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The proposed changes published in a press release by the Attorney General of the Federation is a welcome development, just as an effort. But it shows a Ministry of Justice that is far behind in conceptualization and terribly unrealistic in its plans for implementation. The ministry does not understand or it fails to acknowledge the principal cause of the problem it seeks to cure, which is basically corruption.. Trying to speed up the trial of charges motivated by corruption is like trying to increase the speed of an athlete who is running on a wrong track. Increased speed will not cure the fundamental defect. It Also failed to understand the effect of corruption in the judiciary. The reforms proposed are more likely to be exploited by corrupt police, corrupt judges and court officials. For instance, virtual trials will make it harder for a judge to observe torture injuries inflicted by the police. Also, not looking into corruption and inefficiencies in the way judges are appointed means that more incompetent and corrupt judges will be appointed. Furthermore, the proposed reform failed to consider how cases are prosecuted in Nigeria. With the power to arrest, investigate, indict and prosecute all vested in the undifferentiated police department, what you have and which you want to continue is a debilitating mechanism for corruption and injustice. Finally, the Attorney General's press release is totally silent on how the changes will be funded. With oil prices falling below the production cost, it is more likely that the Government will be firing workers soon, rather than appointing more. There is no doubt that the ministry of justice is desperately trying to catch up. These reforms were long overdue and often meaningless. You don't need any changes in the law to ensure that a criminal charge should be struck out for want of diligent prosecution if the prosecutor fails to appear. The law has been there. What you need to do is to seek ways to protect the judges who out of fear of consequences fail to apply the law in favor of the accused. The reforms proposed are reforms that ought to have occurred before Covid-19, not after. From every indication, this proposed reform looks more like something that was written four years ago, which the Attorney General failed to pursue then.   PRESS RELEASE Malami Rolls Out Plans for Post COVID-19 Justice System The damaging effects of the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic impact upon all the ramifications of human life. The Nigerian Justice Sector is obviously not immune from the effects of the pandemic. The necessity to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus has led to, among other things, a nationwide closure of court rooms (save for certain exceptions). Hence, the urgent need for paradigm shift to adjust the judicial process to make for recovery of lost grounds occasioned by the lockdown. Considering the current realities and in adjusting to the times, therefore, we will work with the Judiciary at the Federal and the State levels to arrive at a workable mechanism for achieving these within the shortest time possible. We will continue with the on-going implementation of the National Policy of Justice with renewed vigour, while making necessary adjustments as may be required due to the COVID-19 disruptions. Application of technology is not strange to our Justice Sector/Judicial System. The Judiciary adopted a Judiciary Information Technology Policy in 2012 to guide the use of ICT by the Judiciary. In this wise, the Supreme Court introduced electronic filing and this has also been adopted by some States’ High Courts. One major lesson from COVID-19 is that the Nigerian Justice Sector must seriously leverage technology in the improvement of its capacity and for facilitating fair and speedy administration of justice. Information technology is the tool we are majorly going to use to cover the lost ground in our judicial system and measures are already on going to address this in our judicial system. These adjustments will cover, the Courts’ Administrative Processes (such as filing of Court Processes), Regulation of Access to Court and even sitting arrangements during proceedings (to sustain the gains we must have recorded in trumping COVID-19), tracking and retrieval of information from the courts, scheduling of court proceedings  with  strict time-allocation. Robust use of technological tools to conduct proceedings including virtual proceedings, (this would also enable the Justices/Judges to preside over matters in their chamber without being physically present in a formal court room, parties and their counsel will only connect through teleconference means) etc. Some of these adjustments are not simple and may require certain amendments of the Law (or Issuance of Rules of Court and Practice Directions) as may be necessary. The judges will be sitting and maintaining social distance while the lawyers’ interface with the courts through their digital computers should be considered in certain cases. We expect the judiciary to keep supporting the Presidential Task Force on COVID -19 and consider how best to start opening up as soon as possible and to start tackling backlog of cases. We will start by seeing how much cases can be handled online or without a face-to-face interaction leveraging on the use of technology. As such the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, with support of relevant stakeholders, will see to: 1. Empowering the institutions of the ACJA, 2015 to commence functioning immediately. For instance, Part 46 dealing with the administration of the Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee; Section 251- witness payment; sections 107 & 108 etc. The net result will galvanize the judicial sector into rapid mode to fast track trials and release of those who are deserving. 2. Deployment of ICT facilities to fast-track taking evidence from witnesses. Digital platforms such as Skype and Zoom can be used. NTA stations across the country can be connected to courts to facilitate taking evidence as witnesses do not have to necessary be physically present in court. It is expected that NTA facilities are to provide the rudimentary structures for video conferencing in view of their digital switchover process. Using their existing IT infrastructure, the courts may only need video screens and bandwidth at the minimum to ensure connectivity between parties to the proceedings. 3. Speedy processing of pending civil matters that have not reached advanced stages of hearing and with the consent of parties and their solicitors to opt for out of court settlement. This may even mean using multi-door mediation avenues in courts that already have one, such in the case of Lagos and the FCT and a few other states. 4. Criminal charges of minor and non-indictable offences should be summarily tried and sentenced to non-custody penalties. Even in cases where sentenced persons cannot pay their fines, the court should consider other alternative punishments other than jail term. This can include parole or probationary sentences and, if possible, community service like cleaning public places etc. 5. Persons awaiting trial on minor criminal charges should be discharged, especially in cases where adjournments have been at the instance of the prosecution. 6. The passing of the civil equivalent of the ACJA in order to fast track the disposal of civil proceedings. Civil matters are proportionately more in number and tend to clog the speedy completion of civil trials. The proposed law (civil equivalent of the ACJA) should stipulate time line for commencing and completing civil trials. Front loading of evidence should also be adopted for civil trials in order to fast track hearings. 7. Setting aside special dates and that Courts work extra hours to decongest their case files. The 2020 court vacation could be suspended as the COVID 19 lockdown period has provided judges with the much-needed break from official duties. 8. Having courts that are fully IT-compliant in order to fast track the digital recording and production of the record of court proceedings. The courts should also be able to automate case filing and cause list management. 9. Appointment of more judges and justices, as appropriate. Additional judicial decisions of federal courts are to be created. This will, as a proactive measure, help in decongesting the already loaded court hearing schedules. 10. Payment of court fees is done electronically. All court fees should be done electronically and not in cash. The courts should only receive receipts of payments and this can be transmitted online as well. At Courts where hearing electronically may not possible, we can also consider having only few people attend to court matters. Ensuring that court dockets have only few cases per day can reduce the number of persons in courts. So, all the pending judgments should be drafted and concluded during short period of time. This does not require lawyers to be present. Once the judgment is ready, the lawyers should be able to receive them in their email or it should be posted on the court’s website for any interested party to download it. This is the way to go and thus provide greater transparency. The way to go in effect, Court Proceedings should also be handled in a manner that reduces the number of persons in the courts at any given time. Although this requires the movement of suspects from prisons to the courts, all such suspects should be tested, in fact everyone entering the court premises should be tested to ensure that they are not already positive, thus risking the lives of other people. While some of these changes may not happen in the short term, there is need to start the introduction of these new initiatives immediately through consultations with the Judiciary, NBA, and other relevant stakeholders.   Signed Abubakar Malami, SAN Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Federal Republic of Nigeria (20th of April, 2020).

The proposed changes published in a press release by the Attorney General of the Federation is a welcome development, just as an effort. But it shows a Ministry of Justice that is far behind in conceptualization and terribly unrealistic in its plans for implementation. The ministry does not understand or it fails to acknowledge the principal cause of the problem it seeks to cure, which is basically corruption.. Trying to speed up the trial of charges motivated by corruption is like trying to increase the speed of an athlete who is running on a wrong track. Increased speed will not cure the fundamental defect. It Also failed to understand the effect of corruption in the judiciary. The reforms proposed are more likely to be exploited by corrupt police, corrupt judges and court officials. For instance, virtual trials will make it harder for a judge to observe torture injuries inflicted by the police. Also, not looking into corruption and inefficiencies in the way judges are appointed means that more incompetent and corrupt judges will be appointed. Furthermore, the proposed reform failed to consider how cases are prosecuted in Nigeria. With the power to arrest, investigate, indict and prosecute all vested in the undifferentiated police department, what you have and which you want to continue is a debilitating mechanism for corruption and injustice. Finally, the Attorney General's press release is totally silent on how the changes will be funded. With oil prices falling below the production cost, it is more likely that the Government will be firing workers soon, rather than appointing more. There is no doubt that the ministry of justice is desperately trying to catch up. These reforms were long overdue and often meaningless. You don't need any changes in the law to ensure that a criminal charge should be struck out for want of diligent prosecution if the prosecutor fails to appear. The law has been there. What you need to do is to seek ways to protect the judges who out of fear of consequences fail to apply the law in favor of the accused. The reforms proposed are reforms that ought to have occurred before Covid-19, not after. From every indication, this proposed reform looks more like something that was written four years ago, which the Attorney General failed to pursue then.   PRESS RELEASE Malami Rolls Out Plans for Post COVID-19 Justice System The damaging effects of the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic impact upon all the ramifications of human life. The Nigerian Justice Sector is obviously not immune from the effects of the pandemic. The necessity to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus has led to, among other things, a nationwide closure of court rooms (save for certain exceptions). Hence, the urgent need for paradigm shift to adjust the judicial process to make for recovery of lost grounds occasioned by the lockdown. Considering the current realities and in adjusting to the times, therefore, we will work with the Judiciary at the Federal and the State levels to arrive at a workable mechanism for achieving these within the shortest time possible. We will continue with the on-going implementation of the National Policy of Justice with renewed vigour, while making necessary adjustments as may be required due to the COVID-19 disruptions. Application of technology is not strange to our Justice Sector/Judicial System. The Judiciary adopted a Judiciary Information Technology Policy in 2012 to guide the use of ICT by the Judiciary. In this wise, the Supreme Court introduced electronic filing and this has also been adopted by some States’ High Courts. One major lesson from COVID-19 is that the Nigerian Justice Sector must seriously leverage technology in the improvement of its capacity and for facilitating fair and speedy administration of justice. Information technology is the tool we are majorly going to use to cover the lost ground in our judicial system and measures are already on going to address this in our judicial system. These adjustments will cover, the Courts’ Administrative Processes (such as filing of Court Processes), Regulation of Access to Court and even sitting arrangements during proceedings (to sustain the gains we must have recorded in trumping COVID-19), tracking and retrieval of information from the courts, scheduling of court proceedings  with  strict time-allocation. Robust use of technological tools to conduct proceedings including virtual proceedings, (this would also enable the Justices/Judges to preside over matters in their chamber without being physically present in a formal court room, parties and their counsel will only connect through teleconference means) etc. Some of these adjustments are not simple and may require certain amendments of the Law (or Issuance of Rules of Court and Practice Directions) as may be necessary. The judges will be sitting and maintaining social distance while the lawyers’ interface with the courts through their digital computers should be considered in certain cases. We expect the judiciary to keep supporting the Presidential Task Force on COVID -19 and consider how best to start opening up as soon as possible and to start tackling backlog of cases. We will start by seeing how much cases can be handled online or without a face-to-face interaction leveraging on the use of technology. As such the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, with support of relevant stakeholders, will see to: 1. Empowering the institutions of the ACJA, 2015 to commence functioning immediately. For instance, Part 46 dealing with the administration of the Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee; Section 251- witness payment; sections 107 & 108 etc. The net result will galvanize the judicial sector into rapid mode to fast track trials and release of those who are deserving. 2. Deployment of ICT facilities to fast-track taking evidence from witnesses. Digital platforms such as Skype and Zoom can be used. NTA stations across the country can be connected to courts to facilitate taking evidence as witnesses do not have to necessary be physically present in court. It is expected that NTA facilities are to provide the rudimentary structures for video conferencing in view of their digital switchover process. Using their existing IT infrastructure, the courts may only need video screens and bandwidth at the minimum to ensure connectivity between parties to the proceedings. 3. Speedy processing of pending civil matters that have not reached advanced stages of hearing and with the consent of parties and their solicitors to opt for out of court settlement. This may even mean using multi-door mediation avenues in courts that already have one, such in the case of Lagos and the FCT and a few other states. 4. Criminal charges of minor and non-indictable offences should be summarily tried and sentenced to non-custody penalties. Even in cases where sentenced persons cannot pay their fines, the court should consider other alternative punishments other than jail term. This can include parole or probationary sentences and, if possible, community service like cleaning public places etc. 5. Persons awaiting trial on minor criminal charges should be discharged, especially in cases where adjournments have been at the instance of the prosecution. 6. The passing of the civil equivalent of the ACJA in order to fast track the disposal of civil proceedings. Civil matters are proportionately more in number and tend to clog the speedy completion of civil trials. The proposed law (civil equivalent of the ACJA) should stipulate time line for commencing and completing civil trials. Front loading of evidence should also be adopted for civil trials in order to fast track hearings. 7. Setting aside special dates and that Courts work extra hours to decongest their case files. The 2020 court vacation could be suspended as the COVID 19 lockdown period has provided judges with the much-needed break from official duties. 8. Having courts that are fully IT-compliant in order to fast track the digital recording and production of the record of court proceedings. The courts should also be able to automate case filing and cause list management. 9. Appointment of more judges and justices, as appropriate. Additional judicial decisions of federal courts are to be created. This will, as a proactive measure, help in decongesting the already loaded court hearing schedules. 10. Payment of court fees is done electronically. All court fees should be done electronically and not in cash. The courts should only receive receipts of payments and this can be transmitted online as well. At Courts where hearing electronically may not possible, we can also consider having only few people attend to court matters. Ensuring that court dockets have only few cases per day can reduce the number of persons in courts. So, all the pending judgments should be drafted and concluded during short period of time. This does not require lawyers to be present. Once the judgment is ready, the lawyers should be able to receive them in their email or it should be posted on the court’s website for any interested party to download it. This is the way to go and thus provide greater transparency. The way to go in effect, Court Proceedings should also be handled in a manner that reduces the number of persons in the courts at any given time. Although this requires the movement of suspects from prisons to the courts, all such suspects should be tested, in fact everyone entering the court premises should be tested to ensure that they are not already positive, thus risking the lives of other people. While some of these changes may not happen in the short term, there is need to start the introduction of these new initiatives immediately through consultations with the Judiciary, NBA, and other relevant stakeholders.   Signed Abubakar Malami, SAN Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Federal Republic of Nigeria (20th of April, 2020).

By Boniface Ocheje Life is full of ironies, many unintended and unanticipated consequences - good and bad consequences alike. When on the 5th of December, 2019 the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos convicted Orji Uzor Kalu (OUK) for fraud, and sentenced him to 12 years in prison, many, including me, saw what happened just as another instance of the falling of the mighty, with the emphasis on the falling. But there has been some unintended consequence to it all. OUK was moved to Ikoyi prison in Lagos the same day. Two days after, on the 7th of  December, he was transfered to Kuje prison in Abuja. In normal circumstances and for an ordinary person, one would expect OUK to be shocked and depressed by life in prison. But that was not what happened. Within days of his settling down in prison, OUK took notice of the conditions of the Nigerian prisons. As a premium inmate, OUK was largely immuned to the basic grind of prison life. But he was able to grasp the grinding conditions inmates and even the warders face on daily basis. I got to know about OUK in prison through my elder brother, who was convicted of robbery that he did not commit. We believe that the judge was bribed to convict him. My brother's case has been on appeal. For two years, we have not been able to get a date for the appeal to progress. Two lawyers we hired have withdrawn as my family could not pay them. As a lecturer, I could not afford to pay in a timely fashion the amount of money the lawyers were calling. I visit my brother in Kuje Prison twice a month, until recently when they suspended visits due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It was through my brother I first heard about OUK's activities in Kuje prison and I went to research more about his case and conviction. Before now all I knew about OUK was what I read in newspapers or things I heard people say about him, just as we generally hear about politicians and public figures. But when I went to visit my brother in January of this year, he told me about OUK. Apparently, they met in the church. Kuje Prison has a 1000-seated church run by a catholic priest as the Chaplain. My brother is a member of the church choir. I understand that OUK is a good and devoted catholic and he worships regularly at the church. It was there he noticed my brother in the choir. OUK will routinely show interest in the cases of inmates he comes across. Upon hearing about my brother's situation, he sent for a new lawyer to take over my brother's appeal. The lawyer is a big lawyer, one of the best in Abuja. OUK paid the lawyer on the spot and within a week, the Court of Appeal fixed a date for the appeal to be heard. The hearing was only delayed by the lockdown. I became interested in OUK and I began to ask more questions. I was totally shocked by what I discovered. My brother was not the only one to benefit from this man's large heart. OUK has embarked on changing the lives of inmates in Kuje prison - requesting the authority to improve feeding, water supply, electricity, paying for bail conditions, hiring lawyers for them, giving out money for medicine for the sick, paying the fines for many, giving money to those who completed their sentence so they could start life again. OUK is the benevolent revolution in prison. I have not had the opportunity of meeting him one on one, even though I began to visit the prison more frequently hoping I might get an opportunity to thank him on behalf of our family. But I have heard interesting things about the man from other inmates and warders I have met, as well. I learnt that apart from the various assistance he has been giving to inmates, OUK is planning something bigger. He is planning to use his position, influence and contact to transform the Nigerian criminal justice system. He will be building a coalition of other groups and foundations toward this goal. I heard he is already working closely with one Foundation that focuses due process. From all I can see, OUK's time in prison has been an epiphany. God is using him to turn things around. He is turning into the rejected stone that became the head of the corner. And may become that critical factor that will turn around the Nigerian failing justice system.

Yesterday, Mohammed Adoke, former Attorney General of Nigeria under Jonathan, got his freedom after four years of running, one month of detention in Dubai, his extradition, and nearly two months of detention by the EFCC. But he barely made it, thanks to the courage of Justice Binta Nyako. Adoke was granted bail last week by Justice Kutige at the FCT High Court. He met all the conditions of the bail granted by Kutige. To make sure they would not release him as ordered by Kutige, they charged him to a Federal High Court, having refused to release him on the fictional ground that he had not yet deposited his passport to the Court. It was obvious that the EFCC was playing a fast one by keeping the passport of Adoke and refusing to surrender it to court on frivolous technicality. But Nigeria must really be a wicked place. Why forget yourself and treat the former attorney general so shabbily? There were two dirty tricks the EFCC played against Adoke. First, they could have charged him together in the same court. But they chose to charge him partially in different courts, just to cause him to go through bail application twice. But the Federal High Court judge undercut that by granting him bail on the same terms and condition as the FCT High Court meaning that Adoke did not have to meet two separate sets of bail conditions. Second, part of the bail conditions granted by the FCT High Court was for Adoke to surrender his passport to the Court. But since the EFCC seized the passport when they arrested him on December 19, 2019, Adoke was not in possession of his passport and could not surrender the passport. And EFCC refused to surrender it claiming that the order to surrender the passport was not directed to the EFCC, but to Adoke. That shows you how dishonest and vindictive the EFCC officials could be. In the end, they undermine confidence in the system. They held Adoke because "he has not yet surrendered his passport to the court" even though the reason he could not do so was because the EFCC was with the passport and refused to give it back to him. However, Justice Nyako cut through the game by ordering the EFCC to surrender the passport immediately. This kind of game confirms that almost every aspect of Nigerian law enforcement is driven by corruption and personal political motive. Adoke did it to others, and now he receives the same treatment.

You know I like to tell you the truth, you hate me for it. But I leave it in the hand of God. As unfair as the proscription of IPOB may be, as unjust as it may be; once an organization is proscribed, you cannot do anything (even hold a meeting of members) with the name of such organization. In fact, it becomes illegal to be a member of such organization. Whatever government that unjustly proscribed you will unjustly arrest your members and unjustly imprison them. That's just the reality of the situation. When IPOB became proscribed, all efforts should be directed toward unproscribing it. Don't just ignore it and try to move on as if nothing happened. Everybody expected IPOB to hire a very capable legal team to fight the proscription. But instead, they continued with the relatively light weight lawyer Ejiofor on such serious matter. Alternatively, while fighting to unproscribe IPOB, IPOB leaders could have adopted another name such as Biafran Peoples Movement. It will take time before that would be banned. That way, they will always be operating under a name that has not been proscribed. So, how do you expect that after banning IPOB the same government would allow you to gather in such name? I would have been surprised. Having said that, I totally disapprove of the manner the police and military have been going about it. They should have declared their position on IPOB gatherings all along. Don't leave it uncertain what will happen under certain conditions and make it appear that all you want to stop is the burial. Also, the confusion over military operation or police operation over the matter shows a very confused government. And the police choice of describing itself as the elephant dancing in a crowd of people is quite unfortunate and it depicts the character of the Nigerian police as a force of oppression. Note that Mr. Ene Okon, the Police Commissioner for Abia State  (apparently a Biafran) said: “They (Afaraukwu community) should tell IPOB not go near the area, let alone participating in the burial". He further said. "Whoever thinks along that line is fooling himself. IPOB will dance during the burial and the police elephants will dance too." He insisted that if members of IPOB were seen anywhere around the burial venue, the police would scatter the burial. With such tone, it is clear that the police want to monitor closely the burial. Strategically considered, this will help Kanu in the long run. More people will see him as the symbol of resistance against bad and oppressive system. And eventually, he becomes a genuine leader of his followers.

On Friday, three officers of the Nigerian Army, two majors and a captain, were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in prison. It is reported that after their sentencing, one of them, Major Oseni, fled without a trace. This is yet another incident that undermines public confidence in the armed forces. Many will never believe that other officers did not help Major Oseni escape from custody. SUNDAY PUNCH had reported that the General Court Martial in Abuja on Friday sentenced Majors Oseni, Ogbemudia Osawe and Second Lieutenant Nuhu Dogary to 10 years’ each imprisonment for torturing Lance Corporal Collins to death. With the escape of Major Oseni, the military has mounted a manhunt to try to arrest him and a signal has been sent from the armed forces headquarters to all military formations and units in the country. The signal reads, “The GCM sitting at Army Headquarters Command Mess, Abuja, delivered a judgment on the case between the Nigerian Army versus Major A.A. Oseni, N/12127; Major O.U. Osawe, N/12004; Captain S.E. Amosu, N/13041; and Second Lieutenant N.B. Dogary, N/16390. The accused officers were charged with manslaughter, punishable under Section 105 of the AFA CAP A20 LFN 2004. “Findings: Captain Amosu, N/13041, was found not guilty and was discharged and acquitted, while Majors Oseni, Osawe and 2Lt Dogary were found guilty and awarded 10 years’ imprisonment. “However, after the pronouncement of judgement, the accused officers marched out of the court premises with Captain K.S. Chime, and proceeded to Captain J.E Akwaraonwu’s office. “Thereafter, Major Oseni took an excuse from Captain Chime to use the toilet. At about 7pm same day, Major Oseni was nowhere to be found. A thorough search was carried out within and outside the mess’ premises, but the accused was not found. “Meanwhile, Major Osawe and 2 Lt Dogary are currently under the Special Investigations Bureau’s custody pending further action. The Army Headquarters Garrrison has mounted a manhunt for the convicted officer. The Nigeria Police and DSS have also been contacted.”

  Four years ago, DPA shocked Nigerians when it declared that it was better to get a divorce than to die trying to stay married. That idea did not go down well with many Nigerians. And in the toxic atmosphere of social media, many took up arms to fight DPA. They ganged up to smear  the Founder of DPA and to destroy DPA. When all their efforts failed, they accused DPA leadership of destroying families. They called DPA anti-Christ, anti-God. They quoted the Bible wrongly to support the idea that there should be no divorce under any circumstance. But look at the statistics: (1) On February 5, 2020, Abuja High Court convicted and sentenced Eric Chigbor to death by hanging for killing his wife Jessica in an act of domestic violence. (2) On February 3, 2020, "a 17-year-old housewife, Rabi Rabi’u, who stabbed her husband, Shamsu Salisu, to death in Katsina State last Wednesday, has explained that a misunderstanding on who should first charge their mobile telephone led to a scuffle in which he died". She was convicted and sentenced to death. (3) On January 21, 2020, Maryam Sanda Bello, was convicted and sentenced to death by an Abuja High Court for killing her husband in an act of domestic violence. Judgment in these three cases occurred within the last two weeks in only two cities, out of hundreds of cities in Nigeria. You can easily know that in a year and all over the country you will have thousands of people dead and dying just because they did not get a divorce when they ought to. In the three cases listed above, three people are dead already and three more people are scheduled to die also. That makes it six people to die in other to avoid divorcing three marriages. In order words, saving 3 marriages became more important than saving 6 lives. Compare the above with a case in Enugu yesterday. The High Court of Enugu State granted divorce to a lady. Her husband abandoned her and their children and abused her for years. She came to DPA. We saw that the marriage was irretrievably broken. We assisted her. She got divorce yesterday. Today she is alive and her husband (now ex husband) is alive. Not a single life was lost. So we helped destroy one marriage in order to save two lives. But our opponents and attackers would rather lose two lives in order to save one marriage. Unfortunately, you can't save any marriage by losing a life. Well, it is up to you to agree with us or not. There is only one thing we will never accept from you - do not come into this forum to insult us. We want to work with like-minded people in DPA. We don't need the distracting and annoying people who seek to detail our mission. We have a mission, after all.   NOTE: The likely reason a police officer would kill a suspect in his custody is to cover up the fact that the officer was involved in the crime.

Many have been asking: how did it happen that a billionaire businessman, Odunukwe, went with his land documents to meet a buyer and ended up falling into the hands of killers, who forced him to sign the contract, killed him and dismembered his body before burying in bags? How come that he was alone in such circumstance? Indeed, Odunukwe's lawyer who drafted the land sale contract had offered to accompany him to the meeting with the buyer, but Odunukwe declined with an excuse that he would stop over at Ikoyi Club on his way. It will now seem that Odunukwe lied to his lawyer in order to ensure that he went to the meeting alone and without even a driver. Why? It must be that that was what the buyer requested - that Odunukwe must come alone. And why did such request not raise his suspicion? The answer for this puzzle may lie in the comment made by a participant in our forum. He wrote: " This same murderer was previously charged with a similar crime in 2016, he gained bail in 2018 at Kuje Prison, same method of killing his would be property seller and then taking over the property, he claims to be a Medical Doctor based in Belgium, alias (Fake) Dr. Charles. He is very fluent in English and very convincing, but Cold blooded killer.” "This is what I suspect is how it works for him to swindle, he takes his would be client through the entire property search process over a reasonable time, this includes title search, then informs the client that he is a Govt VVIP and will not want to be seen with any 3rd parties including lawyers on the day of supposed payment, this means the seller comes alone with vital documents. The seller is forced to sign the documents then killed and the property is transferred signed off or with forged signatures and then sold off to another unsuspecting customer in a few months. He must have serious land verification contacts." "He is very fluent in English and very convincing". A person calls himself a doctor and sounded like one. He claims to be a highly placed official of government, and probably drops a few names to convince you. The transaction amount is almost a billon naira, so that did not sound like what regular criminals would be interested in. In fact, Odunukwe could not have seen how anyone could steal his land from him. So he went ahead, to his death. The crime boss! He was charged with similar offence in 2016 but was granted bail. While he was in prison, he lived like a big boy. He attracted the following of poor inmates who had been in prison for years because judges denied them bail and kept them in prison until they were acquitted many years after. While in prison this crime leader attracted the following on one Bash (Bashorun). Bashorun was charged with armed robbery. No real evidence against him. But the judge denied him bail and kept him in prison until 2019 when the same judge found him not guilty because there was no evidence to convict him. While in Kuje prison, Bash was poor and without food. But Dr. Charles was a big guy in a single cell. He needed boys to serve him and attend to his every need. Big people in prison live as big or nearly as big as they do outside. The extreme poverty of the poor makes the influence of the rich rather remarkable. Bash became they boy of Dr. Charles. He washed his clothes and served his every need. In return, Dr. Charles protected him from the ravaging poverty of the poor in prison. The same court system that denied Bash bail for 5 years despite the fact that there was no evidence against him: the same system granted bail to Dr. Charles despite the overwhelming evidence against him. Bash was too poor to be entitled to the presumption of innocence, while Dr. Charles was too rich to be denied that presumption. So, Dr. Bash was granted bail just after a year and he perfected the terms within a few months, and left the prison, while Bash remained behind to face his poverty induced fate. While outside, Dr. Charles maintained contact with Bash and would send him a few bucks now and then. Bash's hope of life after prison depended on the promises of help from his boss, Dr. Charles. So, he remained loyal to his former prison boss. In 2019, more than 5 years awaiting trial in prison, the judged admitted what he had known few months into the case  - that there was no evidence against Bash. The court discharged and acquitted him and he left the prison a happy man and looking forward to rebuilding his life. But it is impossible to rebuild your life with nothing - no money, no education, no skill. The importance of Dr. Charles in Bash's life loomed even larger. Bash was happy to be well received by Dr. Charles. Now both Dr. Charles and Bash are standing trial for a heinous crime of murder of Chief Odunukwe. DPA may disclose the identities of the judges involved in the cases of these men while they were in Kuje prison. As DPA has promised you, we are in the best position to educat e the world on the inner workings of the Nigerian justice system. Please be on the lookout for the evolving case of Mohammed Adoke, the former Attorney General of Nigeria. He will be in Kuje Prison on Monday. Adoke is going to be the only Nigerian to be charged in the Hallliburton case.

The social media has been agog with the romance between an American lady, Ms Janine Sanchez (46), and her Kano-based lover, Mr Isah Sulaiman (23), who plan to get married in March, and thereafter live in America as husband and wife. The couple met on Instagram 10 months ago. They became friends and fell in love with each other. Moved by love, the mother of two took the pain to travel from California to visit her young lover and his parents at their home in Panshekara, Kano State, Nigeria. The young man's family and community are taking the matter seriously despite the oddities. Both parents of the boy have given their consent and are ready to bless the marriage. Isah's father has four conditions for his future daughter in law. First, Isah will remain a Muslim after the marriage. Second, he will continue his education after they are married. Third, the parents of Ms. Sanchez must give their consent for her to marry Isah. And finally, the family of the boy will seek and obtain security clearance for the marriage to go ahead. These conditions are rather bizarre. Isah is an adult. His choice of faith cannot be fixed by his parents, especially after he relocates to the US. His getting education in the US is almost a given, considering his age and the fact that he needs a life suitable for America. The requirement for the consent of Ms. Sanchez's parents is odd because though normal in Kano is unusual in America, given that Ms. Sanchez is an adult. The rather complicated aspect of the conditionalities has to do with the so-called security clearance. This will seem rather reasonable from the perspective of a father whose young son is about to marry a lady twice his age, and then follow her to America. If the purpose of a security clearance is to ensure there is nothing in the lady's record to suggest she may harm the young man, that will make a lot of sense. Isah's father who is a retired police officer may have a predisposition to security checks and had indicated that he would be going to the office of DSS for that purpose. The latest twist, however, was that the Islamic police (Hisbah), instead of the the DSS, in Kano invited the couple and the father of Isah together with his relative. It is not clear what happened during the meetings between Hisbah and the couple. Picture of the couple and Hisbah is shown      

The Hausa/Fulani dominated federal government cannot hold the rest of the country to ransom on the existential question of security. There is no way you can interpret the constitution and it will lead to the position that people should willingly submit to death in the hands of bandits and organized criminals. It is clear that the Nigerian army has not been able to protect Nigerians against organized armed violence. There is no doubt that the Nigerian police failed to protect Nigerians from organized crimes. Indeed, evidence shows that the police have been the authors of most crimes in the land. In such circumstances, it is eminently proper that the people must seek conventional and unconventional means of organizing for their security. I would expect the attorney general of Nigeria to focus his energy on how to use the laws of the land to help these efforts by different states to ensure safety and law and order in the various communities. If the AG uses the letters of the constitution to seek to frustrate these noble efforts, the affected regions should seek to amend that constitution. If anybody poses an obstacle to that, then the affected states should consider whether it is still in their interest to remain part of the country or whether they should move in alternative directions that will best guarantee the security of their communities. Somebody should be able to tell the attorney general the truth, which is that if forced to choose between the Nigerian Constitution and the lives of the people, it will be to hell with the Constitution. Any constitution that promotes your death is one that you must discard and repudiate in its entirety. I hope that the Governors of the Western States will stand their grounds and resist any blackmail from the federal government on the matter.  And why should anybody in the West worry about the Attorney General's threats? Just tell him that if he insists on his position, then the western States are prepared to withdraw from Nigeria. That will panic them so much they will leave you alone. What gives the North the courage to dictate to Nigeria is the belief that the West will never seek to break off from Nigeria. If there is any serious challenge to that belief, that is the end to domination. The North cannot cope with a situation where both the east and west want to leave Nigeria.