+HURIWA CONDEMNS CATHOLIC CHURCH BOMBING IN BAUCHI +CANVASSES FULL BLOWN STATE OF EMERGENCY IN RESTIVE NORTHERN STATES

A democracy inclined Non-Governmental organization- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS' ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURIWA] has strongly condemned the Sunday deadly bomb attack of the Saint John Catholic Pro-Cathedral in Bauchi State and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare state of emergency in Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Kano State for six months to enable the Government take far -reaching emergency measures to combat the rising spate of targeted bomb attacks and to bring the perpetrators of the dastardly crimes against humanity to the competent courts of law for prosecution and sanction in accordance with the due process of the law.

The Rights Group also carpeted the Federal Government for doing nothing to improve border security to prevent illegal arms from flooding into Nigeria from the porous borders.

In a media statement authorized jointly by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Officer Miss. Zainab Yusuf, the Rights Group asked Government to stop the sensational media celebration of the capture of suspected kingpins of the dreaded and armed Islamic Insurgents in the North but to concentrate effort towards the building of formidable intelligence of the security operatives to effectively deter the continuous bomb attacks and targeted killings of high profile Government officials and innocent worshippers.

HURIWA charged Government to ensure that the court system and the Nigerian Prison service work optimally to deliver effective and decisive justice to suspected mass murderers belonging to the armed insurgency.

HURIWA also tasked Federal Government to probe the widely held allegation that the suspected bombers arrested and detained without proper documentation and speedy prosecution may have bribed their way out of detention which may explain why there is increased rate of attacks by these terrorists.

HURIWA also blamed the Governors of the affected terror-prone states in the North of failing to play their key constitutional roles and deploy the resources of the states transparently towards ensuring the protection of lives and property of the citizenry resident in those areas.

The Rights group singled out the Bauchi State Governor of spectacular failure to protect minorities that are indigenous to the state and other Nigerians. "The Bauchi State Governor has come under intense criticism from a cross segment of the people of Bauchi State especially from the ethnic and religious minority tribes from Tafawa Balewa areas of allegedly failing to protect their constitutional rights by surreptitiously undermining their representation at the state House of Assembly through the suspension on nebulous grounds of the female member representing the constituency in the Bauchi State House of Assembly". 

HURIWA also blamed the Federal Government for the total lack of national security objective in the ongoing anti-terrorism fight because according to the Group; "It is preposterous and illogical that while the members of the joint military task force are celebrating victory over the armed terrorists in the North through carefully coordinated arrest of suspected top flight chieftains of the Islamic armed Insurgency in the North, the Justice and prison sectors are in very bad shape because there are no proofs that any of the high profile suspected bomber has been successfully prosecuted and sanctioned by any competent court of jurisdiction in compliance with section 6 of the 1999 constitution[as amended].

"Nigerians are tired of the state sponsored media drama of 'dubious' victory of the Government over the bombers but will be glad to see that all those indicted and arrested for the spate of bomb attacks in the last three years that have caused the death of several thousands of innocent women, children and other citizens are brought before competent courts of law and prosecuted for these heinous crimes against humanity".

The group condemned the Bauchi Catholic Church bomb attack as unprovoked attack of innocent persons for the mere fact that they have chosen to worship their God in accordance to their faith just as the Rights group warned the Government that people are losing patience because it is unreasonable to expect most Nigerians to fold their hands and watch their loved ones decimated and exterminated by Islamic fundamentalists while the Federal Government does nothing and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is busy travelling across the globe while the nation burns

24/9/2012

NIGERIA’S COMEDY OF ERROR ON TERROR By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The last two years or so in Nigeria could easily be described as the worst period of unprecedented terror-related violence and general state of insecurity in which thousands of innocent Nigerians have lost their precious lives and property especially in Northern Nigeria.

Because of the increasing spate of bomb attacks targeted at churches, government institutions and other flashpoints in the North East and North West of Nigeria by armed Islamic rebels, most Nigerians are now apprehensive and fearful of the unknown.

In most states in the South, the dare- devil activities of criminal gangs that have unleashed a regime of violence, armed kidnappings for ransom payments and armed brigandage has now made most people to be unease and the inability of the operatives of the security agencies to combat this upsurge in violent crime has increased the general climate of fear in Nigeria.

There is obviously a comedy of error on how best to fight and effectively win the war on terror in most parts of Nigeria because of what is seen as serious institutional disconnect among the security agencies of government and even the Nigeria’s foreign ministry officials. The justice sector has also failed to deliver justice to arrested terror suspects.

While the Inspector General of police Mr. Abubakar Dikko Mohammed has shouted from the roof tops that soon the security operatives would effectively tackle the rising trend of terror- related attacks but the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petirin stated in clear terms that counter-terrorism operations do not have time frame.

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) stated thus; “The issue of terrorism or criminality is a difficult thing, once people import it into any society, it is not always easy to completely wipe it out but we have to continue to manage it and be conscious of our security more than before. In the United States for instance, there hasn’t been any serious attack since the 9/11 episode but the country and Americans have remained more watchful than the pre-9/11 era, they have been managing the problem. So, I can’t give you a definite time when the crisis will be over but what I know is that we are on course”.

The Chief of Defense Staff spoke so very well but a missing link is that Nigeria has no clearly defined national policy on security even as the nation’s security architecture is still weak.

To add salt to injury, the Nigerian government through the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs appears disorganized and not fully committed to wage relentless and intelligence-driven war on terror. The policy flip flops of top foreign ministry officials have denied Nigeria of any possible security assistance from foreign governments to battle the scourge of terrorism that has spread like wild fire.

The Nigerian government committed the willful blunder of stridently opposing the United States government’s proposal to brand boko haram in Nigeria as a terrorist group and the Nigerian government’s opposition has therefore weakened the dimension of anti-terror fighting involvement of the international community within the territory of Nigeria even when it is clear that a lot of the sophisticated weapons used by the insurgents in the North are smuggled into Nigeria from the many porous borders. Nigeria has therefore failed to properly secure her borders.

Another fundamental blunder that the Nigerian government is committing in the war against terrorism in Nigeria is the absence of the necessary law reforms that would have quicken the dispensation of Justice in the cases of the suspects arrested for their involvement in the series of bomb attacks and mass murders.

The ongoing fight against terror-related violence in most parts of the North is undertaken in the notorious business-as-usual posture of most government officials so much so that there is total absence of accountability and transparency on how the dispensation of justice to arrested terror suspects is going on.

The other day, the media reported that unspecified number of illegal weapons confiscated by operatives of the joint military task force in the North are being kept in the same store house that legal weapons belonging to security agencies are kept and in fact the media quoted security sources as stating that some of these illegal weapons taken away from the terrorism suspects may end up being re-possessed by other non-state actors.

The biggest comedy of error on the ongoing Nigeria’s war on terror is that the Nigerian government has done nothing pragmatic in the last ten years to improve the standard of detention facilities in prisons across the country thereby making it possible for terrorism suspects to be detained in some facilities that are not meant for dangerous suspects even as many of these persons arrested for terrorism offences have escaped from these sub-standard detention facilities.

What then is the essence of waging war on terrorism if the same government is doing nothing by way of bringing the suspects of terrorism to swift and decisive justice? Why does Nigerian government pay lip service to the dispensation of Justice in compliance with section 6 of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria (as amended)? Why is the government promoting impunity and lawlessness and thereby exposing thousands of innocent citizens to the danger of untimely deaths through the dastardly criminal acts of armed terrorists?

To buttress my point that there is a huge comedy of error at play in the name of fight on terrorism in Nigeria, let me remind my readers that only on Thursday September 13th 2012, the media reported that the commander of the joint military task force in Maiduguri, Borno State, bemoaned the unfortunate fact that the number of detained terror suspects has over-stretched the capacity of the facilities under the control of the joint military task force.              

The Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petirin and the inspector General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Dikko Mohammed who visited Maiduguri, Borno State, were told pointedly that there are 800 suspected members of the armed Islamic insurgency arrested and detained in the cell of the joint task force and that their presence there is telling adversely on the Joint Task Force facilities.

The Commander of the Joint Task Force, Major General J.A.H. Ewansiah was quoted in the Nigerian media as saying that there is very urgent need for relevant security agencies to relieve the joint military task Force of the burden of keeping the suspects.

His words: “There is urgent need for relevant security agencies to relieve the JTF of the burden of keeping the suspects”.

Major General Ewansiah reportedly pleaded with the nation’s two top security Chiefs to assist the JTF in getting the suspects evacuated to other parts of the country to enable the joint task force make proper use of their facilities.

The Commander disclosed that the last time the Chief of Defence Staff visited them; the cell had only 200 but that because of the active partnership and cooperation of local residents, many more suspected armed terrorists were arrested and detained.

The Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff was quoted to have promised to reach out to the Comptroller-General of Nigerian prison to work out modalities for moving the suspects to alternative detention facilities in other parts of the country.

Come to think of it, why is the Nigerian government not fully committed to waging effective war on terror and why is government going about confronting this serious challenge to the unity of Nigeria without any clearly defined objective?

Why would government so run down the prisons that the military will now be compelled to detain suspected terrorists in military detention facilities and no strategy is in place to make these suspects face the full weight of the law?

Why are the capital components of the federal budgets meant for the Nigerian Prisons not being properly accounted for in the last ten years thereby allowing detention facilities that were put up during colonial era more than seventy years ago to still be in use in the modern era of sophisticated/organized crime?

On August 2011, suspected armed terrorists carried out suicide bombing attack of the United Nations building in Abuja which caused the death of over three dozen persons but more than a year, the Nigerian government is yet to bring any suspect to justice in the competent court of law.

Earlier in June 2011, the Nigeria police Force Headquarters in Abuja came under car bomb attack killing several persons but over one year now, government has failed to prosecute the right suspects in that monumental affront to the country’s national security and no significant arrest of the sponsors is known to have happened.

If I may ask, where are the suspects arrested for killing over forty people in the Christmas 2011 Madala, Suleja, Niger State Catholic Church bomb attack?

When will the Nigerian government end this spectacular comedy of error and truly begin to battle terrorism to save Nigerians from extermination and extinction?

*          Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA; blogs@www.huriwa.blogspot.com.        

 

14/9/2012

WHOSE CONSTITUTION: JONATHAN'S OR THE PEOPLE? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Like him or hate him, President Good luck Jonathan made a landmark achievement at the beginning phase of his administration in May 2011 when he signed the Freedom of Information Act of 2011 into law.

This is one piece of legislation that had a chequered history right from the time that it was presented to the National Assembly over eight years ago with two sessions of the National Assembly deliberately overlooking it without passing it into law because of the unfounded fear and apprehension by those politicians with skeletons in their cupboard that the passage of such a radical legislation would expose their dirty flanks and make them vulnerable to prosecution for their shady deals.

Those politicians who have for over four decades become major parasites and hindrance to the growth and democratic advancement of the nation state through their dastardly criminal acts of corruption and economic crimes waged relentless war of attrition against the proponents of the freedom of information Bill so much so that they even went to town shouting from mountain tops that the passage of the piece of legislative framework was targeted at unleashing the might of opposition media practitioners to destabilize the power-that-be and supplant leaders of the opposition political platforms. To be fair to him, President Jonathan even as a Governor of Bayelsa State has always supported the clamour for the passage of the Freedom of Information [FOI] Bill into law.

However, the proponents and promoters of the then Freedom of information bill including institutional supporters such as the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission, the organized civil society community in Nigeria, the media; organized labour and other professional bodies stood their ground and insisted that for Nigeria's democracy to become respectable and firmly rooted, then a law that would liberalize the spread of information that would enhance the enthronement of good governance, transparency and accountability such as the Freedom of Information Bill must be passed into law.

The current session of the National Assembly which came under formidable pressure proceeded to pass the Freedom of Information Bill into a law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after several amendments and tinkering with some provisions even as the President signed it into law shortly after he won the 2011 General Election that was generally adjudged as substantially free and fair.

If for nothing, the President scored major point with the signing of this revolutionary law which has ignited a gale of freedom of speech and expression all across Nigeria even though certain key Cabinet members of the President Jonathan's administration holding such offices that deals directly with the spending of public fund have come under the scrutiny of several pro-transparency groups for failing to provide certain basic information requested by these non-state actors for the purposes of promoting transparency and accountability. The Ministry of Federal Capital Territory under Senator Bala Mohammed is guilty of flouting the FOI requests that pours into his office in torrents.

Only few months ago, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and the Minister of finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who convoked a meeting with some leaders of the organized civil society came under the spotlight for breaching the provisions of the Freedom of information Act by the actions of her top bureaucrats who were accused of refusing to accede to freedom of information requests of some non-state actors who indeed needed the information to help Nigeria become a better society whereby good governance, principle of transparency and accountability would become sacrosanct.

Some of the groups claimed to have proceeded to the Federal High Court to compel compliance. The Minister of Finance promised that her ministry will surely comply with freedom of information requests properly presented and brought to her attention.

When therefore some few weeks back during the conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Abuja the President told Nigerians that he is the most criticized President in the World, I was among those who were shocked that our President who boldly signed a revolutionary piece of legislation like the Freedom of information Act into law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could turn back to lament that he has become the most criticized President of Nigeria.

Conversely, when very recently the President criticized the Nigerian Media for what he considers as lack of objectivity and balance because most owners of the media are politicians and business elite, this writer was not shocked but his follow up comment was astonishing because he thoroughly questioned the integrity and credibility of information emanating substantially from the Nigerian media when he asserted that Government will no longer rely on information gathered from the media which according to him informed the signing of the performance assessment contract by the members of the Executive Council of the Federation and the heads of Government agencies.

When therefore in the last days in August 2012, the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation sent an invitation to our group to attend the first ever Presidential Retreat on the ongoing constitutional amendment, I was full of surprise because of the public pronouncements of President Jonathan which goes to show that he is not comfortable with the groundswell of criticisms directed at some of his policies by a cross segment of the society.

I was in the process of inaugurating a desk of our organization in Lagos State but had to abandon this task to pursue the larger national interest which is to attend the September 6th 2012 first ever Presidential Retreat with the organized civil society community convoked by President Jonathan at the State House in the nation's capital.

My decision to honour the invitation of the President paid off for the fundamental reason that for the first time President Jonathan spoke from the heart when he told about sixty of us that gathered as leaders of the organized civil society community alongside his federal cabinet members, that his administration truly desires to bequeath to Nigerians a Peoples' constitution that would stand the test of time and that would truly enthrone good governance and respect for the principle of Rule of law if the provisions are respected as sacrosanct by all and sundry.

The National Assembly was powerfully represented at that Presidential retreat by the major figures involved in the current constitution amendment process including the Deputy Senate President Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who is the Chairman of the Joint National Assembly committee on Constitutional amendment even as the Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives Emeka Ihedioha, a joint chairman of the parliamentary constitution amendment committee who was at the epochal event delivered one of the most inspiring speeches when he told leaders of the civil society community that the National Assembly cannot amend the constitution without the important input from the members of the public who are the real owners of the Nigerian sovereignty from where Government officials and the National legislators derive their authority and legitimacy.

According to the Deputy Speaker "The input and voice of the Nigerian people must take precedence over our [National Assembly] own views and feelings. That is the essence of representative democracy. We represent Nigerians not ourselves. We remain umpires in this matter, at this stage. No amendment of the constitution will take place without a broad consensus on the issues. It is therefore crucial that relevant information on the pros and cons of various issues be robustly canvassed and discussed."

He listed some of the issues already tabled by a cross segment of the Nigerian people for consideration in the process of amending the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to include the issues of federalism; indigeneship/residency; justice sector reforms; legislature and the strong position by most proponents for making chapter two enforceable and binding on Government officials since they make up the fundamental objectives of State policy.

The Chairman of the National Assembly's joint constitution amendment committee and the Deputy Senate President Mr. Ike Ekweremadu who came with the most organized and colourfully printed lecture text titled; "Strategy for evolving a Peoples' Constitution", commended President Jonathan for the convocation of the first ever Presidential Retreat on constitutional amendment for the leaders of the civil society community.

He supported the clamour by the Nigerian people for a Peoples' constitution and affirmed the National Assembly's determination to amend aspects of the constitution with the expectation that democracy will be better for it at the end.

His words; "The legislature is considered the most fundamental arm of democratic governance. In its purest form it serves to secure the foundations of democracy by translating the will of the people into the law of the land. At the core, the legislature is the mirror of the society's soul".

President Jonathan who addressed the leaders of the civil society ex-tempore spoke glowingly of the solemn determination and desire of majority of the Nigerian people for a truly Nigerian constitution and stated that the reason for the Presidential Retreat was not to cajole or unduly influence opinion of the human rights activists into supporting his views on constitutional amendment but to hear from the organized non-state actors on how best to achieve the peoples' constitution.

He explained that the outcome of the Presidential committee on the review of outstanding constitutional issues headed by Justice Alpha Belgore which is being turn into a white paper by a committee headed by the Federal Attorney General and minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke would be forwarded soon to the National Assembly for the purpose of constitution amendment.

Majority of the participants proceeded to demand that the new constitution to be passed into law by the National Assembly must only be done after a national referendum is conducted so that the ground norm of the Nigerian law would gain tremendous legitimacy.

The participants stunned President when they rejected any move to amend the tenure of office for the Presidency, office of Governor from the current four year of two terms maximum and nothing more contrary to the position canvassed by the President.

President Jonathan had consistently expressed his opinion that he would prefer one term of six years.

One thing became clear at the end of the Presidential retreat on constitutional amendment and that revolves around the charter of demand by most Nigerians that the National Assembly must consult extensively with all segments of the Nigerian society before going ahead with the process of amending the constitution since the outcome would become the Peoples' constitution and not one colonial or neo-colonial document that would only promote the selfish interest of the political elite.

Determined to find out what constitute the concept of the constitution and also what gives legitimacy and legality to the constitution, this writer researched the work authored by Ma. Elena K. Parayno who clearly stated that constitution refers to the body of rules according to which the powers of sovereignty are

exercised.

On the importance, nature and purpose of function of the constitution, Parayno stated that the people exercise control of their government primarily through the Constitution which protects them from unjust exercise of governmental power and through periodic elections by means of which they choose the officers to represent them.

Political scientists say that a constitution is the supreme or fundamental law creating the government, having been enacted by the people themselves. This argument of the scientists in this school of thought supports the general clamour for a Peoples' constitution to be written by the people of Nigeria.

The purpose of the constitution as can be found in several scholarly works of reputable and knowledgeable sources consulted during the process of writing this piece, is to draw the framework or general outline of the system of the government and to specify the respective powers and functions of the various branches of government comprising this framework.

Therefore in amending the 1999 constitution and hopefully for the very last time, the National Assembly must carry the people along.

Some draconian provisions that impedes transparency like the immunity clause in section 308 must be jettisoned even as issues of state police and respect for fundamental freedoms and plurality of religions must be upheld as sacrosanct.

Some scholars went as far as distinguishing constitution from statute. According to these scholars; "A Constitution is a law given directly by the people, while a statute is a law enacted by the people’s representative".

*  Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria, blogs       @www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

12/9/2012

CITIZEN’S CHRONICLE ON HIV/AIDS By Emmanuel Onwubiko

From 1986 till date, I for one as well as most other Nigerians have lived in perpetual fear of the unknown and the dreaded consequences of possibly contracting the Human Immune deficiency virus and the Acquired Immune deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS).

Back then, we were young stars in our early senior high school period at the very peak of enjoying our youth when from the blues, scientists bombarded the World with the discovery of HIV/Aids. Ever since, the World has never been the same even as most of us have resorted to either abstinence from sex or highly protected sexual relationship for those who are daring.

I have had firsthand experience of meeting some very close friends who lived positively with HIV and eventually lost the battle of their lives to the Acquired immune deficiency syndrome. As can be seen from the above, I am not one among those cynics who doubt the authenticity, existence and potency or otherwise of these health challenges facing members of the global community.

In my well over two decades of active journalism practice, I have made creation of awareness of the validity of HIV/Aids among Nigerian readers as the major focus of my media advocacy. Today, I have decided to reflect on the effort made so far by the scientists and other researchers to find a cure to the disease and also to highlight the less than impressive response of the Nigerian government through the Federal ministry of Health which has not actively supported effort of the home grown researchers on the possible cure for HIV/Aids.

This piece is inspired also by some positive results of some medical researchers in the international community towards finding lasting cure to HIV/Aids.

Why is this columnist so much interested in raising awareness on this important health development, you may ask? Well, I have watched two close male school mates and friends die from the effects of not knowing their status and subsequently failing to begin early treatment which resulted in these fatalities that have left a big emotional gap in my sub-conscious.

In my very active days as a reporter covering the health beat in Abuja for The Guardian, I took very meticulous interest in reporting developments concerning efforts made by home grown medical researchers on finding effective cure to HIV/Aids. I must confess straight away that I am not happy that the federal government plays too much politics with the issues around the area of encouraging local research on HIV/Aids but is interested in going cap- in- hand to international donor agencies in search of the elusive donor-funded financial lifeline to treat/HIV/Aids patients who have come out to be tested.

Years back when some claimants to cure of HIV/Aids came up, the federal government fought hard to discourage and paint these Nigerians as fake which made them (the claimants) to go back to their cocoons and refused to tender their findings for peer-review and scientific verification. The result is that indigenous medical researches on HIV/Aids are not known to be well funded unlike what obtains in other developed climes where even private sector funded effort are galvanized towards finding cure to Hiv/Aids.

I am not by any stretch of imagination dismissing the fact that Nigeria has a national policy on HIV/Aids but the issue is that officials of Government are known to be averse to supporting serious work of scientific research but are ever so willing to receiving foreign financial assistance because these officials have developed the lazy “food-is-ready” kind of tendency of always going cap- in -hand to beg the international community and much of these fund attracted end up in the private pockets of these officials of the Federal Ministry of Health.

A query my research assistant Miss. Nwamaka Asuzu typed on the internet and specifically a visit to the website of www.Nigeria.unfpa.org came up with a document posted on October 2009 titled the National policy on HIV/Aids of Nigeria in which only passing comments were made regarding the all important issue of what the Nigerian government is doing to support locally based and home-grown research on effective cure to HIV/Aids. From this document what is closest to government’s avowed commitment to battle the scourge of HIV/Aids through local research by Nigerian qualified scientists is the mention of the supervisory role of the Federal ministry of Health to oversight the discharge of the mandate by the Health-related agencies in the area of research on HIV/Aids.

In the document on the national policy on HIV/Aids jointly signed by Professor John Idoko for the National Agency for the Control of Aids and Alex Ogundipe who was identified as the Director of policy and strategy, the federal government stated thus; “The Activities of all diagnostic medically-related Laboratories as well as other health care institutions and practitioner’s in the country shall be monitored and regulated by appropriate government-approved agencies to ensure conformity with the guidelines relating to their professional practice”.

But the reality that several persons have died as a result of HIV/Aids stares me in the face daily even as I am worried that my home government rather than pursue comprehensive national policy on research on cure to HIV/Aids, has dissipated effort and scarce resources in the purchase of condoms for family planning. The Federal Government feels strongly that population issue far outweighs the critical issue of finding cure to HIV/Aids. I may be wrong and I am willing to be so corrected.

Specifically, the media reported on Friday August 31, 2012 that the federal government has approved $11.5m for the procurement of condoms and family planning commodities.

The Director of Family Health in the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Bridget Okoeguale, said this in an interview with Punch correspondent in Abuja at the 47th National Council Meeting of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria.

The truth is that even with the Aids break through announced at the recent international Aids Conference in the United States of America on possible cure to a strain of HIV/Aids, several thousands of people in the developing World Still die from complications related to HIV/Aids.

From the website of www.aids.org the United Nations Agency on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS) estimates that as at December 2000 that there were 36.1 million people living with HIV/Aids (34.7million adults and 1.4 million children under age 15).

According to this reputable United Nations Agency, since the epidemic began, an estimated 21.8 million people have died of AIDS (17.5 million adults and 4.3 million children under 15).

An estimated 5.3 million new HIV infections occurred in 2000. During 2000, HIV-and AIDS-associated illness caused deaths of an estimated 3 million people, including 500,000 children under the age of 15.

In the United States: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are between 800,000 and 900,000 people living with HIV. Through December 2000, a total of 774,467 cases of AIDS have been reported to the CDC; of this number, 448,060 persons (representing 58% of cases) have died.

On July 26th, 2012, the Nation Newspaper’s editorial celebrated what it calls “Aids break through”, just as the Newspaper reported that the World is on the verge of a significant breakthrough in the fight against Hiv/Aids.

The Nation newspaper of Nigeria reported that Timothy Ray Brown of San Francisco, United States of America, who is known in medical circles as the “Berlin patient” declared “I am HIV negative. I am cured of the Aids virus.” Brown, 46, year old, was diagnosed as HIV positive 18 years ago and began anti-retroviral treatment.

His case was complicated by acute myeloid leukemia which was diagnosed in 2006. It was this diagnosis that has resulted in the possibility of a cure for Aids. His physician, German hematologist Gero Hutter, introduced Brown to a revolutionary treatment for leukemia that turned out to be cure for both diseases.

Salutary as this isolated positive medical breakthrough is, the Nigerian government must look inwards for effective, efficient and good cure for HIV/AIDS that is ravaging the younger populations of Nigeria because a nation with a healthy younger population is a nation that will surely become great and developed if the human resources are properly harnessed for productivity. Moreover, Nigeria's domestic economy will gain significantly if we eventually develop effective cure to Hiv/Aids locally.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, blogs@www.huriwa@blogspot.com. 

4/9/2012 

NIGERIA/SOUTH AFRICA: OUR POLICE; THEIR POLICE By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Most people would rank the operatives of the Nigerian police force as some of the most brutal and notorious human rights violators in the World given the fact that several internationally acclaimed reports of assessment conducted by Independent body of panelists have turned up with extensively damaging scorecard of the involvement of the operatives of the Nigerian police force in several cases of forced disappearances of suspects in custody and extra-legal executions of suspects.  

Besides, one of the reasons offered by suspected armed insurgents fighting under the platform of the Islamic extremists in the Northern segment of the Nigerian society is the 2009 alleged extra-legal execution of Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of the armed Islamic sect by the police.

Only recently, when the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Dr.Chidi Odinkalu raised alarm of the unprecedented scale of police extra-judicial execution of suspects in police custody, the Inspector General of police Mr. Abubakar Dikko Mohammed attempted to arrest and detain him if not that organized civil society groups protested vehemently.

Even the United Kingdom –based Amnesty international and the United States-based Human Rights Watch warned the police top hierarchy to stop harassing the chairman of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission who had raised valid concern regarding the high rate of extra-legal killings of suspects and other innocent citizens by overzealous trigger-happy but extremely untrained armed police operatives of the Nigerian police force.  

Few years back, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) issued a report on corrupt practices among officials of government agencies and ranked the operatives of the Nigerian police force as some of the most corrupt in Nigeria.

But few weeks ago, operatives of the South African Police demonstrated to the World that some of their operatives are yet to extricate themselves from the notorious vestiges of apartheid policing tendencies characterized by brutal extra-legal killings of black South Africans.

The South African police in the full glare of global media gruesomely shot and killed about 34 South African miners who were protesting poor conditions of service. Some suspected armed protesting miners were blamed for the earlier gruesome killing of their fellow miners and two police operatives.

As if that  bestiality was not enough the so-called New South African police proceeded to arrest and charge several protesting miners for the said extra-legal execution of nearly 34 miners by the police.

An analyst told the Cable News Network [CNN] that in South Africa, the practice is that suspects being pursued by police are charged for murder if in the cause of trying to arrest them there occurs collateral damage or fatalities as a result of the police action.       

If this is the true picture of the law in place in South Africa, then the South African police are not only brutal, notorious and dangerous but very primitive and therefore this legal framework should be amended to meet global best practices.

For purposes of clarification, I hereby re-present the news report of the killing of the 34 or so protesting miners by the South African police as captured by the Associated Press on August 17th, 2012.

The bloody police real life dramatic killing of 34 miners was reported thus; “Frantic wives searched for missing loved ones, President Jacob Zuma rushed home from a regional summit and some miners vowed a fight to the death Friday as police finally announced the toll from the previous day’s shooting by officers of striking platinum miners: 34 dead and 78 wounded”.

“Police Chief Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega said that Thursday was a dark day for South Africa and no time for pointing fingers, as people compared the shootings to apartheid-era state violence and political parties and labor unions demanded an investigation. Phiyega took over in June after two police commissioners were indicted for corruption and other charges. She already had her work cut out trying to reform a corrupt and scandal-ridden force”.

The foreign press Agency also reported that; “Thursday’s shootings are seen as a microcosm of the myriad problems facing South Africa 18 years after white racist rule ended, including growing inequality between a white minority joined by a small black elite while most blacks endure high unemployment and inadequate housing, health care and education”.

The shootings “awaken us to the reality of the time bomb that has stopped ticking — it has exploded,” The Sowetan newspaper said in a front-page editorial Friday. “Africans are pitted against each other… They are fighting for a bigger slice of the mineral wealth of the country.”

The South African government must decisively bring to trial the police operatives who fired live bullets into the protesting miners and killed the over three dozen poorly paid South African black miners who were legitimately seeking enhanced pay wages which is legal and permissible by international humanitarian laws.

On the side of the Nigerian police Force, the South African police Massacre and the international condemnation that followed the bloodshed should become a reminder to them that unlawful, extra-legal killings of civilians by armed security operatives are reprehensible, atrocious and indeed amounts to a crime against humanity which must be punished if not locally but in the International Crimes Court (ICC).

This is because Article three of the Universal Declaration of HUMAN Rights provides that; “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of persons”. Article six of the International Covenant on civil and political rights stated thus; “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life”.

It is not enough that the South African police authority has belatedly decided to drop the so-called murder charges against the detained protesting miners for the brutal mass murders that they [South African police] committed. But South African justice system must charge the police operatives who shot and killed unarmed civilians for murder in the competent court of law because to do otherwise is to stage a return to the notorious apartheid period.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN Rights writers’ Association of Nigeria, blogs@www.huriwablogspot.com      

3/9/2012