The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Welcome

  • Welcome reform

    LAGOS State Chief Judge, Justice Opeyemi Oke, is leading the way to transform the state judiciary, particularly in tackling delays in the courts. With a population estimate of over 20 million, serviced by 59 judges and 122 magistrates, the state is currently the worst hit in terms of delay of suits in the courts, according to official report. But that record will soon change, once the new High Court Civil Procedure Rules kicks in by January 2018. Justice Oke has promised that the present situation where cases last for years in court will end with the year.

    Under the new regime, litigants, lawyers and judges will have to sit up, or pay very dearly for any tardiness. For example, where a party frustrates a hearing date set down for trial of a matter, the minimum cost payable will be N100,000. Where the delay is with regards to an interlocutory application, the minimum cost will be N50,000. Where the opposing party has incurred extra costs to attend a scheduled hearing, like flight tickets and hotel bills, the defaulting party will pay a higher cost. Furthermore, the daily penalty for late filing will move from N200 to N1,000 per day.

    No doubt, undue delays in our courts affect the confidence of investors, even as it costs the state huge resources, including remuneration for judicial officers, maintenance of the physical infrastructure, amongst other costs, to maintain the delays. Henceforth, to tackle the challenges, the state judiciary will adopt only the best practices as applicable to leading jurisdictions across the world. According to Justice Kazeem Alogba, an administrative judge, “we have taken a very strong position about delays in the prosecution of cases. We have introduced a new regime, a new manner of approach in our response…”

    There is no doubt that the delay in judicial process makes a mockery of justice. For instance, the present situation where a bank debtor can frustrate a creditor over money borrowed, because the matter is traversing the courts, for a decade, is perhaps the greatest disincentive to financial transactions. The same is applicable for clear breaches of contracts and other forms of commercial transactions, which in other climes would be dealt with within few weeks, so that parties can go back to their businesses instead of awaiting an unending litigation.

    Justice Alogba spoke to the needs of well-meaning residents of Lagos, when he pledged: “we have now decided that in view of the congestion of cases in our courts and the yearning of the public for better service, delays will not be tolerated any longer.”

    We commend the Chief Judge for setting in motion the process to heal the challenges facing the judiciary. Her passion to make changes was evident at the stakeholders meeting held last week. Some other measures include allowing substituted service through electronic communications, once it is verifiable; using video conferencing to give evidence, and reducing the volume of written addresses, so as not to debilitate judges with needless work.

    If well implemented, the new rules will reinforce the state as the centre of excellence, and bring more direct foreign investment to the country’s commercial hub. The country will benefit from the reforms and hopefully other states will copy the model. There is no justification for cases in our courts lasting beyond two to three years up to the Supreme Court. No one, whether a litigant, lawyer ,or even a judge, should be allowed to hold the process to ransom or drag the name of the state into disrepute.

    But we must quickly add that these rules can only be more effective if the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court buy into them. Otherwise, cases may be expeditiously decided in Lagos jurisdiction and still suffer undue delays in the higher courts that are not bound by the new rules. This will   make nonsense of the objectives of the reform.

  • Welcome, Amalaki, Vitamin B-15, Vitamin B-17 and Gotukola

    WITH some medicinal and nutritional herbs, I have been off the beat for some years, not thinking about them and almost forgetting they exist. But, thank goodness, they are flooding back to my memory.

    Some of them are Amla, also called Indian gooseberry or amalaki, Bedstraw, Ramsons, Plantain mallow, Dandelion, golden Rod, Cowslip, Agrimory and Greater Celandine. I have been trying to re-educate myself about them, and will mention some of them briefly today, ahead of their re-entry into our discussions.

     

    Amla (Amalaki)

     

    This is a power house herbs which packs into its fold four of the five taste principles… sweet, sour,  pungent and bitter. Devondora vora says it has 16 times more vitamin C than lemon.

    Flavours, Dr. Komal Bhadouria, of the SCI International Hospital in New Delhi, India, endorses it…  ”Amla is a very special fruit full of anti-oxidants that are effective in reducing the cell damage and reduces the free radicals that can cause disease in the body”.

    Gifted in particular with Calcium, Vitamins, Iron and Flavonoids, it is widely used nutritionally and medicinally in India. Nutritionist Shalini Minglani endorses it for immune boosting, where the purest form of vitamin C is sought and strengthening the blood vessels. This should be good news for many people who have leaking blood vessels in the eyes (Retinitis pigmentosa), in the brain, stomach, intestine or colon (hemorrhoids) and elsewhere.

    In powder form, which is the most common way it appears in health food stores, Alma eases constipation, heals stomach ulcer and hyperacidity, is anti-inflamatory, beautifies the skin, fights diabetes through chromium presence in it. What triggered my renewed interest in Alma is the suggestion by Dr.  H. K. BAKHRU in his book HEALING HERBS that this herb is good for the eyes. Always hunting for such herbs for my vision, I am delighted to be reminded:

    “The juice of Indian gooseberry with honey is useful in preserving eyes sight. It is beneficial in the treatment of conjuctivitis and glaucoma. It reduces intra-ocular tension in a remarkable manner. A cup of this juice mixed with honey can be taken twice daily for this condition”.

    This attribute may be due to a high vitamin C content which Dr. Linus Pauling, two times Nobel Prize Award winner for his studies on Vitamin C, said could lower intra-occular pressure in large concentration in the eye. Dr. Pauling’s studies suggested, somehow, the long-term vitamin C deficiency at the molecular level may be the cause of tissue changes and damage in degenerative conditions. I have seen many glaucoma challenged persons who would like to live a life free of dropping medication in their eyes many times a day just to open up blocked drains.

    So popular is Amla (also called Amalaki) in India that www.ijraponet says it helps the following conditions… “flatulence, hyperacidity and peptic ulcer, piles/hemorrhoids, constipation, fracture, vomiting / nausea, diseases related to vision of eye, hiccup, fever, jaundice/liver disease, cough, debility due to injuries, skin diseases, diabetes, scanty urination, colicky pain, anaemia, bleeding discover, seminal abnormalities, oedema/inflammation, lean due to under nutrition, breath-related problems/asthma, age related disease, cataracts, polydipsca, wounds/ ulcer, vaginal discharge including menorrhagia”.

    This is quite a handful. Welcome, Amla, Amalaki or Indian gooseberry to my healing herbs wardrobe.

     

    Vitamins B-15 and B-17

     

    DEMONISED by the leaders of orthodox medicine for decades but sought after by cancer sufferers and nutritional medicine care givers, these two B-complex vitamins are now raising their heads high today in many countries.

    I learned a few weeks ago that they are now available in Nigeria in proprietary forms. These days, vitamin B-15 and vitamin B-17 are presented for help in recovery from alcoholism, drug addiction and for cancer prevention. These vitamins are present in food eaten by animals and man, but not in dosages enough for use as medicines.

    Until now, it was not possible to have them as food supplements because many doctors and food-regulating authorities consider them to be poisonous. In the United States, for example, it used to be a medical sin to prescribe lacterile or vitamin B-17 for the treatment of cancer. One of the doctors who braved it, prescribing lacterile, for his cancer patients was literally hounded out of the country to Mexico. He was Dr. Contreras Sr. I once advised a Nigerian cancer patient at Ile-Ife to see him. But, unfortunately, his bone cancer had become too far advanced and worsened by chemotherapy by the time he arrived in Mexico. His brother who accompanied him on the medical trip said they had a wonderful experience with new principles of healing. Vitamin B-15 is known as Pangamic Acid. The Americans do not like it, and so, the food and drugs Administration (FDA) more than 20 years ago forbade producers of B- Complex vitamins to add it to the package. But the Russians have no serious phobia for vitamin B-15, according to www.detoxprogramme.net which says doctors in that country have been using it for many conditions, including … “alcoholism, drug addiction, aging and cenility, minimal brain damage in children, autism, schizophrenia, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, skin disease, liver disease, chemical poisoning”.

    The website says American doctors prefer DMG (Dimethylglycine). B-15 is not in Nigerian B-complex formulas. DMG is common sight on many heal food store shelves. DMG is believed to help the body increase its natural production of pangamic acid, through the union of DMG and Gluconic acid.

    Why the American Medical Association and the FDA are opposed to vitamin B-15 is a long story which the proponents have reduced to the politics and economics of  medicine.

    If medicine is so cheap, what will be the fate of medicine? Afterall, vitamin B-15 or Pangemic acid is present in such foods as brown rice, brewer’s yeast, apricot Kenel, Pumpkin and Sunflower seeds.

    With new information flowing to Nigeria that apricot seeds can help in cancer treatment, many Nigerians have been searching for them as they are searching for proprietary formulas of Vitamin B-15. Vitamin B-15 performs many functions in the body, particularly in the nervous system, endocrile system, and the detoxification process.

    We may return to it, soon. VITAMIN B-17 is different from vitamin B-15 in many respects. It is also known as laetrile. Dr. Contrereas Sr. was giving laetrile to his cancer patients which provoked AMA annoyance. A major source of B-17 is Apricot seeds. Like B-15, this, too, is off the shelves of American health food stores. This is understandable. Vitamin B-17 contains cyanide, a poison and killer. But it does not kill unless the cyanide is released from its molecules. The cyanide in the B-17 cage will be released only in the presence of an enzyme known as beta glucosidase also called glucronidase.

    This is not a reason to stop the consumption of Brown rice, apricot and sunflower seeds. Brewers yeast and pumpkin seeds which, like sunflower seeds are good for tackling enlarged prostate gland. This is because the enzyme group, gluconidase or glucronidase, which frees cyanide from the prison cage of vitamin B-17 is present largely in only cancer cells. When it is found in healthy cells, there is always present in them large amounts of another enzyme, Rhodanese, which neutralises the cyanide into a harmless substance.

    Rhodanese is not present in cancer cells, so cyanide can destroy them with the help of Gluconidase or Glucronidase.

    The discovery of B-17 is credited to Ernst T Krebs, of San Fransisco, in 1923. His sons studied B-17 after his death and suggest that a deficiency of it in the body was a more likely cause of cancer than other proposals hitherto put forward. They linked cancer, also, to a deficiency of a pancreatic enzyme called Trypisim. This is probably why Proteolytic enzymes which include Trypsim, feature today in the treatment of cancers. These enzymes are found in many foods such as pawpaw leaf and those black pawpaw seeds. These emzymes digest unnatural tissues and proteins which do not belong to the body’s protein systems.

    Back in 1833 Dr. George Wood and Dr. Franklyn Bache M.D., reported that a B-17 derivative, Amygdalin, could successfully treat many diseases. In this period B-17 became also known as one of the Nitrilosides.

    This is a group of compounds, including Trypsin and Amygdalin and Lactrile, which, alone or in combinations, can disturb cancer growth. The Krebs brothers believed that if foods which present them to us are eaten, our bodies can use these food factors to prevent and even kill cancers. Since these pioneering studies, more investigations have been done which suggest that nitriloside can destroy cancer cells. In the 1970s, Dr. Harnold Manner, Ph.D. chairman of Loyola University Biology department found that lactrile, vitamin A and department found that lactrile, vitamin A and digestive enzymes caused regression of breast cancer in 76 percent of his experiment laboratory mice.

    The history of B-17 is incomplete without a mention of Dr. Ernesto Contreras Sr, who has been mentioned in many articles on this page. For more than 40 years, he treated his cancer patients with lactrile, vitamin A, digestive enzymes and detoxified their toxic systems. The case is often cited of a gentleman with a bad colon cancer who survived it and lived about 15 years longer than the cancer had been expected to kill him. As we live in an age in which many people in Nigeria would like to escape from junk food and processed foods which brings no nourishment to the body, the natural question they would ask is: in which foods may one find vitamin B-15, Vitamin B-17? An answer comes from: www.healthline.com.

    ”Laetrile is wrongly often called Amygdalin or vitamin B-17. Rather, it is a drug that contains purified Amygdalin, a compound found in the seeds or kernels of many fruits, raw nuts, beans and other plant foods… Laetrile is a drug created in 1952 by Dr. Ernst T. Krebs Jr. it contains purified Amygdalin which is a compound found naturally in the following … raw nuts, such as Bitter almonds, raw almonds, and Macadamia nuts, vegetables, carrots, celery, beans sprouts, mung beans, Lima beans, and butter beans, seeds: millet, flax seed and Buckwheat; PITS of: Apples, plums, Appricots, chems and pears.”

    The list is endless. We only need to eat right, do away with junk and processed foods and GMO foods, to obtain all the protection all other Nature offers us against cancer. So, welcome once again, to Nigeria, Vitamin B-15 and Vitamin B-17.

     

    Gotu Kola

     

    An ancient herb popular in China and India, this herb presents itself in the shape of the human brain to suggest one of its many functions… brain energiser. And if the brain lives, so should the body. Any wonder, then, that Gotu Kola is also known as a longevity herb.

    Daoist master and herbalist Li-ch-yuen, who did at the age of 256 years, used this herb every day and advocated its use by every one, it is said. But this plant was eclipsed, it would seem, by Ginkgo biloba, which became polpular for its ability to improve blood circulation to the brain and within it.

    Many studies have found that Gotu Kola improves memory, restores brain cells and nerves function, enhances blood quality and circulation, apart from promoting digestion and wound healing.

    One attribute of Gotu Kola, which recommends its use in improving brain energy, is that it is a middle-of -the-road herb in this regard, not stimulating or overstimilating the system and ceasing no umwanted side effects. In this respect, JUSTIN Faerman, reports:

    ”In one study’ children who took half a gramme of Gotu Kola extract  every day for one year, demonstrated significant improvement of their intellectual level. After six months, there was a substantial improvement in intelligence, cognitive function and concentration.”

    Besides this, there are many reports that Gotu Kola reduces anxiety and stress and rebuilds the nervous system. For example, it is said to repair and restore axons which transmit nerve impulses in the brain and in the body. In this regard, it is found useful in anxiety, stress and insomniac conditions.

    Dr. Robert Atkins says injustice has been done to Gotu Kola by a tendency to restrict its importance to brain energy. He says it nurtures skin and connective tissue as well, apart from tackling cellulite and varicose veins and phlebitis. “It speeds up healing, improves circulation and reduces ankle swelling,” he says, adding: “People with scleroderma, a serious overgrowth of connective tissue throughout the body may benefit as well.”

    In respect of the brain, Dr. Atkins refers to studies which suggest that Gotu Kola encourages the body to produce choline and assumes this may be why. “It can enhance brain function in mentally retarded children”.

    In their prescriptions for Dietary cures, James F. Balch, M.D, and Mark Slengler N.D. say “Gotu Kola decreases scar tissue formation after an injury” and agree with the suggestions of Dr. Robert Alkins.

    There is much more to say about Gotu Kola, but this is how far we can go today. So, Gotu Kola, it is our pleasure to give your another rousing welcome.

  • Welcome initiative

    •House of Reps did the right thing by supporting ranching instead of cattle colonies

    Following the inexplicable and protracted paralysis of the will by the Federal Government and its relevant security agencies to decisively tackle the widespread and sustained killings of farmers and sacking of host communities across huge swathes of the country by herdsmen, the House of Representatives has commendably decided to confront the challenge and proffer practical solutions. The lower chamber of the National Assembly, last week, set up a seven-man committee headed by the Deputy Whip of the House, Mr. Pally Oriase, to commence thorough investigations into the incessant clashes between the two groups that had resulted in horrendous destruction and blood- letting.

    In carrying out its assignment, the committee plans to visit the areas where these clashes have persistently occurred to interact with and obtain first hand information from victims, survivors and other stakeholders, including security chiefs and foreign partners. It will also conduct a public hearing that will help in determining its ultimate suggestions and recommendations.

    It is heart-warming that, going by the comments of Mr. Oriase, the committee determines to approach its sensitive task with an open mind rather than preconceived and possibly biased and subjective notions. He observed that current attempts to address the killings by the Federal Government and its agencies “are being impacted by strait-laced narratives, political innuendo and ethno-religious distrust. In fact some of these strait-laced narratives have tended to ascribe all the killings to a single cause, thus jettisoning the need to rigorously interrogate the happenings with an open, unbiased and non-partisan mind”. We hope that the proceedings of the investigative committee will not be impeded by these lapses which it has rightly identified.

    Another laudable initiative on the part of the House of Representatives in this regard was its adoption of a motion moved by a member from Nasarawa State, Mr. Mohammed Ogoshi, on the “need to educate and encourage herdsmen on the benefits of ranching instead of the proposed cattle colonies in every state of the federation”. The resolution passed by the lawmakers in plenary, urged the Federal Government to make provisions for soft loans to be made available to herdsmen to enable them buy land to ranch their cattle. This surely makes eminent sense since most of the herdsmen may lack the economic means to set up ranches entirely on their own resources.

    It is noteworthy that some members of the House reportedly opposed the proposal that herdsmen embrace the more modern, efficient and less conflict-prone option of ranching on the ground that it is alien to their culture and many of them lack the knowledge or skills to effectively run and operate ranches. We concur with the majority of the legislators who called on the government to be alive to its responsibility of educating herdsmen on the benefits and techniques of ranching.

    The lawmakers also advocated that the Federal Government work in conjunction with interested state governments to establish cattle breeding settlements as one way of stemming the perennial clashes between herdsmen and farmers. There is no doubt that there is some merit in this suggestion but it is one that should be considered with a lot of caution since many state governments had reportedly received humongous amounts to set up ranches in the past with absolutely nothing to show for the money.

    We are aware of weather-related challenges that may pose a problem for the establishment of ranches in parts of the North, including excessive heat, desertification and global warming. But these can certainly not be a general phenomenon and if, as the Kano State government claims, it has provided ranches that can accommodate millions of cattle, the same feat can be achieved elsewhere with ingenuity and modern technology.

     

  • A welcome fix

    •Even if long delayed, it is good that the Federal Govt now wants to repair its roads and bridges in Lagos. It should fix other states’, too

    So the Federal Government is set, at long last, to begin to repair federal roads and bridges in Lagos? That is welcome news.

    The task should have commenced much earlier, given the crucial role of the infrastructure in the economy and in the lives of the people. The roads were neglected, and allowed to deteriorate to the extent many of them constituted a danger to users.

    Easily the most notorious example is the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, the main artery into and out of Nigeria’s busiest sea port. Not far behind is the road to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, the rebuilding of which the Federal Government recently ceded to Lagos State. Examples of such neglected roads abound throughout Nigeria.

    It is scandalous that those roads were allowed to suffer neglect for so long. The resulting loss to the economy and to the health of the users is incalculable, as is the damage to the country’s image.  The delay in fixing the roads will also be found to have compounded the cost of repairs enormously. On every score, therefore, the nation is the poorer for the neglect.

    We hope that the gap between the announcement and actual commencement will be short, and that the effort will be sustained at a brisk tempo, with minimal inconvenience to users.

    In another infrastructure-related development, the Federal Government is set to re-introduce tolls on its highways. At a time when the economy is just emerging from recession, this might at first blush seem ill-advised. But all over the world, tolls generate revenues for maintaining highways.

    But in Nigeria, they had to be abolished because the operators were unaccountable. Only a fraction of what was collected was delivered to the authorities, when it should have been ploughed back for road maintenance.

    Unable to come up with ways of making the operators accountable, regardless of whether they were government officials or private contractors, the Federal Government abolished tolls on its highways, in the process denying itself a vital source of revenues that could have been used for highway maintenance and related services.

    But first things first.

    Before instituting the tolls, the roads and bridges need to be fixed and made motorable. The toll must be modest so that it does not constitute a significant burden on road users in a struggling economy. A reliable accounting system must be put in place. In this digital age, paper receipts will not do. The task calls for a fully electronic system that guarantees forthright accounting and auditing.

    Finally, the tolls must be expended on road maintenance, not diverted for other purposes.  Repairs must be carried out as soon as cracks open up on the roads, not delayed until they develop into craters.

  • A welcome probe

    •Government has a duty to protest the killing of Nigerians in Bakassi

    When Nigeria lost the Bakassi region to Cameroun through a 2002 decision of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, there was an understanding that the people could stay and that only the political control was being ceded. Therefore, many Nigerians opted to remain on their ancestral land, believing that both sides would keep to the Green Tree Agreement after the formal transfer in 2008.

    It is sad that almost 10 years after, the Cameroonians appear to be violently breaching the pact. It is unfortunate that, in a bid to enforce its control of the area, a disagreement over an odious fishing tax imposed on the people of the area led to a reckless killing of 97 Nigerians. This is unacceptable under any guise whatsoever. The established practice all is that the killing of nationals is unacceptable. One reason nations could engender the patriotic support of the citizens is by assuring that their interests wherever they may be would be protected. The ceding of the Bakassi peninsular to Cameroun is no reason for victimisation and murder of Nigerians. Established protocols under international relations indicate that extra-judicial murder of any kind is unacceptable.

    We call on the United Nations, through its Office on West Africa and the Sahel to take up the case to pacify the people along the border area and forestall conflict between both countries. Although the Nigerian government has summoned the Ambassador of Cameroun to give full explanation of what happened as well as apologise for the needless waste of lives, a tougher action by the government would not be out of place if a repeat is to be averted.

    A country like the United States of America would go to any extent to protect the lives of its citizens anywhere in the world. Similarly, while not recommending war on the matter, all diplomatic channels should be explored to seek redress on the matter.

    We support the probe instituted by the House of Representatives to establish the circumstances and the full import of what happened. It would not be the first time that Nigerians would be killed  so recklessly in foreign lands. The Committee on Foreign Affairs has a duty to invite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials of the Cameroun-Nigeria Mixed Commission and the local officials to explain what transpired and how a repeat could be avoided. It should also look into the complaints by those in the Internally Displaced Persons camp that money and items meant for them have been diverted by the local officials.

    The trend over the world is that extra-judicial killings are unacceptable. Henceforth, officials of both the executive and legislative arms of government should respond promptly and appropriately to cases of infraction of the fundamental rights of Nigerians in foreign lands and along the borders. This is a worthy pursuit as against the inter-institution wrangling that has worked against the welfare of the people.

    We also implore the security agencies to step up their intelligence gathering activities along the borders. They need to be more proactive. The provocative introduction of a N100, 000 fishing tax on every fishing boat should have raised the possibility of a conflict that ought to have been passed on to the relevant agencies of government. Had that been done, the killings could have been averted.

  • Welcome signals

    •We laud Aregbesola, Ize-Iyamu’s conduct over polls results

    One defining feature of an underdeveloped political structure and indeed a fragile and vulnerable democratic culture is the refusal or unwillingness of political candidates to accept the outcome of elections. This attitude raises serious problems of legitimacy, stability and efficacy for governments at all levels. For the most part of our political history, elections have been difficult to distinguish from warfare, with the institutions and processes abused and perverted with impunity, thus inevitably damaging the credibility of virtually all polls.

    A positive turning point from this tendency was the 2015 presidential election in which the then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan has been widely applauded for accepting the outcome of the polls without resort to protracted legal tussles or even extra-constitutional measures with dangerous implications for the polity.

    An indication that this wholesome culture of voluntarily embracing the outcome of free, fair and credible elections is being strengthened in Nigeria was the general acceptance of the results of last weekend’s Osun West Senatorial by-election. The election, to fill the seat which had become vacant due to the death of the then incumbent, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, the first civilian governor of Osun State, was hotly contested principally between the deceased’s junior brother, Otunba Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Senator Mudashiru Hussein of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Adeleke won the impressively peaceful and orderly polls by 97, 480 votes to his main opponent’s 66,116 votes.

    Unlike the characteristic pattern in the past, where the losing side would have denounced the polls irrespective of its integrity, the APC in Osun State honourably conceded defeat and affirmed its respect for the will of the electorate. Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who had strongly backed Hussein, congratulated the winner and in a tweet on Sunday afternoon affirmed that “the people of Osun have spoken”. This is statesmanship at its best.

    We agree with the speaker of the state house of assembly, Najeem Salam, of the APC who, in congratulating the winner attributed the success of the election to the lawful conduct of the electorate, the efficiency and transparency of the electoral umpire and the vigilance and professionalism of the security agencies. The lesson here is that the freer and fairer elections are, the more likely that their outcomes will be willingly endorsed by contending parties.

    A no less ennobling, even if slightly different example, in this respect was that of Mr. Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the PDP candidate in the 2016 Edo State governorship election, who readily congratulated the governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, after the Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment, upheld the latter’s victory at the polls. Mr. Ize-Iyamu had exercised his right to challenge the outcome of the election right from the Edo Election Petition Tribunal through the Appeal Court to the country’s apex court. At every stage, Mr. Ize-Iyamu’s case was dismissed for lack of merit. His persistence to the Supreme Court was indicative of his determination to pursue his grievance to its logical conclusion and there is nothing wrong in that.

    When the Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the lower courts, with which he had disagreed, the PDP candidate bowed to the law and declared in a statement that “I accept in good faith this decision of the highest court of our country, which affirms Mr. Godwin  Obaseki as the Governor of Edo State. I thereby congratulate Mr Godwin Obaseki and assure him of my goodwill”.

    These are certainly welcome signals that despite inevitable stresses and strains, a viable democratic culture is systematically growing in Nigeria. However, the practice of losers accepting the will of the electorate with honour and dignity also demands that winners exercise grace, restraint and magnanimity in victory.

  • A welcome relief

    •We salute the Supreme Court’s decision against frivolous order of stay of proceedings in criminal trials

    Last week’s judgment of the Supreme Court in Olisah Metuh’s case, validating section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (2015) and section 40 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act (2004), both of which prohibit trial and appellate courts from granting order of stay of proceedings in criminal trials, is a welcome development. Perhaps, it is only in Nigeria that criminal trials are obfuscated by irrelevant interlocutory order of stay, and it is our hope that the judgment will bring an end to that perfidy.

    But just as we celebrate the Supreme Court’s judgment halting ambush against our criminal justice system, the antics of allowing interminable claim of bias by accused persons, to truncate trials must also stop. To set a standard, the recent decision of the Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Justice Ishaq Bello, to transfer the five-year old trial of the former Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, Mr. Farouk Lawan, yet again to another judge, should be investigated.

    Justice Bello, relying on a petition from Lawan accusing the trial judge of likelihood of bias, transferred the case from Justice Angela Otaluka of the Lugbe Division to Justice Yusuf Halilu of Jabi, even after the prosecution had presented four out of its five witnesses. We support the complaint raised by the private prosecuting counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), raising queries over the precipitous decision of the chief judge to transfer the case, even when as the learned silk noted, Lawan is “notorious for making undeserved allegation when he feels he is likely to lose”.

    With the chief judge’s decision, Lawan’s trial, like in similar cases, will be starting de novo (afresh), for the fourth time. Yet, Lawal is facing a simple allegation of receiving $500,000 out of the $3 million bribe allegedly demanded from Femi Otedola to remove his company’s name from the list of firms indicted by the House committee investigating the abuses of fuel subsidy in 2012. Chief Awomolo complained to the AGF that the chief judge took the decision “without opportunity to us (the prosecution) for comment and without due regard to the long history of the case, the antecedent of the defendant (Lawan) and the damage to the case of the prosecution.”

    So, while the erudite decision of the Supreme Court to bring to an end the obnoxious practice of using interlocutory application for order of stay of proceedings to frustrate expeditious trial deserves commendation, the decision of chief judges to allow accused persons to use frivolous claims of bias to frustrate their prosecution deserves the intervention of the apex court and the National Judicial Council (NJC). In terms of abusing court process, Lawan’s case is not different from that of Metuh, who was seeking a stay after accusing the trial judge of bias.

    To halt the abuse, we call for concerted effort by stakeholders to bring our criminal justice system to international best practices. The antics of using ridiculous applications and odious interpretation of our constitution and criminal justice laws to ensure that criminal trials last for years ridicules our country.

    We commend the panel of justices of the Supreme Court and identify with their finding that: “The appellant/applicant’s (Metuh’s) motion for stay of proceedings is violently in conflict with the provisions of Section 36(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Section 306 of ACJA and Section 40 of the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, as well as the plethora of case law authorities cited.”

  • A HERO’S WELCOME (4)

    (Scenes from a Nigerian Political Circus)

     SCENE FOUR

    So, thank you, the Very Reverend Goddowell

    (What a name!), venal Crusader, Archbishop of Vice

    “A Shining Star”, you called our returning felon

    The bribes which bought your sermon

     

    Are already paving your way to Hellsgate

    We wonder who authored your Bible

    And why that thunder which uproots rapacious evil

    Still leaves your tongue in your perverted mouth

     

    But the celebrants are many

    Praise-singers are hoarse with adulation

    Lawless lawmakers, Royal Fathers with their gilded heads

    The young, the old, the throngs in between

     

    For even when he was (VEP*) beyond the seas,

    He wielded wondrous power from Abuja to the Delta Creeks;

    In those years of incarcerative silence,

    His stolen billions suborned our prostrate conscience

     

    So here comes our own Mandela

    Our Jesus Christ with the golden Cross

    Our bastard Night with the glittering armour

    This “Shining Light” of our noble Nation

     

    This abomination reeks to the startled heavens!

    In a Nation ennobled by Mewoe, Onosode, Onoge

    Otite, Ekeh, Okpewho, Okpako, Ibru, Ojaide

    Onabrakpeya, Master Artist, Bruce and Bright. . . .

     

    Yes, they call him “Thief”

    We say he’s our “Chief”

    Roll out the drums

    And hail our Hero.

     

  • A HERO’S WELCOME (3)

    (Scenes from a Nigerian Political Circus)

     SCENE THREE

    Roll out the drums

    We say roll out the drums

    Let our prodigal ground quake

    With the thunder of jubilant crowds

     

    Scion of our Soil, Star of our Race

    Eminent Alumnus of Her Majesty’s Prison

    Who weathered several seasons behind the walls

    Our home-bred Hercules with the Golden Sleaze

     

    True he emptied our treasury

    Into his bottomless pocket

    True he conspired with kith ‘n kin

    To deceive and then defraud

     

    True he was Hitman and Head Hunter

    For Nigeria’s demented despot

    True he laundered the nation’s justice

    Till it glittered in the swindled sun

     

    True he played power broker

    In the palace of crooks

    True loot-hounds once chased him

    From his den in the capital city

     

    But he rode back to his village

    On a horse garlanded with golden greetings

    Kinsmen cheered, became his shield

    Hunters primed their guns for an epic battle

     

    Our Son never stole all those billions

    He only went out there to bring our share

  • A HERO’S WELCOME (2)

    (Scenes from a Nigerian Political Circus)

     SCENE TWO

    His walk through prison was sparklingly glorious

    He washed kitchen dishes till they shone like glass

    He scrubbed toilet floors like a rugged pro

    The guards extolled his muscle and saluted his skills

     

     

    They called him a Prince with the Harpic crown

    Gametime arrived, and they went for Chess

    All went well till his character kicked in

    He cheated once or twice and got a princely beating

     

     

    Yes, he cheated even when there behind the walls

    The yardbirds showed him the fury of their fists

    Then he learnt he was a felon

    In the midst of veteran felons

     

     

    “Hey bloody darkie, where do you think you are?”

    A fellow inmate asked, his tattoo-tortured

    Biceps heaving for a murderous assault

    “You, rookie rogue among professional toughies!”

     

     

    Dinner time, he longed for banga soup and starch

    But all he got was a soggy fish ‘n miserable chips

    “Your royal feast for now”, the Prison Chef remarked

    “Surely more tolerable than the chip on your shoulders

     

     

    Our hero bore all the mockery with princely aplomb

    Scion of our Soil, Doyen of our Delta

    They called him “Thief”

    We say he is “Chief”

     

     

    Let the pigeon hear and tell the partridge

    Let the river hear and tell the road