The war against corruption: How has Nigeria fared?

Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption, defines corruption as ‘the abuse of entrusted power for private gain’. For the words ‘entruusted power’ the World Bank uses the words ‘public office’. Its own definition therefore comes out as ‘the abuse of public office for private gain’. So when a person in authority, in abuse of his powers, takes a decision to benefit self and not the people he is employed to serve, he commits an act of corruption. According to Transparency International, corruption ‘hurts everyone who depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority’. anti-corruptionIn our statute books, corruption is mainly identified by such economic crimes as embezzlement, bribery, money laundering etc. One good thing that has happened to mankind in her quest to eradicate corruption from society is that corruption is now measurable. Every year, Transparency International publishes its annual corruption perceptions index wherein it measures the performance of each country through a number of set criteria on a scale of zero (for the most corrupt) to ten (for the cleanest). The criteria employed include control of corruption, budget openness, global competiveness, human development, judicial independence, rule of law, Press Freedom, voice and accountability. In Governance Matters iv: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators for 1996-2002, published for the World Bank, Daniel Kauffman, A. Kraay and M. Masruzzi identified monopoly of power, discretion and lack of accountability and transparency as the main drivers of corruption. Some years ago, I was so perplexed by the problem of corruption in Nigeria that I did an unsolicited Memo to the President. The title of that document is CORRUPTION: A One Point Agenda for Jonathan. Much of what I shall say hereafter will be culled from that Memo. Colours and tentacles Corruption has grown into an art everywhere in Nigeria; a grand art with many shapes and colours and tentacles spreading in multi-dimensional directions. Go North, go South; go East, go West; the story is the same: a sordid tale of greed and graft told by every idiot with zest and furry. Nigeria does not have ten problems. Nigeria does not have nine problems. Nigeria does not have eight problems. Her problems are not seven, six, five or four or three or two. Nigeria’s problems are one. And the name of those problems all put together is CORRUPTION! And so, Nigeria does not need a twenty-point agenda, a ten-point agenda or even a two-point agenda. Nigeria needs a ONE-POINT AGENDA and the only point that should be on that long list of one is CORRUPTION. You may wonder why we blame every ill in society on corruption. The reason is this. Corruption is the one reason that electricity does not work in Nigeria. Remove corruption and there will be light everywhere in the country. Corruption is the reason our roads are in such a sorry state of disrepair. Remove corruption and there will be roads to everywhere. Corruption is the reason our schools are in shambles. Remove corruption and there will be room in our schools for every child. Corruption is the reason there are no drugs in our hospitals. Remove corruption and the ‘out of stock’ syndrome will vanish from our hospitals. Corruption is the one reason there is so much insecurity in the land. It is because of corruption that the police cannot secure the citizen in his life and property. Corruption is the reason Boko Haram, the armed robber and the kidnapper are better equipped than the policeman in their chase. Remove corruption and the citizen can walk about in freedom confident that his life is safe and his property, too. Corruption is the reason elections are rigged. Corruption is the reason census figures are disputed. Corruption is the reason Nigerians do not have clean water to drink. Corruption is the reason our airspace is unsafe (or was so until recently). Corruption is the reason our factories are shut and our youths roam our streets everyday in search of work that is nowhere to be found. Corruption is the one reason the average Nigerian pays more for telephone than people in most other parts of the world. Corruption is the cause of our numerous ills and it is in its elimination that society can find succor. The primary purpose of government everywhere is the security and welfare of the citizen. In Nigeria this principle has been enshrined in Section 14(2)(b) of our Constitution. Any government therefore, that cannot secure the citizen in his life and property is not, and cannot be, worth the name. It should lay no claim to the title, government. This is why it is imperative that our government, and indeed, any government must strive to eliminate corruption from the society it seeks to govern. In Nigeria therefore, the fight against corruption must be the primary function of government everywhere and at every level – be it federal, state or local – at least, until we reduce it to a minimum. Today, Nigeria is Number 144 out of the 177 countries surveyed in 2013. Among our neighbours, Ghana scored 46 to emerge Number 63; Ivory Coast 27 to place Number 136. South Africa was Number 72 with a score of 42 while the best country in Africa is Botswana which emerged Number 30 with 64 points. Among the leaders world-wide are Denmark and New Zealand that came first each with 91 points. Judging by the index, Russia is about the most corrupt among the world leaders. She came in at 127 with a score of 28. So Nigeria has not done well on the index in recent years. From 121 in 2008, Nigeria has moved 23 notches down the ladder to 144 in 2013. This is not an encouraging story. Apart from our poor performance on the index, Nigeria has over the years taken bold steps to fight corruption. In addition to such institutions as the Nigerian Police, the SSS and other security agencies traditionally set up to combat crime, the Nigerian Government has established agencies such as the EFCC (together with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit), the ICPC, the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Federal Character Commission and the Public Complaints Commission to help in the war. There are also various other pieces of legislation that help in the war against corruption. Some of these are: i. The Electoral Act 2010 ii. The Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 iii. The Money Laundering [Prohibition] Act, 2004 iv. The Public Procurement Act, 2007 v. The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Act, 2007 vi. The Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 vii. The African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption 2007 viii. The United Nations Conventions Against Corruption 2007 ix. The Freedom of Information Act. Corruption: National Association of Nigerian Student demonstrating in Abuja over Selective Justice by EFCC in Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan Besides, Government has initiated certain programs aimed at reducing, if not eliminating corruption from the system. They include the Integrated Personnel Payments Information System (IPPIS); e-payment for all government jobs etc. Many of these programs are of course, new and have been adopted in the main at the federal level. There is no doubt that by the time these programs are accepted by the States and the private sector, Nigeria’s standing on the Corruption Index will improve tremendously. The war against corruption can never be an easy war. It is a war against principalities and powers; a war against the most powerful people in the nation – former Presidents, Governors and former Governors, Senators and Ministers – men of power and of influence and wealth; Chief Executive Officers of the most powerful companies in the Country – of banks and industry. So it cannot be an easy war. It must be fought with tact and cunning. You cannot confront them frontally; they will destroy you. The noise you make of your successes may be your undoing! Do not expect too much of an open support from the powers-that-be today. The men you go after may be their friends and sponsors. It is enough if they allow you a free hand. If you consider that UNESCO ranks economic crime the most common crime in Nigeria (followed by drug trafficking and human trafficking in that order) you will better appreciate the enormity of the problem posed by corruption in our society. It is true that corruption can never be completely eliminated from any society; but its awful effects can at least, be minimized. On Saturday June 5, 2011 India’s most popular yoga guru, Ramdev, called on his followers to embark on a fast to the death to protest official corruption in India’s public life. India is nowhere near Nigeria in the list of corrupt nations. Yet a man is ready to lay down his life to ensure corruption is eliminated from India’s public life. This shows the seriousness of the problem. Having surveyed the problem in our Country, in Africa and worldwide, what then do we do if Nigeria must be saved. To my mind, for Nigeria to win the war against corruption, three professions are critical. The first is the profession of the law to which I belong. The second is the Computer profession to which you belong and the third is the Accounting profession to which our friends on both sides belong. While the legal profession will assist the legislature in enacting adequate laws to ensure success, it will be the responsibility of your profession to help provide the necessary technology and software to wage the war and build into our system those programs that will help eliminate corruption. Of course, it will be the responsibility of the Accounting profession, the Accountant and Auditor to ensure those loopholes that fester the nest of corrupt leaders are closed. It will also be the added responsibility of the legal profession to ensure that the judiciary plays its role by ensuring a quick dispensation of justice to all who come before our Courts on corruption charges. If we rise from this breakfast and the issues we have raised in this talk can generate further discussion in the days that lie ahead, this morning may have been well spent; and if after this, your profession can initiate a move to bring our three professions together in a joint effort to chart a new course for the war against corruption, then this would have been a glorious morning indeed. To succeed, emphasis must be on prevention not punishment. Emphasis is no longer on catching the thief and punishing him. Emphasis today is on how to make it impossible for the thief to find what to steal. This is why programs such as the cashless society, electronic payments etc are important to the war on corruption and terrorism. A reduction in the amount of money a customer can draw across the counter is sure to reduce incidents of corruption such as the one in which a former Minister of Education was involved sometime ago where large amounts of cash were moved in Ghana-must-go bags from across the counter. Legislations such as the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act, the Failed Banks Act etc are all aimed at curbing corruption. Besides, we do not need to reinvent the wheel. Nigeria should approach such countries as Denmark and New Zealand that have virtually eliminated corruption from their public life to borrow the necessary technology and knowhow. Countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have been of immense assistance to Nigeria in her war against corruption and terror. Of course, Nigeria’s participation in the global coalition against terrorism and money laundering is already yielding fruit in many ways. Institutions such as the EFCC, ICPC the police and the various other security agencies that help in the war against corruption are each very important; but their emphasis, no doubt, is in detecting the offender after the event and prosecuting him. If the Courts find him guilty, he pays the price. If he is not found guilty he quickly returns to ply his trade with a bigger war chest. More openness in government will also help. It is for this purpose that the Freedom of Information Act was enacted. In Brazil for example, all government expenditure must be published online within 24 hours. This is to ensure accountability and transparency in government business. The result is that the average citizen can have access and judge for himself whether those in authority have been honest in their dealings and whether the price quoted for goods and services to government are fair. Everywhere you go in the world today the slogan in fighting corruption and its attendant evil of terror is FOLLOW THE MONEY – the money trail, I mean. Follow the money wherever it leads you and you can never go wrong; Indeed, Nigeria has done very well in setting up institutions and programs that tend to block the loopholes which the corrupt official explores in his bid to beat the system. The virtual elimination of the telephone bill and the NEPA bill (in parts of the country) is a step in the right direction. However, a lot still remains to be done. So the battle is on, though not won! The fight must be strengthened if the nation must be saved from the throes of indiscipline and greed. * Theo Nkire was first Attorney-General of Abia State

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Presidency Denies Giving N100 Million Bribe to Chibok Parents

The Presidency tuesday denied the allegation that the federal government gave a N100-million bribe to the parents of the over 200 abducted female students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State when they visited President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday, last week.

The leader of the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners and former Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, had tweeted that the federal government offered N100 million to the distressed Chibok parents, describing it as “filthy lucre” and “disgusting” via her twitter handle, @obyezeks.

But the Presidency last night reacted to the allegation as the Senior Personal Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, described the allegation as “wholesomely untrue and acts of blackmail against the federal government”.

Okupe told THISDAY that no money was given to the parents of the abducted Chibok girls when they visited President Jonathan.

According to Okupe, “The only thing government did to the parents of the Chibok girls was the provision of food and accommodation. The peddlers of this allegation are just mischievous and out to blackmail the federal government. Government did not offer any monetary gratification whatsoever.

“Why would the President offer monetary gratification to the parents? Government only provided food and accommodation to the parent and nothing more,” Okupe told THISDAY.

But already, it was gathered that the sharing formulae of the said money has caused some ripples among the parents of the Chibok girls, as some not only received far more than others, the Abuja-based stakeholders of the Chibok community are being accused of short-changing the parents.

According to sources, the said sum was given to the Abuja-based Chibok stakeholders, who helped to co-ordinate the visit of the parents.
The Chibok parents had visited the president Tuesday, last week after an earlier arrangement to see him penultimate Tuesday was bungled with the refusal of nine of the parents to see President Jonathan in the aftermath of the visit of 17-year-old Pakistani girl-child education activist, Malala Yousafzai, who extracted a promise from the president to see the Chibok parents.

The parents had through the Abuja stakeholders’ platform explained that their failure to see President Jonathan was as a result of their poor representation at the botched meeting, stressing that the parents who came to Abuja to meet with Malala did not have the mandate of the other parents to see the president.

Despite the explanation of the Abuja-based Chibok stakeholders, the Presidency had accused the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners of persuading the Chibok parents to shun the meeting with the president.
There has thus been a flurry of accusations between both the Chibok campaigners and the presidency..

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Oil Thieves Bribing Our Men, JTF Boss Laments

Yenagoa — Commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta code-named 'Operation Pulo Shield', Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Atewe, has explained why winning the war against oil theft and illegal refining was difficult for the security outfit in the region.
He said oil bunkers had devised the means of offering huge sums of money to JTF personnel to subvert them from carrying out their lawful duties.
Atewe cited a case when an officer of the JTF was offered N25 million by a group of illegal bunkerers to bribe their way through.
He, however, quickly added that the officer rejected the offer and got the culprits arrested.
Atewe revealed this on Saturday when the Nigerian Army Officers' Wives Association led by its National President, Felly Minimah, paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the JTF in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
He lamented that inadequate gunboats, essential kits, operational vehicles and manpower were some of the challenges of the security outfit.
He said despite the challenges and resilience of the oil criminals, the JTF was doing its best to win the war against oil theft, illegal refining and related crimes in the region.
According to him, illegal oil bunkering and refining were not only affecting the nation's economy but also posed a serious threat to the health and livelihood of the people of the region.
Atewe also said the JTF in the first quarter of the year arrested 20 vessels, destroyed over 854 illegal refineries as well as killing and arrest of hardened sea pirates, kidnappers and cult members.
He described the visit of NAOWA officials as "morale booster".

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Fresh Corruption Trouble As Group Drags Delta PDP Chairman To EFCC

For allegedly defrauding the Delta State Government of several billions of Naira, a group called the Delta Patriotic Network has dragged Mr. Peter Nwaoboshi, the Delta State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

EFCC Logo EFCC A detailed petition obtained by SaharaReporters and addressed to Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, the Chairman of the EFCC, called on the commission’s boss to commence an investigation into the allegations levied against the PDP chairman.
The group’s national president, Ojein Samuel, its national vice president, Mr. Okotete Tony, and its secretary, Mr. Oromoni Zuokumor, signed the strongly worded petition.
According to the group, Mr. Nwaoboshi fraudulently enriched himself by using his position as the state PDP Chairman to arm-twist the 25 Local Government Chairmen in the state. The strong-armed tactics were aimed to award him a contract to supply bulldozers, graders, and pay loaders, running into several billions of Naira.  Yet, instead of supplying functional equipment, Nwaoboshi supplied non-functional earth-moving equipment, which is today laying moribund at various council lots in the state.
The petition stated that the PDP Chairman allegedly imported the equipment from China. None of the imported equipment worked, not even for a day, and because of his position as the state party chairman, none of the council chairmen could do him anything in protest.
“We write to bring to the notice of your esteemed commission, the ‘catalogue of abuse of power,’ greed, and fraudulent enrichment by Mr. Peter Nwaoboshi, using the platform of office of the Chairman, Delta State PDP. The under listed atrocities committed by Mr. Peter Nwaoboshi are just the tip of the iceberg.
“We believe that the proceeds from the fraudulent swindling of the 25 local governments of almost N2billion in the bogus sales of dead earth moving plants, was used to set up a cable industry along the Asaba–Benin Express way. This factory is conservatively valued at over N1billion, with in-house guest chalets,” the group alleged.
The petitioners further accused the chairman of forcibly collecting money from members of the Delta State House of Assembly, to the tune of N10 million, N38 million from councilors and local government chairmen; as well as milking the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Commission (DESOPADEC), of N15 million as party dues on a monthly basis. They also allege that in less than one year, the PDP boss had built two sprawling mansions in Asaba, and in Ibusa, his country home.
The petition further stated that “the nomination forms for the proposed local government elections party primaries were sold for N1.5m for chairmanship; N300, 000.00 for councillorship; plus N300, 000.00 and N200, 000.00 levies respectively collected by Mr. Peter Nwaoboshi as a “kola-nut,” if an aspirant’s form is to get his attention.
“Mr Peter Nwaoboshi charges N1m and N300,000.00 fees for a chairmanship or councillorship aspirant, respectively, to have a personal audience with him. This is causing ripples across the state, and is likely to cause a serious political upheaval when the so called lists of nominated candidates are published,” they added.
Investigations by SaharaReporters show that the party’s chairman allegedly perpetrated the fraud between 2008 and 2010, when the elected council chairmen were still in office.
SaharaReporters further learned that Nwaoboshi was also given a contract running into several millions of naira to supply earth moving equipment to the Direct Labour Agency (DLA). That money, which also went the way of the councils, was used by the state house of Assembly that had earlier vowed to investigate the matter, but as a result of the pay-offs, could not do so.
Nwaoboshi described the allegations as “baseless,” saying that the petitioners are not serious people, who would stop at nothing to drag his name to the mud.
According to Nwaoboshi, the petitioners are only chasing dead issues, saying that he had never been afraid of being investigated, even as he attributed the allegations to what he called (the) ‘handiwork of his political opponents.’
Earlier this month the state party chairman and his thugs, allegedly had beat up the wife of the former national chairman of the PDP, Dr. Mrs. Mariam Ali, something Nwaoboshi, however, denied.
 

 

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For failing to bribe policeman with N200 I was sentenced to death

A shaft of pain knifed through his facial contours as he recounted the grisly experiences he had in prison for more than 23 years.

Prior to 1989, Calistus Ike had dreamt of becoming a very successful business man.
Little did he know that he was going to spend seven years as an awaiting trial inmate and another 16 years on the death row.

As the first son and bread winner of his family at that time, Ike, had all his dreams quashed after he was sentenced to death following his refusal to pay N200 bribe to the policeman that investigated an allegation against him.
Calistus Ike... freed after 23 years in prison and 16 years on death row

Calistus Ike… freed after 23 years in prison and 16 years on death row

Luck however shone on him when through the intervention of a France- based human right group, Avocats Sans Frontieres, ASFF, also known as ‘Lawyers Without Borders France’, the Edo state government, pardoned him and approved his release from prison in 2012.

Reliving the harrowing times he had in jail and circumstances that led to his conviction with Saturday Vanguard, this disconsolate erstwhile death row inmate, insisted that he was innocent of the allegation that left him at the mercy of the hang-man, even as he called for a total overhaul of the criminal justice system in Nigeria.

Describing himself as a “lucky-survivor”, Ike, who is now in his early fifties, stressed that so many innocent Nigerians are currently languishing in various prison facilities across the federation.

“The unfortunate thing is that some of the people I left in prison did not even have a case-file. Some of them had stayed as ‘awaiting-trial’ inmates for more than 10 years”, he lamented.

Narrating the story of his life, Ike said: “It happened to me in the year 1989. I was resident in Benin, the Edo state capital. There was a man that lived in the same compound with me. His wife had stomach problem and he asked me to lead him to somewhere to collect a root(herbal medicine) for his wife.

”We went there about 5pm. After escorting him to the place where he collected the medicine, I returned to my house.

”The next day, I went to do my business. I did not know that the same man had engaged police to look for me and the other man that gave him the root, a man I didn’t even know. When I heard that police came to look for me, I inquired about the station they came from and went there myself. ”I reported myself and asked why they came to look for me.

They told me that there was an allegation that I conspired with the man we collected medicine from his house and broke into my neighbour’s house- who was the same man I accompanied to get the roots for his wife- and stole his properties.

”I never knew that they had equally arrested the man that gave us the root.

Thereafter, the policeman handling the case insisted that I must write a confessional statement otherwise he would deal with me. I refused to write anything. I told him that I would only narrate the exact thing that happened.

”It was at that juncture that he started beating me with ‘Koboko’. He flogged me mercilessly that day. I was tortured until the D.P.O in charge of the station asked him to stop and just take my statement.

”After I gave them my statement, the same policeman that flogged me, came back and said that he could not find any evidence to pin the alleged crime on me. He said that he had concluded all the investigations and found nothing against me.

”However, he said I should give him N200 so that he would drop the case and allow me to go home. Remember, we are talking about 1989. As at that time, that amount was big money to me.

So, I told him I had no such money to give out. I stood my ground that I was innocent of the charge and even asked them to take me to court if indeed they thought that I had a case to answer.

”Within two days, the policeman took the matter to court. We went to court, at the Magistrate court, the policeman freed the other man I was accused with and pinned the whole charge on me.

”From the Magistrate court, he took me to the Military Tribunal where the case changed overnight.

From the original allegation of ‘burglary and theft’, I was charged with armed robbery.

”Whereas the Policeman and that my compound man whose properties were allegedly stolen, as well as his wife, testified before Tribunal, I had no one to testify for me. I was left with only God and no one else.

”After a long run of the trial, I was convicted and sentenced to death for a crime I never committed or even imagined. I never for once had such dream for my life, but I was condemned to death.

”Nonetheless, my faith in God never wavered, I kept asking him to vindicate me.  I was in death sentence cell in Edo state for over 14 years. After then, I was transferred to Enugu prison.

”One day, I was there, inside the prison with other inmates when information got to me that there were some people from France that were helping inmates in Benin prison. I quickly called my brother and asked him to take my plight to those people, maybe they could help me to regain my freedom.

”By the special grace of God, within three months, I was let loose from the grip of the wicked of this world and I thank God for it. What I however want Nigerians to know is that there is great level of injustice in our judiciary and because of that, many innocent people have died for crimes they never committed.

”Some of our lawyers are not helping matters. All they are interested in is money. Some cases they know they don’t have the capacity to handle they will just force themselves into them and their clients will be condemned and killed.

”Before my very eyes, I witnessed executions that took the lives of over 48 young and energetic men and women . It is a painful thing to experience.

”I was released in 2012. After I was arrested in 1989, I stayed as awaiting trial inmate for seven years, and stayed on death row for 16 years.

”My case did not go up to the Supreme Court. It was tried by the military tribunal so I didn’t even have the opportunity to go on appeal.

”My experience in the prison was very traumatic. That place is hell on earth! Some of the prison warders are very wicked- even though there are some good ones too. The bad ones are tormentors. They torment inmates at will.

”The food inside there is nothing to write home about. Roofs of some of the cells leak badly when it rains.

Getting good medication is rather a luxury too big to imagine, except in critical cases or upon an order of the court.

In the prison, every inmate is left to his own fate. Inmates are suffering badly even the awaiting trial inmates too.

”It hurts me when I see them on TV claiming that they are reforming the prisons. I am telling you today that they are doing nothing. Anyone that is so convinced that our prisons are better now should volunteer and spend a weekend inside any of our prisons. The hardship inside there is better imagined than experienced.

I saw hell!

”If the government gets up now and say they are reforming prisons, they are doing nothing! I am saying this because I experienced it for 16 years on the death row”.

There is no doubt that it is the case of men like Ike that has continued to sustain the debate for the abolition of the death penalty in Nigeria, in view of the seeming legal loopholes that have made the call justifiable.

In a recent conference it held in conjunction with the European Union, EU, in Abuja over the swelling number of inmates facing the capital punishment in Nigeria, the ASFF, said it had since 2011, launched a project with the aim of restricting the pronouncement of capital punishment in the Nigerian justice system.

The ‘Saving Lives’ project which is being run in partnership with the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and Access to Justice, has offered pro-bono legal services to over 140 detainees facing capital punishment.

The project is currently running in seven target states: Abuja, Benue, Edo, Kaduna, Katsina, Plateau and Lagos.
The legal manager of the project, Mr. Kola Ogunbiyi, said the group was able to engage prerogatives of mercy committee members in the target states.

“One of the cases that was profiled, thanks to our intervention, is the case of Lasisi Yusuf, a Kogi state indigene who had been on death row for over 16 years in Kaduna prison and was pardoned by the Kogi state governor. So far, out of the 19 requests tendered before the committee, seven have been granted.

“In recent times, specifically in May 2014, ASFF set a precedence in the enforcement of the rights of detainees on death row in the case of Maimuna Abdulmummi and Thankgod Ebhos.

“Maimuna Abdulmumini was a child bride who was alleged to have killed her husband at the age of 13. She was tried and sentenced to death by a Katsina state high court.  ASFF was able to secure judgment for Maimuna at the ECOWAS community court of justice which ordered that she be awarded damages for the violation of her rights as contained in regional and international legal laws.

“Thankgod Ebhos, who was the fifth inmate of the inmates of Edo prison, had an order from the same court for stay of execution granted to him and the government was also instructed to strike out his name off the death row list.

“While these cases are far from over, it is important to note that with our intervention in matters like this, we expect maximum adherence to due process in the prosecution of death penalty related cases. In all, 35 inmates facing death penalty have been released on court order and 88 cases are still ongoing before different courts across the target states.

“We are not saying that someone who committed an offence should not be punished, our argument is that the execution of death penalty will never be a solution or serve as a deterrent. We also know that some innocent persons have been erroneously tried and executed.

“90 per cent of cases in criminal matters are based on confessions. It stands on record that it is usually the indigents, illiterates or ignorant people that are mostly executed. Sometimes, they don’t even have anyone to defend them”, he added.

Investigations by Saturday Vanguard revealed that statistically, there were about 700 inmates on death row in Nigeria in 2003. The number almost doubled within a spate of 10 years, with a total of 1223 inmates condemned to death by 2013. In fact, four condemned prisoners were executed in 2013 after a suspension that started in 2006.

More so, from 1970 until 1999, there have been 2600 executions in Nigeria, with an average of 87 executions per year. And since 1999, 26 condemned inmates have been executed in the country.

Research has further shown that 98 per cent of condemned prisoners in Nigeria are people accused of armed robbery and/or culpable homicide (murder). Legally, such offence ought to be proved beyond every reasonable doubt in order to secure a conviction. But how well this burden of proof which is usually on the state has been effectively discharged, remains a story for another day.

Remarkably, death penalty has been part of the Nigerian justice system for centuries, even prior to the colonial era.

We need not forget that the movement towards the abolition of capital punishment in the country started in response to the unprecedented rate of executions of Nigerian citizens by it own government under the military regimes that preceded and followed the civil war.

This unbridled usage of death penalty as legal punishment reached a climax on November 10, 1995 with the gruesome execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and some of his companions by the late Sani Abacha’s military regime.

That particular incident drew flakes for the country from notable world leaders, including the late Nelson Mandela, and also culminated to the banishment of Nigeria from the commonwealth.

In spite of the outrage that trailed the executions, the Supreme Court in December 1998, in its judgment in the case of ‘Kalu vs The State’, went ahead and upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty.

However, in 2003-2004, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, appointed the then Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Akinlolu  Olujimi, to set up the National Study Group on Death Penalty- which eventually conducted a debate on the maintenance or the abolition of death penalty in Nigeria.

Even though the consensus backed the abolition of capital punishment in the country, with the result of the national debate published in various newspapers, yet, the status-quo has remained.

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For Failing to Bribe Policeman With N200 I Was Sentenced to Death

A shaft of pain knifed through his facial contours as he recounted the grisly experiences he had in prison for more than 23 years.
Prior to 1989, Calistus Ike had dreamt of becoming a very successful business man.
Little did he know that he was going to spend seven years as an awaiting trial inmate and another 16 years on the death row.
As the first son and bread winner of his family at that time, Ike, had all his dreams quashed after he was sentenced to death following his refusal to pay N200 bribe to the policeman that investigated an allegation against him.
Luck however shone on him when through the intervention of a France- based human right group, Avocats Sans Frontieres, ASFF, also known as 'Lawyers Without Borders France', the Edo state government, pardoned him and approved his release from prison in 2012.
Reliving the harrowing times he had in jail and circumstances that led to his conviction with Saturday Vanguard, this disconsolate erstwhile death row inmate, insisted that he was innocent of the allegation that left him at the mercy of the hang-man, even as he called for a total overhaul of the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
Describing himself as a "lucky-survivor", Ike, who is now in his early fifties, stressed that so many innocent Nigerians are currently languishing in various prison facilities across the federation.
"The unfortunate thing is that some of the people I left in prison did not even have a case-file. Some of them had stayed as 'awaiting-trial' inmates for more than 10 years", he lamented.

Narrating the story of his life, Ike said: "It happened to me in the year 1989. I was resident in Benin, the Edo state capital. There was a man that lived in the same compound with me. His wife had stomach problem and he asked me to lead him to somewhere to collect a root(herbal medicine) for his wife.
"We went there about 5pm. After escorting him to the place where he collected the medicine, I returned to my house.
"The next day, I went to do my business. I did not know that the same man had engaged police to look for me and the other man that gave him the root, a man I didn't even know. When I heard that police came to look for me, I inquired about the station they came from and went there myself. "I reported myself and asked why they came to look for me.
They told me that there was an allegation that I conspired with the man we collected medicine from his house and broke into my neighbour's house- who was the same man I accompanied to get the roots for his wife- and stole his properties.
"I never knew that they had equally arrested the man that gave us the root.
Thereafter, the policeman handling the case insisted that I must write a confessional statement otherwise he would deal with me. I refused to write anything. I told him that I would only narrate the exact thing that happened.
"It was at that juncture that he started beating me with 'Koboko'. He flogged me mercilessly that day. I was tortured until the D.P.O in charge of the station asked him to stop and just take my statement.
"After I gave them my statement, the same policeman that flogged me, came back and said that he could not find any evidence to pin the alleged crime on me. He said that he had concluded all the investigations and found nothing against me.

Source

2 years after Lagos ban Okada: Public outcry against Police continuesQ.dpuf

In less than 11 days, it will be two years that the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, signed the Lagos Traffic Bill into law, banning commercial motorcyclists, popularly called Okada riders, from plying 475 major routes within the state metropolis.
A Policeman seizing a motorcycle from the owner, in Lagos.

A Policeman seizing a motorcycle from the owner, in Lagos.

Fashola, irked by what he described as the incessant deaths caused by accidents involving okada riders, had on August 2, 2012 signed the law, with the intention of ensuring safety and orderly flow of traffic within the metropolis.

But barely two years after, barrage of criticisms and condemnations have continued to greet the increasing number of death of Okada riders and their passengers, with others sustaining varying degrees of injuries, caused by the alleged high-handedness and inhuman strategies employed by men and officers of the State Police Command and other law enforcement agencies in enforcing the law.

The recent officially recorded tragic death occurred July 6, when a commercial motorcyclist and his two passengers, met their untimely death, as they were knocked down by an on-coming Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), at Awoyaya bus-stop along Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos.

The sad incident occurred when the bike operator reportedly tried to escape from having his motorcycle impounded by a team of policemen chasing him, in order to enforce the traffic law.
Against this backdrop of deaths, the Police authorities have been urged to call their men and officers to order, to cut down on number of casualties.

However, before the bill was signed,  Fashola had during the inauguration of the 32-member Lagos State Security Committee, in the last quarter of 2011, lamented the growing rate of Okada dead victims. The governor noted that it was high time the Lagos State government addressed the unfortunate accident head long.

Barrage of condemnations
Meanwhile, in what has been described as the alleged incessant assault and extortion of their members by some policemen and other law enforcement agents, commercial motorbike operators under the umbrellas of the National Commercial Motorcycles and Tricycle Owners and Riders Association, Motorcycle Transport Union of Nigeria, All Nigerians Autobike Commercial Owners and Workers Association and Okada Riders Welfare Association had severally gone on strike to protest their plights.

Fatal assaults of Okada riders by policemen
November 6, 2012
At about 10.52am on this fateful day, an Okada rider, whom eyewitnesses said was a member of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, was allegedly shot dead by some policemen at the Ilupeju by-pass area of the State for flouting the state Road Traffic Law.

The okada rider, who was said to have been shot on the chest was rushed to Teju Hospital adjacent the scene of the incident by passers-by but reportedly  died before he could be  treated, even as the policemen immediately fled from the scene after the act.

January 9, 2013
In what came few weeks after the brutal shooting of an Okada rider by some Policemen in Lagos, this heartbreaking incident occurred in the morning of this day. Eyewitnesses account had it that an Okada rider was allegedly shot dead at the popular Ile-Zik bus-stop, off the Oshodi-Iyana Ipaja road around Ikeja Along bus stop of the State.

The victim reportedly died instantly, while his passengers suffered serious injuries.
June 4, 2013
On this day, Vanguard reported that Police at Ikotun, area of the State, in a bid to enforce the traffic law were allegedly always knocking down okada riders on sight, just to demobilise them and impound their motor-cycles.
Incidentally, when Vanguard called the Governor’s Office, one of the media aides, who pleaded anonymity, said the concerned police officers were on their own.

August 20, 2013
On this day, protests by okada riders and other sympathisers which continued for about two days brought
human and vehicular movement to standstill at Ikorodu, following the alleged shooting of an okada rider identified as Lekan by some policemen, when he allegedly resisted seizure of his motorcycle.
Lekan, who was said to  be married with five kids and the only surviving child of his parents and a student of Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, met his untimely death in a bid to make some money by operating the commercial motorcycle, while the six months strike embarked by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, lingered last year.

The policeman reportedly shot the deceased thrice before the patrol team sped off in their vehicle, but other okada riders pursued the policemen and caught them at Agric area of Ikorodu. The policemen were allegedly attacked and the particular one that shot Lekan was badly injured.

Save for the intervention, of the Area Commander, Ijede Police Command, ACP Amos Marcus, the situation would have turned violent, as the mob for two days protested the death of the victim who died at Ikorodu General hospital, before doctors could attend to him.

January 15, 2014
Commercial motorcyclists on the noon of this day, disrupted human and vehicular movement at Works roundabout along Ahmadu Bello way, Victoria Island, Lagos, while protesting the shooting of one of their members by men of the Nigerian Police.
Eyewitnesses reported that the shot Okada rider was rushed to a nearby hospital.

March 13, 2014
Eyewitnesses account spotted a police officer and an okada rider engaged in a fight along the Fatai Atere road, Mushin, over an alleged impounding of his motorcycle for refusing to part with a bribe.

April 21, 2014
On the morning of this day, a motorcycle rider was reportedly shot dead by a policeman in Ketu close to the under bridge bus stop.
According to sources, present at the scene of the act, the shooting was caused by a little argument between the victim and some policemen.

It was also reported that the irate policemen who saw the Okada man lying in the pool of his blood began firing shots into the air to clear way for the escape of the policeman who allegedly fired the shot. The sprayed bullet it was said dispatched all the angry youths who were set to carry out jungle justice on the alleged shooter.

July 6, 2014
Also, on his day, a commercial motorcyclist and his two passengers, met their untimely death, as they were knocked down by an on-coming Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), at Awoyaya bus-stop along Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos, while the bike operator tried to escape from having his motorcycle impounded by a team of policemen chasing him, in order to enforce the State traffic law.

Worrisome concern
Friday Okon, an okada rider, who plies the Ajegunle routes said: “Infact, the way we are being maltreated like armed robbers by policemen in the Ajeromi Divisional Police Headquarters, Layeni Police Post, Tolu Police Post and the Trinity Police Station is becoming worrisome. What is so annoying is that these policemen even chase us to the mechanic workshops where we repair our bikes, including our homes where we park our bikes after work.

“Okay, the governor said we should not ply expressway again, and many of us don’t do it since then. So, why are policemen still disturbing us within streets in Ajegunle. Each time one is arrested we are meant to pay between N5, 000 and N10, 000 to bail our bikes. I can’t imagine how long I will continue to suffer like this because I am an okada rider going about his legitimate trade.”

Also, lamenting the massive clampdown on his members by policemen and LASTMA officials, Lagos State Chairman of Motorcycle Owners Association of Lagos State, MOALS, Mr. Tijani Pekis had declared that government cannot totally ban commercial motorcyclists in the state because of the prevailing unemployment situation in the country.

“If Governor Fashola is actually serious about checking the menace of Okada riders in the state, let him provide them all with jobs. This is the only way to check the excesses of the few ones spoiling our business,” Pekis said.
The MOALS chairman declared that the ongoing onslaught against his members will not achieve the desired objective, stating that it is becoming counter productive.

Also speaking to Vanguard, the Programme/Advocacy Coordinator, Network Police Reform in Nigeria, NOPRIN FOUNDATION, Okechukwu Nwanguma, noted that countless complaints about police harassment were rampant in states, where the state government has been coming down hard on commercial bike riders.

Nwanguma said: “Since the coming into effect of the Lagos State Traffic Law, the police in Lagos State have continued to go beyond the limits of the law in the enforcement. On daily basis, some police officers lay ambush for okada riders, chase them beyond the areas where the law prohibits them from operating. Driven by their propensities for corruption and the impunity that protects them, the police daily harass okada riders, arrest them, brutalise and extort ‘settlement’ money from them. Many okada riders have been  dehumanised, injured or killed in the process.”

LAHA wades-in
However, following complaints by residents, over the high-handedness of police officers in enforcing the traffic law, the Lagos State House of Assembly, LAHA, condemned the over zealousness of some police officers in the implementation of the law.

They had called on the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko,  to stop his men from messing up the law and exposing the state government to ridicule by their actions. They also called on the police authorities to investigate all inhuman actions meted out to residents of the state by the police.

Police reaction
When taken up over the allegations against men of the state police command, the spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, after much prompting sent a text message saying; “You need to see me in the office for adequate discussion on these issues that you have raised.”

Source

In less than 11 days, it will be two years that the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, signed the Lagos Traffic Bill into law, banning commercial motorcyclists, popularly called Okada riders, from plying 475 major routes within the state metropolis.

A Policeman seizing a motorcycle from the owner, in Lagos.

Fashola, irked by what he described as the incessant deaths caused by accidents involving okada riders, had on August 2, 2012 signed the law, with the intention of ensuring safety and orderly flow of traffic within the metropolis.
But barely two years after, barrage of criticisms and condemnations have continued to greet the increasing number of death of Okada riders and their passengers, with others sustaining varying degrees of injuries, caused by the alleged high-handedness and inhuman strategies employed by men and officers of the State Police Command and other law enforcement agencies in enforcing the law.
The recent officially recorded tragic death occurred July 6, when a commercial motorcyclist and his two passengers, met their untimely death, as they were knocked down by an on-coming Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), at Awoyaya bus-stop along Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos.
The sad incident occurred when the bike operator reportedly tried to escape from having his motorcycle impounded by a team of policemen chasing him, in order to enforce the traffic law.
Against this backdrop of deaths, the Police authorities have been urged to call their men and officers to order, to cut down on number of casualties.
However, before the bill was signed,  Fashola had during the inauguration of the 32-member Lagos State Security Committee, in the last quarter of 2011, lamented the growing rate of Okada dead victims. The governor noted that it was high time the Lagos State government addressed the unfortunate accident head long.
Barrage of condemnations
Meanwhile, in what has been described as the alleged incessant assault and extortion of their members by some policemen and other law enforcement agents, commercial motorbike operators under the umbrellas of the National Commercial Motorcycles and Tricycle Owners and Riders Association, Motorcycle Transport Union of Nigeria, All Nigerians Autobike Commercial Owners and Workers Association and Okada Riders Welfare Association had severally gone on strike to protest their plights.
Fatal assaults of Okada riders by policemen
November 6, 2012
At about 10.52am on this fateful day, an Okada rider, whom eyewitnesses said was a member of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, was allegedly shot dead by some policemen at the Ilupeju by-pass area of the State for flouting the state Road Traffic Law.
The okada rider, who was said to have been shot on the chest was rushed to Teju Hospital adjacent the scene of the incident by passers-by but reportedly  died before he could be  treated, even as the policemen immediately fled from the scene after the act.
January 9, 2013
In what came few weeks after the brutal shooting of an Okada rider by some Policemen in Lagos, this heartbreaking incident occurred in the morning of this day. Eyewitnesses account had it that an Okada rider was allegedly shot dead at the popular Ile-Zik bus-stop, off the Oshodi-Iyana Ipaja road around Ikeja Along bus stop of the State.
The victim reportedly died instantly, while his passengers suffered serious injuries.
June 4, 2013
On this day, Vanguard reported that Police at Ikotun, area of the State, in a bid to enforce the traffic law were allegedly always knocking down okada riders on sight, just to demobilise them and impound their motor-cycles.
Incidentally, when Vanguard called the Governor’s Office, one of the media aides, who pleaded anonymity, said the concerned police officers were on their own.
August 20, 2013
On this day, protests by okada riders and other sympathisers which continued for about two days brought
human and vehicular movement to standstill at Ikorodu, following the alleged shooting of an okada rider identified as Lekan by some policemen, when he allegedly resisted seizure of his motorcycle.
Lekan, who was said to  be married with five kids and the only surviving child of his parents and a student of Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, met his untimely death in a bid to make some money by operating the commercial motorcycle, while the six months strike embarked by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, lingered last year.
The policeman reportedly shot the deceased thrice before the patrol team sped off in their vehicle, but other okada riders pursued the policemen and caught them at Agric area of Ikorodu. The policemen were allegedly attacked and the particular one that shot Lekan was badly injured.
Save for the intervention, of the Area Commander, Ijede Police Command, ACP Amos Marcus, the situation would have turned violent, as the mob for two days protested the death of the victim who died at Ikorodu General hospital, before doctors could attend to him.
January 15, 2014
Commercial motorcyclists on the noon of this day, disrupted human and vehicular movement at Works roundabout along Ahmadu Bello way, Victoria Island, Lagos, while protesting the shooting of one of their members by men of the Nigerian Police.
Eyewitnesses reported that the shot Okada rider was rushed to a nearby hospital.
March 13, 2014
Eyewitnesses account spotted a police officer and an okada rider engaged in a fight along the Fatai Atere road, Mushin, over an alleged impounding of his motorcycle for refusing to part with a bribe.
April 21, 2014
On the morning of this day, a motorcycle rider was reportedly shot dead by a policeman in Ketu close to the under bridge bus stop.
According to sources, present at the scene of the act, the shooting was caused by a little argument between the victim and some policemen.
It was also reported that the irate policemen who saw the Okada man lying in the pool of his blood began firing shots into the air to clear way for the escape of the policeman who allegedly fired the shot. The sprayed bullet it was said dispatched all the angry youths who were set to carry out jungle justice on the alleged shooter.
July 6, 2014
Also, on his day, a commercial motorcyclist and his two passengers, met their untimely death, as they were knocked down by an on-coming Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), at Awoyaya bus-stop along Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos, while the bike operator tried to escape from having his motorcycle impounded by a team of policemen chasing him, in order to enforce the State traffic law.
Worrisome concern
Friday Okon, an okada rider, who plies the Ajegunle routes said: “Infact, the way we are being maltreated like armed robbers by policemen in the Ajeromi Divisional Police Headquarters, Layeni Police Post, Tolu Police Post and the Trinity Police Station is becoming worrisome. What is so annoying is that these policemen even chase us to the mechanic workshops where we repair our bikes, including our homes where we park our bikes after work.
“Okay, the governor said we should not ply expressway again, and many of us don’t do it since then. So, why are policemen still disturbing us within streets in Ajegunle. Each time one is arrested we are meant to pay between N5, 000 and N10, 000 to bail our bikes. I can’t imagine how long I will continue to suffer like this because I am an okada rider going about his legitimate trade.”
Also, lamenting the massive clampdown on his members by policemen and LASTMA officials, Lagos State Chairman of Motorcycle Owners Association of Lagos State, MOALS, Mr. Tijani Pekis had declared that government cannot totally ban commercial motorcyclists in the state because of the prevailing unemployment situation in the country.
“If Governor Fashola is actually serious about checking the menace of Okada riders in the state, let him provide them all with jobs. This is the only way to check the excesses of the few ones spoiling our business,” Pekis said.
The MOALS chairman declared that the ongoing onslaught against his members will not achieve the desired objective, stating that it is becoming counter productive.
Also speaking to Vanguard, the Programme/Advocacy Coordinator, Network Police Reform in Nigeria, NOPRIN FOUNDATION, Okechukwu Nwanguma, noted that countless complaints about police harassment were rampant in states, where the state government has been coming down hard on commercial bike riders.
Nwanguma said: “Since the coming into effect of the Lagos State Traffic Law, the police in Lagos State have continued to go beyond the limits of the law in the enforcement. On daily basis, some police officers lay ambush for okada riders, chase them beyond the areas where the law prohibits them from operating. Driven by their propensities for corruption and the impunity that protects them, the police daily harass okada riders, arrest them, brutalise and extort ‘settlement’ money from them. Many okada riders have been  dehumanised, injured or killed in the process.”
LAHA wades-in
However, following complaints by residents, over the high-handedness of police officers in enforcing the traffic law, the Lagos State House of Assembly, LAHA, condemned the over zealousness of some police officers in the implementation of the law.
They had called on the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko,  to stop his men from messing up the law and exposing the state government to ridicule by their actions. They also called on the police authorities to investigate all inhuman actions meted out to residents of the state by the police.
Police reaction
When taken up over the allegations against men of the state police command, the spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, after much prompting sent a text message saying; “You need to see me in the office for adequate discussion on these issues that you have raised.”
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/2-years-lagos-ban-okada-public-outcry-police-continues/#sthash.uxqWiwRQ.dpuf