₦airaland Forum

evil666:
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According to him, “. . . Will Obasanjo family be ever poor again? Check the percentage of Yoruba race that are still poor, still Obasanjo ruled this country for eight years.”
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I am not sure I get the connection between Obasanjo ruling for eight years and the percentage of poor Yorubas despite Obasanjo being a Yoruba himself. Was he supposed to open the treasury for every Yoruba to enrich himself or herself as part of a poverty alleviation program?

Suicide would be too dignified a way out for this Oba. He and his thugs, and the wife who accompanied him should do serious time in jail for violating the state’s criminal code. They should also be charged with civil rights violation, if there is a statutory law to that effect in Nigeria. At the minimum, the criminal charges should be as follows:

Aggravated Assault
Assault with a deadly weapon (the hot ash is a deadly weapon)
Unlawful entry
Trespassing
Unlawful detention
Criminal Property Damage

The prosecution can determine the number of counts associated with each charge.

Beaf:
Nigeria is packed full of idiots and wicked people. What happened in the 40+ years before MEND very rightly took up arms in 2006? In that time, what revenue streams did the Nigerian govt develop? What does your state produce for instance, aside from relying on money from the ND? Have you blamed your governor for that?

First things first, the Federal govt owns the oil business; they are partnered with the oil companies in a 60 - 40 relationship. ND states are not pencilled into the contracts in any way. Therefore, blaming ND govts is the action of a dolt.

At the time Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni 9 were executed for making peaceful demands, where were you? At the time so many of our communities were razed to the ground by troops paid and armed by oil companies, where were you? Yes, until recently, Shell and Chevron owned the "Nigerian" army; and they did it becuase "clever" folk like you sell themselves cheap, thinking they are scoring points against the next ethnic group. Fool.

Beaf,

You know very well from my previous posts that I fully support the struggles of the ND against the r_a.p.e of their resources to feed Abuja and many of the parasite northern states. But the leadership of the ND and other oil-producing states must also share the blame for their retarded development. It is one thing for MEND to blow up a federal building in Abuja, but it served no useful purpose to kidnap expat oil workers for ransom other than the agenda of a few criminal elements within MEND. We must recognize that the ND people, too, have contributed their share to the environmental disasters that have rendered their once fertile land unfit for farming and human habitation.

When the oil boom of the 80’s was in full gear, expats abound in the oil producing states. What drove the expats away? If the governors of these states were farsighted, they could have seen the potential of using their proximity to the oil wells to develop their land for industries that rely on crude oil for raw materials. They could do this without taking a dime from the federal government, without owning THE OIL THAT COMES FROM THEIR LAND and without funding these industries themselves.

But they had to provide and encourage an atmosphere that is conducive to the commercial interest of industries that would want to establish facilities there. They had to provide good roads, power for the industrial areas (to circumvent the federal government's prerogative over electricity production), enact business-friendly laws and guarantee public safety. They had to developing an educational system that would provide the workforce these companies would need as they multiplied in number.

This is what Lagos is doing. The state government under Fashola has made it its mandate to clear the way for private industries to strive and, in doing so, generate revenues for the government to develop the state (never mind the ill-advised and silly desire to turn Lagos into a mega city). Lagos has determined that it and only it stands in the way of its development, despite the yoke of an overbearing federal government on its shoulders. Their concept is rather straightforward: generate your IGR (internally Generated Revenue) and propel your own growth.

There was no reason the ND and other oil producing states could not do as Lagos. But when you’ve had governors like Ibori, the fella who slipped away from justice in the UK in the guise of a woman, and the ones who wasted money on useless theme parks, you will understand why the ND may be condemned to an impoverished existence. What about Goodluck Jonathan? Wasn’t his wife caught with $2m in her possession while trying to board a plane for the UK (this is what I read last week, so correct me if I am wrong). Were ND citizens ever offered an explanation for her attempt to smuggle such a large amount of cash out of the country? Isn’t Jonanthan a ND indgene? I understand one of the first things he did when he became president was to send his wife to Dubai for medical treatment.

Surely, this is not what Ken Saro Wiwa died for.

FL Gators:
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Without the okada business, the percent of unemployment will shoot up.
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The argument that they provide employment for their operators or that they provide transportation for the community is not persuasive enough to allow their menace to continue.

Street-side food vendors provide employment for themselves and their employees. But because they often clog pedestrian right of way, they are heavily regulated in most countries and their activities are banned in certain corridors. If airline operators become a menace in the sky, the government's responsibility is to ground the entire industry, regardless of the hardship such action would bring on the operators and the patronage. Why should okadas be any different?

babapupa:
Sounds retarded right now, but it's just a matter of time. Okada days are numbered.

Yes it's a business, an unregulated, dangerous and anti public safety business.

The state can not sustain Okada business in it's present form unless the folks involved submit to serious government safety and aesthetics regulations.

Personally, they got to go, Lagosians survived way before Okada and  Lagos is too congested. Lawless Okada running around cars and pedestrians is a dangerous mix and no sensible and responsible government folds hands and look the other way.

It's a public safety issue.

I’ll have to go with babapupa on this, but I would substitute “quality” for aesthetics in his response.

Naturally, the oil producing states should have been the jewels of Nigeria, had it not been for MEND Brothers Kidnappers, Incorporated who drove many oil expatriates out of their states and into the “warm” embrace of Lagos. Add to that a number of visionless and unimaginative governors; it is no wonder that large areas of the ND remain undeveloped and hostile to human settlements.

If you look at the American states of Texas, Alaska, Louisiana, and California, their growth was fueled in part or largely by oil. The cities of Houston and Dallas were built on oil money, and so was the state of Alaska.

The oil producing areas of the ND should have been the catalyst of the industrial revolution in Nigeria (how many oil producing states are there in Nigeria?). They should have been home to numerous industries such as pharmaceutical (petroleum is used in the production of aspirin), cosmetic oils and greases, Industrial oils and greases, plastics resins (plastics are derived from crude oil and natural gas, for those who may not know), synthetic fibers (polyesters used in clothing are derived from petroleum), industrial and domestic detergents, chemical fertilizers, and a slew of other industries that depend crude oil for raw materials. Just think of the viral effect such a determination would have on job creation, wealth creation, education and the quality of life in those regions.

If the governors of those of those states had any brains at all, they could have joined forces to form an industrial axis to anchor the different industries I mentioned above. They could do this without the assistance of the federal government (or northerners). Such an axis would rely on its own internally generated revenue, perhaps two world-class airports to service the array of industries in their domain, superb roads and rail transportation for moving goods and people. All these they could achieve by pooling their recourses for the common good of the region.

But no! The dummies who ruled (and still rule) the ND and other oil producing regions would rather build movie studios, tourist ranches and other hopeless theme parks.

So, before you start pointing accusing fingers at others outside your region, you might want to turn around and take a closer look at your leadership and the effect MEND’s activities has had on driving investment away from the ND.

oyb:
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not supriing some uppity house member is blathering opata about banning okada, instead of focusing on a metro system  for lagos

But the government IS focusing on a metro system for Lagos. Lagos inaugurated the BRT system a few years ago and it has proven very successful although rather inadequate to solve the transportation problems of Lagos. Lagos also broke ground on the construction of a metro rail in the past few weeks.

In addition to the the BRT and rail projects, the government is encouraging private operators to provide water transportation for communities in Lagos that can benefit from water transportation. From what I saw on an "Eye on Lagos - Water Transportation" video on Youtube yesterday, five ferry franchises are already operating in Lagos.

Lagos is not a wealthy community like London, Paris or New York, but the government is trying its best with the limited recourses it has to provide for the teaming masses who call Lagos home (I do have plenty to criticize about the execution of some these projects but not the intent behind them).

Gowon probably did the most damage, not only for some of his actions, but for the opportunities he squandered to put Nigeria on a path that would have positioned the country today on par with the likes of Singapore and Malaysia.

Think of it this way: A child who was damaged psychologically is most often condemned to remedial development in adulthood. No Nigerian dictator or elected head of state ruled longer than Gowon did and none had as much goodwill, cooperation and attention of Nigerians as he. What Gowon could have done is akin to what a good parent should have done for a child in his or her formative years but failed to do. Buy the time a neglected or abused child steps into his adulthood, the damage might be irreparable.

Gowon had a near-blank template on which to paint his vision of Nigeria but squandered the opportunity. Much of what ails Nigeria today could have been avoided, had Gowon acted in time to implant discipline, a culture of honesty and democratic alliance on the country at a time when Nigeria was still “moldable”.

Under Gowon, looting of the federal purse became a pastime of military governors because the skipper was too weak or unwilling to send them to the brig. Gowon’s infamous declaration in 1974 that the country had more oil money than it knew how to spend was the height of irresponsibility. It signaled to his governors and subsequent military regimes that the country's money vault was unlocked and theirs to pilfer.

Gowon could have avoided the civil war, although he shares the blame with many others including Ojukwu, and the northerners who murdered their fellow citizens by the truckload. His 1974 decision to postpone indefinitely the return to civilian rule precipitated coups and counter coups in Nigeria, 7 or 8 (am I correct?) of which would occur before the country embarked on today's decade-long democratic journey.

A modern-day legacy of Gowon’s damaging decisions is the fragmentation of the country into virtually insolvent states that depend largely on federal handouts for survival. It was a move to forestall Ojukwu’s growing influence east of the river Niger, but the rearrangement became the template subsequent military rulers used to turn the country into an unwieldy collage of beggar states (with the exception of Lagos and a couple of other states, of course).

But the most damage Gowon did to Nigeria was to sell out the Calabari and Efik’s birthright to Cameroon. He signed away the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon as gratitude for the help Cameroon gave his government during the Biafran war. For that, he should never be forgiven by Nigerians.

As if giving away the Bakassi wasn’t bad enough, a report that came my way recently told of how Gowon gave away a 17th-century Benin-Kingdom bronze statue to the Queen of England as gratitude for the support Britain gave his government during the Biafran war. 


http://www.modernghana.com/news/264917/1/benin-bronze-given-to-queen-was-taken-from-nigeria.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/benin-bronze-given-to-queen-was-taken-from-nigerian-museum-642874.html
 
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Does anyone know the final chapter of the Bronze-Statue episode?

MandingoII:
Africa is DEVOID of earthquakes.
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Damn, the misinformation on this board is stunning.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Africa has had earthquakes of significant magnitudes as far back as the 1800s. The Lake Tanganyika area in East Africa recorded a 6.8 magnitude in Dec 2005. Two months later in 2006, Mozambique was hit by a 7.0. Rwanda had a 5.7 in Feb 2008 that killed over 300 people. The Somali or East African Plate runs through several countries including Kenya, Somalia, Eretria, Malawi, Rwanda Burundi. There had been 7.6 magnitudes in the Rwanda area in the 1900s. North African countries are also susceptible to large earthquakes. A 6.4 in Morocco in 2004 killed over 650 people.

Even the Nigerian city of Ibadan was hit by minor quakes in 1984 and 1990. Ibadan also recorded earthquakes as far back as the 1900s. Lagos, too, is in a quake zone, although I am not sure if the city actually lies on the West African fault.

Earthquakes in Africa are unusual, but the few recorded ones were of significant magnitudes. 

Anyway, now that you’ve learned a bit about seismic activities in Africa, you may get back to the subject of the thread. The poster who initiated the thread used earthquake as a metaphor. He didn’t mean it literally.

http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/outreach/africa/act5.html
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20091203130558810C905208

Eagles eye:
I beg to differ on the bolded part, the Nigerian Police Force is a bunch of illiterates who need a re-orientation. Even if they are paid N1m per month, it wont stop them from extorting money from innocent motorists. Most of them have not even seen the Nigerian constitution before, not to talk of knowing the contents of it. In my own opinion, the only thing that can solve this problem is to flush out all those bad eggs and inject a new breed, who are graduates, into the system. Also training should be provided from time to time to update them on the constitution.

There is nothing to “beg to differ. . .” about in Igbanibo’s statement. In fact, you have unwittingly made his argument for him by advocating college graduates for the job of policing communities in Nigeria. If you recruited graduates into the police force, you would have to pay them at least the median pay for college graduates. Furthermore, being a policeman in Nigeria is a very dangerous occupation that should command a reasonable amount of hazardous duty pay and benefits atop the basic compensation.

You are quite correct though that training will go a long way in solving the problems facing the police in Nigeria. I would add to that discipline, forensic sophistication and a no-nonsense police command that will not tolerate abuses among the rank and file.

So, both of you are right.

The problems facing the Nigerian Police are illiteracy, low pay, inadequate training, indiscipline, and lack of basic policing sophistication. But you can have all these and still have a corrupt, detached and nonchalant police force. The only way to solve the last set of problems is to give control of the police to the community they are policing. No police department can effectively police a community, if it takes instructions from a command 600km away. Policing in Nigeria needs to be decentralized and command vested in the community. This is one reason the governor of Lagos has called for state police.

The other area of concern in law enforcement in Nigeria is the institution of the prosecutor's office. It's befuddling that in 21^st century Nigeria, a half-educated constable still prosecutes a criminal in court. The police should be confined to giving evidence in court and leave the prosecuting to lawyers. Each community must then build a high-strength staff of lawyers and paralegal personnel in its prosecutor's office. The strength of your legal staff will come in handy when you have to face superb defense lawyers who can run circles around you in court, if your prosecutor is not up to skill.

She would not have succeeded in getting a defamation judgment against the former AG, anyway. So it was just as well she dropped the threat of suing for defamation.

snowdrops:
If only your infantile mind could grasp what the constitutional authority of governors has limitations you would not come out here disgracing your community.
If he has proof of corruption by police officers there is the law court; police complaints authorities; and all the lagal channels for prosecuting the errant officers. These are some of the reason Nigeria is so backward. No rule of law. All there is is CHAOS; ANARCHY, JUNGLE JUSTICE. People flagrantly taking the law into their hands as they so please.

@snowdrops

The governor, by default, is the chief law enforcement officer in the state even though the actual practice of enforcing the law is the responsibility of the state's attorney general. That conferment is similar to the constitutional conferment of commander-in-chief on the president even though the president does not serve in the military. So, yes, the governor was within his right to make the arrest.

Here is an interesting piece from the news archives of 234next.com.

A group of policemen had set up a check point to extort money from travelers in the state of Rivers. Unfortunately for the policemen, the governor's convoy was caught in the ensuing traffic queue up. Their activities were witnessed by the governor who directed his security details to arrest the extortionist policemen.
 
http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5527666-147/story.csp


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Is Rivers the largest oil producing state in Nigeria?

I don’t see what constitutes corruption in any of the “allegations” the newspaper printed. Spending state funds on certain infrastructure projects may or may not be imprudent spending, but it is not corruption. It would be corruption if the governor had diverted a portion of the state funds into his personal account, or had taken kickbacks in awarding the contracts in question.

For the newspaper to print a story like this without asking the requisite question where or how the governor corrupted himself is sinking low in journalistic standard. The news media in Lagos need to do better than this. They need to dig deeper into these allegations to find out who is driving them through these proxy groups. If there are practices of corruption in the governor's office, they need to vet and publish them. I have my criticisms of the Fashola administration, but official corruption is not one of them.

Here's the link, so you don't have to cut and paste:

http://www.jobcreation.lagosstate.gov.ng

mikeansy had a good suggestion in this post:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-397051.0.html#msg5499208

Lawyers often describe a credible witness as

1) One who is not frequently mistaken in his testimony
2) One who has not been deceived by the events about which he testifies
3) One who does not wish to deceive
4) One who does not suppress facts or embellish events or knowledge as he knows them
5) One whose testimony is in congruity with known facts
6) One who is competent, capable, and in a position to know the event or subject about which he testifies.
7) One who has nothing of value to gain by his testimony

Once you retract a very public assertion that you had evidence of crime or wrongdoing against a person or a group, you have effectively wounded your credibility.

It's quite commendable that this gentleman has found recognition as a car designer within General Motors. But GM automobiles have never been considered to be the pinnacle of aesthetic or even functional design. A good design generally has rhythm, clean lines and subtle visual cues that gently but pleasantly guide the eyes from one region of the car to the other. Good automobile design, like good architecture, must soothe and flow well to the eyes. GM sucks in this regard, and it didn't start with Mr. Aliyu. GM has a long pedigree of uninspiring (ugly, actually) designs that tended to be jarring, angular in motif and visually harsh. Deconstructivism, as a movement, may be suited to architecture, but it is bad form in industrial design. I hate it!

Disclosure: I've never owned a GM automobile and I'll probably never own one, but I consider their climate control engineering to be second to none.

mikeansy:
Minister of State for Petroleum is the Junior minister under the Petroleum Minister.

Most Governments around the world have this kind of arrangement.

In some countries ther are known as Under-Secretary.

@mikeansy . . .Thanks.

So the Minister of State is not a cabinet position. The web sites I looked at make it seem like it is. That's why I asked.

ronkeenuf:
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there is a minister of state in every ministry, Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest number of executive members

blacksta:
It is one of the devices setup to aid corruption - Size of Government must be reduced

@ blacksta and @ronkeenuf  . . . Thanks for responding.

I guess what I am asking is what their functions are as Minister of Petroleum and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources respectively.

I’ll check the Nigerian government’s web sites to see if there is a job description for each portfolio.

What’s the difference between a Petroleum Minister and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources?

It seems there are two names associated with the same portfolio: Mr. Lukman and Mr. Ajumogobia

Before you all dismiss this project as fluff, just remember that Eko Atlantic and the Lekki Free Trade Zone started as visions and architectural illustrations. I hope more projects like this will crop up all over Nigeria.

In fact, Africa is projected to be the new China in the next 20 years. The growth in Africa, surprisingly, is driven by internal consumption, not by export – just look at the explosive growth of the telecom sector in Nigeria. What’s remarkable about the projection is that it signals the strength of an emerging middle class in Africa. The other catalyst for the growth is the returning diaspora, many of whom have practical skills that they are turning into businesses.

So, I would be excited about projects like this. I duly expect the 2020s to be quite exciting times in Africa.

Is Warri an oil town?

For whatever it's worth, you guys may be interested in this piece of news.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201002120063.html

mikeansy:
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Jonathan can now route a diplomatic request through the office of King Abdollah of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have a duty to co-operate and guarantee security clearance for a diplomatic mission sent by Jonathan to see our ailing President. It is a compassionate as well as a National Security issue and I think King Abdollah will require the Yar'adua's to co-operate or leave the shores of Saudi Arabia in other to avoid any diplomatic impasse between Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.
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Good thinking, mikeansy.

Gbawe is right. I doubt they would be so stu.pid to dare. If they sued, it would raise the issue of whose signature was on the appropriations bill purportedly signed by Yar’ Adua, as there is strong conjecture that the signature was a forgery.

Constitutionally (I am no expert on the Nigerian constitution), the senate was on solid ground in their action. No constitution in this world can anticipate and provide for every scenario. Therefore, the Nigerian senate acted on the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter of the law. In this instance, the president had been AWOL for so long. And since the Nigerian constitution provided for the vice president to assume power as acting president if the president was temporarily unable to discharge his duties, the senate acted in good faith and "declared" the president temporarily incapacitated. It then passed a resolution asking the vice president to assume power until the president returned.

The resolution worked because there is already statute in place to make it binding on the vice president to assume power as acting president (sec 145 of the Nigerian Constitution). Indeed, it is in instances such as this that the constitution vested in the legislature the power to make laws.

babapupa:
So, every time anybody throw accusations at the governor, even without any kind of evidence, the legislatures must investigate the Governor? This is how you grind the wheel of government to a halt.
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That's the issue, isn't it? It would invite paralysis if the governor had to answer to every charge made by shadowy groups who presented no evidence to support their allegations.

Besides, the court‘s restraining injunction is an indication that the plaintiff may have a case. The House is also accused of similar impropriety as the governor in this instance, so it would constitute a conflict of interest for them to investigate themselves. Such investigation would be tainted in the eyes of the law.

deluxecad:
Why must it still be in Abuja?

Good question!

My guess is that the Nigerian government is involved in the funding. Anything the Nigerian government is involved in will be based in Abuja. That's the mentality of the Nigerian ruling class.

@ Beaf & @OYB_MEND

There is absolutely no need to pressure the Saudis into doing anything. If you were an employer, and one of your employees went AWOL for 30 days, and despite every good faith attempt to get his family to allow you contact with him the employee rebuffed you, what would you do?

You would fire the employee, of course!

Nigeria, as a country, is so terminally dysfunctional that this travesty was allowed to drag on for so long. All the Nigerian parliament had to do was dismiss YarAdua for being AWOL for 70+ days. It is within their constitutional right to do so. No sane employer would tolerate this situation for this long.

If Dora Akunyili was offended by the AG’s comments, she can sue in court for defamation, although I think she has little chance of winning. To win a defamation case, she will have to show that she was materially injured by the AG’s comments (this is US Defamation and Libel Law, but I don’t believe it will be much different in Nigeria). The injury can be to her reputation, or in form of job loss, job denied or mental anguish, but not to her vanity or ego. The mental-injury argument may work for a lay person who was defamed, slandered or libeled by an authority such as the AG. But it will be a tough sell for a public official who, the court will say, should be accustomed to public criticisms of her person and her work.

The AG was expressing an opinion – opinion is a recognized defense in defamation cases – which could be construed as insensitive, sexist, crude or crass, but nevertheless insufficient to establish defamation in court. A public figure such as Akunyili may also be required to show that the AG’s comments were made with malice and intent to defame. Defamation cases brought by government officials are difficult to win because of the requirement to show actual malice. And because Nigerian has freedom of speech enshrined in its constitution, Akunyili will effectively be asking the court to gag the AG from voicing his opinion about her that she may not like.

If the AG had falsely accused Ms. Akunyili of falsifying her academic qualifications, for example, that would be making a statement of fact rather than an opinion and would be sufficient to establish defamation or libel. The material injury in this case would be to her reputation.

The Information Minister is doing nothing more than the civilian equivalent of saber rattling. There is nothing she can do about Aondoakaa’s unflattering comments about her other than complain to their boss.

I don't see how anyone could read that section in the constitution differently from Ibime’s reading. paddy_lo, too, is correct in his interpretation.
 

The same passage can be written in a different way to the same effect:

Whenever the president transmits to the President of the senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-Presidents as Acting President until he (the president) transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary.

“sentimental, excessive, and manifestly unsupportable in law in the face of the evidence available to the court.”

I don't know about appeal rules in Nigeria, but where I live, this may be a ground for appeal. However, the appellants will have to point to specific rules in the Nigerian civil code that the trial judge sidestepped. They can also cite precedent to support their claim that the trial judge erred in her ruling. If the appellate court concurs, it will uphold their appeal, but only on the monetary award.


"Also in the notice, the appellants held that the trial judge erred when it refused to allow the applicants cross-examine Ms. Okere with regards to the event that happened on November 3, 2009, in which Ms. Uzoma was beaten, stripped unclothed and detained unlawfully.

They stated that if the court had allowed them to cross-examine Ms. Okere, it would have seen that Mr. Arogundade was not at the scene of the incident and that the four naval ratings were acting in aid of civil authority pursuant to Section 239 Armed Forces Act, CAP20 LFN 2004.

The basis that the trial judge erred in disallowing cross examination of the plaintiff is an aspect of Nigerian law I know nothing about. The only instance I know in which Ms.Okere could not be compelled to take the witness stand is if she were a defendant in a criminal trial.  So this is an interesting point the appellants are raising, if they can back it up in law.

However the story about Adm. Arogundade not being at the scene of the assault seems to be a manufactured one. There has to be a few witnesses who can attest that they saw the Admiral at the scene on that day. Other records such as the Admiral's itinerary and movements on that day will be sufficient to establish prima facie that the admiral was at the scene. I believe this is all Okere has to show. The burden then shifts to the defendant to refute or rebut Okere's evidence. At any rate I think this particular claim of theirs s a loser.


"In addition they argued that there was no evidence before the court to show that Mr. Arogundade directed, authorised or ratified the conduct of the naval ratings."

This one, too, is a loser. The court has held that an employer (the Nigerian Navy) can be held liable for the actions of its employee, if those actions occurred in the regular discharge of the employee’s duties.


To any Nigerian-based attorney who might read this, I have a question about the judgment granted Ms Okere and her co-plaintiff:

1) Was there a reason the N100m judgment was for general damages only and why was there no punitive award entered in the judgment?


To anyone who can answer this:

2) The reports listed four naval ratings as defendants, one of whom was listed as a Lieutenant. Why would a naval officer -- a Lieutenant -- be referred to as a naval rating in Nigeria? Usually, a naval rating is an enlisted man or woman with special skills.

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Postscript:

After reading a bit further into this incident, I am not certain that the Admiral was at the scene. If anyone knows that he was certainly present, please post to correct me. If he was not at the scene and did not give the order to assault Ms. Okere, then his appeal (and only his) may be on solid ground. The news reports are a bit murky and sparse on details.

mafioso2:
And you believe that crap?

I said, "If the newspaper reported correctly. . .  "

That sentence has a meaning and a connotation.