The Nation Newspaper

Tag: fighting

  • Fighting Zamfara’s banditry

    Sir: Over the past few weeks, Nigeria’s long ignored crisis, the armed banditry in Zamfara took centre stage. The series of relentless mass killings and abductions finally led to national outrage and calls for more concrete action on the side of the government in protecting the lives and property of its citizens.

    Since 2014, the once peaceful agrarian Zamfara has been the epicentre of bandit attacks, leaving thousands of people killed and tens of thousands displaced. Despite the constants killings, kidnappings and cattle rustling witnessed by innocent villagers in the state and other neighbouring ones including Katsina, Kaduna, and Sokoto, the conflict in the words of veteran journalist Kadaria Ahmed, has been “underreported as the victims live on the fringes of national consciousness: they are poor, rural folk, who eke out a living as farmers and herdsmen in an area geographically removed from the centre of governance”.

    In its early days, criminal gangs hiding in thickly forested areas raid villages to steal cows and other valuables. Then it evolved into a well-organized lucrative business in which the bandits attack villages usually on motorbikes to kill defenceless residents, steal livestock, rape women and young girls, kidnap for ransom, and destroy people’s houses and belongings. Sometimes the bandits even give prior warnings, asking villagers to pay protection money, before they attack. While at other times, they take control of villages and enforce taxes on the communities living. Those unable to pay are either killed or prevented from going to their farms.

    From Birnin Magaji, Anka, Shinkafi, and Maru Local Government Areas of Zamfara State to Kankara LGA in Katsina State, these bloodthirsty demons leave their typical trademark of sorrow, tears and blood wherever they visit with their carnage. Like Sambisa before, the Kamuku and Kuyanbana forests – that straddle Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Zamfara and Kebbi states – have now become ones that also kill and destroy.

    Before the recent intensification of military operations in the northwest, it is said that 60 percent of Zamfara was at the mercy of these remorseless killers and other lawless forces. Traders were afraid to go to the market dreading what might happen to them, with the least being robbed or kidnapped. This has had a huge impact on the state’s already struggling economy. And again, the farming sector, the main economic fulcrum in Zamfara; a state whose motto is “Farming is our Pride” has been affected significantly too. Farmers hardly go to their farms today out of fear of getting killed or kidnapped. This has resulted in reported food scarcity.

    The sad stories of successful farmers and herders losing their entire farmlands and herd are rampant. In reality, these dreaded gangs have destroyed livelihoods – and in practice; they’ve turned millionaires into beggars overnight, wives into widows, countless kids into orphans, entire villagers into internally displaced persons and more inhumanely, young girls into sex slaves.

    Many experts blamed bad governance for the state’s problems. Decades of government mismanagement has led to high rates of unemployment, a largely uneducated and idle youth population prone to drug use and a “general malaise and hopelessness which is fuelling conflict and crime”. This writer believes that both the Zamfara State government, led by Abdulaziz Yari – a governor that spends most of his time in Abuja and abroad – and the federal government have failed the people of Zamfara.

    With mostly inaccurate, blurry and largely contradictory information coming out of the affected zones, we’ve to understand as a matter of fact that; reliance on only Operations Sharan Daji, Diran Mikiya, Harbin Kunama III and Puff Adder won’t bring about an ever-lasting peace to the affected areas in Zamfara and other neighbouring states. This is because, ad hoc security operations will only succeed in treating the symptoms of the conflicts without resolving them. However, determining the root causes of the problems and their proper diagnosis will be the step forward in finding a long-term solution to the banditry terror ravaging the northwest.

    If we truly want to tackle the bandits’ menace anytime soon, it is high time we stop the ongoing blame games and begin to look for answers to critical questions like: who are these bandits? What do they want? Why are they doing all these heinous activities? Where do they get their weapons from? Who are their sponsors, collaborators, and informers? To whom and where do they sell their stolen loot?

     

    • Labaran Yusuf,

    Jos, Plateau State.S

  • Fighting the Boko Haram scourge

    IR: It is a public knowledge that Boko Haram is perhaps one, if not the most disturbing security issue facing Nigeria at the moment. On daily basis, media reports on wanton carnage orchestrated by the sect members, who have become death merchants, abound.

    North-eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, are the worst hit in terms of the staggering level of havoc visited by the heinous activities of the insurgents.

    Notable Nigerians, had in the past, escaped death by whiskers. This is after suicide-bombers made daring attempts to annihilate them. The late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, had Almighty Allah to thank after he miraculously escaped an assassination attack, in 2013; days after commemorating his 50th anniversary on throne as Kano’s paramount monarch.

    The city of Kano, in the previous administration, eternally became engulfed in trepidation as young girls who were brainwashed, executed deadly bombing missions, mostly on congregation of Friday prayer worshippers.

    It would be recalled that on January 20, 2012, there were coordinated bomb attacks in Kano metropolis.

    Back then, sources claimed that the death toll rose above 185, saying that 150 civilians and over 32 police officers, were gruesomely killed during the multiple death ‘festivals’ organized by agents of the Boko Haram.

    Internally Displaced Persons or simply IDPs, is another lexicon that has crept into our polity, no thanks to the Boko Haram. Aged women, young ladies, nursing mothers and vulnerable children have become refugees in their fatherland, with no hope for a better, sustainable and guaranteed future.

    As IDPs who have lost everything of their worldly possessions, they are forced to relocate to ramshackle tents and dilapidated school buildings, to begin a new life of misery, anguish, hopelessness, wretchedness, squalor and haplessness. To worsen their terrifying plights, relief materials donated by foreign and national emergency organisations, are brazenly and shamelessly diverted into private pockets by some government officials.

    Boko Haram’s mass abduction of over 270 girls from Government Girls Secondary School in Borno on 14 April, 2014, right after the bomb explosion that rocked the Nyanya Motor Park in Nasarawa State, was the one that generated the most intense global outrage.

    The unsavoury tales of the insurgents’ genocidal ‘war’ should be enough at this critical juncture. Nigerians, are worriedly concerned, hence they are asking the government to expedite action in taming Boko Haram, which has become a Frankenstein monster.

    To this end, the need to overhaul the nation’s security architecture and enhance the level of intelligence gathering by various security agencies cannot be overemphasized. But even more germane will be that troops at the theatre of war in the Northeast be adequately motivated. They can only be able to crush their menacing insurgent-foes, once and for all, if they are equipped with advanced and state of the art modern weaponry. Otherwise, winning the insurgency battle in Nigeria will remain a mission impossible.

     

    • Abdulhameed Yushau, Bayero University Kano (BUK)

  • Senator berated for ‘fighting’ Okorocha

    The Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Acho Ihim, has berated Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu (Imo North) for fighting Governor Rochas Okorocha.

    Ihim described Uwajumogu as “an ungrateful politician who chose to bite the finger that fed him”.

    According to him, Uwajumogu should be grateful and loyal to the governor for contributing to his emergence as a senator, instead of repaying him in a “bad coin” by working at cross purposes with the ideals of the Rescue Mission administration.

    Ihim, who addressed reporters in his office, said: “In 2011, we were all elected into the House of Assembly and by the grace of God, and the governor’s influence, Uwajumogu became the Speaker, though he was not a ranking member. The rules were relaxed for him because of the governor.

    “When he rounded up his tenure, Uwajumogu ran for the Senate but lost, we all went back to the trenches and ensured that he won during the rerun. The governor put in all he had and Uwajumogu finally emerged as a Senator. But shortly after that, what did we see; he became the enemy of that same family that made him.

    “He ostracised the people that put him into power. Today, he now sees himself as someone that made himself from nowhere. He now sees the governor and the entire family as people not wise enough. He should come back to the family where he truly belongs. He should not be an ingrate.

    “Without Okorocha he won’t be where he is today. Several years he contested but never won, and the first time he came to the House of Assembly, he was made the Speaker because of the governor’s efforts. It is too bad for him to start vilifying the man that made him, it is not proper, he should return and beg for forgiveness and I know that the governor will forgive him. I felt it is high time I spoke out and call a spade a spade.”

  • Buhari: I’ve not relented in fighting corruption

    Buhari: I’ve not relented in fighting corruption

    PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said his administration had not relented in fighting corruption in the last two and half years.

    Apart from the statements former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, some Nigerians have also alleged that the President’s anti-graft battle is selective.

    But, in a keynote address at the first Adamawa State Anti-corruption Summit in Yola, the state capital, the President said it was very encouraging that a state government has on its own ventured into the subject matter of corruption fight.

    He said: “You may recall that on 29th May 2015, when I stated that we are faced with enormous challenges in this Country, with insecurity and institutionalised pervasive corruption being key and that my confidence remained high that together we will tackle them head on.

    “As I had predicted, today I am proud to note that we have not relented in our determination to fight corruption.  We are fixing our problems together.

    “Even though under our system, the Federal Government cannot directly interfere in the details of the operations of states, but to see that the gross corruption at the local level is being checked and transparently reported is a thing of satisfaction and joy for me.”

    He said the administration would ensure that there is more responsible and accountable governance at all levels in the country.

    The President said: “I note with satisfaction the logical steps taken by Adamawa State government in the last two and a half years to demonstrate that transparency, fiscal responsibility, accountability and timely delivery of strategic goods and services to develop the state and enhance the confidence of its people is a viable template to fighting corruption.

    “Team work, the cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature, the respect and compliance with fiscal and procurement laws, the institutional reforms to improved efficiency, the drive to achieve value for money, as demonstrated by this administration, are worthy of note.

    “I recommend to other states this model along with all other winning approaches to enhance the progress and development of our nation.

    “The projects and progress I have seen in Yola along with the reports and presentations made here have given me encouragement on the future of the state.  I hope this momentum will be sustained.

    “To the government of Adamawa State, I say “well done and keep it up”.  To the people of Adamawa State, I congratulate you all on supporting the Government and encourage you to continue to give your maximum support to the state government in its drive for a much better future.”

    During his visit to the Lamido of Adamawa, the traditional rulers urged the Federal Government to convert the Moddibo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH) to a conventional university.

    Emir Mustafa said the scrapping of management and other conventional courses in the university had affected admission of indigenes interested in studying at the varsity.

    He urged the President to consider the educationally advantaged status of the state and either re-visit the policy or convert the university to a conventional one.

    Mustafa further said that the conversion of the university would lead to the upgrade of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yola, to a teaching hospital in order to address the enormous medical challenges in the state.

    The monarch also appealed to the Federal Government to re-visit the Chouchi Irrigation project which was abandoned by previous administrations given the importance of the dam in enhancing dry season farming.

    The President promised to re-visit the Irrigation project for the purpose of improving agricultural production.

    He also assured the Lamido that he would look into other demands while urging the people of the state to live in peace with one another.

  • Fighting the fire

    Fixing the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a task that must be done to keep the party in power. It is reassuring that President Muhammadu Buhari has come to appreciate the need for party unity as the party prepares for the 2019 general election. Hopefully, it is not too late to heal the party’s self-inflicted wounds.

    It is interesting that Buhari has given the job of mending the collapsing party to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the political giant who played a pivotal role in the formation of the APC, leading to the party’s historic electoral victory in 2015. Against all odds, Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, inspired the party to defeat the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    When the presidency named Tinubu for the job on February 6, it was food for thought. Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said in a thought-provoking statement: “As part of on-going efforts to improve cohesion within the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari has designated Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lead the consultation, reconciliation and confidence building efforts. The assignment will involve resolving disagreements among party members, party leadership and political office holders in some states of the Federation.”

    Showing why Buhari chose Tinubu for the assignment, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said in an interview: “Any effort to reconcile and put the party together is a welcome development because there is a lot of work to be done. It requires someone with experience and political skills to do well in that aspect. So, it is a welcome development and we want to commend Mr President for giving that a priority and for finding Asiwaju Tinubu worthy of that assignment. We also commend Asiwaju Tinubu for agreeing to accept the role for the betterment of our great party. We believe our party will come out stronger and united after the reconciliation process.”

    It is unclear how Tinubu will approach the assignment, but there is no question that he will bring his passion and conviction to the task. It is noteworthy that Tinubu spoke about how the APC was formed at the October 2016 launch of a controversial book by Prof. John Paden entitled Muhammadu Buhari – The Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria.

    Tinubu had said at the book launch at the International Conference Centre in Abuja:   “The formation of the All Progressives Congress, APC, is an important event that the book addresses. The merger was the result of teamwork, belief in the democratic will of the people and a commitment to national purpose…So many people made contributions that made the historic merger possible. It would be impossible to give each person the accolades they deserve in a concise work such as this one. However, it is an account that we must begin to chronicle fully, and with care, for it is the story of when reform came to the land.”

    Things have happened since Buhari became president nearly three years ago, and the story has changed from optimism to pessimism. A picture of promised change that has turned ugly was painted in an address read by Dr. Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, the Archbishop of Jos and Conference President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), when concerned Catholic priests visited Buhari on February 8.

    Kaigama said: “We thank you for granting us this audience, which affords us the opportunity to share with you, once again, our thoughts and concerns on some issues affecting our dear country, Nigeria…There is no doubt that when you came into office, you had an enormous amount of the goodwill of Nigerians, since many saw you as a person of integrity who would be able to bring sanity into a system that was nearly crippled by endemic corruption.”

    Then he delivered a blunt criticism:  “Nearly three years later, however, one has the feeling that this goodwill is being fast depleted by some glaring failures of government which we have the moral responsibility to bring to your notice. Else, we would be failing in our duty as spiritual fathers and leaders.”

    Only Buhari loyalists will disagree with the Bishops’ observations. Indeed, it is this observed depletion of goodwill that Tinubu’s mediation is expected to address. Ironically, the mediator will need goodwill to succeed. The party is divided in no fewer than 10 states, including Ondo, Ogun, Kaduna, Bauchi, Kogi, Oyo, Ekiti, Zamfara, Rivers and Delta. According to a report, “The division is visible with notable actors, such as governors, senators and ministers, playing significant roles.”

    This assignment will test Tinubu’s political stature and stretch his political elasticity. It is interesting that Buhari believes Tinubu can renew the party, considering that he has been on the receiving end of bad politics within the party.

    Party member in the South-South Barrister Frank Okon was quoted as saying: “How can you ask the number-one aggrieved member to lead reconciliation? The National Leader is the most aggrieved person in the party today. Who will reconcile Tinubu with the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun? Are you not aware that Tinubu himself is aggrieved? He also needs to be pacified, especially in his grievance against the President.”

    Another party member in Adamawa, Alhaji Yinusa Inuwa, was also quoted as saying:  “Tinubu has issues with many people in the party, especially those who went against him during the elections under the leadership of the National Assembly. He is fighting the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and many senators who supported Saraki. He is also fighting Yakubu Dogara and Governor Aminu Tambuwal over the speakership. Who will reconcile him with those lawmakers? Is he going to reconcile himself with them?”

    It is in the greater interest of the party to achieve party unity. By picking Tinubu to do the job, Buhari has demonstrated that he knows who is who in the party when it comes to resolving the internal crisis that may consume the party. But how did the party get into this crisis in the first place?

    Tinubu deserves commendation for staying on course, despite provocations. Those who caused the fire need to be told that they may not always get a firefighter.

  • Fighting the mirror

    If you look into the mirror and see dirt on your face, you clean your face and leave the mirror alone. Even, if you choose to ignore the dirt on your face, as revealed by the mirror, you still do not bother the mirror. For in revealing the smear on your face, the mirror only did its work. To pick quarrel with the mirror for showing dirt on your face and to proceed to break it will smack of lunacy. In politics and public life, the opposition and critics are our mirrors. Like the mirror, they reveal to us things about ourselves that we may never get to know on our own. In doing so, they are doing their jobs, which are of immeasurable importance to the public good. To persecute the opposition and critics is tantamount to fighting and breaking the mirror.

    In his book, “Remembering America”, a onetime aide to President John F. Kennedy, Richard Goodwin, wrote that straight out of law school, he worked for a Supreme Court judge, Felix Frankfurter. Frequently, Frankfurter told him about his opinions on the different legal issues he debated with the other judges of the Supreme Court. And, for the most part, he agreed with Frankfurter’s positions on the legal debates. Frankfurter demurred, saying, “I did not get one of the best graduating students of the Harvard Law School to agree with me on every issue. I want you to disagree with me. I want you to argue with me”.

    Frankfurter was one of the greatest legal minds of the 20th Century and, like most great minds, he appreciated the immense good a mirror – criticism or dissenting view – does for a man. For his own good, he needed to see his reflection through the fecundate mind of a distinctly brilliant and youthfully idealistic, fresh law school graduate. Mahatma Gandhi made a similar point when he wrote; “Through such dialogues, systems of knowledge are both challenged and enriched”. Dialogues come from contending views and systems of knowledge include ideas, beliefs, institutions, etc.

    The most successful countries of the world are the Western democracies, where respect and tolerance for divergent views make possible the continuous challenging and enriching of human ideas, ideals and standards. On the other hand, history has furnished the instructive precedence that those that fight the mirror tend to always bring trouble on themselves and their peoples. One of the most barbaric fighters of the mirror in history was Adolf Hitler. He was in Warsaw to celebrate a military victory. On that day at Warsaw, he ranted and raved, as he trumpeted his achievements. At a point he bellowed, “I am indispensable. I will therefore tolerate no opposition. I will therefore spare no effort in liquidating any opposition”. He was indispensable, and will therefore tolerate no mirror, and will therefore fight the mirror and break it. Less than six years after his Warsaw swash, millions of Germans lay dead, the whole Germany laid in ruins and Hitler took his own life.

    With military intrusion into Nigerian politics, a prodigy – a sensation with a streak of oddity – emerged at Enugu. The Oxford educated son of a multi-million personified the Igbo’s concept of success – knowledge and wealth – but paradoxically, was a soldier, a profession that, as of then, commanded little respect amongst the Igbo. He was reputedly a dashing, sybaritic playboy but the aura about him revealed nothing self-indulgent or frolicsome. He looked subdued, solemn, and even melancholic. His melancholic bearded face made him look as though he was sorrowing, may be sorrowing for the recent death of his father and the thousands of Igbo and the other peoples of Eastern Nigeria mass-murdered in northern Nigeria. The canard that trailed him was that of a swank, arrogant narcissist but his calm demeanour, reflective mien, and two arms clasped behind the back, gave him the look of a broody, selfless crusader acutely conscious of the enormous responsibility thrust upon him by the unfurling political events of the time.

    With his words hesitant and his cadence measured, he was seemingly reticent but could soar into electrifying oratory. His spellbinding oratory inspired his people to sacrifice, selflessness and self-reliance. They built air strips and refineries (and refined their own petrol), and manufactured their own guns, rockets, bombs and land mines. His intoxicating blend of centrifugal nationalism and determined optimism got them believing they could achieve extraordinary, if not, impossible feats. They believed that their ill-fed, ill-clad and ill-equipped army could traverse 300 miles of tortuous and treacherous terrains and capture Lagos. Although outgunned, cornered, and ravaged by hunger, they still believed that their victory over Nigeria was not only possible but imminent.

    Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was a great leader but he had a serious problem: he fought the mirror. He suppressed alternate, opposing and dissenting views. He refused to see himself and his stance reflected through the circumspect minds of the elderly, knowledgeable and experienced. He discouraged his father’s visits to the State House because his father had alternate views, he counseled restraint. He punished and discredited the Igbo political elite, most notably, Nnamdi Azikiwe, because they opposed or criticized his positions and methods. And like those that fought the mirror, he got himself and his people into trouble. Finally, Ojukwu scampered into exile, while, the erstwhile Biafra land, overwhelmed by death, devastation, pains and sorrow, laid powerless and helpless at the mercy of Yakubu Gowon.

    The secessionist activist, Nnamdi Kanu, enjoys the fantasy that he is the Chukwuemeka Ojukwu of our time. Unfortunately for him, he lacks the essentials of Ojukwu: knowledge, powerful ego, oratorical grace and riveting presence. But, terrifyingly, like Ojukwu, he fights the mirror. He tolerates no criticism and countenances no opposing view. He is heedless of the advice, and ridicules the views, of Igbo traditional and political leaders. He insults Igbo kings, disrespects Igbo governors and threatens fire and brimstone on anyone that disagrees with his objectives and methods. Like those that fight the mirror, Kanu seems headed for trouble. My prayer is that he does not bring death, pains and sorrow to the Igbo in the process.

     

    • Ezukanma writes from Lagos.
  • We’ll keep fighting Fed Govt to invest in education, says ASUU boss

    We’ll keep fighting Fed Govt to invest in education, says ASUU boss

    CHAIRMAN of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UNIBADAN) Dr. Deji Omole has declared that the union will keep fighting to force the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibilities of investing in education.

    He added that it is only the implementation of the agreement reached with the union by the government that will end the strike.

    His position came yesterday as the strike enters its third week.

    Omole spoke while featuring on a television programme, BCOS AM120, monitored in Ibadan.

    He said what was happening in the country’s universities was a mockery of global standards of university education.

    The union asked Federal Government to use public funds to fund public education.

    The ASUU boss, who noted that the union was not running away from negotiation, stated that the issue in connection was about implementation and not negotiation as being peddled by the Minister of Labour Chris Ngige.

    Omole said it was sad that successive government, including the incumbent failed to realise that funding education is an investment, which can bring about enduring positive change.

    Saying that ASUU was not making new demands but seeking implementation of the 2009 agreement and 2013 Memorandum of Understanding, Omole said only properly groomed students with global curricula and standard infrastructure can bring the needed change.

    “When you reached agreement you must implement it. They just finished Ileya festival and why are we celebrating? It was because someone promised to sacrifice his son to God. When he decided to fulfill it, God replaced that with ram and that is why we are celebrating. Jesus Christ also promised to come and die for the sin of the world and he came and fulfill that promise and that is why you still have people who believe in his second coming.

    “Why will government not fulfill their promises contained in signed agreements? That is what brings crisis. Government should see education as investment.”

  • Why Bello is fighting me, by Melaye

    Why Bello is fighting me, by Melaye

    Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) has said Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello is fighting him because he is requesting him to do the needful in the state.

    Melaye spoke in Ughelli, Ughelli North council of Delta State, during an empowerment exercise organised by the lawmaker representing Ughelli North, South and Udu Federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Solomon Awhinawhi.

    He described Bello’s anger towards him as “baseless”.

    Melaye said: “I am not just a Senator, l also ensure that in anything I do, justice prevail. Because I asked Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, to pay workers’ salaries, pensioners, open higher institution of learning shut for five months, and see to the demands of doctors, I have done wrong.

    “I also requested him to give the people dividends of democracy, and that is the only reason he is fighting me. Well, he is not fighting me, but God because what I am fighting for is just and true. And in an unjust society, silence is a crime.

    “Empowerment is not just a natural, but a spiritual thing, because the Holy Book says once you have done this to your people, you have done it to God. The empowerment you have done is a celestial thing on earth, and there are always abundant blessings that follow it.”

    The senator, who lauded Awhinawhi for his effort, said there are two sets of politicians – those who practice democracy of dividends, which is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people – where Awhinawhi belongs to; and the second are those who practice democracy of greed, which could also be described as a government of greed, by the greedy and for the greedy.

  • Court dissolves 3-year-old marriage over frequent fighting

    An Ado-Ekiti Customary Court on Friday dissolved the three-year-old marriage between Mr Mayowa Ogunrinde and his wife, Busayo, over frequent fighting and disrespect for in-laws.
    The petitioner, Ogunrinde, 35, a civil servant, also told the court that his wife has no respect for him.

    “ Most of the time, I do all the domestic chores while my wife will always watch me.’’

    The petitioner told the court that the respondent was fond of slapping him whenever there was a misunderstanding between both of them.

    He claimed that though he fulfilled all his financial responsibilities as a husband, he always went hungry, as his wife would never fulfill her duties in the kitchen.

    The petitioner pleaded with the court to grant his application for dissolution of his 3-year-old marriage to Busayo, to enable him enjoy peace of mind.

    He prayed the court to award the custody of their daughter to Busayo, but with a clause that he would take custody once she turned six years.

    One of the petitioner’s witnesses, Mrs Mary Oluyemi, 60, told the court that she, on several occasions tried to settle the dispute between the petitioner and the respondent without any success.

    Busayo, severally served with court summons was absent in court.

    President of the court, Mr Joseph Ogunsemi, after listening to the petitioner and his witnesses, said that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and consequently dissolved the marriage.

    ‎He awarded the custody of the only child of the marriage to the respondent for proper care until the child turns six years.

    Ogunsemi also ordered the petitioner to be paying N2,000 as monthly feeding allowance of the child‎ through the court’s registrar, effective from May,2017 for onward delivery to the respondent.

    He ruled that the petitioner would be responsible for the education of the child at all levels, besides medical bills.

    The president granted the petitioner unrestricted ‎access to the child‎.

  • Man remanded in prison for assaulting police officer, court clerk

    An Ilorin Magistrate’s Court in Kwara on Monday remanded a man, Ogbechukwu Ogbe,  in prison for allegedly slapping a police officer, Sgt. Adisa Akinjide, and a court clerk, Ishola Rotimi, during court proceedings.

    The Prosecutor, Abegunde Elijas, said that the accused was disturbing the court during proceedings when he was cautioned not to make noise, but he bluntly refused.

    Elijas said that in the process, he was asked to move out of the court, but he refused and started fighting the police and the court clerk.

    He alleged that the accused tore the policeman’s uniform and threatened to deal with both of them.

    The prosecutor said that the accused was standing trial on a four-count charge of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty, interruption of judicial proceeding and intimidation.

    He said the offences contravened Sections 267, 155 and 396 of the Penal Code.

    Magistrate Babatunde Immam ordered that the accused be remanded at Okekura Prison in Ilorin.

    He adjourned the case till March 27 for further mention.

    NAN