"IMMORTALIZE MY SON", says Pa E.A. Aderinto

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Today, January 17, 2012, Spaces for Change’s (S4C's) volunteer, Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri visited the family of Pa E.A. Aderinto, guardian to the deceased Ademola Aderinto who was brutally murdered by the overzealous divisional police officer of the Pen Cinema Police Station , ASP Segun Fabunmi on January 9, 2012. S4C’s information and evidence-gathering visit of sorts opened up important perspectives regarding the character of official responses to the tragic incidents resulting from the nationwide protests and strikes against the removal of fuel subsidies.

Bitter, angry and grief-stricken, Pa Aderinto narrated how he adopted the deceased some years ago, and trained him as a fashion designer. Late Ademola had concluded plans to move into a new apartment in March, in addition to other great plans he had for the year.  Unknown to him, death was lurking around the corner.

The deceased Ademola was fond of reading sports news at the popular newsstand at Yaya Abatan junction in Ogba, Lagos. On that fateful morning of January 9, 2012, he joined a crowd of “free readers’’ who clustered at the junction discussing and analyzing the state of the nation. Hardly did he spend up to 40 minutes when a team of heavily armed police men in a Rapid Response van swerved across the junction, jumped out in a commando style, and started maiming the confused readers.

“Why are you wasting time? FINISH THEM!” bellowed ASP Segun Fabunmi who led the patrol.  Sensing that his subordinates were not complying with his shoot-at-sight directive, he grabbed a rifle from a sergeant among them, and opened fire on the youngsters. Four people were felled by his bullets as the crowd of “analysts” fled in different directions. Ademola died a few minutes later, leaving behind four lucky survivors – Alimi Abubakar, 40; Samuel Ebujo, 23, and Idara Monday, 16 - all of whom sustained with life-threatening injuries.

Staring blankly at the late Ademola’s motorcycle slanting across the wall, he wished that the deceased would stroll in and tease him, as usual, before zooming off. His narratives were punctuated with intermittent sighs and nods of grief. Further aggravating his pain is that no representative of either the state or federal government (the originators of the strike) has made an attempt to visit and condole the family despite the public show of sympathy and crocodile tears shed by political leaders at the state and federal levels.  Except the Ifako Ijaiye local government chairman, Hon Toba Oke, and member of the House of Representatives representing the Ifako Ijaiye constituency – (both of whom graciously paid the survivors’ hospital bills), no single official of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the Lagos State Police Command let alone the office of the Inspector General of Police has reached out to the grieving family.  

Spaces for Change visited the three survivors in their homes to gain first-hand information regarding the shootings. Also visited were several eye witnesses who shared their ordeals in the hands of government security agents. Stories of tears and blood rented the air, just as most of them shared fairly uniform accounts of the January 9 incident.

PA Aderinto has only three wishes: he wants the state to provide financial support to Ademola’s parents and siblings who depended on the deceased for their daily sustenance. Secondly, he wants Ademola to be immortalized, preferably by putting up his statue at the Yaya Abatan junction.  Thirdly and most importantly, the family wants the state to ensure that the killer of their beloved son does not go unpunished. Will his wishes ever be granted? Only time will tell!

Young Protesters are Targets of Nigerian Police Killings

Young protesters participating in peaceful demonstrations across the country are targets of reckless shootings and killings by Nigerian security operatives. Since January 1, 2012, most Nigerians, especially the youth are taking part in nationwide demonstrations and protests following the Nigerian government's unpopular decision to end subsidies on premium motor spirit (petrol). Overnight, fuel pump prices monumentally leaped from, from $1.70 per gallon (45 cents per liter) to at least $3.50 per gallon (94 cents per liter). The costs of food and transportation also doubled in a nation where most live on less than $2 a day.

Ademola Aderinto was felled by police bullets allegedly fired by the divisional police officer (DPO) of Pen Cinema Police Station, Mr. Segun Fabunmi. The killing took place near Yaya Abatan in the Ogba area of Lagos during an attempt by a team of heavily armed police men to disperse a group of young people who were showing solidarity with the ongoing strike action. Three others with him received life-threatening gunshot injuries, and are currently receiving treatment in Nigerian hospitals. 

Reports say Mr. Fabunmi led the patrol team that monitored the location where Ademola was killed. Eye witness accounts further disclosed that Fabunmi opened fire on the unarmed protesters after his subordinates declined to carry out his shoot-at-sight directive.  

Spaces for Change (S4C) could not verify reports claiming that Fabunmi had previously killed sometime ago, and was dismissed from the police force, only to be re-instated six years later.  

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Yakub Alkali has apologized for the killing of Ademola Aderinto by one of his men at Abatan, Ogba, Lagos.  "The suspect has been arrested and would be prosecuted", the police commissioner said on the state-owned Lagos Television Authority on January 10, 2012. 

In a related development, another unidentified youth was unlawfully killed by police officers at Ibafo, along Lagos Ibadan Expressway, South West Nigeria following a clash between the police and a group of young protesters on January 10, 2012. One man was confirmed dead, while several others sustained severe injuries. The victim was in a 14 seater bus when he was hit a stray bullet fired by one of the police officers shooting indiscriminately. The police took the corpse away immediately, and has declined to make comments to the public regarding the incident.  

Spaces for Change (S4C) welcomes the steps taken by the Lagos State Police Command to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of these young persons, with a view to ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to book. 


Spaces for Change commiserates with the families of the young Nigerians that were brutally murdered and injured in Lagos by trigger-happy police officers. The group is determined to take steps toward demanding accountability for these killings targeted at young Nigerians. A team of volunteer lawyers are currently gathering useful information/photos/evidence regarding the incident. 


More volunteer young lawyers are wanted. Together, we can make change happen!

RELUCTANT COMBATANTS

By    

Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

    The bombs that went off on  Christmas Day at Madalla in Niger State, in Jos Plateau State and in Damaturu and Potiskum, in Yobe State appear to have many purposes. One was to send a signal that whoever the Boko Haram bombers are, they plan to sustain their terror campaign. Two, the bombs were intended to further expose the vulnerability of the Nigerian State and its citizens, in spite of elaborate security arrangements to ensure a relatively safe Christmas. Three, the bombs may have been intended to trigger widespread conflicts between muslims and christians. The first two objectives obviously succeeded. The third appears to have sought to deepen inter-faith suspicions and hostility, and possibly trigger another round of mayhem involving innocent muslims and christians. So far, both groups have remained largely restrained, although there is justifiable anger among christians, and fear of undeserved reprisals among muslims. Someone, somewhere is attempting to pitch millions of muslims against millions of christians in a war where both will be reluctant combatants, and losers.

          The gruesome images and the pains of the losses and injuries from the Christmas day bombings will shock and offend every civilized person. The deliberate targeting of churches by people who claim that they are avenging the killing of muslims last year will naturally inflame passions, and offend muslims who recognise that their faith does not sanction the taking of innocent lives. The anger and bitterness which is felt across the land over the mass killing of people whose only crime appears to be their faith is only a step away from violence against those suspected as supporters of the killers or those who share their characteristics. The helplessness of the victims in Madallah, in Jos and Potiskum and Damaturu reminds the nation of the victims of Jos, Zonkwa and many other areas and conflicts where innocent people were murdered for their faith alone.

          The disclaimers by prominent muslims traditional rulers and clerics will have some effect in terms of calming nerves, but they will also raise more questions than answers. People will ask what influence these leaders and clerics have over the muslim community they speak for, if they cannot limit or eliminate the threats and the dangers posed by the bombers. The bombers of Christmas day who claim to be Boko Haram say they bombed churches in retaliation against the killing of muslims during last year’s Sallah celebrations in Jos. They claim that neither the Muslim leadership nor the Nigerian state took steps to protect the muslims in Jos or bring their killers to justice. In this manner, they undermine the credibility of muslim leaders and the Nigeria state. A logical question to ask is who is speaking for the Muslim community in Nigeria today? Is it Boko Haram, which both fights the Nigeria state and places bombs which kills innocent christians and muslims alike; or the mainstream leaders who denounce their goals and tactics as un-Islamic? When Boko Haram bomb churches, they expose millions of innocent muslims to retaliatory attacks, which traditional leaders and Muslim clerics cannot prevent, or protect them from. Attacks on muslims far from the theatre of conflicts will trigger more attacks from muslims, and the vicious circle will be complete.

          If the strategy of Boko Haram, or whoever is hiding behind its name and grievances is to bring the Nigerians state to its knees, it could not have found a better tactic than one which touches muslims and christians where they hurt most, and mobilizes them in their largest numbers. No christian will fail to feel anger at the killing of whole families who were just leaving a church service on Christmas day. Their killers will remind the nation that muslims were equally slaughtered at a mosque in Jos a few months ago on Sallah Day, an event which angered all muslims. When the state fails to assume a firm control over the situation by limiting anger after these killings, or apprehending perpetrators, communities will be tempted to take revenge. Muslims have no monopoly over bomb-making know-how, or weapons. They congregate five times daily in millions of mosques across the nation, and are therefore even more vulnerable to attacks. There are millions of muslims in every nook and cranny of the nation, many living in isolation in communities far from their homes. They are exposed, and vulnerable to attack from people who may think their faith alone qualifies them for being murdered.

          At this stage, it is clear that there is a plan to cause massive crises along religious lines in Nigeria. It is time to ask some uncomfortable questions as well. Could the scenario painted by a United State agency of the failure of the Nigerian state be playing out? Is this attempt to push the Nigeria state to fail being engineered by external forces? If so, what are the possible objectives behind the plan? Is there a plan for a relatively crisis-free break-up of the nation, or is the plan simply to cause massive and prolonged crises between and within ethnic and religious groups? Is Nigeria’s considerable oil and gas resource a factor in this attempt; and could some interest out there be targeting exclusive control of this resource by alienating the rest of the nation from it?

          Even more sinister, it is legitimate to ask whether Boko Haram now merely provides a cover for stronger and more sophisticated interest which is fighting targets such as the U.S, Nigerian christians and the Nigerian state, using Nigerian muslims as hostages. Is there some credibility to the suspicion that Al Qa’ida in the Sahel has taken over the local grievances of Boko Haram, and is now fighting for its own agenda, which has little to do with the real interests of Nigerian muslims and other citizens? Or again, is there some credibility to the suspicion that some sinister forces are milking the security situation in our country for financial gains, and are sustaining the current levels of hostility and fear using the cover and modus operandi of Boko Haram?

          Tragically, there appears little effort towards identifying exactly what the nature of the threat is. If there is one, government appears determined only to throw technology and money at it. Hard political and security intelligence is always difficult to come by in conflicts of this nature. Yet, hard intelligence is precisely what the government needs to deal with this major threat, and it has very little time to acquire it. The most imminent and dangerous fallout of the Christmas bombings is that they will raise the levels of fear and anger among most Nigerians. Many christians will be tempted to adopt a simple position which links Boko Haram with all muslims, and will hold all muslims responsible for Boko Haram’s atrocities. Muslims will reject the linkage, and will in turn, claim that they are even more victims of Boko Haram than christians. They will resent their religion being used as cover for un-islamic activities, and will in turn claim that muslims are being killed in many parts of the nation  for being muslims alone, and the Nigerian state is unwilling or unable to bring their killers to justice.

          The most serious threat to the current situation, however, is the possibility that the Nigerian state will lose its credibility as the protector of our collective security. Whoever is behind these bombings and killings has succeeded in casting major doubt in the minds of citizens over the ability of this administration to protect both muslims and christians. If we cannot feel and be protected, we may be tempted to protect ourselves. In a situation where christians and muslims feel threatened by each other, it takes very little to trigger a disastrous chain of events. In these days with so much anger and passion, it is difficult to convince all Nigerians that muslims and christians are all victims of this frightening wave of terror. The plan may be to get them to engage in an unending blood-letting, but it it will be a war without a victory.  If they fight, they will be reluctant warriors. They do not need to fight, it muslim leaders act and show even more openly that Boko Haram is condemnable. They do not need to fight if Christian leaders do not make capital out of the genuine grievances of their flock and urge them into a senseless confrontation. But above all the nation does not need to take up arms against itself if the government and leaders can take bold steps to plug the many gaping holes around our security.

Fuel subsidy removal: Jonathan versus Nigerians?

By Dayo Olaide

IN the last six months, much has been written on the proposed removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria. This thorny issue is not new but it has never been dealt with decisively; thus it has come and gone like Wole Soyinka’s Abiku, pitching governments against Nigerians. The people are ever ready to resist what is considered as government’s strategy for impoverishing and incapacitating them. President Goodluck Jonathan put together an economic team, whose mandate includes the scrapping of the controversial fuel subsidy. He has also declared that there is no going back on the January 2012 date for the removal of subsidy on petroleum products except kerosene. The meaning of this is not clear to many Nigerians. But government is not clear either. However, Nigerians appear set to rise against Jonathan on this issue. The absence of clarity creates room for interpretations and for some, it means Nigerians should get ready to pay as much as N200 for a litre of petrol which currently sells for N65 based on equalisation pricing.

Nigeria is rich in natural resources. It boasts of more than 39 different types of solid minerals. In addition, it is vastly endowed with oil and gas and is currently Africa’s largest crude producer. The presence of large deposits of natural resources together with a population of about 150 million people, considered predominantly young and hardworking, bring forth the reason why Nigerians regard their country as a rich one. They also believe that like Venezuela, Iran, Iraq and Russia that are similarly blessed, the country ought to provide petroleum products that are cheap and accessible to its citizens. What this means in the reasoning of Nigerians is that they should pay less for petroleum products made from crude oil which nature has graciously and abundantly blessed them with. They also believe that they should not have to pay the same price like their neighbours in Benin, Togo or Ghana that are either resource poor or new entrants to the exclusive club of oil producing nations. Successive governments, on the other hand, have argued consistently that subsidy distorts the market and discourages investment. It is considered as a major drain on the economy; that the subsidy gulps scarce revenues that government needs to survive and provide services.

The eagerness of Jonathan to confront this stubborn issue is admirable, considering that it opens opportunities to put subsidy and fuel supply in Nigeria to rest. But the solution canvassed by his administration is both condemnable and dangerous for Nigeria’s democracy. What makes it condemnable?

The downstream sector has remained far too long in the hands of a selfish cartel that has got too used to super profit at the expense of Nigeria and Nigerians. When Nigeria deregulated and liberalised the downstream sector, it removed the monopoly rights previously enjoyed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as the sole importer of petroleum products. By opening up the sector for private participation, the government hoped to promote investment, efficiency and effectiveness . These are necessary to stimulate competition and make petroleum products available at reasonable prices to Nigerians. Instead, the deregulation created an oligopoly market where a few investors with strong politically connections emerged to seize and control products supply and pricing; thus cornering the monopoly rights previously enjoyed by the NNPC. Buoyed by political patronage and protection, they milk Nigeria through questionable transfer payments in the name of equalisation and subsidy payments from the Federal Government. By threatening to remove fuel subsidy, Jonathan, like previous leaders, appear to be taking sides with the cartel; preferring to take money from impoverished and helpless Nigerians and handing such resources over to profiteers and looters.   

The downstream sector is locked in several shady deals which hamper accountability. The late former President Umaru Yar’Adua acknowledged this much when he said then that the cartel had become too powerful and out of control. They had seized the sector so securely that government could no longer guarantee uninterrupted supply of kerosene, diesel and petrol unless the importers were regularly appeased. So while the government claims to spend trillions on payments to importers, it has never been bold enough to publish a breakdown of actual amounts paid out and the beneficiaries. Industry experts have also given up, alleging that the petroleum equalisation and stabilisation funds are so opaque in that they will never allow Nigerians to understand or effectively engage the sector.  

But the biggest leakage in the Nigerian economy is the widespread corruption that bleeds the nation of billions of dollars in the form of bloated contracts, over-invoicing, outright theft and disappearance of government properties. Not too long ago, Nigerians were confronted with startling revelations of mismanagement of public resources, including the $16.25bn power sector; over N20bn aviation rehabilitation funds; and N7bn community power projects. Several billions voted annually to education, agriculture, health, police, etc simply grow legs and disappear without a trace, leaving the sectors in a sorry state. Even the controversial excess crude account that stood at about $26bn, at the height of the commodity boom, is now almost totally liquidated. Yet, the country struggles to show value for it. The scale of looting unleashed by legislators in the sixth National Assembly in the form of illegal jumbo salaries, procurement thievery and borrowings in stark contravention of relevant laws could make a small nation such as The Gambia bankrupt. But the economic saboteurs in the serial heists walk around, freely flaunting their wealth while Nigerian prisons, where many of them deserve to be, are stretched to the limit by awaiting trial inmates, in custody for lesser offences.

The cartel in charge of the downstream sector has mutated over the last two decades, consuming local refineries and locking the country in permanent dependence on the importation of petroleum products. The importers have frustrated the half-hearted efforts to license and encourage new investment in refineries. And in so doing, Nigeria now relies on the resource-poor West for its domestic need for petroleum products. Disappointingly, rather than allow knowledge and superior reasoning to address the age-long problem of revitalising the downstream sector and fuel subsidy, the Jonathan administration, like a proverbial stray dog bent on being preyed, appears set to lock out further dialogue and reasoning on the matter. It has choosen instead to stick with subsidy removal as the only solution. 

Removal of fuel subsidy is not an alternative to functioning refineries, an open and efficient supply chain and accountable management of public revenues. Focusing on these ones and ensuring the effective implementation of anti-corruption and public procurement laws will save more than 40 per cent of Nigeria’s annual budget. Without freeing the downstream sector from the hands of selfish oil importers that have successfully shown themselves to be economic saboteurs and others engaged in bleeding the nation of important revenues through corruption, outright theft, wastage and mismanagement, the government will continue to run below its earning capacity.

Now, what makes the current debate on fuel subsidy dangerous? Not a few Nigerians are worried or disappointed by the turn of events since Jonathan emerged as President on the promise of breath of fresh air. They are asking questions on social networks - Twitter, Facebook, MySpace - about when the transformation agenda Jonathan promised in his May 29 inaugural speech will come. In the meantime, the President’s list of sins appears to be growing - attempted tenure extension, poor power supply, insecurity, failed anti-corruption campaign, liquidation of the excess crude account without adding value to Nigerians, troubled amnesty programme, decayed infrastructure, abandoned key reforms (electoral accountability, petroleum industry, citizenship, etc), dishonoured national honours programme and now fuel subsidy. It seems every step of the way the President has been ill-advised - against the same Nigerian people that gave him huge votes.

The eagerness of Jonathan to go ahead with his economic team on the planned subsidy removal leaves the impression of a man desperate to correct a wrong impression. This eagerness at this moment of crippling insecurity that threatens foreign direct investments and bodes a strong possibility of implosion as a result of the sensibilities sparked, in part, by growing disenchantment with the six-month old administration, lessons from the Arab Spring, a near total collapse of governance and seeming lack of direction and urgency in this administration could have destabilising effects on Nigeria.

The Arab Spring has taught people around the world that their resolve can make the change they desire. The Jonathan administration should listen to the voice of reason and save the nation of what can become Nigeria’s ‘Harmattan Fall’.

- Olaide, an international development worker, wrote in from Rue 9x, Point E, Bourgiba- Dakar, Senegal via dayo_olaide@yahoo.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Fuel Subsidy: Why Reason Must Prevail By Dr. Timiebi Koripamo-Agary

As a Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, one of the things I found particularly striking was the determination – and obvious sincerity of organised labour to challenge unpopular government policies.

The irony of course was that despite their resolve to protect what they perceived as the best interests of trade unions and the larger society, government, almost invariably had the last say.

The cycle was predictable: a government agency would submit proposal for a particular policy direction it wanted government to embrace and implement. The policy would work its way through the highest echelons of government and end up being adopted by Nigeria’s highest policy making and implementation body – the Federal Executive Council. On the face of it, the policy may seem geared towards improving governance, or perhaps freeing up or generating funds which government would then use to improve the lives of the ordinary citizen. Why would anyone criticise such well thought-out policies? 

From the position of government, the questions were: why would anyone go on strike to protest what in essence was a fool-proof decision in common interests? And by the way, who gave Labour the moral imperative to take decisions on behalf of millions of other Nigerians and force them to take to the streets, when as far as government was concerned, the proposed policy was in the greater interests of the entire country and the facts and figures were crystal clear?

In retrospect, and from my observations when I was later deployed to the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications, I realised that the major challenge was that of communication breakdown. It was clearly a challenge about government/public communications – or the lack of one. Government had hundreds of information officers in its employ to communicate with, and explain government policies and programmes to the public. However, a majority of them had become ensconced in the concrete of bureaucracy and were making no real efforts to constructively engage with, and communicate government policies to the wider public. So there was an understandable suspicion of government. Although we initiated schemes to retool information officers in the nuances of their jobs, that there is such confusion surrounding government proposal to remove the subsidy on petroleum products indicates gap still exists.

As far as I am concerned, the plan to remove the subsidy remains a proposal. Today, I am like most other Nigerians – afraid of the potential hardships we would face were the prices of petroleum products, especially petrol go up drastically. From all indications, it seems the Federal Government is fully determined to remove the subsidy on petroleum products and expectedly, another epic battle with Labour is looming. From all accounts, the battle lines are drawn and the country is gearing up for what may be the biggest confrontation over economic policy in many years.  But should we go down that route again?

What is clear is that government could have managed the situation better. Authoritative facts and figures of the actual cost of subsidy are hardly ever made public: not much is known about the actual quantity of fuel imported, the cost of importation, distribution pattern within the country as well as the actual amount spent to augment the cost of the pump price for consumers. All we get to know is when a certain amount of money is declared as having being spent on subsidy. How it is spent was never explained, and so the larger public remain rightly sceptical of government intention as far as the petroleum subsidy issue is concerned.

At any rate, it was recently revealed at the National Assembly that the federal government has overshot this year’s budget on fuel subsidy from the N240 billion provided in the 2011 Appropriation Act to N1.3 trillion as at August 2011. The figure represents an extra-budgetary spending of over N1 trillion representing an increase of about 700 percent. This information did not come from the executive arm of government. How were these figures arrived at? Should the fact that neither the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) nor the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) come out to refute these figures make them authentic? Why is government not engaging with the Nigerian people on these issues?

As one who has been on the other side, I think that things can, and must be done differently: On one hand, there is a proposal by government to remove the subsidy of petroleum products consumed in Nigeria. On the other, there are threats and promises of mass action led by Labour. And the whole cycle begins again, as we continue to go round and round. Is there an air of inevitability to the imminent confrontation? Are strikes the only way to resolve crises? And have we asked ourselves who suffers the most when strikes happen? And indeed, have strikes ever stopped government from achieving its ultimate goals?

To embrace the practice in other parts of the world, I believe that the time has come to engage constructively to achieve mutual objectives.  What do Labour and Civil Society want? What does Government want? What are the points of convergence? How can we aggregate our collective interests to ensure that at the end of the day, we all emerge winners? Considering these challenges as an ordinary Nigerian, like minded Nigerians and I came together to form the Initiative for Peace and Industrial Harmony (IPIH) to engage all stakeholders on the petroleum subsidy and related issues.

Our first effort was to organize a petroleum subsidy roundtable which had in attendance all stakeholders – except that representatives of government agencies invited failed to turn up. What was clear from our free and open discussions was that labour, civil society and the organized private sector – all of which sent representatives were ready and willing to negotiate with government on this issue, and possibly avert another challenge to our delicate security situation.

From our position as independent arbiters, and our commitment to fairness, justice and equity, IPIH is convinced that negotiation is only way to resolve the seemingly intractable petroleum subsidy crises. But negotiations involve give and take. What is government prepared to offer, and what are the least offensive and most strategic ways of presenting these offers? What palliatives would government offer to mitigate the effects of petroleum subsidy removal? Is there the political will to employ alternative sources of mediation? 
When strikes take place in Nigeria, it is the ordinary citizen that suffers most. Millions of Nigerians, especially in the informal sector, eke out a living from whatever they earn daily. A one day strike, not to talk of any protracted mass action will jeopardize the delicate balance of their lives. Many people never recover from the shock of strikes and other mass action, thus throwing more people into unemployment and poverty. Apart from the more determined labour leaders, a majority of civil servants simply stay at home during strikes – assured that their salaries would be paid in full at the end of the month. In many cases, miscreants have been known to take over public protests to unleash violence and mayhem on innocent citizens. And when all is said and done, government almost always has the last say.

The proposal by government to remove the subsidy on petroleum products presents Nigerians with a unique opportunity to hold government accountable. Rather simply embark on industrial action that ultimately ends in favour of government, this time, all stakeholders must make demands on government – and hold it to its words. It is time to lay out the issues. It is time for all stakeholders to dispassionately study the issues and come out with critical inputs. From these inputs, all sides can bring forward ideas and templates from which a framework for bilateral and multilateral stakeholder engagement will evolve.  

We need to ask: how much of the savings would be used to develop infrastructure? How much will be used to set up sustainable public transport system? Why should the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) not negotiate with government for a multi-billion naira students’ loans scheme for university education? How much of the savings from subsidy removal would be used to stimulate private sector led growth and job creation? How can we force government to cut down on waste?

These are sorts of questions that should determine the fuel subsidy debate, not strikes and demonstrations which achieve little. 


Dr. Agary is a retired federal permanent secretary and National Coordinator, Initiative for Peace and Industrial Harmony. Originally posted on Sahara Reporters

NIGERIAN SENATOR IS BEHIND BOKO HARAM?

Detained People Democratic Party Senator, Mohammed Ali Ndume from Borno has confessed to knowing the spokesperson of the dreaded Boko Haram sect operating in the northeastern parts of Nigeria. Senator Ndume represents Borno South Senatorial District at the Nigerian senate. The Boko Haram spokesperson was arrested and paraded in public yesterday by the Nigerian secret police, State Security Services (SSS).
Sources at the SSS told Saharareporters that the PDP senator finally admitted that a relationship existed between him and Boko Haram but claimed he was too "scared" to tell it to security agencies.


The source also stated that some Senators had began putting pressure on the SSS to release the Senator from detention.


The SSS yesterday paraded Ali Sauda Umar Konduga (a.k.a Usman al-Zawahiri) who openly spoke to reporters about his involvement with the Boko Haram sect. Konduga was the spokesperson of Boko Haram who claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing attacks on the Nigerian police headquarters and the UN building in Abuja according to our sources.


Courtesy: Sahara Reporters

BOKO HARAM: SSS MAKES BREAKTHROUGH ARRESTS

By MARILYN OGAR

ARREST OF ALI SANDA UMAR KONDUGA (A.K.A. USMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI),            SPOKESMAN OF THE BOKO HARAM SECT

On 3rd November, 2011 about 2030 hours at Gwange area, Maiduguri, Borno State, a joint security operation led to the arrest of Ali Sanda Umar KONDUGA, acclaimed spokesman of the Boko Haram sect, widely known in the media as Usman AL-ZAWAHIRI. He was a former political thug operating under a group widely known as ECOMOG.

2.      His arrest further confirms the Service position that some of the Boko Haram extremists have political patronage and sponsorship. This is moreso as AL-ZAWAHIRI has so far made valuable confessions in this regard. Highlights of some of his admissions are:

i.       That he was recruited by a political party stalwart in Maiduguri, Borno State;
ii.      That following the compulsory registration of all SIM  cards nationwide, he was asked to steal a SIM card which he used in sending                                                                                                                                                                                                         threat text messages     
iii.     That the pseudo name, Usman AL-ZAWAHIRI was given to him by the said politician to portray him as an extremist as well as conceal his true identity;

iv.     That one of his benefactor’s promised to pay him Ten Million Naira (N10 million) to work for his party but by stint of fate, he died on his way to deliver the part payment of Five Million Naira (N5 Million) to AL-ZAWAHIRI

v.      That consequent upon this, subject claimed a serving member of the National Assembly took over the running of his activities;

vi.     That he was behind the threat text messages sent to the Judges of the Election Petition Tribunal in Maiduguri. His objective was to ensure that the Tribunal sacks the present Government in Borno State;

vii.    That he was also behind other threats messages sent to Governor Sule LAMIDO, Governor Babangida ALIYU, Amb. Dalhatu Sarki TAFIDA, Chief Olusegun OBASANJO and Justice Sabo ADAMU (Chairman of the Election Petition Tribunal in Borno State).

viii.   That most of the threat messages he sent to Justice Sabo ADAMU, were scripted and relayed to him by the National Assembly member.

ix.     That the threat text messages eventually led to the relocation of the election petition tribunal from Maiduguri to Abuja;

x.      That the same legislator promised to send him some telephone numbers of members of the GALTIMARI Committee on Security in the North East, before he (AL-ZAWAHIRI) was apprehended.
xi.     That the telephone number and content of the text message sent to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice were also given to him by the Legislator in order to compel him (AGF) to influence the judgment of the tribunal against the Government in Borno State.

3       Meanwhile, analysis of AL-ZAWAHIRI’s phone has confirmed constant communication between him and the legislator.

4.      The Service wishes to reiterate its commitment to addressing the current threats posed by the Boko Haram sect and other forms of fundamentalism in the country, including the dimensions of political patronage and sponsorship of extremist and violent groups. We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to sustain their confidence in the nation’s security establishment, as we work tirelessly to ensure a safe and peaceful Country for us all.

MARILYN OGAR, msi

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

PUBLIC RELATIONS

DSS, ABUJA.

News culled fron Sahara Reporters

Report Injustices: Apo Six And Justice Denied

—Oluokun Ayorinde/Abuja

Families of Ifeanyi Ozo, Chinedu Meniru, Isaac Ekene, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony Nwokike and Tina Arebun, all between 21 and 25 years old who were brutally murdered in 2005 by policemen as they were returning from a night-out are still wondering if the killers will ever be brought to justice. The trial of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Danjuma Ibrahim; Assistant Superintendent of Police Othman Abdulsalami (still at large) and corporals Nicholas Zacharia, Emmanuel Baba, Emmanuel Acheneje and Sadiq Salami has been on at a Federal Capital Territory High Court presided over by Justice Isaq Bello since 18 January 2006. The trial has suffered many adjournments and followers of the case believe the court seems to be pandering too much to the wiles and subterfuges of the accused policemen to prolong the trial as long as possible in the hope of eventually evading justice.


Justice Isaq may not be unaware that all eyes are on him over the many adjournments he has granted which have been responsible for lack of progress in the prosecution of the police officers. “It is very sad that this case is going on like this. Though I know that I have good conscience over this case, we cannot ignore what the people are saying outside. This is not good for the image of the judiciary. I think this is the third time the fifth accused person is changing his lawyer. We cannot continue like this,” he said at one of the hearings early this year while reacting to information by Chief Chris Uche, the prosecution lawyer that Ezekiel Acheneje, the fifth accused person, has no lawyer for his defence and, therefore, the trial has to be adjourned. The lawyer had noted that in a murder trial, an accused person must either be represented or provided with a lawyer. But Acheneje seemed to have perfected a way of “hiring and firing” counsels to stall his trial.


The accused has actually changed six counsels since the trial commenced in 2005, including one Olu Otitoju provided to defend him by the Legal Aid Council. He fired Otitoju in January 2011. But some observers of the proceedings have also accused the judge of providing a sort of enabling environment for Acheneje with the bail he granted him in 2006. Normally, accused persons standing trial for offences which carry capital punishment are legally not entitled to bail. But Justice Isaq had based his decision on a claim that Acheneje was suffering from the HIV syndrome and granted him bail, alongside the first accused person, Danjuma in 2006. Danjuma’s lawyer had asked for bail for his client on the excuse that the accused police officer was suffering from diabetes, ulcer and heart problem. Danjuma, who was a television cameraman but got recruited into the Police due to the influence of a former Vice President, had ‘fainted’ twice to convince the judge of his ill-health in court before he was granted bail. Isaq argued that the bail he was granting Danjuma would enable him seek adequate medical treatment. He added that he was allowing Acheneje leave the prison confinement so that he would not afflict other inmates with ailments associated with HIV/AIDS.


In granting bail to the two accused person, the trial judge had acknowledged that the provisions of Section 341 and 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code, CPC do not allow bail for an accused person being tried for a capital offence punishable with death. He, however, noted that the issue of ill-health constitute a special and exceptional circumstance for the granting of bail to a person being tried for capital offence punishable with death: “I will not allow sentiment to serve as a control tower in this judicial exercise or anyone at that,” he added.


The bails were widely condemned, especially given the fact that one of the principal suspects, Othman Abdulsalam, the Divisional Police Officer of Garki Police Station at the time the crime was committed escaped from the police detention facility and is still on the run. “When Danjuma was released, I forgot everything about the case. The only way justice will be delivered is from God,” Elvis Ozor, a younger brother of one of the deceased, told the British Broadcasting Corporation two years ago. “A murder trial of this nature involving six innocent youths should not linger for four years. This is one case that has exposed the poor administration of the nation’s criminal justice,” Amobi Nzelu, counsel to the slain men also commented two years ago. Chris Uche, a senior advocate who is the prosecution counsel, noted that the trial was moving smoothly and speedily until the defence lawyers introduced the issue of bail.


The two accused have since been living as free men and it is, therefore, understandable if Acheneje will do everything possible to delay the trial which may lead to his conviction and confinement to prison. Though this magazine cannot confirm if Danjuma is still on the payroll of the Police as many are speculating, it was confirmed that the accused is living at the posh officers’ housing estate located in Wuse 2, Abuja. Lawyer to the other accused person had in obvious frustrations at the antics of Acheneje had at the resumed hearing of the matter in April asked the judge to try him separately from the others. However, Malam Isa Ibrahim appeared as a lawyer for Acheneje at the resumed hearing of the matter on 17 May. But this also led to another adjournment as the lawyer requested for time to enable him get the record of proceedings and exhibits as he was just coming into the matter. The lawyer also said he needed time to meet with his client. “Once we resume in July, the matter must continue until it reaches its logical conclusion this year. So all counsels in this matter must take note,” Isaq had warned when granting the request of the counsel to Acheneje. Few weeks to the end of 2011, it is doubtful if the promise of ending the case before the end of the year can be fulfilled.


In, perhaps, the most sensational extra-judicial killings to come to public knowledge, the country was thrown into agony five years ago as information of how men of the Abuja command of the Nigeria police had, in the early morning of 8 June 2005 ended the hopes and aspirations of the five young men and a lady. The murdered men were later tagged tagged the “Apo Six”, a reference to the area of the FCT where the young men were selling spare parts before they were killed. The sequence of events that led to the unfortunate incident later revealed that Ozor had driven his visiting girlfriend, Augustina and his four other friends to a relaxation spot at Gambiya Street, Area 11, Abuja on the night of 7 June 2005. The policemen claimed that the deceased were robbers who fell to their superior firepower during gun confrontation.


They then proceeded to bury the corpses later that morning at a bush in the same Apo district where the murdered men had their shops. However, one of the colleagues of the dead traders who was in the bush to relieve himself at the same time saw the policemen and recognised the bodies they were getting ready to dump in the shallow graves and raised an alarm. The police insisted that the six were robbers, but their colleagues denied. The killings sparked two days riots in Abuja and government was forced to set up a commission of enquiry to investigate the matter. The then Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun was forced to set up a special investigation panel headed by Mike Okiro, a retired Inspector-General of Police on the matter.


The federal government also in August 2005 set up the Justice Goodluck Olasumbo judicial commission of enquiry with the mandate of examining all issues connected with the killings. During the commission’s sittings, the other five officers accused of the murders currently on trial and eight other police witnesses were emphatic that Danjuma ordered the killings. A Police armourer who appeared before the commission admitted that weapons were planted on bodies just as the Police photographer also confessed that guns were planted on the corpses of the six deceased and pictures taken of them in the grounds of Garki police station to solidify the lies that they were killed during gun battles. According to him, the Police gave him two local pistols, two daggers and one machete to put by the side of the victims, to portray them as armed robbers.
The Okiro panel also presented a 31-page report to the judicial commission of enquiry in which it indicted Danjuma and nine other police officers of complicity in the murder. The panel also stated emphatically that the men were not armed robbers as claimed by the police and that the locally-made pistols and other exhibits allegedly recovered from the deceased persons were actually brought out to frame the victims on the instruction of the DCP by the Garki Village station armourer, Inspector Ishaya Nyaiwak. The panel added in the report that the pistol and two unexpended cartridges were used to frame the deceased persons and added that the ammunition were items recovered by the police a week earlier at the Rita Lori Hotel, located at Garki Village, Abuja.


The commission, in the course of its sittings ordered the exhumation and post-mortem examination of the bodies of the deceased men to determine the cause of their death and as a further confirmation of the testimonies it has heard from witnesses. The report of the autopsy confirmed that the six victims died of injuries due to “high velocity missile,” consistent with the AK 47 rifle. It asserted that five of the victims were shot to death instantly. The sixth victim and only female among the deceased, according to the commission was killed to ensure that there was no living witness of the atrocities committed by the policemen.
The commission, therefore, found the policemen guilty and affirmed that the robbery allegation the indicted policemen had tried to hang on the neck of their victims was false. The Obasanjo administration accepted the commission’s report and issued a draft White Paper on it. Each of the families was paid N3 million as compensation by the government. The police also apologised and provided ambulances for the bodies to be carried to their hometowns for a proper re-burial.


“The full weight of the law will be brought to bear on all who are found to have been involved in the perpetration of this heinous crime,” former president, Obasanjo said in August 2005 when commenting on the cold-blooded murder. Over six years after, it appears that promise may never be fulfilled.

Where is the Black African Spring? By Adejuwon J-One Anjoorin

Where is the Black African Spring?

In February 2011, TIME magazine had published on its front cover, the faces of young people from different parts of the world, with the caption THE GENERATION CHANGING THE WORLD. It was the season of an avalanche of youth revolutions across the world. Youths, powered by technology had taken on age-long tyrannies and uprooted them; these youths were tired of oppression, injustice, monumental corruption and gross inequalities in the economic equilibrium of their nations. As I stared at the cover page with the faces of these young people, it hit me with a jolt that none of them looked like me – there was no black face among them all.

It is a known fact that Sub Saharan Africa has some of the most disheartening statistics in government corruption and widespread underdevelopment and poverty. Plus, this system has been the order for decades upon decades, yet in the season when youths all across the globe rose up against injustice, the black youth was nowhere to be found. From Tunisia, to Egypt, Syria, Libya, young people demanded emancipation. But Black Africa has remained calm and silent, as though things were okay with us. The revolution rolled from the Arab world to the West: Israel, Spain, London, New York, California, Chile, yet Black Africa has remained silent, as though our living conditions were better off than those of these people who have taken to the streets to voice out their dissatisfaction with their governments.

The average Egyptian lived on $3 per day, while his Nigerian counterpart barely lived on $1.5 a day, yet when Egyptians trooped to the streets against oppression, we, Nigerians merely watched, laughing and arguing about it, suffering and smiling. Former dictator of Tunisia, Ben Ali got to power the same month as current dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. But when Tunisians trooped out and drove out Ben Ali from power, Zimbabweans took the “siddon look” posture at Mugabe; yet, this man has totally wrecked the economy of his nation, not to mention his extreme wickedness and high-handedness.

What exactly is wrong with Black Africa?

Why is it so easy for us to engage in petty ethnic skirmishes, but when it is time to coagulate thoughts and actions for a worthy struggle, it just never happens? Are we really as smart as we think?

What exactly is wrong with us Nigerians? For how long would we continue to suffer and smile? Yes, we do not have a dictatorship, but the situation of our economy demands that people rise up and ask questions. Our economic situation is far worse than many countries that have dictatorships. Spain, Isreal, and America are all democracies, but the growth of government corruption and the concentration of a vast majority of the nations’ wealth in the hands of a few individuals in power and around power have caused the poor to rise up in revolution. In the past few months, over 400,000 Isrealis took to the streets protesting social injustice and demanding lower costs of living, (you can only find such huge number of people at christian crusades in Nigeria), hundreds of thousands have trooped to the streets in Spain demanding a better way of life. In America, it is the same. A University in California was shut down because all the students took to the streets in solidarity with the “Occupy Movement” protesters and also to protest budget cuts in education. In Chile, the protest of students over the past three months had forced the government to inject a fresh $1.6 billion dollars into the educational system, resulting in a vast upgrade of the school system. In Nigeria, the government has just increased the electricity tariffs, stated that toll gates will be re-introduced on our “deathbed” expressways, and promised to remove fuel subsidy in less than two months. This in the face of continuous corruption of unspeakable proportions, and the lavish remuneration and lifestyle of Nigerian public office holders, yet, everything is “shhhhhhhh……”

Every now and then the government comes up with a fresh set of statistics that the economy is growing.  But where exactly is this growth? Who are the people who benefit from the growth? How evenly distributed is this growth? Do the Nigerians who live below the economic radar, the DE socio-economic class who constitute over 60% of our population ever benefit from this so-called economic growth? Or is this growth just increase in the profits of a few already comfortable billionaires? In every nation there is a level of people who are cut off from all these economic postulations, they neither feel it nor enjoy it, like those who live on social welfare in America. In other parts where there is no welfare, they live by the day. They struggle from day to day to survive. The only thing they could ever enjoy from government is the provision of social amenities and infrastructure. Good roads to transport their wares fast and safely, good public schools to send their children to, electricity to power their homes, potable water in their homes, and security on their streets, yet these amenities are not available in Nigeria. The poor in America and certain other nations of the world enjoy these basic amenities, hence their way of life becomes not as despondent as it would have been. But in Nigeria, over 60% of our people are effectively cut off from any benefit of governance, yet we continue to grill out a living in the most pitiable of conditions, from day to day.

There needs to be a change of order in Nigeria. This current system where the tail wags the dog is not acceptable, neither is it sustainable. Some day we just have to break out of the grip of our fear, take our destiny in our hands and reshape the future of our nation. Youths all over the world have shown the way. The avalanche of revolutions with started in the Arab nations this year has been termed the Arab spring of 2011. I ask, when will the Black African spring come?