Connect with us

News

How I saved Omenka’s life after tormenting me under Abacha – Obaigbena

Published

on

Nduka Obaigbena, Chairman of the THISDAY-ARISE Global Media Group, on Thursday, gave graphic example of how the hunter could become the hunted and how the oppressor of yesterday could be at the mercy of his victim tomorrow, when he narrated before his hundreds of his audience, his experience during the dark days of military rule in Nigeria.

It was the story of his engagement with one Frank Omenka, one of the faces in the government of Sani Abacha, reputed to be one of the most repressive, autocratic and despotic in the history of Nigeria during the dark days where a simple conversation at an innocuous occasion could land a victim to his early grave.

Obaigbena, one of Nigeria’s greatest media gurus in modern times, Nigerian Army civil-military cooperation media chat, narrated how Omenka, a Colonel in the Nigerian military, who was part of the Abacha goons that hounded him out of the country on exile, returned to him to save his life when he came under the same threat he was served by the military.

Using the incident to underscore his argument that the military ought not be enemies with the civilian population, particularly the media, Obaigbena, admonished Nigerian leaders against suppressing the media, stressing that cordial relationship was essential in and out of power.

Advertisement

Hear him: “The media is your friend. The media is there to protect everybody. So, those who find themselves in power and feel they can kill the media, when they leave power, they will need the media. The media is a friend of the armed forces of the people of Nigeria and the media will continue to work with the armed forces of the people of Nigeria.

“My last momentous encounter with the Nigerian Army was as a guest of the security group headed by Col. Frank Omenka of the department of military intelligence. I remember THISDAY had made some publications against the Abacha government and we were invited and I was interrogated by five generals with guns on the table. After the interrogation, the tape was asked for by General Abacha and I later went on exile.

“On my return from exile, in my house I just heard knocks in my kitchen and I saw my then friend and brother, Deboye Shonekan, and he said please I have a friend to see you… he was crawling behind my kitchen and happened to be General Frank Omenka and he said Nduka please help me, Bamaiyi and co want to kill me and i asked him and said, if you had killed the media, would you have come to us for hep today? However, we assisted him as the media. So, what I am saying is the media is your friend.”

Obaigbena, who carpeted the military, particularly over their involvement in areas outside their mandate like arresting protesters, insisted they must retrace their steps and go after election riggers instead of protecting them to enable transparent elections in the country.

His words: “Stop getting involved with arresting protesters, rather arrest kidnappers. Good governance will stop protests but Kidnappers will have to face the wrath of the law. Stop getting involved in protecting election riggers. We need proper elections for governments to be held accountable.”

Advertisement

Share this story:

News

BREAKING: Death penalty for fake drugs! *NAFDAC to push new law at NASS

Published

on

Those peddling fake and substandard drugs in Nigeria should be ready for the hangman’s noose, if the thinking of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), becomes the new law.

Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General of the body, who said on Friday that no other form of punishment is fitting enough, gave instances of where the application of such dangerous substances in form of health drugs, had led to fatalities.

Advocating that only stiff penalties would deter peddlers especially when deaths of children became involved, the NAFDAC boss, who appeared as a guest on The Morning Brief, a breakfast programme on Channels Television, said: “Somebody bought children’s medicine for N13,000 or something like that, another person was selling about N3,000 in the same mall. 

“That raised an alarm. Guess what? There was nothing inside that medicine when we tested it in our Kaduna lab. So, I want the death penalty. Because you don’t need to put a gun on the head of a child before you kill that child. Just give that child bad medicine.”

Advertisement

Advocating that the National Assembly and the judiciary to make the proposal a reality, adding that the agency was open to partnering with lawmakers and other stakeholders on the matter, she added: “You cannot fight substandard, falsified medicine in isolation. The agency can do as much as it can but if there is no deterrent, there’s going to be a problem.

“Somebody brought in 225mg of Tramadol that can kill anybody, fry the brain and you give a judgment of five years in prison or N250,000. Who doesn’t know that that person will go to the ATM and get N250,000? That is part of our problem.

“There are no strict measures to deter [people] from repeating the same thing. We can do as much as we can but if our law is not strong enough, or the judiciary is not strong enough to stand up, we’re going to have a problem.

“So, our judiciary system must be strong enough. But we are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties very stiff.  But if you kill a child by bad medicine, you deserve to die. We have a lot on our plate in stemming drug peddling.

“Withe about 2,000 staff members nationwide and limited funding, NAFDAC is constrained in carrying out its activities. So, when it comes to staffing, you’re right on the point. We are short-staffed and I am hoping things will be better.”

Advertisement

Share this story:
Continue Reading

News

Give us electoral offences tribunal to take care of heist – INEC  

Published

on

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, made a fresh push for the creation of an electoral offences tribunal, to curb the cases of attacks on the Nigerian democratic system.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman, told reporters at the commission’s first regular quarterly consultative meeting with the media that the tribunal had become important owing to the backlog of electoral offence cases.

He said: “A major obstacle to the speedy dispensation of justice in this regard is that electoral offences are not time-bound as is the case with post-election offences through the tribunals. Furthermore, they are solely prosecuted by the Magistrate and State High Courts in the jurisdiction where the alleged offences are committed,” the INEC chief told the gathering.

“No priority attention is given to such cases as the courts deal with a variety of other cases. Consequently, electoral offences are carried over from one General Election to another which may sometimes affect the diligent prosecution of the cases. It is therefore imperative to renew our call for the creation of the Electoral Offences Tribunal that have a specific jurisdiction and limited timeframe for the speedy dispensation of cases.”

Advertisement

Bemoaning the delay in the justice delivery system, citing the conviction of a returning officer in Akwa Ibom after six years in court, the INEC boss, said: “The recent successful prosecution of a Returning Officer in Akwa Ibom State is a case in point.

“The Commission has been diligently pursuing the case which arose from the 2019 General Election. In this particular case, it took nearly six years to achieve the successful prosecution at the trial court.

“Through our collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) cases involving 774 alleged offenders from the 2023 General Election are being prosecuted. So far, successful prosecutions have been recorded in Kebbi and Kogi States while our collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on vote-buying has yielded similar results in Lagos, Kwara, and Gombe States. Yet, many cases are still pending.”

Advertisement
Share this story:
Continue Reading

News

Again, terrorists attack Sokoto, kidnap 10 worshippers at a mosque

Published

on

A mosque in Bushe community, Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, fell into the hands of bandits on Friday, after which 10 worshippers including the Imam were spirited away, adding to growing cases of terrorist attacks.

Channels Television reports that the gunmen invaded the mosque on Thursday while worshippers were performing their early morning Subhi prayer, quoting residents as saying that the gunmen had been molesting the people of the community for some time now, even with the presence of security agents.

Ahmed Rufai, spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, who confirmed the attack on Friday, said the police authorities were working with other security agencies to rescue the abducted victims.

A member of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, representing the Sabon Birni B state Constituency who also confirmed the attack, commended the security agencies for their timely intervention.

Advertisement

Share this story:
Continue Reading

Trending