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The Oke-Ijebu area
of Akure metropolis was, yesterday, thrown into mayhem as a 10-year-old
pupil of All Saints Anglican Primary School allegedly pulled the
trigger of a single barrel gun found behind the toilet of the school
and killed his friend.

Unknown people had
dropped two single barrel guns at the back of the toilet of the Primary
School, in Oke-Ijebu. The students, who were playing during the break
time, discovered the guns and started playing with them, thinking they
were toys. In the process, one of the boys mistakenly pulled the
trigger and killed his playmate in the process. The shooter also
sustained injuries in the process.

The agitated
residents of the area trooped to the school premises to confirm the
incident, with parents expressing their worries about the condition of
pupils in the school. Some of the parents hurriedly took their children
home. The name of the two students involved in the incident was not
confirmed as at press time. The school authorities declined to speak
with journalists. The school was closed down, and the corpse of the
dead student was deposited at a mortuary, while the injured one was
receiving treatment at the state specialist hospital.

Aremu Adeniran, the spokesperson for the Ondo State Police Command,
confirmed the incident, adding that the police suspect that the two
guns were hid there by armed robbers. He also said that a sledge
hammer, cutlass and other instrument were recovered, were unearthed
during a routine search after the incident. According to him,
investigations are ongoing to unravel those behind the cache.

A Federal High
Court, sitting in Lagos, yesterday, ordered the National Assembly to
stop further amendment of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution.

The presiding
Judge, Okechukwu Okeke, ordered that no parties must take further steps
in respect of the subject matter. The suit was initiated by the former
President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Olisah Agbakoba. Mr
Agbakoba had asked the court to hold that the Constitution (First
Amendment) Act 2010 passed by the National Assembly cannot take effect
as law without the assent of the president. He had posited that the
exercise by the lawmakers without the assent of the president was
illegal and unconstitutional, urging the court to nullify the
amendments on the grounds that the National Assembly had contravened
section 58 of the 1999 Constitution. “I have taken cognizance of the
counsel to the plaintiff that the first defendant (National Assembly)
is making moves to further amend the subject matter before the court,”
said the judge. “The 1st defendant counsel has posited that there are
no such moves but I conceded that while the matter is pending, his
client have no power to take further steps.”

Defying the court

At the resumed
hearing of the matter yesterday, Chijioke Emeka, Counsel to Mr
Agbakoba, told the court in his notice of interlocutory injunction,
dated October 6, 2010, that there is pending before the judge a
substantive case challenging the constitutional validity of the
Constitution (First Amended) Act 2010. Mr Emeka argued that while the
suit is pending, the respondents have continued to carry into effect
the provisions of the disputed legislation in defiance of court process
and exposing the subject matter of the suit to disrepute.

However, Counsel to
the National Assembly, Johnson Usman, debunked the allegation, saying
that it was not correct that the first defendant has continued to carry
out the process of further amending the constitution. “I am aware that
when parties are in court, status quo has to be maintained and the
first defendant is doing everything to maintain status quo to show
regard to the majesty of the court,” he said.

In a similar
manner, Emmanuel Akaa, the Counsel to the Attorney General of the
Federation, said his client would not do anything that would sabotage
the processes which are already in court on the matter. “We shall obey
which ever order the court gives on this matter,” he said.

The president must sign

Mr Agbakoba is also
asking the court to hold that in view of the provisions of section 58
(1) of the 1999 Constitution, the assent of the president is a
prerequisite before the amendments can become law. According to the
plaintiff, unless the assent of the president is overridden in pursuant
to section 58 (5) of the Constitution, president’s assent is required
before the amendments become law. He is also asking the court to
“declare that the exclusion by the first defendant (National Assembly)
of the assent of thepPresident of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from
the process of alteration of the Constitution, unless section 58 (5) of
the 1999 Constitution is complied with, renders the ‘Constitution
(First Amendment) Act 2010’ embodying such altered provisions
unconstitutional, null and void.”

The plaintiff is
seeking an order nullifying and voiding the Constitution (First
Amendment) Act 2010’ for contravening the provisions of section 58 of
the Constitution. According to Mr Agbakoba, section 58 of the 1999
Constitution is unequivocal on the mode of passing an Act of the
National Assembly and therefore, an Act does not become law unless it
gets the consent of the president.

The matter was adjourned till October 26, 2010 for hearing of all the applications and the main motion.

None of the
survivors of the Abuja bomb blasts taken to the National Hospital,
Abuja has died, the head of management and information services of the
hospital, Tayo Haastrup has said.

“We have
stabilized them,” he said. Mr Haastrup told a delegation of ANPP
leaders led by its national chairman, Ogbonnaya Onu that 19 out of the
27 victims brought to the hospital in the wake of the blasts have been
discharged, leaving only eight of them.

The ANPP leaders, who visited on Tuesday,

pledged to give N1 million to the survivors of the bomb attack.

“We are really
touched by the level of destruction and lives involved, it is very
disturbing, we have never had something like this; we pray we will
never have anything like this again,” Mr Onu said. “Our heart is with
the families of this innocent Nigerians, they do not deserve this. We
are very happy that the national hospital is doing very well as they
have not lost anybody and they are working very hard to restore the
health of those affected.” Unveil the suspects Mr Onu said the party
will make available the sum of N1million to the family and ask the
Chief Medical Director (CMD) to share the money among the survivors.

“We know that the
president has promised to take care of the bill but we still believe
that there is the need for us to do something additional,” he said. He
said that the primary responsibility of government is to secure the
lives and property of the citizenry adding that the federal government
must ensure that all Nigerians live and work in an environment that is
secured.

Mr Onu also said
security agencies must do their best to unveil those behind the plot
and that the findings into the blasts should not be swept under the
carpet.

Amongst the party’s entourage were the deputy national Chairman
(South), John Odigie-Oyegun and other senior members of the party.

The Yobe State deputy governor, Abubakar Ali, said
on Wednesday that 132 deaths and 2,273 cases of cholera were recorded
in the state from July to date.

Fielding questions from journalists in Damaturu,
the state capital, Mr Ali said 79 people were on admission in various
hospitals in the state. “These were cases that were brought and
recorded at the hospitals by the epidemiological unit but the deaths at
home were not recorded,’’ he said. The deputy governor, who is also the
commissioner for health, said the government has established camps in
local government areas like Gashua with high incidence of the disease.
He also announced that “special funds have also been allocated to local
government areas in the state to tackle the disease while government
supports them with drugs from the state Ministry of Health”. Mr Ali
attributed attitudinal problems of poor hygiene and sanitation to the
recurring outbreaks of the killer-disease among the populace. No fewer
than 50 deaths were registered recently in a fresh outbreak in Bade,
Jakusko and Bursari Local Government Areas of the state.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities says it
will, next Monday, embark on a three-day solidarity strike to protest
the continued closure of five state universities in eastern Nigeria.
The chairman of the Anambra State University chapter of ASUU, Jaja
Nwanegbo told the News Agency of Nigeria that the association’s
decision to embark on a three-day solidarity strike was taken at the
union’s National Executive Council meeting held last month in
Cross-River State.

He said that the strike was necessary to create
public awareness on the failure of some state governments to fully
implement the November 2009 agreement on improved condition of service.
According to him, the solidarity strike is to register their
displeasure with the Federal Government’s refusal to intervene in the
crisis. The union chairman said that the eastern region has suffered so
much that it should not be experiencing closure of state universities
at this point in history. “A region that experienced three years of
political crisis between 1967 and 1970, and where many of her youth
take to trading instead of education, should have universities running
regularly more than others in the country”, he said.

Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu and Abia state
universities have remained closed for about 11 weeks following the
strike embarked upon by their academic staff over improved funding for
the institutions.

Mr Ringim stated
this in Umuahia on Wednesday while addressing police officers from Zone
9, comprising Abia, Imo, Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi States. “The
situation in Aba was caused by some of us,” he said. “I have been one
of you, I know the problems of policing in Abia and the entire
South-East. I am not here to blame or praise you. I know that the
police have failed the people either because of salaries or other
logistics. Problems of logistics are not new.” He warned that the new
management would not condone excuses. “It will not also condone acts of
carelessness and recklessness, which led to the degeneration to
lawlessness in Aba to this level,” he said.

The
police boss expressed regret that Aba, the biggest trading town in the
South-East was now a ghost town. “This is because of the conduct of the
police who allowed criminals to overrun the city,” he said. He said the
situation should change for the better, stressing that police officers
seeking to reach the pinnacle of their profession would attain it only
with good conduct.

The Central Bank has assured customers who have deposits in closed microfinance banks that they will be compensated.

Mohammed Abdullahi, Head, Corporate Communications of
the Bank, said “Let me assure Nigerians that no depositor would lose
their money in the 224 microfinance banks that were closed down by the
Central Bank.

“This is so because of the guarantee of the payment
of not more than a N100,000 to each of the depositors as provided by
the insurance scheme offered by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance
Corporation, NDIC,” he said.

“What this means is that every customer of the
microfinance banks involved in the current exercise would be paid a
maximum of N100, 000.

“For those who have more than N100, 000 deposited in
their accounts with these banks, you would recall that these 224 banks
have a portfolio of nonperforming loan exposure amounting to about N20
billion and as the Central Bank has said, we are going to assist them
to aggressively recover these loans.”

He also stated that even at that, some of the
microfinance banks have properties and collateral which could be sold
in order to meet up with the payment of the customers affected.

“What this means is that at the end of the day, no
depositor would lose his/her money as a result of the actions taken by
the Central Bank of Nigeria”.

Apt intervention

Experts have commended the move of the Central Bank
to restore sanity to the microfinance industry when, last month, it
announced that it was revoking the operating licences of 224
microfinance banks that were found to be ‘terminally distressed’ and
‘technically insolvent’ and/or had closed shop for at least six months
after a target examination was conducted on 820 MFBs across the country.

The Central Bank confirmed that the industry had been
confronted with numerous challenges since the launch of the
Microfinance Policy Framework in December, 2005. A significant number
of the microfinance banks (MFBs) were deficient in their understanding
of the microfinance concept and the methodology for delivery of
microfinance services to the target groups.

Experts have, however, identified the problems of
microfinance banks in Nigeria to include under capitalisation,
extremely high levels of non-performing loans, insider lending, lack of
transparency, inexperience and supervision, meagre capital base, loss
of customers’ confidence, and high overhead cost. They have also
expressed fears that the sector might collapse if the operators and
regulators did not change their strategy.

With more than half of the adult population unable to access retail
banking services, the introduction of microfinance banking by the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was welcomed by Nigeria’s development
partners and the general populace. The Central Bank spokesperson says
the regulatory body would not hesitate to take further action on the
remaining microfinance banks, as supervision is continuous.

On the same day that Nigeria celebrated its 50th Independence Anniversary, the iconic time travel film ‘Back to the Future’ was re-released in the UK to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

The film is about a
teenager who accidentally goes 35 years back in time, using a time
machine constructed by an eccentric scientist. He meets his parents as
they are about to embark on their lives together and he inadvertently
disrupts the course their lives would ordinarily have taken, risking
that his parents will not marry and that he himself will not be born.
He has to repair the damage to history and to his own future that his
actions have caused and find his way back to the future within a week.

As I reflect on the
flavour of the past week and Nigeria’s independence 50 years ago, it
seems very apt that the film’s re-release coincided with our
celebrations. I have read newspaper articles about how the founding
fathers of our nation got it wrong, and did not foresee the fault lines
in the nation they put together.

Other articles
blame the ‘state of the nation’ on divergence from the original plan
these same founding fathers put in place for our nation-building.

Then, there are the
parallels. October 1, 50 yearsago marked the culmination of the
struggle for independence from external governance that our thinkers
and workers felt was exploitative, repressive and unjust. Now, we are
witnessing internal struggles for autonomy from a centralized
government.

Over the past week,
we have been taken back to the past through photographs of 60s fashion
and screening of newsreel and documentaries from that time. In a
country where it is easy to feel that we have no documented history, it
has been wonderful to read and see historical references to what life
was like in 1960.

It made me proud to
learn that Independence Building was designed by a Nigerian architect
and president of the Nigerian Institute of Architects from 1968-1970
-Augustine Akhuemokhan Egbor.

I enjoyed the
chronicle in the newspaper of Nigeria’s romance with musical genres in
every decade since the 60s. We really had excellent musicians and great
music, and now that spirit is captured on Broadway and in a West End
Theatre with the truly excellent and invigorating Fela! Musical. Our
magazines have featured the fashionable knee-high style of wearing
traditional dress for the ladies, and men’s dapper dressing reminiscent
of Malcolm X with short afro hair styles with side partings, sharp
suits and traditional ethnic wear.

It has felt like a
period of renaissance. Like a time when we have the chance once again
to re-invent ourselves to a time before the schism and deprivation of
the civil war; to a time when positive change rather than destructive
division may emerge from the storm of competing interests and positions
brewing in our Local, State and National Assemblies.

It has felt like a
point from which we may be able to depart from the rigid roles that
seem imposed on the south south, the northwest, the east, the south
west, the middle belt and the north east; when we can leave the past
where it is and only carry the learnings from it into our newly
envisioned future as a true federation with national representation
that takes us forward instead of holding us back.

The world is
watching Even though we have so much to celebrate as a people, there is
not much in our everyday lives to celebrate as a nation; and nothing
spectacular or inspirational to show for the billions spent on marking
the event during an economic downturn when the fortunate are under
pressure to make a living, and the unfortunate are struggling to find
something to eat. Even so, all the elements that were present at our
founding are back again – back from the past for us to take into our
future.

We have proud,
young, educated and patriotic Nigerians ready to serve our nation. A
resurging focus on pride in the armed services and on efficient service
in our ministries is evident. Flourishing music, dance, fashion,
creative arts and crafts and pride in vocations. Nigerians excelling
around the world. A country opening up to investment, investing in mass
infrastructure, new technologies, new ventures and new development
partners.

Opportunities for export of proudly-made-in-Nigeria products and the expansion of our enterprises across the world.

We are also once
more the cynosure of the world and not just for negative things. The
world is watching. We have had 50 years to stretch, grow, learn painful
lessons, and indulge in vices until we are sick. The early stages of
cancerous growths have been identified. Are we going to swallow bitter
medicine, and suffer them to be cut out before they permanently embed
the tentacles that have been spread? Or are we going to ‘go out with a
bang’; decide that we are doomed anyway and gorge ourselves
irresponsibly until the choice is taken from our hands.

I can see the
future in the back of my eyes where it has retreated to as the years
passed. It is a beautiful, orderly, free, safe, and prosperous tropical
nation with people who laugh a lot, live large, and who celebrate
life’s little joys and mourn its small sorrows together in harmony.
Let’s work to bring that future back. We will all be the better for it.

President Goodluck
Jonathan did not jump into a hasty conclusion when he declared that the
members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
were not responsible for the October 1 bomb blast in Abuja.

His campaign
outfit, Goodluck/Sambo Campaign organization, made this affirmation in
a statement sent to media organisations last night.

The organisation,
in the statement signed by its spokesperson, Sully Abu, said the
president merely wanted to reassure Nigerians that the perpetrators
would be found.

“For those who
insist that there was a rush to judgment on the part of the President
on this matter, it bears restating that what he sought to do was to
reassure Nigerians that the perpetrators will be found, a process which
could be hampered by a rather casual attribution of the violence to
MEND,” the group said.

“As President and
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, it is his bounden duty to speak
out in times of danger in order to reassure the populace of the
government’s commitment to their safety and wellbeing. This is the
practice wherever you have a responsible government that is committed
to the welfare of its people.”

No absolution for MEND

The organisation
explained that during his visit to the National Hospital to commiserate
with victims of the bombing, the president said the terrorist act
should not merely be ascribed to MEND and that nobody should use the
name of any organisation to cover up a heinous crime. It added that “
He (president) was not absolving MEND or any other group of blame or
culpability.” It recalled that the first time the president spoke on
the bombings was at the ECOWAS parliament in Abuja, adding that he had
pointed out that a heinous crime had been committed against the country
and innocent lives had been lost.

“He thus considered
it a gratuitous insult for anyone to claim that it was done by MEND, or
had anything to do with the Niger Delta. This is even more so, he said,
since government was in touch with the leadership of MEND (all of whom
had renounced violence), and they all agree that the organisation had
nothing to do with the blasts.

“The President
sought to put the correct emphasis on the urgent need to get to the
bottom of that sordid act of terror and to unearth the perpetrators,
because after all, anyone can hide under the umbrella of MEND or any
other organisation or body for that matter to cover up acts of
malfeasance.”

Stating that it
stands by Mr Jonathan, the organisation also urged him not to be swayed
by the protests in certain quarters, allegedly orchestrated to divert
and confuse the real issue.

The organization
also said that it is high time Nigeria did away with the rather lazy
approach of explaining away criminal activity by blaming armed robbers
or assassins as if such categorization takes away from the severity of
the offence.

“Such an approach
has somehow affected the investigation of some high profile murders
committed in this country in recent memory including the murder of such
prominent citizens as the late Dele Giwa, Alfred Rewane, Bola Ige,
Marshal Harry and A. K. Dikibo, amongst others,” it noted.

Okah allegations

The president’s
campaign organisation also criticised Henry Okah over his allegation
that the Presidency asked him to implicate the north and insisted that
the MEND chief must be brought to justice if he is found guilty.

“No amount of
obfuscation and diversionary tactics,” it said “will prevent the full
investigation of that crime against our fatherland on October 1.”

Meanwhile, a
faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has warned that
the country could slide into a failed state if nothing is done to
strengthen its unity.

The national chairman of the faction, Victor Umeh, gave the warning while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on the bomb attack.

He described as
“unnecessary” the killing of Nigerians during the independence
celebration going by the level of pain and poverty in the country.

“There is no
justification for such criminal act. If we begin to kill ourselves, we
open ourselves into a collapse state. We should not import terrorism
into Nigeria,” Mr Umeh said.

“The Federal Government should not gamble with this, if they have
some information, it should be use to apprehend those behind the acts,
I don’t see how somebody who wants to serve Nigeria should be
desperate, nobody takes leadership by force, it is only the military
that takes leadership by force, and it is no more fashionable across
the world.”

Worried by the poor medical attention
given to prison inmates, a youth corps member presently serving in Ondo
State, Babatunde Ogundare, has constructed a model medical clinic where
inmates serving various jail terms at the Olokuta Maximum Prison, Akure
can be treated. The 12-bed clinic has two toilets, a consulting room,
doctor’s office, pharmacist’s office and a store, and is expected to be
a lifeline for prisoners at the Olokuta Maximum Prison which is
presently overcrowded.

While speaking at the commissioning
yesterday, Mr Babatunde, a lawyer serving with Homni Outlook, a partner
with MTN, said the clinic was built at a cost of about N2.9 million as
a Community Development Service project.

He said he was moved to build the
clinic when he discovered that the Medium security prison, which was
built to house 160 inmates, have been jampacked with about 560. Mr
Babatunde said the situation at the prison spurred him to build the
clinic to ensure that inmates have access to good medical facilities,
adding that the project was realised with the help of people who share
his vision.

“The foundation of this clinic was laid
on the 29th June, 2010 with 400 blocks. The take off cash was a
donation from a co-sponsor who shared this vision,” he said. “Since
government alone cannot do it, it is the collective duty of Nigerians
to rise up and do things that will transform Nigeria to a better place.
I discovered that the Olokuta maximum prison is over crowded, the
prisoners will be exposed to different kinds of diseases, hence the
need to give them hospital where they can be treated”.

He urged the state government to ensure
that the clinic is well equipped as its own contribution to the
project. “There were a lot of discouragement, disappointment and
unforeseen circumstances that has to do with cash, also the limited
time frame for my service year, but with the grace of God Almighty, the
clinic is a reality today,” he said.

Positive youth

The Deputy Comptroller of Nigeria
Prisons Service, Benjamin Bogunjoko tasked Nigerian youth to channel
their brains toward things that will bring rapid development to their
various communities and the nation at large.

“It is lamentable that most youths had
channeled their brains towards unprofitable and wasteful ventures like
cultism, kidnapping and other socio vices which had continued to affect
the nation’s development,” he said. He urged the youth to think less of
what the country can do for them and focus on what they can do for the
nation.

Mr Bogunjoko said the gesture was
unprecedented in the history of the country, saying the clinic will not
only improve the health of the inmates but also serve as a way of
treating inmates who fall sick while serving their jail terms.

“This is not a small achievement; it is a big one that must be
commended in all spheres. The young boy has done his part which I think
it will go down in the history of the Nigerian prison service,” he
said. The Ondo State coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps,
Jaiye Ojumu appealed to the state’s indigenes to always come to the aid
of corps members who want to embark on similar venture. He said it is
lamentable that notable indigenes of the state do not help corps
members doing community development service.