OVER 165 million Nigerians, representing 84 per cent of the country’s population, currently need treatment for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), according to Nigeria’s NTDs Economic Impact Study.
The study which was commissioned by the END Fund and conducted by Deloitte Nigeria, said the Nigerian economy stands to reap $18.9 billion from its citizens and increased productivity if elimination of NTDs is achieved by 2030.
NTDs are diseases that occur mostly in tropical climate and are caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and toxins.
According to Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDI), an international, not-for-profit research and development organisation, NTDs “disproportionately affect people who are already vulnerable – whether through poverty, marginalisation, geographic location or living conditions”.
It added that such diseases cause significant suffering, disability, and death.
Oyetola Oduyemi
Speaking with journalists in Abuja at the 2023 World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Day Town Hall Meeting, on Friday, January 27, the END Fund Senior Director of Public Affairs for Africa, Oyetola Oduyemi said the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 brought setbacks to the fight against NTDs in Nigeria.
She blamed the country’s population growth and inability to sustain treatments during the early stage of COVID-19 for the increased number of 165 million against 2020 which was about 120 million.
“It was just a free for all and as a result, there was a significant increase in the number of people and that is why at present over 165 million Nigerians in need of treatment for one or more of these diseases”, she said.
Also speaking, National Coordinator of NTDs Elimination Programme, Nse Akpan said there is need to enlighten the populace about the scourge of NTDs.
“People were not given much attention to these diseases because they were believing that most times based on their traditional practices, it is not treatable because they believe it was caused by witchcraft”, he said.
Meanwhile, the Abuja Liason Officer of The Carter Centre, Sarah Pantuvo called on Federal Government to commit resources to the fight against NTDs.
Pantuvo said, “Nigeria doesn’t really have to depend on donor funders. The federal government also has to do a lot towards it. You can’t leave your programme for other people to implement for you as much as they tell.
“You also have to have a commitment of resources through counterpart funding to execute development projects in the country.”
According to him, the suspect lured his five-year-old and seven-year-old victims to an uncompleted building in the Akepe area of Osogbo, where he raped them.
“Investigation showed that the suspect is highly notorious and a serial rapist.
“Upon interrogation, he confessed to committing the crime and he has been transferred to the police for investigation and prosecution.
“I thank residents of the area of the incident who did well by informing us about what happened. I appreciate them for their support,’’ Adewinmbi said.
The Amotekun commander reiterated the corps’s commitment to fighting crimes in Osun and assured cooperation with other security agencies to rid the state of criminals.
Adewinmbi noted that it was wrong to politicise criminality and assured Osun residents of protection in collaboration with other security agencies.
PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to extend the deadline for the use of old naira notes.
Old N200, N500 and N1000 naira notes will cease to be recognized as legal tender by January 31, the deadline set by the CBN.
The former Vice President called for the extension of the deadline in a short video clip posted on his Twitter account on Saturday, January 28.
In the video seen by The ICIR, Atiku noted that the deadline of the naira redesign policy has made life difficult for many Nigerians.
While applauding the monetary conversion policy as a worldwide practice, Atiku stressed that the deadline was not well considered and should be slightly adjusted.
“The ongoing policy of the CBN to redesign the naira notes has generated wide reactions across the country and beyond,” he said
“This exercise is a worldwide practice and nothing new with it especially as the January 31st deadline draws closer.
“A great number of Nigerians out of good conscience have expressed apprehension about how the policy and the deadline will make life difficult for them.
“I’m also aware of the challenges farmers and artisans in remote areas go through in moving cash to the commercial banks for exchange.
“The deadline is going to cause heavy discomfort for Nigerians. It will be magnanimous for the Federal Government and the regulatory body to ease the burden of the people while we can continue to sensitise the public on the imperative of mobile banking policy.
“It is important for the CBN to consider an extension for the public to swap their old notes thereby reducing the financial consequences on these vulnerable citizens, I believe that such painful experience is not the intention behind the initiative.”
Despite appeals by the National Assembly to the CBN to extend the January 31 deadline for the acceptance of the old naira notes, the apex bank has remained defiant, insisting there is no going back.
The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Bank Customers Association of Nigeria (BCAN) and a host of other stakeholders have also expressed concerns and made appeals for CBN to extend the period for the currency swap as well as review of the cashless policy.
KANO State governor Abdullahi Ganduje has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to postpone his official visit to the state.
Ganduje made the request because of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy, according to a statement released on Saturday, January 28, by his Chief press Secretary Abba Anwar.
The statement said Ganduje disclosed the development to academics, lawmakers, political figures and members of the business community at the Kano State Government House on Friday, January 27.
The decision to seek the postponement of the visit was taken to avoid any unanticipated circumstances, the statement explained.
“As we are waiting for this important visit, we find ourselves in this situation, which puts citizens into untold hardship. For security purposes, we wrote to the Presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Kano be postponed.
“We got an acknowledgement copy of the letter. People are really suffering because of this policy,” the governor said.
The statement added that two serving senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Barau Jibrin and Kabiru Gaya, twenty members of the House of Representatives and thirty legislators from the State House of Assembly were among the groups that supported the decision.
“There are no banks in most of our rural communities. How these people get new naira notes is of great concern. Just look at what is happening in our urban areas; people go and spend hours upon hours in banks without any assurances of getting the new notes,” Ganduje lamented.
The governor claimed that it was difficult to conduct business even with the point of sale (POS), adding that many people have closed their shops over the uncertain situation.
“This problem affects all of us. Therefore our voice must be heard in all nooks and crannies. We are a commercial hub. As such, our position must be loud and clear,” Ganduje said.
The governor also called for an extension of the deadline for returning old naira notes.
THE family of Pelumi Onifade has said the Lagos State government has not released his corpse for burial two years after he was killed.
An intern at a private online broadcaster, Gboah TV, Onifade was, at the time of his death, a second-year history student at the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) in Ogun State.
A police stray bullet killed the 20-year-old during the #EndSARS protests in 2020 at Abattoir in the Oko Oba area of Agege, Lagos, where he had gone to interview some traders whose shops were looted by hoodlums.
His lifeless body, according to eyewitnesses, was taken away by the policemen.
Aside from the difficulty in getting justice, his bereaved mother, Bose Onifade, narrated the frustrations she has gone through just to get his corpse retrieved from the mortuary.
“It is only God who can judge those who killed him. In Nigeria, if you don’t know people, you’re nothing, but I have God. He went to interview some people in the Abattoir area that day. We were looking for him only to find his corpse at the Ikorodu mortuary. We were later told his body had been moved from the mortuary to another one.
“I am appealing to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu (of Lagos) to intervene so that Pelumi’s corpse will be released. They did a DNA test for me in 2021 at a government hospital in Ikeja to identify the corpse and promised to call me when the result is ready, but nobody called me since then,” Onifade said.
She added: “We are poor people. Schools were on holiday then due to the COVID-19 lockdown, and he was working with the TV station to raise some funds to buy books,
“Pelumi was my ‘husband’, friend and brother. Every day I remember him, it is a big sorrow. Before the incident happened, we were discussing my birthday, and he promised that we would celebrate it, not knowing that two days to my birthday, I would not see him again.
“Everything is in God’s hands, but I know if Pelumi was alive, my life would be better. I miss him so much. I relocated from my former residence because I always took ill. My dad was sick because of Pelumi’s death. He didn’t have a male child, so he loved him so much. He died in October 2022.”
Onifade said she attended a panel of enquiry set up by the state government to investigate the #EndSARS killings, including Pelumi’s, but since the panel concluded its enquiry, she had not heard anything about the case.
Asked why the corpse has not been released, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho said: “The mother can go to the Yaba mortuary with proof of evidence. She should go for the DNA result.”
“As regards the #EndSARS panel, what the white paper (on the panel investigation) said we should do, we have done almost everything. We have no power to prosecute soldiers or policemen. We have sent those cases to the federal government,” Omotosho added.
MULTIPLE sit-at-home orders in the South-East could deprive the Igbo of the chance to win the 2023 presidential election, according to a group known as the Pan-Nigerian President of Igbo Extraction Coalition (PANPIEC).
The group warned the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its factions that politicians could use the sit-at-home exercise to ruin the quest for Igbo Presidency.
PANPIEC made its position known in a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Rev Obinna Akukwe and the Secretary, Dr Pat Anyanwu.
The group said, “PANPIEC is aware that some members of the Strategy Team are working behind the scenes for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, details of which will be kept private.
“Therefore, any further multiple sit-at-home represents a multiple demarketing of the Igbo Presidency Project.”
The group urged Simon Ekpa, Commander of IPOB Autopilots faction, to ditch his Biafra agitations till after the 2023 elections.
This, according to them, will enable teeming Igbo youths to exercise their civic responsibilities.
The group noted that the South-East could not simultaneously seek Biafra and Igbo Presidency.
“PANPIEC warns for the last time that the indiscriminate sit-at-home strikes fear into the minds of other stakeholders in the north favourably disposed to the Igbo Presidency.
“PANPIEC has received thousands of inquiries from concerned northern voters over the stance of Ndigbo on Biafra and warns that all the rumours of war are destabilising the Igbo Presidency Project”, the group stated.
THE Lagos State chapter of the All Progress Congress (APC) has accused the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olajide Adediran, popularly known as ‘Jandor’, of employing thugs to intimidate Lagosians.
APC alleged that the PDP gubernatorial candidate instigated an attack during his campaign tour in Surulere that left three dead people and several others injured.
In a statement issued by Seye Oladejo, Lagos State APC spokesperson, the party described the alleged attack as a move to actively promote anarchy and violence to disrupt the peace in the state.
“Our attention has been drawn to the reign of terror unleashed on innocent and law-abiding citizens of Lagos state by the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in the forthcoming national elections, Jide Adediran, otherwise known as Jandor in the course of his campaign in Surulere Local Government Council of the state.
“The incident left several maimed victims, and three people reportedly sent to their untimely death.
“We strongly condemn the unwarranted and unprovoked resort to violence on the state’s citizens in the name of electioneering campaign.
“Lagos cherishes its enviable status as the safest state in the country, resulting from long-running and painstaking investment in security through providing incentives for security agencies.
“We view this attack as a ploy to instil fear in the hearts of voters as we count down to the elections,” the statement read.
The party called on law enforcement agencies to investigate the incident and bring the culprits to book.
THE Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday, January 27 arraigned the quartet of Oladepo Babatunde, Funmilayo Oladimeji, Maclean Surulere and Ernest Uduebor before Justice R.A. Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
They were arraigned on a seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery and possession of fraudulent documents.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by EFCC Spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren.
One of the counts reads: “Oladepo Abdulbasit Babatunde, Funmilayo Oladimeji, Maclean Frederick Surulere, Captain Ayuba Suleiman Chinoko (still at large) and Ernest Uduebor, on or about the 28th of January 2022 at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired to forge several Fidelity Bank manager’s cheques purporting same to be issued by Fidelity Bank Plc in favour of So Deep Energy & Logistics Ltd.”
Another count reads: “Oladepo Abdulbasit Babatunde, Funmilayo Oladimeji, McLean Frederick Surulere, Captain Ayuba Suleiman Chinoko (still at large) and Ernest Uduebor, on or about the 28th of January 2022 at Lagos, with intent to defraud, had in your possession Fidelity Bank manager’s cheque number 0719504131 purporting same to be issued by Fidelity Bank Plc in favour of So Deep Energy & Logistics Ltd, which representation you knew was false.”
The defendants pleaded “not guilty” to all the charges preferred against them.
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In view of their pleas, the prosecution counsel, S.O. Daji, prayed to the court for a trial date.
“We also urge the court to remand the defendants at the correctional facility,” he said.
Justice Oshodi adjourned till March 6 and 7, 2023, for trial and also ordered that the defendants be remanded at the correctional facility.
THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has released the timetable for a fresh governorship primary in Abia State.
This followed the death of the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the state, Uchenna Eleazar Ikonne, a professor.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, on Friday, January 27.
“Following the sad event of the death of our Abia State Governorship Candidate for the 2023 general elections, Prof. Uchenna Eleazar Ikonne, and pursuant to the provisions of Section 33 of the Electoral Act 2022, the National Working Committee (NWC) has released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the conduct of a fresh Governorship Election Primary in Abia State,” the statement said.
According to the timetable released by the party, the schedule of activities is as follows:
1. Notice to INEC – Friday, January 27, 2023
2. Sale of Forms – Friday, January 27- Tuesday, January 31, 2023
3. Last day for the Submission of already purchased Forms – Wednesday, February 01, 2023
4. Screening of Aspirants – Thursday, February 02, 2023
5. Screening Appeal – Friday, February 03, 2023
6. State Congress
Nomination of gubernatorial candidates is scheduled for Saturday, February 4.
The party said fresh aspirants are permitted to participate in the current exercise alongside those who contested in the earlier primary.
The ICIR reported that Ikonne died on Wednesday, January 25.
Ikonne’s death was announced in a statement by his son, Chikezie Uche-Ikonne.
The younger Ikonne said his father died after a brief illness at the National Hospital, Abuja.
SINCE Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, no fewer than 19 journalists have been killed – mostly in questionable circumstances. Daily Trust tracks some of these murders, capturing the anguish of the victims’ families in search of justice.
LIFE has not remained the same for Bose Onifade since she lost her only son, Pelumi Onifade, to a gruesome murder.
At 20, Pelumi, a 200-level Mass Communication student at Taiye Solarin University (TASUED) in Ogun State was just starting out as a journalist with Gboa TV when he met his untimely death in the violence that erupted during the October 2020 #EndSARS protest in Lagos.
Pelumi was reportedly shot dead by policemen attached to the Lagos state Task Force, who raided the Abattoir area of the state where he had gone to interview some traders whose shops were looted by hoodlums.
More than two years after, the grief is still fresh. Aside from the difficulty in getting justice, his bereaved mother is devastated Pelumi’s corpse has not been released by the Lagos State Government for burial.
Afuye
“It is only God who can judge those who killed him. In Nigeria, if you don’t know people, you’re nothing, but I have God. He went to interview some people in the Abattoir area that day. We were looking for him only to find his corpse at the Ikorodu mortuary. We were later told his body had been moved from the mortuary to another one.
“I am appealing to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu (of Lagos) to intervene so that Pelumi’s corpse will be released. They did a DNA test for me in 2021 at a government hospital in Ikeja to identify the corpse and promised to call me when the result is ready, but nobody called me since then,” Onifade sobbed.
As the first child, every member of the family looked up to Pelumi as that young, promising man who would liberate the family from the shackles of poverty. This was a lofty dream the family held dear, only to be shattered unexpectedly.
“We are poor people. Schools were on holiday then due to the COVID-19 lockdown, and he was working with the TV station to raise some funds to buy books,” the grieving mother continued, trying to suppress tears.
She said, “Pelumi was my ‘husband’, friend and brother. Every day I remember him, it is a big sorrow. Before the incident happened, we were discussing my birthday, and he promised that we would celebrate it, not knowing that two days to my birthday, I would not see him again.
Bose Onifade
“Everything is in God’s hands, but I know if Pelumi was alive, my life would be better. I miss him so much. I relocated from my former residence because I always took ill. My dad was sick because of Pelumi’s death. He didn’t have a male child, so he loved him so much. He died in October 2022.”
Onifade said she attended a panel of enquiry set up by the state government to investigate the #EndSARS killings, including Pelumi’s, but since the panel concluded its enquiry, she had not heard anything about the case.
Asked why the corpse has not been released, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, said, “the mother can go to the Yaba mortuary with proof of evidence. She should go for the DNA result.”
“As regards the #EndSARS panel, what the white paper (on the panel investigation) said we should do, we have done almost everything. We have no power to prosecute soldiers or policemen. We have sent those cases to the federal government,” Omotosho added.
One death too many
Pelumi was one of the journalists in Nigeria and across the world killed in the line of duty. Ahead of the International Human Rights Day, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on December 10, 2022, restated the need for the international community to take concrete action to protect the safety and freedom of journalists, saying it recorded a spike in the number of journalists killed or imprisoned in 2022.
The IFJ said it recorded 67 killings of journalists and media staff in 2022 compared to 47 in the preceding year – a reversal of the decline recorded in recent years.
Through its media freedom project, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), tracks cases of assault on journalists, including cyber-attacks which, it says, imperil journalists from performing their job effectively.
In November 2022, the Media Rights Agenda (MRA) stated that at least 19 Nigerian journalists were brutally murdered since Nigeria’s return to democracy in May 1999.
They include Fidelis Ikwuebe, a freelance journalist with The Guardian in Anambra; Enenche Akogwu, a Channels TV reporter in Kano; Sam Nimfa-Jan, an NTA reporter killed in Jos; Maxwell Nashal of the Federal Radio Corporation (FRCN) in Adamawa; Precious Owolabi of Channels TV in Abuja; Titus Badejo of Naija FM in Oyo; Tordue Salem of Vanguard in Abuja, among others.
Bayo-Ohu
The MRA lamented that investigations and prosecution of the perpetrators were inconclusive.
Bayo Ohu’s case is one of many.
– Bayo Ohu –
An Assistant News Editor with The Guardian, Bayo Ohu was shot dead in his home in the Egbeda area of Lagos one Sunday morning in 2009 – right before his then 10-month-old daughter, Modesodun, who is now 14.
In what was suspected to be an assassination, the assailants only went away with his phone and laptop and didn’t attack other residents within the compound. Although some suspects were arrested and paraded by the Lagos State Police Command, nothing is heard of the case afterwards.
Getting closure to the tragic killing and ensuring that the perpetrators are brought to book is the least consolation Bayo’s wife, Blessing Ohu, and his five children would want. However, the possibilities of achieving it narrow by the day as the police have failed to follow the case to a logical conclusion.
In May 2012, the court freed three suspects charged with Ohu’s murder on the grounds that the prosecution failed to prove the case.
After searching for justice for years to no avail, Blessing said she had decided to move on with life.
Everybody knows in Nigeria that when it comes to justice, until you get it, you can’t be sure of it. I won’t say that justice was served because I only knew they paraded some suspects.
“The police paraded some criminals and it was even televised. After that, I don’t know what happened again. If there was any development, perhaps they would have called me, but nobody did. Everybody knows in Nigeria that when it comes to justice, until you get it, you can’t be sure of it. I won’t say that justice was served because I only knew they paraded some suspects.
“We all know what is supposed to be done, but I never heard somebody was jailed because of the matter. But if the police feel justice has been served, I leave everything to God,” she remarked solemnly.
Blessing Ohu
Recalling how the murder occurred, the widow said she had to weather the storm and step in to fill the vacuum left by her husband’s sudden death.
She said, “It is God that has kept us through. I would describe that day as one of the darkest parts of my life because one minute, you were out happy, and the next minute, you were back sad and sorrowful.
“I went to church that day, and barely 40 minutes after, I got a call. The person was screaming, ‘come home.’ My baby was 10-month-old then, and I wondered what could have happened to her. As I was pondering over it, my little niece, who was staying with us, came and said armed robbers came to the house and shot my husband.
“I fainted at that moment. After I was revived and got home, his body had been taken away. There was blood everywhere. The children were very young then so for a long time they believed that their dad travelled and would come back. Dad never came back; I kept telling them that he had gone to Heaven. That was how they began to understand that he is no longer coming back.
“The burden of taking care of the children is on me, but I must pick up the challenge. What I can do, I do and leave the ones I can’t to God. Bayo was a loving father and husband. He was the eyes of the extended family and made sure everyone was happy.”
– Zakariyah Isa –
Onifade
Like Pelumi and Bayo’s cases, the mystery behind the gruesome killing of Zakariyah Isa, a reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority, has remained unresolved since October 2011.
Zakariyah was shot dead in front of his residence in Maiduguri, Borno State, by some Boko Haram terrorists who reportedly accused him of spying on them for the Nigerian security authorities.
Neighbours who were alarmed by the gunshots that night reportedly caught some people suspected to have carried out the dastardly act. But that was all the family knew of the case 11 years after.
Zakariya Isa
Overwhelmed by the burden of looking after seven children, Zakariya’s wife, 42-year-old Maryam Isa, told Daily Trust that the family had resigned to fate believing justice may be elusive after all.
She said, “I don’t know if the security agents have arrested the people that killed my husband, and I can’t tell if those caught were the killers. For me, it’s past; my only prayer and hope is to get the support for my children to live well and get the best.”
Maryam revealed that before the incident, they depended on Zakariyah’s income to eke out a living, noting that his death had further impoverished the family.
She said, “I will never forget the day he was killed. It was October 22, 2011, around 7 pm, after the evening prayer. I was inside the house, nursing Hafsat (the last child) and preparing dinner. I suddenly heard gunshots and was scared.
Mariam Isa
“It was like a dream to me. He was buried the following day, and the then Governor Kashim (Shettima) attended the burial. After his death, life became more difficult for us. I wanted to withdraw the children from school, but one of my late husband’s colleagues at NTA sponsored their education.
“She also bought a grinding machine for me and encouraged me to be strong. Hafsat is in Primary 5; her sister just finished junior WAEC and will be entering SS1. My son, Umar, got admission into a polytechnic, but I don’t have money, so he is at home.”
Children grapple with sorrow
Gibson Godfrey Boyi
One of Zakariyah’s children, Nufal Isa was enjoying fatherly pampering when the tragedy struck. She had no inkling the bond would be cruelly truncated.
“I miss my dad so much. Sometimes when I see my friend’s fathers buy things for them and I feel sad and wish my father is alive too. I think of him anytime I’m alone,” the 14-year-old girl disclosed.
– Samson Boyi –
Gibson Godfrey Boyi is in the same shoes as Nufal. He was about six-month-old when his father, Samson Boyi, a photojournalist with the Adamawa State-owned newspaper, The Scope, was killed. Samson was shot dead in 1999 by some gunmen who attacked the convoy of a former governor of the state, Haruna Boni.
Gibson, now 22, grew up to know his father on photographs. He told our correspondent that his father’s untimely demise threw the family into a huge financial crisis. His education and that of his five siblings is stuck after secondary school. They are now into farming to fend for themselves and their mum.
He said, “I was told about his death. I don’t know my father; I only saw his pictures. His death affected us seriously. Life is very hard for us. If he was alive, things would not be this bad. All of us could not proceed beyond secondary education because of funding.”
He said the family had taken solace in God as they don’t know anyone that can help them get justice on the matter.
“No effort to ensure justice because we don’t have people who can fight for our cause. We can’t tell the government what to do. But I believe God will fight on our behalf,” he added.
25 journalists killed in Sierra Leone, Ghana, others
Besides Nigeria, in English-speaking West African countries comprising Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, The Gambia and part of Cameroon, at least 25 journalists have been killed in controversial circumstances, records have shown.
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 18 journalists were killed in Sierra Leone between 1992 and 2022 either while covering dangerous assignments or through targeted murder. The CPJ also noted that 2067 journalists were killed globally during the period, 934 of which were directly linked to reports done by the deceased. Sadly, of the 2067 killings, 2004 cases, representing about 97 per cent, remain unresolved.
In Ghana, three journalists were killed between 2007 and 2019. They are George Abanga of Success FM, Samuel Enin of Ashh FM and Ahmed Hussein Suale, who was shot dead in Accra. Suale worked with undercover reporter, Anas Aremeyaw Anas of Tiger Eye Private Investigations, to uncover corruption in Ghanaian football.
In another calculated murder, a Liberian journalist, Tyron Brown, 24, was killed in April 2018. A black vehicle reportedly dropped Brown’s corpse outside his home and zoomed off.
One of the most respected journalists in The Gambia, Deyda Hydara, was killed in December 2004. In July 2019, Al-Jazeera reported that an army officer admitted before a truth commission that he was involved in the act and accused former President Yahya Jammeh of ordering the journalist’ murder.
“We opened fire, myself, Alieu Jen and Sana Manjang,” Lieutenant Malick Jatta said at the public hearing.
“Our commander, Captain Tumbul Tamba was communicating to the former president, Yahya Jammeh, on the phone during the operation. He said to him, ‘Yes Sir, Your Excellency,’” he said.
Jatta told the commission his commanding officer later gave him an envelope containing dollars, which he said was a “sign of appreciation from the big man,” a reference to Jammeh.
In Cameroon, a freelancer, Ngota Ngota Germain, 38, was killed in April 2010 while a broadcast journalist Samuel Wazizi, who had been imprisoned since August 2, 2019, died in detention in suspicious circumstances. Wazizi, a presenter on Chillen Media Television (CMTV), died in a military hospital in Yaoundé.
“I am deeply concerned about the circumstances surrounding the death of Samuel Wazizi,” the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, had said, calling on the authorities of Cameroon to investigate the death.
Police fail to provide update on cases
Daily Trust reached out to the Police Public Relations Officers (PPROs) in Lagos, Adamawa and Borno to find out the current status of the cases tracked by this paper, but none of them could give updates for more than a week.
The Lagos PPRO, Benjamin Hundeyin, said he contacted the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department to get information on Bayo’s murder, but he has yet to get feedback.
When contacted in December, the police spokesperson in Adamawa, Sulaiman Nguroje, said it would be difficult to find records on the murder of Samson Boyi which occurred in 1999.
When contacted in December, the police spokesperson in Adamawa, Sulaiman Nguroje, said it would be difficult to find records on the murder of Samson Boyi which occurred in 1999.
He then promised to get back as soon as he got details of the case. Subsequently, he did not pick calls from our reporter, or respond to a text message sent to him.
Efforts to speak to the Borno State Police Command PPRO, Mohammed Shatambaya, on Zakariyah’s case also proved abortive as he did not respond to phone calls and text messages.
Titus Badejo
Meanwhile, the Committee for the Defence of Human Right (CDHR) says there is a need for an overhaul of the country’s criminal justice system to ensure prompt prosecution and dispensation of justice.
The CDHR President, Osagi Obayuwana, observed that victims of crimes lost interest in pursuing the matter on account of delayed prosecution and sometimes intimidation.
He said, “The victimisation of journalists arising from the discharge of their duty to the society tends to be a matter that is perpetrated by the government – either because the journalist has stumbled into some sensitive information which the government feels embarrassed about. We remember Dele Giwa’s case, Tunde Thomson and others. Journalists suffer unjust deprivation of their liberty for being the watchdog of the society.
“However, there is an issue of funding of the police to work effectively and commit to professional excellence. So, cases that end up being prosecuted are a very small percentage. When we have Nigeria of our dreams that is more responsive, these issues will be resolved. Civil servants are not motivated to show commitment to excellence.”
CJP, NUJ condemn murders, demand justice
Jonathan Rozen, a senior researcher with the CPJ, said attacks against journalists in Nigeria remained a serious problem and posed huge obstacles to freedom of press entrenched in the constitution and international conventions.
He observed that too often, journalists in Nigeria experienced threat or violent attacks and in some cases killings, without those responsible being held accountable.
“Impunity is a major issue. What we really need to see from the authorities – those with the mandate to investigate crime against journalists and curb impunity – is the political will to act and deliver on that mandate,” he told Daily Trust.
Rozen noted that oftentimes, authorities in Nigeria and around the world spoke of accountability, but failed to act.
“In order to curb impunity, there is a need for action; action for justice in these cases so that the families can receive closure on these killings,” he urged.
The President, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Chris Isiguzo, said the union would not relent in demanding justice for slain members, adding that the NUJ was working with other organisations to ensure the rights of journalists are protected.
“Where we need to engage the service of a legal practitioner, we do, but we can only do this when members of the union are involved. We continue to say that if you are a practitioner, ensure that you regularize your membership with the union so that when there is an issue, the union can take it up,” he said.
Instructively, organisations like the CJID, MRA, NUJ, CPJ, CDHR and other civil society organisations are unequivocal in their demand for protection for journalists and justice for those killed in the line of duty. They want the relevant authorities to pursue the cases to a logical end and bring the culprits to book.
**This story is funded by Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development under the Media Freedom Project through Justice for Journalists Foundation.**
