Text-Video-Speech By President Obama to the Ghanaian Parliament

By President Barack Obama | 11 Jul 2009

THE PRESIDENT: (Trumpet plays.) I like this. Thank you. Thank you. I think Congress needs one of those horns. (Laughter.) That sounds pretty good. Sounds like Louis Armstrong back there. (Laughter.)

Good afternoon, everybody. It is a great honor for me to be in Accra and to speak to the representatives of the people of Ghana. (Applause.) I am deeply grateful for the welcome that I’ve received, as are Michelle and Malia and Sasha Obama. Ghana’s history is rich, the ties between our two countries are strong, and I am proud that this is my first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as President of the United States of America. (Applause.)

I want to thank Madam Speaker and all the members of the House of Representatives for hosting us today. I want to thank President Mills for his outstanding leadership. To the former Presidents—Jerry Rawlings, former President Kufuor—Vice President, Chief Justice—thanks to all of you for your extraordinary hospitality and the wonderful institutions that you’ve built here in Ghana.

I’m speaking to you at the end of a long trip. I began in Russia for a summit between two great powers. I traveled to Italy for a meeting of the world’s leading economies. And I’ve come here to Ghana for a simple reason: The 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra, as well. (Applause.)

This is the simple truth of a time when the boundaries between people are overwhelmed by our connections. Your prosperity can expand America’s prosperity. Your health and security can contribute to the world’s health and security. And the strength of your democracy can help advance human rights for people everywhere.

So I do not see the countries and peoples of Africa as a world apart; I see Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world—(applause)—as partners with America on behalf of the future we want for all of our children. That partnership must be grounded in mutual responsibility and mutual respect. And that is what I want to speak with you about today.

We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans.

I say this knowing full well the tragic past that has sometimes haunted this part of the world. After all, I have the blood of Africa within me, and my family’s—(applause)—my family’s own story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story.

Some you know my grandfather was a cook for the British in Kenya, and though he was a respected elder in his village, his employers called him “boy” for much of his life. He was on the periphery of Kenya’s liberation struggles, but he was still imprisoned briefly during repressive times. In his life, colonialism wasn’t simply the creation of unnatural borders or unfair terms of trade—it was something experienced personally, day after day, year after year.

My father grew up herding goats in a tiny village, an impossible distance away from the American universities where he would come to get an education. He came of age at a moment of extraordinary promise for Africa. The struggles of his own father’s generation were giving birth to new nations, beginning right here in Ghana. (Applause.) Africans were educating and asserting themselves in new ways, and history was on the move.

But despite the progress that has been made—and there has been considerable progress in many parts of Africa—we also know that much of that promise has yet to be fulfilled. Countries like Kenya had a per capita economy larger than South Korea’s when I was born. They have badly been outpaced. Disease and conflict have ravaged parts of the African continent.

In many places, the hope of my father’s generation gave way to cynicism, even despair. Now, it’s easy to point fingers and to pin the blame of these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense helped to breed conflict. The West has often approached Africa as a patron or a source of resources rather than a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. In my father’s life, it was partly tribalism and patronage and nepotism in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is still a daily fact of life for far too many.

Now, we know that’s also not the whole story. Here in Ghana, you show us a face of Africa that is too often overlooked by a world that sees only tragedy or a need for charity. The people of Ghana have worked hard to put democracy on a firmer footing, with repeated peaceful transfers of power even in the wake of closely contested elections. (Applause.) And by the way, can I say that for that the minority deserves as much credit as the majority. (Applause.) And with improved governance and an emerging civil society, Ghana’s economy has shown impressive rates of growth. (Applause.)

This progress may lack the drama of 20th century liberation struggles, but make no mistake: It will ultimately be more significant. For just as it is important to emerge from the control of other nations, it is even more important to build one’s own nation.

So I believe that this moment is just as promising for Ghana and for Africa as the moment when my father came of age and new nations were being born. This is a new moment of great promise. Only this time, we’ve learned that it will not be giants like Nkrumah and Kenyatta who will determine Africa’s future. Instead, it will be you—the men and women in Ghana’s parliament—(applause)—the people you represent. It will be the young people brimming with talent and energy and hope who can claim the future that so many in previous generations never realized.

Now, to realize that promise, we must first recognize the fundamental truth that you have given life to in Ghana: Development depends on good governance. (Applause.)  That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That’s the change that can unlock Africa’s potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans.

As for America and the West, our commitment must be measured by more than just the dollars we spend. I’ve pledged substantial increases in our foreign assistance, which is in Africa’s interests and America’s interests. But the true sign of success is not whether we are a source of perpetual aid that helps people scrape by—it’s whether we are partners in building the capacity for transformational change. (Applause.)

This mutual responsibility must be the foundation of our partnership. And today, I’ll focus on four areas that are critical to the future of Africa and the entire developing world: democracy, opportunity, health, and the peaceful resolution of conflict.

First, we must support strong and sustainable democratic governments. (Applause.)

As I said in Cairo, each nation gives life to democracy in its own way, and in line with its own traditions. But history offers a clear verdict: Governments that respect the will of their own people, that govern by consent and not coercion, are more prosperous, they are more stable, and more successful than governments that do not.

This is about more than just holding elections. It’s also about what happens between elections. (Applause.) Repression can take many forms, and too many nations, even those that have elections, are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves—(applause)—or if police—if police can be bought off by drug traffickers. (Applause.) No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top—(applause)—or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. (Applause.) That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there. And now is the time for that style of governance to end. (Applause.)

In the 21st century, capable, reliable, and transparent institutions are the key to success—strong parliaments; honest police forces; independent judges—(applause); an independent press; a vibrant private sector; a civil society. (Applause.) Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in people’s everyday lives.

Now, time and again, Ghanaians have chosen constitutional rule over autocracy, and shown a democratic spirit that allows the energy of your people to break through. (Applause.) We see that in leaders who accept defeat graciously—the fact that President Mills’ opponents were standing beside him last night to greet me when I came off the plane spoke volumes about Ghana—(applause); victors who resist calls to wield power against the opposition in unfair ways. We see that spirit in courageous journalists like Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who risked his life to report the truth. We see it in police like Patience Quaye, who helped prosecute the first human trafficker in Ghana. (Applause.) We see it in the young people who are speaking up against patronage, and participating in the political process.

Across Africa, we’ve seen countless examples of people taking control of their destiny, and making change from the bottom up. We saw it in Kenya, where civil society and business came together to help stop post-election violence. We saw it in South Africa, where over three-quarters of the country voted in the recent election—the fourth since the end of Apartheid. We saw it in Zimbabwe, where the Election Support Network braved brutal repression to stand up for the principle that a person’s vote is their sacred right.

Now, make no mistake: History is on the side of these brave Africans, not with those who use coups or change constitutions to stay in power. (Applause.) Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions. (Applause.)

Now, America will not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation. The essential truth of democracy is that each nation determines its own destiny. But what America will do is increase assistance for responsible individuals and responsible institutions, with a focus on supporting good governance—on parliaments, which check abuses of power and ensure that opposition voices are heard—(applause); on the rule of law, which ensures the equal administration of justice; on civic participation, so that young people get involved; and on concrete solutions to corruption like forensic accounting and automating services—(applause)—strengthening hotlines, protecting whistle-blowers to advance transparency and accountability.

And we provide this support. I have directed my administration to give greater attention to corruption in our human rights reports. People everywhere should have the right to start a business or get an education without paying a bribe. (Applause.) We have a responsibility to support those who act responsibly and to isolate those who don’t, and that is exactly what America will do.

Now, this leads directly to our second area of partnership: supporting development that provides opportunity for more people.

With better governance, I have no doubt that Africa holds the promise of a broader base of prosperity. Witness the extraordinary success of Africans in my country, America. They’re doing very well. So they’ve got the talent, they’ve got the entrepreneurial spirit. The question is, how do we make sure that they’re succeeding here in their home countries? The continent is rich in natural resources. And from cell phone entrepreneurs to small farmers, Africans have shown the capacity and commitment to create their own opportunities. But old habits must also be broken. Dependence on commodities—or a single export—has a tendency to concentrate wealth in the hands of the few, and leaves people too vulnerable to downturns.

So in Ghana, for instance, oil brings great opportunities, and you have been very responsible in preparing for new revenue. But as so many Ghanaians know, oil cannot simply become the new cocoa. From South Korea to Singapore, history shows that countries thrive when they invest in their people and in their infrastructure—(applause); when they promote multiple export industries, develop a skilled workforce, and create space for small and medium-sized businesses that create jobs.

As Africans reach for this promise, America will be more responsible in extending our hand. By cutting costs that go to Western consultants and administration, we want to put more resources in the hands of those who need it, while training people to do more for themselves. (Applause.) That’s why our $3.5 billion food security initiative is focused on new methods and technologies for farmers—not simply sending American producers or goods to Africa. Aid is not an end in itself. The purpose of foreign assistance must be creating the conditions where it’s no longer needed. I want to see Ghanaians not only self-sufficient in food, I want to see you exporting food to other countries and earning money. You can do that. (Applause.)

Now, America can also do more to promote trade and investment. Wealthy nations must open our doors to goods and services from Africa in a meaningful way. That will be a commitment of my administration. And where there is good governance, we can broaden prosperity through public-private partnerships that invest in better roads and electricity; capacity-building that trains people to grow a business; financial services that reach not just the cities but also the poor and rural areas. This is also in our own interests—for if people are lifted out of poverty and wealth is created in Africa, guess what? New markets will open up for our own goods. So it’s good for both.

One area that holds out both undeniable peril and extraordinary promise is energy. Africa gives off less greenhouse gas than any other part of the world, but it is the most threatened by climate change. A warming planet will spread disease, shrink water resources, and deplete crops, creating conditions that produce more famine and more conflict. All of us—particularly the developed world—have a responsibility to slow these trends—through mitigation, and by changing the way that we use energy. But we can also work with Africans to turn this crisis into opportunity.

Together, we can partner on behalf of our planet and prosperity, and help countries increase access to power while skipping—leapfrogging the dirtier phase of development. Think about it: Across Africa, there is bountiful wind and solar power; geothermal energy and biofuels. From the Rift Valley to the North African deserts; from the Western coasts to South Africa’s crops—Africa’s boundless natural gifts can generate its own power, while exporting profitable, clean energy abroad.

These steps are about more than growth numbers on a balance sheet. They’re about whether a young person with an education can get a job that supports a family; a farmer can transfer their goods to market; an entrepreneur with a good idea can start a business. It’s about the dignity of work; it’s about the opportunity that must exist for Africans in the 21st century.

Just as governance is vital to opportunity, it’s also critical to the third area I want to talk about: strengthening public health.

In recent years, enormous progress has been made in parts of Africa. Far more people are living productively with HIV/AIDS, and getting the drugs they need. I just saw a wonderful clinic and hospital that is focused particularly on maternal health. But too many still die from diseases that shouldn’t kill them. When children are being killed because of a mosquito bite, and mothers are dying in childbirth, then we know that more progress must be made.

Yet because of incentives—often provided by donor nations—many African doctors and nurses go overseas, or work for programs that focus on a single disease. And this creates gaps in primary care and basic prevention. Meanwhile, individual Africans also have to make responsible choices that prevent the spread of disease, while promoting public health in their communities and countries.

So across Africa, we see examples of people tackling these problems. In Nigeria, an Interfaith effort of Christians and Muslims has set an example of cooperation to confront malaria. Here in Ghana and across Africa, we see innovative ideas for filling gaps in care—for instance, through E-Health initiatives that allow doctors in big cities to support those in small towns.

America will support these efforts through a comprehensive, global health strategy, because in the 21st century, we are called to act by our conscience but also by our common interest, because when a child dies of a preventable disease in Accra, that diminishes us everywhere. And when disease goes unchecked in any corner of the world, we know that it can spread across oceans and continents.

And that’s why my administration has committed $63 billion to meet these challenges—$63 billion. (Applause.) Building on the strong efforts of President Bush, we will carry forward the fight against HIV/AIDS. We will pursue the goal of ending deaths from malaria and tuberculosis, and we will work to eradicate polio. (Applause.) We will fight—we will fight neglected tropical disease. And we won’t confront illnesses in isolation—we will invest in public health systems that promote wellness and focus on the health of mothers and children. (Applause.)

Now, as we partner on behalf of a healthier future, we must also stop the destruction that comes not from illness, but from human beings—and so the final area that I will address is conflict.

Let me be clear: Africa is not the crude caricature of a continent at perpetual war. But if we are honest, for far too many Africans, conflict is a part of life, as constant as the sun. There are wars over land and wars over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes.

These conflicts are a millstone around Africa’s neck. Now, we all have many identities—of tribe and ethnicity; of religion and nationality. But defining oneself in opposition to someone who belongs to a different tribe, or who worships a different prophet, has no place in the 21st century. (Applause.) Africa’s diversity should be a source of strength, not a cause for division. We are all God’s children. We all share common aspirations—to live in peace and security; to access education and opportunity; to love our families and our communities and our faith. That is our common humanity.

That is why we must stand up to inhumanity in our midst. It is never justified—never justifiable to target innocents in the name of ideology. (Applause.) It is the death sentence of a society to force children to kill in wars. It is the ultimate mark of criminality and cowardice to condemn women to relentless and systemic rape. We must bear witness to the value of every child in Darfur and the dignity of every woman in the Congo. No faith or culture should condone the outrages against them. And all of us must strive for the peace and security necessary for progress.

Africans are standing up for this future. Here, too, in Ghana we are seeing you help point the way forward. Ghanaians should take pride in your contributions to peacekeeping from Congo to Liberia to Lebanon—(applause)—and your efforts to resist the scourge of the drug trade. (Applause.) We welcome the steps that are being taken by organizations like the African Union and ECOWAS to better resolve conflicts, to keep the peace, and support those in need. And we encourage the vision of a strong, regional security architecture that can bring effective, transnational forces to bear when needed.

America has a responsibility to work with you as a partner to advance this vision, not just with words, but with support that strengthens African capacity. When there’s a genocide in Darfur or terrorists in Somalia, these are not simply African problems—they are global security challenges, and they demand a global response.

And that’s why we stand ready to partner through diplomacy and technical assistance and logistical support, and we will stand behind efforts to hold war criminals accountable. And let me be clear: Our Africa Command is focused not on establishing a foothold in the continent, but on confronting these common challenges to advance the security of America, Africa, and the world. (Applause.)

In Moscow, I spoke of the need for an international system where the universal rights of human beings are respected, and violations of those rights are opposed. And that must include a commitment to support those who resolve conflicts peacefully, to sanction and stop those who don’t, and to help those who have suffered. But ultimately, it will be vibrant democracies like Botswana and Ghana which roll back the causes of conflict and advance the frontiers of peace and prosperity.

As I said earlier, Africa’s future is up to Africans. The people of Africa are ready to claim that future. And in my country, African Americans—including so many recent immigrants—have thrived in every sector of society. We’ve done so despite a difficult past, and we’ve drawn strength from our African heritage. With strong institutions and a strong will, I know that Africans can live their dreams in Nairobi and Lagos, Kigali, Kinshasa, Harare, and right here in Accra. (Applause.)

You know, 52 years ago, the eyes of the world were on Ghana. And a young preacher named Martin Luther King traveled here, to Accra, to watch the Union Jack come down and the Ghanaian flag go up. This was before the march on Washington or the success of the civil rights movement in my country. Dr. King was asked how he felt while watching the birth of a nation. And he said: “It renews my conviction in the ultimate triumph of justice.”

Now that triumph must be won once more, and it must be won by you. (Applause.) And I am particularly speaking to the young people all across Africa and right here in Ghana. In places like Ghana, young people make up over half of the population.

And here is what you must know: The world will be what you make of it. You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities, and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, and end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can—(applause)—because in this moment, history is on the move.

But these things can only be done if all of you take responsibility for your future. And it won’t be easy. It will take time and effort. There will be suffering and setbacks. But I can promise you this: America will be with you every step of the way—as a partner, as a friend. (Applause.) Opportunity won’t come from any other place, though. It must come from the decisions that all of you make, the things that you do, the hope that you hold in your heart.

Ghana, freedom is your inheritance. Now, it is your responsibility to build upon freedom’s foundation. And if you do, we will look back years from now to places like Accra and say this was the time when the promise was realized; this was the moment when prosperity was forged, when pain was overcome, and a new era of progress began. This can be the time when we witness the triumph of justice once more.Yes we can. Thank you very much. God bless you.  Thank you. (Applause.)

Ghana: Obama Visit Should Highlight Rights
US Should Encourage New Leader to Promote Democracy and Justice in Africa
By Human Rights Watch, July 8, 2009

(New York) - United States President Barack Obama should use his visit to Ghana on July 10 and 11, 2009 to encourage its new president, John Atta Mills, to take a leadership position in Africa on issues of democracy and justice, Human Rights Watch said today.

Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress took office in January 2009 in a peaceful transition after defeating Nana Akufo-Addo, the candidate of the then-ruling New Patriotic Party in a presidential election. According to the US administration, Obama chose Ghana for his first official visit as president to a sub-Saharan African country to show the US government’s support for countries that respect the basic rights of citizens to freely choose their representatives and hold them accountable.

“Ghana’s progress on human rights is commendable, but it will have little meaning if left as an isolated example,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “President Obama should encourage Ghana to promote abroad what it practices at home.”

In contrast with recent elections in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Angola, Ghana’s were relatively free and fair, and benefitted from independent monitoring and management. Unlike recent elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe, the ruling New Patriotic Party accepted the verdict of the people and conceded defeat.

Obama should also use the visit to stress the importance of criminal prosecutions of those responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity

, Human Rights Watch said. Serious crimes in violation of international law continue to be committed on the African continent - including in Sudan, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Obama should state publicly that bringing those who commit the gravest crimes to justice is vital for victims and to achieving sustainable peace.

“President Obama will have a chance in Ghana to show his support for a country that is doing things right and to encourage President Atta Mills to provide strong leadership on issues of democracy and human rights,” Gagnon said. “In particular, Obama should make clear the importance his administration attaches to justice for victims of atrocities.”

At the recent African Union summit that took place in Sirte, Libya, the AU decided that its members should withhold cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the arrest and surrender of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir because the UN Security Council has not deferred his case before the ICC. The UN Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005 and the ICC issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes in March 2009. Obama should encourage Ghana’s new president to reaffirm his country’s clear commitment to justice for the most serious crimes, including through cooperation with the ICC, to which Ghana is a state party.

In the wider context, Ghana should be using its seat on the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to strengthen global human rights mechanisms, Human Rights Watch said. Atta Mills should explain why his government voted in May 2009 to prevent an international investigation of war crimes by all parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka. 

Obama’s visit also allows the new Ghanaian government to make clear its commitment to genuinely free, fair, and transparent elections in West Africa - Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Mauritania all go to the polls in the coming months.

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A Pack Of Unsolved Murders
The Nigerian political landscape is strewn with murder cases, bungled by the Nigeria Police.
Here is why

By Ademola Adegbamigbe
TheNews, July 06, 2009 12:22

Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, after he became President in 2007, directed the Inspector- General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, to re-open investigations into murder cases that were inconclusive, especially high profile ones. With an almost emphatic knock on his desk, Yar’Adua instructed his number one cop to continue the probe “until there are breakthroughs”.

In the words of the President, “the attraction for crime in the country is due in part to the fact that investigations are rarely ever concluded, and culprits are most often, never found by the security agencies, even in high-profile cases like assassination of prominent people in the society.”

Many Nigerians were happy that all the high profile cases that had, like corpses, been buried, though with their legs sticking out, would be disinterred, a situation that would bring culprits to justice and serve as a deterrent to would-be political assassins and other desperados. In other words, an opportunity had been offered to revisit the murder of the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige; the former National Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the South-South zone, Chief Aminosaori Kala Dikibo; his predecessor in office, Dr. Marshal Harry and the Lagos State PDP gubernatorial candidate in the 2003 general elections, Engr. Funso Williams.

Others are the former Chairman of the Onitsha branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Chief Barnabas Igwe and his wife, Abigail; the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, Mr. Dele Giwa; Chief Alfred Rewane; Dr. Ayodeji Daramola, a politician in Ekiti State; Professor Peller; the Apo Six; Suliat Adedeji, an Ibadan politician; Tony Ikhazoboh and others.

The move to commence fresh investigations into these cases, according to The Sun editorial in 2007, was a breather and invariably offered “a glimmer of hope in a land where people have given up on these assassinations and taken matters like these as normal occurrences.” The seeming inability of the police to unravel the murders, the tabloid argued, apparently emboldens the perpetrators of these dastardly crimes to commit more.

Since President Yar’Adua gave that order, the Police, as always, have been pussyfooting.  That was why the tabloid advocated the setting up of an Independent Judicial Commission of Inquiry to be headed by a reputable retired jurist not below the rank of Appeal Court Judge.

 

Chief Bola Ige - a sitting Attorney General

Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige, was murdered in his Ibadan home on 23 December 2001. One of the assassins allegedly phoned Alhaji Kayode Adekojo, one of Chief Ige’s aides, threatening that “we are coming after your master, Bola Ige”. The man told this magazine in January 2002 that he went straight to meet and warn the late politician at his Solemilia Court on Akinlabi Close, Bodija,  Ibadan where he was planning to travel to Esa Oke, his hometown, to spend Christmas. He reportedly told Adekojo that any threat to his life could be taken care of in the town.  Chief Ige was more concerned about conveying his elder brother, Chief George Ige who was ill, from his abode at Isaac Kalejaye Street in Fadeyi, Lagos, to Ibadan for medical attention, an arrangement that made the former minister to shift his trip to Esa Oke till the following day, Monday.

The previous day, Chief Ige had left Lagos and arrived Ibadan around 8.30 pm with his elder brother. As this magazine reported then, his security men, a cop, a State Security Service, SSS, personnel and a protocol officer told their boss that they were going to eat outside.

In their absence, three assassins entered Ige’s house and held the residents hostage:  his son, Muyiwa; wife, Justice Atinuke Ige;  and George Ige, a sick man whom his brother brought from Lagos for medical treatment. The hoodlums allegedly locked them in a room,  while one of them dashed for Chief Ige’s bedroom where he pumped hot lead into the old man at a point blank range. The assailants disappeared into the night. And by the time the family members made for Chief Ige’s room, they discovered the man, spread-eagled on the floor. His family rushed him to Ward D 8 of the Catholic Hospital, Oluyoro where he died.

Earlier, on 15 December 2001, when the late Stella Obasanjo was installed as the Yeye Oranmiyan of Ife by the Ooni of the city, Oba Okunade Sijuade, Ife youths had embarrassed Ige at the palace, venue of the ceremony. Iyiola Omisore, an Ife son and former deputy governor to Bisi Akande, the helmsman at Osun State then, who was full of bile for what he considered Ige’s manipulation of the governorship succession which did not favour him told Tempo, our defunct sister publication, that Chief Ige “should count himself lucky that he escaped. The people are angry. My people are not happy with what is happening. And they have the right to fight for their son”. Omisore added with glee:  “Bola Ige came on radio here to insult me and my family. This is the last one…” But Omisore was to later claim that Tempo quoted him out of context. At the funeral ceremony of the slain Justice Minister, Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka alleged that the assassination of Chief Ige was a high-wired conspiracy, planned and executed by powerful people in authority. The funeral of Ige drew the high and the mighty. At the Liberty Stadium venue of the ceremony, Soyinka told Nigerians that “those who killed Ige are right here among us.’’

On 26 December 2001, the Nigeria Police vowed to commence a full scale investigation into what it called the “callous killing of the Attorney-General”. In the words of the Chief Superitendent of Police, CSP, Oyeleye, some powerful investigators under the leadership of an Assistant Inspector-General, AIG, Mrs Abimbola Ojomo, Head of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, would handle the case.

Ojomo got cracking, making use of Assistant Commissioner of Police Amusa Bello, who was the boss of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. The Police went to work in Ibadan, Osogbo and Ife, interrogating and detaining Omisore and his sidekicks at Alagbon office of the FCID. Adebayo Damola alias Fryo, who accused Omisore of approaching him to take the assignment of killing Ige, also revealed to Festus Keyamo, a Lagos lawyer, that those backing Omisore during the crisis were in Aso Rock.

What baffled many Nigerians was that Omisore, a prime suspect in the case, contested for senatorial election in detention, and won. In June 2003 he was sworn in as Senator of the Federal Republic. That was after Justice Olagoke Ige, who presided over the case,  granted the plea of Omisore as argued by his lawyer, Mr. Kunle Kalejaiye.

The withdrawal from the case by Justice Moshood Abbas, making him the third in a row of those who quit, was another spanner in the works in the matter. After the withdrawal of two justices, he ordered the detention of Omisore, after he was given bail. At a time when Nigerians thought progress would be made, he relinquished the case, a development that baffled many critics. The first judge that threw in the towel was Justice Atilade Ojo, because the defence accused him of favouring the Ige camp. The second judge that followed this path was Justice Olagoke Ige who granted Omisore bail to enable him attend his swearing-in ceremony as senator. For this reason, Ige’s lawyers asked him to hand over the case to the Chief Judge of the state. In other words, within six months, the case moved from Justices Ojo to Ige, Abbas and Akin Sanda.

Not a few Nigerians wondered how Omisore got an Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC form. That was in spite of the misgivings of the then Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairman, Audu Ogbeh and secretary, Vincent Ogbulafor that Omisore, given the case on his neck, might constitute a political liability.

Then matters took a savage turn when Chief Ige’s security guard, Andrew Olotu, declared in court after Omisore’s victory that he (Olotu) was tortured to implicate Omisore. But this was denied by Bello who reportedly recorded Olotu’s confessions.

Atinuke, wife of the late politician,  who had been weighed down by all the unsavoury developments, died of heart attack on 4 October 2003.

Alfred Rewane

Chief Alfred Rewane, a nationalist and member of the National Democratic Coalition,  NADECO, was killed at his 100 Oduduwa Crescent, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos home on 6 October 1995.

The old man was preparing for the annual general meeting of Ovaltine Nigeria Limited of which he was chairman when some assassins approached his securty guard outside. They came in a vehicle carrying the logo of Life Flour Mill, Sapele, a company owned by the chief. They showed the security man a letter which they insisted must be personally delivered to Rewane.

When they gained entry, they shot the chief in the chest. Before his death, Rewane was a thorn in the flesh of the military, publishing paid advertisements against the establishment. In one of the publications, he berated the settlement culture instituted by former military president, Ibrahim Babangida. He came down hard on the military leader in yet another publication for expending over N30 billion on the 12 June 1993 election which he annulled.

However, on 2 October the same year, a group, called “Committee of Friends” wrote a statement, entitled “Rewane, IBB and Public Accountability”, which stated that Rewane was just one of the desperate elements in the country who exploited their closeness to others to becloud their own ugly past. “He should take this–the scathing write-up–as number one,” the committee said. The number two happened to be Chief Rewane’s murder.

In a piece, entitled Nigeria’s False Federalism, published in the Vanguard of 10 October 2005, Chief Anthony Enahoro narrated how he and his colleagues, after the gruesome autopsy report on Rewane, demanded that the federal government should invite the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, the United Kingdom’s Scotland Yard and the Interpol for the investigation “ if the military regime had nothing to hide”. As Enahoro put it: “The regime’s spokesman replied that the Nigeria Police was competent to solve the crime. .. But our reaction was that the police were confronted not merely by a challenge to their competence regarding which there was considerable doubt, even more by the test of their will and by a burden of fearless and dispassionate investigation which the involvement of the state security agents would render very difficult, if not impossible to discharge.”

Enahoro argued that in order to prove him and others wrong, the Police rounded up Rewane’s domestic staff. They were: Ola Obanuso, Sylvester Iyabele, Sunday Ogbeide,  Akeem Alli and Sunday Obanobi. These five were to die in detention. Others who are still alive are Lucky Igbinovia, Effiong Elemi and Elvis Irenuna who, last week, before a Lagos High Court, gave detailed account of how the late elder statesman was killed and the police forced them to make confessional statements. According to Irenuna when he was cross examined by the defence counsel, Moses Odiri, he was employed as an ‘office boy’  but later turned a driver. He added that he was beaten up and forced to sign a confessional statement written by the police.

“I did not make any confessional statement to the police. When we were taken to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Simeon Igbinogbere, a Superintendent of Police, Inspector Oloye and ASP Zakari Biu said I should cooperate with them, that other suspects had confessed already.

“When I refused, I was asked to be taken to the ‘theatre’, where they stripped me of my shoes and shirt and tied my legs and hands backwards and suspended me on a Peugeot 504 propeller and began to hit me severally. My Lord, the pain was terrible and I began to cry. Yet I refused to sign the prepared confessional statement. But when they threatened to shoot me, I got scared and signed.”

Funso Williams.

Funso Williams, an engineer and governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party,  PDP in Lagos State in 2003 , was assassinated at his 184 A Corporation Drive, Dolphin Estate residence, on 27 July 2006.

After attending a peace meeting with politicians like Musiliu Obanikoro, Adeseye Ogunlewe, Chief Olabode George and others on 26 July, Williams went to OPIC Plaza on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja for a dinner in honour of Chief Alaba Williams, another PDP top notcher. Engineer Williams arrived his home at 9.30 pm and hosted another PDP meeting that extended to 1.00am the following day.

Perhaps, his attackers had been hiding in the premises when the meeting was going on.  Thereafter, they made into his room and attacked him with a knife. His chauffeur, simply called Omot, told this magazine then: “Everything was disorganised in the three rooms. His computer was on the floor, [so also were his] shoes, pillows,  clothes and bedsheets. And in the corner of the room near the computer was my boss in the pool of his blood, with his hands and legs tied. I could not believe my eyes, I had to raise an alarm.”

This attracted Williams’ media assistant, Frank Ozoegbuna and security details. They were to constitute the first set of suspects dragged to the Adeniji-Adele police Station.
One of the first callers at the scene was the then Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero, who vowed that the culprits would be apprehended. Indeed, the Police high command sought the assistance of Scotland Yard. But something happened. The Nigeria Police destroyed the evidence by their refusal to cordon off the murder scene, allowing visitors to superimpose their fingerprints on all objects. Even Nigerian cops were not left out in this destruction of evidence.

In a recent interview he granted this magazine, Tunji Alapini, who just retired as AIG,  said that he was aware that sometime ago, the present IG, Mike Okiro, made some moves to train some cops abroad as forensic analysts and whatever. “Well, training them is one thing, while giving them the tools to work with is another. I remember the last time I was watching television when my cousin, Funsho Williams, was killed. I saw a lot of people in the place. I was telling my friend while watching TV that it was not the right way to treat a murder scene. You find governors and top officers coming to visit. I just said to myself: ‘what is this?’ And since then we have had many similar cases and what you see there are policemen, civilians, sympathisers, spectators, trampling on evidence.  And when that one came up the first thing those they brought from abroad said was ‘what are we coming to investigate here when evidence has been destroyed and everything’.”

He, therefore, urged the Nigeria Police to train people in the area of forensic examination so that when they are needed they can be called together to fashion out what is required in terms of investigation. “But there is a limit to what you can suggest. If it is convenient they (government) will take it. If it is not convenient they may not take it and there is nothing you can do more than to just resign…” Alapini added.  Since then, the Police have not been able to nab Williams’ murderers.

The Apo Six

In 2005, the country was thrown into shock when men of the Abuja Command of the Nigeria Police between the night of 7 and morning of 8 June, dispatched five young men and a lady, all aged between 21 and 25, to the world beyond in what perhaps remains the worst extra-judicial killing by the men in uniform till date. The murdered young men –  Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony Nwekeke, Ifeanyi Ozor, Chinedu Meniru, Isaac Ekene – and Augustina Arebon, the only lady among them who was visiting from Lagos, were later to be tagged “Apo Six”, a reference to the area of Federal Capital Territory where the young men were selling spare parts before the unfortunate incident.

As the story went,  Ozor had driven his visiting girlfriend, Augustina and his four other friends to a relaxation spot on the night of 7 June 2005.  On their way back, they were said to have been confronted by some police officers on a road block at the popular Gambiya Street in the same Area 11.  An officer who was one of the two teams involved in the killing, Haruna Mahmoud, before the Justice Olasunmbo Tribunal set up by government to investigate the killings, narrated how he watched his boss, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Danjuma send the six Igbo traders who were inside a Peugeot 406 car to their untimely deaths with an AK 47 rifle. Danjuma was the Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Operations in charge of the Federal Capital Territory Command before the incident. Mahmoud who was attached to Garki Police Station before the incident, said he was on stop and search patrol duty along with Inspector Suleiman Audu, the leader of the team, one Yakubu Filibus and Ibrahim Garba. He said they were informed at about 11 O’ clock that night from the police control room that some armed robbers were operating at Crown Guest House. He said they went after the robbers, but returned later to their duty post when they discovered that the robbers had escaped. Mahmoud said Danjuma, who was dressed in mufti, later came to meet them in his BMW car with registration number DR 05 RBC.

Mahmoud said Danjuma then gave instruction that they should stop and thoroughly search any car coming from Gimbiyat Street with three or more occupants.  Few minutes after the instruction, the police constable said they saw a car coming from Gimbiyat. He said the occupants refused to heed police instructions that they should stop. Instead,  the driver of the car attempted to outwit the policemen by swerving from one side of the road to the other to evade obstacles placed on the road to stop vehicles.

“DCP Danjuma, watching from his car whose engine was running, moved his car to the road to block them. The swerving from right to left, left to right continued until the driver of the car slightly hit the rear bumper of DCP Danjuma’s car. When they hit his car from the rear, DCP Danjuma ordered Inspector Suleiman leading us to open fire on them. He simply told him: ‘Inspector, fire.’ That was when DCP Danjuma was opening his car to come out,” Mahmoud said. “Immediately, the driver of the car, a 406 saloon, reversed back,” he added. He said Danjuma repeated the instruction to Suleiman, who refused. “DCP Danjuma then snatched his rifle and he opened fire on the 406 car. He was shooting from the centre pavement of the road. He later moved closer to the 406 car again, raining bullets on it at a very close range. While the bullets were being rained on the vehicle,  the 406 car, which was already on reverse, was moving back, uncontrolled, until it hit a flower and stopped. The DCP stopped firing when the ammunition in the AK 47 rifle he was using finished,” Mahmoud said.

“From where we were, DCP Danjuma called us to come and search the car. We moved to the car and I opened the driver’s side while Ibrahim Garba opened the other side,” he said,  noting that the lady and the driver of the car were able to come out on their own. But he said the four people at the back of the car were covered in blood and were unable to come out of the vehicle on their own. The brain of one of them had shattered.”  Nevertheless, he said, Danjuma asked them to search the car for incriminating items, but nothing was found inside it.

“About five minutes later, I saw Alpha 2 Patrol team. Three police officers were on the team. They came in a police ALGON jeep. Danjuma spoke in Hausa to them that “these are those who terrorise the town. The bad boys, men of the underworld”. Bakoji drove the ALGON jeep to the scene. He opened the back door of the Jeep for the girl and the driver of the 406 saloon car to enter. The driver was assisted to enter the jeep because of a serious injury on his left chest. Glaysius, another member of the Alpha 2 Patrol team,  started the engine of the 406 car, after tying the vehicle to the ALGON jeep, it was towed to the station. My boss on our patrol team, Inspector Suleiman later went with DCP Danjuma in his private BMW car to the Garki Police station to report the incident,”  Mahmoud said on how they left the scene of the incident. The police constable who said he remained at the duty post added that when he eventually returned to Garki police station around 6 O’clock that morning, he saw four men and the only girl among them lying motionless, with the vehicle parked inside the station. He said the then Garki Divisional Police Officer, Othman Abdulsalam, who they met on their return to the station, asked them to write a statement about the event. I wrote what I witnessed…  and gave the statement to the DPO.

“But when he went through the statements we wrote, he tore them out of anger. He said that was not how we should write it, saying this is a matter of life and death. He said we should not expose a senior police officer. He also said that if we try to say the truth, by the time we may need them in future, we may not get their assistance,” Mahmoud said. According to the testimony of the other officers, Danjuma, in cahoots with Othman,  early that morning drove Arebun and occupants of the car who had not completely given up the ghost to a remote location in the FCT, where they snuffed life out of them. But they did not stop at that. They also planted guns in the bullet-riddled car and arranged for the bodies to be photographed, with claims that the deceased men were dangerous armed robbers that were killed in a shootout with the police. Their bodies were then taken to a remote bush of Abuja for burial.

However, in the process of doing this, some traders from Apo who had gone to the same area to ease themselves saw the policemen and were able to identify some of the alleged robbers as their colleagues. “My friend was going to the bush, to go to the toilet, when he saw the police digging a hole and preparing to bury some people. They recognised my brother. When the police said they were armed robbers, no one believed them – they knew my brother was not like that. When I arrived at work, word had spread, but I didn’t know. I arrived and everyone was looking at me,” Elvis Ozor, one of the traders, said in a recent interview on how the plan by the police to brand the victims as robbers was fortuitously foiled.

Anthony Nwokike, one of the men inside the car, was also reported to have called one Edwin Meniru around 1am in spite of his injuries, to report that Ifeanyi Ozor, the driver of their car, had been shot in a confrontation with the police and that another occupant, Chinedu, was wounded but still alive as at then. The story spread.

It later led to a riot by the Apo community and strong demand, especially by the Igbo in Abuja, for justice in the matter. The then Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero was forced to set up a special investigation panel on the matter. The federal government, in August 2005, set up the Justice Goodluck Olasumbo judicial commission to examine all issues connected with the killings in its entirety in response to public opinion. “The full weight of the law will be brought to bear on all who are found to have been involved in the perpetration of this heinous crime,” former President Olusegun Obasanjo said during the inauguration of the commission.

During the commission’s sittings, the other five officers accused of the murders and eight other police witnesses were emphatic that Danjuma ordered the killings. After 50 days of sitting, the commission ordered for the exhumation and post-mortem examination of the bodies of the Apo Six traders to determine the cause of their death and as a further confirmation of the testimonies it had heard from witnesses. The report of the autopsy confirmed that the six victims died of injuries due to “high velocity missiles,”  consistent with the AK 47 rifle. The policemen, the commission discovered, had deliberately shot five of the victims to death instantly, while the sixth and only female among them was killed to ensure that there was no witness to their atrocities alive. The commission therefore found the policemen guilty and dismissed the robbery allegation that they had tried to hang on the necks of their victims. The commission also awarded a compensation package of N240 million to the families of the killed six.

Though the panel did not have power to impose sanctions on the indicted police officers, it however recommended their prosecution to serve as a deterrent and prevent future occurrence of such incidents. The federal government accepted its report and issued a draft white paper on it. The six indicted officers – Deputy Commissioner of Police Danjuma Ibrahim,  Chief Superintendent of Police Othman Abdulsalam, Assistant Superintendent of Police Nicholas Zakaria, Police Constable Ezekiel Acheneje, Police Constable Baba Emmanuel and Police Constable Sadiq Salami – were subsequently arraigned   before Justice Ishaq Bello of the High Court of FCT on a nine-count-charge of criminal conspiracy, punishable under Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code and punishable with death under Section 221 (a) of the Penal Code. But the prosecution of the case has been moving at less than snail speed.

Meanwhile, Othman, one of the accused persons, has escaped from police custody. There are allegations that he is walking free on the streets of Abuja, while other sources indicate that he might have been killed to cover up the crime. Emmanuel Ojukwu,  spokesperson of the Nigeria Police, however, said recently that the police are still looking for the accused:  “The man has escaped. But it is now our duty to look for him wherever he is. He killed a Nigerian. Anybody who kills should face justice. It is the responsibility of every Nigerian to look for a murderer who kills any Nigerian so as to bring him to book. Do not leave it to the police alone.” Danjuma Ibrahim has been on bail since August 2006 on the excuse that he is suffering from diabetes.  In the ongoing trial, the police officer has however insisted that the Apo Six were killed in a gun battle. Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, Danjuma’s lawyer, also accused the prosecution of deliberately setting his client up for indictment by dropping charges against some police officers in return for their implicating Danjuma in their testimonies.  Three other accused officers have also been granted bail in very curious circumstances.

There are fears that the case is being deliberately stalled so that it will eventually fade from public consciousness and the charges dismissed. “People believe that by frustrating a case, they frustrate the witnesses and even frustrate the court and the public will even forget about the case and witnesses will lose interest and the matter will be struck out,” Chris Uche, SAN, one of the lawyers prosecuting the case on behalf of Federal Government said in a recent interview. He said that deliberately prolonging the trial which should not have lasted more than six months appears to be one of the strategies of the defence counsel.Elvis Ozor who is a brother to one of the victims told the British Broadcasting Corporation that with the way the case has been going, only God can give the Apo Six and their families justice. The turning point for him, he said, was when the chief accused in the killings was granted bail: “When Danjuma was released, I forgot everything about the case. The only way justice will be delivered is from God.”

Mr. Monday Ndor

Unknown to most Nigerians, the political assassination in Rivers State actually started with the murder of Mr. Monday Ndor, representing Khana One constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly. He was a stalwart of All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP. He had just returned from Taabaa, his village in Khana Local Government Area of the state.  Trailed by gunmen in a Mercedes Benz at about 6pm when he was entering his house, the assassins pumped bullets into him. As usual, homicide detectives from the Rivers State Police headquarters swung into action, vowing that they would uncover those who carried out the dastardly act. The   case, as usual, has been consigned into the dusty archives of cases of unresolved murders.

Dr. Marshall Harry

In the case of the late Dr. Marshall Harry, former ANPP national vice chairman, three days before his death, he alleged in a petition to the Rivers State Commissioner of Police that the then state governor, Dr. Peter Odili, wanted to disrupt the flag-off of the ANPP presidential campaign in Port Harcourt.In the letter which he copied then President Olusegun Obasanjo and security chiefs, Harry made a number of weighty allegations against the Rivers State governor, whom he accused of trying to frustrate and intimidate ANPP members.
Harry advertised his leter in the media, claiming that Odili should be held responsible in the event of any riots and disruption of public peace occurring in Rivers State.  Harry went further that elections in a democracy are about winning and losing. In the developed world, it is seen as a healthy contest where winners and losers shake hands after elections. “But here in Rivers State, and Nigeria, most of the people who call themselves democrats are nothing but intolerant dictators who are full of mischief, who are bent on misusing power at the expense of the people they are supposed to protect.”  The ANPP chieftain further alleged that On Tuesday, 25 February 2003, they applied to the Rivers State Stadia Authority for permission to use the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt for the flag-off of the ANPP Presidential campaign rally. He said they were told that for the stadium to be made available for use, the party must pay N7.5 million –N2.5 million was the fee, while N5million was security deposit. The politician claimed that two weeks earlier the ruling PDP used the same arena after paying only N800,000.  Harry lamented further: “We consider this sudden rise in cost as outrageous and a plan to frustrate the planned rally. Since we started the preparation for the presidential flag-off campaign, we have noticed a high spate of arrests, intimidation, harassment and maiming of our party officials, candidates and supporters by Odili’s thugs with the assistance of the Police.”

The ANPP chief also accused the PDP of being behind the detention of Chief Ibe Eresia Eke, an ANPP national officer, on trumped-up charges of attempted murder for which he was refused bail; Deacon Elekwa, the House of Representatives candidate for Emohua/lkwerre constituency, and Monday Nyoneh, the party chairman of Tai Local Government Area. Mr. I. Benjamin, the Ward 11 chairman of Delga L.G.A. was also under detention by the Police in Degema Local Government Area.“Information reaching us reveals that there is calculated attempt to truncate and abort the flag-off of the Presidential Campaign Rally of ANPP in Rivers State. Let us state it clearly now that we shall refuse to be harassed and intimidated,’’ Harry maintained. Harry who had been a member of the kitchen cabinet of Odili before their political disagreement, perhaps had a premonition of his death.

According to an eyewitness account, he was murdered by unknown gunmen at his 28 Karaye Close, Garki II, Abuja on 5 March 2003 in the presence of his daughter and his niece,  Loliya Harry. The security guard in the house, Mr. Polini Aniya, said the assailants,  numbering about five, forced their way into his residence at about 3am. He said: “I was in my room by the gate side when I heard some movements in the compound.” According to him, when he came out to confirm what was happening, the gunmen caught up with him,  flashed the lights of their torches on his face and tied him up with a rope.

The security man narrated further: “They tore my bedsheet and tied me. They asked me to give them money and I told them I don’t have money. So they went to the Boys’ Quarters.”  There, the gunmen took almost an hour struggling to gain entry into the main building where Harry was sleeping in his bedroom. Mr. Aniya said the assassins woke up everybody in the house and seized their mobile phones.Although Aniya did not state specifically the number of people at the boys’ quarters, he said the assassins also collected some money from those they found sleeping there. The gunmen, the security guard further disclosed, forced their way into the main building after they broke into the kitchen in the main building.

Immediately afterwards, the gunmen began to ransack all the rooms on the ground floor of the house even as Harry’s bedroom was upstairs. While this was going on, Aniya said, one of the assassins climbed into the ceiling and walked through it until he broke into the bedroom of Chief Harry. He said that happened after they failed to break through the doors. The security guard further narrated to a section of the press that when the gunmen broke into the main house and were engaged in verbal exchange with Harry’s relations, the chief came out of the balcony of his room and was shouting for help,  perhaps expecting his neighbours to come to their rescue. According to the guard, Harry came out on the balcony and was shouting: “Thieves, thieves, assassins, they came to kill me. Isn’t there anybody to help us?”

A few minutes after Harry got back to his room, one of the five assassins who broke and climbed into the ceiling had gotten to the ANPP chieftain’s bedroom, “and we heard gun shots twice. That was all”, Aniya revealed.

The assassins were said to have fled through the residence’s backdoor exit.

Both the gateman and Miss. Loliya said though they could not contact the police while the suspected assassins were in the house, the police, however, arrived at the house after the killers had left. The Police high command under the former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, said from preliminary investigation, the top politician was killed by armed robbers, not assassins. However, the family immediately reacted by claiming that their father was politically assassinated by those who could not stomach his strong political beliefs. Barely a month after Harry’s death, the police arrested some suspects and came up with the usual story of armed robbery. The police even told a story of a N20 million cheque that the politician was supposed to cash for the organisation of the ANPP rally in Port-Harcourt. According to the police, the robbers,  acting on insider-information had gone for the money in Harry’s home, and not finding it, shot him. The ‘robbers’ had ‘confessed’, the police said when it paraded them before television cameras and brandished the uncashed N20 million cheque as supporting evidence.

On their part, the ANPP under the Chairmanship of Chief Don Etiebet, in a statement issued on 5 March 2003, accused PDP of masterminding the death of the politician.The statement recalled the fears earlier expressed by the assassinated politician that the ruling party in the state was planning to kill him, as documented in his petition to the Police and President Olusegun Obasanjo.The leadership of the PDP, in a swift reaction said it received with rude shock and disbelief, the gruesome murder of Marshall Harry. A press release signed by the then national publicity secretary of the party, Venatius Ikem, described the murder as an act capable of truncating our nascent democracy.

Chief Aminasoari Kala Dikibo

The 6 February 2004 murder of the National Vice-Chairman, South-South of the ruling PDP,  Chief Aminasaori Kala Dikibo, on his way to attend the South-South meeting of the party in Asaba, the Delta State capital, reverberated across the country. President Olusegun Obasanjo quickly announced in Abuja that preliminary findings by the Police showed that the politician ran into armed robbers operating along Ossissa-Ogwashi-Ukwu road, Delta State. A Judicial Panel of Inquiry was set up by the federal government to unravel the circumstances surrounding the man’s death.

At its two-day sitting in Port Harcourt, the widow, Mrs. Dakoru Dikibo refused to testify out of fear for her life. Mrs Dikibo, a principal signatory to the memorandum submitted by the late Dikibo’s family to the panel, was to testify but their family lawyer, Chief Chuks Muoma SAN, told the panel that she declined for fear of being assassinated by those that killed her husband.Muoma told the panel shortly after leading the younger brother of Chief Dikibo, Mr. Furo Dikibo, in evidence, that the next witness would have been the widow but “she is so afraid of leaving the house”. He said that apart from signing the memorandum, “she does not want anybody to see her face because she does not want to be killed like her husband.”

Muoma who also led Dikibo’s son, Kala, and his special assistant on Utility, Chief Wobo Nduka in evidence, applied to the panel to summon the late PDP chieftain’s driver and police orderly before it to testify and be cross-examined by him.According to the lawyer, only the driver, the orderly and those who took late Dikibo’s corpse from the scene of the alleged incident to the mortuary could explain how the deceased was murdered.He explained that, “the persons were either eye witnesses to the crime or nearer the scene of the crime and the panel cannot be conclusive in its findings without the testimony of these persons.”Dikibo’s family members that testified told the panel that their late brother had hinted them that he was being hunted by some of his political associates. They said they suggested some precautionary measures to adopt,  which he attempted to do until he was finally cut down along Asaba road.Meanwhile, Chief Muoma has expressed fears over the thoroughness of the investigation of the panel since it had only nine days instead of one full month to conclude its assignment.

Attempt to unveil the killers led to a sustained media campaign sponsored by the Delta State government in all major national dailies and magazines with the question: “Who killed A K Dikibo?”That question till date has not got a satisfactory answer except for the conviction of two suspected armed robbers by Justice Akpovi in Asaba, based on the ‘evidence’ provided by the Police, alleging that they robbed on the day the late Dikibo was killed.

Senator Obi Wali

Senator (Dr.) Obi Wali was murdered in suspicious circumstances on 25 April 1993 in his bedroom. That was at a time he was agitating for self-determination and development of the Ikwerre ethnic nationality.Curiously, shortly after the elder statesman was murdered, Mr Tafa Balogun was posted to Rivers State as the new Commissioner of Police,  investigation into the gruesome murder was bungled as Balogun had other businesses more important than uncovering those behind the dastardly act.

At the time the senator was murdered, the military government of the Late General Sani Abacha was jittery that the Ikwerre-born politician was mobilising his ethnic nationality to join the Late Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni to agitate for a fair deal for the South-South ethnic minorities. The Military junta then could not brook such effrontery. He needed to be silenced forever.It was learnt that immediately Balogun took over as the police boss in the state, he transferred the case file from the Homicide Department to the Mobile Police Unit. That singular move put the final nail on the coffin of attempts to unravel the killers till date.

Alhaja Suliat Adedeji

Alhaja Suliat Adedeji, a prominent Ibadan-based politician, was assassinated on Thursday 14 November 1996 in her residence situated at Iyaganku GRA, Ibadan, capital of Oyo State. Her death sparked off series of police investigations. The investigation actually helped as it led to the arrest of some suspects. But they were subsequently released due to lack of ample evidence to link them to the crime.While her assassination remains unsolved, accusing fingers were difficult to point at anyone as a result of the non- disclosure stance adopted by members of her family and close associates, who claimed that she had no problem of any sort with anybody that could warrant her elimination. In plain language, the family sources disclosed that they could not trace her death to anybody, adding that all they knew was that the deceased was killed during the regime of the late General Sani Abacha, when assassinations were rampant.

Narrating how she was gruesomely murdered, Suliat’s paternal uncle, who is currently the head of Balogun family living at Ile-Tuntun area of Ibadan, Alhaji Raimi Kobomoje Balogun, repeated the narrative of the driver who witnessed the killing. Suliat,  according to him, was killed around 8am. Disclosing that the news got to him about 9am,  he stated that the deceased was billed to travel with him that day to Lagos for a naming ceremony of a family member. According to him, while dressing to rush out for some personal assignments before coming to pick him for the Lagos trip, she was alerted that about 10 visitors wanted to see her. Not perceiving any danger, she ordered the security man to allow them in and offered them seats.

“She opened her sitting room door and they asked her to enter, that they wanted to see her. She sat down and told them that she did not know them. They told her that they were sent to kill her. That was how they killed her. This was what her driver who was there told us. They wanted to kill the driver but one of them insisted that the driver should not be killed because they were not sent to kill any other person than Alhaja,” Alhaji Balogun added. He berated the police authority over its inability to track down the killers of his niece, lamenting that the police abandoned the case without pursuing it to a logical conclusion. Believing that the police could still nab the killers, he called on the Force to help unravel the mystery behind Alhaja Adedeji’s death.

Barnabas and Abigail Igwe

The murder of Barnabas Igwe, the former chairman the Nigerian Bar Association, Onitsha branch, his wife, Abigail, and their unborn male child on 1 September 2002, is another case that the police have not been able to solve.

However, given a petition which President Yar’Adua received in 2007, he mandated Okiro to get to the root of the matter within four months. This led to the arrest of Ken Emeakayi, who was then Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju Of Anambra State’s campaign manager.  A national legislator was also fingered in the killing. Earlier, Mbadinuju was arraigned for the murder of the trio at an Abuja High Court but was released on bail. When he was alive, Igwe was a thorn in the flesh of the Mbadinuju government.

Dele Giwa

On 19 October 1986, Dele Giwa, pioneer Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch was killed through a parcel bomb. Before his death, the Director of Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Haliru Akilu and his deputy, Col Kunle Togun had accused Giwa of gun-running. A day before his death, the head of the State Security Service, SSS, under the military administration of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida had called Giwa’s wife for directions to his residence.

A popular line is that Giwa was working on an exclusive on Gloria Okon, a drug pusher who was allegedly connected with IBB. Since that dastardly act, the authorities have not gotten to the root of the matter, a development that made the Oputa panel to recommend that Akilu and Togun should be invstigated.

Babangida has refused to cooperate with any official inquiry. No one was ever prosecuted for the murder.

– Additional reports by Oluokun Ayorinde, Okafor Ofiebor, Jude Orji and Gbenro Adesina.

http://thenewsng.com/cover-story/a-pack-of-unsolved-murders/2009/07

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I am Hungry, Please Re-brand me
By Edward Osagie
Daily Independent, 6 July 2009

Lagos — I am Nigeria. I have millions of acres of arable land and billions of cubic litres of water, but I cannot feed myself. So I spend $1 billion to import rice and another $2 billion to import milk. I produce rice, but don’t eat it. I have 60 million cattle but no milk. I am hungry, please re-brand me.

I drive the latest cars in the world but have no roads. I lose family and friends everyday on roads for which funds have been looted. I lose my young, my old, and my most brainy and productive people to the potholes, craters and crevasses they travel on everyday. I am in permanent mourning, please re-brand me.

My school has no teacher and my classroom has no roof. I take lecture notes through the window and live with 15 others in a single room. All my professors have gone abroad, and the rest are awaiting visas. I am a university graduate, but I am illiterate. I want a future, please re-brand me.

Malaria, typhoid and many other preventable diseases send me to hospitals which have no doctors, no medicines and no power. So my wife gives birth with candle light and surgery is performed by quacks. All the nurses have gone abroad and the rest are waiting to go also. I have the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world and future generations are dying before me. I am hopeless, hapless and helpless, please re-brand me.

I wanted change so I stood all day long to cast my vote. But even before I could vote, the results had been announced. When I dared to speak out, silence was enthroned by bullets. My rulers are my oppressors, and my policemen are my terrors. I am ruled by men in mufti, but I am not a democracy. I have no verve, no vote, no voice, please re-brand me.

I have 50 million youths with no jobs, no present and no future. So my sons in the North have become street urchins and their brothers in the South have become militants. My nephews die of thirst in the Sahara and their cousins drown in the waters of the Mediterranean. My daughters walk the streets of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, while their sisters parade the streets of Rome and Amsterdam. I am inconsolable, please re-brand me.

My people cannot sleep at night and cannot relax by day. They cannot use ATM machines, nor use cheques. My children sleep through the staccato of AK 47s and see through the mist of tear gas. The leaders have looted everything on the ground and below.

They walk the land with haughty strides and fly the skies with private jets. They have stolen the future of generations yet unborn and have money they cannot spend in several lifetimes, but their brothers die of hunger. I want justice, please re-brand me.

I can produce anything, but import everything. So my toothpick is made in China; my toothpaste is made in South Africa; my salt is made in Ghana; my butter is made in Ireland; my milk is made in Holland; my shoe is made in Italy; my vegetable oil is made in Malaysia; my biscuit is made in Indonesia; my chocolate is made in Turkey and my table water made in France. My taste is far-flung and foreign, please re-brand me.

My people are cancerous from the greed of their friends who bleach palm oil with chemicals; my children died because they drank ‘My Pikin’ with NAFDAC numbers; my poor die because kerosene explodes in their faces; my land is dead because all the trees have been cut down; flood kills my people yearly because the drainages are clogged; my fishes are dead because the oil companies dump waste in my rivers; my communities are vanishing into the huge yawns of gully erosion, and nothing is being done. My livelihood is in jeopardy, and I am in the uttermost depths of despondence, please re-brand me.

I have genuine leather but choose to eat it. So I spend a billion dollars to import fake leather. I have four refineries, but prefer to import fuel, so I waste more billions to import petrol. I have no security in my country, but would rather send troops to keep the peace in another man’s land. I have 160 dams, but cannot get water to drink, so I buy ‘pure’ water that roils my innards. I have a million children waiting to enter universities, but my ivory dungeons can only take a tenth. I have no power, but choose to flare gas, so my people have learnt to see in the dark and stare at the glare of naked flares. I have no direction, please re-brand me.

My people pray to God every time, but commit every crime known to man because re-branded identities will never alter the tunes of inbred rhythms. Just as the drums of heritage herald the frenzied jingles, remember - the Nigerian soul can only be Nigerian - fighting free from the cold embrace of a government that has no spring, no sense, no shame. So we watch the possessed, frenzied dance, drenched in silent tears as freedom is locked up in democracy’s empty cellars. I need guidance, please re-brand me.

But then, why can I not simply be me, without being re-branded? Or does my complexion cloud the color of my character? Does my location limit the lengths my liberty? Does the spirit of my conviction shackle my soul? Does my mien maim the mine of my mind? And is this life worth re-branding? I am not yet born, please re-brand me.

Source:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200907060753.html

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Blame Obasanjo for nation’s lack of democracy
By RAZAQ BAMIDELE
Daily Sun July 10, 2009

Former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State was a key player during the unjust annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election adjudged to be the most credible in the annals of this country.

And when the 16th anniversary of the sad event was celebrated recently, Tinubu took time out to interact with newsmen in Lagos where he insisted that, implementation of the Uwais report was the only way to have a repeat of the June 12 miracle.

But sensing that President Yar’Adua is not keen on its implementation, Tinubu suggested that, a coalition should be formed to put pressure on the government to implement the report, if Nigerians want the 2011 general election to be like June 12, 1993 election.

Excerpts:

Absence of June 12 activists in power
I have no regrets about that. My only regret is that the electoral system that was employed diligently and vigorously and which brought about that free and fair election is being ignored today. That was the battle that pro-democracy people won. We won the battle, but lost the power. But that is not the point. It is about the nation and its development. It is about the rights of our people to a free and fair election. It is about removing violence from the polity. It is about removing corruption, bribery from the electoral process. It is about making the votes count. It is about ensuring that the sovereignty of the people is preserved.

Repeat of June 12, 1993 election
The absence of an electoral reform had robbed the country of the ability to reproduce a credible election that could rank with the June 12, 1993 presidential election. Unfortunately, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo which took over from the military in 1999, failed to take a cue from the electoral process that gave birth to the highly rated June 12 election.

The inability of the (Obasanjo) administration to come up with a credible electoral process, has not only robbed the country of peaceful and credible elections, but has not also allowed democracy to take root.

So, what we have now is civil rule and not democracy and you know what gives value to democracy is economic and free and fair electoral system, which we don’t have yet. And how can we continue to regard ourselves as a democratic society, if we don’t have credible electoral system? We missed the opportunity of June 12. They did not allow the winner of the June 12 mandate, Chief MKO Abiola, to exercise that right and enjoy the mandate given to him to govern the country. But, are we not throwing away the baby with the bath water by not endorsing the same system, the same method that was used for that election? We have continued to find excuses for failing.

But what makes it impossible?
We are not committed. We are not sincere and we are overtly complacent. We did not start up with the kind of leadership who are patriotic enough to use the same method used for that June 12 election when we started this new dispensation in 1999. Unfortunately, it was a great opportunity that was missed. But one would have expected the PDP-led administration that emerged then to pursue it, but rather than do that, what we had was a legacy of intimidation of opposition, illegal conversion of votes, ballot stuffing and making noise about their so-called mainstream politics.

They don’t have that desire to leave a good legacy of a free and fair election. And they spent so much money and made so much noise about their electronic voting system and not bothering about an effective voters’ registration. All they have today is garbage in garbage out. With all the money spent, there is no reliable data-based voters’ register that is credible; that is clean or that can meet world standard. The age on my voter’s card is the same as the one in my mother’s card. That is why you have all manners of cases still pending at the various election petition tribunals.

Without putting in place sound electoral laws, the judiciary will be helpless, because judges will only interpret the law as they are. They don’t conjure new laws. If the system does not prescribe punishment, the judiciary cannot mete out punishment. A situation where someone who stole another person’s mandate is left unpunished and even allowed to re-contest, is most unfair. We have not set a good example and if we have an electoral system that will work and punish the rogues, then we will be moving in the right direction.

Way out
We have a highly respected committee of great Nigerians under the chairmanship of Justice Mohamed Uwais, saddled with the task of giving the country an electoral reform. They looked at models around the world, looked at our own peculiarities as a people and they came up with sound recommendations that will remove violence and conflicts from the polity and put Nigeria on the path of development. Yet, that is being watered down.

This is the critical time to call on all democratic Nigerians to use the June 12 anniversary, not as a celebration, not as a memorial lecture, but as a period to pursue the Uwais electoral reform with vigour.

Let’s come up with a coalition of democrats who will vigorously and diligently pursue the Uwais’ recommendation. Those who put up that report are great Nigerians and their sense of patriotism is clearly exhibited in the passion they brought to the assignment. I disagree with Mr. President who said that nowhere in the world will you not tinker with such a recommendation with a White Paper. The question to ask is, who are the reviewers that reviewed the committee’s work? Are they not practising politicians who probably would not have been there if there were free and fair elections?”

Electoral reform and 2011 election
Using electoral reform for the 2011election is realistic. There are draft bills recommended by Uwais, a renowned jurist. What is wrong with them?

PDP is leading Nigeria to a state of chaos, a state of mutually assured destruction. Leading us to a situation where you can only win by the amount of cudgels and other weapons at your disposal, is no democracy.

Source:
http://odili.net/news/source/2009/jul/10/501.html