Nigeria Content Online

Barely
three days after the murder of The Nation’s judicial correspondent, Edo
Egbagwu, the Edo State Correspondent of Vanguard Newspaper, Simon
Ebegbulem, on Monday night narrowly escaped death as he rammed his car
into the gate of a building while trying to escape from a car he said
was trailing him.

The bonnet of the Honda car was badly
damaged and Mr. Ebegbulem sustained head injuries. He is expected to
undergo scanning yesterday evening to check the extent of injuries to
his head.

Police was already informed of the incident and they have promised to investigate the matter.

The injured reporter said as soon as he left his office, along Arousa,

at about 8.30 pm on Monday, he noticed
a vehicle trailing him right from Sapele Road down to Adesuwa in GRA
and then to Ugbor Road where he lives.

“I noticed the vehicle behind me
immediately I left my office,” Mr. Ebegbulem said. “Initially, I
thought it was just any other vehicle on the road. But I became curious
when I noticed that the same vehicle was behind me through to Sapele
Road, down to Adesuwa and all the other routes I took to cut off the
bad spots and when I came out at Ugbor Road, I noticed the vehicle was
still trailing me.

I doubled my speed and quickly entered
Patrick Ehimen as a decoy and, in the process, I lost control and hit
the gate of the building and the impact on the car forced the car to
reverse itself to where I was coming from. But for the airbags, because
I noticed something like foam pushed me back to my seat when I hit the
gate, I would have sustained more injuries. I was treated and
discharged later that night. But I have to go back today for x-ray to
know the extent of injury on my head”.

The development has created fears in
the minds of many journalists covering the politically volatile state,
as many expressed fear for their jobs and lives.

Governor mourns journalist’s death

Meanwhile, the state governor, Adams
Oshiomhole has commiserated with the Nation newspapers over the murder
of Mr. Ugbagwu. Mr Oshiomhole described the killing as very
unfortunate; “I commiserate with you on the gruesome murder of one of
your reporters by yet-to-be-identified killers,” he said. ”This is a
painful death, going by the report that he was a hardworking and
experienced judiciary reporter with your organization. This latest
killing is however one too many, as Nigerians are yet to recover from
recent similar killings of Godwin Agbroko and Abayomi Adedeji of
Thisday Newspapers and Bayo Ohu of The Guardian.

“Ugbagwu’s murder is not one that
should be swept under the carpet as inaction by the security agencies
will send a wrong signal to the killers that they can always snuff the
life out of innocent Nigerians and get away with the evil act.
Nigerians should rise as one to condemn this dangerous trend where
journalists who have a dissenting voice are silenced.” Also opposition
party, the Action Congress (AC) has expressed concerns over rising
killing of journalists in the country, following Mr. Ugbagwu’s murder
as well as two others in Jos – Sunday Bwede and Natan Dabak over the
weekend.

The party via its National Publicity
Secretary, Lai Mohammed called on the security agencies to move quickly
to unravel the killings saying “it was particularly alarmed at the
shooting dead of Ugbagwu,

which followed the same pattern as the
killing of Bayo Ohu of the Guardian last year, Abayomi Ogundeji of
Thisday in 2008 and Godwin Agbroko also of Thisday before them.” The
party expressed the hope that the journalists are being targeted
because of their profession, saying such could in turn stifle the
nation’s democracy.

“The challenge, therefore, for the
security agencies is not just to find the killers and bring them to
book, but to investigate if the murders have anything to do with the
fact that the victims are media practitioners. This is important to
reassure Nigerians that members of the Fourth Estate can perform their
constitutionally-guaranteed duties without fear,” Mr. Mohammed said.

The Party said the overall implication of the rising wave of murder,
in the country is that the security situation in Nigeria is worsening
and therefore reiterated its call for a decentralized police force,
claiming the police, as presently constituted can no longer ensure the
security of lives and property.

Aware of the
challenges of election monitoring, the Inspector General of Police,
Ogbonna Onovo, has directed the Assistant Inspectors General of Police
(AIGs) and Commissioners of Police (CPs) manning all the respective
zones and state commands across the nation to start preparing their men
for the next general elections.

Deputy Inspector
General of Police in charge of ‘D’ (Investigations) Department, Israel
Ajao, disclosed this yesterday in Ibadan, during a working visit to
Zone 11 of the force. He said Mr Onovo’s order was designed to make the
men of the Nigeria Police well prepared in order to play their role
more effectively in the coming elections.

Mr. Ajao said
special trainings are going on in all commands across the country to
properly ground policemen on what are expected of them when they are
assigned to monitor elections.

“We want our men to
know what to do and what not to do during elections. That is why the IG
has directed all the AIGs and CPs to start the special training for the
men, so that we will get things right this time,” he said.

The police boss
also revealed that the array of commendations coming the way of the
Nigerian Police in respect of the conduct their men in the last two
elections in Anambra and Abuja confirmed that the police can discharge
its duties during elections effectively.

Speaking on crime
fighting, which is the core of policing, Mr. Ajao said the IG has
ordered that the police start employing the old beat system to reduce
crime to the barest level in the country.

The system demands
from the DPOs good understanding of the environment where they operate,
as well as friendly rapport with the residents to the extent that
useful information that could lead to foiling of crime at planning
stages are regularly available to the police.

Though, he agreed
that many of the crimes committed in the urban centres are often
executed with sophisticated weapons, Mr. Ajao confirmed that the beat
system remains the most effective means of fighting crime in most of
the police divisions in the country.

According to him,
the system will make the police more proactive as they would not be
waiting for crimes to be committed before acting.

Back to the beats

“The police should
be proactive,” said Mr. Ajao. “We should not be waiting till crimes are
committed before we act. The DPOs need to be friendly with members of
their communities to be able to get information that would be useful in
foiling crimes. The DPOs should be our eyes and ears in the communities
where they operate.

He also informed
that the police will not take things easy for any vigilante group who
operates without the knowledge of the police as this brings more
problems than solution to crime fighting.

Mr. Ajao said the
DPOs have been directed to register all vigilante groups in their
areas, including information about members of the groups.

Commenting on
recent attacks on police stations, the police boss said the IG has
directed that security be beefed up at all stations and police barracks
across the country to forestall possible attack from members of the
public.

“A situation where
people will attack police stations and cart away our arms is no more
acceptable to us,” he said. “If this continues to happen, we are
sending wrong signals to the public. If we cannot protect our stations
and barrack, how do we protect them?”

In order to arrest
the situation, Mr. Ajao said the IG has directed that special security
be provided for police stations, divisions and barracks to ward off
invasion from disgruntled elements.

Cowardly officers

Although the police
is desirous of having well educated men within its fold, the DIG hinted
that the institution has stopped unofficial schooling by its men.

“The police would
expect whoever wants to go back to school to apply properly and secure
approval before going,” he said, adding that the arrangement would give
the police the privilege of knowing officers that were on duty..

He said such record
will allow the institution to maximize the use of its scanty manpower,
which is said to be affecting its operation currently.

Instructing the
DPOs to reduce number of policemen in their administrative sections,
Mr. Ajao noted that majority of policemen carrying files at police
stations could be trained to combat crime in the society.

He also announced
the police leadership’s renewed zero tolerance to acts of cowardice,
saying but for the cowardice of some members of the Ogun State police
command, the area commander killed during last year’s crisis in
Ijebu-Ife would not have suffered the fate.

Baba Adisa Bolanta,
Oyo Command’s Commissioner of Police, said the command has embarked on
training of its men, especially in the area of weapons handling to
avoid cases of accidental discharge.

Mr Ajao was accompanied by Mohammed Yesufu, AIG of Zone 11, comprising Oyo, Osun and Ondo States police commands.

The
federal government’s post amnesty programme could only achieve
meaningful result if activities of oil theft and proliferation of arms
are reduced to the barest minimum on our waterways, the Flag Officer
Commanding, Western Naval Command, Ola Ibrahim said yesterday in Akure.

Mr. Ibrahim, who
led a team of Naval Chiefs on inspection of ships in formations under
his command to pay a courtesy visit to the Ondo State Governor,
Olusegun Mimiko, said all hands must be on deck to checkmate
proliferation of illegal arms to coastal communities.

“There is direct
relationship between oil theft and small arms proliferation. This is a
big problem which had resulted in loss of materials and men by the
Western Naval Command. However with the appropriate protection of the
water ways and economic activities taking place there, the country will
be better for it,” he said. “We must all rise up to make sure that the
post amnesty programme is successful by checkmating illegal
transporting of arms to the riverine communities which is being used by
militants as their base” He stressed further that the Nigerian Navy was
ready to work hand in hand with the state government to make the
waterways in the state crime free.

Mr. Ibrahim said
the conception of the Forward Operations Base is essentially to shorten
reaction time within crisis period in the area of operations, stressing
that the base is part of infrastructure that must bring about the
quality of service the Nigerian Navy renders for national development.

Mr. Mimiko charged
the Nigerian Navy to consolidate on the gains of the Federal Government
Amnesty Programme in 2009 by making the Niger Delta Waterways free of
criminal activities.

Ondo Naval Base

He said the presence of the Forward Operations Base (FOB) at Igbokoda,

in the oil-rich
Ilaje Local Government area of the state, was appreciated by the state
government as an additional means of securing lives and property in the
area.

“The establishment
of FOB will also serve as a deterrent to would-be criminals in our
waterways,” he said. “It will no doubt have positive effects on
securing the strategic oil and gas business in the Niger Delta region.

“The situation is much better now, but I think you are prepared to
confront any eventuality. The Amnesty Programme of President Musa
Yar’Adua administration has reduced illegal bunkering and economic
sabotage in the Niger Delta.”

Apparently
fed up with the protracted tussle between members of the ruling family
in Ilaro town, over the selection of a new traditional ruler for the
town, the Ogun state government yesterday announced a 21-day ultimatum
for the families to agree on a choice of monarch, or forfeit the
opportunity.

The position of
government was made known by Tunde Alabi, the state’s commissioner for
Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, during a meeting with members
of the Asade-Agunloye ruling house in Abeokuta.

The commissioner
said that if the ruling house failed to put their house in order so
that government could install the new Olu of Ilaro and ruler of
Yewaland within the next 21 days, the state government would be forced
to choose a monarch from the next ruling house.

Mr. Alabi also
advised members of the Asade-Agunloye ruling house, made up of the Dada
Ibiyemi and Olusoji Olugbenle families, who are divided over the
kingship to unite and equally withdraw cases related to the suit from
court.

“The position of
the state government is that the two ruling houses involved in this
case should come together as one in order to have a monarch in Ilaro,”.

The Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs,
Babajide Oyeti, said the state governor, Gbenga Daniel, was not happy
about the case and had instructed state officials to mediate in the
impasse.

Jas Oyekan, who is
the regent-in-council, said it is the turn of the Asade -Agunloye
ruling house to produce the Olu of Ilaro, but they have not been able
to agree on a candidate.

Mr. Oyekan
expressed dismay that some of the indigenes of the town, including the
two feuding families, have accused him of nursing ambition of becoming
the next traditional ruler, which he said is not possible.

“The problem is
much on my neck and there is nobody that can talk on behalf of Yewa
except the paramount ruler which we refused to produce, I want peace in
Ilaro. It is the ruling house that does not want peace,” he said.

Chairman of the
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),Ilaro, Solomon Olagunade, also
appealed to the two families to be patient. He said this was the first
time the kingship tussle was taken to the courts.

Tajudeen Adewunmi,
Chief Imam of the town, also advised that the two families be patient
and endeavour to come together as one so that peace will reign.

One family

Adesola Shobayo,
the Director ofCivil Litigation and Advisory Services, Ministry of
Justice, also called on the families to withdraw the case from court
and settle it amicably.

“If, after this
meeting, they refused [sic] to produce Oba elect, we will advice the
government to go to the next ruling house,” he said. “They can’t
continue to hold us back. Our position is to advice the government.”

Spokesperson for
the Dada Ibiyemi family, Haruna Dada, said they decided to take the
case to court when they realized that the Olusoji Olugbenle family
wanted to cheat them. He gave his assurances that the case would be
withdrawn from court once they received clear agreement from the Asade
Agunloye house that they are one family.

“Before we took the case to court, we wrote to the state Governor,
the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and the Ilaro
Elders’ Council but there was no response from all of them,” he said.
“The way forward is that it is the turn of the Dada Ibiyemi to produce
the Olu of Ilaro. Let them agree that we belong to the same ruling
house, we are one family.”

Jimoh Ibrahim, the
current chairman of Nigerian Eagle Airlines (former Virgin Nigeria
Airways), on Wednesday in Lagos disclosed that his company will next
week announce a new brand name for the carrier.

Mr.Ibrahim, who is
also the chairman of the NICON group, the company that bought over the
country’s flag carrier last week, disclosed that the airline is
technically fit but financially sick, adding that there is going to be
structural changes in the company to stabilize its operations.

“There will be a
name change and the name will reflect the image of our nation and by
next week latest I am going to brief the media on the new name,” he
said. “If I buy any foreign company, I change the name to reflect
Nigeria even if Virgin gives me their name for free of charge I will
change the name.”

Virgin Nigeria was
launched in the country, amidst fanfare, in 2005.Last year, the company
changed its name to Nigerian Eagle Airlines after cutting ties with its
founder – Virgin Atlantic Limited.

Prior to the name
change on September 17, last year, British billionaire and chairman of
Virgin Atlantic disclosed that the founding company of Virgin Nigeria
was looking forward to selling its 49 per cent stake in the carrier,
for which it did pay a sum of about $25m in 2005.

The new owners,
NICON group, disclosed that the airline’s fleet would be increased to
seven aircraft, which are expected to focus on domestic routes and
regional routes, stressing that the number will be increased to 17 in
the future to expand the suspended long haul operations.

New strategy

Mr. Ibrahim
disclosed plans of enlisting the carrier in the stock exchange under
its new name, adding that the current company has no issues with the
parent and founding carrier, Virgin Atlantic.

“My immediate plan
is to stabilize the airline with at least seven aircraft which we are
going to achieve shortly,” he said. “The plans include expansion of its
fleet to seven to capture the local market, regional routes and later
the international networks.”

Reacting to critics
who have questioned his ability to successfully manage the airline,
following the fortunes of defunct EAS airline that was later taken over
by his company, Mr. Ibrahim assured that there is no reason to worry.

“There is no fear
any where, if people have fears, it a self created fear, if I want to
mention people who successfully run any company in Nigeria, it is our
company because one of the greatest areas where people have respect in
us is the ability to turn around any company,” he said.

On fears that the new company might retrench some its workforce, the chairman disclosed that there are no plans to sack workers.

“Each aircraft requires a number of people that will service it,” he
said. “We are strategizing and turning round the airline, why should we
sack any worker? But if you are a fraudulent staff, you better start
running while the dedicated ones should expect their promotion.”

The federal
government yesterday said it now has sufficient gas to generate power
stations, so Nigerians should look out for an improvement in the
sector.

Speaking after a
closed door meeting of the presidential committee on power, the
spokesman of the acting president, Imo Niboro, said the group is moving
forward on the issue of power.

This is coming as
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria Limited Joint
Venture has signed a multi-million dollar pipeline contract that will
enable it supply more gas to power stations in the country. The SPDC,
in a statement on Wednesday, said it signed the contract with Daewoo
Nigeria Limited, on April 27, in Port Harcourt.

According to the
statement, the contract will involve the construction of pipelines that
will take gas from SPDC’s operated fields at Utorogu, Adibawa and
Agbada to the domestic gas network owned and operated by the Nigerian
Gas Company. The aggregate length of pipelines covered by the contract
scope is 90 kilometres.

Repositioning the sector

Mr. Niboro said in
Abuja that the closed door meeting was one of the strategic meetings
being held to re-position the power sector.

“The petroleum
minister gave us some good news that we now have a sufficient gas to
power our traditional power stations. So that will lead to some
considerable improvement in power in the next few months.

“We also looked at
the issue of hydro-power, which dot’s most part s of the north and
south west. Many of them are structurally completed, what is required
is the turbines and we looked at those issues and we are going to make
sure that those turbines are put in place so that in the next few
months, they can be up and running. ”

He added that the
increase in gas is one of the gains of the amnesty process. “If you
follow the trends, there have been fewer disruptions in production
processes and that has brought gas into the system,” he said. l

Pioneering gas supply

Speaking at the gas
signing ceremony, Mutiu Sunmonu, SPDC managing director, said: “This
project is of high importance to us as a company and also to the
nation. Electricity is key to national development, and we are pleased
to increase our capacity to supply more gas to power stations, in
addition to other efforts we are making.

On completion of
the project by the end of next year, the pipelines are expected to
deliver some 250 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to the
domestic gas supply system.

The SPDC Joint
Venture pioneered gas supply to industries in Nigeria in the 1960s, and
still supplies over 75 per cent of the domestic gas market, mainly for
power generation, and continues to increase its contribution.

In 2008, SPDC began
producing electricity from the newly-built Afam VI power plant,
increasing Nigeria’s electricity capacity by about 15-20 per cent.

The plant is powered by gas from SPDC’s Okoloma gas plant, which
opened in 2008 and has the capacity to increase the nation’s gas supply
by approximately 20 per cent.

The Senate,
yesterday, overwhelmingly supported a bill seeking to provide measures
to combat terrorism in Nigeria, as the bill passed its second reading.
The bill, sent by the Presidency, was first read in the Senate on
December 10 last year. It has also passed the second reading stage in
the House of Representatives.

In his lead debate, the Senate leader, Teslim Folarin, said the bill will be the first anti-terrorism law in the country.

“It is important to
note that Nigeria does not have a comprehensive anti-terrorism law and,
for that reason, has failed to meet the requirements of the Financial
Action Task Force (FATF), established by the G7 Summit held in Paris in
1989,” Mr. Folarin said.

The FATF
recommendations and requirements are to detect, prevent, and suppress
the financing of terrorism and terrorist acts. However, out of the Task
Force’s nine special recommendations, Nigeria was rated ‘non-compliant’
in seven and ‘partially compliant’ in only two.

“This rating is not good enough for the country,” Mr. Folarin said.

“The answer to addressing these poor ratings lies in the passage of this bill into law.”

Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross River) criticised Nigeria’s indifference to the war against terrorism in the past.

“The global
community thinks Nigeria is not doing enough,” Mr. Ndoma-Egba said.
“There is almost a global consensus that Nigeria is not a terrorist
state, but there are concerns that there are identified footholds of
terrorism in Nigeria.”

Terror bill

The bill has five
essential parts covering acts of terrorism and related offences,
terrorism funding, and terrorist properties, mutual assistance and
extradition, investigation and prosecution.

The acts of
terrorism, according to the bill, include attacks upon a person’s life
which may cause bodily harm or death, kidnappings, as well as the
destruction of government facilities or private properties in a manner
likely to endanger human life or result in a major economic loss.

The bill also
addresses the hijacking of aircrafts, ships, or other means of public
transport, as well as the manufacture, possession, acquisition,
transport, supply, or use of weapons and explosives.

The propagation and
dissemination of information in any form calculated to cause panic,
evoke violence, or intimidate a government, person or group of persons,
also fall within actions the bill seeks to deal with or prevent.

Mr. Folarin
described the kidnappings in southern Nigeria, the Boko Haram incident
in Borno State, the Kala Kato uprising in Bauchi State, and the ongoing
Jos crises as acts of domestic terrorism.

“It is a fact that
terrorism is taking root and assuming a new dimension everywhere, and
it is our duty as responsible lawmakers to work towards its eradication
through the promulgation of relevant legislation,” he said.

Every senator that
contributed to the debate applauded the bill and it was referred to the
Senate committees on Security and Intelligence, Judiciary, and Foreign
Affairs for further legislative actions.

It is expected to be passed into law before the end of this quarter.

“This is a bill
that requires the attention and support of every senator,” Senator Nuhu
Aliyu (PDP, Niger), the chairman of Senate committee on security and
Intelligence, said.

The family of
detained former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to late military ruler
Sani Abacha, Hamza Al Mustapha, rose from a meeting yesterday in Kano
with a resolution that the continued detention of Mr. Mustapha is a
result of state persecution.

Hadi Al Mustapha,
immediate younger brother to the detained man, addressed journalists in
Kano shortly after what he described as a crucial family meeting to
appraise 11 years of Mr. Al Mustapha’s incarceration.

The obviously
unhappy man could not hide the family’s frustration over the slowness
in the trial of his elder brother, saying the family is tired with the
way the case is going on.

“We have come
together as a family to appraise the misfortune that has befallen us.
We are deeply convinced that his long incarceration has so many
elements of political undertone, and believe that Major Hamza is a
victim of state persecution,” he said.

Mr. Al Mustapha,
who was arrested alongside other officers for allegedly plotting a coup
in 1998, was freed of that allegation and was later charged in 1999
with the attempted murder of the publisher of The Guaradian, Alex Ibru.
He has since been in detention, while hearing on the case drags through
the court.

“The case has,
since 1999, passed through the hands of 13 different judges and have
equally suffered endless adjournments, making it the longest judicial
trial in the history of Nigeria,” Hadi al Mustapha said.

Survived four presidents

He contended that
various attempts to rope in Mr. Al Mustapha had failed, following the
confession of principal witnesses that they were induced to implicate
the former security chief for pecuniary reasons. He also expressed the
family’s worry that the legal case has survived four different
presidents, Abdulsalam Mohammed, Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa
Yar’Adua, and now, Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan.

“The case is not given the desired attention, in spite of cries from several quarters for his release,” he said.

Mr. Al Mustapha
said the family is grateful to well meaning Nigerians who have been
trying to intervene to secure his brother’s release, adding that the
solidarity has helped them keep hope alive.

“We call on Mr.
Jonathan to demonstrate enough political will that will lead to the
conclusion of the case. History will remember him for tempering mercy
with justice,” he said.

The trial of Mr. Mustapha and his colleagues have dragged partly
from the legal tactics employed by their lawyers, sometimes forcing
judges to drop the case.

The
Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice,
Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), has set a July, 2010 deadline for the
decongestion of inmates in Nigeria’s 227 prisons.

Mr. Adoke handed
the deadline to the Prison Decongestion Committee he set up and
inaugurated a fortnight ago, charging it to achieve the main objective
of its establishment within the time limit.

The Minister has
also invited the Chief Justice of the Federation; the President of the
Court of Appeal; the Chief Judges of Federal and state courts; as well
as the heads of other courts; the Nigerian Bar Association; and the
Ministry of Interior, to ponder and identify the reasons for undue
delays in trial of cases, which inevitably hampers the dispensation of
justice in Nigeria.

While it was learnt
that the NBA would be attending a stakeholders’ meeting with the
Justice Minister on the urgent need for justice sector reform, of which
prisons form part of, it could not immediately be known if the same
meeting would accommodate the views and analyses of the other judicial
authorities.

According to a
document exclusively obtained from Mr. Adoke’s Special Assistant on
Media and Special Duties, Onyema Omenuwa, the Minister was aware of the
need to set free inmates who, under normal circumstances, should not
have been incarcerated.

He has, therefore,
directed the committee to “work assiduously in line with its term of
reference” and ensure that before the end of July, 2010, there is a
nationwide decongestion of prisons by about 20, 000 to 30, 000 inmates.

Partnering for more action

According to
statistics obtained from the Federal Ministry of Justice, as at
December 2009, out of 47, 956 cases being addressed under the Federal
Government’s decongestion programme, only 11, 833 cases had been
completed.

About 7, 711 other
accused persons were granted bail, while 28, 412 cases of others are
undergoing trials in the various courts in the country, in spite of the
fact that it allegedly gulped not less than N8 billion.

Committee’s reference terms

The nine-member
Prison Decongestion Committee is chaired by the Solicitor-General of
the Federation and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice,
Abdulahi A. Yola.

The committee has
the responsibility to, among other things, ensure that indigent accused
persons get legal representation by way of engaging private legal
practitioners to undertake the defence of such persons in courts across
the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

In cases where
indigent convicts are given option of fine, it is also the
responsibility of the committee to pay such fines. The committee is
further mandated to periodically submit reports on discharged inmates,
inmates granted bail, and those convicted, and always “liaise with
relevant government agencies with a view to making progress on the
prison decongestion programme.”

It was gathered that about 65 percent of prison inmates nationwide
are awaiting trial persons (ATPs); many of whom are either petty
offenders or detained on mere suspicion. In spite of that fact that
many of the inmates could have been declared innocent by the courts,
they are subjected to inhumane detention conditions, sometimes for
periods longer than they would have served in jail if convicted.

The hopes of
Nigerians abroad to vote in the country’s next general election were
dashed yesterday as the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on
the review of the 1999 Constitution said there is no immediate plan for
that because of the enormous resources involved.

The chairman of the committee, Usman Bayero Nafada, disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday.,

Mr. Nafada, who
spoke at a press conference to review the activities of the committee
whose report was considered on Tuesday, said the committee did the cost
implication of allowing Nigerians in Diaspora to vote in next year’s
election and subsequent ones and discovered that it would surpass the
funds needed to conduct elections locally.

The House had, on
Tuesday, amended 40 sections of the constitution at a Committee of the
Whole. The lawmakers rejected four other areas.

“We have considered
the issue of Nigeria in Diaspora voting. Unfortunately, it is not
possible for now. We say we have enough Nigerians at home to vote. But
if you say Nigerians in the Diaspora should vote, it may require more
money than what we would spend locally.

“Nigerians in the
Diaspora are not in one particular country, they are spread all over
the world. And you cannot say because you have a large number in
country A, you cannot say country A should vote and deny those in other
countries from voting. And if you do the cost analysis, you will
discover that it is highly expensive,” Mr. Nafada, who is also the
deputy speaker of the House, said.

Stressing that the
voting system is still manual, Mr. Nafada, however, said that the issue
may be considered in future when voting is done electronically, during
which, he remarked, the cost may be reduced.

“For now,” he said
“we have decided that it should be shelved till things improve.”
Reminded that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is
already using four countries as a test case ahead of next year’s
general election, Mr. Nafada said the electoral body risks going
against the law of the land.

“Ours is to make
law. If you follow the law, fine and good. If anybody goes out and vote
in four countries, ask him where he derives the law from.” He also
regretted the rejection of the committee’s proposals that only those
indicted by the courts should be disallowed from contesting elections,
saying some members voted in line with the thinking of their state
governors, whom he said had set up administrative panels of inquiry to
disqualify their opponents.

He defended members
of the committee, saying they did not make the recommendation for
selfish interest, since none of them has been indicted by any of such
panels.

More states are coming

Mr. Nafada revealed
that the National Assembly may recommend the creation of between 8 and
10 more states, four or five each in the Northern and Southern parts of
the country, but said the committee has not taken any definite
conclusion on the matter.

The deputy speaker
said he does not see any difficulty in the 36 states Houses of Assembly
endorsing the areas recommended for amendment by the National Assembly,
stressing that at each point during the amendment process, the
committees were in constant touch with the state legislature and the
Nigeria Governors Forum.