My Mother Was A Woman

 By Owei Lakemfa

I am blessed because I am blessed by women. This Wednesday, March 8, I received messages from some women wishing me a happy International Women’s Day. They know I am not part of their gender. But they are aware that I support, speak and fight for gender equity, equal rights and justice for all irrespective of class, race and gender. One of the earliest such messages I received came from the Cuban Ambassador Clara Pullido.

She dotes on some of us like a mother hen protecting her beloved ones.

The Battles Between Young General Buhari And Retired Teacher, Ajasin

 By Owei Lakemfa

The battles I describe, took place four decades ago. They speak to character and governance; some of the problems we have today and why the country is in turmoil. They were between a then 42-year-old General Muhammadu Buhari and  76-year-old Michael Adekunle Ajasin who had retired after 54 years of teaching from July 1921 to August 1975.

*Adekunle Ajasin

Both men represented different values: one relying on coercion and the other on persuasion and reliance on the intellect. Ajasin had been admitted into the Fourah Bay College for a Bachelor Programme in English, Modern History and Economics in 1943, that is one year after Buhari was born.

When Government Prompts The Citizenry To Violence

 By Owei Lakemfa

A Lebanese man on September 16, 2022, wielding a gun, held up the Byblos Bank in Ghazieh, Southern Lebanon. No, not to rob the bank or its customers. Just to retrieve part of his money trapped in the country’s banks! So, to retrieve part of his money, he had to hold up the bank and take hostages. As news of the holdup spread, crowds gathered in front of the bank to cheer him on.

Two days earlier, there had been two other holdups in Beirut and the town of Ale. Although all the weapons turned turned out to be toy guns, but nobody will confront a desperate armed man believing the gun he is carrying is a toy.

Democracy Without Democrats, Leadership Without Honour

 By Owei Lakemfa

In Geneva, Switzerland, an acquaintance once apologised that he was some minutes late for our appointment because he went to vote that morning. Everywhere and everything appeared normal. There was no indication of voting going on. I reflected that back home, elections even at state level are emergencies in which curfew is imposed, movement restricted and the army, police, intelligence and other security services turned out on the streets.

In November, 2021, I was an observer at the elections in Venezuela. It was a Sunday because the Venezuelans would not allow a disruption of their normal activities, including on Saturdays when a lot of trading goes on. Sundays are their rest days, so they can afford an hour or two.

In The Dark Alleys Of Human Trafficking

 By Owei Lakemfa

Over the course of 400 years, 15 million men, women, and children were transported across the Atlantic as slaves, but the statistics for human trafficking, particularly the sex trade, are far worse.

Conservatively, 800,000 people are trafficked annually, with 80 per cent being women and half of these being minors. The global sex trade itself is worth $32 billion annually. The issue of what can be done to end human trafficking, in which 25 million people are trapped, was the theme of an international meeting on January 17, 2023 in Abuja.

The Story Of Media Leaders In Nigeria’s Construction And Reconstruction

 By Owei Lakemfa

Nigeria was partly built by journalists who fought the British colonialists so ferociously that Frederick John Lugard, their colonial poster boy who amalgamated the country in 1914, was forced out as Governor General within five years. The media campaigns for the soul of the country went on through the colonial period and into the new century.

But the country has been very badly used, so much so that today, it is in urgent need of reconstruction. The media, as one of the main builders of the country, convened a roundtable on Saturday, November 26, 2022, to examine its part in constructing the country and what role it needs to play in reconstructing it.

To do this, the Nigeria Media Merit Award, or NMMA  convened a conclave of experts led by Emeritus Professor Michael Abiola Omolewa, an education historian and diplomat who was the 32nd President of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.

Towards The Federal Republic Of Illiteracy

 By Owei Lakemfa

Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, after presiding over the N5.6 trillion Education Budget in the last seven years and the N1.3 trillion intervention fund in four years, announced he has failed. It is not that as Education Minister, he has failed to preside over spending about N7 trillion in seven years, but, has failed to deliver on basic programmes and promises.

However, like other smart alecs, he exonerates himself. He, rather, blames the state governors for his manifest failure. Adamu said the main policy of the Buhari education programme was to pull: “children out of the street back to the school, but evidently, the actions of the state governments are pushing the children back to the streets.”

Nigerians Can’t Breathe!

 By Owei Lakemfa

Bayelsa State was for weeks submerged by floods which damaged or washed away bridges and roads, homes and farms, power transformers, and hospitals, and displaced 99 percent of its over 2.5 million people. Some deaths were recorded with the living clinging to life while the buried could not safely remain in their abode as the floods covered or washed away graves. The only means of reaching the state was either by air or water.

State Governor Douye Diri, a fortnight ago, cried out that despite international concerns and desperate pleas, neither the Federal Government nor its agencies had sent relief materials. He was specific that although the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouk claimed to have sent relief materials, these had not been received.

Championing Rule Of Law At Home And Criminality Abroad

 By Owei Lakemfa

Only a quarter of the eight million Palestinian people live in the Palestine; one million in Gaza, 750,000 in the occupied West Bank and 250,000 inside Israel. The rest, or over six million, are forced to live outside with at least three million of them classified as stateless persons with no legal rights. Yet these Palestinians in the diaspora are hunted like rabbits by the Israeli state.

(pix: The loyal Nigerian Lawyer)

On September 28, 2022, two Palestinians were confronted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by four men working for Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. They snatched one of them, a programmer from Gaza while the second Palestinian escaped. The victim was then taken to a chalet where he was tortured and interrogated directly by two Mossad agents via video call.

The New Strait Times, Malaysia’s oldest newspaper published since 1845 reported that for 24 hours, the Palestinian was interrogated and beaten by his Malaysian captors whenever the answer he gave were not satisfactory to the Israeli agents.

This Is The Face Of Poverty In Nigeria

 By Owei Lakemfa

Poverty is often presented as statistics. But what the Yusufu Bala Usman Institute did on September 21, 2022 was to produce a book, The Face of Poverty in Nigeria, which focused on the faces behind the statistics.

As one of the reviewers, I summarised the Nigerian situation thus: If you are poor in thinking, you are poor. If others think for you, you are poor. If you follow other people’s culture, you are poor. If foreigners decide your beliefs, you are poor. If others decide your economic policies and programmes, you cannot but be dirt poor.

My argument is that poverty, which is the severe deprivation of a person resulting in his inability to meet the basic needs of life, manifests in various ways, situations and circumstances.

There Were Unknown Soldiers Before There Are Unknown Gunmen

 By Owei Lakemfa

I passed in front of the University of Abuja, UNIABUJA Staff Quarters on Sunday, October 31, 2021 on my way from the Nigeria Media Merit Award programme in Lokoja. As I did, my mind raced back to the issue of insecurity I had raised three days earlier during my keynote address to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Bauchi Zone Summit on the state of the nation.

I had paused to ask the audience at the Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University, Bauchi venue what the university population was. “Thirty thousand” was the reply.

I had then said it was preposterous to me if a dozen or two dozen bandits were to arrive on the campus, and all we do is run away, allowing the gunmen to round up as many persons as possible and herd them like cows into the forest or the hills and then place hefty ransom demands on the captives.

Re: There Were Unknown Soldiers Before Unknown Gunmen

 By Femi Falana

In concluding his brilliant article on “Unknown Soldiers Before Unknown Gunmen”, Owei Lakemfa referred to the verdict of a tribunal which claimed that the Ransome-Kuti’s residence was set ablaze by an “unknown soldier”.

*Falana 

The Supreme Court of Nigeria questioned the verdict for blaming the “unknown soldier” in place of the State whose soldiers had perpetrated the crime. Thus, in the leading judgement of the apex court in the celebrated case of Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti & Ors v Attorney-General of the Federation (1985) 1 NWLR (Pt 6) 124, Kayode Eso JSC said: “This immunity attaching to the State in this country is sad.” The learned trial judge who took evidence described the scene that day as “hell let loose” and this he had set out in his analysis of the evidence.

Okonjo-Iweala, The WTO And A Naysayer

By Chuks Iloegbunam

If the current controversy surrounding the search for a replacement for the outgoing director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Brazilian Roberto de Azevedo, were not global and intense, it would mean that the position was worth little more than a sinecure. Appointed in 2013, Mr. de Azevedo has served notice that he will step down this August, a year before his term concludes.

 

*Okonjo-Iweala

Up came eight candidates from all regions of the world, three of which are Africans: Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the former Kenyan foreign minister Amina Mohamed, who previously was the chairperson of the WTO General Council; and Abdel-Hamid Mamdouhm, an Egyptian lawyer who also had a stint as a senior WTO official. Because the headship of the WTO is not geographically rotational, no region of the world can claim it is its turn to produce the organisation’s next D-G.

Rescuing Nigeria From Her Leaders

By Owei Lakemfa

Intellectuals and academics from fourteen universities who gathered at the  University of Abuja on September 5 to discuss the seemingly insoluble problems of the country, concluded that Nigeria has to be rescued from its leaders.

*Buhari

They poured in from the universities in Minna, Akwa Ibom, Benin, Ekpoma, Ado Ekiti, Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Osun, Makurdi and  Ago Iwoye. Others came from the IBB, Tai Solarin and  Lagos State  Universities.  Students of the host University of Abuja also filled the Management Hall, venue of the gathering which also featured an address by their Vice Chancellor, Professor Michael  Umale Adikwu represented by Professor  Gboyega Kolawole.

Minimum Wage, Maximum Politics!

By Owei Lakemfa
The general strike on September 27 and 28 over a new National Minimum Wage will, going by antecedence, be the first of many strikes to come. This strike was not about a new wage per se or figures; not about agreement or disagreement, not to talk about implementation. It was merely to demand that the Buhari administration which has an unenviable history of cancelling promises, returns to the negotiation table.

If a general strike had to be called just to pressure government to talk with workers and employers on a New National Minimum Wage in accordance with the constitution, imagine the struggles that will need be waged to get the new wages implemented across all sectors and levels of government.

Now That President Buhari Is ECOWAS Chairman

By Owei Lakemfa

One of the first things I learnt about leadership is the William Shakespeare  quotation that: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”  That again played out in Lome, Togo on July 31, when President Muhammadu Buhari  had the chairmanship of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ‘imposed’ on him.

*President Buhari 

The Presidency said Buhari  had gone innocently to the ECOWAS Summit prepared to vote for Cape Verde, Sierra Leone or  Ghana as ECOWAS Chair when during the campaigns and without warning, the region’s Heads of State asked the candidates to step down only to: “impose the leadership of the organization (on Buhari)against all protestations on the Nigerian leader.”If we accept this tale of the Nigerian Presidency, what happened at the ECOWAS Summit  was the hand of a miracle-working God; a divine intervention.

Nigeria: Banning Codeine In APC

By Owei Lakemfa

Following a codeine-propelled high drug addiction problem, the Federal Government in a swift reaction, banned the production and importation of codeine containing cough syrup. The syrup usually taken by millions of youths who mix it with soft drinks, alcohol or illegal drugs, leads to physical and mental reliance on the drug and can be fatal.

Five days after the welcome ban, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on May 5, held its Ward congresses across the country.  In most of the thirty six states, they were characterized by thuggery, manipulation, imposition, and in at least two cases, murder. In Rivers State, a member was shot dead right in the party secretariat while in Ughelli,  Delta State, a party chairmanship aspirant, Mr. Jeremiah Oghoveta was stabbed to death.  In Oyo State, supporters of Governor Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi and those of Communication Minister, Adebayo Shittu, were engaged in a mini Civil War with the Governor accusing  the Honourable Minister and some members of the House of Representatives of perpetuating the violence and threatening arson.

Nigerians And Killer Soft Drinks!

By Owei Lakemfa
I bought two products of the Coca Cola conglomerate three days ago. They are bottles of  Fanta and Sprite. I looked for a warning on them which should read that the drinks are poisonous when taken with Vitamin C. This would be in accordance with the March 2017 judgment of the Lagos High Court which found the products unfit for human consumption as they contain high  levels of sunset yellow and benzoic acid which according to European and American drug agencies, can form the carcinogen benzene when combined with ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). The court had ordered Coca Cola to comply not later than June 2017.

But I did not see such warning. I did not expect to see the warning because as expected,  Coca Cola would be hiding behind technicalities and  a claim that it is appealing the judgment. However, if  it were interested in the health of Nigerians and not just profits, the company  by now, would  have saturated  us with adverts warning of the dangers of taking their products as ordered by the court. In a matter affecting lives such as this, the company should comply with the judgment even if it seeks a reversal in the higher court. This is basically because while it can recoup losses, it cannot bring back lives that might be lost as a result of its non-compliance.

Fighting Criminality With Illegality Equals Injustice

By Owei Lakemfa

I have a soft spot for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, mainly because I was present at its birth. Nigeria had transited from  long years of unaccountable military regimes that made little distinction between the national purse and private pockets. So corruption was rampant when the civilian administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo  came into office in 1999. EFCC Following  local and international pressures, the administration sought to fight corruption with specialised agencies. To set these up, stakeholders were invited to  meetings which I attended as the representative of the  Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.

However, the EFCC was a rascal  using uncomely methods like breaking down doors, finding suspects guilty by  media trials, disregarding court orders and making outlandish claims like stating before the Senate that 31 of the serving 36  governors were corrupt, but having little to show after the men left  office and no longer had immunity. Worse still, the body swarm comfortably in political waters; engineering the removal of political office holders including elected governors. The worst case, was using six Plateau State legislators it had captured, to impeach Governor Joshua Dariye  when the constitutional number required was a minimum sixteen. The EFCC began operating  like  a weather forecast  station issuing  intermittent statements about people arrested,  stages of investigation or even its intentions. It chairmen who ordinarily were public servants; in fact, serving police officers – except Mrs. Farida  Mzamber Waziri, a retired police officer – became Czars.

The agency has been severally accused of doing the bidding of whoever is in power and restricting its investigative prowess to those in opposition. While there is a lot of truth in this, personally, I think it is good for the country; if even a few looters are brought to book, that will send a strong message  that people will be held to account even after leaving public office. I must also admit that the EFCC has brought some bite into the anti-corruption war; we have witnessed governors, bank chief executives and even an Inspector General of Police prosecuted and convicted. But this is no excuse to fight criminality with illegality. I believe public agencies like the EFCC and Directorate of State Security,DSS, can be effective even if they employ  legal and civilised procedures.

This will be in line with the EFCC’s vision of being “An agency operating to best international standards…” Unfortunately, at 13, the EFCC has not shed its toga of rascality and know-it-all attitude. Nothing typifies this better  than its uncultured response to the inaugural speech by the President of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud. I had known Mahmoud in the early ‘80s as a quiet, soft-spoken  gentleman who tries to convince on the basis of logic rather than  be pedantic and flamboyant like some of his colleagues. He and  many  of us in our generation had admiration  for the late Alao Aka-Bashorun the principled NBA President who brought activism to the Bar. Aka-Bashorun believed that law must serve the people and that service to the citizenry is the basis of legitimacy  for any government.

I was not surprised that Mahmoud in his inaugural speech emphasised some of these themes such as  “A clean  judiciary that will deliver consistent and predictable outcomes” and “No to corruption, whether in the Executive, Legislative or Judicial branch of government”  He warned that  “for the legal profession in Nigerian, it can no longer be business as usual” and that “there cannot be rich lawyers in a poor country.”

His message that “the fight against corruption can only be achieved if we do so within the frame work of the rule of law and by strong institutions” did  not seem appealing to the EFCC, a body which he commended for its modest achievements. His suggestion that the EFCC be reformed by limiting it to an  investigative agency while  “the conduct of the prosecution must be by an independent highly resourced prosecution agency” infuriated the EFCC.   Rather than respond to Mahmoud’s arguments, the Agency resorted to insults.

Justice For The Living, Justice For The Dead

By Owei Lakemfa

 Human history is replete with instances of the people getting fed up with official policies and taking on the government. Monday January 9, 2012 was one of those days when the Nigerian people in anger, decided to shut down the country. The populace succeeded in taking over the towns and cities across the country of over 167 million people, but there were desperate efforts to retake the streets. One of them occurred in Ogba, a suburb of Ikeja, the Lagos State capital.

One of the two busiest and longest streets in the area is Yahaya Abatan. But on this day, like in other parts of Lagos, the street was completely deserted with shops and businesses closed and zero vehicular traffic. On a stretch of this road, youths played football with some spectators on the side line, while a few people gathered beside a newspaper vendor reading newspapers and discussing events in the country.

Suddenly, a police van RRS 101A arrived the scene. The police team was led by Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr. Segun Fabunmi the then Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Pen Cinema Police Station. Mr. Fabunmi with a 28-year experience in the police, ordered the youths to stop playing football and disperse. They took it for a joke since they were not demonstrating or hindering anybody from moving about. One of the spectators watching the match, 28-year old Demola Abiodun Aderintola Daramola, a tailor and commercial motorcycle rider jokingly told the police officer to leave the youths alone.