Supreme Court nullifies Igbo customary law, rules practice as barbaric

By Theo Adegoke 

Nigeria’s Supreme Court has nullified a practice, part of the customs of the Awka people in Anambra State, which disinherits a woman without a male child at the death of her husband.

In a judgment on Friday to an appeal involving a widow, Mrs Maria Nweke, the court ruled that, “For a widow of a man to be thrown out of her matrimonial home, where she had lived all her life with her late husband and children, by her late husband’s brothers on the ground that she had no male child, is indeed very barbaric, worrying and flesh skinning.”

The appeal was filed by Onyibor Anekwe and Chinweze, descendants of Anieke Nwogbo,  the half brother of Nweke Nwogbo, Mrs Nweke’s late husband.

Mrs Nweke had in 1991 sued the appellants before the Awka division of the Anambra State High Court, when the appellants made move to evict her from a parcel of land she got from her late husband. She said the land was given to her husband.

She told the trial court that the appellants (who were defendants) asked her to vacate the house on the ground that she had no male child in the house, even when she had six female children.

Mrs Nweke claimed that she was disinherited by her late husband’s family because she had no male child for her husband. She refused to vacate the land, insisting that a woman, according to the customs of Akwa people, can inherit the property of her husband whether she had a male child or not.

She said the Ozo Awka Society arbitrated in the dispute and agreed with her that she had a right to remain on the land.

Defendants disagreed and argued that by the Native Law and Custom of Awka people, the land was inherited by their father as the first and only surviving son.

The trial court and the Court of Appeal decided the case in favour of Mrs Nweke. The defendants appealed to the Supreme Court, an appeal the court dismissed last Friday.

Justice Clara Ogunbiyi who read the lead judgment, held that the appellants failed to provide any credible evidence to enable the apex court overturn the judgments of the two lower courts.

“I hasten to add that the custom and practices of Awka people upon which the appellants have relied is hereby out rightly condemned in very strong terms. A custom of this in the 21st century societal setting will only tend to depict the absence of the relatives of human civilization.

“It is punitive, uncivilized and only intended to protect the selfish perpetuation of male dominance which is aimed at suppressing the right of the women folk in the given society.

One would expect that the days of such obvious differential discrimination are over.

“Any culture that dis-inherits a daughter from her father’s estate or wife from her husband’s property by reason of God instituted gender differential should be punitively dealt with.

The punishment should serve as a deterrent measure and ought to be meted out against the perpetrators of the culture and custom.

“For a widow of a man to be thrown out of her matrimonial home, where she had lived all her life with her late husband and children, by her late husband’s brothers on the ground that she had no male child, is indeed very barbaric, worrying and flesh skinning.”

Justice Bata-Ogunbiyi frowned at the conduct of the lawyer who represented the appellants for coming to court to argue that such an obnoxious customs be upheld. She awarded N200,000 against the appellants.

Justices Tanko Muhammad, Muhammad Muntaka-Coomasie, Sylvester Ngwuta and Olukayode Ariwoola, who were part of the panel that heard the case, agreed with the lead judgment.

TheHerald

Why North Will Reject PDP, Jonathan In 2015 – Gov Nyako

Mohammed Ismail

Adamawa State governor Murtala Nyako has disclosed that the  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will make a woeful outing in the North in  2015 as northerners have vowed to vote the party out of power.

Governor Nyako said this in Yola, the state capital, during a meeting with some  civil society groups under the aegis of Coalition of Rights Advocates, led by Mr Olufemi Aduwo who paid him courtesy visit at his office  yesterday.

Nyako added that the reason for the disenchantment by the northerners  was due to the fact that PDP has not added value to the region’s socio  economic well being but instead has allowed the region to be engulfed  by crisis, especially in the north-east zone.

Nyako further declared that the region would vote out President Jonathan for his failure to honour the one-term pact he entered with them.

The governor told the visiting team that he did not hold any grudge  against President Jonathan, disclosing that the failure of  the president to tell Nigerians the truth about his future presidential ambition, including top PDP members and state governors,  was the cause of the stand-off between him and some northern leaders.

Nyako said as 2015 general elections draw nearer, more prominent  people in the PDP would ditch it for the opposition APC following  their continuous dissatisfaction with the party as it has consistently  failed them.

Leadership

2015: Five governors in cold war with First Lady

Patience Jonathan

 by: Yusuf Alli

•Governors grumble as President’s wife back aspirants in Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Bauchi, Kwara, Akwa Ibom, Rivers     •Aide: it’s not true

No fewer than five governors are in a “cold war” with First Lady Patience Jonathan over her alleged moves to impose their successors.

But the Office of the First Lady denied the claim last night.

In the crises are Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Bauchi, and Kwara states, where the First Lady is believed to have anointed some aspirants for the governorship tickets.

A highly-placed source with deep insight into the challenges facing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said: “We have a crisis at hand, pitching some governors against the First Lady. It is a cold war which will soon become a major one, if President Goodluck Jonathan does not intervene.

“Even Bayelsa, the President’s state is not spared the looming crisis.

In Bayelsa State, the First Lady is said to be backing the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Domestic and Social Events, Dr. Waripomowei Dudafa, for governor of the state.

But Governor Seriake Dickson’s supporters are believed to be unhappy with the push for Dudafa, a plot that has become public knowledge.

Dudafa was Commissioner for Local Government under former Governor Timipre Sylva. He was to be nominated as Dickson’s running mate in the last election, until the decision was changed.

“In spite of denial by the Office of the First Lady, there is already a campaign office in Bayelsa for Dudafa called ‘The New Dawn.’ This is a derivative of The New Phase, which was Sylva’s campaign structure,” the source, who pleaded not to be named because of what he called sensitivity of the matter, said.

Dudafa’s purported endorsement has created tension, such that some Bayelsans are having a rethink on their support for the President, it was learnt.

The source said as a sign of this, the large turnout of party members and Bayelsans welcoming the First Lady to the state has shrunk.

Dickson, however, said Dudafa’s candidacy is a mere “rumour”. He does not think the First Lady is working towards supplanting him.

But Bayelsa is not the only state where the First Lady’s influence has sparked a cold war.

In Akwa Ibom, the First Lady is alleged to be teaming up with ex-Governor Victor Attah to back the immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Umana Okon Umana, from Uyo Senatorial District on the state as Akpabio’s successor.

Umana’s candidature is against the state’s zoning formula and power rotation pact. Akpabio is said to be unhappy about this.

Eket zone is favoured to produce the next governor, Umana is from Uyo district that produced Attah.

The governor is said to favour the SSG, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, although commissioners for Justice and Local Government are also in the race.

In Rivers State, Mrs. Jonathan is alleged to be interested in installing Senator George Thompson Sekibo, her kinsman from Okrika, as governor. There are fears that the First Lady may dump Minister of Education Nyesom Wike who has been the arrowhead of the “gang-up” against Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

Said a source: “Many stakeholders are not happy that Wike, an Ikwere man like Amaechi, might be sacrificed in the end after leading the anti-Amaechi battle.

“The party is also thinking of facing a dilemma in Rivers State because power ought to shift to Rivers Southeast, which include the Ogoni and the Kalabari.”

The popular thinking in Delta State is that the First Lady has sympathy for a woman as Uduaghan’s successor.

It was learnt that there is a plan to use Delta State for the experiment to produce the first woman governor.

The source said: “The anointed candidate is the Chief Executive of NSITF, Dr. Ngozi Olojeme.

“We learnt that a former minister and the wife of a former chairman of the PDP have been recruited to make a case for Olojeme,” another source said.

In Bauchi, Governor Isa Yuguda is opposed to plans by the First Lady to impose the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, as governor.

“We may witness a repeat of what happened in Bauchi State in 2007 if Mohammed is eventually made the candidate without Yuguda’s support. The opposition will gain from it,” said the source, who pleaded not to be named.

“Yuguda wants to produce his successor and the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, may not allow him because this is his own opportunity to take control of affairs in his state,” the source added.

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State is battling to convince the party to pick his successor. One of those believed to be in Orji’s consideration is the General Manager of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), Aba Zone, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu.

But the First Lady might choose between an oil magnate and a retired military chief, although the businessman is rated higher.

“The First Lady’s mother is from Abia State; she sees herself as a stakeholder in the state,” the source said.

In Kwara State, Mrs Jonathan’s preference for Senator Gbemisola Saraki is creating tension in the party. Some stakeholders plan to work for the All Progressives Congress (APC), if the popular wish is not respected.

The First Lady’s Media Assistant Mr. Ayo Adewuyi, in an electronic mail to our correspondent’s enquiry yesterday, said: “The First Lady has no plan and she is not planning to instal any governor.

“There are party processes for primaries and election of governorship candidates and, to the best of my knowledge, she is not a member of the party organs responsible for that. It is, therefore another calculated attempt by mischief makers to use her name for their selfish interests.

“It is also expedient to state clearly that the First Lady does not meddle in the affairs and selection process of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“Consequently, there is no way she can dictate or instal anybody in political offices. In the case of Rivers State, the First Lady wishes to state categorically that the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, is the leader of the PDP in Rivers State and he enjoys the followership of the people of the state. The First Lady is solidly behind Chief Wike. The people of Rivers State are also solidly behind Chief Wike and are prepared to follow him.

“It is, therefore, mischievous to insinuate that Mrs. Jonathan is working to ensure that the governorship candidate comes from one of the riverine areas of Rivers State, which may not be where the people are going.

“It is also imperative to state that the First Lady is always with the people and will continue to go with the wish and expectations of the people.

“Mrs. Jonathan has not withdrawn her support for Chief Wike at any time and will always work for the interest and the good of Rivers people.

“The First Lady is also portrayed as positioning some other candidates to take over from the incumbents in Bayelsa and Bauchi states in an attempt to pitch them against the governors.

“Dr. Waripomowei Dudafa is not only a son to the President, but his employee and very close to the family. Dr Dudafa is not ready to quit his job to contest the governorship election. Similarly, the FCT Minister has been a competent and loyal appointee of Mr. President. Both of them are loyal to Mr. President and their governors.

“They are sons of the First Lady, as the mother of the nation, who also has very cordial relationship with the governors in question and will never interfere in any process that will lead to the emergence of governorship candidates in the states.

“Mrs. Jonathan appeals to the governors of Bayelsa and Bauchi states to ignore the mischief makers who are bent on disrupting the peace prevailing in those states.

“The First Lady is a mother of peace who believes in the supremacy of the party and democratic principles at all levels and does not dump her friends because of politics, whether they are contesting or not.

“She, therefore, urges all Nigerians to uphold the truth at all times, and not be swayed by actions of mischief makers.

TheNation

Riot Averted After Nyanya Blast

 

By ONJEWU DICKSON

— April 14, 2014

Youths at the scene of yesterday’s bomb blast in an Abuja suburb almost took the frustration on security personnel who were battling to control the crowd that had thronged the Nyanya Motor Park, scene of the incident.

It took a combined team of Army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, FRSC, and anti-riot Police to control the crowd, who blamed the incident on government’s inability to provide the area with adequate security.

One of the youth who craved anonymity told LEADERSHIP that they were angry that the government had been paying lip-service to security matters and should be blamed for the insecurity.

“We are very angry about what just happened. It is really bad that the
masses get no protection from our government. We would not tolerate
this if the government cannot protect us, we would find means to
protect ourselves,” he threatened.

Another lady at the scene was seeing raining insults on the military men, obviously pouring the frustration of losing her brother in the blast on them as she cried out, “My brother, my brother, why did this happen, security you have failed us.”

Meanwhile, eyewitness account has put the amount of dead people from the Nyanya bomb blast yesterday at over 400, even as several others were injured and several vehicles destroyed.

An eyewitness who was on ground around 6:45am when the bomb exploded, explained that several of the victims that were in the Abuja Urban Mass Transit Company (AUMTCO) that were about 15 within the cordoned area, were students, traveling to Gwagwalada to write their SSCE exams.

Scores of vehicles were completely burnt, with no traces of the
occupants, who were burnt beyond recognition.

As at time of filing this report, the identity of the mastermind was
yet to be known, but eyewitnesses said that the car that was used for
the attack was a golf 2, with Lagos State registration number plates.

Early sympathisers who visited the scene include President Goodluck
Jonathan, accompanied by top security chiefs.

Leadership

Abuja blast: Jonathan vows to end insurgency

President Jonathan looked at one of the blast victims during his visit to the Asokoro General Hospital on Monday.

by: Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday vowed to do everything possible to end insurgency in the country.

The President spoke while being conducted round the scene of the Abuja motor park blast on Monday morning.

He maintained that the issue of Boko Haram is temporary and that Nigeria will overcome it.

Jonathan, who was accompanied to the scene by the Senate President, David Mark, Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Muazu, National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, condoled with the families of those who lost their lives and ordered best medical services to be given to the injured.

He also ordered tight security around the city. From the scene, Jonathan also visited some of the victims hospitalized at the Asokoro General Hospital, Abuja. He was conducted round the emergency wards of the hospital by the Chief Medical Director, Dr. Abubakar Adamu.

At the scene of the blast, he said: “You can see that I’m here with the Senate President, David Mark and Chairman of PDP, Ministers, CDS and service chiefs, and all other very senior government functionaries. Let us collectively express our condolences to the families of those who suffered directly on the incident.”

“I am also commending security services for their prompt action. Though we lost quite a number of people, we condole our countrymen and women. We will continue to work very hard.”

“The issue of Boko Haram is temporary. Government is doing everything to make sure that we move our country forward in spite of all the distractions that want to take us backward. We promise that we will get over it.” He went on:

“We also want to use this unique opportunity to plead with the media and our great men and women, to come up with enlightenment programme for our people. Those countries that face terror they have developed great awareness. If there are unusual movement of vehicles and bags, they called security and base on this a lot of incidences are contained.”

“So we believe that if people will become observant and all of us become security conscious by the movement of people, we will be able to reduce some of these incidences.” “We will do our best, the security services will continue to work very hard, God willing we will get over it. The issue of Boko Haram is temporary surely we will get over it.”

TheNation

How Archbishop Idahosa died – Wife

Church of God Mission International Incorporated died and left his wife,
Margaret Idahosa and four children behind.

Here, the wife and the first female Pentecostal Archbishop in Africa recounts the last moments of her husband and how she had coped with bereavement. Excerpts…

You once said you thought you were finished when your husband died. How exactly did you mean?

I knew late Archbishop Benson Idahosa when I was young and we were friends for eight years before we got married. He was not only my husband, he was my brother, my friend and a confidant. In addition to these, he was my bishop and archbishop.

Archbishop Margaret Benson-Idahosa

When he died I was in a confused state and honestly I didn’t know where to begin and what the future held for me. I thought to myself after the burial I would

just recline to myself.

By then my children were all abroad and I said I would be staying with them one after the other and then come over to Benin to see how the ministry was being run. But God who knows the heart of man directed my path to where I am today.

When my husband was alive I was with him and the best I could do was to encourage him and pray for him. I was a great supporter of his vision. So when he died I just wanted to remain in my cocoon. But God had a different plan for me.

You were 55 years when he died. How easy was it for church members to accept you then?

As a matter of fact when I was called the day I was ordained a bishop; I thought they called me just to pray for me. I came out and the archbishop who ordained me said he did not confer with flesh and blood but that the Holy Spirit had directed him to ordain me as a bishop.

When he made that declaration there was a thunderous response from the audience. Before then I must confess that my mind was not in ministry. But to my greatest surprise there was a great acceptance of the ordination.

Honestly, I was not looking forward to it and after a while I had to pray and God spoke to me and said He had called me and He would give me the enablement and the strength to do the task that has been set before me.

And I said okay; God it is a deal. And I said let us try. If I’m successful fine and if I do not then God would understand. Before my husband’s funeral ceremony, God has spoken with a lot of people about who succeeds him.

I recall that when my husband was alive he used to travel a lot and there were times he took people out for lunch in some of the countries he went to and those people were used to asking him questions.

One of the questions by one of his friends was whether he was preparing somebody to take over from him and he said he was not preparing anybody because the anointing breaks the yoke and that anybody who had the anointing would definitely be put in place. But he said I think my wife will fit into my shoes.

Somebody brought the video and we watched it. There was a general acceptance of my person when I was ordained and God has been helping us in the ministry.

What were the things that you did to equip yourself with the task ahead?
What I did was to give the ministry’s constitution to men with experience. I wanted them to help me interpret it because people were giving different interpretations and when they did it I was comfortable that I was not usurping anybody’s position.

And I called all the pastors of the church and said, “Our Daddy has gone, do we want this ministry to go on or it should die with him and majority of them said they wanted the ministry to go on. That was how we started working.

What were the initial challenges concerning the issue of remarriage when your husband died?

There were challenges in this area and I told God that I wanted him to direct my affairs and my life. And I think God heard and He gave me the ability to do what I’m doing now.

I had a husband and I enjoyed him and I think there was nobody else that could match up to him. I told God that I want Him to take the desire for another man from me. I never wanted to think about remarriage. God gave me so much to do that after a hard day’s work I just go to bed and sleep. I don’t have a desire to marry. To be married to who?

Let us look back to the time you married your late husband. Was he already in ministry when you met him?

I met him already called into the ministry. There was a book he wrote called, Fire in his bones. Everything about his life is in that book. And those are the things I know about him. And he kept saying to me that I should focus my attention on God.

He said when he gave his life to Christ a lot of things happened and that God showed him some visions. In one of the visions God showed him a big dry tree with branches that had no leaves but it had branches and God put him under the tree.

When he lifted up his eyes he saw an old woman carrying a huge load and he got up from under the tree to help that woman to where she was going and there was a tiny leaf on the tree after he had rendered the help and he opened his eyes.

He saw another person and he helped the person and there was another leaf on the tree. The more he helped, the more the tree had leaves. And God told him that the more he helped people the more he will get protection and shade.

Benin is said to be a peculiar place. What does it take being in ministry here?

When you are called of God, He gives you the boldness you need to withstand anything. When God called him, for 14 days he went round Benin City praying and asking God to take the city for the gospel.

Benin was so bad that if a native doctor told you that you would die by 2 o’clock there is nothing you can do about it except you run to Christ because that thing will surely happen.

When my husband finished the 14 days marathon prayer round the city he started a small fellowship with students all over the place. What were his dreams that he could not accomplish before he died?

I don’t think there was anything he wanted to do that he didn’t do. He died in March. In February he called me and said, ‘Margaret, I think I have done everything God had asked me to do’.

And I said it is because we were still in February and that because he had not traveled. I said he needed to travel and if he did that he would come back with a fresh idea. And he said he would travel in March and that he would be by himself and will not interact with anybody. I was abroad when he died.

I was planning to travel that night to Nigeria when the report came that he had gone home. That, to me was a great shock. Before he died, he had preached a message titled The benefit of death and he preached so hard and made death so useless. He made it clear to us that he had finished the work God gave him in that message.

He is referred to as father of Pentecostalism in Nigeria. What do you make of what is going on in PFN now?

When he came on the scene, ministry work was not a joke. It was hard. It was difficult. Even the orthodox churches waged war but he stood his ground.

He cleared the land for all of us. Many years ago it was a taboo for women to hold the microphone not to talk of preaching in the church but he encouraged us to move in the spirit of God. He encouraged us to preach and do the work.

That was the last message he preached to the women. He preached also at the Bible School before he went to lunch with a team from Oral Roberts University.

He gave instruction to all the members of the team and they were all glued to him! After a while a gentle breeze was blowing and everybody set their gaze on him.

He was saying thank you Jesus and those on the table thought he was praying and they all closed their eyes and started saying thank you Jesus along with him but suddenly they did not hear anything again and one of the team members opened his eyes and found out that archbishop was gone.

They tried all they could to revive him but he was gone. He was not sick. He never had high blood pressure. He was never down. Each time we came back from foreign trips doctors were always there to take our blood pressure. I was the one that was the sick once. Even the doctors were surprised that he died because he was not sick at all.

How did the children receive the news?

All the children were in school when he died. I was in America and the children were in London. One of our friends told our eldest child that I was on the way to meet him.

We met and we held hands and cried at the airport in London. We didn’t mind who was looking at us. My first daughter was in law school in Britain then.

I called her and said she should tell her lecturer that her father had just died and that she should come. My two daughters in America also had to come and they all cried. I believe everything that God asked him to do he did. He said he had done all what God wanted him to do.

How do you feel being the first ordained female archbishop in Africa?

I don’t know how it came. For many years I belong to different Christian bodies but in the last 10 years I have been functioning in the position of archbishop and the bodies that I belong to said it was time to recognize me.

I don’t feel any difference but I feel the responsibility. And I have asked God to give me the ability to perform and do what I’m called to do and see and hear the hurt of those around me.

DjbudeteeWorldChronicles

Allegations of Fraud: EFCC tackles Akoko-Edo LG Boss

By Victor Uwagor

 

Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have stepped into the allegations of fraudulent government transactions and alleged looting of council funds, following the petition of a former Supervisory Councillor in Akoko-Edo Local Government Council, Hon. Samuel Oyewole, against incumbent Council Boss, Hon. Folorunsho Akerejola.

            The fraud-bursting officials of the Commission were responding to a petition by counsels to the petitioner, Ray I.D. Okezie & Co., dated 30^th September, 2013, a copy of which was made available to The Navigator, in which the council boss was alleged to have, among other things, misappropriated the total sum of N726million being total summary of statutory revenue to the Akoko-Edo Local Government Council, for the months of May – August, 2013.

            The petitioner, while crying blue murder over a majority of the items of expenditure undertaken by the council administration, further alleged that “the roads claimed to have been graded and filled in Agbanishimu, Akpama, Omumu, Ogugu Ayauza, and Ibillo, an 18km stretch for N16million, are non-existent and no grading of roads or filling of same has taken place in the communities mentioned.”

            The petitioner averred that their client, Hon. Samuel Oyewole had evidence of facts to prove the council chairman’s claims wrong that the council built a 3-classroom block and a headmaster’s office at Okuma Primary School, Ogugu, for N9.6million and the construction of 2 units of open market at Ososo, without toilets or any other facility, could not have been built with N5million.

               Other items of alleged fraudulent questioning listed in the petition, include the council chairman’s claims of spending N6million to clear refuse dump at Ibillo Ekpesa Community and accumulated cow dung at Ibillo and Igarra abattoir; organizing football competition for male and female for N4million; purchase of two metal doors at the council for N121,500; procuring of 110 units of DEKA Bench for various Primary schools in the locality for N1.9; A maternal labour and child health week, which petitioner argued never took place, for N2.8million; provision of logistics to organize a cultural festival, which petitioner claimed was never held, for N4.5million. 

All these claims, apart from being frivolous, according to the petitioner, were never retired, several weeks after 31^st August, 2013 as required by the Civil Service Rules of Edo State.

            The petitioner, Hon. Samuel Oyewole, who spoke with newsmen, shortly after the inspection of projects by the officials of the EFCC, maintained that he was moved by the grandiose magnitude of the alleged fraudulent acts to write the petition, insisting that his action was not out of malice, but a social responsibility to curtail corruption and sound as a wake up call on public office holders to invest government allotted funds for the development and wellbeing of the people.

            He, however, lamented the uncomplimentary role played by the Edo State House of Assembly, in promptly investigating the issues raised, even after he submitted the petition to the House in September, 2013.  Hon. Oyewole, described as “empty boast” the alleged claims of the council chairman that he was unperturbed by the EFCC’s investigation as, according to him, the state government would stand by him. The petitioner noted that the Comrade Governor was a prudent and development-driven governor who has zero-tolerance for misappropriate of public funds.

            He, therefore, enjoined the Edo State House of Assembly to work in tandem with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate and establish the truth in the petition. 

TheNavigator