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Governors of
Plateau State’s neighbouring states will soon converge in Jos, the
capital of Plateau State, for an on-the-spot assessment of the causes
of the persistent ethno-religious conflicts in the area, with a view to
finding a lasting solution to it.

This resolution was
part of an agreement reached at a meeting of the Solomon Lar-led
Presidential Panel on Jos Crisis and the northern governors at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.

The Acting
President, Goodluck Jonathan, presided over the meeting; governors and
deputy governors from Bauchi, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Taraba, Kano,
Adamawa and Plateau States were in attendance.

Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang, reacted to the proposed tour of his state by his other colleagues:

“The northern
governors, in their last meeting, agreed that they will visit me in Jos
and we will sit down and look at the problems affecting the northern
states and Plateau to ensure that we get to the roots of these crises.

“It is Plateau
today, it could be somewhere else again. I don’t pray so. But it is
good that we sit down. Until we have peace in the north, it will be
difficult for investors to come and do business. Nobody will like to
come and set up a business and tomorrow, it will be set on fire.”

He said he expects
that when the governors meet, they will tell each other home truths as
leaders who have sworn to defend the constitution of the nation.

Pariah to investors

The governor argued
that the entire northern part of the country could become a pariah to
investors if there is continued unrest in the region, and that this
would further diminish its development fortunes. “Besides, the peace of
Plateau is the peace of the entire north,” he emphasised.

Mr. Lar, who was a
former governor of the state, also said the meeting is very important
because “the character and the nature of the problem have taken a new
dimension in the sense that those who are affected don’t live in one
place. They are all over the neighbouring states and when the
neighbouring governors have discussed with us, we will go back and take
the necessary action to implement what we have discussed.”

The date for the meeting is to be conveyed to the respective governors.

Gbenga Daniel, the Ogun State governor,
yesterday alleged that the Yoruba people have no common agenda, making
them “like a sheep without shepherd”.

Mr. Daniel, who spoke at a meeting of
governors and traditional rulers of the south west states held at the
Governor’s Lodge, Oke-Igbein, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said
the Yoruba race now wanders in the wilderness of disunity and
infighting. “Today, the Yoruba nation is in disarray and our people now
speak with Babel of tongues, with no common agenda in sight,” Mr.
Daniel said.

The state governor expressed doubt over
the emergence of a Messiah for the race, waxing biblical and asked
rhetorically, “Where is the Moses to lead our people out of its (their)
Egypt, and where, and when we can find the Joshua to lead Yoruba into
the land of her unity of purpose?”

He argued that what is noticeable is
the claim of leadership of a divided people, stressing that while all
desire to head the kingdom, none seems to ponder, in practical terms,
on the existential condition of the kingdom within an empire called
Nigeria.

Mythical curse

“Or are we condemned to the mythical curse of Alaafin Aole, as we wander aimlessly in the wilderness of disunity?” he asked.

He added that the
traditional rulers have a major role to play, to rally the people
behind an economic agenda for the benefit of their race.

“I dare say our
traditional rulers have much to do because of the general assumption
that they are fathers to all; and their respective stool is guaranteed,
not by the colour of the partisan politics, but by the custom and
tradition of their people.”

Some of the traditional rulers at the meeting included the Ooni of Ife and the Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland.

The memory of
theatre legend, Hubert Ogunde came to the fore on Tuesday March 30 in
Abeokuta, Ogun State, at the launch of his complete musical works, now
packaged for public consumption.

The ceremony
attracted dignitaries and high ranking traditional rulers from across
the South-West, including the Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade; Owa Obokun
Ijesaland, Adekunle Aromolaran,Alake of Egbaland; Adedotun Gbadebo; and
Awujale of Ijebuland, Sikiru Adetona, among others.

The launch event,
held at the Hubert Ogunde Hall of the June 12 Cultural Centre in
Abeokuta, was also attended by the children of the late theatre guru,
both at home and from abroad. The programme was sponsored by the Ogun
State government.

The musical package
contains 95 tracks, all composed and performed by Ogunde, who died 20
years ago. The ceremony featured artistic performances, a screening of
Ogunde’s famous Yoruba film, Aropin N’Tenia, as well as a rendition of
his classic song, Yoruba Ronu.

The Ogun State
governor, Gbenga Daniel–who was accompanied to the venue by his
counterparts from Osun and Ekiti States, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Segun
Oni–later unveiled the work at the ceremony venue, which was filled to
capacity.

Ogunde’s offspring
trooped out to sing a number of their father’s favourite songs. As they
did so, many guests stood up in excitement.

Beneficial to all

Speaking on behalf
of the Ogunde family, one of his daughters, Sunbo Badamosi, said the
package of his musical work was for the benefit of all and sundry. She
also expressed the family’s appreciation to all who contributed to the
success of the package.

She added that plans were underway to revive the Ogunde Film
Village, while her father’s home in Ososa would soon be turned into a
museum for the benefit of culture. Badamosi also assured that the
family would not relent in their efforts to ensure that Ogunde’s legacy
lives on.

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, has gone to a Federal Capital Territory (FCT)

High Court in
Abuja, seeking an order committing Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo to
prison for allegedly publishing a libelous statement over his (Dikko)
certificate, and writing to the acting president on the matter.

Mr. Dikko, through
his Counsel, Amobi Nzelu, in a motion on notice brought pursuant to
order 41 Rule 2 of the Court Civil Procedure, said the actions amount
to contempt of court and “malicious and reckless” disobedience of an
order handed down by Abubakar Talba of the FCT High Court on October 7,
2009.

Specifically, Mr.
Nzelu in an affidavit in support of his motion on notice, said that
upon assumption of office by Mr Dikko as the Comptroller-General of
Customs, Mr. Keyamo and Scroll Publishing Limited and others, began to
publish libelous statements/publications against his client regarding
alleged forgery of certificates by the customs boss.

Attached to the
motion on notice was a letter sent to the acting president, Goodluck
Jonathan, by Mr. Keyamo titled “Forgery of certificates by the
Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko: the grand
cover-up”.

Mr. Nzelu said his
client filed an action in court restraining Mr. Keyamo from further
publishing the statements against him, and that on October 7, 2009, Mr.
Talba gave “an order of interim injunction restraining the
defendant/respondents, including the respondent who is the fourth
defendant/respondent in the suit, from publishing or further publishing
any libelous statement against him.” He said the order is still
subsisting and has not been vacated by the court, but that Mr. Keyamo,
in a flagrant disobedience of the court order, wrote a damaging letter
on Mr. Dikko to the acting president, which was copied to the Director
General of State Security Services (SSS), the National Security Adviser
(NSA), the Inspector General of Police, the Minister of Finance and the
Attorney General of the Federation.

Mr Keyamo’s letter,
which was attached to the suit, said in part: “I am totally ashamed
this minute to be a Nigerian as I write this. For more than six months
now, it has become public knowledge that the Comptroller-General of
Customs, Abdullahi Inde Dikko has been pointedly accused of forging his
WAEC Certificate and that of the Nigerian Institute of Management and
yet nothing has been done by the authorities up till this minute.

“I have decided to
bring this to your attention because what frustrated the investigation
before now is the family tie between Alhaji Dikko and Hajia Turai
Yar’Adua, the wife of the ailing president. This is because before now
I have written to ALL the security agencies on this matter, and all of
them developed cold feet because of Hajia Turai Yar’Adua.”

The letter further
asked for how long the nation can continue to tolerate a
Comptroller-General of Customs “whom the whole world knows has
questions to answer regarding the authenticity of his certificates and
who is being blackmailed left, right and centre by those who know but
have decided to cover him up? How can the Chief Security Officer of the
nation’s borders — land, air and sea — perform without fear or favour
with such an albatross hanging around his neck? The security and
economic implication of a Comptroller-General of Customs who is
susceptible to blackmail is very grave indeed and cannot be
over-emphasized.”

Legal militancy

Mr. Keyamo also
narrated how, on October 22, 2009, he secured an order at the Chief
Magistrates Court, Wuse Zone 6, for the police to probe the
certificates and report to the court, and how the police bluntly
refused to do anything about the matter.

“Curiously,
immediately the order was given, the Chief Judge of the FCT directed
the investigation of a spurious petition written by Mr. Dikko against
the magistrate, which petition was never served on us, and which
effectively stopped the progress of the case.

“In all of these,
there is a grand cover-up of this very, very messy issue and it is
causing all of us shame and embarrassment. Even a section of the press
that should uphold high standards in public life has blacked out the
issue and refused to talk about it. Instead, some hired goons of Alhaji
Dikko have taken out paid adverts attacking my person with the hope of
silencing me. I have remained unbowed because such attacks only
re-invigorate my determination to see to the end of this national
shame”.

Mr. Nzelu, in a
reply to the letter, said, “Despite the order of the court which has
not been set aside by any superior court or the same court, Festus
Keyamo went ahead on March 24, 2010, to circulate the malicious
publication concerning the person of our client. The only deduction
from the conduct of Festus Keyamo is that he feels he is above the law
and can get away from any thing. He will be proved wrong sooner than
later.

“Festus Keyamo
should confine himself within the norms of the profession by allowing
the court to determine this matter one way or the other. He should
equally season his language so that the dignity of this our cherished
profession will be intact. He should not sensationalise the matter nor
be allowed to overheat the polity of the nation. There is no militancy
in the legal profession. That, he must be told in no mistaken terms.”

A Sharia court
sitting in Kaduna on Tuesday upheld last week’s ruling that an online
discussion on the first wrist amputation in the country be banned.

The online forum
was launched by the Civil Rights Congress (CRC), a civil society
organisation, to mark the 10th anniversary of the first Sharia-court
ordered amputation in Nigeria – that of Buba Bello Jangebe, alias ‘Kare
Garke’ (ranch raider), by the Zamfara State government.

The Magajin Gari
Sharia court last week ordered the CRC and its head, Shehu Sani, to
suspend its online debate on the amputation through an interim
injunction that restrained the respondents from opening a chat forum on
Facebook, Twitter, or any blog for the purpose of the debate on the
amputation of Mr. Jangebe pending yesterday’s hearing of the case.

It’s only a forum

Mr. Sani, the
director of CRC, speaking to NEXT immediately after the ruling,
confirmed that “the Sharia court judge just finished judgement and he
upheld the ban of Facebook and Twitter chat on the amputation.”

Mr. Sani said the
chat forum was launched on Twitter and Facebook two weeks ago and was
initially challenged by the Muslim Brotherhood Association of Nigeria.

“We (the CRC) are
utterly surprised at this ruling because we only wanted to create a
forum for people to hear their views on whether what happened is
justified or not,” he said. “This group (the Muslim Brotherhood
Association of Nigeria) approached us and appealed that we close the
chat that was already running online for about ten days, claiming that
people can come around to attack Sharia law and the amputation
doctrine.”

The group then filed a suit against the online debate at the Magajin Gari Sharia court on Friday, 19 March 2010.

Mr. Jangebe had his
right wrist amputated on March 22, 2000, for theft, making him the
first convict of the Sharia law, which 12 states in Northern Nigeria
adopted in 1999 shortly after the nation returned to civilian rule
following 15 years of military dictatorship.

Unnecessary debate?

Abu Sufyan,
chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood Association of Nigeria in Kaduna,
however told NEXT over a phone conversation that his organisation was
trying to protect the image of Islam by challenging such a debate.

“As Muslims, we see
no reason why there should be a debate on an issue that we believe is
our doctrine and which Jangebe (the amputee) himself did not contest
when it happened, because it is a doctrine we believe in,” he said.
“The issue concerns on the belief and Ideology of Islam, which is to
protect the Islamic rights which is bidding on all Muslims.”

Mr. Sanni however
insists that his group “shall not relent in our right to express our
views, therefore we are heading straight to the Upper Sharia court on
Monday to challenge this ruling and if we lose there, the battle moves
to the Sharia court of appeal and the Supreme Court in that order.”

Of freedom of expression

A lecturer in the
department of Journalism at the Lagos State University, Jide Jimoh,
however called the ruling ‘a sad development.’ “This manner of ruling
negates the Section 22 and 39 of the Nigerian constitution and goes
against all binding local and international instruments that guarantees
freedom of expression and association,” he said.

Gbenga Sesan, an
ICT consultant and social media expert, expressed amusement. “I laugh
because Facebook and Twitter are beyond the jurisdiction of the Sharia
court, noting that the server on which the information is hosted is not
in Nigeria,” he said.

However, he raised
the fear that the error of allowing this ruling to stay will create a
precedent for “that will be a huge assault on the freedom which the
internet provides.”

He advised the CRC
to create another group (in a physical space that cannot be touched by
a Kaduna-based court) and register new accounts while they ‘comply’
with the court ruling in the interest of avoiding the injection of
religious sentiments into the ongoing series of events.

“The internet is a
tricky place to issue or uphold rulings because of the free – and
possibly anonymous – nature of cyberspace,” he said.

The Acting President, Goodluck
Jonathan, should embrace the national gender policy that states
reserving 35 per cent of all political appointments for women and
therefore, create wider room for women to participate in governance, a
woman activist and executive director of Equity Advocates, Ene Ede, has
said.

Women activists have expressed concern
over the few women ministerial nominees on the list sent to the Senate
for screening by the Acting President.

“It is the greatest shock to see only
very few women nominated for appointment in the new list,” Ms. Ede
said. “Already, there is what some people call ‘democratic deficit’,
where women have not been accorded their right of place in the polity.
We should have been asked to manage at least 10 slots. And what is
wrong with getting the 35 per cent prescribed by the national gender
policy? Consider the services and contributions that women have
rendered to make the society more comfortable.”

Incidentally, the theme for the 2010
International Women’s Day celebration is ‘Equal rights, equal
opportunity: Prosperity for Women.’ This, Ms. Ede said, underscores the
need to give women a voice in politics, saying history has proved that
women have done exceedingly better than their male counterparts in some
cases, in both traditional and even sophisticated economies.

Qualified for any post

“A woman can head
the Ministry of Defence,” she said. “There are lots of women who have
retired from the armed forces. Why can’t we pick any of them, or are
they not qualified? They can also head power or the petroleum ministry.
If we want real and genuine change, we can get women to head some key
ministries. There is no ministry in this country that cannot be headed
by women.”

She also urged Mr. Jonathan to bring fresher faces to government so as to give his government more dynamism.

“Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo will tell you that he owes a huge part of his success
to the calibre of women he brought in,” she said. “We still have women
who can do better than men, after all we never knew they existed
before. So let us stop all these recycling. Let us see younger women
coming in.

“The Senate, too. I know they are very gender sensitive and so we
would like to see how they will bring the gender sensitivity to bear on
the screening.”

In
the wake of last week’s accident involving tens of pupils of an
unregistered school in the state, the Ondo State government has
announced plans to tackle the spread of mushroom nursery and primary
schools in the state.

The State
Commissioner for Education, Adenike Fatogun, said at a news conference
in Akure on Monday that the state government was not happy with the
spread of illegal schools in the state and that new guidelines for
operators of private schools in the state have been finalised with a
view to reducing quackery in the educational system.

“The state
government could no longer fold its arms and allow mediocrity to ruin
the future of the pupils who are supposed to be the future leaders,”
Mrs. Fatogun said. “We are totally dissatisfied about the operation of
some nursery and primary schools in the state and that is why we are
reviewing the guidelines to make sure that they conform with the normal
standard obtainable in anywhere across the country.” An official of the
state Ministry of Education in Akure said no fewer than 200 unapproved
nursery and primary schools have been recommended for closure in the
state.

“Area Education
Officers (AEO) in the 18 local governments in the state have also been
directed to inspect all private schools in their jurisdictions and
verify whether they are registered with the state government,” he said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.

Packed like sardines

“The Education
Officers are also saddled with the responsibility of ascertaining
whether the facilities and environment where these schools operate meet
the required standard.” The Commissioner also said government would no
longer tolerate the way some schools load pupils inside the school
buses like sardines.

“Government will no longer tolerate the use of rickety buses to transport students to school.

We have discovered
that some schools packed pupils inside the school bus like sardines.
Such act is highly dangerous and needs to be tackled urgently,” she
said.

The Commissioner,
who also decried the way some school buses carry pupils to schools,
said she personally intercepted two school buses in Akure during the
week which were overloaded with pupils.

While advising
parents to be concerned about the security and welfare of their
children, Mrs. Fatogun warned that any private school in the state that
violates government’s directive will have its license revoked.

She disclosed that
the ministry will soon commence new registration of all private schools
in the state with a view to re-branding the educational sector and
identify quacks who only run schools for their selfish reasons.

Renowned Peruvian
economist, Hernando De Soto, has urged Nigerian leaders to focus on
utilisation of the nation’s resources to build a system of Rule of Law
for the country.

Mr. De Soto, who
was the lead discussant at the second annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium
held at the Muson Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos yesterday, also asked
Nigerians to come together and find a common ground to define a system
that will work for everyone.

Speaking on the
topic: ‘This House Must Stand! Pulling Nigeria back from the brink’,
the president of the Lima-based Institute of Leadership and
Development, which is revered as one of the two most important
think-tanks in the world, described the rule of law as an opposite to
anarchy. This, according to Mr. De Soto, “is not chaos” as “anarchy is
a situation where different types of laws operate.”

Mr. De Soto, the
author of a best seller, The Mystery of Capital; Why Capitalism
Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, explained that
formalisation of the nation’s resources from human to material
resources gives value to resources which then will enhance the world to
relate with it.

Comparing the
development of the West to the poor regions of the world, the economist
wondered that despite the technology and education bestowed on the poor
nations over the last five decades, “they remain the same.”

“We have refused to
learn how they formalised their economy to make it work for them over
the years. Formalisation is getting things under the Rule of Law, which
is invariably securing things. Rules fall into place and make people
that do not know each other deal with each other. The Rule of Law is
needed for people across the globe to work with each other.”

Femi Falana, a
member of the panel of discussants, however demanded that the concept
of the Rule of Law must be redefined globally. Mr. Falana argued that
the concept must be redefined from the way the West has defined it and
called for a new international economic order which he referred to as
“a just rule of law.”

“The Nigerian house has fallen and we are trying to re-build the house by the Rule of Law,” Mr. Falana said.

Middle class action

Maryam Uwais, who
was recently appointed on the Presidential advisory committee to the
Vice President, called on all Nigerians to “focus on a larger picture;
we need to think beyond the fragments that divide us.” Babatunde
Ahonsi, a former senior program officer with the Ford Foundation, said
that Nigeria’s problem is a twined crisis of government and
development. He argued that for the Rule of Law to work in Nigeria, the
middle class must jettison the habit of ‘siddon look’, which he said is
an attitude that ignores the happenings in the nation. He also called
on the middle class to connect with progressive members of the elite
who are interested in making Nigeria great again by “using what we
have, by coming together to form a vanguard that will let Nigerians
come together and rebuild the nation.”

The annual colloquium is organised by a committee of friends to mark
the birthday of the former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, to
discuss topical issues affecting Nigeria.

The Murtala

Mohammed Airport (MMA) Police Command on Monday announced the arrest of

a group of employees with the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company

(NAHCO), alleged to have been stealing from the aviation firm.

The process of the

arrest, which came after the group broke into the ground handling

company’s warehouse and made away with two plasma television sets and a

carton containing 100 mobile phones, commenced on March 23, following a

report to the police.

“We quickly moved

into action by arresting one Sunday John, a staff of NAHCO, who led

detectives to his house in Otta, Ogun State,” said Danazumi Doma,

Commissioner of Police MMA Command, at the police headquarters, Lagos.

Mr. Doma disclosed

that 21 pieces of “expensive” wristwatches and seven automatic electric

door handles believed to have been stolen, were also recovered from the

suspect’s apartment, adding that through Mr. John, the command

apprehended two other employees of the company involved in the crime.

“Through the first

suspect, two members of the syndicate, namely Alen Akin and Ahulor

Alexander, all staff of NAHCO, were also picked up and the remaining

items stolen from the warehouse on the night of March 22, were

recovered,” he said.

Confirming the

arrest of the syndicate, an employee at the aviation handling company,

who asked to remain anonymous, disclosed that the arrest of the group

was the right thing to do, adding that it was unfortunate to figure out

that the perpetrators of the crime were workers in the company.

“Their arrest is

the best thing at this time, although no one had expected that the

thieves will be employees of NAHCO,” the source said.

The MMA police commissioner stated that the suspects will be prosecuted according to the demands of the law.

“All those involved will be charged to court as soon as we conclude our investigations,” he said.

Mr. Doma further

disclosed that the police has been able to eliminate violent crime at

Lagos airports, adding that there has been “drastic” reduction in the

forging and faking of receipts, invoices, and other documents used to

fraudulently clear cargoes at the various aviation ground handling

companies.

“Touting at MMIA has reduced and we have been able to record

considerable success in the war against commercial motorcycle (okada)

operators at the airports,” he said.

Even as the Senate
yesterday commenced the screening of ministerial nominees sent by our
acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, hearing in a suit that Farouk
Aliyu, a former House of Representatives member filed, continued in
Abuja.

Mr. Aliyu, in the
suit, is challenging the resolution of the National Assembly that
sanctioned the elevation of Mr. Jonathan to acting president. He is
challenging the National Assembly’s resolution of February 9, and
asking that a Federal High Court declares it illegal. The defendants in
the suit include the acting president, Attorney General and Minister of
Justice, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Acting President Jonathan asked the court to dismiss the suit challenging his acting position.

The acting
president’s position is shared by the former Attorney General of the
Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Adetokunbo Kayode, who is the
fourth respondent in the suit.

The defendants,
including the Senate and the House of Representatives, told the court
that it would be in the interest of justice to strike out or dismiss
the suit.

They argued that it disclosed no cause of action, adding that it lacked locus standi.

Canvassing more
grounds upon which the court, presided over by Adamu Bello, should
throw out the suit, the former AGF in his notice of preliminary
objection, noted that the suit did not disclose any reasonable cause of
action. Besides, he prayed the court to dismiss the suit because there
was no dispute between the plaintiff, Mr. Jonathan and the AGF, even as
he asked the court to hold that the “suit is an abuse of court process”.

Similarly, Ken
Ikonne, who also challenged the suit on behalf of the Senate,
emphasised that the plaintiff lacked locus standi in respect of the
suit.

But counsel to
plaintiff, Victor Kalu, prayed the court to declare the resolution of
the National Assembly on Jonathan as illegal and unconstitutional.

The case was adjourned to April 20, for further hearing.