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Abdullahi Isa adjusted the helmet on his head for the umpteenth
time. It was his first week at work as a commercial motorcyclist and, besides
struggling with communicating with passengers in English language, he was also
having problems fastening the oversized head gear on his head. Although, he
could not work out how old he is, he said he was sure he was born the year the
late head of state, Sani Abacha, died (that is, 1998). According to him, his
sole purpose of moving to Lagos, where he had been for two months, was to
search for greener pastures.

The rising cases of road accidents in the state, which are
traceable to underage commercial motorcyclists and bus drivers who ply the
roads, have become a cause for concern.

Young and driving

Penultimate Wednesday, a diesel-laden tanker overturned and
exploded into flames on the Liverpool bridge, Apapa. Two occupants, including
the driver were instantly roasted to death.

Although he could not determine the exact age of the tanker
driver, Wale Olayiwola, a fire officer who was at the scene of the inferno,
attributed the cause to the situation where “very young boys” are allowed to
drive tankers and articulated vehicles.

“It is disheartening to see these young and inexperienced boys
driving trailers and tankers. I don’t know who granted them driving licences
that allowed them to drive vehicles loaded with sensitive and highly volatile
products,” said Mr. Olayiwola, the chief fire officer of the Nigeria Ports
Authority.

A public analyst, Gabriel Giwa-Amu, said that it is unreasonable
for an inexperienced person to ply the highways. “But if you say the
youthfulness of the motorist, the driver, or the commercial motorcyclist is an
issue, I will say no. The fact that the man is young does not make it a crime
or improper to ply the road because there is an age limit to which a person can
be said to be allowed to drive,” said Mr. Giwa-Amu, a Lagos-based private legal
practitioner.

Road safety awareness

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), in conjunction with
celebrity special marshals and four nongovernmental organisations had, on
February 20 this year, initiated the child-safety campaign in Lagos State.

“It was because of the concern over the safety of younger people
like that, we call them under aged people who, of course, have a right to ride,
drive or be driven. And the whole essence of that is how do we raise
awareness?” Said Jonas Agwu, the Lagos State Sector Commander of the FRSC.

“What we were trying to emphasise was that the family, religious
organisations and everyone in the society has a responsibility to ensure that
these young people are properly guided.

“Nobody should capitalise on the fact that because you want to
do business, you take a child that is under aged and ask him to do certain
things,” said Mr. Agwu.

According to the National Road Traffic Regulation Act of 2004,
it is illegal for anybody who is under 18 to drive a vehicle or to ride a
motorcycle. But being able to determine the age of a driver or motorcyclist by
looks seems to be a major challenge for the traffic officials.

“In keeping with that,” Mr. Agwu continued, “we carry out our
enforcements targeting under aged drivers and riders. Of course, we know that
sometimes there are challenges because you cannot determine the age of a person
by merely looking at the person,” said Mr. Agwu.

“In most cases, when we suspect that the person is under 18,
what we do is we impound the vehicle, impound the bike, and insist that the
person should bring proof, so that we have a document that we can use in
determining whether the person who is arrested is truly under age or not before
we go ahead with enforcement.”

Monitoring road users

Mr. Giwa-Amu blamed road accidents on irresponsible road users
and poor monitoring from road monitoring agencies. “The commercial motorcyclists
are the most reckless beings that ever exist. Not because of the area they are
coming from, but because once they are able to step on the clutch and the Okada
moves, they feel that they can ride the Okada anywhere anyhow. But normally,
these people are supposed to be subjected to training and evaluation,” he said.

A major area that needs to be looked into, according to Mr.
Giwa-Amu, is the tendency for drivers to jump into any type of vehicle,
irrespective of the class of vehicle under which their licences were issued.
“If you say you are licenced to drive a lorry, it does not give you the licence
to drive a truck of a higher weight. If you are 18 years old and you are
licenced to drive a car, you are prohibited from driving a truck, especially
one carrying fuel or any inflammable object, because it endangers the public.

“And then there is always this periodic test the vehicle
inspection office is entitled to carry out for a truck driver to ensure that he
is still of that mental competence or ability to drive that truck of that
grade. But all these things have collapsed, once the road safety issues a
licence, it is presumed to be for three or four years, they are not concerned
about your mental stability.” According to Mr. Agwu, the agency comes down hard
on drivers who possess invalid driving licences.

“When we ask do you have a valid driver’s licence? A valid
driver’s licence could be regarded as an ambiguous question in the sense that
you might be thinking that all we are saying is that, do you have a current
licence? But much more than that, we are asking do you have the licence that
truly specifies and gives you the right to ride that thing that you are
moving?” Stressed Mr. Agwu.

He also said that the FRSC has started a programme which
specifies that anybody who is applying for a licence must have attended a valid
and approved driving school.

“As I speak to you now, if you apply for a driver’s license here in Lagos
and you are applying for the first time and you never went to a driving school
approved by the government, you will not be able to pick a driver’s licence.”

It is exactly a week since Comfort Monday, an inmate at the
Female Kirikiri Prison, Apapa, Lagos State, gave birth to her son at the Lagos
Island Maternity Hospital on August 1, 2010. Both mother and child are
scheduled to return to prison, where she has been since January 2010, courtesy
of the man she says is the father of her child.

But while Ms Monday might be nursing her child within the four
walls of the prison and pondering what the future holds, a NEXT investigation
reveals she may actually be a victim of injustice. Evidence currently at the
Kirikiri Magistrate court, Apapa, suggests Ms Monday’s age was purposely
manipulated to ensure she gets remanded in prison.

In May 2009, Nadum Nwitua, the alleged father of the baby,
travelled to Elele Alimini, Rivers State, where he met Ezekiel Monday, a poor
and single father barely managing to raise his nine children at a time, his
wife having left him over five years earlier. Mr Nwitua expressed his fondness
for his daughter and promised to give her a better life in Lagos.

“My pikin na 16 years when he come carry am say he go train am
for Lagos. Na because she no dey do anything for village, people talk say na
big man, that she go go better school, say make I let am follow am go,” said Mr
Monday in a telephone interview.

Altered court documents

From Mr. Monday’s account, his daughter is 17 this year.
Semi-literate and unable to write coherently, this was the age she told the
Investigating Police Officer (IPO) at the Oko Oba Police station.

James Dakarin, a police constable with force number 252661,
wrote her statement when she was arrested on January 24, 2010, after Mr Nwitua
alleged that she conspired with his security man, identified as Dala, and a
neighbour, Kennedy Enoma, to steal N295,000 from him. On the typed charge sheet
presented at the court in which Ms Monday and Mr Kennedy were accused of
conspiracy to steal and stealing, Ms Monday’s age was visibly altered with a
black pen from 17 to 18 years. This same alteration was discovered to have been
made on her statement paper which had the original age visibly cancelled and
replaced with 18 years.

For Lucas Koyejo, the South West Zone Head of the Legal and
Investigating Department of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC),
changing a word or figure in judicial documents is an offence “where the
intention is to falsify the document. If it can be proved that it was done unlawfully,
then it would amount to giving false information to pervert the course of
justice”.

Joseph Otteh, the executive director of Access to Justice, an
advocacy group promoting equal rights and justice, thinks the same and adds:
“If her age was falsified, it is to draw the court’s attention to the fact that
she is a minor fraudulently being tried as an adult. The court needs to see the
misrepresentation and take the matter through a juvenile track.”

Both lawyers say if the seeming wrongful detention of Ms Comfort
at the prison is established based on the fact that she is a minor, the next
step is “to know the extent of involvement of each party to the detention” and
appropriate punishment meted out. They also agree a civil suit for damages
could be considered.

This view is shared by the Lagos State police spokesperson,
Frank Mba. He said handwriting experts would be called to determine the
authenticity of the documents before the court.

“At the end of the day, if found to be altered, this would
amount to gross misconduct on the part of the officer and he will be tried in
orderly room and punished accordingly,” Mr Mba said, but did not clarify the
degree of punishment such an offence carries.

Another child marriage?

Mr Nwitua, in his statement, confirmed he was given the
responsibility of Ms Monday’s wellbeing by her father. He goes further to say
he brought her to Lagos for the purpose of marriage.

In his words: “I was given Comfort by the father, Monday, to
take to Lagos for marriage/training.” And according to Ms Monday, immediately
after they returned to Lagos, “that is when he started sleeping with me. It has
been long. At first, I was going to school but, after, I stopped. I was doing
housegirl for him.” By the time she told him she was pregnant, she said he had
become physically abusive.

The alleged sexual escapade was known by other members of Mr
Nwitua’s household located at Plot 2, Owode Street, Abule Egba, Lagos State,
which doubles as Mr Nwitua’s residence and business address – Gbedeco (Nig.) Ltd.
This was reported to the police by Mr Nwitua’s 15-year-old niece, Princess
Nwitua.

“She refused to go to school and when I asked, she said is not
feeling fine. She came to my room and said that she wants to go back to her
place in Port Harcourt. She said she did not want to live with my uncle again,
that my uncle is an evil man and that my uncle is sleeping with her,” Miss
Nwitua said.

Mr Koyejo says if Mr Nwitua has “actually been sleeping with her
as an underage, then his action amounts to rape, which carries a sentence of
life imprisonment under the Child Rights Law of Lagos State,” and “will be made
to face the full wrath of the law”.

A case of victimisation

On the instructions of Mr Nwitua, who had travelled to the
northern part of Nigeria on January 17, 2010, Ms Monday sold some compressors
to one Wahab, as identified by Mr Nwitua, for N95,000.

She handed the money to the security man, Dala, who Mr Nwitua
acknowledges kept his money and had access to the office drawer; who he “always
sometimes asked to collect money from there”; and where he alleges the N200,000
was stolen from.

When Mr Nwitua returned on January 23, 2010, Dala had packed his
belongings and absconded with the N95,000. He got Ms Monday arrested and told
the Police that Mr Enoma “is a bonafide friend of Dala and at the same time the
boyfriend of Comfort.” He said both Dala and Kennedy “always meet regularly and
sometimes for a long meeting either on my premises or at my gate”.

But this is at variance with the statement of his younger brother’s
daughter, Miss Nwitua, who told the police “I have not seen Ken before in our
compound before”.

A threatening
complainant

Through all this, Mr Nwitua, who instituted the case asking the
police to recover the money for him “and of course investigate any allegation
raised against me by all the parties involved”, has refused to talk to the
press and repeatedly threatened this reporter.

“Don’t go and publish anything that will cost your company a lot
of money o! Otherwise, I will not spare anybody in this matter,” Mr Nwitua at a
time said. The last time NEXT reached him, he said “Look, I warned you before.
You are looking for trouble. You are not listening,” before cutting the line.

Meanwhile, Ms Monday’s case has been adjourned four times and is
yet to be heard at the Kirikiri Magistrate Court, Apapa. No reason has been
given each time for the magistrate, Ope Agbe, not showing up in court.

It appears Mr Nwitua’s intention was to ensure Ms Monday
remained incarcerated for eight months, thus ensuring she gave birth to her
child away from public view and his wife and children, who are said to live in
the United Kingdom. The question remains, what’s next now that Ms Monday has
given birth?

Her case comes up September 27, 2010.

A 30-year-old woman, Mutiat Lawal, on Thursday
pleaded with a grade A Customary Court, in Ikorodu, Lagos, to dissolve
her marriage to Saka Lawal, as she is married to another man.

The petitioner told the court that
Lawal had not been taking care of her and the three children of the
marriage aged six, five and two years.

“My husband divorced his former wife
who had five children for him and I trained all the children, including
our three children, but in spite of this, he refused to support me.

“I married another man just last week
because he gives me attention although he lost his wife recently, but
he has three children,” Mutiat said.

Lawal, 56, a textile worker, consented
to the dissolution of their six-year-old marriage. He told the court
that his wife packed into another man’s house last week with their
three children. “The court tried its best to reconcile our differences
but my wife has an ulterior motive. Apart from the court’s effort, she
delivered a baby on July 20, and packed into another man’s house.

“I regret ever marrying her because she is lazy and never appreciative of all my assistance towards the family,” Lawal said.

He offered to pay the N6,000 proposed
by the respondent for the upkeep of their children to facilitate the
dissolution of their marriage.

The Court President, Remi Adesanya,
said all efforts by the court to reconcile the couple had become
abortive, since the petitioner had married another man.

“The court has no option than to dissolve the union,” Adesanya said.

He, however, adjourned the case till August 12 for judgment.

A visually impaired
man, and member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State,
Yinka Ibidunni, yesterday officially announced his intention to contest
against Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello for the Ogun Central Senatorial District
in the forthcoming 2011 polls.

Mr Ibidunmi, a
known critic of the state Governor, Gbenga Daniel, before he was
appointed as Special Adviser on Physically Challenged People, made this
known in Abeokuta. Declaring his senatorial ambition at his campaign
office, located in Kugba area of the town, Mr Ibidunni who is eyeing
the seat for the third time, said his ambition is to create positive
effect and influence in people’s life. “I want to ensure that people
enjoy the dividend of democracy, and doing this is for the electorates
to vote the right persons into political offices, in the next
dispensation, in which I am qualified,” he said.

“I am not ready to give a kobo to any delegate before getting the
party slot, nor will I part away with any money as condition for the
electorate to vote for me,” he said. “But what I will say is that, let
us put the right person in right position.” The aspirant assured the
electorate that if voted in as senator, he would be transparent and
spend his constituency allowances judiciously. “Let us put the right
driver in the right driving seat,” he said.

The Anambra State government has
commenced the process of formulating the state’s 2011 budget with a
workshop on data collection, presentation and analysis, organised
yesterday in Awka by the ministry of economic planning and budget.

The workshop, according to Vivian
Nwandu, the permanent secretary of the ministry, was necessitated by
the government’s plan to introduce what she called ‘organic budget law’.

The law, she explained, was a manual containing the process and procedure of planning the budget.

“In the past decade, planning
methodologies have continued to evolve and the awareness that planning
must be based on facts and figures has continued to increase,” Mrs
Nwandu said.

The state’s commissioner for economic
planning and budget, Chinyere Okunna, said the training was coming at a
time when many reforms in planning and budgeting were taking place at
both state and federal levels.

She, however, noted that there still
existed gaps in terms of knowledge and skills by staff of the ministry,
either because they had been newly posted or because they were yet to
completely settle down.

“This workshop provides an opportunity
for them to listen, learn and ask questions,” Mrs Okunna said, pointing
out that effective planning must be based on available statistical data
on which the state government’s programmes and projects had been based.

Current momentum

She said that for
the state government to sustain its current momentum in development, it
needed to plan effectively and that such planning must be executed by a
crop of knowledgeable and skilled planning officers and statisticians.

“We urge the
participants to take full advantage of the opportunity the workshop
offered to acquire useful knowledge and skills they would use to
enhance their performance,” Mrs Okunna said.

</

Oleh, headquarters of Isoko South Council Area of
Delta State was in turmoil yesterday as irate youth took the laws into
their hands killing three persons and injuring several others as the
crisis in the predominately Isoko community takes a turn for the worse.

Though the Police spokesman, Charles Muka, said
troops have been deployed to the troubled community to quell the
uprising and imposed a dusk to dawn curfew, the local police said two
persons have been arrested.

About seven trucks of mobile policemen were sighted in the town yesterday taking positions when NEXT visited the community.

The crisis, according to a source from the community,
erupted during a meeting of two rival youth groups, who have been
spurring for war over who get the larger share of an oil largesse,
which was recently paid to the community by one of the oil companies
doing business in the area.

The source said the payment has been causing tension
in the town for the past one week, and finally got to a boiling point
yesterday when a corpse was laid in front of the residence of one Chief
Egbo, an uncle to a former councillor who is opposition to the
terrorising youth group.

This led to the invasion of the main market by the
rampaging youth, who held several people hostage and smashed about
eight vehicles belonging to their opponent.

In one of the bloody encounters, one of the leaders
of a rival group, identified as Wilfred Ato, who is said to be an oil
landlord was killed at night and his corpse dumped at the home of one
of the youth leaders.

Though, it could not be ascertained which group
killed the young man, but sources said the deceased is the first in
command, to a group opposed by the serving councillor.

Fight for cash

Another victim, simply identified as Ekamena, was
allegedly shot at Amawa layout, located along the Ogumudia road axis of
the town. The other unidentified victim, said to be a stranger, was
allegedly killed by irate youth in a reprisal attack.

About three people so far have died, since the crisis
broke out on Tuesday, while one Ogadema, a key player in the crisis
claimed that invaders destroyed seven cars in his compound.

He alleged that the invaders, led by one Frank
Agbaragu, who earlier led the protest against SPDC, came to kidnap a
serving councillor in the council, Henry Iviero who had been opposed to
their activities in the community.

But in a swift reaction to Ogadema claims, Mr
Agbaragu alleged that Ogadema and his cohort were cultists holding
meeting with intent to launch attack on himself.

Next gathered that the community has been enmeshed in
one crisis or the other since about N6 Million was paid to the
community by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

A section of the town was said to have hijacked the
money, resulting to the violence by the youth and oil landlords who
embarked on the protest.

It was also learnt that some group of irate youth, last week
paralysed SPDC’s operation in the area over what they termed gross
marginalisation and wrong naming of an oil well after a neighbouring
Olomoro community.</

A group of councillors from the Oyo North Senatorial District of
Oyo State have criticised Gbenga Babalola, the senator representing the area,
accusing him of being a “bench warmer” at the senate.

Led by Adewumi Ismail, chairman of the Oyo State Councillors’
Forum, the local government legislators were at the Nigerian Union Journalists
state headquarters, Ibadan, on Wednesday, to express their resolve that Mr
Babalola is not returned to the senate next year.

“We have all watched the proceedings of the National Assembly on
the television, How many times have you seen Senator Babalola moving a motion
or sponsoring a bill? He is a member of the Supporters Club and just there as a
bench warmer,” one of the councillors said, while explaining why the senator
does not deserve another ticket.

The aggrieved councillors said they are, instead, nominating
Hosea Agboola, current commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy
Matters in the state, saying he had used his influence to better the lot of the
people of his constituency as well as the generality of the councillors, whose
matter fall under his purview of administration.

Mr Babalola, a son in-law to the late acclaimed godfather of Oyo
State politics, Lamidi Adedibu, was declared winner of the 2007 elections for
the Oyo North Senatorial district. Like other elected officials in the state,
he has been going around to campaign for a re-election. A group of councillors
endorsed his second term ambition last week, touting his achievements as their
reason.

Contest of popularity

But this other group dismissed the endorsement as a ruse, saying
they are the authentic councillors from the constituency. “I want to use this
medium to dispel the rumour that a group of councillors have endorsed the
return of Senator Babalola in the 2011 election,” said Mr Ismail. “The rumour
is not true. We are the genuine councillors from the region.”

According to the
legislators, Mr Agboola has not only used his current office to better their
lot, he is qualified for the position of a senator because of his antecedents.

The councillors further accused Mr Babalola of lacking good
human relations, saying until he was trying to seek a re-election, he was not
known by anybody in the constituency.

The councillor also said
rather than pick from among his people as his personal assistant, the senator
appointed a man from the South-East for the job.

The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Okwesilieze Nwodo, may soon constitute a new caretaker committee to oversee the
affairs of the party in Anambra State, it was learnt yesterday.

However, members of the PDP in the state have kicked against the
proposed action, saying it is a complete deviation from the agreement they
reached during a July 12, 2010 meeting in Abuja. They said Mr. Nwodo had
pledged to conduct elections to appoint a state executive.

The group, led by prominent members of the party, including
Peter Uyanwa, Frank Oramuli and Ken Emekayi, released a communiqué following a
meeting in Abuja yesterday. They said Mr. Nwodo instituted the agreement to
help settle litigation among the members.

“The national chairman stated without reservation that the era
of godfatherism and money politics are over in Anambra and Nigeria in general,
under his watch. [He said] that he intends that the party be taken to the
people and that he will abide by the majority decisions of the stakeholders and
it was on that premise that decision for congresses were arrived at,” read the
statement.

“The information available to us indicates that the national
chairman has somersaulted from the popular Anambra PDP decision reached with
him at Transcorp Hilton Hotel.” The members warned that they would resist if
Mr. Nwodo attempted to renege on his previous decision.

The vice chairman of the Anambra PDP, Newton Iloegbunam, said
that should Mr. Nwodo go ahead with his plan, the party would continue to
suffer at the polls. He noted that similar protests cost the party the last
governorship election and resulted in multiple court litigations. The next
local government elections in the state will come up on December 4th.

Not final decision

Mr. Nwodo’s spokesman, Ike Abonyi, said the issue is still being
debated.

“The issue of Anambra is still on the table of the National
Working Committee and the final decision would be made known. It is not
something to hide.”

But a source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the
decision to conduct congresses was no longer feasible because there was not
enough time before the primaries.

Prominent member, Olisa Metu, said those against the appointment
of a caretaker committee were being unrealistic.

“The people are too much in a hurry. They should await the
chairman’s final decision before they act – a decision which will come up on
August 10th,” he said.

“They cannot give Nwodo any ultimatum or deadline.” Dissolved
Abia executive

Meanwhile, The National Working Committee has voted to dissolve
the Abia State Executive Committee following the confirmation of several
allegations of gross misconduct involving its members.

In a statement by its secretary, Ahmed Alkali, the party accused
the committee members of flagrantly violating the party’s constitution, abusing
their office and disobeying lawful directives. They said the members
precipitated a crisis and fractionalized the party.

Members of the dissolved committee were directed to immediately
hand over to the state administrative secretary.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC), yesterday, approved the
sum of N250million for the production of compendiums for the Nigeria at 50
celebrations.

The approved compendiums will come in form of 20,000 copies of
800page publications and 5,000 CD ROMs.

Briefing pressmen after the weekly FEC meeting, which was
chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, the Minister of Information and
Communications, Dora Akunyili, said the memo was presented by Mr Jonathan.

“Mr President presented
a memo to council seeking approval for the award of contract for the production
of 20,000 copies of 800 pages and 5,000 CD ROM of compendium on Nigeria as part
of the 50th Independence Anniversary Celebrations,” she said.

The project was initiated by the steering committee on Nigeria
at 50, which was constituted to arrange, co-ordinate, and execute required
programmes for Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary celebrations.

“The committee brought a proposal to produce a compendium on
Nigeria which was considered and approved by council at its meeting of 20th
January 2010,” said Mrs Akunyili.

She also told pressmen that the compendium is intended to
highlight the nation’s journey so far, her history, achievements and challenges
since independence as well as the people and the nation’s aspirations.

“Photographs on achievements in various sectors of the economy,
area of tourist attraction, arts and culture, historical monuments and
achievements of Nigerians in Diaspora will all be featured,” she said.

“Pursuant to the
attainment of the goals for a memorable golden jubilee celebration of Nigeria’s
Independence, council approved the award of contract for the production of
20,000 copies of 800 pages and 5,000 CD ROM of compendium on Nigeria in favour
of Messrs 1st October Publications Limited, in the sum of N250,000,000 only.”

The second memo, from the ministry of defence, could not be
discussed during the briefing.