President Muhammadu Buhari has met behind closed doors with Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday in Abuja.
Speaking to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, the governor said he updated the president on the security developments in Plateau.
He said President Buhari pledged that support would be given to victims of the violent clashes in the state.
“I also made a request to the President about relieve materials and also still re-echoed the issue of resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
“We have a lot of IDPs in my State, we have a lot on our hands already and when such happens, you expect the state to seek for support for relieve materials.
“We are doing our best but the president said he will talk to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, so that attention would be given to those who are displaced as a result of this crisis.
“For over six years now, we have been enjoying peace in Plateau State so, anybody that wants to take Plateau back to those old days of crisis, it is not only me as governor but all Plateau people will resist that.
“They have said ‘we don’t want to go back to crisis again, we are enjoying peace, and we want to continue to enjoy our peace,’’ he said.
On recent killing of travellers at Rukuba, near Jos, and other violent clashes in the state, the governor vowed that all those implicated would be prosecuted irrespective of their background or “connections” in the society.
According to him, the security situation in the State has greatly improved and very soon, the curfew imposed on troubled areas will be further relaxed.
He said: “What we are doing is to ensure that there is proper investigation and prosecution.
“You know, both the Soldiers and Police are controlled by the Presidency and right now they are diligently working in my state on a daily basis.
“That is why on the first day, I announced a 24-hour curfew but I kept on relaxing it. The curfew would further be relaxed, so that people can carry out their normal activities.
“We are the only state that has a peace building agency set up by the State government and it is the only state that for now has established an interreligious council.
“These are all the efforts that we have done and within a short time, peace has returned to Plateau state.”
The governor also appealed for calm and restraint, adding that those calling for reprisals did not mean well for the state.
“Again, I want to appeal to people because most of those who are outside the state calling for reprisal are not people from Plateau.
“I am yet to see one cleric coming out to say I want reprisal. I have set up an interreligious committee, which comprises all top religious leaders in Plateau State, both Muslims and Christians and when things like this happen, they address it.
“So for people to call from outside the state for reprisal, I say no because they are crying more than the bereaved; leave us. We are handling our issue; we are doing reconciliation and consultations.
“If you want to do a reprisal, you are on your own. We have agreed with the religious leaders and all of them are doing their best, they are cooperating with the State and we are also doing our best,’’ he said.
According to him, the state government has since given support to survivors of the skirmish that occurred at Rukuba, near Jos, on Aug. 14, when over 24 travellers from Ondo State were killed.
“When this happened, we had to go to Ondo. But in so many places that is unusual, but we took all of them that we rescued and treated and went there with a powerful team led by the Deputy Governor of Plateau with all religious leaders to Ondo to sympathize with the State,’’ he added.
Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme of the Court of Appeal has demanded punishment for the judge of the Jigawa State High Court, Justice Ubale of Birnin Kudu, and his counterpart in the Imo State judiciary, Justice B. C. Iheka, for what she described as their unprofessional conduct by dabbling into the Anambra State gubernatorial election controversy and for giving consequential judgments on it.
The Court of Appeal justice also wants lawyers who took the cases to the state high courts in Jigawa and Imo states disciplined for professional misbehavior.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme made the demand while ruling today on a motion by Chike Onyemenam (SAN), counsel to Jude Okeke, who claims to be the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), to stop the execution of the order made earlier on July 18 by Justice Charles C. Okaa of the Anambra State High Court in Awka directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognize the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Professor Charles Soludo, as the APGA candidate in the November 6 gubernatorial election in the state, in line with the outcome of the June 23 APGA Congress and primary election which Soludo won by almost 94% and monitored by INEC.
INEC had on July 16 published The Honorable Chukwuma Umeoji of the House of Representatives as the APGA candidate following an order by the Jigawa State High Court on June 28, but was not made known until the eve of the INEC’s unveiling of names of various candidates.
The consequential order was based on the argument that Okeke was the APGA acting national chairman who purportedly took over from one Edozie Njoku.
INEC, which regulates Nigerian political parties, has no record of either Njoku or Okeke as having ever been the APGA national chairman, as it has in the last few years recognized only Chief Victor Oye as the party’s chairman.
Still, Justice Iheka, presiding over the Imo State High Court in Owerri, on July 30 gave a judgment affirming Okeke as the APGA chairman and Umeoji the party’s gubernatorial candidate.
The Court of Appeal justice accused Anambra politicians of going round the country shopping for judgments to enable them to contest in the November governorship election rather than appear before the courts which have the territorial jurisdiction to entertain the election.
She regretted that some judges and lawyers indulge such politicians and as a result bring the legal profession into public contempt.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme, therefore, called for strong punishments to be meted out to the state high court judges in Jigawa and Imo states who gave judgments on the Anambra APGA controversy and the lawyers who brought the cases before them.
A COP is not a rock star. A serving cop who strives to live like a celebrity, exhibiting his claimed prowess in photos and video clips, keeping high media profile, and rolling with local and international big boys, is bound to get into trouble. Basically, his salary cannot sustain such a life style.
A trite in English says, show me your friend and I will tell you who you are. Another has it that birds of the same feathers, flock together. As adolescents in imbibing this basic saying, we used to render it this way: “Aves of identical plumage congregate in the same vicinity.”
The Yorubas counsel that if you are a worshipper of the god, Obatala, who requires devotees to always wear spotless white, you should not make sellers of palm oil your best friends and be found in their midst. This is because they are bound to stain your white linen which will make you unclean. This is the case of Nigeria super crime buster and Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Abba Alhaji Kyari, who was declared wanted on Thursday by the United States for alleged wire fraud and money laundering. His predicament stems from his association with an indicted international fraudster, Ramon Abbas alias Hushpuppi who had raked in at least $24 million from victims. In April 2021, he pleaded guilty in American courts for multiple cases of financial fraud which carry a twenty-year sentence.
Records released by the American courts showed that Hushpuppi had complained to his friend, Abba Kyari, that a fellow fraudster, Kelly Chibuzor Vincent, was trying to double cross him in a “job” of defrauding a man of $1.1 million under the guise of opening a school for children in Qatar.
He sent details of Vincent who was then picked up by Kyari and detained under sub human conditions for one month to ensure he was out of circulation while Hushpuppi closed the fraud deal. The records showed that Kyari had sent photographs of Vincent in police cell to Hushpuppi to confirm his identity, and that Vincent was only released after Hushpuppi took pity on him and asked Kyari to set him free. The fraudster then sent some money to Kyari through a third party account.
Kyari has a different version of what transpired. He wrote: “We responded to a distress call he (Hushpuppi) made on threat to his family and released the suspect when we discovered there was no life threat from the suspect.” On the money Hushpuppi sent him through a third party account he had provided, Kyari claimed it was to buy and sew clothes for the former who had admired the clothes he wore in photos on social media. Kyari claimed the clothes: “were brought to our office and he (Hushpuppi) sent somebody to collect them.”
This version seems incredible. If you are a super crime buster like Kyari, your best friends whom you are willing to dress up like models, should not be infamous criminals. It cannot be good business that a super cop is the fashion designer of a ‘celebrity’ fraudster who plays in the international league. Even if it was a business deal, it was bad business.
Kyari as a cop ought to know this, otherwise, why arrest the baker who sold bread to bandit camps to feed kidnap victims? Kyari’s tailor defence does not portray him as an intelligent person, or perhaps, he took Nigerians as daft idiots who are incapable of reasoning.
Kyari, as a cop should have cautioned himself knowing that anything he says or writes following his indictment by the American courts, could be used against him. More so when he clearly was not under duress when he made his public defence. He seemed too quick in making his defence; perhaps he should have consulted a lawyer, or allowed one to speak for him.
His speedy response gives the overall impression that he was rattled. His weakest defence was inadvertently admitting the conversations and text messages with Hushpuppi on how to handle Vincent including an alleged N1 million bail bribe, and when to free him. In this, Kyari behaved like the lap dog of the Puppy.
In July, there was a trending burial plan for the mother of a businessman. It promised to be an occasion when the Naira would be shown as an orphan with nobody to protect it. True to its billing, there were viral video clips which showed the Naira scattered around fields and large spaces so much that poor gate crashers confessed they picked the national currency Naira from the ground in its hundreds of thousands.
In another video, the chief celebrant was shown using bundles of the currency to joggle, chest, trap and kick like Lionel Messi on a football field. Who showed up at such a gathering? The super cop Abba Kyari! As expected, he could not keep his mouth shut. First he rationalised his ill-advised presence. Then praised the chief celebrant who has been hard put to explain his stupendous wealth. The sheep that frolics with the dog, is bound to eat faeces. The Bible puts it this way: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers…” (Psalm 1:1)
I am aware that the Inspector General of Police has ordered an internal investigation into this case. However, I appeal that DCP Abba Kyari, in accordance with our laws, is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction, so the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, should not in its usual tradition, parade him before the public in its characteristic media trial.
As is with many serious issues in Nigeria, this Hushpuppi-Kyari matter may soon turn into a media circus with some blaming so-called detractors. Already in the social media it has become a battle between “Haters” and “Supporters” or to use a more contemporary lingo; between Hailers and Wailers.
But the case is not a matter of personal opinion or insults. The American Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI is not the investigative arm of some Banana Republic that can be intimidated or banned like Twitter. Kyari and his supporters should not expend their energy on inanities but on concrete legal issues that would address the allegations.
As for extradition, I imagine it can be tough like the Buhari government is witnessing in the Sunday Igbogho case in neigbouring Benin Republic, or be unsuccessful like the Buruji Kashamu case. However, we should be mindful of the fact that America, as Nigeria did in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, can resort to extra ordinary rendition. Americans are actually experts in this kind of illegality.
The Senate of Nigeria is currently presided over by a senator from Gashua in Bade, Yobe State. Assuming that a Governor from a South Southstate visits Gashua, Nguru, Geidam all in Bade, Yobe state to collect all the money made from rice, millet, maize and wheat from the valleys of Bade as federal rent for using the water resources, and after collecting the money sets aside ten percent only, from the hundred percent the farmers made for themselves(the farmers), then changes his mind, divides the ten percent into two, and just before giving the half or five percent to the farmers, changes his mind again, deciding that he needs more of that ten percent, and because of this divides the five percent into two portions, taking another two percent of it to add to the five percent he has already taken, making seven percent taken away from the meagre ten percent apportioned to the farmers and leaving them with only 3 percent, from the one hundred percent of their toil. Will the Governor of the South South state come out of Bade alive?
Most people will cry for justice for the Bade farmers, but the plight of the people of the Niger Delta is worse than the hypothetical case for Bade farmers. In real life, Bade farmers including farmers from Gashua, have never had to worry about the Federal Government collecting any rent from their resources. But the Senator, who presides over what the Niger-Delta people will get from Petroleum rent has never had to preside over Federal rent in Bade. Yet the Niger-Delta people have had to worry about suppression and deprivation from time immemorial, during and including the period under white rule in the colonial era. Worse still, they continue to endure the same misery, suppression, and deprivationregarding an entitlement to the share of their own natural resources under fellow Nigerian leaders. The misery grows worse as each subsequent leadership gets greedier and greedier thus, raising the question: what will it take the Niger-Delta people to get justice?
The South-South Study Group, concerned about the sheer audacity of the disdain shown to the Niger-Delta people by the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), invites Nigerians to reflect on how in a Federal Democratic System, the National Assembly, made up of people elected from Nationalities thousands of kilometers away from oil-bearing localities, that have never conquered any of the oil-bearing localities in a war, did not invest anything in drilling for petroleum in any of these localities, can have powers to confiscate the natural resources of the people and determine what meagre ratio to give them from profits made from such resources by foreign elements they apportioned the land to arbitrarily.Yet if the people of the localities revolt, they will be branded as terrorists; how did the liberty promised by a Federal Democracy breed such tyranny? How often must the Niger-Delta people ask, what it will take to get justice?
The Niger-Delta people did not join in the agitations to be free from the autarky of White colonial rule so that the colonial yoke will be replaced with the yoke of itsfellow citizens, near and far flung. But that is precisely the fate that has befallenthem in Nigeria. On 23rd November 1957 the Willink Commission received complaints about the burdens being borne by minorities, particularly those in the Niger Delta area and the fifth recommendation of the Commission was that there should be a Special Development Board for Niger Delta areas. Since that recommendation, the region has hadthe Niger Delta Development Board (1958), the Oil Minerals Producing and Development Commission (1992), the Niger Delta Development Commission (1992) and the Ministry of Niger Delta (2008). In all of these, the real intended beneficiaries have remained deprived and marginalized;the one opportunity meant for them to directlybenefit from a portion of their resources is continuously being deliberately dashed by the opportunism of people who have no spicule of emphathy for the Niger-Delta people.Whereas the Niger-Delta oil bearing communities sought 20% from the production rents, they were pressured to settle for 10% hours before the final votes in both chambers of the National Assembly.
It is understood that the Sultan of Sokoto addressed aNorthern Lobby Group gathered at Zuma Resort in Abuja and urged the legislators to ensure that the PIB that will be passed encourages massive hydrocarbon exploration in the frontier basins of Sokoto, Chad, Gongola, Bida and Benue troughs. Hours later, the members of the Northern caucus, behaving worse than British colonialists, apportioned 30% of the profits from petroleum rents from the PIB to frontiers’ exploration sought by the Sultan, while at the same time slashing the ten percent sought by the owners of the oil–the oil–bearing communities from five percent they had previously offered to three percent. What will it take for the Niger-Delta people to get justice?
Nigerian despots have always tried to deprive the Niger-Delta people of their dues regarding petroleum rents. Between 1971 and 1992, elements in the Nigerian Military introduced the dichotomy between onshore and offshore oil in other to deprive the Niger-delta of the larger chunk of profits from petroleum rents.Once again, many of the said elements and their proxies were in the Zuma Resort meeting in Abuja hours before the PIB was passed. Using the dichotomy, they took the entire hundred percent of the offshore earning, and slashed the earnings from onshore oil (un)progressively downwards, to twenty percent (20%) in 1975, zero percent (0%) in 1979, two percent (2%) in 1982, one and half percent (1.5%) in 1984 and three percent (3%) in 1992. In 2021, they are back to the same old oppressive game andhave slashed what should be due to the owners of the oil, the oil-bearing communities to 3% while offering 30% to a fruitless search for oil in their frontier basinsthat hasbeen wastefully going on for over thirty years.
Again the South-South Study group must ask, what it will take to get justice for the Niger-delta people? What happened to the oil-bearing communities emanating from the conspiracy of the Northern lobby group hosted at Zuma Rock in Abuja led by the Sultan of Sokoto and others, is emblematic of the type of (in)justice the Niger-Delta has been receiving since oil was first commercially explored in Oloibiri in 1956.The Northern lobby groupasked for support for frontier oil exploration in the Northern basins and troughs and within twenty–four hours they got thirty percent of the oil-rent profits allocated to them, whereas the owners of the oil, the oil-bearing communitiessought twenty percent for about twenty-four years, were offered five percent instead which, was finally slashed to three percent.
Where is the justice for the Niger Delta people? What must the Niger Delta people do to get men and women to reason beyond their greed? The ambit of tolerance and reason is running out in the Niger-Delta. The South-South Study group urges all men and women who love peace and prosperity to reverse the PIB provocation.
Prince Otoks Dan-Princewill
(For the South-South Study Group writes from Port Harcourt)
The Police in Enugu have launched efforts to arrest the killers of a retired Judge of Enugu State, Justice Stanley Nnaji.
Nnaji was killed by unidentified gunmen in Enugu on Sunday evening while driving in a black Mercedes Benz SUV.
His killing was captured on camera and the video posted on Twitter by an eyewitness.
The deceased, who hailed from Mbu, Isi-Uzo Local government council of the state was shot severally beside the Enugu Diagnostics Centre, by Ebeano Tunnel, after he was double-crossed and dragged out of his car.\
The assailants who were driving in a red coloured jeep also made away with his vehicle.
The Enugu State Police Command which confirmed the incident assured that the culprits must be arrested.
In a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ndatsu Aliyu, has ordered the launch of a full-scale manhunt of the yet-to-be-identified armed assailants.
He alleged that the gunmen had trailed and shot dead the ex-judge while driving in a Mercedes Benz Jeep, along with Ebeano Tunnel, Enugu.
“The victim was rushed to the hospital, where he was confirmed dead by doctors on duty and deposited in the mortuary for autopsy”, he said.
While assuring that no stone would be left unturned in fishing out perpetrators of the heinous crime, the State Police Commissioner called on residents of the State to remain law-abiding, vigilant and assist the Police with useful information that would lead to the arrest and prosecution of the assailants.
The families of the late Tolulope Arotile, Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot are seeking quick dispensation of justice in the case investigating the incident which led to the death of their daughter.
TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that Arotile died in an accident on July 14, 2020, at the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) base in Kaduna at the age of 24.
Her father, Akintunde Arotile in an interview with Channels Television on Saturday said he is yet to heal over the sad incident and he is more disturbed by the prolonged case investigating her death.
He added that his wife, mother to the late Tolulope, is more disturbed as she daily laments over the delayed case with justice yet to be served 10 months after.
“We are trying as a family to put a closure to the whole thing particularly with the case that is still in court. Up till now, it has not been easy. If the case has been concluded we will try and see if we can put a closure to that chapter and we will just mourn her till maybe when I and my wife will die.
“But the case is still on. I don’t even know when the next hearing will be. My wife is so disturbed because of that.
“It’s like you have an open wound that is not healing. If the case is concluded, our minds will be at rest,” he said at an event organised by the Kogi State Government and unveiling of a cinema movie project in Tolulope’s honour.
Mr Arotile stressed that if only justice can be served as soon as possible, their minds will be put to rest.
“To show that you cannot just kill a serving officer, a pilot in the Air Force Base premises and the case is being treated as nobody.
“You know our normal judicial service system, the case keeps dragging on…that is a problem for us,” Mr Arotile lamented.
The NAF had earlier in July 2020 released its preliminary report on the death of Tolulope in a car accident at their base in Kaduna.
The Force in the report revealed that Ms Arotile was killed by her friend who mistakenly hit her with his vehicle.
“Upon recognising their schoolmate, Arotile, after passing her, Mr Adejoh, who was driving, reversed the vehicle, ostensibly in an attempt to quickly meet up with the deceased, who was walking in the opposite direction. In the process, the vehicle struck Flying Officer Arotile from the rear, knocking her down with significant force and causing her to hit her head on the pavement. The vehicle then ran over parts of her body as it veered off the road beyond the kerb and onto the pavement, causing her further injuries,” air force spokesperson, Ibikunle Daramola, said in a statement containing the report.
A certain Nigerian lady identified as Ajima Ogbole has demanded justice after AZ Sint-Jan, a Belgian general hospital, allegedly cut off her cervix wrongly while also leaving her sister-in-law paralysed.
In a video wherein she recounted her trial, Ajima said she had visited the hospital in Bruges to seek a solution to her fertility struggles when she was diagnosed with fibroids.
She added that she was advised to undergo a myomectomy, the surgery to take out the fibroids before trying to conceive.
Ajima also revealed that she had the surgery in November 2017 and returned for a checkup, only to be told by her doctor that her cervix — the narrow end of the uterus that connects with the vagina— couldn’t be found.
“He asked us to come back so he could put me under anesthesia and try to find the cervix. We returned with my husband. When I woke up, I saw I had four holes on my tummy and I was wondering if it was the IUD. He was supposed to put the IUD (intrauterine device) as he felt my cervix was blocked. He later came in to tell us that he couldn’t find my cervix and so he didn’t perform the laparoscopy. He was going to refer me to KU Leuven,” she said.
“We met a professor in Gynecology, which was the best to recreate my cervix. The professor told me that, for the purpose of a pregnancy, a cervix has never been recreated and he hopes for my sake that there was a little hole through which my period will be able to flow out. So he performed investigations and did ultrasounds to see if he could see my cervix, but he couldn’t. So he ushered my husband and I back into his office.
“He explained that the cervix is a muscle that holds the weight of the baby until you’re ready to push and also protects the fetus from infection. He then told me that I couldn’t get pregnant naturally or artificially because the connection between the vagina and the uterus was gone. It was at that point we realized the intensity of the situation. My husband and I then traveled to Nigeria to consult another Gynecology professor and another fertility specialist.”
Speaking further, Ajima said she underwent laparoscopy a second time in 2018 in a bid to try out reconstructive surgery possibilities to recreate her cervix so there would be a passage through which her period flows can exit her system. She added that the surgery was abortive.
To avoid any complication from having her body absorb back her period, the doctor suggested a second procedure.
“We came back to Belgium and had an appointment with a gynecology professor at the University of Ghent who is specialised in reconstructive surgeries. We saw him and he offered to perform surgery but it was going to be a 20 percent chance of success. By success, he meant to recreate the whole cervix and not for the purpose of getting pregnant if that was successful. I agreed. I had a laparoscopy again sometime in August 2018,” Ajima continued.
“A catheter was put for 10 days. We went back after then and he removed it. We then came back two weeks later for an IUD to be inserted. I was put under anesthesia. And by the time I woke up, his assistant came to inform us that the surgery wasn’t successful. He was still in surgery so he couldn’t see us himself. So he gave us an appointment in two weeks to discuss what I wanted to do and also that my body absorbing back period wasn’t good for my health.
“It can lead to some complications like endometriosis or probably even cancer of the blood. And so we left and when we came back, he offered to try one more surgery. But I wasn’t so sure as my body was exhausted. And I felt a drain psychologically, physically, and emotionally. After some thought, he told me to go and think about it and tell him what I wanted. We came back and I decided to have another surgery which was somewhat successful.”
With no cervix to support natural conception, Ajima said numerous gynecologists advised that they opt to have a child through surrogacy, an arrangement where a woman carries the child for another who can’t.
After a while of looking for a surrogate who must be legally qualified to bear the child for her and her man, Susan Ogobole, Ajima’s sister-in-law, who was to come to Belgium for her studies, volunteered since she was a resident.
Ajima declined the US due to cost considerations and went back to the hospital where her error was allegedly made.
“I began to have my period but, after a while, it stopped again. I was supporting and at the point, I had to decide my life was more important than cutting myself and twisting the hand of fate because I wanted to get pregnant by all means. We started to research the process of surrogacy. We found our best option was America. But we couldn’t afford it because it was expensive between $150,000 to $200,000. In Belgium, surrogacy is complicated,” she said.
“It’s a grey zone and hospitals meet the law on who they take as a surrogate and who they shouldn’t. My sister-in-law here who is Susan was then coming to Belgium to study. So she offered to be our surrogate because she was resident in Belgium. It was already easy for us because, for you to be a surrogate in Belgium, you have to be legally resident in Belgium. So when she came again, we started looking for hospitals, but no hospital will take us.
“We came back to the AZ Sint-Jan in Bruges, where my error was made. After embryo creation and a week to the embryo being transferred in Susan, the hospital backed out. They said they wouldn’t be proceeding and no reason was given and we had to transfer, which we did in the first week of February and then moved back to Belgium.”
Ajima said Susan had the baby on the 15th of October 2020 through cesarean section but became paralysed later.
Recounting her ordeal, Sussan said she had felt discomfort when her epidural was administered. In epidurals, an anesthetic is injected in the space around the spinal nerves of one’s lower back to block the pains from labour contractions.
Susan also said that the pain later stopped but she started having leg spasms in the evening after she had birthed the child. This was followed by a partial paralysis from her waist down, where she can neither defecate nor urinate by herself.
“I had to the baby on the 15th of October 2020. I opted for a cesarean and I was told I had to take an epidural. I had wanted general anesthesia but they said in Belgium I had to take the epidural for safety. So I reluctantly obliged and signed the consent form because I didn’t want any complication to happen with the baby. So I went into the theater and I was administered the epidural. In the process of the epidural, I felt pain on the left side of my back,” she said.
“I kept telling the doctor, ‘Oh, I feel pain.’ She kept telling me, ‘Be calm. I’m trying to get the good spot.’ She kept twisting the needle or something else. It felt like a round device. At some point, she found the point she claimed she was looking for. I didn’t feel the pain anymore. So the surgery was carried out successfully. But after I got back into the ward the following day, I was told the epidural pump had to be removed. They did and, at about 8:00, I sat.
“Everything seemed okay but my legs were having spasms. I was told it would wear off. In the evening, I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. They had to look for a neurologist to come and check. She came and said I have to go for an MRI. I’ve had four MRIs. The first two, they said, ‘Oh, we didn’t see anything.’ After the third, they said I had to have a lumbar puncture. I was seeking a lumbar puncture. They said they saw a bacteria but don’t know what it is.
“One of them even suggested that maybe it’s a disease from Africa, tuberculosis, malaria, or cerebral meningitis. They carried out all the tests, yet, didn’t see anything. So the question was, where did the bacteria come from? Was it in the process of administering the epidural it entered my system as a result of not scrubbing me very well? Or is it that the person who administered the epidural didn’t sterilize her equipment properly? Nobody gave an answer.”
According to her, it was after a meeting with the doctors involved that she discovered it was a third-year resident that administered her epidural while the supervisor claimed she just stood by the side.
Concluding, Ajima said the hospital failed to tender a formal apology and cater to their medical bills on request. She also stated that AZ Sint-Jan slowly took one week to send Susan’s medical files when she needed a transfer.
“The neurologist hasn’t even stopped by Susan’s room. It’s after we realized all this they brought a rehabilitation doctor, who is black, for us. Why? I feel they dragged him into this for damage control. And also how can two family members of the same race have two rare complications in the hospital. Why was a resident also used in my surgery? These are questions. We even said okay, no apologies. Let’s sit and have a conversation,” Ajima further narrated.
“How do you make our lives easy? What happens to Susan’s medical bills? How can they ruin the two lives of two sisters and nobody is showing any remorse. Nobody feels like we deserve an apology. At first, we thought it was subtle racism but it’s not even subtle. It’s glaring racism. Nobody even comes to us. They feel maybe we’re asking for too much. If it was a family member of one of these doctors, they would have gone above and beyond.
“Even when her file was supposed to be sent to UZ Gent. We kept on pushing. It was sent after a week. We kept on asking them, ‘have you consulted other doctors to find a solution? Have you done this?’ They say, ‘no, can they do it?’ How can you ask a patient? We don’t think the bacteria was involved. I believe her nerve roots were damaged.
“If not, why haven’t they seen the bacteria? They try to blame it on malaria, meningitis, or tuberculosis. We’re lucky Susan did not have a bit of malaria in her blood. They would have held on to that. They told us that it’s a bacteria not found in Caucasians or Europeans. It’s a bacteria found in Africa. Is this not all racism? If everything was done perfectly, why is my sister-in-law in a chair? We feel that this hospital deserves to be investigated. We need justice.”
Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta of the Supreme Court has been reported dead.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Justice Ngwuta died on Sunday morning.
A source close to the family disclosed that he died in his sleep at his residence in Abuja, the federal capital territory (FCT).
He died at the age of 69.
Justice Ngwuta was getting set for his retirement from the Supreme Court on 30th March, 2021 upon attainment of 70 years mandatory retirement age.
Justice Ngwuta was born in 1951 in Amofia-Ukawu, Onicha Local government Ebonyi.
He started his private legal practice at Abakaliki in July 1978 to October 1995, from where he was appointed a judge of the High Court Abia in October 1995 and there promoted to the Court of Appeal on May 22, 2003, was finally sworn-in as Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in May 2011.
He was the chairman of judicial panel of inquiry into the Obegu Enyibichirikwo Disturbance 1997-1998 and has been a member of several Election Petition Tribunal, Governship and legislative House Election Petition Tribunal; Nasarawa State held at Lafia in February 1999, National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal Plateau State held at Jos in April 1999, among others.
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has reacted to the killing of Terkura Suswam, elder brother to immediate past governor of the state and incumbent Senator representing Benue North East, Senator Gabriel Suswam saying the killers must be apprehended.
The Governor in a statement signed on Wednesday by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase said his administration will give security operatives maximum support to ensure that the killers are arrested and made to face consequences of their action.
“Governor Ortom stresses that his administration will not surrender Benue to criminals, and gives assurance that killers and kidnapers operating in Sankera axis of the State won’t go unpunished,” the statement added.
He sympathised with Senator Suswam and the rest of the family, as well as the entire people of Logo Local Government Area over the painful death of Terkura Suswam.
He prayed that God grants the deceased eternal rest and his family the strength to bear the loss.
His aide, simply identified as Mr Solomon was also killed by the gunmen.
According to the police, the attack took place when Suswam and his aide sat opposite his house at Elohim Plaza Anyiin to supervise repairs at the plaza. The gunmen who drove in a Toyota Camry vehicle attacked and shot them.
The police statement which was signed by the spokesperson in the state, Anene Sewuese Catherine added that victims were rushed to NKST Anyii hospital where they were eventually confirmed dead.
Popular Islamic scholar and retired justice, Ahmed Lemu is dead. He died on Thursday.
He died at the age of 91 in Minna, Niger State.
His son, Nurudeen, announced the death on behalf of his family.
“It is with sadness and reverence to Allah that we announce the passing away of our father, Dr. Justice Sheikh Ahmed Lemu OFR, in the early hours of this morning in Minna. Burial arrangements to be announced later,” he said.
Lemu is one of the two Nigerians who have won King Faisal Prize.
He chaired the Presidential Panel on Post-Election Violence in Nigeria in 2011. He was also a member of the Nigerian Council of Religions, the Presidential Council for Youth Development, and various other national committees and councils.
![[Video] Gunmen kill ex-Enugu high court judge Stanley Nnaji](https://thenewsguru.ng/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stanley-Nnaji.png)
