₦airaland Forum

nonsobaba:
Is this not another avenue for looting funds? Is the ten year contract for Julius Berger to maintain the Uyo stadium over yet?

Walphem:
Are all the stadium billed for football alone? Or he is planning to support other sports?

EternalTruths:
@ eazydon

Can you see the demonic reason he just gave for the non active importation through the SS ports.

EternalTruths:
[s]That guy hates the progress of the SS and SE.

I know him very well.

Anytime we mention the sabotaged against importation through the SS ports, he comes to justify the FG with useless facts.

Till this hour, he has never question the reason why 99% importation takes place through Lagos when the SS has access to the Ocean.[/s]

eazydon:
You're fighting with the wrong person. I think he's even on your side

https://i2.wp.com/www.ibomreporters.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Stadium-Equipment-For-Renovations-Of-Eket-Uyo-Stadium-Arrives-Akwa-Ibom-1.jpg?resize=935%2C526

Edidiong Stephen-

In keeping to his promise of delivering world class sports facilities across the State, Governor Udom Emmanuel has taken delivery of several containers of sports equipment imported from Europe.

Receiving the equipment at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, on behalf of the Governor, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Sir Monday Uko, disclosed that the equipment are meant for the renovation of Uyo Township Stadium, Uyo, and the complete reconstruction of Eket Township Stadium, Eket.

The Eket Stadium, which was constructed in 1994 by the administration of Colonel (Retired) Yakubu Bako, is in a deplorable and an unusable state while the Uyo Stadium is currently not befitting of hosting reputable football matches.

https://i2.wp.com/www.ibomreporters.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Stadium-Equipment-For-Renovations-Of-Eket-Uyo-Stadium-Arrives-Akwa-Ibom-3.jpg?w=960
It would be recalled that on July 4, 2017, while conducting Journalists round Eket Township Stadium, Mr. Uko had revealed that Governor Udom Emmanuel has given approval for the reconstruction of Eket and Uyo Township Stadia.

Governor Udom Emmanuel, who was recently bestowed with the Most Sports-friendly Governor in Nigeria Award, has been credited with leading an unmatched sports revolution in the country occasioned by several eye-catching recent achievements.

In an interview at the Nest of Champions, the Commissioner said, ‘Governor Udom Emmanuel had, sometime ago, approved the reconstruction of Eket Township Stadium, Eket and the renovation of Uyo Township Stadium, Uyo’.

‘These are some of the equipment which ordered from abroad’. ‘The administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel is not just delivering sports facilities to Akwa Ibom people but facilities which measure up with what is obtainable in other climes’, the Commissioner said.

https://i1.wp.com/www.ibomreporters.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Stadium-Equipment-For-Renovations-Of-Eket-Uyo-Stadium-Arrives-Akwa-Ibom-2.jpg?w=960
He added that playing surfaces at the two Stadia will be laid with Astro Turf so as to offer an alternative to the natural grass at the Nest of Champions. ‘I thank the Governor for applying the highest level of financial engineering in the face of the prevalent economic situation of the Country as epitomized in his prudent management of available funds to deliver world-class democracy deliverables to the people of the State’, Mr. Uko posited.

The Commissioner, who spent several hours to personally supervise the offload of equipment, said that the move became necessary so as to reduce the burden on the Nest of Champions and to aid the springing up of sports facilities in other parts of the State.

https://i2.wp.com/www.ibomreporters.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Stadium-Equipment-For-Renovations-Of-Eket-Uyo-Stadium-Arrives-Akwa-Ibom-4.jpg?w=960
Mr. Uko used the occasion to hint that the remaining nine sports centres in the other nine federal constituencies of the State, other than Itu/Ibiono-Ibom, as promised by the Governor, were still in the offing for Akwa Ibom people.

The Commissioner, who is also the State Sports Council Chairman, urged Akwa Ibom youths to take advantage of these facilities in their localities to harness their God-given talents.
Some of the equipment received include, Tartan Tracks granules, Astro Turf, Stadium Seats, Flood Lights, Goal Posts and many others.

Also present to receive the equipment were the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Coach Aniedi Dickson as well as the Director of Sports, Coach Lawrence Iquaibom.

EternalTruths:
[s]Lol

Afonjas claiming Akwa Ibom

Till this hour, you have never championed the establishment of Ibaka seaport as made known to your cursed brother OBJ when Tincan and Ibaka were proposed to him in 1977.

I wonder why a so called Akwa Ibom person will never champion such project

At last, I remember that Afonjas pretend to be SS in order to scuttle the establishment of Ibaka seaport.


You will enjoy the dividends of Buhari's government be it good or bad since Buhari is your hero & god.


Your pain never start.[/s]

EternalTruths:
[s]You are part of the keyboard people deceiving Buhari as said by Wole Soyinka.

Tomorrow, you will still defend the stupid decisions of the government.[/s]

EternalTruths:
[s]The price of food & rice will increase until people like you who voted for Buhari and still insist that Nigeria remains one despite the rejection of Restructuring, start asking yourselves what actually influenced you guys to root for Buhari.[/s]

NgeneUkwenu:
[s][/s]

Junk!

I will rather believe Statistics from the Relevant FG agencies than an online gossip Newspaper...

NgeneUkwenu:
What makes my argument silly? Has it come to that?

I have added source

https://www.google.com.ng/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/amplite/nigeria-s-rice-importation-drops-by-95-ogbeh.html&ved=0ahUKEwjxlaWqrbbYAhVhAcAKHeZvA8IQFghaMAg&usg=AOvVaw3NPcTMoiaqHHKBTTe6g4HF&ampcf=1

NgeneUkwenu:
Wrong: People no longer import rice because is not profitable doing so...

When you factor the tariffs and other costs the landing cost is way off.

NgeneUkwenu:
Wake up, local production are everywhere... Rice importation fell by 90% in the outgoing year...

Data obtained by PREMIUM TIMES however indicate that Nigeria imported 2.330 million metric tons of rice in 2015 and 2016.

The data provided by the global Agricultural Market Information System, AMIS further indicate that Nigeria’s rice importation reduced to 2.310 million metric tons within the period of 2016 to 2017.

According to the data, Nigeria’s domestic supply of rice stood at 3.850 million metric tons in 2015 to 2016, while the figure reduced to 3.620 million metric tons within the period of 2016 to 2017.

The data also indicated that Nigeria’s domestic consumption of rice, stood at 5.530 million metric tons of rice between 2015 and 2017.

The data provided by AMIS also forecast Nigeria’s rice importation, as expected in 2018 adding that it would rise from 2.310 million metric tons in 2017, to 2.830 million metric tons in 2018.

President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged that his administration will ban rice import in 2018.

The president said this in his New Year broadcast on Monday.

He said, “We have got to get used to discipline and direction in economic management. The days of business as usual are numbered.

“Two years ago I appealed to people to go back to the land. I am highly gratified that agriculture has picked up, contributing to the government’s effort to re-structure the economy.

“Rice imports will stop this year. Local rice, fresher and more nutritious will be on our dishes from now on.

“By the same token, I am today appealing to enterprising Nigerians with ideas and unemployed graduates and other able-bodied and literate men and women with ideas not to just sit and wait for employment from the government or the Organized Private Sector.

“Great nations are built by enterprising people who turn their hands to anything that circumstances dictate.”

The CEO of Innoson Group said in a statement Monday that he withdrew his fundamental rights enforcement lawsuit against the anti-graft EFCC after he learnt that the GTBank had allegedly compromised the process.

Innocent Chukwuma, against whom the EFCC slammed a four-count of fraud last month, said an ex-parte application he filed before a Lagos court was summarily taken over by GTBank before it was determined.

“GTBank became aware of the pendency of the suit, got all the copies of the processed filed in the suit, then filed a counter affidavit and on December 21 and got it assigned to a complaint judge,” according to the statement signed by Cornel Osigwe, corporate communications lead at Innoson.

Mr. Chukwuma filed the ex-parte motion on December 20 to compel the EFCC to respect his fundamental rights, a day after he was arrested by anti-graft operatives at his residence in Enugu.

He said even though GTBank was not joined in the suit, the bank allegedly sent its legal representatives to pry on the court process filed by Mr. Chukwuma’s lawyers.

Mr. Osigwe said the attention of the Acting Chief Judge of the Federal High Court had been drawn to the matter for a thorough investigation.

A spokesperson for GTBank could not be reached for comments Monday morning.

On November 30, the EFCC slammed fraud charges on Mr. Chukwuma, the industrialist owner of the indigenous auto manufacturer, Innoson Motors.

The allegations border on attempted fraud, stealing, and forgery of shipping and financial documents.

His arrest followed his failure to honour an invitation from the EFCC, the agency said.

Mr. Chukwuma, however, denied receiving any invitation for questioning. He challenged the EFCC to produce evidence of any invitation sent to him before the public.

The industrialist was released in the evening of December 20, but his trial is expected to commence soon, although no date has been fixed yet.

AS of the resolve of the present administration in Ondo State to give priority to industrialisation in order to provide employment opportunities for youths, the state government has concluded all arrangements to commence the exploitation of bitumen deposits at Agbabu town in the Irele local government area of the state.

The state commissioner for Special Duties and Regional Development, Prof Bayo Ademodi, who disclosed this during an interactive session with some investors, said the operation on the exploration of the bitumen would commence in 2018.

According to Ademodi, the state government will tap from the bitumen resource which is the second largest deposit in the world to open up employment opportunities in the state, saying more industry would be developed through the exploration of the mineral resources.

He disclosed that the state government has established a mutual understanding between the investors and the host communities to make the exploration successful saying some of the licensed companies had also visited the communities.

He revealed that some companies had been licensed to begin the exploration of bitumen in the state, saying, though mineral resources were on the exclusive list of the Federal Government, the State Government have now been empowered through economic diversification.

He, however, assured investors of maximum security and support of the government and that the host communities, saying this project will go a long way to bring unequal development of the state.

Ademodi said, “The host communities are eager to receive you warmly. We want to assure you that all your stay in the state during the exploitation period shall be a very lively one mostly with the host communities that are even eager to see the resources being tapped.”

Responding, a former Minister of State for Transport, Mr Habib Aliu, who is the chairman of the Kabara Nigeria Limited incorporated, one of the companies that bided for the exploitation, expressed the readiness of his firm to carry out quality exploration process in the area.

igbodefender:
kikiki. Adaptability. Welcome back.

On the topic: A herdsman with 100 cows would like the man in the opening paragraph has cows worth $100,000 (more than N 30 million), right? Can the herdsmen not organize a consortium, pool funds and set up ranches?

igbodefender:
Blue3k2 they haven't unbanned your Blue3k moniker?

As a cattle herder in Benue, a rural state in central Nigeria, Sale Tambaya's life revolved around his herd of roughly 100 cows and a few dozen sheep. Normally, he would take them out from a pen near his thatched hut every morning to graze freely in the surrounding grassland. But on Nov. 1, taking grazing animals in the open was designated a criminal activity in Benue. Overnight, his family's livelihood had become a threat to their safety.

So at 6 a.m., he made his decision: The only way to keep both family and herd safe was to flee.

Tambaya, his wife, Hafsat, and their six children walked all day with the herd. In the evening they finally reached the Benue River, a powerful tributary of the Niger that separated their home state from neighboring Nasarawa, where they hoped to find refuge and a place to graze the livestock. While Tambaya, Hafsat and four of the children boarded a ferry, two of the boys drove the cows and sheep into the water, clinging to the cows' tails because they didn't know how to swim. Both sons, as well as most of the sheep and 20 cows, drowned before reaching the opposite bank.

Benue is now the second Nigerian state to implement a ban on the open grazing of cattle, after nearby Taraba implemented a ban this summer. It's a controversial new approach to resolving a long saga of conflict between Nigeria's pastoralists and their farmer neighbors that has come with unintended violence and displacement, as shown in this video from the scene.

The ban's backers contend that free-roaming cattle are a major threat, as they routinely trample crops, setting off fights with farmers. But pastoralists argue that the grazing ban discriminates against the West African ethnic minority, Fulani, most of whom keep cattle as their traditional livelihood.

The state deputized unarmed citizen groups to enforce the ban and keep a roving lookout for herders. (The police and military are controlled by the federal government, and President Muhammadu Buhari, who owns cattle himself, hasn't committed to enforcing the law.) Herders think the citizen groups are more likely to create new conflicts than resolve them, and worry they will acquire weapons and will become, in effect, anti-Fulani gangs — after years of conflict, ethnic animosity runs high here. When the ban went into effect, many herders like Tambaya fled the state.

"Everyone was afraid, because [ranching] was impossible to do," Tambaya said.

Over the past decade, farmer-pastoralist conflict has torn Nigeria's Middle Belt region apart. Disputes over land quickly escalate because of ethnic and religious resentment (the farmers are mostly Christians of the majority Tiv ethnic group while the Fulani are mostly Muslim). Violence can take the shape of isolated murders, improvised roadblocks where members of one group search passing vehicles for members of the other group to rough up or extort, and full-blown attacks on villages, involving dozens of assailants. Thousands have died, and tens of thousands are displaced. Last year, the annual death toll — 2,500, including both farmers and herders — exceeded the number killed by Boko Haram insurgents in the country's war-torn northeast, according to a recent report by the International Crisis Group.

The most recent episode, which unfolded in Adawama State over the past two weeks, followed a familiar pattern: After an attack in which 30 herders were reportedly killed by farmers armed with torches and machetes, herders followed suit last Monday with an attack that led to "many deaths," according to local news reports.

"In the last five years we've had a huge increase in the number of incidents, the number of casualties and the bitterness that goes with it," says Nnamdi Obasi, senior Nigeria adviser for the International Crisis Group. During that period, there have been an average of 2,000 deaths linked to farmer-herder conflict each year, according to the ICG report.

"In many areas it's like a no man's land," he says. "If you talk to the herdsmen as well as to the farmers, each party feels that it is unprotected, it is vulnerable."

Violence perpetrated both by and against cattle herders is common across Sahelian Africa. But the situation in Nigeria has been particularly explosive. Experts here point to a complex of factors including rapid population growth, climate change, urbanization, biased local media, and high rates of cattle rustling and other rural crime. The dysfunctional judicial system emboldens people to take the law into their own hands, while an influx of small arms from the Lake Chad basin and central Africa makes conflicts more deadly.

But the trigger is usually cattle. When cows trample through a farm or farmers plant crops on a traditional grazing path, whether the transgression is accidental or intentional, shouts turn to blows, which turn to gunshots, which turn to organized raids, reprisal attacks and arson that leaves villages on both sides decimated. By then, the specific original grievance is forgotten and replaced by general animus toward the other group. The countryside is littered with the charred ruins of homes, schools, police stations, mosques and churches.

Benue, which has seen some of the worst confrontations, is testing the theory that tighter regulation of cattle can be an effective peace-building measure. Cows there must now be confined to fenced-off ranches, with their food and water delivered rather than foraged from the landscape. Violators face fines of more than $3,000, up to five years in prison and the confiscation of their herd.

The state government says the law will help curb clashes by imposing order onto land use practices that were formerly a dangerous free-for-all that cost the state $264 million in damages and disruption of the local economy, according to the governor, and that it is working to make land available cheaply to herders. But the government has so far not opened any of several promised public ranches. And since opening a private ranch is prohibitively expensive for most herders, and time-consuming, with plenty of red tape even for those who can afford it, Fulani leaders say the ban is little more than an effort to aggressively drive them from the state.

"Their profession has been denied. Their legal rights have been denied," says Garus Gololo, the Benue chapter director of Miyette Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, a Fulani cultural and trade group. "I take it as a personal hatred."

Within the first few weeks of the ban, 17 herders were arrested for illegal grazing. Five are currently on trial in Makurdi, the regional capital, while the others wait their turn in jail, according to Lawrence Onoja, a spokesman for the Benue state government. Onoja said that no cows have been confiscated, because the state doesn't yet have a facility in which to keep them. But Gololo said vigilante groups have harassed herders and chased at least 250 cows into the bush, a serious loss given that a single cow can sell for up to $1,000. On Nov. 13, one herder drowned himself in the river after losing his herd, Gololo says. Onoja denied that the suicide took place, calling it a "big lie."

Either way, Benue's herders face a wrenching choice: Stay — and face financial ruin, imprisonment and the risk of violence if they violate the new ban— or flee — and face an uncertain future in neighboring states where their herds are also unwelcome.

Tambaya was joined by a group of several dozen other families who also fled. Now, a group of several hundred people are living along the river's edge in a village called Tunga, in houses offered as temporary shelter by a local imam. Tunga's chief, Shuaibu Galadima, said that in the first few days after the ban more than 1,000 Fulani herders and their cattle from Benue passed through the village. The influx is increasing tensions, he said: "As soon as they start entering farms, there could be rioting."

Onoja said that anyone who attacks a herder will be prosecuted and that the law is not meant to discriminate against anyone.

"Constitutionally, everybody has a right to live wherever they want to live," he said. "But that old way of having grazing routes is not possible anymore."

Traditionally, nomadic Fulani cattle herders were concentrated in Nigeria's northern states, roaming vast expanses of arid savanna. Over the past several decades, desertification and the Boko Haram insurgency pushed many south, into more densely populated agricultural regions. Today, 70 percent of Nigeria's Fulani are living alongside farmers.

But as the country's population of 180 million grows, areas long set aside for cattle grazing are being overtaken by farms, roads, settlements, schools and hospitals.

"There must be transformations in the way crops and livestock are produced in Nigeria," said Saleh Momale, executive director of The Pastoral Resolve, a research and advocacy organization. "But we are now making restrictive policies that tend to punish or eliminate the livelihoods of a critical sector of the Nigerian economy, the livestock producers."

The transition from open grazing to ranching can't happen overnight and at gunpoint, he said, especially as the December-January dry season is underway and more seasonal cattle-herding nomads from the northern reaches of the country are likely to arrive."I think [the Benue state government] is just creating a scenario for chaos," he said.

A better solution to the crisis, Momale said, would be to shift gradually away from nomadic pastoralism over time. He proposes incentives for herders to settle in designated areas where agriculture is sparse — and the efficient prosecution of anyone on either side of the conflict who commits violence. Until then, he said, the conflict is likely to continue.

In the meantime, Tambaya and his neighbors are trying to build a new life, away from home.

"I'm too afraid to return to Benue," he says. "They could kill my animals, kill me, kill my family."

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has advised governments at all levels to create the enabling environment that would attract and sustain investments that would create jobs for the army of unemployed in Nigeria.

A statement by Atiku Media Organisation on Sunday in Abuja reported Mr. Abubakar as making the recommendation to mark the United Nations International Migrants Day holding on Monday.

He said that creation of jobs and opportunities with inclusive government that did not engender crisis would help to stem the ill-fated migration of Nigerians.

Thousands of Nigerians seeking greener pastures are stranded in Libya despite over 3,000 being flown back home.

Mr. Abubakar said that the major driver of migration, which at times were ill fated like in the case of Libya, was the search of a better life and opportunity.

He said that the current situation in the country where three million jobs, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, had been lost annually in the last two years, had rendered millions jobless.

He added that no prospects of opportunities were compelled to take the suicidal flight.

“The chances of a young person with a job and opportunity at home taking a suicidal flight in search of a better life will become an exception and not the rule”, he said.

He also attributed the cause of migration to poverty and insecurity in the original countries of the migrants.

Mr. Abubakar noted that it was imperative for governments in Africa, Nigeria inclusive, to govern in such a way as to create an environment conducive for economic progress and employment generation.

He added that a fair and inclusive government would spread available opportunities to all citizens.

This, according to him, will also encourage those with entrepreneurial inclination to start businesses and factories to absorb the teeming population of the unemployed, thus making unbridled migration unnecessary.

The former Vice President stated that citizens did not choose to be migrants but unpleasant social, economic and political conditions in many countries forced them into migrants, seeking new homes, security, employment and a better future.

He opined that all hands needed to be on deck to deal squarely, and in a humane manner, with the challenges thrown up by the reality of migration in the contemporary World.

He said that one of the worst forms of maltreatment, which a migrant could experience, was the large scale enslavement of young and helpless Nigerian and African migrants in Libya which recently drew global attention.

“To prevent the recurrence of unbridled migration as we have today among Nigerian youths, the authorities at federal and state levels should endeavour to discourage potential migrants.

“This should be done through public enlightenment and information about the down sides of poorly conceived overseas travels.”

He urged the international community to ensure that the international code of treatment of migrants was strictly adhered to.

(NAN)

dvee2:
Come to think of it na true o! They gave Ojukwu Nigerian State burial, Alex Ekwueme soon to be buried with Nigerian flag too. Yet IPOB miscreants are still here shouting for Biafra

ugohemma:
Just admit u made a senseless post like folks living in jungle. Where u are residing has no positive effect on your brain

jeromeoke:
. But one thing for sure, biafra will be an independent state one day, go and fight for oduduwa Republic than mouth lashing biafran

jeromeoke:
. We are not like the afonja that has never won any battle in their life, always coming to beat chest on social media and to portray their cowardice behavior, just mention any hero or heroine in ur place, I gat no time for people that were defeat by hausa miscreants, please go and wash ur ass with ur kettle
I dedicate this to all the fallen afonja that loss their lives between the inter tribal war between Yoruba and fulani which the fulani won and mock name Yoruba afonja

ugohemma:
so u live outside Nigeria and still reason like this... U case is irredeemable

Ikwokrikwo:
These Yoruba Muslims sha..

…says Buhari pardoned, gave cash gifts to over 500 inmates in Kano

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA – Counsel to the ‘missing’ leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, has asked the Federal Government to grant state pardon to youths of Igbo extraction he said were arrested and locked up in various prisons for exercising their constitutional guaranteed rights to self determination.

Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, in the letter he wrote to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, decried that “hundreds of innocent and defenseless IPOB members who are mostly youths”, are languishing in different prisons in the South East states and Kuje Prison in Abuja, based on “phantom, frivolous and cooked-up allegations”.

He further drew attention of the AGF to the fact that one of the alleged pro-Biafra agitators, Mr. Bright Chimezie, has been in custody of the Department of State Service, DSS, without trial, despite a judgment of the Federal High Court in Uyo which ordered his release and also awarded him N5million damages for the violation of his fundamental human rights.

Ejiofor noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had barely a week ago, granted state pardon to over 500 prison inmates detained on various violent offences in Kano Maximum Security Prison.

He said the freed inmates were equally treated with cash gifts containing unspecified sums of Money.

“While commending the Commander in Chief for such a patriotic act, we respectfully wish to implore the President to extend the same gestures to hundreds of innocent and defenseless members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), largely made up of Youths of Igbo extraction, held across the various prisons in the south East States and Kuje Prison in the Federal Capital Territory, on accounts of phantom charges, frivolous and cooked-up allegations, for merely exercising their constitutional guaranteed Rights to self determination including our Client who has been held in the custody of the SSS for over 14 months without trial.

“What is good for the goose is also good for the gander! If the President is a true Nationalist, he should do the needful in this regard, without further prompting. One sided justice will amount to injustice!”, Ejiofor stated in his letter.

He said the DSS had since been served with a copy of the high court order dated May 24, 2017, which directed it to immediately release Chimezie from detention.

“On the 30th day of May 2017, a formal communication was submitted with the Director General of the State Security Services, requesting him to obey the order of Court, still the order was treated with brazen contempt and disdain, as our Client was neither releasedon bail, nor charged to Court.

“Following the continued detention of our Client in flagrant disobedience of the positive orders of the Court, we initiated a formal contempt proceedings against the Director of State Security Services, through the filing and service on them, the requisite statutory forms (Forms 48 and 49), Notice of consequences of disobedience to Court Order, and Notice to show cause why the Director of State Security Services will not be committed to prison for his failure to obey Court Orders.

“Also attached for your ease of referenceare the above referred forms.

“However, in a desperate but unavailing charade to present an impression of strict compliance with the directives contained in the order made on the 24th day of May, 2017, the name of the Applicant was smuggled in as the 5th Defendant in charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015 between FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA VS NNAMDI KANU & ORS.

“In the amended chargedated 21st day of June, 2017, and filed on the same date, our Client was charged with two offences to wit: (a) Conspiracy to commit treasonable felony and (b) Improper importation of goods.

“The Attorney General is therefore invited to take note of these salient points as a manifestation of obvious acts of malafide on the part of State Security Services, acting under the strict directive of the State; The two Count charge preferred against our Client in the amended charge, contained offences which are ordinarily bailable in law, such that may not warrant or justify the detention of a subject beyond the statutory prescribed period, before being released on bail.

“Charge No FHC/ABJ/CS/383/2015 above referred was first amended on the 7th day of November 2016, when our Client had spent well over 23 days in the custody of the State Security Services, still he was not joined as a party, if truly he had committed any offence known to Law.

“The State Security Services suddenly remembered that our Client should be charged to court, only when the Court order compelling them to either release our Client on bail or charge him to Court was served on them on the 25th day of May 2017.

“Since the amendment of the charge on the 21st day of June, 2017 vide the inclusion of our Client as the 5th Defendant in the amended charge, he has not been produced before the Federal High Court seized of the matter for the purposes of taking pleas to the charge, till date.

“On record, the charge came up on the 17th day of October, 2017, November 20th, 2017, and 5th December, 2017, but on all of the above dates, our client was not produced in Court, neither was the said amended charge ever mentioned in Court.

“When the plight of our client was formally brought to the attention of the Court, and the facts of the existing Court order of coordinate jurisdiction directing the State Security Services to release him, His Lordship (Hon. Justice Binta Nyako) declined to comment on the amended charge, as according to my noble Lord, Our Client has not been brought before her, so that she cannot assume jurisdiction over a charge that has not been read or mentioned before her.

“Implicit in the antics of the State Security Services is that they are in law, still holding our client in clear disobedience of positive orders of Court that directed them to release Our Client.

“It is crystal clear that our Client has spent well over 14 months in the custody of the State Security Services without trial. His continued detention is unlawful, illegal and in flagrant violation of both the positive orders of Court and relevant provisions of the Constitution above referred.

“It is our respectful submission Sir, that to allow a flagrant disobedience of orders of Court is to strike hard at the foundation of the rule of Law and thereby unwittingly bring about anarchy. See the dictum of ADEREMU JCA in ODUNSI VS ABEKE (2000) All FWLR (Pt. 10) 1625.Justice in its total practical content is truth in action!

“Justice is much more than a game of hide and seek. Our Client is therefore entitled to unconditional bail in the prevailing circumstance, and we respectfully urge you Sir, to use your good office to prevail on the State Security Services to release our Client without further ado.

“Recall that you are under constitutional Oath as the Chief LawOfficer of the Federation, to protect and ensure absolute allegiance to the letters and dictates of the Supreme Law of the land. You can only be failing in the performance of this solemn duty, if after receiving this letter, you still allows our Client to spend another night in the dreaded custody of the State Security Services.

“We respectfully observe therefore, that the administration of Justice is the firmest pillar of government. We implore you most respectfully Sir, to respect the sanctity of the judicial process, and accordingly give effect to positive orders of Court of competent jurisdiction by directing the release of Our Client without further prompting.

“State Security Services is a creation of the Law and is at all times, expected to operate within the confines of Laws establishing the Agency, and not above the law.

“It is the height of executive rascality and brazen impunity to allow positive orders of Court to be treated with disdain and contempt by the very Agency they supervise. It is time to put a stop to this impunity.

“Harming one’s inalienable right in order to serve any sinister motive is injustice”, the letter further read.

Cletus77:
Stop making noise

A 30-year-old brothel in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has closed.

The brothel, named Universal Hotel, was located along Udotung Ubo Street, in the heart of the city.

One of the sons of the hotel owner told PREMIUM TIMES, Wednesday, that he and his brothers decided to close the brothel immediately their father died in 2016.

“The same day my father died, the women were evicted from their rooms,” said Samuel Edet.

Mr. Edet said before he died, their father, shared the apartments in the building to all his children.

He was a polygamist, said Mr. Edet, who has moved into his own apartment with his family.

“We are 11 boys and four girls,” he said. “The female children have also been given rooms too.”

In its booming days in the 90s, Universal Hotel was one of the city’s star attraction, lighting up Udotung Ubo Street and its environs.

Several months after it was shut, commercial sex workers could still be seen at night loitering near the hotel.

Mr. Edet said the family used to feel bad about their name being associated with the brothel, but that they were helpless.

“We didn’t for one day object to him running the brothel since we were getting our daily bread from there.

“My father really took care of us – his children. I can’t blame him for turning the place into a brothel.

“The family may eventually decide to sell the property if all the co-owners sit down to talk,” he said.