[b]PRESS RELEASE

The Good people of Nigeria.

The Nigerian Bar Association Ikeja Branch strongly and unequivocally disassociates itself from the recent announcement of the suspension and truncation of the protest and strike of the Nigerian people against the hike in fuel price by the NLC/TUC. Even before Monday, the 9th day of January 2012, the Ikeja Bar had started a campaign against the said hike in line with the directives of the National Executive Committee meeting of the NBA held at Eket in November 2011. From the 9th till today the 16th January 2012, the Ikeja Bar was in the forefront of the protest against the fuel price hike using the platform of the organised labour as well as that of the Civil Society Group whilst not losing our lawyers identity.

Much to our chagrin, grave disappointment and unimaginable shock, labour which had appeared seemingly resolute in the stand against the hike in fuel price suddenly capitulated, dramatically somersaulted and shamelessly backpedalled on the very popular stand that the pump price of PMS remains N65.

We make bold to say that the announcement by Labour that it has accepted the N97 per litre price of PMS as unilaterally fixed by the repressive Federal Government of Dr Jonathan is completely unacceptable to us. We consider the acceptance by Labour to be a betrayal of the masses of Nigerian people and an unholy compromise of the sovereignty of the people of Nigeria with a Government that has shown gross insensitivity to their needs, demands and yearnings.

Our position on this matter is that the Nigerian masses should ignore Labour and continue their peaceful opposition to the increase in the pump price of PMS. We have said it before that Government cannot be above the Governed since the former is the servant of the latter and the vast majority of the Nigerian people after listening to all manners of argument on the issue have remained resolute that pump price should remain at N65. We call on all other professional groups whether blue collar or white collar to join us in continuing the peaceful protest and resistance to the increase in pump price. Nigeria belongs to all of us and not only to the cabal and their cohorts in Government who believe that they have a monopoly of wisdom and are the Encyclopedia of knowledge. The blockade, the invasion and unlawful occupation of the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Square Ojota and several parts of Lagos like Yaba, Ojuelegba, Palmgrove, Anthony and Maryland by millitary personnels and other security forces is unconstitutional, oppressive, obnoxious, abuse of power, reckless, provacative and a disturbing throw back to the fascism of the millitary years. Likewise, the tear gassing of our colleagues, Bamidele Aturu, Ebun Adegboruwa and other citizens this morning whilst in a peaceful procession along Ikorodu Road as well as the prevention of Femi Falana from accessing Gani Fawehinmi Park Ojota and the NLC Secretariat, Yaba by the military is equally unconstitutional and condemnable. Nigerains have a right to go to every part of Nigeria in peaceful assembly and without participation in any criminality. Both Sections 40 and 41 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 supports this contention.

Finally, our passionate appeal is that the protest against increase in pump price MUST continue. N65 or nothing!


DATED THIS 16TH DAY OF JANUARY 2012.


ADEBAMIGBE OMOLE.                                                                                      ADESINA OGUNLANA
(CHAIRMAN).                                                                                                         (GENERAL SECRETARY)[/b]


http://thots4naija..com/2012/01/nba-ikeja-press-release.html

Supported

yes oo. i am with u

[img]http://www.freesmileys.org/custom/image/redmad%5E_%5Everdana%5E_%5E3%5E_%5E3%5E_%5ENo to Fuel Subsidy%5E_%5E.gif[/img]

Charge and bail lawyers

Matter don end! that is Nigeria 4 you

Unsupported!
Ranting Rascals

Supported too

@leomax; thank u very much. I don't know why lawyers just lyk to be noticed unnecesarily. If they don't lyk de 97naira the can equally generate the remainin #32/l subsidy money to pay marketers

[size=18pt]GEJ Gov't 2: Nigerians 0[/size]
1st goal May27'
2nd goal Jan 16'

ok

MuNeme:

Unsupported!
Ranting Rascals

Same feelng here - if they meant a bit of what they say, they should match it with ACTION rather than sweet words. Rascals of the Aregbe breed

This is the beauty of democracy.
They are entitled to there opinion.
GEJ decision is binding on them.

At the end of the year we will evaluate, if there has been any changes in the lives of Nigerians.

story.

i cannot die 4 a country that kill

Did any of you even bother to confirm the story? It was taken from someone's blog and you are hear fighting yourselves

Ranting with pen on paper.pteeeeeew.

Have waheed omar and peter esele resigned yet? Or they want to be stone durinf ANY labour rally

Ntom:

Ranting with pen on paper.pteeeeeew.

At least they are doing something. What are you doing? Nodding at everything thrown at you? 

Now I know why PDP claimed that the fuel hike protest was hijacked by failed politicians with the backing of Tinubu and Fashola and ACN.
Where were they when Lekki residents were protesting for imposition of 3 toll gates in one local govt?
Where were they when ACN sent thugs to attack the protesters? Why did the keep silent while LASU students cried for intervention over the crazy hike in school fees?

wetin do them? Sebi them sabi send person wey thief one thousand  to jail and they know how to secure bail for the person that steal 10 million and above. Yeye people

BERNIMOORE:

NO WONDER TINUBU DARES THE COURT IN ABUJA TO TRY HIM IN LAGOS,HE HAS BOUGHT THE WHOLE LAGOS JUDICIARY,ITS A SHAME THAT THE JUDICIARY SWEEP THE CURRUPTIONCASE OF TINUBU UNDER CARPET WHEN IT WAS VERY GLARING THAT HE DID NOT SPECIFY HIS FOREIGN ACCOUNT IN 'FORM C' OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT BEREAU,THE SHAMELESS JUDGE DISMISS THE CASE BASED ON TECHNICALTIES IGNORING THE FACTS IN THE AMENDED CASE,CABAL MONIES WORKING ABI.DONT WORRY OANDO WILL BE EXPOSED.AWON OLE.
LAGOS LAWYERS SHOULD COVER THEIR FACE IN SHAME FOR ALLOWING THEIRSELVES  TO  BE USED,OLE

But Field Marshal Jonathan owns the Judiciary
He appointed the President of the Court of Appeal while his case was there
Sacked Justice Ayo Salami on a Sunday

Next, like Mubarak and Mugabe, 99.9% victory at the polls and
the Judiciary will confirm it!!

FRESH AIR DELIVERED

I told you don't trust them!

God bless all those who stood fǿr real justice.

Bunch of scallywags. where were they when corruption ate deep into the soul of this country. These are the same set of people that made corruption systemic. For the country to survive, it would need serious transfusion. These monkeys are protecting the cabal, the corrupt governors and all corrupt persons in Nigeria

NIGERIA'S MOMENT OF HALF-TRUTH - OccupyNigeria MUST BE MORE THAN FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL!
by Enuff Said on Monday, January 16, 2012 at 3:22am

SUMMARY: The representatives of the Government have been forced to admit that there has been rampant corruption in the management and exploitation of the fuel subsidy regime. They even went as far as naming fellow members of the Economic Management Team as culprits. Yet, with such obvious corruption, one wonders where the EFCC has been all this while. How come that EFCC never even adverted its attention to this industry? Is EFCC ever capable of fighting corruption if it could avoid the oil sector throughout the 10 years of its existence? Or is it correct that EFCC is actually irrelevant as far as fighting corruption is concerned? What lessons are the Government, the people and the world to learn from the uprising in Nigeria? They were supposed never to be united on anything. Yet, they have occupied the streets and cities of Nigeria for 4 days without any sign of getting tired soon.



MAIN: If the Occupy-Nigeria uprising achieves nothing else, it would reveal to the average Nigerian the fact that the leaders of Nigeria are mostly corrupt. For me, it confirms what I told the world in March of 2011 right from underground cell where the same people had locked me up for 150 days in violation of their own constitution.



In case you forgot, on March 21, 2011, I managed, with the help of people I cannot disclose their identity, to smuggle out a statement to the world. In that statement, I warned all Nigerians and the world at large that most of those who held public offices in Nigeria are “the real criminals, rubbing the country blind”. I spoke on strong authority as the lawyer for Nigeria in the United States for nearly 10 years. I saw many strange things in the normal course of business. I was severally pressured to join the club in the looting frenzy. But I never agreed to participate because even a blind person could tell that a time would come soon when these looters would be called upon to account for their activities and they would not be able to do so.



What astonishes me the most as I have watched events unfold in the streets of Nigeria in the past 4 days is realizing that many Nigerian leaders were not only criminals and corrupt, but also daft. How could President Jonathan allow the shenanigans around him to land him into such a complicated spot as what is on the ground today? How far did they expect the lies to carry them? The problem was never the subsidy regime. There is always one in every country. US and European Union subsidize some commodities or services for their citizens. Indeed, even the Nigerian officials are not saying no to subsidy. They just wanted to place it somewhere else, thereby undermining the sense of urgency they preached. The single most serious problem with Nigeria’s fuel subsidy regime is the criminality and corruption carried out by the officials of the Nigerian Government all the way to the presidency. Note that we are not talking of ordinary corruption. Rather, it had gotten to levels where we could call it major economic sabotage or treasonable corruption.



As a mark of dramatic irony, those officials who had set out in the last days to justify the withdrawal of subsidies on fuel had blamed it on the high level of corruption. Yet, they could not, even at the moment of half-truth, be candid with the Nigerian people. In a desperate moment of his life, the Central Bank Governor wrote a long article and blamed Otedela for corruption in the fuel business and tried to use such charge to overcome his credibility deficit with the people. But what a shame! We all know that the Central Bank Governor never took any meaningful step to investigate Otedola for corruption. We also now know the position of Otedola on the matter, as revealed in the Wikileaks. Also, we know that Otedola, the Central Bank Governor, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Petroleum are all members of the much touted, but incompetent, Economic Management Team. And do not forget that the President is the Chairman of that team, with the Vice President as the Vice Chairman. So, why are they fooling around?



Nigerians also now know that the subsidy regime, as problematic as it had always been, remained relatively manageable until the moment that Jonathan became the President. The big question should have been for an explanation of how the cost of subsidy jumped from about 250 Billion Naira to over one Trillion Naira in one year. I recall that morning when Senator Bukola Saraki of Kwara State drew the attention of the nation to this extraordinary jump. One realized immediately that the Pandora box was about to be opened. If the question had pressed further, the truth would have emerged sooner. But this Government, not wanting the question to go further, quickly moved to implement the fuel subsidy withdrawal. The reason the subsidy regime failed is that this administration abused it and used it as source of slush funds for all manner of things and personal enrichment.



If Nigerians were to learn the truth about the behavior of those in Government, the country would burn. And back to the lessons of the Occupy-Nigeria uprising: It is no longer about subsidy removal. It is about accountability and transparency in governance. Nigerians must now use the opportunity of this movement, which President Jonathan unwittingly delivered to them, to demand to hold public office-holders accountable. They should ask each Minister in the Government to declare his or her interest in local or foreign businesses with interest in the oil industry. He or she will be deemed to have interest if any family member or close associate of his or hers has such interest. Such basic test will reveal that most of the top Government officials seeking to withdraw fuel subsidy actually stand to receive tens of millions of dollars from such subsidy withdrawal within the first year.



What Nigerians must understand is that Nigerian Government officials would not undertake to perform any task unless they stand to benefit personally from such task. If you want to know where the Minister is getting millions of money from, just look at what government projects his ministry is pursuing. So it is with the fuel subsidy withdrawal business. It is a common knowledge to those of us who have worked closely with them that Nigerian Government officials never, never act in the interest or for the benefit of the country. They act only for their own personal benefit. I make no exception here. And if any Minister or Governor or Director in the Government disagrees with me, I only need one week to show the world how he steals or plans to steal millions of dollars of public funds.



A second important lesson from the Occupy-Nigeria uprising is that the Arab Spring has the potential of turning into a Nigerian Spring. Everybody recalls how President Jonathan had said last year that there could not be Arab Spring in Nigeria. What a naïve and uninsightful mindset! If he had been a better student of history, he would have known that none of the Arab leaders expected the sort of revolutionary developments that exploded upon them last year. Even a fortune teller could never have guessed that Hosni Mubarak would be standing trial today in his country or that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi would be dead in the hands of rebels few weeks after declining the offer for him to leave Libya alive. Nigerian leadership did not realize that the most common characteristic of a revolution is that it is never planned and hardly ever predictable. Considering the benign ways in which game-changing uprisings started in other places, this sudden withdrawal of fuel subsidy is actually a big slam akin to throwing a fireball into a pool of gasoline. There is a distinct possibility that reversal of the subsidy decision tomorrow morning would not be able to get Nigerians quiet again. They now need to know more about the dirty ways of their leaders.



WHERE WAS THE EFCC?

It is remarkable that Nigerians would be learning about the massive corruption in the oil industry over these years and there had never been anything done about it by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). How come that EFCC has spent 10 years of its existence without any attention being paid to this sector and to these horrendous levels of graft in the fuel subsidy regime? This would pose a puzzle to you if you did not know EFCC well enough. But some of us do. In March and April of last year, I informed the world that EFCC was not fighting corruption and was incapable of fighting corruption because the officials of EFCC were just as corrupt as those they accuse of corruption. The events at hand are revealing all that beyond any lingering doubts.



I have spoken and written volumes about the incompetency of the EFCC. I said that this agency could not tell between a crook and a bishop. Any person of average skill would have known that 80% of Nigerian foreign exchange comes from the oil sector. And if Nigeria is reputed to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world, the searchlight of any anti-graft agency should be focused on the oil sector. Instead, EFCC spends all its resources arresting and detaining ordinary citizens for offenses such as issuing dud checks in the amounts as little as fifty thousand naira. In all the EFCC cells over the country today, there are hundreds of poor Nigerians being detained for many months on end for such offenses. (I have compiled the names of these unfortunate victims). Worse, most of the offenses are trumped charges seen by EFCC officials as sources for bribes and quick enrichment opportunities. The EFCC would rather spend time and resources interfering in attorney-client relationships that were established in America under American laws than deal with the real big time criminals who not only rob the country blind, but are walking free and daring Nigerians in such a blatant manner as we have just seen.



This take us back to the question of the kind of qualifications we should expect the leaders of EFCC to possess. Emphasis had been unduly placed on police work, which is why we had the kind of people that led EFCC in the past. If we see the fight against corruption from the parochial view of crimes and punishment or police work, we would end up continuing with the kind of people we have had in the leadership of that agency. But the truth is that fighting corruption involves more than batons and guns. It involves serious policy and economic analysis and jurisprudence. The police aspect of the fight against corruption ought to be at a lower level in the chain of operational priorities. We need people who can understand the interface between politics and corruption, culture and political history and social dynamics. We need people, who could understand how President Jonathan, as well as President Obasanjo before him, would see the oil industry as a fertile ground for unaccountable slush funds. We need a crime agency capable of understanding how the leaders of Nigeria could exploit the social disunity among the people to entrench themselves in corruption. We need an agency capable of analyzing and dealing with the effects of mass ignorance and disempowerment on the ability of a corrupt elites to squander and plunder the resources of their people. Instead, what we have in EFCC is a bunch of corrupt policemen who only know how to intimidate the poor and extort bribe money from them, and call that war against corruption.



We must congratulate the Nigerian common people, who finally found the guts to demand change. What has started in the past 4 days may hopefully get to a stage where it would be irreversible - from a simple demand for affordable fuel to a justifiable quest for good governance and accountable democracy. The world is watching and I hope Nigerians would be able to show that they were misunderstood all along. They cannot take it anymore. Mr. President and his men and women should pay close attention to what is going on. I also hope they realize that they are in the same position as Mubarak or Gaddafi was in the first weeks of the revolutions that swept them out of office. Also, before I forget, every Nigerian official should remember the ICC. Each innocent person that gets killed by the police opens up a real possibility of an investigation and international criminal indictment of the officials involved even in giving the general instructions for the police action. Nigerians must ask the Kenyans, the Ivoirians, the Libyans, etc how they are coping under ICC investigations.





Ephraim Emeka Ugwuonye, Esquire

President

ECULAW GROUP

Those dat r against dis motion by d NBA r Morons, while others dat r in support i eulogized n seed as agent of A̶̲̥̅ new Nigeria. As 4 Me, Am In. Long Live Occupy Naija,

Those dat r against dis motion by d NBA r Morons, while others dat r in support i eulogize n see as agents of a new Nigeria. As 4 Me, Am In. Long Live Occupy Naija,