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  • Tributes pour in for ex-Appeal Court Justice Agbo

    Tributes pour in for ex-Appeal Court Justice Agbo

    • By Damilare Afolabi

    Justices of the Court of Appeal and eminent lawyers have paid tribute to the Presiding Justice of Calabar Division, the late Justice Raphael Chikwe Agbo.

    A valedictory court session was held in his honour at the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division.

    Court of Appeal President Justice Monica Dungban-Mensem led justices, judges and eminent Nigerians who gathered at the court hall of Enugu Division to pay their last respects.

    They described the late Justice Agbo as thoroughly decent, humane, engaging, courteous, and a compassionate man who dispensed justice with candour and fear of God.

    Justice Agbo, who died on July 4, was billed to retire on October 21 at 70.

    Born on October 21, 1953, the late jurist was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2005.

    He served in Ibadan, Lagos, Akure, Benin, Jos, Ilorin, Owerri and Kaduna Divisions, and was until his demise, the Presiding Justice of Calabar Division.

    Justice Dongban-Mensem said the late Justice Agbo proved himself to be an exceptional jurist for the 18 years he was on the appellate court bench.

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    She said: “Even though Hon. Justice Agbo has transcended to the life beyond, his attributes and contributions to the development of the law will continue to radiate in our hearts.

    “His outstanding contributions to the advancement of our Jurisprudence have no doubt helped our jurisprudence to grow.

    “In his Lordship’s journey of about three decades in the judiciary, immense contributions were made which have expounded the law and served as priceless service to the nation and humanity.”

    Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Kingsley Udeh, announced the naming of the ultra-modern Enugu State Multi-Door Courthouse (ESMDC) after Justice Agbo in recognition of his pursuit of peace and conflict resolution.

    He said the Peter Mbah Administration was working to strengthen ADR practice and digitalisation of court process and case management in the state.

    Chairman Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Obollo-Afor Branch, Mr. Desmond Ezeme, said Justice Agbo’s numerous judgments bore eloquent testimony to his honesty, adding that his passing was a huge loss to the Judiciary.

    Other speakers were the Chairman of NBA, Enugu Branch, Chief C. Nwagbara and the Chairman of NBA Nsukka Branch, Dr. E. E. Okereke, among others.

    A funeral mass was held at St. Martin De Porres Catholic Parish, Obollo Eke, with the Catholic Bishop of Awgu Diocese, Most Rev. John Okoye, describing Justice Agbo as a man who devoted himself to the service of God through honesty and passion for justice in all his rulings.

    Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Nsukka Diocese, Most Rev. Godfrey Onah, described the late jurist as one who served God, country, and humanity.

    At the valedictory court sessions and funeral mass were serving and retired Justices, Chief Judges of Enugu, Anambra, Bayelsa and Imo states; Enugu Governor Peter Mbah; his Deputy, Ifeanyi Ossai, and former Enugu governor Ifenayi Ugwuanyi, among others.

    Some of Justice Agbo’s landmark judgments include Godwin Ettah vs Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) & two others (Appeal No: CA/C/378/2022 delivered on  January 23, 2023); Zenith Bank PLC vs Framour (Nig) Ltd & Anor (Appeal No: CA/C/123/2017 (Unreported) delivered on   April 18, 2023) and Nitel Plc vs Mayaki (2007) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1023) 173.

    In Fasakin vs Siwoku (2009) 16 NWLR (PT. 1167) 309, His Lordship reiterating a respondent’s duty to defend a judgment on appeal and the exception thereto, held: “All issues to be canvassed and determined in an appeal must arise from the grounds of appeal.

    “More importantly, it is the burden of a respondent to defend a judgment appealed against. 

    “The only exception is where the respondents in the instant case cannot be seen to be challenging the findings and conclusions of the trial court, having neither filed a cross-appeal nor a respondent’s notice.”

    Other cases are Gyang vs AG of Plateau State (2013) LPELR 20773 (CA); NNPC vs Jacobs (2012) LPELR 9290 (CA); Mrs. Stella Okoye vs AG FEDERATION (2015) ELPELR 25606 (CA); Senator Bassey Akpan vs EFCC, among others.

  • Kidney disease: why you should not take ‘agbo’

    According to the World health organisation (WHO), traditional medicine is generally available, affordable, and commonly used in large parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

    WHO estimates that about 80 per cent of the population in developing countries still depend on traditional medicine for their Primary Healthcare (PHC) needs; however, this percentage may vary from country to country.

    In Nigeria, many people, especially in the South-West region, believe and rely on local herbs for medication.

    `Agbo’, the Yoruba name for herbal medicines, is a concoction prepared from a variety of herbs and; it is one of the most popular herbal preparations taken for various ailments, especially by the native Yoruba people.

    It has also seen a lot of patronage and acceptance by other tribes too; Agbo can be soaked in water, alcohol or even palmwine before one drinks it.

    However, medical experts raise concerns on the after effects of taking Agbo, especially over a long period of time.

    One of such concerns is that it can damage the kidney and liver; also, there are concerns on its preparation which include the handling, dosage requirement for each ailment, shelf live and expiration date.

    Recently, at an event to commemorate the 2019 World Kidney Day on March 14, experts raised awareness on the importance of guarding against acts which can lead to kidney disease.

    The event which was organised by the Renal Dialysis Centre, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, saw experts also empahsising the need to reduce or even desist from consuming local concoctions, especially Agbo because of the possible resultant effects.

    Dr Chinedu Odum, a Nephrologist, said: “In this environment we talk about herbs and we hear many people say the take Agbo’’ or herbs.

    “They say the herbs clean their system but the truth is that this concoction people are taking, some of them have bad effect on the kidney. It can damage the kidney

    “It is a lot cheaper to prevent kidney damage because once you have kidney damage there is no going back; even those who are rich can’t maintain, afford or keep up with dialysis.

    “They can’t even maintain or afford to have kidney transplantation, not to talk of the masses who are not generally or financially equipped to take care of the disease.

    “So, we want to implore people to be aware of kidney disease but more importantly, to be more aware of the factors that increase the illness.’’

    However, Odum highlighted other causes of kidney disease to include high blood pressure which is the number one causes of kidney disease in Africa and of which many people don’t know that they have it.

    “Apart from blood pressure, diabetics and anyone who has long standing high blood sugar can come down with complications; one of the complications is kidney disease.

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    “Also, bleaching; some of those creams have some components which can damage the kidney; they also have components that will increase the risk of diabetes and blood pressure.

    “The environment we live in is also very important; infection in this environment too contribute to kidney disease; so we have people who come down with frequent urinary tract infection.

    “If it is not taken care of, they can have chronic kidney infection which can lead to kidney disease and if that’s not channelled, we will be talking of dialysis,’’ the Nephrologist said.

    Dr John Okoh, Founder and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the RDC, confirms that these concoction of herbs have negative impact on vital organs of the body, especially the kidney.

    He urged Nigerians to be aware of the causes and risk factors of getting kidney disease.

    Dr Nkem Achor, told NAN that one of the major concerns in consuming Agbo is that one cannot ascertain the dosage and expiration of the mixture, hence the tendency to either under-dose or over-dose.

    “People who take Agbo do not know when it becomes under dose or over dose and this can affect the multisystem functions of the kidney and liver, which are critical to the functioning of the body.

    “Also, it can lead to blood poisoning, gastrointestinal challenges, vomiting, diarrhea, anemia and even death, if mismanaged or not detected early.

    “However, one is not ruling out the efficacy of these herbs, but it is worthy to emphasise that if it is to be taken, it should be after thorough scientific research and approval.

    “Also, the preparation has to follow standard supervised procedure under hygienic circumstances with appropriate dosage requirements spelt out and expiration date written.

    “If these are not adhered to, people will continue to take Agbo indiscriminately; some may get lucky and be healed but a majority will come down with more debilitating and chronic situations which may be too late for hospitals to handle’’.

    Dr. Ebun Bamgbose of the Dialysis/Transplant Unit and Clinical Director of St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos, in an earlier interview said that most of the kidney failures, also known as renal failure or end stage renal disease, could be linked to indiscriminate use of these concoctions.

    This is because the herbs are mixed with all sorts, including local gin and there are toxic substances in the unprocessed materials and fermentation.

    In summary, a research was conducted by Akande IS, Adewoyin OA, Njoku UF and Awosika SO of the Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Nigeria.

    The research, “Biochemical Evaluation of Some Locally Prepared Herbal Remedies (Agbo) Currently on High Demand in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria’’, was published in the Journal of Drug Metabolism & Toxicology, affirmed the negative effects of Agbo on the body.

    It said: “Based on these findings, we conclude that though these preparations are potential sources of natural antioxidants, but majority of those being hawked on Lagos metropolis may be harmful to human health.

    “This is because many of the hawkers are likely to be quacks.

    “There is also a need for standardisation of dosage regimens and close scrutiny of pedigree of the peddlers of these herbal remedies by appropriate government agencies,’’ the research prescribed. (NANFeatures)

    **If used, please credit the writer and the News Agency of Nigeria

  • Buhari plans to decimate PDP before 2019, claims Agbo

    Buhari plans to decimate PDP before 2019, claims Agbo

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State, Dr. Emmanuel Agbo, has alleged plans by President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to decimate the opposition party, ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    The former Benue State PDP chairman and aspirant for the position of the Deputy National Secretary in the botched PDP national convention warned that democracy was under threat.

    Agbo spoke with reporters in Abuja,the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to substitute the name of the PDP candidate in the Ondo State governorship election, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) with that of Chief Jimoh Ibrahim. Jegede belongs to the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction, while Ibrahim is a member of the faction, led byAli Modu Sheriff.

    According to INEC, Ibrahim was listed as the candidate, following the ruling by Justice Okon Abang of Federal High Court, Abuja that the primary which produced him was the legal shadow poll, although it was held at Ibadan, Oyo State caspital, and it was not witnessed by INEC officials.

    Agbo said the electoral commission decided to list Ibrahim as candidate because it was teleguided by those forces planning to cripple the PDP.

    He described the INEC’s decision was dubious and illogical, stressing that no superior court has ruled against an High Court verdict it has  relied upon to acknowledge the Makarfi’s faction.

    His words: “Without mincing words, what is happening about the PDP national leadership is either being masterminded or encouraged or being promoted by the APC government of today. Recent developments further confirm my convictions. They went all out, not just to rig, but to forcefully deny the people of Edo their rightful choice in the most uncelebrated and democratically manipulated election.

    “There is no gainsaying that the profile in terms rating and standing of the present APC government with the masses of Nigeria has terribly nosedived. Thinking ahead of 2019, they think that the only option left for them is to decimate the PDP as much as possible before 2019.”

    On the recent inauguration of a parallel executive committee in Benue State by PDP members loyal to Sheriff, said:  “It is laughable because the state leadership of our political party is a product of congresses. Leadership at either the wards, local governments, the senatorial districts or states and even at the zonal level, that is the six zones of the country, emerges as a result of congresses.

    “How the composition of the congresses is formed are outlined unambiguously in our constitution. To arrive at a congress, the party is mandatorily supposed to give 21 working days notice to the INEC.

    “The  INEC follows up by deploying their staff to monitor the conduct of those congresses. I was the last state chairman of the PDP in Benue; a member of NEC under Sheriff. The NEC gave Sheriff the approval to write to the INEC for our congresses. Under Sheriff, those congresses held in the wards, local governments, states and at the zones and delegates therefrom now went to Port Harcourt.

    “What that means is that at all levels lower than the national level,  congresses were entered into, conducted peacefully under the supervision of INEC as allowed by our law and produced leadership at those levels. This was under the then leadership of Sheriff before we went to Portharcourt.

    “How will anybody now  come and start raising parallel congresses at levels that congresses took place and produced leadership without any iota of problem.  So, as far as we are concerned, those who claimed to have put in place a parallel exco for PDP in Benue State did nothing.  There is only one PDP in Benue State and there’s no division.”

  • Why we must set the agenda now

    Then the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suspended its almost six months strike, the question on most people’s lips was whether this would be the last ASUU strike. This is a very potent question, given the fact that the last strike – like others before it – did incalculable damage to the country’s tertiary education sector. It was, according to my estimation, one of the most discussed ASUU strikes of all time, no thanks to the social media. Would this be the last strike? For an answer we would need to study the “body language” and tone of some of the principal actors of the 2013 edition.

    The starting point should be Dr. Nasir Fagge, ASUU President who said – while the strike was being suspended – that “ NEC (National Executive Council) has resolved to suspend the strike embarked upon on July 1, 2013, with effect from Tuesday, December 17, 2013, and directs its staff to resume work forthwith.” Ordinarily, this was supposed to be a straight forward statement until we hear the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.

    Senator Anyim had said: “Notwithstanding the fact that some of the sessions were typically stormy, I am gladdened by the fact that the strike has been called off and we are here to formalise the process that will work to uphold the renewed confidence between ASUU and the government.” I juxtaposed these two statements – one by an intellectual and the other by a politician and bureaucrat – and I came out with two varying views while reading in-between the lines. Why did I say this?

    My reason is straight forward. If you go back to the first statement you’d notice that the ASUU president used the word “suspend.” On the other hand however, Senator Anyim used the phrase “called off”. As intellectuals, ASUU framed its statement with utmost care. By using the word “suspend”, it implies possible resumption of the suspended action in the future should the government renege on its part of the deal. This was what informed the union’s insistence that a letter must be written to it on the N200 billion deposited at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by the government.

    By its own framing though, the government believed the action has ended as a fait accompli especially as it believed it has ‘political’ undertones which those in authority find untenable.

    Fagge did not end with the statement earlier quoted. He added that “ASUU would have preferred to undertake the re-negotiation of the 2009 agreement in the second quarter of 2014, but we were persuaded to shift the date to the third quarter, and we agreed as a gesture of goodwill.”

    Do we now need a soothsayer to tell us that the third quarter of 2014 might be problematic given the history of conflict resolution involving ASUU and government? Recollect that the lecturers stuck to their guns as several resolution meetings were deadlocked. As the Americans would say, the buck stops at the Presidents table, it eventually took a marathon 13-hour meeting between the union and President Goodluck Jonathan on November 4 to resolve the complicated disagreement, with the government committing itself to injecting N1.3trillion into public universities between this year and 2018. The compromise – if I may reemphasise here – involved N220 billion yearly government release beginning from 2014, and an agreement to domicile N200 billion in a special account at the Central Bank of Nigeria for the remaining part of this year.

    Perhaps the union knows that these are huge figures and care must be taken that it is properly and adequately expended considering the fact that the strike was predicated on increased funding of the public universities, a declaration of state of emergency in tertiary education, improved wages as well as payment of earned allowances to academic staff. So, now that the first hurdle has been painfully surmounted, what next?

    Some days prior to the suspension of the action, the government instituted a 12-man monitoring committee on the implementation of the recommendation of the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities. They are to oversee the execution of projects on the campuses of the 59 federal and state universities.

    The Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike heads the committee. Other members include the Minister of Labour, Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, Hon Jerry Alagbaoso, Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Education, Executive Secretary NUC, Chairman Board of TeTFund, Presidents of ASUU, NASU, SSANU and NAATS while Mr. Ifiok Ukim, Head of Legal Services at TeTFund will serve as Secretary.

    The Committee, after inauguration, constituted six monitoring teams for the six geo-political zones with responsibility to monitor project implementation in all the universities within the zones.

    On paper and in the news this right is on point! But in reality, most of us will say we’ve heard these before, we are hearing it now and will continue to hear it until something actually changes. For me, I believe the time to set the agenda is now. Education is too critical to be left in the hands of people who do not have the faintest inkling on what qualitative education is all about. I’m also of the opinion that as we set the agenda, we should equally have it at the back of our minds that qualitative education does not come cheap. In essence, we should start exploring avenues where we can have qualitative and affordable education that would not compromise standards.

    It would be naïve for anyone to think the crisis in the sector is over with these funds, far from it. That is why we have to start by holding this committee accountable from day one and ensure that the projects earmarked are properly executed to global standard. Anything short of this would be a national disaster and we would end up where we started.

    This was what Fagge had in mind when he put the suspended strike in perspective. Hear him again: “It is our hope that the government will honour these resolutions as signed.” Without probing further, you’ll know that this is the crux of the matter. Why did he make this comment? Rewind to four years ago when the union had a similar face-off with the Federal Government which lasted four months, and the terms of resolution was what formed the basis of the just suspended action. What they’re saying in earnest is that ‘we can resume our action anytime we feel you’re not keeping your part of the deal.’

    Why am I insisting on setting the agenda? I am because agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media – the ability to tell us what issues are important. As far back as 1922, the newspaper columnist Walter Lippmann was concerned that the media had the power to present images to the public.

    Agenda setting theory, therefore, is the creation of public awareness and concern of salient issues by the news media. Two basic assumptions underlie most research on agenda setting. The first is that the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it. Secondly, media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. One of the most critical aspects in the concept of an agenda setting role of mass communication is the time frame for this phenomenon. In addition, different media have different agenda setting potential. Agenda setting theory seems quite appropriate to help us understand the pervasive role of the media.

    The rot in the education sector is deep and will take years to address – let’s not fool ourselves about that – but we have to start somewhere. That starting point is the ability of the mass media to effect cognitive change among individuals and in the process, structure their thinking. Here may lay the most important effect of mass communication, its ability to mentally order and organise our world for us. In essence, the mass media is often successful in telling us what to think about, and this time, I want us to start thinking of the critical role tertiary education plays in the 21st century world.

  • UNILAG students honour Ngozi Agbo

    The second Memorial Lecture in honour of the former CAMPUSLIFE Co-ordinator, the late Mrs Ngozi Agbo, has been held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). The lecture, which was organised by the Press Club of the university, took place in the board room of the Faculty of Social Sciences with the theme: Becoming a successful campus writer.

    The guest lecturer and the Editor of The Nation, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, spoke on how students can be successful writers. He was represented by Wale Ajetunmobi, the Co-ordinator of CAMPUSLIFE.

    Ajetunmobi , who recalled how he met the late Mrs Agbo, noted that CAMPUSLIFE is a life-transforming platform floated by the newspaper.

    The Industrial Chemist turned journalist said the late Mrs Agbo carved a niche for herself in discovering and building the youths for a better future, saying there would not have been a platform where undergraduates would converge to air their views if the honouree did not initiate CAMPUSLIFE project.

    He described campus journalism as a nascent form of journalism being practiced by students of higher institutions across the world. He added that campus journalists write on issues related to campus life and people, including student-lecturer, student-student, lecturer-lecturer, student-management and student-host community relationships.

    He said: “To be credible, a campus writer must discharge his role within the purview of campus with courage and openness, without compromising his responsibility to the students on whose side he must always be.”

    According to the speaker, the ethical code binding a professional journalist, such as objectivity, fairness, openness, credibility and accountability, also applied to a campus journalist, which he described as interface between the students and management. He, however, cautioned that campus journalists should not write to paint the management as the devil all the time.

    Mr Damilola Ademola, a graduate of Microbiology, UNILAG, and former CAMPUSLIFE reporter, who is a post-graduate student of Mass Communication in the university, took the audience through his adventures and the reasons why he left the field of natural sciences to pursue a course in journalism at the post graduate level.

    According to him, the late Mrs Agbo inspired and nurtured him through CAMPUSLIFE platform during his undergraduate days. Ademola said the inspiration he got from the gesture prompted his decision to veer into journalism.

    The event was attended by students and some staff of the university.