Nigeria Content Online

Few days to the end of Adebayo Alao-Akala’s
administration as the Oyo State governor, cracks are appearing within
its ranks as the commissioner for health, Babalola Owolabi has accused
other government officials of plotting to take his life.

The commissioner, who raised the alarm in Ibadan at
the weekend, accused ‘some desperate, greedy and intellectually
percolated cabal’ in the state government of being behind the plot.

Mr Owolabi, who was attacked at the weekend by a
group of armed gang suspected to be assassins, said he is suspicious
that his assailants are after his life for being outspoken and denying
them the chance of a last minute raid on the state’s treasury.

Threats and attacks

A gang of ‘four to six hefty men’ reportedly attacked
the commissioner at Conoil filling station, Mokola, Ibadan around 8.30
p.m. when he wanted to refuel his car on Friday.

According to him, the men, who were armed with knives
and other dangerous weapons, trailed him to the scene and attacked him
from the back after he alighted from the car.

Just two days before the attack (on Wednesday), Mr
Owolabi was accosted, beaten and almost striped by some thugs while he
was leaving the executive chambers of the Governor’s office after
attending the weekly state executive council meeting.

It took the intervention of the state
attorney-general and commissioner for justice, AbdulSalami Ladi
Abdullahi, for him to escape.

His offence, according to sources in the government
circle, was his “audacity” to blame Mr Alao-Akala for the Peoples
Democratic Party’s poor performance in the general elections.

Giving his comments on the role of cabinet members in
mobilising and campaigning for the elections, the commissioner
reportedly told the governor that he committed a grave political
blunder by allowing the hospitals in the state to remain shut for about
eight, owing to a strike by state’s health workers.

Mr Owolabi also said he pleaded with the governor to
address the issues the doctors and other health workers were agitating,
but that the governor ignored his reasoning.

‘Sense of responsibility’

Apart from his perceived effrontery, Mr Owolabi added
that he attracted the wrath of his adversaries in the cabinet for
allegedly declining the request to release N250 million from his
ministry’s treasury to an Ibadan-based socialite, arguing that there
existed no legitimate purpose and documents to justify the disbursement.

He was said to told a friend that he was not ready to do anything he would not be able to justify after leaving office.

Despite expressing fear for his life, Mr Owolabi
declined to suspects in the attacks, ‘in order not to jeopardize the
course of investigation’. He said he had reported the attacks and
expressed his fears to the Commissioner of Police, Baba Adisa Bolanta
as well as State Security Service (SSS) in the state. Both of them, he
said, promised to protect his life and property.

“I am still a member of the state executive council
and I am under allegiance not to reveal what are not for public
consumption. But, all my actions have been out of very serious sense of
responsibility and trust to the Executive Governor of Oyo State and by
extension the good people of Oyo State,” Mr Owolabi said.

No retreat

Mr Owolabi, who said he would inform the governor of
his travails today (Monday), said his beliefs and position has not
changed, despite the attacks.

“I will not be a party to any last minute arrangement
to deplete the resources of our commonwealth, and to my mind, this is
being true to the cause. I intend staying on the course,” he said.

He added that he plans to continue working with the present
administration till the end, explaining that his life is not more
important than that of ‘NYSC members who paid the supreme price in a
bid to salvage and rebuild this nation’.

The leadership of the House of Representatives should
ensure an accelerated passage of the National Tobacco Control Bill as
passed by the Senate, anti-tobacco group, the Environmental Rights
Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), said to journalists
yesterday in Lagos.

The National Tobacco Control Bill was passed by the
Senate on March 15 this year, and it is currently awaiting a concurrent
passage by the House of Representatives and a presidential assent
before it becomes law.

“We are strongly in support of the concurrent passage
of the bill as passed by the Senate because it conforms to the
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and meets most international
standards and obligations regarding tobacco control,” said Akinbode
Oluwafemi, a director at ERA/FoEN.

“The bill is a veritable tool that will help Nigeria
to fight a deadly addiction, thereby protecting many lives and saving
costs of medicare.”

Speedy passage

The National Tobacco Control Bill, sponsored by
Olorunnimbe Mamora, a senator representing Lagos East constituency, was
first introduced to the Senate in 2008. After undergoing a second
reading in February 2009, a public hearing was held five months later.

Mr Oluwafemi appealed to the principal officers of
the House of Representatives to ensure that the tobacco bill is passed
this week, so it could be listed as “one of the dividends of
democracy.”

“The Senate has led the way,” continued Mr Oluwafemi.
“We hereby call on the House of Representatives to ensure a quick
passage of the bill as delay may be dangerous.”

The bill stipulates a fine of not less than N200 and
not exceeding N1,000 or imprisonment to a term of not less than one
month and not exceeding two years for any person who smokes tobacco
contrary to the provisions of the Act.

“We are very optimistic that for the first time, we
have a comprehensive bill that is taking enforcement very seriously,”
said Mr Oluwafemi.

“But beyond that, tobacco control is actually
citizen-enforced – the number one thing is to have the law, once we
have the law and the law states that smoking is prohibited in public
places… we can draw the attention of law enforcement agents to it.”

On the implication of the failure of the House to
pass the bill, Mr Oluwafemi noted that it would amount to “a waste of
energy and resources.”

“If it is not done, all the efforts, all the energy, all the
resources that have been committed both by the Senate and everybody is
going to go back to the start again and I think that is not the new
Nigeria we are all thinking about,” said Mr Oluwafemi, who also
expressed faith in the ability of the House to pass the bill. “If they
fail to do that, it’s going to be a colossal waste to the nation in
terms of resources. Of course, every day counts because lives are
lost.” </

The Inspector
General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, has been summoned by a Chief
Magistrate Court in Abuja to explain why he should not be committed to
prison for his continued disobedience of court orders.

His offence, as
contained in Form 49, is contempt of court for refusing to release a
man suspected to be an informant to the State Security Service, Aliyu
Tasheku, who for eight months had been unlawfully detained at the Force
Criminal Investigations Department in Area 10, Garki, Abuja, the
country’s capital.

“Take notice that
the applicant will on the 10th day of May 2011 at the hour of 9 0’clock
in the forenoon, apply to this honourable court for an order for your
committal to prison for having disobeyed the order of court,” reads
Form 49, which was signed by the court registrar on May 3 and
acknowledged the next day by the Commissioner of Police in charge of
Legal matters.

Mr Ringim, who is
being summoned along with two other police officers, Ezekiel Rimans and
Bala Inusa of the Police Force Headquarters legal department, had
earlier been served Form 48 dated April 6, warning him of the
consequences of disobeying Chief Magistrate Binta Mohammed’s March 28
order granting Mr Tasheku bail.

Despite the court’s
pronouncement and several verbal and written reminders to the Police to
respect the law, the police had defiantly refused granting bail to Mr
Tasheku, who is accused of conspiracy, belonging to a prohibited
religious sect (Boko Haram), and inciting disturbance.

A recalcitrant force

Instead of
remanding Mr Tasheku at the Kuje Prison as directed by the court, the
Police detained him further at the Force Criminal Investigation
Department’s cell. For over a month after he met all bail conditions,
he was still not released. The Police on May 4 instead transferred him
to Maiduguri, where his lawyer, Kevin Okoro, remains uncertain of his
fate.

“This is the height
of gross disrespect for the constitution and the laws of this country.
It is a slap on the face of the judiciary, a disgrace to the democracy
Nigeria claims it practices,” Mr. Okoro says. “First, the police
breached his fundamental rights by exceeding the statutory period to
detain him. They refused him bail, now they are disobeying court orders
and have taken him to Maiduguri where nobody knows what will happen
next.”

In an initial story
published by NEXT on April 10, the Police Force spokesperson, Yemi
Ajayi, had been asked why the Police have refused to release Mr Tasheku
and disobeyed the court order. His response was that Mr

Tasheku has never been detained at the Force CID.

“We’ve searched and
gone through our records, there’s nobody that has been detained by that
name at Force CID. We don’t have anybody like that,” Mr. Ajayi had said.

This, however,
won’t be the first time the Police would deny the existence of Mr
Tasheku who for the first five months after his arrest on October 20,
2010, had been locked up at the Force CID without being charged to
court and allegedly tortured.

In an apparent case
of perjury, a police litigation clerk, Jonah Wutu, with the consent of
the Inspector General (the first respondent) had on March 8, 2011 lied
under oath to an Abuja High Court judge, Ishaq Bello, when a motion was
filed asking for the enforcement of Mr Tasheku’s fundamental rights to
personal liberty and dignity.

“The name of Mallam
Aliyu Tasheku is quite strange to the Force Headquarters of the Nigeria
Police. There is never a day when the first respondent order (sic) the
arrest and detention of the second applicant (Mr Tasheku) in any of the
Nigeria Police cell. There is nobody with a name Mallam Aliyu Tasheku
in the Force CID cell at areas 10. Garki, Abuja,” Mr Wutu said.

This lie was
uncovered after civil society organisations mounted pressure on the
Police, who eventually charged Mr Tasheku on March 28 at the Chief
Magistrate Court 1 at Wuse Zone 2, Abuja before Ms Mohammed who granted
him bail.

When Mr Ajayi was
told that NEXT in the first week of May actually visited Mr Tasheku,
who by virtue of his long detention had been christened “Presido cell
3”, at Force CID before his transfer to Maiduguri, he said the Police
legal department would counter the court’s notice for the IG to be
committed to prison.

“I cannot respond
to any of this [referring to the Form 48 and Form 49]. You can go ahead
with your story, after which we will consult our legal department for
advice,” he said.

The agent nobody wants

The gaze in Mr
Tasheku’s eyes while at the Police Force CID revealed a tired and
dejected looking man. Coming out of cell three dressed in a faded brown
Kaftan and looking much older than 39, Mr Tasheku stretched out his
hand. Under a muffled voice and with a solemn frown he pleaded for help.

“I have been told
they want to transfer me to Maiduguri. Why they want to take me there,
I don’t know. I am not from Borno, even my family is not from there. I
don’t know what the police are planning or what will happen to me
there,” he had said.

Mr Tasheku is
assertive of what he says he knows. He arguably has answers to numerous
issues revolving around Nigeria’s seeming failure in fighting terrorism
and tackling the Boko Haram issue in Northern Nigeria.

He readily mentions
names of past and serving heads of the SSS and the Police, including
former Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro, all whom he said for
several years he constantly gave information on the activities of Boko
Haram.

But like the Police, the SSS have denied any knowledge of him.

The Service spokesperson, Marilyn Ogar, stated categorically that no records exist of Mr. Tasheku in their database.

“I took time to go
through our records. He is not an informant to the SSS. If he had been
our informant we would owe him a duty to protect him unless he goes to
do things that are inimical to the Service. He has never been our
informant because we don’t have his details in our records,” Ms. Ogar
said.

Though a man not
many are willing to associate with, Mr Tasheku’s opinion was evidently
respected and sought by the British Broadcasting Corporation and the
Voice of America who in October 2010 interviewed him on solutions to
ending the Boko Haram crisis. His response during the interview, which
he said he got clearance from top security officials to grant, got him
arrested a week later.

“All I told the BBC
is if Nigerian government want solution they should stop arresting Boko
Haram members, release all those arrested, allow members to perform
their religious worship in peace and they should be treated with
equity,” Mr Tasheku said.

These were the same
things listed in the Police First Information Report (FIR) which the
Police used as evidence to charge him to the Chief Magistrate Court,
stating the interview incited public disturbance.

Mr Okoro is,
however, apprehensive of the tactics deployed by the Police and the
presidency, despite his petition dated March 31, 2011 calling on
President Goodluck Jonathan to prevail on Mr. Ringim to obey the court
order to release his client.

Several phone calls and delivered text messages at getting the
presidential spokesperson, Ima Niboro, to state the present situation
with Mr Okoro’s petition went unanswered.

The gubernatorial
candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Akwa Ibom
state, Larry Esin, has rejected the victory of the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) candidate, Godswill Akpabio, describing it as a sham.

He also faulted the
decision of some political parties in the state to congratulate Mr
Akpabio on his victory in an election he said full of illegalities.

Speaking yesterday
in Uyo, Mr Esin explained that to accept the state’s gubernatorial
election which was riddled with irregularities was to entrench
criminality into the country’s polity.

“To accept the
results of April 26th election is to applaud illegality and entrench
criminal behavior into our politics, this will not serve either side
well,” he said. “There was no election in Akwa Ibom State, and there is
overwhelming evidence to prove this. The Akwa Ibom people were denied
their right under the constitution to choose their leaders and
government. This is a grave violation of our fundamental human rights.”

Mr Esin said there
was evidence to prove that the governorship election in the state was a
fiasco and that the election was a ridicule of the political integrity
of the state and country.

The opposition
politician, who said the endorsement of the election was a sham,
described the action as akin to dining with someone whom you had caught
stealing your precious jewelry.

While urging his
supporters to remain calm and not take the law into their hands, Mr
Esin maintained that any democracy built on a weak platform would
degenerate into chaos, anarchy, corruption and deprivation.

“Cases of ballot
box snatching, intimidation, killing, and the use of underage voters
were not only commonplace in the elections, but evidence of the
violation of the universal adult suffrage,” he said, saying results
obtained from such method should be nullified.

The director of the
media and publicity committee of the Akpanudoedehe Positive Change
Campaign Organisation, Thomas Akpan, also said their lawyers were
collating all available facts for presentation at the tribunal which
would commence sitting in the state on Wednesday.

Mr Akpan, who said he believed in the judicial system, said his group would not relent in getting back their mandate.

“We cannot allow
that kind of robbery to go unchallenged. It’s a stolen mandate. We will
get it from him in the court. We cannot allow our mandate to lie there.
We are going to challenge it in court. We’ll take back our mandate
because Akpabio is not going to have it in peace,” he said.

Opposition noise-making

However, the state
commissioner for information and social re-orientation, Aniekan Umana
has insisted that the position of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
and the CPC was “noise-making” devised to heighten political tension in
the state.

“It is about
noise-making. They know the due process, not even the noise and
post-election riot in the north could stop Jonathan from being elected
president of the country,” he said. “In Akwa Ibom State, Godswill
Akpabio clearly won. So, no matter the amount of noise-making. When
Babatunde Fashola won in Lagos State, the Peoples Democratic Party
honoured itself gallantly when Ade Dosunmu congratulated Fashola. What
then is the noise here about?”

Mr Umana advised losing candidates to follow the path of honour and congratulate the governor on his victory in the polls.

“They think Akwa Ibom is where they will come and seek financial
benefits where they did not sow. That is not the case,” he said. “Akwa
Ibom is for the Akwa Ibom people and will be developed for Akwa Ibom
clan. That is what Akpabio is championing, the true development of the
state, not an attempt to sell out the state in whatever interest in the
name of selfish political scheme.”

If anyone thinks
America has a particularly peaceful or passive president, the commando
raid that killed Osama bin Laden is one more reminder they’re wrong.

Unlike his
predecessor, George W. Bush, Barack Obama avoids calling his security
policy a “war on terrorism,” but from Kabul to Cuba, Mr Obama is still
fighting it hard.

“He was able to
have a strong foundation of anti-terrorist efforts,” said former Bush
spokesman, Ari Fleischer. “All that is what Barack Obama continued,
that George Bush started.”

For the mission
against bin Laden, Mr Obama decided to send US troops into Pakistan
without its government’s approval, on the basis of intelligence that
may have been collected through torture.

Mr Obama has
escalated the US effort in Afghanistan with an additional 30,000
troops, so that there are now 100,000 Americans fighting the longest
war in US history.

There are roughly
47,000 troops still in Iraq. They are being gradually withdrawn, but no
faster than the pace planned before Mr Obama was president.

Mr Obama brought
America into its third overseas conflict with its air strikes in Libya,
a country that posed no immediate threat to American security or
interests, but has a long history of support for terrorism.

Mr Obama has also
decided to maintain the US prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo
Bay and increase drone attacks against suspects in Yemen and Pakistan
as well.

The muscular
tactics aren’t all popular inside the US or out of it either, but at
least for now Mr Obama is profiting politically.

A new CNN/Opinion
Research Corporation poll conducted right after the bin Laden raid
found that two-thirds of respondents approve of how the president is
handling terrorism. In fact, they like it better than the rest of his
work in the White House. The poll indicates that just over half of
respondents express approval for his performance as president.

Mr Obama is not a bellicose leader, and even won the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts at better international relations.

In fact, before bin Laden’s death, some of Mr Obama’s opponents questioned his commitment to fighting terrorism.

Now both they and
his supporters are reminded that Mr Obama isn’t especially gentle when
he believes America’s security is at risk.

Jonathan Mann
presents Political Mann on CNN International each Friday at 18:30
(CAT), Saturday at 3pm and 9pm (CAT), and Sunday at 10am (CAT).