Biafrans Have Vainly Paid With Their Ingenuity, Subjected To Shame In The Quest To Get Nigeria Working

 Biafrans Have Vainly Paid With Their Ingenuity, Subjected To Shame In The Quest To Get Nigeria Working

The Biafran people are one of the three most populous ethnic groups in Nigeria. Without doubt, Biafrans are adjudged one of the most technically enclined race on earth. This is a fact established beyond argument, accurately demonstrated through all the 30-months of bloody genocidal war that could have wiped off the entire race. 

As Biafrans fought for survival in a war of existential threat orchestrated by Britain, they were cut off by the rest of the world, the inventive and innovative talent in them was put on display through creative constructions of monumental proportion such as Uli airport, including its repair in record time as it came under heavy bombardment multiple times and the ingenuity of Biafran engineers stretched under the most challenging conditions.

Biafrans are the most business adept tribe in Nigeria or possibly in Africa. They are renowned for taking the lead in entrepreneurial endeavors. The saying “a Biafran can turn a desert into a gold mine”, is an effort at explaining how productive Biafrans are. You must acknowledge that the Biafran people are indeed unique and positively, progressively different from other ethnic groups in Nigeria, with a predisposed commitment toward commerce and entrepreneurship. This is because Biafrans appear to have a higher tendency for taking the kind of risk that businesses and entrepreneurial endeavors present.

Aside God, excellence is the next thing Biafrans worship. This behavior is common in every field trip they make – whether it is commercial trade or academia, they exhibit great accomplishments in Nigeria or diaspora that cannot be attributed to chance. This serves as main reason why Anthropologists, after numerous investigations, conclude that Biafrans are culturally goal-oriented, individualistic and flexible people.

The Biafran people’s ‘live and let live’ mindset is wholly responsible for the developmental stride invested across Nigeria, to the detriment of their own region and in total lack of appreciation from the guised fellow citizens. It is common to find fellow countrymen torching the businesses owned by Biafrans, and taking the lives of Biafrans in some scenarios for no reason other than for being able to set a goal, accomplish it and being successful.

There have been several spontaneous crisis in the northern hemisphere of Nigeria leading to the loss of many Biafran lives before the war. And, after the over 3.5 million deaths in the genocidal war, religion has continued to be used as a guise to spill Biafran blood; sometimes it is caused by something as negligible as a joke or comedy about Prophet Muhammed. 

What the founder and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is going through in the hands of Federal government of Nigeria is the last straw that broke the camel’s back in the series of shameful treatments meted out to Biafrans.  And this begs for the question, ‘if Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is from Oduduwa or Arewa and the court gave order that he should be released and compensated, would the Nigeria government still have ignored as in Kanu(the Biafran's) case? Same question goes for the docile silence of Nigerian politicians of Biafran origin, who have failed to come out en masse to condemn the disobedience to an order from courts of competent jurisdiction.

What is clear is that by such treatments to Biafrans, Nigerian worsening existential condition has grown irredeemable. 

Written by Obulose Chidiebere

Edited by Chibueze Daniel

For Family Writers Press International

Abuja Federal High Court grants Kanu’s request to apply for access to doctor, medical records

   Abuja Federal High Court grants Kanu’s request to apply for access to doctor, medical records

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, granted the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, the permission to apply for an order of mandamus to compel the Department of State Service, DSS, to allow him to have unhindered access to his medical doctor.

Trial Justice Binta Nyako gave the ruling after she heard an ex-parte application the embattled IPOB leader filed through his team of lawyers led by Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN and Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor.

While adjourning the matter till February 21, the court, directed Kanu’s legal team to serve all the relevant processes on both the DSS and its Director General, who were cited as 1st and 2nd Respondents in the matter.

Kanu, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/ 2341/2022, said he would need his doctors to conduct an independent examination to ascertain his state of health.

Specifically, he is praying to the court for an order, granting him leave to, “apply for judicial review in the form of an order of Mandamus, compelling the Respondents to allow the Applicant unhindered access to his medical doctors to enable them to conduct an independent examination of his present deteriorating health condition, as earlier ordered by the Federal High Court, Abuja, Coram, Hon. Justice B.F.M. Nyako, on the 21st day of October 2021; and as required by the express provisions of section 7 of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017”.

As well as, “an order of this Honourable Court granting leave to the Applicant to apply for judicial review in the form of an order of Mandamus, compelling the Respondents to avail the Applicant with all his medical records, from the 29th day of June 2021, till date”.

Kanu listed some of the records he would require from the DSS, including; his admission records, medical and clinical notes, nursing notes, observation charts and documentation during treatment or stay-in-hospital, laboratory test results, pharmaceutical records, radiological scans, images and reports, blood transfusion records, physiotherapy and rehabilitative treatment records, clinical findings, as well as diagnosis and treatment prescribed records.

On grounds upon which he filed the application, Kanu, noted that trial Justice Nyako had on October 21, 2021, ordered that he should be allowed access to three persons of his choice, including his medical doctors.

Kanu argued that section 7 of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017, provided that a person arrested, detained or undergoing, custodial investigation, shall have the right to demand a physical and psychological examination by an independent and competent doctor of his own choice after interrogation, which shall be conducted outside the influence of the Police or security forces.

“The Respondents have repeatedly denied the Applicant access to medical doctors of his choice to independently examine him, contrary to the order of the court made on the 21st October, 2021; and the express provisions of Section 7 of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017”, he added.

In a verifying affidavit that was deposed to by one Chimmuanya Emenari, Kanu told the court that prior to the time he was arrested abducted in Kenya and extra-ordinarily rendered back to Nigeria, he visited a Specialist Cardiologist every week for medical examination and treatment.

“Medical Reports containing the medical history of the Applicant as was issued by medical specialists managing the Applicant before his abduction in Kenya and extraordinary rendition to Nigeria are hereby attached and variously marked as Exhibits MNK 3, MNK 4 and MNK 5.

“That notwithstanding the fact that the Applicant has been discharged by the appellate court and his further detention prohibited, the Applicant is still being held in solitary confinement in the custody of the Respondents, where he is exposed to daily mental and psychological torture and degradation of his human person”.

Kanu alleged that upon his “abduction” in Kenya, he was subjected to various forms of brutal torture and inhuman treatment and degradation, all of which worsened his health condition, pursuant to which he suffered a mild cardiac arrest before he was “smuggled back into Nigeria”.

“The Applicant’s health condition has continued to take a downward spiral since then.

“That various medical personnel that attended to the Applicant whilst in custody, had repeatedly informed him that they could not ascertain the reason for the depletion of potassium in the Applicant’s blood.

“That on various occasions, the medical personnel brought by the Respondents took the Applicant’s blood sample and allegedly transported same to South Africa for screening and up till the present, there is no end in sight for their trial-and-error medicare.

“That all medical experts that have so far attended to this complex health situation of the Applicant failed to medically fathom the explanation for the continued failure of various treatments so far given to the Applicant, hence their inquiries as to whether the Applicant may have been injected with a dangerous substance by those that abducted him in Kenya before being forcibly smuggled into Nigeria.

“That the medical personnel attending to the Applicant in the custody of the Respondents are oblivious of the cause of the Applicant’s health condition and are basically using the Applicant as a guinea pig while carrying out a trial-and-error exercise, as they keep changing his drugs and increasing the dosage without any improvement whatsoever in his health condition. Attached and marked as Exhibit MNK 6 is a copy of the Applicant’s medical report issued by the Respondents.

“That the full medical history of the Applicant as contained in his Medical file with the detaining authority were deliberately suppressed, as the facts of the speedy depletion in his potassium content was clearly deleted from the medical report which the Respondents issued to the Applicant.

“That the Applicant’s doctor- Dr. CFine Okorochukwu, who had gone to visit him on the 29th August, 2022, and 1st and 15th September, 2022, respectively, was denied access to him, by the Respondents, in flagrant disregard to the Order of the trial court, made on the 21st day of October, 2021, which order directed that the Applicant should be allowed access to three persons of his choice, which persons includes his doctors. Attached and marked as Exhibit MNK8 are copies of the letters forwarding the name of the Doctor to the Respondents.

“That following the continued refusal of the Respondents to allow the Applicant access to his medical doctor, on the 12th of December, 2022, the Applicant through his lead Counsel- Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN – wrote to the Respondents and demanded that the Applicant be given unhindered access to his own medical doctors; and further, for the Applicant’s comprehensive medical records. A copy of the said letter is hereby attached and marked as Exhibit MNK9.

“That the Respondents roundly ignored the Applicant’s request to be availed of his medical records, and access to his doctors”.

Kanu told the court that though the DSS refused to avail him with his medications despite his deteriorating health condition, on account of paucity of funds, it rejected N1million that was raised by his family.

It will be recalled that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had on October 13, 2022, quashed a 15-count terrorism charge the Federal Government entered against Kanu, even as it discharged him.

Following an appeal FG lodged before the Supreme Court, the appellate court, on October 28, 2022, granted a stay of execution of its judgement to await the decision of the apex court.

Source

The Worsening Health Of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Is Real And Not Politics- IPOB

  The Worsening Health Of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu Is Real And Not Politics- IPOB

IPOB PRESS RELEASE,

31/01/2023.

The global family and movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) under the Leadership and command of Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu, the Prophet wishes to draw the attention of the public to the press release from Nigeria DSS dismissing the worsening health of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi KANU and labeling IPOB's press releases as  political statements. We want to remind DSS and the public that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu's deteriorating health is true and can't be termed a political statement. Nigeria government and her secret police DSS are very much aware that Mazi Nnamdi KANU's health is failing him from their poisoning, denial of adequate medication for his known ailment and torture by means of starvation as he continues to be held illegality in the DSS in solitary confinement. 

We will not be distracted by the ranting contained in the DSS press statement released through anonymous persons attempting to  dismiss and play down the dire health condition of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra. The reason for this is to distract people from the alarm that has been raised on their intention  to systematically and covertly eliminate our leader. The Nigeria government should know by now that IPOB has zero interest in Nigeria politics. The government can play politics with anything but not with the life of our leader.

The DSS should explain why they have refused Mazi Nnamdi KANU access to a doctor since the second week of December 2022. Why has he not been allowed to take his drugs according to prescription? It's on record that Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu KANU is very sick, and he is dying slowly in the DSS solitary confinement. IPOB members worldwide and Ndigbo will not accept any explanation from anyone if anything should happen to him. 

We insist that Mazi Nnamdi KANU has been poisoned inside DSS solitary confinement, we maintain our position. If DSS is denying this, we demand that DSS allow IPOB leadership and lawyers to bring independent medical specialists to conduct comprehensive medical tests on our leader Mazi Nnamdi KANU. 

Alternatively, the DSS Director should take Mazi Nnamdi KANU to a hospital for a comprehensive medical test, and the  test result should be made public. We demand to know why the food he eats comes out from his mouth and why he smells his stomach ordor from his mouth. 

Anybody else giving counter press releases saying that Mazi Nnamdi KANU is not poisoned must know that if anything untoward happens to him, he or she will understand that this is not an issue of brother or sister. Such heartless fellows will be visited by Biafrans as enemies. 

Mazi Nnamdi KANU is an institution. He is not representing his family but Biafrans. He was not abducted, illegally renditioned, and detained because of his family background. No, it was because he demanded for Biafra to be granted referendum and freedom.

Therefore, the fight for his release is a national assignment for all Biafrans and lovers of freedom and not just for those who may be related to him by blood. 

We reiterate our demand on the Nigerian government to urgently and unconditionally release Mazi Nnamdi KANU as ruled by the Nigerian Appeal Court ordering his discharge and acquittal since October 13, 2022, so that we can secure proper medical examination for him to avoid the unexpected. Mazi Nnamdi KANU is not part of Nigerian politics and therefore the Nigeria government MUST not toy with his life. Mazi represents the existence and future of over 80 million Biafrans. Many have given up their lives for him, and many are ready to do the same again if duty calls. A stitch in time saves nine.

COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL, MEDIA, AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.

Kanu needs urgent advanced medical treatment--lawyer

  Kanu needs urgent advanced medical treatment--lawyer

Counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Monday, said that the detained leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu’s health condition has continued to deteriorate in the detention facility of the Directorate of State Services, DSS and "needs urgent advanced medical treatment"

Ejiofor stated this after they visited Kanu at the DSS detention centre, in Abuja with the IPOB Lead  Counsel - Professor Mike Ozekome, SAN,CON, OFR.

The statement read below 

UPDATE ON TODAY'S VISIT TO OUR INDEFATIGABLE CLIENT – ONYENDU MAZI NNAMDI KANU- AT THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE SERVICES (DSS), ABUJA, WHERE HE IS STILL BEING ILLEGALLY AND UNCONSTITUTIONALLY DETAINED IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT:

Today’s visit to our indefatigable Client – Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu- at the DSS detention facility, Abuja, where he is still being unconstitutionally held, was led by our erudite Lead  Counsel - Professor Mike Ozekome, SAN,CON, OFR.

Our indefatigable Lead Counsel seized the opportunity offered by the visit to discuss the present health condition of Onyendu. Onyendu carefully narrated to him the non-provision of proper medical care to the barrage of life-threatening illnesses he is faced with. 

Of very particular concern is the fact that the DSS have no adequate medical facilities to treat Onyendu's deteriorating health condition.  Onyendu seriously lamented about severe pains particularly on his left ear. He also recounted that a previous scan at the instance of the SSS revealed that he must undergo an advanced surgical procedure to repair his left ear drum that has become greatly impaired by the severe torture and beating he received from agents of the Federal Government when he was forcibly kidnapped in Kenya and savagely renditioned back to Nigeria in June, 2021.

Generally, Onyendu needs urgent advanced medical treatment and surgical operation to address his deteriorating health condition,especially on his left ear. He narrated how the DSS doctor had emphatically told him that if after 45 days from November 18,2022,when he was examined, his case had not improved, then he must undergo immediate surgery to save whatever remains of his left ear. 

He lamented that several reminders and pleas that the DSS carried out their own medical doctor's instructions have met a brick wall. Being held in a solitary confinement, the DSS has also bluntly refused him access to his private doctor for independent medical assessment as ordered by the court.

Our legal Iroko, Ozekhome, painstakingly took comprehensive notes of Onyendu's entire medical concerns and has immediately swung into action with full legal initiatives to forestall any untoward eventualities. The man of letters spent quality time in his briefing with Onyendu, as he  updated Onyendu on the current status of our appeal before the Supreme Court which the Federal Government is deliberately forestalling.

In view of the length of time allotted to our erudite Lead Counsel for this all-important briefing, and considering the overall time limit for the visit which does not even permit a joint conference of two lawyers with Onyendu's, I could not personally meet with Onyendu today. I will therfore meet with him on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the suit which we had earlier filed to compel the Department of State Services and its Director General, to allow Onyendu access to his medical doctors and medical records comes up this week before the Federal High Court, Abuja.

As usual, Onyendu thanked you all, millions of his irrepressible followers and dogged supporters for standing shoulder- to- shoulder with him in this trying period. 

He is thankful, more importantly, for your unceasing prayers, even as he urged you all to continue to sustain the prevailing peaceful tempo as you have always done.

Thank you all, Ezigbo UmuChineke, and remain blessed now and forever more.

We move!

Signed:

Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq. (KSC)

IPOB's Lead Counsel

30th January, 2023.

Disregard poison Rumour – Kanu's Family tells Public

 Disregard poison Rumour – Kanu's Family tells Public 

The family of the detained Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has urged members of the public, to discountenance the voice note circulating in the social media, alleging that the IPOB Leader has been poisoned.

Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel told our Correspondent that he, along with Kanu’s lawyers, on Thursday, met with the IPOB Leader at the Abuja headquarters of the Department of State Services, DSS, where he is currently detained.

He said his brother did not tell him he was poisoned as at Thursday when they met last, but promised to find out the true situation on Monday, January 30, when he said he hoped to visit him again.

Kanu’s brother wondered how the story of the alleged poisoning began, and cautioned against fake news.

Prince Emmanuel urged Kanu’s followers, Biafrans and members of the public not to take laws into their hands but to remain calm as he hoped to see and hear from his brother again on Monday.

Kanu’s brother had posted on his Facebook page the outcome of the Thursday’s meeting with him.

The post read: ” I Met with Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in the company of Evangelist ,and Barr Nnaemeka Ejiofor, at Department of State Services, Abuja.

“As always ,we focused more on victories recorded and way forward .He maintained that this struggle for liberation remains a collective fight and thanked those who have not betrayed the struggle.

“He said Nigeria has continuously flouted the orders of her own court and such will never be tolerated in IPOB. Those who attack this noble structure were not there when it was built and can never be brought down

“This movement is devine .To me, IPOB is a huge achievement for our people and for men and women of good conscience .We have come that humanity may be set free”.

Meanwhile, the voice note which is currently trending on the social media claimed that Kanu had been poisoned in detention, urging ‘Biafrans’ to go on rampage in protest.

Source

IPOB Is Against The Government, We don’t expect anything Good from them, Nnamdi Kanu Is treated well---DSS Says

  IPOB Is Against The Government, We don’t expect anything Good from them, Nnamdi Kanu Is treated well---DSS Says

The Department of State Services, DSS, has dismissed reports of poisoning Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in its custody.

DSS said the issue with Kanu was not political; hence Nigerians should discountenance the report of poisoning.

There have been reports that DSS was poisoning Kanu in its custody.

It was claimed that some youths are planning to burn down government properties in the Southeast.

In line with this claim, IPOB accused DSS of secretly and systematically trying to kill Kanu by denying him access to his medical doctors.

However, an operative of DSS who spoke exclusively with DAILY POST on the ground of anonymity, said Kanu is being treated well.

He said: “Nnamdi Kanu can’t be denied access to his doctors, and what is happening to him is political. Even if the prisoner is a hardened criminal, we treat him well, so Kanu’s case is not different.

“There is no truth in the claim that DSS is poisoning Kanu; it’s all a lie – he has access to his doctors. However, he has his medical issues, but he is not denied access to his doctors.

“You know we should not expect anything good from IPOB, their issue and agenda are against the government so disregard all these reports.”

One Nigeria With Two Justice Systems, One For The Poor And The Other For The Rich

   One Nigeria With Two Justice Systems, One For The Poor And The Other For The Rich

A justice system that allows a man to be sentenced to death for stealing N57,000, while those who looted public treasuries are allowed to walk free, needs a swift overhaul, Lillian Okenwa writes

On January 28, 2013, an Abuja High Court exposed the hypocrisy of the Nigerian justice system when it sentenced one John Yakubu Yusufu, standing trial on charges of stealing N32.8 billion in the Police Pension scam to two years imprisonment on each of three charges, and then offered him an option of N250,000 fine on each count. The former Assistant Director in the Police Pension Office simply paid the N750,000 fine and walked away. But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) went on appeal.

Delivering judgment, Justice Emmanuel Agim of the Appeal Court, as he then was, made some observations: “The sentence does not show that it was influenced by considerations of the impact of the crime on the society or consideration of the nature of the crime… The offence committed by the respondent, by its nature, involves a grave breach of public trust, erodes public confidence in public governance, and causes retired police officers hardship and suffering…

“The ridiculously low monetary sentence as against the mind-blowing and massive amount of over N24 billion stolen helps the convict to effortlessly pay the fine and avoid the pain of punishment for his crime while retaining the proceeds of his crime…”

Then in April 2022 when President Muhammadu Buhari granted state pardon to Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame, former governors of Plateau and Taraba states who had been convicted for stealing N1.16 billion and N1.6 billion respectively, from their state treasuries while they were in office between 1999 and 2007, a human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to free all prisoners who had been jailed for stealing.

Falana contended that by Section 17 of the 1999 Constitution, citizens were entitled to equal rights and opportunities in which case state pardon should be extended to all prisoners who are serving jail terms for stealing.

Prior to these, a former Governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion was charged by the EFCC in January 2008 for siphoning over $25 million of public funds. He eventually pleaded guilty. When he was convicted along with his company in 2008 on 27 counts of money laundering, the trial judge, Abdullahi Kafarati handed down a light sentence that excluded jail term. Igbinedion paid the equivalent of a N3 million fine, agreed to forfeit some of his properties and walked away.

While the rich thieves continually get slapped on the wrist, helpless Nigerians were shocked a few days over the mind-boggling death sentence passed on a 32-year-old vulcaniser by an Ikeja Special Offences Court presided over by Justice Mojisola Dada for stealing N57,000. For robbing a nurse of N57,000 Justice Mojisola Dada sentenced Chidozie Onyinchiz, to death by hanging. The question on the lips of bewildered Nigerians is: Why are politicians and public servants who over the years impoverished and literally snuffed life out of Nigerians allowed to walk free?

Justice Dada said the convict’s attempt to wriggle out of the charges was futile. This, she said, was because he had earlier confirmed to the police at Igando, Lagos, that his victim, Veronica Uwayzor sighted him and they both recognised each other at the time of the offence.

According to Justice Dada: “The defendant had stated that the complainant pointed at him as one of the boys armed with a pair of scissors and forcefully snatched her bag containing N57,000 at Akesan Bus Stop. The complainant had stated that neither the defendant nor his accomplice, Ediri Endurance, (still at large) wore masks which made it possible for her to easily recognise Onyinchiz a few hours after the robbery. The first statement of the defendant which he made at Igando Police Station confirmed that he and Ediri went to Akesan Bus Stop on the day of the robbery…

“The totality of the evidence before the court is compelling and I find the defendant guilty of the charges preferred against him. He is hereby sentenced to death by hanging and may God have mercy on his soul.”

And so the thieving vulcaniser faces a violent death by hanging while those that have impoverished Nigerians, enriched themselves through outright looting of public funds and brazenly weaponised poverty are celebrated. But as observed by a former President of the Civil Liberties Organisation, Ayo Obe, “it was the armed robbery element that attracted the (mandatory) death penalty, rather than the amount stolen. Privileged thieves arm themselves with pens and computers, but oddly enough, these are not considered weapons …”

Moreover, since laws are made by the ruling class in order to fortify their position in the society, these powerful people make, amend, review and generally tinker with legislations, with a view to preserve their own interests.

Daily, people are randomly arrested and hauled into overflowing prisons for ridiculous reasons, while known criminals are left alone. This group of persons constitutes the greatest number of Awaiting Trial Inmates (ATIs) across the country. Ola, a panel beater who recently regained his liberty after eight years in prison for failing to stop suspected criminals being pursued by soldiers in Lagos, was one of those unfortunate Nigerians. When the soldiers eventually handed him over to the police, he was charged for armed robbery.

Back to the issue of high-profile crime; in August 2021, an anti-corruption watchdog, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) filed an action at Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the failure of the anti-graft agencies to effectively check massive corruption in government, which according to the group, had hampered government’s ability to meet the needs of citizens.

In December 2022, another group, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA Resource Centre), threatened to sue the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria over its failure to investigate and sanction the suspended Accountant General of the Federation, Idris Ahmed, who is being prosecuted by the EFCC over the allegation of N80 billion fraud. Nigerians await the conclusion of the matter and many more. In the meantime, small-time thieves are being shown the way out of the world just for using weapons as ridiculous as scissors. Some of their compatriots who are lucky are also swelling up the prisons.

As Falana said, “Criminal conversion of billions is worse than armed robbery. In 1974, Fela sang in his record, ‘Authority Stealing’ that ‘pen robbery is worse than armed robbery.’ Today, the few people who steal the billions earmarked for development pave the way for armed robbery, unemployment and poverty.”

In Nigeria today, the two basic legislations that deal with crime are the Criminal Code (applicable to the southern states in Nigeria) and the Penal Code (applicable in the 19 northern states). These two legislations which were promulgated in 1902 and 1960, respectively, have become very obsolete. From 1999, EFCC, ICPC, among others, were added to criminal justice. These agencies however focus on corruption-induced matters.

Notwithstanding, now more than ever is time to reform the criminal justice system. Now more than ever, is the time the Nigerian law Reform Commission (NLRC) on whose shoulders rest the reform and update of obsolete laws, rises up to its responsibility to do the needful.

• Okenwa is a journalist, lawyer and Publisher of Law & Society Magazine.

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