The high level of deforestation activities through tree produce collection has become the proverbial bone in the neck of the Niger state government. The government, over the years, has complained about the indiscriminate felling of trees in Niger State. JUSTINA ASISHANA examines the illegal deforestation activities in the state and its effects.
Challenges faced by the Taskforce in the fight against deforestation
Lankpene explained that they are faced with various threats in the fight against deforestation along with sabotage from some members of the staff who are out to make fast gains.
He explained cases where he and his men were almost run off the road by vehicles driven by those who were involved in the charcoal business, “imagine that you are on a motorcycle pursuing and someone who is driving a vehicle that carries charcoal, and you try to cross him to stop him, and he knows that if you arrest him, he will be in trouble, he will hit you and go. So many of my boys and even me have been hit by these trucks but luckily, we survive but not without injuries.”
He explained that there would have been a remarkable success in the fight against deforestation but for the saboteurs in the system who is making it difficult for them to make remarkable improvement.
“It gets to a level that sometimes, I feel there are so many saboteurs. If you block a road to stop these defaulters, you will be surprised that most of the officers on the road who are supposed to protect the roads will be the ones telling these defaulters the roads to follow because of the peanuts they collect. I have been able to arrest some of our boys who are involved in this sabotage and the ministry of environment is not taking it likely on them.”
Lankpene stated that another challenge is the unavailability of vehicles to track these defaulters adding that mobility is the backbone of the taskforce as “Without mobility, they cannot do anything in the forest.”
Niger State Forest guards and the Law against Deforestation
There is currently no law against deforestation in Niger state but a bill for the Prohibition of Indiscriminate Felling of Tree has been in the state House of Assembly since 2016, this was recently being deliberated upon in a bid to turn the bill into law.
The Bill states that no landowner shall fell a tree on his land except with the authorisation of the state government and that when the execution of a purpose or the improvement of land entails the felling of a tree, the appropriate authority needs to be informed and approval given.
The Bill further states that any landowner who fells a tree in contravention of the law will be fined N30,000 for each tree felled or imprisoned for three months while anyone who is not the owner of the land and is guilty of felling a tree without approval would be required to plant two trees in replacement.
Also, fines for anyone who guilty of felling trees by the roadside in an urban area will be fined N100,000, while if it is in a non-urban area, it would be fined N150,000 or imprisoned for two years. Also if the tree fell is an economic or service tree, the defaulter will pay N150,000 or imprisoned for two years.
The Bill empowers the forestry officers to arrest anybody found felling, fell or transporting a tree produce in commercial quantity without the adequate permit, such a defaulter will be fined N150,000 for each tonne of the tree produce or imprisonment of two years.
The Coordinator of the Taskforce on Forest Protection, however, lamented that they are limited to seizing the goods and not being able to arrest the offenders until the law is passed to this effect.
“I think it is because we have not been arresting them that is why they are still bold to continue with the business but if we start arresting them when the law is passed, then there will be a total end to deforestation activities in Niger state. but if we only seize their goods, they will return with more goods and continue as if nothing had happened.”
Forest Guards
520 forest guards were employed under the defunct Sure-P initiative in Niger state in 2013 and were disengaged when the initiative was put t halt but the Niger state Governor, Alhaji Abubakar in 2016 re-engaged the 520 former casual forest guards to protect t the forest from deforestation.
The duties of the forest guards involve overseeing what goes on in the forest and checkmate who goes in and who comes out.
But despite the engagement of these forest guards, the activities of deforestation in the forests continue unabatedly until the coming of the Taskforce on forest protection.
The Coordinator of the Taskforce on Forest Protection lamented that while 520 forest guards were engaged, those who are doing the work are not more than 100 adding that he has been to the forests in several parts of the state and those he sees on duty are very scanty.
“I have gone round two zones to all the axis, zone A and B in the state. We are supposed to have over 500 green guards or forestry guards but the ones operating are not up to 100.
“This is sad because the government want the forest to be protected and to this end, every month, they release money for the 500 guards. But being on the field and forests, I haven’t seen 500 people.”
This has given to the rise of the Ministry of Environment screening the forest guards, the screening is currently ongoing and those who have been discovered not to be working will be removed and replaced with new guards”, Lankpene said.
The Impact of Deforestation on the climate and socio-economic lives of the people
Deforestation can result in watersheds that are no longer able to sustain and regulate water flows from rivers to steams. Trees are highly effective in absorbing water quantities, keeping the amount of water in watersheds to a manageable level. The forest also serves as cover against erosion. Once they are gone, too much water can result in downstream flooding, many of which have caused disasters in many parts of the world.
Niger state is currently one of the states in Nigeria that is massively devastated with flood yearly, this, a Lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning Department in the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Mr Samuel Medeyese explained may have been caused by deforestation.
According to him, deforestation is caused by the growing demand for forest products adding that this not only affects the climate by increasing the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide but also affects the environment by inhibiting water recycling, triggering severe flooding, aquifer depletion, soil degradation and the extinction of plant and animal species.
Medeyese further said trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis pointing out that cutting down trees in the forests will cause a decline in the photosynthetic activity which results in the atmosphere retaining higher levels of carbon dioxide.
“Forests also store an enormous amount of organic carbon which is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide when forests are cleared by burning. Deforestation contributes to global warming, depletion of the ozone layer and ocean acidification.”
“Severe flooding which is experienced in most parts of Niger state today can be said to be the result of deforestation because removal of the forest leaves little vegetative cover to hold heavy rains. The inability of land void of the forest to hold heavy rainwater will also trigger mudslides like the ones that have occurred in recent years especially in Mokwa and Lapai areas of Niger state. Severe flooding and mudslides are extremely costly because they devastate homes and communities.”
Professor Dukiya Jehoshaphat Jaiye of the Centre for Disaster Risk Management and Development Studies from the Federal University of Technology, Minna posited that continuous deforestation in a given community will create an imbalance in the carbon space and makes the atmosphere unliveable by causing anomalies in the temperature of the environment which gives rise to a lot of diseases.
He reasoned that since some of the use of deforestation is for the production of charcoal and firewood which is mostly used by the masses due to their financial capability, the government should make kerosene and gas available and affordable to the masses stressing that not doing this will lead to the government losing out in the fight against deforestation.
“45 per cent of the population who live in the rural area do not have access to gas and the kerosene and these two products which are the closest alternative there is too expensive for the masses to buy but the government need to make the kerosene and gas closer, accessible and available to the people.”
He stated that the government need to have a policy framework and inclusive planning whereby the community heads will be enlightened on the need to have a systematic approach to the use of the natural gift of nature which is the forest, “by proper planning and sensitisation of the people on the impact on their lives, they will see the need to make a change and see how they can sustainably utilise the forest for their advantage.
The Coordinator of the Taskforce on Forest Protection said that the Niger state government has produced over six million seedlings for replanting adding that there are also provisions that every offender caught felling trees will be made to plant two trees in place of one tree fell.
Warning to conveyors of tree produce
The Coordinator of the Taskforce, Isah Lankpene warned that he is set and ready to seize any tree produce being conveyed from the forest adding that the eyes of the task force are also on those who sell the charcoal and firewood as the war against them would soon be renewed.
But the charcoal sellers have made a call to the government to allow them to their job which is the selling of charcoal to interested people. they said that they are willing to pay revenue if the government desires but stopping the business is out of the matter.
“Let them stop disturbing us, we are ready to pay revenue if they say we should pay because if they say we should leave this business, we do not know any other business to do. Our government should have sympathy for us. if they are determined to stop us from doing this job, they should get us something more lucrative for us to do. They can’t stop us from this one and not provide an alternative, we won’t leave if that is what they want”, Hassan said
Abdullahi added: “A lot of us here have finished schools; a lot of people who are involved in this are graduates but no jobs, so they have to do what they can do. The government is not even lucky that we didn’t join bad groups to cause trouble for them. so as we are here, they should just allow us to be and continue our business. We are not looking for anybody’s trouble, they should leave us in peace.”
Support for this report was provided by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) and is made possible through funding support from Ford Foundation.
A coalition under the aegis of the Yoruba Appraisal Forum (YAF) yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari, governors of the Southwest states and service chiefs to prevent the second wave of the #EndSARS protests being planned by some youths across the country.
The group spoke at a news conference in Lagos. YAF National Coordinator Adeshina Animashaun added that the forum had already begun the mobilisation of all its members across Yorubaland to frustrate the protest.
YAF also petitioned National Security Adviser Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Monguno, Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Adamu, Department of State Services Director-General Yusuf Bichi, Minister of Defence Gen. Bashir Magashi , Minister of Police Affairs Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi and Minister of the Interior Rauf Aregbesola.
It described plans of fresh #EndSARS protests as “most irresponsible and grossly unpatriotic”.
YAF enjoined police and other security agencies to “act immediately and waste no more time in mopping up the weapons still illegally in the hands of some of these hoodlums masquerading as youths under the aegis of the #EndSARS protests. All the culprits must be arrested now and prosecuted”.
The group also urged “the police and other security agencies to immediately move against these planners of another #EndSARS protests to stop the fresh carnage they are planning for Nigeria”.
YAF warned those planning the second #EndSARS protests to steer clear of the Southwest.
The Forum also disclosed that it had already declared those behind another #EndSARS protests persona non grata throughout Yorubaland and Southwest.
YAF national coordinator said, “It has come to our notice that those behind the fresh plan for a fresh #EndSARS protest have a more sinister objective of destabilising the Nigerian nation for the selfish political end of their sponsors and paymasters.
“Intelligence reports at our disposal have indicated that the masterminds of this devilish plan are bent on throwing Nigeria into total chaos to hasten the collapse of governments at both the state and Federal levels to enable them to execute their evil plans for the hapless Nigerian people.
“They are planning to take advantage of the absence of police and other security personnel in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, following the violence that attended the October #EndSARS protests, to wreak further havoc throughout the country once again.
“We’re aware that many of these so called youths and #EndSARS protesters are still in possession of the arms and ammunition they carted away when they attacked and burnt police stations and even killed policemen last October. Their continued possession of these guns has continued to embolden them in their devilish activities and their current plan for another round of #EndSARS protests so that they can have the opportunity to use these stolen weapons to perpetrate further evil, further looting and killing of more innocent people.
“This is most irresponsible and unpatriotic! The police authorities and other security agencies must act now and waste no time in mopping mop up these weapons still illegally in the hands of these hoodlums. Their sponsored action, we have discovered, is what some renegade political contractors, jobbers and rascals are planning to capitalise on under the guise of youth action to feather their own devilish political nest.”
Animashaun added: “We, therefore, urge Nigerians, government and security agencies to disregard the disguised antics and plans of these shameless and unpatriotic youths, who lack the due respect for democracy, by taking the appropriate actions against them to nip their evil plans in the bud.
“On our own part as YAF members, we won’t hesitate to mobilise all our members across Yorubalnd to confront those planning another wave of #EndSARS protests in any part of the South-West.
“Henceforth, we have declared such persons and groups persona non-grata in the entire Yoruba nation. They and their cohorts must, henceforth, not be seen anywhere in our beloved South-West homeland.
“If they refuse to take this our modest advice to desist from their devilish plans and activities in Yorubaland, they should be prepared to face sanctions and consequences as we will no longer fold our hands and allow them and their collaborators to further destroy the economic and social well-being of our people under the guise of expressing grievances against the government.”
Flight activities into the Ibadan Airport in the last decade have remained on a low scale. Besides the operator running shuttle flights into the aerodrome, experts are wondering why airlines are not attracted to the airports, KELVIN OSA-OKUNBOR reports.
Nigeria has about 28 airports. Twenty-three of them, including the Ibadan Airport, are managed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Statistics from aviation regulatory authority reveals that only three of them are viable. Except the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja; and Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), Rivers State, none of the other airports has sufficient revenue to cover the cost of operations alone.
In the South, Ibadan Airport in three years made N349.2 million in generated revenue and collected N244.9 million. The expenditure amounted to N1.39 billion with a deficit of N1.14 billion.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says for an airport to be viable and self-sustaining, it must have at least five million passengers annually.
Ibadan Airport does not fit into this bill. Only Lagos and Abuja airports could boast of at least five million passengers annually.
The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, declared recently that many of the airports are not just underdeveloped, but grossly underutilised.
The Ibadan Airport, which offers a gateway to the oldest city in Nigeria,was commissioned in 1982. The airport is home to one terminal and an impressive 2,400-metre-long runway.
Besides its impressive facilities profile, the airport remains largely underutilised as Overland Airways is the only carrier operating scheduled flights into the terminal connecting passengers between Ibadan to Abuja and a return flight between Abuja and Ibadan.
Though carriers, including Arik Air and Associated Aviation had operated flights into the airport in the past, operations into the airport are becoming a subject of intense concern for passengers who complain of perceived high fares on the route.
The General Manager, Public Affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) , Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, said the authority was discussing with the Oyo State government on how to drive activities for Ibadan Airport. She said the government is exploring ways to attract more airlines into the airport.
But, the former Chief Executive Officer , Associated Aviation , Mr Alexander Nwuba , the carrier that opened flights into the airport many years ago, said operators need to understand how the airport works before deploying their aircraft into it for profitable operations.
He said airlines need the right aircraft strategy and passenger demand to drive operations into Ibadan Airport.
Nwuba said though air fares is a key determinant in driving passenger traffic into any airport, operators need to understand route dynamics before plugging into air transport business.
He said:” You have to understand how to operate into that airport. Remember Ibadan Airport is very close to Lagos. I operated on that route for many years along with Makurdi and also re-opened it and Minna Airport.
“The destination for most Ibadan passengers is Abuja not Ilorin, because it is accessible by road. But, there could be traffic on the Lagos / Ibadan route if interested airlines utilise the right aircraft or strategy, because some passengers do not want to take the risk of being on the roads that are not safe.
“Another key factor affecting Ibadan Airport is the question of demand. There must be demand for air services; it is this drive for demand that would enable airlines make money on the route. It is clear demand for air services into the airport is limited. It is not absolutely about the air fare structure or regime, because fares do not have to be low due to volumes. People do not understand this business.”
Also speaking, Corporate Communications Manager, Arik Air, Mr Adebanji Ola, said the carrier will return to the route to consolidate operations.
He said Ibadan Airport, which Arik Air connected to Abuja, is one of its major routes saying the carrier will return to the route in a few days.
Ola said the carrier only suspended operations into Ibadan Airport due to the COVID -19 shocks on its operations.
He said:” Arik Air has not abandoned Ibadan Airport. We will restart flight operations into the airport in a few days. We only suspended flights on the Ibadan / Abuja route due to the Corona Virus pandemic.
“There was a time we combined flights on that route with Ilorin into Abuja. But, due to limited equipment we altered the rotation and will now operate between Ibadan and Abuja.”
The Head of Strategy, Zenith Travel and former Head of Marketing, Capital Airlines, Mr Olumide Ohunayo, said Ibadan Airport is not attractive to passenger because of a lot of issues related to schedules.
He said with a lone operator in Ibadan Airport fares will remain high on the Ibadan- Abuja routes because the airport only operate visual flight rules as any operations into the airport above 6.00 pm will cost airlines more because of the state of runway facilities that does not permit night flights.
Ohunayo said to make Ibadan Airport attractive, airlines need to deploy smaller propeller aircraft as deploying bigger jets on the route will not be profitable.
He said Ibadan Airport as a secondary terminal require partnership between the state government, FAAN and airlines to creating activity around the airport.
The expert said: “Ibadan Airport is not a big airport per se , but I think FAAN is yet to adjust to the realities of modern day marketing of airports. The airport has proximity airports including Akure and Ilorin Airports and the main hub Lagos Airport. These airports are not too far and actually competing with Ibadan Airport.
“From the triangular routes that we have Lagos , Abuja and Port Harcourt, I think it is only Abuja that is left for Ibadan passengers are travel to by air. They will prefer to connect other cities by road, because they are close. Other factors affecting huge traffic into Ibadan Airport include issues about time constrain, the difficulty of getting to the airport , possible flight delay and traffic issues, which will encourage people to connect Lagos by road to fly to other destinations, these are the considerations that are affecting the Ibadan air market route.
“The major attraction at the airport is the Abuja route and the only operator on that route is offering high fares. With a lone operator on a route what do you expect, the fare will be high.
“Fares on the Ibadan/ Abuja route is killing and passengers are complaining, with only a few passengers ready to pay. Such an arrangement will discourage passengers on that route.”
He said Ibadan Airport lack basic aeronautical facilities as the runway light only permits visual flights. Ohunayo said after 6pm operators are not favourable disposed to operate flights because they have to pay extra charges for the runway air field lightening to be switch on.
He said:” Such additional charges will not encourage airlines to operate into such airports. The state government has not looked at Ibadan Airport as an economic tool it could use to develop the state. The State Government should look beyond giving out hand out to FAAN to get the airport running, it should look at partnering with some airlines by buying some seats off the carrier to encourage more people to start flying into Ibadan.
“The state government could look at buying may be ten to 12 seats on a middle range aircraft. With such partnership in place it will encourage more airlines to operate into the airport. Any airline that enjoys such partnership for over a year will be encourage keeping flights consistent and starting looking at flights from Lagos into Ibadan and expand flights into other airports from Ibadan.
“I think airlines with smaller aircraft will embrace such a deal, it is a thin route, only suitable for airlines with turbo propeller aircraft. Only State Government can assist such initiative to develop their domain. Even neighbouring states will be encouraged to buy into such initiative.”
Many passengers are unhappy over limited flights into Ibadan Airport either into Lagos, Ilorin or Abuja forcing them to connect Lagos Airport to fly into other routes.
Experts say introduction of rail service between Lagos and Ibadan may not bode well for passenger operations into the airport as travel lets will utilize the newly introduced multi modal network to connect both cities.
Speaking in an interview , Ibadan Airport Manager, Mrs Aiyenuro Tegha, said the aerodrome is not idle because some carriers , including Arik Sir which operated the Ibadan / Abuja route before the outset of COVID -19 pandemic in March 2020 will soon resume operations on the route.
She said AZMAN Air and Max Air were planning to commence flight operations from Ibadan Airport.
Tegha said: “Already AZMAN Air is discussing with Oyo State government to commence operations on the Ibadan / Kano route. The airline is consolidating its partnership and the results will soon manifest positively. Even, Max Air too is discussing with the airport authority and the State Government. Max Air is also planning to commence operations from Ibadan to Port Harcourt and Owerri.
“AZMAN Air is contemplating operations into the Southsouth.”
The Ibadan Airport Manager said the airport has adequate facilities to accommodate as many airlines willing to do business at the aerodrome.
She said the Oyo State government is partnering with FAAN to upgrade the airport to international status for Hajj operations as well as cargo operations.
Ibadan
Ibadan is one of the most populous cities in the country. The British colonial government assumed control of the city in 1893. After the railway arrived from Lagos(1901), the line was extended northward to Kano (1912), thus ensuring the city’s continuing economic importance.
The economic activities of Ibadan include agriculture, commerce, handicrafts, manufacturing, and service industries.
For the spouses of policemen who were murdered by the hoodlums who hijacked the peaceful protest targeted at ending police brutality, it is a case of who feels it knows it. Life for them will never be the same again with the loss of their heartthrobs in very gruesome circumstances. And now armed with #TIMETOSOROSOKETOO and #TIMETOSPEAKUPTOO, officers of Nigeria Police Force are resolute about speaking up for their rights rather than die in squalor, frustration, fears and tears. TAIWO ALIMI writes on a system that is making monsters of otherwise friendly individuals.
Wives of policemen murdered by hoodlums relive ugly experiences
…as Force members clamour for reforms, say we’re tired of living in squalor, frustration, fears and tears
Mrs. Feranmi Oladele could not place her feeling on the morning of October 20, 2020. It was all shrouded in apprehension, premonition and fear. Nevertheless, she warned her police husband not to report to station.
“That morning when he told me he was ready for work, I told him not to go. I was having a bad feeling due to the reports of unrest and commotion in the country,” she said.
She begged CPL (Corporal) Rotimi Oladele to stay at home with them but her husband of four years reminded her that most of the time, her fears hardly ever translate into reality. Reluctantly, she prayed for him and bid him farewell.
It later turned out that it was the last time she and their two children would see the breadwinner. CPL Oladele was gruesomely murdered by hoodlums who stormed the Iwo Road Ibadan Police Station, torched it and killed two desk officers, including CPL Oladele.
“I was told that they razed the station, and when my husband and his colleagues fled the station on motorcycle, they were stopped and dragged off. He was beaten to near death and set on fire,” she said.
Dregs of shadowy ashes and skeletal residue were the only proof Mrs Oladele had to show his children that their father would not be coming home again.
•Widow and son of CPL Oladele, Feranmi in mourning
She was overtaken with grief when The Nation got to their Sango-Ibadan residence. She had been crying for many days. Her eyes were red and swollen. She was inconsolable as she held her baby tightly to her bosom. Ephraim, CPL Oladele’s look-alike three-year-old son, raced round the living room-occasionally coming around to pat her mother to stop crying, the only way a child knows. But much as she tried, the tears would not stop rolling down her cheeks. She soon gave up the idea to recall the incident that turned her life into broken pieces.
She said: “I started feeling that something was wrong when he did not call me. He usually calls at 11 am. My fears heightened when I did not hear from him by evening, so I started calling family members to check on him.
“My siblings came to my house later that day to take me out and then delivered the news to me. At first, they said his two legs were broken and later said he had been murdered.
“I insisted that I wanted to see his corpse and they took me to a spot where I saw ashes and remains. They said, ‘That is your husband.’”
The grieving young widow with two children-a toddler (three-year-old) and a baby (16-day-old) painted a picture of a loving husband and father; a kind hearted man who loved his job and was willing to sacrifice for his youthful family.
To better understand the fallen hero, the reporter looked around the modest living room. It was neat and clean. The furniture looked new and well lay out on a tiled floor.
Ephraim looked well fed and happy. It would take time for him to understand that his police father who kept food on their table day and night and showered him with gifts would no longer be there for them.
Mrs Oladele cried of shattered dream and hope. “He was my world. I am an orphan. He was my mother and father and to my children too. He promised to pay for a shop for me next year, but that is all gone. My husband died a horrific death.”
IGP Adamu
In Alakia-Ibadan, I met with father of the late Sergeant Ademola Adegoke, who was also killed by hoodlums who came in a blaze of fire to maim, kill and loot.
The first son of the five children, Pa Adegoke was in mourning and could not speak much. He uttered few words, shaking his head intermittently in the struggle to say something. “I can’t allow you come in because of Ademola’s mother. She has not taken it well and we are trying to shield her from people. It will remind her of her late son.
“Ademola is my first son. It is a tragedy and we are in sorrow.”
He described his son as a devoted family man and a good police officer. “He wanted the best for all and I don’t know that anybody could wish him such gruesome death. No amount of interview or talk will bring my son back,” said Pa Adegoke to usher the reporter out of his home.
Inspector Peter Abegunde was murdered some kilometres away on the outskirts of Ibadan- Ojoo on October 21, 2020. He was caught in another mob attack on a police station. The place was set on fire and while he was trying to escape from the inferno, he ran into the irate mob in search of blood.
The widow of inspector Abegunde, Sergeant Silifat, narrated the incident that claimed the life of the father of her children.
She said: “I went to the scene the following day and saw somebody’s burnt remains but I could not recognise the person. They said he was burnt. I could not imagine that those bits and pieces was my husband. It was later that the DPO confirmed that hoodlums killed him and burnt his body.”
Inspector Abegunde left behind four children, among them a set of twin teenage girls who said they were yet to come to terms with the death of their loving father.
“My father was a kind and easy going person,” said Taiwo. “He said he wanted to get to the top of his profession.”
The twins and their siblings are distraught. They are calling for justice to bring them closure and rest the ghost of their father. “We need justice,” added Kehinde.
Late(Col) Rotimi
The Anambra State Police Command suffered similar bereavement as the height of horror was meted out to one of the murdered officers, Inspector John Oche. The father of three was beheaded in cold blood and his head paraded on a stake.
A top officer of the Command, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the story, saying: “I want to say that every police officer is touched by this action. For a colleague, a father and husband to be beheaded on duty is the height of callousness.”
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr John Abang, said four of its officers were killed, eleven police stations and over 20 vehicles including patrol and exhibit vehicles and an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), were set ablaze.
According to the CP, police officers who lost their lives during the attacks included the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Osumenyi Division, CSP Akpan Joseph; ASP Agu Michael; the station officer, PC Udegbunam Sunday Celestine and Inspector Oche, who, he corroborated, was beheaded.
In nearby Abia State, three policemen were reportedly murdered. On Monday, October 19, a policeman was killed, while the following day, Inspectors Oliver Igbani and Frank Okoye were executed in Aba.
Sadly, like in other states, all the bodies were burnt beyond recognition, sparking widespread outrage among their wives and family members.
‘It would have been better if they left corpse for us,’ said widow of the late Igbani. She explained that her husband was on duty at a bank in Aba when hoodlums attacked the bank.
“He was beaten to death. His head and legs were cut off and his body was burnt. Only a part of his body was recovered. If after killing my husband they left the body for us, it would have been better.” Okoye left behind five children: two boys and three girls.
Okoye’s aged mother has been in shock. Her chances hang in the balance and she has been given a 50-50 odds of survival.
In Lagos State, facts have also emerged of how late Inspector Ade Aderibigbe, attached to Meiran Police Division, was killed.
Another Police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Aderibigbe was on a mission to rescue a colleague, who was said to have been shot, when he was caught in crossfire with some hoodlums. “Inspector Ade was on his way to rescue a colleague who works with the Patrol and Guide Department when he was shot. It is sad because his wife is also a police officer. Both husband and wife were serving the country diligently. Unfortunately, see how the man ended.”
“His death was tragic. He was burnt beyond recognition after he was shot. It was a gory sight,” added the officer.
His bitter and terror stricken family collected his remains and packaged it into a coffin that was buried a few days later. “He was a good man and his family could not bear not to give him a proper burial. He was good to all.”
In Ogun State, the carnage has left behind a sour Chidebere, the 22-year-old son of slain policeman Augustine Egholenwa. He was murdered by hoodlums in Atan, Sango-Ota area of the state.
Chidebere narrated the incident and the implication for the children he left behind: “Due to his work schedule, he used to come home on weekends. We lost our mother some years ago, making him the only one taking care of us. He used to send money to us. He was everything to me. His death was very painful.” Chidebere is filled with rage. He had lost his mother years back and his father had been the sole bread winner of the family until now.
The reality is that these fallen heroes were not only police officers; they were husbands, fathers, brothers and bread winners. Their deaths have thrown their families into confusion and some children into the streets, seething with rage and revenge.
The deliberate and reckless hits have been condemned in many quarters and some governors have pledged to take up the up-keep and educational responsibilities of their widows and children and overall reform of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Beyond the massacre, however, an investigation carried out by The Nation revealed a system that is riddled with disgruntled police personnel living in fear, frustration and tears. Many police officers the reporter spoke with lamented a poor system frustrating and making a monster of them.
“If people know what we go through daily, they will know that we are no better than them. We are angry and frustrated too. From the ranks and file to the top cadre of the Police Force, we are suffering in silence and badly want a reform of the system. We are not your enemy,” a senior police officer, Delami, said, preferring anonymity.
One of the consequences of the #EndSARS protest hijacked by hoodlums and leading to killing, maiming and looting, is the willingness of many policemen to speak up about the corrupt system and the long awaited reform of the force.
We are also hungry and angry
ACP Delami has been in the organisation for more than 20 years. He has served in five states of Nigeria spanning the western and eastern regions. He said he was distraught with the system, adding that under the facade of obedience and patriotism is a mind running riot.
Delami said: “Don’t be deceived, there is no sense of fulfilment. I am alienated from the job, and that is the feeling of the average policeman.
“We lost a senior police officer and others in my command, and their death sent more jitters down my spine.
“You know when your neighbour’s house is on fire, you must learn how to put water on your own.
“In fact, I became tired of the job and lost hope in the leadership of the country.”
Some of the officers interviewed by The Nation grumbled about their earnings. “Police salary is not a living wage. We work without allowances. We have been pauperised by the system,” ACP Delami added.
Investigation carried out by The Nation indicated that members of the Nigeria Police Force are among the most poorly paid policemen in Africa. The hardest hits are the rank and file otherwise known as non-commissioned officers. They are moderately educated and are not as refined as the officers as all they need to be recruited into the Force is a school leaving certificate. The basic training they get is a six-month course at the four police colleges around the country.
Few of them go for refresher courses, like the commissioned officers who are mostly graduates or experienced recruits who have attended courses at home and abroad. They are more refined and dress smarter.
The non-commissioned ones better known as rank and file policemen are mostly found on the road, and they grow in lines on the job, which sometimes depends on favouritism and nepotism. The highest rank he or she can attain is Sergeant Major.
Police officers interviewed claimed that the much publicised 2018 Federal Government approved new salary package was not in use yet. Consequently, their salary is based on the 2011 Consolidated Police Salary Structure.
In accordance with the 2011 article, a police recruit earns a consolidated annual salary of N108,233.00 and a monthly consolidated salary of N9, 019.42. Out of this, N676.46 is deducted as pension annually, leaving a recruit with N8,342.96 monthly. He is the lowest paid.
This is way lower than the Nigeria minimum wage of N30,000, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Meanwhile, his counterpart in the Nigerian Army tagged ‘private’ earns N49,000, according to financialwatchngr.com.
A Police Constable on Grade Level 03 earns N43,293.80 monthly and annual salary of N519, 525.60 before pension deduction.
A Sergeant Major on Grade Level 10 takes home N62,204.88 monthly while a Sergeant Major on Grade Level 06 (step 1) receives N55.144.81 per month. These figures are cut down when pension is removed.
In the commissioned officers cadre, a Cadet Inspector on Grade Level 07 (step10) receives about N87, 135.10 per month while a Cadet Inspector on Grade Level 07 (step1) is paid N73, 231.51 monthly. It is the smallest pay for officers.
The highest ranking officer in NPF is the Inspector-General of Police (IGP). He is appointed by the President and can also be dismissed by him. He earns N711, 450 every month and N8.5 million annually.
“If you look at what the other security agencies earn, you will agree with methat we are not appreciated as the only force engaging the people every day. We do more work but get the least pay,” ACP Delami noted.
Figures obtained from the Nigeria Federal Government National Salaries, Income and wages Commission, showed a great disparity between pay packets of the police, the DSS and the army.
The Director-General of the DSS earns almost twice what the IGP takes home. The monthly take-home of the DG of DSS is N1.336 million, while a General (highest ranked officer) in the Nigeria Army is paid N1.5 million monthly, the EFCC Chairman earns the same amount of money every month.
Juxtaposing Nigeria Police salary with those of their colleagues in some African countries also shows a clear difference but for some countries. In the South African Police Service (SAPS), a sergeant earns R14, 820. This is roughly N355,680 monthly. In Nigeria, a Police Sergeant on Grade 05 (step 10), the highest level a sergeant could attain, earns N55,973.84 monthly. A police captain earns R19,131 (N459, 144) in South Africa while his counterpart in Nigeria, which is Superintendent of Police, gets a month salary of N161,478.29.
In Ghana, police salary ranges from GHS1,320 (N85,880) to GHS4, 550 (295,750) which is the highest salary of police.
‘We are afraid too’
At this point, ACP Delami was raging. Underneath the smart uniform, he said, is a law enforcer burning with anger and fear.
“In short, what we just experienced is a clear indication of the level of poverty and hopelessness in the land. And it is not just these people that are hungry and frustrated; many of us are in the same shoes.
“In-fact, the killing of policemen during the crisis was needless. I could not understand why what was supposed to be a peaceful protest suddenly snowballed into killing policemen, burning police stations and looting police properties and exhibits, because we are wearing the same shoes.”
‘We are afraid of life in retirement’
If officers of the NPF are living in penury during service, they live in wretched destitution in retirement, and this brings one to the subject of police pension.
According to Nigeria Pension Commission (NPC), “an employee is expected to contribute 8% of the sum of his basic salary, housing allowance and transport allowance. The employer however is required to contribute a minimum of 10% of the same sum.”
In practice, policemen believe that pension has made life more difficult for them in retirement. Their complaints range from non-remittance and non-payment to mismanagement and inadequacy of the pensions paid to them.
Sgt. Araoye Adeola (rtd) served his country meritoriously before retiring. He represents thousands of retired officers living in hellish conditions and has taken it upon himself to fight for his colleagues’ rights during and after service. “We are always talking about human rights. I wonder if policemen are human or they have rights too. Do people or government see us as human beings? Do we have a right to feel human or enjoy human rights too? he asked, expecting some form of answer.
By the time he resumed talking, his voice was rising. “I have started a campaign to ensure that police officers withdraw from the current pension fund,” he said, noting that the scheme managed by the Police Trust Fund (PTF) under the chairmanship of IGP Suleiman Abba (rtd) has made life a hell for retired policemen.
Adeola said: “After 35-years in service, a police officer gets N2.5 million as gratuity, and their pension stands between N8,000 and N10,000 per month for 18 years. I served for 14 good years and my entitlement was put at N1 million.
“Since 2016 when l left the force, I have not received a kobo. I have been tossed here and there by the Oyo State Command. How do you want officers to put in their best when they are hungry and angry and cannot even enjoy their labour in retirement?”
“Blood also flows in our body. We are not spirits. No standing allowance, no sitting allowance, no sleeping allowance, no working allowance, yet you want us to perform magic with the peanuts you give the police.
“A CP’s salary is not up to N1 million per month, yet the responsibilities placed on his soldiers every day are more than N20 million. You want him to perform magic? We need our rights.”
Corroborating him, ACP Delami explained that the current retirement plan of the PTF has cut down policemen’s gratuities into peanuts and there is ongoing agitation to scrap it.
He said: “The military and DSS have pulled out of the scheme and Policemen want it scraped too. A situation when you get a monthly pension of N35,000 after 35 years in service is incredulous. Meanwhile, your counterpart in the military is getting N150,000 monthly.”
Adeola’s crusade seemed to be working as hundreds of policemen and women have pulled out of the retirement scheme and more are threatening to pull out. “Since it is a voluntary contribution and it is not beneficial, it is better I pull out, collect my money now and invest it anyway I want,” he said.
PTF Chairman, IGP Abba, confirming the voluntary withdrawal, said senior officers take more than N35,000 as pension.
Abba said: “At least I know of myself. I take more than that, and that goes for many senior officers too. It is calculated on retirement benefit. It has a formula that gives more to an officer who, for instance, serves for 15 years than one that serves for five years. That is how it works.”
He said although retirees may not get their money immediately due to certain factors, most are paid within a year of leaving.
Abba said: “In collaboration with the IGP Abubakar Adamu, we have presented to the Federal Government an increase in police pension whereby it will be based on 300 percent of annual gross pay so that we can generate more, and the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is working on it.
“We are positive that something good will come out of it.”
‘We have been pauperised’
Danladi (not real name) an aide to a former IGP, said policemen are unfairly treated by the system and lack the basic amenities for living and work.
He said: “There is no adequate training and retraining of men of the NPF. Our barracks are dirty and smelling and there is no adequate provision of arms and ammunition as well as riot equipment- water cannon, teargas, cane shield, respirator, bullet proof, and armoured tank. How do you expect the police of stop protesters when they cannot protect themselves?”
The Nation findings revealed that although the police authorities were to provide uniforms, shoes and other kits to policemen from the rank of Inspector downward while those in the ranks of ASP and above are to cater for themselves, in reality, Inspectors and others in lower ranks are now left to cater for their needs. It means that all cadres of policemen now buy their uniforms, shoes, and other items from their meagre salary. It is the reason why many policemen wear tattered uniform and matchless leathers.
‘We have been battered physically and psychologically’
Inspector Jibola (not real name) indicted politicians for the problems of the NPF, saying: “Policemen are puns in the hands of politicians. They are talking about state policing. The campaign is everywhere. But ask them how they treat the policemen who work with them.
“When it is convenient, they use us for their selfish political ambition, and when that is done, they forget us. They are the set of people that make officers carry their bags and treat them not better than messengers.”
He kicked against the idea of state or regional policing, insisting that a proper reform would give NPF a reason to work with dignity.
He said: “I expect a reform that will give adequate insurance cover to injured and deceased officers, a better housing scheme for retired officers, provision of modern health facilities to serve every police station, enactment of protective and stringent laws to adequately protect the police and other security men.
“Protectors must be protected and the establishment of Trust Fund to cater for the needs of the police.”
According to information, the dehumanisation of the police begins right from the police training school. Inspector Jibola, who grew from rank and file to Inspector upon obtaining his first university degree, said the hardest hits are the non-commissioned policemen who are trained in police colleges.
“Not much has changed there since I passed out. Recruits are not given any kind of human treatment. We sleep on bare floor and we are treated like animals. The only thing we learn there is how to make others suffer like they have done to us,” he said.
There are four Police Colleges in Ikeja-Lagos, Kaduna, Oji-River and Maiduguri in Borno State. Information from the Police College website requested candidates to report with bucket, broom, cutlass, cutlery, bed spread and pillow cases.
In reality, recruits are badly treated and made to pass through grave inhuman conditions which harden them.
“These are the officers you find on the roads mostly. Their self esteem has been eroded and they treat the populace no better because they are bitter inside,” ACP Delami said.
Armed with #TIMETOSOROSOKETOO, #TIMETOSPEAKUPTOO, officers of NPF are resolute about speaking up for their rights rather than die in squalor, frustration, fear and tears.
With tears streaming down his cheeks, 20 years old Samuel Shekwo, son of the assassinated APC Chairman in Nasarawa State, could not fathom why unknown gunmen would cut short his joy by sending his father into early grave.
The late Philip Shekwo was abducted by some gunmen last Saturday at his Lafia residence opposite Peace House on Kurikyo Road, Bukan Sidi in Lafia before his lifeless body was found the next day a few metres away from his house.
Narrating his father’s ordeal in an interview with our correspondent, Samuel recalled that the late politician was captured by his killers in the toilet after searching extensively for him in the house.
•Shekwo’s son, Samuel and •Shekwo’s widow, Larai
He said: “On Saturday night, we were all at home. My father went to play golf and came back in around 8 pm, and I went to the parlour to greet him. He had just finished eating and was telling us how the game went when I went into my room and left him in the parlour with others as they were watching the news on television.
“A few minutes before 10 pm, one of my course mates at Nasarawa State University called me and we were discussing the whole strike issue. Then from nowhere, I started hearing gunshots all over the house.
“I dropped my phone without even ending the call and rushed out of my room. I went into my parents’ room first to see whether they were fine, and I saw my father coming out from his room. I started switching off the lights because I noticed that we were under attack, so that they (attackers) would not be able to see through the house.
“I went to the parlour and was looking at them from the window. They were shooting from outside the fence. Then one of them jumped the fence into the house and used the butt of his gun to heat the gate’s padlock. He then rolled the gate to the end and the rest members of the gang started trooping in.
“They surrounded the entire house and were shooting from different directions. While four of them were trying to gain entry into the house through the front door, another four were at the backdoor trying to gain access into the house.
“When my father rushed to the palour, I followed him. I told him, ‘Daddy, you are not supposed to be here. These people are looking for you,’ He now told me that he was looking for his phone, and his phone was just by the side stool where he used to sit in the parlour.
“I took the phone and gave it to him, and I escorted him back to his room. He started making calls to security agencies but nobody responded.
Gov sule
“I was also making contacts to see if help could come. I called a friend, Mr Dominic Bako’s son, who is actually a close friend to my father and I am friends with his son too. So, I called him and he told his father that we were under attack.
“When I called him the second time, I could hear his father making contacts, saying that the Chairman was under attack.
“My cousins who were staying with us were also terrified. I told them to go back to their room, lie down and stay calm. But they were worried, so I took them to my room and asked them to lie on the floor while I went back to see what was happening.
“Throughout this period, my father was in his bedroom. But when I noticed that the pressure was much, I thought that they were armed robbers. So I went back to my room and started picking certain valid items and documents to hide. I also took my car key and laptop and hid them.
“Later on when I started hearing their voice, I locked my door and lay down together with my cousin sisters and we were just praying. Later on, I heard two gunshots in the direction of my parents’ room. I thought they had gained access into my parents’ room and I started crying and praying.
“That was when I started hearing voices inside the house. I also noticed that one of them was opening the back door, and I started hearing more voices inside the house. I couldn’t come out at that time because I had locked my door already.
“They were searching round the house but they could not find my father, so they went out through the back door and were lamenting. They appeared frustrated that they could not find my father. That was when they got our security guard who normally sits at the back of the house before moving to the security post at the gate.
“When they got the security guard, they started beating him. We were hearing them from the room as they were asking him where is Oga. He told them that Oga had travelled but they said it is a lie, that Oga was around. They were actually beating him with their machetes because even from the sound, we could hear it.
“Later on, they asked what about the children. We heard he has a son. They were speaking in Hausa. From their ascent, you would know that they were Fulani, and they were not covering their faces.
“When they came to my room and noticed that it was luocked, they pushed the door and forced their way in. They saw us lying down together with my cousin sisters, because my blood sisters were not around.
“They now asked us to stand up. They asked the security guard, ‘Is this Oga’s son?’ He reluctantly nodded his head in the affirmative. Their leader now held me by my shirt and dragged me up. The other one now said since they couldn’t find my father, they should just go with me.
“They asked me to stand up and follow them; that my father must give them the money he was enjoying from the government. As they were about going out with me, one of them with a gun noticed that one of the rooms was locked, so their attention shifted to the place.
“They now detailed one of them to keep an eye on me and the security guard, that if I moved, he should shoot.
“They broke the door and entered but they did not see anybody. On their way out of the room, they decided to check the toilet and noticed that it was locked. That was when they forced their way into the toilet. There they saw him and my mum.
“Even when they had broken the toilet door, they still were not able to enter because my father was pushing from the back and they could not push their way in. Their leader now said since the door was not opening, they should shoot. One of them was about to shoot when my father released the toilet’s door and they got him.
“One thing that baffles me is that they did not manhandle him. They were not even sure if he was the one. They were calling him Moses. They assured us that they were not going to harm him; that it was just money they wanted. He was pleading with them, begging them. My mum too was begging and pleading with them, but they said there was no need begging, it was just money they wanted.
“They left with him and we were at home throughout that night, praying and hoping that they were going to call since they said it was money they wanted, only for us to get the sad news on Sunday afternoon that they had found his body.”
Samuel added: “Aside my mum, I think I was the closest person to my dad, so it is even affecting me more than my sisters. I’m not grieving today because my dad died; I am grieving because someone killed him.
“Already, he has prepared me for it. He told me so many things, though I feel with my age and everything, I’m not ready to take responsibilities. But I learnt courage and wisdom through my dad. I don’t need anybody to tell me about him.
“I know my dad so well. He used to tell me so many things. We travelled together most times and he took me to political activities because I actually told him I wanted to be a politician and he said he was going to support me in whatever I want to do. But he said I must make a difference if I want to be a politician.
“‘You must be a politician with a difference,’ those were his words to me. So I miss him more than anybody. But I learnt to stop crying because I know my dad is in heaven. He was a righteous man and someone that was close to God. I am praying to take over from him politically by God grace.”
A widow in agony
Seated in the parlour and surrounded by sympathisers at the residence of her late husband, Mrs Larai Shekwo gazed into the ceiling, murmuring some inaudible words as the reporter approached her.
Her eyes glistened wit imminent tears as she told the reporter that she spend 35 years in marriage with the late APC Chairman before his untimely death at the age of 62.
She said their marriage is blessed with five children, noting that her husband gave her a life that can best be describe as a fairly tale, and that she has no regrets whatsoever marrying him.
She said: “On that fateful night, around 10:30 pm, I left him in the parlour as he was watching the news and went into the bedroom to sleep. Shortly after, I started hearing gunshots. He ran and met me in the bedroom, saying armed robbers. But from the sound of the gun, I told him they were hired killers
“We started praying and he was making calls to the police for help. We went round the house and were running helter-skelter within the house, looking for where to hide for ourselves.
“They broke into our bedroom but they couldn’t find us. They later found us in the toilet and we were pleading with them. They went away with him. I wanted to go with him but they flung my hand.
“They were asking him whether he was Moses, and he said he was not Moses. They asked him are you the Chairman of the party, he said yes. So they went with him. We thought it was a normal kidnapping, so we were waiting for them to say what they needed.
“While they were going with him, they assured us that they were not going to harm him; that it was only money they wanted. We were thinking that by daybreak, we would hear from them. Unfortunately, we only found his dead body.
“I will miss him. I will not stop missing him till the end of the world.”
She said her husband’s untimely death is only a temporary separation as she hopes to see him again in the bosom of the Lord.
She said late Shekwo was a wonderful husband and father.
“He was my best friend. My marriage was a honeymoon cut short,” she added.
The looters claimed they only took what belonged to them. But state governments and the donor of the items looted in warehouses across the country, Coalition Against COVID (CACOVID), insist they never hoarded the items pilfered during the ENDSARS protests, write YINKA ADNIRAN, ONIMISI ALAO, TOBA ADEDEJI, ADEKUNLE JIMOH, GBENGA OMOKHUNU and FAITH YAHAYA
They have been described as suspected hoodlums, but those who swooped on a warehouse in Akobo in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital city in the early hours of Friday, October 23 were not hoodlums. They are men, women, girls and boys well-known in that axis. Their target: The palliatives they said were meant for the people of the state. By the time they left, no fewer than 1,850 bags of rice were carted away.
In Bakin Kogi, Yola, the Adamawa State capital, warehouses were also attacked but not only were food items looted, but the roof of the warehouses was also stripped.
And in Ede, the Osun State capital, some residents stormed a warehouse to loot Pasta, noodles, garri, salt and sugar. The warehouse is located at Cocoa House, Ede.
Elsewhere across the country, such as Calabar, the Cross River State capital, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Jos, the Plateau State capital and Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, similar actions were carried out by people who claimed they were looting what their state governments hid from them.
But, the state governments are disputing the claim.
Oyo: private warehouse was looted
The Oyo State government said it had nothing to do with the looted foodstuff. A businessman, Mr Alabi Adeoye, said he owns the warehouse. According to him, he was an agent of the private sector-driven Coalition Against Covid-19 (Ca-COVID) engaged to supply rice to Abia, Cross River, Plateau and Taraba states.
He added that the company was re-bagging and repacking the rice in line with the specifications of the coalition before distribution to the states, explaining that his company, which has been operating in Oyo State in the past five years, lost close to N50million to the attack.
Adeoye said: “Oyo State Government was not part of the states we were asked to supply by CACOVID.
“On the 30th of September, they (Ca-Covid) contacted us if we could handle the supply of rice for them. We have an interest in farming. We are farmers and we have a good network with every state. We told them we could handle it, which we were able to get the purchase order.
“After that, we instructed our team to manage it from Ibadan, simply because we believe we can also generate revenue in Ibadan and create more jobs. We have farms in Ibadan and it has been profitable for us. And we have been able to employ a good number of the indigenes to manage our farms for us. So, these are the reasons why they gave us the job.
“We have been operating in Ibadan for quite some time. We have two warehouses in Ibadan; there is one on Iwo Road and the other is at Lagelu, which we have been managing for like five years. We have never witnessed an invasion like this because we have been so good to the community. Recently, we tried to construct about 500metres of the road for them. So, I was surprised to see this kind of attack.
“But our facility was vandalized and food items worth millions of Naira were carted away. This is not a big concern to us, though we believe that these food items are meant for Nigerians we were unable to get them to the appropriate quarters. However, property that was vandalized was worth millions of naira.”
He thanked men of the ‘Operation Burst,’ whose intervention, he said, helped to stop the destruction of his company.
•A woman conveying her loot home with the aid of an Okada rider
He also added that the effort also yielded a result as about 185 bags have been recovered so far from the suspected hoodlums who are residents and members of the community where the facility is located.
Addressing a news conference to correct the insinuation that the food items are palliatives for the residents, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters Chief Bayo Lawal said the state’s fifth round of palliative distribution was slowed down by the nationwide protests.
Lawal, who is also the chairman of the Food Security and Palliative Committee of the Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force, explained that the bags of rice looted at the private warehouse in Ibadan were not the property of Oyo State, adding that the state was not supplied rice as part of the palliatives from Ca-Covid and that it did not distribute rice as part of the palliatives distributed to the people so far.
He said the hoodlums mistook the private warehouse for government property.
Lawal said: “Investigations at the moment eventually revealed that there was nothing that concerns the Oyo State government in that warehouse.
“The warehouse belongs to a private individual who operates in Oyo State and was given a valid contract by the Coalition Against Covid-19 (Ca-Covid), a coalition of private organizations that have been helping states and the federal government to fight Covid-19, to supply them to a certain number of states.
“So, it was the rice that he procured on his own for repackaging that was mistaken to be Oyo State’s that hoodlums looted.”
Adamawa
Unlike the Oyo State scenario, the roofing sheets, bags of rice, sugar and noodles looted on October 25 and 26 belonged to the Adamawa State government. The looters’ singsong was that the government was keeping the palliatives for 2023 campaign.
Governor Ahmadu Fintiri said the palliatives were not hoarded, adding that they were still being received and distribution was not yet due when the EndSARS looting was perpetuated.
He said distribution was set for October 26, which was the second of the two-day mass looting.
The palliatives came from several sources, including the Federal Government and Coalition for COVID-19, and were to be distributed to people in the 226 wards of the state’s 21 local government areas.
Osun: items can only be distributed after a flag-off by the CACOVID
The Nation gathered that pasta FMN – 29, 992 cartons; pasta OLAM -10, 282 cartons; noodles- 80, 644 cartons; garri -40, 322 bags; salt- 40, 320 cartons; and sugar – 40, 227 cartons were looted.
The Osun State Food Relief Committee through the secretary, Alhaji Bayo Jimoh, explained that the palliative looted were from the Coalition Against COVID (CACOVID)
He noted that the items can only be distributed after a formal flag-off by the CACOVID Office, Abuja saying “we do not have the authority to distribute the food items without approval from Abuja. The Committee is still expecting the rice component of the donated items, which is 40, 322 bags of 10kg.”
“Osun was expecting 10kg of 40, 322 bags of rice when CACOVID palliative was looted. The palliative was meant to support state government and was brought into the state between September and October 2020. We the food relief committee only provided a warehouse and the state government allowed those palliatives to be stored in Ede Cocoa industry. We wrote a letter dated September 28, 2020, to CACOVID office in Abuja informing them that they are yet to deliver all the items of foodstuff they promised the state. That 40, 322 10kg bags of rice. They told us that they will come to the state to distribute the food items when they are done with the delivery. They have a sharing formula and it was that each household will take one bag of 10kg rice, 1 bag of 10kg garri, two cartons of spaghetti, two packs of sugar and two packs of salt but because the major item which was rice had not come the CACOVID did not come to Osun State to flag off.”
Kwara
Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said the items looted at a store at the Kwara State Cargo Terminal came from CACOVID.
Items handed over to Kwara State by donors included 27,360 bags of semolina; 27,360 bags of sugar; 27,360 cartons of pasta; 27,360 bags of salt; 27,360 (10kg) bags of rice; and 54,720 cartons of noodles.
At the handing-over ceremony, CACOVID Representative and Zonal Head of Access Bank Muhammed Adelabu said the coalition came together to rally support for the governments in the fight against the pandemic, adding that the coalition has so far commissioned 38 isolation centres and donated over 100,000 test kits and various personal protective equipment across the 36 states of the country.
“Today, we have commenced the third phase of our intervention plan in the fight to combat and eradicate COVID-19 in Nigeria; the CACOVID National Food Relief Programme which will see the distribution of various food items to over 1.6m families i.e over 10 million Nigerians across the country.
•Kids happily conveying their loot home
“We are doing this to help the most vulnerable households that have been affected by the coronavirus.”
During the EndSARS protests, rampaging youths attacked the warehouse and looted away the food items from the store.
Security personnel were drafted to the scene of the event to persuade the attackers to see reason.
The governor visited the place and asked the security operatives to allow the angry youths to take what they wanted.
The state government denied alleged diversion of the palliatives, adding that it had distributed a larger chunk of the materials to many of the local government areas of the state.
FCT
The FCT Administration kept the palliatives at the Area 10 Art and Culture, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), camp in Kubwa, Gwagwalada Area Council and Tungamaji, an area which is also under Gwagwalada Area Council.
Looters started with the Area 10, Art and Culture warehouse where some palliative were kept but they were prevented from looting the palliative by security operatives, who could not prevent the looting of palliatives in other area across the FCT.
The FCT said the palliative items were not hoarded.
Why palliatives were not distributed, by CACOVID
Two members of the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) have explained the delay in the distribution of palliatives by state governments.
CACOVID members, Mr Osita Nwasinobi and Dr Sola Adeduntan, in two separate documents made available to the media on Monday in Abuja, called for calm among members of the public.
Nwasinobi, in a document he authored for CACOVID members, said the coalition had been working with the minister of the FCT and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), to procure and distribute food items to Nigerians.
•Looters at the Idu Industrial Area, Abuja
He said they were working to distribute the food items for about two million, mostly vulnerable families across the 774 local government areas in the country, explaining that CACOVID members decided to procure the food directly from the manufacturers, to avoid a distortion of prices in the market.
Nwasinobi stressed: “The sheer scale of this nationwide food programme and the timing of the orders and deliveries, coincided with the lockdowns and reduced movement across the country.
“This compelled CACOVID to roll out distribution in a staggered manner, with states classified in three timed phases, to enable orderly delivery to the needy.
“The food package was designed such that each of the nearly two million vulnerable families received 10kg bag of rice, a five-kilogram bag of garri/maize flour/semolina, one carton of pasta, two cartons of noodles, five kilograms of sugar and one kilogram of salt.”
He added that due to the large size of the order and the production cycle required to meet the demand, there was a delay in delivering the food items and thus delays in distribution by state governments
“For instance, rice had to be milled, semolina and maize flour had to be processed, noodles and pasta had to be manufactured, and sugar had to be refined. As such, the first deliveries could not start until June.
“However, as at October 2020, a sizable portion of the items had been delivered but yet to be distributed by the governors,” Nwasinobi said.
He said while 28 states and the FCT had commenced distribution since early August, some could not as they were yet to receive complete deliveries of the items allotted to them and so state governments had been distributing the items at various paces.
In the interest of transparency and accountability, he pledged that CACOVID would, in due course, provide the full delivery schedule and flag-off dates by each state, stressing that KPMG Professional Services and NGF external auditors were also on the verge of completing the audit of all contributions from the donors, including a full list of all medical and food items procured with the CACOVID funds before the warehouses were attacked.
“It is very unfortunate that various states, including states that have concluded the distribution of their allocations, are seeing their warehouses and other premises being raided.”
Nwasinobi called for calm to allow states to proceed with their palliatives distribution peacefully, and for the public to disregard any unauthorized sources of information regarding the procurement and distribution of the palliatives.
Adeduntan, the Chief Executive Officer of First Bank PLC, in a letter addressed to “Sigma Chief, Old Chiefs and Loyalists” urged member to be wary of information on social media, saying that CACOVID had successfully provided health facilities, diagnostic kits and medications to all the states and the FCT.
The First Bank CEO said that CACCOVID also decided to provide food to 1.7 million mostly vulnerable families across the country but the challenge was how to purchase those items worth about N15 billion without driving inflation.
“We had to contract this out to various manufacturers and that took time for them to deliver the goods to us. It was only in September and early October that we handed the goods over to the various state governments and FCT.
“It is, therefore, a fallacy that the state governments or Dangote have hoarded those foodstuffs,” he explained.
By Bisi Oladele, Gbenga Aderanti, Toba Adedeji, Yinka Adeniran and Segun Showunmi
Survivors of accidental bullets relive ordeal, seek help to settle medical bills
How we lost our shops to arson days after stocking them for Christmas —Traders
The untold story of attack on Oyetola, deputy, others
Residents of Ojoo, Ibadan will not forget Tuesday October 20 in a hurry. So are traders, motorists, commuters and passers-by who were victims. Youths had gathered at the location for the protest against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigeria Police Force when an argument ensued between them and some policemen at the roundabout. The Ojoo Police Station is located very close to the roundabout.
The argument soon degenerated into a confrontation between the police and the protesting youths, following which the former resorted to shooting into the air to scare the daring youths. Unfortunately, one of the bullets was said to have hit a young man, prompting the angry youths to attack the law enforcement agents by throwing missiles at them.
To scare away the youths and safeguard themselves and their station, the police started another round of shooting with bullets flying in different directions, hitting some passers-by, commuters and traders who were not among the protesters.
The protesting youths eventually overpowered the policemen, killed two of them, seized their AK 47 rifles and burnt down the station. The news of the confrontation soon went round the city, prompting other youths to attempt burning down other police stations around the capital city.
Although men of the state’s joint security outfit, Operation Burst, succeeded in repelling them in some stations, the angry youths burnt down the police station in Alabebe area of Ibadan as well as that of Iseyin. The protesters were however repelled at Gbagi, Agugu and Testing Ground.
Among the victims of the bloody confrontations was Godwin Chukwuka Ononuju, a trader at the roundabout, who said he was busy guarding his wares when his brother called him on the telephone to ask about the situation in Ojoo.
“Then suddenly, a bullet came from nowhere and hit me around the chest. Some other people were also hit in different parts of their body. My brother had to rush down from Iwo Road to take me to the University College Hospital (UCH),” he said.
Ononuju recalled the amount of pain he endured while his treatment lasted and the amount of money he had to spend in the hospital.
While Ononuju was discharged after treatment, Akeem Tijani was not that lucky. The Lagos-based business man was said to be returning to Lagos from Ilorin when the commercial vehicle conveying him and other passengers got stuck in the traffic snarl caused by protesters at Ojoo. Sensing danger, the driver of the vehicle said he could no longer be able to continue with the journey. Tijani was left with no choice but to alight from the vehicle and wade through the crisis spot to where he could get another vehicle and continue his journey to Lagos. In the process, however, he was hit by a bullet believed to have been fired by security agents.
He said: “As we were travelling from Ilorin to Lagos, we got to Ojoo in Ibadan and saw policemen shooting. The driver of our vehicle stopped, refusing to continue the journey to Lagos. We then started trekking towards the area where we could get another vehicle.
“As my brothers and I were moving, I did not know the direction from which a bullet came and hit me, and I fell down. Some kind hearted people rushed me to a private hospital but the doctors at the hospital refused to attend to me, insisting that I must produce a police clearance. It was soldiers that rescued us.”
He added: “The soldiers really tried. All the private hospitals we visited rejected us. The bullet hit me from the back, came out from below my chest and also hit my hand. My mouth was already melting before we got to UCH.”
He said his relations could not come to Ibadan to check on him because of the curfew in Lagos, but they were communicating on the telephone.
Another victim of stray bullet, 23-year-old Sodiq Oluwole was returning to his shop at Badmus area of Ojoo when a bullet pierced his buttocks.
He said: “I was alone when a bullet suddenly hit me in the buttocks. I was at the Ladegba Fuel Station when the bullet hit me.” 70, lamented that the family had been borrowing to pay the medical bills. She called on the government to come to her aid.
Yet another victim, Toheeb Rasheed, 33, had the femur of his right leg shattered by bullets.
Recalling the events that resulted in the unfortunate incident, he said: “We were at the market when suddenly we saw that people were running helter-skelter. It was while I was trying to run in the midst of that pandemonium that a bullet hit me in the leg.
“I sell crayfish and ogbono. My stock is still at the market. They were shooting tear gas and stray bullets were flying everywhere.”
His father, Alhaji Rasheed Azeez a.k.a. Ege called on the government to render a helping hand for his treatment, saying that the family had already incurred a bill of more than N150,000, adding that the hospital had asked them to provide another N150,000 to buy the iron that would be planted in the leg. That, he said, is different from the cost of surgery.
“I am appealing to the government to please come to our aid,” he pleaded.
Before normalcy began to return to Ibadan early in the week, flashpoints like Iwo Road, Ojoo, Challenge and Eleyele were taken over by protesters and hoodlums.
Two policemen had been burnt to death at Iwo Road interchange as a result of policemen running over a commercial motorcyclist.
A petty trader around the area, Mrs Abigeal Akinwunmi, who spoke with our correspondent, expressed displeasure over the events that led to the incident, calling on Governor Seyi Makinde to find a way to restore normalcy in the area.
Mr. Akeem Lana, a dealer in electronics and phone accessories, noted that the protests had affected their business as there had been low patronage by customers who were afraid to come out.
With normalcy gradually returning, it is believed that the city will find its fire back in a matter of days.
‘How we lost our shops to arson days after stocking them for Christmas’
Survivors of Lagos ethnic clash count losses
As the dust settles over the ethnic clash involving the Yoruba and Hausa residents of Fagba, a Lagos suburb, in which many lives were lost and properties running into millions of naira were destroyed, victims and injured survivors are counting their losses.
The suburb had turned into a war zone during the violent ENDSARS protests after some Yoruba youths allegedly attacked some Hausa traders in the area, killing their numerous cattle and setting a long vehicle conveying them ablaze while the Hausa residents in the area responded with attacks on businesses belonging to the Yoruba in the area, with both sides recording some human casualties.
A visit to the area by our correspondent early in the week revealed traders whose businesses were affected by the crisis reliving their sad experiences, counting their losses in terms of loved ones and assets and wondering the way out of their predicaments.
“Where do we go from here?” a woman who lost her beauty shop asked in bewilderment as a state government official took stock of the traders who had suffered losses in the area. Incidentally, many of the traders said they had just spent millions of naira stocking their stores in readiness for the festive season when the crisis occurred.
Omowumi Arike, the CEO Arik Beauty Home, was yet to recover from shock as she recalled the events in a chat with one of our correspondents. Arike said it had taken her five years to set up the business that had just been destroyed. The first born of her aged prents, Arike said she had five other siblings that depended on her for survival.
“I have so many people depending on me. It is through this business that I take care of them. What is going to happen to them now? How do you want us to live? Government should please help me. There is no helper anywhere else,” she said.
Almost regretting her decision to abandon the container she was using to rent her jewellery shop that was razed for N500,000, she asked repeatedly, “Where do I start from?”
“Please I need assistance. I don’t want to go back again to selling pure (sachet) water. It took so much hustling to set up this shop but everything has been destroyed. I couldn’t take a pin out of it.”
Asked the worth of the jewellery she lost in the burnt shop, she put it about N3.5 million. She also appealed to the Lagos State Government to find a way of removing the miscreants in the area.
“These people who have no jobs, property or means of livelihood should be ejected from here,” she said
Mariam, a mother of two and another victim of the violent clash, said she only recently rented her burnt shop for N500,000. And like Arike, she said she lost her entire stock of phone accessories to the violence.
She said: “It is a big tragedy for me. I have lost all to this incident. How do I take care of my two children? My business is what my family depends on. I just lost N4 million to the incident. It is so sad.”
Mariam, who said she had maintained a shop in the area for 12 years, recalled the little beginnings when she operated under an umbrella, saying: “When I was doing business under an umbrella, they were disturbing us. I managed to rent a container but they looted our shops. But the one that happened two years ago was not as terrible as this.”
Mariam told The Nation that the arsonists first looted the shops before setting them ablaze.
“I couldn’t pick a thing from the shop. I lost everything. I am appealing to the government to take these miscreants away from here,” she said.
Another victim who did not want her name in print said but for providence, she would have been killed in the incident. Ironically, she said, she was rescued from her shop by the ENDSARS protesters after it was set ablaze.
“The problem started on a Tuesday while ENDSARS people were protesting. I was in the shop when the crisis started. It was the ENDSARS guys that facilitated my escape,” she said, adding that it was not until the second day that she realised the extent of the damage that had been done to her shop.
“I am alone with two kids. Government should please come to our aid.
“I had just stocked my shop. I bought goods worth N2 naira. Before I set up this shop, I was at home doing nothing. I paid two years rent but we have not even spent six months here and I could not salvage a thing.”
Sola Olufemi, a beautician who also sells cosmetics, said she had to hurriedly lock her shop when the trouble started. She estimated her loss in the violent clash at about N3.8 million.
“I couldn’t take a pin out of the shop. Everything was burnt. And they did not stop at that; they broke the glass and destroyed everything.”
For those who are conversant with Fagba junction, Oluwakemi Chidi Okere’s boutique shop attracts attention. Until it was looted by hoodlums, her beautifully decorated shop was cynosure of all eyes.
Also reliving her ordeal in a chat with The Nation, Oluwakemi Chidi Okere, who operates a beauty shop at Fagba Junction on Iju Road, said she was not around when the incident occurred.
She said: “I only got a call that my shop had been set on fire by protesters or rioters. I don’t know the set of people. There was curfew, so there was no way I could come to see how I could pack some things.
“By the time I came the following day, my boutique had been burnt. I lost nothing less than N5 million in the incident.”
The affected traders are appealing to the government to get rid of the miscreants in the suburb, saying that they are capable of generating crisis from time to time.
One of them who pleaded anonymity said: “This is not the first time the miscreants would clash among themselves. And each time they clash, the traders always have tales of woe to tell. The difference between this one and the previous ones is that this time round, the destruction was much.
“Why would they destroy our shops when we had nothing to do with their problem?”
How hoodlums, cult groups hatched attack on Oyetola, deputy, others
Most Osun State residents were left in shock on Saturday, October 17 after an attack on the Osun State governor, Gboyega Oyetola, his deputy Mr Benedict Alabi and other members of his cabinet by political thugs and hoodlums masquerading as ENDSARS protesters. The attack left many vehicles on the governor’s convoy damaged, attracting widespread condemnation by individuals and groups.
The ENDSARS protest, an agitation against the excesses of some officials of a unit of the Nigeria Police known as the Special Anti-Robbery Response Squad (SARS), had started on a peaceful note in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, on October 9, with youths thronging the streets in rallies meant to register their displeasure.
For nine days, the protesters marched on the Osun State House of Assembly, the Osun State Secretariat, the Government House and other public institutions in the state without harassing any citizen. They only barricaded the popular Ola-Iya Junction and vowed to remain there until the governor addressed them.
They rebuffed an attempt by the Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji, to address them on behalf of Governor Oyetola, who the SSG said had gone to Abuja to attend a meeting with the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, over the protests.
One of the leaders of the protesting youths, Abolore Ayedokun, addressing newsmen at Ogo-Oluwa Road, had said: “We are here on the street to register our grievances to the government. There must be an end to the brutality of SARS in this country.
“Many youths have been killed by these officers with guns that were bought by taxpayers’ money. It is unreasonable for those officers to kill Nigerians and at the end, nothing will happen.”
Another coordinator of the protest, Seyi Adelaga demanded that there should be an executive order disbanding SARS and Oyetola should be their mouthpiece at the federal level. He said Oyetola must come to address the gathering or they would not leave the streets.
How hoodlums, cult groups, political thugs hijacked protest
In the early hours of October 15, 2020, at Ola-Iya Junction where the youths traditionally converged, some hoodlums stormed the scene, brandishing cutlasses, knives, broken bottles, axes and other dangerous weapons in a bid to disperse the youths. The protesting youths dispersed only to converge shortly after while some other hoodlums and thugs, who were in support of the protest, joined the protesters and assured them of their safety.
However, on October 17, the protesters were attacked again with one of them sustaining an injury. The Nation findings revealed that Osogbo residents acknowledged the existence of some hoodlums in the state who were known for causing violence and riots. Among those mentioned were the Egbatedo Boys, the Orita Ayeipe Boys, the Oke Abesu Boys and the Testing Ground Boys, among others. The aforementioned groups are street urchins that are found at junctions around the state capital.
There are other groups of street urchins and cultists in communities around the state like Ede where they have the Apete-Isagba Boys and Ilesha where the Eiye Confraternity and Aiye Group always engage each other in clashes that often result in loss of lives.
The foregoing groups were believed to have hidden under the cover of protesting against police brutality to foment trouble and kill their rivals. They were also believed to have seized the protest to embarrass the governor who the thugs allegedly accused of not patronising them since he was sworn in as governor.
Previous administrations in the state had identified with the street urchins to the extent of naming them “State Boys”. But under the Oyetola administration, they have enjoyed no patronage and are therefore peeved that the administration did not accord them the recognition they had enjoyed from previous ones.
Oyetola addresses protesters
The protesting youths were elated on Saturday, October 17 with the news that Governor Oyetola was ready to address them. The governor joined the #EndSARS protesters in Osogbo and marched with other state executives from Alekuwodo Area around 2:54 PM to Ola-Iya Junction where the protesters were gathered.
When Oyetola and his entourage had walked gently to the protesters, his deputy, Mr Gboyega Alabi, made to address the youths but they insisted that it was the governor that should speak to them. As a peace lover, Oyetola pleaded with the protesters that their demand was being looked into by the federal government.
However, the refusal of the governor to mount the podium did not go down well with some of the youths who insisted that he must mount the podium. Some began to shout, “Soro Soke, were!” (speak louder, mad man). While a question and answer session was going on with the governor, some of the protesters insisted that he should call the Commissioner of Police to arrest one Ashiri Eniba, the Chairman of Road Transport Workers, who they alleged was behind the attack on them.
The event degenerated into crisis as the governor publicly declared to the protesters: “I don’t do thug. I would never deploy any thug to attack the citizens who voted me into power.” The statement infuriated the hoodlums and political thugs at the scene who charged forward to attack him.
The situation forced the governor to retreat into his car while some people started throwing pebbles at his convoy. Oyetola eventually escaped death by a whisker as some of the thugs brought out cutlasses, guns and axes which they intended to use on him. The convoy drove away while some motorcycle riders reportedly chased after him and he had to escape through a compound route when he discovered that some of the the motorcyclists were already lying in wait for him.
Oyetola, in a state broadcast, described the attack as a “failed attempt” on his life. He said it was hoodlums who were after his life and not the protesters.
Reliving the incident, one of the coordinators of the protest, Mr Ayo Ologun, explained that one person sustained cutlass injury during the attack on the protesters before the arrival of Governor Oyetola and was quickly rushed to the hospital by the protesters. He said the angry youths repelled the attack and the thugs beat a retreat.
The Nation reliably gathered that those that mastermind the attack on the governor had been arrested.
It was learnt that the latest attempt on Governor Oyetola’s life by political thugs was the third time the governor would be attacked by hoodlums in the state.
One of the attacks was recorded in 2019 after the flag-off of a Primary Health Care Centre at Oke-Baale area when some thugs approached the governor but they were declined. The issue caused those hoodlums to pelt his convoy with stones and cudgels.
Similarly, some thugs attacked Oyetola and his cabinet members with stones and other dangerous weapons during the 2020 countdown event organised by the state government in Osogbo.
In January last year, President Muhammadu Buhari, accompanied by a retinue of prominent Nigerians, formally inaugurated an Independent Power Plant in Ariaria International Market, Aba, Abia State. Projected to serve about 40,000 stalls in the popular market, the project was a beacon of hope for IPP in the country. Nineteen months on Southsouth Regional Editor, SHOLA O’NEIL, after a trip to the market, reports that traders’ euphoria that greeted the project has been replaced by despondency.
The Ariaria Market Independent Power Project (IPP) is located within Ariaria Market, the biggest market in the West African sub-continent. At its inauguration in January last year, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) extolled its potential of the gas-fired power plant, an extensive distribution network and robust metering systems for each shop.
REA said an initial 4,000 stalls were connected with constant and affordable electricity, with the remaining shops expected to be connected before the end of 2019, even as it boasted that the IPP was the beauty of the Federal Government’s Energising Economies Initiative (EEI).
The initiative is meant to be deployed as off-grid electricity solutions to provide clean, safe, affordable and reliable electricity to economic clusters (e.g., market places, shopping centres, industrial facilities) in Nigeria through private sector developers.
A usually reticent President Buhari was effusive as he inaugurated the project: “We are heading towards moving our economy further. Jobs are created through investment in projects such as this. This project shows progress can be made irrespective of political difference.”
REA Managing Director Damilola Ogunbiyi said the project epitomised the commitment of the Buhari administration to providing uninterrupted power supply to the market. He said the move would provide the needed boost to traders to succeed and contribute to the growth of the economy.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu said: “We rallied around and said we must do the needful to give Aba the option of which power source to choose and this is far better than whatever they have seen before now.”
Just over a year after, that enthusiasm is waning, especially among traders, who are losing hope on the prospects of the Ariaria IPP holds for their businesses. Some described it as a charade, white elephant and even a fraud.
The dream of job creation, extensive distribution network and ‘robust metering system’ are a far cry from what currently prevails at the market, where traders still rely on non-conventional method of electricity supply, in one of the most bustling commercial hubs in Nigeria.
The power plant stands out on Faulks Road, where its imposing structures overlook the A-Line sector of the multi-billion naira market. But its beauty structure has had a very little or no impact on activities of traders, who expected it to banish the spectre of power problems that cripple their businesses.
At the shoe and leather work parts of the market, traders lament lack of power. The situation is so bad that one of the biggest leather workshop owners (names withheld) lobbied and attracted a 33KVA line to the area to ease the problem.
The business owner, who has about 12 members of staff in his employ said: “Without the industrial line, there would have been nothing happening here.”
He was the lucky one among other traders and business operators, as the industrial line he uses only serviced a small part of the market, comprising one street.
Other traders, manufacturers and fabricators who spoke with our reporter were unanimous that Ariaria Market IPP project is a failure.
Mama Joshua, a caterer at one of the rows of building facing the AMES IPP, was plain when she told our reporter that the project is a failure. Pressed further for explanation, the middle-age woman spoke softly; her words were laced with sarcasm and caustic humour interspersed with wry smiles.
“I am telling you that the power company is not working and you are still asking plenty questions. It is like you don’t believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What the President and his vice came and do (at the market) is ojuju calabar (charade).
“Who are the traders using the light? I am very close to the place. Oga (master), it seems that you doubt that Jesus has resurrected. It is not just 4,000 traders (using the light), there are more than 20 million,” she said, when our reported quoted the REA figure of traders connected.
Our findings revealed that the controversy over the AMES IPP was sparked off just days after it was inaugurated. The Ariaria Market Energy Solution Limited, the company handling the project, has also failed to offer traders a better option than what already existed in the market.
Ikpeazu, who also hoped that the AMESL’s IPP would help in eradicating over 6,000 individual (power) generators providing light for traders at the market, is disappointed.
In January last year, he lamented that the generators are sources of massive environmental and noise pollutions in the area.
Commissioner for Information John Okiyi, in a telephone chat, said the state was determined to ban the operators of generators in the market.
Yet, the power generators operators continue to wax stronger than ever by increasing the challenges posed by the new entrant. They reinvented their operation and wooed customers with improved and better quality services.
It was gathered the local service providers charge as little as N100 – N200 per day to provide electricity from when the market opens about 8:00 in the morning till close of the day’s business at 5:00 p.m. The services and costs are based on the needs of the users and as such, they are cheaper than the conventional sources.
Unlike in the past when their generators often breakdown and throw sections of the market they service into darkness, the operators now ensure constant and uninterrupted supply through improved infrastructure.
One of the operators who spoke to our correspondent and who doesn’t want his name in print said they are prepared to give the IPP a run of their money, despite government’s opposition to their businesses.
“Most of us now own several generators from Lister to Mikano and Perkins. There are also standby, so that as soon as one goes off, another is started immediately to ensure that light is available always.”
Apart from uninterrupted power supply, the prices of the ‘local IPPs’ are more competitive than that of the AMES’ IPP.
“If you have only bulbs, and maybe fan, the price (charged by local operator) is N200 per day, and the light is uninterrupted from when we come to work in the morning till when we leave in the evening. Once you pay your bill, you are sure of light,” Chike, a footwear dealer at the shoe and bags section told our reporter.
The fees charged by AMESL, on the other hand, although lower at just N160 per day, epileptic services means consumers do not get value for their money, Chike said.
Asked why traders still refused to switch to the cheaper, cleaner power option, the traders said AMELS accused the company of insincerity, adding that they change initial agreement reached with them.
“I do not use the IPP light because what they told us initially is not what they later did. When they were about to connect us, they told us that after installation, it will be cheaper than what we were using. They said we will have prepaid meter, which we can recharge,” Chike said.
“The problem started when they finished the project. One day they were here to tell us that they have switched on the power to test it. We were very happy. After two days, they came to say they’ll be collecting money and they were disconnecting people.”
Chike’s neighbour, who was connected to the IPP source, said he only used it for a few days before he went back to the local electricity providers.
For him, the trouble started when AMESL official visited the market and demanded N4, 000 ‘registration fee’ to remain connected.
“The cables have not even gone round the market, but they said we should register with N4, 000 and after that they’ll give us prepaid meter,” he said.
Still some traders went ahead and made the commitment, hoping that they would be metered and allowed to recharge their meters based on usage.
It didn’t work out, according to Anayo Ameobi, who operates from another section of the market. Instead of individual meters, general meters were placed at strategic points in A-Line, from where lines are taken to the shops.
•A-Line entrance, Ariaria International Market, Aba
“Later they said we should pay the minimum N160 (to recharge) for a couple of days or even a week. But that was a scam because it doesn’t last even one day; sometimes within two hours the light is off and you have to pay extra money.
“We felt it was not supposed to be like that. Some of us have prepaid meters at home, and if you recharge and you don’t use it, it remains, but with this, once you recharge and you don’t use it in a day it is gone, the next day you have to pay in order to recharge.
“Again, they’ll come and access the facilities, fans, bulbs music players in your shop and they will bill you based on that. That is not like the prepaid meter we know, and it changes everything for us.”
For them, the IPP is not an improvement on what they used to have, either with the EEDC (Enugu Electricity Distribution Company) or the local providers who use heavy duty generators.
“With the EEDC, you are asked to pay N46, 000 for meter, and they use the money paid to give you light (credit worth N46, 000), which can last for months. With the EEDC, what you recharge is what you’ll use, and when you exhaust it, you can recharge another N1, 000 and it could last for a month or more,” another trader stated.
Okiyi agreed with the traders. “It is not right to charge the traders for light from 5:00 p.m. till morning,
“We are not happy about the non-metering of the shops and we have been appealing to the company to see how they can meter the shops and ensure that more people are connected.
“It doesn’t make sense if, as traders, they are not using power in the night, they possibly use power from 7:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. when they close, and then you are billing them from 5:00 p.m. to the next day. It doesn’t make sense,” Okiyi stated.
He appealed to AMESL to “look at the applicable charges.
“We were shocked that some segments of the market chose to patronise power generating set company that has been banned in Abia,” he said.
He, however, conceded that the Ariaria IPP and the EEDC need to help the state by ensuring proper metering of the traders and removing the N4, 000 charges mentioned earlier.
On allegations that the state government was behind illegal charges and exorbitant rates, he said: “It is not our project and we are not responsible. It is not our project and we lack the constitutional right to do so.”
The Nation’s effort to speak with AMES official at the company’s office was unsuccessful. A man who was identified as ‘Manager’ refused to be drawn to any issues on the company’s operations.
“I am not competent to speak on any matter,” he said. Pressed for contacts of those competent – telephone number or name or address – he asked our reporter to visit the company’s website, which address he also refused to provide.
“The name and telephone number of the person you can speak with is in the website,” he said.
Online searches failed to yield any results, with all links directing us to the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) website. After seven calls to different officials of the REA, we were able to reach Sulaiman Babamanu, the agency’s Technical Manager.
Babamanu, also declined comment, stressing, “the company (AMES) is a private company and I don’t have authority to speak for them.”
Self-styled prophet subjects residents accused of witchcraft to inhuman treatment
His actions pure abuse of human rights — Activist
LG chair reveals plans to banish him from domain
Rights abuse allegations not true says Aide
Videos of gross abuse of human rights in a so-called miracle centre in Mokwa, Niger State have been trending on social media in the past two months. They include those of men and women stripped naked after they were accused of witchcraft. Bizarre scenes in the videos include women being forced to confess their alleged evil deeds at gunpoint and men being forced to urinate on one another.
The opening scene in one of the videos features two men fighting naked while a singer described as the healer Mallam sings for them. The two men engage each other in a fight until they became tired, after which they were made to confess their sins. In one of the confessions, someone is seen in the background slapping the confessor until he admitted to being a wizard. The other man who “refused to confess completely” was given another opponent to continue fighting with.
The two men who were fighting in the opening scene and gave their names as Danjuma and Mohammed are also made to dance naked while the self-styled healer Mallam throws sachets of ‘pure water’ at them.
Another scene features two women who within seconds were stripped naked while every attempt they made to cover their nakedness in front of a mammoth crowd was rebuffed. Even one of the naked women who tried to cover her face was prevented from doing so as she was forced to remove the hands she masked her face with.
Another scenario saw an old woman being tortured with a stun gun to confess that she is a witch. The woman, who looks like one in her 80s, is seen being stunned in the back to force her to confess that she is a witch.
The foregoing are only a tip of the violation of human rights being perpetrated by Hassan Muhammad Nnafene Patigi who claims to be a prophet with the ability to heal all kinds of diseases, including stroke, leprosy, blindness, deafness, and dumbness, as well as provide remedies for infertility, kleptomania, and stillbirth, among others.
It was gathered that Patigi first arrived in Mokwa with claims that he could heal all kinds of illnesses and make barren women productive; a claim that endeared him to many of the town’s residents. This, The Nation learnt, he did for some time before he veered into branding people as witches, stripping them naked, and compelling them to admit that they are witches.
patigi
Patigi is then said to make the accused persons undergo all manner of obnoxious treatments like asking people to urinate in their mouths, stoning them with sachet water, and causing them to fight themselves naked in public.
Patigi is also accused of asking those who are searching for the fruits of the womb to bring the sum of N11,000 and make them count the money repeatedly until they are exhausted. The women are then made to hold hands with their husbands for hours before they give the money to Patigi who would pray on it and ask them to come back to collect the money after some days.
Those who give birth to stillborns or witness premature births are made to count charcoals until they are exhausted while those in need of spouses are made to count stones until they are fagged out.
Mokwa residents no longer at ease with him
The foregoing deeds of Patigi were said to have been tolerated by Mokwa residents until he began to brand people as witches and wizards, on account of which many began to suspect his credentials as the Mallam or Sheikh he claimed to be.
Some Mokwa residents who spoke with our correspondent said they were no longer comfortable with Patigi’s style, especially his use for vulgar languages and how he seems to always single out women to torture and taunt them.
One of the residents, who identified himself as Kasim Umar, said that the self-styled prophet had tortured a lot of people in his presence as one of those who go to watch them tortured or humiliated until it dawned to him that what the ‘prophet’ was doing was not right.
Umar said: “Hassan (Patigi) tortures old women, married women, young girls and men accused of witchcraft with shocking gadgets. He hauls sachet water at them when they refuse to say what he wants to hear.
“He asks some of his boys to beat them with sticks and even strip them naked. When he does some of these things, people think it is funny, so they laugh at the victims.”
A woman who gave her name as Saida believes that it is wrong for Patigi to force people to confess to practising witchcraft, saying that she no longer goes to the arena to watch the shows.
She said: “Everything he is doing or has done is not Islamic. Hassan would ask for the music to be played by his DJs. How can someone who calls himself a prophet go about with DJs? Sometimes, he would ask that a beat be played without lyrics and he would sing to it. It is not Islamic at all.
“When the music is played, he goes around dancing and those who are apparently hypnotised are pushed outside and made to undertake shameful acts. I wonder how people that are made to do undergo these would live with other members of their community without being taunted or embarrassed.”
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Uthman Mokwa, one of the cameramen engaged to cover his activities, has had to pull out when the scenes were becoming too obscene. Mokwa, who said he was never Patigi’s supporter, said he withdrew his services because he could no longer bear the sights that confronted him on a daily basis.
Explaining Patigi’s mode of operation, Mokwa said: “Whenever he claims to be doing healings, he would point towards the gullible miracle seekers and turn in a circle while standing on a table. Sometimes, he claims to be using his eye contact to heal people.
“After doing it for about five minutes, he would ask those who had been healed to come out for testimonies. His boys will then give such people the microphone to tell the crowd how they were feeling before and how they are feeling now.
“If any of them says he or she did not feel better, he would chase them out of the line and ask me to delete that part from my camera.
“My major problems with him are, first, the torturing of people accused of witchcraft. I was moved to tears seeing the way an old woman who said she was not a witch tortured and asked to confess. Hassan (Patigi) stood by, watching her being tortured. As young as I am, under that condition of torture and helplessness, I would confess to anything.
“My second problem is the way he strips people naked. These people are human beings and it is wrong.”
Prophet or lawbreaker?
Dawod Usman, a journalist who also trained as a lawyer, said that everyone has his or her own perspective about the controversial mallam, adding that his condemnation is based on the weight of one’s justifications.
Speaking about the legal implications of Patigi’s activities, Usman said that what is happening at the miracle centre is nothing but “a massacre of human dignity, considering the that human dignity is a central objective and normative value system established by the Constitution, which is also epicenter to the preamble of Universal Declaration of Human Right 1946.”
He stressed that the human rights basically means that every Nigerian has a right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman/degrading treatment, and no Nigerian should be held in circumstances that amount to slavery or servitude.
He said: The Northern Nigeria penal system where Hassan Patigi is staging witchcraft “exorcism” expressly provides in Section 216 (a) of the Penal Code Law of Northern Nigeria that: ‘whoever by his statement or actions represents himself to be a witch or to have the power of witchcraft, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to two years or with fine or with both. By virtue of the above provisions, witchcraft is a punishable offence in the Northern Nigeria penal system.
“However, Hassan Patigi is not recognised by any law as a judicature or judgeship to administer such law whatsoever. And it implies that any pronouncement made by Hassan on any person whatsoever is inconsistent with any provisions of the law, and to the level of that inconsistency is null and void.
“Any Magistrate court, Area court or Upper Area Court in the northern part of Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory, is a proper venue for commencing an action against a witch in that the penal code is applicable only in this region as opposed to the Southern, Western and Eastern part of Nigeria where criminal code is in operation.
“Hassan Patigi Miracle Centre Mokwa is, therefore, a non-jurisdictional place to entertain and administer justice on any offences of any ruling whatsoever. Just like any other criminal activity in the northern part of Nigeria, an action against a witch can be instituted by First Information Report or Direct Criminal Complaint. The second mode is applicable in other northern parts of Nigeria except the FCT).
Old woman accused of witchcraft
“It is worthy of note that stripping an alleged witch naked before a large crowd of spectators is not only diabolical by the civility of all the international and domiciliary law put together against the violation of human rights and dignity of the human person, it is socially deplorable, societally condemnable, logically despicable, humanly intolerable and legally actionable.
“Among all the laws that regulate humanity and human transaction, the law that upholds human dignity is “sui generis” that is classical in its own kind. Therefore, every human being needs to enjoy decency of living devoid of any modicum of deprivations except one occasioned by the instrumentality and supremacy of the law.”
We told Patigi he’s acting against the rule of law – LG chair
No longer comfortable with Patigi’s activities and the way he conducts his services, the Mokwa Local Government Council may ask him to leave the council to somewhere else. Our correspondent gathered that he has already been invited to the council secretariat several times for issues bordering on his conduct.
The Chairman of Mokwa Local Government Area told The Nation that what Patigi is doing is clearly against the rules of the government, especially the gathering of large crowds, which he said is against the preventive measures taken by the government against COVID-19.
He said that several letters had been written to the Mallam and the District Head of the community where he carries out his activities and they had been invited for a meeting.
“When he came, he said he was giving help to the people. We have no problem with that, especially if people need help. But now, with the complaints we have received, he is going beyond the stipulated rules and we won’t accept it.
“We are doing our best to see that the rights of our people are intact. We will not fight him, we will only dialogue with him, and if he refuses to change his ways, we will allow the law to take its course. If he wants to practice, it has to be within the rules and regulations of the state and the confines of human rights.
“We have sent a letter to him and we have invited him to come for a meeting. I will let you know the outcome of the meeting when it is held.”
We’ve not delved into the matter yet – Emirate
The Secretary of the Emir of Bida and the Etsu Nupe, Abdulmalik Usman, told The Nation that the palace was yet to delve into the matter, although several complaints about the activities of Mallam Patigi have got to the palace.
Usman debunked insinuations that the palace invited Hassan to warn him about his activities, stating that the only time Hassan came to the palace, he came to pay homage to the Etsu Nupe.
He said: “The palace has not invited Hassan (Patigi), but several complaints have been received about him.
“There was a time he came to Bida and paid a courtesy call to the Etsu Nupe in the palace. Because of the busy schedule of the Emir, he couldn’t see him in good time. He waited, and after some time, he saw His Royal Highness, greeted him and he left.
“There are lots of complaints about his activities and people say there are videos flying around, but I haven’t seen the videos yet. They said he strips women naked, I have only been hearing these but I haven’t seen any video yet.” The Palace Secretary said the Emirate might not invite him because he is not from the Emirate.
“If the Etsu Nupe wants to call him to order, he will send to the Emir of the place of where he comes from and tell his Emir to call him to order,” he said.
It is purely traditional matter, says DG, Religious Affairs
The Director-General of Religious Affairs in Niger State, Dr. Faruk Abdullahi, told The Nation when he was contacted regarding his agency’s stand on the issue, that the issue is purely traditional and not religious.
“From the position of my agency, what we see here is a traditional issue and not a religious issue. My agency deals with religious issues and not traditional issues,” he said.
Men accused of witchcraft stripped naked
He also confirmed that he had been getting a lot of calls regarding the issue, wondering why people were calling him instead of the security agencies or the government.
“I wonder why people keep calling me. What is happening in Mokwa is not within our jurisdiction and for that (reason), we cannot delve into it.”
Allegations of human rights abuse not true — Patigi’s aide
Our correspondent made frantic efforts to get Patigi to speak about his activities and the various allegations leveled against him and to ask if he knows that his activities were a violation of human rights, but the efforts yielded no result.
After repeated efforts made to have an audience with him, one of his aides assured that the reporter would be able to meet Patigi on October 1. Unfortunately, it rained heavily on that day before the reporter could depart Minna for Mokwa, rendering the Minna-Bida and Minna-Zugeru-Bida roads impassable. The reporter was forced to disembark after sitting in the vehicle for more than three hours.
Reaching out again to the aide identified by Truecaller as Mohammed Mokwa, he said that he was not in a position to speak on the matter. He, however, said the allegations against Patigi were not true.
The Reporter asked to speak to Patigi on the phone, and she was asked to call back later. When she eventually did, she was told that the Patigi would only speak with her physically. The reporter’s explanation about the conditions of the road from Minna to Mokwa did nothing to change Mokwa’s stance as he insisted that Patigi would only speak with her physically.
Two days ago, Nigeria celebrated her 60th independence anniversary. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, chose the occasion to reflect on the country’s exploits in world affairs and the efforts being made by the Buhari administration to ensure that Nigeria and Nigerians are respected across the globe. He also addressed the delay in the evacuation of stranded Nigerians abroad and his 21-day Covid-19 isolation experience, among other issues. Excerpt by VINCENT IKUOMOLA
LOOKING at Nigeria at 60, how would you assess the country’s contributions to international affairs since independence?
Nigeria has made very important contributions to international relations since independence in 1960. Even in 1960, Nigeria was already on the world scene in the Congo. There was a major crisis in the Congo and Nigeria was one of the contributors to the United Nations (UN) peace-keeping forces there. Indeed, our current president, Muhammadu Buhari, was an officer serving with the Nigerian contingent in the Congo. Former head of state, Maj-Gen. Anguyi Ironsi, was also one of the officers commanding in the Congo. So, right from the word go, Nigeria was very present in trying to find a solution to an international crisis.
Throughout the 60 years of her independence, Nigeria has been one of the major contributors of troops to the United Nations peace-keeping efforts around the globe. It has made major contributions to promoting and securing peace in a number of countries around the world. You would recall, for instance, that in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and other countries outside Africa, Asia and Latin America, Nigeria and Nigerian military contingents have played very important roles in peace keeping and securing peace in many countries.
Nigeria also played an important role in the denuclearization effort of the world. We have been in the vanguard of countries pushing for a nuclear-free world, signing a lot of the international conventions. In fact, early in life, in the 60s, Nigeria took a very bold decision to break diplomatic relations with France when France tested an atomic bomb in the Republic of Niger, close to Nigeria. Ever since, we have been at the vanguard of fighting for denuclearization of the globe through international organisations like the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations.
Nigeria has played an important role in the promotion of human rights in the Human Rights Council. It has played an important role in United Nations itself throughout the 60 years, promoting and pushing for peace around the world, and justice among countries and for a larger role in the United Nations for African countries and smaller nations. Nigeria has also played a significant role in social development around the globe. A lot of Nigerians have held important positions in International organizations, including the UN, and made major impact in social, economic and cultural development around the world.
So, Nigeria has been very present not just in Africa where it has played a strong role in the Africa Union, beginning with the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which became African Union, in different aspects. In the economic area, Nigeria has played a big role in the creation of an African Continental Free Trade Area. Nigeria was a driving force in the creation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and has pushed for greater integration not just in West Africa but in Africa.
Nigeria has fought also in the context of human rights and the protection of the rights of the average African. Nigeria also fought when a number of African countries were pushing for African countries to pull out of the International Criminal Court. Nigeria was opposed to that move and supported the International Criminal Court, because Nigeria believes that there should be a forum to defend the average African from the excesses of their leaders. So, Nigeria was on the side of giving that voice and shield to the common person in Africa.
So I will say that Nigeria in 60 years has made lasting contributions to global peace, economic development towards a fairer world, African cooperation and integration, peace and good governance on the African continent. We have seen Nigeria engage in installing a democratic regime in the Gambia, for instance. Presently, it is also involved in Mali. So, good governance has been an area Nigeria has also made very important contributions. Also with regard to anti-corruption, Nigeria has really pushed that agenda of good governance and fight against corruption on the Africa continent. Nigeria played an important role in the United Nations to push for a resolution on the issue of illicit financial flows from developing countries whose wealth is being illegally siphoned and invested in all kinds of secret accounts around the world and those involved in the extractive industries in Africa not paying taxes.
Nigeria has championed more transparent mechanisms and architecture for doing business, especially by multinationals, on the African Continent. So Nigeria at 60 has been a pillar in the world for governance, social justice, peace, economic development, cultural cooperation and development and promotion of multilateralism. You know that a lot of big powers have imposed their will on global affairs, but Nigeria has been prominent, pushing, strengthening and re-enforcing the role of multilateral system as a mechanism that is more just in providing an equitable global system.
Despite the listed achievements of the country on the international scene, Nigerians abroad have in recent times been facing serious aggression from the so called friendly nations. How do you intend to address this, especially as the big brother role seems not to be working to our advantage?
I will not say Nigeria is facing aggression from countries. I do not think that will be an accurate description. You have to make the distinction always between state actors and non-state actors. So, where you have had certain actions against Nigeria and Nigerians, xenophobic attacks and so forth, these are often actions by non-state actors. So we have engaged robustly with the states to ensure that Nigerians are protected, lives and properties are protected in those countries.
In some countries, we might say there is state actors’ involvement. But very often, those states would say that Nigerians are not targeted per se but these are laws that affect everybody else. But again, we have engaged these countries. And more and more, we are developing a more aggressive, robust policy on reciprocity. So we are making it clear now that where we feel that Nigerians are not been treated fairly, we will look at all the measures available to us to also respond in a reciprocal option.
Going back to the evacuation process during the Covid-19 lockdown, how would you describe the experience and lessons learnt in the process? What were the things you had to do behind the scene to ensure that stranded Nigerians were evacuated?
The first thing was that when we started out, the Nigerians outside the country were not seen as part of the immediate problem that we had to face. We had what became a pandemic coming into Nigeria, so all eyes were on how to secure the Nigerian air space, our people and all the people within Nigeria, So, all the strategies, medicals, structures that we needed to put in place was where the focus was, and that was where the funding was geared towards. It was only later that it became apparent that there was a significant number of Nigerians around the world who were stuck outside the country when there was a lockdown; our airspace in particular. We had no precedent to work from. It was a completely new situation and there was no funding.
Ideally, it was an emergency and we would have brought them back free of charge. We have an agency, the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), which normally is there with funding to help Nigerians with emergency situations. This was a new situation. The funding just was not there to bring them back. Also, we had to arrange with air carriers to see to the logistics, finding the carriers, arranging with countries for air carriers to come in, and putting in place mechanisms with the missions to engage with the Nigerians in those countries.
So, it was a logistical nightmare putting in place the whole structure to address this. We were learning as we went along because we had no idea. We had never experienced anything like this and with minimal resources, so we had to quickly develop a protocol for passengers to reach out to missions and then the health protocol side of it. We had to find hotels here because they had to be quarantined for two weeks. So it was another big challenge.
Initially, hotels were not very keen to be turned into isolation centres. Then, of course, the whole medical processes needed to be put in place in those hotels to adapt them to containing people who may be infectious. It was also another major challenge finding hotels, and since we did not have funding, with the passengers needing to pay for themselves to come in. At one time, we did not have funds to pay for the hotels. But in the end, we managed to find some funding to pay the hotels so that Nigerians would not have to bear that cost. And it turned out that these Nigerians had been outside for a long time and lots of them had exhausted the funds that they had before we were able to start the process of evacuating them.
The demand was far greater, that is, the number of people who wanted to come back was far greater than the flights we had in place. Then, of course, the protocols when they arrived was such that we couldn’t bring them all back at once but only in small batches because a lot of our medical and human capacities were being deployed around the country, managing the cases that were coming up. But we needed airport and port health people to check passengers on arrival and to arrange for them to go to the hotels. So you see it was a huge operation and we did not have the human resources to deal with it. So it was a major challenge. But as time went on, we began to understand, more and more, what needed to be done. The embassies themselves also began to understand what needed to be done.
We met with some difficulties. Some of our carriers were not allowed to go to some countries to pick Nigerians who were stranded there, so we needed to find alternatives. It was not easy at all. We did the best that we could under the very difficult circumstances. And then some people came up to help us, and that was what saved us at the end of the day, because we reached the point where we didn’t have the funding to pay two weeks accommodations in the hotels. We negotiated low prices for the hotels in Lagos and Abuja and it was a bit of a problem. I want to again express here our profound thanks to the CBN and its governor who agreed to come up with the funding to continue and to enable us to pay for the quarantine tools to quarantine everybody that came in14 days in the hotels. Also, I cannot thank enough the GMD of NNPC who also came up with funding to match the CBN, and the two of them really made it possible for us to continue. If not it could have been a total disaster.
So many people said that they did not have money coming back; that they had spent all their money outside to pay for hotels. Also, we have to thank Aliko Dangote and Herbert Wigwe and others. Because when even the NNPC and CBN saw what the cost was going to be continuous paying for all those people coming into hotels, and they saw that it was not sustainable and we now had to change our protocols to say that people should no longer be compulsorily quarantined in hotels but could now self isolate at home. But before that, they needed to be tested but the government did not have the capacity to put the PP in place to carry out this test, Dangote, Wigwe and others in private sectors came together and brought together companies that could carry out the testing. That enabled us to save the cost of paying for hotels. People just went straight home and they absorbed the cost of the testing for them.
So, by God’s grace, we were able to get through the evacuation phase, and now, of course, we have moved on to the limited opening of our airspace. So the evacuation phase has ended and it is now, in principle, every man for himself as before. But also in the middle of all that, we had to face other realities, unfortunately, of trafficked girls and people around the place, and then deportees, convicts and ex-convict Nigerians. We had to bring them back. Of course, those categories of people did not have the money. Nevertheless, we went ahead and brought them back from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Mali by road, and some are waiting in Ethiopia and Tanzania. That was also another different kind of challenge, which is still going on because we are still bringing back some people from Lebanon and from the UAE and these other countries.
Let us look at your personal experience with Covid-19. When you tweeted that you tested positive after the third test, someone asked why the frequent testing. Were you suspecting something? What was your first reaction when you tested positive?
No, I had three tests before. The first test was actually more like a tracing, because the Chief of Staff to the President had it and I had been in meetings where he was present. So, we looked at the contacts that the person might have had. For that reason, I tested. That was the first one. The second test was when he very sadly passed on and was to be buried. I went to the house to comfort the family and a lot of people were there. We went to the burial site, so, of course, there was an outcry that it was against the social distancing rules and protocols. So, I did a test after that. Then my third test was because they then introduced a protocol for the PTF members to be testing regularly. So I did the third test as a PTF member.
One day, I came into the office in the morning and I felt a tickle in my throat, almost as if I was about to have a sore throat. So I asked for throat lozenges and I was in the office for the whole day. When I got home in the evening, I had a little chill. I took a hot shower and I had a little flatter in my chest, which was another symptom that I had. My head was a little heavy; not really a headache, but it was just a bit cloudy and I also felt a little joint pain like that malaria discomfort. So I ‘googled’ and found that each one of them was a possible symptom of Covid-19. I then decided, it was on a Friday, to ask for a test on Saturday. But on that Saturday, all those symptoms were gone. The only symptom there was this throat that was slightly congested. So I had the test and I kind of felt it that it could be Covid-19, especially with all those symptoms I had the day before.
So when I woke up on Sunday morning, I saw a call I had missed on Saturday night from DG, NCDC. When I saw a message saying please call me, I knew that something was amiss, because the previous three times, I would only get a text message the following day, saying ‘negative’. This time, for him to call the same day the test was taken, and I say fortunately, I missed the call, as I would not have slept well that night. But when I saw it in the morning, saying call me, I was 99% certain that I was positive. So I called him, but I didn’t get him. I called him again about three times, then he finally called me at about 11 in the morning and said, unfortunately, that was the case.
I was kind of prepared for it by then. I knew it was going to come because of that message. Funny enough, it still surprises me till today that I was not too anxious. I think, for me, what would have made me a bit anxious was my breathing, but my breathing was very clear. I had no problem breathing. It would have been a bit more scaring if I could feel that I was not breathing much. But since I was breathing perfectly and all the other symptoms were gone, I was not feeling anxious at all. I asked him if I should stay at home and someone from NCDC came and advised me to go into isolation. So I said no problem. They were already starting to get all worried and I went into isolation.
Again, when I went in on that day, the first thing they did was to test my oxygen level, and it was 99 per cent. They were surprised that that it was so high at my age. The only thing that went up, which could have been because of anxiety, was my blood pressure. So, as I said, because I was well, I didn’t have fever, I didn’t have anything, I was not coughing, just a little tickling in the chest, so I felt reasonably okay. They brought the blood pressure down with some medications and I was okay. I went jogging about two or three days later and I was perfectly well. No other symptoms came back. Those first nights of shiver were gone and it was, just like I said, clearing of throat with little mucus coming out, and that was it.
I was very relaxed in isolation. All my testing in the morning and all the vital signs were all fine. So, it was now just the question of the medications that I took. And, of course, that was when I also found that so many people that I knew had had it, because they were now all calling me to tell me that they had had it, do this, take this and all of that. My doctor said that everything was okay now, but the critical point was the seventh day to the tenth day, because you never know how the virus can change directions. Although everything is perfectly okay, it is only after the tenth day that you can now be sure it is not going to escalate and become worse. So we did a test after the seventh day, which I thought was a bit early, because I could still feel something in my throat and it was still positive. Then we did another test on the twelfth day, and by this time, people were recommending all kinds of funny things and it was still positive after the twelfth day. Then I did another one.
So, after the twelfth day test, normally it is 14 days, the doctors said in any case, the virus would have died by the tenth day and you would not be infectious anymore. Sometimes, one does the test and it catches only the dead DNAs of the virus. Some people, who were in worse conditions than mine, came in and left after the twelfth day, but mine was still positive and yet I hardly had any symptoms. Then I was wondering what was going on. I did another test after 19 days and I was still positive. But that 19th day one, I still had a little thing in my throat, just a tickle, and not all the time; just once a while, I was still coughing. So the 19th day one, since it had not gone completely but on the twentieth day, I actually felt it had disappeared.
I had said after my 19th day I would stay for one week, since they were coming to test on the 21st day some other people. I said let me just do it since I had nothing to lose. I did it on the 21st day and I was very surprised when it came out negative.
