₦airaland Forum

The price of household cooking gas known as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) rose by over 100 per cent year-on-year, the latest report from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.

On a month-on-month basis, the average retail price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) according to the report, increased by 7.57 per cent.

According to NBS price watch data for June 2022, the commodity’s price increased from N3,921.35 recorded in May 2022 to N4,218.38 in June 2022.

This implies a 103.93 per cent increase from June 2021 when a 5kg gas was sold for N2,069.

The report on state profile analysis said Adamawa recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of cooking gas with N4,650, followed by Gombe with N4,566 and Niger with N4,540.

On the other hand, Zamfara recorded the lowest average price with N3,700 during the period, while Yobe and Kano had N3,820 and N3,875 respectively.

“In addition, the North-Central recorded the highest average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of LPG with N4,378.95, followed by the North-East with N4,301.48, while the North-West recorded the lowest with N3,994.57,” the report added.

Similarly, the Bureau stated that the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas rose by 8.70percent on a month-on-month basis from N8,726.30 in May 2022 to N9,485.91 in June 2022.

insecurity. This is supposed to be a boom time for all countries that have crude oil or gas. The nations that are suffering are those without crude oil or gas.

“Cooking gas is a product of crude oil, during crude oil refining one of the product to come out is LPG. In the case of Nigeria, we produce crude oil but we don’t refine it internally, even in a family, you must first of all be able to feed your family before you think of outsiders but in the case of Nigeria we cannot refine products internally and now that the price of crude oil is very expensive, they sell to refiners who will refine at higher prices, then Nigeria will go and buy at a higher price and when they bring here, we will be complaining. There is no reason why LPG, kerosene, PMS, or diesel should be expensive”

On his part, Chinedu Ukadike, Spokesperson of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) stated that the various initiatives of the government to deepen gas utilisation increased the demand for gas.

His words: “NNPC also came up with programmes to deepen gas utilisation, the autogas, LPG, etc so a lot of people converted to gas use including their generators so the demand for cooking gas became higher. On that ground what determines price is the factor of demand and supply.”

He urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the refineries saying: “Short time solution is for FG to declare a state of emergency on our refineries and ensure that the refineries are working, fix pipeline refineries and also encourage modular refineries. Also, build new state-of-the-art refineries with modern technology.”

As the federal government and leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) meet today, the union has expressed the hope of calling off the strike if the government meets its demands.

ASUU president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, stated this when he appeared as a guest on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.

Osodeke said the issues of IPPIS and UTAS had been put to rest and insisted that the government has the capacity to meet the union’s demands.

LEADERSHIP reports that ASUU strike has entered six months without headway so far.
The lecturers in the nation’s public universities embarked on the strike on February 14, 2022 and extended several times because their demands were not met.

The ASUU president also lamented lack of commitment on the part of the government towards ending the strike which has kept students out of school for six months, and said the union’s platform, UTAS, was ready for application.

He said, “When they came with this IPPIS we told them that it cannot accommodate universities and that time the accountant general then, and the person in charge of IPPIS, when we met and finish the discussion and we found out the weakness in IPPIS, they agreed we should have a different solution.

“UTAS is ready and is the best. My happiness today about this strike is that for the first time they have tested IPPIS. It came in 2006 and it was never tested; they have been using it untested.

“I’m Happy that the Minister of communication and digital economy has been able to come out and say that there were multiple errors in IPPIS. Let them release the results it will tell us, UTAS came first in all the payment platforms.

“We and SSANU, we don’t have a problem on UTAS again, we are in unity now.

“We don’t have any faction of university lecturers. Whoever is doing that may be trying to use them against us. For you to have a union in a country like this it has to be registered.
“One, the issue of IPPIS and UTAS has to be put to rest because the test has been done
“If this government is serious this strike wouldn’t last more than two weeks. We were supposed to go on strike in November and NIREC came in and intervened and we were considerate to them. They met with the president, he set up a committee headed by the chief of staff that they should resolve this quickly and they did nothing.

“They set up the Nimi Briggs committee, we finished discussing with them they didn’t come back, the president directed the minister of education to resolve this within two weeks, two weeks has passed, they didn’t come back.

“We feel sad because what we are going to do now if we resume tomorrow in the next four years I cannot go on leave because I’m going to cover the backlog of work that we should have done while on strike.

“If we go to that meeting tomorrow and the government says what we are bargaining is willing to sign we call off strike,” he added.

Reacting to the minister of state for labour and employment, Mr Festus Keyamo’s comment, who said it would be unrealistic for the federal government to borrow money to pay the salaries of lecturers, Osodeke said he was speaking out of context.

“When you are appointed as a spokesperson you start saying anything you like, they don’t think. Is he the Minister of Finance? Has he attended any of our meetings? He should produce the data of what he is talking about.

The nation’s electricity supply crisis could worsen from tomorrow as the organised labour has directed workers in the power sector to down tools and commence an indefinite strike over pending labour issues with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

The aggrieved workers under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, are scheduled to picket the Abuja national headquarters of TCN today as a prelude to the strike,

In a circular entitled “Call to Action” and addressed to senior assistant general secretaries and zonal organising secretaries, dated August 15, 2022, the general secretary of NUEE, Joe Ajaero, directed them to ensure total compliance, vowing to paralyse operations of TCN nationwide over anti-masses activities.

“You are hereby enjoined to mobilise immediately for a serious picketing of TCN Headquarters and stations nationwide over the directive by the TCN Board that all PMs in acting capacity going to AGM must appear for promotion interview.
“This directive is in contravention of our conditions of service and career progression paths, and unilaterally done without the relevant stakeholders.
‘’This action takes effect from Tuesday 16th August, 2022 and total withdrawal of services commences on Wednesday 17th August, 2022. Ensure full compliance in all the stations nationwide.”

There is palpable tension in the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over the continued push by the All Progressives Congress, APC, leadership to ensure  participation of Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and Godswill Akpabio, in the 2023 senatorial elections of Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West senatorial districts, respectively.

Contrary to what the leadership of INEC had told Nigerians that the commission is legally bound to stand by the monitoring reports received from “our state offices”, verified pieces of information available to Vanguard suggest that INEC may have ignored these reports in some states of the federation, including Kano, Sokoto, Abia, Ogun, Oyo and Akwa lbom.

This has not gone down well with some Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, according to Vanguard sources.

In fact, the morale of INEC staff at some of the state offices has been dampened because some of the reports of the monitoring committees are either being tampered with or ignored.

As a result of this, INEC has instigated and encouraged many litigations in various federal high courts across the country.

At the last count, the commission acknowledged that there are over 300 cases filed in court that it is joined as a party. That is not all.

The Election and Political Parties’ Monitoring, EPM, and Legal Department of the Commission,  under the direction and control of INEC leadership, have become theatres of intrigues, as politicians are preying on both departments to perfect their underhand ploys.

As it is for APC, so it is for PDP.

APC and intrigues at INEC Hq

Vanguard was reliably informed by highly strategic sources at INEC headquarters that the commission accepted from leadership of the APC, particulars of candidates that claimed to have conducted primaries that its state offices did not monitor.

For instance, in Kano, where the REC, Professor Risikuwa Shehu-Arabu, addressed the press recently that the only governorship primary the state office monitored produced Mohammed Abacha, son of late maximum dictator, General Sani Abacha, but was changed by PDP leadership and INEC’s EPM Department for one Ambassador Sadiq Wali.

In Yobe State, where Senate President Ahmad Lawan has tried unsuccessfully, so far, with APC leadership, to intimidate Bashir Sheriff Machina, winner of the senatorial election to step down, other forces have been mobilised, with a view to getting the name of the Senate President on the ballot.

Vanguard gathered that an attempt was made to persuade the immediate past REC in Yobe, Ahmed Makama, who had served as a special adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to endorse as received, a letter dated June 7, 2022, instead of its original which had a June 22, 2022, date, when the letter allegedly got to the Yobe office of INEC from the leadership of the APC.

This happened before the REC handed over on expiration of his tenure last month. REC Makama rebuffed all entreaties.

The letter would have suggested that the APC leadership had earlier given indication to INEC that a fresh senatorial primary was in the offing as early as June 7, 2022, wherein the Senate President may have participated in a primary monitored by INEC as stipulated by law.

But the letter itself would have created an impossible scenario as Senator Lawan was contesting for the presidential ticket at the party’s convention in Abuja at about June 7, 2022.

Under Section 84(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, monitoring of party primaries by INEC is mandatory. The Act used the word,  shall, twice, to underscore the importance.

It states: “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions which shall be monitored by the commission.”

Section 29(1) of the 2022 Act provides that only “candidates that emerged from valid primary” can be submitted to INEC for publication.

Section 84(13) states that where a political party fails to comply with the provision of the Act, INEC shall reject the names submitted to it by political parties.

Just as it happened in Kano, the story is same in Abia, where, in the previously published particulars of NASS candidates, INEC that monitored Abia Central Senatorial District primary won by Sam Onuigbo, who defeated his closest rival, Chief Henry Okoh, by 157 to 152 votes, has surprisingly  accepted from APC one Emeka Atuma, who Onuigbo alleged, did not buy nomination form for Senate and never participated in the process, to replace the winner.

Again in the just published particulars of candidates 48 hours ago, APC NWC first wrote a letter for the use of direct mode of primary that was monitored by INEC state office, but another parallel primary with indirect method was allegedly held at another venue not monitored by INEC, yet a former civil servant staff of INEC recently appointed as national commissioner instructed that the name of the individual from the so-called indirect primary conducted without ward, LGA and state delegates should be forwarded and the primary monitored by state office ignored.

Worse still is Akwa lbom State whereout of the 26 candidates that emerged from valid primary elections conducted and monitored by INEC state office, only two names were taken from the report of the state office.

No APC governorship candidate, in line with the state office report.

Instead, the APC leadership chose to pick just two names from the list of primaries monitored by INEC, and uploaded to INEC 24 names of candidates not monitored by INEC.

Curiously, INEC published names of candidates not monitored by its state office.

PDP and INEC’s indifference to court orders

In Delta State, where there was a valid Federal High Court judgment served on INEC, with specific, unequivocal orders of court that disqualified Mr. Sherrif Oborevwori and “commanded” both PDP(2nd defendant) and INEC (3rd defendant) separately, as parties, to replace the disqualified Oborevwori with the name of Mr. David Edevbie, both PDP and INEC are yet to comply with the orders of the court.

Instead, INEC wrote a letter merely to remind PDP of the judgment.

The letter completely betrayed INEC’s reluctance to enforce the order of the court, compared to the content of similar letters circulating in the social media in respect of court orders to PDP in the past.

In its letter to the National Chairman of PDP, dated 27th June, 2022, and signed by Rose Oriaran-Anthony, Secretary to the Commission, and titled, NOTIFICATION OF PENDING ORDERS IN SUIT NO. FHC/ABJ/CS/807/2022 BETWEEN DR. MICHAEL ONOLEMEMEN & 2ORS. V. INEC, SUIT NO. FHC/ABJ/808/(2022)BETWEEN BARRISTER NOSA ADAMS & 8ORS. V. INEC & SUIT FHC/ABJ/809/2022 BETWEEN CHRISTABEL O. EKWU & 23ORS. V. INEC AND THE NEED TO COMPLY WITH THEM, INEC said:  “The commission hereby draws the attention of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the orders of Court arising from the three (3) suits listed above.

“2. In line with the Orders of Court, thethe commission is restrained from accepting and recognising any list of candidates other than the list containing the names of the plaintiffs as the PDP’s duly nominated candidates for the election of the seats of:

“a. Senators representing the senatorial zones of Edo North, Edo South and Edo Central of Edo State, 

“b. Nine Federal House of Representatives of Edo State, and “c. The twenty four House of Assembly Constituencies across Edo State.

“3. Accordingly, the commission expects the PDP to forward the nomination forms of the respective candidates as ordered by the Federal High Court, Abuja.

“4. Please accept the assurance of the commission’s warm regards.”

As a reminder last week, INEC again wrote to the PDP National Chairman on 18th July, 2022.

The letter, titled, RE: SUIT NO FHC/ABJ/CS/795/2022 BETWEEN DAVID EDEV(B)IE V. OBOREVWORI SHERRIF FRANCIS OROWE-DOR AND 2ORS., stated thus:

“This is to draw your  attention (to the Judgment) Order of the Federal High Court of  Nigeria, Abuja, in the above mentioned suit which has been served on the commission.

“5. While hoping your party takes note of the Judgment Order, please accept the assurance of the commission’s warm regards.”

The letter was signed by Rose Oriaran-Anthony, Secretary to the Commission. Right now, the Commission is funtus officio in the two cases.

Pressure on INEC

However, its National Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, has come under heavy pressure, specifically in the case of Senators Lawan and Akpabio from the leadership of APC.

He is yet to shift grounds.

Although, in a July 9, 2022, press release issued by Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, the commission made its position clear: Inter alia, Okoye stated in the release, “… In relation to the

primaries for the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North senatorial districts, the commission stands by the monitoring reports received from our state offices.

“For this reason, the commission did not publish the personal particulars of any candidates for the two constituencies at variance with the state reports.”

Sources at INEC informed Vanguard that political parties, particularly the ruling APC, is mounting pressure on the leadership of the commission.

Vanguard learned that some of the back-and-forth that had gone on in recent days about names published by INEC as candidates, some of who did not participate in primaries monitored by INEC, or did not even purchase nomination forms, may not be unconnected with underhand moves going on at the commission.

Vanguard was told that some of INEC’s recent publications containing names of those whose nomination fell short of legal requirements was a “testing of the waters because the Lawan and Akpabio situations have become very notorious and delicate.”

An aggrieved INEC commissioner at its national headquarters, expressed worry that “if the commission is allowing itself to be seen as complicit in party affairs, this will erode the confidence of the people in INEC’s own electioneering activities when it takes charge of general elections. Does it mean INEC would become unreliable?”

Femi Falana’s position

In an ARISE television interview, Femi Falana, SAN, expressed worry at the lack-lustre attitude of the political leadership in the country to obey simple laws.According to him, Section 115(D) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which Senate President Lawan helped package “has criminalised double nomination.

“So, you can’t say that you took part in the presidential primary and you took part in the senatorial primary at the same time. Under that section of the law, double nomination attracts two years imprisonment. “Again, I will expect INEC to draw the attention of the APC to the provision of the law that   ‘“you’re playing with fire.’”

Falana’s position came against the background of moves by the APC leadership seeking to ensure that the names of Lawan and Akpabio are forwarded as senatorial candidates in Akwa Ibom and Yobe states.

Section 115(D), in respect of nomination offences, states that it is an offence when “a person… signs a nomination paper or result form as a candidate in more than one constituency at the same election”.

INEC reacts

Also reacting yesterday, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, said: “The commission is not under obligation to publish the name of any candidate not validly elected in a properly organised primary election monitored by INEC. It’s in the Electoral Act 2022.”

THERE seems to be confusion in Delta State following the omission of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its gubernatorial candidate in the list of political parties and candidates published by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, Friday.

The Commission listed 16 political parties and names of their candidates in its provisional listed pasted at its Delta State headquarters in Asaba, leaving out the PDP and its gubernatorial candidate. 

Among those listed in the provisional list by INEC are Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Great Ogboru  (APGA), Agbi Goodnews Goodman (NNPP), Ogba Emmanuel Samuel (ADP), Ekure Efeoghene Shedrack (ADC) and Gwede Jerkins Giane – Action Alliance.

Others are  America Emmanuel – National Rescue Movement, Onokiti Helen – Accord Party, Edijala Immanuel – People’s Redemption Party, Okoh Emmanuel – Zenith Labour Party, Okwuokei Vincent Ikechukwu – Labour Party, Eke Kenny Ekene – Allied People’s Movement, Umudjane Sylvester – Boot Party, Cosmas Anabel – Action People’s Party and Sunny Ofehe – Young Progressive Party.

Meanwhile, sources said the PDP  is insisting on Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori is its gubernatorial candidate, having won the May 25 gubernatorial primary held at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba.

This is sequel to the appeal filed by Oborevwori challenging the Federal High Court judgement which nullified his candidature and declared that Olorogun David Edevbie is the candidate of the PDP.

An INEC source told Sunday Vanguard that the commission was waiting for the court to clarify on who the candidate of the party is, adding that the exclusion of the PDP from the published list does not mean that the party has been disqualified from the 2023 gubernatorial contest in Delta.

Meanwhile, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has dismissed  the seeming disagreement rocking the PDP in the state over the outcome of governorship primary, saying there was no cause for alarm.

He said: “I hear some people say that PDP is dying in Delta State. How can? Why are they deceiving themselves? Whatever is going on in the party as at today is a normal democratic process; no cause for alarm, no cause to worry, no cause to fear.”

Okowa spoke in Ozoro, Isoko North Local Government Area during the mega rally of the state PDP  where former Governor James Ibori and Emmanuel Uduaghan as well as Senator James Manager, and governorship aspirant, Olorogun David Edebvie, were conspicously absent.

The governor, who received a notable chieftain of  APC, Chief Fred Obe, and other decampess from across the local government areas of the state into the PDP,   expressed optimism that the party would win   the presidential and all elective positions in the state in the 2023 general elections.

He said: “It is just the beginning of the revolution to rescue Nigeria and to return us back to the path of growth because in the last seven years, it is has not been too well with us as a nation, but we know that God has come to our rescue, it is just for the PDP to take it and to run with it and that sign has already started.

“I am sure that, last Saturday, you people listened and you watched and you waited for the result in Osun State. Because we went to the hitherland of the APC in Yoruba land to make a statement and to God be the glory.

“They did not give PDP a chance; people thought it was something else, it was a done deal   but God showed his mighty hands and when the result started coming, it was unfortunate for the APC.

“That is just the beginning and I must tell Nigerians who have come to realize that something has gone wrong and that we need rescue and there is only one party that can rescue Nigeria and it is the PDP.

“It is about Nigeria, it is about the youths of Nigeria, it is about the women of Nigeria, we cannot continue to suffer, we cannot continue to stay hungry, we must move forward and we are definitely moving forward in Jesus name.”

•Protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, Victoria Island, Lagos, to commemorate the one year #ENDSARS anniversary in Lagos…on Wednesday. Photo: Olukayode Jaiyeola

States, including Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Ogun, Enugu, Benue, Osun and Gombe,  have yet to pay victims of police brutality a year after they set up panels on human rights violations.

Officials of Akwa Ibom, Benue and Oyo states, in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Wednesday said since the Federal Government directed the setting up of panels, which investigated complaints of human rights violations against the police, it should pay compensation for the victims.

The PUNCH gathered that states that had not paid compensation as ordered by the panels included Akwa Ibom, Benue, Osun, Oyo, Ogun and Gombe.

But it was learnt that Lagos State had paid N420m compensation to the victims.

Following protests in 2020 against human rights violations by the dissolved Special Anti-Robbery Squad and other police units,  the National Economic Council directed states to set up judicial panels of inquiry to investigate the complaints,  with a view to delivering justice for all victims of police brutality.

Findings indicated that no fewer than 16 had yet to submit their reports to NEC and pay compensation for the victims.

It was gathered that some states, which had submitted their reports, had not paid the victims.

#EndSARS liabilities belong to the FG – Akwa Ibom panel chair

The Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State  Judicial Panel on the review of Police  Brutality, Justice Ifiok Ukana (retd.), in an interview with The PUNCH, said the #EndSARS liabilities were on the shoulders of the Federal Government.

He added that the panel was set up at the instant of the Federal Government.

Ukana stated, “It is the Federal Government that will pay. The panel was set up at the instant of the Federal Government through the office of the National Economic Council. So, the liabilities belong to them. When you are talking about atrocities committed by the police, they are controlled by the Federal Government. Forget about the assistance being made by state governments.

“What I know is that our report was finally given to the National Economic Council in the Vice- President’s office. That is the last we know.

“The National Economic Council has met and the only hint we have had is that the Speaker of the House of Representatives,  Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the 2021 budget will accommodate payment of compensation.”

We will submit our report to Abuja, payment to be made from there – Oyo gov’s aide

A member of the panel in Oyo State, Mr Babs Oduyoye, who is also the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Matters, told one of our correspondents, that payment would be made from Abuja after the state government had submitted the report to the Vice-President.

He stated, “Our approach is to do everything.  Some states did it in piecemeal but we have done all the cases and made our recommendations and what  remains is to get a date and submit our report to the state government

 “A copy of it will be sent to the NEC under Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja. From there, they can start paying the victims.”

Meanwhile, some of the victims of police brutality who took their cases to the panel told one of our correspondents on Wednesday that they had not been paid.

Mr Atanda Jimoh, who is the father of Isiaka Jimoh, an apprentice shot dead in Ogbomoso,  during the #EndSARS protest in 2020 told The PUNCH that he had not yet been paid.

In Enugu State, the judicial panel has not reconvened since it suspended its sitting on August 10, 2021

A member of the panel, Osimond Ugwu, confirmed to our correspondent that the committee had stopped sitting and that many petitions had yet to be heard.

Ugwu said that even as a member of the panel he could not categorically say whether the panel had concluded hearing or not.

He stated, “About a week after the inauguration of the judicial panel, another panel, called Administrative Panel of Inquiry on Police brutality on #EndSARS was inaugurated to be working at the same but with different time terms of reference.

“While the administrative panel headed by Justice Obieze (retd,), which was limited to everything that happened during the  #EndSARS protest, had three months to submit its findings, the judicial panel which was earlier inaugurated was concerned abou everything that had to do with acts of brutality and all forms of human rights violations including extra-judicial killings in Enugu State as long as they fall within the time of existence of the state and have to do with actions of the police.

“However, while the #EndSARS panel  submitted reports in March this year, the judicial panel is still sitting.”

In the North-East, the Gombe State Commissioner for Information Julius Ishaya, said the compensation had not been paid by the state government.

According to him, the compensation will be paid after the state government has set up another committee to study the #EndSARS panel report and produce a White Paper on it.

We have not paid, report has been submitted to Abuja – Osun

In Osun State, Ayo Ologun, who is a   member of the #EndSARS panel, said the committee ordered that N200m be paid to the victims.

Ologun said since the report was submitted to the governor on Thursday, August 5,  nothing had been heard about its implementation.

But the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ismail Omipidan, in a chat with The PUNCH, said the government was on the verge of acting on the recommendations of the panel, when it was asked to submit the report to the Federal Government.

“We have submitted the report to the Federal Government but we have not started paying compensation before we were asked to submit the report and we did that,” Omipidan said.

Ogun yet to pay victims of police brutality

Also, victims of police brutality in Ogun State said they had not been paid compensation as ordered by judicial panel.

But several attempts to get the reasons for the delay in the payment of the compensation proved abortive as  the government officials did not respond to the questions asked them.

The state Commissioner for Information, Waheed Odusile, the Attorney-General of the state, Akingbolahan Adeniran, and the Chief Press Secretary to the governor , Kunle Somorin, did not respond to the messages sent to their phones.

The calls put through to Odusile was not answered while both Adeniran and Somorin could not be reached on the phone.

Abuja #EndSARS panel budgets N150m for victims

Meanwhile, the Independent Investigative Panel probing allegations of human rights violations against SARS and the police says it has earmarked N150m for the payment of victims of police brutality and extrajudicial killings in Abuja.

Hillary Ogbonna, the Secretary of the panel set up by the National Human Rights Commission, said this during a chat with The PUNCH on Wednesday.

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He said the money would cover about 35 victims.

Ogbonna added, “We have not compensated any victim but compensations will start next month. We are verifying the court judgments we are going to compensate them on. And for the decisions we have rendered, we will start compensations next month.

“We have about 20 cases from previous judgments of the court on human rights violations against the police which they did not honor. The petitioners petitioned us to pay and we have agreed to pay in various degrees.”

On how much money would be awarded to victims, Ogbonna said, “It is about N150m that we are going to pay in varying degrees. Some are extrajudicial killings, some are torture.

“The number of people we will compensate next month will be 35. We are budgeting for it in 2022 so once the budget is passed, we will call them in January and keep paying. We will still be sitting by March.”

NPF  is a federal institution, FG will pay victims – Benue AG

The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Benue State, Michael Gusa, on his part explained that  N304.5m compensation recommended by the state panel of inquiry would be paid by the Federal Government.

Gusa further explained that states only complied with the Federal Government directive to set up panels to investigate the report of police brutality.

“The report is to be submitted to the  Federal Government that gave the directive to states and the recommendations therein to be effected by the Federal Government including payment of compensation.

“Remember, police (the Nigeria Police Force) is a Federal Government institution”, Gusa said.

A source close to the #EndSARS panel in Lagos told one of our correspondents that a progress report would be submitted before the end of November.

According to the source, the Lagos State panel had initially set up a N200m compensation fund which was exhausted.

He said, “The panel in Lagos is different from those in other states. Once the Lagos panel finds a petition meritorious, they pay immediately. Once the first N200m was exhausted, an application was made for another N200m. Therefore, a total of N400m would have been exhausted on Monday (October 17).

“There were some petitions that were not heard because of time but the government would look into that.”

When contacted, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, said the state government was interested in genuine reconciliation and peace, following the #EndSARS protest that rocked the state last year.

Omotoso, in an interview with one our correspondents on Wednesday, said the about N420m had been paid to 72 victims.

He said, “The governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu set up a panel of enquiries on #ENDSARS and police brutalities before the Federal Government through NEC asked states to set up the panel. The governor said the state government will want to know the truth of what happened during the #ENDSARS protest.

“Before the panel called it a day, no fewer than 72 people have been paid about N420m. But for us in Lagos State, it is not just about the money, it is about genuine reconciliation, peace and getting together our friendship.”

The PUNCH  gathered that the Ekiti State Government had implemented the first report submitted to it by its panel by paying N7m to the beneficiaries, but those in the second report had not been paid  N13.8bn due to them.

I was paid N100,000 – Ekiti victim

One of the beneficiaries, a journalist, Wole Balogun, who approached the panel over brutalisation by soldiers, was awarded N100,000 compensation by the panel, said, “The compensation was paid by the state government almost immediately into my account”.

But another victim, who was in the second report, Anthony Chukwuebuka, a corps member at the time he was brutalised by SARS officials , said he had yet to be paid the N2m compensation due to him.

When contacted,  the  state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Olawale Fapohunda, who is the chairman of the implementation committee of the report, said, “We had begun implementation. We did not wait until the end of the report. What we just need now is to pay the final compensation. We have already paid half of the compensation.”

States have failed to pay compensation, NBA laments

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association has lamented the refusal of states to pay compensation to victims of police brutality.

This is just as the NBA called on the police to immediately release all protesters who were arrested on Wednesday during the demonstrations held in commemoration of the October 2020 protests.

In a statement by its President, Olumide Akpata, the organisation said only Lagos State had paid compensations to victims as recommended by the several judicial panels set up.

The statement read in part, “While most of the investigative panels have concluded their assignment in states such as Rivers, Enugu, Edo, Nasarawa, Plateau amongst others, it is depressing to note that in most of these states, the payment compensation to victims whose petitions were established has simply not happened.

“Save for Lagos State where the panel has been most successful, in terms of the number of petitions treated, and the compensations doled out, the situation in other states has been anything but encouraging.

“The situation is indicative of the government’s less than noble attitude to the plight of citizens; as part of which may be recalled, exacerbated the protests last year.”

He said it was unfortunate that during the one-year anniversary of the #EndSARS protests, demonstrators were being harassed by security agents.

“The NBA unequivocally calls for unconditional release of all peaceful protesters and journalists arrested today and hereby mandates the NBA Human Rights Committee to immediately spring into action to ensure the protection of their rights,” Akpata said.

He commiserated with the families of those who lost their lives during last year’s protests.

Xscape1993:
Congratulations to Buhari, his people and their evil party! Making vaccination compulsory? Why not make quick development compulsory? Why not initial a policy that will stop excess borrowing compulsory? The political mistake of 2015 was a terrible one.