SPECULATION ON BUHARI’S STATE OF HEALTH IS VICIOUS -: HURIWA

A pro-democracy and non-governmental body- Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned as outrageous and wicked, the report in a section of the online media purportedly claiming that President Muhammadu Buhari has died.

The Rights group has asked politicians of all schools of thought to stop being mean and wicked by masterminding the circulation of toxic stories on the health condition of Nigeria's ailing President in the online and social media but is opposed to any draconian measures to attack press freedom and freedom of expression by any branch of the security forces as any tyrannical anti- media freedom measures will in a comprehensive way hurt democracy and constitutionalism in Nigeria. 

Consequently, the Rights Group has resolved to petition both Mr. Mark Zukkerberg the owner of Facebook social media platform, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt of Google to demand that such fake news concerning the health status of the president of Nigeria be struck off and never allowed to circulate since such could spark off a national security challenge for Nigeria.

In a statement jointly endorsed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss. Zainab Yusuf, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) applauded the spokesmen of president Buhari for swiftly debunking the fake news on the purported passage of Nigeria’s ailing president but called on President Buhari’s Media Minders to always avail Nigerians with the weekly update on the recovery of president Buhari.  

The group said the ill-advised decision of the Presidency not to periodically update Nigerians on the health status of Mr. President will create room for all sorts of conspiracy theories and speculations from a number of busybodies some of whom are not wishing Nigeria well. 

HURIWA stated thus; "We have brainstormed at the level of our Human Rights Community in the early hours of Monday May 15^th 2017, on the unfortunate story that made waves in some online platforms over the weekend which reported without any substantial confirmation from official quarters that Mr. President has died in London. We condemn this wicked plot of those who do not wish Nigeria well and we are satisfied with the rebuttal of this mischievous falsehood peddled by these faceless detractors and we are calling on them to have rethink and give constructive political opposition a chance to thrive".

“We have authorized our secretariat to send out petitions to the owners of Facebook and shareholders of Google to request that mechanisms are put in place to effectively stop such fake stories from ever gaining access to their platforms. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this attempt to sow a seed of discord in Nigeria which may not even have emanated from tge political opposition because even within the All Progressives Congress there are factions engaged in fierce power tussle”.

Besides, the group said it was satisfied that President Muhammadu Buhari appropriately handed over power to the Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbsnjo to act in his capacity as Acting President during the period of his medical vacation in compliance with section 145 of  the Nigerian constitution of 199 (as amended).

Specifically, section 145 (1) of the constitution states as follows: “Whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President”.

"Finally, we join other patriots to pray for the quickest recovery for the ailing President Muhammadu Buhari ", says HURIWA. 

SOUTH EAST AND VOTER’S REGISTRATION BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO

The ongoing exercise of enlisting validly qualified Nigerians as prospective voters in the national data by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must be implemented with all sense of decency and patriotism.

This is because of the primacy of the voter’s card to the electoral process in the country and because there is just no how a citizen can be deemed eligible to vote if he\she does not have a valid voter’s card.

During  the headship of Professor Attahiru  Jega, there were proven cases of systematic exclusion of voters from the south under different dubious guises to an extent that  millions of potential voters of southern Nigeria origin cried foul that the electoral panel has deliberately disenfranchised them prior to the 2015 poll.

The immediate past hierarchy of independent national electoral commission (inec)  totally messed up the voters registration exercise to such ridiculous extent in the last dispensation that hundreds- of- thousands of so-called permanent voters  cards were hoarded in the offices of this electoral commission whilst hundreds -of -thousands  if not millions of potential voters were actively disenfranchised.

The Professor Attahiru Jega led INEC so destroyed the efficacy of seamless voters registration exercise to an extent that Nigerians who could not withstand the elements such as the burning sunlights resorted to hiring mercenaries to stand on the long queues for them pending when it is their turn to be so enrolled.

In Abuja some prospective voters seeking to register with the electoral commission even went as far as hiring street urchins from Niger and Chad who loiter around to stand on the lines for them.

Voters registration exercise under the last dispensation was so inelegant that suspicions grew that there were plots to scheme out certain segments of the population from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed human right to vote and be voted for.

There were insinuations that the then chairman of INEC who hails from Jigawa state deliberately frustrated the south from obtaining the voters cards as a way of conferring advantage to a presidential candidate from the north.

Again, the independent National Electoral Commission is conducting continuous voter’s registration exercise and allegations have surfaced that in the south East of Nigeria the officials of the electoral commission have deliberately introduced bureaucratic encumbrances/obstacles to frustrate eligible and prospective Voters from enlisting their details for the purposes of being issued their valid voter’s cards. 

There are allegations that the officials doing the registration are demanding the production of valid national identity or international passports before accepting to carry out their statutory duty.

Other officials are even said not to have been given the necessary tools for work even as the officials of the same commission in the North are said to have more working tools even as underage voters are being captured and issued voter's cards as i write.

This obstacle placed in the way of prospective voters must be dismantled because apart from the fact that it is unconstitutional, it is discriminatory because in other parts of the federation those who have showed up to be registered are not being required to possess valid national or international passports.

 By the way, where does INEC expect prospective voters in the East to afford the extravagant costs of obtaining international passports? Moreover, registration for national identity cards have never been seamlessly accessible to all those residing at the rural communities.  

Section 12(1) of the electoral Act, amended on the 29th of December, 2010 spells out the qualifiacation for registration to vote for all Nigerians.

Section 12(1) says; "a person shall be qualified to be reigistered as a voter if such person- (a) A citizen of Nigeria; (b)Has attained the age of 18 years; (c) Is ordinarily resident, works in, originates from the local government area council or ward covered by the registration centre; (d)                        Presents himself to the registration officers of the commission for registration as a voter and (e) Is not subject to any legal incapacity to vote under any law, rule or registration in force in Nigeria.

Section 17 (1) of the Nigerian constitution provides as follows; " (1) The State's social order is founded on ideals of Freedom, Equality and Justice. Subsection  (2)(a) of this section affirmed that: “ In furtherance of the social order- every citizen shall have equality of rights, obligations and opportunities before the law”.

Section 42(1) of the constitution absolutely prohibits such practice of discrimination when it averred thus: "(1) A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person:- (a) be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions are not made subject; or (b) be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, any privilege or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions. (2) No citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of the circumstances of his birth".

In all of these  relevant provisions of all the extant electoral Act that relates to qualifications for registration to vote, there is no where that it is obligatory that a potential voter coming forward to obtain the voter’s card must produce the national or international identity card even when it is as clear as the day light such a person is a citizen of Nigeria in accordance with section 25(1) a-c of the 1999  constitution.

For avoidance of contradiction and doubts,  the above provisions regarding citizenship provides as follows:  "25. (1) The following persons are citizens of Nigeria by birth-namely- (a) every person born in Nigeria before the date of independence, either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria; Provided that a person shall not become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this section if neither of his parents nor any of his grandparents was born in Nigeria. (b) every person born in Nigeria after the date of independence either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents is a citizen of Nigeria; and (c) every person born outside Nigeria either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria".

A meticulous perusal of all our laws relating to citizenship and qualifications to participate in election shows that the extra legal requirements being bandied about by officials of INEC in a part of Nigeria remains absolutely unlawful, null and  void and must be discontinued forthwith.

Therefore the Bauchi state born Professor YAKUBU MAHMOOD  the head of INEC must be wary of any subterranean plots to scheme out any member of any segments of the Nigerian society from the voter’s registration exercise under any guise.

 The hierarchy of INEC must note that public policies are to be implemented transparently and in such a way that equality before the law for all becomes sacrosanct.

In the book titled: “public policy: formation, implementation and evaluation,” the author stated that: “public policies are formulated by what Easton calls the “authorities” in a political system, namely,” elders, paramount chiefs, executives, legislators, judges, administrators, councilors,  monarchs, and the like.”

Flowing from the above fundamental  knowledge, the way to know who a citizen is does not amount to rocket science.

Almost all of the INEC’S local government offices are located next to  where the traditional and local authorities reside.

There is virtually no Nigerian citizen that has no original parental place of origin which is traceable using the knowledge of the trado-local institutions such as the paramount chiefs and local council officials.

This is the reason for the letter of place of origin that are usually issued by the trado-local institutions. 

Even for purposes of obtaining international Visas a letter of place of origin authored by a local council office is valid and acceptable as a public document.  

So if for instance United kingdom or USA amongst others recognise our Reference letters of origin from our Local government councils, why does INEC in the South East of Nigeria require the production of valid International passports or national Identity before enrolling a citizen as a voter? 

This discriminatory policy is odious and must be abandoned now.

As we learnt from the aforementioned book on public policy, "a policy may be general or specific, broad or narrow, simple or complex, public or private, written or unwritten, explicit or implicit, discretionary or detailed, and qualitative or quantitative".

"Here the emphasis is on ‘public policy’ which is what a government chooses as guidance for action. From the viewpoint of public policy, activities of government can be put into three categories", the author R.K. Sapru affirmed. 

The author wrote further: "First, activities which are attached to specific policies; second, activities which are general in nature and third, activities which are based on vague and inconsistent policies. However, in practice, a government rarely has a set of guiding principles for all it activities. Important public policies are often made more explicit, particularly where the issue of a law, a regulation, or a plan and the like is involved."

A certain book titled "Globalisation, national development and the law" is of the view that public policy which aims at promoting good governance standards must be devoid of discriminatory applications.

The editors of that book aforementioned affirmed that good governance involves above all, improving the social and material conditions of people.

The editors averred that the United Nations has identified several attributes of good governance which include the following: (a)  Territorial and ethno cultural representation, mechanisms from conflicts resolution and for peaceful regime change and institution renewal; (b)Checks on executive power, effective and informed legislatures, clear lines of accountability from political leaders down through the bureaucracy; (c)An open political system, which encourage an active and  vigilant civil society whose interests are represented within accountable government structures and which ensures that public offices are based on law and consent; (d)    Attention not only  to central government institutions and processes but also to the attributes and capacities of sub-national and local government authorities and to the issues of political devolution and administrative decentralization.

These noble objectives may be farfetched should officials who ought to register voters be seen implementing a divide-and-rule policy which offends our laws.

 Let the supremacy of the law be restored in the current exercise of registration of voters in all parts of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  

Let state governments and non-state actors like civil society organisations and community based organisations  be vigilant to ensure that nobody is deprived of his/her CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS to participate in determining the caliber of Nigerians who should form the central and sub-national governments.

 *Emmanuel Onwubiko is head of the Human rights writers Association of Nigeria  (HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com; www.huriwa@blogspot.com.

SANITIZING NIGERIA'S POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS BY EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO

The Immediate past President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan entered global political history book when he voluntarily conceded electoral victory in March 2015 to his arch- political rival of the All Progressives Congress (APC) (Major General) Muhammadu Buhari (RTD) as he then was but now President Muhammadu Buhari. 

The torrents of encomiums that followed his heroic decision to cede political power to an opponent came as a shock when viewed side- by- side with the tone of the electoral campaigns that trailed the hotly contested presidential poll.

As is known with the Nigerian political climate, politicians who run for offices are often known to have used hate languages to try to market their agenda and by these processes demarket their opponents as devil incarnates. The system of divide and rule and Ethno-religious politics has become notorious. 

Besides the deployments of hateful languages which inflame passions and ignite inter-party violence, politicians in Nigeria are also deficient in ideological frames of mind.

Because of this absence of political ideologies during electoral campaigns, politicians use violence and financial inducements to score political victories. 

The ignominious roles usually played by so-called religious and Ethnic stakeholders have led to so-much bloodshed during elections

The last election is blamed for the upsurge in insurgency of the armed boko Haram which reached the threshold of global notoriety as a terrorist organization when the leaders made known their intentions to control a part of Nigeria and to institute extremist Islamic Sharia regime in Northern Nigeria.  

Regional political leaders were known to have deployed crude tactics aimed at presenting the then incumbent President as an infidel.

 Even the then President Goodluck Jonathan alluded to this fact in his interview with Segun Adeniyi the former Presidential Media aide who only two days ago introduced a book titled 'Against the run of play' which documents the developments that gave way to the first ever 'defeat' of an incumbent and all powerful Nigerian executive Presidency.

Jonathan said boko Haram terrorists were used by Northern Politicians to score misguided victory at the polls even as he accused the then INEC chairman Mr. Attahiru Jega of manipulating the electoral process to produce a Northerner in the person of Muhammadu Buhari as President. 

Dr. Jonathan cited the heavily distorted results from National Assembly and Presidential poll in Kano state which produced different figures of voters even though both elections took place simultaneously as clear evidence of electoral fraud. 

For the fact that in the Presidential poll the APC got 1.5million in Kano but only 800,000 votes were recorded for National and State Assembly election shows how manipulated the electoral process was subjected to.

Also, a notorious dimension of electoral campaigns in Nigeria is the influence of bribery which rich political aspirants pay to officials of the electoral commissions to rig the electoral process.

This practice of bribery of the electoral officials prior to the conducts of elections are also followed by another set of bribery to compromise the judicial process should the loser of the election makes good his/her threats to pursue the line of post-elections litigations.

Because of the above twin-evils of political violence and bribery, most judges and the so-called electoral Umpires who have over the years played roles in pre or post-election activities have suddenly become so prosperous and are known to have amassed illicit wealth from the proceeds of these electoral heists.

As has been clearly stated, all of the campaign circles in Nigeria since independence have been marred by these inherent but man-made factors of bribery and electoral violence.

In a bid to stem the tides of violence and bribery, efforts were made in the past national assembly sessions to legislate against these evils but no significant milestone has been achieved due to absence of will power. 

Again, the partisan and biased approach to anti-graft investigations and prosecutions which essentially targets only those politicians that are not within the ruling national party, it is imperative that measures are transparently put in place to check these anomalies.

The current national assembly will do Nigerians a whole lot of good should they succeed in effectively making laws that can check these evil trends. 

Sadly  the National Assembly has faced torrents of attacks from the Executive arm of government thereby crippling their capacity to achieve any of such milestones unless and except civil society pressures are brought to bear on them. 

Apart from passing legislations that can support an institutional framework to checks the use of hate speeches during campaigns, the national assembly must be put under intense pressure to legislate against the overwhelming influence to which campaign finances play in determining who is declared the winner into the various political offices. 

Nigeria by law must streamline the campaign finances of all political contenders. 

In doing this, Nigeria needs to borrow from our then colonial masters the British who are currently witnessing another general election session so we imbibe the culture of issue-based electoral campaigns which are synonymous to the kinds of campaigns waged by all the notable parties in Great Britain such as the conservatives; the labour and the liberal democrats amongst others. 

The UK's campaign finance regime is transparent and accountable even as no one political party is put at an advantaged position to corner juicy monetary donations to overwhelm the rest of the political contenders. 

Nigeria must institutionalize  transparent election finance mechanisms to keep away moneybags who have always hijacked the elected politicians to corner the resources of the Federation to their private businesses. 

This trend of deregulated and indeed opaque election finance regime in Nigeria is the reason why Nigeria is in economic recession. 

As Nigeria gradually approaches another electoral campaigns era, it is not too much of a task for all Nigerians to put hands on deck to institutionally bring into being, electoral campaigns that are devoid of these destructive tendencies such as the use of hate speeches; influences of illicit money and physical violence.

Politicians must be tasked as a matter of legal obligations in Nigeria to eschew the evils of hate speeches, influence of bribery and campaign violence just as it is obtainable in GREAT Britain which we can all see even on televisions as the gladiators in the June 8^th snap election are currently campaigning based on issues of development and national security.

In Britain, the politicians who are essentially parliamentarians begin every election campaign era with what is known as final prime minister’s questions in Westminster.

In this year’s prime minister’s question time which marked the end of the just rounded up parliamentary session, the leading protagonists and antagonists took their turns to try to outdo each other in seeking to carry the support of the electorate but only minimal verbal insults were noticeable.

The British press reports that Mrs. Theresa May and Mr. Jeremy Corbyn have gone head to head in the final prime minister’s questions before the general election, exchanging campaign slogans interspersed with insults before a packed and noisy Commons.

Corbyn reportedly used what could prove his final appearance as opposition leader to return to his tactic of reading out emails from voters, explaining concerns about government policy on issues including the Nation Health Scheme, stagnant wages, school funding and pensions.

Mrs. May, was cheered on by what political watchers described as an exuberant backbench, repeatedly turned the questions back to what she said was Labour’s inability to safeguard the economy and Corbyn’s unfitness to be prime minister.  Geremy Corbyn hasn't help his national public image by promoting such mundane campaign promise to introduce many more public holidays in order to try to unite the families. His political rivals see this as a failure to fully appreciate the enormity of the economic challenges confronting Great Britain and for the fact that more public holidays means more loses to the Economy. 

Tony Blair a Labour party erstwhile Prime Minister told the SkyNews television that if the pollsters are right today, the winner of the Prime minister's position is Theresa May of the Conservative party or Tories as they are called. 

The session of the Prime Minister's questions ended with lengthy near-campaign speeches by the two leaders, distilling the messages they will present to voters before the 8 June poll, according to the media coverages by several British newspapers. 

The media reported that not only were Mrs. Theresa May and Geremy Corbyn’s exchanges longer than usual, the session as a whole lasted a record 58 minutes, almost double the official half-hour schedule.

Mr.Corbyn focused on the NHS, following on from a question in which he quoted Sybil, an 88-year-old woman who he said was frightened of having to use an underfunded and overstretched health service.

“The NHS has not got the money it needs; the prime minister knows that,” the Labour leader said. “She knows waiting times and waiting lists are up. She knows there’s a crisis in almost every A&E department. Maybe she can go to a hospital and allow the staff to ask her a few questions.”

He continued: “Strong leadership is about standing up for the many, not the few. But when it comes to the prime minister and the Conservatives, they only look after the richest and not the rest. 

“They are strong against the weak, and weak against the strong. Far from building a strong economy, schools and our NHS are being cut, people can’t afford homes and millions can’t make ends meet. That doesn’t add up to a stronger economy for anyone.

“The election on 8 June is a choice – between a Conservative government for the few, and a Labour government that will stand up for all of our people.”

But Mrs. Theresa May began her response by criticizing the record of Labour in Wales over the health service there, before focusing on the election, says the highly critical British newspapers.  

“In something over six weeks we will be back at these dispatch boxes again, and the only question is: where will we be standing?” she said. “Who will be prime minister of this great country? He says the choice is clear, and the choice is clear: every vote for him is a vote for a chaotic Brexit; every vote for me is a vote to strengthen our hand in negotiating the best deal for Brexit.

“Every vote for him is a vote to weaken our economy. Every vote for me is a vote for a strong economy, with the benefits felt by everyone in the country, and every vote for him is a vote for a coalition of chaos, a weak leader propped up by the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish nationalists.”

Using her key campaign phrase, which she had already said repeatedly in the exchanges, May ended, to cheers from her MPs: “Every vote for me is a vote for strong and stable leadership in the national interest, building a strong and more secure future for this country.”

The focus on what the Conservatives argue is Corbyn’s weakness as a leader began at the very start of prime minister’s questions, with Tory backbencher Michael Fabricant adopting the “strong and stable leadership” mantra for a question about the upcoming West Midlands mayoral election. 

The Liberal democrats have already ruled out any possible alliance or coalition with either Labour or Conservatives. 

Interestingly, the main planks of the campaign in UK are on the Economy, Brexit, immigration, Health sector and national security.  

Nigerian politicians must be made to debate developmental issues and compelled by law to stop the use of hate speeches. 

* Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) and blogs @www.huriwa@blogspot.com; www. emmanuelonwubiko.com. 

HURIWA'S FOUNDER WINS AFRICAN AWARD

The Trans-Africa Student's initiative (TRASI AFRICA) has presented the African DISTINGUISHED Personality Award to the Founder and National Coordinator of the foremost civil society organisation in Nigeria- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA), Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko.

The leaders of TRASI-AFRICA who stormed the national secretariat of HURIWA in Abuja on Wednesday evening to do the presentation were Hon. Kobehi Kosa from the Universitie de Cocodi Ivory Coast; Ikhina Sameera from Espam Formation University, Republic of Benin; Hon. Francisca Totti from Universitie De Duala, Cameroon. 

The Nigerian representatives were Sen. Musa Abdulrauf; Comrade Igwe Franklin and Mohammed Ibrahim. 

Speaking at the event the leader of the delegation who doubles as Secretary General of the African Students Union body Mohammed Ibrahim stated thus: "Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen present, permit me on behalf of the entirety of students under the coverage of Trans Africa Students’ Initiative welcome each and everyone here to this dignified occasion of conferring honor on a man of honor, an intellectual juggernaut, A renowned professional endowed with journalism best practices, an agitator for different progressive initiatives, a man of outstanding understanding and indeed a mentor to us in the person ofComrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, An outstanding Human Rights Activist and The National Coordinator, Human Right Writers Association of Nigeria. We thank God Almighty for not only granting us journey mercies from our various states and Countries but most importantly for sparing our lives to be a witness to this event the entirety of African’s hold in high esteem."

"The TRANS-AFRICA STUDENTS’ INITIATIVE [TRASI Africa] is a PanAfrica Development driven Initiative birthed by the resolutions of the All Africa’s Students Union 3rd Annual Youth/Students Summit which held in 2012, tasking the upcoming generations on contributing vehemently to the development of Africa as a Continent. TRASI Africa has since inception achieved her constituted aims and objectives by building, training and encouraging the teeming Youths and Students via taking part in and also organizing programs and projects all over Africa. TRASI Africa has been able to acquire a wider outreach as her membership now cut across eleven (11) African countries; Gambia, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Liberia, Botswana, Cameroon, Republic of Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast."

 "Each of the Country chapters coordinates her members in such a way as to channel our exuberances towards contributing our quota to the development of our nascent democracy, as such we put peculiarities in development and take challenges of our countries into cognizance in choosing our activities, employing contemporary communications and conferencing means - discussing topical issues, such as quality education, insecurity in Africa, Sustainable Development, contributions of students and youths in economic and social development amongst a host of others. All this is in adherence to the words of Martin Luther King Jnr who said “Our Life begins to end the day we become silent about things that matter”."

"In doing all this we seek to find ourselves Role Models, outstanding institutions and mentors in life as we have found in Our Host, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, who was nominated during TRASI’s leadership roundtable discussion in recognition of his strides over the years – strides such as his effective discharge of duties, his agitations for enhanced public service delivery, his sterling leadership demonstrated in courses he spear heads and offices held in times past, his administrative sagacity, his expertise and proficiency which has prompted the request for his service in various strata’s, his humanitarian emancipation advocacy strides, societal development strides amongst many other glories which are yet unsung. , Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko has proven himself to be a man of charisma who can stick out his neck for the course he believes in, TRASI Africa and the entirety of African Students has reckoned you as a man of courage who has zero tolerance for ineffectiveness, a seasoned intellectual with outstanding know-how techniques, a noble champion who not only is known for effective service delivery but one who campaigns for it, A patriotic Nigerian, A benevolent statesman who is ideologically focused in enhanced public service dispensation, societal development, nation building, intellectual guidance to acolytes and protégés under his jurisdiction."

"Our Center of Synergy Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, this amongst many other reasons is why we would always associate ourselves with you and many other individuals and organizations who have singled themselves out in positive contributions to our Continent, we in turn shall always be in the vanguard of projecting and engaging in activities that would bring pride and honor to everyone that is associated with us as members, ambassadors or patrons, we shall find salient point, areas of partnership with your distinguished personality especially with regards to capacity building of students of Africa in germane areas that would improve our educational, psychological, Socio-economic Pursuits."

 "Distinguished Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, Ladies and Gentlemen, We know you are persons of magnanimous disposition and we are left in no doubt that your benevolence would be brought to bare on Africa students."

"Before I Conclude permit us to sympathize with Africans around the globe who have lost their lives due to insurgency, wanton killings, abductions and other unprecedented and uncalled for acts of selfish individuals such as the gruesome murder of 148 students of the Kenya National Students Union in Garisa State University Northeast Kenya, the Xenophobic Attacks featuring discrimination still ongoing in South Africa and also the insurgency attacks in Northern Nigeria, Vandalization in Southern Nigeria. These acts are unpatriotic and a blatant betrayal on Pan-Africanism, we call on all relevant authorities to arise to the occasion in permanently nipping all this ugly trends in the bud quickly and call on well-meaning Nigerians to use whatever means at their disposal to condemn this dastardly act."

"Finally, I want to say on behalf of African students without fear or favor that you have been found worthy of receiving TRASI’sAfrica’s Patriotic Personality Honor, we call on all Nigerians to follow the footsteps of Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and to give him their unalloyed support as with his contributions things would always get better and better."

Accepting the award Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko urged the Students to take their studies very seriously and to become great Ambassadors of their nations. 

Nnamdi Kanu deserves unconditional release:- HURIWA:

*says bail conditions are outrageous:

A leading pro-democracy and Non-governmental organization HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked the federal government to terminate the trial of the director of the Europe registered Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Mr Nnamdi kanu.

Besides, the Rights group said Justice Binta Murtallah- Nyako of the Federal High Court was in error to have listed seemingly unconstitutional demands as bail conditions which she imposed on Nnamdi Kanu to attain before enjoying his bail.

HURIWA said it was contradictory that the Court on one hand could grant bail on health grounds but on the other hand imposed seemingly unattainable and unconstitutional conditions for enjoying the bail. "This is like giving with one hand and denying the same with another. It's patently unfair, unjust and must be reviewed rapidly except there is a surreptitious plot to continue to subject his deteriorating health to more hazards".

HURIWA said the best thing is to end the trial and immediately initiate constructive platform for dialogues on the need to fundamentally restructure Nigeria just as it recommended referendum by an independent body to decide on the agitation for self-determination.

Reacting to the bail order granted in favour of Mr. Nnamdi kanu by the Federal High court Abuja division headed by Justice Binta Murtallah Nyako, the right group said that the trial was politically motivated and unconstitutional because from all available body of municipal and global humanitarian laws there is no crime in peacefully advocating for self-determination.

The right group also tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to release unconditionally all political detainees especially, members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB); Colonel Sambo Dasuki the erstwhile National Security Adviser and the detained leader and members of the Shiites Islamic movement who have being in detention illegally for several months even after several courts granted them bail.

In a statement jointly endorsed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko  and the national Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA lamented that in the last two years,  operatives of the security services have waged vicious attacks against persons holding dissenting but constructively opposing political ideologies and views from the powers-that- be even whilst being unwilling to check the persistent attacks on innocent persons and farmers by well-armed Fulani herdsmen all across Nigeria.   

"We have consistently asked President Buhari to Abide by the constitutional provisions by enforcing binding bail orders of the courts of competent jurisdiction in compliance with section 6 of the 1999 constitution. We have for over a year now, canvassed the expansion of the frontiers of respect for the human rights of Nigerians but regrettably the operatives of the armed forces of Nigeria have often embarked on activities targeted at gross violations of human rights of Nigerians including the cases of extralegal executions of unarmed but peaceful demonstrators".

"We hereby call on the government to comply with all the relevant constitutional provisions in chapter four so as to avoid collapsing the little democracy that we now enjoy".

HURIWA regretted that the clear provisions of the section 33(1) of the constitution are flagrantly abused by the armed security services even when the constitutional provision makes it clear that all Nigerians are entitled  to Right to Life.

On the bail granted Nnamdi Kanu the rights group criticized the Federal high court judge for exercising her discretion maliciously by imposing stringent and indeed unconstitutional conditionalities, but the group is of the considered opinion that the entire prosecution is a charade.