Rape victims storm National Assembly demanding passage of Sexual Offences Bill

RAPE victims converged on the National Assembly complex in Abuja yesterday to press parliamentarians to accelerate passage of the Sexual Offences Bill that would punish men who violate women.   Nigeria has some of the most lax sexual offences laws in Africa as certain parts of the penal code permit men top beat their wives. Also, in July last year, the Nigerian Senate approved a bill sponsored by former Zamfara State governor Ahmed Yerima, that would recognise child brides as adults, effectively legalising marriages to minors.   Senator Yerima, who himself married a 13-year old Egyptian girl in 2010, has long been an advocate of child marriages, claiming it is Islamic and sanctioned by the Koran. In December last year, he divorced his 17 Egyptian bride and married a new 15 year old girl but because no law in Nigeria forbids it, he had not committed any crime.   Enraged at the impunity with which children are molested and rape is carried out, women's rights campaigners introduced a bill to the National Assembly but it has been a subject of debate for the last two years with no progress. Yesterday, hundreds of women stormed parliament, demanding its passage, with some of them in tears as they recounted their ordeals.   Some lawmakers too, particularly the women, fought back tears yesterday as they listened to the pathetic stories of the rape victims. Several of the victims took part in a mock tribunal/court proceeding on sexual and gender based violence, anchored by the National Assembly Women Affairs Committee and the Legislative Advocacy Coalition for Violence in Nigeria.   Many of them painfully recalled how they were sexually assaulted by men, who were old enough to be their fathers. They also recalled how their efforts to seek redress in courts were frustrated because of weak laws against such crime or a total lack of such laws.   These violated women, who covered their faces when they gave details of how they were sexually assaulted, urged the female lawmakers to save other ladies from sexual assault. Senator Oluremi Tinubu representing Lagos Central and Senator Chris Anyanwu from Imo East, who received the distraught women, described rape as the most wicked crime against womenfolk.

Both senators vowed to use the legislative machinery available to them to ensure that relevant bills, which seek to protect women and children against violence, are passed before the end of the current legislative year. Dr Joy Ezeilo, the founding director of Women Aid Collective, said the purpose of the mock tribunal/court was to spotlight cases of gender-based violence in Nigeria.   She added that the organisers also wanted to use the event to raise the voices of the victims and survivors to take urgent action on the appropriate laws that would protect women and vulnerable groups. Late last year, Nigerian Islamic group Muslim Rights Concern, expressed support for the controversial under-age marriage law, saying it is scriptural.   In most countries of the world, sex with a minor is regarded as statutory rape and children's rights campaigners are arguing for similar laws in Nigeria. They are, however, likely to face stiff opposition from hardline Islamic clerics, who claim their religion allows for a girl to be married once she hits puberty.

The Acquittal Of University Of Uyo Students: A Victory Over Tyranny And Gross Human Rights Violation By Inibehe Effiong

On Wednesday October 22, 2014 an Uyo High Court presided over by Hon. Justice Joy Unwana of Court 7 discharged and acquitted 40 of the 44 innocent students of the University of Uyo who were arbitrarily arrested, incarcerated and arraigned in connection with the students' demonstrated in the institution on June 12, 2013 against oppressive policies.

On Wednesday October 22, 2014 an Uyo High Court presided over by Hon. Justice Joy Unwana of Court 7 discharged and acquitted 40 of the 44 innocent students of the University of Uyo who were arbitrarily arrested, incarcerated and arraigned in connection with the students' demonstrated in the institution on June 12, 2013 against oppressive policies.


It would be recalled that the management of the institution had invited anti-riot policemen to brutally suppress what was clearly a peaceful protest by students. The police in the most unprofessional manner exuded maximum force by firing live bullets which resulted in the death of a male student of the Department of Zoology of the school by name Kingsley Udoette, who was ostensibly hit by a stray bullet fired by the police since there is no iota of evidence that any other person aside the policemen used arms during the duration of the crisis.


Following the provocative murder of Kingsley Udoette, the peaceful protest turned violent, leading to the destruction of some structures and facilities of the institution. This led to the closure of the university. The police then embarked on a reckless and arbitrary arrest of 44 innocent students that they were able to lay their lawless hands on from their off campus hostel along Udi Street in Uyo and on the road.

Upon the reopening of the school, each engineering student of University of Uyo was made to pay the sum of N10,000 while other students paid N7,500 as surcharge for the damaged properties. Despite the death of a student and the payment of surcharge by students, the Prof. Comfort Ekpo-led management of the school still colluded with the police and the Akwa Ibom State Government to subject the 44 arrested students to a very frivolous and senseless criminal prosecution.

In a primitive show of force, the police in a gestapo manner took the 44 students before an Uyo Chief Magistrate Court presided over by Chief Magistrate Lawrence S. Udonwa on trump-up charges of murder, arson among others, even when they knew that only the state High Court have the jurisdiction over these offences.

The Chief Magistrate declined jurisdiction in the matter, but instead of discharging the students accordingly, surprisingly made a committal order remanding the students in the Uyo Prisons pending the decision and advice of the State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) under the cover of the notorious practice of 'Holding Charge'- a practice which was deprecated by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the much cited case of Enwere versus Commissioner of Police [1993] 6 NWLR (Pt. 299) 333. The apex court in that case had declared the practice unconstitutional.

Following the remand order, the 44 affected students were incarcerated in prison custody for several months over what they knew nothing about. Their poor parents and guardians spent hundreds of thousands of naira for the services of lawyers except for the few that we were able to secure pro bono (free) legal services for. One of the students developed a mental illness while in prison. His condition deteriorated after his release from custody which led to the suspension of his studies.

Not satisfied, the Akwa Ibom State Government preferred charges against the students in the High Court. Finally, the judiciary has risen to its historic responsibility as the last hope of the common man, the shield of the oppressed and the guardian of the rights of the citizens.

The learned trial Judge, Hon. Justice Joy Unwana, a fearless and reputable judge, in ruling on the application to quash the charges filed by lawyers to 40 of the 44 students discharged and acquitted the 40 students on charges of conspiracy, unlawful assembly, arson, and murder on the ground that no prima facie case has been made out against them by the prosecution as the prosecution could not establish any link between the accused persons and the commission of the crime.

In respect of the four remaining students whose lawyers had failed to file the motion to quash the vexatious charges, the court gave them yet another opportunity to do so.

Of the 9 police officers who testified as with witnesses, non of them could identify any of the accused persons as having taken part in the alleged crimes. It was disclosed from the witnesses evidence that the police did not even enter inside the school premises (the scene of the crime).

The Judge queried how they could have identified the culprits? He found from evidence before the court that most (if not all) of the accused persons were arrested at various locations in Ikpa road, Ikot Ekpene road, and Udi street etc, all in Uyo and that non was arrested at the scene of the crime.

The court noted that no Nigerian citizen should be subjected through the rigours of a trial except prima facie case can be established against him and that in order to establish a prima facie case, the information must not only disclose the offence charged, but must also disclose the circumstances upon which it can be justly inferred that the accused could have committed the offence, and that suspicion, no matter how strong, cannot ground a conviction. In support of this trite principle of law, His Lordship cited with approval the Supreme Court cases of; Ikomi V State, Abacha V State, Suleiman V State, FRN V Nwabara, State V Ikemson).

As an obiter, the Learned Judge condemned the action of the police and the DPP.  He stated that the practice in which the police arrest people indiscriminately whenever a crime is committed portends disaster to criminal justice  administration in Nigeria and that the State DPP being aware of this went ahead to arraign the accused persons. He concluded by saying that anything done by man to his fellow man must have its reward either in this world or in the world to come.

I am delighted that the judiciary has once again issued a strong message to the Nigerian state and its lawless institutions. The University of Uyo management have sinned not just against those poor students but against God and nature. It is very shameful that an academic institution could condescend so low and exude such contempt for the rights of Nigerians with atavistic impunity.

University of Uyo management has lost its conscience and have crossed all known boundaries of decency in its desperate but failed attempt to downplay the very core issues of oppression, corruption and bad policies which led to the student protest.
As the Learned Judge said obiter; they will have their reward.

Is it not most imbecilic that the police and the Akwa Ibom State Government could charge 44 people for shooting and killing one person (Kingsley Udoette) with one bullet? This is a clear case were the killers are looking for the killers. The blood of Kingsley Udoette continues to cry for justice.

Instead of indulging in wasteful and pointless organization of periodic hypocritical solemn assemblies, the University of Uyo management should adhere to the dictates of truth and justice. The university can start with a Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the June 12, 2013 crisis in the school.

The current state of the Nigerian Police Force is irreformable. What we need now in this country is not cosmetic police reforms but an entirely new police service. We need a Judicial Commission of Enquiry into cases of extra-judicial murders and other human rights abuses by the police.

I congratulate the 40 acquitted students for their epochal victory over their oppressors. However, I must note the conspiratorial silence of the civil society, the human rights community and the main stream media on this case. Selective activism and advocacy is itself a form of dictatorship.

We appreciate the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), and the Joint Action Front (JAF) for their solidarity and the few lawyers, activists, journalists and media organizations that stood by us during this struggle.

Inibehe Effiong is a Human Rights Activist. He led the Free UNIUYO 44 Campaign.

Calls for 'total' Sharia in Nigeria

DATE: 2001-08-27 21:32
SOURCE: AFP

Lagos - A former military ruler of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has called for the introduction of 'total' Islamic law across the country, reports said on Monday.

Buhari, who ruled Nigeria from a coup in December 1983 to his ouster in 1985, told a seminar in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, at the weekend that the strict Islamic law code known as the Sharia should be introduced in full across Nigeria.

"I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria," Buhari said, quoted in press reports.

"God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country," Buhari said.

Northern Nigeria is mainly Muslim but southern Nigeria is mainly Christian and has led criticism of the introduction of Islamic law in a dozen northern states in the past 18 months.

Africa's most populous country has been shaken repeatedly in the past by religious unrest. In February 2000 between 2 000 and 3 000 people were killed by Christian-Muslim riots in Kaduna over the introduction of Sharia.

Call for Sharia across the country

Buhari's comments were interpreted by the southern-based papers as a call for the imposition of Sharia all across the country, even in the mainly Christian south.

"Buhari calls for Sharia in all states," was the headline of the respected newspaper The Guardian.

Buhari's comments were defended by supporters as simply a call for the full implementation of Sharia in areas where Muslims predominated.

But the comments are the second by Buhari that have courted controversy after he called earlier this year for Muslims to vote at the next presidential elections only for someone who would defend their faith.

This was criticised by the press as a call for voting along religious lines, as well as an attack on the current president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is a Christian.

Buhari made the latest comments at a seminar organised by the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, a newly set up body attended by northern state governments and Islamic scholars.

"It is a legal responsibility which God has given us, within the context of one Nigeria, to continue to uphold the practice of Sharia wholeheartedly ... and to educate non-Muslims that they have nothing to fear," he said.

"What remains for Muslims in Nigeria is for them to redouble their efforts, educate Muslims on the need to promote the full implementation of Sharia law," he went on. - AFP

PDP is Sponsoring Pro-Buhari Activities -Atiku's Aide Cries Out

Oladimeji Fabiyi, National President of the Turaki Vanguard; an Atiku Abubakar support group, on Thursday said that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP wanted former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari to emerge as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

According to THIS DAY, Fabiyi called on Buhari to quit the presidential race.

"We are making this call on the former head of state with all sense of responsibility having in mind that Buhari will neither enrich the race nor enhance the political fortunes of the opposition APC which Nigerians hope will salvage their country from the 15 years of death grip and mis-governance of the PDP

"We, the members of the Turaki Vanguard, a political pressure group operating independently of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, having carefully monitored and observed recent pro-Buhari activities sponsored by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), hereby call on him to quit the presidential race".

"In making this call, we are mindful of the need for all patriotic Nigerians to help prevent another political ridicule of a former Nigerian leader like Buhari, which would be unavoidable if he continues with his 2015 aspiration.

"We hope the elderly and revered General will heed our advice and those of other respectable Nigerians like Sheikh Ahmad Gumi", Fabiyi said. 

Aregbesola Educates Boko Haram On The Correct Meaning Of Jihad

Osun state Governor, Rauf Aregbesola on Thursday declared his support for Islamic jihads.

PUNCH reported that the Osun governor made the declaration on Thursday while delivering a lecture at the Obafemi Awolowo Awolowo University, Ile Ife.

Aregbesola said, "Jihad should not be turned into a license to unleash terror on people, Muslims and Christians alike and as well as to destabilise the nation.

"Contrary to the claims by groups such as the Boko Haram sect, Jihad is neither a call to arms nor an ideological blueprint for destructive insurgency. Jihad in Islam is at its core about establishing a personal relationship with Allah. The meaning of Jihad in Islam is a total submission to the will and obedience to the laws of Allah.

"Submitting to Allah’s will is an act of conscious choice granted to mankind by God; obeying His laws is a demonstration and vindication of that submission.

"The abused notion of Jihad often used as justification for satanic atrocities of insurgent groups, such as the Boko Haram sect, is a gross misapplication of the concept. Jihad is far from being an open cheque for senseless violence, neither is it a Qur’anic endorsement of the pursuit of selfish political desires.

"The concept of Jihad in Islam simply means ‘struggle’ or ‘striving.’ It has two broad dimensions – external and internal striving", Aregbesola said.