The Nation Newspaper

Tag: death

  • Your Excellency, death may find you in your spittle

    Someday, you may choke on your spittle. You could die if you do. Death could come in your saliva. When it does, your face will bulge with varicose veins straining to go ‘splat!’ in your head. In that moment, neither medicine nor the finest surgeon will be available to help you. Your money will be useless. Your power, ‘street credibility,’ thugs, charisma, will disappear in plain sight. Your concubines, trophy wives, spoilt kids and sycophants will be unable to charm death. Many of them would  be glad that you are dead.

    Whatever your degree of affluence, you will discover that you are worthless, like brittle toothpick in the paws of a mongrel. In split seconds, death will maul you the way boondocks crowd chew tinko (horse meat of the impoverished) they purchase with your hand-outs.

    You will remember the smile on your face and the sneer in your heart as you lured starving citizenry to sell their votes to you for a N500 hand-out, a quarter of rice and stale bread.

    Death will find you in common hours. And when it does, it wouldn’t recognize you as the powerful governor, senator, council chairman, vice president, president.

    Your title will be worthless; at death’s door, nothing else matters. Your life would probably flash before you and you would relive for an instant, the most crucial aspects of your finished life.

    You will remember the monies you stole from public coffers. You will remember your guilty and diabolic pleasures: the aides and concubines whose anuses you plowed for bewitched wealth; the newborn and seven-day-old infants whose heads and intestines you pounded in a mortar to make black soap and anti-death talisman. You will remember the sons and daughters you sacrificed or ‘used’ if you like, to ascend the ladder of man-made gods.

    You will remember the poor primary school kids you left at the mercy of nature’s wild elements – harsh sunlight, torrential rains and windstorms – because you had better things to do with State money, like the acquisition of mansions abroad, the seduction of a trophy bride or purchase of sinful pleasures.

    When death comes, you will remember the infant children, parents and youth whose lives never mattered to you even as they died in ghastly auto accidents on the cratered roads you refused to repair.

    Death will find you while you read commentary on your latest social and political theatric. The grim reaper will claim you while you exult in the praise of your fools and court sycophants; in that moment, you will find that you are the greatest of fools.

    Your Excellency, your paranoia is so great that you steal billions from public coffers only to bury them in sewages, water tanks and crop farms.

    At death’s door, you won’t have your great war chest and grand armies of thugs and corrupt law enforcers to command. At death’s stare, you will go blind in the face and your mind’s eye.

    You will understand why it was so easy for you to subdue political enemies and not the enemy within you. You will understand why you could look on earthly tempests and not flinch. But you will never understand why death will take neither gold nor silver to spare your life.

    Mr./Mrs. Excellency, you have grown from the desperate politician with tall dreams and modest wealth to become filthy-rich, power-drunk and self-possessed. You have become the titan who is successful at ‘cancelling out’ and overpowering lesser titans.

    Your virtues have turned to failings and you soar in a fetish cloud of lust and arrogance. As you exult with lust that will kill you, remember greater men and women who expired in the throes of fetishes like the ones that afflict you.

    Remember Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator who collapsed, coughing up blood in 1925. The X-rays showed he had severe gastro-duodenal ulcer. Thereafter, ulcer pain was ever present. Then he suffered increasing insecurity, paranoia and finally became detached from reality.

    By late 1942, his mental health had caught up with him. All the bombast and pomp had gone. He had no reserve of courage or wile and he yielded to ulcer, deep-seated depression among others.

    The Greek war became his unmitigated disaster, the shame from which Italy had to be rescued by the Germans. Power intrigues with Germany quickened his latter descent.

    In July 1943, he was in effect, imprisoned by fellow Italians on the island of Ponza, then moved to a naval base in Sardinia and later to a ski resort. After Italy surrendered in September, Mussolini was rescued by a German SS glider team and flown to Munich. The Germans then returned him to Italy and installed him as the puppet dictator of the remnant Italian Social Republic.

    He was eventually captured and shot by Italian partisans near Como; his body was flung in the back of a truck and driven to Milan where, on April 29, 1945, it was strung upside down alongside that of his mistress in Piazzale Loreto, where 15 Italian partisans had been shot in August 1944.

    Like Mussolini, the time for humouring yourself will soon be over. Your end will come varied, like the whimpers and howls of  poor, helpless Nigerians, whose miseries never matter to you.

    The indices of your brutal end emerge but you are too blinded by power and ego to see them; by your machinations, there is widespread poverty and unemployment in the land; Boko Haram afflicts the northeast, herdsmen invade southwest and Biafra’s dead bones jut from the grave across the southeast.

    Death travels with the restive wind but you dream of escaping its scourge by simply hopping on the next plane to join your families abroad. You forget that death could find you in your spittle aboard your private jet.

     

     

     

  • Court sentences robber to death in Ondo

    An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure, the state capital, yesterday sentenced James Ofem, an armed robbery convict, to death by hanging.

    The court said Ofem was in the notorious robbery gang terrorising residents, mostly motorists on the Ondo-Ore road, and had been on security watch list for a long time.

    Justice Williams Olamide, who delivered the judgment, said the convict was guilty of the two-count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery filed against him.

    He said witnesses alluded to the use arms by the accused during his attacks.

    According to Justice Olamide, the prosecution proved the robbery case beyond reasonable doubt with convincing evidence that the accused was guilty of the crime.

    The Prosecutor from the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the Ministry of Justice, Wale Bamisile, recalled how Ofem, with his gang members, on July 12, last year, robbed Adamu Mustapha of his CoolPad phone, Infinix and Nokia handsets.

    Another witness, Sergeant Franklin Alabi of Enuowa Police Station, who tendered the exhibits recovered from the suspect, noted that investigation into the matter revealed that Ofem was found culpable in the robbery.

    Another witness, Adamu Mustapha, said he and a bus conductor were waylaid by Ofem’s robbery gang around the Liyetu village on the Ondo-Ore road.

    He said: “My conductor and I ran into a barricade on the Ondo-Ore road. Suddenly from nowhere, armed robbers came out and started beating us mercilessly. They robbed us of our clothes, phones and N52,710.

    “We reported the incident to the police station at Enuowa Division in Ondo town. Few days later, they called us that they had recovered stolen items and arrested the culprits.”

  • Death on the bridge: A wake-up call

    Tuesday’s bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy, is a wake-up call for urgent repairs and regular maintenance of bridges in Nigeria. Experts caution that with Lagos bridges now converted to parking lot by articulated vehicles, and the dilapidated state of some of these bridges, disaster may be lurking if urgent steps are not taken, writes MUYIWA LUCAS.

    The Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy, built between 1963 and 1967, was at the time of its construction a masterpiece of technology. It has a maximum span of 219 metres, a total length of 1.18 kilometres and concrete piers of 90 metres in height. The technology of pre-stressed reinforced concrete used in the construction was the hallmark of its designer, an Italian engineer, Riccardo Morandi.

    Morandi would have celebrated the wisdom in using such technology in construction over 50 years ago, but he is not alive (having died in 1989) to witness the pains and agony his work has caused a race.

    Last Tuesday, a section of the bridge spanning about 200 metres caved in, killing over 35 people.

    The fears for the Genoa Morandi bridge had lived with the residents and commuters for a long while. The fears, according to the experts, were rife because since its construction, the Morandi bridge had been riddled with structural problems, which authorities say, led to comprehensive maintenance and severe criticism from engineering experts.

    Lending credence to this position is an engineering website “Ingegneri.info” which published how the bridge had always presented “structural doubts.” The website dubbed the bridge “a tragedy waiting to happen.” This position was buttressed by a professor of Reinforced Concrete Construction at the University of Genoa, Antonio Brencich, who noted the constant maintenance the bridge needed.

    Giving an insight into the cause of the collapse, the Prof Brencich explained: “It was affected by extremely serious corrosion problems linked to the technology that was used (in construction). Morandi wanted to use a technology that he had patented that was no longer used afterwards and that showed itself to be a failure.”

    Experts and stakeholders in the country have however spoken with one voice, warning of the looming danger the continued mis-use of bridges in the country pose. According to these professionals, if a country like Italy, with impressive maintenance culture of her infrastructure and technology, could experience such magnitude of disaster, then it is a warning bell to Nigeria.

    A former Lagos chapter Chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Olatunde Jaiyesinmi, told The Nation that although, Nigeria is trying in maintaining its structures, and it is a wake-up call to further improve on our maintenance culture. He explained that bridges, especially those that are built across oceans and lagoons, are the most susceptible to incidents like that of Genoa. This, he further said is because of the usually high beams and concrete piers that supports the bridge which are usually very high.

    He said: “Now is the time for our government to commission experts and professionals to take a comprehensive assessment of our bridges across the country – the Niger Bridge and Third Mainland Bridge, among others. This will help us to know their state and avoid disaster,” Jaiyesinmi said.

    The Third Mainland Bridege in Lagos would have been shut to vehicular traffic between July 27 and 30 for repairs but for the traffic confusion on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

    The planned repair was put on hold following an outcry by the state government that the bridge’s closure as scheduled by the Federal Ministry of Works would cripple business in the Centre of Excellence.

    A structural engineer, Joseph Muagba, observed that a major challenge to bridges in the country is their use by overweight vehicles and those parking on them indiscriminately.

    An overweight vehicle crossing a bridge, he explained, may affect both the short-term behaviour of the bridge and also its long-term performance and life-cycle. However, special permits are issued by state DOTs to overload vehicles without factoring in these cumulative and long-term effects.

    Muagba said that while no two bridges are the same, yet, their foundations, road alignment, workmanship at construction, age or condition all affect the bridges’ integrity, hence, the need for restriction of movement on bridges.

    He noted three parts of a bridge deck that will be affected by a heavy vehicle to include the beams, the deck and the cantilever.

    Muagba said: “All of these elements affect the load carrying capacity of the bridge. The beams are the main load carrying element. They are the strongest part of  the  deck and  transfer  the load from the bridge deck down into the foundations at either end of the beams.

    “The length of the beams, or the span, affects the amount of load the bridge can carry-the longer the span, the longer the vehicle that will be able to fit on it, so the higher the load it will have to be able to carry.”

     

  • Husband ‘slaps wife to death’

    A man, Premie Imafidon, was yesterday brought before an Ebute-Metta Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly slapping his wife, Hope, to death.

    Imafidon, 47, was arraigned by the police on a temporary one-count charge of murder before Mrs A.O. Ajibade.

    Prosecuting Sergeant Maria Dauda alleged that the defendant committed the offence at about 7pm on June 15, at 25, Apata Street, Agege, Lagos.

    Dauda said Imafidon slapped Hope, 42, after a heated argument, and she collapsed.

    According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened Section 224 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    Imafidon pleaded not guilty.

    Dauda made an application seeking the defendant’s remand, pending advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

    Chief Magistrate Ajibade upheld her prayer.

    She remanded Imafidon in Ikoyi Prisons and ordered that the case file be sent to the DPP.

    The case continues on September 3.

  • Floods of death

    •A more robust commitment to good urban and rural planning can reduce frequency and intensity of flooding

    In the last two weeks, parts of Katsina and Ogun states have been flooded. The inundation has led to eight deaths in Ogun and over 40 in Katsina, loss of houses and other property, and destruction of crops in both states. The Federal Ministry of the Environment had rushed many recommendations to the National Economic Council (NEC) which have been approved.

    Flooding happens in many countries, including advanced economies. But that flooding happens in Nigeria every year and around the same place and time suggests fundamental problems in urban and rural planning: poor land use and management across states; poor integration of urban and rural roads; inefficient municipal service; and avoidable silting of waterways. These are aggravated by poor attention to impact of increased and unregulated use of plastic bottles and nylon bags in both urban and rural communities. Simply put, the country direly needs an urgent upgrade of its municipal services and its sensitivity to hitherto unacknowledged impact of the environment on life.

    The recommendations presented to the NEC include short-and long-term approaches to flooding in the country, which has been occurring virtually since 2012 when over 350 citizens were killed in many states. This year’s flood was predicted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) during the last dry season.

    Highlights of the newly approved recommendations include “short-term and sustainable way of de-silting major tributaries and canals ahead of the flooding season; need for a paradigm shift for solving the annual negative experience; need to set up a Federal Project Coordinating Unit comprising officers from the collaborating entities (federal, states and Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR), to be headed by a director, to identify locations for critical actions and realistic cost estimates, and implement the flood prevention, mitigation and preparedness programme.”

    In view of NIMET’s unheeded warning about this year’s floods, the decision of the Minister of the Environment to send recommendations to NEC is, though belated, still useful for the rest of the rainy season. Certainly, the Federal Government and allied agencies need to respond immediately to bereaved families and those who have lost property in both states and elsewhere in the country, while proper medical attention needs to be given to those in temporary settlements.  Further, given that the rainy season has just started, de-silting of rivers, canals, and drainages is urgent.

    But the recommendations have focused more on effects of flooding than causes. It is true that citizens drop solid waste, plastic bottles and nylon bags that block drainages and water channels, but a large part of the blame for silting belongs to government at all levels. For too long, there have not been proper land use and management in the country. Urban and rural planning has been visibly lax. There are several buildings across the country that are sitting on floodplains.

    Also, lack of effective population planning and inadequate municipal service are indirect causes of incessant flooding. For example, the population of Southwestern Nigeria is disproportionate to its land area. Southwestern Nigeria constitutes 8.38 pecent of the total land area of the country and houses 19.77 percent of her population. The six states of the Southwest have a combined population density of 482 people/sq.km. The population density may rise to 1,032 people/sq.km by 2050, if the rate of population increase is maintained.

    Effective prevention of flooding can be achieved by committing adequate energy to an active, capable, and devoted municipal service to monitor and regulate proper management of both urban and rural land. Nigeria is in a good position to borrow other strategies to reduce frequency and intensity of flooding. The country has enough dry land to irrigate with excess rain water and enough wetlands to reforest, in order to prevent seasonal floods that destabilise many families each rainy season.

    Above all, governments at state and local levels need to improve on their environmental literacy broadcasts in indigenous languages on the importance of proper handling of solid waste, especially items that are not bio-degradable.

     

  • APC Congresses: Chairmanship aspirant stabbed to death

    A chairmanship aspirant in yesterday’s ward congresses of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State was stabbed to death moment before the exercise got under way.

    Pockets of violence were also recorded in Imo State, Oyo State, Ajegunle and Isolo both in Lagos.

    The Ajegunle violence claimed one life.

    Killed in Delta was Jeremiah Oghoveta ,who had declared his interest to lead the party in Jeremi 3, Ughelli South ward 10.

    He was knifed to death allegedly by one Tete in the heat of an argument over the hijack of electoral materials by a side involved in the process.

    The Nation gathered that Oghoveta had protested over the alleged hijack of the materials.

    But as he made to leave the scene after making his point, his assailant pounced on him, stabbing him on the neck

    Oghoveta died on the spot while the Tete fled.

    The Police Public Relations Officer of the Delta State Police Command, Andrew Aniamaka (DSP), confirmed the incident.

    He said investigation into the matter was in progress and the police were on the trail of the suspect.

    The APC leader in Delta State, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor,said the exercise was generally peaceful in other parts of the state.

    He said APC was poised to entrench the principle of internal democracy in order to have a stronger party that could take over the state in 2019.

    Leader of the party in Ovu ward, Ethiope East local government area, Chief Frank Kokori said the process went well.

    Kokori who said the party is waxing stronger in the state, explained that the congresses being held across the country is a preparation awaiting the main election coming up next year 2019.

    The process was also generally peaceful in Aniocha South Local Government Area was peaceful, although there were few wards where parallel congresses were held.

    Former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly and chieftain of the APC, Mr. Victor Ochei said the congress was conducted without rancour, and praised the adoption of the option A4 adopted for the exercise.

    Controversy trails APC congress in Imo

    The ward congress in Imo State yesterday was marred by violence and other skirmishes.

    Party faithful waited endlessly in their respective wards for the congress to commence.

    Supporters of the different stakeholders, especially governorship aspirants clashed.

    The state secretariat of the party where the Congress Committee was billed to address the party stakeholders before the commencement of the exercise   was vandalized by thugs who invaded the premises with dangerous weapons.

    Some of the party officials who were waiting at the secretariat, were beaten up by the rampaging hoodlums.

    The attack was preceded by the redeployment of the Congress Committee for the state to Anambra State.

    The APC National Organizing Secretary, Osita Izunaso, said the development was at the instance of the national secretariat of the party.

    He said: “There is no problem whatsoever, the only thing is that the national secretariat has directed the Imo Committee to go to Anambra and Anambra Committee to go to Imo and it is an internal matter of the party.

    “We are brothers and we don’t have any problem. The party can decide to do anything at any point in time so long as it is in the interest of the party.”

    The Secretary of the APC Convention Committee and Senator representing Imo North, Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu, alleged that Governor Rochas Okorocha had wanted to stop the congress from taking place

    “There is every attempt by the governor to stop the congress for fear of what will happen but we are going ahead to hold the primary,” Uwajumogu claimed.

    A fresh round of confusion broke out when it was discovered that sensitive materials meant for the congress were missing.

    Some of the party stakeholders loyal to the governor insisted that the congress would not continue without the sensitive materials.

    Angry party members stormed the house of the National Organizing secretary in search of the sensitive materials.

    Prior to that, the  Convention Committee members were whisked to the State Police Headquarters from the Government House on the directive of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr.  Chris Ezike.

    The congress eventually kicked off in the Wards across the state at about 3pm, while the Committee members and some of the major the stakeholders remained in the office of the Commissioner of Police up to press time.

    Hoodlums kill APC member in Ajegunle congress

    A man was yesterday killed during the ward congress of the APC at Ajegunle in Ifelodun Local Council Development Area.

    The victim, who was injured on the head, died on the way to the hospital.

    An eyewitness said he was attacked by thugs sponsored by a politician in the area.

    A video recording of the incident showed the victim lying on ground in a pool of blood.

    A man beckoned on the people around to take him to the hospital.

    Another man brought his Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) to assist the victim.

    The victim was carried into the vehicle, and he drove away.

    Violence at Isolo

    Similar confusion erupted at the ward in Isolo Local Council Development Area (LCDA).

    Some party members alleged that ballot materials were in circulation.

    Hoodlums, wielding guns, knives, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons, soon hijacked the exercise and descended on delegates many of whom were left injured.

    The party secretariat situated at Onawale Street, Isolo was vandalized by the hoodlums and congress officials chased out of the building.

     

  • Corps members escape death in Edo

    Scores of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) yesterday escaped death during a carnival celebration at the orientation camp at Okada in Ovia North East local government area.

    The roof of the lecture pavilion the corps members took shelter in during a heavy downpour collapsed on them.

    Witnesses said the incident shocked officials of NYSC who quickly mobilised for the rescue of the trapped victims.

    The witness said no death was recorded as all the trapped victims were rescued with bruises and injuries.

    Those with minor injuries were said to have been taken to the NYSC camp clinic while others were taken to the Igbinedon Teaching Hospital.

    An official of the NYSC who pleaded anonymity confirmed the incident and said all the victims were rescued.

     

  • Death stalks National Assembly

    The death of Senator Mustapha Bukar (Katsina North), five days after the passing of House of Representative member Umar Buba Jibril, has set tongues wagging. The senator’s demise brings the death toll in the Eighth National Assembly to nine in about three years, reports RAYMOND MORDI Deputy Political Editor.

    THE passing away of Senator Mustapha Bukar, the lawmaker representing Katsina North in the upper chamber of the National Assembly last Wednesday has stirred the conscience of the nation. Bukar’s death has drawn attention to the growing number of lawmakers dying suddenly and others “after a brief illness”. Senate President Bukola Saraki said he was saddened by the development. His words: “I am saddened to learn about the passing of another friend and colleague, Senator Mustapha Bukar. As a first-time Senator, Mustapha stood out for the quality of his contributions on the floor, his pragmatism and his work to strengthen the institution of the legislature.”

    Bukar was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Markets. Reports say he died in the early hours of the day at Nizamiye Hospital, Abuja. He was survived by two wives and and 12 children. The deceased was aged 63.

    The death of the lawmaker who represented President Muhammadu Buhari’s constituency in the upper house, otherwise known as the Red Chamber, brings the death toll in the Eighth National Assembly to nine in close to three years. It was felt because it came five days after the passing away of another lawmaker, Hon. Umar Buba Jibril, who represented Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Jibril passed away on Friday, March 30, 2018, after “a long protracted illness”. The 58-year old lawmaker was a three-time member of the House and a former Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly.

    Two weeks earlier, another lawmaker, Senator Ali Wakili, had died suddenly. Wakili who represented Bauchi South in the Senate was suspected to have died from heart attack. The 58-year old senator took part in the high-society wedding of Fatima Dangote, the daughter of Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, to former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar’s son, Jamil Abubakar on Friday March 16, 2018 in Kano.

    The next day, he was reported to have slumped at his Gwarimpa residence in Abuja, the nation’s capital. The 58-year-old lawmaker, until his death, was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation and a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He was also a retired controller of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    In all, four senators and five reps have died in this dispensation. Speaking while mourning the death of Senator Wakili, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, said: “It’s unfortunate that we have to do this time and time again, our prayer to God is that God should preserve all of us members of the National Assembly. I don’t think it’s ever happened like this before, where we’ve had to bury – to my quick recollection – about three senators and five members of the House of Representatives.”

    Five of the lawmakers who died during the period are in their 50s; four of them are above 60. Incidentally, none of them died from accidents, violence or disasters. All deaths were medically related; some coming after protracted illnesses, while others took place suddenly. The first death in the current National Assembly took place before it was inaugurated on June 9, 2015. That was the death of Ahmed Zanna, who had been re-elected to represent Borno Central in the Senate. But he died a month to inauguration.

    Zanna passed on after his re-election bid in April 2015, but did not live to witness his inauguration as a member of the Eighth National Assembly. The 59-year-old was said to have lost his battle to a terminal ailment. In 2012, Zana was linked to Boko Haram when a top leader of the sect, Shuaibu Mohammed Bama, was reportedly arrested in his house in Maiduguri.

    In February 15 last year, Hon. Bello Sani, who represented Mashi/Dvisi Federal Constituency, also passed away at the age of 51. Abubakar Adamu, an aide to the late lawmaker, said his principal had suffered protracted illness for several months leading to his death. He was a member of the APC.

    In April last year, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, who represented Osun West on the platform of the APC, equally died at the age of 62. Adeleke died on the morning of Sunday, April 23, 2017 at Biket Hospital in Osogbo, after suffering a heart attack, although there were controversies on the circumstances.

    Sen. Isiaka Adeleke had aspired to lead the people of Osun State in the next governorship election, which is scheduled for September 22, 2018. Little did he know that his dream will never be fulfilled. He died not long after he returned from a political outing.

    Adeleke’s death raised a loud controversy which led to riots in Ede, his hometown. Mr. Alfred Aderibigbe, a nurse, who was alleged to have administered an overdose of drugs on the late senator, denied the allegation before Coroner Inquest Panel, set up by the government, which was also suspected to have known something about his death.

    The death of Adeleke was eventually declared by Dr. Solaja Olufemi, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy examination on the late senator and who testified before the coroner inquest in Osogbo, to be linked to excessive dose of analgesics, sedatives and alcohol. Contrary to the claim of some people, who thought he was poisoned.

    The three-term senator and a former civilian governor of the state, was described by his colleagues as a calm, principled and responsible gentleman. He was eventually replaced by his younger brother, Ademola Adeleke, who contested on the platform of the PDP to win the senatorial bye-election.

    Three months after, Abdullahi Wammako, a member of the House of Representatives from Sokoto State, died at an Abuja hospital. He died on July 14, 2017, after a brief illness.

    A first term lawmaker, he represented Kware/Wammako Federal Constituency. He contested and won the 2015 parliamentary election under the platform of the APC.

    The 50-year-old deceased lawmaker was a younger brother to Aliyu Wammako, former governor of Sokoto State.

    In March 17, 2016, Hon. Musa Baba-Onwana, who represented Nasarawa/Toto Federal Constituency on the platform of the APC, passed away at the age of 50. The cause of his death was unknown.

    He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2011 and returned in 2015.

    Similarly, the member representing Ifako Ijaiye Federal Constituency, Mr. Elijah Adewale, popularly known as Jah, had also slumped and died at the early hours of Thursday, July 21, 2016 in his house in Abuja. Jah who was a member of the ruling APC was suspected to have died of heart attack.

    The 65-year-old lawmaker, who was reported to have attended the caucus meeting of the House of Representatives in the evening of the previous day, died very early on Thursday morning, the following day.

  • Court remands two for colleague’s death

    Two men,  Suleiman Kabiru and Shuaibu Gambo, are to spend the next 31 days behind bars for allegedly beating a colleague fatally, an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos ruled yesterday.

    The accused, Kabiru (30) and Gambo (20) are facing charges of conspiracy and murder.

    Magistrate O.A. Adegite, who gave the ruling, directed that the casefile be duplicated and a copy sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.

    Inspector Julius Babatope, said the accused committed the offences on February 27 at 10pm at Elewa Junction in Ikorodu in Lagos State.

    He said the duo pounced on Ibrahim Kabiru (28) and beat him to death with planks and iron rods.

    The alleged offences, he noted, violate Sections 224 and 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    The case was adjourned until May 10 for DPP’s advice.

  • Death for hate speech: one law too many

    Death for hate speech: one law too many

    In theory, there is nothing wrong with attempts to control hate speech, particularly after its definition has been clearly established.

    The fundamental human right, we should say, is the right to be treated with a certain attitude: an attitude that expresses the understanding that each person is a human being whose dignity matters. . . . Someone’s most basic human right, from which all other human rights flow, is his right to be treated by those in power in a way that is not inconsistent with their accepting that his life is of intrinsic importance and that he has a personal responsibility for realising value in his own life.—Ronald Dworkin in Principles for a New Political Debate: Is Democracy Possible Here?
    States Parties condemn all propaganda and all organisations which are based on ideas or theories of superiority of one race or group of persons of one colour or ethnic origin, or which attempt to justify or promote racial hatred and discrimination in any form, and undertake to adopt immediate and positive measures designed to eradicate all incitement to, or acts of, such discrimination and, to this end, with due regard to the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the rights expressly set forth in article 5 of this Convention.— International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

    The first part of the epigraph overleaf refers particularly to American political culture once studied by Ronald Dworkin. In many ways, the principles invoked in Dworkin’s book apply to the practice of democracy universally, and more directly, to the reading of a new bill in the Nigerian legislature to enact a law that, among other things, sets out to punish Hate Speech with death by hanging. The second one is the first part of Article 5 of International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which specifically addresses the danger for harmony in countries and across the world of all manners of discrimination and the need for signatories to protect the rights of all citizens from assaults verbal and physical on account of race, national origin, ethnicity, religion, etc.

    In the past few days, the Nigerian Senate has been considering a bill to address what the sponsor sees as the danger of Hate Speech, which is viewed as a form of discrimination against a person or group. In the few days of the life of the bill, now in its second reading, many patriotic democrats and citizens have already registered strong opposition to any law that sets out to derogate from the most basic of citizens’ rights in the country: the freedom of speech and expression. The interest of today’s column is, in imitation of Dworkin, to raise issues with the level of political discourse, especially among people voted to make laws for the country and the level of understanding of the spirit of the constitution by such lawmakers, namely, that laws will not be made that are in consistent with the provisions of the constitution, especially Fundamental Rights: to life, dignity of human person, to personal liberty, to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, to freedom of expression and the press, and restriction on and derogation from fundamental rights (Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution).

    The latest news from the Nigerian Senate is a bill sponsored by Sabi Abdullahi (Niger-APC).  The bill seeks the establishment of an Independent National Commission for Hate Speeches to enforce hate speech laws across the country and ensure the elimination of hate speech. The bill proposes that, “A person who uses, publishes, presents, produces, plays, provides, distributes and/or directs the performance of any material, written and/or visual, which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour” commits an offence for which punishment will range from five years imprisonment to death by hanging for those whose hate speeches lead to the death of another person or a group of persons.  The sponsor of the bill goes further on why the bill is needed: “In the past couple of years in this country, hate speech is driven by many variables; the issue of religion and ethnicity and because of that, a lot of lives have been lost. They question I want to ask is why.”

    In theory, there is nothing wrong with attempts to control hate speech, particularly after its definition has been clearly established. Without such definition, hate speech may become too nebulous to be proved. For example, many farmers in the last few years of incessant attacks from Fulani herdsmen—be they from Nigeria, Niger, Mali, or Chad—have overtly referred to their molesters as Fulani herdsmen. Many Nigerians have complained that such classification is ‘hate speech.’ Even though all law-enforcement agencies have not confirmed that such herdsmen are not Fulani. Such absence of another identity for the herdsmen throws up the need for a much clearer definition than what is before senators. From Senator Abdullahi’s emphasis on religion, religious comments by Muslim clerics and Christian clergy that ridicule and demonize African traditional religion is likely to be a matter for litigation. Such words as Kafir or Keferi or Aborisa will become an example of hate speech.

    Many countries: UK, USA, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, South Africa, etc., have addressed in their laws the concept and practice of hate speech through their penal codes. I am not sure that existing laws against libel, defamation of character, slander, sedition, cannot take care of what the proposed bill calls hate speech. If it does, then Nigeria needs to learn from the African-American saying: “If ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But if the sponsor and his supporters believe that none of the existing laws in the penal and criminal codes is good enough, then senators need to do what other countries do: do ample research on the spread of hate speech in the country and consult fully with their constituents before rushing to create a law that may become either an albatross or the opening of a Pandora’s box.

    Many commenters have drawn attention to the deployment of the Nigeria Factor in the bill under consideration in the senate. For example, citizens are worried that the bill may be become a mechanism or excuse for political repression or silencing of political dissent. The country has a robust law in respect of all manners of homicide—manslaughter, murder, etc. Citizens are worried why such laws cannot be used to take care of people who talk other individuals or groups of persons to death, directly or indirectly.

    More concerning is the creation of an Independent National Commission for Hate Speeches. While the punishment of persons accused of hate speech falls into the jurisdiction of the judiciary, creating a special bureaucracy that will also put detection and punishment of hate speech within the control of the executive branch of government creates fears for members of political parties that are in competition with the ruling party at any time. Of the many countries that have created laws against hate speech, it is hard to find anyone that establishes a commission that may compete with the judiciary on such a sensitive matter. If citizens are already complaining about politicisation of the EFCC, it is not surprising that citizens and groups are already expressing doubts about politicisation of the proposed anti-Hate Speech Commission.

    As some lawyers have argued, the Hate Speech bill currently in the Senate has the capacity to derogate from a constitutionally guaranteed Fundamental Right, the freedom of speech and of the press. Despite the recurrent proviso in the 1999 Constitution: “Nothing in this section (Fundamental Human Rights) shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society,” there is an urgent need for proponents of Independent National Commission  for Hate Speeches to establish that the law as constructed fits into the category of laws in a democratic society, i.e. it does not derogate from citizens’ fundamental human rights. To assist the senators, citizens in their constituencies do not need to wait for them on such important matters. Constituents should go to senators to exchange ideas on what bills they consider democratic or not, before they are passed.