The Strong Men Behind Buhari (Photos)As
one who presides over the most populous country in Africa, President
Muhammadu Buhari is no doubt an influential man. It is not out of place
that millions of people within and outside the country might want to get
his attention for one favour or the other. Expectedly, not many people
will get that needed access to him.
There are, however, a few individuals who are very close to the
President and, hence, wield huge influence in their own rights. These
are apart from members of his immediate family that consists of the
First Lady (sorry, the President’s wife), Hajia Aisha Buhari, and the
children.
As far as the Buhari Presidency is concerned, one of the
men that can be said to be very close to the President so far is Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, who currently supervises the nation’s
economy. Osinbajo is always at the service of the President. He
represents him very often both within and outside the country. The
relationship between the two top government officials so far is very
cordial. In fact, I don’t think Osinbajo’s loyalty to the President is
to be questioned.
Another man that is very close to the President is his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.
The closeness may be due to the position he currently occupies, but the
lesson must not be lost that something must have qualified him for that
appointment.
Since his assumption of office, Kyari, who has a trademark of always
wearing white ‘agbada’ and wine cap, has not been far from the
President. He is in charge of arranging the President’s day-to-day
activities. Despite that Kyari’s office is a bit far from the
President’s (about 200metres), the COS can trek that distance to and fro
more than six times in a day either to consult with Buhari or attend
one meeting or the other.
While making his way to the President’s office or back to his office,
he will pass through the corridor of the Briefing Room, where
journalists always hang out to search for scoops. No matter how busy he
is, he will pause a bit to crack jokes with the reporters and quickly
leave as fast as possible. Kyari is no doubt one of the President’s men.
There is no way those who wield influence in the Villa for now will be
identified without mentioning Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State. I
can even state without fear of contradiction that he is so far the most
frequent state governor in the Villa. If he is not visiting the
President, El-Rufai will be consulting with Vice President Osinbajo. I
am aware that he was instrumental to some of the appointments so far
made by the President. He wields big influence that is not commensurate
to his small stature.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State also wields enormous influence in the Villa. He is also a regular visitor, coming closely behindEl-Rufai.
Most times, after consulting with Buhari, Oshiomhole will brief State
House correspondents. His interviews had always been focusing on how
officials of the last administration allegedly stole the nation blind.
Since the wind of change that blew through the Villa during the last
presidential election, many other things have changed. The change
permeated through the seat of power from who occupies the President’s
seat to ministers and even Villa guests. The hitherto known faces have
given way for the new ones.
By the time Buhari inaugurated his cabinet, most of his 36 ministers
are those who are entering the Villa for the first time. A few of them
who had been here before had either done so because of the public
offices they occupied before or because they belonged to the then-ruling
Peoples Democratic Party before they parted ways with others under that
green-white-red umbrella.
There is, however, someone in the present cabinet that keeps
reminding us of one of the ministers that served under former President
Goodluck Jonathan. That person is the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun. She keeps reminding us of Jonathan’s Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson.
Both ladies look alike in stature, and also in the way they walk and
talk (with foreign accent). Incidentally, both of them are Yoruba
ladies, though from different states. While Johnson is from Ondo State,
Adeosun is from Ogun State.
Unlike her predecessor in office, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, whose
trademark is her headgear that she places delicately on her head as if
it will fall down with a slight push, Adeosun rarely tie headgears. In
fact, I heard her telling one of her female colleagues recently that she
resorted to holding her headgear after many failed attempts to tie it
correctly. The female minister collected the headgear from her,
carefully folded it and placed it on her (Adeosun’s ) shoulder. Those
who specialise in tying headgears for fees may find a good business in
her.
Since their inauguration, Adeosun had the first
opportunity to address State House correspondents on Tuesday, albeit,
briefly. It was at the press conference addressed by the Managing
Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, shortly
after a closed-door meeting she had with Buhari. The lot fell on Adeosun
to introduce Lagarde to journalists at the Briefing Room of the Council
Chamber.
The following day, however, she had more time to spend with
reporters. She had the opportunity of briefing journalists of the
outcome of the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by
Buhari. The venue was the same. She was introduced by the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
In my opinion, these are the prominent people mentioned above that can really make “CHANGE” to take its effectiveness.
Sporadic gunshots is on going in Ekeremor town, Ekeremor Local Government.
Security already overtaken by armed thugs thereby leading to stoppage of election in the town.
Also in Amassoma Grammar School, in Southern Ijaw local government, there has been a standoff between members of the Joint Task Force JTF and political thugs who attempted to hijack materials meant for some units in the ward.
Four of the armed thugs now arrested and their operational vehicle seized.
A former Minister of National Planning, Dr. Sulaiman Abubakar, in this interview with SUCCESS NWOGU, accuses President Muhammadu Buhari of not dealing with corruption holistically There have been allegations that the government of former
President Goodluck Jonathan mismanaged the economy. Since you were a
key player at the twilight of that administration, how do you respond to
such allegations?
The government of the day should graduate by coming out with any
revelation of anything that was abnormal (in Jonathan’s administration).
Again, allegations after office are not peculiar with this
administration. But we should allow due process to hold sway in the
course of trying to know what happened or allow the courts of competent
jurisdiction to perform their functions.
I am not saying that nothing has gone wrong and I am not also saying
that something has gone wrong. What I am saying is that in the course of
fighting corruption, there are laid down rules and regulations. There
are laid down structures and institutions that are charged with that
responsibility.
The government of the All Progressives Congress should allow those
agencies to do their work without interruption and without interference.
A situation where the state instruments are being used to coerce people
or coerce the process here and there is not good for our democracy. The
consequence of such in a democracy is anarchy which nobody would wish
for.
The case is in court already; we should allow the court to look at
the issues. The judiciary itself, talking about the judges and the
lawyers, should stick to their ethical professions without being
intimidated or stampeded by the government of the day.
It is unfortunate that the various outcries and outbursts of the APC
government, as far as I’m concerned, are more political than real. It is
too early for us to go into the nitty-gritty of what happened.
I want to believe that the judiciary will do its work and I want to
urge Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari, to be fair in the course of
addressing the various corruption allegations in Nigeria. A situation
where members of the APC that have been found corrupt in one way or the
other are left while you only concentrate on the Peoples Democratic
Party members is not fair enough. It is not godly and it is not Quranic.
So I think corruption is not exclusive to the PDP at all. It is the
problem of the Nigerian political system. And while we are looking at
Nigerian corruption, we should look at political corruption too. What is
happening in the South-South, like Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom
states, is political corruption, which we should not encourage.
I think the President, who I respect so much because of his
integrity, should be fair and just enough while chasing corrupt people.
It should not be based on party platform. He should know that some of
those people who are in the APC today, were ex-governors, ex-senators or
occupied high positions before and had issues with anti-graft agencies.
Now, everybody is now running to the APC as a saving grace. For
instance, the like of Christopher Alao-Akala in Oyo State was in the
PDP. This is someone who had allegations against him concerning his
handling of state resources. The President should open his eyes.
Corruption, if there is at all, is not only with PDP members. It is not
just the PDP people that are involved. There are people in the APC now
who spent over 12 years in PDP before leaving the party. The government
should not fight corruption on party basis.
We can see that there is a political class that is very corrupt,
regardless of party affiliations. We should be able to fish them out.
Why focus only on Jonathan’s administration? What happened to other
administrations? What about the various corruption allegations against
the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and others? Why
concentrate on Jonathan’s administration alone? For the fight against
corruption to succeed, the government should identify corrupt people,
regardless of their religion, tribe and political affiliation.
You seem to genuinely believe that there are APC members
who are corrupt. Has any PDP member sent petitions to the anti-graft
agencies against them and nothing was done?
It is not my duty to do that. The government of the day has the task,
powers and all the agencies to themselves. The same government that is
intimidating and pursuing members of the PDP should have the effrontery
to also pursue APC members. The same political will they are using now
to pursue PDP members should be used to pursue other people who are
corrupt.
What did you mean by political corruption when you earlier mentioned Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states?
Why was the governorship election in Bayelsa State declared as
inconclusive? Why is it that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, we
have a President that has appointed someone from his tribe as the
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission? Why is it
that all of a sudden, the Niger Delta Development Commission had to be
restructured and a former Commissioner for Information of Rivers State
when Mr. Rotimi Amaechi was the governor, had to be appointed as the
acting Head of the NDDC? Political corruption is going on there and we
have our facts.
But why should former President Goodluck Jonathan spend funds meant for arms purchase on political campaign and PDP affairs?
It is still an allegation before the law court. We should allow the
law court to handle it. People keep on talking about arms, arms, and
arms but nobody has seen the facts and figures to know whether the money
was meant for arms or not. I am saying that it could not be meant for
arms but security votes. It was for security votes. Normally, security
vote is at the mercy of the governors and the President and some
security chiefs. It is something that is a secret. Nobody knows what
goes on there. Nobody will tell you how security votes are spent. So for
the first time now, we have seen a government that appears to have
engaged in deliberate act of trying to know how security votes are
spent. I am not trying to justify it but I am saying that none of the
APC governors could swear with the Quran or the Bible that they never
dipped their hands in their security votes to bring the present
government into power. Where did they get the money to fund the
activities that brought Buhari to power? Most of these monies could have
come from Lagos, Edo, Kano and Rivers states and nobody is asking
questions about the security votes of those states. What is peculiar
about the security votes spent under Jonathan? I am not saying that
keeping security votes a secret is the best thing, but I am saying that
it has reached a conventional practice in Nigeria that people hardly
know what goes on there. So why are we being selective now? Why are we
coming up with this now? Why are people not asking questions about the
billions of naira spent in Edo, Kano, and Lagos states in bringing the
present government to power? Why are we not asking that question for
God’s sake? If we want to fight this rot in security votes, we should
fight it holistically. If actually the money falls into security votes
and it is being spent, we should go beyond what transpired under the
former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.). We should
go beyond Dasuki’s period to know how security votes in this country
have been spent before now. Now in this budget, billions of naira are
being budgeted for security votes and for military offices. What for?
Why are we not asking what the funds will be spent on? I think we should
probe more on how security votes in Nigeria are being spent. Why are we
being selective with Jonathan’s government? This is not to say that I
align with corruption or that I support the destruction of the Nigerian
economy. But I am asking why only PDP, why only Jonathan? Billions of
money was spent to bring this government to power. Where did they get
the money? Such money came from Rivers, Lagos and other APC-controlled
states and most of those states used their security votes.
So, if we are to fight this, let us fight it holistically. Let us
approach the issues globally and constitutionally. We should not just
leave ourselves with one allegation on one party. We should go beyond
that. Except we go beyond that and Nigerians stand to know the way
security votes are being managed, Nigeria will not be seen to be serious
in its fight against corruption.
Are you saying that the funds now being referred to as
money for arms deal was meant for security vote and not for the purchase
of arms to attack insecurity in the country?
Nobody has proven that (yet). They have not been able to prove that
the money was meant for arms procurement. They are yet to prove that
actually the money was budgeted for arms and they were not used for arms
procurement. People can say anything but nobody has proven that. I see
the move so far as sheer politics.
Why did Jonathan use money belonging to Nigerians to fund a party?
Jonathan did not use the money belonging to Nigerians to fund the PDP. Let us allow the court to take a position on that.
Why did the money meant for arms turn into some sort of bazaar to be shared among the cronies of the former President?
To the best of my knowledge, no money meant for arms has been used for another thing.
Does Jonathan have to wait for him to be called upon to
explain what happened since the buck stopped at his table as the
President at the time?
Yes. The law allows that. If you want to see him, he is alive. He is
going about everywhere. He is not afraid of being invited for any
questioning. He and the current president have met a few times. I think
Jonathan is not afraid of that. But you know that to every issue, there
is a second look to it. They must be very careful the way they handle it
because already, he (Jonathan) has been hanged before being tried.
Why do you say that he has been hanged before being tried?
Because everywhere, he has already been hanged; he has been tried on
the pages of newspapers. There has been media trial all over the place;
when the APC will come out and slander former government officials. In
governance, there are certain laid down protocols that a serving
government needs to follow. And when that protocol is not followed, you
mess up the whole thing. The way the government has gone about it is not
right. When General Abubakar Abdulsalam’s government left office, there
were issues between him and Obasanjo. But Obasanjo handled those issues
in a more professional and refined way. That is why up till today,
nobody has heard that Abdulsalam stole and that his government was
corrupt here and there. We need to handle things diplomatically and
effectively. We should not be over-heating the polity. What we are doing
now is not professional. It is more of politics and propaganda. There
are better ways of resolving issues between this government and the
immediate past government. I urge President Buhari to toe that path
rather than over-heat the polity as is being done. What they are doing
now is more of over-heating the polity, which is not right. We should
find a more refined way of resolving issues.
According to former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, even some of the recovered Abacha loot that was meant for
arms purchase was criminally diverted to other things. Why?
To the best of my knowledge, I do not know anything about the issue
of arms deal. But the Abacha loot, I think is better handled by the
former ministers- the Minister of State for Finance, the Minister of
Finance and the former National Security Adviser. The issue of arms deal
is before the law court. I do not want to be prejudicial about that. I
want to leave that for now. When the time comes, I will really know what
transpired and will be able to discuss better.
Okonjo Iweala’s letter that was made public showed that
the former President directed her to pay some $300m to Dasuki to
purchase arms without due appropriation by the National Assembly. How do
you react to this?
It is not every security matter that goes to the National Assembly or
made public. If for instance, there is a war, the situation does not
require the President to immediately go to the National Assembly to seek
money to prosecute the war. There are certain contingencies that may
not require recourse to the National Assembly for approval before they
are embarked upon. It is not every issue that you discuss in the open.
There are certain security issues that you do not discuss in the open.
As the Commander-in-Chief, if the President saw what he should do and
did not fail to do it, by law, I think he would be right. That all money
should be appropriated by the National Assembly does not have to do
with all security matters.
This administration said it met the Excess Crude Account
red. How do you justify that considering that oil sold for about $100 or
more at the time Jonathan was the President?
At the time that Buhari took over, he met on ground almost $30bn in
Excess Crude Account. The account was not in red. Do not forget that
before we left office, the price of oil had dipped to about $40 per
barrel and Jonathan was still paying salaries. Jonathan’s government is
the only government that did such a tremendous work on Nigerian roads so
far than any other government. A lot of money was spent on
infrastructure and we still left a substantial amount of money on
ground. It is incorrect for anybody to say that he met the account red.
There was almost $30bn that was left in the Excess Crude Account.
Why was it Dasuki’s function to share money among party
chieftains, even though he only played an advisory role and his office
should ordinarily have nothing to do with public funds?
I would not want to go into details but again, when you talk of
presidential system of government, its officials could be charged with
certain responsibilities. One would not know what transpired between
Dasuki and the Presidency that time to actually know if he was being
asked to play certain roles and do certain things. But again, even as we
are talking, under this government, there are certain key government
officials by virtue of their postings or the trust the president has in
them, the president may decide to assign certain responsibilities to
them. It is normal in governance.
I am not saying that Dasuki was being sent. I am not confirming that
but where it happened, I am saying that it is obtainable. So there is
nothing spectacular about a certain key government official discharging a
responsibility that is even beyond his sphere of jurisdiction if Mr.
President asked him to do it. It is even happening now under Buhari
administration. There are certain key officials maybe in Villa that play
certain key roles on the basis of trust invested in them by the
President. So it is allowed. At the state level, it happens and it is
also allowed.
It is believed that Dasuki’s office was used by Jonathan as a conduit to steal from Nigerians.
The law court will handle that one. It is still an allegation. Dasuki
is still a suspect and he is not yet convicted, so I cannot confirm
that. I think we should allow the law court to handle it.
Nigerians are saying that Jonathan deliberately allowed
the Boko Haram menace to fester by not buying the necessary arms and
ammunition.
That is a very unpatriotic statement. Anybody that believed that
Jonathan did not buy arms for the soldiers obviously is not fair. So
were all the communities recovered done on account of carrots and stones
the soldiers used? I think people should be fair to Jonathan for God’s
sake. There cannot be any perfect government. Terrorism is a global
phenomenon. It is not peculiar to Nigeria, even in advanced democracies.
France and others are facing challenges. As long as Nigeria will not
remain united, and will allow ethnicity, religion and some other issues
to block our vision, democracy will not have all its benefits. We must
confront terrorism totally. For people to say that Jonathan just sent
soldiers to go and die is not fair. Jonathan swore to defend the
Nigerian territory, and he did that to the best of his knowledge. So
such a statement, to me, is unpatriotic. It is not a statement that
should bind us together as a people. People should appreciate what
Jonathan has done.
During the election, for the three weeks, we did not record one case
of insurgency in the North East. Are you saying that Jonathan did not do
anything in recovering so many villages? Even some of the villages and
local governments that the APC are claiming now, were recovered under
Jonathan. What are we saying for God’s sake? We should be fair enough.
Where a government did not do well, it should be constructively
criticised but where it has done well, it should be appreciated for
doing well.
If there is anybody that loves peace so much and wanted to restore
peace to Nigeria, I think that person was Jonathan. It was on that basis
that he handed over power to the present government.
Dasuki specifically asked for six weeks for the
postponement of the general elections to fight Boko Haram and the impact
within the period was tremendous. How do you explain that?
Yes, there were some issues. When you look at the conduct of
elections, the postponement was justified. As at the time the election
was postponed, almost 40 million Nigerians had not collected their
permanent voter cards. So if the election had taken place without 40
million Nigerians voting, how do you explain that? Do you call that an
election? So I think there was a plausible reason for that postponement.
Secondly, there were security issues. Mr. President insisted that he
wanted people from Borno and Adamawa to cast their votes and he wanted
the Internally Displaced Persons to also be covered. These people should
be able to cast their votes in a simple manner. That was one of the
reasons the elections were postponed.
When the election was postponed, many of the 40 million Nigerians
that could not collect their PVCs were able to collect them. Also there
were places where voting could not be done as at that time, but after
the postponement, elections went on and there were no attacks on them. I
think Dasuki’s advice at that time was justifiable and it worked.
People were able to cast their votes and collect their PVCs and
exercised their franchise and we had peace in the North East. So at the
end of the day, the people in the IDPs were able to vote.
It is believed that Jonathan gave all his ministers money
to spend on mobilisation and campaigns ahead of the elections. Don’t
you think that you and other ministers could still be picked up to
explain how you spent your own share?
Whose perception is that? If there was any prudent man in government,
that man was Jonathan. To the best of my knowledge and I can swear with
everything, Jonathan did not give ministers money for the elections.
Quote me anywhere and at anytime. Jonathan did not give ministers money
for the elections. As a matter of fact, before the elections, Jonathan
stopped capital votes. Jonathan did not release any capital vote to any
ministry. Jonathan stopped overhead releases to ministries close to the
elections and after the elections. Jonathan did not release any overhead
to anybody.
By Southeast Based Coalition Of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs)
It is our investigative and analytical finding that the original Case
File of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and Ors; handled by DSS, has been doctored,
tempered with and handed over to the hostile-media for the purpose of
mocking the judiciary and carrying out trial and conviction by ordeal
through the media. The Case File now has
various versions and filled with doctored and foreign statements;
falsely credited to Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and his co-falsely accused by
DSS. A copy of the doctored and manipulated Case File is presently in
possession of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for
re-assignment to a new Judge following the aborted arraignment and
commencement of trial of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors on 23rd December
2015. The polluted Case File has remained with the Chief Judge of FHC
for 15 days or over two weeks without being assigned to a new Judge. It
is also our strong suspicion that the version now in possession of the
Chief Judge may most likely have been doctored and manipulated by
subversive agents coordinated by the DSS.
Media & Marketplace Proliferation & Pollution of the Case File:
We had recently revealed a grand conspiracy between President Muhammadu
Buhari, his DSS and some hostile-media outfits particularly the Nation
Newspaper, Punch Newspaper, the Premium Times, the Saharareporters and
the TV Continental, etc; whereby the contents of the referenced Case
File were subjected to grave doctoring, manipulation and media
pollution. The doctoring of the Case File by DSS was followed by seeming
erasure of the original statements of the suspects and insertion of
fake third party statements; some of which now make bold headlines in
the hostile-media outfits under reference; all designed to rubbish the
judiciary and incite the public against Citizen Kanu and ors; by
projecting them in bad light and as common street criminals.
Such malicious headlines are: how Nnamdi Kanu was caught in a hotel room
hibernating with a young lady; Nnamdi Kanu apologizes to Buhari &
ors; IPOB members bear arms-says suspect; I was paid N150, 000 to
install Radio Biafra mast, etc. Interestingly, all the hostile-media
outfits that carried the malicious headlines copiously quoted the DSS
and Nnamdi Kanu’s Case File as their authoritative sources. Till date,
Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors have neither been arraigned nor their trials
commenced in any court in Nigeria. An attempt to arraign them for trial
on 23rd December 2015 was aborted when Citizen Kanu refused to take
plea; citing rapacious flouting of four previous court orders by the
trios of President Muhammadu Buhari, the DSS and the AGF; forcing the
proposed trial judge to withdraw from the case and hand over the Case
File to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment. It
is 15 days today, yet the Case File is yet to be reassigned and Citizen
Nnamdi Kanu and ors are languishing in DSS custody amidst torture and
other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments or punishments.
Access to their lawyers and relatives have been denied by DSS
particularly since their last brief court appearance on 23rd December
2015. It is obvious they are being tortured to die inside the DSS
dungeon. The desperation of the Buhari’s chained democratic government
may most likely include murdering them in captivity and under torture.
In Criminal trials or proceedings, if not in all court proceedings, all
forms of reportorial preemptions and extra judicial media reporting are
not only prohibited, but also judicially punishable. It is also
judicially criminal to report or quote judicial proceedings out of
context, not to talk of misrepresentation of facts. These judicial
sledge hammers are geared towards ensuring the sanctity of
three-traffic-way of justice (justice to the defendants/accused; justice
to the plaintiffs/prosecutors; and justice to the society) and
preservation of integrity of the judiciary or the trial court/judge. It
therefore surprises and saddens us as why the Federal Government of
Buhari, its DSS and hired hostile-media outfits had chosen to embark on
such highly abominable and anti rule of law conducts.
Our further questions are: Why had the Buhari’s democratically embattled
government chosen to be a judge in its own case? Where lies the
important principles of hear the other side and presumption of innocence
until judicially pronounced guilty? Is it not entirely correct to say
that President Buhari has dangerously and impeachably allowed his
personal biases and chronic hatred of the people of the Southeast Zone
including Citizen Nnamdi Kanu to override his supposedly public centered
interest as President of Nigeria? Are these desperate antics of the
Buhari’s administration towards Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors not clearly
suggesting that Citizen Kanu and ors have no iota of case to answer? Is
it not a clear case of inferiority complex and pride for President
Buhari and his co-travelers in his chained democracy to refuse to throw
in the towel and come out remorsefully apologetic? Is President Buhari
not aware that by his Yorean and cave-era stance; he is steadily pushing
Nigeria to the brink and pro Biafran peaceful agitators to the wall?
Where on earth has judicial violence been successfully used to resolve
ethnic nationality-home State dispute? Does he realize the consequences
that will befall Nigeria of his chained democratic presidency if Citizen
Nnamdi Kanu is physically or mentally tortured to death inside the DSS
dungeon?
Torture-Procured Statements of Citizen Kanu & Ors: It is also our
analytical finding that confessional statements of Citizen Kanu and ors;
apart from being doctored and corrupted, are also torture-procured by
the DSS. Apart from torture, which is extreme infliction of physical and
mental pains on a suspect for the malicious purpose of obtaining
confessional statement from him or her to be used against him or her in
criminal trial; other triplet sisters of torture: suggestibility, Reid
and deception must have been applied by the DSS in the so called
interrogation (torture) of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu & ors. In
suggestibility method, malicious sleep deprivation or exposure to
continual loud noise is applied. In Reid method, the malicious use of
body language to pin a suspect to alleged crime or force him or her to
admit guilt is applied. In deception method, the torturer extensively
applies divide-and-rule, offer of bribes, gratification, phony promises
and falsehood techniques; and hot-water and cold-water deceptive
characteristics. These interrogation methods are universally abhorred
and classified as torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatments or punishments. Nigerian Courts also reject any confessional
statement obtained under duress or torture.
Call for Discharge & Acquittal of Citizen Kanu & Ors: Following
grave damage and harm done to the Case File of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu &
Ors by the Federal Government particularly its administrative
corruption and present proliferation and pollution in market places and
hostile-media; it is a settled and incontestable fact that any trial and
conviction secured from the Case File is totally an affliction of
judicial violence and injustice on the wrongly accused, arrested and
detained Citizen Kanu and ors. A trial of suspects that are already
convicted and jailed by their accusers and their conspiratorial
hostile-media outfits is a clear case of making mockery of justice and
rule of law and should be thrown into a trash can if brought before any
trial court in Nigeria.
We therefore call upon the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the National
Judicial Council (NJC), the national leadership of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) and the International Bar Association (IBA) to take
judicial and administrative notices of proliferation and pollution by
the DSS of the Case File of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors in the country’s
market places and hostile-media establishments; particularly the Punch,
the Nation, the Premium Times, the Saharareporters and the TV
Continental; to the extent that pages of the doctored Case File are now
recklessly and abominably photocopied, posted and circulated by the
likes of Saharareporters on the internet; in the guise of scoop and
exclusive news reporting. To the extent that grave and irreparable
damages have been done to facts and materials of the doctored Case File
and the allegations; it is our considered and grounded position that
Citizen Nnamdi and ors have no case to answer and ought to be freed,
discharged and acquitted.
The lawyers handling the matter on behalf of Citizen Kanu and ors are
also called upon not to waste time in entering a no case submission as
soon as the new judge is assigned to the case. Following latest news
reports of possible torturing of Citizen Nnamdi Kanu and ors by DSS and
their solitary confinement and denial of access to their lawyers and
relatives; we advise their lawyers to file a fresh fundamental rights
suit on right to life; seeking for the unconditional release of Citizen
Kanu and ors. The Constitutional and statutory safeguards in Section 35
(4) (a
METUH, KANU AND DASUKI STILL DETAINED AS BUHARI’S ASSOCIATE IS RELEASED 24HRS AFTER ARREST
In less than 48 hours of his purported arrest, Jafaru Isa has been
released from EFCC detention while Olisa Metuh has spent three nights in
EFCC detention.
Do not be deceived by Jafaru’s arrest, it is an orchestrated plan to reduce the tension generated by the arrest of only PDP members.
Secondly, information has it that Jafaru’s arrest was occasioned by
his volunteering to surety Dasuki after the courts granted him bail.
This insiders said infuriated Buhari..
So, his arrest is just a flash in the pan and a smokescreen to
deceive gullible Nigerians that the fight against corruption is all
inclusive.
Impunity: Northern Youths Protest; Lampoon Buhari over Disregard to Rule of Law
Northern youths yesterday protested the continued incarceration of
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman, Olisa Metuh at the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) headquarters.
The youths under the aegis of Northern Youth Network (NYN) threatened to sue the Federal Government if the EFCC does not charge Metuh to court or release him within 48 hours.
Displaying a banner with the inscription “a solidarity protest for
our democracy. President Muhammadu Buhari should allow democracy to
stay. A call for immediate release of Chief Olisa Metuh, the mouthpiece
of Nigeria constructive opposition party,” the group said President
Buhari should be fair enough to invite All Progressives Congress (APC)
members like Bola Tinubu and others alleged to have funded his
campaigns.
Speaking on behalf of the group, NYN President, Comrade Mike Msuaan,
said though they were in support of Buhari’s fight against insurgency,
Buhari’s government should know that no nation thrives without
constructive criticism from the opposition.
Msuaan explained that the group is not partisan neither does it
belong to any political party, adding that the position of the group is
to fight against violation of human rights.
He said that the continued incarceration of Metuh and other people
in EFCC custody is a violation of their right, calling on the anti-graft
agency to take them to court as EFCC is not a court of law.
He said APC should know that it was in opposition before and PDP
allowed it to operate, adding that there is nowhere in the world a
ruling party can deliver on its campaign promises unless prompted by
opposition.
He said: “When you arrest, charge to court. We urge the Federal
Government to charge Metuh to court within 48 hours. We will not accept
if anything happens to him in detention.”
Meanwhile, the office of the PDP National Publicity Secretary has
noted certain apparently sponsored reports in some section of the media
dropping figures and falsely claiming that Metuh got the sum of N1.4
billion in addition to receiving N4 million monthly stipend from the
Office of the former National Security Adviser.
Metuh, in a statement by his Special Assistant, Richard Ihediwa said
the reports were completely false, mischievous and fabricated to
mislead the public and derail the course of proper investigation on
issues relating to Metuh.
The office said: “For the avoidance of doubt, neither Chief Metuh nor
his office received the figures being bandied. We therefore challenge
the EFCC to substantiate that Chief Metuh received the said N1.4
billion figure as well as make public any evidence that he ever
received N4 million monthly stipend from the Office of the National
Security Adviser.
The Abia State chapter of the Association of Online Practitioners of
Nigeria (AMPON) has reacted to the moves by the Abia State Government to
Clamp Down on three major leading Online News platforms over their
investigative Style of Journalism which has repeatedly exposed nefarious
activities of the Ikpeazu administration. AMPON, a body with the
responsibility of overseeing the activities of Online Practitioners in
Nigeria described the the latest move by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as that
of a drowning Man. The Association in a Press statement made available
to Journalists in Umuahia by its Secretary in Abia State Mr Iroegbu
Emenike wondered why Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and his cronies should be
chasing after shadows when its roof is seriously burning with heavy
fire. The Association wondered why the Abia State government should
direct its agents to specifically go after the publishers of ABIA FACTS
NEWSPAPER, IGBERE TELEVISION and PUO REPORTS when the official chair
used by Ikpeazu is about to be taken away from him unless something
miraculous happens.
The statement further advised Governor Ikpeazu to focus on delivering
the dividends of democracy to the people of Abia State rather than
starting a battle no government has ever won in history.
AMPON further made it abundantly clear that the association shall
continue to collectively and individually hold the government
accountable on her actions, which is one of the primary objectives of
the Association.
JAMES ANYALEKWA EMEH
President
As
one who presides over the most populous country in Africa, President
Muhammadu Buhari is no doubt an influential man. It is not out of place
that millions of people within and outside the country might want to get
his attention for one favour or the other. Expectedly, not many people
will get that needed access to him.
