically motivated, but they were accused of complicity in the murder of what became known as ‘Ogoni Four’, namely Albert Badey, Edward Kobani, Samuel Orage and Theophilus Orage.

    Truly, many perceived the charge as giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it, because the military government of Gen. Sani Abacha was unhappy with the campaign by Saro-Wiwa and company against Shell and other multinational oil companies in Ogoni Land, and so saw the killing of ‘Ogoni Four’ as an opportunity to deal with the trouble makers.

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    The military government set up a military tribunal which convicted the ‘Ogoni Nine’ for complicity in the murder of the ‘Ogoni ‘Four, and without allowing a constitutional right of appeal, they were hanged.

    The Commonwealth of Nations imposed sanctions on the country as a result of the execution of Saro-Wiwa and the eight others. Indeed, notable world leaders, including the late president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who had appealed for clemency for the convicts, were appalled at the inhuman treatment meted by the military regime. The Ogoni nation, hurting from the double tragedy of the ‘Ogoni Four’ and the ‘Ogoni Nine’ became a combustible theatre for agitations.

    The Ogoni Bill of Rights which Saro-Wiwa and other environmentalists championed became a national mantra for any engagement with the Federal Government. Since then, it has been impossible for oil companies to operate in Ogoni Land, while the environment degraded by oil spills continues to deteriorate.

    The effort by the Federal Government to engage in remedial measures, though welcomed by many Ogoni, is viewed with suspicion by the majority.

    Several efforts and peace initiatives championed by Bishop Matthew Kuka and several others, helped to tamper the convulsion in Ogoni, but still, many are not willing to allow life to return to normalcy, because of the seething anger over the past incidents, including the killing of ‘Ogoni Nine’.

    We support every effort to restore peace to the Niger Delta, but the campaign for the ‘Ogoni Nine’ and ‘Ogoni Four’ cannot be treated the same way. Of course, we condemn the extra- judicial murder of the ‘Ogoni Four’, but they were never convicted of any crime and cannot be candidates for a presidential pardon.

    We encourage President Tinubu to tenaciously pursue his efforts to reconcile a hemorrhaging and fractious country that he inherited as president.

  • State police

    State police

    • We have many examples to learn from

    Ever since his assumption of office during the tenure of President Bola Tinubu, the Inspector-General of Police, (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has not hidden his opposition to what has come to be the insistent clamour for the decentralisation of the country’s policing architecture through the creation of state police. Many Nigerians believe this would enhance the capacity of both the federal and state governments to safeguard the security of lives and property in Nigeria.

    Security of lives and property is a cardinal responsibility of government.

    Surprisingly, despite the glaring lack of capacity of the existing unitary policing structure to effectively maintain internal security in a complex, large, federal polity Nigeria, the IGP has been a lone voice calling for a retention of the dysfunctional system, which may also be reflective of the sentiments of the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) as a whole.

    Speaking at a one-day constitutional review legislative dialogue on the country’s national security architecture, Egbetokun contended that rather than create state police, the NPF should be strengthened and properly funded to discharge its constitutional responsibility. He anchored his argument on Section 214(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which provides for the existence of a centralised police force and reiterates that “subject to the provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof”.

    But this kind of reasoning assumes that the law establishing the NPF is cast in granite and cannot be amended even when this has become a glaring necessity as the case is today.

    Egbetokun expressed the fear that state governors could abuse their control of state police. He suggested instead that 30,000 officers be recruited into the NPF annually and that  the organisation’s budget should be increased, especially as state governments lacked the funds or infrastructure to run state police system.

    Indeed, he made a case for the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to be merged as directorates within the NPF.

    These rationalisations for opposition to the creation of state police are unconvincing. They create the impression that Mr Egbetokun and the leadership of the NPF are more interested in maintaining and expanding what they see as their exclusive power base, than the creation of a policing system that can drastically reduce the current high rate of loss of lives and property due to the inefficiency of the current policing structure.

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    The fear of abuse of state police by governors can be addressed by careful drafting of the law setting up policing structures at the state level, to provide for effective checks and balances.

    In any case, the argument can also be made that federal authorities can also abuse control of the centralised police to harass and intimidate opponents. There are so many examples of federal polities with multi-level policing systems that prevent abuse of power and protect human rights that Nigeria can learn from.

    Even now, state police commands of the NPF in virtually all states in the country rely substantially on funding by the states, as the Federal Government is clearly unable to bear the responsibility of funding the NPF alone. Furthermore, the point has been made that state police outfits, with officers and men recruited from local communities, will be more familiar with the peculiarities of their environment and thus be more efficient in discharging their responsibilities.

    Again, the country is paying a costly price for the current inefficiency of a centralised police structure. This is because men of the armed forces who have the responsibility of protecting the country’s territorial integrity are deployed to maintain internal security across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with negative consequences for their ability to defend the polity from external aggression at a time of considerable national vulnerability.

    The IGP seems to believe that the creation of state police is meant to dislodge or weaken the NPF. Rather, it can only make the latter more effective and efficient in its sphere of responsibility.

    Luckily, there is unanimity of opinion on the part of President Tinubu, the 36 governors and other critical stakeholders on the imperative of state police. The IGP cannot continue to be the sole dissenting voice.

  • Open sore

    Open sore

    •Until unsolved murders are resolved, and the victims get justice, Nigerian democracy is incomplete

    The greatest slur on this present democratic order is the unsolved assassination of Chief Bola Ige, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), killed right inside his old Bodija, Ibadan, home, on December 23, 2001, while still in office.

    If there was a most cynical form of execrable murder, this was it.  That 24 years after, no one has been convicted for Chief Ige’s murder, mocks our criminal justice system. The chief of the Nigerian criminal justice system couldn’t get justice from the system he presided over!  It doesn’t get more perverse and more macabre!

    Besides, the hallmark of democracy, over other forms of government, is the centrality of the rule of law.  This is why it towers over military junta rule, which is rule by the gun. Ige’s unresolved murder, therefore, continues to mock the place of Nigeria in the comity of democratic states. 

    The symbolism is ultra-ugly: if our killed AGF could not get justice, what are the chances for other lesser mortals, routinely bumped off, with killers escaping justice?

    This is the context of Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka’s umpteenth reminder of that “open sore” that was Chief Ige  — to partly borrow the title of one of his essays. He was reacting to the celebration of the June 12 Democracy Day for 2025. 

    President Bola Tinubu had honoured some democracy heroes — and fittingly so — as part of the celebrations.  Prof. Soyinka argued — and rightly so — that inasmuch as many of June 12 heroes are rightly honoured, the Federal Government should add an extra vim to bringing political killers to book.  That logic is unimpeachable.

    The Nobel Laureate, aside Bola Ige, named other victims: Alhaja Kudirat Abiola; and before democracy, during the best-forgotten years of military rule, Dele Giwa, the colourful journalist killed by parcel bomb, during the junta rule of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. 

    He didn’t specifically mention Harry Marshall, a politician from Rivers State.  But Mr. Marshall symbolised the free-killing nest of political opponents, an ugly landmark very early in this 4th Republic, when the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was the federal ruling party.

    So, aside the Nigerian state as a collective, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, under whose presidency the murders of Ige, Marshall and numerous others took place, without resolution, should feel some personal embarrassment, if not vicarious guilt, for being the commander-in-chief then.  It was such recurrence of shocking murders, in the high corridors of politics, that made Prof. Soyinka dismiss the Obasanjo-era PDP as a “nest of killers”, after Bola Ige’s murder.

    The former president did not help things when verbally, at an event, he appeared to dance on Ige’s grave, by referring to him as one who neither knew his right from his left, on his first power portfolio.  This, in all good conscience, could well explain why Ige was shuffled from power (which he knew little about) to justice, his professional forte.

    But Obasanjo’s diction was just terrible; and it only helped to flare emotions, especially among the Ige family; and the late charismatic orator’s many lovers and admirers.

    Now, to the pre-democracy assassination of Dele Giwa, the man who had the honour of introducing, with his colleagues: Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Ray Ekpu; and popularising weekly newsmagazines in Nigeria, with the defunct ‘Newswatch’. Just as the Ige murder, everything in Giwa’s death, by parcel bomb, pointed to some rogue state elements in action.

    But if that was explainable — though never tolerable, during military rule: which is stealing power by the barrel of the gun — it should never be excusable during democracy, in which the rule of law — not arbitrary might — sits on the high throne.

    Which is why Prof. Soyinka’s call for the case to be re-opened is not out of line. Justice and rule of law are needed to right past wrongs.  Now that both are the epitome of democracy, then no government is better armed to correct these historical wrongs and secure justice for everyone.

    Fortunately, there is no time limit to prosecuting a murder crime.  That means the case file remains as eternally open as possible.  Yet, there are great challenges.

    Core to every successful prosecution are witnesses.  Either for Ige or Giwa, some witnesses might still be around, whether home or abroad, that could give useful clues that can lead to hard core evidence, en route to successful prosecution and conviction.

    But in that hope too could lie some despair.  Many a core witness may have died, been incapacitated or otherwise unavailable, because of the time lapse.  That effectively means a blackout — at least from that particular end.

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    All these are to underscore that the government must show extra resolve if it must crack any of these cases.  The only abiding hope here, if indeed rogue elements in past governments tried to frustrate the investigation and trial, by threatening witnesses into quiet, is that threat is no longer there.  But again, the government must go all out to  underscore that, to show its full resolve.  With iron will, nothing is impossible.

    Still, the lesson is to strike when the iron is hot.  If past governments, military or democratic, had hastened on the path of justice, Ige, Giwa and many other unsolved murders would have been concluded, justice served and firm deterrent put in place to dissuade putative future felons, telling them that for criminals, there is no hiding place.

    So, while racing against time to solve these murders, the authorities must impose a regime of no tolerance for unsolved murders.  That way, at least, we won’t have any of such cases in the future.

    As for the triad of Generals Babangida and Sani Abacha; with former President Obasanjo, under whose respective tenures these unsolved killings happened, that failure is cemented as part of their legacy — and that legacy is decidedly ugly! Fortunately, it’s consigned to the past.

    As for now and the future, Nigerian democracy is incomplete with such a hole in the criminal justice system.  It’s time to fill that hole and swear never again!

  • Laudable progress

    Laudable progress

    It is heartwarming that 74 per cent of inmates are now captured in the database

    Debunking reports in sections of the media that the registration of inmates of custodial centres into the National Identity Number (NIN) database is yet to commence in all custodial facilities across the country, the National Correctional Service, (NCoS) has revealed that the exercise is indeed progressing impressively in the centres, with about 74 per cent of inmates obtaining their NIN that is simultaneously integrated into the Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC) database. That was as of June 7.

    This represents 50,786 of the 80, 879 inmates in correctional facilities in Nigeria. This is a commendable rate of work even though both the NIMC and the NCoS must intensify efforts to ensure that all inmates in the country are accounted for in the national database in the shortest possible time.

    For one, inmates of correctional centres are citizens just as the rest of Nigerians, and they have the fundamental right to be registered and formally identified so that government can plan to cater for their needs. It is important that every segment of the population such as children, the youth, women or the aged, for instance, be registered and their numbers ascertained so that facilities and services required by each group can be accurately determined and resources generated and allocated to meet such needs.

    This is no less true of correctional facilities’ inmates, especially as the overcrowding, poor sanitation, hazardous healthcare and environment, as well as poor nutrition that these centres are currently notorious for are partly as a result of poor planning due to inadequate data.

    We commend the collaboration between the NIMC and the NCoS for the strides taken so far in issuing the NIN to inmates and registering them on the national database.

    The NIMC had reportedly granted the NCoS the license to conduct the NIN registration in 256 correctional centres nationwide in January, 2025, following a request by the Controller-General of the NCoS, Sylvester Nwakuche.

    Beyond the need for such data to facilitate the integration of inmates into national development plans, the formal registration of inmates through the NIN will considerably enhance security in these facilities. A current problem with the custodial centres is the loose identification system of inmates which unscrupulous officials of the NCoS are able to exploit to perpetrate assorted corrupt practices that jeopardise and compromise the integrity and credibility of the service.

    The fragile security associated with a poor identification process also facilitates the frequency of jail breaks and compounds the difficulties of identifying and re-arresting fleeing inmates whenever such breaches of the correctional centres occur.

    Capturing all inmates on the NIN database will enable better collaboration between security agencies towards apprehending and returning inmates to the correctional centres after jail breaks.

    Beyond this, such NIN information will enable the appropriate agencies to plan better for a seamless integration of inmates into society after the completion of their sentences. Indeed, the NIN data of inmates will enhance better planning for those who seek to write examinations from custody in preparation for post-custodial life as is increasingly the case in recent years.

    Apart from the integration of inmates into the national database through the NIN registration, it is noteworthy that the NIMC has announced plans to commence ward-level enrollment of citizens across the country to bring identity services closer to communities and further strengthen the national database. To achieve this objective, it is expanding its infrastructure and upgrading biometric equipment by deploying about 1,000 registration devices across the country’s 774 local government areas.

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    The NIMC understandably celebrates its registration of about 120 million Nigerians so far into its NIN database and plans to achieve 95 per cent coverage of the population by the end of 2025.

    However, the purpose of the NIN registration should not be to boost the number of Nigerians on the database simply for its own sake. Rather, it should be to enable better, more efficient and effective planning for the welfare and security, both of the citizens and the country.

    If inclusion on the national database does not achieve these objectives, the entire exercise will be nothing but a waste of time and resources. For instance, it remains inexplicable that several years after the commencement of NIN registration, it is still possible for kidnappers and other criminal elements to commit atrocities and still communicate with relatives of their victims or with their collaborators in crime on mobile phones without being tracked.

    In the same vein, despite compelling large numbers of Nigerians to obtain supposedly secure and unique Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), bank frauds are still perpetrated without detection, apprehension and prosecution of those who commit the crimes.

  • Oshiomhole vs. Air Peace

    Oshiomhole vs. Air Peace

    The airline should work more on its services

    A viral video of a Senator Adams Oshiomhole exchanging words with some members of the staff of Air Peace at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, on June 11 has attracted many reactions from Nigerians. Oshiomhole is a former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), former governor of Edo State and former Chairman of the All progressives Congress (APC). He represents Edo North Senatorial District in the Senate.

    Air peace, on the other hand, is a prime Nigerian airline. It is the largest airline not just in Nigeria but in the West African sub-region. It recently got the nod to fly passengers into London Gatwick Airport. It only recently too got the approval to fly into London Heathrow. The airline had on several occasions intervened to airlift Nigerians out of some countries, either due to conflicts, and during the COVID-19 lockdown.

    This little background is necessary because the public show of shame at the airport appears to us as a bigger indication of a systemic dysfunction. The senator, according to reports, was denied boarding a scheduled flight because he allegedly arrived late to the airport. He created a scene by mounting the conveyor belt, thereby disrupting activities at the airport. He accused the airline of extortionist tendencies and the airline claimed he was lying and that he had arrived late for boarding and possibly wanted the rule to be bent for him.

    Could it be that the senator possibly tried to carry over his ‘labour days’ agitations to the airport? From reports, it was the airline’s overreach. On the surface, he seemed to have forgotten that he has risen above that and is now a national figure who in biblical terms is like a ‘candle on the mountain’ and must be seen to exercise the greatest amount of restraint and dignified public decorum. But airliners adrift in its duties.

    Air Peace airline, on the other hand, despite whatever laudable things it had done for the country, is often caught in the wrong side of good service delivery. There have been complaints of tacky services and faulty communication channels. Most air passengers often complain about the attitude of some of their ground personnel, especially when there are cases of delayed or cancelled flights. These agitations are often wrongly handled. So, the Oshiomhole response was not an isolated one, it is just that this time, it involved a public figure.

    The incident exposes the systemic dysfunction that impacts on everyone. Here is a senator whose main duty is lawmaking. He did not take the laws into his hands to disrupt public service at the airport. It points at the interpretation most public officers give to their use of power. He registered his displeasure with what he interpreted as injustice.

    His action at the airport can be overdone by many public servants. Many of them seem to suffer ‘superiority complex’. We see that on the roads where most public officers scare others away with sirens and sometimes physical abuses by their aides. Many of them break traffic laws and are often never arrested. Some public officers’ convoys have killed some road users without consequences.

    As for Air Peace, we assume that they might be inadvertently taking liberties with their near monopoly of the sector. The senator might have been right in this instance but other Nigerians had sour experiences. Many of the airline’s ground staff are often described as very rude and uncaring.

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     Aviation is the hallmark of modern hospitality industry and the airline must put more efforts at training their workers, and rewarding or punishing them as appropriate. Good and hospitable services should not be negotiable.

    The aviation industry is one with strict global standards below which no airline should operate. Air Peace must, beyond denying Oshiomhole’s allegations, put its house in order.

    We believe that this incident points to a system that needs urgent re-appraisal. Why is there a trust deficit in systemic justice delivery? Why do people often take laws into their hands? Senator Oshiomhole did not want to get preferential treatment with the airline. If they say he was late, why did they offer him a seat? He insisted it was wrong to do offer him that as it was a scandal. He has already checked in online.

     Air Peace has no excuse for tacky or confrontational customer services.

    We hope that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) would wade into this issue and make public its findings so that the truth can be established for the record, and as a deterrent to other passengers.

  • The anti-graft war

    The anti-graft war

    • ‘Yahoo boys’ menace poses fresh challenges in efforts to tackle corruption

    Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Ola Olukoyede has raised the alarm on a new trend that cyber fraudsters, commonly known as ‘yahoo boys,’ have taken to in entrenching the culture of graft in the country. He said they were no longer limited to online scams but now get involved in banditry, kidnapping and ritual killings.

    Worse, some of them have become conduits for money stolen from public treasury by politically exposed persons (PEPs).

    Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja, the EFCC boss bemoaned how youngsters who engage in internet fraud have brought national shame on Nigeria in the global community, as their nefarious activities make every Nigerian, including hardworking ones, to be seen as a potential criminal. Investigations, according to him, also revealed that when PEPs steal from the common wealth, they contract ‘yahoo boys’ to launder the loot and siphon it abroad through digital channels.

    “Some of them launder money for politically exposed persons. Don’t just see them as ‘yahoo-yahoo boys’ anymore; the traditional way of stealing money is not applicable anymore,” Olukoyede said. “When they (PEPs) steal money in billions, they give it to these boys. They (yahoo boys) open crypto wallets, and from there the money goes abroad. Most of these politically exposed persons identify these boys, lodge them in hotels; the boys open accounts for them and take the money abroad to buy cars, houses and other luxury items,” he added.

    The anti-graft czar illustrated his point with the case of a 22-year-old that his agency arrested with a N5billion turnover in his account, yet who had never engaged in any legitimate work for a living. “We arrested a 22-year-old; he had a turnover of over N5billion within 18 months. We discovered that he laundered money for politically exposed people. A boy who has never worked in his life. They use them to steal government money now,” the EFCC boss said, adding: “They do ritual killings, they are also involved in cybercrime. You see them in hotels and in groups trying to scam people. You see secondary school students driving vehicles. Are those the people we want to hand Nigeria over to? Is that the nation we want to build?”

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    Pertaining to the national image crisis, Olukoyede lamented how the green passport appears to have become an object of stigmatisation in international travels: “I want Nigerians to know we are having a crisis on our hands. If you travel abroad with your green passport and stand in the queue among so many people, you will discover that by the time you present the passport, the people (Immigration) will look at you with some reservation. That is, if they don’t take you aside to carry out some special scrutiny. That is the national shame that some young Nigerians have caused us.”

    He added: “I go out to interact with my counterparts and other government agencies abroad in the course of tracing money and recovering assets, and there are things that it would be difficult for you to defend. We recently arrested groups of young men, and people no longer believe in hard work.” The EFCC boss as well noted that the atrocities of ‘yahoo boys’ had gone beyond cybercrime, as they resort to banditry and kidnapping whenever their victims do not co-operate. “When they don’t see people to scam on time, they resort to these vices,” he said.

    Olukoyede obviously aimed at highlighting the gravity of the ‘yahoo boys’ menace with all the force of indignation he could muster; only he also sounded like himself and his agency were overwhelmed. But they can’t afford to be, because the battle against graft in our society entails no retreat and no surrender. All stakeholders must pitch in to vigorously play their part in support of the EFCC crusade.

    Financial intelligence is a crucial aspect of the battle, and it is expected that relevant organs like the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) will be proactive in triggering an alarm on suspicious transactions such as the 22-year-old instance cited by Olukoyede. We deem it curious that transactions of that magnitude went without red flags before the suspect got apprehended. Intelligence should expose transactions involving ‘yahoo boys’ in the manner that the EFCC boss described. The society must itself assume collective responsibility for moral reformation of ‘yahoo boys’ since they live within the communities. Perhaps the National Orientation

    Agency (NOA) should ply a concerted programme of societal re-orientation from undue regard for wealth at the expense of moral integrity. For its part, EFCC should synergise with the stakeholders to give its crusade a sharper bite.

  • Bamboo houses

    Bamboo houses

    • A good idea, especially with prevailing high cost of cement

    Many Nigerians may have scoffed, not without reason, at the idea by the Federal Government to use bamboo plants to build affordable, durable, and smart houses for low- and middle-income earners across the country. Yet, there is a lot in the idea that merits careful consideration, more so at a time the cost of cement, the major ingredient in housing construction, has become prohibitive and thus unaffordable.

    What makes it even more compelling is that the technology in question is neither alien nor novel to Nigeria’s indigenous building sector. We therefore expect that the proposal will be taken seriously.

    According to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, Esuabana Nko Asanye, the Federal Government is embarking on solving the diverse needs within the housing sector using green technologies – including using only bamboo plant for smart houses. Represented by the ministry’s director, Environmental Science Technology (EST), Bernadette Oguche, at a One-Day Capacity Building Workshop on the Relevance of Bamboo for Climate-Smart Housing Construction: Integrating Nigerian Building Road Research Institute (NBRRI) Technologies in Reducing Carbon Footprint in Abuja, she noted that adopting only bamboo plants for smart houses will not only promote environmental sustainability but also ensure that the construction process aligns with principles of adaptability, comfort and affordability for both low and medium income earners in the country.

    To the extent that the current cement-centric solution has not only failed to serve the interest of the mass housing sector, but has over the years, led to the stifling of meaningful innovation, particularly in those traditional, time-tested alternatives, we cannot but welcome the idea.

     Surely, the issue has never been whether or not other alternatives exist; of course, the lead agency of the government in building research and innovation – the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), is known to have done a lot of work on cheaper, more eco-friendly materials, including the bamboo. We have also seen Nigerians, particularly in rural areas, deploy alternative, and by far, less costly technologies in housing construction to a great degree of success, to erase any doubts on their viability.

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    And we do have enough examples from developed countries, most of which utilise more cost-effective hybrids in housing delivery as against the all-out cement that has now constituted the staple for the local building sector.

    So, the problem has never been one of paucity of workable ideas but the absence of a framework to deliver on them. In this particular instance, we find it somewhat interesting that the bamboo idea is coming from the innovation, science and technology ministry as against that of housing development. Is the housing ministry, which is the lead government agency in housing development, aware of this? To what extent is the latter involved?

     What of the issue of backward integration, which lies in the domain of the states’ agricultural ministries, if only to ensure steady supply of bamboo trees? Also hard to overlook is the inability of the NBRRI itself to transit for being merely an ideas bank to one of active and engaged player in the housing sector; the failure by the relevant agencies to evolve appropriate standards in local technologies to guarantee safety and also, the failure to get the buy-in of relevant stakeholders in the housing sector. These are some of the problems. Tackling these elements obviously require not just hard work, but time, to guarantee sustainability.

     In the circumstance, the ministry and the NBRRI might wish to begin on a pilot basis?  The alternative is to explore a partnership with the housing ministry on the ongoing Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Scheme under which the government expects to deliver 100,000 affordable, mass decent housing across the country. That will certainly be a good start.

  • Open sore

    Open sore

    Until unsolved murders are resolved, and the victims get justice, Nigerian democracy is incomplete

    The greatest slur on this present democratic order is the unsolved assassination of Chief Bola Ige, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), killed right inside his old Bodija, Ibadan, home, on December 23,  2001, while still in office.

    If there was a most cynical form of execrable murder, this was it.  That 24 years after, no one has been convicted for Chief Ige’s murder, mocks our criminal justice system. The chief of the Nigerian criminal justice system couldn’t get justice from the system he presided over!  It doesn’t get more perverse and more macabre!

    Besides, the hallmark of democracy, over other forms of government, is the centrality of the rule of law.  This is why it towers over military junta rule, which is rule by the gun. Ige’s unresolved murder, therefore, continues to mock the place of Nigeria in the comity of democratic states. 

    The symbolism is ultra-ugly: if our killed AGF could not get justice, what are the chances for other lesser mortals, routinely bumped off, with killers escaping justice?

    This is the context of Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka’s umpteenth reminder of that “open sore” that was Chief Ige  — to partly borrow the title of one of his essays. He was reacting to the celebration of the June 12 Democracy Day for 2025.

    President Bola Tinubu had honoured some democracy heroes — and fittingly so — as part of the celebrations.  Prof. Soyinka argued — and rightly so — that inasmuch as many of June 12 heroes are rightly honoured, the Federal Government should add an extra vim to bringing political killers to book.  That logic is unimpeachable.

    The Nobel Laureate, aside Bola Ige, named other victims: Alhaja Kudirat Abiola; and before democracy, during the best-forgotten years of military rule, Dele Giwa, the colourful journalist killed by parcel bomb, during the junta rule of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

    He didn’t specifically mention Harry Marshall, a politician from Rivers State.  But Mr. Marshall symbolised the free-killing nest of political opponents, an ugly landmark very early in this 4th Republic, when the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was the federal ruling party.

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    So, aside the Nigerian state as a collective, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, under whose presidency the murders of Ige, Marshall and numerous others took place, without resolution, should feel some personal embarrassment, if not vicarious guilt, for being the commander-in-chief then.  It was such recurrence of shocking murders, in the high corridors of politics, that made Prof. Soyinka dismiss the Obasanjo-era PDP as a “nest of killers”, after Bola Ige’s murder.

    The former president did not help things when verbally, at an event, he appeared to dance on Ige’s grave, by referring to him as one who neither knew his right from his left, on his first power portfolio.  This, in all good conscience, could well explain why Ige was shuffled from power (which he knew little about) to justice, his professional forte.

    But Obasanjo’s diction was just terrible; and it only helped to flare emotions, especially among the Ige family; and the late charismatic orator’s many lovers and admirers.

    Now, to the pre-democracy assassination of Dele Giwa, the man who had the honour of introducing, with his colleagues: Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Ray Ekpu; and popularizing weekly newsmagazines in Nigeria, with the defunct ‘Newswatch” Just as the Ige murder, everything in Giwa’s death, by parcel bomb, pointed to some rogue state elements in action.

    But if that was explainable — though never tolerable, during military rule: which is stealing power by the barrel of the gun — it should never be excusable during democracy, in which the rule of law — not arbitrary might — sits on the high throne.

    Which is why Prof. Soyinka’s call for the case to be re-opened is not out of line. Justice and rule of law are needed to right past wrongs.  Now that both are the epitome of democracy, then no government is better armed to correct these historical wrongs and secure justice for everyone.

    Fortunately, there is no time limit to prosecuting a murder crime.  That means the case file remains as eternally open as possible.  Yet, there are great challenges.

    Core to every successful prosecution are witnesses.  Either for Ige or Giwa, some witnesses might still be around, whether home or abroad, that could give useful clues that can lead to hard core evidence, en route to successful prosecution and conviction.

    But in that hope too could lie some despair.  Many a core witness may have died, incapacitated or otherwise unavailable, because of the time lapse.  That effectively means a blackout — at least from that particular end.

    All these are to underscore that the government must show extra resolve if it must crack any of these cases.  The only abiding hope here, if indeed rogue elements in past governments tried to frustrate the investigation and trial, by threatening witnesses into quiet, is that threat is no longer there.  But again, the government must go all out to  underscore that, to show its full resolve.  With iron will, nothing is impossible.

    Still, the lesson is to strike when the iron is hot.  If past governments, military or democratic, had hastened on the path of justice, Ige, Giwa and many other unsolved murders would have been concluded, justice served and firm deterrent put in place to dissuade putative future felons, telling them that for criminals, there is no hiding place.

    So, while racing against time to solve these murders, the authorities must impose a regime of no tolerance for unsolved murders.  That way, at least, we won’t have any of such cases in the future.

    As for the triad of Generals Babangida and Sani Abacha; with former President Obasanjo, under whose respective tenures these unsolved killings happened, that failure is cemented as part of their legacy — and that legacy is decidedly ugly! Fortunately, it’s consigned to the past.

    As for now and the future, Nigerian democracy is incomplete with such a hole in the criminal justice system.  It’s time to fill that hole and swear never again!