Hero Lager Supports Igbo Apprentices With N50m Grants

SUN NEWS ONLINE

The grand finale of the IgbaBoi Hero campaign from Hero Lager in promotion of Igbo apprenticeship scheme popularly called, Igba Boi, has been held in Lagos. The IgbaBoi Hero initiative of Hero Lager, a premium beer by International Breweries Plc, a proud part of the world’s largest brewer with over 400 beer brands, AB InBev, culminated in the award of certificates and financial grants totaling N50 million to graduates of the scheme.

The Initiative was launched to reinforce its Ahagiefula (Legacy) Campaign message – May Your Name Never Be Forgotten. This campaign was built upon the insight that the Igbo people’s biggest ambition is to leave a legacy that makes their names renowned. The Igbo Apprenticeship (Igba Boi) system is the longest existing communal legacy of the Igbo People.

Igba Boi was activated in six markets across the South East and Lagos, including Ogbaru Main Market, Onitsha, Nkwo Nnewi Market, Awka, Coal Camp Market, Enugu, Alaba International Market, Owerri, Ariaria International Market, Aba, and Alaba International Market, Lagos. The campaign reached a total of 12,290,487 million people, 4680 apprentices applied to the programme and 300 apprentices were eventually shortlisted. These 300, got a total 1.4 million + votes of confidence from consumers who were asked to vote in support of their ambition.

Police Brutality And The Rest Of Us

People protest at the Ikoku Spare Parts Market, Mile 2, Diobu, Port Harcourt, accusing the police in Rivers State for the death of Chima Ikwunado who died from his injuries while in custody of the Eagles Crack Squad, a police unit in Port Harcourt stationed in Mile One. Image via BBC

BY AMIEYEOFORI IBIM

On December 23 last year, Chima Ikwunado, an automobile mechanic based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, died in the custody of the Nigerian Police few days after he was apprehended by the police who whisked him away alongside four other colleagues after they reportedly failed to meet “bribe” demanded from them. Chima was allegedly killed by some policemen, after undergoing “severe torture in their custody”.

Victor Ogbonna, one of the victims arrested alongside the deceased, said “They tortured Chima, broke his legs and Chima died in pain. They (police) hung Chima in the air for two hours and went on patrol, only to return afterwards to lose him. By then, he merely fell down like a cocoyam, already dead,” “So, they took him inside their vehicle and drove off. Chima died on December 23, according to what the boys told me.”

The case of Chima is one out of the avalanche of incidents of torture and ill-treatment of suspects held in the custody of the police. Victims and witnesses have disclosed at several fora that the forms of torture and other ill-treatment committed by the police included the tying of arms and legs tightly behind the body, suspension by hands and legs from the ceiling or a pole, repeated and severe beatings with metal or wooden objects (including planks of wood, iron bars, and cable wire), resting of concrete blocks on the arms and back while suspended, spraying of tear gas on the face and eyes, rape of and other sexual violence against female detainees, use of pliers or electric shocks on the penis, shooting on the foot or leg, stoning, death threats, slapping and kicking with hands and boots and denial of food and water.

A 23-three year-old man who was arrested by the police in Enugu described his mal-treatment to Human Rights Watch thus: “They handcuffed me and tied me with my hands behind my knees, a wooden rod behind my knees, and hung me from hooks on the wall, like goal posts. Then, they started beating me. They got a broomstick hair [bristle] and inserted it into my penis until there was blood coming out. Then, they put tear gas powder in a cloth and tied it round my eyes. They said they were going to shoot me unless I admitted I was the robber. This went on for four hours.”

In another account, a 36-year-old trader who was detained at the Kano police headquarters told researchers: “Our arms were tied with handcuffs. One at a time we were hung by a chain from the ceiling fan hook. I was the first. They started beating me with a yam pounder, saying I should confess for the robbery. I didn’t know what they were talking about. I was beaten, beaten, beaten. They beat my knees, the soles of my feet, my back and my joints. This went on for 25 minutes. I was beaten too much. I shit and piss while I was hanging. Then, I became unconscious.”

One factor is clear, The Police disregard for due process of law, which fuels the abuse of power, is characteristic to all the cases. Amongst the main concerns are deliberate practice of not informing suspects of the reasons for their arrest, lack of legal representation, prolonged pre-trial detention and acceptance by Magistrates and Judges of confessions that were extracted under torture.

Impunity among men of the Nigerian Police is one of the biggest single obstacles to the reduction of torture and other serious abuses by the police in Nigeria. Deeply engrained societal attitudes that accept police torture and other abuses as legitimate tools to combat crime help sustain this impunity. For many Nigerians who have experienced decades of oppression and brutality by military rulers, the use of violence by the institutions of the state is often accepted, even seen as normal.

Even when they know the police action is wrong, indeed illegal, the victims seem utterly powerless to seek redress. The fact that in all but a handful of cases, there was no accountability for violations committed by the individual police officer, no doubt embolden the perpetrators and has perpetuated the culture of violence in the Nigerian Police Force. Also, victims of police torture who attempt to attain accountability face numerous obstacles.

Official channels for registering complaints, such as the Police Complaints Bureau and the National Human Rights Commission, are acutely under-resourced and lack political support. In addition, the failure to carry out legally required inquests and autopsies on suspects who died in custody further impedes accountability. In the unlikely event that a legal case is brought against an officer, obstruction or lack of co-operation from the police and connivance with the lower cadres of the judiciary ensure that prosecution is rare.

National efforts to reform the police have, to date, been largely symbolic and consistently failed to prioritise human rights issues, including torture. An ambitious new program, launched by the Inspector General of Police, which offered some hope that more comprehensive and meaningful reform is at last being considered has not yielded the desired result.

A review of the Police Act will certainly be a welcome opportunity to bring the laws governing the police into line with international standards, particularly the inclusion of a code of conduct that specifically prohibits the use of torture. However, whether the police leadership can rise to the challenge and contest the many vested interests opposing change – both from inside the police force and in the wider environment – squarely lies with President Muhammadu Buhari.

The international community, in particular the British and United States governments, both of whom have since 1999 invested millions of dollars into developing the Nigerian Police Force, must also take a stronger stance to pressure the Nigerian government to bring about an end to the torture of detainees, address impunity for police abuses and bring about genuine reforms.

Both governments have repeatedly assured human rights propagators that they are voicing concerns about human rights issues with the Nigerian authorities. However, this approach has proven to be largely ineffective as police abuses, including routine torture, persist.

Therefore, the British and the U.S. governments should at the very least condition continue the financial assistance, equipment and training they provide to the Nigerian police. Also, the British and U.S. governments should come forth to publicly denounce torture and killings by the Nigerian Police Force.

Arresting Insecurity In South-East

Prof. Ben Nwabueze

BY OKEY MADUFORO

Constitutional lawyer and Chairman Igbo Leaders of Thought, Prof Ben Nwabueze, could not hide his anger over the killings in the South East when he spoke with reporters shortly after a meeting of the body.

Nwabueze alleged that the inability to fight insecurity in the zone was as a result of the fact that most of the state police Commissioners were from the North and did not understand the terrain, adding that some of them have compromised their duties as the chief law enforcers in their respective states.

He, on that day, urged the Federal Government to transfer senior police officers of Igbo extraction to their respective states in order to checkmate the killings in the five states of the South East.

While leaders of Ndigbo were still nursing the concept of a joint security outfit in Igbo land, the governors of the South West took up the initiative by launching what the Amotekun, which is currently jolting the country’s landscape.

Founding National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and National Chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP) Chief Chekwas Okorie told this reporter that the development is an indication that the West has made a strong statement about the killings in their homes, adding that the West have declared war on all manner of brigandage being perpetrated by herdsmen and their co-travellers.

He challenged the leaders of the South East to show capacity by putting in place a foul proof plan towards guaranteeing security of life and prosperity in the geopolitical zone.

In what appears to be a pilot to the need for a regional security apparatus in the area, Present General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, told reporters in Enugu that the body would no longer watch their kit and kin being slaughtered by blood tasty bandits and that the body is more determined than ever to tackle the matter head long.

Nwodo urged Igbo elders to meet with them and fashion out ways of fighting violent crime in the area and that the Ohanaeze Ndigbo would give them every assistance they needed.

Consequent, the South East Governor’s Forum led by Ebonyi State Governor, Engr David Umahi had announced the formation of a Joint Task Force (JTF) on security in the area.

According to the resolution by the five governors, it has become imperative to put up a security outfit jointly sponsored by the respective governments in Igbo land.

That the South East Governors had formed their South East Joint Security on July 28, 2019 and inaugurated her Committee on Joint Security on the August 31, 2019.

The forum took briefing from the Chairman of South East Joint Security Committee and are satisfied with all the arrangement that will lead to South East State Houses of Assembly to enact a law to back up the South East Security Programme with a name to the outfit.

“Forum had written the Federal Government in this respect and at an appropriate time, we shall be inviting the Federal Government to note the details of our Joint Security Programme.

“We wish to assure our people that we have our State Vigilante and the Forest Guards in all the South East States, who work with security agencies daily in our various communities for protection of lives and property. We, again, assure our people that the protection of their lives and property is paramount to us and we are committed to just doing that.”

Ever since the pronouncement, there have been reactions and counter reactions on the subject matter as was shown by first Republic Minister for Aviation, Chief Mbazuluike Amaechi.

“Is it now that they are coming home to the issue at stake? All the same, it is morning yet on creation day and better lait than never.

“This should not be the type of lip service that we pay to highly challenging issues.

“They should draw references and ensure that the enabling law is put in place to give it the bite that it needed and we should not begin to play politics with the security of lives and prosperity.

This is not a political party thing but a turning point in the bid to protect our people and guarantee their safety at all times.”

Former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, noted that it was not about setting up a joint task force but the execution.

“We don’t have anything against the security initiative of our governors but how they intend to carry out this task. The West took their time to assemble the concept and thoughts together before the launching and what we saw on that day shows that they mean business.

“I hope that our own will not be more of grandstanding and so much fanfare without substance and they must be seen to be doing their job effectively and efficiently.”

ARCHIVES: Nigerian Marries Peace Corps Girl...

Clement and Catherine Onyemelukwe wedding in Lagos.

DECEMBER 27, 1964

LAGOS, NIGERIA (THE NEW YORK TIMES)—The granddaughter of a prominent American banker was wed to a young Nigerian today.

In marrying ciement C. Onyemelukwe of Lagos, Catherine Danforth Zastrow, a tall blonde former Peace Corps volunteer from Fort Thomas, Ky., has joined the small but growing number of American‐Nigerian couples who have settled down to life in post‐independence Africa.

Many have encountered serious problems. All have told of difficulties in adjustment. But most of the unions have survived.

Clement Onyemelukwe was born 31 years ago in the remote town of Nanka in Nigeria's eastern region. His father, a contractor, was barely literate in English, but saved enough money to help all of his three sons work their way through college.

Mr. Onyemelukwe took degrees in engineering and economics from Leeds University and the University of London. He then joined the Electric Corporation of Nigeria— Nigeria's giant public‐owned power utility —and rose swiftly to become chief engineer of the Transmission and Distribution Division.

“This is a real Horatio Alger story,” said Peter Zastrow, the bride's father, an engineer with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in Cincinnati.

Mrs. Onyemelukwe, born in Huntington, L. I., attended Highland's High School in Fort Thomas, which is in the Cincinnati area, and was graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1962 She has spent the last two years with the Peace Corps teaching German at the Federal Emergency Science School in Lagos.

Her maternal grandfather, the late Herman W. Danforth, was appointed the first president of the Federal Land Bank in Woodrow Wilson's Administration in 1917. The bank was formed to grant long‐term farm mortgages

Mr. and Mrs. Onyemelukwe have confided to friends that their decision to marry was a difficult one.

There was an initially adverse reaction from parents on both sides, especially from the Onyemelukwes. They felt their son should marry someone from their home district, or at least a girl of their own Ibo tribe.

But their resistance dissolved after they came to Lagos and met Miss Zastrow shortly before she finished her Peace Corps contract and returned home to announce her engagement.

“When Cathy first broke the news,” Mr. Zastrow said, “I was intellectually for it but emotionally against it.”

This sort of thing has to happen to this generation for better relations between countries,” Mr. Zastrow said. “They are very devout Christians —more Christian than many Americans.”

Catherine Onyemelukwe is the second Peace Corps girl to wed a Nigerian out of a contingent of more than 600 volunteers, almost half of whom are women.

Among the wedding guests were Mr. and Mrs. William Saltonstall, former headmaster of Exeter Academy and now head of the Peace Corps in Nigeria.

Others in attendance included English, American, and

A Difficult Decision Nigerian business leaders here. Sir Mobolaji Bank‐Anthony, Nigeria's most prominent industrialist, was master of ceremonies at the reception on the palm‐shaded lawn of Clement Onyemelukwe's suburban home. More than 500 persons attended.

INTERVIEW: Regional Police And Insecurity In Igboland

Dave Umahi, Ebonyi State Governor. Image: Facebook 

BY CHRIS ONUOHA

Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State is also the Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum. Umahi, in this interview, speaks on insecurity in the country and the agitation to have regional police in the South-East just like the South-West has Operation Amotekun.

Can you tell us about your conversation with the Inspector General of Police? Was it what you were proposing that you got or what did you agree?
Because of the heightened insecurity in every part of the country, people are agitating for different types of protection. And the summation of all these agitations is that people want state police. Governors took the oath of office to uphold the Constitution. So, it becomes very difficult to have the governors do the wish of the people in terms of giving them what they are asking for in different forms. But we had a discussion with the Inspector General of Police (IGP). Let me commend him (IGP) as a professional officer and very committed to his job. We took the IGP through all the agitations. What our people expect from the meeting and we were able to reach a number of agreements. First, the IGP introduced what community policing is all about. When we listened to him, it fitted into what we are doing in the various states in the South-East, but people tend to lose confidence in security agents, although not their fault. Because there is heightened insecurity and the personnel are not enough, so when you hear about community policing, you just believe that it is another kind of police outfit. We agreed on a number of things. In our different states, since 2015, we have ministries of security, and we have laws that back up our community security outfits. Like we have ‘Operation Kpochapu’ in Ebonyi, we also have Neighbourhood Watch in Ebonyi and Enugu. We have Gatekeepers in Abia, herdsmen committees in Imo, forest guards and others. These outfits were all backed up by law. The IGP told us that community policing is community-based, that he was not going to select the personnel and they were going to be independent of the IGP or the commissioner of police. They handle their affairs perfectly well. One sticking and very important aspect of community policing is that they will have the ability to arrest and arraign but will not detain. 

But one interesting thing you said about what you are proposing and what you have on the ground are similar. You said you had a conversation with a former deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who said community policing as being proposed by the IG is a distraction. He said it is more like police PR when we should be talking about building peoples relations. And that’s not what people are talking about. He called it a fraud. What do you make of what he said?
Senator Ike Ekweremadu is one of our leaders, and I wouldn’t want to comment against what he said, but I want to speak in line with what we heard from the IGP. If what we heard is what it is, I can assure you that community policing is an enhancement of what we are already doing because what we are doing is backed by law and community policing is going to be domesticated in each of the states, and also backed by law. Where we don’t have alternatives, you have to find a way to protect lives and property. What we are doing is giving comfort to our people, making sure that we have peace in the various communities. If we now come up with community policing, it is an added advantage because it is backed by the Constitution. At the local level, we will now be able to enhance the security situation. They can arrest and arraign and will not also go to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) with cases. 

I find it interesting when you say you were able to reach some compromise with the IGP. In other words, what was the point of departure concerning the things you wanted initially, that you have to come to a middle ground to achieve? 

The idea is that our people want a security outfit to protect them because of heightened insecurity now. In other words, the IGP was able to convince us that if there is no state police which there won’t be unless the Constitution is changed, community police will enhance community security. The people want to state police. When people talk about regional security, there is nothing like that. Regional security is above state police. Even ‘Amotekun’ is not a regional police. Some of our people just believe that we have one central security outfit and then a central command. The Constitution doesn’t allow that. What we started in July 2018 in South-East prompted the South-East security committee and what we agreed in Enugu which is our central home is that the committee will be saddled with the job of intelligence gathering. We have our ex-servicemen and communication gadgets there. These people get information and coordinate the local vigilante to ensure that they are trained. But when Ohaneze kicked, we held another meeting with all the stakeholders of the South-East and said we can improve on that security committee. 

But we heard of those flying the kite of ‘Ogbunigwe’ outfit before South-West came out with Amotekun. Was it a thing that came out from South-East governors? 

That is personal opinion because everybody is entitled to his own opinion. Everybody is thinking about how our lives can be protected, because you don’t know who may be the next victim. There is nothing like a regional outfit, not in any part of the country. I don’t see Amotekun as a regional security. It is a cooperation outfit. We have a similar outfit that is in the making. I have read through the Amotekun law and one interesting thing is where they say ‘we apply to the IGP for firearms’. And I heard the police PRO saying, ‘if you have to apply for firearms, it has to conform to the law of the country’. There are two kinds of firearm license; one is issued by Mr President and another one is by the IGP. When you look through the law, there is no common law for Amotekun. What we have is a similar law. 

But what is different between regional cooperation and regional outfit? 

The difference is that in the regional outfit, you have an outfit, postings, and financial purse managed by one central command. But that is not what they have, rather it is an enhancement of regional cooperation that, if there is a problem in Osun for example, under their law, people from Ogun can come to help to show that they are one people. That is what we are having in the South-East. We have not jettisoned the idea. It is in the making. Our attorney generals are working on our papers based on peculiarities. When we finish, what we are going to have that will bind all of us together is a unit that will be centred in Enugu. This committee will coordinate the security outfits we have in our various states. We know what the IGP told us about community policing, and if the template comes out and we found it a departure from that agreement we reached, both the South-East governors and people will not embrace community policing. 

You did state that community police fits into what the governors are doing in the South-East and others. Can you expatiate? 

Saying that community policing fits into the local security in our states, and people are losing confidence is not together. The right thing to say is losing confidence in the security in our states. We are trying to do what we can to restore that confidence. Why is it that what we are doing is not enough for them? You cannot confront a terrorist without arms. That’s why they feel that our various security outfits that do not bear arms will not adequately help the people. They are looking at a people-based security arrangement that can assist the people. For the community policing to bear arms, it is only the IGP that can answer the question, because he has the power to issue certain kind of license to this arrangement to build up confidence in the people. 

But even with the security outfits set up in the country, some have the right to apply for arms… 

That is exactly what we are working on. They are doing everything without breaking the law; to enhance the confidence in our people in the local arrangement for self-help, especially when people are helpless. The issue of community policing has been there from day one, even in the villages when groups came and barricaded the roads at certain hours of the night to ensure that late night comers were clean people. What we are saying is that we had listened to IGP who told us a number of issues that concern community policing which do not affect what we are already doing at our local level. What we are waiting for is the template that will reflect what the IGP told us. If that happens, we now embellish it in our various security outfits. We are also going to apply for firearms so as to equip the outfits. 

Different states have different security groups that comprise traffic warders, vigilantes, Neighbourhood Watch and others. If they can apply for arms within the confines of the law, what is then wrong for states to have their own police? 

South-East people support state police and restructuring as well. State police are also part of a restructuring. There are two kinds of insecurity in the country; the terrorist and internal insecurity occasioned by the kind of elections we conduct in Nigeria. Until we can sit in our homes and count election results without challenges, this kind of insecurity will definitely continue in Nigeria. Politicians are desperate people who go all out to get arms for youths and after elections when the youths’ expectations are not met, they will now turn around and use the guns to help themselves. It is a serious issue of insecurity. Let us have a proper method of election that is peculiar to our people. Another source of insecurity is when people that are elected into positions which are people-based did not sit down and consider working hard for another re-election through the favour of the people, but basing it on manipulation through the barrels of the gun and believing that they can always sustain it, it breeds poverty. Poverty is as a result of the kind of election we conduct that allows anybody to be elected again through the wrong mechanism. It is a very serious issue that we have to look at the country. The ability of the governors to protect the people is what we are doing now. What we are doing with the Ohaneze and other committees of the South-East is to sit with the attorney generals to see how it can be backed by law. Then when the template comes out, we will match it with our similar regional law. The effect is that there will be cooperation between the South-East states and the centre to ensure that when a crime is committed in Ebonyi, the security there will activate the information gadget to other states to block and apprehend the offender wherever he is within the region. 

Is the challenge of getting the states to embrace community policing a subject that has been discussed at the governors’ forum, because some governors who may feel that they might not benefit from the project may not want to push the case? 

I have not seen any governor that has come to speak about state police. Every problem creates its own solution. You cannot say that state police is going to be an answer to all our insecurity. It will have its own problems too. I think it is what our people need. There may be a lot of problems with our Constitution but we don’t have another one. We have to manage it and also assure our people that we will get there. I think the country has an opportunity with the review of the Constitution now so that we will be able to push that demand. Insecurity in the communities is peculiar to all communities. We as a nation cannot continue to fold hands and see the people being wasted. State police should be advocated for. What our leaders should be aware of is that you don’t make a law to suit only you. The political positions are ephemeral; it is not more than eight years. We have to make a law to protect the generations to come, but, sometimes, we make a law thinking that we will be there forever. We have to sit down and look at the pros and cons of state police, if that can guarantee the safety of lives and property. 

What was the outcome of the governors’ meeting with the Ohaneze? 

I must tell you that everything about security is not always discussed on the pages of the newspaper, and the South-East, in that case, could easily be misconstrued. That is why we are being very careful so that we are not misunderstood. Our people, including Ohaneze, did not quite understand the governors. But I can tell you that South-East is quite secured than any other region, with kudos to our governors who make sure it happens. We don’t have to totally tell the world about what we are doing. But about a week ago, we had a meeting with a smaller group of Ohaneze and other stakeholders in the South-East where we discussed the issue of community policing. We explained to them our deliberations especially the ability of the outfit to arrest and arraign without reference to police, backed by law. Currently, we have members from Ohaneze, South-East stakeholders and other cultural organisations together with the governors to fashion out areas of cooperation, and then come up with common law to give the people confidence which Ohaneze is happy with. But it is very unfortunate that some people grant media interviews without listening to us. I listened to one-time PDP leader in Anambra insulting governors on television which is so unfortunate. It is only in South-East that you can get that kind of trash. To say the least, we are on the same page with Ohaneze and our people. But one thing is certain; that it is very difficult for our people to get what they are looking for, in terms of security in this country without tampering with the Constitution. But when the IGP allows certain categories of outfit to bear arms, it will enhance the security of the country. 

What are the governors doing to tackle one of the challenges of security which you mentioned as poverty? 

We are doing quite a lot to enhance the fortunes of our people. But you know, the south-easterners are majorly commercial people and certain institutions of the Federal Government do hamper the ease of doing business in the South-East, such as road. Our roads are so bad and there is a very high level of demobilization from this bad state of the roads. I must thank Mr President, especially on the road projects he is doing in the South-East. I don’t seek the permission of anybody to speak the truth. But do we really need more? Yes. The roads are totally cut off. I have proposed a solution that will maintain our roads, and this involves dividing these roads from one kilometre to another by means of concession and allow the handlers to create service centres and armed men to parade the road. It is not hard to put solar-based light on the roads with communication gadgets to monitor the situation on-site. Within a section, there will be infrastructures to cater to workers and peoples’ needs. The road is basic in fighting poverty. 

Why do you have to wait for the IGP template when South-East is also coming up with theirs? 

We have our laws since 2015 backing our various security outfits and nobody has come to tell us that we have broken the law. But when the Inspector General of Police came up with a new idea, that we can integrate community police into what we are doing, we have to wait. What we are doing without bearing arms is also giving comfort to our people. The people like what we are doing, and that’s why South-East will always support state police. We are waiting for the IGP to produce the new template; to be sure that it bears what he promised it would look like.

NEWSROOM: CP Parades 2 Child Traffickers, Recovers 9 Children In Enugu

Police Command in Enugu State on Friday paraded two suspected child traffickers who specialize in moving children from Plateau State in North Central zone to River State in South-South zone.

Parading the suspects in Enugu, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmed Abdurrahman, said that the suspects were intercepted trafficking nine children on Jan. 4. 

He said the suspects and the children were in a luxury bus travelling from the Northern part of the country. 

Abdurrahman said that they were intercepted at Orba Check-point in Udenu council area of the state by the army troop “Operation Atilogwu Udo 1’’. 

He noted that the army authorities, however, handed over the victims and suspects to the command for further investigation. 

According to him, the nine children, including four girls and five boys aged between two year and 13 years, were recovered from the suspected child traffickers.

He said that one female suspect was moving with the children in the luxury bus before the interception. 

“We also have another suspect, who arranges the children being trafficked for Nwachi from Barkin Ladi council area in Plateau State,” he said. 

The commissioner, however, said that the police was still tracking the end receiver of the trafficked children, who allegedly runs an orphanage in Port Harcourt, River State.

“This is a type of organised crime where children are trafficked from the Northern part of the country to the South-East and South-South. This syndicate runs their illegal business using orphanage as a cover-up. 

“We have reached and contacted the parents of the trafficked children and some said that they gave their children to the (suspect) on condition that he will provide better welfare and education for them. 

“Some other parents said that they did not know when their children moved out of their homes and they have declared them missing for some time now. 

“While at the end receiver’s point, only God knows what these children are used for; some might be used as sacrificial lambs, child labour; and others subjected to a lot of criminal activities. 

“Parents especially people in Plateau State should be wary of the whereabout of their children. Parents should endeavour to take care of their children themselves,’’ he advised. 

The commissioner said that the children would be handed over to their parents after investigation. 

“I personally appreciate our sister security agencies especially the Nigerian Army that made this arrest possible,’’ he added. 

-----------------NAN

ND'IGBO: FG’s Free Visa Policy Plot To Overrun Igbo-Town Unions

BY MAGNUS EZE

The umbrella body of town unions in the five South East states has described the proposed free visa policy of the Federal Government as an attempt to import and settle foreigners from Niger, Mali and Chad into the country to displace Igbo.

National President of Association of South East Town Unions (ASETU), Chief Emeka Diwe, who spoke in Enugu warned that unleashing foreigners of Fulani descent on the Igbo will be counter-productive.

According to the leader of the pan-Igbo grassroots group, “it is an obvious case of policy somersault for a government that is shutting down the borders to be letting foreigners into the country without visas. How can you move forward and backward at the same time? You are shutting down the borders, yet you are granting aliens free and unbridled entry into the country! How does that sound? Is it not also brazen executive rascality for the President to unilaterally make such pronouncement without recourse to the National Assembly? It is our considered opinion that there is more to this.”

Diwe said it was worrisome that the Federal Government had not been pragmatic in its foreign policies, and added that the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa never elicited any concrete action from the Federal Government, and wondered why the free visa policy should be of importance.

“Nigeria is grappling with a population rate which grows geometrically without any concomitant growth in economic opportunities. Imports have been banned without incentivizing local production and the level of hunger, squalor and deprivation in the country has become all-time highest. The impact of this is felt most by the vast majority of the people at the grassroots which we represent as ASETU.

“Was there any time something like this was contemplated by the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, which is saddled with the formulation of our foreign policy? Did the National Security Council discuss it? Did the Council of State sit over it? Has the national security implications been considered?

“Why then does President Buhari consider it expedient to open up the borders for foreigners whose populations are culturally, historically and linguistically identical to those in the North to move into the country in their millions to subdue the Igbo people? They are coming into Nigeria to register to vote as citizens, to serve in the armed forces and to help in executing the many other anti-Igbo agenda. The Igbo people in Nigeria are now unbearably endangered and the international community should come to our aid,” he pleaded.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to quickly rescind the policy in order to save Nigeria from avoidable crisis.

SOURCE: THE SUN

Wike Releases N500m Grant To Boost Varsity Transformation

BY TONY JOHN

PORT HARCOURT (DAILY SUN)--Rivers State Governor has directed the immediate release of N500 million grant to the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education to enable it continue its transformation programmes.

Wike stated this at the weekend, during the 37th convocation ceremony of the institution, in Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt.

The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Ipalibo Harry Banigo, said under his watch, the state government would continue to invest and take necessary practical measures to strengthen the university to deliver on its mandate, for the development of Rivers people.

He said the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education was a leading institution for the training of educators in Nigeria, stressed that teachers were the foundation of any viable educational system.

According to him, the university was established by the state government as a specialized institution for the practical training of graduate teachers for our educational system.


He commended the Vice Chancellor and his team for enhancing the university’s carrying-capacity, successfully mounting new academic programmes and graduating its first set of doctorate degree students.

Governor Wike re-emphasized the state government’s zero tolerance for cultism, sexual harassment, examination malpractice, sorting, sale of hand outs and extortion of students.

He directed the university administration to investigate and weed out any lecturer or staff, who engages in money-for-grade, sex-for-grade and other untoward practices in the tertiary institutions.

“We must rescue our universities from moral and sexual perverts and keep them safe and healthy for effective impartation of knowledge to take place”, Wike further stressed.

He expressed gratitude to the Senior Pastor of Salvation Ministries, David Ibiyeomie, for fulfilling his promise to donate a female hostel block for the university and prayed the Almighty God to continue to prosper church.

Wike said university graduation was the triumph of toil, the effect of effort and the outcome of hard work, stressing that it is always a proud moment for parents, guardians, teachers and the university administration.

He urged the graduands to set their priorities right, locate prospects and opportunities in the seeming challenges and invest more of their time, energy and resources into productive ventures.

In his address the Pro- Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Aaron Ikuru, expressed gratitude to Governor Wike for re-appointing him and his colleagues as the 11th Governing Council of the university reassured the governor that they would continue to work with uncompromising zeal for excellence, integrity and service.

Also speaking the Vice- Chancellor of the University, Ozo-mekuri Ndimele, said a total of 3,169 graduands made up of 45 Doctor of Philosophy, 1,070 Masters Degree, 391 Postgraduate diploma, 1,654 Bachelor’s Degree and nine Certificates.

According to him, 19 out of the graduands obtained the first class Honours Degree.

Highlights of the occasion were commissioning of projects and presentation of prizes.

The Legacies Of Slavery In Nigeria’s Igboland

Two people walk along the route taken by slaves to the "point of no return" , from where they were shipped west, at the historic slave port of Badagry. Image Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters

BY JOHN CAMPBELL

The year 2019 marks four hundred years since the beginning of African slavery in America, when Dutch privateers sold the first African slaves to the fledgling English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. The anniversary has been the occasion for much reflection on how slavery still impacts America. The New York Times’s “1619 Project” has dedicated a number of essays on slavery’s legacy in American society. Also to be welcomed is the increased attention by African scholars and journalists to the role that domestic slavery and the international slave trade has had on African cultures. Igboland was a major source of slaves for Virginia and the American south.

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, a journalist and novelist of Igbo heritage, has reported and written recently about Africa’s role in the slave trade and on the legacy of slavery in her native Nigeria, specifically among the Igbo. In the New Yorker, she shows that slavery was integral to Igbo culture even prior to the Atlantic Slave Trade, though such commerce created new incentives for slave-catching.

In her New Yorker article, Nwaubani draws useful distinctions between slavery as practiced in the United States and among the Igbo. Notably, Igbo slavery was not based on race, and there was no visible, physical difference between slave and freeperson. Rather, slavery was shaped by culture, their beliefs about the importance of lineage, and their spirituality. She explains that slaves usually came from outside the all-important local community, captured in raids or warfare, or enslaved because of a criminal act. It is estimated that between 10 and 20 percent of Igbos—amounting to many millions of people—are descendants of slaves, and she shows that they are subject to discrimination.

The Igbo emphasis on purity of lineage goes hand-in-hand with a belief that marriage between the descendants of the free with the descendants of slaves can bring about divine retribution. She notes that Igbo slaves shared similarities of status with the dalits (untouchables) in India and burakumin in Japan.

While slavery became illegal in both the United States and Nigeria, Nwaubani notes that the abolition of slavery in the United States was a result of internal agitation that gradually brought about a (incomplete) change in the popular view of slavery and of race. In Nigeria, however, slavery, which she sees as continuing in some forms among the Igbo into the 1940s, was abolished by British fiat, not as the result of an internal, indigenous process. Hence, abolition of slavery was a colonial initiative.

However, Nwaubani reports that now underway is the internal agitation against slavery that Nigeria’s story had hitherto lacked. The focus is on community-led initiatives, often in conjunction with traditional rulers, to end discrimination against those Igbos whose ancestors were slaves.

SOURCE: COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

Towards The Igbo Renaissance

Image via The Reflector

BY ANIEBO NWAMU

THE CABLE, APRIL 16, 2019

The first newspaper I read as a boy was called The Renaissance published in Enugu. I later learned it was once known as the Biafran Sun. And while I continued to read my favourite title every day a copy was delivered to our home, it was renamed Daily Star. A vernacular title called Ogene soon followed. Today, however, you can hardly find any paper that resembles Ogene.

As I now wonder what has happened to the “Jews” of Africa, I remember that the tonic Ndigbo needed is in the title of the first newspaper I read in the early 1970s. Together with their kith and kin of the south-south, Ndigbo have taken a stand this year through their votes. But there’s still a problem.

Where would an outsider find the Igbo leader today? Not any of the five state governors. Not a senator. Not a first-class chief. Not even an elder statesman of Igbo extraction.

But it’s not totally true that Ndigbo know no king. Although there were fewer human kings in the days of yore, there were masquerades, speaking in their guttural voices, in Igbo-land to provide leadership.

Generations of Igbo people will forever remain grateful to Chinua Achebe for telling the story of pre-colonial Igbo-land through Things Fall Apart. As he shows in the evergreen novel, the masquerades in Igbo-land – egwugwu or mmanwu– are regarded as the ancestors from beyond whose advice cannot be ignored. Their voices are unlike human voices, but they speak the truth at all times. Perhaps it’s because masquerades have been abandoned that Ndigbo now act and talk individually. Were it in the good old days,egwugwu would, for instance, have been able to state the position of Ndigbo in the current affairs of the country. However, how the dead ancestors transform to egwugwuis what I don’t know and cannot describe today!

I’ve heard leaders of other parts of the country say they have been seeking “a handshake across the Niger” but don’t know Igbo leaders with whom they can strike a deal. Of course, they can’t converse with weird masquerades! With traditional religionists vanishing in Igbo-land, the custodians of eternal wisdom (mmanwu) are hardly heard these days. Even the Igbo language is facing extinction due to the foolishness of the “modern” Ndigbo.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo comes closest to what could be regarded as the Igbo leadership today. The socio-cultural group now led by Chief Nnia Nwodo has left no one in doubt about Ndigbo’s determination to take their rightful place in Nigeria and in the world. Nnamdi Kanu is perhaps the next most influential after Ohanaeze. Touch Kanu and you face opprobrium from millions of youngsters!

What do the Igbo want in 2023? It’s restructuring or nothing, because Nigeria’s unbalanced “federalism” is hurting them the most. For there is no pretending that Ndigbo are still bearing a cross in Nigeria. Appointments made at the federal level in the past four years have cleared all doubts! Now it’s no longer the Igbo alone that complain about the imbalance in the leadership of the nation’s security, judiciary, legislature and executive.

Away from government, an Igbo employee has to be 200% better than a non-Igbo to be considered half as good. Luckily for the Igbo, many are self-employed as traders and technocrats. That’s why they hardly get to the top except they’re indispensable. The unwritten rule seems to be: “Let them be hewers of timber and drawers of water while we help ourselves to the treasury.” Whenever there is a crisis in any part of the country, Igbo people and their shops are the first to be attacked. For no just cause. Just envy.

The Igbo masquerade would tell you that rotation of political offices is older than Nigeria, at least in the Igbo area – it was not started by the NPN of the Second Republic as many have erroneously stated. Right from the earliest times, monarchies were not permitted in Igbo communities (except in Onitsha, though the people of “Onitsha Ado” trace their ancestry to the old Bini empire). There can be no better explanation for Ndigbo’s republicanism than their love for rotation of leadership positions. Even if all other parts of Nigeria are against rotation, Ndigbo should not be. Rotation (or what “special” linguists now call “zoning”) is not democratic, but Nigeria has not grown above it.

The current hullabaloo would have been avoided if visionary people had led Nigeria. It was Alex Ekwueme that actually divided Nigeria into six geopolitical zones. The 1995 constitutional conference supported him and agreed that the presidency should be rotated among the zones for 30 years (that is, one term of five years each) in order to achieve national unity and stability. One “Nigerian factor” has been that nobody has cared to prosecute Abdulsalami Abubakar and his military goons that, after Abacha’s death, threw away the recommendations of the 1995 conference and, instead, gave us a fraudulent constitution. Imagine the billions that were wasted on that conference and the billions that have been wasted on the review of the 1999 Constitution since 2001.

By the way, where is the sixth Igbo state recommended by the conferees of 2005 and 2014? Maybe that has entered voicemail too.

Ndigbo know it should be their turn to produce the president in 2023 but they’re not enthusiastic about it. Political offices are relatively inconsequential. Even then, their undoing has been that any position reserved for them gets contested by scores or even hundreds. Everyone feels he’s the most qualified. Egoism – it’s wrong. When the Igbo rally round a leader, once again, it will be the beginning of their renaissance.

I’m no chauvinist. Far from it. But, like most Igbo, I’m a realist — realists say things the way they see them. Come to think of it, is tribalism not a huge problem in Nigeria? Why do some people bury their head in the sand like an ostrich whenever ethnicity is mentioned, yet they drink, eat and bathe with ethnicity every day? If preaching oneness is the solution to the problem, why have we not been united all these decades? Even the Nigerian constitution devotes several clauses and sub-sections to the “Federal Character Principle” and the like, yet all the people who have ruled and ruined Nigeria did so by practising tribalism of the crudest kind. All the talk about “zoning” or rotation of offices is nothing more than tribalism.

Everyone has the right to express their feelings on any subject. So I don’t criticise those who frown at my “daring” to mention “Igbo” when everyone ought to be preaching national unity. But they should not attempt to deny me my own right to freedom of expression. Is it fair if I don’t show interest in the affairs of the zone I come from?

Meanwhile, I’ve not spared Igbo people that have contributed to the nation’s problems. I’m only asking that the Igbo who are honest and competent should be recognised for what they are. They should be treated like other Nigerians.

Ndigbo’s ingenuity and hard work should be a source of strength for the nation; it should not attract envy or jealousy. The generation that fought a civil war (to defend themselves) 52 years ago is dying off. Most promoters of MASSOB and IPOB today had not been born then. As I once wrote, it is most regrettable that the “Asian Tigers” like Malaysia, Singapore and the Koreas have overtaken a people that, almost 50 years ago, made ogbunigwe bombs and rocket launchers, made trucks and tanks from scrap, refined fuel at their kitchens, built airstrips overnight and achieved other incredible feats.

One Abdullah, in a rejoinder to my column, taunted me by asking why, if the Igbo were so enterprising, they hadn’t turned their native homeland to a mini Taiwan or at least a “Nigerian tiger”. In response, I told him he was ignorant, and that I didn’t think he had ever travelled more than 20km from the place he was born.

Had he ever visited Nnewi, Aba or Onitsha or seen the technological wonders the Igbo “boys” are performing in Lagos and several major cities around the world, his opinion would have changed. As far back as the 1980s, Nnewi was viewed as Nigeria’s Silicon Valley because of the numerous industries that were in operation there. And Abdullah’s shoes supposedly “made in Italy” were actually made in Aba.

The bad policies of incompetent governments have frustrated many industrialists, the Igbo not excluded. Nigeria has been the loser.

Nwamu, a book editor and entrepreneur, is the CEO of Eyeway