August 2019

If you do, watch the YouTube video below. The man that made the video is presently detained in the prison because the police tried to silence him. So, they fabricated an impossible murder charge against him. DPA members, friends and associates must make this video go viral. Emeka Ugwuonye is a prisoner of conscience. His only crimes was that he condemned the police for corruption and extra-judicial killings of the innocent. https://youtu.be/zqQbtuDbRvQ

I look back on the final set of events that led to the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and others. When you are dealing with a dictator or a repressive regime, you have to be careful how you dare such regime. Having a just cause or a fine argument is never enough. You have to realize that you are dealing with a ruthless and determined regime. Then you make up your mind whether you want to live or to become a martyr. It is important to remember that if you face martyrdom through a court of law or a tribunal, you are not the person speaking for yourself. It is your lawyer speaking for you. Your lawyer is making decisions about whether you're to live or to die. Make sure you have a lawyer who has no other interest but how to keep you alive. Daring a dictator is dangerous unless you want to be a martyr. The consequence could be tragic. Ken Saro Wiwa was convicted by a tribunal under General Abacha. The same kangaroo tribunal had on a previous and unrelated case convicted General Zamani Lekwot (Rtd) over the Zango Kataf civil strife that caused death. Once Lekwot was convicted, he appealed his conviction. Under the relevant decree, appeal lay to the Armed Forces Ruling Council, which was essentially an appeal to the Military . That council considered the appeal and reversed the conviction by the tribunal and reduced the sentence to life imprisonment, and eventually release. Lekwot's life was spared. When Ken Saro Wiwa was convicted by the same kangaroo tribunal, Wiwa was angry and upset. He was totally obsessed with the righteousness of his cause and his total innocence. Wiwa was an innocent man fighting against a brutal conspiracy and exploitation of his people by the Military Government and Shell oil company. Wiwa refused to appeal the conviction because he was so sure that the tribunal had no moral right to try him, how much less convict him. And Wiwa was right. Another thing: Wiwa and General Abacha were well known to each other and were friends. If you recalled, General Abacha served in Port Harcourt for a long time, as the Commanding Officer in charge of the Sixth Division in Port Harcourt. So, he and Wiwa had met on many occasions and became friends. They both shared the same idea of abandoned properties, whereby Igbos were forced to lose their properties in Port Harcourt. Wiwa did not believe that Abacha would approve his conviction or sign his execution. A number of things were happening around that time. General Obasanjo had just been convicted of plotting a coup against Abacha. They were going to execute Obasanjo. But there was too much pressure from all over the world for the life of Obasanjo to be spared. Andy Young led this pressure from America and the newly elected President Mandela led it from South Africa. Indeed, Mandela sent his deputy, Tagbo Mbeki, and some of his cabinet ministers to Abuja to plead for Obasanjo. Abacha and some of his top Generals were in meeting with the South African delegation till 4:00am. Finally, Abacha gave them his word that General Obasanjo and those convicted with him for the alleged coup would not be executed. Less than five months after the decision not to execute General Obasanjo, Ken Saro Wiwa's conviction came for confirmation before the Armed Forces Ruling Council. There are a few things to note here. After Wiwa was convicted, his lawyers began to make a lot of public speeches condemning the tribunal. They did walk out of the tribunal a number of times. They spoke of how they would mobilize the international community to prevail on Abacha not to carry out the execution of Wiwa. Also remember that Abiola was in detention at the time. Abacha was faced by a personal sense of insecurity. He was afraid of being perceived to be too weak. For the first time, Nigeria just spared the lives of those convicted of coup. And the issue of Abiola was still hanging over him. He felt a need to appear strong and fearless. On the day the council was to deliberate on the conviction of Wiwa, Abacha seemed indifferent. He was not particularly keen on executing Wiwa. He allowed the other members of the council to take their turns to speak. Most of them felt that Wiwa was just a stubborn rabble rouser, that there was no need to execute him. But they also commented on the fact that Wiwa was too stubborn and that he refused to appeal his conviction. They also felt irritated by the threats to mobilize the international community being issued by Wiwa's lawyers. When it was the turn of Naval Chief Mike Akhigbe to speak, he was visibly upset about the perceived arrogance of Wiwa and his lawyers. He spoke for a long time. As if he was reading the mind of Abacha, Akhigbe warned that the government was being perceived to be too weak. He reminded them that they just pardoned coup plotters and that they would be taken for granted if they kept pardoning people who threatened them with international community. He queried why Wiwa kept calling them junters and refused to appeal the conviction. As Akhigbe spoke, it was clear that Abacha was fully tuned in and was nodding in approval to every word he uttered. Indeed, after Akhigbe had made a strong case for the regime to use Wiwa case to send a strong message that the government was neither weak nor afraid, other Generals who had spoken earlier raised their hands and when given the chance to speak again all shifted toward Akhigbe's tone. That was how it was voted that Wiwa be executed. By 5:00am when the executioners came to execute Wiwa that day, Wiwa did not believe it. He didn't think it was going to happen. His lawyers said there was going to be international community that would prevent any executions. There is one thing you will notice about those who speak too much about the international community. They are usually people who have never lived for long outside Nigeria. All they know about the international community is what they  read in the outdated books or imagined about how the international system works. Nobody is coming to intervene in Nigeria. No international community intervened in Rwanda. During the Nigerian civil war, the Biafrans believed they were going to get international support. But all they got was Red Cross and the Catholic Caritas. The few countries that supported such as France, Gabon, Ivory Coast were only interested in taking Biafran refugees. As one watches Sowore case and the same type of people speak of what the international community would do or not do, one remembers Ken Saro Wiwa's case. Of course, you cannot compare Sowore with Ken Saro Wiwa. That will be an insult to the memory of Wiwa. But the message still holds that only an unwise person dares a government like Buhari's government. It is like standing in front of a moving train because you are convinced it is moving on the wrong track. I'm not a supporter of Buhari administration. But it will be stupid not to realize that planning a revolution against his government is giving his government an excuse to wiwarize you. Emeka Ugwuonye October 2019

Impossibility is one of the strongest test of truth. The fact that what a person is accused of doing is indeed impossible is a valid proof that he did not do it. This report from a suspicious news website, which tries to impersonate the Aljazeera news network,  a propagator of Sunni Muslim interest is peddling the fabrication that El-Zakzaky had planned to escape to Iran, but was stopped by his Indian doctors. It is impossible how El-Zakzaky could expect medical doctors to aid him in such escape mission. Even the distance between India and Iran were a short dash, it will still be highly improbable that doctors are in a position to execute such plan. You need people in the aviation and probably the Indian Air Force to achieve such feat.

With the passage of the Nigerian Correctional Service Bill into law the Prisons Service changes name to Nigerian Correctional Service. President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the new law into force on 14th August, 2019. The new law is intended to enable some critical reforms in the Nigerian prison system far beyond a mere change of name. It underscores the global movement away from the emphasis on punishment to  correction as the guiding philosophy behind incarceration of people who violated the criminal laws of the country. When the court finds a person guilty and hands him over to the prison authority, the expectation of society is not for punishment. Instead, the idea is that the person is handed over to the prisons authority so that they would reform him to a point where the person can return to society as no more a danger to society. The emphasis on punishment is outdated. It depicts the society as vengeful and vindictive, when all it should be seeking for is to reform the criminal. Emphasis on correction is positive and forward looking. It is focused on what the person becomes at the time he is released back to society, while to focus on punishment is to focus on what happens to the person  during the time he is incarcerated without regard to the aftermath. Also, the new law which repeals the Nigerian Prisons Service Act, has other reform agendas in mind, including the decongestion of prisons (now to be called corrections). One way the government seeks to achieve decongestion is the  new rule that condemned criminals who have served up to 10 years will have their sentences committed to 10 more years. This is automatic removal of executions, unless the person is executed within 10 years of sentencing. The way this rule is intended to work is not yet clear. DPA News needs more time to study the new law. One nagging problem about prison congestions has nothing to do with the prison law. Rather, it has everything to do with a judiciary that is inept, corrupt and dysfunctional. Over 80% of Nigerian prison inmates are awaiting trial. These are people the judges refused to grant bail in clear violation of the Constitution of the country. There will be no change in the rate of prison congestion unless reform is aimed on how to reduce the number of awaiting trial inmates. With the signing, the Nigerian Prisons Service will now be called the Nigerian Correctional Service, and prisons shall now be called Corrections. The picture here is Comptroller General,               Nigerian Correction Service,             Mr. Ja’afaru Ahmed

Entertainment industry involves big money. The irony of the industry is that while the visible players are extremely visible, the invisible ones; the producers, the financiers, the investors are often very invisible. Those invisible players call the shots. When a problem blows out as it happened with Tekno showing of semi-nude dancers in a display truck last week, you can never tell who is behind the scene dousing tension. The latest on the case is that the producer of Tekno’s latest music video, Mr. Lawal Tijani, has explained the incident and apologized to the government and the people. That is it. No real businessman will waste time arguing or fighting with government. Just apologize and save their face - make the officials feel good about themselves. With the apology and explanation, the case is resolved, tension doused and business goes on. The artists are artistically minded. They can hardly be bothered by politics. This incident has also shown a number of things. Tekno is a highly popular artist. The outpouring of support for him was extraordinary. Also, it shows that those in government whose job it is to regulate the industry are totally out of touch. They do not understand the dynamics of the industry they regulate. Hopefully, this will be a lesson.

On August 14, 2019, Punch Newspaper, by Samson Folarin, reported a case of multiple murder committed by Nigerian soldiers. The story was ominously titled, "Beasts of No Nation: How four soldiers shot man, killed another in Ogun hospital" The story went as follows: -------- The Ogun State Police Command has said soldiers from the 81 division were involved in the killing of some residents of Isheri Olofin, a boundary community between Lagos and Ogun States. The police spokesperson, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said statements from eyewitnesses revealed that the soldiers dragged a resident from the hospital where he was being treated and stabbed him to death with a bayonet. Our correspondent had earlier reported that during the celebration of the Isheri Day Festival on Monday, a disagreement broke out among some residents. In the ensuing fracas, some soldiers were reported to have shot dead three people at the party. A statement by the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Major Clement Abiade, had denied military involvement in the killing, saying instead a soldier was injured. But the Ogun State Police Command in its statement by Oyeyemi said at least four soldiers were involved in the killings. He said, “The Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, has ordered a full-scale investigation into the “Isheri Day” shooting incident in Ogun State on August 13, 2019, by suspected soldiers believed to be from Ikeja Cantonment, with a view to bringing the suspects to justice. Oyeyemi said the command had contacted the military authorities in Ogun State and efforts were on to bring the suspected killer(s) to book. ---------- The critical thing here is that the Nigerian Police are now ready to prosecute Nigerian soldiers when they commit crimes. This multiple murder by soldiers would have gone uninvestigated. The police would have granted the soldiers immunity to kill. But no more. Also today, the soldier that raped a student in Ondo State was arraigned in court, again showing an increased determination to prosecute soldiers who commit crimes. In return, a journalist tortured by SARS in Port Harcourt is suing the police. According to news report,  "The journalist said he suffered a swollen knee after he was hit several times with wooden bars, while trying to take photographs of the harassment of a boy by the SARS officers at Mgbuoba in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state." The war between the police and the military may work in the interest of the common man. Only they can check each other. Hopefully this will help the court find its voice in helping to hold military and police officers that commit crimes or abuse human rights accountable.

Was it that Nigerian officials were clueless that they failed to realize how obnoxious and odious the treatment of the Shiites has been in the eyes of the world? The real test of it is now on display in India. El-Zakzaky may actually be more popular than Buhari outside Nigeria. More people are willing to die for El-Zakzaky than are willing to die for Buhari and El Rufai combined.

1. Thousands of Indians demand the release of El-Zakzaky. This will continue to be the case. It will be totally absurd to think of further detaining El-Zakzaky upon his return to Nigeria.

In other words, Nigeria shot itself on the foot by mistreating the Shiites.

Irrespective of what you read in the books or what you may have imagined, the following are true about the Nigerian courts: 1) More than half of the judges and magistrates you may come across are corrupt. They will sell justice to the richer or more powerful party in any case before them. 2) More than half of the judges and magistrates you may come across are not the brightest people among their peers. If you check, you will notice that most of the judges were not in the top 20% of their classes. They became judges because they are not strong enough to compete in the private practice or they just need a relatively noncompetitive environment, and they have political connection to get appointed judges. 3) Nearly all the judges and magistrates you may come across are afraid of government officials and will do everything not to offend the government authorities. The more corrupt or less intelligent a judge or magistrate is, the more he fears government authorities and bends his or her judgment in favor of the rich or government authority. 4) In all situations, there are two things you need at least one of in order to have justice in Nigerian courts - You either have a very brilliant judge or you will need a political lawyer. A SAN is a political lawyer. They are generally more confident, more experienced and are naturally able to give the judge the impression that there will be consequences to any abuse of his powers. It is the fear of what would happen should he misbehave that forces the judges to treat the political lawyers more cautiously. While the SANs do it more naturally, any lawyer that gives the judge the same impression will get the same treatment. The political lawyers are very expensive. So, only politicians and very wealthy people can afford them. 5) The assumption that the court is the last hope of common man is actually a half truth. The court can be your last hope only if the judge is intelligent and not corrupt or you can afford a political lawyer.  In majority of the cases, the court is common man's nightmare. Indeed, some judges are dangerous people and worse than the police. 6) For reasons mentioned above, Federal High Court judges are better than State High Court judges. 7) The problem is that you don't know what judge you are going to have until he is your judge. In one DSS case, 10 men were brought together and accused of conspiracy and kidnapping. But these men actually didn't know one another until they met in the DSS cell. When they were brought to court, they applied for bail. The judge refused them bail because he did not want to offend DSS. And why? Because he had been a highly corrupt judge. While the case was still on, the DSS arrested 5 judges and he was one of them. Now, that he saw his career as a judge was coming to an end, he had to stop trying to be in the good book of DSS. One day, he told the 10 defendants that he knew all along that they were innocent, but that he had to transfer their case because he could no longer handle DSS cases. In other words, he knew all these 3 years that the case was in his court, yet he denied them bail. It was only after his bubble was burst that he had to admit the truth. The 10 men were granted bail by the next court to which their case was transfered.

In his prison cell, Emeka Ugwuonye, will probably be following the ongoing tension between the Army and the Police. One must wonder what goes on, on his mind right now. If he were a vindictive person, Emeka Ugwuonye would be rejoicing today. He will feel vindicated and he might say I told you so. But knowing Emeka Ugwuonye, he will probably be grieving for the families of those police officers killed in Taraba. He will probably agonize over the National tragedy under which our soldiers and our policemen will be shooting at each other. Emeka Ugwuonye is vindicated nonetheless. Since 2016, he has been warning the nation about the gathering dangers of undisciplined Security Forces (Soldiers, Police, DSS, NSCDC, etc) that do not care about human rights. The Nigerian police, including the IRT officers, are involved in gross human rights abuses, use of extreme force, disregard for right to life. Unfortunately, they failed to realize that the kind of violence they cherished could be visited upon their members by personnel of another security agency equally disposed to disproportionate use of force. Otherwise, why would the soldiers fire into the vehicle that contained the person they wanted to rescue from presumed kidnappers? The truth of what happened in Taraba may never come out. The Nigerian Police are disposed to reckless use of force. Likewise the Nigerian Soldiers. Nigerian Police have no reputation for honesty. Likewise the soldiers. The Nigerian Police have constantly abused the civilians. Indeed, nobody knew that they were capable of shedding tears. Emeka Ugwuonye tried to raise awareness about the abuses being committed by our police officers. Rather than appreciate his effort, the police officers implicated, conspired to fabricate false criminal charges against him, hoping to silence him. But while their lies kept Emeka in prison, the danger he warned against has been visited on the police. The police are now victims of violence, which they have visited on others. There will not be much tears for them. Their victims have no tears to spare. The sooner the police start listening to the likes of Emeka Ugwuonye the sooner we can stop this wanton bloodshed that has enveloped the nation. This ugly incident is a perfect opportunity for the reforms Emeka Ugwuonye and DPA have called for.

In the past one month, bodies of five women were found in hotels, presumed killed by men they met on the social media. We believe that more people die in the hands of people they met on social media, but their deaths go undetected and unreported as such. When you include other harms apart from death, thousands of people suffer in the hands of social media friends; the most frequent harm women suffer in the hands of men they met on social media is rape. Someone you met on social media invites you to a business meeting or he promises to get you a job interview. Or he invites you to an eatery or restaurant. Or he offers to drop you off after the meeting. Without meaning to scare you, any of these meetings can expose you to rape, and death if you resist. Most victims of rape are too embarrassed to report it. A rape victim is more likely to report it if the rapist is a bigger or more influential man like a pastor against a young church member or a politician against an ordinary person or a professor against a student or a soldier or police against a student. But when raped by a male contemporary or someone of lower social standing, or someone you were not supposed to be with, you will be too embarrassed to inform anyone. Another type of harm frequently suffered in the hands of friends you met on social media is scam or fraud. Women and men are equally victims of this. The man will promise marriage and the woman believing in his promise, begins to give him money. Or a young beautiful lady gives her male friend the impression that she is ready for romance. The man believing this, begins to send her money. When these promises are not kept, a perception of deception and fraud occurs. It is time we looked into these patterns of the deadly or harmful friendships, the reasons they occur and how to detect danger signals. DPA has studied so many complaints of these types of harmful encounters and has developed some rules to help reduce your exposure to risks. The most significant problem most people have is that they have little knowledge about mental health problems. Many people who look normal and well in pictures are indeed not well.  As you meet a person on social media, you should realise that this is a stranger and nothing can immediately change that. This is not to say you should be afraid of strangers; rather, it only reminds you that you don't know this person. Also, you need to treat the pictures a person displayed on social media in the opposite way you currently treat such pictures - the pictures are there to deceive you. Remember this: even for normal healthy people without mental health problems, nobody puts up a picture that is exactly him or her. Everybody who has the capacity to make his or her picture look better than real will do that. So, look for things outside the pictures. For a person to have a mental health problem does not mean that the person has to be shabby or acting noticeably strange. There may be certain psychosis (sickness of the mind) that nobody sees until it shows up in form of sudden violence. Many of the active social media community members do not know things like mania delusions, bipolar, etc. Once you are no longer satisfied with pictures as your only way of knowing people you're dealing with, you will be forced to look for better ways to know the truth about people you meet and that will save you from falling into the wrong hands. Avoid people who demand for sex or money so early in the friendship. It is always a bad sign. It doesn't natter his reason or her reason for such demands. When you ask her: "How are you?" and she replies "I'm hungry", end that chat.  That's a bad sign. When you meet a man who wants to marry you within a week of meeting you, that's a bad sign. When you meet a person who showers you with praises without knowing you well enough to justify those praises, that's a bad sign. The picture shown here is that of a lady (a single mother) that was found dead in a hotel room after spending the night with a man she met on social media.