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As the sale of the Nigerian Telecommunication Plc
(NITEL) to private investors is mired in controversy, scores of the
company’s staff in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Tuesday, staged a
peaceful protest against an alleged clandestine confirmation of
appointment and promotion of some top management staff.

The workers called on the federal government to intervene promptly and stop the purported promotions.

According to the protesters, the promotion will
further complicate the problem of the company when it is finally handed
over to the new owner.

While pleading with the federal government to effect
the payment of a backlog of salaries and allowances, the workers
accused it of contravening a court order which compelled it to
regularise the employment of staff who have remained casual employees
for the past 15 years and pay all their entitlements.

Ganiyu Shittu, the state chairman of the workers,
said since the order was given on 6 November, 2008 the government is
yet to implement it.

The workers said 25 March will mark the 21st month since the government last paid their monthly salaries.

Selective promotion

The staff alleged that senior officers confirmed
their own appointment and embarked on “promotion of some selected staff
to disorganise them”.

Insisting that the exercise was ill-timed, the
workers called for the intervention of the Federal Government, National
Assembly and Bureau of Public Enterprises and other Nigerians in the
matter.

“We wish to draw the attention of the Federal
Government, National Assembly, BPE and other Nigerians to the recent
unpleasant decisions of the top management wherein all the top
management staff had their appointments quietly and hurriedly confirmed
immediately after the last bidding process was concluded by the BPE.

“It is worrisome that at a time when NITEL staff are
appealing daily for the payment of the 20 months salary arrears owed
them by the government and BPE, the top management believes this is the
right time for them to confirm all their acting appointments and pacify
a selected few with promotions on the eve of handling over the company
to a new core investor,” the workers stated.

They also accused the government of not being fair to them by
delaying the payment of their salaries till it gets the proceeds from
the sale of NITEL, saying such was not the case with workers of other
privatised government companies like Ajaokuta Steel Company and the
Nigeria Airways.

Justice Ramat
Mohammed of the Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos, has fixed March
30, 2010 to deliver ruling over the application by the former governor
of Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja, asking the court to quash the amended
charges levied against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC).

Allegations against defendants

Mr. Ladoja,
alongside Waheed Akanbi, his former aide, are in court on account of
allegations levied by the prosecution stating that the defendants
conspired to convert properties and resources derived from an illegal
act, with the aim of concealing the illicit origin of the properties
and resources. The defendants were accused of committing fraud in the
sum of N1, 932, 940, 32. 48. They were alleged to have used as conduit
pipe a company, Bistrumm Investment, to siphon the sum of N77. 8
million for the purpose of purchasing a building for him, while Mr.
Ladoja was also alleged to have fraudulently transferred a sum of
600,000 pounds to one Bimpe Ladoja, amongst other allegations.

Counsel adopt written addresses

At the resumed
hearing, the counsel in the matter, Wole Olanipekun for Mr. Ladoja, and
Vitalis Amaotu for the commission, adopted their written address, on
the application by Mr. Ladoja.

In the application
filed on behalf of Mr. Ladoja by his counsel, Wole Olanipekun, the
applicant urged the court to dismiss the charges levied against him on
the ground that the court has no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the
counts as framed.

Mr. Olanipekun
argued that the allegations against the applicant are vague and do not
link him with the commission of any crime to warrant his arraignment
under any written law. He also contended that the proof-of-evidence
placed before the court by the prosecution has no connection with the
charge and that it does not disclosed any prima facie case against the
applicant.

Star witness is a tainted witness

Speaking on the
issue of proof-of-evidence, Mr. Olanipekun said it is wrong for the
prosecution to use the same proof-of-evidence for both the old and
amended charge. He also noted that the evidence of the star witness
(Adewale Atanda) in the old charge was given while he was an accused
person, noting that it is wrong for the prosecution to use Mr. Atanda
as a witness against Mr. Ladoja.

Previously, Mr.
Atanda was charged along with the defendants in the initial charges
preferred against the defendants. The commission had on March 25, 2009,
re-arraigned Mr. Ladoja alongside Mr. Akanbi, based on an amended
charge, as opposed to the initial charge wherein Mr. Atanda, a the
former commissioner of finance with Oyo State, was charged along with
the duo.

The counsel further
noted that Section 27(3) of the evidence act does not permit the court
to admit such evidence, from a person classified as a tainted witness.
“Adewale Atanda remains an accused person and a tainted witness in as
much as the EFCC is relying on his statement”, he said.

Mr. Olanipekun
further observed that the prosecution has failed to appreciate Section
14(1) of the money laundering act upon which his client was charged to
court. He said the section only talked about offences relating to
narcotic drugs and other substances.

He also noted that
if the amended charge has truly supplanted the original charge, then,
there is no proof of evidence before the court.

EFCC responds

In his response,
EFCC’s counsel, Vitalis Amaotu, urged the court to dismiss the
application of the applicant. He stated that a look at the applicant’s
reply to the prosecution’s submission shows that the applicant
re-argued his case.

He noted that the
offence alleged to have been committed by the 1st defendant amounted to
an offence at the time the offence was committed and that the charges
against him was brought under an existing law.

Mr. Amaotu maintained that the amended charge has supplanted the old
charge. According to him, the star witness (Mr. Atanda) is not an
accused before the court since the prosecution has withdrawn the charge
against him.

Investors got one more reason to do
business in Lagos State yesterday as the Commissioner of Justice and
Attorney General, Supo Shasore, presented the amended version of the
Partnership Law of Lagos State.

This presentation took place at a
breakfast meeting with lawyers, professionals and journalists at the
Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island.

Dignitaries in attendance included the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Ben Akabueze.

What has changed?

This new law contains the amendments
creating Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP) in business. This means,
investors that register their businesses under this law enjoy reduced
responsibility if the partnership breaks up or the venture fails.

It also means the partners are immune
to lawsuits, if an entity decides to take their company to court. The
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, assented to it in March 2009,
although work began on its formulation in 2003.

In the original model, partners could
be sued along with the company they set up, and had to pay shareholders
out of their pockets if the business winds up.

The desire to protect investors and
keep the trend in growing economies around the globe encouraged the
Lagos government to push for the law’s creation. The Registrar of
Partnerships and Director of Commercial Law, Funlola Odunlami, said,
“The newly-amended law is especially a bigger vehicle for the execution
of partnerships, who intend to engage in joint trade or business for
profit, while enjoying most of the benefits accruable to limited
liability companies.”

She said the law made it more convenient to do business.

New law

Mr. Shasore said the Partnership Law
had undergone much change in the past, and this was another level in
its evolution. The last part of the four-part law is dedicated to the
workings of the LLP.

He said the new law come about because
of the government’s “quest to do business in a seamless and convenient
way.” He also said parts of the concept were borrowed from other
countries like Singapore and the United Kingdom.

“The law doesn’t seek to incorporate
any entity,” he warned. “You must first of all have a partnership
before you can approach this law. When you file on the provisions of
the law at the registry, what you are seeking to do is not to
incorporate an LLP; what you are seeking to do is register a
partnership and give it limited liability.”

During the question and answer session, Mr. Supo assured Lagosians that the law would become universal.

He said states in the United States would soon have a unified law on Limited Liability Partnerships.

“Embrace it”

Lawyers at the event were encouraged to take advantage of the law to form larger law firms.

Speaking after the event, Mr. Akabueze said the business community would welcome the law.

“They will embrace it. It presents part of our efforts to expand the
frontiers of business relationships and grow partnerships as a
veritable alternative to structuring large businesses. Before now,
there’s been a notion that partnerships necessarily have to be small
operations. By this law, they can become very large.”

Airlines in our
country on Tuesday commenced flight operations by airlifting passengers
from various airports to their respective destinations. This came after
about 24 hours of complete flight cancellations by airlines, following
the “hazardous weather conditions” experienced in the country.

Though there were
flight delays especially to northern states, as a result of the weather
situation, the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, witnessed series
of aircraft take-offs and landings.

“Passengers can now
fly based on instructions from the control tower, and this is because
the weather, though fair, has not cleared completely,” said an officer
with Aero Contractors, who asked to remain anonymous. The source
disclosed that the bad weather affected carriers in the country
negatively, stressing that during yesterday’s severe hazy weather, some
passengers demanded the refund of their fares “without considering the
airline.”

“Airlines lost
millions to that incident yesterday, but some passengers refused to
understand that it was not the fault of airlines,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the
sales of tickets by ticketing officers at the Murtala Mohammed Airport
2 (MMA2) and the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) went on as usual, and
passengers embarked on their flights with various aircrafts departing
the airports.

Onn Monday, we
reported that hundreds of passengers were stranded at different
airports in our country, following the fog that impaired visibility
across our nation’s airspace.

Earlier, the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), while reacting to the
situation, directed airlines and their flight crews to enlighten
travellers about the situation, adding that the cancellation of flights
was for the good of the passengers, as safety is the highest priority.

Harold Demuren,
director general of the aviation authority, implored pilots to carry
out intensive pre-flight briefings for weather conditions before
embarking on any flight.

According to Mr. Demuren, Nigeria experiences regular harmattan that reduces the visibility of pilots during flight operations.

“Pilots should
carefully review the procedures for their operations whenever a
forecast shows that reduced visibility or adverse weather conditions
might exist for any portion of the flight,” he said.

“Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) will close airports to
arrivals and departures when the runway visual range is measured at
less than 800 metres, and pilots must be prepared to postpone flights
or divert to alternate airports in the circumstances.”

Former Managing
Director of Bank PHB, Francis Atuche, along with a former official of
the same bank, Charles Ojo, were on Tuesday re-arraigned before a
Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, based on an amended 45-count
charge levied against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC).

This was sequel to
the ruling delivered by Akinjide Ajakaiye, wherein he dismissed the
applications by the defendants, asking the court to quash the charges
levied against them on the grounds that the allegations in the charges
are incompetent, frivolous and defective.

Justice Ajakaiye also dismissed the application by Mr. Atuche asking for an order striking out his name from the charge.

Court dismisses applications

While delivering
the ruling, Justice Ajakaiye identified two issues for determination:
whether there are sufficient bases to try the defendants on the charges
preferred against them by the commission and whether the applicants
(defendants) have made out a case for the charge to be dismissed.

On the first issue,
the judge noted that the defendants based their argument on the premise
that they were indicted by way of information. Citing section 33 of the
criminal procedure act, Justice Ajakaiye noted that criminal
proceedings are conducted summarily and do not require a
proof-of-evidence.

“As against the
trial by information where there is need for proof-of-evidence, in a
summary case, the proof-of-evidence is not required so I agreed with
the prosecution that all the proof-of-evidence needed to show is
possibility and not certainty.

“Certainty comes in
after evidence has been adduced. I am satisfied that the proof of
evidence filed consists of high profile documents related to the charge
and the statement of the accused, also the statement of the witness
incriminates the accused person.”

The judge then dismissed the applications and asked that the plea of the defendants be taken.

Mr. Atuche and Mr.
Ojo, pleaded not guilty to the amended 45-count charge, which borders
on money laundering and granting of reckless loans. They were asked to
remain on their initial bail condition, while the matter was adjourned
to June 7, 2010, when their trial will begin.

History

Mr. Atuche and Mr.
Ojo are facing trial over an alleged N80 billion fraud. They are also
facing trial for their roles in granting a credit facility of N45
billion without any collateral.

The two men were on
October 28, 2009, arraigned on a 26-count charge of granting loans
without security, granting loans above approval limits, as laid down by
the regulations of the bank, acquisition of share capital without prior
approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria, and also of not taking steps
to ensure the correctness of the June, 2009, BankPHB monthly bank
returns.

They had been granted bail before the prosecution filed the amended 45-count charge against them.

Muammar Gaddafi is
a newsmaker any day and anywhere he goes. He is not like other leaders
who do not give journalists interesting quotes. I am yet to get over
the surprise that his tenure as chairperson of the African Union, a
post he had very much desired, lasted without any much drama. The only
controversy during the time was his attempt to elongate his tenure as
the AU’s head, perhaps viewing the organisation as an extension of his
Libya where he has held power since 1969. African leaders, knowing this
would send a wrong signal across the world, rejected his plan.

Now, he has jumped
into a new controversy. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) last
week quoted Mr. Gaddafi as offering what he thought, in his fertile
imagination, was the best solution to the crises of relationship which
seem to have embroiled Nigeria in the last few years.

According to the
report which the BBC credited to the Libyan news agency, the maverick
leader of Libya said the best way to solve this problem was to severe
Nigeria into two and let the Muslims go their way and the Christians to
their tents. To back his argument, he, reportedly, pointed to what was
done to India and Pakistan shortly before independence by allowing the
Muslim dominated Pakistan to go its way and the Hindu dominated India
the other way.

But has the
separation solved the problem between the two countries? Are Pakistani
Muslims and Indian Hindus not fighting between themselves? If religion
is the basis on which people would no longer fight one another, why are
the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds in Iraq always engaged in internecine
wars? Is Libya, which boasts of being an Islamic country, free of
strife among its Muslims?

The Libyan leader
has by this simplistic and out rightly stupid outburst shown that he is
not the kind of leader that the continent should look forward to. As
the Yoruba people say, cutting off the head is not the cure for a
nagging headache! No sensible person would think that the solution to
the senseless killing going on in northern Nigeria is to apply the
Gaddafi recipe. I am not by any stretch of imagination a supporter of
getting people divided along religious or tribal lines. It is bad
enough that Africa’s colonial masters divided the continent along
tribal and ethnic lines why then should the Gaddafis of this world want
to further polarise it along religious cleavages?

Tribal and ethnic
wars are usually easy to overcome. Religious divisions are the worst
kinds of differences and should not be allowed to fester. What is
happening in Nigeria has not gone too bad as to desire or require the
dangerous recipe that Gaddafi has proposed. He should leave Nigeria
alone and concentrate on his selfish expansionist ambition in his
spheres of the Arab world.

The condemnation of
his recipe by Nigeria’s Senate President, David Mark, who dismissed him
saying he is ’mad’’, might be harsh on a leader of another country but
what do you call a man who does not weigh his words before throwing
them around?

The African continent is unlucky to be inflicted with men who spew
nonsense and behave irrationally. Finally, however, no matter how much
condemnation we heap of Gaddafi, we must tell Nigerian leaders to wake
up to their duties to the traumatised populace and save us from being
killed by some marauding bandits who hide under the guise of religion
to shed innocent blood.

Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 600 employees and has the following statistics?

29 have been
accused of spouse abuse, 1 convicted of conspiracy, 7 have been
arrested for fraud, 19 have been accused of writing bad cheques, 117
have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses, 3 have
done time for assault, 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit, 4
have been arrested on drug-related charges, 8 have been arrested for
shoplifting, 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits, 84 have been
arrested for drink driving in the last year and these are just the ones
we know about.

Which organisation
is this? It’s the Members of Parliament, the same group that cranks out
many hundreds of new laws each year, designed to keep the rest of us in
line. I rest my case.

I was astounded
when I received this chain email. I immediately thought about our own
parliament, the National Assembly, and what the profile of its members
would be when compared along these lines. How many of them have beaten
their wives until they were hospitalised. How many have been part of
treasonous plots against the state, how many left bankrupted or failed
companies and redundant staff behind them? How may have been indicted
or convicted for assault, fraud, theft, embezzlement, murder, drug
trafficking, sex trafficking, child trafficking? How many have EFCC
cases against them, or are currently in court facing criminal charges?
I wonder…. Someone, please help us out. It will explain why only one
law has been passed in 3 years and why only budget related bills have
been treated. Could they be there only to wield power and make money
and not to transform our lives for the better by passing just laws as
they are charged to do? I in no way mean to wield a broad brush and
stereotype our parliamentarians. I am sure that there are many sincere,
hardworking, devoted and dedicated public servants and activists
amongst them, but unless they exist in sufficient number, independent
of the ubiquitous puppet masters, how much good can they really do?

I later
investigated the email and discovered that it came from anonymous
origins in 1999 and the target was the US Congress. I also discovered
that the statistics were never verified and yet it caught on like
wildfire and has spread around the world adopted by different
jurisdictions as statistics relating to their own legislators.

The lord of misrule
is an ancient title for the officer appointed in medieval Scotland to
officiate over the Feast of Fools. Later, during the Roman empire is
was the person appointed as ruler of the feast of Saturnalia. These
festivals were occasions where the natural order of society was turned
upside down and inside out.

Masters served
their slaves, and subordinates ruled their superiors with full license
and without fear of reprisal. You can only imagine what took place
during those times. They could very well have been Sodom and Gomorrah
reinvented for some hours or some days. Historically, the person in
charge comes to a bad end when the feast is over. Sometimes sacrificed
for the good of all, at other times forced to suicide.

The parallel that I
can draw is that very often things seem to be done back to front in the
public arena. You could say that we have the habit of putting the cart
before the horse – reversing the accepted order of things. In George
Puttenham’s ‘The arte of English poesie, 1589’ he named such a practice
preposterous. In some cases we call it cruelly uncaring. Why wouldn’t
we bring the horse out first, then bring out the cart and fit it to the
ready-made harness? The world famous Ferrari team does not bring the
four wheels and space them out on the tarmac then struggle to position
the race car within them.

The nationwide
demolition and relocation of illegal structures that cause flooding of
homes, disrupt traffic to the agony of commuters, and blight our
environment is in general welcomed by all and sundry. Yet, time and
time again, the people affected, and the communities they are in ask
why alternative housing, alternative markets, alternative abbatoirs,
alternative trailer parks are not readied first so that there is a
smooth and less painful migration from where they used to be? Whatever
you may say about the people in positions of power, I do not think we
would be quick to label them cruel. So I presume there must be several
good reasons why this phenomenon keeps repeating and replicating itself.

Let us depose the Lord of Misrule presiding over the disorder in our
country. Let us have eligible people in our national assembly. People
who can interpret laws and read budgets. Let us follow the correct
steps and processes in putting the ills of our society to rights.
Conduct impact assessments, put mitigation strategies in place, before
implementing change. We will all be happier for it.

The mild, montane
climate on the plateau and the picturesque hills of Jos offer a sharp
contrast to the gory massacres and bloodletting Nigeria has witnessed
in the past years. Jos presents the typical vignettes of sectarian
killings, like in Northern Ireland. The city is reminiscent of Belfast
– each stroke of violence is followed by revenge.

Inappropriately,
such barbarism gets classified under the microscope of religion –
Catholics against Protestants; in the Nigerian case, Muslims versus
Christians. Many of us have even forgotten the origins of the perennial
fighting between Israelis and Arabs. Conflicts always have causes and
consequences beyond the boundaries of religion.

The Jos carnage
could have been prevented if governance in this country was of the type
permitting introspection, analysis, conflict resolution, and
restitution.

When violence is naively forgotten and forgiven, everything is postponed.

South Africans
instituted a ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission,’ not so much
designed as a punitive campaign to dredge up and hang tormentors of the
apartheid period, but to get to the roots of what had happened, and
learn lessons for the future.

Most conflicts are
over land and the inequity in holding it, the stronger forcibly
hijacking the communal cake, which they hardly helped to bake. Such
injustices are straight from the Jungle Book – lionesses make a kill
and a hefty, passive male ambles in for the first bite.

Land appreciates
with time and lays the foundations for economic growth and military
might. But Nigeria’s land tenure systems encourage a perverse model of
capitalism where wealth continues to circulate within small, corrupt,
indolent and well-connected elite. Weaker people and communities are
routinely pushed aside and into inhospitable and unproductive
ecosystems and occupations by stronger cabals, under the common pretext
that they are lazy.

The corporate
existence of Nigeria is a function of two sharply contrasting and harsh
ecological systems – the sea and the desert.

Christian
missionaries arrived by boat. Islamic scholars and Jihadists galloped
from the Sahara into the north of the country. While the former
suffered immensely under the attack of anopheles mosquitoes, the
latter’s horses succumbed to the tse-tse fly and failed to penetrate
the forest zone.

The blurred fault
line separating both religions lies in Nigeria’s middle belt on which
the city of Jos is planted. A collision of religions is often a clash
of cultures, land use systems, legal interpretations, economic
activities, and political aspirations.

The problems of Jos had been lying latent for a long time.

March 8 is celebrated globally as the International Women’s Day.
It is a day that unites women across boundaries to celebrate their achievements
and examine their struggles to eliminate gender discrimination. Today, I bring
you the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon’s message for 2010.

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are fundamental to the
global mission of the United Nations to achieve equal rights and dignity for
all. This is a matter of basic human rights, as enshrined in our founding
Charter and the Universal Declaration. It is part of the Organization’s very
identity.

But equality for women and girls is also an economic and social
imperative. Until women and girls are liberated from poverty and injustice, all
our goals — peace, security, sustainable development — stand in jeopardy.

Fifteen years ago at the Fourth World Conference on Women,
Governments pledged to advance equality, development and peace for all women
everywhere. The landmark Beijing Declaration has had a deep and wide-ranging
impact. It has guided policy making and inspired new national laws. It has sent
a clear message to women and girls around the world that equality and
opportunity are their inalienable rights.

There are many examples of progress, thanks in large part to the
resolute efforts of civil society organizations. Most girls now receive an
education, particularly at primary level, and more women are now more likely to
run businesses or participate in government. A growing number of countries have
legislation that supports sexual and reproductive health and promotes gender
equality.

Nonetheless, much work remains. Maternal mortality remains
unacceptably high, too few women have access to family planning, and violence
against women remains a cause for global shame. In particular, sexual violence
during conflict is endemic.

The Security Council last year adopted two strong resolutions on
this issue and I have just appointed a special representative to mobilize the
international community to address these crimes. My “UNite to End Violence
against Women” campaign and the recently launched Network of Men Leaders are
striving to expand our global advocacy efforts.

One key lesson of the past decade-and-a-half is the importance
of addressing broader discrimination and injustice. Gender stereotyping and
discrimination remain common in all cultures and communities. Early and forced
marriage, so-called ‘honour killing’, sexual abuse and trafficking of young
women and girls are disturbingly prevalent and, in some areas, on the rise.
Whether looking through the lens of poverty, or in times of disaster, we see
that women still bear the greatest burden.

Lead by example

Another lesson is that the United Nations must lead by example.
Emphasizing that women are central to peace and security, we are working to
deploy more women military and police officers in our peacekeeping operations.
We have more women in senior United Nations posts than at any time in history,
and we hope soon to have a dynamic composite entity within the UN system to
provide more coherent programming and a stronger voice for gender equality and
women’s empowerment. I urge the General Assembly to create this new entity
without delay.

The Beijing Declaration remains as relevant today as when it was adopted.
The third Millennium Development Goal – to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment
– is central to all the rest. When women are denied the opportunity to better
themselves and their societies, we all lose.

On this International Women’s Day,
let us look critically at the achievements of the past 15 years so we can build
on what has worked, and correct what has not. Let us work with renewed
determination for a future of equal rights, equal opportunities and progress
for all.