Koroama community, host to Shell Petroleum Development Company’s
Gbarain-Ubie Integrated Gas Plant in Bayelsa State, has shut operations
at the gas field.
The community carried out the action as a protest to demand power
supply from the power plant component of the facility for its people.
Scores of youths, women, and elders of the community blocked the
access road to the facility and suspended ongoing work at the gas plant
in the community.
Paramount Ruler of Koroama, in Yenagoa, Local Government Area, Chief
Sabu Martins, who addressed the aggrieved members of his community,
urged them to remain resolute until their objectives were realised.
The monarch lamented that the community endowed with oil and gas
suffered the adverse impact of gas flares and deserved supply of
electricity generated with gas from the area to ameliorate their
sufferings.
He noted that that the protest had been ongoing for the past three
weeks and resulted in forcing contractors to vacate the community until
the oil firm gave a commitment to provide electricity to the them.
Martins
said, “Today, my people and I are protesting to SPDC and to the Federal
Government. Koroama is a host community and has the largest proved gas
and oil reserve in the entire Shell operations in this area.
“We have agreed that we could die here if light, the only demand we
make is not given to us. Then Shell will never operate on our land, we
have given them time to remove their things, we want the government to
intervene.”
Also addressing the protesting members of Koroama community, Miss
Ankio Briggs, a community rights activist, noted that the demands of the
people who host the gas plant was modest.
Briggs said, “What I have heard them say today is not different from
what has been said for a very long time, what they are demanding is in
line with what Adaka Boro demanded.
“This story about host communities who I call the owners of the
resources, it is about self determination, it is about corporate social
responsibility, the demand is just and right.
“I call on the Government of Bayelsa, Federal Government and Shell to
look into the demand, although it is not the duty of Shell to provide
electricity to Nigerians but it is a social and moral obligation to
their hosts.”
Spokesman for Shell, Joseph Obari, in a reaction, said that the oil
firm had difficulties meeting the demands of electricity to its gas
plant host communities due to limited capacity.
He said, “The Bayelsa State Government is leading discussions with
Koroama community to end the blockade of SPDC project sites in the area.
“The community commenced the blockade about three weeks ago to press
their demand for free and uninterrupted power supply to the community
from SPDC’s gas plant in the area.
“The Gbaran-Ubie Integrated Oil and Gas Plant supplies back-up power
to two neighbouring communities under an agreement entered into with
host communities in 2006, during the project conception stage.
“Due to limitation imposed by the power capacity of the plant, it
has been unable to accommodate other communities’ requests to tie into
the power system.”
Obari added that SPDC had progressively fulfilled agreed sustainable
community development projects in the community under the Global
Memorandum of Understanding.
For example, he said in 2014 alone, projects worth over N100m were
completed in the Gbarain/Ekpetiama cluster which covers Koroama.
Monday, July 20, 2015
My political destiny not tied to Jonathan – Close friend
Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s close friend, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha, has revealed that his political destiny is not tied to the former President.
Recently, Ikiogha, reputed to be one of the long standing allies of Jonathan, formally dumped the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State.
Ikiogha had at an elaborate ceremony held at Community Secondary School, Kpansia open field, Yenagoa, with many PDP faithful, embraced the ‘broom party’.
Ikiogha, a former Bayelsa State Chief of Staff, was believed to be one of the brains behind the emergence of Seriake Dickson as governor in 2012.
But indications of frosty relationship between Dickson and Ikiogha emerged when Dickson removed him in controversial circumstances as Chief of Staff, Government House, Yenagoa and redeployed him to Abuja liaison office.
The current APC chief, in an interview on Saturday, said notwithstanding his friendship with Jonathan, he had decided to jump into the ship of the APC to chart a new political course for himself.
When asked why he left the PDP for another party when the former president was still in the party, Ikiogha said, “Maybe people are getting it wrong or they are looking at it from a different point of view. Well, I do not have anything with former President Jonathan.
“Our relationship (Jonathan and I) remains very cordial and I feel that my political destiny is not tied to anybody. It is not tied to friendship, it is not tied to even my wife or my mother or my father. You see, yes, here is a man that we started together, we have been able to raise him to the level of the President and he has finished what he needed to do and has come back home. Must I not chart my political course?
“I need to chart a course to do the right thing to do. If because of him, I was in the PDP and because of him I could not move because he was the President and I needed to give him the support as a friend until he is no longer there, must I continue to be blind to say even if he is no longer there I should remain?
“The point is that I have seen a better association, a place that I feel that I can belong to exercise my political opinions and make my suggestions for the betterment of the country. I feel that the platform of APC is better for me and if I have not been able to take that decision years ago because of him, now that he is no longer there, what stops me? Nothing, because I cannot continue to tie my destiny to Jonathan. My political destiny is different from every other person.”
He said he left the PDP because the party was full of deceits and betrayals as well as lack of internal democracy.
On the forthcoming governorship election in the state, the APC leader, who is one of the top aspirants, said the APC would trounce the PDP, irrespective of whether the PDP fields Dickson.
He stated, “Well, my prayer is that there should be free and fair elections, campaign and everything, but I know that even though PDP has been on the ground for 16 years, APC is sure to win the governorship election. How we would go about it, I may not be able to tell you but all what I know is that APC will capture the day.
“But it also depend on who the APC is presenting. The PDP depends also on who they present. But I am sure that if APC presents a good candidate, it will win by a landslide whether the PDP presents incumbent Governor, Seriake Dickson.
US wants Nigeria to diversify economy – Adefuye
The Nigeria’s Ambassador and Head of Mission in the United States of America, Prof. Ade Adefuye, on Sunday evening listed some of the changes the US authorities expect to see in Nigeria henceforth.
Adefuye spoke with journalists at the Embassy of Nigeria Building in Washington DC shortly before the arrival of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari is currently on a four-day official visit to the country.
The ambassador listed one of the priority areas to include Nigeria’s shift of emphasis from oil to non-oil export.
“America will want to see a shift of the emphasis from oil to non oil export, agriculture, power, infrastructure and solid materials and all the things that will help Nigeria to diversify,” he said.
Adefuye added that US would also want to see a world where there would be consultations than confrontations.
He said since that was also the objective of Nigeria, the two countries had to complement each other.
He expressed the optimism that Buhari’s visit would bring about an improvement in the quality of relations between Nigeria and the US.
The envoy believed that the visit would also strengthen relationship between Nigeria and America and a renewed commitment to protection of Nigeria’s territorial integrity in terms of stopping the offensive of Boko Haram.
Adefuye added that the commitment of Nigeria to the development of the democratic process, rule of law and good governance was also important to the US.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Ignore Obama on gay issues, Group urges Buhari
Project
for Human Development, a Civil Society Organisation, on Sunday urged
President Mohammadu Buhari not to listen to the US government on issues
of gay rights, so as to protect the laws and values of Nigeria.
The call was made at a rally in Lagos, against the backdrop of Buhari’s visit to the US on Monday.
The theme of the rally was, “Gay Marriage: Obama, Please Leave Nigeria Alone.”
Buhari
will on Monday, July 20, be at Washington DC on a four-day official
visit, during which he will hold talks with President Barack Obama and
other senior officials of the United States government.
Director-General
of PHD, Mr. Jerry Okwuosa, said the rally was to hint Buhari on the
fears by Nigerians that Obama might ask him to decriminalise “the Same
Sex Prohibition Law of Nigeria.”
According to him, this is a way for the US to promote gay rights, which is a part of America foreign policy.
”The US is
now the major exporter of gay rights in the world. It has recently
pressurised Uganda for a reverse of its anti-gay law.
”Under
the influence of the US, Mozambique has recently decriminalised its
anti-gay law. At the moment, US is putting pressure on Kenya to legalise
gay Marriage.
”President
Obama is meeting with President Buhari tomorrow to discuss issues which
include security, economy, Ebola and gay marriage legalisation in
Nigeria.
”Fear is
being entertained that Obama might trade off US assistance to President
Buhari’s government with shooting down Goodluck Jonathan’s anti-gay law.
”We are, however, urging President Buhari to reject such a trade-off,” he said.
Also
speaking, Mr. Sonnie Ekwowusi, a director of PHD, noted that the only
way to avoid chaos in any society was for the legislature to make laws
in accordance with the values and aspirations of the people.
According to him, homosexuality is not Nigeria culture; it is a taboo or abomination.
”Homosexuality
is not our culture. Every society has its own values and should grow
with those values. Nigeria has her own values and we must stick to our
values and tradition.
”Laws are made in consonant with the values of the people. Every country is interested in protecting what it holds dear.
”Our view
is that homosexuality is an acquired habit that ought to be eradicated
and not be transformed into an acceptable human conduct by law (in
Nigeria).
”Our recommendation with regard to same sex marriage is absolute prohibition,” Ekwowusi said.
The US
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Linda
Thomas-Greenfield, stated that America would continue to pressurise
Nigeria until it legalises same sex marriage.
She made this known on Monday July 13 during a live-web chat with journalists in Washington.
The News Agency of Nigeria
reports that the peaceful rally featured placards with inscriptions
such as- ‘Obama, Please leave Nigeria Alone;’ ‘Gay Marriage should
Remain Illegal in Nigeria;’ ‘Obama is Not God;’ ‘Gay Marriage, Buhari
Don’t Listen to Obama.’
NAN also
reports that the protesters, numbering about 50, and including lawyers
and youth leaders of both sexes, paraded from the Tafawa Balewa Square,
through Lagos City Hall, to the MUSON Centre.
Defectors to APC traitors to Ijaws – Bayelsa PDP
The
Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State has described as “traitors and
enemies of the Ijaw nation,” those who defected to the All Progressives
Congress.
Reacting
to the defections, the State Publicity Secretary of PDP, Mr. Osom
Makbere, on Saturday in Yenagoa, lashed out at the defected PDP members,
describing their action as most reprehensible.
According
to him, the defection was wrong because it came at a time when all
well-meaning Ijaw sons and daughters were just coming to terms with the
“the shocking reality regarding the grand conspiracy to shortchange the
Ijaw nation and render us politically impotent in the scheme of things.”
He further lambasted the defectors, saying they were greedy and lack political ideology.
Makbere
said, “Some defectors making egress out of the PDP are veterans of the
nomadic act of moving in and out of political groups as they do not
really place value on ideology or discipline.
“They are people who clearly tide along survival lines, and several of whom were never part of the foundation story of the PDP.
“They
came from other disgruntled units and were absolved in the spirit of
congeniality and got empowered through lofty appointments and contracts
scarcely executed in their own localities.”
The PDP spokesman said the defectors, as veterans of nomadic stock-in-trade, were once again embarking on an uncertain exodus.
He said
the party would not have reacted to their defections because they have
their immutable right to dissociate from any political group but for
their casting aspersions on the PDP as if some kind of implosion of
instability informed their departure.
He
reminded the defectors that the PDP is a ship heading for treasure
points, saying the party was not bothered about those leaving without
genuine reasons.
Makbere
added, “For sure, people will miss PDP, the PDP misses no one. Finally,
the PDP remains a luxuriant tree full of life and vivacity.
“On the
other hand, the defectors can be likened to ‘yellow leaves’ dropping
from a tree due to spent time and age. Meanwhile, the umbrella remains
open and accommodating to returnees who fail to see their destination as
worthy el dorados.”
Gale of
defections has hit the PDP train in Bayelsa with the recent one on
Friday when former two time member of House of Representatives, Mr.
Warman Ogoriba, declared for the APC with scores of sympathisers and PDP
faithful.
Before
Friday’s defection of Ogoriba, former Chief of Staff to Bayelsa
Government, Diekivie Ikiogha left the PDP with thousands of his
supporters.
China deports tourists for watching ‘terrorism’ videos
China has deported a group 20 foreign tourists from Britain, South
Africa and India for watching video clips that allegedly advocated
terrorism and religious extremism, the official state media reported.
At least two of the tourists, however, said they were actually just watching a documentary about the 13th century Mongol leader Genghis Khan.
Xinhua news agency said late on Saturday that the foreigners watched an unspecified documentary in a hotel room and later some of them watched video clips that advocated terrorism in the border region of Inner Mongolia. The foreigners said it was a misunderstanding.
The news agency cited the foreign affairs office of Ordos city, where police had stopped the 10 South Africans, 9 Britons and one Indian on July 10 as they were going to fly to Xi’an, home of the ancient terracotta warriors sculptures and their next stop on a 47-day tour of the country.
Britain’s Press Association reported that the documentary was a BBC production on Genghis Khan, citing a statement from two of the British tourists, husband and wife Hoosain and Tahira Jacobs. They said that the video “may have mistakenly been deemed as propaganda material”.
“It can only be assumed that junior officials who made the initial arrest in Inner Mongolia made a mistake, due to perhaps their unfamiliarity of the English language,” the statement said.
The Jacobs also said that the group was a mixture of Muslims, Christians and Hindus who had travelled together in the past, including to Israel and the United States. They had visited the Genghis Khan Mausoleum in Ordos the day before they were stopped at the airport.
Xinhua said that the foreigners were criminally detained on July 11 in connection with a law that “stipulates punishment for allegedly organising, leading or joining terrorist groups”.
It said the nine “admitted to their legal acts and repented,” without elaborating. It said police treated the case leniently and deported them on Saturday.
The other 11 were deported on Wednesday.
Calls to the foreign affairs office in Ordos by the AP news agency rang unanswered Sunday. A man on duty at Ordos police, who only identified his surname, Han, said he had no information on the case.
At least two of the tourists, however, said they were actually just watching a documentary about the 13th century Mongol leader Genghis Khan.
Xinhua news agency said late on Saturday that the foreigners watched an unspecified documentary in a hotel room and later some of them watched video clips that advocated terrorism in the border region of Inner Mongolia. The foreigners said it was a misunderstanding.
The news agency cited the foreign affairs office of Ordos city, where police had stopped the 10 South Africans, 9 Britons and one Indian on July 10 as they were going to fly to Xi’an, home of the ancient terracotta warriors sculptures and their next stop on a 47-day tour of the country.
Britain’s Press Association reported that the documentary was a BBC production on Genghis Khan, citing a statement from two of the British tourists, husband and wife Hoosain and Tahira Jacobs. They said that the video “may have mistakenly been deemed as propaganda material”.
“It can only be assumed that junior officials who made the initial arrest in Inner Mongolia made a mistake, due to perhaps their unfamiliarity of the English language,” the statement said.
The Jacobs also said that the group was a mixture of Muslims, Christians and Hindus who had travelled together in the past, including to Israel and the United States. They had visited the Genghis Khan Mausoleum in Ordos the day before they were stopped at the airport.
Xinhua said that the foreigners were criminally detained on July 11 in connection with a law that “stipulates punishment for allegedly organising, leading or joining terrorist groups”.
It said the nine “admitted to their legal acts and repented,” without elaborating. It said police treated the case leniently and deported them on Saturday.
The other 11 were deported on Wednesday.
Calls to the foreign affairs office in Ordos by the AP news agency rang unanswered Sunday. A man on duty at Ordos police, who only identified his surname, Han, said he had no information on the case.
Militants kill three Egypt soldiers in Sinai attack
Three Egyptian soldiers were killed in a rocket attack on a checkpoint by Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, the military said in a statement.
The official MENA news agency had earlier reported five soldiers killed, quoting security officials.
The discrepancy could not immediately be explained as journalists have limited access to the restive peninsula where jihadists are waging a deadly insurgency.
The military said it killed 20 militants on Saturday in an assault on a jihadist hide-out, posting video of air strikes on a building and two trucks on its spokesman’s Facebook page.
Militants loyal to the Islamic State group have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen in attacks since the military overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, which unleased a deadly crackdown on his Islamists supporters.
On Thursday, the militants claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a navy vessel off North Sinai.
The army said no navy men were killed in the attack.
ISIS kidnaps Nigerian in Libya
| credits: www.dailymail.co.uk
The Islamic State has reportedly kidnapped a Nigerian in Libya.
The man’s passport and photo were posted online through the Twitter handle, -T- @TDecker75 on Friday night.
The passport posted on the Internet
indicated that the man’s name is Ibrahim Adeola; his date of birth is
May 24, 1979; he was born in Imo State.
Adeola’s passport was issued on January 21, 2012 and its expiration date is January 20, 2017.
He was said to have been kidnapped in Wilayat, an eastern part of Libya.
The Nigerian was reportedly abducted by the IS along with a Ghanaian, Kofi Sekyere and an Egyptian, Bekhit Ebeid.
The terrorist group is known to always kill its hostages usually by beheading them.
SUNDAY PUNCH had reported that
there were strong indications that Boko Haram had forged a strong
operational alliance with the ruthless IS as the two bodies released a
joint video for the first time about one week ago.
It was the first video recording since Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the IS in 2014.
The video showed the picture of a
suspected Nigerian soldier in a kneeling position surrounded by three
terrorists with AK47 assault rifles. Later in the video, the body of the
soldier was shown without the head.
The location of the action was not specified in the latest video.
The audio message released through the
militants’ vast social media channels was read by an IS spokesperson who
also threatened further violence against Christian and Jewish
communities.
The video carried a West African insignia of the IS which indicated that the group had set up a media wing in Nigeria.
In March, the son of a former Chief
Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammad Uwais, Ibrahim, had travelled to
Syria and allegedly joined the IS.
The junior Uwais, who is in his 40s, was said to have made the trip with his two wives and four children.
Beginning in 2014, a number of people from various countries were beheaded by the IS operating in Iraq and parts of Sy
#MAMAS2015 See Full List Of Winners Nigeria Won The Highest Number Of Awards
Last night, the biggest award ceremony of the year happened in Durban, South Africa.
The 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) saw live performances from International acts Neyo and Jhene Aiko, as well as some of your favourite acts from the continent.
This year's ceremony saw Nigerians leading in the several categories. Yemi Alade took home the award for Best Female Act, Davido won Best Male Act for a second time and the Mavin's hit single 'Dorobucci' won song of the year.
See below for the full list of winners:
Personality Of the Year
Trevor Noah - Winner
Bonang Matheba
OC Ukeje
Basketmouth
YayaToure
Best Male
Davido - Winner
AKA
Diamond Platnumz
Sarkodie
Wizkid
Best Female
Yemi Alade - Winner
BUCIE
Busiswa
Seyi Shay
Vanessa Mdee
Best New Act
Patoranking - Winner
Cassper
Duncan
Stonebwoy
Anna Joyce
Best Live Act
Diamond Platnumz -Winner
BigNuz
2niteFlavour
MiCasa
Toofan
Best Lusophone
Ary (Angola) - Winner
B4 (Angola)
Nelson Freitas (Cape Verde)
NGA (Angola)
Yuri Da Cunha (Angola)
Best Pop & Alternative
Jeremy Loops(South Africa) - Winner
Fuse ODG (Ghana)
Jeremy Loops (South Africa)
Jimmy Nevis(South Africa)
Nneka(Nigeria)
Best Collaboration
AKA, Burnaboy, Da Les & JR: “All Eyes On Me” (SA/Nigeria) - Winner
Davido, Uhuru & DJ Buckz: “The Sound” (Nigeria/SA)
Diamond Platnumz & Iyanya: “Bum Bum” (Kenya/Nigeria)
Toofan & DJ Arafat: “Apero Remix” (Togo/Ivory Coast)
Stanley Enow & Sarkodie1 : “Njama Njama Cow Remix” (Cameroon/Ghana)
Best Hip Hop
Cassper Nyovest - Winner
Phyno
Olamide
K.O
Youssoupha
Video of the year
Nafukwa - Ricky Rick - Winner
The Sound - Davido feat Uhuru and DJ Buckz
Crazy - Seyi Shay feat Wizkid
Love you everyday - Bebe Cool
Doors - Prime Circle
Best Francophone
DJ Arafat (Ivory Coast) - Winner
Jovi (Cameroon)
Laurette Le Pearle (DRC)
Tour 2 Garde (Ivory Coast)
Toofan (Togo)
Best Group
P-Square (Nigeria) - Winner
B4 (Angola)
Beatenberg band (South Africa)
Black Motion (South Africa)
Sauti sol (Kenya)
Song of the Year
Mavins: “Dorobucci” (Nigeria) - Winner
Casspernyovest Nyovest: “Doc Shebeleza” (South Africa)
Euphonik featuring Mpumi: “Busa” (South Africa)
DJ Fisherman & NaakMusiQ featuring DJ Tira, Danger & Dream Team: “Call Out” (South Africa)
Mr cashtime featuring kidxsa “Caracara” (South Africa)
Lil kesh featuring Olamide & Davido : “Shoki Remix” (Nigeria)
Sauti Sol: “Sura Yako” (Kenya)
Toofan: “Gweta” (Togo)
Wizkid: “Show You The Money” (Nigeria)
Yemi Alade: “Johnny” (Nigeria)
MAMA EvolutionD’Banj (Nigeria) -Winner
2face (Nigeria)
P-Square (Nigeria)
Asa (Nigeria)
Anselmo Ralph (Angola)
Black Coffee (South Africa)
Chameleone (Uganda)
Fally Ipupa (DRC)
HHP (South Africa)
Samini (Ghana)
Best International Act
Nicki Minaj - Winner
Beyoncé
Big Sean
Chris Brown
Rihanna
Artist of the Decade: P-Square
MTV Base Leadership Award: Saran Kaba Jones & S’Bu Mavundla
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Music: Dj Richi ft chi-boi (Prod.by Dj Meo)
Dj Richi is not relenting after the previous release of his hit track Komaro ft. Teddyme and Dj Meo . He is out once more with a brand new single titled Kokumber featuring the Odikwa Nice Master Chi-boi to produce a smash hit by Dj Meo. Download and share your thoughts.
DOWNLOAD
US reiterates support for fight against Boko Haram
US on Friday reiterated its continuous support for Nigeria’s efforts to bring those responsible for recent terrorists attacks to justice.
This is contained In a statement by John Kirby, Spokesman of the States Department in New York.
He said the US strongly condemned the attacks.
The spokesman reiterate commitment to help Nigeria and its neighbours counter Boko Haram, both through bilateral assistance and support to the Multinational Joint Task Force.
“The United States offered her deepest sympathy and condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the attacks of Thursday and Friday at a market in Gombe and a prayer ground in Damaturu, Yobe, Northeast Nigeria,” Kirby said
fathers turn homes to torture chambers for children
Eight-year-old Shina Adegbolu, a
basic three pupil of a primary school in Ikotun area of Lagos was taken
for treatment at the Igando General Hospital on July 5, 2015. But an
observant nurse knew something was wrong as soon as he saw the boy and
his injuries.
Shina’s 34-year-old father, Idris, took
him for treatment with the complaint that the boy fell down and
sustained an injury on his buttocks.
But the nurse tactically separated the
boy from his father and asked about the true cause of the extensive sore
that had developed on the boy’s buttocks.
Shina
quietly explained that he had not been able to sit for about five days
since his father gave him a violent beating with a stick for stealing.
The nurse treated the boy but rather
than confront the father, she took down his address and phone number and
contacted a non-governmental organisation for action on the boy’s case.
When our correspondent tracked down the
man, he confirmed the boy’s story even though he tried to play down the
impact his beating had on his son.
“I only beat him once because he stole
N500. I don’t usually beat him and I was just angry that day. That was
why I beat him. The beating did not cause the sore. It was after he
could not sit down that his step-mother used warm water to treat the
buttocks and a tiny wound there developed into the sore,” Idris told our
correspondent.
A subdued, shy and gaunt Shina told our
correspondent that he was simply very hungry the day he took the money
because his father and step-mother refused to feed him.
“When my father started to look for the
money, I returned the N500. But he was angry and beat me till neighbours
came to drag me away from him. I could not sit when I went to school
and my teacher sent me home when I could not sit to write,” Shina said.
Neighbours at their Ikotun residence told Saturday PUNCH that Idris beat his son mercilessly regularly that they feared that he was going to kill him one day.
“Nobody said he should not discipline
his child but it is no longer punishment when you beat a child as if you
want to kill him,” one neighbour told our correspondent.
Cases of extreme corporal punishment in
the hands of parents in Nigeria may not be an entirely new phenomenon
but the recent rise in such deadly torture calls to question the laws
protecting children and the reasons parents have to resort to such
deadly means to discipline their children.
The United Nations Children’s Fund
explains that child abuse includes all forms of physical and emotional
ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, and exploitation that result in
actual or potential harm to the child’s health, development or dignity.
According to a UNICEF report on violence
against children, on average, about six in 10 children worldwide
(almost 1 billion) between the ages of two and 14 are subjected to
physical (corporal) punishment by their caregivers on a regular basis,
many of which lead to death.
UNICEF says Nigeria had the highest
number of such deaths (due to intentional injuries) in 2012 with almost
13,000 deaths, followed by Brazil with approximately 11,000.
UNICEF agrees that reliable data on
violence against children in Nigeria is scarce “because violence is
often not reported as it occurs mostly within the context where it is
regarded as ‘normal’ such as within the family circle or behind the
privacy of homes.”
Deadly parents, frightening homefront
Idris maintained he was just trying to
discipline his son to make him a better person. But for little Shina,
that home is the most dreaded place in the world for him.
Our correspondent noticed the body
language between Shina and his father. It was clearly of a boy that was
terrified of the man he called father.
“My mummy is dead. I want to run away
because my daddy beats me too much. But I don’t know where to go,” Shina
told our correspondent out of the earshot of his father.
Idris was handed over to the police. But he was not charged to court.
He was made to write an undertaking that
he would never hurt the boy and any extreme punishment would land him
in bigger trouble.
“I am not a monster that they made me out to be. Is it wrong for one to punish his own child for wrongdoing?” he said.
Elsewhere in Lagos, a father fled home after nearly killing his daughter.
Thirty-seven-year-old Monsurat Kazeem
was crying when she told our correspondent about her ordeal and that of
her children in the hands of her 40-year-old husband, Kamoni.
“He has been acting like someone with a mental illness since he lost his job. Our lives have been hell,” she said.
But the problem in their house goes beyond just the maltreatment in the hands of Kamoni.
On July 7, 2015, vigilantes on a patrol
rescued their 12-year-old daughter Kafayat, in the middle of the night
as she hid in front of a shop at Oyingbo Market, Lagos.
The state in which the girl was found prompted the vigilantes to instantly rush the girl to the hospital.
She had been beaten brutally with a wire, leaving scary marks on the girl’s chest.
Kafayat said her father turned on her
when she intervened in a fight between him and her mother as he
brutalised her for playing lotto.
“My mother screamed for help as my daddy
beat her. She was shouting for help but the neighbours did not come
out. He was always beating her. But when I held his hand to stop, he
started to beat me also.
“He did not use his hands to beat me, he
used wire and I thought he was about to kill me. But after taking more
than 20 lashes, I was able to run away. I want mummy to take us back to
Ilorin. I am afraid of living with our father again.”
But Kafayat’s mother told a slightly different story.
She said, “Please, don’t think that I am
trying to cover up for my husband. The truth is losing his job has
affected him very much that he has become aggressive.
“I am a petty trader and whenever I go
out to hawk, he accuses me of having an affair. There was a time he was
arrested and sent to prison for something he did not do. I sold
everything I had for his legal defence. I had to resort to playing lotto
just to survive at the time.
“When he got back from prison, he
started to harass me for playing lotto. He is always suspicious about
everything I do. He always punishes the children but not up to
inflicting so much injury like he did on Kafayat. Kafayat sometimes
steals and that day, she did something wrong that angered her father. I
only came back from hawking to see that he had brutally beaten and
injured Kafayat and he was sorry for what he did.”
The police are looking for Kamoni presently as he has fled his home.
When our correspondent spoke with him on the phone, he was sobbing as he explained that his action was “the devil’s work.”
“Please, government should have mercy on
me. I was not in my right mind when I beat my daughter to that extent. I
was only afraid that they would lock me up; that’s why I ran away,”
Kamoni said.
But for Kafayat, the scar of such
violent treatment in the hands of her father is something she probably
would live to remember. When our correspondent spoke with Kamoni on the
phone, he was profusely apologetic.
“Please, I was only angry. I regret
everything I did now. I love my daughter. But my anger overwhelmed me
that day. I am willing to report myself to the government now. But
please, I don’t want to be locked up,” he said.
For children like this, the home, which
is supposed to provide the expected protection and warmth needed for
their balanced development is like a torture chamber.
A United Nations’ report on violence
against children states, “A basic assumption of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, contained in its preamble, is that the family is
the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members
— and particularly children — thereby recognising that the family has
the greatest potential to protect children and provide for their
physical and emotional safety.
“The exposure of children to violence in
their homes on a frequent basis, usually through fights between parents
or between a mother and her partner, can severely affect a child’s
well-being, personal development and social interaction in childhood and
adulthood.”
The Nigerian Child Rights Acts 2003
expressly criminalises any form of punishment that harms a child either
physically or emotionally.
Section 11 of the CRA states, “(a) No
child shall be subjected to physical, mental or emotional injury, abuse,
neglect or maltreatment, including sexual abuse; or (b) subjected to
torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
But few parents seem to be aware that
beating their children to the point of inflicting deadly injuries on
them has become criminal in the country.
Ugly trend, frightening punishment
In May 2015, Ibrahim Bello, the father
of a 16-year-old secondary school student, Kafayat, inflicted severe
burn injury with a hot iron all over her body as punishment for leaving
her duty post in her mother’s shop to play with friends. He had
initially whipped her till the girl could not walk.
Around the same period, a five-year-old
boy, Olamilekan Mustapha, was beaten to a coma by his father, Adigun, at
Surulere area of Lagos, leaving gory looking stripes on the boy’s body
when he was rescued by sympathisers.
More shocking was the case of
40-year-old Surulere Raphael, who cut off one of his daughter’s fingers
in Jos, Plateau State on June 23, 2015 for stealing N1,500 and meat from
a pot of soup.
These cases attest to the ugly trend of
extreme punishment, which have turned homes to torture chambers for many
children in the country.
Our correspondent went in search of
Kafayat and Olamilekan to find out what has happened to them since their
cases reached the authorities.
Deaths from extreme punishment
The culture of corporal punishment goes
beyond the home front as many schools in the country still engage in
this form of correctional action.
But unfortunately, every year in the
last three years, one case or another has hit the consciousness of the
nation as showing the danger in corporal punishment.
In October 2012, a teacher in a school
in Awka, Anambra State, flogged a pupil, Chidinma Ukachukwu, to death
for failing to do her homework. In November 2013, a primary school
teacher in Ondo State flogged a female pupil, Elizabeth Wanogba, to
death for being stubborn in class. He beat her till she fainted and she
was pronounced dead in a hospital thereafter.
In one of the most alarming cases in
recent times, in February 2014, Chris Elvis, a computer accessory trader
in Lagos, padlocked the mouth of his son, Godrich, locked him up in the
room and beat him to death accusing him of being an ‘Ogbanje’ (an evil
child that dies and reincarnates repeatedly).
15 killed in southern Libya tribal clashes
At least 15 people were killed on Thursday in tribal clashes in the
southern Libyan city Sebha, Libyan official news agency LANA reported on
Friday.
The deadly clashes occurred between members of Tabu and Tuareg tribes, two large rival tribes in southern Libya.
The report said that three others were killed on Wednesday. And tribal clashes have claimed the lives of over 60 people in the city in a month, according to the city statistics.
Sebha, Libya’s largest southern city, has been witnessing escalating violence and similar clashes between the two rival tribe members despite government and elders reconciliation efforts.
The deadly clashes occurred between members of Tabu and Tuareg tribes, two large rival tribes in southern Libya.
The report said that three others were killed on Wednesday. And tribal clashes have claimed the lives of over 60 people in the city in a month, according to the city statistics.
Sebha, Libya’s largest southern city, has been witnessing escalating violence and similar clashes between the two rival tribe members despite government and elders reconciliation efforts.
We’ve neutralised Radio Biafra, says NBC
Leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, Ralph Uwazuruike
The National Broadcasting Commission on Friday said that it had neutralised Radio Biafra.
The commission, in a statement in Abuja
by its Director-General, Mr. Emeka Mba, said with the assistance of
security operatives, it had confiscated the equipment of the radio
station.
The statement read, “The commission has
worked with other agencies to remove the transmissions of the illegal
station from the satellite and this has put paid to the divisive and
disruptive transmissions. We are working on the Internet transmissions.”
The NBC said that it appreciated the concerns expressed by Nigerians about the seditious activities of the radio station.
The
commission reiterated its calls on the public to disregard the hate
messages broadcast by the radio station. It also said that security
operators had arrested operators of the radio and transferred them to
Abuja.
“Some of the suspects involved in the
illicit broadcasts have also been arrested and taken to Abuja for
questioning and prosecution,” it said.
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