CRIMINALITY RULES NIGER DELTA! -by Joe Igbokwe

Criminality which has been the order of the day in the Niger Delta has reached the point of no return. A reliable source tells me recently that the underdevelopment we see in Niger Delta today is self inflicted. I was told that major oil companies had in the past mapped out projects to be executed by themselves in the region that worth billions but the leaders preferred to be given just a part of it which they shared among themselves.

This has been the way of the Niger Delta indigenes since the 80s. No wonder the region has remained a war zone and the haven for bandits, gangs, kidnappers, cultists, vandals, assassins, hired killers etc. Criminality has become a culture and tradition in the Niger Delta.

Conversation between a Federalist and a Unitarist (Part 2)

READ: Conversation between a Federalist and a Unitarist (Part 1) - Tony Osborg

Federalist: How can you not see anything wrong with our present system? Is it right for Abuja to decide which state should have electricity this week and how many megawatts should be allocated to which state? Don’t you think this over centralization of everything in Nigeria is bad? Why can’t the states and cities be allowed to generate and distribute their own electricity, do we still need a national grid? Why can’t the states have a state and community police system? Why can’t the states be allowed to manage the major roads in their terrain? Where in the world do you see a federal budget contain projects like boreholes and street lights and construction of classrooms? Where in the world do you hear of a federal government employing primary school teachers and feeding primary school students? Where in the world do you see a government act as a regulator and still play as the regulated? Where do you see government running university system the way we run it in Nigeria? Where do you see government admitting and allocating students to universities in the name of JAMB exams? Do you know that there are some communities in Nigeria that have not seen public electricity since electricity was invented! Some have not had roads and schools? Where in the world do you see supposedly rich oil communities going to beg multinational companies operating on their land to come execute CSR projects when such communities are suppose to be richer and more autonomous than the multinationals? Can’t you see that nepotism and prebendalism is a culture under our bad system? Can’t you see that it is wrong for Abuja to be breast feeding the states every month and rather the states should be breastfeeding Abuja? Can’t you see that there is no government presence at the locality levels across both Northern and Southern Nigeria? Can’t you see that everything is wrong with our system of government and that the system favors only people in government and nothing for the grassroot?

Human rights lawyer, Bamidele Aturu has passed at 49

Our collective hearts are sad. Barrister, you have left us too soon. A Warrior, Barrister has earned eternal perfect Peace.

A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, is dead. A source close to him said the vibrant legal mind died of high blood pressure on Wednesday. He was age 49.

Aturu, who was reportedly rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja in the early hours of Wednesday, was confirmed dead by medical personnel later in the day.

The late Aturu obtained a first degree in Law from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. Until his death, he was the Principal of Bamidele Aturu and Company in Lagos.

Commenting on the sad incident, a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, said he received the news as a shock.