Farouk Martins Aresa

Only if men of “timber and caliber”, presidents, kings, chiefs and hard working Dele would think both ways before crossing into a different continent to mentor a young lady and not let their joy sticks get into their heads. Mature men sexual desire has tumbled thrones, careers, dwarfed accomplishments and turned some homeless just with a flip of the skirt by a young flirt. Given a second chance to do it all over again, mentoring or friendship not sex, would be the only focus. 

Sex itself is a natural behavior that we share with people we feel certain magnetic force of attraction to or an infatuation. In the spices of life, we may wonder if there is a relationship worth its salt that does not involve money or sex. However, most people will admit that at some point friendship was great between two people until they started sexual relationship. People could confide in each other freely before they started the sex thing.

The expectation created as a result of sexual relationship has consequences that demands time and money. If sex and money is left out, a relationship can grow forever because expectation is reduced to other form of psychological dependency that does not involve exerting energy that can be traded but may be emotional nonetheless. We sometimes want our friend to ourselves and less time with others even when there is no sexual or monetary reward.

When we talk about dislocation of relationships between older men and young women or cougars and young men it is always about sexual desires on the part of the older and the sniff of money prospects by the younger. There used to be noble men that went to villages to bring a little girl, send her to school and wait. So, we may have destroyed many happy relationships by placing too much emphasis on immediate sexual gratification when we should be mentors.

On the other hand, there are those cases where ladies have packed their belongings and vamoosed into helping hands because their husbands neglected to perform his most important duty. No, it does not depend on the post-puberty age if told she had been married to a family whose house she would have moved to. The better situation could be for the girl if too young to stay with the man’s relatives to avoid any temptations, until she was ready to be a woman. In other words, couples do not have to jump into bed immediately. But some men prefer to see the woman pregnant before they even tie the knot in case she could have difficulty later.

Yet, there are relationships out there between men and women that do not involve sex, a few of which is traditional or to disguise sexual orientations. A case in point: this “man” who got married to a young woman with children that lost her husband. She found out when “he” died that “he” was really a woman. There are also marriages with kept secrets that never had sexual tones. We need to explore the reasons most of the secrets in these asexual relationships last longer, so that we can learn more about the cost or burden of sexual relationships at any age.

If quality attention is all we can afford to spend in most relationships with loved ones, we may devote a longer time to one another without a break. It is what we do with our friends of many years but as sex and money creep in, we risk losing it. Ideally, our best friends should be our love mates so that we can last into the golden age when all the sex and money are immaterial at that point in our life. In some cases we wish our best friends, that we never have sex with or expect monetary reward or exchange from, were our spouses. Some girls prefer father figures.

The fear is always there that at some point the relationship would turn sexual. Police and Army had to come to terms with this when they started pairing male and female officers. The fear amongst police spouses was that if they never spent so much time with their spouses, nobody should. Since the fear has been overcome in the work environment, the Police and Army could not be exceptions. The price is the explosion of sexual harassment against older men superiors.

Can any woman and man enjoy platonic relationship without their spouse getting jealous? It gets a little more complicated when relationships are between male and female without sex, money, but commitment to others. Men and women are expected to spend most of their money in their families. The more time we spend out there, the less time for the families and the greater are the chances to stray away into the hands of others. If money and time are spent on others at the expense of those we have at home, that would be cheating.   

After all, we also expect reciprocal attention in asexual relations too. Otherwise, we expect to be paid in loyalty, cash or kind in return for the time spent listening, advising and encouraging others. Our parents do it for free expecting and hoping we turn out better in return, our African elders do it for free expecting same but counselors or psychiatrists expect to get paid for her time and attention. Unfortunately, some counselors have gone beyond their duty developing forbidden sexual attachments with their clients.

Men and women do befriend the same sex members confiding in them or telling them stories they would never share with opposite sex or their husband and wives. There are jokes at men’s bar or women’s spa that will always remain within the same sex. Indeed, those same words may be crude if uttered in the presence of opposite sex. The same type of words may be proper if they do not cross into vulgar or sexual daring of opposite sex they meet at the clubs or work.

Usually, time spent on others is enjoyed like those spent in bars with other men. The same is true of women. During this period, we spend time and money because we enjoy what we are doing. The golf clubs may not have women members but the wheeling and dealing may lead to contacts for better careers, prospects and other friendships that take time and money away from home. It becomes a debate whether Tigers and Cougars spend more at some gatherings to attract business contacts in order to bring money home or to attract younger males/females.

We cannot ignore or spend less time in our relationship and claim those spent outside have no sexual or monetary value. Some men are known for spending more money at clubs on food and drinks but less at home to feed their families. Others are known to be stingy with their friends but would spend generously like a drunken sailor whenever young ladies appear at the table.

Indeed, we can apply some of our platonic friendship to our sexual relationship at any age.

Engineer Akin Oni

 

“Bristow Nigeria Operations has the largest number of Nigerians at the management level,” Engineer Akin Oni

Engineer Akin Oni sat down with Tayo Adelaja and Shamsydeen Badmus in Lagos to discuss Bristow Group’s efforts in Nigeria and its plan towards Nigerianization in 2015; excerpts:

Q: Recently, the company signed a $1.5m agreement with NCAT, Zaria to provide technical support for the school, what informed this decision?

A: We have been in discussion with NCAT over the years. We were looking at assisting the school to build capacity and capability. There is no helicopter Engineering School in Nigeria at the moment. Personnel are mostly being trained in the UK, Canada, USA, and India. It takes a lot to bring in expatriates. Supporting NCAT makes it easier to support our operations in Nigeria. In NCAT, engineers spent 3years and come out with basic license. Meanwhile, it takes about 7years to build an engineer.  We felt challenged with the above scenario and the dearth of trained and skilled personnel in our organisation. When we started an intensive process to increase the number of engineers in our organization, we went to NCAT with our engineers, out of the discussions we had with the school came several ideas by which we can add values to the school. We are going to assist the school by providing laboratories for them, and we intend to also bring in highly experienced personnel to assist the school from schools and organizations in the United States. The classrooms shall be refurbished to meet the required world standard. We are looking at making the school conducive for learning, while increasing the number of trained personnel in Nigeria.

Q: What is the company policy on Indigenous recruitment and training?

A: Bristow Nigeria Operations has the largest number of Nigerians at the management level in line with the company policy of developing a large indigenous workforce and management to maximize local representation, while positively encouraging the communities the company has representation around the world. We are in the process of recruiting engineers. This is the Bristow’s 27th year of training programme that is Helicopter training. When the company placed an advertisement for recruitment of engineers, over 3000 applied from all over the country. Of the lots, 240 have been selected for final interview. The selection criteria are based solely on merit. We want to have people who are capable of handling helicopters, thus we have a rainbow coalition, that is if you are a Nigerian you are capable you get selected.

The selected candidates will undergo rigorous test, which includes aptitude and detailed medical test. A lot of candidates were dropped after failing this detailed medical test. The last phase of the interview is mentally tasking, as the candidates are given task and the interviewer will see how they can fix it. That test which is a problem solving exercise test the ability to focus, leadership and the reasoning power because we are in a safety related business.

After the interview, parents signed a bond with Bristow because of the cost of the training. The training takes place at the largest helicopter training in the world- Florida in USA and it belongs to us. It cost us about $210,000 to train our candidates that are successful in the interview. Actually, I am one of the lucky ones who got selected through same process and I am still here today and proud to be with the group.  The training in Bristow Academy often last for a year or more depending on the weather. At the end of the course, they were awarded a certificate that makes them a commercial pilot officer.

Q: After the training and with the number of people Bristow is training how do you integrate them into the system?

A: It is important to note that we introduce them gradually into the system. Towards the end of the course, say two to three months a decision is made in Lagos as to the type of helicopters they will be flying. There is a system of reports whereby they are monitored and reports are sent in on monthly basis. We have conversion training whereby they go for further training before they would be fully integrated into the system. This takes a month or longer. There are three layers of training before they can now fly the commercial aircraft. 

Q: How many of your trainees can you keep in the system?

A: It is a challenge. We are facing it squarely too. We won’t take more than we can accommodate. We have a lot of pressure to Nigerianise. The limit of what the system can take is the limit. We have a target of 2015 to be fully Nigerianise. Presently, Bristow has been the major source of providing the highly needed skilled personnel to this sector and evidence abound within the oil and gas sector. We had that responsibility of retaining those we spent so much on in our system. We have 51 operational aircraft in Nigeria today. However, a lot of this is helicopters. In the business, we have a market share of about 55 percent.  

Q: How threatened are you by competition?

A: No, no, no we are not afraid of competition, particularly when it is healthy. We are not taking competition for granted, but there are a lot of opportunities in the country. Bristow Helicopters is the largest aviation company in Nigeria, with 51 aircraft consisting mainly helicopters. Since 1958, Bristow has been actively operating in the country. Beginning with crop spraying in the Owerri oil plantations, it later refocused on the oil and gas industry in the 1960s. Today, Nigeria is Bristow’s second largest operation, second only to the European Business Unit, which includes Scotland, Norway and the Netherlands. However, if classified by country, Nigeria is Bristow’s largest market.

In May, 2006, Bristow Group had a contract with Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (Shell Nigeria) for an additional twenty-four months. Under this contract, the company provided and operated two AS332 Super Puma helicopter and two Sikorsky S76 helicopters, the contract estimated at $53m. We are going through a period where there are not many activities because many oil companies are concerned about the petroleum industry. We just hope that with increased activities, things will pick up. It is a very competitive environment.

Q: What are the major challenges of Bristow operations in the country?

A: Inadequate personnel and the huge age gap has been a major challenge not only to us but the industry in general. Also, we do not receive and we do not take, that is becoming a big problem. Really, it’s a huge problem if we have to get things done, we plan 6 months ahead. What that means is that we have to carry inventories and huge amount. We have our code of ethics, and some of our competitors with the same business ethic codes will face same issues. 

By Lanre Aminu

“You can default in every arm of government, but you dare not default in the judiciary. That’s where God himself sits on the throne. You are therefore representing almighty God Himself as you sit on that throne”———- Justice Anthony Aniagolu, retired justice of the Supreme Court. The highly respected jurist affirmed in an interview, published in the November 12 edition of the NEWS, that no effort must be spared to rescue the judiciary from corruption, arguing that of all the arms of government, the one nearest to God is the judiciary. “Justice represents the almighty God himself. It touches the heart of God and once you are corrupt on the bench, you no more deserve to sit on that bench,” he emphasized. Aniagolu clearly sees judges as representatives of God on earth and will readily cite the Bible to support his assertion. Emphasizing on the need for the judge to possess the qualities of courage, honesty and integrity before he can adequately dispense justice, Hon. Justice Oputa in a lecture delivered at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife declared as follows: Honesty and judicial rectitude are thus the badge of a good judge. It is a calamity to have a corrupt judge, for money, its offer and its receipt corrupts and pollutes not only the channels of justice, but the very stream itself. Honesty and judicial rectitude are, therefore very minimal requirements of the judicial office. Less than that, no disciplined and responsible judiciary should accept; and less than that no discipline and responsible society would tolerate. The offer to, and acceptance of money and unlawful or immoral gratification by a judge can ruin every virtue of the judicial office. They snap at and break the brittle bond of confidence which unite our citizens with the court system. Thus scandalized and morally deformed, bewildered litigants no longer expect from the court a just decision. The entire experiment of justice through the courts then becomes an exercise in futility and justice becomes a sham or at best a counterfeit for nothing is as hateful and as odious as venal justice. Also relevant here is an address to the American Bar Association:  “A poor judge is perhaps the most wasteful indulgence of the community. You can refuse to patronize a merchant who does not offer good stock, but you have no recourse if you are haled before a judge whose mental or moral goods are inferior. An honest, high-minded, able and fearless judge is the most valuable servant of democracy, for he illuminates justice as he interprets and applies the law, as he makes clear the benefits and the shortcomings of the standards of individual and community right among a free people” I always believed, and still do, that Nigeria is not yet a failed state and that the Nigerian cup is only half full, rather than half empty. However, the unbecoming conducts of some judges which have totally eroded public confidence in Nigerian judiciary have shaken this believe to its very foundation. Not a few agreed with this writer that one of the strongest features of a failed state is a failed judiciary. For rule of law to work, it must depend on men and women that are imbued with passion for integrity. Institutions of state are artificial entities. It is human beings that take decisions in their names. Corrupt individuals make a corrupt institution. Where the activities of such individuals go unchecked, the ability of democratic institutions that are designed to sustain the rule of law is impaired. To state that corruption in the Nigerian judiciary has assumed a frightening dimension is merely stating the obvious. Many will agree with this writer that the major reason why this cankerworm persist in the judiciary and can not easily be curbed  is because its top echelon that have the power to bring erring judges to book is not free from the taint of corruption. In fact, evidence of posting “trusted” judges to specific tribunals and appeal court divisions to sway favourable judgements to a particular side abounds. The fore going explains why the National Judicial Council (NJC) under the leadership of the former chief justice of Nigeria, Idris Kutigi finds it difficult to bring erring judges to book. Evidence abounds: The cases of the election petitions involving the current senate president, David Mark and Governors Usman Dakingari (late president Yar’Adua’s son in- law), Sullivan Chime, Segun Oni, Gbenga Daniel, Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Alao Akala of Kebbi, Enugu, Ekiti, Ogun, Osun and Oyo are good examples. The aforementioned examples are a major manifestation of the unholy alliance between the ruling party, PDP and the judiciary. It is on record that a particular judge was transferred from the Kaduna division of the appeal court after she had “delivered” to Jos division to “execute” a similar agenda. She did not only set aside the decisions of the lower courts nullifying the elections of Kebbi state governor, Usman Dankigari and senate president, David Mark, she also gave them their well deserved “victories” Another case which has brought the entire judiciary into disrepute is the one involving members of the Osun state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal headed by Justice Thomas D. Naron. The judges were accused of exchanging telephone messages with Oyinlola’s lead counsel, Kunle Kalejaiye. It is unsettling that NJC is yet to come out with its findings despite the public outcry that trailed this unethical conduct of the members of the Naron led tribunal. It will be recalled that following the infamous 2003 general elections conducted by INEC, over 300 suits were said to have been filed at the various election tribunals across the country by aggrieved parties and candidates. There were allegations of corruption against some judges, some of which were later established to be true by the NJC, which consequently led to the dismissal of judges indicted. Even though in 2003, the number of judges sanctioned for getting their hands soiled in the cesspool of corruption was far lesser than the actual number, none the less, it was believed that some scapegoats had been made, which should serve as a deterrent to others. Unfortunately, however, the 2007 elections turned out to be one of the worst in human history. Both local and international observers promptly denounced this mockery of democratic principles and unambiguously called for a repeat of the polls. This led to the unprecedented deluge of election suits reportedly numbering over 7000 (as compared to 300 in 2003). It is not only unfortunate, but also disheartening that NJC is yet to bring to book a single erring judge in the present dispensation almost three years after it received petitions against some judges. It is on record that NJC is yet to take any action either in favour or disfavour of the petitioner and; or those accused till date. What further led credence to the public perception of Nigerian judiciary has been brazenly corrupts from the top is the clean bill of health given to all of them by the former president of the court of appeal, Umaru Abdullahi. He was reported to have said none of them was involved in any act of corruption, yet he himself was indicted in the petition written against judges that handled Abia Governorship Election appeal. In the aforementioned petition, Nigerian Coalition for Justice wants the NJC to determine how come the justices and the President of the Court of Appeal had high volume of banking traffic in their accounts. The damning verdict of some notable legal luminary and eminent citizens on the Nigerian judiciary is worth reproducing here: (1).In an interview with a national newspaper few weeks ago, Rtd. General Ishola Williams, chairman of Transparency International (TI) in Nigeria alleged that, “All the judges are just using the election tribunals to make money. All those who had gone through election tribunals are millionaires today. I challenge any one of them to say no.” This statement emanating from the chair of Transparency International in Nigeria, a highly reputable organization, which returns, every year, the position of each country on the corruption ladder, based on empirical facts is highly instructive

(2).Is there corruption and high profile life style among some of our judges? The answer to this question without any equivocation should be in the affirmative. Evidence of corruption abound. At least we have the example of two justices of the court of appeal being dismissed for corruption over their handling of an election appeal. We are also aware of the bribe scandal involving members of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal for Akwa Ibom state. Another case we are all familiar with is the one involving members of the Osun state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal headed by Justice Thomas D. Naron. The matter is now before the NJC, but it appears no progress is being recorded. As I was writing this paper, I stumbled into a story captioned “ICPC probes five appeal court judges for alleged bribery. With all these facts, I was a bit surprised when the president of the court of appeal, His Lordship, Hon. Justice Umaru Abdullahi was quoted by several newspapers as having giving a clean bill of health to members of election petition tribunals handling various petitions across the country. He was reported to have said that none of them was involved in any act of corruption. ———— Being an excerpt of the paper presented by chief Emeka Ngige, SAN at the section on Legal Practice Forum (Civil Litigation Committee) of the Nigerian Bar Association, Annual Bar conference held in Lagos between August 17-21-2009

(3). “The recent election of Yar’Adua, if I were in the Supreme Court, I would have said the election was flawed and Justice Oguntade said so. To say it was flawed would have been more beneficial to the state because now people realized that you don’t just rig election, you will have to wait for what the court would say, they failed us there again by saying the election was alright, the facts don’t show they are alright. Judiciary has failed the nation. I went to Enugu and said you judges, they were all younger than myself, if you look at the electoral act, all the offences are created, who decides? It is the judiciary, if you don’t take bribe and say you are going to send people to jail, people will sit up, but because you people don’t do things like that, you are not only failing the nation, you are failing yourself, you are not contributing to the constitutional development of the nation and the judiciary has an opportunity that you may do all this things you are doing, but you are coming to us, they are not doing that, I am not blaming any individual.———– Professor Uvieghara, a former commissioner in the Nigeria Law Reform commission and a classmate of the former chief justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Uwais at the law school made the above statements at the lecture he delivered to judges in Enugu state

(4). “If they dare to rig in 2011, then you will see what we happen. People will be on the streets to fight because they know that that is probably the only way they can get solution or ventilate their grievances. If the court is not going to assist them, then why wait for the court? I would not probably advise any body to wait for the judiciary to get his mandate if you believe your mandate is being stolen. So that is the problem ————- Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, President, Nigeria Bar Association. In view of the above, which additional evidence does any right-thinking person needs to believe Nigerian judiciary has sold its soul to devil, have no modicum of integrity? What is also deductible from the above is that Nigerian judiciary has failed. It is an established fact that a failed judiciary is a sign post to a failed state. When citizens loose confidence in an institution of state like the judiciary, the only civilized method of resolving disputes in a sane political clime, they resort to self –help. It is self-evident that what we are witnessing in Nigeria today is a creeping relapse into the precursor of events of 1966 and 1983. The people resorted to self-help in 1966 and 1983, because they did not have hope of getting justice from the courts as the judiciary then was in the pockets of the executive. Under the scenario painted above, if remedial action is not taking urgently to restore sanity into the judiciary and consequently, the confidence of the people, it is mere wishful thinking for any one to think either democracy or the country herself will survive after 2011. The only way the sagging confidence of the people in the judiciary can be restored is for the chief justice of Nigeria and the anti-corruption agencies to fish out the rotten eggs. The NJC should conduct a thorough and in-depth investigation into the allegations leveled against some election petition tribunals and appeal court divisions handling election matters. The more controversial cases that has brought the entire judiciary into disrepute in the eyes of the right-thinking members of the public are: (a).The court of appeal, Port-Harcourt division verdict on Abia Governorship Election Petition, (b).The questionable verdict of justices Thomas Naron and Ali Garba led Governorship Election Petition trial and retrial in Osun, (c). Justice Hamma Baka led Governorship Election re-run petition in Ekiti. I am using this opportunity to call on the new president of court of appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami to personally lead the election appeal panels in the case of Osun and Ekiti that can still be redressed to save the image of the judiciary, while disciplinary actions should be taken against all judges that were to have soiled their hands. This is the only way the hope of the people can be rekindle in the judiciary and forestall the looming anarchy that may lead to the collapse of democracy and the country from 2011. A word, they say is enough for the wise.

Aminu is the National Coordinator, Odua Youth for Good Governance and a member of the Save Nigeria Group.

E-mail: rxk1968@yahoo.com, Tel: 08076124433

Wambi Michael

HIV campaigners fear a homophobic bill currently being discussed by the Uganda parliament will lead to further stigmatisation of the gay community in Uganda and could stop HIV positive people from accessing treatment and hamper the fight against HIV and AIDS.

Being gay and HIV positive in Uganda has never been easy. But life is set to get a lot harder for gay people seeking treatment for HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

Pereza (not his real name) knows better than most the difficulties gay people have in Uganda when it comes to accessing HIV treatment. When the 34-year-old, who works for a private business, first suspected that he was HIV positive he was too scared to go and be tested. “When I finally went to be tested, the counsellor asked me whether I had a partner,” he told Panos. “I had to deceive her. If I had risked bringing a fellow man then I don’t think I would have been enrolled for treatment.”

“It takes courage for any gay person to seek medical treatment in this country,” Pereza continued. “Most of us are dying because we cannot access treatment, care and support. You would be ridiculed if you dared to come out to tell a nurse or doctor that you are gay. Everyone would look at you as if you were something dirty.”

The difficulties facing men and women like Pereza have recently come to light because of the so-called Anti Homosexuality Bill, a private member’s bill currently being discussed by the Ugandan cabinet and which has created a growing climate of fear among the gay community in Uganda.

Already illegal

Homosexual acts are already illegal in this East African country, carrying a sentence of up to 14 years in prison. The bill, which was proposed towards the end of 2009 by David Bahati, an MP for the ruling National Resistance Movement, seeks to up this to life imprisonment. It also proposes the death sentence for a new offence of “aggravated homosexuality” – namely when one of the participants is under 16, disabled, HIV positive or a “serial offender”.

An estimated 170,000 people are enrolled in government ARV treatment in Uganda with a further 100,000 expected to enrol by the middle of this year.

Dr. Stephen Watiti, the chairperson of the National Forum of People Living with HIV/AIDS Network, said about 80 percent of Uganda’s ARV treatment is funded by foreign donors and any cuts in aid would directly affect HIV positive people. “Removing [any of] that money would be a death sentence to those receiving the treatment,” he said.

Watiti said treatment interruptions caused by shortages of the drug could lead to a new drug resistant HIV epidemic. He added that criminalising HIV transmission in both homosexuals and heterosexuals would cause stigma that would fuel the disease, leading to more deaths.

Laban, a university student in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, is scared.

“Some of my classmates know that I’m gay,” the 23-year-old said. “With this law they are expected to report me to the police. If the bill is passed I will leave my studies and go into hiding.”

He is referring to the fact that if the bill is passed anyone who fails to report within 24 hours the identities of any gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered person could be sent to prison for up to three years.

Prominent members of society “outed”

Some of the local newspapers have already “outed” prominent members of society they believe to be gay. Campaigners fear the bill could lead to McCarthy era witch hunts, sending the gay community underground and preventing effective anti HIV teaching.

Laban told Panos the gay community faces a lot of stigma. “You are expected to behave in a certain way which is approved by the culture and morals,” he said. “So I have decided to live alone to avoid being ridiculed.”

Frank Mugisha, head of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), is one of few gay Ugandans to actively campaign for their rights. As a result he has become a potential target and cannot go out without bodyguards. He told Panos the gay community has been living in fear since Bahati tabled his bill. “If the bill passes into law we will be ostracised by almost everyone in society. Already we can’t go to overcrowded places because for fear of being attacked by a mob.”

An “odious” bill

The bill has caused outcry, both internationally and in Uganda.

 Barack Obama called the bill “odious”, while several other leaders, including UK prime minister Gordon Brown, have put pressure on Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni to withdraw the bill.

One of those most strongly opposed to the bill is the Swedish government, which threatened to cut the $50 million in aid it gives Uganda each year if the bill is passed.

There have also been calls from US human rights campaigners for America to cut some of its considerable aid. The US is the biggest donor to Uganda’s HIV treatment programmes under The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). From 2004 to the end of 2009 Uganda had received a total of almost US$1.5 billion. The money has helped provide more than 200,000 people living with HIV/AIDS with life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.

As a result of this pressure, the bill now looks likely to be watered down. Museveni has himself changed tack. Having previously condemned homosexuals, he has distancing himself from the bill, declaring parliament’s handling of it “must take into account our foreign policy interests”. Meanwhile, David Bahati announced in January that he would be willing to amend the bill – though he did not say how.

Strong support for the bill

However, the voices supporting the bill – and denouncing foreign countries for intervening in Uganda’s affairs – remain very strong.

Bahati has the support of Uganda’s powerful lobby of Evangelical and Anglican bishops, many of whom have been outspoken in favour of the bill and who have the power to sway public opinion.

Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi of the Church of Uganda, the country’s main Anglican Church which claims to represent 30 per cent of all Ugandans, publically confirmed his support for the bill in February at the General Synod, the national assembly of the Church of England, in London.

In a formal statement Orombi said the Church of Uganda “particularly appreciate[s] the objectives of the Bill which seek to… prohibit and penalize homosexual behaviour and related practices in Uganda as they constitute a threat to the traditional family.” He also remarked that: “Homosexual practice has no place in God’s design of creation, the continuation of the human race through procreation or His plan of redemption” and that “lesbianism, bestiality and other sexual perversions” should also be prohibited.

“State-legislated genocide”

Some members of the Christian community have spoken out against the bill and Ugandan society is divided. Canon Gideon Byamugisha, a prominent member of Uganda’s Anglican Church, described the bill as “state-legislated genocide against a specific community”.
 
Christopher Senyonjo, a retired Anglican bishop living in Uganda, said: “The bill will push Uganda towards being a police state. There is lack of understanding about homosexuality – it is not [about] recruitment [of gay people], it is [about] orientation.”

Yet it is the feeling on the streets of Kampala and across Uganda that is likely to determine what happens, as MPs will court popular opinion.

Young preachers, encouraged by the churches, preach against homosexuality on Kampala’s busy street corners.

 One of these preachers is Betty Wanyaka. She told Panos: “I’m a mother and I believe in God, so I’m against homosexuality. The Word says men have to marry woman not man and man.”

But not everyone agrees. Calvin Kanyali, a young salesman from Kampala, said there were more pressing issues than attacking the gay community.

“People are dying of cancer, the hospitals have no medicine but they want to spend the little money there is chasing after homosexuals. This shouldn’t be the biggest priority for our MPs,” he said.

HIV/AIDS’ rates could rise on wave of homophobia

Gerald Sentongo, the Administrator of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), told Panos that if the bill was passed it would further complicate efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS among homosexuals in Uganda.

Around 5.4 per cent of Uganda’s population is HIV positive, according to official government statistics. Campaigners fear this figure could rise with the rising tide of homophobia.

“No one will come out to seek treatment knowing that the nurse, counsellor or doctor is required by law to report a homosexual and have him arrested by police,” Mr Sentongo said.

Editor’s note

Culled from Panos Institute

 DESMOND UTOMWEN/Abuja

 Until Saturday 5 December, 2009, the parents of six students that were killed by police in Ekpoma had high hope. This was fired largely by the expectation that their children, student of the Ambrose Ali University in Ekpoma, Edo State were displaying promising signs. With the graduation of the children from the institution fast approaching, the parents were optimistic that the feat of their children would further bring glory to their various families. But this was not to be. Shortly after their exams on that Saturday, the students, who were said to be basking in the euphoria of the successful completion of their exams were relishing the moment as neighbours in the premise of their rented apartment when they was shot dead. Some plain cloth gun trotting men barged into the premise. They attempted to take some of the neighbours away who resisted the move. This attracted interventions from the students other neighbours and bystanders. But the gun carrying men, who were later discovered to be police officers from the Police station in Ekpoma would rather not want to be “stampeded”. Sources said that the shot sporadically killing six students. The corpses, later branded as deadly armed robbers were immediately shipped in a van and taken to unknown location. The students killed are Churchill Haruna, Joseph aka Amani and three others.

TheNEWS however, gathered that contrary to the claims of the police that the students were robbers, the raid was actually prompted by a report made by another student, Valentine Erhua of the Engineering Department in a bid to get back at a member of a splinter group in the Buccaneer Confraternity existing in the school. Valentine, a sit tight leader of the cult group, it was gathered had attempted to use his network in the police to bring the factional group leader to the station and consequently have the police help him subdue him from leading others to resist his sit tight agenda as the Capone of the cult group. When the police turned the move into a killing spree, Valentine, it was gathered handed himself back to the police demanding that they should kill him as well. His regret is that what was intended to be a strategic move to peaceful settlement was turned into a massacre by the police who unfortunately now claim that the victims were armed robbers.

But the pains of the bereaved parents do not seem to be ending with the cold blood murder of their children. Last Monday, 14 December, the families were again subjected to another round of psychological trauma. About nine of the relatives of the deceased among whom were Emike, Margaret and Sadik who, in search of the where about of the corpses of their brothers killed by the police were brutalised, arrested and detained for over 24 hours before they were granted bail after series of interventions. Their offence according to the police was that they sought to retrieve the corpses of “robbers”. This magazine gathered from eyewitnesses that after receiving so much torture in Ekpoma, the concerned relatives were tied up, bundled into a van and taken the State Criminal Investigation Department in Benin, the Edo state capital.

Indiscriminate killings and brutality by police has become a common thing lately. It is actually rising in geometric progression. The act recently attracted the condemnation of the Amnesty International group. In the report recently released by the group in Abuja, AI said Police in Nigeria carry out hundreds of extra-judicial killings every year and only those who can afford to pay bribes can guarantee their safety from execution or torture. The report say Nigeria’s police force is poorly paid and trained, and short of essential tools including bulletproof vests, fuel, even paper and pens, Amnesty said. But there appears to be no shortage of the bullets its officers use to kill people they are supposed to protect, the report said.

The report is based on evidence given in interviews with relatives of people who were executed by the police or disappeared in police custody. Amnesty which also interviewed lawyers, judges, justice and health officials and local rights organisations during its investigation in 2007 and 2008 concluded that unlawful killings and enforced disappearances in Nigeria “are not random”. Maintaining that “In a country where bribes guarantee safety, those who cannot afford to pay are at risk of being shot or tortured to death”. Nigeria ranks low on the international corruption perception index and it is notorious for its high crime rate, especially armed robbery. “The police exploit public anger at the high crime rates in the country to justify their actions… They do not only shoot people, Amnesty International has recorded cases of suspects who were tortured to death while in detention,” it said. Police officials often claim that victims of extrajudicial executions were armed robbers killed in gun battles with the police or when they attempted to escape custody. The application of an order that allows a policeman to use lethal force in the face of threat to life has “resulted in numerous unlawful killings and facilitated extrajudicial executions…using it as a justification as well as cover-up,” the report said adding that “in practice, it lets the police get away with murder.”

Amnesty said that disregard for human rights is “prevalent” in the police and enforced disappearances in Nigeria are “rife”. Many of those who go missing have been extra judicially executed. Victims disappear before being brought to court.”

The report titled Nigeria Police “kill at will,” exposed the level of alleged extra-judicial killings by the police in the country. Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme, claimed that “the Nigerian Police are responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings every year.” According to him, “Police don’t only kill people by shooting them; they also torture them to death, often while they are in detention,” adding, that the police get away with these killings because “the majority of the cases go un-investigated and the police officers responsible go unpunished. The families of the victims usually get no justice or redress. Most never even find out what happened to their loved ones.” The report also stated that the Police frequently claim that the victims of shootings were “armed robbers” killed in “shoot-outs” with the police or while trying to escape from custody. “These claims are often highly implausible,” the organisation stated.

Lucy Freeman, Amnesty International’s Campaigner on Nigeria, was quoted as saying that “research into the report ran for a period of two years and state’s authorities such as the Nigeria Police Commission, the Ministry of Police Affairs and both the federal and states police command were involved.” On a definite figure for the casualties of extra-judicial killings Ms Freeman told NEXT that there was no definite figure available due to the lack of data in the country but she added that “official statistics of the police revealed that 857 people were shot in 2008 as armed robbers and only 57 were injured.” However, police figures which Amnesty described as “inaccurate and incomplete” a total of 3,014 “armed robbers” were killed in Nigeria between 2003 and 2008 while only 574 others were wounded within the same period. “With the alarming figure stated, it clearly shows that the police are shooting to kill, rather than apprehending criminals to face the law,” she added.

The AI report opined that the dastardly acts of the police is regrettably given a semblance of legal backing by some draconian provisions in the country’s law book. For example some police officers hide under the provision of Order 237, which allows police officers to shoot suspects and detainees who attempt to escape or avoid arrest-whether or not they pose a threat to life to justify the extra-judicial killing of “armed robbers”. “Force Order 237 is so impermissibly broad. It simply gives police officers permission to shoot people. It is against international standards, and is being abused by police officers to commit, justify and cover up illegal killings,” said Mr. van der Borght, while advising that “the government must repeal Force Order 237 and publicly announce that the use of lethal force is only allowed when strictly unavoidable to protect life,” the body demanded, suggesting that “this could make a big difference to the number of unlawful police killings we are seeing in Nigeria.”

As noted by Amnesty, the indifference posture of the government and its failure to prosecute offensive police officers leaves people with the impressing that they condone extrajudicial killings. “They are not doing enough to stop them and bring the police perpetrators to justice. It also stated that “over the past four years, the Nigerian government has set up two committees to review the Nigeria Police Force and present recommendations for reform but their recommendations have never been implemented.” Mr. Van der Borght, who proffers a recipe for the containment of the scourge, said that “ending unlawful killings and enforced disappearances by the police will require serious legal reform and commitment and support. The Nigerian Police Force must introduce a new code of conduct throughout its chain of command – from the very top to the bottom. If not, the cycle of violence will simply continue.” He however noted that “Policing in Nigeria is a dangerous work” acknowledging that the Nigerian Police Force is confronted by a myriad of snags ranging from “severe shortage of funds and officers lack basic equipments, with the police sometimes, asking crime victims to pay for the petrol, pens and paper needed to conduct an investigation.” It concluded that the police “has limited capacity for intelligence and scientific investigations” noting that lack of independence and impartiality by police investigators and weak oversight mechanism by the police high command is clog to the attainment of civilized policing.

The national police however rejected the findings. The Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu argued that “it is quite obvious that the mission is to kill the Nigerian police, wipe out our record, and bury our aspirations. Amnesty International has an unholy penchant to denigrate police organisations in most parts of the world.” Ojukwu further stated that police had already begun investigation into the allegations in the report. “Let the public be assured that the Nigerian police force does not consort with murderers in uniform. Any officer found to have violated the rules guiding use of firearms, treatment of persons in custody, torture, bail etc will be appropriately sanctioned in accordance with the law. There is no immunity for those who operate with impunity,” he said.

The Amnesty International report is coming on the heels of a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which claimed that the force had dumped the corpses of killed suspects at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, thus overwhelming the morgue. As reported by the BBC, The Chief Medical Director at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital in Enugu says his staffs are being forced to carry out mass burials of between 70 and 80 bodies some weeks ago. He says that another mass burial is planned to take place soon.

The BBC which visited the morgue described the images as disturbing. “They show piles of young men, lying on top of one another and strewn about on tables and floors. In places the corpses are stacked four or five deep. The report of the broadcasting corporation stated that records available to it showed that 75 corpses were delivered to the morgue by police between June and 26 November this year. The BBC has established that at least seven of those in the morgue were arrested and last seen alive in police custody, accused of kidnapping in early September. But their names appear in the morgue register – on 15 and 16 of September. Police Commissioner Mohammed Zarewa feigned ignorant of the number of young men lying dead in the morgue.

Indeed, cases of extra-judicial killings and brutality carried out with impunity by the police abound.. Findings in the AI report was illustrated with 29 cases of victims of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions who had never appeared before a judge,” said the report.

It cited the case of a 15 years old Emmanuel Egbo, killed by a police officer in Enugu in September 2008. Quoting eyewitnesses, AI said the boy was playing with other children in front of his uncle’s house when three police officers came up to them. One officer pulled out a gun and shot the boy, claiming he was an armed robber. He was unarmed. In August 2009, his family discovered his body had disappeared from mortuary. As of November 2009, the body is still missing.” The report said.

Lawyer Vincent E. Obetta said he witnessed one of several police killings detailed in the report by the London-based rights group. Obetta told the AP that he was on his way to the city of Enugu on May 15 when he reached a police roadblock, where he saw three heavily armed policemen talking to a motorcyclist. “Next thing, one police inspector pulled his pistol and fired a shot directly into the cyclist,” he said. Obetta then watched as the policeman pressed his gun against the man’s bloody chest. “That’s when it dawned on me that the policeman was trying to build a defense as to why the cyclist was killed,” he said. While the victim lay bleeding, Obetta argued with the officer to move his gun. The officers threatened to shoot him if he did not stop causing trouble. Eventually, the officer moved his gun and they drove the victim, 39-year-old Aneke Okorie, to a nearby hospital. He died en route. At the local police post, an angry crowd gathered as police tried to explain that the motorcyclist was with two other men who accosted the inspector and tried to snatch his gun.

When it looked like the mob was going to attack, a police officer not involved in the incident asked Obetta to try to calm them down. But as he rose to address the crowd, the police fired two teargas canisters at him. Obetta, convinced they were trying to kill him too, rolled into a gutter, abandoned his car and cell phone and walked to Enugu. There, he told his story to a police commissioner, whom he praised for being instrumental in ensuring justice was done. The inspector who shot Okorie was brought before a martial court and dismissed from his job after he was convicted of setting up an illegal roadblock and illegally using his service weapon to kill a civilian. He is in jail awaiting a civilian trial for murder. Obetta has devoted himself to changing the system, and has done studies that showed most killings are committed by lower-ranking officers who are poorly trained and have low living standards. Drug and alcohol abuse are a problem, Obetta said. “They need advocacy training to understand that human rights are sacrosanct and that people should be treated like human beings,” Obetta said. “The problem we have in Nigeria is we just blame, blame, blame, with no solution. My major job now is to see how I can help to reform the police.”

In June 2009, the organization said it visited the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) detention centre in Abuja, which is located in a disused abattoir outside the city. Suspects are held in a vast warehouse previously used for slaughtering cattle. Chains are still hanging from the ceiling. When Amnesty International delegates visited the building, about 15 people were held in cells. Amnesty International delegates counted at least 30 empty bullet cases scattered on the ground. Unofficially, a policeman told Amnesty International that many “armed robbers” are taken there and shot.

On 1 October, three young men, Friday Uti, Ibrahim Olojede and Rotimi Philips were shot by trigger happy policemen in Yaba, Lagos. The deceased were shot while in a car by a police officer on Olonode Street, Alagomeji, Yaba. Although the police is foot dragging in giving the name of the officer who pulled the trigger that killed the three men but the residents of Alagomeji have however identified the officer as Corporal Abu Bolaji from the Yaba police station. While Mr. Olojede died at the scene of the shooting and Mr. Philips died two days later after surgery at Ikeja General Hospital. Friday Uti also managed to make to the Hospital eventually died on Sunday, 18 October, following a surgery at the Ikeja General Hospital to remove a bullet that was lodged in his spinal cord. Frank Mba, Police spokesperson, said the police are investigating the case. “The officer who pulled the trigger against these people has been dismissed and he is facing multiple charges of murder,” he said.

In many instances, the police have to blatantly lie to either cover up their evil deeds or deliberately misinform the public to claim innocent of the horrendous crime. In one of such cases, which resulted from the killing of the late Senior Manager, Relationship Team Leader, National Corporate Banking Directorate of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Modebayo Awosika, the police claimed that the banker died in an accident on 1 October, 2008, while on his way home.

Contrary to this claim however, a corona inquest conducted under the new Lagos State Coroner Systems Law 2007 held the Nigerian Police responsible for the brutal killing of a Nigerian, Mr. Modebayo Awosika. The court presided over by Chief Magistrate Philips Ojo sitting at Tapa Magistracy, while concluding an inquest to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased, held that the shooting of Awosika showed a callous, unprovoked and unjustifiable shooting of a defenceless Nigerian by a police officer. Ojo held that the late Awosika was shot by one Inspector Benjamin Oyigie, adding that it was a clear case of homicide. He said the fact that the deceased rammed into a police vehicle and failed to stop does not justify the killing. He urged the Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command to place advertisement declaring, Benjamin Oyigie, the deceased killer, wanted as well as reopen investigations into the matter.  ”The evidence before me clearly established that the lives of the policemen on duty on the morning of October 2, 2008 were not in danger. Evidence before me shows a callous, unprovoked and unjustifiable shooting of defenceless Nigerian by a Nigerian police officer. I agree with conclusion by the pathologist and also from the totality of evidence before me hold that the deceased, Modebayo Awosika died of cerebral disruption with hemorrhage arising from gunshot injury,” he said.

In his testimony, Prof. Fafunwa who conducted the inquest revealed to a coroner that the banker died of gunshot wounds. The inquest was ordered by the Lagos state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Olasupo Shasore, SAN, following outcry by the family of the deceased that the police did not tell the truth about the death of their son. Shasore had, in a letter dated 30 December, 2008, said Awosika’s death had occurred in violent, suspicious and controversial circumstances.

The deceased was alleged to have been returning home on the night of 30 September, 2008, in a Kia Optima car registered GG 529 AAA, when he was killed. He was said to have been stopped by armed policemen at Lekki roundabout in Lagos, and was found dead the following day, 1 October. Testifying as the first witness in the matter, Fafunwa told the court that on examination of Awosika’s corpse, there was a slight distortion of the shape of Awosika’s skull with a wound around his forehead. ”Internal examination of the skull showed that something had passed through it.” There was also a wound behind the left ear, which gave an appearance of an exit wound, an indication that the missile would have come out of there. ”In addition, I observed several fractures in the skull and bleeding beneath the brain, as well as bleeding into the substance of the brain,’’ he said, adding that the report he got as to what led to the death of Awosika did not correspond with what he found out in the autopsy he carried out.” The report by the police was that the deceased died as a result of an accident while trying to escape from the police at Lekki roundabout. That his car somersaulted several times and went into flames,” he added.

The late Awosika’s elder brother, Abiodun, had raised suspicion about his brother’s gruesome death, arguing that the police lied by saying that he died in an accident. According to Abiodun, it was mind boggling to see his late brother’s car parked about 300 metres away from the scene of the alleged accident. “The police alleged that he ran onto their van and somersaulted at the Lekki first junction, but there was no evidence that such a thing happened, as my brother’s car couldn’t have run into them and somersaulted across such a wide roundabout to stand as a neatly parked car, 300 metres from the alleged scene of the accident, before exploding into flames,” On examination of the corpse of his brother, Abiodun said there was no indication that the deceased was involved in an accident, as there was no scratch or bruise on his body, save the bullet holes in his head. It was as if he was the victim of a hideous attack. Everyone who saw the body agreed so. His shirt was torn and taken off his body, likewise his pants, shoes, and other articles of clothing” he added.

In April, last year a similar coroner court sitting in Ikeja equally held the police responsible for the death of a herbalist, Mr. Samson Adekoya. It indicted one Inspector John Sawyer of the State Police Command for death of Adekoya and therefore ordered his arrest and prosecution for his failure to notify the authorities of the death of the deceased.

Few days after Adekoya was arrested and taken into custody over alleged conspiracy to commit armed robbery, he was reported dead. On inquiry by his family as to the cause of his death and the location of his corpse, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Sergeant Yakubu Adeniyi, informed the family that the deceased was rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja over an ailment that could neither be named nor described. He further advised the family not to bother searching for his corpse as their efforts will be a futile exercise. When the search for the deceased’s corpse at the LASUTH Emergency Ward and morgue by the family and a civil society organisation (CSO), Access to Justice proved futile as predicted by the IPO, Access to Justice instituted coroner inquest proceedings under the new Coroners System Law of Lagos State, 2007, before the Ikeja District Coroner, Mrs. Ipaye-Nwachukwu at Magistrate Court 23, Ikeja. At the inquest, the SARS Police officers changed their story. They abandoned their earlier account where they had claimed that the deceased took ill in custody and died at the LASUTH, and was later kept in preservative custody at the LASUTH morgue. During the inquest, they claimed that the deceased developed sudden epileptic feat while they (the police) were taking him to Ikorodu for further investigation. They claim he died at the premises of the Ikorodu General Hospital for lack of timely medical attention.

But contrary to their claims, the Deputy Medical Director of Ikorodu General Hospital, Dr. Mobolaji Olukoya, confirmed that the deceased was brought into the hospital dead at about 3.25 am on February 12, 2008. Olukoya tendered the “Extract from Police Crime Diary” dated February 11, 2008 (prepared by Inspector Sawyer) which remarkably indicated that the deceased died some seven hours before he was taken to Ikorodu General Hospital as corpse. Adekoya, the inquest established, died in police custody few days after he was arrested over alleged conspiracy to commit armed robbery as well as premeditated attempt to conceal his death. The inquest concluded that the police have a case to answer and noted that the testimony of the police and that of Dr. Olukoya did not tally. Yet, there are many more. In most cases, victims of police brutality and extra-judicial killings were randomly arrested on flimsy excuses. While some are arrested and detained indefinitely for “wandering” in their own neighbourhood many others innocent people are reportedly shot and killed for refusing to give them bribe as little as N20 or N50.

Extra judicial killing by police are carried out in different style and manner. ThisDay recorded that there are also chilling stories of “midnight-interrogations” by the police, where they illegally terminate the lives of persons detained in their custodial facilities. Reports from ex-inmates of SARS (Monitoring Unit) Cell, narrated the practice of calling out specific inmates at about midnight for interrogation. Investigation revealed that many of those called-out for interrogation never returned to the cell. In 2005, TheNEWS Magazine reported one of such cases. On 22 December 2005, Anthony Arinze Ozoezi, 38 was brutally murdered by Police. His alleged offence was walling in the cell, pleading that he should be freed to go and see his pregnant wife. But Ozoezi’s wails attracted no pity from his arresters at the People’s club police Station. Ozoezi was dragged out of the cell and never returned. “Because of his insistence, some policemen came and dragged him out and he never returned,” said an eyewitness, Alex obi. A few minutes after, gunshots rang out and a policeman was heard saying: “ya kare” (it is finished). After the incident, all the detainees in the cell were released. As it was gathered, Ozoezi was arrested, the same day he was shot, by some policemen while returning from a wedding ceremony. On arrest, he made a phone call to a relation, explaining that he was being taken to the Peoples Club Police Station for refusing to give them a bribe.

Four years ago, on 8 June, Nigerians woke up to the news of the killing of five young men and a woman by policemen in the Apo District of Abuja. The police in Abuja led by DCP Danjuma Ibrahim, in what is now referred to as “Apo Six,” branded five Igbo traders and their female friend as armed robbers and killed then extra-judicially in a most brutal manner. A Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Goodluck Olasumbo which later looked into the case found the force establishment and officers led by culpable for the tragic incident. The victims include Anthony Nwokike, Chinedu meniru, Ifeanyi Ozo and Isaac Ekene. Paul Ogbonna was said to have died later from wounds secured from the super cop’s assault on the spare part dealers while their female companion. Tina Arebun, Was finished off by another policeman, Ezekiel in an apparent bid to cover up their deed without a trace of evidence. Yet, Former senate president and vice presidential candidate in the April 19, 2003, election, Chuba Okadigbo, would go down as the most prominent victim of Ibrahim. Okadigbo along with other leaders of the All Nigeria Peoples party, ANPP, including the presidential candidate of the party, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, had organized a rally in Kano to protest the massive rigging that characterized the presidential election. The police detachment despatched to stop the rally was headed by Ibrahim. Poisonous tear gas was allegedly used by Ibrahim’s men on politicians. Okadigbo never lived to recount his experience as he died three days later from complications believed to have resulted from the poisonous teargas he inhaled.

On 1 October this year, Chief Michael Atuora the Ogazi I of Nise in Awka South L.G.A of Anambra State and the Managing Director of Barrywhite Furniture Limited and sergeant Harrison Ajayi Aigbobo were brutally murdered by police inspector Tahiru ali, attached to Abuja municipal area council, inspector Habila Maikefi said to be attached to the office of the inspector general of police, and constable Solomon Maikefi, attached to 44 PMF force headquarters Abuja at “Spotless Bar” located at Nyanya, Abuja. The offence of the deceased was that their cars were wrongly parked.

The list of victims of this hideous crime by the Police seems inexhaustible. There are the cases of Otenkwa Dele Udoh, a Nigerian star athlete preparing for international competition was shot death by a mobile policeman at Ojuelegba, a stone thro from the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Ijeoma Udebiuwa, an undergraduate of the University of Nigeria, UNN, Nsukka, whose father was a Permanent Secretary in the Federal Civil Service was murdered right before her friend at night in Nsukka. Colonel Rindam of the Nigeria Army was shot in Lagos just like Dr. Nwogu Okere, a media consultant. In the same vein, in May 1998, Samuel Chiagozie Obasi, was murdered at Opebi, Lagos on his thirtieth birthday as he was seeing off his sibling and cousins who had come to celebrate with him. Venue of the get together was his cousin Chris Nwosu’s (Later Managing Director of the defunct Universe & Trust Bank, UTB, residence on Salvation road, Opebi Ikeja-Lagos. His offence was that the celebrant pleaded ‘with stop and search policemen who were barking at his guests to take it easy. Ken Niweigha, a militant leader was killed within twenty-four hours in controversial circumstances. He was the alleged mastermind of the killings of twelve policemen, which eventually led to the Odi invasion in 1999. The police paraded him before journalists. He was also accused of trying to kill the Bayelsa state commissioner of Police, Mr. Onuoha Udeka and a team of policemen, coming back from Odi.

There are other records of thousands of unresolved cases of extra judicial killings by men and officers of the Nigeria Police and the most worrisome part of it is that the perpetrators are allegedly protected to continue in their heinousness. There is also the case involving one Osondu Obiajulu and his seven-month old son, Chukwudi. The pathetic and harrowing experience of Obiajulu and his infant son occurred at No ‘52 Makoko Road, Yaba, Lagos when a team of mobile policemen who were on the trail of prostitutes in the area, opened fire indiscriminately within the precincts of the Obiajulu’s residence. After the random explosions from their rifles, Obiajulu’s wife, Juliana who was dressing up after a bath in their one room apartment slumped on the bed, bleeding profusely from a bullet wound which tore through her jaw to her brain. Following alarm raised by Osondu and his neighbours, the culprit police officers took to their heels. In the aftermath of inquiries and apprehension of the culprit, (one Sergeant Matthew Morontonu), events following his arraignment under a criminal charge at the Yaba Magistrate Court proved to be a mockery of Nigeria’s criminal justice system. In what appeared like a deliberate frustration of the case by police authorities, both the suspect (Sgt Morontonu) and the IPO were transferred out of Lagos State. While the police prosecution at the court tardily allowed the case file to slip out of the court’s dockets. Obiajulu haplessly backed-off from the matter after three years of fruitless attempts at securing the prosecution of his late wife’s killer. Yusuf Mohammed, the leader of the Boko Haram uprising in July was also controversially killed after he was initially subdued and arrested during the fracas.

Recently, the Police Affairs Minister, Alhaji Ibrahim Lame while speaking at a seminar entitled “Behavioural Changes: The Police and the Emerging Nigerian Society,” in Ilorin, Kwara State, said in order to stem the tide of fatal incidents resulting from accidental discharge of firearms by police officers in the course of their duties, anyone seeking to join the force will henceforth undergo psychiatric test before being recruited.

Yet the Amnesty report is not the first damning report on the barbaric acts by the police in the country. In 2005, the Human Right Watch also released its findings on the inhuman acts of police against innocent and helpless citizens in the country. In its 76 pages report titled: “Rest in Pieces”, the HRW stated that despite reforms, the police routinely practice torture leaving numerous deaths in their custody. The report opined that

Since the end of military rule in 1999, the government has moved to take an increasingly influential position in Africa. Heralded on the international stage for his efforts to broker peace in regional conflicts, the government has taken some important steps to combat corruption and introduce economic reforms in Nigeria. The organisation further stated that the Government has not shown the same commitment to addressing human rights abuses, in particular widespread and persistent violations perpetrated by the security forces, most notably the police, military and other law enforcement agencies against persons they detain.. It stated that despite national and international law prohibiting the use of torture, a Human Rights Watch investigation in Nigeria in March 2005 found the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by the Nigerian Police Force to be widespread and routine. The organization stated that its investigation revealed that “the violations were perpetrated by and with the knowledge of senior police officers, including inspectors, divisional police officers, a deputy superintendent of police and a chief superintendent of police. So routine is the practice, that some of these senior officers are known within the police stations by the nickname “Officer in Charge Torture.”

The abuse that Human Rights Watch documented is carried out in local and state police stations, often in interrogation rooms which witnesses and victims said appeared to be especially equipped for the purpose. Victims and witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the forms of torture and other ill-treatment committed by the Nigerian police included the tying of arms and legs tightly behind the body, suspension by hands and legs from the ceiling or a pole, repeated and severe beatings with metal or wooden objects (including planks of wood, iron bars, and cable wire), resting of concrete blocks on the arms and back while suspended, spraying of tear gas in the face and eyes, rape of and other sexual violence against female detainees, use of pliers or electric shocks on the penis, shooting in the foot or leg, stoning, death threats, slapping and kicking with hands and boots and denial of food and water. The Right group stated that in the context of the research, it came across many other allegations of serious violations by the police, including extortion, arbitrary arrest, excessive periods of pre-trial detention, and extra-judicial executions, illustrating the deep-rooted problems that exist within the police and judicial system in the country.

It added that for decades, the police have betrayed their responsibility to protect Nigerian citizens and have instead preyed on them for economic gain. Indeed, the relationship between citizens and the police is very often characterized by brutality, confrontation and exploitation. Research conducted in 2000 by the Centre for Law Enforcement and Education (CLEEN), a Lagos based NGO, found that the use of violence by the police against citizens in Nigeria was widespread. Of 637 respondents to a survey carried out in fourteen states, 14.8 percent said they had been beaten by the police, 22.5 percent said police had threatened to shoot them in the past, and 73.2 percent said they had witnessed the police beating another person. A sample of 197 prison inmates, revealed higher figures of police abuse; 81 percent of respondents said they had been beaten or slapped and 39 percent burnt with hot objects.

The organisation noted that Patterns of police killings and excessive use of force include circumstances in which police obliged motorists stop at checkpoints and then shot those who refuse to pay bribes of as little as twenty naira (US$ 0.15).  For the average Nigerian, encounters with the police are negative and public confidence in the force is extremely low.

The Nigerian Constitution guarantees the right to life and the right to respect for dignity of the person including the right not to be subjected to torture. International conventions ratified by Nigeria, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations (U.N.) Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, also prohibit the use of torture. As defined in the U.N. Convention, Torture involves a number of key elements. It is an act by which severe mental or physical pain or suffering is intentionally inflicted against an individual, at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official. The purpose of which is to obtain information, or a confession, or punishment for an act the individual has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidation, coercion, or discrimination of any kind. A person may be tortured as punishment for an act committed, or suspected of being committed, by a third person. Despite these commitments and obligations by the Government of Nigeria, Human Rights Watch’s research shows a clear pattern of widespread torture of suspects in police custody, sometimes resulting in the victim’s death.

The problem is further made worse by the twin problem of the criminal justice system in the country and the high level of docility among the people. “The criminal justice system in Nigeria is in a state of paralysis, effectively unable to dispense justice in a fair and speedy manner. Every aspect of the system, from law enforcement to the judiciary, through to the prisons is characterized by a combination of inefficiency, corruption and lack of resources. Impunity is one of the biggest single obstacles to the reduction or eradication of torture and other serious abuses by police in Nigeria. The fact that in all but a handful of largely symbolic cases there has been no effort to ensure accountability for violations committed emboldens the perpetrators and has perpetuated the culture of violence in the Nigerian Police Force.” The organisation added that “one of the most challenging obstacles to the eradication of torture is the deeply engrained societal attitude to violence and the powers of the police. For many Nigerians, who have experienced years of oppression and brutality by military rulers, the use of violence by the institutions of the state is accepted, even seen as normal. Even where they know the police action was wrong and illegal, they appear to feel powerless to register a complaint or seek redress.” Human Right Watch said.

With the advent of ‘the information revolution,’ the importance and impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is being felt in all sectors of modern societies. From sports to business, politics or otherwise, ICT has increasingly added value to the quality of human life in today’s ‘information age’ in Africa and beyond.

Many countries on the continent are seemingly busy trying to implement what is known as the -‘E-governance’ project, an idea of making governments more accountable, transparent and responsive to the needs of their citizens by using ICT tools.

The tiny West African country of the Gambia is also struggling to add its name to the list of countries that have become ‘information-rich-societies’ in the ‘global village.’ Unknown to the majority of its 1.4million citizenry, the Gambian government launched its E-governance Project in 2005. The project was sponsored by the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA). One of the main aims of the project was to make ICT work in favor of democratic governance and economic development of the country.

But what does ICT and democratic governance really mean in practice for the common Gambian?

The West African country is led by a President who came to power through a military coup in 1994 and later transformed himself into a civilian leader, a President who does not believe in real democratic governance. Even though he allowed many democratic institutions like an electoral commission, a parliament and the judiciary to exist, he never gives them the much-needed freedom to operate. He appoints, harasses and sometimes dismisses members of such bodies in the country. All the supposed democratic institutions which should have provided checks and balance on his too much executive powers only exist in theory. The net effect is that the common man/woman in the Gambia is left wondering if he/she is really living in a democratic environment or not.

In the Gambia radio and television services are very popular and most effective in reaching out to the masses. This is due to the fact that about 68% percent of Gambian society hardly reads newspapers and so rely heavily on the electronic media particularly the state radio, ‘Radio Gambia’ has a nation-wide coverage, for their source of information. The only television station in the country is the ‘Gambia Television Service.’ It is established, run and firmly controlled by the President and his clique. Aside these, there is a cluster of commercial and community radio stations dotted across the country.

It is against this backdrop that the e-governance project is being implemented by a government that is intolerant to dissenting views and did not even allow the independent media and journalists to work freely. President Yahya Jammeh’s government believes in controlling information instead of its free flow. Since assuming power in 1994 and subsequent re-elections, Jammeh closed downed many private radio stations like the famous ‘Citizen FM’ and ‘Sud FM’ as well as the Banjul-based ‘Independent Newspaper.’ He also arrested and harassed scores of journalists just because they disagreed with his political philosophy and style of governance which he branded “African democracy.”

Many independent-minded Gambian journalists were also threatened and forced into exile. In realization of the need for effective use of ICTs, most of these journalists started their own on-line newspapers and radios to provide the much-needed impartial information on the country and the way it is governed. This has gone a long way in enabling the people to have relevant information to challenge the none-democratic nature of the present regime.

Source: Momodouh L. JAITEH, Gambian journalist.

Article produced in the framework of Haayo Call 3.

In South Africa, A Community Tackles Drug-Resistance Tuberculosis (TB) Through Community Care

 In Khayelitsha, South Africa, people are involved in a groundbreaking project on treating drug-resistant patients in the community rather than hospital.

Everyday hundreds of people throng ‘Site C Clinic’ in this township to collect their antiretrovirals, confirm TB tests or simply get check-ups.

For some, the trip to the clinic is a daily ritual because they have drug-resistant TB. They are part of a groundbreaking pilot project that is treating patients in their community, under strict infection control measures, rather than hospitalising them for months as is the traditional approach.

Higher Diagnosis and more Successful Treatment

The project is based on the premise that more patients can be diagnosed and successfully treated if they are supported in their homes, by their communities, rather than in hospitals.

Presiding over Site C is Busi Beko, who understands what her patients are going through. Beko is living with HIV and was herself hospitalised at Brooklyn, Cape Town’s chest hospital in 2006 after being diagnosed with drug-resistant TB. Beko can be seen negotiating her way through the throngs of people sitting on benches against the walls, some collapsed in the laps of their caregivers, others coughing behind thin, white, paper masks. She too has a protective face mask on.

Once outside, she pulls her mask down and walks to a group of women and men. They are members of a support group for drug-resistant TB patients, who meet weekly at Site C, under Beko’s guidance, to share challenges, fears and victories. In the open air, where the risk of transmission is almost zero, all the members of the group have their masks hanging around their necks. But once they go home they resume wearing masks.

Fears about TB Persist

This is not easy when people equate masks with TB, and TB with death. “I was thin and I was wearing the mask at home. My family was afraid of me. They wouldn’t let me come near the children,” says Noxolo Mrwetyana, 29, who arrived at Site C a year ago.

“The neighbours too would not let people come to my house. They would say: ‘That lady has big TB’,” adds Mrwetyana. Despite the stigma, the city of Cape Town and Médicines Sans Frontièrs (MSF) have made great strides in establishing a community-based drug-resistant TB programme in Khayelitsha — home to more than 500,000 people, over half of them unemployed.

Six Months in Hospital

The programme emerged as an urgent necessity as Brooklyn Hospital, is unable to cope with the numbers of TB drug-resistant patients. Brooklyn is also far away from Khayelitsha and not easy to reach via public transport. Many patients were unable to stay in the hospital for six months as required.

“The support group members tell me that this community treatment programme is helping a lot. How can they go to Brooklyn if they have kids and they are breadwinners? They tell me that if they were told to go to Brooklyn they would abscond or default [on treatment],” explains Beko.

Mother of two, 28-year-old Busiswa Mgqazolo agrees: “I gave birth to my second child while at Brooklyn and had to send him away. It was terrible. I could not see him often and when he visited, I had to wear a mask.”

“At hospital I saw a lot of people dying. It made me feel I was going to die as well,” recalls Mgqazolo, who was discharged from Brooklyn after three months and joined the community programme.

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases there were more than 24,000 documented cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) diagnosed over the four-year period from 2004 to 2008 in South Africa. Of these, seven percent were found to be infected with extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB strains.

Striking a Balance

In Khayelitsha of the nearly 6,000 people diagnosed with TB in 2008, 196 have been diagnosed with drug-resistant TB to date, a substantial increase from previous years. Experts believe the rise in figures is due to better case detection. Dr Cheryl McDermid, who oversees the pilot project in Khayelitsha, says it is tough to strike a balance, between conveying the seriousness of the treatment and the disease, while also giving the positive message that it can be cured.

“Treatment for drug-resistant TB comes with a tremendous amount of stigma. People know about XDR-TB and believe they are going to die when diagnosed with a drug-resistant strain. We need to break through that barrier,” says McDermid.

Dr Ivan Bromfield, Executive Director for Cape Town Health confirms that the standard way of treating patients in hospitals has become unsustainable. “Being hospitalised is a disincentive. I ask myself, would I be willing to give everything to go to a hospital for six months?”

“The stark reality is that patients, if managed in the community, are more likely to stick to their treatment.” However, he points out that it remains important that the project works in close consultation with the hospital, which is the best option for some patients.

Produced by Panoscope at the third STOP-TB Forum, Panos Global AIDS Programme

Kenyan Rice Farmers

From Famine To Feast

No more hunger, plentiful cheap food and small scale farmers living off the fat of the land. African activists say a continent self-sufficient in food is well within reach. But will this vision create long term problems for the continent’s poorest farmers?

Africa’s public image as a continent plagued by famine could become a thing of the past, says an influential group of African former heads of state, agro-scientists, academics and civil society activists. With the population of Africa expected to increase to 1.5 billion by 2020, a lobby group launched a bid in Cape Town this June, aimed at persuading governments on the continent to support the creation of regional “bread basket zones” in areas with good soil and high rainfall. The coalition is made up of 37 former African heads of state, Kenya-based NGO ‘Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa’ (AGRA) and South Africa-based think tank ‘African Monitor’, founded by Cape Town’s former Anglican Archbishop, Njongonkulu Ndungane, an outspoken critic of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s practices in Africa.

Donor Policies Led to Food Cuts

With the continent currently importing up to 50 per cent of its food, the bread basket strategy aims to move African farmers away from growing cash crops which most people don’t eat, like cocoa, tea and coffee, and towards farming staple foods such as rice, sweet potatoes, cassava, maize, and beans.

The strategy marks a departure from the economic policies of the 1980s and 1990s when the World Bank’s Structural Adjustment Programmes directed African governments to cut agricultural subsidies and encourage small scale farmers to grow cash crops for the export market. The high cost of fertilizers led many small scale farmers to fertilise their cash crops only, leading to a drop in the production of staple foods. Recently, the shift to biofuels, speculation in the commodities market and the rising cost of energy has compounded the problem, leaving countries like Uganda to face sharp price increases of up to 65 per cent for maize, their staple food.

Africa will Feed Itself

Dr Akin Adesina, AGRA’s Vice-President of policy and partnerships, says African countries could soon be feeding themselves instead of starving if governments invest in agriculture and encourage rural agro-dealerships. The Ghanaian government will formally launch the ‘bread basket transformation strategy’ project this November. The project aims to quadruple the amount of rice grown on  400,000 hectares of low lying land in Ghana’s northern region “simply by using the right kind of seeds, the right kind of fertilizer and better water management”, says Dr Adesina. Success would mean Ghana no longer spending US $500 million a year importing rice, but able to satisfy domestic demand and export rice to the rest of the world, raking in foreign currency instead. He says Mozambique’s northern region is also a natural breadbasket, where small-scale farmers are already having some success with a newly developed ‘high-yield’ orange flesh sweet potato containing high levels of vitamin A.

Goats in Northern Nigeria

Another popularly cited success story is Malawi, which was highly dependent on food aid until its government introduced a $60 million subsidy for maize production in 2004. The country immediately became a net exporter of the staple, and food prices dropped by over 30 per cent. Experts agree that Malawi remains a poor country, but its people are no longer starving. “The truth about the agricultural model anywhere in the world is that agriculture’s relationship with the rest of the economy justifies some form of subsidisation,” says Professor Mohammed Karaan, South Africa’s leading agro-economist, and Dean of the Faculty of AgriSciences at Stellenbosch University.

Dr Adesina goes further saying that surpluses of staple foods tend to drive down food prices and lead naturally to the development of regional markets. He says previously starving Malawi has proved his point by giving maize aid to neighbouring Lesotho and Swaziland.

What Price Increased Yields?

But a group of African civil society activists organising under the banners of GRAIN, and the ‘Community Alliance for Global Justice’, a US-based NGO, beg to differ. GRAIN says the increased yields promised in AGRA’s ‘bread basket’ areas will come at a price and the involvement of big business in increasing yields could undermine food sovereignty rather than promote it. They cite ‘green revolution’ tactics used in Asia in the 1970s, which employed large amounts of fertilisers and chemical pesticides, often leaving land degraded and leaving farmers dependent on pesticide manufacturers and seed suppliers.

Kenyan Farmers

AGRA and other ‘bread basket’ lobbyists such as Warren Nyamugasira, managing director of African Monitor point out  AGRA has never used or promoted GMOs. “The main reason African Monitor aligns with AGRA is that it promotes research and technology developed by African scientists,” says Nyamugasira. “We can hold the biodiversity for the world but it is of no use to us if we cannot deploy it to feed ourselves.  Organic farming alone is not feeding Africans, of whom 300 million go to bed hungry every night.”

The environmentalist wa Ngugi is not sure the debate hinges on whether Africa should go organic. “This is about the future of African food supply, and whether it should be corporatised or democratised,” he says, “That something as fundamental as food can be in the hands of corporations at a time when the world is reeling from unregulated corporate greed, is alarming.”