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Tag: grave

  • BIM-MASSOB chieftain digs own grave in Imo 

    BIM-MASSOB chieftain digs own grave in Imo 

    The rising insecurity in the Southeast has forced the Senior Special Assistant to Biafra Independence Movement (BIM) on Media and Publicity, Mazi Chris Mocha, to dig his grave at Okwe community in Imo State.

    He said in a statement  yesterday that the tomb  was  a place he wished that after his death following active service, he would like to be buried there.

    The BIM/MASSOB chieftain, who decried the incessant arrests and secret killings of members of his organisation by security agencies, said nobody knew when death would come calling.

    Read Also: Rivers crisis: loyalists blast Rep member for attacking Wike

    Mocha said: “The repeated onslaughts by the security agencies have, on many occasions, resulted in casualties on the part of members of our group, not knowing who will be the next victim of death.”

    He said he had consequently dug his grave in advance at a cemetery at Umunamu village, Okwe, in Onuimo Local Government of Imo State.

  • Scandals from the grave

    Scandals from the grave

    Sir: The readily reminds increasingly poor Nigerians of their past, but especially of the relentless avarice of those who have led them at different times.

    After more than two decades, France has returned about $150 million stolen by late dictator Sani Abacha to Nigeria. Catherine Colonna, France Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, disclosed this in Abuja when she visited President Bola Tinubu.

    Is it not astounding that some of the loot was in France too? Previous ones were discovered in Switzerland, the UK, Jersey, Liechtenstein, and a handful of other countries. Where else did the late dictator stash away money he stole from Nigeria?

    It is difficult to pinpoint exactly at what point Nigeria started to drift south. But there is something resembling a consensus that a country that showed prodigious promise at independence in 1960 started to retrogress when the military began to intervene in government. The coup of 1966 was particularly jarring because it opened the floodgates of military intervention in Nigeria, casting the country backwards, and driving its institutions to distraction.

    Between 1966 and 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy, the military had spent about 28 years in office. The recent military coups in neighbouring countries of Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Gabon sought to present the military as saviours of their country. While history holds that military interventions have proven salubrious for some countries, this has been exceptionally rare.

    Nigeria, the fallen giant of Africa, has had nothing good to recount or recall about the khaki-clad men who have held the reins of power in the country. Many of them have been little more than thieves and plunderers whose avaricious interests lay in the Nigerian treasury and the weakening of Nigerian institutions.

    But, somehow, in a country that saw iron-fisted despots like Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari enjoy unconstitutional incursions into government, Abacha takes the cake. The outrageous amounts of money that he stole and stashed away in Nigerian banks continue to be recovered and will continue to be recovered because the truth is that no one is really sure how much he put away and where he put them away. 

    Read Also: The unending saga of Abacha loot recoveries

    That the brutal dictator whose regime was steeped in blood continues to enjoy cult followership across sections of Nigerians speaks to the deadened consciences many carry about.

    Some of those who helped Abacha steal and stash away money have gone on to occupy high-profile offices in the country since his providential demise in 1998.

    Corruption in Nigeria has a long and painful history. If Nigerians are ever to point to one source of their multifaceted problems, it will be at what has proven a hydra headed monster.

    One thing that makes stealing public funds in Nigeria so relentless is that it is so rewarding. Those who do it only ever get a slap on the wrist if they do. They use stolen public funds to buy elections, buy court judgments, evade law enforcement and have at their leash irredeemable criminals who will do their bidding in a country where the law packs a lot of puff but little punch.

    The Abacha loot saga has continued to shame generations of Nigerians. The earlier Nigeria recovers all of it and plugs all the holes that enable the wanton stealing of public funds, the earlier the country will begin to recover from years of theft and plunder.

    Until then, the fact that many Nigerians believe that the Abacha loot returned to the country is destined only for another round of stealing speaks to a country where corruption is a virtue.

    • Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com
  • Grave distraction

    Grave distraction

    At a most crucial juncture, critical segments of the Nigerian elite lapse into grave — if not fatal — distraction.  They may yet live to rue a lost opportunity.

    More and more, embattled President Muhammadu Buhari looks like Eman, that tragic hero of Wole Soyinka’s play, The Strong Breed.

    Eman gave his all, to an unconscionable, insensitive, soulless and unappreciative community, just as his grander and more famous parallel, the Christ Jesus, died, so the rest of humanity — at least according to Christian tenets — might live.

    The more the president pines, the more he is scorned, if not by the quiet majority, then by a noise-some, virulent ensemble; most garrulous among whom are unfazed past wreckers, locating their own redemption in Buhari’s destruction. Yet, Buhari is nary the enemy.

    But this din is the exact opposite of the Jesus-Eman paradigm: the rest must perish for them, these noxious few, to live and thrive!

    As if bewitched, critical stakeholders of the Nigerian realm have joined this self-destruct crusade.

    In booming business are ethnic entrepreneurs, with their impassioned Fulani roasting; tribal pigeon-holing and ethnic scapegoating, their golden but empty panacea to rural banditry (read “Fulani herdsmen”), with its wanton waste of life.

    Churches live in scandalous denial of the tough economic rebuilding, play politics of the belly with their congregants’ plight and worship on the altar of cheap populism.

    Yet, that denial negates their core doctrine: purgatory before salvation — that tough path to spiritual renewal.  If you don’t purge yourself of old vices, how do you appreciate the new grace?

    A section of the media, smug, severe, all-wise and all-knowing, point fingers, lecture and hector: a very few from the position of condescending knowledge; a good many from self-yoked but badly disguised bigotry; and many, many more, just echoing the din, like some Roman plebs baying for blood, but never bothering to ask why!

    Among the commentariat, an anarchist’s manifesto would appear writ large!

    Why, even the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) appears deaf, dumb and blind to its historic mission.

    In what seems a grim revision of the resurrection order, its in-house Judases, sold to the inevitable triumph of evil over good, crow on the ascendancy; while its salvation crew, that bodes well for the country, are quiet, subdued and brow-beaten.

    Yet, this country may well sink, if the current salvage mission fails.

    The former ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? Those suffer a power plague.   Should PDP have a sole survivor, (s)he would holler: “power! power!! power!!! till (s)he gives up the ghost. On power for power’s sake, the PDP is well and truly lost!

    In this confusion of loud nothingness, even an arid youth-old age dichotomy rages.  With no penetrating insight, talk less of solution, banal scapegoating and maligning of old age rule the roost.

    Enter some mythical “youth”, serving selves as some future deus-ex-machina, to magically resolve all issues. Crass opportunism never wears a more comical garb!

    But it so happens: Kogi’s Yahaya Bello, 43, is Nigeria’s youngest governor today.  Oyo’s Isiaka Ajimobi, at 67, is one of the oldest.  Yet, post the performance bond of each and see how distracting — if not totally irrelevant — is the age dichotomy!

    With about everyone mushy with sweet emotions, it’s no wonder everyone appears glued to symptoms.  So, the root cause(s) luxuriate without check, mutating in different crises, leading to yet more growls.  Such a vicious cycle!

    Yet, what to do is break that cycle by tasking the government on solutions.  But lo!  The media  is fixated with ethnic slurs and conspiracy theories.  So, the most vital issues receive the least attention.

    But with penetrative thinking, the narrative could change from eternal laments, with self-induced Armageddon looming nearer and nearer; to clinical thinking, which could be a glorious game-changer, like the Red Sea, parting before the rod of Moses.

    High crimes, as herdsmen killings and other violent crimes, rural and urban, are a function of mass poverty; itself, a function of thinning-out opportunities.

    Rampant sleaze is the central trigger of all these malaise.  Ethnic baiting and roasting are its notorious handmaiden, and most horrendous symptom; for the most explosive economic ruptures often manifest in ethnic tensions, where the enemy is the “other people”.

    Yet, the Buhari Presidency’s focus, since its coming, is clearly this twin-strategy: growing the real economy, to broaden economic opportunities and tackle mass poverty; and plugging the routine plunder of the public till, with its war against corruption: to free public money for public investments, economic and social.

    Both fronts have made fair progress, even with their own fair share of glitches.

    Agriculture, which posted 25 per cent of GDP in 2017, helped to power the economy back, from the recession of 2016, to a growth of 1.4 per cent, given figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).  With slow but steady growth in industry (3.92 per cent in 2017) and services (0.10 per cent in 2017) and increased earnings from crude, the economy appears heading north.

    But there are glitches too.  The service sector posted 53 per cent of GDP in 2017, but it  only grew by 0.10 per cent.  This accounts for the still general sluggishness of the economy and the hunger and pains in the land.

    Besides, the increased crude earnings are neutralized by the continuing importation of refined products.  Though this is a key policy journey to nowhere from the ancien regime, full benefits from that sector are impossible without 100 per cent local refining.

    Yet, with expected better infrastructure, in roads and rail, the Federal Government is projecting a 3.5 per cent growth in 2018, compared to World Bank’s 2.5 per cent.  That means, worst case scenario, taking the World Bank estimates, the economy would grow by a further 1.1 per cent; possibly 2.1, if you take the government’s projections.

    No great leap, to be sure.  But given the near total wreck of 2015, and with far less cash at hand, it’s no little achievement.

    Besides, this is real sector growth, driven by people’s sweat; not the account-tinkering ploy of the Obasanjo-Jonathan era.  Little wonder, Nigeria is projected to become self-sufficient in rice and tubers this year.

    Parallel to developments in the real economy, the lustration of governance is on; exposing the jumbo sleaze of the Jonathan era. Yet to the nay assembly, with their media amplifiers, this lustration is nothing but an illustration of the polity’s impotence against corruption.  A nay anthem never sounded so silly!

    Yes, the regime has its own numbing scandals, not at all attune to a regime with zero tolerance for corruption.  Yet, only a skewed mindset would trumpet the latest Transparency International (TI) verdict on Nigeria as “evidence” that corruption is “rising”.

    That is nothing but sorry self-immolation.

    But then, it fits into that irrational frame, so common these days, of pillorying those working hard to salvage the sorry situation, while serenading the wreckers that dug the pit.

  • This grave we dig, may bloom tomorrow

    I will not dare to think that this grave we dig today shall bloom tomorrow. But it could. Nigeria could become the mass grave we dig to bury the shoots of nationhood and bliss, nurtured by men we may never measure up to. But this is hardly about the founding fathers in whose hands Nigeria pirouetted and prospered. And then plummeted.

    This is about you and me. This is about our knack for turning logic on its head to complement our innate greed and perversions. If we could help it, Nigeria would die on our watch, today. This minute, every civil dream and seed of State may evaporate, if we could incite our will to fete our wiles.

    We think Nigeria is a mistake. But Nigeria was never a mistake. It is never the mistake. You and I are the mistake. We are the emblems of hope serving as crops of wrath, where greed and deceit whets inhuman appetites.

    As you read, the myth of war and secession holds fast. Despite the bitterness that trails the Nigerian civil war, characters that ought to know better acidly pronounce the necessity of war and violent secession like the next best thing that could happen to you and me.

    This myth holds particularly true among the youths. War and separation remains appealing to the youth not just because politicians, activists and journalists of vulpine intent and intellect tout them as worthy alternatives, the youth lust for war and secession because the idea offers fleeting moments of sentimentality that reinforces their dreams of acceptance and self-worth.

    Even those who know it to be a farce are loath to jettison the infectious romanticism that gets them giddy like overfed cattle gorging on barn supplies, every time secession is mentioned.

    The youth are told that the only times in their lives that they would be worth something and enjoy a hopeful reality is when they agree to serve as cannon fodder for total balkanization of the Nigerian State.

    They do not know the import of the politics they perpetuate. It’s not about defending the interests of a minority tribe neither is it about paving the way for a more responsible and humane government. It’s about working for some tyrant activist who works for some rich and privileged cabal, driven by the most hideous and selfish interests.

    Many have argued that if Nigeria is to move forward or attain progress of any kind, we must sit down to reconsider and decide if really it would serve everyone’s interest to preserve the Nigerian dream. I agree that the nation needs to sit down to deliberate over the most dependable and progressive path forward.

    However, it would be the greatest fraud and disservice to you and me if we accept that splitting Nigeria remains the most practicable solution to our grief. The very voices that cry for a referendum will get to the forum to pound drums of dissolution and rancor. Suddenly they will become strange to relate, largely silent or antagonistic to the preservation of the Nigerian State.

    It is alright for a people to determine what course of action would best serve their interests but it would be suicidal for us all to believe that our travails shall end in a resuscitated  Biafra, contrived Republic of Oodua, Niger Delta Republic or United States of Arewa.

    In every new, independent nation we build, there will be no secure civilization or securities by which a nation thrives. This is because whatever new States we create will comprise of ignorant, turbulent proletariat stymied by crushing poverty and interminable penchant to play dumb. Such manner of working class or grassroots would as usual be dominated by the same ruling class whose insensitivity and wile informs our desire to separate.

    Were the nation’s legislature at its best not a coven of men with the mentality of rats and perfidious bums, there would be no wisdom in the convention of a sovereign national conference. But the Nigerian legislature is what it is and you and I are to blame for it.

    There is a better life to be had by the Nigerian dream if our youth could endeavour to look inwards and channel the latent reserve that we have scorned for ages. It is about time we understood that in any new nation we create, the current youth will never become part of the ruling class.

    As it is now in contemporary Nigeria, every new leadership we have in every new nation we create will effortlessly dominate us and impose upon us their children, relatives, political associates and puppets while they make labourers and thugs of the youth by whose blood, foolishness and sweat the new nations were achieved.

    The choice is ours to make; we either choose to remain a bunch of fools and clueless agitators or we could choose to leave the current leadership to its idealised madness while we create fresh platforms and chart fresh paths to the future of our dreams.

    Our greatest problems besides corruption, are racism and greed. But the Nigerian youth need not be handicapped by these. We should understand that our future lies in our hands. Sovereign National Conference or not, no solution or highfaluting socio-political or economic policy would work under the leadership and citizenship of unrepentant racists and self-aggrandizing characters that we personify.

    It is time to heal. It is time for the Nigerian youth to take its rightful place in the scheme of things. I will never tire from saying that it’s about time we sought and identify saner parties and humane candidates. We shan’t find such candidate amidst the incumbent ruling class or the gangs of youth scurrying under their canopies claiming they are ‘getting involved for Nigeria’s sake.’

    We need to unite on a platform immune to the insanities of hubris, materialism, racism and associated bigotries.

    We need to identify the demons that drive the ruling class and dispossess our minds of vanities that makes us habitable to similar fiends. The tragedy of our generation subsists in our seemingly uncontainable prospects and our desperation to be lorded over and contained, for a fee.

    We are more endowed in intellect and humanity than the incumbent ruling class and the spoilt brats they seek to impose on us. Agreed, we have differences but let us seek unity in our bid to neuter the predatory ruling class.

    It is about time that the Nigerian youth, irrespective of personal politics and tribe, learnt to live and strive, united in pursuit of a common government, sensitive to mutual miseries and dreams, yet humanely separate in politics and individuality.

    If this unusual and unpredictable development is to flourish amid peace and order, reciprocal respect and budding intelligence, it will call for that truest and most dependable social surgery I advocate: revolution by the ballot boxes. The New Nigeria Nationalist party professes noble ethics and humane politics. But such were the claims of Nigeria’s most repugnant parties.

  • Airlines’ grave?

    Airlines’ grave?

    •Staggering failure rate suggests a fundamental problem

    The statistics of failure is staggering — 141 airlines have failed in the past 17 years (2000 -2017), making it an average of eight failures in a year!

    The West African coast was dubbed the white man’s grave, no thanks to tropical mosquitoes and the consequent malaria. Might Nigeria now be branded the grave of aviation, with so many airline businesses going under?

    According to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), between 2000 when it birthed and this year, 141 airlines had gone under, among them many market leaders in their days. These include Bellview, which was a market leader for quite some time, Virgin Nigeria (which birthed from the Obasanjo Presidency’s aviation reforms), Chanchangi, Sosoliso, EAS, Okada Air, Space World and others.

    According to Sam Adurogboye, NCAA’s general manager, public affairs, the reduction in airlines was due to operational and safety “sanity”, which the regulator imposed. From 141 in 2000, therefore, the number is down to nine.

    That is quite a crash, and we could just imagine the high level of investment blood that sector has shed. Yet, you cannot blame NCAA for taking its regulatory duties very seriously.

    Indeed, better to bleed in cash (no matter how painful and distressful for individual pockets), than for airplanes to drop off the skies like poisoned birds, leaving utmost anguish and misery; and a gash in the national psyche. With more operational rectitude, those tragedies are avoidable.

    Indeed, in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) code, NCAA has a global operational constitution. That has no space for the so-called “Nigerian factor”, euphemism for tweaking the rules for short-term gains, but long-term ruin. Though with this sharp failure of operating airlines, many an investor must have faced ruin, safeguarding air passengers’ safety is hardly a subject for sentiments.

    If the regulator does its job well, ICAO-sanctioned checks would be carried out, home and abroad; rigid and robust maintenance checks would be done; minimum manpower requirement would be maintained, especially but not limited to certified pilots, among others. As NCAA rightly said, the ICAO rules are clear: whoever can’t cope with its rigour drops out. It is so all over the world, so it can’t be different for Nigeria.

    In fact, lax regulations accounted for much of the air disasters in Nigeria. As NCAA admitted, any vain but rich Nigerian could just walk into the aviation sector and pick up a licence, simply because he has loads of cash and even more — tons of ego. That never should have been. Aside from fatal air crashes, such practices trivialise passengers’ rights; and de-market local aviation.

    Still, even NCAA, and by extension the Federal Government, must admit the harsh operational environment for aviation in this country. Players groan at gruelling costs, the most basic of which is the low parity of the naira to foreign currencies.

    For starters, airlines fund their costs in dollars. But they make their revenue in naira — and it takes no less than raking in N400, to make back every dollar spent. Yet, the market is not big enough for each airline to charge the market price. So most times, there are caps on fares. Otherwise, volume would drop, investments would go to seed and jobs would be lost.

    Local civil aviators also complain of high taxes, not enough hangers for aircraft checks and routine maintenance, periodic glitches in a basic component as aviation fuel in a country that produces crude oil, and suspect corporate governance in NCAA and allied agencies the airlines have to deal with in their day-to-day line of work.

    Although the government had in the past intervened in aviation with special funds (all to little avail), the sector should be viewed as strategic to a modern economy; and given the crucial attention it craves.

    This high rate of business attrition in aviation suggests a fundamental wrong, apart from the notorious Nigerian penchant of not playing by the rules. Those skewed fundamentals must be found and fixed, to change the present sorry tale.

  • From cell to grave

    KUNLE AKINRINADE examines the pathetic cases of Nigerians who died of torture while in the custodies of security agencies, the lack of justice for victims and the need to halt forcible extraction of confessions from suspects as requested by the international treaty to which the country is a signatory.

    THE greatest battle Moriamo Quadri fought till she breathed her last in November 2016 was not the cancer of the breast that eventually terminated her life. It was her fruitless quest for justice over the killing of her husband, Ismaila Quadri, allegedly by men of Ipaja Police Station in Alimosho area of Lagos State.

    Moriamo’s husband, Ismaila Quadri, a baker, was arrested by policemen led by one Corporal Mayowa Obaniyi a.k.a. Mayor and Waheed on September 8, 2011, on the suspicion that he was an Indian hemp smoker. Quadri, a native of Igbemo-Ekiti, Ekiti State, who ran a flourishing Olusola Bakery on 29 Andrew Kalu Crescent, Baruwa, Ipaja, where he also built a house, was dragged out of his bakery, beaten and handcuffed before he was dragged to the police station. All entreaties from other landlords in the area fell on deaf ears.

    To make him confess to the unsubstantiated allegation, he was subjected to further beating with his hands tied backward to a stationery motorcycle at the station. He was kicked, whipped and hit with hard objects by the two policemen until he fell into a coma and was untied from the stationery motorcycle.

    The errant policemen first rushed him to a private hospital in the neighbourhood, where doctors confirmed his spinal cord had broken and referred him to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, where he died.

    The then spokesman of the Lagos Police Command, Mr. Samuel Jinadu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), had told our correspondent that the late Quadri was arrested for being in possession of Indian hemp, adding that the police officers involved had been arrested and would be dealt with if found guilty.

    He said: “Well, we have arrested two policemen in connection with the case and if they are found culpable, we will take decisive action and they will be dealt with. The matter has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti, Yaba, Lagos, and investigation is still ongoing.

    “I was told the policemen went on a general raiding of Indian hemp smokers in the area when they arrested the deceased but I cannot confirm to you if he was beaten or not. I couldn’t offer you my comment on the matter the last time you called because the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) (Mr. Chikezie Okezie) of the station involved had not properly briefed me about the incident but he later did,” he added.

    On April 4, 34-year-old Saheed Eyitayo was arrested by operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) at his residence on Aje Street, Pleasure area of Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, accused of being friends with a suspect involved in the cloning of Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode’s mobile phone.

    His arrest reportedly took place at about 2.30 am. He was said to have been handcuffed and taken to the Shangisha detention centre of the secret police. He was said to have been hale and hearty while he was being taken to the SSS detention facility but returned in a body bag. He was said to have been beaten to death shortly after he was taken into custody.

    Like Quadri and Eyitayo, a 400-level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Samuel Chimezie Omeagwa, met his tragic death in similar circumstances on May 16, 2016. As the story goes, Omeagwa and one of his friends, Ekene, were arrested by the operatives of Police Thunder Zone 4 Office, Old G.R.A, Makurdi, for complicity in the case of a stolen phone.

    At the station, they were allegedly laid on the bare floor with a flash-light permanently fixed to their faces as they were tortured by an officer nicknamed ‘Undertaker’. By the time he was released to his parents the following day, Omeagwa had become unconscious and had to be rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, where he died.

    The same fate befell a 70-year-old transporter and chieftain of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Pa Gbenga Omolo, who was allegedly tortured to death while he was being detained by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Ondo State Police Command. Omolo was reportedly tortured by police officers for several hours at the SARS office on Oda Road, Akure, the state capital. He died in their custody after he was mercilessly beaten by the minions of law. His offence, according to his union’s members who staged a protest over his death, was that he had the effrontery to question a police officer in mufti for obstructing traffic on Arakale Road in Akure on May 26, 2015.

    The former spokesman of the state Police Command, Wole Ogodo, said the policemen involved in the act have been arrested and detained at the Police Headquarters along Igbatoro road, Akure, for further investigation on the incident while the state commissioner of police had invited the family members of the deceased to his office to discuss the matter. That was the last that was heard about the case.

    The case of two suspects, Sodiq Omobowale and Waheed Kabir, who were arrested by men of Ikorodu Police Station, further exposed the fatal use of torture on suspects. Omobowale was arrested in his home on July 7, 2015 on suspicion that he was a member of a secret cult. Attempts made by his family members to secure his bail were rebuffed by policemen at the station. A few days later, he was said to have been tortured to death, while his body had not been released to his parents at press time.

    Kabir (26), a musician, was also arrested during a raid by policemen from the same station on November 20, 2015 on the suspicion that he belonged to a secret cult. His father made fruitless efforts to secure his bail. It later emerged that Kabir was tortured to death in police custody and his body was not released to his parents for burial to date.

    The immediate past spokesman of the Lagos Police Command, Mr Joe Offor, in a telephone conversation with The Nation, said: “Following the alleged abduction of Waidi Kabir and the petition sent to the Lagos State Police Command by his parents, the Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Fatai Owoseni, questioned the DPO and asked him to provide evidence of the identity of the surety to whom the suspect was released to on bail.

    “The DPO later brought a bail bond signed by the surety following which the CP ordered him to either produce the suspect or the surety within four days. The DPO at the expiration of the ultimatum could not produce either the suspect or his surety. Hence, the CP ordered his arrest and detention at the SCID while investigation is ongoing.

    “At the end of our investigation, we shall issue a public statement on the outcome of our findings in the matter.

    But Offor said the case of Sodiq Omobowale had not been formally brought to the attention of the Lagos State Police Command for action. He said: “Unlike Waidi’s case that was reported to us, we have only read about the case of Omobowale in the media. The police can only act on complaints officially brought to our attention and necessary action shall be taken on such matter.”

    Other security agencies, including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), are not left out of the tortured-to-death syndrome. A 38-year-old local government employee in Sokoto State, Jamilu Abdullahi, died in the custody of the State Command of NSCDC in 2015, while a fraud suspect, Desmond Nunugwo, reportedly died in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in June 2016 during interrogation.

     

    Disregard for treaty against torture

    The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (commonly known as the United Nations Convention Against Torture) is an international human rights treaty under the review of the United Nations, which aims to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading acts around the world.

    Article 16 of the convention requires countries to take effective measures to prevent torture in any territory under their jurisdiction, and forbids states from transporting people to any country where there is reason to believe they will be tortured.

    The text of the convention was first adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1984 and, following its ratification by the initial signatory states, it came into force on 26 June 1987, which is also known as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Since the convention came into force, the absolute prohibition against torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment has become accepted as a principle of customary international law. About 160 countries had become signatories to the convention as at October 2016.

    Nigeria is one of the signatories to the international treaty, which prohibits the use of torture and other inhuman measures to extract confessions from suspects or detainees. The country signed the treaty on July 28, 1988, and ratified the protocol on June 28, 2001, about 13 years after it was signed. The use of torture to coerce suspects to confess or make confessional statement is also extraneous to Nigerian laws, but virtually all the law enforcement agencies in the country have turned their operational centres into torture chambers where suspects and detainees are subjected to horrific and dehumanising treatments resulting in death and permanent disability, in some cases.

    The disregard for civility during interrogation is further worsened by the lack of the political will to enact a law against the continuous use of cruelty by the Nigerian authorities. In July last year, the police announced they were reviewing the Force Orders, including Force Order 237, which allows police officers to shoot suspects and detainees who attempt to avoid arrest or escape, whether or not they pose a threat to life, but the review was not carried out as promised by the immediate past Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, till he left office, while no effort has been made by his successor towards fulfilling the promise to date.

    Also, the Anti-Torture Bill- initiated to prohibit and criminalise the use of torture passed by the National Assembly in 2015 is yet to be signed into law. The bill was introduced in 2012 and passed its final reading in June 2015, but was returned by the Presidency to the parliament for modification of certain ‘controversial’ clauses and has not seen the light of day since.

     

    Death chambers

    The mode of torture include merciless beating with iron or wooden objects, whipping with cane or belts, suffocation, choking, nail or tooth extractions, sitting on sharp objects, electric shock, suspending detainees from a rod, hitting with gun butts, spraying suspects’ face with tear gas, starvation, kicking, while some are shot in the leg during interrogation and left to bleed to death.

    Giving a chilling account of the treatment meted to her husband by men of the Ipaja Police Station, Moriamo said: ”My husband never drank alcohol nor smoke cigarette, let alone Indian hemp. He was arrested right inside his bakery while he was supervising his workers on night shift. He was beaten, kicked and handcuffed.

    “When I rushed to the scene alongside other landlords in the area, we pleaded with the policemen to take it easy with him but they refused. He was further dragged to their station and chained to a motorcycle parked there and further brutalised.

    ” The policemen used big sticks to beat him and banged his head repeatedly against hard objects during interrogation. By the time he was unchained, he could no longer stand up and had to beg people to assist him. He was then taken to a private hospital at about 2 am and later transferred to LASUTH where he died.’

    An eyewitness, who asked not to be named, reportedly narrated how Eyitayo was subjected to brutality at the point of arrest, saying: “I overheard Eyitayo telling the SSS people that the person they were looking for did not stay with him. He told them the suspect was his friend and only visited him the previous day. But his explanation did not convince them. They beat him mercilessly till blood came out of his face. We could not recognise him again.”

    Some relations who also saw his body after it was released for burial by the SSS said there were bruises and wounds on it. “If you see the corpse, you would know that he was tortured and killed in a brutal manner. He had two deep cuts in the back of his head, apparently inflicted with a machete or other sharp objects. There were cuts and bruises all over his body,” said a family member who did not want his name in print.

    Abdullahi, a graduate of the College of Agriculture, Bakura in Zamfara State, who until his death was an employee of Tureta Local Government Area, Sokoto State, was said to have died from injuries sustained from the torture inflicted on him during interrogation at the Sokoto South divisional headquarters of the NSCDC command.

    Crying for justice, his mother, Hajiya Binta Abdulahi, said: “There was a misunderstanding between him and one woman in our neighbourhood and she reported the matter to the Sokoto South Divisional Headquarters of the NSCDC whose men came around 6.30 pm and arrested him.

    ”We visited the headquarters several times to seek his release. Instead, they tortured him to coma, after which they took him to the Sokoto Specialist Hospital for medical attention because of the injuries they inflicted on him. He was later referred to the Usmanu Danfodiyo Teaching Hospital, where he died on Friday, May 29, 2015. They brought his corpse to us but we rejected it because there was no certification concerning his death from the hospital. We, therefore, insisted on knowing the cause of his death, especially when signs of torture were noticed all over his body,” she added.

     

    Damning report

    A research jointly carried out by the Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) and Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN) within the same period also indicted Nigerian security forces for alleged excessive use of torture, leading to the death of several detainees and suspects in their custody.

    The right groups in a report in March 2011 said a team of lawyers, psychologists and medical practitioners were involved in the study carried out in Enugu State. The report of the study based on sample population of 176 victims, according to the local human right groups, shows that ”victims of torture ranged between the ages of 13 to 54 years, with young people between the ages of 26 and 30 as the most frequent victims of torture in the state.

    ”Method of torture on the victims include prolonged detention in police custody, gunshot wounds, 24.71%, severe beatings with police baton and other dangerous objects, 36.21%, burning with hot objects, 8.05%, squeezing of testicles and inserting objects into the penis, insertion of nails on feet, 1.72%, electric shock, suspension on the tree in different positions, 13.22%, cutting with cutlass, 12.64% and other forms of torture.

    ”The Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS) have police officers who are specially designated to torture crime suspects. Such police officers have an unofficial designation like “OC Torture” (Officer In Charge of Torture), and they have special skills in inflicting various methods of torture on their victims.”

    A recent report of the global rights organisation, Amnesty International (AI), also carpeted the Nigerian security forces for alleged violation of human rights in the use of torture resulting in extra-judicial killings and cruel treatment of suspects and detainees, including children. The organisation accused the Nigerian government of condoning torture in violation of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights; United Nation Convention Against Torture and the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.

    In the 62-page report published in 2015 and titled, “Welcome to Hell, Torture and Other Ill-Treatment in Nigeria”, presented by AI’s Senior Researcher, Nicola Duckworth, a Senior Researcher and Africa Advocacy Director, Netsanet Belay, indicted the police and military for brutal torture and extra-judicial killing of detainees and suspects, including children held in their custody.

    “Torture is a routine occurrence in Nigeria, largely to extract ‘confessions’ or as punishment for alleged crimes, and hundreds of suspects in police and military custody across the country are being subjected to a range of physical and psychological torture or other ill-treatments while security forces act in a climate of impunity,” the report said.

    Some of the torture techniques commonly used by the security forces, AI said, include “Beating, (including with whips, gun butts, machetes, batons, sticks, rods and cables); rape and sexual assault (including inserting bottles and other objects into woman’s private part); shooting people in the leg, foot or hand during investigation; extracting nails, teeth, fingerprints and toenails with pliers; suspending detainees upside down by their feet for hours. Tying detainees to a rod by their knees and elbows and suspending them as on a roasting spit; starvation; forcing people to sit, lie or roll on sharp objects such as glass or board with nails; electric shocks, including administering shocks to the genitals; choking with ropes until victims faint; ‘tabay’ – when officers tie detainees elbows are behind their backs and suspend them; and ‘water torture’ – when hot and cold water are poured on naked bodies.”

    “Amnesty International found that torture is such a routine and systemic part of policing that many police sections in various states, including the SARS and CID, use designated ‘torture chambers’: special interrogation rooms commonly used for torturing suspects. These are often known by different names such as ‘the temple’ or ‘the theatre’, and are in some cases under the charge of an officer known informally as ‘O/C Torture’ (Officer in Charge of torture).

    “Although reports of torture emanate from most police stations, several human rights defenders, lawyers and police officers told Amnesty International that torture is particularly common in the SARS police stations across Nigeria. Amnesty International was able to visit the SARS detention centre in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja – known as the abattoir – in July 2009. Suspects were held in a disused warehouse located outside the city. Amnesty International delegates saw at least 30 empty bullet cases on the floor and chains hanging on the wall. There were visible signs of blood in the gutter. The situation was similar during a second visit in October 2012.”

    It said the abuses also violate the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women; Convention on the Rights of the Child and The Geneva Convention – common Article 3 and the Second Additional Protocol.

    In a statement by its then spokesperson, Emmanuel Ojukwu, the police, however, discountenanced the report by Amnesty, saying: “For one, it smacks of indecency and intemperate language to liken our dear nation Nigeria, to hell fire. That cannot be true. We believe that Nigeria is a growing nation, green and largely peaceful,” it said.

    “While the Nigeria Police and other operators in the criminal justice sector are undergoing systematic reforms, and aligning themselves with the demands of democracy, there is no gainsaying the fact that the Nigeria Police Force has since improved its operational efficiency and effectiveness. Since the dawn of democracy in 1999, the Nigeria Police Force has significantly improved on its human rights records, owing largely to training and re-training, community policing, attitudinal change and structural transformation.”

    Ojukwu added: “At no time in its report did Amnesty speak or interface with the Police authorities. This obviously shows their disdain and apparent lack of character where the democratic tenets of fair hearing are concerned. The report covered a seven-year period of 2007-2014. I dare say that some of the issues raised have since been dispensed with and settled.

    “However, the Police shall meticulously scan through the document and investigate any current human rights abuses linked to any officer or formation. Any identified and established case of malfeasance or misconduct shall be treated in line with the laws and regulations.”

     

    Smokescreen

    In the case of Quadri, the police tried to cover up its indiscretion by writing a letter asking the authorities of LASUTH to release Quadri’s body, which was then awaiting autopsy, for immediate burial according to Islamic rites.

    In the handwritten letter, dated September 19, 2011, the then Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the Ipaja Police Station, Mr. Chikezie Okesie, requested LASUTH to immediately release the body for burial based on the alleged complaint of a family member called Vincent. But the request was turned down by the hospital management for reasons bordering on absence of proper autopsy on the body and duly signed inquest note by a Magistrate.

    Besides, the family of the late baker faulted the claim made by the police in the letter that the body should be released to a family member called Vincent. In a statement, a relation of the deceased, Akeem Bello, said Vincent whom the police referred to in the letter, was not known to the family, as they are mainly Muslims.

    The allegation that the deceased was tortured to death was confirmed to be true after a report issued by the Pathology Department of LASUTH on Quadris’ autopsy which indicated that he was brutalised to death while in police custody.

    A copy of the report signed by one Dr. U. V. Okeke of the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, LASUTH, revealed that the deceased died as a result of “blunt force trauma and subdural haematoma.” The two conditions, according to findings, are corollary to each other and can only be caused by violent bang on the head or parts of the body, depending on circumstances. Following the revelation, the policemen involved were dismissed from service and arraigned for murder, which has not led to conviction almost five years after they were arraigned.

    Subsequently, a letter dated November 20, 2011 and signed by Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Gov. Babatunde Fashola on Public Law, Bola Agunbiade, was forwarded to the office of the Inspector General of Police, Afiz Ringim in Abuja and that of Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr. Yakubu Alkali.

    The letter titled “Re: Alleged murder of Quadri Olushola Ismail by police” reads in part: “The Public Advice Centre is an initiative of the Lagos State Government, a department in the Ministry of Justice saddled with the responsibility of providing residents with easy access to information and advice which will benefit and improve their lives and ensure that the rights of residents are not violated.

    “We are in receipt of a complaint from one Mrs. Moriamo Quadri of No 29 Kalu Crescent, New London, Baruwa, Ipaja, Lagos State. She alleged that she is the wife of Late Ismaila Olushola Quadri. She told us that on 7th of September 2011, a team of policemen went to Oke Oko, New London in Baruwa ,Ipaja to raid.

    “According to the complaints, the team of policemen was led by one Corporal Mayowa Obaniyi aka Mayor. Our complainants further alleged that the police officers arrested several young men in that area including her late husband Ismaila Quadri who was inside the premises of his bakery when the team of police arrived the area. We were also informed that when the deceased was arrested, the members of the landlords’ association on the day of arrest met the police officers and told ‘Mayor’ that Ismail Quadri was a man of peace and good character. Those arrested were taken away to Ipaja Police Station.

    “Mariam Quadri further told us that when her late husband was taken to the station, his hands were tied backwards and fastened to a motorbike within the premises and he was tortured and in the process he fainted. The deceased’s wife stressed that the police officers rushed her husband to Agape Hospital, Olude bus stop, Ipaja where he received treatment for about seven days and was transferred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja where he later died.

    “According to the death certificate which was signed by Dr. U.V Okeke of the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine LASUTH, the deceased died of Subdural Haematoma and blunt Force Trauma.

    “Subsequently, we seek on behalf of the family of the deceased an adequate compensation and diligent prosecution of this case. We also urge the Inspector General of Police to use his good office to ensure a thorough investigation and to ensure that the ends of justice are served.”

    It happened that the police is yet to compensate Quadri’s bereaved family to date.

    In the case of Eyitayo, the SSS initially kept mum on his whereabouts despite persistent enquiries by his family members and friends. Following the pressure mounted by his family members, the SSS, 19 days later, claimed that Eyitayo was resisting arrest on the night of the raid and had tried to jump from the moving van as he was being taken to their Shangisha office. They claimed that he died from the injuries he sustained in the process.

    The deceased’s family, however, claimed that Eyitayo was already unconscious when he was handcuffed and dragged into the waiting van. The family said it was not possible for an unconscious man in chains to overpower SSS operatives and jump to his death.

    “We had gone to the SSS office several times, and they told us, ‘come back, you cannot see him,’ until finally on the 23rd (of April), 19 days after he was killed, they told one of my brothers, Oyetunji, that he had died. Meanwhile, they had told the landlord not to tell anybody that he had died. They did that so that as the days elapsed, they would be able to manufacture lies to cover up the official criminality.

    Having exhausted all the tricks to cover up their tracks, the secret police authorities reportedly decided to compensate Eyitayo’s family and enlisted the support of a frontline Yoruba monarch, who brokered a peace deal that led to a N15 million compensation for Eyitayo’s bereaved family to shield the men responsible for Eyitayo’s death from prosecution.

    Although the DPO of Ikorodu Police Station, Remi Adesoye, initially claimed that Kabir was released to a family member called Akala, his father faulted his claim. The celebrated case led to the removal of the DPO of the station after he failed to produce Kabir or his supposed uncle to whom he was released, as directed by the state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni.

    Although, the community leaders intervened to dissuade Kabir’s parents from taking further action on the matter, his dissatisfied elder brother, Lekan, instituted an action at a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos. In a landmark judgment, the court in October 2016 ordered the police to pay his family the sum of N200 million as compensation for Kabir’s death in custody. The ruling has since been appealed by the police at a Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, despite not making any representation throughout the duration of the suit at the lower court.

     

    Justice delayed

    The poor criminal justice system in the country provides a shield for perpetrators of torture and denial of justice for victims. In Nigeria, confessional statements obtained from torture are mostly relied upon during trial in cases involving capital punishment and, in certain instances, minor offences like stealing or fraud.

    Victims of fatal brutality in custody hardly get justice due to the weakness of the criminal justice system, whereby cases bordering on right violation drag for too long. Delay in dispensation of justice in the country is one of the major problems confronting the administration of criminal justice as criminal trials often delay for too long, leading to perversion of justice.

    A typical example is the prosecution of the two policemen, Mayowa and Waheed, over the killing of Quadri during interrogation. The errant policemen were initially arraigned before magistrate’s court in Yaba area of Lagos on a holding charge, but the case has not made any headway since 2012, due to incessant adjournments till the late baker’s wife, Moriamo, died last month.

    “We kept going to court while the case was incessantly adjourned. At a point, the accused persons were not brought to court. For several weeks, we were told that the court was waiting for an advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

    “To my greatest surprise, the case against one of the policemen who tortured my husband to death, Mayowa, was dropped and he is now roaming free. The other one (Waheed) has not been convicted to date because of unnecessary delayed trial and adjournments,” Moriamo expressed her frustration a few months before she died in November last year.

    The NSCDC authorities in Sokoto have also employed delay tactics by setting up a panel whose report is yet to be made public almost two years later, instead of bringing its operatives allegedly responsible for the death of Abdullahi to justice.

    The Sokoto State Commandant of the NSCDC, Alhaji Muhammad Musa, reportedly said they were investigating the matter and assured that justice would take its course as they would not spare the culprits. But that was all about the incident as the bereaved family were neither compensated nor the culprits prosecuted. To date, the officers responsible for the brutal killing of Omola in custody in Ondo have not been fished out let alone prosecuted. The state Police Commissioner merely engaged his family for possible amicable solution.

    The inability of the families of the victims—Quadri, Abdullahi and Omola—to get justice over the brutal killing of their patriarchs underscores the need to reform the country’s poor criminal justice system and the discontinuation of cruel extraction of confessional statements from suspects.

    Also, most of the victims of torture do not get justice because their families are ensnared by lack of money to hire lawyers and institute legal action against the culprits and their law enforcement agencies.

    “Extrajudicial executions, other unlawful killings and enforced disappearances in Nigeria are not random. In a country where bribes guarantee safety, those who cannot afford to pay are at risk of being shot or tortured to death by the police.”

    “The family of the victims often cannot afford to seek justice or redress, because they cannot pay for a lawyer or the court charges. In many cases, they cannot even afford to retrieve the body. In many cases, detainees wait for weeks or months in police custody to be charged and brought before a court,” PRAWA and NOPRIN noted.

     

    Experts speak

    A human rights lawyer, Austin Okanlawon, condemned the use of torture or other cruel methods to extract confession from suspects or detainees.

    “What the law says is that only the courts can pronounce a suspect guilty, and in this circumstance, the security forces, including the police, should always make recourse to the law. The duty of law enforcement agents is to arraign a suspect in court and provide evidence for prosecution during trial.

    “It is criminal for minions of law to beat suspects to death during interrogation because that is nothing but murder. Any policeman, SSS operative or other law enforcement agent who does that should be punished for such misconduct.”

    Chairperson of Lawyers Without Borders in Nigeria, Angela Uwandu, said the use of torture to investigate or extract confession from suspects is illegal.

    She said: ”Torture is condemnable because the role of the security agencies is to protect the people. But where the same group of people are brutalising or using torture as a means or tool of investigation, it is absolutely condemnable.

    “Torture, as we know, is illegal. However, it is in use currently in Nigeria by our security agencies. It is an action we condemn very strongly. And we are working to ensure that we promote accountability in the system to ensure that perpetrators of torture are held accountable, especially where they are state actors.

    “Because as we know, the role of the security agencies really is to protect us. But where we have the same group of people brutalising or using torture as a means or tool of investigation, we stand very strongly against that.”

    The Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) called for quick passage of anti-torture bill by the National Assembly.

    In a statement, LEDAP’s Executive Programmes Director, Adaobi Egboka, also urged the Federal Government to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of torture in the country.

    The discontinuation of torture or cruel means of extracting confession from suspects and detainees, and prosecution of erring law enforcement agents as well as overhauling of the nation’s criminal justice system will no doubt stop or prevent loss of lives in the custody of security forces in the country.

  • Dele Giwa rolling in his grave

    When an investigator sounds like he needs to be investigated, it calls into question the integrity of his investigation.  Chris Omeben, a former Deputy Inspector-General of Police who investigated the murder of Dele Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch, sounded amateurish as he rationalised the failure of his investigation.

    It is 29 years since the colourful high-profile journalist died from injuries inflicted by a parcel bomb he received while having breakfast in his residence in Ikeja, Lagos, on October 19, 1986. He was 39. Omeben, on the eve of his 80th birthday on October 27, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that his efforts to interrogate who he regarded as a “principal suspect” came to naught on account of interference from “high places”.

    According to Omeben who was in charge of the Research Department of the Police CID when Giwa was killed: “They said somebody brought a parcel and his son, Billy, received the parcel and took it to his father (Dele Giwa), who was having his breakfast that morning. On the breakfast table was a man called Kayode Soyinka, he was there; Dele was there and then the son, Billy, handed over the parcel. And as he did so, I heard Soyinka left the table and went to the adjacent room. It was while he was there that the parcel detonated. Dele was injured and eventually died. The metal partition separating the dining room and the kitchen was destroyed. Beyond that, everything in the kitchen was destroyed. If metal could be mangled this way by the bomb, what of human flesh, what happened to Soyinka? Nobody could give me an answer. My conclusion was that Soyinka knew what was coming and he left the room to hide behind the wall.”

    He continued: “I took note of all these, went back to conduct an identification parade. We had an identification parade and got people of different physical attributes to be identified by the day watch. Eventually, when one of those paraded was said to bear a resemblance to the person that delivered the bomb, in spite of my insistence to have the man quizzed, we could not because interference now came from high places to protect the man. The man was said to be related to the wife of a governor at that time and as a result of his connection, we came to a dead end on that lead.”

    At this point, Omeben’s narrative took a convenient turn that introduced a twist. Who was the military governor whose shadow is still powerful enough to prevent disclosure of his name?  Who was his wife? Who was the protected man? The failure of an investigator should not mean a failure of investigation.

    By Omeben’s account, the dead end did not lead to the death of investigation, but perhaps it led to a dearth of investigation.  He added that he focused on Soyinka, but didn’t get the cooperation of his bosses at the media company when he sought to question him. According to Omeben, he told them: “I have enough evidence to quiz Soyinka now. Please, Ray Ekpu can I have Soyinka now?”

    He went on: “They resisted till today. Till today, Soyinka never appeared before the police. They started to insinuate that the assassination was masterminded by Babangida, Akilu etc. They said Akilu ought to have been investigated. As a matter of fact, I had interrogated Akilu and he told me that, yes, they had invited Dele Giwa some few days before the assassination over a negative statement he made about Nigeria in a New York newspaper. He said they had to invite him to tell him that he was wrong for portraying the country in a bad light in the international press. Akilu insisted that the invitation was not enough to accuse the government of complicity in the assassination of Dele Giwa. He satisfied me with his explanation. Togun also absolved himself with his explanation. The parcel bomb was said to have the Federal Government logo on it, which to me was not enough evidence. It was more of a circumstantial evidence. I can prove it! But for me to satisfy myself, I said please gentlemen, can I have Soyinka? Nobody! Soyinka ran away to London; that was my principal suspect!”

    Soyinka’s response makes Omeben’s narrative suspect. A report quoted him as saying: “It is a lie that they have been peddling to protect Babangida, Akilu and Togun through the years. They started it from day one when that incident happened, they changed the story…I was the first person police interviewed on the spot on that day in Lagos. My survival was divine…I was the first person to be interviewed in the hospital where Dele’s body was next door to me. The second interview took place at Newswatch office on Oregun road. He said I ran away from Nigeria, I didn’t run away, I was in Nigeria till Dele was buried; I attended the burial with my wife…After the incident, it was about a month before Dele was buried and I was in the country throughout… So, I didn’t run away.”

    It is worth mentioning that there is a third narrative, which is relevant because of its revelatory quality.  A 360-page book entitled Honour for Sale, described by the author, Major Debo Bashorun (retd), as “An Insider Account of the Murder of Dele Giwa”, is thought-provoking. Basorun served in the General Ibrahim Babangida regime as Press and Public Affairs Officer (Military Press Secretary) to the Military President of Nigeria between 1985 and 1988.

    He dropped a bomb in the prologue to his autobiographical book launched in Lagos in November 2013. He said of the explosive volume:  ”It is a laborious attempt at documenting over twenty-one years of a kaleidoscopic but exciting career – a gaudy reminder of the sweet days at the pinnacle of power and how a miscalculation on the part of the powers-that-be led me to uncover the truth that, in concert with his Intelligence Chief, Colonel Haliru Akilu, Babangida has not come clean with the Nigerian people – nay the world – concerning the duo’s roles in the mindless assassination of a foremost Nigerian journalist of his time, Dele Giwa.”

    Basorun also said: “I am hopefully looking forward to the day when General Ibrahim Babangida, Colonel Haliru Akilu and myself would be brought before the people’s court to answer all we know pertaining to the cruel murder…” The question is: Will that day ever come?

    In 2001, Babangida rigidly refused to appear before the Human Rights Violations Commission, popularly known as the Oputa Panel, concerning the Giwa murder. He betrayed desperation for silence by going to court. With Col Akilu (retd) of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in his regime and Lt. Col. A.K Togun (retd) who was the Deputy Director of the State Security Service (SSS), he obtained an order barring the commission from summoning them to appear before it.

    It is puzzling that the three men rejected what was a golden opportunity to prove their innocence.   An astounding travesty of justice followed with the reported comment by the commission’s chairman to the effect that while it had powers to issue arrest warrants for the trio, it decided against such a move “in the over-all interest of national reconciliation.”

    When the 30th anniversary of Dele Giwa’s murder makes the headlines in 2016, will there be a clarifying narrative?  Shouldn’t investigation of the murder be reopened?

  • ‘I will follow this thrill…to my grave

    ‘I will follow this thrill…to my grave

    THEOPHILUS ADEOYE passed out of high school in flying colours. Few months after, he secured admission to study Banking and Finance in the university of his dreams, in Lagos. Then he died. Theophilus, 17, died of excessive consumption of vodka and tramadol, a medical analgesic (pain killer).

    Theophilus’ death was a tragedy that Ronke, his widowed mother could make no sense of even as you read. Ronke, 43, cannot understand why Theophilus binged on vodka and tramadol. As she bemoaned her loss, shades of sadness mingled with vanishing mirth, masked in the mournful lilt of her painful narrative.

    “I had never seen him drink. Whenever we attended any family occasion, he requested for soft drinks. He never even took beer. He knew it was against our religious doctrine. He knew I forbade him to take alcohol…He died because he kept bad company. His friends influenced him to drink and take drugs. I had warned him about those boys and he promised not to see them again. I was heartbroken to see the same boys call my phone to inform me that he was dying…Theophilus, my poor boy. He wanted to study medicine. He really worked hard and prayed hard to secure admission into the university of his dreams. Who would have thought that the money I had been saving to pay his tuition would be used to pay his medical bills and bury him? Now, I am finished. I am alone in this world,” said Ronke.

    But Ronke is not actually alone in the world. She has a daughter. Her name is Tolani. Tolani used to be her second and last child, now she is her only child. In a separate chat with The Nation, Tolani, 15, revealed that contrary to her mother’s beliefs, her late brother persistently indulged in binge-drinking.

    Further findings revealed that the late teenager and his friends crushed a pack of tramadol tablets containing1, 000mg of the drug – that is, 100mg×10 tablets. After crushing it into powdery form, they poured it into a full bottle of cognac or vodka. But they did not stop at that; the teenagers, shared the concoction in separate glass cups, mixed it with ice cubes and their preferred energy drinks.

    “He had been taking it since he got promoted to SSS 3. I guess he took a liking for the drink at the celebration party he and his classmates held the second week after they got promoted to SSS 3. I saw Theo (her abbreviation of Theophilus) hide his party clothes in his school bag the night before the party date and I challenged him. He pleaded with me not to tell our mom and promised to take me along with him hence I also hid my party frock and shoes in my bag. We snuck out of school to attend the party at a bar very close to our school in Bariga, Lagos.

    “At the party, Theo and his friends freely distributed a strange looking drink that foamed with bubbles. It was reddish in colour and everyone at the party were drinking it claiming it tasted good. I was one of the few junior students at the party and I had no choice but to join them in drinking it but I stopped when I realised that I was feeling dizzy,” disclosed Tolani.

    Thus did the late teenager’s addiction to vodka and tramadol begin. It was a journey that however, climaxed in his untimely death. “The day he died,” said one of his friends who simply identified himself as Augustine, “I warned him to stop taking the drinks but he refused to listen. He was already drunk from taking too much cognac with tramadol but he still wanted to get high…He ignored my warnings and joined our friends in calling me a sissy. They said I was behaving like their baby sister. They taunted me continuously and vowed never to invite me along on subsequent trips.”

    Augustine revealed that late Theophilus downed several cups of cognac laced with 1, 000mg tramadol and a popular energy drink. “When we finished the bottle of cognac, we prepared another bottle (thus making two bottles of cognac and 2, 000mg worth of tramadol). I stopped drinking after they sent someone to get another pack of tramadol and a bottle of vodka. They claimed the cognac was not bringing out the venom (efficacy) of the drug, so they decided to get this very expensive bottle of vodka. I warned them that, that particular vodka was too strong but they ignored me and called me ‘Mother Theresa.’ They said I was pretending to be cautious to hide my stinginess. They claimed I didn’t want to contribute my cut of the money to get the drink. It almost led to a scuffle between me and some of them. In anger, I threw N1, 000 on the table and left for home,” he said.

    On his way home, Augustine claimed he sent a message to late Theophilus via Blackberry Messenger (BBM). “I told him I would see him after church service the next day. The following day was a Sunday because we went out to drink on a Saturday. He received my message but he didn’t reply. But I still made up my mind to see him,” he said.

    Augustine saw Theophilus quite alright. He saw his lifeless body. “One of our friends sent me a message via BBM to inform me that Theophilus died on that Saturday night,” said Augustine. An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity said he was in the same car with Theophilus when tragedy struck. He said: “Before we left the club, he said he was having a headache and feeling nauseous but he was the only one that could drive, plus he was the least inebriated. Hence he stuck his hand in his throat till he vomited. He took two tablets of tramadol, crushing it with his teeth without taking water. He said it would keep him awake and stop the nausea.

    “Subsequently, we got in the car and left for home. We were two junctions away from his street when he started gasping. He said he could not breathe. I switched on the inner light and saw that he was sweating profusely. When he said he could not move his arms I asked him to step on the brake and stop the car. I called his sister and few minutes later, she arrived with his mom and their uncle to take him to the clinic. Before they arrived, two of our friends that were in the car with us, deserted us. They said, I was in the best position to stay and offer them useful information since I was his childhood friend.”

    Theophilus died 1 hour and 48 minutes after he got to the clinic. The doctor who confirmed his death stated that the late 17-year-old  abused tramadol by taking it in extreme dosages with alcohol. “When they brought him in, he presented with acute respiratory distress syndrome. He had a blood concentration of 21.5 mg/L tramadol, with toxic levels of nicotine possibly from excessive smoking and other drugs. The patient slipped to tachycardia, deep coma and presented bilaterally dilated pupils. He had mixed respiratory and metabolic acidosis (Acidosis is an increased acidity in the blood and other body tissue, that is, an increased hydrogen ion concentration). If not further qualified, it usually refers to acidity of the blood plasma and needed mechanical ventilation. Subsequently, he developed multiple organ dysfunction and suffered severe seizures every 20 minutes. He suffered sudden cardiac arrest. He could not be resuscitated,” he said.

     

    Expert opinion on cause of Theophilus’ death

    Adeyinka Ogunseyitan, a medical doctor, stated that Theophilus probably died from an overdose of tramadol. “The fact that he persistently mixed with it with vodka made him more vulnerable to health crisis.”  According to him, major adverse reactions to tramadol therapy are nausea, dizziness, and vomiting, particularly at the start of the therapy. At therapeutic doses, tramadol does not cause clinically relevant respiratory depression. Tramadol, he explained, is generally considered as a medicinal drug with a low potential for dependence relative to morphine. Nevertheless, tramadol dependence may occur when used over a prolonged period. Dependence to tramadol may occur when used within the recommended dose range of tramadol but especially when used at very high doses. “In many individuals with tramadol dependence, a substance abuse history is found,” he said.

    The drug’s analgesic potency is said to be about one tenth that of morphine. Orally administered tramadol can produce opioid-like (similar to opium in effect or similar in properties to opium) effects both mentally and physically. But these effects are mild and hardly produced following moderate oral administration. At supra-therapeutic doses, intoxications may occur. Symptoms of tramadol intoxication are similar to those of other opioid analgesics. Symptoms include central nervous system (CNS) depression and coma, tachycardia, cardiovascular collapse, seizures, and

    respiratory depression up to respiratory arrest. Fatal intoxications are rare and often

    associated with large overdoses of tramadol and co-ingestion of other drugs including nicotine and alcohol.

    The Nation investigations revealed that the vodka consumed by the teenager prior to his death contained 52 per cent of alcohol per 100cl bottle and he and three of his friends consumed two bottles of the drink after downing two bottles of cognac with alcohol content of  43 per cent per 100cl bottle.

     

    Binging on alcohol, adhesive and cough syrup with codeine

    In a separate incident, Ifeanyi, a 15-year old high school dropout, almost lost his life from sniffing adhesive glue and consuming a mixture of alcoholic beverages and cough syrup containing codeine. Ifeanyi, was allegedly introduced to glue sniffing and the alcoholic beverage and cough syrup concoction by a childhood friend who works in the same factory with him. According to Ifeanyi, he realised that his friend, suddenly vanished at break time, with a crew of fellow menial workers at the factory where they worked. Soon, he accosted his friend and demanded that he invited him on the trips outside the factory. But contrary to his expectation that they had discovered a good canteen somewhere in the vicinity, his friend and his newfound acquaintances had been frequenting a local pub where they consume a concoction of cough syrup with codeine and herbal alcoholic beverages. At their insistence, he tried the mixture and got hooked to it.

    Ifeanyi became so addicted to the drink that he began to consume it excessively. “I began to take it every morning, afternoon and at night in order to feel high and relaxed,” he said, adding that he became more inured to the drink, and even more adept than his friends at consuming it that they nicknamed him “Coded baba,” an alias adapted from the codeine constituent of the cough syrup.

    Ifeanyi consumed a 100ml bottle of alcoholic beverage mixed with a 100ml bottle of cough syrup with codeine in the morning before going to work, during lunch hour and at night before retiring to bed thus consuming 300ml of herbal alcoholic beverage and 300ml of cough syrup with codeine daily. According to him, it puts him in perpetual ecstasy, a feeling he became accustomed to and frequently yearned for. Soon he began to suffer the downside of his addiction. He developed chronic headache, constipation and dizziness. According to him, thing turned awry when he suffered a total meltdown of his health. “I was forced to reduce my intake of the potion when I fell seriously ill and I couldn’t remember all that happened to me. They told me I temporarily ran mad. Fear catch me. I no wan kolo. (I became frightened. I didn’t wish to run mad). That is why I stopped taking it at night. Now, I only take it in the morning and afternoon. And that is because it keeps me fit for factory work,” he said. Ifeanyi, according to medical opinion, developed psychiatric disturbances due to prolonged abuse of alcohol and cough syrup containing codeine.

    Another tragic case was that of a youth that presented with a seven-year history of misuse of codeine containing cough syrup, with intermittent use of the narcotic-like analgesic tramadol and alcohol. According to the doctors that treated him at the Department of Clinical Services, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Benin City, Edo State, he suffered an associated four-year history of recurrent convulsions.

    The doctors revealed that the patient’s friend allegedly introduced him to the use of cough syrups, as a means of ‘elevating his mood.’ He began misusing a bottle each day (containing 219 mg of codeine sulphate) and gradually increased the amount ingested to three or four bottles daily in order to sustain its ‘euphoriant’ effects. He also described a strong and sometimes uncontrollable urge to use the substance, and experienced mild tremors with body aches if he was unable to use it. He admitted to pilfering funds from his parents to procure cough syrups and sustain the habit. All previous attempts to stop the habit were unsuccessful and the longest period of abstinence was one month.

    He persisted with the use of cough syrups despite knowledge and experience of its harmful consequence. Over the seven-year period, he intermittently consumed tramadol initially ingesting a capsule but increased it gradually to 10 capsules per day. He also misused nicotine (cigarettes), cannabis and alcohol.

    Consequently, he suffered seizures repetitively; following the onset of spontaneous seizures, he discontinued the use of tramadol and alcohol after he learnt of their tendency to induce seizures. The seizures however persisted even when he misused the cough syrups alone. Seizures were generalised and lasted about one to two minutes. Each episode was preceded by blurring of his vision, and followed by postictal sleep. The postictal state is the altered state of consciousness after an epileptic seizure. It usually lasts between five and 30 minutes, but sometimes longer in the case of larger or more severe seizures and is characterised by drowsiness, confusion, nausea, hypertension, headache or migraine and other disorienting symptoms. Additionally, emergence from this period is often accompanied by amnesia or other memory defects. It is during this period that the brain recovers from the trauma of the seizure. The patient had no episode of seizures while receiving 400 mg of sodium valproate (an acidic organic compound that has found clinical use as an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug, primarily in the treatment of epilepsy, bipolar disorder and prevention of migraine headaches)

    daily on in-patient care. He remained seizure free after medications were tailed off after five weeks.

    Despite the perceived dangers of abusing drugs, Olamide Ishola, a roadside mechanic in Abule Oja, Lagos, argued that there is nothing anyone can tell him to prevent him from seeking thrills in adhesive glue, paint cans, herbal alcoholic beverages and cough syrup. “O ti ga ju! O da bi ki eyan ma ta iku laya, ki eyan ma ji orun wo laiku.Won ni o npa yan, e je ki o pami. E je ki nwapa, e je ki nku. Aye kan yi ni mo wa (It’s a great experience. It’s like kissing death. It’s peeping into heaven while still alive…They say it kills. Let me die. Let me follow the thrill, to my grave. I only got this life to live),” he said in between greedy snorts from a bottle containing a potion of adhesive and diluted paint.

     

    Dangers of taking cough syrup containing codeine with alcohol

    Those who use opiates often experience psychiatric disturbances according to Isabella Kembi, a clinical psychiatrist. According to her, a number of patients have been admitted with psychiatric disorders including psychosis and affective episodes following abuse of codeine containing cough syrups. The withdrawals of codeine containing cough syrups she noted, often occur in a manner similar to heroin withdrawals but in a comparatively milder form. “Abusers often suffer grievous episodes of depression and anxiety neurosis,” she said.

    The abuse of cough syrup that contains codeine (also known as promethazine hydrochloride) is spreading among youths today. It is usually abused undiluted or mixed with soda, carbonated drinks or alcohol. Cough syrup with codeine is a preferred substance of abuse for youths because of its wide availability. Codeine, though less potent than heroine, is a derivative of morphine (an opiate) that produces a similar type of dependency. Oftentimes, cough syrups with codeine are used recreationally for sheer pleasure, curiosity, to experience highs likened to lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or phencylidine and euphoric sensations. The effects typically last for about six hours. The effects of the syrup often vary with the amount (dose) taken as well as characteristics of the individual using the substance but psychological and physiological addiction can set in within two to three weeks of consistent use, according to medical experts. Excessive amounts of codeine can have a negative impact on the user’s central nervous system as well as reduce the activity of the lungs and the heart. Although codeine can be safely taken in 15- to 30 milligram doses to suppress a cough, people who abuse it tend to consume as much as 360 milligrams or more and the situation becomes even more dangerous when these substances are used with alcohol or another drug. Abuse of cough syrup causes other undesirable effects like depression, high blood pressure, impaired judgment and panic attacks. Usually, intoxication is accompanied by papillary constriction, and one or more of the following signs: drowsiness or even coma, slurred speech, and impairment in attention or memory; inattention to the environment, even to the point of ignoring potentially harmful events.

     

    Getting high on sewages, lizard tail and faeces

    Youths in Lagos, particularly menial workers involved in heavy lifting, have also discovered a new high from inhaling the stench of exposed gutters or sewages. Be it a public, roadside sewage or septic tank built in the home to hold human waste, the thrill seekers continually seek attain new highs from the next stinking sewage. Another popular intoxicant in Abuja and other major parts of northern Nigeria is lizard faeces.

    Findings revealed that Nigerian youth have devised various means of getting high on lizard dung. For instance, when mixed with clothing dye powder, Zaqami medicinal herbs and seeds, lizard droppings offers unimaginable “high” to those addicted to it. The lizard dung is the most important part of the mixture. “We take a bowl, and start by adding blue dye powder to some water. Then we take the seeds from this fruit – called Zaqami. It’s a powerful medicine. Next we take the white part of the lizard dung and crumble it into the water. There are other things we can add as well, but this is ok. It’s ready to drink now,” said a menial worker from Kano State. The potion, when taken with peanuts or kolanut, produces a strong effect akin to drinking whisky on a very hot day.

    In the northern city of Kano, there is now an alarming increase in the use of cheap household chemical products, lizard droppings and other cheap but highly toxic ways to get “high.”

    Street kids and other youngsters are paid to hunt lizards and capture them alive; then the animals are kept in cages where they are fed daily and their droppings are collected, dried and kept safely for use. The users blend the faeces and wrap it neatly away to be taken as a drink; and while some others prefer to inhale the blended dung, others love to smoke crush it and smoke it with marijuana. The intoxicating effect of lizard dropping is believed to be 50 percent higher than marijuana and cocaine.

    A 19-year old presented at the neuropsychiatric hospital with a history of smoking lizard dung, burnt lizard tail and marijuana. He said a friend introduced it to him. Initially, he said they crushed lizard faeces together with marijuana and settled down to smoke it, chasing it down with any brand of local alcoholic beverage. He enjoyed the pleasurable effect and started using it to get high until a friend at the construction site where he worked allegedly introduced him to the potency of lizard tail too. The most frequent pattern of use was mixing lizard faeces and marijuana with charred tail of lizard and smoking it. He said it increased his self-esteem, made him more confident, and sedated him for at least 10 hours. The patient claimed that immediately the ecstasy wears off, he starts craving seriously for another fix of marijuana, lizard tail and faeces. The craving is usually unbearable as it caused him severe nausea, itching of the throat, gums and several body parts and mild trembling.

    To guarantee his daily fix, he would usually obtain lizards from walls of the houses, toilets, and around trees.

    On detailed psychiatric examination, he was diagnosed as a case of opioid-dependent syndrome and nicotine-dependent syndrome. While we did not provide any specific pharmacological treatment for the use of wall lizard, said his doctor, he received the standard pharmacotherapy for opioid and nicotine withdrawal. Even during initial few days of the hospital stay, he was found

    chewing tails of wall lizards. He reported that it would help him in managing his craving for the complete cocktail.

     

    Addiction causes rise in price of codeine containing cough syrup

    The Nation investigations revealed that due to increased patronage of cough syrup containing codeine by youths in several parts of Lagos and the growing profit margin in sales, chemists and pharmacies have inflated the price of the drug. Random visits to several stores in Lagos and Ogun State revealed that due to the recent ban imposed by the National Agency for Food, Drugs, Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on the sale of cough mixtures to purchasers without doctor’s prescription, a black market currently exists for thrill seekers addicted to the product. For instance, a local chemist in Ifo, Ogun State revealed that it is impossible for her to stop selling the drug to customers just because they do not have doctor’s prescription. “What I do is that, I do not display it on my shelf but anybody wanting to buy it from me can get it if he or she asks for it the right way,” she said.

    Since cough syrup with codeine became a favourite among drug abusers, adolescents to be precise, her sales had improved, she said. Corroborating her, another chemist in Oworonsoki, Lagos, revealed that she sells more of cough syrups containing codeine these days. To prevent being caught by NAFDAC task force, she supplies the cough syrups to itinerant drug retailers who visit the neighbourhoods and the homes of the drug’s abusers and established customers to sell the drugs to them.

    “If it is taken to their homes, it will cost N2, 000 per bottle being cost of sale and delivery. If they come to the shop, they can purchase between N1, 000 to N1, 500. The price fluctuates according to the availability of the drug and demand for it,” said the chemist.

    Further investigations revealed that cough syrup containing codeine are also bought in complete cartons by high users of the drug.

    “Yahoo boys usually buy the drugs in cartons,” said the chemist revealing that the drugs are usually repackaged in cartons of tin tomato, fruit juice or deskjet printers to escape the watchful eyes of law enforcement agents during delivery.

    A carton of Benylin with codeine cough syrup contains 40 bottles (10ml per bottle). Local retailers however, purchase the drugs at normal price, selling them about four times above its initial price. But while retailers of the drug smile to the bank, mothers who need the drug to cure their children’s cold and catarrh are forced to bear the brunt.

    “It used to cost less than N500 before they increased the price. They said NAFDAC has banned them from selling it to people that fail to present doctor’s prescription but these chemists sell the drug to drug addicts at exorbitant prices. That is why they have increased the price across board. They do not care to distinguish between bonafide patients who need the drugs and drug addicts seeking a thrill from using it,” lamented Afolake Adetela, a teacher at Queens College, Yaba, Lagos.

     

    Study confirms prevalence of drug abuse among youths

    As part of its surveillance functions, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1989, for purposes of exterminating illicit drug trafficking and consumption in Nigerian society, from to time arrest suspicious individuals for routine checks and investigations. This agency has offices in major cities in Nigeria including State capitals and Abuja.

    A recent study carried out by a team of scientists and researchers from the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, sought to determine the prevalence of drug abuse by Nigerian youths by comparing the pattern of substance use in two cities, Uyo and Kiru, Kano State respectively. A total of 338 male inmates, 190 from Uyo and 148 from Kano completed a modified form of 117-item self-report instrument based on the World Health Organization guidelines for students’ substance-use surveys.

    The study was carried out at two Rehabilitation Centres Uyo and Kiru Rehabilitation Centres. The first centre was at Uyo, capital both Uyo Local Area and Akwa Ibom State. The two centres were established by both Akwa Ibom and Kano States to take care of youths and young adults with history of substance use problems respectively.

    Participants in the study included male youths that were arrested and camped at the both Kiru and Uyo Rehabilitation Centres, between October and December, 2013. The study shows that there are differences in the types and nature of substances used in southern and northern parts of the country. While alcohol is used commonly in Uyo, inhalants such as glue, petrol, formalin and shoe polish are consumed in large quantities in Kiru. Also in this study, about 35% of inmates from Uyo and 43% from Kiru used Indian hemp, 7% and 15% used cocaine, while 5% and 12% used heroin.

    This according to the researchers, is a very dangerous trend in view of the associated health hazards. The scenario could be overwhelming when taken into consideration that 45% of inmates from Uyo and 55% from Kiru in Kano, used more than one substance including potent habit-forming substances. Although, it may be difficult to isolate behaviours due to alcohol and other substances, several studies have implicated these substances in various mental illnesses. There is also overwhelming evidence linking various antisocial vices to use of alcohol and other psychoactive substances, according to the researchers.

    The findings of the study also revealed that the substances are present in large and equal quantities in both cities. “Our study also highlights various reasons among inmates for using alcohol and other psychoactive substances. The findings seem to suggest that ready availability alone accounts for more than 25% of the reasons in both cities, while unemployment and influence from others were responsible for 18% and 24% respectively.”

    The findings of the study also reveal a more disturbing trend in the use of substances in the country. Although studies in the past have always focused on alcohol and other potent habit-forming substances, the use of prescription drugs is gradually taking a centre stage, especially in the Northern part of Nigeria, where more than 30% of the inmates used sleeping drugs such as diazepam and rohypnol and cough syrup.

    The results of the study also suggested that substance use has become more prevalent among the country’s youth. “The lifetime prevalence of alcohol/substance use was more in Uyo than Kiru (47.4% vs. 33.7%); but current use prevalence of more than one substance was (48.3% vs. 54.6%). The use of alcohol in various forms was high in Uyo, compared to inhalants, sleeping drugs, cough syrup in Kiru. The use of cigarettes and marijuana is high in both cities,” noted the researchers.

     

    Stemming a dangerous tide

    •A street kid prepares marijuana for sale in Oshodi, Lagos
    •A street kid prepares marijuana for sale in Oshodi, Lagos

    In 1989, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Decree was enacted. It was this decree that brought to being the establishment of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The agency has 18 functions, almost all of which border on law enforcement.

    The decree instituted life imprisonment for production, transportation, sale of cocaine, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), heroin, or any similar drugs. Knowingly possessing or using any of these drugs attracts 15 to 25 years jail term. Being an accessory in trafficking also attracts 15 to 25 years jail term.

    The NDLEA as parts of its effort to address the menace of drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking among Nigerians youths, recently launched a Substance Abuse Awareness symbol and Celebrities Drug-free Club. At the launch in Lagos, the agency said it was aimed at promoting youth- oriented programmes that would provide alternative activities to drug involvement.

    Speaking at the launch , Chairman of the agency, Ahmadu Giade, said the inauguration of the club, which members comprised celebrities in the entertainment and movie industries, would among others, “encourage youths to resist drug use , identify those who use and encourage them to seek help, as well as increase understanding of the dangers posed by alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.”

    Represented by Mr. Baba Hussaini, the agency’s Director of Drug Demand Reduction, Giade who noted that the use and abuse of drugs and substances was the preserve of adult males in the 80s, lamented that today, it cut across all socio -economic class, sex and age. Indeed, abuse of tramadol, cough syrup containing codeine and alcohol is no doubt a new trend among adolescent drug abusers. To stem the tide of the abuse, Kemi Oladipupo, a medical doctor recommended that tramadol and cough syrup containing codeine should be recognised as an agents of abuse and addiction with seizures and likely death, as features of the drug’s toxicity.

    On another note, a research team comprising Saheed Raji, Chinwe Inogbo, Sunday Oriji and Bawo James of the Department of Clinical Services, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Benin City, Edo State recommended that clinicians should tactically inquire about codeine use from multiple substance users for active case finding, early intervention and future research. “Preference should be given to the prescription of non-narcotic antitussives and analgesic remedies, especially in multiple substance users. Furthermore, regulatory bodies and agencies like the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), National Agency for Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and other stakeholders should place more restriction on the sale and procurement of codeine containing cough syrups,” the team suggested.

    It would be recalled that NAFDAC took a proactive step in the wake of cough syrup containing codeine abuse by cancelling its over-the-counter (OTC) status of the drug and declaring it a prescription only medication (POM) instead.

    Despite such measure, codeine containing cough syrups are still been purchased and abused by drug abusers in the country, teenagers and young adults in particular. More worrisomely, the nation’s youth have devised ingenious means to ‘get high’ binging on inhalants, sewages, lizard tail and excreta, marijuana, alcohol, and so on.

    “More awareness is needed to educate the public on the risk of the indiscriminate use of codeine containing cough syrups and other drugs,” said Omodele Oshin, a psychiatrist. As the government, NDLEA and other stakeholders go to the drawing board, let them not forget to include obscure neighbourhood bars and roadside pubs in their list of target zones.

    Several of such spots abound across Lagos for instance. The Nation findings in one such haven manifested as a pilgrimage of sort. Seven youngsters converged around a lacquered table in the bar. The table bore an assortment of adulterated cognac, herbal alcoholic beverages and peppered ponmo, a local delicacy made of roasted cowhide. There wasn’t much activity at the table save the occasional lamentation of the gang about the lateness of a waiter who ought to have returned from a crucial errand. At the waiter’s entrance into the bar, he marched briskly to the adolescents’ table grinning sheepishly and muttering profuse apology. Swiftly, he deposited the contents of his carrier bag on the table; it comprised eight bottles of cough syrup containing codeine and cigarettes. Promptly, each member of the crew methodically picked up a bottle and deposited the content in their drinks.

    As they gulped, the ecstasy on their faces told a maniacal story of obsession with plaintive grace; then a female member of the crew rose from her seat to gyrate to the thumping club mix blaring from the joint’s woofers with careless charm. She sang out loud to the music even as she stripped her torso to reveal her scantily clad breasts. Her crew of course treated her to a raucous cheer. It was apparent that they hardly cared if she stripped herself naked. They simply basked in the thrill that caused their friend to unclothe her hidden graces, to the nudge and weird buzz induced by their intoxicating mixture. And thus is the real tragedy of getting ‘high.’

  • Tanker Accident: 32 unclaimed victims buried In mass grave

    Tanker Accident: 32 unclaimed victims buried In mass grave

    The 32 unclaimed bodies of the victims of the May 31 petrol tanker accident at Upper Iweka, Anambra State, were laid to rest in a mass grave at Afor Adike field, Obosi Cemetery in Idemili North Local Government Area yesterday.

    The victims were burnt beyond recognition.

    The burial, sponsored by Anambra State government, drew sympathizers from across the state, including government functionaries who were present to witness the ceremony.

    The bodies were laid in caskets with a 21-gun salute to commence the solemn occasion.

    Addressing the gathering, the state Governor, Willie Obiano, who was the chief mourner, recounted the gory tale of the petrol tanker accident of May 31 which claimed over 50 lives, expressing deep sadness over the incident.

    The Governor said that the burial of the unclaimed bodies came to be as, in spite of series of announcement, nobody came to claim them.

    He called for caution on the part of heavy duty truck drivers and reiterated the ban on fuel tankers delivering products during day time.

    The bodies were taken to Obosi cemetery where a mass grave was prepared for the 32 bodies.

    The governor bade them a final farewell with the dust to dust rites and erected a cenotaph as a memorial for the victims.

  • Hello… Welcome from the grave, NITEL

    Hello… Welcome from the grave, NITEL

    Fourteen years ago, efforts to sell NITEL failed. Five times the dream of the Federal Government to find a buyer for the family’s prized item failed. If NITEL were a woman, she would have given up about finding a husband. However, recently, a certain NATCOM Consortium has accepted its hand in marriage, after paying the bride price. Our daughter, NITEL, has found a husband. Hello, NITEL, welcome from the grave. Your woes have just begun. Shortly, you would understand.

    Telecom business is a long term industry. It is not a short-term industry like a roadside grocery shop. Yes, NATCOM has acquired NITEL. Head hunting has begun already. Kamar Abass, a former country manager of Ericsson Nigeria, has been appointed as managing director. That is not news. Here is the news. To run NITEL, NATCOM will need more than what it cost to acquire NITEL. It is not about branding. It is not about public relations. It is not about advertising. It is not about event marketing. I wish all of these could get the job done. Unfortunately, they would not.

    What NITEL needs is this: If NATCOM paid $1b to acquire NITEL; NATCOM needs ten times that figure in the first five years to keep it going. Why? Abbas knows that you do not come into telecom and think you’re going to make a fast one and disappear. Telecom business is not as smooth as silk or as free flowing as wine. That was why M-tel, the mobile arm of NITEL failed woefully.

    As the fifth telco, NITEL should be prepared for the long term. It is a serious business. In clear terms, NITEL will have to spend more than what the current leader, MTN, is spending to get started. NITEL will have to build scales to cover all the overheads. NITEL will have to pay for neglecting Nigerians when Nigerians were dying to have telephone, even if it was 090. Then, NITEL was a monopoly. Now, NITEL will play catch up.

    The infrastructure NITEL failed to build when it was convenient to do, NITEL will build it even if it is inconvenient to do. As my mother would say, if you defecate on the roadside leading to your farm, you will be confronted with your shame on your way back. NITEL has come home to roost. There is no place to hide. The game has changed. The table has turned. Nigerians are no longer at the mercy of NITEL. NITEL has toyed with the emotions of its customers. NITEL will need to fight to win back customers’ loyalty.

    Aside deploying base stations across the country to build its network, thousands of generators and security apparatus would be needed to secure the stations. When NITEL gets to a certain scale and begins to make money, it will have to reinvest to expand the network.

    Etisalat is just five years. Etisalat is still in the investment phase. It has not reached the scale where it can actually make money. If in five years Etisalat is not making money, and has spent so much, imagine a NITEL that is coming from the grave. Now do you understand?

    Well, if NITEL can be innovative and competitive it can make profits ASAP. How? There are still so much opportunities in meeting customers’ needs. NITEL can build a reputation for network quality and customer service. NITEL should come out and compete. As the fifth player, NITEL would have to come up with something different. Unless NITEL does that, I don’t see how it would benefit anyone even after 14 years in the grave.