How SARS tortured me for 22 days till I lost my pregnancy –Teacher

Robert Egbe 

 

THE Lagos State Judicial Panel of Enquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS related abuses and other matters on Saturday heard the chilling details of how the now dissolved police unit allegedly tortured a pregnant teacher and her husband for 22 days, till she lost her baby.

Ogechukwu Obiechina and his wife Ndubuisi told the panel that the incident occurred in June 2017 after the operatives falsely labeled her a thief and kidnapper.

Mrs Obiechina , who spoke for the couple, said she was two months pregnant at the time, but that during beatings, the men threatened to “force the baby out of me”.

She claimed that following further trauma from the torture SARS operatives meted out to her and her husband during his second arrest in October 2017, she lost another pregnancy.

She said men of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) also stole her husband’s N50,000 and compelled them to cough up N400,000 as bail before they were freed.

She told the panel that the couple in 2017 sued the Police at the Federal High Court in Lagos and won.

Justice Mohammed Idris ordered the Police to pay them N2 million as compensation.

They also won at the Court of Appeal in Lagos in 2020 but the Police refused to comply with the judgment.

Mrs Obiechina identified some of her alleged torturers as “Phillip Rilwan, Christian and Haruna Idowu”, all policemen.

Panel chair, Judge emeritus Doris Okuwobi, adjourned sitting till November 10 to give the mentioned operatives an opportunity to appear and respond to the allegations.

The Obiechinas’ testimony was the first of four petitions for the third day of sitting since the Lagos State Government set up the nine-member panel on October 15, following weeks of near nationwide #EndSARS protests.

The other petitioners are: Olusegun Openiyi; Francis Idum (deceased) and Olajide Fowotade. The fourth petition didn’t go on.

Mrs Obiechina, a private school teacher, said on June 1, she received a text message from an unknown number that she had a parcel from DHL. A caller using different numbers asked for her home or office address and she gave him her school address upon her husband’s advice.

It was the next day, June 2, 2017, that her ordeal began.

She said the men arrived at her school in a black Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV).

Her words: “I saw a black jeep with huge men inside it. One of them was in a DHL uniform…

“Immediately, they approached me, they started beating me. They said I should enter inside. They said I was a thief, an armed robber. The one in the DHL uniform removed it. My HM (Headmistress) was peeping at us. I said let me go and tell her. They said no.”

The petitioner said she had a five-year-old son at the school, but they didn’t care.

“I said my kid is there, they said no, that I should follow them, that my kid would die there. My HM came to the gate; they pointed a gun at me. She asked what was going on. They said ‘This woman is a thief, a kidnapper. She must follow us and go. They said they were Police, SARS.

“They pushed me inside the car and moved. The men were slapping, beating me. I was two months pregnant. I started vomiting. That’s when they found out I was pregnant. But they kept torturing me. I told them I did not know the suspect.

“They took me to their office at Ikeja. They took me to a shrine. They hanged me, beat me. They said they would force my baby out of me. They said I must produce the person or die there,” Mrs Obiechina said.

The witness testified further that her husband had been searching for her at different police stations in Lagos. When he eventually found her, he was also arrested and tortured.

She continued: “Immediately they saw him, they started beating him. They put a tyre on his head, and said they would burn him alive. They started interrogating him, beating him with gun butt, hitting him on the head with a stone.

Read Also: #EndSARS: The cost of protest

“During the beating, I urinated on my clothes; they said my pregnancy was not my husband’s, that I should bring the man who impregnated me.”

She told the panel that they were put in different cells.

“…I told them I had a five year-old son in school. They said ‘let him die there,” the petitioner said, adding that they eventually allowed her and her husband to call people to take care of their son.

“My husband was in Cell 1, I was in Cell 2. It was a high open room. Rain and sun beat us.”

They were eventually released upon payment of N250,000 and N150,000 ‘bail’, but her husband was re-arrested in October same year, during which she lost another pregnancy due to the fresh torture and trauma.

She said: “While we were preparing for church on a Sunday, Philip Rilwan, Haruna and other SARS operatives intruded into our house.

“I called our lawyer and I also called Christian when they were going. ‘You know first time I lost my baby. Now I’m pregnant and my doctor said I don’t need any stress. Tell me where you are taking my husband to.’

“Christian replied, ‘Oga said he wants to see him.’ I asked who is Oga? And he said Philip and that the order was from Abba Kyari.

“They beat my husband, pushed him out in boxers. I was begging them, they said no. They took him away.”

She said as a result of the “emotional trauma” she lost her second pregnancy.

The panel chair admitted the two judgments as exhibits.

“Judgment in appeal CA/L/178 of 2018 COP and others against Mr Obiechina and another dated March 20, 2020, is hereby admitted and marked as Exhibit B,” Justice Okuwobi said.

The second petitioner, Mr Fowotade, wept before narrating how he was allegedly assaulted by two plain clothe operatives of the Ketu Division of the Police in Lagos.

The policeman allegedly accused him of attempting to knock them down with his vehicle. He told the panel that they removed two of his teeth before dragging him to their station.

The bike riding policemen were said to have accused him of attempting to run them over when he abruptly applied the brakes to avoid hitting a tricycle that veered off its lane.

One of them identified as Ayo was said to have head-butted the contractor on the mouth, knocking off two front teeth.

He alleged that he was also thoroughly beaten up at the station, and that even the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) was alarmed and reprimanded the policemen when he found out.

Fowotade said weeks after, he was not himself and that he had spent hundreds of thousands trying to fix his teeth and leg.

“How can somebody just beat me up and nothing happened?” he wondered.

When the panel asked him what he wanted, Fowotade said: “I want justice”, adding that about N2 million or N3 million would suffice as compensation.

The panel adjourned further proceedings in all the petitions till November 10.

The panel is made up of the Chairman Justice Doris Okuwobi (Rtd); Mr Ebun Adegboruwa (SAN); Mr Taiwo Lakanu, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police and a founding member of SARS.

Other panelists are Mrs Oluwatoyin Odusanya, Director, Lagos State Directorate of Citizen’s Rights and Ms Patience Udoh, a representative of the civil society groups Mr Segun Awosanya (Segalink) a human rights activist, Rinu Oduala, Temitope Majekodunmi and Mr Lucas Koyejo.

The panel sits from 10am to 4pm for six months. The designated sitting days are Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at the Lagos Court of Arbitration, No 1A, Remi Oluwode Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

Fayemi, El-Rufai canvass restructuring at Arewa House

AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

 

THE agitation for Nigeria’s restructuring on Saturday received the support of Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir el-Rufai, both of who said the country has to be recreated for it to realise its socio-political and economic greatness.

The governors shared a platform on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the North’s Centre for Historical Documentation and Research popularly known as Arewa House, Kaduna.

Fayemi, who was the guest speaker at the event, advocated a restructuring that will cement the unity of Nigeria and engender a perfect union among its peoples irrespective of their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences.

He also suggested an equitable revenue allocation formula that will speak to the federalism Nigeria has adopted and give more resources to states and local governments which carry more responsibilities.

The Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forun spoke on the topic “Unfinished Greatness…Towards a More Perfect Union in Nigeria.”

He did not share the opinion in some quarters that the 1914 amalgamation of the north and south was a mistake.

Rather, he said, building Nigeria to the status of a country that commands global respect should be seen as work in progress.

He appealed to Nigerians to come together and urgently tackle issues that currently divide them if the dreams of the founding fathers, including the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, are to be realised by the present generation.

The Ekiti State governor said all ethnic nationalities should be made to feel important in the Nigerian project, hence preference should not be given to a particular ethnic group over others.

Fayemi explained that Nigeria with over 250 ethnic nationalities has managed its diversity whereas some countries in Eastern Europe had to be balkanized into smaller nations while Britain is yet to find a definitive answer to the Irish, Welsh and Scottish question.

He said sincerity in handling the issue of restructuring as a means of giving assurance to stakeholders of the Nigerian project that achieving greatness through unity in diversity was still possible.

He argued that issues of devolution of power, decentralization, restructuring and such other concepts should not be clothed in ethnic or regional toga but be used as an opportunity to re-imagine and reinvent our country to make it work well for everyone.

“In our quest towards a more perfect union therefore, the main challenge is one of re-creating the union and the basis of its fundamental national association.

“Unfortunately for us as a people, it is a challenge that has been affected by mutual suspicion and unnecessary brickbats.

“Caught in our politics of difference and otherness, devolution, decentralisation and restructuring often used as synonyms and such other epithets have come to mean different things to different peoples, depending on the ethnic and regional toga they wear.

“Our age-long distrusts and suspicions of one another are now being tested and contested on these epithets. However, stripped of all opportunism and dysfunctional baggage, these epithets should simply refer to a way to re-imagine and reinvent our country to make it work well for everyone.”

Read Also: Ekiti PDP tackles Fayemi over N3bn COVID-19 fund

On his part, Governor el-Rufai asked federal legislators and the National Assembly Ad-Hoc Committee on Constitutional Review to take advantage of his committee report and initiate a constitutional and legislative amendment to take care of restructuring without further delay.

But he blamed the APC leadership for failing to implement  the report of the committee he chaired on True Federalism in 2018, saying that if implemented, it would be a roadmap to nation’s greatness.

He said: “The urgency of our challenges dictates that we should move fast with a sense of purpose to remove the structural bottlenecks that hobble our country. There is very little time left to secure and begin to implement the necessary constitutional amendments.”

Going into the specifics of the recommendations, he said: “The APC Committee on Federalism recommended that the federation be rebalanced, with more powers and responsibilities devolved to the states.

“The committee also clarified that the federation is a relationship solely between the states and the Federal Government, and that each state should be allowed to operate the system of local government that best suits its circumstances, culture and diversity.

“It was the committee’s considered opinion that in a country as diverse as ours, one size or structure of local governance does not fit all.”

While introducing Fayemi earlier, the Kaduna State governor said the invitation of the Ekiti State governor as guest speaker at the forum was no co-incidence.

He said: “Inviting Dr. Fayemi (as the guest of honour) is not a co-incidence. We never do anything in the north by accident.

“There is a reason for inviting Dr. Fayemi and the reason will be unfolded as times go on.”

Nigerian Policewoman wins UN award for peacekeeping exploits

Our Reporter

 

Jesus Christ apparently did not have the police in mind when he said that a prophet has no honour among his own people. Yet that seems the lot of the members of the Nigeria Police Force with regard to how much respect they command abroad while they are largely despised by their own compatriots.

As a matter of fact, the attacks on police stations and the killing and maiming of policemen in the recent #EndSARS protests is widely seen as evidence of how much disdain the people have for them. The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, reckoned that no fewer than 22 policemen were killed during the protests while about 205 police stations were destroyed.

But in a fit of irony, a Nigerian policewoman on foreign mission in far away Mali was being honoured by the United Nations in recognition of her selfless service simultaneously as her compatriots were being persecuted at home. Chief Superintendent Catherine Ekwutosi Ugorji, a Nigerian police woman serving with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), was selected by the United Nations as one of two runners-up for the prestigious UN Woman Police Officer of the Year award for 2020.

“Through both her words and actions, United Nations Police Officer Ugorji exemplifies the best of United Nations policing,” said Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix. Only 21 of the 1,300 UN policewomen deployed in UN peacekeeping operations were said to have been nominated for the award with Ugorji emerging among the top three.

The year’s winner, Chief Inspector Doreen Malambo of Zambia, who serves with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), is billed to receive the award during a virtual ceremony presided over by Mr. Lacroix on November 3. Superintendent Rebecca Nnanga of Cameroon, serving with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), is the other runner-up.

Congratulating Ugorji for being chosen as a runner-up, UN Police Advisor Luis Carrilho, said: “MINUSMA United Nations Police Officer Ugorji’s leadership of three Formed Police Units in Gao has been remarkable, and Catherine (Ugorji) has introduced tactical operations that have been instrumental in reducing crime in the area, in support of the Malian security forces and the host population.

“In addition to this very demanding role, Chief Superintendent Ugorji has worked diligently to improve living conditions for women police officers so they can serve safely and with dignity.”

Deployed to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in 2018, Ugorji was said to have demonstrated exemplary conduct throughout her deployment in Mali where she serves as a Formed Police Unit (FPU) Coordinator in Gao.

She has been liaising and coordinating with local authorities and civil society to finalise United Nations Police operations to reassure the population in the conduct of normal activities in an area of insecurity due to the incursion of terrorist and armed groups.

Read Also: Nigerian gets UN award

She is commended for her work to extend the outreach of the FPU to the Ansongo area, close to the Mali-Niger-Burkina Faso border area, where terrorists and spoilers of the Malian peace agreement are increasing their influence.

Her support for joint operations between the Malian police, gendarmerie and National Guard was said to have helped to ensure the security of the local population. Ugorji herself was quoted as saying that she was eager to continue enhancing safety in Gao once COVID-19 related restrictions were lifted.

Ugorji joined the Nigerian Police in 2003, and has served as Criminal Investigator from the local to regional level, Child Protection Officer, Divisional Crime Officer up to Acting Deputy Commander of the Ogudu Police Division in Lagos.

Her other UN deployment was with the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) from 2006-2007, where she served as a planning officer for FPU operations.

The UN Woman Police Officer of the Year award was established in 2011 to recognise the exceptional contributions of female police officers to UN peacekeeping and to promote the empowerment of women.

The award carries even greater significance this year, given the 20th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

Yahaya Bello’s provocative offer

Barometer

 

In an address on October 19 this year, the inimitable Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State appeared to have brought to an end a deep reflection on the state of things in the country over which he was willing to pontificate. Although this is recent history, it is necessary to recall the navigational direction of Nigeria’s troubled waters in the address. Some officials of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad had shed one person’s blood too many in Delta State, prompting the youths of the country to fly into a collective rage which frightened state governors and the presidency. In fact, the unblushing federal government, which had jeered at the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and encouraged lecturers to take up farming, was suddenly keen to shelve jesting and reconcile with the body so that students could resume and stop protesting. Some governors, at their wits’ ends, simply joined the protesters. In fact, earlier that day, in neighbouring Edo State, prisoners had taken flight from the humdrum life of incarceration.

What the nation therefore needed to escape going to the dogs was for Mr Bello to emerge from his meditation and grant what he must have believed to be a sagey interview on that fated day. Said the sage-governor: “I volunteer to be the leader (of the EndSARS youths) that will push down all of the demands and make sure it is met. All the governors need to take charge in their various states and ensure there is law and order. This is what we swore.”

The steely glint in the governor’s eyes proved his comments were no mere badinage and that he was serious about the whole thing. In fact, left to him, he could put the protesters wise concerning how they should go about the protest. It was left to him, so he did it. He had delivered an address earlier that day where he noted that troubling the taciturn President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of the nation’s power supply was the solution to the Gordian knot. He disclosed that some $16bn had gone into the pockets of a miniscule few, who had made it their hobby and lifework to feather their nests at the expense of the people’s collective patrimony. This money must be recovered, Mr Bello preached. His laborious excursion on the EndSARS issue was not only exhaustive, it was forgettable, so much that the youths took the hint and forgot all about it, save for his leadership proposal.

After the general mockery, Mr Bello was left alone to his fantasies  proof that his serious proposal was not taken as seriously as he would have liked it to be. There is no doubt that his daring offer was as a result of the amorphous structure the protesting youths had decided their protests would take. This did not sit well with the governor who believed that the protests would be hijacked, and he has since made repeated calls for the leaders of the protests to show face. The youths being unyielding in that regard, the offeror-governor has since denounced the protests as being politically motivated despite the genuineness of their agitations.

Although he will not apologise for even venturing to suggest himself as a potential leader, the truth remains that he should be worried. He may not possess the comic mien of his fellow Kogi politician, Dino Melaye, yet he is not taken any more seriously than the entertaining and controversial former lawmaker. From all indications, his lack of credibility is not a contrivance of only the media. As recently as September, he was the disgruntled recipient of a visa ban from the United States of America. That cloud will continue to hang low over his name.

Mr Bello, often dismissed as a casuist by the public, was however right. His predictions proved correct, to wit, that the protest was hijacked to the petrification of the youths. In fact, had his call for state governors to take charge of the situation been taken more seriously, perhaps the situation might not have degenerated as it did. State governors should have united, pressured lawmakers into more activity, and even coaxed the presidency out of its callous oath of silence. While Mr Bello should have allowed distance lend enchantment to his fantasy about leading the EndSARS protest, he needs to rethink his politics, his legacy, and his public image lest he be continually dismissed even when his interventions are useful.

Lagos lawmakers and the social media

Barometer

 

Desmond Elliot, a lawmaker representing Surulere Constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, ran the vicious, unforgiving gauntlet of the social media last Thursday when he addressed plenary on some of his reservations about the social media. Shortly after, another honourable, Mojisola Alli-Macauley, also had to run the same gauntlet after venting her displeasure with youths who abused substance, and others who misused the social media.

While Mrs Alli-Macauley did make hasty generalisations and only partially true observations, Mr Elliot, whose submission during the sitting was closer to the truth, was more barbarously handled by the social media mob. Video clarifications from the distraught legislator would not induce his disparagers to mollify their opinion that he was a sellout, that he had just about as much intelligence as something unspeakable, and that he was a generally base fellow. This unsavoury torrent against the once-loved actor is another one in a worrying trend of abuse and hate speech on the social media rendering the youths guilty of exactly what Mr Elliot was condemning and what they have themselves berated. In fact, without knowing it, they have become their worst fear and their own foe; after all, they had been incensed when the police responded to their EndSARS protests with more brutality.

Soon after Mr Elliot’s speech went viral, his private life was attacked. One Instagram influencer, who has since deleted the post, unearthed what appeared to be a secret of the lawmaker. The influencer alleged that Mr Elliot had indulged in extramarital affairs, which had produced a child. Worse still the influencer went on to blackmail his suspected partner, promising to expose all about her supposed trysts with the legislator to the media if she did not call the pariah lawmaker to order. Despite her pleas, the Instagram account still went ahead to expose her. It is unclear just how true the intrusion into his private life is; if it is, then it constitutes blackmail and bullying; if it is not, then it constitutes defamation.

As witnessed during the EndSARS protests, the social media is a powerful weapon that can both maim and heal. As Mr Elliot noted, the social media is useful and a welcome development. Unfortunately, the serial display of irresponsibility by youths in their usage of the said media, especially when they suspect that they can act with anonymity, is becoming alarming. The rise of fake news, abuse, bullying and blackmail appear to make a case for the regulation of social media usage. Unfortunately the government has not indicated that it can be trusted to make the right regulations. The time, however, has come for all Nigerians to take responsibility for whatever they post on the social media.

TROOST-EKONG: I fell in love with EPL cleaning boots at Tottenham

William Troost-Ekong may have grown up less than 50 miles from Vicarage Road, but his journey to Watford has been a long one. Born in Holland to a Dutch mother and Nigerian father, the defender went to boarding school in Hertfordshire. When there he spent time at Fulham and then Tottenham’s academies, but after being released by Spurs in 2013 he embarked on a journey that sent him all across Europe and led to him playing for six clubs in seven years.

“In Holland it was very much focused on playing football out from the back,” says Troost-Ekong.

“Then I played in Norway, which is a little more direct football. Belgium was probably a mix of both. “Then I went to Turkey, which was probably a higher level because you played against some really good players that were attracted by the money they have in the league there.

“Then coming to Italy tied it all together. It was a very strong league where every week I felt like I was learning something playing against top players.”

It was always in Troost-Ekong’s mind that he would one day come back to England and he has had offers in the past to do so.

They never felt quite right, though, but after two years at Udinese the Nigeria international felt ready to take the plunge this summer when Watford came calling.

It is an ideal move for him, one that brings him back to his childhood roots, and the centre-back still has fond memories of his time in England despite being let go by Tottenham.

“That was like my really entry into professional football, I signed a scholarship contract at the time,” he says.

“I went into the Reserves, where I had Chris Ramsey, Tim Sherwood and Les Ferdinand working with me.

“I started off cleaning the boots for Ledley King (below), Michael Dawson, Younes Kaboul and Sebastien Bassong. I had a relationship with them at the time because they used to give me some advice when I used to train with them.

“At that time he (King) was already in his 30s. I could see from up close his tactical awareness and positioning was fantastic. It is what you try to emulate.

“After that Jan Vertonghen came and he became a friend because he spoke Dutch as well as he was at Ajax for a long time. All the older players were open to helping the young players, which was a nice thing.”

Troost-Ekong was part of a talented young group at Spurs, which included Harry Kane and also the likes of Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Fredericks.

When it became clear, however, that the defender was not going to be break into the first team he sought out a move to Holland.

“It wasn’t entirely my decision,” he says. “They (Tottenham) kind of said that there wasn’t a real future for me there, at least not directly into the first team.

“You can hang around and maybe see if you can go on loan, but that wasn’t the case. It was more a decision after thinking, what am I going to do? Am I going to go down the leagues in England and try to build my way up? Or do I go abroad and try and get first-team football in a first division team. I went for the second option.”

It was a brave move by Troost-Ekong, but since joining Groningen and beginning his journey around Europe the 27-year-old has never looked back.

Now, though, he is finally back in England and closer than ever to realising the dream he had as a child.

“My dream is to play in the Premier League and to do that with a team like Watford would be ideal,” he says.

“Everyone’s idea here is to go back to the Premier League. That is the main focus. I can feel the energy in the group from the guys that are here.

“It was always the idea to come back to England. I was just waiting for the right opportunity. There were some in the past, however the choice wasn’t 100 per cent at the time.

“Now I felt like this was the right moment to come back here and prove myself.”

PAUL ONUACHU: OLISEH GAVE ME LUCKY BREAK

Genk top scorer recounts his grass to grace story thumping the grimy streets of Lagos to the sparkling stardom of Europe. Taiwo Alimi captures his words. 

 

After 16 matches, gangling Nigerian striker perched on top of the current Belgian Juliper League season with eight goals, even as his team Genk seat in eight positions.  Though, the 6ft 7in player is yet to find his feet playing for Nigeria only scoring once in six appearances, he has notched 17 goals in 30 matches for Genk. Before arriving Belgium, the Owerri-Nigeria born forward has hit gold in Denmark playing for Midtjyland. From 2012 to 2019, left for 2015 when he was loaned to Vejle, Onuachu netted 52 goals in 135 matches.

That the Ojo-Lagos bred star is enjoying his career in Europe is to put it mildly because aside, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, few Nigerian players have scored more goals in Europe than Onuachu.

It is however, of interest to know that the 26-year old player, who has likened himself to former Arsenal and Nigeria star Nwankwo Kanu, had a bumpy ride leaving his home country to play soccer abroad.

His is like the story of many African youngsters who had to endure great hardship and poor remuneration to a point of giving up before mother smiled on them.

Onuachu may be counting his successfully hatched chickens now but said he’s simply a lucky dude to be where he is today.

In a recent interview with Omasport, Onuachu chronicles his journey from Ojo to Europe.

“It all started from in Ojo-Lagos state, going to school and playing football and when you enjoy what you do the rest is easy. I played a lot of street football and from there was lucky to be picked for greater things. At that time it was fun even though it was not really easy. It was fun playing football with your friends and going to different places to be able to football. It was easy, sometimes you come back and get nothing to eat and sometimes just a little bite but you end up going back to play football. Like I said it wasn’t easy but here I am today.”

 

PERSEVERANCE

Onuachu had to endure a lot of street soccer before his lucky break came.

“My journey is that of perseverance. In anything you do you have to keep praying and work hard. In life you have to pass through difficult times to make it. That is my own story which is not so different from others that you hear every day. As I play in Ojo, people were always saying I play good football and appreciate me. I played in a lot of competition in Ojo and environs and in one of them some scouts came, they were like local government scouts and they love what I am doing and that is it. They came to me and said they know some friends that have an academy who would like to give me a trial and possibly help me to travel abroad.”

In his search for a means of travelling abroad, he relocated temporarily to neighbouring country Togo.

“But the truth is that it is not easier to travel from your own country than to travel through other West Africa country like Togo, Abidjan and Ghana. I was there for almost one year in Togo trying to travel and it was tough and the situation was not all that good. In-fact I had to come back home after eight months and I said to myself that I won’t go back there. I continued playing at home and struggling, striving and playing from one place to the other. Transporting myself was not even easy because it was tough. And one is not earning anything. I was just showcasing my skill. It was a bit tough and at a point my dad told me I have to get something to do and that was when frustration set in. my father was also supportive but resources was limited, he said.”

At that point he almost abandoned his plan to play football abroad and started looking for menial job.

“At a point I almost abandoned football to try out something that could pay my bill just like my dad was saying. I was out job hunting one day when I met my old coach who connected me with Ebeide FC and here I am today. Churchill Oliseh (Older brother of Sunday Oliseh) welcomed me well and told me I have to work very hard.

“I considered giving up football actually when my dad began to find it difficult to give me transport money to go for training and matches. He said I should go learn a handiwork and I was about doing that when luck smiled on me. Playing at Ebedei was the game changer for me. The training was very tough for me and when they had a break and most people went home I took it upon myself to stay back and train on my own. I was alone in the camp and by the time they came back whenever we were doing running I was always top five or top four. That was how I got into the system and from then on I did not look back.”

 

DENMARK

Thanks to Ebedei, Onuachu landed his first contract with Midtjylland of Denmark in 2012 and he said it a dream comes true for him.

“In Ojo, many players have gone to EbedeI for trials but they will not tell me. It was when they come back that they will now tell me. So when I got there I challenged myself that I will not give up or come back to Ojo empty handed and God answered my prayers,” added Onuachu.

The Super Eagles player has profound respect for another Imo state born player Nwankwo Kanu, so much that he modelled his game after the bundle of skill, who was decorated Africa Footballer of the Year twice.

Speaking on his social media handle, Onuachu said his tall frame which makes him the tallest Super Eagles player currently endeared him to the playing pattern of his hero.

Kanu played prominent role for country and club and won many laurels including the English Premiership, English FA Cups, Olympic Football gold and Africa Cup of Nations Cup.

‘I had to understudy the former international closely. I’m a big fan of Kanu. I’ve loved him from when I was younger and when I really got very tall I had to start learning how to play like him and his skills too. Papilo is very gifted especially with his feet which I also cherish a lot. Matching his achievement will be a huge challenge for me, but I’ll keep doing my best,” he said.

His love for Kanu also endeared him to London big club Arsenal where Kanu spent the greater part of his career.

“When I was on a weekend trip to London some years ago with the FCM squad, we were out to see Arsenal. It was an experience. The Premier League is great and Arsenal is a giant club with a nice history. Arsenal hardly comes after me now. But I’m working hard to be where they would notice me. I playing well now and scoring well too. It is my dream to play for arsenal and it might come true. I think I will be able to commit myself to most leagues in Europe, and I feel in good shape and 100 percent ready.”

He admitted that he loved the Arsenal style and could fit in. “The way they play is just the kind of football I like to see – and so I would like to play for Arsenal at one point.”

However, Onuachu is still a player of Genk, which he has committed to four years-up till 2024 and he hopes to keep honouring his contract and play good football.

“The move to Genk is a dream move for me. They treat me well and I’ve made great friends. I’m happy and my plan is going well.”

 

SUPER EAGLES

Reporting back to base after homecoming to Nigeria to play for Nigeria, Onuachu said he had to train alone and underwent a corona test.

“It is the standard here and I’m back in the team after testing negative. The pandemic changed the way we do things but it was well handled in Europe and we just have to adhere to instructions and protocol of Covid-19.

IDRIS AREGBE: We have leveraged on our digital presence

He is an entrepreneur, politician, philanthropist and innovator with a penchant for supporting grassroots initiatives. A graduate of Political Science from the University of Lagos, Idris Aregbe holds the office of Youths Organising Secretary of Lagos State, through which he has been making significant contributions in promoting political participation amongst youths with his grassroots initiative, ‘Our Lagos Your Lagos’.

His entrepreneurial acumen led to the establishment of No 1 Heritage Solutions, a brand committed to providing winning solutions, with subsidiaries Connecting Lagos, a high-level business and people networking platform; Lagos Fries, a trendy café for good food and fine dining, as well as Culturati, Africa’s largest cultural fusion, a platform that has been rewarding cultural excellence, empowering young cultural buffs, creating business opportunities. He bares his mind on how the Connecting Lagos project is empowering youths to become manufacturers and self-sustained economic agents and why people need to leverage on the advantages posed by this pandemic, among other things in this interview with Omolara Akintoye.

 

 

HOW are you coping with COVID-19?

It’s a new challenge to us all. I believe there is an inherent advantage in every disadvantage, and so beyond the disadvantages of the pandemic, we should try to see what advantages we could derive there from, to better our lives and society. Yea, so for me, it’s just a new learning curve.

Tell us more about Connecting Lagos through arts and culture.

Cultures help people connect with each other and build communities, within the same cultural backgrounds. The Connecting Lagos brand uses its Culturati arm as a voice to African culture, a vehicle to connect Africans in celebrating their rich culture, exploring its enormous diversity as an effective tool for enhancing creativity, increasing productivity, turning passion into profit and entrenching progressive human development for the common good, and by so doing, restoring Africa’s eroding cultural pride, while arresting the cycle of poverty and unemployment.

Through our educative, informative and entertaining cultural programmes, in partnership with stakeholders and the Lagos State government, we work at augmenting governments’ efforts at empowering creative youths, while expanding and sustaining the creative industry.

IDRIS AREGBE

It has been 14 years of promoting African culture, would you say the brand has accomplished its purpose so far?

Yes, we are achieving that purpose, and it can only get better as we continually seek new ideas and ways to up the ante.

The diverse underpinnings of the African culture readily provide a veritable source for creative expressions, wealth creation and empowerment, if properly explored and harnessed. This is what we have been doing with our Culturati platform. Through this platform, many young people have been given the opportunity to discover their talents and make rewarding collaborations and partnerships over the past 14 years.

What are some of the challenges encountered with these successes?

I would say funding principally. The availability of funding is critical to deliver on our programmes and initiatives. Global economies have been hit hard by COVID-19 and the recession, which has also had ripple effects. As a cultural operator, we have always worked to enhance the import of our culture, foster good policy tools, create collaborations with creatives, and all to ensure the adequate positioning of culture in the overall development strategies and policies. These come with some of challenges. But we’re forging on.

As a business operator, you have managed to stay afloat as the pandemic takes its toll on businesses; what is the secret?

Whether we like it or not, the global economy is facing a major crisis currently, and no one can anticipate how long it will last. With social distancing and isolation being the preventive measures put in place to curtail the spread of the escalating pandemic, it has forced businesses to fathom new and creative ways of operating.

As a business owner, there is no denying that many businesses have struggled. For the Connecting Lagos brand, we have leveraged the digital presence to offer some of our services which has been a huge advantage. With online marketp lace being the only succour for delivery of essential items during this pandemic, there has been an astronomical increase in demand and we have tried to take advantage of this, while at the same time trying to stay safe.

Having said that, let me say that, COVID-19 is testing our social, economic and even political resilience. Today, African countries are coming up with different in-depth and strategic approaches to human development, economic diversification and solidarity which hold good prospects for us all. We have to rethink many prior assumptions and find new balances for our collective behaviour.

Your advice to business owners in the post pandemic era

I dare-say despite the losses and negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,   it provides a rare opportunity for businesses. This may be the best time to dot the i’s and cross the t’s, making necessary adjustments to strengthen operations, service delivery and other major aspects that are vital to the growth and stability of any organization.

The pandemic provides a good opportunity for businesses to do some re-evaluation and ask questions about how to improve efficiency after this blows away.

The use of digital platforms has been on the increase during this period as businesses are trying to gain market share and are competing for audience attention. So it is a very good advantage to have a good online presence and key to that is focusing on the platform that targets your audience.

Also, the success of any business lies with its people. Given the current reality where people have been forced to work from home, businesses can encourage employees to take advantage of this opportunity to develop themselves and build in-demand skills. Let’s continue to observe stipulated protocols in the fight against COVID-19. Together we shall come out stronger.

Blood on your hands…

By Victor Ariavie

 

Some days prior to the carnage some miscreants visited on both public and private properties in Lagos and some other states in Nigeria, my group of moderates have engaged another group of extremists on social media. While we condemn evil and violence especially shedding of blood in whatever guise, our opponents seem to justify same as a consequence of revenge for wrongs done. I therein conceived a phrase thus “the guilt for the blood of one, is as the guilt for the blood of 10,000 by SARS”, before both the positive law and the law of God.

From social media interactions, I haved observed the capacity of hate to make nonsense of people’s religious confessions and/or education. I have seen otherwise reasonable men, blinded by hate, reduce rational discourses to vile, base, degenerate and puerile arguments.

Now, days after the orgy of violence unleashed upon the land, everywhere has seemingly gone quiet. Quiet not because of returning peace but moreso because people are probably struggling with their conscience. Unease and self pity for most for the gullibility into the hoax we all fell in. Now there seems to be more questions than answers as usual. The unprecedented rage that greeted the widely reported Lekki killings of peaceful #EndSars protesters. Many laid curses on generations of alleged perpetrators of the dastardly act.

Days after, the world is anxiously awaiting the next sequence; the street procession with the bodies of the slain peaceful protesters, who are now martyrs. With that is the apprehension of a worse round of violence and this time God help the Government and its Officials; they will be utterly helpless and defenceless this time around. One can’t imagine a Security man raising his gun against rampaging demonstrators bearing caskets of the slain on the street, no matter the provocation and breach. What with people including renowned Lawyers already compiling offences to charge state Actors with before the International Criminal Court. A friend had reportedly filed an anticipatory petition before the ICC in Hague on Monday preseceding the eventful day. And by Wednesday another petition was online recruiting signatures.

But there’s an uneasy calm in the land. Days after, no dead bodies to show for the alleged Lekki massacre. Nay, bodies cannot be found and the narrative is changing. It’s time for reflection. How did we all become so gullible? Time to re-examine this social media evolution.

The social media whose tool is a device, SIM card and data has come to stay. It has changed the way we live and do things. The freedom to circulate information is unprecedented. In the past Government attempt to regulate it through the hate speech bill was firmly resisted and I guess Government had no choice but to back down.

However, recent happenings have compelled us all to appreciate the destructive potential of the social media without regulation. The abuse or misuse of the power of the social media has manifested itself in a most profound but negative way, in the recent #EndSars protests and the resulting consequences.

I never for one knew it could be so easy and simple to take the whole world for a ride by some smart kids. Almost everybody including world leaders exhibited one high form of gullibility or the other. Even Lawyers, including some well respected and vocal ones who by training ought to rely and make conclusions based on hard evidence or facts became the most sentimental and susceptible to grand foolery.

Two of the incidents that helped shape the whole brouhaha have turned out to be hoaxes, yet many have learnt nothing.

Firstly, the reported case at Ughelli, where mischief makers in a vehicle behind a police van were doing a live video recording of events ahead of them, where some “Operation Delta Safe’ operatives reportedly engaged a youngman and forced him into their van. The youngman reportly jumped out from the moving van. The videographer, one Makolo captured this scene and posted it with a commentary that SARS Operatives had shot dead a youngman and thrown him out of a moving van. That was all it needed for a society which was already on edge to ignite the flame of near nationwide #EndSars protests. Efforts by the Hon. Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo SAN to set the records straight was insufficient to douse the flame. The truth was that the youngman was never shot and never died. The President of Ughelli youth also attempted to dissuade Ughelli youth from any planned protests based on falsehood, that too failed, partly because the SARS malfeasance was a keg of gun powder waiting to explode.

The second and of most profound consequence is the Lekki episode where the world was shaken by the reports of soldiers opening fire on peaceful protesters. This touched the conscience of every rational person worldwide. The report was greeted with worldwide condemnation with many calling for the arraignment of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria before the international criminal court. The heroin of this whole episode is one DJ Switch who was reported to have captured the whole scene of massacre on video.

However, twist to the story started unfolding when the Governor of Lagos,  Babajide Sanwo Olu after visits to the different hospitals which are reported have received the dead and wounded, in an address, declared that nobody died at the Lekki shooting save one death recorded at the Reddington hospital which according to him was as a result of stab wounds not gun shots injuries. Many villified and poured inventives at the governor.

Since Wednesday 21 October, people had expect to see a procession of aggrieved youth with the bodies of the slain in the streets but different pictures of photoshopped maimed bodies are trending on social media. The so-called heroin DJ Switch has reportedly edited her story from 78 dead to 15 and later 11. She’s reported to have claimed that Soldiers took away the bodies of the slain. Many names earlier published as dead have also reportedly refuted such. People are asking, what about the families of the slain?

So the Lekki alleged killings is also turning out to be another grand hoax. If it turned out so which is most likely, many will find it difficult to forgive themselves. We cannot afford to shift the narrative in order to sustain the blame. It was the purported result of the shooting (death) that triggered the emotional outbursts and the savage destructions that followed. We saw videos of men on military camouflage shooting upwards. The later stories are that lights went out and they started killing unarmed youth. The resultant spontaneous responses are now history. The Nigeria Police, Lagos State Government, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, the Oba of Lagos and the people of the state are still counting their losses. What with burning of public transportation buses, Court houses, public buildings, police stations etc?

It will be safe to conclude that the whole scheme was ab initio, a well thought out strategy. Citing the permanent platform for the #EndSars protests at the Lekki toll plaza was equally strategic. A jurist once stated that “you cannot construe a man’s intention outside the circumstances created by him”. Believing that the Lekki toll plaza was one of Asiwaju’s source of wealth it was logical for the planners that by paralysing toll operations, his revenue would be adversely affected and he would be provoked to act unwisely and set the stage for the consequences that followed.

The script played out as Asiwaju became the first suspect and casualty in the fallout of the alleged killings. He was accused of deploying the Soldiers. Many conversations with Asiwaju on phone went viral of very young but rude people confronting him with the vile allegations, with all his denials falling on deaf ears. Imagine the harassments and threats to his life and that of his family members here and overseas.  Reason also failed many supposed intellectuals who believe and share the position that Asiwaju could by any figment of imagination deploy Soldiers to the Lekki toll plaza. Where does he derive the power to direct an Army Commander even if he were his son? The script has unfolded with nearly all his investments torched by savage hoodlums. This is my theory. Asiwaju was the target.

This is the law of karma. You reap what you sow.  The Bible in the Book of Hosea 8:7 says “ they have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind……”. The blood of every soul that was lost as a consequence of this mischief is in the hands of the Authors of this scheme. They succeeded in misleading the whole world and unleashed a level of violence on the people that had not be seen in recent years.

It will the greatest disservice to humanity to allow this episode die like that for fear. Events are the greatest teachers of history. Governments at both state and federal levels owe it a duty to get to the bottom of this nightmare and inform the world at large what really happened.

The Authors of this mischievous script must be unveiled and punished according to law.

All those who were the participants in the orgy of violence and destruction must be fished out. This should not be difficult with a lot of the videos trending online. I’m not talking of the gullible, ignorant but innocent ones who participated in the excitement of free food and drink jamboree of #endsars peaceful protests but those that masterminded the whole scheme that snowballed into the ugly experience.

It is now more compelling than ever before to revisit the hate speech bill otherwise known as the social media regulation bill.

No right is absolute. Noone has the right to deliberately spread falsehood and mislead an entire nation and beyond. There should be legal consequences. We must all learn from this for the sake of the future.

 

• Ariavie, Esq. is a Legal Practitioner & Executive Director, Centre for the Advancement of Civil & Environmental Rights.

Trump v Biden: And the winner is…

By Tiko Okoye

 

The 2020 US elections are billed for Tuesday, November 3, 2020. As many as 13 state and territorial governorships, as well as numerous other state and county elections, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested. But by far the most keenly followed and most widely reported would be the contest for the presidency between Republican Donald Trump, the incumbent president seeking a second term, and Democrat Joe Biden, a former vice-president. Both are septuagenarians – Trump is 74 years old, while Biden is 78. Both also followed a similar trajectory in clinching the nomination of their respective parties.

The Republican Party establishment never wanted to touch Trump even with a mile-long pole. But he went on to not only win the party primaries but also the presidential election. And like his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, recently disclosed in a recently released taped interview, the erstwhile business mogul made short work of accomplishing a “hostile takeover” of the party, such that the fear of Trump has become the beginning of conventional wisdom in the latter-day Grand Old Party (GOP), as the Republican Party is also known!

On his own part, Biden has tried in the past to attain the pinnacle of his illustrious political career but has twice failed to clinch the nomination of the Democratic Party. It was crystal-clear that he was spurned by the party establishment as well as by the rank and file during the early phase of the 2020 primary contests. After embarrassingly finishing a distant fifth in February’s New Hampshire’s primary, he was practically given up for dead. But a predominantly Black electorate in South Carolina breathed a new lease of life into his candidacy and he eventually became the biggest beneficiary of the “Super Tuesday” sweepstakes! Even so, many in his party viewed his nomination with forlorn resignation. They felt he would stumble in debates with Trump and that his gaffes would serve as ample ammunition to an opponent known not to give any quarter in a fight to the death!

But that is where the similarity ends. Both men are actually as different as day is from night. Where Trump is erratic, brusque, impulsive and even reckless, Biden is staid, run-of-the-mill, steady and plodding. Where Trump is daring and sensational, Biden represents an unassuming and empathetic grandfatherly figure – Trump even derisively mocks him with the moniker of “Sleepy Joe.” In fact, Biden can be described as the tortoise to Trump’s hare in that local folklore of a race between both animals.

Nothing fully captures the essence of the times that the 2020 US presidential election is being conducted like that verse from the Book of Ecclesiastes: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Indeed, timing is everything in life. The peculiar circumstances of this year’s contest – a devastating pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and an economic collapse throwing millions into the labour market and making those still employed very nervous and vulnerable – call for the very same character traits that would have marked a candidate like Biden as a weak leader under a different scenario. Talk of the stone the builders rejected suddenly becoming the chief cornerstone!

And, the election just around the corner, Biden appears to hold an unassailable double-digit national lead and narrower but stable leads in many battleground states that Trump won in 2016. To make matters worse, Biden has even become very competitive in previously solid GOP states like Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Ohio where he is leading Trump in the polls!

But Biden and the Democrats are far from being complacent. They know that Trump is the grandmaster of the “Art of the Deal,” and that the higher the stakes and the more daunting the odds, the greater the likelihood of getting Trump’s adrenalin dangerously up and going! They very well remember that at about this same time four years ago Clinton Hilary was similarly leading Trump in almost every poll, only for Trump to put political pundits and bookmakers to shame by winning the crucial Electoral College vote. Still, the circumstances between 2016 and 2020 are very different in several important aspects.

In addition to the earlier mentioned poor handling of the rampaging coronavirus pandemic by Trump, Biden is nowhere as controversial a figure as Hilary was. A most recent Fox News survey – Trump’s favourite network – has Biden, very much unlike Hilary, with a 16% net positive favourability rating, compared with a 10% net negative rating for Trump. The reckless manner that Trump has been adjudged to have handled the pandemic by one of the most vulnerable segments of the population – the elderly and senior citizens – has lost him crucial support among older voters, especially in Florida State with a relatively high proportion of retirees.

Grave errors in sampling techniques that caused a great disparity between expected and final outcomes, such as polls not weighted by values like education to allow for those without college degrees who are less likely to respond to surveys and more likely to vote for Trump, have been corrected, resulting in more credible polling.

Polling simulation analyses conducted by some leading experts, where averages of the stronger 2020 polls were adjusted as if they were as wrong as they were in 2016, indicate that Biden is still on course to win the Electoral College vote even if he were to lose Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin where polls show him leading by at least three points – probable but unlikely. On the other hand, Trump has to win every major battleground state to be re-elected – not impossible but highly unlikely, and a much more daunting hurdle than that confronting Biden.

The third-party candidacy of Jill Stein (Green Party) spit enough liberal votes to gift Trump razor-thin victories over Hilary in the three key Great Lakes Area states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that clinched the Electoral College vote for Trump. There is no such relatively strong liberal-leaning third-party candidate to afflict a political heartburn on Biden. In 2016, an important block of the Democratic Party supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders chose to abstain rather than vote for Hilary. But Biden and Sanders have a very cordial personal relationship and the traditionally atomistic Democratic Party has surprisingly been able to energise all its factions to work in unison to elect Biden. On the contrary, an increasing number of top officials that served in the Trump administration and “The Lincoln Project” – the political organisation founded by Republicans united against Trump, are openly flaunting their support for Biden.

And very few would doubt that the highly controversial decision of then-FBI Director James Comey – based entirely on a Russian-fed misinformation – to brew a storm in a teacup with the Hilary Clinton email controversy few days to the election largely cost her the presidency. The intelligence and security agencies as well as the electorate are now better prepared for such external shenanigans, as evidenced by how the plot to use the faux “Hunter Biden laptop,” allegedly containing emails depicting the Bidens as a family willing to peddle political influence for person gain, failed to produce any real traction outside pro-Trump conservative media outlets. Early voting has already surpassed nearly three-quarters of the about 130million aggregate votes cast in 2016, and it is relatively safe to say that no eleventh hour surprise at this stage – euphemistically dubbed “October surprise” – would hurt either candidate.

My predictions? Best case scenario: A landslide victory for Biden both in terms of popular and Electoral College votes – of a kind not experienced since 1984 when Ronald Reagan took Democratic challenger Walter Mondale to the cleaners. Worst case scenario: Trump would prove yet again to be the political cat with nine lives – but Biden would win he popular vote by a margin not less than six million, and win the Electoral College vote by the slimmest of margins.

And now this: The Democrats would gain a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and ultimately pack the Supreme Court to create a level playing jurisprudential field just to undo what Trump and the Republican-dominated upper chamber have done to disingenuously lock in a 6-3 conservative majority. There is a saying in the Niger Delta to the effect that Cunny man d

 

• Okoye is a Boston University Hubert H. Humphrey FellowAbuja 08054103468