Outrage over pardon for Alamieyeseigha

President Goodluck Jonathan came under heavy criticism yesterday over his granting of state pardon to convicted former Governor of Bayelsa State Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

Jonathan presented a request for approval of the pardon to the Council of State which held a meeting at the State House in Abuja yesterday.

Although there was no official announcement on the outcome of the meeting, a member of the council who attended confirmed to Daily Trust last night that the pardon was granted to Alamieyeseigha and six others.

The others were the late General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, former Bank of the North managing director Mohammed Bulama, retired General Oladipo Diya, the late General Abdulkareem Adisa, Major Bello Magaji and Muhammad Biu.

Daily Trust learnt that Jonathan told the council members that the Bayelsa Traditional Rulers Council on Monday submitted a request to him for a state pardon to Alamieyeseigha.

Alamieyeseigha, who served as governor of Bayelsa State with Jonathan as his deputy from 1999 to 2005, was impeached and later convicted for corruption. With the state pardon, he is now freed of the constitutional ban from holding public office in the future.

Yar'Adua, Diya and Adisa were convicted of plotting a coup against then Head of State General Sani Abacha in 1995. Yar'Adua died in prison in December 1997, while Adisa died several years after he was released from detention.

Under section 175 of the constitution, a state pardon is granted by the president after consultation with the Council of State.

It says: "(1) The President may -(a) grant any person concerned with or convicted of any offence created by an Act of the National Assembly a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions; (b) grant to any person a respite, either for an indefinite or for a specified period, of the execution of any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence; (c) substitute a less severe form of punishment for any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence; or (d) remit the whole or any part of any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence or of any penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to the State on account of such an offence.

"(2) The powers of the President under subsection (1) of this section shall be exercised by him after consultation with the Council of State."

'Encouraging corruption'

Senior lawyers, politicians and activists yesterday condemned the grant of pardon to Alamieyeseigha, saying it was an indication that Jonathan was not serious about the fight against corruption. They said also the inclusion of six others in the pardon list was a mere smokescreen.

Former Kaduna State Governor Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa said the pardon has shown that Jonathan has abandoned the fight against corruption.

"What is the justification for the pardon? Are they too old to stay in the prison where they belong? This is unfortunate particularly at this period when the government is talking about the fight against corruption," he said.

"This simply means that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has abandoned his anti corruption crusade. It has a political manoeuvring."

President of the Civil Rights Congress, Comrade Shehu Sani, said he was in support of the pardon for Yar'Adua and the others but that it appeared they were on the list as a smokescreen to re-launch Alamieyeseigha into politics.

"I'm in support of pardon for Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, Oladipo Diya and co but I know they were simply used as a smokescreen. They were given pardon in order to give credibility to the pardon but the exercise was done because of Alamieyeseigha," he said.

Lawyer Festus Keyamo, in a statement last night, said the pardon for Alamieyeseigha "typifies the height of insensitivity of this government to the feelings of Nigerians about the war against corruption."

He added: "This pardon by the President teaches no bitter lesson to thieving and corrupt public officers. It encourages corruption at the highest and the lowest levels of public office and the decision itself is corruption per excellence."

Another lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, said if the pardon is truly granted, it "will signal the end of the existing phony war against corruption."

Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association Rotimi Akeredolu said the pardon does not rule out the fact that Alamieyeseigha has committed a crime which would still hold against him.

But lawyer Mike Ozekhome said the pardon "cleansed" the ex-convict of any "sin."

He said, "The stigma of being an ex-convict has just been totally washed away and such a person can contest elections. He is taken in the eye of the law that he has never committed any offence.

"Anyone who will blame President Jonathan for giving Presidential pardon to his former boss, who brought him out of the classroom, such will be living in a dream world of unreality. It is only natural that the President will want to pardon his former boss who has always been there for him."

In his own reaction, Barrister Yahaya Mahmud (SAN), said Jonathan has the constitutional power to pardon anybody in consultation with the council of state, as provided by section 175 of the constitution.

Constitutional lawyer Fred Agbaje said the pardon would promote integration and unity among diverse groups.

In its reaction, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) last night said the presidential pardon for Alamieyeseigha was "laughable and tribalistic."

CPC spokesman Rotimi Fashakin said the decision was akin to granting posthumous pardon to the likes of notorious armed robber Lawrence Anini.

"There is a better way to show solidarity with one's boss than this utterly reprehensible action.... This is another proof that the Jonathan regime is not averse to corruption," Fashakin said.

Secretary General of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Willy Ezugwu, said, "This is saddening.... This has also confirmed that the president is hobnobbing with corruption and that Nigerians should not put their hope on him to move the nation forward."

Confusion

There was confusion earlier yesterday as to whether the pardon was granted. News filtered early in the day that the council of state was meeting to ratify a memo by Jonathan in which he was seeking to grant a pardon for Alamieyeseigha.

At about 7.50pm, the Federal Government-owned News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) sent out a news alert, saying the Federal Government had granted "state pardon" to Alamieyeseigha and the six others.

But 17 minutes after, NAN issued another alert saying: "Kindly disregard earlier SMS on state pardon for Alamieyeseigha and six others. Thanks."

A member of the Council of State, who confirmed that the pardon was granted, said the council also discussed and approved two new nominees for two Federal executive bodies.

The council meeting was attended by former leaders Yakubu Gowon, Shehu Shagari and Ernest Shonekan, as well as many state governors. But former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President Ibrahim Babangida and former head of state Muhammadu Buhari did not attend the meeting.

Daily Trust

Seven foreign workers killed by kidnappers

Security operatives in Bauchi State yesterday said they were still investigating allegations of the killing of seven expatriates kidnapped in Jama'are Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

Last month seven expatriate workers of Setraco Nigeria Limited were kidnapped by unknown gunmen. An Islamic Group called Ansaru claimed responsibility for the abduction of the seven expatriates that included five Lebanese, one Briton and one Italian.

Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Hassan Mohammed Auyo told Vanguard, "Police have no evidence that the expatriates were killed. We are still investigating the matter and the veracity of the information pasted on web site allegedly by the group".

Reliable top security sources in Bauchi told newsmen that they heard about the killings of the expatriates as everybody heard about it, adding: "We are still making our enquiries to get the correct information, because we did not carry out any rescue operation either jointly or separately. We are still monitoring the situation".

However Britain, Italy and Greece confirmed yesterday, that it was true that the militants might have killed the hostages, which they condemned as barbaric and cold-blooded.

The Ansaru group on Saturday announced the deaths of all the expatriates abducted from a construction site of Lebanese company Setraco on February 16 in Bauchi.

Ansaru, considered an offshoot of Nigerian Islamist Boko Haram, backed up its claim with "screen captures of a forthcoming video showing the dead hostages," SITE, an intelligence group said.

According to SITE, "the group stated that the attempts by the British and Nigerian governments to rescue the hostages, and their alleged arrest and killing of people, forced it to carry out the execution."

Police, last month, said the hostages were four Lebanese, one Briton, a Greek citizen and an Italian, while the company said the Middle Eastern hostages included two Lebanese and two Syrians.

Ansaru said it had carried out the kidnapping to avenge what it called 'atrocities by European nationals against Islam.' The victims-- three Lebanese citizens and one each from Britain, Greece, Italy and the Philippines-- were all employees of a Lebanese construction company, Setraco.

UK, Greece, Italy react

British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said all the hostages were "likely to have been killed" by their captors.

"This was an act of cold-blooded murder, which I condemn in the strongest terms," he said, expressing his determination to work with the Nigerian authorities "to hold the perpetrators of this heinous act to account, and to combat the terrorism which so blights the lives of people in northern Nigeria and in the wider region."

The Italian Foreign Ministry in a statement branded it "a horrific act of terrorism for which there is no explanation except barbaric and blind violence.

"No military intervention to free the hostages was ever attempted by the interested government," it said, adding that the killings were "the aberrant expression of a hateful and intolerable fanaticism."

The Greek foreign ministry said: "Available information suggests that the Greek citizen abducted in Nigeria alongside six nationals of other countries are dead.

"Based on the information we have, there was no rescue operation."

'Our motives'

In an e-mail sent to journalists announcing the kidnapping two days later, Ansaru said the motives were "the transgressions and atrocities done to the religion of Allah... by the European countries in many places such as Afghanistan and Mali."

Ansaru has been linked to several kidnappings, including the May 2011 abductions of a Briton and an Italian working for a construction firm in KebbiState, near the border with Niger.

The victims were killed in March 2012 in neighbouring SokotoState during a botched rescue operation.

It also claimed the December kidnapping of a French engineer in KatsinaState, bordering Niger. The victim's whereabouts remain unknown.

Seven members of a French family, including four children, were also abducted last month in Cameroon, and Cameroon authorities said they were then taken over the border into restive northeastern Nigeria. Their whereabouts also remain unknown.

Meanwhile, Britain's military said, yesterday, that its warplanes recently spotted in Abuja were there to move soldiers to aid the French intervention in Mali and not to rescue foreign hostages kidnapped by the radical Islamic extremist group.

The extremist group partially blamed the presence of those planes as an excuse for killing seven foreign hostages.

Vanguard

Related stories: Video - Seven foreign workers kidnapped in Nigeria

Four Chinese expatriates kidnapped in Nigeria

Video - Deadly meningitis outbreak in Nigeria

A fresh outbreak of suspected cerebrospinal meningitis has killed more than 100 in north-west Nigeria and dozens more elsewhere in the country.People in the town of Jabo ave never seen anything like the past two weeks. They have just buried 60 people. The cause of the latest outbreak is unknown and health workers have treated people based on the symptoms they have shown.The government says medical teams have been deployed to carry out an immunisation and education programme and more epidemics are expected.

Nigeria plans to ban lesbians from football

The world football governing body has queried Nigeria over the attempt to ban Lesbians from the Nigeria Women Professional League, NWPL.

The football governing body, FIFA, has written to the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, requesting clarification over statements by the Chairperson of Nigeria Women Professional League, Dilichukwu Onyedinma, about a planned ban of lesbians from the league.

The ban proposed by the NWPL would contravene FIFA's anti-discrimination policies; and the world governing body has sent a letter to the Nigerian FA asking for clarification.

"Any player that we find associated with it [lesbianism] will be disqualified," Ms. Onyedinma exclusively told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview.

"We will call the club chairmen to control their players and such players will not be able to play for the national team.

"There are particular clubs that don't even want to hear about it and once they hear it the players involved will be sacked," she said.

Some gay rights campaigners, including the Federation of Gay Games, the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (www.eglsf.info), Football v Homophobia, and AllOut (www.allout.org) also said they had written to FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, about the alleged ban.

"The organisations sending this letter believe that FIFA must now take firm action," said the campaigners in a statement.

It will be recalled that former Super Falcons Coach, Echuria Uche, made similar remarks in the last 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany and was promptly reprimanded.

The Nigerian Football Federation is yet to officially react to the FIFA query. The NFF spokesperson, Demola Olajire, said the federation would release a statement soon on it.

Homosexuality and other same sex acts are not legal in Nigeria. Nigerian lawmakers are also working on a law that would criminalise it despite condemnation of the proposed law from Western governments and agencies.

Premium Times

Related stories: Nigeria says same sex marriage ban is irrevocable

Wole Soyinka advises anti-gay bill legislators to go back to school

Penalties for late payment of salaries and pension to be introduced

The House of representatives yesterday moved a bill for An Act to Prohibit Late Payment, Non-Payment and Underpayment of Workers' Wages, Pension and Emolument in Nigeria and Prescribe Penalties for Violations and for other Matters Connected thereto.

The minority leader of the House Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila ACN, Lagos sponsored the bill saying "it is only here in Nigeria that we hear workers that toil morning and night to meet their family obligations, we hear of workers that have not been paid for months and it is impossible to say that we want to fight corruption yet we lay the foundation for corruption. How can expect a man that has not been paid for several months not to be corrupt?"

Continuing, Gbajabiamila said a percentage of with held salaries should be penalties served and can be incremental over time.

Contributing to the merits of the bill Hon. Samson Osagie, ACN Edo said " it is the duty of a responsible parliament to protect its people from hardship, therefore it is important to criminalize employers that with-hold, underpay and violate the terms of contract of employees"

The committees on Public Service, Labour Employment and Productivity have been are to take further legislative duties and report back to the House.

Leadership

Related stories: Nigerian pension fund found stashed in UK bank

Permanent secretary arrested for N14 Billion pension fraud


28 retired police officers die waiting for over due pension