Profiting from terror

by Eze Eluchie

For the past 2 years and more particularly in the course of the past 12 months, all semblance of civil governance has collapsed in the three States in Nigeria’s Northeastern Zone, to wit: Bornu, Yobe and Adamawa – yet, in a reality that defies logic, these 3 States have not failed to come forward and claim their own shares of financial allocations from the monthly monetary bazaar known as the Fiscal Allocation.

Pray, what have the Governors of these 3 States (Kashim Shettima {Bornu}, Murtala Nyako {Adamawa} and Ibrahim Geida {Yobe}and their associates) where the activities of Boko Haram has effectively made a greater part of the zone inaccessible to all but security operatives and military forces, been doing with the several Billions they have collected? No infrastructural works, no agricultural engagements, nothing! Yet these guys shamelessly keep on coming to Abuja to collect huge sums on a monthly basis.

It appears that more people than meets the eye have vested interests in the endless continuation of the lawlessness and terror pervading our Northeast zone.With the 'State of Emergency in these area now converted into a ceaseless source of loot, one really fears that the war against terror in our Northeast zone may never end.

Let's restructure and renegotiate the contraption to stem the horrendous thievery in the name of governance.

Picture: Aftermath of one of the several terrorist attacks in our Northeastern zone 

Lawlessness as Law!

by Eze Eluchie

Two isolated oddities, happening contemporaneously in different States of our federation, typify the level of decadence and reign of impunity to which our contraption has fallen in the course of the past few years. These are:
1. The shutting down of a huge Shopping Mall at Iponrin, Lagos State on the orders of the daughter of a former Governor of Lagos State on account of purported disagreements between the aid daughter of an ex-Governor and owners of Shops in the Mall and an incredulous insistence that Shop owners at the Mall must register with a particular political party, and
2. The public shooting to death of an aide to the Abia State Governor - yes, you read right, 'aide to the son of a State Governor, apparently at the instigation of the son of the said State Governor!

I had actually shied away from commenting on these absurd events in the hope that as more details emerged, our worst fears will be disproved. Alas, owners of Shops at the Mall shut by ex-Governor Bola Tinubu's daughter whose loses continue to sky-rocket and the young widow and child whose husband/dad was killed courtesy of Governor Theodore Orji's brat, serve to give life to our sad reality.

More worrisome is the fact that these untoward criminal acts by these apparently not well brought up scions of our political rulers were effected either with the connivance or active collaboration of our Police and security agencies (who are ordinarily supposed to protect the public).

Unfortunately, the system will provide protection for these 'executive' urchins.

And we wonder why we are where we are and the rest of the world are where they are?

Picture: Injustice

Pang of Statelessness

by Eze Eluchie

Failure of Texas (US) authorities to notify Mexican citizen, 46 year old Edgar Tamayo Arias, of his right to assistance from and access to Mexican Embassy officials in the US  at the time of his arrest, served to  dampen relations between the United States and its neighbor when the said Mexican citizen was executed in Texas on 22nd January 2014.

From the United Kingdom to China, India to Spain, and virtually all over the world, citizens of sub-Saharan African countries, particularly Nigerian, languish in various detention centers, with the arresting authorities not bothering to inform the arrested persons of their right to diplomatic assistance – often times, the Embassy of the sub-Saharan African country in those foreign shores only become aware of the incarceration of of their citizens via messages surreptitiously smuggled out prisons or shortly before an execution takes place.

Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, all foreign citizens ought to be informed, at the time of their arrest, of their right to diplomatic/consular assistance by their country’s Embassy.

Countless citizens of sub-Saharan states have suffered and continue to suffer, in foreign climes, as a result of the brazen non-compliance with international laws and an unwillingness and or inability of their countries diplomats to act in defense and protection of their citizens outside our shores.

Rather than address the root causes of the frolic of our youngsters to foreign climes for the proverbial ‘greener pastures’ or inquire into the validity of the legal processes which leaves our citizens incarcerated often times en-mass outside our shores, our Governments, over the years choose to embark on bogus ‘prisoner exchange’ treaties, which usually leaves the already overcrowded and overburdened Prisons and social welfare system across sub-Saharan countries in more pitiable states as they are forced to take in more inmates, inmates whose guilty are very questionable. 

The fate suffered by some sub-Saharan citizens, whose countries suffer from a huge capacity deficit in the quality of diplomatic personnel at their Embassies abroad is truly unfortunate and quite worrisome to anyone concerned about international human rights law

Fully conscious of this lack of capacity of many sub-Saharan states to come to the aide of their citizens who get entangled in foreign criminal justice systems, there appears to be several isolated incidents of brazen trampling on the rights of citizens of sub-Saharan countries in foreign climes.

A restructuring and renegotiation of our contraption will ensure that the need for our youths to waste away in foreign lands will be minimized and responsible officials represent sub-Saharan State, particularly Nigerian, interests abroad.

Picture  behind bars: