The federal government says it has begun investigation into the petition against the Rivers State commissioner of police, JosephMbu, following the crisis that erupted Tuesday last week at the state House of Assembly.

Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, a retired Navy Captain, disclosed this on Friday at the inauguration of 200 units of three-bedroom flats at Goodluck Jonathan Police Housing Estate in Idimuarea of Lagos State.

He said the “weighty” allegation was receiving adequate attention, adding that Mbu would be given an opportunity to defend himself before any disciplinary action could be taken against him.

The minister said if he is found guilty, Mbu would be dealt with accordingly.

He stressed that the force had no room for erring and undisciplined policemen and officers, saying they were expected to be alive to their responsibilities and stay away from partisan politics.

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Olubolade noted that the duty of a policeman as spelt out in the constitution is that of safe-guarding lives and properties of the citizenry.

“When any policeman goes out of his or her way to abuse the constitution and the constitutional rights of others, such officer should get ready to face the wrath of the law,” he said.

The Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, had written a petition to the President and the National Assembly accusing the commissioner of incompetence and partisanship in the political crisis in the state.

The police in Lagos State have rescued two Chinese from alleged  kidnappers following a distress call, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

The victims, Song Jiang, a 56-year-old woman and a man,Zhangwen Xue, 45, who are workers in Supper Engineering Company, Odogunyan, Ikorodu.

Police spokesperson in the state, Ngozi Braide, said in a statement on Saturday that one person has been arrested in connection with the kidnap.

“On July 15, at about 2.50 p.m., the policemen attached toShagamu Road Division in Ikorodu, responded to a distress call and arrested a kidnapper at Shotumu village, near Shagamu, Ogun,” the statement said.

It said further that one locally-made pistol and a BMW car, with registration number CK 737 LND, were also recovered from the suspect.

The statement did not give further details about the kidnap attempt.

In a related development, the spokesperson said four armed robbery suspects were arrested in different parts of the state.

Braide said that two were arrested at about 1.55 p.m. on July 16 by policemen attached to Dolphin Estate Division, who responded to a distress call at the Estate.

She also said two others were arrested during a patrol on the same day at about 9.30 a.m. by policemen attached to Igando Division.

She said all the cases had been transferred to the state Criminal Investigation Department for further investigations.

The federal government has directed that N1 billion worth of foodstuffs be distributed to the three states currently under emergency rule – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe – to alleviate the sufferings of residents and in the spirit of the Ramadan fast.

Minister of state for agriculture, Tijjani Bukar, who is to supervise the distribution of the food items, said that President GoodluckJonathan was very concerned about the sufferings of the people in the region and has insisted that the food items get to everyafftected Nigerian regardless of their political, religious or tribal leaning.

Bukar said that in Borno State, the foodstuffs would be shared across 3928 units and would be coordinated by the Kanem BornoFoundation with voluntary supports from religious bodies, civil society organizations, the security and the Civilian JTF.

The minister said each of the units are expected to get at least 45 bags of the assorted grains ‘depending on the size of the units’.

“We have put a mechanism that would minimize diversion that is why we are involving the Civilian-JTF, to monitor the exercise to ensure that it is not abused or hijacked,” he said.

Boko Haram insurgents have driven about 19 000 rice farmers fromBorno State, while a military crackdown is preventing others from working on their fields and over 20,000 residents have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries like Niger and Cameroon

The senator representing Borno Central, Zannah Ahmed, had raised an alarm over acute shortage of necessities such as food, medical facilities and water in Barga and Gwaza areas and had appealed to the federal Government to intervene.

A delegation of eight opposition governors has advised their River State counterpart,  Rotimi Amaechi, to visit President GoodluckJonathan and brief him on the poor security situation of the state.

The governors from the ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC, said this when they paid solidarity visit to their Rivers state counterpart on Thursday, three days after four Northern governors who visited the state were pelted with stones at the airport.

The eight governors are Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti; Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State; Ibukunle Amosu, Ogun; Rauf Aregbesola, Osun andAbiola Ajumobi of Oyo State. Others are  Rochas Okorocha, Imo;Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, Nassarawa and Abdul’aziz Abubakar ofZamfara State.

After a closed-door meeting with Amaechi, Fayemi who acted as spokesman for the governors, told newsmen that their mission was to stress the importance of their concern for the security of Rivers State as the issue of security in the country was far more of a major concern to Nigerians.

“We have met with our brother and chairman of our forum in an extensive discussion and he has briefed us on the situation on ground here. We do feel strongly, having listened to him, that it is quite important for him to actually go and brief Mr President, who is our leader and the chief security officer of the country on the very challenging security situation here in Rivers,” the Ekiti Governor said.

He said they also discussed the importance for the hierarchy of the police authority, as well as the need for the Inspector General of Police, to help in restoring the lost confidence the people of Rivers have in the police.

“For us, we believe that this is a matter that requires the moral authority of Mr President as well, it is about saving the democracy, it is about ensuring that peace reigns in Rivers. The tension in Rivers is avoidable and we want all parties to sheathe their sword and to help restore the peace and security of the state,” he added.

Investigation carried out by the National Judicial Council, NJC, has found ex-Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Justice Hassan Gunmi, guilty of judicial corruption.

According to a statement issued by the acting director of Information of NJC, Soji Oye, at the end of a two-day crucial meeting in Abuja on Thursday, the council said it had been proven that the former Chief Judge perverted the course of justice in a case involving a company, Nestello Gateway Group and the governor of Zamfara State, Abubakar Yari.

The NJC described the conduct of Justice Gunmi in the case as “most unethical and highly reprehensible,” but said it had decided not to take punitive measures against him considering that he had voluntarily bowed out of office.

Gunmi voluntarily resigned from the bench in May, barely three weeks after the council concluded plans to investigate the case against him and has since been crowned Emir of Gunmi town inZamfara State, to replace Aliyu Abara who died on May 7.

The council, however, warned that “henceforth, any similar misconduct by any judicial officer will be visited with severe sanctions.

It also issued a stern warning to Justice M.A. Onyetenu of the Federal High Court for granting ex-parte order without hearing the pending motion and applications in a suit between one CharityAkah, an evangelist and Alpaca Price Nigeria Limited.

The council said it had adjourned hearing on petitions against other judicial officials across the country accused of involvement in acts of corruption till its next sitting.

Part of the statement reads:

“The committee investigated the petition forwarded to it byNestello Gateway Group in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/486/10 against Justice Hassan Gummi, former Chief Judge of High Court of FCT,Abuja.

“At the end of deliberation, council accepted the findings of its committee that Justice Gummi, interfered with the execution of the judgment delivered by Justice Jude Okeke of the FCT High Court,Abuja, in the suit between Nestello Gateway Group and AlhajiAbubakar Yari, a former National Assembly member and current Governor of Zamfara State, in which execution had already been levied in favour of the petitioner.

“Council found the interference by Justice Gummi in the execution of the judgment as most unethical and highly reprehensible.”

National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters, NAPTIP, has said that it would arrest and prosecute anyone involved in practice of using minors as house help which it says is a form of human trafficking.

The head of press and public relations of the agency, ArinzeOrakwe, in an interview with our reporter said that it is a crime to have any child living outside of his/her immediate family environment as a house help according to the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003, as amended in 2005.

According to him, available report shows that many Nigeria women and children are still trafficked internally and to various part of the world.

“One of the greatest tragedies of our time is that parents traffic their own children for personal benefits,” he lamented.

He condemned the way parents consented to human trafficking, adding that ignorance and poverty are the causes that needed to be addressed.

Section 50 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003 of Nigeria defines trafficking as including: “…all acts and attempted acts involved in the recruitment, transportation within or across Nigerian borders, purchase, sale, transfer, receipt or harbouring of a person involving the use of deception, coercion or debt bondage for the purpose of placing or holding the person whether for or not involving servitude (domestic, sexual or reproductive) in force or bonded labour, or in slavery-like conditions.”

Orakwe noted that the law also made it a criminal offence to keep a child in a brothel.

He threatened that any brothel that habours under aged girls will be closed down and the property confiscated by the governmentwhilethe proceeds will be used as compensation for the abused children.

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He recalled that a brothel at No. 1, Anjorin Odoguyan StreetIkorodu, Lagos State was sealed up and confiscated about two years ago when children were discovered there.

“In a situation where brothel is sealed, NAPTIP will seek an approval of the court after the conviction of the culprit for the property to be sold and pay the victim as a compensation for the trauma they passed through,” he stated.

A recent report of the International Labour Organisation, ILO, shows that not less than 52 million people across the world work asdomesticservants,and only 10 per cent of them are actually protected by existing labour laws.

The report also states that in 2012, 72 per cent of the population of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa engaged in vulnerable employment, which includes domestic service, mostly undertaken by minors and women.

In major Nigerian cities, the demand for domestic servants such as house maids and cooks is quite high because of the long hours of work and traffic which keep most couples out late.

Orakwe noted that aside from using minors as house help, football is now also a veritable means by which Nigerian boys are trafficked. Finnish President, Sauli Niinistö, confirms this trend and asked authorities here to look into the manner by which Nigerian boys leave the country on false contracts.

The NAPTIP spokesman lamented the attitude of many states in Nigeria towards adoption of the Child Right Act which protects the rights of children, adding that Nigerians are playing politics with the lives of the children if states refuse the adoption.

“These states are inadvertently promoting exacerbating conditions that promote traffic in persons because that is what the law is supposed to do, but we are not doing it. We are playing politics with the lives of the children,” he lamented.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child enjoins that “Member States shall undertake to disseminate the Conventions principles and take all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the implementation of the Rights recognized in the present Convention.”

Against this background, a draft Child’s Rights Bill aimed principally at enacting into law in Nigeria the principles enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child was prepared in the early 90’s. But it is only after about ten years with several heads of government and heated debates by the parliamentarians that the Bill was eventually passed into law by the National Assembly in July 2003.

President Olusegun Obasanjo signed it into law in September 2003 and it was promulgated as the Child’s Rights Act 2003.

About 16 out of 36 states have adopted the Child Rights Act. Although the law was passed at the federal level, it can only be effective if the state assemblies enact it as most cases occur in the states.

Quoting Nelson Mandela who said that there is no other window to the soul of a nation than by how it treats its children, Orakwe implored other states to adopt the Act in order to deal with the issues hindering the protection rights of children such as children living on the streets, children affected by communal conflict, drug abuse, human trafficking, child labour and the weaknesses of the juvenile justice system amongst others.

Organizations including the United Nations’ Children Fund, UNICEF and the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC among others had earlier called on states to adopt the Child Rights Act in order to adequately protect the rights of children.

Orakwe blamed Nigeria’s downgrade in the performance of the global trafficking compliance rating by the US State department from 1st tier to 2nd tier on poor funding of the agency and non-articulation of programmes that seek to develop and protect children.

A Federal High Court has ordered the Clerks of the Senate and House of Representatives to disclose the salaries, allowances and constituency allowances of two members to Patrick Eholor, the founder and president of One Love Foundation, in compliance with the Freedom of Information, FoI Act.

The members are Ehigie Uzamere, senator representing Edo South Senatorial District and Nosakhare Osahon, the House member representing Ovia Federal Constituency.

Eholor, who is also a chieftain of the Labour Party, filed a case with suit at the court aftcot attempts to get the information from the National Assembly failed to yield the result.

Counsel to the plaintiff, Daniel Ogbegie, said his client was willing to pay any fee required for such information to be made available to him, adding that the issue of salaries and remuneration has been shrouded in so much secrecy over time.

“The Freedom of Information Act is to deepen democracy so that information can be available to the people all the time and for proper accountability to the people they want to serve,” he noted.

He said a letter was initially sent to the National Assembly requesting for the information and on the 22nd of April 2013 they got a reply requesting an extension to supply the information.

Ogbegie, however, noted that whereas the Freedom of Information Act of 2011, stipulates that such information must be supplied within seven days of the receipt of the request, reply from the Assembly did not come until after 19 days.

“When we saw that the information was not forth coming, we now approached the court to seek a judicial review by way of mandamus to enforce that provision of the Freedom of Information Act and this was granted us on 10th, July 2013,” he added.

In a similar case, in June, an Abuja Federal High Court ordered the National Assembly to release, within 14 days, details of the salary, emoluments, and allowances received by its members between 2007 and 2011 in line with the FoI ACT, to the Legal Defense and Assistance Project, LEDAP, a non-governmental organisation.

LEDAP had written to the Assembly on July 6, 2011, requesting for the information but in a manner characteristic of government agencies, the letter was simply ignored.

Nigerian lawmakers are considered the highest paid lawmakers in the world with each Senator believed to be getting a quarterly sum of Up to N60million and each member of the lower house getting N45million  in salaries and allowances.

Telecommunication services which were shut down two months ago have been restored in Yobe State.

Telecom services  withdrawn in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states after President Goodluck Jonathan declared emergency rule in the three states following unrelenting siege by Boko Haram insurgents.

All mobile telephone networks suddenly started to work by evening on Wednesday although MTN subscribers experienced rather epileptic service.

The restoration of telecom services might be in response to passionate pleas by the Yobe State governor, Ibrahim Geidam whiargued that the security situation had worsened by the absence of telecommunication facilities.

The governor reasoned that people who are willing to provide intelligence and information to the military have not been able to do so because there was no way of making phone calls.

Also, members of the House of Representatives made a passionate plea to President Jonathan to order a restoration of telephone services to help the security situation in the state.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Military Joint Task Force inYobe State commended residents for their patience during the period when telecom services were not available in the state.

The statement signed by the JTF spokesman, Eli Lazarus, appealed for the continuing support of the people in the efforts to restore peace and security in the state. .

The JTF asked residents to feel free “to provide credible and timely information that will assist the JTF to protect lives and property”.

It also provided GSM numbers through which the public can reach it. The numbers are 07065066662,07065085459, 07065088065, 07065085988,07065065333.”

The restoration of telephone services in Yobe State came a week after they were returned to Adamawa State s leaving out BornoState.

The military Joint Task Force, JTF, in Borno State has discovered a large quantity of weeds suspected to be Indian Hemp in a  Celestial Church of Christ in Maiduguri, the state capital.

The discovery was announced just as the 9.00 pm to 6.00 am curfew imposed months ago was relaxed. Residents now have until 11.00 pm to turn in for the day.

The JTF said a total of 124 bags of Indian Hemp were seized from the premises of the said church at about 9.30 am on July 10.

A statement by the task force signed by it’s spokesman, SagirMusa, said that the Celestial Church of Christ at House of Assembly Quarters in Pompomari area of Maiduguri Was raided by soldiers after a tip off by some residents.

“The raid led to the discovery and seizure of 124 bags of weeds suspected to be Indian Hemp parked in 3 rooms at the premises of the church. The suspect who is a pastor of the church, one MosesEdon admitted knowledge of the content of the bags and confessed that the Indian Hemp was brought to his church from Ondo State for safe keeping by a member of the church, one Mr Segun Oni.”

Investigations have revealed that the church has not held any service or other religious activity for a while and had only served as a warehouse from which the banned weed was distributed to buyers in Maiduguri and its environs.

Musa drew a link between drug use and crimes in the state and appealed to residents to help reduce crime by reporting such illicit trade to security agencies.

The JTF also stated that the curfew was relaxed upon an improvement in the security situation in the state and in the spirit of Ramadam.

Muss, however, admonished residents to be vigilant and report anything suspicious to security agencies.

The attorney representing the Ombatse group in the ongoing judicial commission of inquiry, Zachary Zamani Alumaga, has faulted the panel for delving into constitutional matters that are outside its jurisdiction.
Alumaga who made this observation at the inaugural public sitting of the commission at the Chief Magistrate Court 2, Lafia said the commission does not have any right under the law to use Law Number 4 of Nasarawa State Penal Code and the Penal law of Northern Nigeria.

The lawyer said that the commission can only use the Judicial Commission law in it’s proceedings.

“The making of a law like this has procedure. You have to set up a district judge or justice of the people to look into the problems of the people, agree and make recommendation. It is on the basis of that, that the governor can make this law,” he explained.

He submitted further: “The penal code that this commission has been asked to use, in the law itself the executor is the district judge or magistrate. If this commission uses that law i want to ask with what power, if not the powers of the district judge. Or is it by mere fact that you are a commission that you now assume other powers?”

Responding to the argument, another lawyer at the sitting, MusaAloko, said Alumaga was jumping the gun and acting faster than the proceedings of the commission.

He advised the Ombatse counsel to allow the proceeding to progress and as he could present his objections later.

Earlier, the chairman of the commission retired Justice Joseph FolaGbadeyan, while declaring the session open, said that members of the commission will do their best in carrying out the task before them in  the spirit of fairness equity and openness.

He called on all and sundry to give them the maximum support needed while also appealing to the media to report proceedings accurately and refrain from sensationalism in the course of the hearing.

The sitting was adjourned till Monday, July 22, to enable the commission create a time-table for the receiving of memoranda from members of the public.