The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Justice

  • Tonto Dikeh, Caramelo girls and justice

    IT almost got drowned in the ocean of distress in which we are all immersed.

    In normal times, it would have got so much attention, considering the subject and the personality involved. But, that is not to say that it is a subject that we discuss freely. Our cultural and religious inclinations do not give room for an open debate of such matters, except occasionally when celebrities are involved. Among parents, it sparks a huge debate whenever the idea of discussing it in schools is mooted. A taboo? Not quite, but not talking about it is seen as a measure of moral rectitude. Right? Well, that is neither here nor there.

    Besides, these times seem not to favour such matters in public discourse. Consider Boko Haram’s bloodletting, throw in armed robbery and communal clashes. Then,  mix them up with the new kid on the bloody block, kidnapping and its more vicious cousin, banditry. You have a cocktail of crises, worse than a civil war, some have said.

    Just how much can a country take?

    When he returned from a 10-day private visit to Britain the other day, the President acknowledged the arrival of a new trade – boom, gloom, doom and all – kidnapping.  Agents of violence are loosed on this beautiful country, a blight on our lively cities and seductive countryside of green forests that speak to the majesty of nature. They have all become theatres of their devilish operations.

    So, amid the clash of desperation and despondency, who will talk about it and risk being dismissed as a nitwit or a mere curtain-twitching busybody who won’t just mind his own business? It is, to many, a trivial issue for which no serious minded person should spare a thought, particularly now.

    What am I talking about?  Star actress Tonto Dikeh’s outburst about her ex-husband Olakunle Churchill. Heard it? She told radio show host Daddy Freeze: “At the beginning of the relationship, I never suspected him of cheating because he has a sexual problem, a disease. It’s called premature ejaculation. He can’t stay…for more than 40 seconds. My son was the longest … one minute.”

    The Nollywood star got married to her ex in 2015. When the marriage collapsed, she made a documentary video on the breakup. She alleged that her husband was a ritualist and fraudster.

    That was, in the estimation of many a fan, charitable. Not so the radio show  outburst, which has been rated to be more explosive than the three-part video. Tonto Dikeh claimed to have revealed her ex’s bedroom mannerism because, according to her, he called her a drug addict. Churchill is said to have recalled that he met her at a night club.

    The Tonto Dikeh allegation of 40 seconds bedroom show has provoked many questions, which marriage counsellors, psychologists, medical experts and ancillary professionals will have to answer. This, being a family paper, I will not list some of the posers being raised by observers of this matter so as not to offend the sensibility of the reader.

    Why will a woman bring into the open the salacious details of her ex-husband’s concupiscence competence? What has time got to do with it? Is it a general problem or one that is peculiar to philanderers and lotharios among who Tonto Dikeh has numbered  her ex? Did she complain to him and what did he do to reverse the situation? Is it right for women to go public with such erotic grievances? Is this also part of the Beijing spirit? Will other women embrace Tonto’s formula to whip their ex into line?

    One would have thought that Tonto’s testimony is the stuff for hair dressing salon gossip. Wrong. Now, it has set the social media on fire. Even if the actress had insisted on talking about it, why bring in her son? In future when his mates begin to taunt him with his mum’s assertion about his dad’s bedroom report card as signed by his ex, his mom, what will the poor boy do?

    Is 40 seconds medically realistic? Was the star just being hyperbolic to stress the fact that, in her words, Churchill would “not last more than 40 seconds?” Is it possible to get wrapped up in such an erotic act and, at the same time, keep the time? Was Tonto taking a stopwatch to the bedroom to time her man? Was the man aware that he was being timed? Can the actress prove her assertion? How? Video? Mere oral evidence? A medical report? Witnesses? These are just a few of the questions her fans – and foes – have been asking.

    Her Nollywood colleagues have been screaming: “Ah, incredible!”. Churchill, it is to be noted, has not said a word in his own defence against what some men have described as a grave allegation. He has taken it all on the chin. Trust the busybodies; they have been asking: “Is he guilty? Why will a man keep quiet about such a serious allegation? Does he need help? Is the woman perfect; why not release details of her shortcomings?”

    Some charlatans have been recommending their so-called remedies to Churchill – unsolicited.  Thankfully, there are no reports that he has accepted any of their prescriptions. An overzealous fellow listed the remedies he said Churchill could try – Jigijigi, Ogidiga, Manpower, Alomo, Pakurumo, Fodo, Afato, Eruku, Flusher, Bazooka, Osomo, Wiper, Kick and Start, and many others.

    Their potency, claim the self-acclaimed exports, is not doubtful.

    One of the manufacturers announced gleefully the other day that he had, at last, found a solution to (I guess you know it) “45 seconds”.

    Suddenly, “45 seconds” has gone beyond being a measure of time-taking on other meanings. Gone are popular phrases, such as “see you in a minute” and “give me one minute”. Now it is “I’ll be there in 45 seconds” or “see you in 45 seconds”.

    It is a measure of Tonto Dikeh’s magnanimity that she has moved on from this matter. She has just announced that her birthday is coming up next month. To mark the momentous occasion, the philanthropist and self-acclaimed evangelist will be getting a new pair of breasts. “Dear Lord Jesus, I have all I want for now. My birthday wish is that you make my schedule and that of Dr Ayo align so that I have my new boobs,” she announced excitedly. Her fans are hailing her.

    If the Tonto Dikeh  kiss-and-tell seems to be generating less attention, not so the matter of Caramelo, the Abuja  lap dancing club from where the police arrested many girls for alleged prostitution.

    Caramelo was demolished on Monday by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) authorities. I do not know yet the legality of such a drastic action. A court may have to resolve that someday. But, many Nigerians have been crying out over the fate of the girls who were hurled into detention for being found in that club. They were reportedly harassed and asked to pay in cash or kind (sex) for their freedom. Those who would not budge were beaten up, reports said.

    There have been protests in some cities, including Abuja and Ibadan, over this matter, with young women bearing placards. Their message:”Sex for bail is rape”. Police chief Mohammed Adamu has set up a probe to determine what happened. We await the panel’s report.

    It is hard for me to comprehend what a strippers club clients gain. I am told the most difficult thing to get there is sex. You just watch some women gyrating and gyrating until they get tired. You are not to touch them. If you do, barrel-chest bouncers will throw you out.

    I do not know yet if the girls have proof that they were raped. Medical evidence. Video (as is common nowadays). Oral proof (remember the Obafemi Awolowo University girl and the disgraced professor?). If the police are found to be wrong in this matter, they should surrender their men for trial.

    The fundamental rights of all, including lap dancers, must be respected. Besides, the economic and social situations that have forced many into immoral ventures, turning cities into Sodom and Gomorrah, should be tackled. Now.

     

    When friends are enemies

    THE police are holding three University of Abuja students who watched as their mate got drowned in a swimming pool. It was all at a party for freshers.  Emmanuel Aigbokhalode  Balogun’s friends were watching as he struggled for life. They refused to help him. When they were satisfied that he would not make it, they shared his belongings. One took his telephone; another took the cash in his pockets. The third wore his shoes. They reported the matter to nobody.

    When Emmanuel’s parents learnt that their son, 17, had not been seen in school, they began to search for him. The hotel directed them to the police who asked them to check the morgue where they got the shock of their lives – Emmanuel’s body.

    It is not yet clear why these young men would visit such savagery on their friend. They were said to have claimed that Emmanuel was flaunting his wealthy background. Hence, they decided to go for the final solution. Morbid envy.

    The three evil friends are symbols of the gross failure of parenting the society is yet to start tackling. I wonder the kind of lessons they got from their homes. No respect for human life. No good thought for a benefactor. No thought about the future. No loyalty to friendship.

    Why would the hotel allow guests access to the pool at about 3 am. Where was the life guard? Where were the security staff?

    After reading the heart shattering story of Emmanuel’s tragic fate, I remembered a message on somebody’s Facebook wall: “God, show me my friends, my enemies I can handle.” How apt.

  • Pensions, justice and the rule of law

    The  Bayelsa State governor,  Mr   Seriake  Dickson during the week refused to give assent a  to a bill passed by  the  state  House of Assembly asking for  life pension   for  both serving and past  legislators in the state. The governor said the bill violated a section of  the Nigerian constitution, was not a priority on the list of the myriads of serious economic problems  facing the state and would  be creating a special  class  of  people in a democracy where equality and freedom  are  the driving spirit.   In  my view the Bayelsa   governor is a shining example of  a champion of democracy  upholding the rule of  law  and justice  and his refusal  to give assent  to the bill brought by  self  serving   Bayelsa legislators is a beacon  of  hope  that  God  is  not  finished with  Nigeria yet. This   is    in spite of  the overwhelming predisposition of the Nigerian   political class   for  self  perpetuation,  and  self  promotion   of their  class  once they  get elected into  any   office  either in   the executive or legislative arm  of  government, in  all  categories  of  governance  in the Nigerian  political  system.

    In  upholding  the rule of law at  great expense to  his political authority and tenure   I put  Governor Dickson of Bayelsa  state on the lofty platform  of some other legal  minds and lawyers on the global scene who  this week  stated boldly and  clearly  what  the rule of  law  is  and what  it is not.  The  first  is  Rod  Rosentein  the Deputy Attorney General  of  the US who  appointed the  Attorney Mueller  who   led the Mueller Inquiry which   recently   submitted its report on its findings on  whether Russia  assisted Donald  Trump  to win the 2016 US presidential  election  or  not. The  second  is the US Attorney  General William  Barr  who  received  the  Muller  Report and released  an  abridged  version  of it  as required by the US constitution.  The  third  is the US House of  Representatives dominated by the Democrats which is using  subpoenas to battle  the presidency  of  the US President Donald  Trump  Administration   while  the Trump  appointees in government  have refused to  honour  some  subpoenas thus  exposing themselves  to  charges of  contempt  of the law  with regard  to  legislative authority.  With  regard  to  the US AG Barr’s  role  and  that of the US House  of  Reps,  partisanship  has  blinded proceedings on both sides  such  that the rule of law is   in   serious  jeorpardy.  We  shall  therefore  dwell   here on the Rosentein resignation letter  later.

    The  comparison  with Governor  Dickson  stems  from  the fact  that the Bayelsa  governor  is  boldly    trying to defend  the people  who  voted Bayelsa  legislators  into office   against   the   misusing   and abuse  of    their   trust     with    legislative powers  aimed  at  looting   the state treasury. Thus    making  an ass of  the law in creating life pensions  for themselves  outside  the provisions of  the Nigerian  constitution.  According to  the Governor  in his statement  on refusal  of assent, the bill  is inconsistent  with Section 124  of the Nigerian  constitution  and ‘ I am  not  convinced  of its legality’.  The  legislature  is made up  of  22  members  of  the PDP,  the governor’s  party  and 2 members of  the opposition APC  which  means  that  the legislators   from  the governor’s   party  can  impeach  him  for daring to stop  the bill. That  makes  the governor a public   spirited  and patriotic  Nigerian  in  my view.  What  I do  not agree with   however is his  insistence that  Bayelsa   will  be the first  state to give  pension to political  office  holders. It is an open  secret  that governors and deputy governors in many states  have houses and cars when they leave office and have cars renewed  after  two  years in some  states. It  is  a situation similar  to  that in Bayelsa and is equally   condemnable   as  it is not only  a drain  on the resources  of the states  concerned but is an abuse  of  the concept of contributory  pension system  which  is meant as a cushion and incentive  for the effects of  long  meritorious  service.

    A  recent  White  Paper in the UK  called  for a review  of pensions for  the old with a view  to cutting some perks  such as TV  licence payments  so  that there  can  be provision  for  young people  who  are largely  unemployed and uncatered  for  by the state. The recommendation is meant to  care  for  young  unemployed  youths in  order to make  life  easier  for them in  society  in order  to minimize  antagonism against  a society that creates social  tension in the face of rising youth  unemployment and joblessness.  That  to me is a step  in the right direction in the UK  and is what  Nigeria  should  emulate  and  adopt   instead  of  creating   extravagant   pensions   for politicians  who  serve very    short  political   terms. This  is imperative  and urgent  with the developments in Algeria  where restless, angry   and unemployed  protesters,  mostly  youths  toppled the decades old regimes of Boumediene and Sudan  where  a similar   overthrow    of  government   was led  by youthful  doctors and other  professionals. This  is the handwriting on the wall  that the Bayelsa governor   has read  and has stopped  his wayward  legislators  in their  quest  to make an  ass of the law and line their pockets with the resources of the state  as pensions  for life.

    In  similar  vein the outgoing US  Deputy  Attorney  General Rod  Rosentein   who  initiated the Mueller probe  and was perceived as an antagonist  by the US President  resigned as expected but his resignation  letter  was a lesson  in objectivity and respect  for  the rule of law.  Rosentein  whose resignation takes effect on  May  11  noted  that  ‘the rule of law  is  the foundation of  America.’ In  the  concluding part  of his released resignation  letter he gave clear  albeit    grudging endorsement  to the US   President Donald  Trump   who  vilified  him  as  a  witch  hunter most  of the time. Rosentein  praised  the US Department of  Justice  he was leaving thus –‘ We  enforce the law  without fair or favour  because evidence is not partisan  and truth is not determined by opinion polls.  We  ignore fleeting distractions and focus our attention on the things   that  matter,  because  a republic that matters is not governed  by the news cycle. We  keep  the faith, we  follow  the rules and we always put America first ‘ I  am  sure  that even  Trump  must  have  been dazed   and pleasantly    surprised   by the unexpected adoption of his America First slogan  by a man he mistrusted  most  of his time in office.  But  that is the best  way to uphold the rule of law  in any clime  or polity  as shown by both  Governor Dickson of Bayelsa   on life  pension  for   legislators in  Nigeria  and Rod  Rosentein of the US  Department  of Justice. Once  again long live  the Federal Republic of  Nigeria.

     

  • For the violated, justice

    •It’s good Lagos is set to get violated women swifter justice.  But what of violated men?

    The effort by Lagos state government for courts to expeditiously hear cases of domestic violence and sexual offences have begun to bear fruit. Justice Abiola Soladoye, of the Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court, is set to deliver her first judgment since joining the court. The judgment is with respect to a charge of sexual assault against one Yusuf Quadri, a teacher, who allegedly raped his colleague on September 4, 2017. Justice Soladoye assumed responsibility as a Judge of the court in September 2018 and is set to deliver a judgment on May 9, 2019.

    In 2015, a new Criminal Law of Lagos State came into force. The law provides for hitherto un-coded aspects of sexual offences and domestic violence, and the result was that offenders who had taken advantage of the gap before then, have their days in court. To further make the law beneficial for Lagosians, the government created a special court, to deal with the peculiar challenges of domestic violence and sexual offences. Justice Soladoye is the first judge of the Ikeja division.

    We recall that in January 2018, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Olunfumilayo Opeyemi-Oke, while receiving the then Commissioner of Police Imohimi Edgal, announced the creation of the special sexual offences court to curb the increase in rape incidents. Significantly, the CJ reminded courts that under the new law, rape was punishable by life imprisonment, as such granting bail is a luxury. She said: “the sentence for this type of offence has been increased to life imprisonment and no magistrate should grant such suspect bail. This is why we are setting up special sexual offences courts.”

    No doubt the Lagos State government has championed the protection of women’s right, with laws and administrative policies to protect especially vulnerable women. Its Ministry of Women Affairs has a department equipped to save molested women. They also have temporary shelters for such women.

    As part of protecting the vulnerable, there is the Office of Public Defender, which defends the poor, pro bono. While we commend the efforts, what about the cause of vulnerable men?  In making a call for vulnerable men, we nevertheless acknowledge that women are the more vulnerable to domestic violence and should get the greater attention.

    On the international scene, a popular music act Koffi Olomide, was recently handed a two-year suspended sentence for raping a minor, who was his stage dancer. The 62-year old Koffi, whose real name is Antoine Christopher Agbepa Mumbam, raped the 15-year old victim between 2002 and 2006, partly in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and partly in France. When he feared arrest, he ran to DRC and was sentenced in absentia.

    Significantly, the victim and two other women accusing Koffi of rape have stayed away from DRC, afraid of reprisal attacks, if they go home. Their fear is not different from most victims in Third World countries. Indeed, if the victims had pursued justice in DRC, perhaps the music star would have used his influence and money to circumvent justice. Also, the raped women appealed that their cases be tried in camera, apparently because of the stigma attached to rape and domestic violence.

    One strain of rape, gaining notoriety in Nigeria, is incestuous rape. It has become ordinary for father and step-fathers to rape their daughters and step-daughters. There are also cases of brothers raping sisters. Also common is battering of wives by husbands, and vice versa; amongst other forms of abuse.

    No doubt, the vulnerability of women requires that appropriate laws and policies be put in place to protect them, and we believe Lagos State is on the right track.

  • ‘I want justice,’ mother of girl killed in Ikorodu by policeman cries out

    The mother of a 17-year-old girl killed by a trigger- happy policeman at Akoun, Ikorodu, Lagos State, has demanded justice over the death of her daughter.

    Mrs. Janet Anifowose, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, said Adijat Shakiru was the only apple of her eyes.

    According to her, the girl was killed shortly after returning from school on Wednesday.

    Some police operatives attached to Lagos State Taskforce on Environment had gone to the area for an operation and in the process one of them shot Adijat, an SSCE 1 student.

    The distraught mother said: “When my daughter returned from school, she started doing her homework. Few minutes later, we saw people running all over the place and all of a sudden, I heard gunshot.

    “Immediately, I saw my daughter lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

    “When I realised she was dead, I tried to hold the policeman but he jerked my hand and pushed me away. I called on my neighbours to help me and they came out and supported me, carried my daughter inside the pool of blood where she was lying dead.

    “One of them suggested that we should go and report the case to the police since it involved their officer. Three of my neighbours and other people accompanied us to the police station at Imota.

    “On getting there, due to the crowd, the DPO ordered that we should be locked up and the crowd be dispersed. The tyres of the car that brought us were deflated, while three people, including me, were detained.

    “At about 11 p.m., the Area N Commander came and ordered that I should be released and he drove me back to my house at Akoun, Adamo, in his car. I am calling on Nigerians to help me; this is an injustice from the police.

    “My daughter was the only one that was assisting me. And now they have taken her away from me, people should come and help me. This is cheating.”

    The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Bala Elkana, confirmed the incident, saying that the police were investigating circumstances surrounding the death of Adijat Shakiru.

     

  • BREAKING: Supreme Court frees PDP, Oyinlola’s lawyer, Kalejaiye, disbarred for misconduct

    The Supreme Court has set aside the May 21, 2015 decision of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) which disbarred Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Kule Kalejaye for engaging in professional misconduct.

    Kalejaye, who was once a lawyer to the Peole’s Democratic Party (PDP) and then Governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was found by the LPDC to have engaged in an ex-parte confidential communication with the Chairman of the 2008 Osun Governorship Tribunal, Justice Thomas Naron, a decision he appealed.

    In a unanimous judgment on Friday, a five-man panel of the Supreme Court upheld Kalejaye’s appeal on the grounds that the trial procedure at the LDPC was flawed. Justice Centus Nweze read the lead judgment.

    Details later.

  • Justice in the crypt

    Chthonian vigour becomes the fetish of the legal profession. Or whatever is left of it.

    The logic and rigour of the Rule of Law incinerate in the searing crust of venal rites. No thanks to the corrupt lawyer and jurist.

    The synthesis of their articulated and unarticulated sinful lusts is of enormous consequence. Justice now subsists as monetised and politicised privilege.

    The gross and barbaric proliferates within the judiciary and the legal profession because men and women with the character of the dung-beetle and the carabid are deified as gems and cultural touchstones.

    While the corruptible jurist presides as minister of judicial decay, the venal lawyer, flaunting the finesse of the carabid, splashes and wades in the judicial bath of dissolution.

    Integrity is exorcised. Duplicity is internalised. The system dissembles because it has been compromised and bonded to a leash of cash, by unrepentant occults.

    If the laws could speak for themselves, they would complain of the lawyers in the first place, argues Edward Wood aka Lord Halifax.

    And speaking to the nub of the legal profession’s deathly rally, French dramatist and writer, Jean Giraudoux, states, that, “There’s no better way of exercising the imagination than the study of law. No poet ever interpreted nature as freely as a lawyer interprets the truth.”

    The corrupt lawyer would misappropriate the first sentence of his paragraph and pay no heed to the second part. Perhaps because he is a creature of forgettable parts. Call it selective adoption or adaptation. I would call it the insolence of intelligence; the blooming of brawn and perverse intellect.

    The malady persists where a supposedly brilliant, connected, legal luminary wields his passion and intellect, as the political goon or assassin would, a machete and gun, at a price.

    Many a poor, ordinary client, who hires an ‘unconnected’ lawyer in pursuit of justice often suffers the treatment of the adulterous widow, who hires her lover cum husband’s murderer to protect her from the ire of vengeful in-laws.

    This is perhaps an extreme take on the value of the lawyer to the justice system as there are a few good lawyers, who have committed their professional lives to equity and justice. These people are not the target of this article, but the maleficent band, masquerading as truth-seekers and legal activists.

    Just recently, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) reportedly issued a query to Aliyu Umar (SAN), the prosecutor of the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, in the ongoing trial of the latter, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), for taking up the brief.

    The NBA, in the February 12, 2019 query accuses Umar of professional misconduct for accepting the brief and the query has triggered discord along the north-south divide following an alleged secret move to de-robe and delist Umar as a lawyer because the NBA demanded a copy of his Call to Bar certificate.

    Some lawyers are of the opinion that the NBA issued the query in response to a petition filed against Umar. How convenient? To the litany of arguments and counter-arguments trailing the NBA’s combative disposition to the Federal Government’s prosecution of the former CJN, I find a worthy retort in prominent lawyer and human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN)’s take on the nation’s legal system.

    In an interview with The Punch’s Gbenro Adeoye, published on October 22, 2016, Falana says: “For ideological reasons, I have always had enemies in the legal profession. I am not bothered because some of the NBA leaders are not defending judges but themselves. When I was working with the late Comrade Alao Aka-Bashorun, who is rated as the best NBA president so far, the NBA did not address press conferences to declare a state of emergency, whatever that means. If judges were harassed or lawyers were detained, the NBA leaders would meet the Attorney-General or President of a country to find out the basis of any arrest.

    “Aka-Bashorun did that in Nigeria, Togo and Ghana. In 1987, Aka-Bashorun mobilised 270 lawyers to defend the late Gani Fawehinmi. He was fighting a very corrupt military junta. When the same military dictators later charged some of us with treasonable felony, the NBA also defended us.

    “At that time, the NBA never mobilised 90 lawyers to defend any lawyer charged with corrupt practices…The human rights committees of the NBA were mobilised to challenge the violation of the human rights of the Nigerian people.

    “I am only asking the NBA to return to the glorious era of defending popular causes. But I cannot be part of the NBA if it goes around assembling scores of lawyers to appear for other lawyers when they are charged with bribing judges. If you organise a press conference to issue threats over the arrest of judges accused of corruption, you simply parade the NBA as a pro-corruption society.”

    Although Falana’s take on NBA’s complicity was issued in response to a separate incident, it no doubt suffices against the volley of expletives and righteous vituperation issued by the NBA and certain self-appointed judicial activists, in condemnation of Onnoghen’s trial.

    For the records, Onnoghen was suspended by President Muhammadu Buhari for failing to declare his assets, estimated at $3 million in domiciliary accounts, in full, before assuming office as CJN. Buhari issued the penalty, guided by the order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal of January 23.

    Responding to the charges, Onnoghen said he forgot to declare the assets, describing the non-declaration of his domiciliary accounts as a mistake. Uglier details unfurl in the wake of his prosecution.

    Given the facts of the case, it is mind-boggling that so-called senior lawyers, mostly Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), would feverishly defend Onnoghen. In tune with their character, they belted a ludicrous aria, projecting shrilly and disconcertingly, a vulgar melody, chock-full of hatred and ethnic bigotries. They spun tiresome yarns to dull the ugliness of Onnoghen’s misdemeanour.

    In truth, their frantic struggle is to keep the skeletons in their closets safely tucked from the prying eyes of the government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), especially lawyers who may be found complicit making unjustifiable deposits in the CJN’s problematic accounts.

    At a round-table with the government, concerned lawyers made outrageous demands, including the reversal of Onnoghen’s suspension and letting him go scot-free with the money in his frozen bank accounts.

    This is what happens when duty and ethics get drenched in the fount of errant lusts, and repute drowns in torrents of money that extinguishes brilliance like a muck-sodden ember.

    By their concerted effort to scuttle Onnoghen’s prosecution to the curious query issued to Onnoghen’s prosecutor, Nigeria’s so-called legal giants commit to unprecedented ridicule.

    They would never query a colleague for exploiting legal loopholes to free an established looter or mass murderer. They would rather wield their query, like a sword, on Onnoghen’s prosecutor.

    Nigeria is in dire need of true ethical natives, heroes of the judiciary and legal profession, on whose watch, justice may experience a spirited rebirth.

    At the moment, justice subsists as wild privilege; it suffers savage extraction from the womb without the possibility of rebirth. Think of it as a forgotten corpse in the judicial tomb.

    Its varnished vault, like Paglia’s cave art, is a hymn to daemonic darkness.

     

  • Widows of hanged ‘Ogoni nine’ seek justice at The Hague

    WIDOWS of four of the Ogoni Nine – Esther Kiobel, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula brought their historic case to The Hague yesterday to seek justice for their hanged husbands.

    Nine members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), including its leader, the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, were executed in 1995 by the administration of the late military Head of State Gen Sani Abacha, following their controversial trial.

    Esther Kiobel’s husband, Dr Barinem Kiobel, was one of those executed.

    The widows allege that Shell was complicit in the Nigerian government’s policy of brutally quelling protests, and with human rights abuses that were aimed at protecting the company’s staff and infrastructure, actions that ultimately led to the death of their husbands.

    Shell has been accused of complicity in the state execution of nine Ogoni protesters and human right abuses dating back to 1993.

    The allegations concern the 1990s government crackdown in Ogoniland, in the oil-rich Niger Delta, where oil spills inflicted environmental damage on a huge scale.

    According to a report by The Guardian United Kingdom (UK), The Netherlands court will decide whether a case can proceed after hearing arguments from both sides.

    “Over the years, Shell has continually fought to make sure this case is not heard in court. They have the resources to fight me instead of doing justice for my husband,” Esther Kiobel said.

    Unable to seek recourse in Nigerian courts, Esther Kiobel first filed a case against Shell in the United States (U.S.) in 2002. The company denied allegations of complicity in the death of the Ogoni nine or in the widespread human rights abuses, although it acknowledged an awareness of Nigeria’s military action to protect its infrastructure. In 2009, Shell agreed a $15.5 million out-of-court settlement with the families of the dead men, stating that it was to cover their legal costs and recognition of events that took place in Ogoniland.

    The U.S. court declined jurisdiction and in 2017, with the assistance of Amnesty International, the case was re-filed in the Netherlands.

    In a letter to Amnesty International in June 2017, the Managing Director, Shell Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, refuted allegations of misconduct and said: “We were shocked and saddened when we heard the news of the executions. Shell Nigeria appealed to the Nigerian government to grant clemency.”

    Mark Dummett, a researcher at Amnesty International, said: “These women believe that their husbands would still be alive today were it not for the brazen self-interest of Shell. This is an historic moment which has huge significance for people everywhere who have been harmed by the greed and recklessness of global corporations.”

    Yesterday at The Hague, plaintiffs Esther Kiobel and Victoria Bera gave evidence to the court. Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula were unable to attend. Presenting the response from Shell, Barrister Wemmeke Wisman, stated that the company denied the allegations made by the two women, and argued that the matter should not proceed on the basis of statutes of limitation in Nigeria.

    Besides, they asked the court to consider whether it should decline jurisdiction on the basis that Shell Nigeria operated independently of its parent company, Royal Dutch Shell. The case was adjourned to 8 May, for the judge to decide whether the proceedings should be stayed or whether examination of further evidence was needed.

    Speaking to The Guardian at the conclusion of yesterday’s hearing, Esther Kiobel said: “I am happy that I have had my day in court to tell the judge that I want justice and all the hanged men exonerated.”

  • Justice at last

    It took all of 28 years in what will certainly go down as one of the most celebrated legal battles in Nigeria’s judicial history, but justice finally triumphed on January 11, 2019. The tussle was between the Ejama Ebubu community in Ogoni land, Rivers State, represented by six chiefs as plaintiffs on the one hand, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Netherlands, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United Kingdom, and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Nigeria, on the other, as defendant. Ejama Ebubu community had commenced the suit against the oil conglomerate before a Rivers State High Court sitting in Nchia Division in 1991, for alleged oil spills in 1970 when Shell operated in the community.

    Although judgment was entered in favour of the community by the Nchia High Court and Shell ordered to pay compensation of N6 billion, this decision was nullified on appeal on the basis of a decision by the Supreme Court in a sister case that oil-related matters were beyond the jurisdiction of states’ high courts. Undaunted, representatives of the Ejama Ebubu community renewed pursuit of the suit at the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, in 2001. After another nine tortuous years, the community once again triumphed with Justice Ibrahim Buba awarding N17 billion against Shell in 2010, and also granting the plaintiffs 25% interest charges on the principal sum.

    However, SPDC appealed against the judgment for a stay of its execution pending the determination of the case; a plea granted once Shell met the condition that its bankers, First Bank, provide a guarantee of the judgment sum and the attendant interest. The oil behemoth again failed at the Court of Appeal, however, on the technical ground that it failed to file a brief of argument in support of its appeal claiming incorrectly that it had been granted leave to file an amended brief of argument.

    With Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) taking over as lead counsel for Shell in the case, the oil giant proceeded to the Supreme Court where it filed a fresh application seeking leave to amend the original notice of the appeal filed in the Court of Appeal. This, according to its counsel, was to enable Shell raise and argue an additional 36 grounds of appeal not addressed at the court below.

    However, dismissing Shell’s appeal on January 11, 2019, Justice Kumai Bayang Akaahs of the apex court ruled that on the basis of Order 8 Rule 7 of the court’s rules, the notice of appeal filed by the oil conglomerate was incompetent.

    According to the jurist, “where the grounds of appeal are based on mixed law and facts and the leave of either the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court is not sought and granted, the appeal is incompetent and neither the Court of Appeal nor the Supreme Court will have any jurisdiction to entertain the appeal. As the notice of appeal sought to be amended was incompetent, no valid amendment could be effected even though issues of jurisdiction were raised in the proposed notice of appeal.” Five hundred thousand Naira cost was awarded against Shell for filing an   incompetent appeal.

    With this landmark judgment, all legal obstacles to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) paying the plaintiffs the judgment sum of N134 billion comprising the principal sum and interest within the time frame of the case from First Bank’s account with it have been removed. Although this case again demonstrates Nigeria’s painfully slow justice administration system, it is heartwarming that a lowly and oppressed Ogoni community could obtain justice against a stupendously rich and powerful corporate giant like Shell that can afford any lawyer.

    We commend the courage and resilience of the community and its representatives in pursuing justice and hope that this will signal to multinational corporations operating in Nigeria that they cannot damage the environment and endanger lives with impunity without consequences.

  • Activists, council boss demand equality, justice, human dignity

    On December 10, the world marked the 70th Human Rights Day as declared by the United Nations. ADEBISI ONANUGA and DIVINE OKOLI report that the Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CRIVIFON), in collaboration with the Somolu Local Government, of Lagos State, marked the day with the graduation of new human rights activists.

    Human Rights Day is observed on December 10 yearly. It was the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.This year  marks the 70th anniversary of the declaration.

    The theme for this year’s celebration  is: “Let’s stand up for equality, justice and human dignity”.

    ANon-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CRIVIFON)  celebrated the day at the Somolu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) secretariat, Lagos.

    The event attracted other human rights organisations, Police officers.  Awards were presented to some people for their contribution to the protection of rights.

    Somolu Local Government Chairman Mr Abdul Hammed Salawu and CRIVIFON Executive Director Mrs Gloria Egbuji said a  society which abandoned equality, justice, human dignity and rights were at risk.

    They,therefore, urged every citizen to stand up for their rights and that of others when they were trampled upon.

    The event attracted many human rights activists and organisations, including Friends of Kind Hearts Foundation.

    Salawu, who was represented by his Personal Assistant, Babajide Maraiyesa, charged human rights activists to be alive to their duties.

    He stressed that as activists, they were epected to protect the dignity of those whose rights were trampled upon by either individuals and law enforcement agents.

    “Most times our rights are being trampled upon because we do not know the extension of human rights. We need to brace up to our responsibilities because there is nothing to be compared to perfect equality, justice and human dignity,” Salawu said.

    “We need to frequently ask questions about human rights, consult human right activists and lawyers all the time to become conversant with the constitution on what constitute our rights,” he said.

    Mrs Egbuji, who is the founder of  CRIVIFON, regretted that one major problem people face is being ignorant of their rights.

    Mrs Egbuji, who was represented by the Director of Legal Services and Projects, Mr Evaristus Aloke, stressed the need for everybody to stand up to his  rights and that of others.

    She urged the people to stand up for equality, justice and human dignity.

    “The UN human rights declaration sets out universal values and a common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations. It establishes equal dignity of every person.

    “The dignity of millions have been uplifted and the foundation for a more just world has been laid,” she said.

    Noting that the provision in the Universal Declaration were yet to be realised, she said: “The very fact that it has stood the test of time is a testimony to the enduring universality of its perennial values of equality, justice and human dignity. The universal declaration of human rights empowers us all. The principles enshrined therein are as relevant as they were in1948.”

    Mrs Egbuji remarked that the UN Declaration of Human Rights  remained a milestone document, which everyone is entitled regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, or political.

    “We can take action in our own  lives to uphold the rights that protect us all and thereby promote the very importance of all human beings,” she stated.

    She disclosed plans by the foundation to set up a skill acquisition centre for victims of human rights abuses, domestic violence, widows and unemployed youths to get empowerment.

    She called on well-meaning Nigerians to assist the NGO to raise about  N5million for the centre.

    She claimed that CRIVIFON was the first organisation to set up human rights desk in all police divisions in Lagos Command and in others and also train Police men and women on human rights.

    So far, she said, the organisation has trained over 3,000 victims of rape and domestic violence, murder, human rights violation, fraud victims and victims of disaster and catastrophe, among others.

    Mrs Egbuji said the foundation also collaborates with Nigerian Prisons to release those wrongfully detained because they had nobody to assist them, lamenting that most prison inmates are those who were unable pay fines ranging from N10,000 to N20,000.

    The organisation, she further stated, has trained over 20,000 policemen and military personnel, traditional rulers on the effectiveness of mediation and youths on peace building, among others.

    National Coordinator CRIVIFON, Titus Ofurum, said  the organisation was formed to tackle those human rights violators.

    Ofurum said the organisation was behind a bill signed into law, which ensured that victims of gun shots receive medical treatment with or without police reports.

    He commended Mrs Egbuji for ensuring that the vision of the NGO was attained.

    He urged religious organisations and individuals to partner  CRIVIFON to release innocent victims who were awaiting trial.

    He appealed for sponsors for the printing of one million copies of the “know Your Right Information Booklet” to help educate people about their rights.

    The coincided with the graduation of 15 human rights. Iyida Ejiofor, the class governor of Course 15, said the 1999 Constitution,  the  Universal Declaration and African Declaration on Human Rights demanded  that the dignity and rights of individuals be respected.

    Ejiofor regretted the rising rate of crime and that the society is ignorant of the laws and their rights, particularly the offenders who do not know they also have rights.

    “There are rules guiding arrests which must be respected and observed by the police in the performance of their duties,” he said.

    The graduands included  Iyida Ejiofor, Aiyegbusi Abiodun, Maduagwu Gobril, Njoku Ken, Augustine Madu, Amusa Michael, Mrs Anyawun Tochukwu, Adebare Alani and Daudu Olugbenga.

    Awards were presented to some people for promoting human rights.

    Mrs Egbuji and  Mr Ofurum received awards.

    Other awardees were the Baale of Ishen-Olu, Ogun State, Chief Abdul-Rahman Adekunle Disu, Eze Ndigbo of Mushin, Eze Peter C. Umeh, Ezechimere 1, Mrs Rosaline Shaibu.

    Others were the organisation’s Legal Advisor in Ogun State, Obikoya Ezekiel; Administrator-General Hospital Shomolu, Mrs Ajao Adebukola; Crime Officer Alade Division, Shomolu ASP Funmilayo Olaleye.

  • CJ inaugurates 47 sheriffs to quicken trials, justice

    The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke, yesterday inaugurated 47 newly-recruited sheriffs to quicken trials and justice delivery.

    She urged them to shun corruption and be above board in the discharge of their duties.

    Justice Oke at the induction held at the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja noted that the sheriffs were critical to the smooth running and efficiency of the justice system.

    She said the court could not assume jurisdiction without the proper service of the originating processes.

    The chief judge said the recruitment and training of the sheriffs were targeted at overhauling the old order characterised by “complaints of delays in service, failure to serve, falsification of affidavits of service, delays in reporting service, laziness, ineptitude, corruption, among others.”

    She said the recruitment was part of her administration’s “wide range of far-reaching innovations” to address some of the lapses in the justice system.

    “You are a new breed. You represent a new dispensation in the Sheriff Corps, and by the grace of the Almighty God, you have come in at this time to breathe new life and, by God’s grace, to change the old order.

    “You cannot afford to blend with the system. You are expected to stand out, you are expected to stand for what is right at all times.

    “Shun all forms of corruption and take your jobs seriously,” the CJ told the new recruits.

    She said a number of the old sheriffs had been dismissed for unethical conducts.

    At the ceremony, the sheriffs were presented with certificates, marking their completion of a three-week induction course at the Lagos State Judiciary Training School.