The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tales

  • Turkish tales of right abuses

    For every advocate of good governance and true democracy, the events and developments in Turkey would be of serious concern. Revelations on the happenings in that country indicated that Turkey has finally become a recluse state, where rights of individuals are not regarded.

    As a keen follower of activities in Turkey, I realized that the people of Turkey have found themselves under a government that has a penchant for abuse of fundamental human rights. It has become a recurrent occurrence. The Justice Development Party-led government has proven beyond doubt its likeness for suppressing opposing views.

    For instance, a recent report by the United States of America on rights abuses perpetrated in Turkey under the Justice Development Party (AKP) revealed that the media, the judiciary and other business interests owned by perceived enemies of the government were targeted.

    The last November election in Turkey saw the height of human right abuses. It was an event that saw the biggest clampdown on the press through forceful takeover of privately-owned media by government forces. It was a sour taste for those who chose to be in the opposition parties.  It is on record that opposition parties were denied level playing grounds as their campaign were grounded by government forces. It was not different for the judiciary; judges were coerced to do government biddings. Justice became expensive as access was denied citizens because of government’s insistence on compromising the course of justice in Turkey.

    Turks continued to lament under the draconian rule of the AKP. It was a challenging security environment as captured by the US reports on the rights abuses in Turkey. The election that produced the present government of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was, to say the least, a terror of sorts meted on the opposition. For example, reports have it that during the build-up to the election, attacks on opposition party officials and campaign staffers in some cases “hindered contestants’ ability to campaign freely”. A number of Turks expressed concern that media restrictions during the campaign period “reduced voters’ access to a plurality of views and information during the election process on November 1, which led to the formation of a government on November 24 by Prime Minister Davutoglu, even though it was considered a generally free election”.

    Another disturbing experience was that prior to the November election in Turkey, the authorities had arrested estimated 30 journalists, most charged under anti-terror laws or for alleged association with an illegal organization. What is more, Turkish government also exerted pressure on the media through security force raids on media companies; confiscation of publications with allegedly objectionable materials; criminal investigation of journalists and editors for alleged terrorism links or for insulting the president and other senior government officials; reprisals against the business interests of owners of some media conglomerates; fines; and internet blocking.

    I read with displease the reports that revealed that pressure on Kurdish-language and opposition media outlets in the Southeast reduced vulnerable populations’ access to information about the conflict with the PKK. A number of media outlets affiliated with the Fethullah Gulen movement were dropped from digital media platforms (cable providers) and five outlets were taken under the control of government-appointed trustees. Representatives of Gulenist and some liberal media outlets were denied access to official events and in some cases, denied press accreditation.

    It was obvious that the AKP led government is fighting a perceived enemy when their action led to most Gulen-affiliated television channels to lose a significant portion of their audience after the pay-television platforms dropped them, beginning with Tivibu on September 27. By October 15, four (out of six) digital pay-television platforms had dropped the channels. The government’s media regulatory institution, RTUK, had warned the operators that the removal violated broadcasting requirements for platform operators to be fair and impartial and was inconsistent with standard legal procedure. Despite the RTUK warning, a fifth pay-television platform, Turksat, dropped Gulen-affiliated channels on November 16.

    Turkish government has the culture of manipulating the legal system to get at opponent. It was emphasized in a report that Turkish authorities used the anti-terror laws during the year to detain individuals and seize assets, including media companies, of individuals alleged to be associated with the Gulen movement, designated by the government during the year as the Fethullah Gulen terrorist organization. For instance, on October 28, police used teargas and water cannons to disperse crowds of supporters in front of the office building housing the Kanalturk and Bugun TV television stations, then forced their way into the building and shut down the two channels during a live broadcast. The police action was the result of a court ruling creating a board of trustees to manage the stations’ parent company, Koza Ipek Holding. Critics of the takeover cited procedural irregularities and asserted that the media outlets were targeted for criticizing the government. Government officials denied any political motives, stating the connection between Koza Ipek Holding and Gulen justified the action.

    In the report, it was also noted that writers and publishers were subject to prosecution on grounds of defamation, denigration, obscenity, separatism, terrorism, subversion, fundamentalism, and insulting religious values. It said authorities investigated or continued court cases against myriad publications and publishers during the year. On December 15, a Gaziantep court ruled that the books of three authors, Hasan Cemal, Tugce Tatri, and Muslum Yucel, would be pulled from bookstores because the books were found among the possessions of two persons arrested for PKK membership.

    The report said that with the consolidation of media outlets under a few conglomerates that had other business interests, media entities increasingly practiced self-censorship to remain eligible for government contracts.

    Human rights organizations such as Freedom House noted that certain companies with media outlets critical of the government were targeted in tax investigations and forced to pay fines.

    The State Department report also stated that several organisations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Freedom House, reported authorities’ increased abuse of the anti-terror law and criminal code to prosecute journalists, writers, editors, publishers, translators, rights activists, lawyers, elected officials, and students for exercising their right to free expression.

  • Tales from the fuel queues

    Tales from the fuel queues

    How that the fuel queues are shrinking and the black marketers as well as their filling station collaborators are returning home to wait for the next harvest, it is fit and proper to relive the season of anguish and anger. Who knows, those fellows who visit such hardship upon us may be touched and choose not to trouble the land this way any more. Who knows.

    As the fuel stress eases, nature has coincidentally chosen to be merciful. The rains seem to be here – so is the rainy day, again coincidentally –  after a long, harsh break occasioned by an unusual heat wave worsened by a collapsed electricity system which, we are told, succumbed to vandalism that drained the plants of gas. The long years of neglect by rapacious adventurers and marauders posing as leaders have finally come to torment us all. Pity.

    It is cool now. Plants have found their flush – fresh, lush and flowery once again, their sheer greenery exciting the mind and bewitching the eyes. The cool breeze hits the body in a refreshing lullaby that only mother nature is capable of working.

    Oh! If man could learn a little from nature and enrich humanity with some kindness. Pardon my digression.

    No matter how bad a situation is, it will have some redeeming feature. And so it is with this latest encounter with the fuel scarcity demon. Long after we had forgotten that the mother of former Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was kidnapped, the secret behind the crime has been revealed.

    Thousands of kilometres away from the crazy queues that partly symbolise the anger of the subsidy lords, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala has told the French newspaper Le Monde of her experience in the fight against corruption. She said sharply: “Nigeria subsidises fuel. About $67billion that it costs. We found that $1.5billion was fraudulent. … I told the President that we would stop paying. What happened? They kidnapped my mother, 83 years. During the first three days, their only demand was my resignation. I was supposed to go on television and announce my resignation.”

    “This was one of the worst moments of my life. Can you imagine what happens in your head if you have to be responsible for the death of your mother? I will not go into details but you must understand that in a country like this… in the fight against corruption, we must be prepared to pay a personal price.

    “My father asked me not to resign. The president asked me not to resign. At the end, everyone began looking for her, and the kidnappers released her.”

    What a revelation!

    Instead of appreciating the former minister for this prized information, which an analyst has rated in the class of the Panama Papers, many have been lashing her for not going the whole hog. They have been asking:  Is Madam telling the truth? Why was it difficult to stop the daylight robbery that the fuel subsidy had become? Who were the men and women behind this criminal mask? How much was paid for the old woman’s freedom? Was that why we couldn’t stop the subsidy and the sharks held the nation to ransom? Did we taxpayers eventually pick this fraudulent bill for our minister’s mum to be released?  C’mon Ma, tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

    Those are the fair and objective observers. There are others who challenged Mrs Okonjo –Iweala to answer the age-long question of what became of the $2.1billion Excess Crude Account cash which Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole said was unaccounted for. In fairness to Madam, she once said that the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) was aware that the money had been spent. Even then, she was quickly reminded that FAAC was a mere assemblage of finance commissioners created for administrative convenience and not a constitutional body, which can elbow aside the National Economic Council (NEC).

    By December 2012, the ECA had a balance of over $10 billion. By May, 2015, the balance had gone down to $2.07 billion. Crude oil was between $100 and $108 between 2011 and 2014 when the budgets had a benchmark of $77 and $79. Why was the account not fattened by the excess?

    This is among the numerous questions they are asking Mrs Okonjo-Iweala to answer.

    President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of not saving for the rainy day. They ran the country as if it was Hollywood and movie stars, living a Champagne life of opulence and obscene luxury while the people starved.

    Mrs Okonjo-Iweala disagreed. She spoke of how governors did not allow the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration to save for the rainy day. Her first tour of duty, she said, saw the establishment of a stabilisation mechanism and opening of an account for surplus oil earnings of $22billion.

    “In 2008 when prices fell from $148 to $38 a barrel, no one heard of Nigeria because the country was able to tap into this fund. And that, I am very proud of. When I returned in 2011, there remained only $4billion on this account while the price of oil was very high. I tried again to put money aside. The president agreed, but the governors did not accept. I suffered a lot of attacks from them and now that the country would really need this account, these same people accuse me of not having saved.”

    Poor woman. How could they have forgotten those lofty schemes that political opponents dismissed as scams? The SURE – P, You Win I win and the icing on the cake, Rebasing – the one that catapulted Nigeria’s economy from the depth of mystery to which its former managers had dumped it to the peak of affluence, the best in Africa. All by the mere ingenuity of our dearest minister who just adjusted the figures and put us where we rightly belong economically. Doesn’t she deserve a trophy?

    At a point the fuel problem bred some tragedies. An expectant woman was delivered of her baby as she walked for hours. In Lagos, a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officer shot dead two persons at a filling station. One, an 18-year-old boy, was accused of hawking fuel, a charge he vehemently denied. Unsatisfied by his pleas to allow him go, the officer fired a shot that killed the boy, simply identified as Ikechukwu.

    As the poor boy fell, the officer and her colleagues fled the scene, shooting into the air. Three people were injured.

    The situation also witnessed a massive exhibition of the fecundity of the Nigerian mind. Laughter became the fuel of life. A fellow recalled: “After Buhari won the presidential election, people started to trek for him. We thought they were insane. We never knew they saw the future; they were being prophetic. Now, everybody is trekking. Now it’s mass trekking for Buhari.”

    The sarcasm was as biting as the situation it was meant to illuminate. The fellow adds a Pentecostal clincher: “Not to worry, the children of Israel trekked to the Promised Land from Egypt. Be of good cheer, fellow Nigerians. Tell your neighbour, ‘I will get there before you’.”

    The story is told of a man who goes to a filling station throbbing with people. Some, fagged out and dozing, have their heads on their steering wheels. Others have their power generators, mostly the tiny ones derisively called I better pass my neighbour, on their bare heads. There are also those holding jerry cans of various sizes – all waiting for the long-awaited sales to begin.

    Suddenly a voice rings out: “They have started o! They have started o!”. As the fellow runs across the road, still screaming “they have started o”, many leave the queue and start running, some also crying “they have started o”. A few kilometres away from the filling station, a motorist and one of the first to run after the screaming man catches up with him, grabs him by the collar of his shirt and asks: “What have they started?” The fellow replies: “El Classico. Barca versus Real Madrid.”

    Of all the rib-ticklers on the Nigerian situation, including a man’s Facebook announcement that he has bought a horse to finally settle the fuel problem, none is as striking as this, part of which appeared on this page a long time ago.

    “Some former leaders died and went to hell. The British leader asks the devil to allow him make a phone call to London to know the welfare of his people. He spends five minutes. Satan bills him $5000.The United States leader makes his call for eight minutes and Satan bills him $8000. The Nigerian leader calls Abuja and spends two hours. He is briefed about the fuel trouble, Boko Haram, kidnapping, budget brouhaha and the anti-corruption war.

    “After his call, he asks Satan, ‘How much is my bill?’ Satan replies: ‘Your bill is $1.’

    Surprised, the Nigerian leader says: ‘How come my own call is cheaper than the other two leaders’? I stayed longest on the phone.’

    Satan, smiling, replies: “What’s the difference? Calling hell from hell is not expensive; it’s a local call.”

  • Traffic tales

    Hardball has an idea — traffic tales!  Now, what do you think that is?

    Well, it is certainly tales about the traffic.  And if traffic is about vehicles and their drivers, including the ubiquitous Okada riders — traffic laws be damned! — it is certainly about what these drivers do or don’t do on the road.

    But while you probably would take a denotative view of all these road exploits, Hardball is taking a connotative view.  Want to take a sneak into the mind of a nation?  Then rivet your eyes on the behavioural pattern of its traffic.  Got the gist now?

    Imagine, you are driving, a law-abiding citizen; and a fellow road user just zooms at you from the opposite direction, flashing impatiently and totting on his horns.  Well, there is a fuel station which he is trying to enter and your car, on your legit lane, seems a nuisance on the way.  All the flashing and all the totting scream a single message: get the hell out of the way, you scum!

    Now, what do you do?  Scurry out of the way?  Or call his bluff by ignoring him, and seriously praying his brake is okay, so he won’t bash into your car, after a brake failure?  You probably act, according to your mindset, at that exact moment.

    Familiar, isn’t it?  Well, that unruly traffic behaviour just shows a good number of Nigerians — perhaps a majority, though there are not stats from studies to back up that claim — are simply indecorous, hasty and resort to insults, when they could simply have asked nicely.

    Again, look at your terrain, what do you observe?  A serpentine traffic, with a gridlock of truckers and tanker drivers staking their constitutionally given, not to talk of God-divined, right to inflict pains and make your day a hell on earth.

    Before you know it, a container has fallen upon a fellow road user, crushing a whole family.  Other nearby cars only escape by the whiskers.  Pronto, lucky to be alive (its Hobbes’s jungle, after all!), they scurry to the church and give testimonies on their great escape!  Not without reasons though: for far too many have perished in such wilful accidents, and seeming no action was taken, that they simply became statistics.

    Now, from this chaotic traffic, what sort of people are these?

    Peculiar people whose governments make laws but don’t have the guts to enforce their own laws.  And a minority of citizens that commit wilful crimes, yet insist on their right to such fatal wilfulness (fatal to the victims, but morbid trophies to the perpetrators), and go on to inflict even more tragedies.

    That is the sorry tale of Nigeria today.  Right now, Lagos groans under a heavy traffic; and the tormentors-in-chief are trailer drivers who have simply decided to call the bluff of the law.  And what does the government do?  Not exactly looking askance (though that seems what it is).  The last time Hardball heard, the government was trying to “negotiate” with these traffic outlaws.  But while the demonstration goes on, stress has reached a boiling point, with everyone seeming to be trapped and helpless.

    Nigeria’s traffic tales reveal a somewhat sub-human community, where traffic outlaws do as they damn wish and government appears scared to apply its own laws, even if that is what decent climes do!

    It is indeed a very sad tale.

  • Tales of sorrow, tears and blood

    Tales of sorrow, tears and blood

    The Chidi Odinkalu-led panel probing politically-motivated killings in Rivers State is on recess. Testimonies already given to it drip with sorrow, tears and blood, writes PRECIOUS DIKEWOHA 

    Late Joy Adube The tales they told were of sorrow and blood. They were of killings, permanent disabilities and lives fractured forever.  Wives spoke of husbands wasted in their primes. Fathers and mothers spoke of sons taken away for no just cause. A witness even recounted how a father, his three children and others were mauled down in one day. All in cold blood.

    The Adubes and two others were killed in the same compound. The father, his two sons and a daughter were killed.

    When the River State Commission of Inquiry probing politically-motivated killings heard the case of the Adubes, it was like nothing could be worse, but more heart-rending tales have followed. The testimonies have been heart-broken since the commission began its hearing, despite the attempt to stop it.

    The Prof Chidi Odinkalu-led commission, instituted by Governor Rotimi Amaechi, is investigating killings, damage to properties and grievous bodily harms before and during the presidential and governorship elections.

    Speaking at the commission’s inaugural sitting on May 4, Patience Adube narrated how her husband, Christopher, was killed at home in Obrikom, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area.

    The late Adube was Caretaker Chairman of the local government. She said aside the children killed alongside their father, his son-in-law, Ikechukwu, and one of his security men were also murdered.

    In her words: “I want them to find those people that killed my husband. Fight those people that sent them because many of them threatened my husband that they will kill him. And they have killed my husband, let them fight them.

    “Let them help us, because me and my mates and our family are helpless, let government help us and find them. Because they said they will take power by force and they have already done that by killing my husband and our children.”

    Another of the late Adube’s wives and mother of the three slain children, Precious Adube, cried that all her children are dead.

    The eldest of the three, Joy was 25. John was 22 and Lucky just completed secondary school.

    “I have nothing left. All my children are dead… I ran back to the house and saw everybody dead.”

    A relative of the late Adube’s in-law, Ikechukwu who was also killed that day,  Anthony Ogarabe, said: “I was in our compound until about 7.30 p.m. when I left the house. I was told that his (Ikechukwu’s) friend, Silver, asked him out to Chief Adube’s house.

    “From where I had gone to, I heard gunshot which made me run back to our house. When I arrived home, I then called my brother to know his whereabouts but received no response from his phone.

    “His friend Silver then called me back to say that Adube and my brother Iyke were shot dead a while ago. I then ran to Adube’s house and I met him in a bath in the toilet with his son, dead. My brother Iyke and Joy Adube also lay down dead close to the toilet.

    “I shouted and cried but later organised some boys who brought them out. Someone then advised me to boil water to clean their bodies. I used heater to heat water, took them to the backyard. We used knife to tear off the cloth on their bodies because the blood was thickly gummed to them. We later took them to the mortuary.”

    Chijioke Ogbuagu, a resident of Omoku in ONELGA, who also testified on the killing of the Adubes and others, said the killing took place on April 3 (Good Friday).

    “The killing started at Obrigom at late Chief C.N Adube’s house, my political mentor. They finished from there and went to the APC office at Obrigom where they killed a boy. From there they moved to my community.

    “People saw them. It was not a hidden something. In Obrigom, they killed seven persons. In Chief Adube’s house, they killed six – Adube, three of his children, his security person…

    “Two were killed in my premises. The one that was burnt to ashes, the bone has been gathered and buried. The Sampson Ezekiel was buried too, his body was taken to Nassarawa State because he’s from there.

    As I talk to you, my supporters are no longer living in their homes. All of them have fled because the lives of APC members are not safe.

    “This operation that took place on the 3rd lasted for over three hours. In my house they said why they were not able to save anything was because the people set the house on fire and supervised the burning.

    “The Commission should help us to ensure that the people who committed this violence would not go unpunished. ONELGA used to be a very sweet place that we enjoyed 24 hour free light from Agip facility.”

     

    More sad tales

     

    From Port Harcourt to Eleme and other parts of the state, the commission has heard testimonies and inspected scenes of violence.

    If you have a heart made of steel, chances are it would have melted on hearing the testimonies of Justice Orikwowu, 19, and his mother, Ruth. Both testified about the killing of their father and husband, Clever. The deceased’s eldest son had just finished writing WAEC, and that all her children, except the baby, are in school.

    Orikwowu said he was at home when his father was killed, adding that he saw his body at the police station.

    Mrs. Orikwowu, the widow, a house wife, said she collapsed when the news of her husband’s death was relayed to her.

    She said: “That fateful day, as APC youth leader, he was a ward collation agent of the party. He went for the election. We are not on the same polling unit.

    “In my own unit, I went to ease myself, when I came back, they said some people came in military fatigue and told people to lie down. They came and carried my husband.

    “Please look at me, seven children without a father. I am 41 years old, without anything. My husband served Rivers State government very well. So I’m pleading with this honourable court to assist. The house he was building he couldn’t finish. We live in an uncompleted building.

    “People should come to our aid. We have nowhere else to go, that’s why I returned to the house. And if I take the children out of that place, they cannot go to school again. We need safety from the government. If my husband is being killed by unknown people, who am I and my children?”

    The deceased’s brother also testified about how he spoke with his brother three times in the morning before he was killed on April 11.

    He said his late brother, Clever who was 43, was an APC leader in ONELGA.

    “What we gathered that armed men came and laid down everybody.”

    Clever’s remains are still at the mortuary. He is survived by his wife and their seven children. The eldest child is 19 and the youngest is 11 months.

    Also left to cater for her children is Mrs. Caleb-Ahmed, a native of Emoh in Abua/Odual Local Government. Her husband left behind four children – 11, 8, 4, and 2 year olds – who are all in school.

    “I’m afraid for my life because what I see (sic) that day was terrible. I don’t recognise their faces but they were not wearing masks. They were just wearing face caps.”

    Mrs Caleb-Ahmed, who is an official of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, said her husband was shot by unknown gunmen three weeks before the presidential election.

    “I was pleading with the people, that I don’t want to be a young widow,” Mrs. Caleb-Ahmed told a Commission of Inquiry probing politically-motivated killings and destruction of properties in the state.

    “They said my husband is an APC (All Progressives Congress) member. I said ‘please please, he will not do again.’ Before I can finish, they have shot him down in the room. They finished and ran away. I call the police. He died on the way to the hospital. He was buried the next day.

    “I’m afraid for my life because what I see that day was terrible. I don’t recognise their faces but they were not wearing masks. They were just wearing face caps.

    “One spoke Abua language. But the ones that came inside spoke English, that ‘I think you are APC member.’ I was shouting but everybody had run away.”

    The testimony of Isaac Orikwowu, who was accompanied by a woman nursing a baby whose husband was killed during the election, was also touching.

    Orukwowu said petitioned the police on behalf of the widow, who was married to his younger brother.

    “When this issue happened, my elder brother informed me. I was in Port Harcourt. They told me he was killed on election ground when he went for accreditation.

    “They said gun men went there, picked him out and shot him at a community primary school, Ward 5, in ONELGA. I was not there.”

    Ijeoma Mbamalu, 21, who appeared before the panel bearing an 11-month-old baby, said her husband, 27, was killed at Oprikom. She said her mother is dead and her father is “very old.” She broke down and wept.

    “I ask for you people’s help. That very day he wanted to go market before those boys came. The N100,000, he left, they took it away. As I told you, I don’t have anything I’m doing. And my husband left me with a baby.

    “They took my baby that very night and throw him on the bed and told me to lie down. They asked my husband to take them where the landlord lives and all the APC members in the compound. My husband said he doesn’t know the landlord and he pays his rent through his lawyer. At this point they got angry and took my baby from me and threw him on the floor and told me to lie down. They took my husband outside and shot him three times.

    “They asked the party we belong and my husband said we don’t belong to any party. They started searching the house maybe to look for any APC evidence. It was then they saw the money my husband wanted to take to market. This year will make it four years we have been living in Oprikom. But we married in September 2013.”

    Innocent Ogbuehi, who lives in Emohua Local Government, said his 59-year-old brother, an APC member, was killed on election day. According to him, he was shot while he was shaving in front of his house on the day of the governorship election.

    He said his late brother was married with five children.

    He said he reported to the police and an Inspector was sent to the crime scene and was later told to handover the matter and all the evidence to the State CID “and since then we have not heard anything from them.”

    Ogbuehi said he was shouldering the responsibility of taking care of his brother’s widow and children.

    “On the 8th of April, he (Mr. Friday) came out to make a comment that the three boys who will killed my brother are in his phone.”

    Joe Poroma, the Commissioner for Social Welfare and Rehabilitation in Rivers State, testified about a killing in his house.  He tendered photographs, including that of a man identified as Lekia who was shot in the neck in his home,

    “The bullet went through his neck and shattered the window. It’s unfortunate that on the day that this incident took place, it was precisely by 6p.m. I’m the leader of the APC in my ward. I want a proper investigation because that has not been done till now.”

    He said the gunmen also shot at his Hilux van and generator in his home and damaged them.

    “Over 22 houses in the community were destroyed on that same day. They went through houses belonging to APC members, shatter your window, break your door.

    “When the police came to arrest them, the trigger man was arrested, and unfortunately they outnumbered the police and the police abandoned them even the ones they handcuffed and ran away. They mobilised in so many numbers and the police were afraid and ran away.”

    HE named those he suspected: Monday Ngbor  (the financier), Johnny Ngbor, Mwine Sunday (the trigger man).

    Poroma, who said he was living abroad and only returned to Nigeria when Amaechi became governor, added: “I went to the king, we met with the DPO and a joint meeting was called between the APC and PDP leadership and we were made to sign a peace accord to be responsible for any violence caused by any of our groups.

    “Not quite three days afterwards, there were gun shots all over the community. Unfortunately, it’s a community where young boys carry guns.”

     

    Destruction galore

     

    It was not all tales of killings. There were those of destruction to men and property.

    Thankgod Igwe may not see again. He told the commission how it all happened.

    Igwe, 38, said: “On that very day, I discovered there is no result sheet when we started accrediting. As an agent, I have to ask about the result sheet, if there is no result sheet, we don’t know how this election will go. There was a lot of argument between the PDP people and I.

    “We were there exchanging words. They said election must hold. There was a fight. They beat me up and blind my eyes. As you can see, my eyes are blind.

    “There was no movement that day. Everybody started running. One of my brothers ran to their house, brought a bike and carry me to a clinic. The clinic rejected me and directed me to one of the clinics at Elelenwa. They rejected me again. They now took me BMH. They kept me there 3-4 days before they moved me to surgery department.

    “They said because my bp was high, they cannot take me to the theatre. After three days, they controlled my bp and took me to the theatre.”

    Promise Amadi walked up to the witness area supported by clutches. The clutches, according to him, were necessitated by violence visited on him in Elioparamuo in Obiakpor Local Government Area.

    Amadi, a welder, said:  “I saw PDP boys shooting, so I turned and they said ‘Yellow man, you again!’ They shot me and I ran to the backyard where I jumped the fence and fractured my leg. I don’t know any of them but they are PDP boys because some of them were telling me to remove that canopy. I’ve spent up to 500 to 600,000 because after they removed the bullet, they still cannot set the leg well. I’ve sent messages to my party (APC) but no one has come for me.”

    Uzodinma Silas, a resident of Andoni and All Progressives Congress (APC) agent, tendered photographs of injuries he sustained during the governorship election.

    His words: “I want the Commission to bring those who inflicted the injuries on me to book. I also want the Commission to liaise with the government to compensate me. I reported to the police but the policeman I saw on the counter was on mufti. He asked me to narrate what happened and I did. Then he told me to pay N30,000 for them to follow up the case. So I left.

    “Some boys came in that morning and were chanting ‘No PDP, no election. No Nyesom Wike, no election.’ Everybody ran away including the people that wanted to vote. As I speak to you, I’m no longer receiving treatment but I’m still feeling pains because I was hit on the chest. A friend advised me to go for x-ray but I don’t have money.”

    Felix Ejechi, a resident of Omoku in ONELGA, said APC offices in the local governments were attacked on January 29, April 12, and April 13.

    He joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 and served two tenures as Councillor. In 2008, he was elected Chairman of ONELGA, and was re-elected again before the APC/PDP split.

    “We were going to host the APC governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside, for a rally in ONELGA. In the early hour of 29th, that was when they did all these damages. For three hours (between midnight and 3 a.m.) they were moving all round and police were there.

    “I confronted the DPO on why they would allow those boys three hours to be destroying things and he told me the fire was too much and he had to take cover,” said Ejechi who accused a man he identified as Uche Jeremiah of spearheading the April 13th attack.

    He continued: “The way forward is simple. All these perpetrators of violence must be brought to book. The police should no longer side one side. They refuse to do their work. I was told the DPO said he was posted there to work for PDP,” adding that he left ONELGA since January.

    Christian Alali, who lives in ONELGA, said the       house he inherited from his father was destroyed and that he would need N5 million to refurbish it. He later re-adjusted the figure to N20 million, but the commission told him the amount was outrageous to fix a room.

    He said the building, which was burnt by hoodlums, was completed in 2000 and it housed 18 people. The house is now empty.

    David Akio, from Abua/Oduah Local Government Area, told the commission that his Mercedes car was destroyed by hoodlums and he was beaten up and chased out of his home by the thugs led by a Special Assistant to the Rivers State governor-elect, Nyesom Wike.

    His words: “On that 27th of March, I was attacked in my father’s compound. I don’t know how my opponents monitored me and know I was in the community. I went into hiding and was smuggled out of the community on the 29th.”

    44-year-old Akio said he returned to the community on the night before April 11 because he was a contestant for the House of Assembly election.

    “After the 28th, most of the people that were chased out of the community returned. I was communicating with them and they said it’s like things have cooled down.”

    He said there was a second attack on the night he returned and he went to hide in the bush until the police rescued him.

    He said he joined PDP in 1998 and served as a Councillor under the party.

    For Victor Amadi, a member representing Etche Constituency 1 at the Rivers State House of Assembly, it was a tale of arson. He said  on the night of March 20, his brother told him that over 40 hoodlums came in a bus to burn his uncle’s and father’s houses.

    “I didn’t want to look at it as a political issue, I want to see it as a criminal issue. “It’s a build up issue. On 20th December, on my way to the village for a wedding, some of supporters came to inform me that some PDP thugs were brandishing guns and shooting. One of them actually shot himself… “On 20th of March, my father’s house was burnt down.”

    Amadi said: “On April 1st, a team the IG sent from Abuja came and took my statement. The next morning, they were on their way to make arrests when the CP called them to abort the mission. The CP told them arrests would mean they are taking sides in a political situation. So they aborted the mission and promised to come back after the election.”

    He added that when the hoodlums were burning his father’s house, the police prevented the village vigilante group from curtailing them.

    “They are PDP thugs because it was the same persons who came to tear my posters. The vigilante boys identified some of them. The boys mobilised from the house of one Ephraim Nwuzi, a known PDP member.

    “I was reliably told that the CP signed a detention warrant against me, which I immediately informed the governor. The governor quickly called the CP and he denied issuing any detention order and promised to get back to him. He never did.”

     

    Even a policeman

     

    The victims are not only politicians. A policeman also came to recount an ugly ordeal. Johnson Onunwa, a police inspector who works in Benin, the Edo State capital, also appeared before the commission. His house was burnt.

    His words: “My elder brother called me at about 8.45 pm and I was told that my house is burnt, including his and my senior sister.

    “I asked what happened, they said it’s because of this PDP-APC thing. I said I’m not a politician so why will they burn my house.

    “When I got home, I ask them for the police station where the case was reported. They said the elders in the community had intervened. And they said the case had been reported to the state CID.”

    A Delta State indigene who resides in Rivers, George Oreremie, 69, told the commission of an alleged assault against him on January 10. According to him, he and some 15 others were having a meeting when they were attacked.

    “As soon as they came in, they started shouting ‘We don’t need APC in this Rumueme community. All of you here are APC and you will all die today.’ The next thing they started cutting us with cutlasses and weapons. They used cutlass on me and cut my head. I’ve never seen them and I don’t know them. I’m not from the community so I don’t know anyone…”I don’t know any of them (the attackers). It was my first time of going to that kind of meeting.”

    He removed his hat to reveal the machete cut on his head, adding that he was hospitalised for ten days and had been going for medical check-up ever since.

    “I used to be a Base Engineer until my company in Calabar shut down, before I came back to Port Harcourt. Before the injury, I do repairs for companies when they need me,” Oreremie said.

    Blessing Nwuchegbuo, a known campaigner for the APC, said of the attempt on his life:  “Before the burning of my house, I received threats from PDP members. I’m known as a grassroots politician, a very strong one for that matter.

    “PDP people said to me one on one, not even on phone, ‘are you sure you will come to this community on that election. Three days after the mobilisation, I was attacked. I had to leave my car and ran into the bush. It was after three days that I went to retrieve the car.

    “I reported the threats to the police and they said it’s a normal thing in political setting. After my attack, I equally reported to the police but the man didn’t accept to follow me to the village.”?

     

    Behind camera /legal ‘tussle’

     

    There were also those too afraid to give testimonies in the presence of reporters. So, the commission spent some time listening to testimonies ‘in-camera’ from witnesses on allegations of assault and kidnapping. For the safety of the witnesses, secrecy was utmost.

    Also of note is the fact that the PDP sees the commission as illegal. Its lawyer, Emmanuel Aguma, appeared before the commission arguing that there was a court order restraining the proceedings.

    “I wouldn’t want to be a part of a process that does not obey the rule of law, so I’m bringing attention to this. There’s an order temporarily restraining proceedings here till a fixed date,” said the lawyer.

    Odinkalu said the commission had not been served the court’s decision.

    “We are accepting because you are an officer of the law. We’ve not been served on us. But we are accepting from you.

    “We are seeing this for the first time. Do you want a brief on this and we take an argument on this on Wednesday. So serious we need to place everyone on record.”

    But Aguma asked: “How do I participate in a proceeding where I have questioned its legality? When I’m questioning the competence of the Commission to proceed?”

    Odinkalu said: “The commission does not confer lawfulness where lawfulness does not exist. What I suggest is, we are seeing this for the first time. We will hear arguments about this on Wednesday and listen to judicial authorities. If on Wednesday we cannot continue, it means that all the records will be expunged.”

    But the PDP lawyer stood his ground and asked to be excused from the proceedings.

    “I heard gunshots which made me run back to our house. When I arrived home, I then called my brother to know his whereabouts but received no response from his phone. His friend Silver then called me back to  say that Adube and my brother Iyke were shot dead a while ago. I then ran to Adube’s house and I met him in a bath in the toilet with his son, dead. My brother Iyke and Joy Adube also lay down dead close to the toilet”

     

  • Babangida Aliyu and his tall tales

    t started with a statement from Governor Babangida Aliyu about two years ago, alleging that President Jonathan signed a pact wherein it was written that he would not stay in office beyond May 29, 2015. In other words, he would serve only one term, if voted into office during the 2011 elections. This ‘falsehood’ went on for a long time. Governor Babangida Aliyu could not substantiate his claim; he failed, till date, to provide the so-called document signed by Goodluck Jonathan. It was soon discovered that Governor Aliyu was only having the wishful thinking of becoming the president of northern extraction, after 2015 elections.

    Recently, also, Governor Babangida Aliyu went viral with another allegation that General Mohammadu Buhari ‘signed’ a document to stay in office for only one term, should he win the 2015 presidential elections. Aliyu noted that Buhari planned to shortchange the northerners by so agreeing to a term stay in the office. This again was proved to be false. For someone of his standing in governance to be raising false alarm, smacks of a good ‘servant’ – as he calls himself.

    The third lie Babangida Aliyu told recently too was that his deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Musa Ibeto, requested for his support towards becoming the next governor of Niger State on the platform of the PDP but was not granted. But Babangida Aliyu’s deputy debunked this and called him a liar. Nevertheless, the deputy governor has defected to the APC.

    Babangida Aliyu is gunning for the Senate and one wonders how someone who could tell so many lies just because of his personal ambition be trusted to go out there in the Senate and contribute meaningfully to the growth of the nation.

    It will be recalled that Aliyu had sought to be Goodluck Jonathan’s vice-president when the constitution allowed Jonathan to take the oath of office when Yar’Adua passed on but unfortunately Sambo was preferred. Ever since then, Babangida Aliyu has never hidden his resentments towards Jonathan.

    Governor Aliyu’s innate ambition seem to have come to the open when he, a few days back, granted an interview to one of the national dailies, boasting that Jonathan will hand over to him in 2019. May one ask him; what if Jonathan fails to be reelected in the forthcoming elections as it’s most likely, would he join APC thereafter so that, peradventure Buhari completes the ‘one term’, he then takes over?

    Hence, Governor Babangida Aliyu could be described as liar of many colours and most likely to lose his desire to be a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after May 29, 2015.

    • Chief Onyeike Agomuo

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

  •  Tales from NDDC’s foreign scholars

     Tales from NDDC’s foreign scholars

    The Niger Delta Development Commission’s decision to build qualitative capacity through its yearly overseas post-graduate scholarship programme for indigenes of the region is one of the best things to happen to the oil-bearing areas. This is even more so because, after all, the human resource is more important than physical infrastructure.” That was the opinion of Mr. Lenin Francis, one of the 210 beneficiaries of the 2014 Post-Graduate Foreign Scholarship programme sponsored by the NDDC.

    Francis, who is from Bayelsa State and has enrolled for a Masters’ degree in petroleum engineering in the University of Salford, England, sees the programme as a capacity builder that will equip the youths to join in developing the Niger Delta. “I pray that the NDDC will continue with this laudable programme which has helped many youths in the region. The commission should also extend the scholarship to other students at the undergraduate level as well, in order to increase the number of beneficiaries.”

    He said the foreign scholarship was a boost not just for the beneficiaries but for the entire Niger Delta, because it would give the youths the opportunity to develop themselves and acquire technical expertise for the benefit of the people of the region.

    Mr. Stevyn Akosubo, another beneficiary who is heading to Coventry University in the United Kingdom, said the NDDC had given them an opportunity to widen their horizon and open their eyes to international best practices. “It is going to enhance the knowledge I have acquired here in Nigeria. It is a great opportunity for me to meet and interact with other students from different parts of the world. We owe our country and the Niger Delta, in particular, a duty to succeed,” he said.

    He further said that the scholarship scheme, which was given to 210 graduates in this batch from the nine Niger Delta states, needs to be increased.  ”It is clearly insufficient for the teeming youths of the region. Currently, the scholarship scheme is enjoyed by less than 15 per cent of qualified applicants, with some states getting only 10 slots. Surely, the NDDC can improve on this number,” he said.

    Giving her own perspective, Miss Amaka Uchendu, who is heading to the University of Essex in the UK, said that the youths often find it difficult to start their lives after their first degrees. “With this scholarship programme, it will be easier for us to go for the opportunities which we may not otherwise have been able to pursue on account of not having money. So, the NDDC has helped us to kick start our lives and we say a big thank you to the commission for giving us the opportunity to move forward and make our lives better.”

    The young graduates who are all set to jet out of the country for their post-graduate studies were all gathered at the Landmark Hotel, Port Harcourt to collect their scholarship award letters. The successful graduates from the 9 states in the Niger Delta were also given pre-departure briefings and put through a formal orientation.

    In his address to the NDDC scholars, the Managing Director of the commission, Sir Bassey Dan-Abia, charged them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria in the foreign universities by applying themselves studiously to their academic programmes, so as to excel in their chosen fields of study.

    The NDDC Managing Director, who was represented by Barr. Sunday Obiofiong, his Special Adviser on Administration and Human Resources, assured the scholars that funds for their school fees and accommodation would not be delayed for any reason. He told them that previous beneficiaries of the scholarship programme set enviable standards for them to emulate. “Those before you did not disappoint us and we trust that you too will make us proud by your conduct and academic achievements,” he said.

    He said that the commission would continue to sponsor Niger Delta students to universities across the globe, and in return expect worthy response and commitment as an appreciation of the fact that the monies expended on them belonged to the people.

    The NDDC Director for Education, Health and Social Services, Dr. Solomon Ita, explained that the Foreign Post- Graduate Scholarship Scheme, which was started 4 years ago, was meant to equip Niger Delta youths with relevant training and skills for effective participation in the local content programme of the Federal Government.

    He said that since the inception of the scheme, the NDDC had trained 811 graduates at post-graduate level, noting that the commission had consistently sponsored 200 students yearly to foreign universities to acquire Master’s and Doctorate degrees in science disciplines. This year, he said, the number was increased to 210. He explained that emphasis was placed on science disciplines because of a noticeable deficiency in this area in the oil industry, which made it difficult to employ young graduates from the region in that critical sector. “You know we have a lot of gaps in our oil and gas sector, and that is what we desire in the Niger Delta region and Nigeria at large”.

    According to him, there was need to position young graduates from the region to compete globally in various professional fields, noting that before now, the oil and gas industry had discriminated against the fresh graduates whom they dismissed as not possessing requisite qualifications. ”We also need to encourage our youths to show interest in engineering for the sake of our projects. We need qualified engineers that can manage our projects just as in agriculture, environmental science and other science related courses,” the director said.

    Dr. Ita stressed that the foreign scholarship scheme was designed to expose the graduates to other developed environment outside the country. “It is our belief that the skills they acquire will add value to the development of the Niger Delta. So far, we have been proved right as those that benefited from the programme in the previous years have justified the need for the advanced training programme,” he said.

    He recalled the outstanding performance of one of the beneficiaries who studied in the United Kingdom in 2012. The star NDDC scholar of that year, Miss Francisca Chiedu, was elected as President of the United Kingdom University Student Union. That feat, he said, demonstrated that Nigerian youths could lead innovative changes within and outside the country. “Her success was indeed a victory for the NDDC. It is a testimony of the capability of the new generation of Nigerian to effect the change they seek and champion worthy causes they desire.”

    The NDDC director said he was optimistic that the process adopted in selecting beneficiaries of the foreign scholarship scheme would continue to produce first class performers. “it will guarantee the Niger Delta region and Nigeria at large, the likes of Francisca Chiedu, the Information Engineering and Network Management student in the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, who brought glory to NDDC, the region and nation.”

    Miss Chiedu, a University of Benin Computer Science graduate, showed appreciation for what the NDDC did for her. She wrote back to the commission to say that “truly life presents us with different opportunities. For me, every moment in our life offered a door, all I had to do was choose, I chose to dream, I chose to think, I choose to move, I chose to act and I chose to win.”

    Other potential winners have been lining up to be raised by the NDDC. It was not surprising, therefore, that 4, 000 graduates applied for this year’s post-graduate foreign scholarship programme. The successful ones were selected through a transparent electronic examination conducted at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. Mr. Asawo Ibituro, a consultant for the electronic test, said that e- exams promote transparency. “There is no room for anybody to change your grade since your picture and details are in the system, after writing the examination your score is reflected immediately”.

    The interview process for this year’s foreign postgraduate scholarship was concluded in April and the students were supposed to have reported at their universities in September. However, there were some delays which were attributed to the budgetary process of the Federal Government.

    One of the candidates who participated in the final interview, Mr. Peter Keshi, said: “Following the transparent and swift manner in which the tests and interview process was conducted, we expected quite a lot. This year’s qualifying exams for the scholarship programme were rounded up on the 5th of April, we were invited for interviews shortly in that same month and the interview process was equally done on the 24th of April. One would have expected that all successful candidates would by this time be in their various universities across the world.”

    Keshi didn’t have to wait for too long as the NDDC had finalised all arrangements to facilitate the movement of the graduates to their various universities for their post-graduate studies. The beneficiaries who attended the orientation/pre-departure briefing were visibly anxious to get moving. As they were being briefed by Mr. Umanaette Udoh, an NDDC consultant, the UK-bound graduates were impatient, listening to how to get around London. One of them asked: “Who wants to learn how to use the sub-way? Some of us have been living in London for many years now.”

  • Tales of horror from Boko Haram child-victims

    Tales of horror from Boko Haram child-victims

    A report released at the weekend in New York, United States by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict (“Watchlist”), which strives to end violations against children in armed conflicts and to guarantee their rights, bears horrific tales from Boko Haram victims, writes Asst. Editor Olukorede Yishau

    Boko Haram and the Civilian JTF are opposite sides of the war in the Northeast. But, both of them, said   the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict in a report released in New York, United States at the weekend, use children inappropriately to feather their nest.

    “Children as young as 13 are being recruited by both sides of the conflict and have nowhere to turn,” said the report.

    The report, “Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict”, said the sect has subjected boys and girls to forced recruitment, detention, attacks at school, abductions, rape, and other forms of sexual violence.

    The gravity and scale of these violations warrant urgent action from the Federal Government, the United Nations, and other child protection actors,   the 64-page report said.

    The report titled “Who Will Care for Us?”  details grave violations by some parties to the conflict since December 2012 and provides recommendations on how to better protect children. “While the abduction of over 200 girls in Chibok, Borno State, has shed some light on how children are affected by the conflict in the northeast, most abuses are still poorly documented, understood, and addressed by key actors,” said Janine Morna, Researcher at Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict.

    It added that security forces who encounter child soldiers in Boko Haram’s ranks often detain these children in unofficial military detention facilities known for the mistreatment of detainees, instead of protecting and rehabilitating them, in accordance with international standards.

    “The government of Nigeria should denounce the recruitment of children by all armed groups, take immediate steps to release child soldiers in their custody, and develop procedures to transfer child soldiers to civilian actors,” said Morna.

    Watchlist also researched attacks on schools in the region which, according to their media survey, has resulted in the death, injury, or abduction of at least 414 students, teachers, or other civilians on school premises between January 2012 and July 2014. “Continuous attacks on schools have devastated education in the region, creating a climate of fear for students and teachers, and leading to school closures from as early as April 2013. Relevant actors must bolster school security through programmes like the Safe Schools Initiative,” said Morna.

    Watchlist documented abductions of boys and girls by Boko Haram, including Christian girls who were forced to convert to Islam and coerced into marrying members of the group, along with other female abductees. Boko Haram abducted these girls and young women from schools and markets, and during raids on villages in areas across Borno State since at least December 2012. Some members of the group raped girls and young women in the camps. None of the girls and women who escaped, and were interviewed by Watchlist, had access to counseling and other health services.

    “The humanitarian response to violations against children has been slow, fragmented, and unable to meet the fast-growing needs of those affected by the conflict,” said Morna. Few international actors currently engage in the northeast, leaving the government and local groups, with limited capacity, to support survivors. “The Nigerian Government, United Nations, and non-governmental agencies must take urgent steps to recruit experts with experience operating in a conflict situation and scale up programming to support some of Nigeria’s most vulnerable and marginalized children,” said Morna.

    The executive summary of the report reads: “Conflict between the armed group Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), commonly known as Boko Haram, Nigerian security forces, and civilian self-defense militias, is ravaging Nigeria’s fragile northeast. Despite President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states, the level of violence and the scale of grave violations against children have worsened. The conflict in the north-east, along with inter-communal violence, has displaced an estimated 650,000 people, primarily women and children, and affected millions of others. The parties to the conflict have subjected boys and girls to forced recruitment, attacks on their schools, killing and maiming, abductions, rape and sexual violence, and arbitrary detention. In April 2014, the seriousness of these abuses came to the forefront when JAS abducted over 200 girls from Chibok in Borno State, sparking national and international outcry.

    “The humanitarian response has been slow, fragmented, and unable to meet the fast-growing needs of those affected by the conflict. Few international actors engage in the northeast, leaving the government and local groups, with limited capacity, to address violations and support survivors. The overall lack of expertise on child protection in conflict-related emergencies has left critical gaps in the response including, inadequate protection-related data, a lack of standard operating procedures to manage children encountered in conflict, and limited emergency preparedness planning to address the continuous attacks on schools.”

    The report also bears horrific tales from child-victims of both Boko Haram and the Civilian JTF.  One Friday in late December 2012 in Gwoza, Borno State, a 16-year-old girl was late for school. Soon after she arrived and greeted her friends, suspected members of JAS attacked the school and abducted her and five other girls before detonating a bomb on or near the campus.

    She said: “I found myself in an Imam’s house. I don’t really remember how I got there … The men said [to us], ‘You are the real strong Christians. We want you to become Muslims. We will give you men to marry and if you refuse, we will kill you.’ The five other girls accepted. I said, ‘rather kill me.’”

    Boko Haram decided to prepare her and the other girls for marriage. Over a roughly one-month period, she cooked meals for the members and rehearsed prayers and verses with the girls. Just before her marriage, she seized an opportunity to escape when a core group of suspected members of Boko Haram left the compound for an attack. The other girls have not been seen by the community since their abduction.

    A young woman who was 21 at the time of her abduction told Watchlist that she was abducted while riding public transport from her polytechnic in Maiduguri to her home in Gwoza on March 15, last year.

    Her bus was traveling in convoy with several other buses. The driver and passengers received information that JAS was coming and decided to take an alternate route to Gwoza. Unfortunately the drivers had been misled. The young woman explained: “When we were going we saw people in military uniform. They stopped us. But the insurgents were dressed like the military… They held many buses. They checked if you were Christian, in which case they would kill you. If you were Muslim you were allowed to pass. They identified… (Christians/Muslims) by their mode of dress. After searching and killing, and because it was getting dark, they assembled us to go to a camp. Many people were taken captive.

    The young woman reported seeing many abducted girls at the Boko Haram camp. She escaped 19 days later.

    Another 19-year-old young woman told Watchlist that she was abducted while travelling to her home in Gwoza from Konduga Local Government College.

    She was 18 years old at the time and had just completed her final exams. On May 10, last year, she travelled home with six female classmates below the ages of 18. En route, four men holding guns stopped them. The men asked if there were Christians in the car. One of the Muslim girls provided a hijab for each of the other girls in the car who then pretended to be Muslim. The girls were held captive for three days before JAS commanders arrived and released them. Women and girls have also been abducted during and after attacks on villages.

    A young woman who was 19 at the time of her abduction explained to Watchlist: “I ran to the hills. I was short of food so I went to get corn… When people came, they came in a number and I ran and hid. When they started beating my grandmother, I surfaced from the hiding and I was caught. They started beating her and said we should go. I was the only person taken. I was caught with a gun.”

    In June 2014, reports emerged of JAS invading and abducting scores of women and girls in villages in Borno State.

    Sixty-three women and girls from one of these attacks successfully escaped in July 2014.

    Soon after Christian women and girls arrived in the camps, they were forced to convert and were told they would be married to members of the group.

    A young woman who was 19 at the time of her abduction in Gwoza explained how she was forcibly converted: “They were pulling the noose around my neck and dragging around and said I should come back to Islam.”

    She eventually relented to save her life and the group set her dowry between N10,000 and N15,000 (approximately USD $60 to $90). The reports of forced conversion and marriage received by Watchlist are consistent with other reports appearing in the media.

    Four of the former abductees interviewed by Watchlist said they were raped during their abduction. The rape appears at times targeted and at other times opportunistic. A former abductee speaking to a local news organisation explained that JAS leaders raped young virgins, while other members of the group took turns raping married and elderly women.

    In two cases cited by Watchlist, members of Boko Haram took advantage of an opportunity to rape the abductees when either the commanding officer was away or when the woman or girl was alone and vulnerable.

    A young woman who was 18 years old at the time of the abduction said: “They gave us an axe to dig a hole to ease ourselves. In the night I wanted to ease myself. I was trying to ease myself and as I was in the process [he approached] and I started screaming. He abused me.”

    He slipped away. He tried to penetrate, but when people came, he didn’t enter.

    According to the report, women and girls sometimes escape from Boko Haram camps but often lack sufficient support, counseling, and health services when they return home. Reports indicate that these women and girls are rescued from the camps by the military and Civilian JTF, or through family members who pay ransom and negotiate their release.

    All of the women and girls interviewed by Watchlist returned to their families, but often had to leave home for fear of their safety. In one case, the parents had to leave because they were targeted by Boko Haram following their daughter‘s escape.

    Other reports suggest that families sometimes send their children to other cities to avoid the stigma of rape and pregnancy outside of marriage.

    Few of the women and girls interviewed by Watchlist officially reported the abduction because of either mistrust of the authorities, fear of retaliation by Boko Haram, or a feeling that reporting was futile because authorities have limited capacity for individual assistance.

    A mother of one of the abductees said: “The issue of reporting is a waste of time… The cases are so rampant.”

    In addition, none of the women and girls received support or counseling. Civilians, particularly in remote areas, have limited access to health and other services.

    Many of the interviewees were traumatized by their experiences. One woman told Watchlist:”Immediately I left this place (the camp), it made me insane,” while another said, “When I remember, I normally cry.”

    While the government and other partners are providing some support to the families of the abducted Chibok girls, as well as the girls who escaped, it is unclear to what extent other survivors of abduction and sexual violence can access such services.”

  • A union of many tales

    Members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Oyo State seem to have an axe to grind with law enforcement agents and owners of their vehicles as discovered by Oseheye Okwoufu in this report

    Commercial vehicle drivers in Oyo state who are mostly members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), seem to be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

    On one hand is the owner of their vehicles who expects to be paid the agreed daily ‘delivery’ money and law enforcement agents whose palms they must grease on a daily basis to have a trouble free journey.

    In between, there is the union and its officials who must be taken care of, the conductor who must be paid and once in a while the tout who also wants to be ‘settled’.

    All these have to be borne by the driver who also has his family at home to feed and may be one or two concubines at the park or the nearby beer parlour.

    These naturally are taking their toll on the driver but in the absence of little or no alternative, he has to ‘drive’ so to speak.

    In Ibadan, the state capital, members of the NURTW, it was gathered have not defaulted in their obligation to give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Someone, who spoke with The Nation laid claim the members have shown their loyalty to the union by paying all dues accordingly. Apart from been loyal members of the union, they were expected to deliver certain amount of money to owners of vehicles on a daily basis as a pre-condition for all drivers who  are yet to have a personal commercial vehicle.

    For instance, a daily delivery to a bus owner is between N3,500 and N4,000 depending on the condition of the vehicle.

    Alhaji Nasiru Adeyemo, a commercial bus driver plying Oojo-UI-Mokola-Dugbe route explained that the payment of the agreed amount to the owner of the bus was mandatory if the driver still wants to keep the bus.

    “You must deliver the N3,500 to the owner because that was exactly what you agreed that you would be paying him. He doesn’t want to know if you had problem on the way or not with the bus and at times you may encounter problem with police who will say why did you park here, or even with the Road Safety or Vehicle Inspection officers (VIO) .

    “So, this amount is mandatory, it starts from the time you took the bus out of the compound of the owner. That is when you know that you need to work very hard and pray to be able to deliver the money at the end of the day. And besides, you need to hire a bus conductor out of your own pocket so that your work will be easier. At the end of the day, the money which you suppose to take home as the driver is shared between you and the conductor.

    “At times, I, who is the driver will take N1,500 or even N1,000 while the conductor will have N900 depending on how well the work is.  So, that is how we do it,” Alhaji Adeyemo said.

    The Chairman, Omi-Adio NURTW unit in Ido Local Government , Alhaji Musiliu Oladepo described the operation of the union as very peaceful, but was elusive when asked to comment on daily collection of dues from members.

    Oladepo who has been in union for over two decades said” we all know that things are very difficult in the country, for a worker to survive it is not easy .With the little we are left with, let us accept it with thanks giving. There is nothing we can do to the police, Road Safety or others but we are coping with life”.

    A member of the union who plies Ibadan-Abeokuta road, Mr Musilu Abiade explained that there was little or nothing anyone can do about the situation than to continue asking God for a better place where things would be much easier.

    “ As I am here I don’t have any vehicle presently to drive. So, if I see one now I will thank my God. We are managing and we will continue to manage with what is available. I cannot change the situation, what can I do than to hope in God”, he said.

    A visit to some units of the union in Ibadan metropolis showed that members are suffering in silence.

    The commercial drivers, most of who live below poverty line have a lot of difficulties to cope with especially with the meagre daily income. One of such is the increasing alleged intimidation, harassment, coersion and extortion by law enforcement agents on the roads.

    Investigation revealed that the allegation against the law enforcement agents is forcing many commercial drivers to abandon the trade as many could no longer manage their families with the dwindling income.

    Apart from the daily delivery, the commercial drivers said the activities of the police and Road Safety men have become too worrisome to an extent that many commercial drivers are no longer finding the job lucrative.

    Speaking with The Nation, a commercial bus driver at Agugu area of Ibadan who would not want his name on print said “it is difficult for a driver to make N6,000 per day, out of this you’ll pay the owner, purchase union ticket which is now N100, paid N50 at every garage as dues daily and yet the Road Safety must collect N200 and the police will also collect N200 , and others. So, at the end tell me what is left for a family man, with a wife, four or more children at home to care for.”

    “The common approach by leaders of the union in recent times is to tackle the problem by setting aside a particular sum of money to settle the police, VIO and Road Safety every month so that members will not be disturbed on the road. But this approach has not worked because the officers on the road will always ask for their own share”, a driver at Iwo road area of Ibadan said.

    The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs Olabisi Illobanafor however denied the alleged extortion, describing it as a concocted lie to smear the image of the police.

    The PPRO referred to the order of the Inspector General of Police, removing all road check points with the purpose of reducing corruption and making it impossible for police men to disturb motorists on the road, which according to her has greatly reduced corruption in the police force.

    She challenged the motor union members to produced receipts of payment to the police, while refuting the alleged extortion by the police.

    “ I also want them to report any police officer who demands for bribe. We have been saying this for a long time, yet no one has brought such a report. So, it is a lie,” the state police spokesperson retorted.

     

  • Tales of woes, agony on Calabar-Itu road

    Tales of woes, agony on Calabar-Itu road

    Last weekend, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) in Cross River State embarked on strike, plunging the state into the agony of fuel scarcity.

    Their reason: the deplorable state of the Calabar-Itu Federal Highway, especially the Odukpani axis, which is the main road in and out of Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

    NUPENG’s action did well to bring the state of the road to the front burner as it appeared the terrible the road had all but been neglected by relevant authorities, despite its huge significance to the economy of the state.

    Knotty traffic gridlocks due to the collapse of heavy duty trucks at the bad spots have become regular occurrence on the road over the past years. Motorists and commuters being forced to spend several nights on the road for days have also become frequent occurrence.

    It was learnt the road which was constructed over 30 years ago had been neglected by the Federal Ministry of Works over time and with no one seeming to attend to it, is likely to become impassable.

    Road users and residents of Calabar and other parts of the state fear that this could be a big blow to the state because the road is considered to be its backbone as it links Cross River with the other Southsouth and Southeast states.

    It has borne the burden of carrying heavy duty vehicles conveying granite from the numerous quarries in Akamkpa Local Government, cement and fuel as well as foodstuff from Cross River to and from the neighbouring states.

    The road had even become a cause of contention between the state and federal government as the state accused the federal government of refusing to refund money it had used to rehabilitate the road over the years.

    An official of the NUPENG said: “”We are going on strike to call the attention of the government to fix that road. And we will continue until something is done about that road.

    “Just yesterday a truck fell down along that road causing serious traffic jam. We had to go and get it up and away and this costs us money. And that is what happens to tankers on that road on a daily basis. I’m not even talking about accidents that claim lives and spoil people’s vehicles all the time.”

    Transport operators and commuters who ply the road often were also full of tale of woes.

    A businessman, who uses the road often, Kenneth Obi, said: “I don’t know if this is another of their punitive measures. This state has been suffering from the hands of the Federal Government over the years. The state does not have much but the only road leading into it is almost impassable. I have slept on this road severally and it is affecting my business seriously. In fact, this road which I would say is the only main road to Calabar is killing the economy of this state.

    “I beg the government or whoever is responsible to come to the rescue. The road has suffered from state and Federal governments. What this road needs now is a total reconstruction but as a remedial measure, let them see how they can patch up the collapsed places.”

    Another businessman, Bitrus Nwafor, said: “Cross River State government should have intervened to save this road, whether Federal or not. It can always ask for a refund. This all-important, but terrible road can cripple the economy of this state. Look at the farm produce in those trucks rotting away. How will those poor women who slaved to buy them recover from such huge losses?”

    A commuter, Emmanuel Effanga, said: “Is there anything like government again? The tourism industry in Cross River is threatened. Do you know the number of man-hours wasted on this road? People who would have come to Calabar to do business cannot come and even those within Calabar cannot travel out to the neighbouring states. How can you be talking of tourism and Calabar festival when the roads are bad? This is not a matter of Federal roads. The state government should rise to the occasion and mobilise contractors to the major bad spots in Odukpani for urgent repairs. One would leave his house for a two hour journey and eventually spend 24 hours on the road. It is not right at all. The government is insensitive to the plight of the populace and is only in Nigeria that this kind of thing would happen and everyone goes to sleep. We pay tax, yet there is nothing to show for it”.

    Last year, the Federal Controller of Works in Cross River, Mr. Chinwuba Agbara, assured that the contractor handling the rehabilitation of the bad sections of Odukpani-Itu road would be finished early this year.

    But, the condition of the road now suggests otherwise, while residents of the state wonder how the influx of people – those coming in by road – expected as the famous Calabar Festival approaches would fare.

     

  • Flood victims’ tales of woe

    Flood victims’ tales of woe

    The flood was never expected, although they say there was a flood disaster in Lokoja more than 43 years ago, I’m sure its impact could not have had a similar magnitude,’’ Mr Sunday Akubo, a resident of Lokoja, moaned, as he was being ferried in the flood-ravaged city to an upland for safety.

    Having been informed of death and sufferings of some people at the various camps set up for Internally Displaced Persons, Akubo, whose home was totally submerged by floodwaters, decided to flee the town with his kindred.

    “It was when I saw some landmarks from the canoe that I knew that we were sailing on the densely populated Adoja Long Drive in Lokoja, which is now totally submerged.

    “You can then imagine what could have happened to the residents of the neighbourhood,’’ he added.

    Sharing similar sentiments, Mrs. Esther Paul, another victim, said: “It is a harrowing experience which could provoke a heart attack. Imagine this scenario: you wake up in the morning and you do not have a place to call your home anymore.’’

    Paul, who now resides in a camp, conceded that things had been quite tough for her family.

    “Whenever I look at my children, I usually burst into tears because it has not been easy for all of us in the camp. I particularly pity nursing mothers.

    “This place is like a refugee camp; it has not been easy living here with our children,’’ she added.

    Unable to control her emotions, Paul recounted how her family lost all their belongings to the flood.

    Mr Atodo Wisom, a 27-year-old drycleaner, said the flooding had rendered him homeless, while affecting his means of livelihood.

    “I have no place to call my home, as my house is now underwater. My business has also ground to a halt,’’ he said.

    Commenting on the flooding, Mr Emmanuel Bola Boro, a Director of Kogi State Agency for the Control of AIDS and a resident of the Adankolo Housing Estate in Lokoja, said that the flooding had traumatised many residents of Lokoja.

    “It started like a child’s play when we saw River Niger gradually overflowing its bank; although the flood was not violent, it kept on increasing day by day.

    “I was not affected but some of my neighbours who were affected never thought it was going to be as disastrous as this because it all started gently.

    “Some people would wake up in the morning and meet the water at their doorsteps, gradually overtaking their homes. Others would wake up on their beds and step into a pool of water,’’ Boro said.

    Habiba Umar, a journalist with the Kogi State Broadcasting Corporation who also lives in Adankolo Housing Estate, said some hoodlums had taken undue advantage of the flooding to commit crimes and loot affected houses.

    “In recent times, people have been living in fear, as criminals have taken the advantage of the situation to loot houses in our estate, as many residents have left the estate out of fear.

    “At the time the government built this estate, they outlawed the building of houses in certain areas designated as green areas and waterways but to our dismay, some people began building on such places.

    “Unfortunately, people who built houses on waterways were the worst hit by the flood with several of their houses submerged,’’ she said.

    Many people, who live by the riverside in Kogi, admit that the flood took most of them by surprise.

    There have been numerous tales of woes about the floods that recently ravaged several parts of the country. The victims’ accounts have been bizarre as well as disturbing and the situation compelled President Goodluck Jonathan to tour some of the affected areas.

    “Nigeria is highly devastated by the flood,’’ the president exclaimed.

    “Sometimes when you watch on television, you do not appreciate what we are going through. I travelled from North to South to see things for myself and on Sunday, I was in my village after touring my state.

    “I left my village on Sunday morning and as at that time; water was about entering my compound. As at this morning, information reaching me is that my house, up to the windows, is underwater.

    “So, you can see what people are passing through within this period. But with the assistance of our development partners and people who are in the humanitarian sector, we will soon get over it,’’ Jonathan said after inspecting some flooded areas of Lokoja.

    Observers, nonetheless, note that even though flood is a natural phenomenon; its impact could be mitigated if people abide by warnings of weather experts and town planning regulations on building plans and projects.

    Citing a report of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), some weather experts claim that heavy rainfall this year as well as the release of water from Lagdo Dam and Lake Nyos in Cameroon heightened the flood incidents in Nigeria.

    The experts, however, insist that the Kogi flooding could have been less destructive if the people had paid adequate attention to earlier reports and predictions of flooding in Benue, Anambra, Adamawa, Edo, Kwara and Cross River, among others.

    All the same, Mr Steven Mayaki, Kogi’s Commissioner for Land, Housing and Urban Development, stressed that the state government had always adopted anti-flood precautionary measures.

    For instance, no layout along the waterways was earmarked for property development in Kogi, he said

    “The only reason why the government would put land in such areas into use would be only for recreational and tourism purposes.

    “We have to discourage settlement along the waterways as there is enough land elsewhere where people can build their houses without any fear of flooding.

    “I think a potent strategy on how to prevent this calamity from recurring is by constructing an embankment by the riverbank.

    “Once that is done, it would prevent water from flowing into the hinterland and the recurrence of flood disasters would then be avoided,’’ Mayaki said.

    However, concerned citizens stress that the flood disaster should be a wake-up call for the government to initiate pragmatic plans to check the recurrence of flooding and assuage the plight of those affected by the current flooding.

    Habiba Umar, a journalist, said government should initiate public enlightenment campaigns on the effects of the flooding on the environment, while preventing the outbreak of epidemics.

    “Government should try and help the flood victims because it is not easy. When you go to St. Luke’s Primary School, Lokoja, which is one of the camps set up for displaced persons; you will see more than 11 persons sharing a room.

    “This is a very difficult situation, as it could even lead to epidemics and household quarrels,’’ she pleaded.

    As a result of the flood, Mr. Steven Ajayi, a resident of Lokoja, called on the Kogi State Government to initiate a ferry service which would enable tourists to cross over to the other side of the state and even into Benue.

    He said the ferry service would also bring in more revenue for the state, while creating employment opportunities.