Resilience (forging ahead) (3)

On January 27, 2016, the “Daily Sun” newspaper carried on its front page in big bold headlines: “HAUNDED MPAPE” (ABUJA COMMUNITY FAMILIAR WITH POLICE EXTRA JUDICIAL KILLINGS

“Residents of Mpape, a satellite town of Abuja, are fast becoming an endangered species in the hands of triggerhappy policemen who kill them at will. The trend, which did not start today is becoming worse by the day. Remember the gruesome killing of a pregnant woman, Doris Okere, a staff of Bank PHB by a mobile policeman attached to Zenith Bank at Mpape.

Already, this year recorded it’s first casualty when on Saturday January 9, a 32-year-old father was gunned down right in front of his compound by a notorious police officer identified as Inspector Akin popularly known as “Man of God” (what an irony?).

Allegations by the residents say that the policeman involved in the killing had been involved insuch incidents in the past whereby he was linked with extra judicial killings in the area but never got punished.

The victim of the recent incident, Segunoluwasomi, a plumber was said to have knelt down with his hands up in surrender, pleading with his killer to arrest him if he had committed any offence rather than to take his life and leave his young family without a father. His plea fell on deaf ears as his assailant, baying for his blood allegedly shot him with his service pistol in the stomach at close range.

When Abuja Metro visited the scene of the crime located at the Katampe axis of the town, nobody could fathom any reason for the murder of the deceased as everybody who spoke on the issue described him as a man of peace who was not involved in any act of criminality.

Indeed, his peaceful nature and acts of benevolence earned him the name “Ogume” which means a jovial and peaceful man.

No wonder, the incident triggered serious protest by youths in the area who are demanding that only the arrest and prosecution of the police assailant could appease them.

The youths are angry particularly because the perpetrator of the alleged crime who is popular and dreaded in the town had allegedly committed similar offences in the past and got away with them.

Eyewitnesses who confided in Abuja Metro but refused to be named for security reasons said the victim, was working at a site close to his compound and decided to come home to refresh when the incident occurred.

“Ogume” was working in a site very close by (pointing to a bush path) when he came out to have some rest. I saw him and we greeted.

I even overheard him telling the girl selling oranges that he had not eaten since morning and he collected an orange from her and was heading home.

Suddenly, the Inspector (man of God) arrived on a bike with his colleague, a Corporal. They alighted from the bike and started running after Ogume firing at him. He ran to his compound, dodging the bullets but not for too long as the other police officer allegedly blocked his way.

It was at this point that Ogume knelt down with his hands in surrender begging that they should arrest him if he indeed committed any crime. But the Inspector pointed his pistol at his stomach and shot him at close range leaving him in the pool of his blood and threatened to shoot whoever tries to rescue him.

Most people, particularly the youths who spoke on the matter narrated the same story as they could not explain the circumstances of the killing.

However, another resident told Abuja Metro that the slain plumber had complained to him and other close friends bitterly that someone was after his life just because he dug a borehole for another resident and it is affecting his water business.

Although this allegation was not confirmed, Abuja Metro learnt that some residents were prevented from returning to their places of abode by some angry youths who accused them of having a hand in the murder of their colleague.

It took the intervention of the DPO and another respected member of the community before they were allowed into their homes.

It was further gathered that the killer cop and his colleague had run to the home of a serving security personnel to help them cover up the case but he refused to cooperate with them.

After the trigger happy cops left the scene thinking that their victim was dead, some good neighbours took him to the Wuse General Hospital from where he was given first aid treatment and further referred to the National Hospital.

At the National Hospital however, the victim, the only child of the family from Kabba in Kogi State died at about 5 pm of the same day leaving behind his wife, a nine-year-old son and an aged mother.

Confirming the incident, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of A Division Mpape, Mrs. A.B. Garba who described it as unfortunate noted that the case had been transferred to the FCT command.

She declined further comments on the matter directing other inquiries on the matter to the Police Public Relations Officer.

Also confirming the incident, the Area Commander in charge of Maitama metropolitan, Mr. Alamutu Abiodun, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) said the police officer had been arrested and the case transferred to the Homicide Department.

Since the heart breaking incident, residents of Mpape situated some four kilometres from the city centre have been in pains and are in mourning mood. They are yet to recover from the shock that came with the death of their beloved son.

Meanwhile, a niece of the deceased, Mrs. Helen Afeme has petitioned the Inspector-general of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase. She is demanding N5b as compensation for the breach of fundamental rights to life and for the upkeep of the family of the victim.

In the petition written by her lawyer, Tolubabaleye, Mrs.afeme is demanding for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the police officer for homicide.the petitioner who slammed a seven-day ultimatum on the IGP to meet with her demands equally asked for comprehensive autopsy to be carried out and for the police to give the deceased befitting burial at his home in Kabba according to Christian rites.

The petition dated January 12, 2020 was equally served on various arms of the police, the National Human Rights Commission, the Public Complaints Commission and the Attorney-general of the Federation.

In 2008, global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI) released a report titled: Nigeria Police kill at will, which documented cases of torture and shooting of suspects in custody. The group said the police were notorious for shooting suspects in custody. The group said the police were notorious for shooting suspects, and torturing them to death.

AI said: “The Nigerian Police is responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings every year. Police don’t only kill people by shooting them; they also torture them to death, often while they are in detention.

‘ Periodic psychiatric test is only desirable for suspicious officers and men. But how well placed is the institution itself to detect derelicts among its rank?

Continues online @ www.businessday.ng

J.K. Randle is a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region. He is currently the Chairman, J.K. Randle Professional Services.

Email: jkrandleintuk@gmail.com

One thing I have learned over the past 3 years is that dead people are just awful. I really do mean that. They absolutely suck. This point cannot be made without giving special emphasis to the recently-departed variety. They live rent-free in your head for weeks and months, jump into your consciousness at the most inconvenient times and make your eyes suddenly become wet when you stumble into something that once made two of you laugh.

The person you used to enjoy this little bit of happiness with is now for some reason exploring the next world without you, and this wasn’t really part of the plan. Both of you never had that conversation because well, why would you? Why would two people who see each other every day and are like comfy pieces of furniture in each other’s lives ever think to plan for what would happen if one of them decided to be an ass and die first? Nobody does that.

2 years on...

Apparently, it has been two birthdays since she passed away, and the weirdest part is that you still measure the passage of time using her birthday, not, you know, the other date. You try to figure out how to deal with life as you realise that everything around you reminds you of her. You can’t watch the show you both worked on anymore because...well it’s obvious why.

You can’t talk about the show online anymore because if you mistakenly try it, some last man is guaranteed to ask you “Ah ahn guy, where is Binta? I’ve not been seeing her videos.” You have to delete all the pictures of her on your phone, and then cancel the delete with a horrified gasp as you realise that these pictures and videos are all you now have left of her.

You have to go to work and act like life is the same. Someone sends you an impatient email asking for an update on that deliverable you’re owing, and you actually type out a response to the effect of “Honestly, why couldn’t it have been you instead of her?” Not that you actually send it of course. Somehow, even in your haze of grief and pain, something still tells you

“You need this income dude.”

So what now?

You try to distract yourself. You find something new to get into on Netflix. You buy a new videogame. You start experimenting with stuff you haven’t eaten before. You get laid more often - anything to take your mind away from the fact that this person is dead, and she has apparently taken every shred of happiness in your soul along with them.

So you keep turning up every day at work or wherever else you’re supposed to be. You keep a smile™ on. You have no appetite, but you make yourself eat lunch every day because humans apparently are meant to eat food. You don’t feel especially human anymore, but apparently it’s important to keep up the appearance for the NonBereaved People.

You work. Sleep. Eat. Copulate. Go to the bathroom and cry there. Binge-watch something on Netflix until it shows the “Are you still watching?” message. Sleep. Work. Eat. Cry in toilet cubicle. In a rare moment of despair-fuelled rage, scroll through your phone gallery and delete a few pictures of the dead person who absolutely sucks right now.

Yeah that’ll teach her for dying on you and leaving you here by yourself.

You immediately feel a powerful rush of remorse and rapidly retrieve the deleted media from the recycle bin. You look at her silly face and burst into tears again. A different type of cry this time. Not the despairing, bodyshaking cry of a few months ago. This time, it’s a sort of shallow, “You’re just the worst, you know that?” type of cry. Almost a wry cry, if such a thing exists. Because at the end of the day, you love them and you always will. Nobody and nothing will ever change that - not even you.

Whisper it quietly, but you may finally be on the way to starting the healing process.

•On Thursday February 11, 2021, I was named as the winner of the 2020 People Journalism Prize for Africa, alongside Zimbabwean firebrand Hopewell Chin’ono. This is only the second individual honour of my journalism career following my 2019 IVLP nomination, and the first for my work as an investigative journalist. Having celebrated her second posthumous birthday last week, I wish to dedicate the award and this article to my beloved friend, colleague and big sister Binta Bhadmus, who departed from us in November 2019.

You have no appetite, but you make yourself eat lunch every day because humans apparently are meant to eat food

fn the last one yeari kigeria’s maritime sector has become notorious for terrorist attacks and piracyi which suffocate efficient business transactions and hurting the economy in the process. Crew members of some foreign flagged vessels sailing through the dulf of duinea and in some cases Nigerian waters have either been kidnapped or killed during attacks on their vessels. These incidents, which threaten commercial shipping activities on our waters have earned us a badge of notoriety among our peer maritime nations which we must seek lasting solutions toi as a matter of urgency

cor instancei on P0th ganuaryi 2021, some fishing companies were in mourning mood as two seafarers were reportedly killed by dare-devil pirates who attacked and boarded a fishing trawler within the Escravos in Delta State. The affected fishing boat was identified as MV. Ft Rose lll owned by Atlantic phrimpers iimited. The two sailors unfortunately lost their lives in the attack at about 6a.m local time while other crewmembers aboard the vessel sustained various degrees of injuries.

pome months earlieri preciselyi

NT guly 2020I eight pirates armed with machine guns boarded a product tanker around 196 nautical miles southwest of Bayelsa state. mirates held all N9 sailors onboard hostagei stole ship’s documents and valuable items, and escaped with NP kidnapped crewmembers.

These two ugly incidents are few typical examples of a regular trend on our waters. Every day, seafarers are endangered in their efforts to either bring cargoes to kigeria or take exports from our country.

puffice it to say that insecurity on our waters is taking heavy toll on the safety of crew, cargoes and vessels transiting within and around our maritime domain thereby entrenching a negative reputation on us as a viable maritime country with unsafe waters.

kigeria has been recognized globally as a maritime nation with over 8,000 kilometers of navigable inland and coastal channelsi as well as fresh water lakes. However, it is struggling to strengthen its maritime sector with modern maritime security architecture capable of boosting the country’s dam.

Nigerian seaports are a significant example. They are relatively small for modern vessels to load or discharge liquefied products and bulk cargoes, and kigerian waterways are not deep enough for the navigation of ultramodern vessels. The waterways are equally not safe for navigation.

ff these setbacks are not urgently correctedi they will continue to reduce Nigeria’s level of involvement in international trade and the global economy.

kigeria needs to take a cue from world renowned maritime nations such as korwayi the r.p.i aenmarki manama and kicaragua which are daily thinking strategically on how to create a significant future for effective international trade and a more efficient global maritime economy.

There is no gain saying the fact thati for agesi commercial shipping and maritime activities has become a fulcrum on which the nation’s prospects for economic sustainability rests. Apart from being second to oil in terms of revenue generation and job creationi the maritime sector is embedded in the oil and gas industry because oil activities only thrive in a safe and enduring maritime environment. Even the foreign exchange from export of farm produce and other commodities only take place through shipmenti which in itself is a maritime activity. You cannot transport crude oil or ship in refined products without the use of vessels traveling on water and using portsi jetties or anchorage areas for berthing or resting on transit. But these can only happen under an environment devoid of security threats and unwholesome acts

The causes of maritime insecurity in the country are multiple and multilayeredi and they are manifest in violence, corruption, and in communities that resort to any means available to improve their circumstances—even if through illegal tradei insurgencyi or piracy.

ft is worrisome that the dulf of duinea where kigeria holds a great stakei accounts for 95 percent of maritime kidnappings in the world. It controls over 50% of the total maritime trade volume in this area and by default has become the quick to mention country whenever maritime insecurity issues are raised.

gointly responsible for the maritime industry are; the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Nigeria Maritime Administration and pafety Agency EkfMASA), National Inland Water Ways Authority (NIWA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) as well as the Nigerian Navy. That these government agencies together with the kigerian Navy have failed in this vital aspect of their mandate is very unfortunate and must be remedied.