The Nation Newspaper

Tag: violence

  • Mercy Aigbe bounces back after domestic violence fiasco

    Mercy Aigbe bounces back after domestic violence fiasco

    Popular Nollywood actress Mercy Aigbe Gentry who was recently beaten by her husband, seems to have bounced back.

    The mother of three whose battered face was published across the internet on Friday took to her Instagram to once again campaign against domestic violence just after she posted a brand new picture of herself.

    “Over to you Jehovah!” she wrote.

    “My dress of course from @mag_divas. Off to the shop!……. Expecting you guys, don’t forget special discount on today’s purchases. Happy new Month Fam”

    This is a departure from news which broke on Friday of the domestic violence she suffered from her husband.

    According to a radiology report purportedly issued by the St. Solomon Health Care Limited and posted online by an online publication, Mercy had a CT scan which confirmed that she did have a fracture following her claims of domestic violence meted out on her by her husband.

    Meanwhile, Mercy’s husband, Lanre Gentry, who owns La Veronique hotel, Oregun, Lagos, has denied that he beat Mercy, saying he did not lay a finger on his wife as he loves her.

    However, an Instagram user, Tibeju Olatunde, with the handle, iamolaandrew, hinted that contrary to Mercy’s claim that she is the second wife of Lanre Gentry, she is the fourth woman to have achild for the American returnee.

    “How can she be the second wife when she is the fourth to bear children for him?” iamolaandrew asked.

    “He has children from different women and when Mercy had Juwon, Lanre called all his baby mamas that they should bring all his children to come and live under same roof with one another in his house but those women declined.”

    But the user corroborated that it is Lanre’s recent involvement with a lady called Opemititi that has disrupted the couple’s marriage.

    “One of the reasons that caused fracas in his marriage to Mercy was infidelity from his part,” iamolaandrew wrote.

    “It was gathered and alleged that Lanre was dating Opemititi, a young lady, who lives in Abeokuta but comes to Lagos regularly. The lady also known as “Queen Stunner” was said to be very close to Mercy and visited her at home. There are allegations that the estranged husband of Mercy is having an affair with Opemititi. For now, Mercy is said to have been separated from Lanre and moved out of the home.”

  • Tears, violence at Adeleke’s funeral

    Tears, violence at Adeleke’s funeral

    Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke’s exit yesterday was as dramatic  as his life.

    Amid tears and tension, the remains of the first civilian governor of Osun State were interred at his Ede country home.

    Women clasped their hands on their heads, sobbing as his body was lowered into the grave inside his sprawling home around 11.00 am. It was a moving spectacle.

    Family members, political supporters and associates were crying, wailing and cursing those they alleged were responsible for the colourful politician’s death.

    At the funeral were many dignitaries, including governors of Ekiti, Ogun and Ondo states – Ayodele Fayose, Ibikunle Amosun and Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

    The body left the mortuary of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital in a long convoy around 10.15 am for Ede.

    It had been returned to the hospital on Sunday after the late Adeleke’s younger brother, Deji, ordered that an autopsy should be done.

    All was tense as irate youths took over the main entrance into the late Adeleke’s home.

    The youths reportedly attacked former special adviser to the governor, Ms Idiat Babalola, who is an indidgene of Ede.

    Ms Babalola, who arrived at the venue of the burial at half past 10, was warned to stay away from Adeleke’s home by the youths who accused her of “betraying” the late politician.

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, the younger brother of the deceased, Deji and security operatives shielded Babalola from her would-be attackers.

    The angry Adeleke supporters collapsed canopy on Amosun, Akeredolu, Oyinlola and others in their bid to chase out Ms Babalola.

    She was escorted outside the house by Amosun and his security aides as the youths threw sticks and mangoes at her.

    Some youths went on the rampage in Ede, attacking traders for opening their shops.

    They accused the traders of not giving due honour to the late Adeleke, who was the Asiwaju of Edeland.

    From 6.00am, the protesters were said to have started combing every part of the town to apprehend culprits, who opened their stalls to customers.

    Stocks of the traders were reportedly destroyed and thrown on the road for vehicles to destroy.

    The man who gave the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke an injection has been arrested by the police, The Nation learnt yesterday.

    He is being held at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Osun State Police Command, according to family sources who pleaded not to be named.

    Police Public Relations Officer Sade Odoro did not return calls to confirm the arrest as she had earlier promised.

    At the interment, lslamic clerics from Ede and environs, led by Chief Immam of Ansaru- deen Mosque, Ede, Sheik Adekilekun, admonished all to be upright and know that death could come any time.

    He urged people to lead a holy life that would prepare them for meeting the Creator.

    Describing the late Adeleke as a lover of the poor, Adekilekun advised politicians, especially the new breed, to emulate his political philosophies.

    The cleric advised the people to remember that life is vanity, stressing that there was time for everything – the time to be happy and the time to live and to mourn.

    Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola and the House of Assembly declared a three-day mourning period in honour of the late politician.

    In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, the governor said: “This is to announce that the the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has directed the declaration of a three-day period of mourning throughout the state. This is in honour of the departed first civilian governor of the State of Osun, Alhaji Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke.”

    The mourning began yesterday. All flags are to fly half mast.

    The Assembly also declared Monday to Wednesday as mourning period.

    A statement by the chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy,  Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, said the Speaker,  Najeem Salaam, gave the directive.

     

  • ‘Culture of rewarding violence must stop’

    ‘Culture of rewarding violence must stop’

    The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Nsima Ekere, a former chairman of the board of Ibom Power Company of the Akwa-Ibom State government and the state Emergency Management Agency, in this interview with SHOLA O’NEIL, S’South Regional Editor, talks about the pain of running a trust-deficient intervention agency, the N570million vehicle ‘scandal’, among others EXCERPTS:

    On outsiders’ perception about Niger Delta youth

    When you come here and you see people talking the way you are talking, it tells me there is hope. Virtually the entire world knows Niger Delta youths for confrontation and for making unreasonable demands. When I came in here and met a very different environment it gives me a lot of hope. What people know us for is aggression, street harassments, kidnappings, violence, blowing up pipelines. That’s what being a youth in the Niger delta is looked at and that’s how people see us.

    Presently, Dangote is building the biggest refinery in the world and when I was in secondary school they taught us that one of the things you consider when building an industry is nearness to source of raw materials. That is a multibillion dollars investment and they are building pipelines for piping crude to the refinery; spending billions of dollars on a pipeline taking it to Lagos.

    Why is that so? It is because nobody wants to put that kind of investment in the Niger Delta because of the impression they have of our youths. Just imagine the economic impact; multiplier effect of that investment in the economy of the Niger Delta. Thousands of jobs will be created directly and indirectly. Spending that huge amount of money in the Niger Delta will change our society, our lives and communities. And that is just one out of several.

    There is this advocacy that SHELL (SPDC) should not relocate out of Rivers State because they were about doing that. Virtually all oil companies are doing that: Agip operates from Abuja; MD of Shell is in Lagos, MD of Chevron is in Lagos and virtually everybody is out of the town. I came into Port Harcourt in 1990 and served (NYSC) here. I was here for 17 years. The MD of Chevron was here in Trans Amadi, AGIP too. This is the effect that the perception that we have given to the world about the Niger Delta is having on us.

    I had a meeting with a group at a hotel sometime last month and there were ex-agitators. Immediately I began to explain to them why they should change their behaviour and behave well so that it would be good for us, they said, ‘no we can’t beg them (oil companies) to come; if they want to go let them go’. They do not get it! It is a mind thing; if the mind is right, the attitude will be right and the outcome would be marvelous. There is the saying that your attitude determines your altitude in life. For you to have the right attitude, you must have the right mindset, education – formal and informal. If we do this, we will see that all these things that we are complaining about will begin to fall into place.

    Niger Delta youths’ view of the NDDC and attitude to work

    Let me digress also and talk about a few things I have been seeing in NDDC. Some youths come to NDDC with this sense of entitlement – it is my blood; ‘it is our thing; we fought in the creeks and we made this happen and they used to do this for us’. I asked a simple question: NDDC started about 16 years ago and everybody has been complaining about the effect of the commission on the society, if you want me to come and do what the others have being doing, that means at the end of the day when we leave, nothing would have changed. There would still be no development on the ground for anybody to see. So, if we want development and results, then we must begin to do things differently.

    You are going to start hearing stories that this new MD, they don’t like him. They are very good at sending text messages that tomorrow they are coming on with a protest to NDDC. What I hear happened before now is that the former management would call them quickly and give them money and they would go. Once one group hears that you did that to one group today, the next day another group comes and before you know it NDDC money is going.

    From the first day we stopped it. When we get that text message that we are coming tomorrow, sometimes the security agencies tell us, ‘we hear there would be a bloody, massive protest tomorrow’.  I will say, ‘let them come’. I am willing to go and address them when they come. I am not going to give them any money. When nobody gave them anything they stopped.

    Then there are these groups of young boys who stood around the gate of NDDC harassing people up and down. From the first day I came, I noticed that they would line on the street and be hailing you, calling you ‘Master’, and ‘Good man’ etc.  In the first week, one of my aides thought he was being nice and going to please me, gave them money. I called him and warned him never to do that again. My thinking initially was that if two weeks they see nothing dropping they will stop, but they didn’t. I heard that they had given them jobs, send them to training, they finished the training and came back to still stand at the gate. I believe in sustainable development. If you are empowering somebody, do it in a sustainable way because if you are giving money and you stop, tomorrow they are back.

    That is on one side.  I am also having a lot of cyberbullying. I have people that go online and they would post all kinds of things: ‘Nsima Ekere is this and that’. I just ignore them. Then there is this particular guy, he would post and say, ‘he is very corrupt and he did this and all kinds of this’. The last one and I got a text message from him: ‘Check my blog, I have just posted something. Don’t you think it’s time we talk?’ I responded: ‘Go ahead and do your job’. Blackmail should not be a source of livelihood.

    Plan for internet connectivity and hub in the Niger Delta

    One of the things we want to do is to have the IT connectivity in the Niger Delta. We have had several meetings and there will be more meetings. The marine cables that brought internet from the US and other parts of the world to Africa, brought the same capacity/bandwidth to Lagos for Nigeria (175million people), as in Sao Tome, with less than 70,000 people.  So they have the same capacity as Nigeria and there is a lot of wasted capacity there. So the meeting we have had in the last two weeks is working with Galaxy Backbone, a federal government owned company, to go to Sao Tome, get marine cable and pipe that excess capacity directly to the Niger Delta.

    We have set up a technical committee working on this and they will present their report to look at it. We want to make this happen. We have two years in the life of this board and management. We don’t have that much time. I want to be able to achieve this in two years. That is one of the things we want to do.

    We must begin to work on the mindset of our young people and let them understand that criminality is not the right way to go. As far as I am concerned, most of this so-called agitation is not agitation; it is criminality. We must begin to differentiate between agitation and criminality.

    How youths can make the best of every situation

    I will like to share with you the story of my life. My mother was a teacher, so I started primary school relatively early. In our days to graduate at 21 was a big. At 21 I was already out of university and doing my youth service. I was deployed to one of the federal services. Then I was involved in an accident that changed my life.

    I had a very good friend, God bless his soul. He had this beautiful Peugeot 504 car and in those days that was a good car. One day, he was travelling, so he left his car with me for the weekend. On Saturday evening I went to a party with friends. I had a flat, which again was a big deal when I was young.  After the party, there were some girls who didn’t want to sleep; they wanted to go back to their houses. I said let me go and drop them. I am happy this happened because it changed my life. I went and dropped them and this was around 4, 5am. The street to my house was being renovated and there was this heap of chippings that the contractor kept for the work. I dozed off and drove straight into the heap of chippings and the car was damaged.

    Later I took the car to fix and the estimate was N700 and I didn’t have the money. My salary was about N180 naira, but I knew that I wanted to fix the car.  I said ‘I must raise the money to fix this car’. So apart from my regular salary coming at the end of the month, because I am a real estate person, I said I must begin to do other things to ensure that I raised the money. And guess what, in less than two months, I raised all the money I needed to fix the car and more, just by working. I now said to myself, ‘so this is possible that if you do not just sit in your office and wait for the salary at the end of the month, if you take initiative and decide to run around, things can actually happen!’ That was it.

    I finally just managed to hold myself for one or two more years and I resigned. By this time, I had raised up to N4,000 and that was when I came to Port Harcourt. I had a car, Peugeot 505, and N4,000. I rented an office for N1,500 (per annum), bought two tables and a secretary’s table and I started my private practice. In less than six months I started generating money and the rest is history.

    My challenge to young people is that they should look for innovative ways of living their lives and the options and opportunities are so much out there. You would not imagine what you can do with your life with a little bit of innovation and drive.

    On failures of past NDDC programmes

    Most of the things that the NDDC has come up with over the years are things they want to use to appease those that are causing trouble. For me, it is encouraging other people. I hate to see that we are rewarding truancy more than good citizens. The scheme they had was to just take some of these boys and say they clean street, control traffic and they call them NDDC volunteers and pay them money at the end of the month. If you keep doing that for 50 years, you can’t see the qualities that we have and values we add to the society.

    On the problem with NDDC scholarship programme

    Unfortunately, we discovered that the NDDC hasn’t paid our scholars who are abroad. There is this funny policy (of the programme) where you first go to the school, register and then send an invoice from the school.  The invoice is what is then used to process the scholarship and sent to you. The question I asked when I met with the team is that ‘I used to think you must pay some fees before you are registered in the school’. They said, ‘yes’. I said, ‘why do you put the cart before the horse?’

    Anyway, that is what the policy is. When they send the invoice, we now give their account details for processing and payment of tuition fees to the school. But because the scholarship is worth $30,000, if your school fee is $20,000 or whatever it is, we pay the balance to the scholar for upkeep. The scholar is also to send his/her overseas bank details to be able to access this fund. As at (the time) only 32 of 200 scholars that won the scholarship last year have complied with that. So, 168 have either not yet sent in invoice or account details to be able to get that money. I directed that the 32 who met the policy guidelines should be paid. The appeal for those who have not yet met the requirements is to try and hasten it so that theirs can be paid.

    But going forward, I am going to change that policy, because if you grant somebody scholarship you want them to benefit from it; you don’t want to put roadblocks to prevent them from benefiting. The challenge has been – from what we hear – that a lot of people know that for you to get the scholarship, you come with a letter of offer of admission in some selected courses.

    On the N560 million vehicle controversy

    Since the present management came on board we have not bought one vehicle. I am driving my personal car and my two executive directors are driving theirs. Any time my chairman comes into town he uses his car. The supervising minister for the NDDC, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, has visited a couple of times on official visit to Port Harcourt and we don’t even have cars to send to the airport to bring him. We were just in the process of buying the vehicles. These days before you do anything you have to go the BPP. We wrote to them and they gave us certificate of no objection to buy the vehicles and we have that. The process is that once you get that, you take it to Federal Executive Council; they will deliberate on it and if they approved, they will give approval before you can buy.  That process is ongoing and it is not completed.

    Why there are suspicions about NDDC expenditures

    I will be the first to admit it that the narrative of the NDDC over the years has been horrible and we are trying to change all of that. All we need is understanding from stakeholders and everybody. It hurts you when you know that you are trying to do the right thing and people just bad mouth you and say all kinds of things – it hurts. I am a human being and sometimes I am like, ‘maybe it is really not worth it trying to change anything; we should just continue…’

    This is not how to support public officers with good intention to function. When we got into NDDC, we said for the first three months (there should be) a freeze on all contracts. I didn’t award one single contract, not because I couldn’t, but we didn’t do it. We have now advertised over 370 projects that we want to award. That is because if we don’t do it now the budget year is virtually ending. It is supposed to be March ending but now we have extension to May. If we do not do it most of what should have been done in this year in the budget would be lost; it would not be done.

    Issues of NDDC corruption in the past

    The problem is we don’t usually take stock and set the right governing structures in place. The reason NDDC was as corrupt, as it was, was because there was no international best practice in the ways things were done then. That is why we came up with the 4Rs to reform and restructure NDDC because we believe that everything must be done properly and we must all commit ourselves to the proper way of doing things.

  • Rector advises students to shun cultism, violence, exam malpractice

    Rector advises students to shun cultism, violence, exam malpractice

    The acting Rector of Federal Polytechnic Auchi in Edo, Dr. Momodu Jimah, on Wednesday warned newly admitted students in the institution to shun cultism, violence, examination malpractice and others vices.

    The rector, who gave the warning at the opening ceremony of 2016/2017 orientation programme for the fresh students, also advised them to avoid indecent dressing.

    He warned that the polytechnic would not hesitate to expel any student found wanting.

    Jimah also admonished the students to imbibe dialogue, peaceful co-existence, discipline and hard work to excel in their academics.

    “You are coming into the polytechnic at the time the institution is undergoing renewal and rebirth.

    “Our aim is to reposition the polytechnic so that both staff and students imbibe the virtues of transparency, truth and hardwork.

    “There are sanctions for breaches of school rules and regulations; there are sanctions for cheating in examinations which may result to rustication or even expulsion of student involved.

    “The institution emphasis is on discipline and learning. We abhor cultism in whatever form and we shun improper dressing.

    “Students must live within the tenets and rules of the polytechnic by ensuring they do not involve themselves in any act of lawlessness and indiscipline,’’ he said.

    The rector assured the students that staff and management of the institution would provide the enabling environment for them to excel.

    Earlier, the Dean of Students Affairs, Mr Godwin Okpeduo said that the institute was known for its uncompromising and sustained policy of zero tolerance to social vices and academic dishonesty.

    “The polytechnic will not condone actions which contravene its regulations or behaviours that portray the image of the polytechnic in bad light,’’ he said.

  • Anti-domestic violence agency intervenes as Lagos businessman threatens wife

    The Police have arrested a businessman for allegedly threatening to kill his wife.

    The man, who spends most part of the year working outside the country, was alleged to have threatened to send his wife back to her parents in a body bag when he returned to Nigeria.

    It was learnt that the mother of two, who lives in Ikeja Government Reserved Area (GRA), received a text message from her husband on February 26 that he did not want to meet her at home on his return from his business trip.

    A source alleged that he sent a text that if he came back home and met her in the house, he would send her back to her parents in a body bag.

    The woman reported the matter to the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) and filed an urgent complaint about the threats and beating she had suffered from her husband in the past.

    She reportedly told DSVRT officials: “I fear for my life… help me.”

    She was assured that the team would help her as her husband’s threats were considered criminal and contrary to the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011 and the Prevention Against Domestic 2007.

    DSVRT was said to have sent an email to the man, warning him to stop threatening his wife.

    A DSVRT survivor advocate accompanied Grace to the Family Support Unit at Area F Police Command, one of the team’s partner police stations to lodge a complaint.

    When the man returned to the country early this month and did not stop the threat, he was arrested and kept in police custody.

    He was released on the condition that he would be of good behaviour.  His wife has been given police protection at their home.

    Despite the police presence, he continued to threaten his wife, prompting his re-arrest. He is in custody while investigation is ongoing.

    Meanwhile, through a public interest lawyer, his wife has filed an application before the Lagos State Family Court, seeking to restrain her husband.

    DSVRT coordinator Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, said had she not reported to the team, the man “may have acted on his threats and she may have ended up dead.”

    Mrs. Vivour-Adeniyi said the woman and her two children were now receiving psycho-social therapy (professional counselling) “especially as their eight-year-old son, has become very aggressive while their daughter, 13, has become withdrawn and a shadow of herself.”

     

  • NGO seeks end to domestic, gender-based violence

    Youth Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse  (YIAVHA), an NGO, has called for an end to domestic and gender-based violence in the country.

    The Executive Director of YIAVHA, Mr Pwakim Choji, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Jos.

    He said the call became imperative as the world celebrate the International Women’s Day.

    Commemorated on March 8 annually, the 2017 International Women’s Day has
    “Wake Up Call For the Achievement of Justice” as its theme.

    According to Choji, no society will experience meaningful growth and development when women are subjected to gender-based violence.

    He said “lets not forget that women can’t achieve greatness when they are not bold in their approach toward self-liberation and engagement of any individual, group or institution that undermines their humanity.

    “Women must be strategic in speaking about their demands, rather than their plights. They have this capacity because of their number.

    “Our young girls must be brought up in a manner that they would be able to speak up for their rights from childhood to adulthood.

    “It is only when we have a society where women are free from violence that we can begin to get things right.”

    The director urged women to be bold, take their destiny in their hands and disallow any form of relegation in their respective societies.

    He also called on government at all levels to put in place policies and modalities that would safeguard the place of a woman today and future generation of women in society.

    “Our women should be bold to know that whatever a man can do, they too can do; this will make them to be more active in community development.

    “Women must be bold enough to negotiate certain rights in the society; they and other ally’s must speak against domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence.

    “These acts have continued to dehumanise women directly; these acts ultimately undermine the rights of all,” Choji said. (NAN)

  • Breaking the chain of violence

    Breaking the chain of violence

    The nation is mired in crises. The economy is in shambles with runaway inflation and an unsustainable high rate of unemployment. There is a growing population of hungry men, women and children, hopeless and utterly dissatisfied with the status quo, a veritable breeding ground for pent-up anger, which on eruption, can generate irrational response from a populace on edge. This is the context of much of the chain of violence that has entangled the nation since the beginning of the present republic.

    There was the Ikeja cantonment bomb explosion that killed scores of citizens. There were the senseless ethnic clashes that caused the death and maiming of innocent citizens who were caught in the middle. There were protests and rallies which started peacefully but quickly escalated into rampage due to unprovoked violent intervention by security agents. In many of these cases, the maturity of citizens’ response prevented the crises from going from bad to worse.

    When maturity takes leave, however, the consequence is predictable. It is unfortunately the case with many of the incidents of protests involving young students reacting to some official conduct. Violence is almost always the first and last response.

    It is safe to assume that such a response, where and when it has occurred, has not always been deliberatively chosen by most participants in a rally or protest. It has always been a sizable minority that initiate the violence, presumably in angry reaction to frustrated expectations.

    In such cases, thoughtful adults have wondered aloud about the rationality of such responses which have only caused more harm to victims without any visible redeeming outcome. We try to understand the psychology of protests and the youthful appetite for disruption that they feed. Now these adults also need to take our young citizens seriously. We need to engage them in thinking through the choices that they make in their response to the choices that those in positions of power make.

    Thinking through our choices requires us to ask probing questions concerning the rightness or wrongness of the course we contemplate taking. Two ethical approaches can be brought to bear on the question of the justifiability of violence as a response to social disappointment. Is it ever fair and just? And does it work?

    The question of the justice or fairness of violent response to social disappointment emanating from unacceptable policy, conduct or inaction by government agents can be easily answered. Almost always, the victims of violent reactions are innocent citizens who have also been victims of the original wrong that is being protested. With the violent reaction of colleagues purporting to right the original wrong, the innocent victims of the original wrong are doubly impacted. Consider the case of petty traders who get their stores vandalised and looted during protests. That is certainly unfair.

    Perhaps we should not bother about fairness or injustice. Following the Chief Priest who insisted on the execution of innocent Christ Jesus, we might justify the suffering of the innocent by appeal to the disproportionate amount of benefit that accrues to society as a result. In other words, the suffering of innocent victims of violent protests would be adequately compensated for by the good outcome of the violence for many members of the society.

    That would be the utilitarian argument. From this perspective, the justifiability of violence comes down to its effectiveness as a response to social disappointment. But does it work? The answer to this question can only be empirically determined and unfortunately for the utilitarian supporter of that cause of action, it doesn’t.

    If violence works it would have effected drastic changes in our society a long time ago and there would be no need for the kind of protests and rallies that have turned violent in recent times. And the fact that such cases keep recurring despite our predilection to violence, appears to suggest that violent response has been ineffective in forcing change.

    I do not want to be misunderstood. First, I am fully conscious of the fact that occasions that force protests and rallies that turn violent can be particularly offensive and inhuman, ranging from a military personnel’s abuse of power leading to the death of an innocent student, or a careless commercial driver killing an innocent pedestrian, or the uncaring attitude of a hospital staff towards a critically sick person leading to a preventable death. These are demonstrably unfair and thus condemnable. My point, however, is that as odious as such conducts are, violent reaction does not work and it could be counter-productive.

    Second, I also know fully well that peaceful protests and rallies are the bedrock of public engagement with their government. This was clear in my submission on democracy and dissent in this column a couple of weeks ago. And what is more, I am fully aware that violence is not the intent of protests and rallies against unacceptable official policy or conduct. However, due diligence is warranted on the part of protest organisers to avoid the degeneration of peaceful protests into violent disturbance which ends up taking the centre stage in the aftermath of the original incident. Violence is blamed while the original social harm takes the back seat.

    The immediate impetus for this discussion today was the tragic death of a young student of the Federal University of Minna. Mr. Olalekan Emmanuel slumped on the soccer pitch and was rushed to the university’s health centre where he unfortunately died. While the health centre authorities claimed that the student was pronounced dead upon arrival, his peers accused the workers of the centre of negligence. The students claimed that the workers left Emmanuel unattended for 30 minutes before he died.

    There is no denying the fact that our public institutions, including health, security, and government are incubators of human monsters whose only claim to humanity is their physical appearance. Many of those who voluntarily sign up for positions that require compassion as key quality have no milk of mercy in their veins. This is especially true of some nurses and physicians. What the students allege in the case of Emmanuel is certainly not beyond what can happen in situations where human life means nothing to those who have trained and sworn to an oath to promote health.

    If the allegation of the students turns out to be true, it will not be the first time. It may also not be the last time. Meanwhile, a young soul with a future ahead of him would have been cut down prematurely. Therefore, if it was true, the action of the health centre workers is reprehensible and whoever is found responsible must be punished. But this is something that cannot be decided without an adequate investigation, which takes time. And because cases of negligence have become rampant in our society, the patience of young people can be tasked beyond their capacity for tolerance.

    The students’ reaction, however, leaves much to be desired. They were alleged to have gone on rampage, set ablaze the school’s clinic and “vandalised the school libraries, lecture rooms, a female hostel and a microfinance bank on the campus.” In the first place, the vandalism disrespects the memory of Emmanuel. A decent candle light vigil that honours the departed student and calls attention to the state of the health centre and the offending workers would have been a dignified response to the tragedy.

    In the second place, the burning down of the clinic, while it may satisfy some irrational urge for revenge or expression of anger, is unfair because innocent students will continue to suffer if the clinic remains inoperable, and it has no utilitarian value. If any worker is found culpable and is to be punished it will not be because the clinic is burned down. Therefore, the violent response has no deterrence effect.

    In the specific case of the death of Olalekan Emmanuel, the authorities of the institution need to conduct an open investigation. There is also the need for an investigation into the rampage that erupted thereafter. The chain of violence needs to be broken for the good of society and citizens.

     

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  • Lagos enlists military in anti-domestic violence battle

    Lagos State government has enlisted the military to help in tackling domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, child abuse, maltreatment and neglect.

    Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) Coordinator  Mrs  Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, at a session with officers at the 9 Division, Nigerian Army Headquarters; 149 Battalion, Ojo; and 174 Battalion, Ikorodu, said there was need for collaboration to end domestic violence.

    The philosophy of rape, being an act of violence and not a crime of passion, she said, had been thrashed out, adding that the myth that a woman’s dressing is a determinant factor was debunked with scientific data.

    She said the Prevention Against Domestic Violence Law 2007 applied to all Nigerians, advising the officers to engage children in command schools on their right. This, Mrs Vivour-Adeniyi said, could be done through information, education and communication materials, in the form of Safeguarding The Rights of A Child textbook as well as posters, pamphlets and fliers.

    She said DSVRT would take concrete steps to advance sensitisation including engaging the Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association, the Navy, Air Force and Nigeria Security of Civil Defence Corps (NSSDC).

  • Residents, police seek end to violence

    Residents, police seek end to violence

    Worried by the increasing rate of violence in their community, residents of Shogunle in Lagos have held a Stakeholders’ Forum to tackle the problem.
    The forum, organised by the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Shogunle Central Branch, was attended by religious, traditional, political and community leaders and security operatives.
    Residents suggested how to boost development in the community.
    Delivering a lecture titled: ‘A brighter tomorrow: my role, your role’, Dr Tajudeen Yusuf, challenged the community to be accommodating irrespective of their differences.
    The Senior Lecturer at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) explained that many communities were not developing in Lagos State because of their leaders’ greed.
    He said: “For any community to develop, the leaders have great roles to play. They must be able to correct anomalies and shun violence. Good community leaders are not greedy; they are transparent and do not toy with their integrity,” he said.
    Shogunle’s Divisional Police Officer, Nucy Abibo, urged the residents to report any form of criminal activity.
    She explained that there would be better security in the community, if residents provide adequate information.
    “The era of being scared of revealing information to the police has passed. We should be free to provide necessary information to the police and I can assure you that it will be treated with utmost secrecy and your safety is guaranteed,” he said.
    Shogunle Central Community Development Association Vice-Chairman, Alhaji M. A. Olawoyin, said: “Let join hands to rid the area of immoralities.”
    Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) Chairman, Shogunle Unit, Revd Agbakwuru Kelvin, urged community leaders to be upright.
    MSSN Shogunle Central Branch president Yusuff Okewale, said: “There is no gainsaying that our society is plagued by numerous anomalies. These trends have not ceased as they continue to grow at an alarming rates.
    Examples abound from infrastructural decay to vices, such as gambling, stealing, armed robbery, and hooliganism – all of which will rob us of development,” he added.

  • 3 feared dead in fresh Southern Kaduna violence

    Three people have been reported killed and several others injured in a fresh unrest at Samaru-Kataf, in Zango Kataf Local Government Area Kaduna State.

    The Emir of Jema’a (Kafanchan), Alhaji Muhammad Isa Muhammad II was also attacked by hoodlums same Tuesday night at Samaru-Kataf, destroying three cars in his convoy.

    The Nation gathered that violence erupted at about 8pm on Tuesday night at Samarun Kataf, few hours after the state security council had relaxed curfew on the area to 11 hours.

    An eye witness account had it that the attack occurred around 9:30 p.m. at a beer parlour close to Samarun Kataf market.

    According to the eyewitness who identified himself as Musa Israel, “We heard several gunshots from the direction of a beer parlour close to the market. We at first ran away from the area, but we later realised that, three people were killed and their corpses were taken to General Hospital.

    “Many other people were injured while running for their dear lives,” Israel said.

    The Kaduna Police Command PRO, Aliyu Usman confirmed the incident but could not confirm the casualty.

    Meanwhile, the government had restored a 24-hour curfew on the local government shortly after the violence.

    A statement by the state government said, “The restoration of the curfew follows renewed security threats in Samaru-Kataf where the market was attacked by hoodlums. Security forces have taken steps to restore calm and vigorously enforce the curfew”.

    On the attack on Emir of Jema’a, The Nation gathered that the attackers destroyed three vehicles including the pilot car while the Emir was returning to Kafanchan from the weekly security council meeting at the Government House in Kaduna.

    The Ciroma of Jema’a Emirate, Alhaji Kabiru Tanko, who escaped by the whiskers told newsmen in Kafanchan that they were attacked around 8:00pm at Samaru Kataf after attending a meeting with the governor.

    According to the Chief, “when we reached Samaru Kataf, some armed youths surrounded us with all kind of weapons and started attacking our convoy. We immediately turned back to Kachia for our safety,” he said.

    The Ciroma commended Governor El-Rufai’s administration and the federal government for deploying security personnel in Southern Kaduna.

    He tasked the government to fully investigate the Southern Kaduna crises holistically, adding that the people behind the crises should be punished without fear or favour.