27022020 - Insurgency: Depressed soldier shoots 7, kills self

Bayelsa, APC and the limits
of mendacity
LET me state from the outset that I am not
a member of any political party. I used to
have sympathy for the All Progressives Grand
Alliance, APGA, until its leaders destroyed it
for whatever reason prior to the 2019 elections.
I spoke out against the injustice of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, particularly under the
dictatorship of President Olusegun Obasanjo,
who, though democratically elected, wanted
to transmute into a maximum ruler and life
president. In the 2015 elections, I rooted for
Muhammadu Buhari not only because of the
lack-lustre leadership of President Goodluck
Jonathan but also because the PDP had become
arrogant, dictatorial and complacent.
In spite of my preference for Buhari, I wasn’t
a fan of the All Progressives Congress, APC,
the vehicle in which he was chauffeured to
power. And my reason for not being beholden
to the party even then was simple: I could hardly
stand its hypocrisy.
But I must confess that even in my wildest
imagination, I could never have believed that
the party will travel this far on the concourse of
mendacity, particularly since Adams
Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo State,
became its national chairman. The ruling party
has become the standard bearer in
charlatanism and it is horrifying. When it was
first mooted that the APC may approach the
Supreme Court to review its judgement which
sacked its governorship candidate in Bayelsa
State, David Lyon, and his Deputy,
Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, I doubted the
possibility. Here was a political party whose
leaders should apologise to the good people of
Bayelsa State and cover their faces in shame
for trying to legitimise fraud.
There was no doubt that the then Deputy
Governor-elect of Bayelsa, Degi-Eremienyo,
who sadly is a senator of the Federal Republic,
even as I write, has questions to answer. Born
on January 1, 1960, as Degi Biobaragha, he
became known as Adegi Biobakumo in 1984.
By 1990, he mutated to Degi Biobarakuma,
and 12 years later, in 2002, he took up another
identity as Degi Biobarakuma Wangagha.
These different names were unashamedly and
brazenly reflected in
the different
certificates - primary
school leaving
certificate, General
Certificate of
Education, GCE, first
degree, NYSC
discharge certificate
and Master’s degree
certificate -
On what
basis did the
APC seek a
reversal of
the
judgement?
submitted to INEC.
But the Supreme Court said all the certificates
were products of forgery, which violated
Section 182 of the Constitution and, therefore,
having established a case of forgery and
perjury, ruled that his presence on the ticket
was a toxic infection on the validity of the APC
ticket. Simply put, his inclusion vitiated the
ticket. My quarrel with that judgement was
that the Supreme Court did not go the whole
hog to commit Degi-Eremienyo to jail for the
incontrovertible crimes of forgery and perjury
in order to deter others from treading that route.
Gradually, certificate forgery by the Nigerian
political elite is becoming a pandemic and
annulling the fraudulent mandate without
committing the cheat to jail as it is done
elsewhere, though a clear rebuke against
political recklessness and rascality, is a slap
on the wrist.
I also took umbrage here last week at the
shenanigans of Oshiomhole when I wrote that:
“It is nauseating, to say the least, watching
Oshiomhole rather than bowing his head in
shame, double down on his infantile theatrics
by dancing naked in the political arena.” But
it was because the Supreme Court didn’t
complete the job that Oshiomhole had the guts
to pontificate that the verdict “lacks the fruits
of justice” and that “where justice and
the party looked the
other way when Degi-Eremienyo was being
railroaded into government house, the APC
wouldn’t have had the temerity to go back to
the apex court to seek a review of the
judgement. In any other country that is not as
integrity deficient as ours, the leadership of
the APC would have immediately distanced
itself from the man who brought so much
shame on the party.
What is even more surprising is that two of
Nigeria’s finest senior lawyers, revered Afe
Babalola and Wole Olanipekun, both Senior
Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, represented the
sacked Degi-Eremienyo and APC in such a
ridiculous legal pursuit. I am not a lawyer,
but did Degi-Eremienyo convince Babalola
that he did not get justice? In which case he
must have presented him the genuine
certificates.
Or am I simply being naïve asking
questions that are never raised between a
lawyer and his client? So, on what basis did
the APC seek a reversal of the judgement? Or
could it be as some people have insinuated
that the APC deliberately went to court
knowing that their request will be thrown out
ignominiously but with the sole purpose of
preempting the learned justices of the
Supreme Court on the Imo governorship
verdict which is also before them for a review?
Gross abuse of the
judicial process
democracy thrive on
the altar of
technicalities, it
constitutes danger to
our democracy.”
Had Degi-Eremienyo
been committed to jail
for the crimes he
committed and all
those who aided and
abetted the commission
of the crime, including
Oshiomhole, who as the
national chairman of
Knowing how mischievous and
disingenuous Nigerian politicians are, that
may not be far from the truth. Already, there
is celebration in certain quarters that with
the pronouncement of Justice Amina Augie
who read the judgement on Wednesday, the
Emeka Ihedioha application against the
Supreme Court elected governor of Imo State,
Hope Uzodinma, will suffer the same fate.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a
seven-man panel headed by Justice Sylvester
Ngwuta, dismissed the two different
applications that sought to set aside the
judgement it delivered against David Lyon
and his deputy on February 13.
In the lead verdict that was delivered by
Justice Augie, the court described the fresh
applications that were filed by Lyon and his
deputy as well as by the APC, as “highly
vexatious, frivolous and gross abuse of the
judicial process”. Justice Augie, who said the
application lacked merit, contended that the
decisions of the Supreme Court are final for
all ages and no court on earth can review
them."There must be an end to litigation; even
if we review this judgement, every disaffected
litigant will bring similar applications and
the finality of Supreme Court judgements will
be lost.” But the Justice also said something
important and very instructive, which is, the
applicants failed to point out errors in the
judgement they were seeking to reverse.
Awarding, justifiably, a N60 million cost
against Lyon, Degi-Eremieoyo and APC to be
paid in favour of Governor Douye Diri; his
Deputy, Lawrence Ewhruojakpo; and the PDP;
the Supreme Court, which frowned that the
applications were aimed at “desecrating the
sanctity of the court”, ordered that the cost
should be paid by respective counsel to the
applicants for bringing such frivolous
applications on behalf of their clients.
That is instructive. I wonder why Babalola
would allow his name to be dragged into the
APC mess. For those dancing that it is also all
over in Imo State, we will wait to see what
happens on March 2. But they fail to
acknowledge that unlike the Bayelsa ruling,
there are a thousand and one errors in the
Imo verdict, which the Supreme Court
Justices are already mindful of. Besides, it
also bears restating that Ihedioha is not being
accused of forgery and perjury. Instead, it is
those awarded victory on the altar of
fabrication and deceit that should be wary.
Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020 — 17
FOR THE RECORD
Letter to young Nigerians: Facing the
new decade (2)
The first part of this convocation lecture
presented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
was published in Vanguard, yesterday
By PROF YEMI OSINBAJO
MANY times they do not have access to
cutting-edge innovations and
inventions in farm inputs and farming
techniques. Those who can add value to the
farmers’ harvest become wealthier than the
farmer. So the growers of the raw materials
are the weakest in the value chain and the
poorest.
For example, the man who makes
chocolates from cocoa is bound to be richer
than the cocoa farmer. He has added value to
the raw cocoa by processing and designing
and packing the chocolates in appealing
wrappers. By adding value, he will create more
jobs and more wealth. So, while we will always
need the traditional professionals, doctors,
lawyers, accountants and bankers, those
adding value to their services will make more
money than they can. So those developing
Artificial Intelligence for giving legal advice
or medical diagnoses, or accounting or
banking will be more successful than the
professionals themselves.
So, the future of banking and financial
services doesn’t belong to banks or bankers as
we know them today, it may well belong to the
FinTechs and other technology-enabled
solutions. For example, today we have KiaKia,
which uses Artificial Intelligence and
algorithms, to process loan requests in
minutes and grant credit without the hassles
of regular banks. Besides, there is Kuda Bank,
for example, a bank without a single physical
branch with all its features built into a mobile
application. There is also Eyowo, another
example of a payment services company
which is designed for identifying, enumerating
and paying to and collecting repayments from
2.2 million TraderMoni and MarketMoni
beneficiaries.
They have revolutionised financial inclusion,
making and receiving payments from the farthest
parts of Nigeria. There is also another
company called
Paystack, whose
founders are just
over (the age of)
30. They have
developed
applications
that make it
easier to make
payments across
the world. There
is also
InvestBamboo,
for example,
which was
The future of
banking and
financial services
doesn’t belong to
banks or bankers as
we know them
today, it may well
belong to the
FinTechs and other
technologyenabled
solutions
started by two
26-year-olds, and offers new ways for you to
save money and invest in stocks, all from a
single application.
Others have developed technologies that
make it possible for you to invest in a farm
without ever seeing the farm. Two Nigerian
companies again, ThriveAgric and
Farmcrowdy, set up by young Nigerians under
the age of 35, are great examples of the service
providers that help small-scale farmers scaleup
and access valuable training; and all of
these done through crowdfunding.
In the world of medicine and healthcare,
there is LifeBank, owned by a young Nigerian
lady. This is a health tech startup, which also
uses drone technology to facilitate blood
delivery to various health centres. We could
highlight another called 54 gene, a firm that
is harnessing genomic data from African DNA
to revolutionise the drug industry, and change
the future of medicine. Even in the usually
conservative legal profession, which I am the
chairman, entrepreneurs are disrupting old
trends. There is a digital legal research
company called Law Pavilion, the company’s
digital tools help lawyers to do legal research
quickly and efficiently and even answer legal
questions. Judges and lawyers subscribe to it
and the usage is a very lucrative value
addition to legal practice. Yet the founder and
CEO of the company is not even a lawyer.
So today there are opportunities for
entrepreneurs to build their businesses around
•Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
traditional professions without being professionals
themselves. The most widely read
online publications are neither owned nor run
by trained journalists. Some of us are familiar
with the news aggregation platform called
Nairaland which was started by two Obafemi
Awolowo University students while still in
school. Today it is one of the most successful
online platforms we have. Even many of the
most successful online advertising or PR companies
have no formal training in these disciplines,
most are self-thought. My nephew, who
is a lawyer, is establishing an organic farm
and poultry after taking lessons online. His
only knowledge is derived from taking a few
classes from somebody in Kano State offering
online training for people interested in
poultry farming.
But let me direct your minds to the new areas
for job opportunities being created today. Data
Science is one big area. Currently, we leave
vast amounts of personal data online and in
the near future, companies will need data
scientists to go through it all and generate
answers to business questions and make
recommendations based on their findings.
Many businesses already spend time and
money going through people’s data so that
they can sell their products. This is a new area
of opportunities for jobs.
A big area today is Content Production - 3D/
2D animation, Virtual Effects and Special
Effects, as well as Augmented Reality and
Virtual Reality. The use of animation in
education, entertainment and media is
growing in leaps and bounds. Those who can
create content with animation are being and
will be much sought after in the years to come.
Recent
survey
According to a recent survey by the US Bureau
of Labour Statistics, multimedia artists and
animators are among the highest-paid within
the US workforce. This has translated to more
jobs for animators in emerging economies such
as India, Vietnam and now Nigeria. The
average pay of a 3D animator in Nigeria who
has just started out after learning his trade
could be in the region of N300,000 - N500,000
monthly. In our training of N-Power
beneficiaries, we set aside a fair amount of
money to train animators. We have carried
out two sets of training; one in the North and
one in the South of Nigeria. In total, we have
trained over 25,000 young men and women
in animation.
Also, remember that content is becoming
more in demand with the streaming wars that
have engulfed Netflix, Apple, Disney Plus,
HBO and only recently, Airtel, the
telecommunications provider, launched its
own streaming service in Nigeria.
Then we have the whole range of
Cybersecurity, another big area of opportunity.
Today, there are new opportunities for
cybersecurity specialists. How is that? With
each technological advance comes the implied
addition of more security risks just to store
and keep the information secure. Therefore,
cybersecurity will continue to be a growing
sector. In this sense, each country will have its
own specific regulations just as we have and
many other international regulations, which
will ensure that professionals with an advanced
technological background capable of
nullifying new threats posed to both
technology and people, will be in demand all
the time.
Continues online
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