The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Ogun chapter, on Wednesday in Sango-Ota, blocked the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway over the deplorable state of the highway.
The NLC Lagos chapter of the congress joined their Ogun counterpart to stage the protest.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions, ‘We don’t want palliatives’, ‘we want good roads’, ‘Dapo Abiodun save our souls from bad roads’, and ‘We are not slaves in our country’.
The NLC chairman in Ogun, Emmanuel Bankole, said the NLC was not happy with the condition of portions of the Lagos-Abeokuta and its environs.
“We will not allow anybody to take away our right. In times like this, we do not have any option other than to express our displeasure with the government,” he said.
The chairman added that the 21 days ultimatum given by NLC after the visit of Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola to Sango-Ota, had lapsed.
Bankole explained that Fashola promised to commence palliative work on the road, but nothing much had been done since then.
“We deserve better than what we have seen today. What we see today is below our expectations,” he said.
The NLC chairman in Lagos, Funmi Sessi, added, “We believe in action and the time for talking is gone. There is an urgent need to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses.”
Sessi noted that the action was long overdue as people were inflicted with serious pains following the deplorable condition of the Sango-Ota portion of the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway.
She further stated that members of the Lagos chapter of NLC came to partner its colleagues in Ogun in the struggle to ensure good roads are delivered to the state’s residents.
When two years ago the Sudanese people bravely organized a spontaneous revolution that ended three decades of brutal dictatorship led by Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir the global democratic community heaved a sigh of relief that another barbaric bloody dictator (wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court) had fallen by the way side. The glory of that revolution was however stolen as it were by the military (much like in Mali) that helped in achieving a protracted gory civilian insurrection that lasted for weeks culminating in loss of precious lives and destruction of properties.
Following the deposition of Gen. Bashir a power-sharing arrangement (diarchy) was reached between the Generals and the triumphant civil society groups. Abdallah Hamdok was appointed the Prime Minister and he formed a transitional government comprising of the military and civilians. The power-sharing pact specified the roles to be played by each party with the ultimate goal being the organization of a credible free and fair general election.
The signed document equally made it clear that the Generals would lead the transitional government for eighteen months and the remaining 18 months are to be led by the civilians. Under normal circumstances the military led by Abdel Fattah Abdelrahmane al-Burhan ought to hand over the presidency of the transitional sovereign government to the civilians by November 17th. The process ought to conclude in three years period.
Shockingly however, the Generals, last Monday, moved swiftly against the Prime Minister and the other civilian executives by arresting all of them in a dawn military operation. Lo and behold chaos had set in! The Internet and other communication networks had been shut down.
Gen. al-Burhan appeared briefly on the state television where he imperially declared the end of the diarchy decreeing a state of emergency. It was a bombshell! The Head of the military junta had claimed in the national broadcast that the Sudanese politicians were divided and this division led to the dissolution of the transitional government.
Reactions from the international community had been pouring in, most condemning in strong terms the glorified coup d’etat. The US announced that it had put on hold the millions of Dollars destined for Sudan. And it called for the immediate unconditional release of PM Hamdok and other government officials arrested and detained.
The UN, EU, AU were all united in condemning the putsch imploring the Generals to free their executive hostages and arrange for a dialogue.
The streets in Khartoum and other cities in the country had witnessed demonstrations with protesters chanting ‘No Return To The Past!’ Close to dozen of them had been killed and hundreds more wounded! The Sudanese army and the militias loyal to the Generals were shooting protesters with live bullets!
And in a press conference that followed his first public intervention after the coup d’etat Gen. al-Burhan hd announced that the deposed PM Hamdok was safely in his (al-Burhan) residence for his own security. He equally claimed that the PM shared the fears of the military over the threat to the national security.
Describing the military action as “rectification” of the transitional trajectory the strongman was obviously under intense international pressure to be conciliatory in his rhetorics and act responsibly to avoid the worst scenario playing out.
Breaking news had since reported that PM Hamdok had been brought back to his house in what amounted to a house arrest. He had since spoken on telephone with the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.
The diarchical transitional system put in place post-Bashir was bound to produce friction and tension. It was akin to negotiating a leadership of the jungle between lions and sheep. Alas, the lions have taken over their jungle by feasting on the sheep!
The apparent naivety of the international community in negotiating the cohabitation is deplorable. An impressive interposing counter force should have been arranged to accompany the process protecting the civilian transition team till full-blown democracy is eventually restored.
Condemnations, threats and sanctions may not do much to bring down the Jackboot. What might work remains a coordinated global military intervention led by America and her European allies.
The days and weeks ahead would be crucial and decisive for the future of Sudan. The civil society groups have called for general strike, civil disobedience. And roads and highways are blocked. Sudan is currently paralysed. Saturday is slated for a million-man march across the country.
The notorious allies of the Generals in power (notably Egypt and UAE) must be called upon to apply pressure on the coup plotters to negotiate their exit from power. Otherwise another violent revolution is imminent! And this time Generals al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (alias Emety) would be victims.
In a country where economic hardship has been accentuated by the secession of oil-rich South Sudan following years of bloody conflict and war thereby shrinking the oil and gas revenues it is only a sound democratic leadership that is capable of offering lasting solution to the deteriorating social conditions under which the Sudanese live.
We, therefore, call on the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, the African Union and other regional bodies to unify their forces and efforts to end the military nonsense in Sudan. Democracy (and not diarchy or despotism) must be made to prevail in Khartoum.
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, yesterday, insisted that the country must return to the 1963 Constitution to be on the right path.
It emphasised that restructuring must take place before the 2023 general elections.
In a communique made available to journalists by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, the organisation stated this at the end of its meeting held at the house of the Acting Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, at Sanya-Ogbo, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
Adebanjo presided over the meeting, while participants came from all the states in the South-West, as well as Kwara and Kogi states.
The meeting deliberated on social, political, security and economic situations of the country, lamenting that the country is going through a lot of trauma.
The group also deliberated on the consistent advocacy by Dr. Ahmed Gumi on the government to pardon terrorists and to even compensate them in various ways.
MEANWHILE, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, yesterday, said that the reason for visiting Lagos State former governor, Bola Tinubu, was purely humanitarian.
Ajayi, who spoke with journalists after the meeting, said: “The visit of our leaders to former Governor Bola Tinubu is purely on humanitarian ground. He is a Yoruba son. We do not forsake ourselves. Afenifere members are Omoluabis and humanists.
“What the leaders have done is the hallmark of thoroughbred Yoruba men and women. We may disagree on principles but we are not political enemies. Even if there is a disagreement on issues, it does not mean that we should not relate.
“The interest of the Yoruba is what is uppermost in our minds.”
IN another development, Chairman, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Wale Oshun, has urged the new executive members of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) to sustain the legacy of the founder of the organisation, the late Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, by continuous demand for restructuring of Nigeria to true federalism, resource control and equal opportunity for all Nigerians.
Oshun, who spoke at the inauguration of the executives in Lagos, also enjoined members of the Congress that the only way they could sustain and achieve what Fasehun stood for is by working in harmony and doing every thing possible to ensure Nigeria remains one despite the demand for restructuring.
He stressed the need for all groups of OPC under the leadership of Aare Ona Kakanfo, Iba Gani Adams and Osibote to harmonise in fighting the true course of Yoruba nation.
Rangers International FC of Enugu media officer, Norbert Okolie, says the club has signed former Mountain of Fire and Miracle (MFM) goalkeeper, Bamidele Adeniyi.
Okolie made this known on Tuesday, saying that Adeniyi would compete for the number goalkeeping slot against Nana Bonsu, Oko Chizoba and Seidu Mutawakilu.
He noted that the 29-year-old goalkeeper made 19 appearances, with seven clean sheets, for his former club in the 2020/2021 season.
Okolie said the goalkeeper was impressive in goal in some of the practice matches played by Rangers FC during the club’s week-long close camp at Nsukka.
Daring bandits have begun imposing levies on the residents of eastern part of Sokoto State, with the would-be assailants asking them to pay the money before next Friday or they would be attacked.
The locals are also barred from their farms by the bandits pending payment of the prescribed levies, a resident revealed.
According to Daily Trust, some of the communities had settled the bandits while others were working hard to raise the money.
The population of each community is said to be considered in determining the amounts they would pay.
“Some are asked to pay N400,000, some N700,000 while some even pay less than that and is left for the community to decide how the money will be raised.
“In some communities, heads of households are asked to pay N2,000 each and young men that are not married pay N1,000 each,” another source said.
According to the report, Attalawa, Danmaliki, Adamawa, Dukkuma, Sardauna and Dangari villages were asked to pay N400,000 each. While residents of Kwatsal village billed N4million were said to have already paid N2million out of the money to the bandits.
“All the villages were given up to Friday to pay the money or risk attack. People are paying because they have no other option,” one of the sources added.
Confirming the development was a member representing Sabon Birni North Constituency, Aminu Almustapha Gobir, who said there had been no attack in Sabon Birni in recent times because the locals were complying with the directive of the bandits.
“The people prefer to pay and live in peace in their communities than to rely on security agencies or go on exile,” he said.
However, a former Chairman of Sabon Birni Local Government Area, Idris Muhammad, however, frown at the payment of levies to bandits, stressing that doing so would not guarantee people’s safety.
“We have different groups of bandits in the area, if you pay a levy to this group how sure are you the other group will not attack you?”
“The same scenario unfolded in Gatawa and Tarah, which were attacked and several of their people abducted by different groups of bandits. Their relatives had to pay ransom to those different groups before their release.
“This is what will continue to happen, if one group places a levy on you and you pay, another group will come to either attack you or demand for levy again and you must pay them or face the consequences,” he said.
The spokesman for the police in Sokoto, ASP Sanusi Abubakar, and the Commissioner for Security and Carriers Matters, Colonel Garba Moyi (retd), didn’t respond to several calls placed across to them including text messages sent to them.
Minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed (Photo Credit: Twitter)
Lai Mohammed, President Muhammadu Buhari regime’s head of propaganda and state-sponsored disinformation, says his perennial agitation for social media clampdown in Nigeria is to prevent another global war.
On Monday, Mr Mohammed, who has called for social media to be regulated in Nigeria, insisted that the platforms spread fake information.
“With fake news today and misinformation — I have always said here that the next world war will be caused by fake news,” he said while defending his ministry’s 2022 budget before the house of representatives committee on information, national orientation.
While recounting the means of disseminating information decades ago, the minister explained that Nigerians had deserted the old means by embracing the “unseen enemy,” social media.
“Information is not what it used to be, 20 to 30 years ago if the state or federal government had a television or radio and probably a newspaper, that was what we needed,” he noted.
According to Mr Mohammed, the Buhari regime will always be criticised if it refuses to take adequate measures to regulate social media content.
“The people today, they don’t read newspapers, they don’t watch television — it’s social media. And it is most expensive; the most unseen enemy, they are there every moment, and until we go to the same battlefield with them, there is nothing the government will do that will seem right,” he said.
Infamous for his propaganda, Mr Mohammed himself has been caught circulating fake news previously as opposition spokesman and now as cabinet information minister.
Angered by Mr Mohammed’s notoriety for spreading misinformation, a lawmaker in January described the minister’s statements as “senseless and unpatriotic.”
“You can see even the U.S. that use to pride itself on the freedom of the press is now questioning the role of the social media,” he added.
Mr Mohammed had hailed former U.S. President Donald Trump for endorsing Mr Buhari’s Twitter ban on June 4.
“Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President,” Mr Trump had said after Mr Mohammed announced the ban of the social media platform primarily used to gather information and contribute to issues of national interest.
“Donald Trump has congratulated Nigeria,” Mr Mohammed said. “If that means anything, that that is what we ought to have done. But that’s just by the way.”
While defending the 2021 budget proposal of the Information sector of his ministry in October 2020, Mr Mohammed had reasoned that Nigeria should also go the way of China to tackle misinformation.
“If you go to China, you cannot get Google, Facebook or Instagram, but you can only use your email because they have made sure that it is regulated,” he said.
Stating that there was an urgent need for a policy to curb fake news on social media, the minister said, “We need a social media policy that will regulate what should be said and posted and what should not.”
He added that “We also need technology and resources to dominate our social media space.’’
The leadership crisis unsettling the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State took a dive for the worse after Senator Magnus Abe-led faction inaugurated a parallel state executive at Freedom House, the campaign office set up by Abe in 2019 at GRA in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
The executives are Hon. Golden Chioma, a former member of the state House of Assembly, chairman; Mike Amakiri, deputy chairman; Inye Jack, secretary; Joy Woko, State Woman Leader; Kingsley Ibanichuka, Youth Leader, among others.
Their inauguration came barely four days after the Chibuike Amaechi-led APC conducted its own congress at the Polo Club, Port Harcourt, after which, Emeka Beke, loyalist to the Minister of Transportation, emerged as chairman, Chris Fynebone, as the publicity secretary among others.
Enraged by the development, Chris Finebone, Publicity Secretary of Amaechi’s faction, called for the immediate arrest of Abe’s exco members, describing them as impersonators.
Finebone described their action as criminal, stating that they inaugurated and exco without holding congress but just a mere press conference. He stressed that the security agents would handle the matter by arresting Chioma and his cohorts.
Finebone said, “Even as a full revalidated member of APC, I cannot address a press conference in my office and later announce to the people that I am now the state chairman of APC. They only assembled the media and said they are inaugurating the exco.
“Questions should be ask, when did they elect the executives, I cannot gather people and say, elections have been held and I have become the president of Nigeria. They gathered people and declared that they are APC exco, its wrong”.
But in a swift reaction, the chairman of Abe- led faction, Chioma said the Amaechi-led APC does not have the capacity to arrest them, stressing that his group held Ward, Local Government and State Congresses where leaders at various levels were elected.
He said, “If there is a threat of arrest, that means there will be a criminal charge, there must be an offence that has been breached. The issue here is if I am a member of APC, the answer is yes. And are they members of APC? The answer is equally yes”.
“I am a statutory member of APC, and they see me as a qualified candidate to contest the chairmanship election and that was why they kept a seat for me on Saturday, so why are they making noise?”
Asked where the congresses took place and if APC national leaders monitored it, Chioma said, “ This is party politics and not private politics; we are all politicians and we are here together, nobody is inferior to the other. We are not going anywhere again, we are here.”
However, the factional chairmen, Chioma and Beke have told the incumbent Governor, Nyesom Wike to prepare his handover note as APC is set to take over the Brick House.
Beke said he would put in his best to ensure the party clinches power and take over Rivers State Brick House in 2023.
Chioma said, “May I at this juncture, serve a notice to the Governor of Rivers State, who happens to be my classmate in the Faculty of Law. We proceeded to the Nigeria Law School, where we both obtained LLB Degrees.
“Please, prepare your handover note. You must leave in 2023. This state is so important to the Nigerian project. We cannot continue to be in the opposition.”
Stakeholders and party supporters have expressed worry that what happened in 2019 when the court barred Rivers’ APC Candidates from participating in the elections, may happen again if the national leadership fails to call the warring factions to order.
Recall that the same Amaechi and Abe’s factions conducted parallel primaries that produced two sets of excos. While Amaechi’s faction produced Tonye Cole as its governorship candidate, Abe’s produced him as its own candidate. The national Secretariat of the party was to forwarded Cole’s name as the flag bearer.
But On January 2019, A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt barred all candidates produced by the primaries of the APC in the State. The court presided by Justice Kolawole Omotosho, also restrained INEC from recognising any candidate of APC for the 2019 general elections in the State.
The Judge maintained that the Rivers APC was not going to participate in the governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly elections in 2019.
In the suit filed by Abe, Justice Kolawole Omotosho, directed INEC to remove all APC candidates from ballot papers and other electoral materials and declared the direct and indirect primaries held by the factions as illegal, null and void.
However on February 4, 2019, Amaechi’s faction challenged the decision of the High court at the Court of Appeal and secured a favoured judgment that cleared way for all APC candidates to contest the election. The ruling caused wild jubilation in the city.
But the Supreme Court on February 8,2019 nullified the ruling of the Court of Appeal which allowed APC to field candidates in Rivers State in the general elections.
The court said the appellate court failed to invoke relevant sections of the law in voiding the decision of the Federal High Court barring the party from participating in elections in the state.
The court questioned the basis upon which the appeal court reached its ruling and set the decision aside while upholding the ruling of the high court and that was how APC lost out in 2019 general elections.
After a lull, the political actors renewed their quest to control the party. Igo Aguma, a loyalist to Abe had proceeded to court to seek that the caretaker Committee brought by the National Working Committee of the party, headed by Isaac Ogbabula be voided, and that he should be declared head of the party by virtue of his position as National Delegate and statutory member of the party.
The Rivers State High Court had on June 9 2020 granted his prayers and declared him (Aguma) as the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party in Rivers. However, on March 5, 2021, the Supreme Court affirmed the sack of Aguma as the CTC. The Court of Appeal had upturned the verdict of the State High Court, which declared Aguma as Chairman. The court then recognised Isaac Ogbabula, a loyalist to Amaechi as the authentic Committee leader.
Grieved by the development, on March 6, Aguma left APC and joined PDP in May 21.
Some members who are not willing to watch more drama unfolding have dumped APC for PDP.
Concerned by the development, a civil rights activist and chancellor of the International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights (ISSJHR), Omenazu Jackson, said, with what is still going on in APC, it is doubted if the party has responsible elders in it fold.
He warned that, it may be difficult for APC to win election without being united. Omenazu said, “With this rivalry, the possibility of winning elections in the state will be difficult and if the party at the national level does the needful and become decisive on issues like this, they can make progress but if they keep quite; it means they are not interested in winning Rivers State in 2023.”
He however, called on all politicians to moderate their actions, stating that politics is a game that is played with interest and not by people who do not have ideological positions.
“The national leaders should be straight in addressing this problem, so that the confusion in Rivers State can be solved once and for all. People are watching their conducts,” he added.
Speaking on the unfolding events a party chieftain and former governorship candidate, Tonye Princewill said, APC is the only party that can give constructive and effective opposition to the state government. He added that the Beke-led executive is capable of driving the needed change in the state.
His words: “Their success is not only APC’s success, but the success of the entire Rivers State. I know what it takes to start a good fight and this team has the full skillset.
“Good governance, which this state needs, is hinged on and begins with effective opposition. Nobody wants to compete with a leader who can be compromised. Chief Emeka Beke, like him or hate him, cannot be compromised. In politics, that is not a quality you should disregard.”
However, a political analyst and former media aide to Governor Nyesom Wike, Oraye St.Franklyn has advised Rivers people not to slavishly focus on any party but on individuals with quality leadership credentials backed by a dossier of proven track record of competence.
He said: “The Parties are truly secondary considerations. The candidates are the real primary considerations. This is why if popular parties don’t field credible candidates, the electorate, we the people, are at liberty to choose an unpopular party with credible candidates. Let’s focus on what really matters.”
He also urged the APC executive to unite the party and present the Rivers electorate with a viable alternative political platform to balance governance in the State.
While describing Beke led-exco as competent, Oraye stated; “ if he succeeds in repositioning APC in the state, it would mean that Rivers State would experience better governance and our people will be treated better; as those upon whose shoulders the government rests.”
“One thing is certain, the next House of Assembly of the state would be bipartisan at the very least, if not multi-partisan. The budget would be publicly available for scrutiny and Rivers people will have better governance,” he added.
Another APC Chieftain loyal to Abe, Chidi Wihioka said Amaechi has been pardoned for leading them astray and causing misfortunes to members since 2013.
He said Amaechi could come back and take the back seat. However, as the drama in Rivers APC continues to unfold even with the election year ticking, all eyes are open to see how the party can take over the Brick House without first healing itself.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s media aide, Garba Shehu, says he agrees with the UK-based publication, The Economist, that Nigeria’s insecurity has taken a turn for the worse since the ex-military dictator was elected as a civilian President in 2015.
“The Economist is also accurate to state that they (insecurity challenges) have come to a head under President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration,” the President’s media acknowledged in a statement reacting to the report.
The publication noted that under Buhari, Nigeria had become a crime scene of destructive magnitude on the African continent, pointing out that terrorists and armed bandits are running wild because Buhari is corrupt and lazy, failing to do anything but render lip service following every deadly attack.
While admitting that insecurity has taken a deep plunge, spiralling out of control, Shehu defended the Nigerian leader as more purposeful and pragmatic than previous administrations.
“Yet they do so, because for so long, under previous administrations, whether military or democratic, tough decisions have been ducked, and challenges never fully met – with the effect of abetting these dangers and allowing them all to fester and grow,” the presidential spokesman claimed. “It is only the Buhari leadership which has sought – ever, in over one hundred years – to identify the root causes of the herder-farmer clashes and find durable solutions.”
In July, the bandits shut down a Nigerian Air Force jet in Zamfara and invaded the Nigerian Defence Academy Kaduna the following month.
Although Mr Buhari acknowledged bandits have been terrorising the country, his administration has been reluctant to declare bandits as terrorists because they have yet to declare a political or religious goal, a key requisite in designating a movement as terrorists under international regulations.
Lagos Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, has ruled out sanctions against the police officers who assaulted Uber driver, Adedotun Clement, during the one-year anniversary of the #EndSARS protest in the state.
Odumosu who addressed journalists on Sunday, said no police officers have been reported for committing any crime against civilians during the protest.
He claimed to have witnessed the protest, and since “no one has come to make a formal complaint,” the police was not obliged to “trail” the officers based on a newspaper report.
“To the best of my knowledge, no single officer has been reported to have committed an infraction. The officers of the Neighborhood Watch were identified.
“I told a journalist on that day that we have our procedure; we need an official complaint to be able to try any policeman that has been complained against.
“If you know the policeman that assaulted you and you also have witnesses, lodge a formal complaint against the policeman,” The PUNCH quoted Odumosu to have said.
He added, “There must be a complainant; we have internal trials as we don’t trail people on the pages of newspapers; somebody needs to stand and give evidence.”
Odumosu said he called LASTMA to release the Uber driver’s vehicle but Clement has not been to their office to lodge any complaint about the matter.
“The Uber driver has not lodged any complaint; I got his number, called him personally and he told me about his vehicle and I called the General Manager, LASTMA, forwarded his number to him that they should release his vehicle.
“He has not lodged any complaint against anybody and our disciplinary procedure must be documented,” he added.
On Wednesday, security operatives assaulted Clement while on duty at the Lekki toll gate during the one-year anniversary of the #EndSARS protest.
After the video of the incident was shared on social media, officials of the LNSC involved in the molestation were suspended by the agency.
Clement is demanding N500 million compensation from the Lagos government.
Back in the day when I was in Law School in America, one of my favorite Professors used to repeatedly tell us that there’s a fine line between good legal research and investigative journalism. He told us that one day we would find it useful, as legal practitioners, to remove the garb of a lawyer and adorn that of an investigative journalist. And that it might pay off.
Recently, I remembered the erudite Professor and decided to indulge myself in a little bit of investigative journalism (of the internet kind) and my topic of interest was, you guessed it: Extraordinary Rendition – the abominable legal concept that is currently generating quantum public interest in Nigeria. On a hunch, I zeroed-in on official Nigeria.
In due course, my hunch paid off. In particular, I discovered that Nigeria’s Chief Law Officer – Attorney-General Abubakar Malami (SAN), has long had a secret connection with extraordinary rendition in more ways than one. Below are the details:
In 2016, the ‘United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’ published a scholarly project document in a 691-page colorful compendium, titled ‘Cases and Materials on Extradition in Nigeria’. The highly celebrated publication was accomplished with the assistance of the European Union, the Federal High Court and several lawyers from the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The highly collaborative project comprised of learned jurists who pivoted on ‘Extradition’ and its garden varieties, including particularly ‘extraordinary rendition’ which the compendium discussed with evident disapproval.
AGF Malami, who had endorsed the project, wrote in the Foreword to the published compendium that: “The compendium consists of constitutional provisions, legislation, subsidiary legislation, judicial pronouncements treaties and other international instruments on extradition as they relate to Nigeria”.
This how Malami’s negative connection with extraordinary rendition started. But this is a tip of the iceberg. The iceberg lies in the Introduction to the compendium, which I shall hereunder reproduce, verbatim. Now, read on:
“It is easy to confuse extradition with rendition. Rendition is a general term for all procedures, including extradition, for returning wanted persons or aliens generally, from a State. Unlawful or irregular forms of returning persons wanted for trial or punishment include abduction and the so called “extraordinary rendition”.
“Extraordinary rendition is a government sponsored arrest, kidnap and abductions of persons wanted, accused or convicted of a criminal offence either to the state who sponsored the arrest, kidnap or abduction or to a willing third party state.
“Extraordinary rendition denies a person of the right to challenge his transfer to the requesting or receiving state. It involves the violation of the principles of international law especially where the persons transferred are subjected to torture or sham criminal charges or trials.
“The ‘Dikko Affair’ of 1984 is an example of an attempt at unlawful rendition. After a coup d’état in 1983, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria requested the British government to surrender Umaru Dikko, a former Minister alleged to have been involved in corrupt practices.
“Before the British government responded to the request, an intelligence officer from the Nigerian security forces with three Israeli nationals abducted Mr. Dikko and attempted to cargo him to Nigeria in a crate. This attempt was foiled by the British security apparatus, the abductors were jailed and the relationship between Nigeria and Britain became strained.
“Even though not successful, it was an attempt by Nigeria to go against the international norms in expressing its political will”.
In concluding his Foreword to the compendium, Malami stated that: “It is a very good resource material on extradition and it is therefore my pleasure to recommend the Cases and Materials on Extradition in Nigeria to all and sundry, for use in identifying the position of extradition law in Nigeria”.
Malami did not stop there. He underscored his abiding commitment to the due process of extradition, as opposed to the illegality and abomination of extraordinary rendition by deploying some of the finest lawyers in the Federal Ministry of Justice (his office) to the project.
Not done, Malami went on to profusely thank the United Nations “for its technical support to the Federal Ministry of Justice for the review of laws, development of policy instruments and capacity building for staff of the Ministry in extradition law related areas”.
And there, dear readers, is how much Attorney-General Malami loved extradition and hated extraordinary rendition until 19th June, 2021.
