December 9, 2019

Minutes after the conviction of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu by a Lagos based Federal High Court on December 5, 2019, Nigerians showed mixed reactions. Some people saw the conviction as justice done. Others saw it as a selective and politically motivated legal outcome. And both sides have good reasons for their different positions. Without a doubt, every Nigerian political office holder, particularly the Governors and the Presidents, since 1999, has engaged in one form of corrupt enrichment or another. The Governors were handed huge unaccountable funds and allowed unconstitutional control over the budgetary allocations meant for local governments and the state judiciary. Lawmakers were allowed to allocate to themselves irrational amounts of allowances and control over what has been described as constituency projects. There was no restrictions on campaign financing. Thus the Nigerian politicians were handed a cart blanch to steal as much as they could, and everyone of them stole a lot. Along with the new era of unbridled corruption came a unique system of selective and politically motivated enforcement of the criminal laws of the country. The major agencies to fight corruption and economic crimes in Nigeria turned out to be mere instruments of control of any political opposition. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the leading agency to fight economic crimes (not necessarily corruption, as that was meant to be the responsibility of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC)) targeted exclusively opponents of the President. When the EFCC realized that the constitutional immunity from prosecution while in office granted the Governors some temporal protection, it aimed at initiating impeachments of those Governors, even if it meant violating the constitution. With such a terrible record of impunity, Nigeria's war against corruption lost much credibility and remained perceived as a system of selective justice and instrument of political control. With this in mind, many view the occasional conviction of a politician with a justified degree of scepticism. Applying such scepticisms to Kalu's conviction, the question is: What really is the political motivation for the development? People may point to the fact that the trial lasted for twelve years in order to exclude any sudden game. However, sound logic suggests the opposite. When a criminal trial lasts for a long time, the prosecution serves as a ready instrument of all manner of political control. This is particularly so in the face of judicial corruption and the absence of independence of the judiciary. Thus, a phone call from the Presidency to the judge can achieve any outcome the caller intended. Why would Kalu be a good target for such political game at this time? The only but quite crucial motive has to do with Orji Kalu and Igbo presidency in 2023. If the ruling APC were to commit to Igbo presidency in 2023, Orji Uzor Kalu would be one of the most viable presidential candidates. Kalu knew this and had carefully positioned himself in the ruling party. If there were a powerful enough splinter force determined to frustrate the idea of Igbo presidency or any ambition on the part of Kalu come 2023, the 12 year old pending trial is the best means of accomplishing that. Call the judge from the presidency. DPA does not by any means impugn the judgment of Honorable Justice Idris. However, the following statement in the judgment remains susceptible to various interpretations. The judge stated as part of his judgment: “No gaps were left unfilled. This is the acceptable standard. I hold the view that the prosecution has established its case against the defendants; it did not fall short of the standard required by law in money laundering offences. It is clear upon the facts before this court that the prosecution had this case conclusively investigated before opting to bring this charge against the defendants. In other words, the prosecution did an in-depth and conclusive investigation". The charge was actually brought 12 years before the conviction. This statement can reasonably be construed as a political statement that was calculated to preempt any complaint of ulterior motivation or corruption against the judge or the EFCC. Indeed, such statement is unnecessary and need not be included in a judgment that has gone in favor of the prosecution. Ordinarily, a conviction would have been sufficient to show that the court accepted that the prosecution met the requisite standard of proof. The needless effort to uphold his own judgment is suggestive of discomfort on the mind of the judge.

Whether we agree or not, it is inevitable that the society will be worse off, if there is no consequence for false statements calculated to destabilize and unsettle the society. I just have an example of such statement in the screenshot here. Somebody made that false statement without caring how it affects the members of the Catholic faith. In fact, the maker of that statement calculated to hurt and offend the Catholics for no just cause. To say there should not be consequence for such statements is to place the society in danger. Yes, we suspect our government people and we fear that any move against hate speech only serves to protect officials from public criticisms. But in truth, anti-hate laws will protect the vulnerable poor from manipulative media contents the more. That is to say, hate speeches hurt the poor more that they can hurt the rich, who are less dependent on other's approval, more able to counter manipulative contents, better educated to resist the influence of false stories, and better able to purchase goodwill where it has been dented by false manipulative contents. So, anti-hate laws should be supported by all, but with more efficient sanctions. It is thus inevitable.  

ORJI UZOR KALU BACK IN ABUJA He was convicted in Lagos. He was ordinarily meant to serve his 12-year sentence in Lagos, either at the Kirikiri Maximum Custodial Center or the Ikoyi Medium Correctional Center, where he has been since his conviction. But Orji Uzor Kalu, a serving Senator, shall be serving his sentence at the Abuja Medium Custodial Center. The official reason for this prison transfer is because Kalu is standing trial in another case in Abuja. But beside this justification, Kalu would like to stay in Abuja so he would be closer to Abuja political power base. He remains a Senator and would like to participate as often as possible in senatorial proceedings. All it takes for him to attend senate proceedings is a production warrant signed by the Clerk of the Senate and served on the Officer in Charge of the prison facility. Even though two other former Governors are currently serving their prison terms in Kuje, keeping a man like Kalu in prison is quite a task for the prison authorities. So, extensive arrangements was made to move Kalu from Lagos to Abuja in a private jet, and the Kuje prison was actively preparing to receive him. Many Senators and top politicians were in Kuje on Sunday to visit with him. No doubt that his conviction has significantly dislodged him as a major political persona in Nigeria, but it is still too early to tell the extent.

This was what happened: in Oraifite, they have two masquerade groups - Otuafor and Otueke. Ejiofor became the leader of Otueke. The two groups clash now and then.  According to our sources, who are indigenes of Oraifite and familiar with the actors and the incidents, in  every quarrel between Otuafor and Otueke, Ejiofor would use some young men as his private army to intimidate and scare his opponents. Through the use of such young men, he became feared and influential in the community. Then there was one big fight between the two groups. Otueke group abducted some members of the Otuafor group. Then Otuafor filed a petition with the police. The peition named Ejiofor as the person they petitioned against. The police invited Ejiofor. Ejiofor did not show up at the appointed time and did not take calls from ACP Abbey. ACP Abbey led some policemen which included the head of SARS and another DPO and a few others to go and meet Ejiofor and bring him in for interview, especially as people were said to be have been abducted and held. As the police were on their way to Ejiofor’s house, boys believed to be Ejiofor's boys decided to waylay the police. They attacked the police, killing two and wounding many. They then burnt their bodies  in the police vehicle. Who are these boys? We don't know. However, the Government of Anambra State and the police believed they were the same IPOB boys that Ejiofor has  been using in the community. The police went back, reinforced and came back to the house of the leader of Otueke. According to our sources, when they got to Ejiofor's house, they met armed resistance from the boys guarding Ejiofor. They opened fire, killing some and torching the houses. Ejiofor who was at home when they arrived manage to flee and escape arrest. How did the IPOB become involved in this matter? The involvement of IPOB was by inference and deduction.. It was known or believed that the private army of bodyguards and intimidation force that Ejiofor has been using were IPOB members. That was not a secret.  It was known that the easy access to IPOB resources was Ejiofor's source of power and it was believed that the boys Ejiofor allegedly used to waylay the police and to resist them at his house and prevent his arrest were IPOB members The police have been raiding IPOB members' locations even outside Anambra State, including those men who were charged along with Kanu as casemates - Bright, Ben, and Chidiebere. For instance, they arrested Bright in Imo State and have kept him in an unknown locatuon. Ben heard they were coming and fled. The 3rd one is Chidiebere who is in Enugu. No news on whether they arrested him But it is strange that the police are going after known IPOB members who have nothing to do with what happened in Oraifite. That suggests a crackdown on IPOB members outside what happened in Oraifite. As things are, this remains a very serious case. The death of two senior police officers means that the case cannot be pushed aside easily. Even if Ejiofor is ultimately cleared of murder charges, he remains exposed to other charges. It will take a long time to resolve. As things are, the fate of Ejiofor who remains on the run and is believed to be hiding in the house of someone in Oraifite, lies in the hands of the Governor and Sir Emeka Ofor. Even at that it will require almost a miracle to rescue him. It remains uncertain how Ejiofor intends to end the run and surrender himself. The critical thing now is to make sure there will be no more shooting or more casualties. We need to know the identity of all those arrested, where they are detained and to ensure that their due process rights are preserved.

Since the day 13th Dec 2018, EJIOFOR appeared in court for David Aiyedogbon and the Nigerian Police in the murder and armed robbery charges against Emeka Ugwuonye as a nominal lawyer, I concluded that either Ejiofor  did not know that an innocent person could be charged falsely by the Nigerian Police or he was there simply for the 'pay' I'm not happy writing this because i don't want to appear as if i'm writing because Ejiofor  is in trouble. No!  What happened to my namesake; Ifeanyi Ejiofor or Emeka Ugwuonye can happen to any person in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country built on injustice and corruption. Nigerian Police can wake up one morning and rope you into a crime and from there, you struggle to save your life. Look at Emeka Ugwuonye,  the Nigerian Police felt threatened by Ugwuonye's constant criticism of their approaches to Charity Aiyedogbon’s disappearance/murder case and his efforts in exposing the atrocities in abattoir, the police turn round and rope him into a murder case he has been working on since 2016 as a human rights activist. I am not only surprised but worried that EJIOFOR could play the role he played. If we are fighting to have a country where Police will not rope innocent people into crimes then we should have good conscience. If EJIOFOR appeared for David Aiyedogbon and the Police and left, that would have been a different issue, but he went ahead to address the press and explained why the Police were right to have charged Emeka Ugwuonye with murder and armed robbery and explained why  Ugwuonye may have committed the crime since in his Facebook posts, he explained in detail how the murder was carried out. I was in tears after listening to EJIOFOR justified what even a novice could see as a clear case of impunity. The people fighting Ugwuonye celebrated EJIOFOR's appearance in court and circulated the interview granted by EJIOFOR widely, where he convicted Ugwuonye even before the case commenced. The women praised EJIOFOR and even hugged him in turns. Now look at it, the police accused him of being a kidnapper etc just to get at him and the matter escalated, people got killed. Should people continue to die in Nigeria because the police want to rope one person into crime? This is what we should all join hands together to fight. We should be careful what we support because karma has a way of bringing such things back to us. No doubt, there is too much power in the hands of the Nigerian police. Our effort is to make sure they don't use the power wrongly.  Allowing them to use the power carelessly is like allowing a drunk with a gun. Either he injure others or he injure himself or both. The reason we are in this decay is because we placed money and material gratifications above morality.   Ifeanyi Calistus Director of Information DPA

Since the day 13th Dec 2018, EJIOFOR appeared in court for David Aiyedogbon and the Nigerian Police in the murder and armed robbery charges against Emeka Ugwuonye as a nominal lawyer, I concluded that either Ejiofor  did not know that an innocent person could be charged falsely by the Nigerian Police or he was there simply for the 'pay' I'm not happy writing this because i don't want to appear as if i'm writing because Ejiofor  is in trouble. No!  What happened to my namesake; Ifeanyi Ejiofor or Emeka Ugwuonye can happen to any person in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country built on injustice and corruption. Nigerian Police can wake up one morning and rope you into a crime and from there, you struggle to save your life. Look at Emeka Ugwuonye,  the Nigerian Police felt threatened by Ugwuonye's constant criticism of their approaches to Charity Aiyedogbon’s disappearance/murder case and his efforts in exposing the atrocities in abattoir, the police turn round and rope him into a murder case he has been working on since 2016 as a human rights activist. I am not only surprised but worried that EJIOFOR could play the role he played. If we are fighting to have a country where Police will not rope innocent people into crimes then we should have good conscience. If EJIOFOR appeared for David Aiyedogbon and the Police and left, that would have been a different issue, but he went ahead to address the press and explained why the Police were right to have charged Emeka Ugwuonye with murder and armed robbery and explained why  Ugwuonye may have committed the crime since in his Facebook posts, he explained in detail how the murder was carried out. I was in tears after listening to EJIOFOR justified what even a novice could see as a clear case of impunity. The people fighting Ugwuonye celebrated EJIOFOR's appearance in court and circulated the interview granted by EJIOFOR widely, where he convicted Ugwuonye even before the case commenced. The women praised EJIOFOR and even hugged him in turns. Now look at it, the police accused him of being a kidnapper etc just to get at him and the matter escalated, people got killed. Should people continue to die in Nigeria because the police want to rope one person into crime? This is what we should all join hands together to fight. We should be careful what we support because karma has a way of bringing such things back to us. No doubt, there is too much power in the hands of the Nigerian police. Our effort is to make sure they don't use the power wrongly.  Allowing them to use the power carelessly is like allowing a drunk with a gun. Either he injure others or he injure himself or both. The reason we are in this decay is because we placed money and material gratifications above morality.   Ifeanyi Calistus Director of Information DPA