The Lies Against The Accountant General Of The Federation

By

Queen Ifunanya Onwughalu:

Undoubtedly, Nigerians are in moments of anxicety and national outrage, no thanks to the unprecedented anarchy, chaos and doom caused by insecurity.

Incidentally, in these moments of insecurity even institutions whose function has a lot of bearing on the smooth and steady running of the entire civil service are challenged by cocktails of externally generated speculative tails of fear, anxiety and apprehension.

The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF); the administrative head of the treasury of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, perhaps one of the most prominent public offices in the Nigerian Civil Service has been having a fair share of cocktails of lies, half-truths and speculations and these are springing seeds of doubts, tension in the minds and hearts of Nigerians.

For purposefulness, the simple description of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) as the agency of government responsible for accounting of receipts and expenditures of the Federal Government may appear too simple and incomplete for those who know the enormity of the work daily carried out by the agency.

Established under the Civil Service re-organization Decree No. 43 of 1988, this important agency is headed by the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), who is appointed by the President for a tenure of four years, serves as the Chief accounting officer for the receipts and payments of account of the Federal Government.

A more roboust description will say the OAGF is mandated to collate, present and publish statutory financial statements required by the Minister of Finance, manage Federal Government investments, maintain and operate the accounts of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, Department Fund, Contingencies Fund and other public funds; and provide cash backing for the operation of the Federal Government.

It is equally saddled with the conduct of routine and in-depth inspection of the books of accounts of Federal Ministries and Extra-ministerial Departments to ensure compliance with rules, regulations, policies, and internal audit guides, investigation of cases of fraud, loss of funds, assets and store items and other financial malpractices in ministries and extra-ministerial departments.

The office is also to provide financial regulations and issue Treasury Circulars to Federal Ministries/Extra-Ministerial Departments to ensure that there are adequate accounting systems in public funds and for the coordination of the collection and disbursement of the public funds and for the coordination of accounting systems

The office also monitors government revenue and account for same, issues officially approved forms bearing Treasury Numbers for use in all Federal Ministries to ensure uniformity, formulate the accounting policies of the Federal Government, services government loans and manages public debts.

The good news here is that the OAGF is currently headed by the tested and trusted leadership of Ahmed Idris; a Nigerian financial accountant who in the recent history of the Nigerian political journey has been adjudged the only AGF who has through his professional expertise championed some reforms in the process of revenue collection, management and disbursement of public funds, by the institutionalizing a practical model which succeeded in blocking leakages, enhances transparency, accountability and openness in Government financial dealings, which includes Single Treasury Account, IPPS, and many more.

However, this writer has been following with keen interest the hot air balloon created in some selected and selfish media platforms in concert with some shadow political forces to deliberately create political smokescreen designed to spark unnecessary confusion and distraction on the person of the Accountant General of the Federation.

Remarkably, in the midst of these orchestrated campaigns of calumny, Alhaji. Ahmed Idris, who several pundits has described as a cool headed, calculated and compassionate gentleman has maintained his calmness and has refused to be distracted. His silence over some of these issues goes a long way to buttress the fact that the accusations are baseless; since “Silence” they say, “is best answer to fools”.

Also, it is a well-known fact that the President has the vantage position of getting intelligence feed on to him. That the Accountant General of the Federation hasn’t been fired for this long shows the allegations to the President are tissues of lies.

Perhaps, highlighting these rumors and half-truths against the person of Ahmed Idris will be to make them weighty, nevertheless, an analysis of a few will help set the records straight on this misleading campaign.

A good case in point was the report on accusations by one Professor Lawan Abubakar of ASUU, Bauchi branch, against the AGF. According to a social media report credited to solacebase.com (www.solacebase.com) dated 19th November, 2020, Prof. Abubakar singled out the person of Alhaji Ahmed Idris for vilification in connection with the then protracted negotiations that existed between the Federal Government and ASUU.

It was reported that Prof. Abubakar’s accusations included that the Accountant General insisted on the enrolment of University staff on IPPIS only because he will gain N16, 000 per each lecturer so enrolled. He further alleged that Alhaji Idris owns multi billion Naira Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange. He also bought Sokoto Hotel in Kano which he demolished to build a mall.

Under normal circumstances, one will find it extremely difficult to believe that such wild allegations could emanate from a University Professor. This is because Scholars are known for research, analysis, making references to their sources of information and for deductive reasoning, particularly on issues worthy of their attention and public comments.

For instance the allegation that the Accountant General of the Federation receives financial benefit to the tune of N16, 000 on the enrolment of each staff into IPPIS clearly portrays misunderstanding of IPPIS administration.

IPPIS is an Information Communication Technology (ICT) driven programme initiated by the Federal Government of Nigeria to improve the storage of personnel records and administration of payroll for Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

The IPPIS department in the OAGF operates strictly in accordance with extant rules, regulations and government directives. The staff of the department are professional civil servants drawn from across the country; they are not employees of the AGF. Moreover, the Federal Government does not release cash to the OAGF for payment of salaries and wages of the staff of federal MDAs captured under the IPPIS. Salary payments and other financial transactions are carried out electronically.

On the alleged acquisition of properties worth billions of Naira citing Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange, and Sokoto Hotel, while this writer is not holding a brief for the AGF on the matter, he believes that as a high ranking civil servant who steadily progressed to the peak of his career in the service, Alh. Idris ought to be very conversant with the public service rules, financial regulations and such other guidelines provided for the official and personal conduct of serving federal public officers.

Research reveals that Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange is a limited liability company registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria. This, therefore, does not require spurious allegations aimed at damaging the image of any person over ownership of the property. The records of ownership, value, etc of the company could have easily been cross checked with the Commission.

Any interested person could have equally followed the procedures laid down by the Kano state government for tracing ownership of landed properties through relevant establishments such as the state Ministries/Agencies responsible for lands, housing and urban development. Findings would have availed access to proof of ownership of the property (by Ahmed Idris, if his claims were correct), date of purchase, actual cost and even the approved building plan and architectural designs for the said proposed mall.

These are simple and harmless steps expected to have been taken in order to obtain accurate facts and evidences before going to the press.

Again, after a careful examination of all the arguments bandied on the media, notably on his retention as the AGF by President Muhammdu Buhari after attaining the age of 60 on November 25, 2020, unlike the apologists of the hasty campaign to forcefully boot him out through the back-door, Alhaji Idris had relied on the provisions of the constitution, which makes both the appointment and renewal of the tenured appointment of AGF a prerogative of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Report has it that the AGF had on October 2, 2020, written to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha, seeking clarification on his status ahead of November 25, 2020, when he would clock 60 years old.

The letter titled “Re, Renewal of Appointment as Accountant-General of the Federation”, reads in part:” I most respectfully inform the Secretary to the Government of the Federation that I will be Sixty (60) years of age on 25th of November 2020, while my length of service will be Seventeen (17) years.

“In the light of the foregoing, I wish to most obediently seek for SGF’s guidance and clarification accordingly.”

It is common knowledge that the AGF is currently serving as a political appointment and not a civil servant that should retire at the age of 60. It logically follows, that his appointment in 2015 was projected as a civil servant who served within the age bracket of a mandatory retirement age of 60 years, and enjoyed the tenure within the mainstream civil service guidelines supervised under the office of the Head of Civil Service.

His re-appointment for a second term on June 25, 2019, was predicated under Section 9(1),(2), (3) of the 1999 Construction where the President is empowered to appoint any person into any position of authority regardless of the age bracket, and therefore prompted the second appointment through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Beyond this, Section 171 of the Constitution empowers the president to exercise discretion in appointing persons into some extra-ministerial offices. The same constitution spelt out the offices in the category, to which the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation fell.

The Constitution, the supreme law of the land, is the grand norm, all other laws rose from it and any law that is in conflict with the provisions of the constitution doesn’t stand, it’s struck down.

When it was clear that Mr. President had exercised his powers under Section 171 of 1999 Constitution as amended in reappointing Mr. Ahmed Idris with effect from June 25, 2019 for another tenure of four years which by terms of appointment elapse June 2023, political opportunists resorted to campaigns of calumny aimed at tarnishing the image of the AGF.

The question begging for an answer is this: what is the underlying agenda of this broad daylight sinister efforts to malign an appointee who has been passionate about his responsibility, to the excitement of The Presidency, which (in the first place) has the prerogative of appointing, removing him; reappointing him or replacing him out rightly?

It is not surprising then that the effort these political jobbers are making to destroy the image of Mr. Idris Ahmed is a lost battle and their sponsors are chasing shadows and leaving the substance.
If they are not out for cheap recognition or hiding behind a questionable campaign of calumny to secure the AGF’s office for their kinsmen, they are against the AGF presumably under the guise that he wants to be governor in his state of origin.

The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation is a sensitive position that deals with financial issues the President feels he can work with Alhaji Ahmed Idris. This is because he is not working for himself, but for the nation and has to get the best of hands, trusted persons.

That Mr. Idris has been kept in Office in the midst of these rumours and half-truths is a testament that he is doing a good work and the President having realized that these are plots meant for distractions wants to continue with him.

*Miss. Onwughalu, Project Director at the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA), Abuja.

Ministers, party leaders detained in apparent coup in Sudan – sources

Soldiers arrested most of the members of Sudan’s cabinet and a large number of pro-government party leaders on Monday in an apparent military coup, three political sources said.

The information ministry said “joint military forces” had arrested civilian members of the Sovereign Council and members of the government and had taken them to an undisclosed location.

There was no immediate comment from the military. Sudanese state TV broadcast as normal.

A Reuters witness saw joint forces from the military and from the powerful, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces stationed in the streets in Khartoum.

Sudan has been on edge since a failed coup plot last month unleashed bitter recriminations between military and civilian groups meant to be sharing power following the 2019 ouster of former leader Omar al-Bashir. read more

Bashir was toppled and jailed after months of street protests. A political transition agreed after his ouster has seen Sudan emerge from its isolation under three decades of rule by Bashir and was meant to lead to elections by the end of 2023.

The Reuters witness said military and paramilitary forces deployed across the capital, Khartoum, restricting civilians’ movements, as protesters carrying the national flag burnt tires in different parts of the city.

The information ministry said on its Facebook page that a number of ministers and civilian members of the ruling Sovereign Council were arrested.

Khartoum airport was shut and international flights were suspended, according to Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel.

Citing unidentified sources, Saudi-owned, Dubai-based Al Hadath said Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok had been placed under house arrest, and that unidentified military forces arrested four cabinet ministers, one civilian member of the Sovereign Council, and several state governors and party leaders.

Family sources told Reuters that military forces had stormed the house of Hamdok’s media adviser and arrested him.

Reuters witnesses said internet services appeared to be down in Khartoum.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), a main activist coalition in the uprising against Bashir, called on supporters to mobilise after what it called the arrest of cabinet members.

“We urge the masses to go out on the streets and occupy them, close all roads with barricades, stage a general labour strike, and not to cooperate with the putschists and use civil disobedience to confront them,” the group said in a statement on Facebook.

As tensions built this month, a coalition of rebel groups and political parties aligned themselves with the military and called on it to dissolve the civilian government, staging a sit-in outside the presidential palace.

Last week, several cabinet ministers took part in big protests in several parts of Khartoum and other cities against the prospect of military rule.

The military head of the Sovereign Council has previously asserted his commitment to the transition.

[Reuters]

ANAMBRA GUBER: HURIWA ASKS PRESIDENT BUHARI, SOUTH EAST LEADERS TO PREVENT BLOODBATH

Civil rights advocacy group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has appealed for the umpteenth time to President Muhammadu Buhari and the governors of the Igbo speaking States to take immediate action to forestall the massive BLOODBATH that may be unleashed should the Federal Government carry out its threats to carry out military action against groups standing in the way of the Anambra governorship election in less than two weeks away. 

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) in a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, said it was worried by the fact that up until now there are no signs that the political leaders of the South East including the Governors, National and state parliamentarians, traditional hierarchy, and cultural leaders have not activated dialogues mechanisms to mount effective pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to opt for peaceful negotiations and stop his hardline and kinetic postures against members of the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). 

HURIWA lamented that the governors of the South East rather than being resolute ad committed towards finding lasting solutions in the uproar between the Proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra and the Federal government of President Muhammadu Buhari are behaving like giraffes by hiding their heads in the sands whilst Igboland is set ablaze. The Rights group regretted that the governors are not bothered about possible conflicts that may mar the Anambra governorship election but are deeply concerned about how to grab political power by all means by winning the Anambra governorship seat by hook or crook. 

HURIWA expressed consternation that since July that the leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (Ipob) was allegedly kidnapped by the Nigerian government from Kenya and brought back to Nigeria to continue his trial for alleged treasonable felony for his role in championing the campaign for self determination in the South East  of Nigeria,  the elected leaders of the Igbo speaking nationality have yet to concretely convinced the President to unban the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (Ipob) and remove the erroneous tag of being a terrorist group slammed on the self proclaimed unarmed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra. 

The Rights group said instead of opting for peaceful negotiations and the adoption of non kinetic steps by the federal government to douse the rising tension created by the detention of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (Ipob) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,  the Federal government and the South East governors have largely adopted bellicose and confrontational military strategies to confront a situation that could have been resolved through peaceful and constructive means. 

The Rights group said the recent moves by the federal government to Militarise Anambra state with the elections barely few days away and the threat to call out the people of the South East of Nigeria on a week-long sit-at-home protests made by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra is an unambiguous signal that the election in Anambra State would be characterised by BLOODBATH which is what the Rights group is asking all and sundry to avert. 

HURIWA recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered a massive deployment of security agents in Anambra State to ensure peaceful conduct of the November 6 governorship election in the state.

The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, disclosed this to journalists after a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) at the State House, Abuja on Thursday just as he stated as follows: “Now the problem here is that in as much as the government wants to conduct peaceful elections, there are non-state actors who have been heating up the polity, who have made all kinds of attempts to stymie orderly elections for next month.

The president has directed that under no circumstances will anything be allowed to stop the elections from taking place successfully. The people have a right to vote, they have a right to select their leader, and no group or individual will be allowed to stimulate anarchy and chaos leading to murderous activities.

“The president has made it very clear that the armed forces, security agencies and law enforcement agencies must make sure that the elections take place, if it means overwhelming the entire environment with the presence of security agencies.”

HURIWA further recalled that the police had on 14 October announced it would deploy 34,587 personnel to Anambra to ensure peace during the poll even as earlier the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had hinted that the federal government was considering imposing a state of emergency in the state to ensure peaceful conduct of the poll.

HURIWA recalled too that the Indigenous People of Biafra had declared a one week sit-at-home protest across the South-East states starting from November 5, the eve of the governorship election in Anambra State. IPOB’s Media and Public Secretary, Emma Powerful, in a statement on Saturday in Awka, the Anambra State capital, said the protest was aimed at prevailing on the Federal Government to release its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The group vowed that the protest would go on as planned if Kanu was not released before November 4.

Reacting against these warlike backdrops occasioned by the different threats from the President, his security Chiefs and then the Proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra not to allow the election in Anambra take place if its leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is still being kept in the dungeons of the Department of State Services up until the date of the Anambra governorship election, the Rights group has raised alarm of an impending genocide.

The HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has decried what it calls the CLOUDS OF UNCERTAINTY AND WAR that has beclouded the horizons in the South East of Nigeria and is therefore asking President Muhammadu Buhari to be a Statesman and not proceed to precipitate a genocide and BLOODBATH which is the consequence of his Presidential directive to the heads of the Armed Forces. 

HURIWA said members of the Armed Forces have in the recent times violated the fundamental human rights of the citizens during their previous internal military actions and have killed many innocent citizens without the killers ever been brought to justice. HURIWA said there is no guarantee that the armed forces that are now being given direct order to deploy and employ kinetic means to ensure that Anambra state governornorship election happen, won’t employ the use of extralegal killings of citizens. 

The Rights group wonders why despite all the appeals from peace loving groups in the organised civil society community and the traditional institutions in the South East of Nigeria advocating peaceful resolutions of all the contending issues between the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra and the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, it would seem President Muhammadu Buhari has opted for only one option which is to deploy the full force of the armed forces to the South East of Nigeria. HURIWA has also appealed to the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra to avoid situations that will eventually throw the South East Region into avoidable and preventable war even as the Rights group warned against any plan to frustrate the holding of the Anambra governorship election. 

The Rights group maintained that  now that  the President has given specific directive to the Armed Forces not to allow any group to disrupt the Anambra governorship election and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra has now ordered Civil peaceful protest of a sit-at-home order which as we have come to see it unfold have in the past led to many deaths and arson in the South East of Nigeria, it is certain that there would be BLOODBATH should the members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra physically attempts to prevent voters from reaching the polling stations in the Anambra state gubernatorial poll. 

JUST IN: After Multiple Postponements, PDP Clinches Zangon Kataf Local Government Seat

The People Democratic Party has clinched the Saturday Zangon Kataf local government area election in Kaduna state, defeating the All Progressives Congress by a wide merging.

Declaring the results in Zonkwa, the Returning officer, Professor Nuhu Lawrence declared the PDP Candidate, Francis Sani Zimbo as the winner having scored a total votes of 28,771 as against the APC candidate, John Hassan who scored a total votes of 19,509. The PDP also clinched majority of the wards in the local government.

It would be recalled that the Zangon Kataf local government elections were postponed twice before yesterday’s elections with the Kaduna state electoral commission citing security challenges in the area as reason for the postponement.

Yesterday’s elections were said to be free, fair and credible according to observers.

Nigeria Not Expected To Deploy Super Tucano To South-East – US Warns Buhari Government

The United States has said the Nigerian government is expected to deploy the Super Tucano aircraft only in the northern part of the country where Boko Haram terrorists have engaged in a decade-long insurgency, killing thousands and displacing millions.

According to Punch, the US Principal Deputy National Security Advisor, Jonathan Finer, at an event attended by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, said the terms of the agreement during the sale of the 12 Tucano aircraft were explicit.

Reacting to a question on whether the Tucano fighter planes might be deployed against secessionists in the South-East, Finer said the planes were an important platform for security, particularly in the North, expressing pleasure over the conclusion of the deal.

Finer said, “We are pleased to deepen our security cooperation with the Nigerian government. I think we made it very clear our expectations about this platform where it would be used and in the right way and we are always raising concerns when we have them and that it’s true with all our security partners around the world.

“This is an important platform for security, particularly in the North and we are pleased the transaction is finally concluded.”

The Federal Government had proscribed the Indigenous People of Biafra in the South-East and despite public outcry, designated the agitation group as terrorists, fuelling fears that the Super Tucano might be deployed to harass the residents.

On Wednesday, it had also been reported that the military had not been able to deploy the Tucano planes to crush the bandits in the North-West because the agreement signed with the United States was that the aircraft, bought from the US, would be deployed against terrorists and not bandits.

This implies that the fighter planes have only been deployed to fight Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.

It was gathered that the complaints by the service chiefs led to the recent recommendation to by the Senate and the House of Representatives that bandits should be designated as terrorists, so the planes could be deployed against the bandits.

The Federal Government had ordered 12 A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to aid its war against Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East. The aircraft were said to have cost $423million.

On July 22, 2021, the Nigerian Air Force said in a statement by its spokesperson, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, that the first batch of six of the Tucano aircraft arrived at Kano at about 12:34pm.

Also, on October 18, 2021, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the remaining six had been received and had been deployed to the North-East.

[Saharareporters]

[SUNDAY IGBOHO/NNAMDI KANU] HURIWA TELLS ABUBAKAR MALAMI: THERE IS NO JUSTICE IN YOUR JUSTICE MINISTRY, DOUBLE STANDARDS SIGNPOSTS CURRENT PUBLIC PROSECUTION

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA ( HURIWA) has rejected what it calls the persistent double standards that tailor federal government policies and initiatives. HURIWA carpeted the Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami over his claims that the banned Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (Ipob) was responsible for some disturbances during last year’s #ENDSARS PROTESTS in Lagos including the lootings of the palatial mansion of the Oba of Lagos. HURIWA says it is possible that the Minister of Justice who is a politician is playing politics of EAST/WEST DIVIDE so as to precipitate political division between Igbo people and the Yoruba and then open up the possibility of retaining power in the North. 

 There is a clear evidence of double standard in the area of public prosecution of politically exposed individuals from either north or south. The government, particularly the ministry of justice has consistently manifested aversion or lack of enthusiasm towards bringing suspected terrorists from the Northern part of Nigeria to justice but he is always overzealous to charge other persons from the south with certain phantom allegation of of terrorism and the Justice ministry is busy conjuring up half baked allegations to hang it on the necks of either Nnamdi Kanu or Sunday Igboho. 

A good example will suffice; Nnamdi Kanu versus Certain elements and  Divisive leaders of Miyetti Allah that have been quoted in the media for supporting the activities of the armed Fulani headsmen who are terrorists.

These same leaders of Miyetti Allah  who are in Nigeria have made treasonable statements challenging the government authorities of the state governments that have carried out the legal passage of laws on the anti-open grazing legislation have not only made threats but carried out their threats like in Ondo state. 

The National President of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association has threatened fire and Brimstone in the South East of Nigeria just because people people rejected Ruga Fulani initiative of the president. 

Few months after these threats were published in the media and still on the internet as I speak, there are sporadic attacks targeting strategic national security institution and assets and the government’s at both the South East and centre have refused to conduct proper forensic investigation but have hastily blamed Eastern Security Network and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra. IPOB denied. 

There are now cases, incidents  of targeted killings of prominent Igbo leaders , businessmen including traditional rulers in the South East which tallies to the threats made by Miyetti Allah but yet the federal government  refused to arrest the National and regional leaders of Miyetti Allah for this act of terrorism all around the country. But This same government is quick to kidnap Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from from Kenya and charged him for broadcasting hate messages he allegedly committed while in London where he resides.  But the miyetti Allah officials who have made threats and have carried out those threats are indeed enjoying public sponsored security cover even while they commit those acts of terrorism. Now the justice minister is carrying out MEDIA TRIALS OF NNAMDI KANU WHOM THEY HAD DETAINED AND ALSO TRYING TO ROPE IN SUNDAY IGNOHO INTO BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS SOONSORSHIP AND THIS IS THE SAME MAN THAT NEARLY GOT KILLED BY DSS WHO INVADED HIS IBADAN HOUSE AT NIGHT BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT MADE HIM TO ESCAOE HE COULD HABE BEIBG KILLED. NOW MALAMI COMES UP WITH TALES BY MOONLIGHT STORIES THAT IGNOHO HAS A LINK TO BOKO HARAM SPONSORS. THIS IS RIDICULOUS. 

 Government has refused to publish the Names of the 400 Boko haram terrorists supporters they identified even the matter have been filled in court. When a matter is filled in court , it has become a public document so why is the government concealing the identities of those sponsors?

Is it because the sponsors  allegedly consist of Northern Muslims ?

Now government has quickly published the list of the account details of Mr Sunday Igboho the leader of Yoruba Nation   . So why is he the minister of justice refusing to publish the list of Boko Haram Sponsors?. 

HURIWA cited media report as claiming that the Federal Government has identified the financiers of Yoruba nation separatist leader, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho.
Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja on Friday.
According to Malami, a committee constituted by the Federal Government unmasked how Igboho got monies from 43 bank accounts, across nine banks.
“The Federal Government has received the report on financers of Adeniyi Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a Sunday Igboho. The report revealed that Sunday Igboho is a Director and signatory to Adesun International Concept Limited registered on 23rd April, 2010.”
“Adesun International Concept Limited also has Oladele Oyetunji and Aderopo Adeyemo as Directors. Sunday Igboho is linked to 43 bank accounts in 9 banks.

“The major financier of the fugitive and separatists was found to be a Federal Law Maker in the National Assembly. A total sum of ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN MILLION, ONE AND FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND NAIRA ONLY (N127, 145,000.00) was received by Igboho from his financiers between 22nd October, 2013 and 28th September, 2020 through Adesun International Concept Ltd accounts.
“A total sum of TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THREE MILLION, ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED NAIRA ONLY (N273,198,200.00) transaction outflows was recorded from Sunday Igboho’s account between 15th March, 2013 and 11 the March, 2021.
“Investigation reveals that Adesun International Concept Ltd (belonging to Igboho) transferred the sum of twelve million seven hundred and fifty thousand naira (N12, 750,000) to Abbal Bako & Sons.
“It might be recalled that Abbal Bako & Sons and its promoter Abdullahi Umar Usman are suspects in the on-going Joint Terrorist Financing Investigation. Abdullahi Umar Usman is by way of financial transaction connected to SURAJO ABUBAKAR MUHAMMAD (who was sentenced to life imprisonment in UAE on charges of financing terrorism [Boko Haram]).
“This report shows the nexus between separatists’ agitation, terrorism financing and disruptions of peace in the country.
“The report found connections of financial transaction between Adesun International Concept Ltd (belonging to Igboho) and some construction companies and businesses among others.”
HURIWA has condemned this press conference as subjudice and a crude attempt to force the hands of the court to convict Nnamdi Kanu by all means. ABUBAKAR MALAMI who has refused to disclosed identities of sponsors quickly pointed out one of them and then linked him to Sunday Igboho who is known to have chased away armed Fulani attackers in the South West of Nigeria.  Is Malami saying a Northern Moslem funded Sunday Igboho to chase away Northern Mislem Fulani terrorists from South West the same armed Fulani militia that the minister of justice has till date failed to prosecute and told us HURIWA in writing that he has no case files on them? 

Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko:

NATIONAL COORDINATOR:

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). OCTOBER 22ND 2021.

Zainab Ahmed’s ‘Generator Generation’

By Emmanuel Onwubiko 

When the President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 commically made reference to some Nigerian Youths he categorized as lazy youths, he probably did not know that some of his younger cabinet level appointees are the very perfect embodiment, representations and depictions of this description of Nigerian Youths as LAZY. Additionally,  even the old appointees have substantially failed to prove that they are capable problem solvers using do it yourself mechanism. 

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday ( April 19,2018) criticised the attitude of some Nigerian youth, saying they were only hustling to get on the gravy train.

“More than 60 per cent of the population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare, education free,” Mr Buhari was quoted as saying by The Cable during a panel appearance with world leaders at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London.

The president’s comment adds to an earlier one he made criticising Nigerian youth.

During a February 2016 interview with UK Telegraph, Mr Buhari said some Nigerians in the UK, mostly youth, are disposed to criminality and should not be granted asylum there. He was fiercely criticised for the comment, with many saying it failed to convey the reality of Nigerian youth’s exploits.

However, a positive one on the Nigerian youths debunked this line of argument by President Muhammadu Buhari when an analysis by Rice University in the U.S. showed that Nigerian youth are the most educated of all migrants in the country. The institution credited the finding to a culture of relentless drive for education amongst Nigerians.

This Writer thinks President Muhammadu Buhari exaggerated this statement because most of the youths that I know are innovative problems solvers and are not lazy by any stretch of imagination except if the analyst is a mischief maker. But come to think of it. President Muhammadu Buhari may have said so going by the reality that most of the youngsters he empowered politically including some of his cousins he made Presidential advisers are actually lazy youths. 

That is not all. A closer examination of how some of his younger ministers have opted for already made solutions in their day to day affairs as public office holders without any deep thinking and due regards to the sense of innovation, introspection and solution politics , shows that the Nigerian President may have appointed into his cabinet a bunch of lazy youths. 

The President since he came on board and also when he took a second and final official oath of allegiance to the constitution of Nigeria, has made only very few appointments in favor of the very young Nigerians such as the person he sent to the ministry of finance, Budget and National planning, youths and sports, ministers of state for education and environment are all considered to be in their youthful ages. 

However, there are mixed messages coming from these strategic beats that President gave to the youngsters. 

Education sector has witnessed decline in development and the situation of facilities in public Universities are deteriorating with many of the public hostels becoming unfit for human habitation but yet the Education ministry has two ministers with the minister of state who is still within the age bracket of a youth. The Environment ministry is virtually moribund with little activities going on regarding the need to enlighten Nigerians on the impacts of climate change. Climate change is about the most debated issue around the World but in Nigeria there is almost no national remediation efforts going on to counter the consequences and effects of Climate change. The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs is headed by a youngster but not a lot is seen in the area of transparency and accountability in the deployment of public resources to solve disasters of all kinds. In Sports, Nigeria came last at the just ended Tokyo Olympics and the National football team lost a match to the central African Republic and indeed no sports development efforts are ongoing to engage the millions of talented youngsters to embrace professional sports. Nigerian youths are a bundle of sporting talents but the Federal Ministry of youths and sports headed by a youth is finding it difficult to engage the youths in constructive sport development engagements. 

Perhaps, the ministry that has so far manifested a dangerous inclination for easy solution to national problems is the ministry of finance, Budget and national planning. To her, the best way out of cash crunch is not home made but to go all over the World borrowing all kinds of loans which have made Nigeria a heavily indebted nation.  

We will speak more about how the young minister of Budget, Finance and national planning through words, actions and inaction, has shown a lack of the deliberate effort to pursue innovative ideas as a way of resolving the economic doldrums affecting Nigeria. 

But we will look at how academic experts define innovation and the evolution of ideas to solve everyday problems 

Wikipedia said these: “Do it yourself” (“DIY”) is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where “individuals use raw and semi-raw materials and parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn from the natural environment (e.g., landscaping)”.[1] DIY behavior can be triggered by various motivations previously categorized as marketplace motivations (economic benefits, lack of product availability, lack of product quality, need for customization), and identity enhancement (craftsmanship, empowerment, community seeking, uniqueness).

The term “do-it-yourself” has been associated with consumers since at least 1912 primarily in the domain of home improvement and maintenance activities.[3] The phrase “do it yourself” had come into common usage (in standard English) by the 1950s,[4] in reference to the emergence of a trend of people undertaking home improvement and various other small craft and construction projects as both a creative-recreational and cost-saving activity.

Subsequently, the term DIY has taken on a broader meaning that covers a wide range of skill sets. DIY has been described as a “self-made-culture”; one of designing, creating, customizing and repairing items or things without any special training. DIY has grown to become a social concept with people sharing ideas, designs, techniques, methods and finished projects with one another either online or in person.

DIY can be seen as a cultural reaction in modern technological society to increasing academic specialization and economic specialization which brings people into contact with only a tiny focus area within the larger context, positioning DIY as a venue for holistic engagement. DIY ethic is the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks without the aid of a paid expert. The DIY ethic promotes the idea that anyone is capable of performing a variety of tasks rather than relying on paid specialists.

People, says the psychological expert, face problems every day—usually, multiple problems throughout the day. Sometimes these problems are straightforward: To double a recipe for pizza dough, for example, all that is required is that each ingredient in the recipe be doubled. Sometimes, however, the problems we encounter are more complex. For example, say you have a work deadline, and you must mail a printed copy of a report to your supervisor by the end of the business day. The report is time-sensitive and must be sent overnight. You finished the report last night, but your printer will not work today. What should you do? First, you need to identify the problem and then apply a strategy for solving the problem.

When you are presented with a problem—whether it is a complex mathematical problem or a broken printer, how do you solve it? Before finding a solution to the problem, the problem must first be clearly identified. After that, one of many problem solving strategies can be applied, hopefully resulting in a solution, according to Psychologists who know. 

A problem-solving strategy is a plan of action used to find a solution. Different strategies have different action plans associated with them, the expert argues. For example, a well-known strategy is trial and error. The old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” describes trial and error. In terms of your broken printer, you could try checking the ink levels, and if that doesn’t work, you could check to make sure the paper tray isn’t jammed. Or maybe the printer isn’t actually connected to your laptop. When using trial and error, you would continue to try different solutions until you solved your problem. Although trial and error is not typically one of the most time-efficient strategies, it is a commonly used one. These were from a scholarly write up on psychology.

This tendency for easy way out of problems are not limited to Federal appointees. While begging southern governors to be their brother’s keeper and let the federal government keep collecting value-added tax, claiming Gombe residents could face acute hunger, Governor Inuwa Yahaya has been on a borrowing spree designed primarily to allegedly  help him accumulate personal wealth, documents obtained by Peoples Gazette show.

Since assuming office on May 29, 2019, Mr Yahaya has sought and received approvals to borrow N44.3 billion, according to state documents obtained by The Gazette. The governor also collected N11 billion that his predecessor Ibrahim Dankwambo applied for but which he was unable to receive before his tenure expired. The governor also has a new plan to borrow an additional N35 billion.

Checks by The Gazette revealed allegedly that the governor did not spend the loans on the projects he cited for their necessity. Instead, he cornered billions for himself, leaving a spectre of crushing debts on a state already beset by a dearth of health and education infrastructure and ranks high in poverty indices.

In documents reviewed by The Gazette, the governor was in October 2019 granted approval for loans of N10 billion and N2 billion respectively for the “provision of Infrastructural projects in the state and payment of counterpart fund requirements for accessing Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) donor funded projects.”

But Mr Yahaya did not settle the counterpart funding after the loan was approved by the House of Assembly but used the fund to execute projects within his own official residence and offices that were contracted to individuals in his pool of fronts. The conduits have consistently helped the governor syphone state funds to jurisdictions outside the state, officials said. I think this tells you how lazy politicians are around here. But the worst of them all is the finance Minister. Two things have made her the worst public office holder- Debts accumulation and the decision to buy foreign made generators rather than pursuing home made solution to our power energy poverty including the use of SOLAR ENERGY and conversion of WASTE TO ENERGY POWER which Countries like England, Japan, China have their home made solution and strategies to achieve.  

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has revealed why the Federal Government will continue to borrow money from other countries.

The Minister, during an interview with newsmen in Abuja revealed the government was borrowing to invest in infrastructure in the country.

According to her, the Federal Government’s borrowing is sensible and responsible.

“I have said it several times that the problem we have in Nigeria is that of revenue.

“We are borrowing sensibly and this is because we want to invest in infrastructures like power, water, roads and rails which are investments that are required to enhance business productivity in the country today.

“These businesses will grow, they will not only pay taxes, they will also employ people.

“If we don’t do this, we will regress even from where we are today. Borrowing is a necessary investment and we are doing it responsibly,” she said. These claims have no empirical supports. Let us see what President said he will do to turn around our energy poverty. 

President Muhammadu Buhari  said as the President of Nigeria he would work on an ambitious Energy Plan towards reducing the energy shortcomings by year 2030. 

Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s spokesman in a statement, said Buhari spoke in line with Nigeria’s role as a Global Theme Champion for the Energy Transition, theme of the High-Level Dialogue on Energy on the sidelines of the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The president said: “Nigeria’s commitment to a just transition is reflected in our ambitious Energy Compact, which includes the Government’s flagship project to electrify five million households and twenty million people using decentralized solar energy solutions.

“This is a major first step towards closing our energy access deficit by 2030.

“Nigeria’s commitment is also reflected in the development of our Energy Transition Plan, which was developed with support of the UK COP26 Energy Transition Council.”

The Nigerian leader called for support from developed countries to unlock the financing needed to accelerate a just energy transition for all.

“The focus of our discussions on transition must now evolve how we help countries develop detailed energy transition plans and commitments to mobilize enough financing to empower countries to implement those plans,” he said.

According to him, the scale of financing required for Nigeria to achieve net-zero, amounts to over US$ 400 billion across the Nigerian economy in excess of business-as-usual spending over the next 30 years.

“This breaks down to US$ 155 billion net spend on generation capacity, US$ 135 billion on transmission and distribution infrastructure, US$ 75 billion on buildings, US$ 21 billion on industry and US$ 12 billion on transport.”

The president, however, said that gas would continue to have a big role to play before it is phased out, explaining that solid fuel cooking is still wreaking havoc in Africa. This promise has been breached because Nigeria has gone down further and worst in the area of power energy poverty. Now the minister of Finance has budgeted humongous sum to purchase foreign made generators. 

Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government will in 2022 spend an estimated N104bn on purchasing generators, fuelling and servicing them.

The N104bn which will be spent on generators due to the country’s unstable power supply exceeds the Internally Generated Revenue of about 24 states of the federation.

The details are contained in the 2022 budget proposal which has yet to be approved by the National Assembly.

Economic Confidential, however, reports that the figure may be higher as about 15 agencies including the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission, National Information Technology Agency, National Pension Commission, Nigeria Customs Service, Central Bank of Nigeria, National Examination Council, Central Bank of Nigeria and others did not indicate their generator budgets. The next story is perhaps what makes this minister as belonging tothe generator generation. 

The story says Finance ministry wants N82bn for generators.

A review of the budget shows that the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning headed by Zainab Ahmed, takes the lion’s share of 80 per cent for generators as the ministry set aside N82.03bn.

The item under the heading, ‘Purchase of Fixed Assets- General’ reads, “Purchase of power generating set 82,030,000,000.”

As of press time, the Spokesman for the Finance Ministry, Yunusa Abdullahi, had yet to respond to an inquiry on why the budget for generators for the ministry is very high.

Meanwhile, a further analysis of the budget showed that among the agencies, the Federal Inland Revenue Service has the highest budget for generators.

The agency earmarked N250m for maintenance, N1bn for fuelling the generators and N550m for purchasing new ones, given a total of N1.8bn.

The Nigerian Army has the second highest budget for generators having earmarked N971.7m for generator fuel alone. The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency has the third highest budget for generators at N946m.

The Department of Petroleum Resources set aside N118.7m for maintenance, N666.8m for generator fuel and N120m for the purchase of generators in its offices in Sokoto, Kano, Makurdi, Yenagoa, Ilorin and Umuahia, bringing it to a total of N905.5m.

The agency with the 5th largest generator budget is the Nigerian Ports Authority which set aside N798.2m for the maintenance and purchase of generators.

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission budgeted N470m for the maintenance of a generator plant and N262.11m for the procurement of a generator, given a total sum of N732.1m.

The Federal Road Safety Corps set aside N529.3m for maintenance, fuel and purchase of generators.

The Nigeria Police formations and commands across the country are expected to spend N211.5m on maintenance and N309.8m on fuel for the generators, a total of N521.3m

Similarly, the Nigerian Communications Commission will spend N500m running generators next year having earmarked N190m for maintenance, N150m for the purchase of new generators and N160m for the purchase of fuel for generators.

The Bank of Agriculture set aside N420.5m for the purchase of a generator while the Standards Organisation of Nigeria intends to spend N412m on new generators and the maintenance of existing ones.

The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria will spend N400m on generators.

The National Inland Waterways Authority earmarked N379.93m for the rehabilitation of a generator plant and N50m for the procurement of a generator while the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority budgeted the sum of N240.57m to maintain its generator plant and N124m to acquire a new generator.

Other agencies with large generator budgets include: the Nigerian Defence Academy (N373m), the Nigerian Navy (N344m), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (N342.2m); and the Accident and Investigation Bureau (N323m).

The Nigeria Immigration Service earmarked N296.91m for generator expenses out of which N86.9m would be spent on fuel while N144.8m and N65.09m would go to the purchase and maintenance of generators respectively.

The Nigerian Meteorological will spend N285m on purchase, maintenance and fuelling of generators in 2022.

The Nigeria Export-Import Bank will spend N217.67m for the maintenance, purchase and fuelling of generators in 2022 while the Nigeria Correctional Service earmarked N134.9m for generator fuel cost, N43.6m for maintenance, a total of N178.5m.

The Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation earmarked N157.8m for the maintenance, fuelling and purchase of generators in 2022 while the National Youth Service Corps set aside N100.2m for the same expenses. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission will spend N127.6m as well.

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency and the Nigerian Postal Service will spend N100m and N103.1m respectively on generators.

The Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies comprising 88 federal teaching hospitals, medical centres and agencies will spend N3.1bn on generators next year. The health agency with the largest generator budget is the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research which will spend N230m on purchasing generators, N5m on fuel and N1m on maintenance.

The Ministry of Education which oversees 197 federal secondary and tertiary institutions, departments and agencies earmarked a combined N2.8bn for generators. The agency under the ministry with the highest generator budget is the Federal Polytechnic Ekowe which earmarked N237m for the purchase of generators, N18.9m for maintenance and N8.2m for fuel, a total of N264.1m.

Earlier just after been sworn in, the Nigerian government’s ambitions for improving electricity supplies are “not remotely realistic”, a report by experts advising the presidency says, an early blow to one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s most important reform promises.

Chronic power shortages are one of the biggest constraints on investment and growth in Africa’s largest economy. Fixing the problem was one of the key battlegrounds during campaigning ahead of a presidential election Buhari won in March.

Buhari, 72, and his opponent Goodluck Jonathan both promised to massively increase power supplies, building on a relatively successful $2.5 billion partial privatisation in 2013.

Buhari’s All Progressives Congress pledged in its manifesto to increase supplies from 3,600 megawatts (MW) currently to 20,000 MW within four years and 50,000 MW within ten years, which would meet the demands of Nigeria’s 170 million people.

However, reaching 20,000 MW by 2020 is “not even remotely realistic” and “setting unrealistic targets dilutes discipline”, according to a 54-page report entitled “The Energy Blueprint” obtained by Reuters.

My conclusion is that Nigeria needs Problem solvers who believe in innovation,  ideas and do it yourself attitudes as ministers to get out of the economic mess that the poor policy framing and implementation in the last 6 years have pushed us into. This GENERATOR GENERATION OF MINISTERS lack the technological innovation,  HUMAN capacity and talents to take Nigeria to the Promised land. 

*EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO IS THE HEAD OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) and blogs @www.huriwanigeria.com, www.thenigerianinsidermews.com. 

NNAMDI KANU-: HURIWA ACCUSES JUDICIARY OF SURRENDERING INDEPENDENCE TO EXECUTIVE ARM:

PROTESTS MALTREATMENT BY DSS OF IGBO LEADER AND FORMER GOVERNOR OF ANAMBRA STATE CHIEF CHUKWUEMEKA EZEIFE

The failure of the hierarchy of the nation’s Federal High Court to defend her independence from the stranglehold of the Executive arm of government represented by the Department of State Services (DSS) that has kept barring Journalists, stakeholders and Human Rights activists from accessing the courtroom for the trial of detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (Ipob) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is disastrous message to the World that the judiciary in Nigeria is in chains and is being controlled by the Presidency.

This position was expressed by the prominent Civil society and pro-democracy group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) which carpeted the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court justice John T. Tsoho for abdication his authority and thereby allowing the operatives of the Department of State Services to dictate who should have access to the publicly funded Federal High Court Complex which contravenes the CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE OF SEPARATION OF POWERS as encapsulated in sections 4, 5 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

Besides, the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) said the denial of access to the courtroom of the respected Igbo leader and former governor of Anambra State His Excellency Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife shows the lack of equity in the administration of the Daura Katsina State born President Muhammadu Buhari and his entire internal security team headed by Northern Moslems with little or no respect for traditional, societal, prominent leaders of other Ethnicities such as the Igbo speaking Ethnicity because if the person of Chukwuemeka Ezeife was one of the prominent Northern Fulani leaders, the Department of State Services won’t subject him to the public opium of letting him sit on the barefloor outside of the Courtroom of the Federal High Court even when it is a notorious knowledge that he was nominated officially by the Igbo Ethnicity to stand in for the race to witness and observe the prosecution of one of the respected Sons of Igboland- Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. 

HURIWA protested the ugly scenario whereby access to the courtrooms built by the contributions and resources of taxpayers is now out temporarily under the control of the executive arm of government under President Muhammadu Buhari which is the plaintiff in the same matter of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the government of Muhammadu Buhari just as the Rights group said this singular act of cowardice on the part of the Nigerian judiciary which ceded the authority to let Nigerians have access to the Courtroom to the control of the Department of State Services headed by a Northern Moslem has open the judicial process to critical doubts regarding the independence and objectivity of the process before the Federal High Court just as the Rights group has asked the Chief Judge to take back the control of the Court Complex.  

HURIWA lamented that the hierarchy of the Federal High Court out of fear refused to accredit representatives of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA to observe the judicial trial of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) just as the Rights group accused the chief judge of the Federal High Court of failing to even reply to the written request it sent to his office over two weeks back. HURIWA recalled that in its application titled: “REQUEST TO MONITOR LEGAL PROCEEDING ON MAZI NNAMDI KANU”, it wrote as follows:

“We write to convey our readiness and intention to be offered access to the Court room to monitor the legal proceedings of global importance which involves the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
 
As members of the organized Civil Rights Community of Nigeria, we feel obliged to attend and watch the proceedings in this specific matter given the groundswell of claims that the management of the Court does not feel comfortable allowing members of the public to attend the proceedings. There’s also the suspicion that the Federal High Court has denied Nigerians access to the trial of Nnamdi Kanu for the reason that the process won’t be transparent and accountable and therefore violate section 36(5) of the Nigerian Constitution which complete categorises all accused persons as innocent in the eye of the law. The refusal of access to the venue of the trial is therefore not in tandem with Democratic principles of checks and balances.  
 
No doubt Sir, that Nigeria practices Presidential system of government even as Country is governed by a grund norm which states unambiguously that the people are the owners of the sovereignty of Nigeria as enshrined in section 14 (2) thus “  It is hereby, accordingly, declared that: (a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority; (b) the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government: and (c) the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”.
 
Sir, we remind your good offices that the public and the press have qualified First Amendment Right of access to Court proceedings and records. 
Although the first amendment does not explicitly mention the right of access say Emilies S. Kraft, the United States of America’s supreme Court has held that the right to attend criminal proceedings is implicit in freedom of speech and serves an important function in a democratic society by enhancing trial fairness and appearance.
We thereby write you this request so two officers from our organization will be given regular access to monitor Nnamdi Kanu’s trial because of its Human Rights related implications.
Whilst awaiting your rapid response, accept our highest consideration and regards.” 

HURIWA regretted that the office of the CJ of the Federal High Court which acknowledged HURIWA’s letter however failed to respond either in the negative or positive even as the Rights group said it was disgraceful that Lawyers, Journalists and activists were never allowed access to a public Court Complex.
HURIWA recalled that journalists were barred from courtroom as the trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, resumed on Thursday at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) barred journalists and some court officials from gaining access to the premises.

The frustrated court workers and journalists were seen milling around and wearing heavy frowns.

The media according to HURIWA were not told the reason for the denial because it was not made known by government officials, though a handful of reporters from a list produced by the stern looking DSS operatives were allowed into the premises.

DSS officials had set up a barricade at the entrance of the Court and prevented reporters and officials from entering, resulting in angry scenes and arguments. HURIWA described the behaviour of the operatives of the executive controlled DSS as a primitive recourse to self help effirt by the central government which will inevitably undermine fairness and fair trial. 

Most of the DSS operatives were masked as they were clad in their all black ensemble, reports the media quoted by HURIWA. 

Gathered outside were frustrated family members, supporters, civil rights groups, lawyers, journalists and other members of the public, who were not allowed near the court.

Nnamdi Kanu’s Special Counsel, Alloy Ejimakor while addressing journalists said the lawyers who accompanied him were also denied access.

HURIWA recalled that Mazi namdi Kanu is facing charges bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony charges brought against him by the Federal Government.

The Federal Government had filed seven amended charges bordering on treasonable felony and acts of terrorism against Kanu on Monday.

Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, filed the charges on behalf of the government.

HURIWA has therefore advocated the take over of control of the Federal High Court Complex Abuja from the stranglehold of the operatives of Department of State Services by the hierarchy of the Nigerian Court system or it will drag the CJ of Federal High Court to the National Judicial Council for ceding independence of the Federal High Court to the Department of State Services which is unlawful and unconstitutional. “The DSS is under the control and command of the President. The President is behind the ordeals of Nnamdi Kanu and if there will be justice or semblance of justice the least physical evidence of it is the guarantee that the facilities of the Nigerian courts are controlled by staff of the Federal High Court who are judicial staff under the Judicial arm of government and not the same arm of government that has brought a citizen to court under some charges”.
 

HURIWA WARNS BUHARI NOT TO SHUT DOWN TURKISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

As fears surfaced in diplomatic quarters that the visiting TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would again ask the Nigerian government to close down schools linked to the Gulen Movement when he meets President Muhammadu Buhari during his ongoing four-day diplomatic tour of three African countries, leading civil rights advocacy group-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari not to accede to such anti-peoole’s and anti-democratic demands if such comes up. 

HURIWA in a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, also expressed apprehension that the official visit of the President of Turkey to Nigeria may motivate Islamist and terror affiliated groups going by the allegations that the Turkish leader is an Islamist who backs terror movements operating in Libya and parts of Africa including the North East of Nigeria. 

The Rights group is not happy that since around 2016 that a certain Turkish Airlines flight was intercepted at the International Airport in Lagos with large consignment of guns and bullets including other sophisticated military hardwares, Nigerians are still not aware of the details of the investigation by Nigerian Customs on the ownership of those weapons just as the Rights group expressed worries that the Airline was never sanctioned by the Nigerian authority.  

HURIWA recalled that there are considerable suspicion that the Turkish government wants to take over the schools upon their closure by the Nigerian government going by fact that these schools are linked to the Gulen Movement, an international, faith-based civil society organisation, is led by United States-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethulah Gulen.

Gulen is alleged to be the mastermind of the July 15, 2016 bloody coup which attempted to remove Erdoğan from power.

Gulen had denied involvement in the coup but the Turkish government insists he was behind the coup which involved an assassination attempt on Erdoğan and loss of over a hundred lives.

The Gulen Movement owns a chain of 17 high profile educational establishments in Nigeria.The educational institutions owned by the Gulen Movement in Nigeria include: Surat Educational Ltd., Abuja; Nile University in Abuja; and the Nigerian Tulip International Colleges (NTIC), which was formerly known as Nigerian Turkish International Colleges (NTIC).The NTIC colleges, regarded as prestigious educational institutions, are located in several major Nigerian cities, including Abuja, Lagos, Kano, and Kaduna.

HURIWA recalled that the Turkish government’s clampdown on the Gulen schools forced the change of name in 2017, from Nigerian Turkish International Colleges to Nigerian Tulip International Colleges, but the management of the institutions had explained that the name change was informed by a desire to separate academic activities from politics.

The educational institutions, run by the Gulen Movement which the Turkish government had since designated as a terrorist organisation, have been operating in Nigeria since 1998. The Gulen Movement runs schools and universities in more than 160 countries.The organisation also owns the Nizamiye Hospital in Abuja.

HURIWA however stated that the schools formerly known as Turkish International Colleges in Nigeria have contributed massively to scholarship just as the Rights group said acceding to the political demands by the Turkish leader by closing the schools in Nigeria would undermine Nigeria’s Sovereignty and drastically lead to dwindling foreign direct investments into Nigeria because potential international investors won’t trust a Country that can play politics with investors assets to satisfy and whimsically massage the ego, whims and caprices of foreign dictators. 

HURIWA warned that President Muhammadu Buhari must never subject Nigeria to the global opprobrium of negotiating away the ownership of massive educational assets of genuine international investors who brought these huge assets with humongous values to Nigeria and established a World class educational brand in Nigeria that has produced dozens of academic scholars of Nigerian origin.

HURIWA also wants Nigerian President to demand reports on the accusations that Turkish Airline commercial flights are used to fly in weapons of mass destruction which are sent to Islamic terrorists in Northern Nigeria. 

#EndSARS Protests Anniversary-: HURIWA Wants National Assembly To Set Up Protests Protection Board

Describing as absolutely unconstitutional,  unlawful, despicable,  primitive and reprehensible the actions of the Lagos State’s Police Command for disrupting some PROTESTS and illegally clamping down of peaceful civil Protesters, the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has called for the unconditional release from detention of all the protesters arrested by police for marking the one year anniversary of the October 20th 2020 massacre of protesters by armed forces ofNugeria in Lekki Tollgate. 

HURIWA described those who participated in the anniversary protests as heroes of constitutionalism who rather than being victimised, humiliated, harassed or tortured should be awarded National honours of bravery and courageous defence of Constitutional democracy and the Rule of law which constitute collectively the bedrock of the human rights provisions enshrined on chapter 4 of the GrundNorm. 

Besides, the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA,  a Prominent pro-democracy and leading civil rights advocacy group,  has asked the National Assembly to create the NATIONAL BOARD FOR THE OROTECTION OF CIVIL PROTESTERS to be governed just like an independent and totally autonomous body of few experts and civil society leaders to provide advocacy platforms supported by corporate Nigeria to promote, advance, canvass and teach younger Nigerians on the essence of peaceful Assembly and protests and to monitor violations of the fundamental rights to civil protests by state security agencies and the Nigerian police Force. HURIWA upbraided the National Human Rights commission for spectacularly selling out to reactionary elements in government. 

HURIWA said the call for a creation of an independent,  autonomous but strong national agency to focus on Promotion of attitudes of positive, democratic and peaceful protests has become increasingly necessary as a way of mainstreaming the democratic virtue of civil protests which are critical elements for the sustenance and survival of Constitutional democracy in the Country. It said the body shouldn’t be another avenue to create jobs for the boys but should be a body to be constituted by less than 36 staff and hierarchy with offices in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. 

HURIWA condemned the medieval mindset of the Nigerian Police and other security agencies towards organisers and participants in civil protests just as HURIWA said that the continuous attacks by police and security agencies of protesters are weakening Constitutional democracy and turning Nigeria into a brutal tyranny and dictatorship which it insists must be resisted because dictatorship isn’t different from slavery. 

The Rights group called for the legal sanctions of Police operatives fingered in the multiple extrajudicial killings by SPECIAL ANTI-ROBBERY SQUAD of the Nigerian Police which was reportedly disbanded on paper as a consequence of the demands of protesters at last year’s #ENDSARS PROTESTS nationwide. HURIWA condemned the slow progress at the various judicial panels investigating the #ENDSARS PROTESTS just as it asked state governments to enforce the decisions reached by the panels. 

HURIWA said the so called disbandment of the notorious SARS was a smokescreen and a charade because the Nigerian Police are still protecting their operatives with blood of the innocent in their hands just as extralegal killings of suspects are still going on in most police detention centres. It called for the passage of a legislation to open up all detention centres to the visitation of civil society leaders and private members of the public so as to ensure that the use of physical torture and forced disappearances are curbed. 

In a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf,  HURIWA said: “HUMAN and CIVIL RIGHTS to protests are safeguarded under sections 38, 39, 40 and 41 of the Constitution. It is a fundamental human right of the people to voice out their displeasures, disappointments and frustrations.

The right to protest is the manifestation of first, the right to freedom of thought and conscience and religion (Sec. 38) which precedes rights to freedom of expression (Sec. 39) followed by the right to peaceful assembly and association (Sec. 40) and accompanied by right to freedom of movement (Sec. 41). Right to protest also “embodies the exercise of a number of indivisible, interdependent and interconnected human rights” like right to life (Sec. 33), right to dignity of human person (Sec. 34), right to personal liberty (35), right to fair hearing (36), right to private and family life (37), and right to freedom from discrimination (42). The Court of Appeal upheld the right to protest in the case of IGP V. ANPP (2008) 12 WRN 65 that “certainly in a democracy, it is the right of citizens to conduct peaceful processions, rallies or demonstrations without seeking and obtaining permission from anybody. It is a right guaranteed by the 1999 constitution and any law that attempts to curtail such right is null and void and of no effect.”

Under the International Law, the right to protest is equally protected. Articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Right and the UN Human Rights Council’s Resolution at its 38th Session on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the context of Peaceful Protests are quite apposite.

Principle 1 of the Resolution on Promotion and Protection of Human Right in the context of Protest recognizes that a protest can engage in actions targeting any audience, including public authorities, private entities or individuals, or the general public and may annoy or give offence to people who are opposed to the ideas. It also recognizes that protest may temporarily hinder or obstruct the activities of third parties.

Principle 2 then imposes obligations on States/countries to respect the right to protest. States should not prevent, hinder or restrict the right to protest; States should protect the right to protest and should undertake reasonable steps to protect protesters by adopting measures necessary to prevent violations by third parties; States should fulfil the right to protest by establishing an enabling environment for the full enjoyment of right to protest.”

HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has therefore called for the arrest and prosecution of the police operatives seen mistreating and physically attacking peaceful protesters because even under the recently signed Anti Torture law, nobody is permitted to inflict physical, emotional or psychological torture on citizens.