Tuesday, October 18, 2011

APPLICATION BROUGHT UNDER SECTIONS 2 AND 5 (A) OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, 2011 FOR ACCESS TO INFORMATION CONCERNING (I) THE MONTHLY ALLOCATION REVENUE FROM THE FEDERATION ACCCOUNTS TO YAKURR LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL FROM THE JANUARY, 2008 TO TILL (II) THE DETAILS/DOCUMENTATIONS OF THE EXPENDITURE OF THESE ALLOCATIONS FROM JANUARY, 2008 TILL DATE (III) LISTS OF CONTRACTORS AWARDED CONTRACTS IN YAKURR LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL FROM JANUARY, 2008 TILL DATE.

OKOI OFEM OBONO-OBLA


(BARRISTER AT LAW & SOLICITOR)

Plot 11 32 Festus Okotie Ebo Crescent,

Utako District,

Federal Capital Territory,

Abuja, Nigeria.

08033490404

18th October, 2011

Mr. Ubi Itam Ettah

Chairman

Yakurr Local Government Council

Yakurr Local Government Council Secretariat

Ugep, Yakurr Local Government Area

Cross Rive State, Nigeria.

APPLICATION BROUGHT UNDER SECTIONS 2 AND 5 (A) OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, 2011 FOR ACCESS TO INFORMATION CONCERNING (I) THE MONTHLY ALLOCATION REVENUE FROM THE FEDERATION ACCCOUNTS TO YAKURR LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL FROM THE JANUARY, 2008 TO TILL (II) THE DETAILS/DOCUMENTATIONS OF THE EXPENDITURE OF THESE ALLOCATIONS FROM JANUARY, 2008 TILL DATE (III) LISTS OF CONTRACTORS AWARDED CONTRACTS IN YAKURR LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL FROM JANUARY, 2008 TILL DATE.

The undersigned in his capacity as a Citizen of Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State of Nigeria vested with the right of access to Freedom of Information by Section 2 (2) of the freedom of Information Act, 2011 respectfully make this Application pursuant o Section 5 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act (supra) to you in your capacity as the Chairman of Yakurr Local Government Council Area requesting for access to the following information thus:

1. A comprehensive, just and fair accounts of the monthly allocation of revenue from the Federation Accounts to Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State of Nigeria from January, 2008 till date;

2. The details/documentations/receipts of the expenditure of the monthly allocation of revenue to Yakurr Local Government Area Council of Cross River State of Nigeria from January, 2008 till date ; and

3. List of Contractors awarded contract and the purpose of such contracts from January, 2008 till date.

Take Notice by the provisions of Section 5 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act, you have within Seven (7) days after the receipt of this application to release or furnish me with the access to information concerning these application.

Take Further Notice that at the expiration of Seven Days after the receipt of this application and you refused, failed and or neglected to release these information to me, I shall under umbrage under the provisions of Section 2 (3) of the Freedom of Information Act to file an action in the High Court of Justice seeking an Order or Writ of Mandamus to comply you to comply with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (supra).

You are warned!

Yours Sincerely

OKoi Ofem Obono-Obla

(Obol Kepon of Letampankom, Ijiman, Ugep)



















OKOI OFEM OBONO-OBLA


(BARRISTER AT LAW & SOLICITOR)

Plot 11 32 Festus Okotie Ebo Crescent,

Utako District,

Federal Capital Territory,

Abuja, Nigeria.

08033490404

18th October, 2011

Mr. Ubi Itam Ettah

Chairman

Yakurr Local Government Council

Yakurr Local Government Council Secretariat

Ugep, Yakurr Local Government Area

Cross Rive State, Nigeria.

APPLICATION BROUGHT UNDER SECTIONS 2 AND 5 (A) OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, 2011 FOR ACCESS TO INFORMATION CONCERNING (I) THE MONTHLY ALLOCATION REVENUE FROM THE FEDERATION ACCCOUNTS TO YAKURR LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL FROM THE JANUARY, 2008 TO TILL (II) THE DETAILS/DOCUMENTATIONS OF THE EXPENDITURE OF THESE ALLOCATIONS FROM JANUARY, 2008 TILL DATE (III) LISTS OF CONTRACTORS AWARDED CONTRACTS IN YAKURR LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL FROM JANUARY, 2008 TILL DATE.

The undersigned in his capacity as a Citizen of Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State of Nigeria vested with the right of access to Freedom of Information by Section 2 (2) of the freedom of Information Act, 2011 respectfully make this Application pursuant o Section 5 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act (supra) to you in your capacity as the Chairman of Yakurr Local Government Council Area requesting for access to the following information thus:

1. A comprehensive, just and fair accounts of the monthly allocation of revenue from the Federation Accounts to Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State of Nigeria from January, 2008 till date;

2. The details/documentations/receipts of the expenditure of the monthly allocation of revenue to Yakurr Local Government Area Council of Cross River State of Nigeria from January, 2008 till date ; and

3. List of Contractors awarded contract and the purpose of such contracts from January, 2008 till date.

Take Notice by the provisions of Section 5 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act, you have within Seven (7) days after the receipt of this application to release or furnish me with the access to information concerning these application.

Take Further Notice that at the expiration of Seven Days after the receipt of this application and you refused, failed and or neglected to release these information to me, I shall under umbrage under the provisions of Section 2 (3) of the Freedom of Information Act to file an action in the High Court of Justice seeking an Order or Writ of Mandamus to comply you to comply with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (supra).

You are warned!

Yours Sincerely

OKoi Ofem Obono-Obla

(Obol Kepon of Letampankom, Ijiman, Ugep)
















Saturday, October 15, 2011

Why the handing over the sovereignty of Bakassi Peninsula must be revisited.


The judgement of the International Court of Justice, which purported to award the Bakassi Peninsula to the Republic of Cameroun, is to all intents and purposes outrageous, blatantly unjust and patently unsupportable. The judgment delivered in October, 2002 which was the consequent of a suit instituted by the Republic of Cameroun's claiming sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula and some parts of the Lake Chad region is the climax of the dream of Cameroun to exercise control of this area particularly the Bakassi Peninsula. The suit was instituted in 1995 during the heydays of General Sani Abacha’s Military Dictatorship when the country was torn by crisis caused by the decision of General Ibrahim Babangida and his Military Junta to annul the presidential election held in June 12, 1993 and widely believed to have won by the business mogul, late MKO Abiola. Before the suit was filed by Cameroun, she had long been subjecting Nigerians in Peninsula to all sorts of brutalities ranging from false imprisonment, murder and intimidation.

In 1981, the Cameroonian armed forces made an incursion to the Peninsula and murdered a contingent of Nigerian troops from the 13th Amphibious Brigade, Calabar. Nigeria reacted forcefully by moving troops to her boundary with Cameroon, somehow Cameroun realised the foolhardiness of her armed forces and profoundly apologised. The Nigerian Federal Government under the then President Shehu Shagari balked down. It was an opportunity to call off the bluff of Cameroun as far as the ownership of the Bakassi Peninsula was concerned. It was insinuated in some quarters that President Shehu Shagari backed down because he did not want to confront the then President Ahmadu Ahidjo, who is a Fulani like him.

This matter was not squarely resolved throughout the period of the Babangida and Abacha military dictatorships. The Cameroonians army was allowed to roughshod on Nigerians of Efik, Ijaw, Oron and Ibibio ethnic nationalities who inhabit this Peninsula. This was the bleakest period of Nigerian political history. These military leaders were so steeped in looting and violating the Human Rights of Nigerians that other facts of national endeavours suffered blithe neglect. It must be stated that if we finally lose this part of Nigeria the blame must be totally put on the footsteps of these military potentates who seized political power in Nigeria for more than thirty years. It must be pointed that this area known as Bakassi was under the suzerainty of the Obong of Calabar before the balkanization of Africa by the European Powers in a Conference held in Berlin, Germany in 1884 where the decision to appropriate Africa was arrived at and taken.

It must be noted one of the documents that the International Court of Justice relied on heavily in its judgment was the so-called Maroua and Yaoundé 11 Declarations, which were entered into between President Ahidjo of Cameroun and the then Nigeria Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, which purport to vest the ownership of the Bakassi Peninsula on the Republic of Cameroun. This agreement was made during the Civil War as a deal with the Cameroonian Government to block the Biafra from using the area as pad to launch Naval bombardment and maritime trading. The treaty was never ratified by the then Supreme Military Council which was the sole legislative authority of Nigeria at that time.

However, it is on record that this document was shrouded in the usual military secrecy and capriciousness. It was never presented for ratification before the then Supreme Military Council, which by the Constitution (suspension and modification) Decree No. 1 of 1966 was vested with legislative sovereignty over the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is sad that this matter has been caught up by the ineptitude, irresponsibility and bad governance, which characterised military regimes in Nigeria. The Murtala/Obasanjo military dictatorship, which took over from General Gowon had denounced this document. Curiously, no steps were taken to get them quashed by the Supreme Court. As military rule took it tolls in the country, Cameroun shrewdly filed the suit in the International Court of Justice.

The pertinent question is what becomes of the ethnic nationalities in the Bakassi Peninsula, which are basically of Nigerian origin? The International Court of Justice surprisingly relied on Article XII of the Anglo-German Agreement dated April 12, 1913 in its judgment. This treaty underscores the arbitrariness and capriciousness of colonial International Law. As a "conquered" people these ethnic nationalities of Nigeria were never consulted before the British Colonial Government enacted this treaty, which effectively separated them from their brothers and sisters in the present Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers and Cross River States of Nigeria. The arbitrary and capricious carving out of countries in Africa by European imperialists at the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884, without the slightest regard for demographic and ethnic composition of these countries was one of the hallmarks of colonialism in Africa. The consequence of this blatant craving out of Africa without regard to the basic principle of humanity at the Berlin Conference is still reverberating and causing tension in the continent.

The consequences of this is, that in the continent of Africa you find people of the same ethnic nationalities straddling more than two countries for instance. Ewes in Togo and Ghana, Yoruba in Benin and Nigeria; Ejagham in Nigeria and Cameroun. Colonialism has effectively ended. However the question is must: we Africans allow this state of affairs to continue. I think these Rules of International law which were largely formulated by European imperialists in the eighteen century must be completely and totally jettisoned by Africans. International law based on racism, imperialism and the positivist school of jurisprudence is completely outdated. Undoubtedly since the end of the Second World War the influence of the positivist school of law has considerably waned in the Municipal law of many countries in the World.

However, in international law the influence of the positivist is still prevalent. It is submitted that the concept of international law predicated on racial superiority and colonialism must be rejected. Happily the right to self-determination has been implicitly asserted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international covenants. Undoubtedly the people of the Bakassi Peninsula have unequivocally demonstrated their will to be an integral part of Nigeria. To insist that these people are in Cameroun under the umbrage of a benighted colonial treaty foisted on them by some paternalistic colonial masters to feather their capitalistic instincts and imperialistic designs would amount to an egregious injustice unprecedented in the annals of world history.

In this wise, it is incumbent on the United Nations as the repository of international peace and the custodian of Human Rights to immediately organise a referendum in the Bakassi Peninsula, so that these Nigerian ethnic nationalities would have the opportunity of deciding in a democratic manner whether or not they want to belong to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Otherwise the Federal Government of Nigeria must as a matter of urgent national interest take effective measures to safeguard the sovereignty of Nigeria in the Bakassi Peninsula. This would surely be seen in the international community as an outrage and an affront. But how many countries which the International Court of Justice had found against have obeyed its decisions?

How many times has the State of Israel arrogantly and with reckless abandon flouted resolutions of the United Nations urging her to respect the right of self-determination of the hapless Palestinian people? What of the case of Morocco in the Western Sahara? Has the United States, which is the supposed bastion of International Constitutionalism, not defied the principles of international law and the United Nations in her present face-off with Iraqi over weapons of mass destruction? There must be no double standard in international relations. Furthermore, the 1999 Constitution, which is the Supreme law of the country, has expressly asserted that Bakassi Local Government Area is an integral part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It follows therefore that the judgment of the International Court of Justice cannot supersede the basic law of the country. This principle was given judicial approbation by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in the celebrated cause of The Guardian Newspapers Ltd. V. Federal Republic of Nigeria, where the Supreme Court baIdly asserted that an international treaty cannot override the provisions of the Constitution, where there is a conflict.
It is clear that the Green Tree Agreement entered between Nigeria and Cameroon in 2006 at the instance of the United Nations and the Western Powers which finally transfer the sovereignty of Bakasi to the Republic of Cameroon without compliance with the mandatory provisions of the Constitution especially Section 12 thereof. It follows therefore that the purported transfer of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon was in gross violation of the constitution. The Obasanjo’s Presidency was seemingly in a hurry to compromise the interest of the hapless people of Bakassi who were obviously abandoned and sacrificed as pawn in the chess board of International Politics and the selfishness of President Obasanjo. It was clear that the handing over of Bakassi by Obasanjo to Cameroon was a conscious act of appeasement by President Obasanjo in order to endear himself to Western Powers such as the United States, France and United Kingdom. The interest of the people of Bakassi who are mainly minority ethnic nationalities in Nigeria was secondary. Perhaps if this territory was inhabited by people of the majority ethnic nationalities in the country such impetuous decision would not have been taken without ferocious opposition from those concerned.

It is scandalous and regrettable that more than six years since this ill advised and ill motivated decision to handover a portion of the territory constituting the Federal Republic of Nigeria without the slightest regard for constitutionalism and the right of self determination of the people of Bakassi the National Assembly has refused, failed and neglected to take any step to reverse this decision. The decision to handover Bakassi to Cameroon has largely compromised National Interest and poses grave danger to National Security of the Country. It is clear that International Shipping cannot enter into Calabar, Nigeria without passing through the shores of Cameroon. This has rendered otiose the Naval Base of the Nigerian Navy in Calabar in the sense that Naval Vessels of the Nigerian Navy cannot carry out manoeuvre without being at the mercy of the Cameroonian Navy which must give its consent before vessels cannot venture out of their Base in Calabar.



Okoi Obono-Obla



Friday, October 14, 2011

Monday, October 10, 2011

Why Nigeria should not be divided



The advocacy in 2010 by the maverick former Libyan Leader, Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi that Nigeria should be divided along religious dichotomy which led to a diplomatic row between Nigeria and Libya and the recall of the Nigerian Ambassador to Libya has continually given the fillip to some ethnic and religious irredentists to continue to make strident but unreasonable demands for the balkanization of Nigeria. The demand for the balkanization of the country reached its crescendo after the last general election and in the wake of the recent bloody terror campaign embarked upon by the Islamic Fundamentalist Group known as Boko Haram, which has seen a spate of ruthless bombing of public places such as the Nigeria Police Headquarters and the United Nations Building both in Abuja.

When it dawned on Colonel Gaddafi that his suggestion was ill-informed and bunkum, he quickly made a volte face and rather suggested that Nigeria should be divided along ethnic lines. Colonel Gaddafi, despite his pretension to being a proponent of Pan-Africanism and Afro- Arab unity, is an Arab Irredentist and an Islamic fundamentalist of sort. Colonel Gaddafi is one of the sit tight leaders in Africa. He became Libyan Leaders in 1969 after toppling the Libyan Monarch, King Idris in military coup de tat. He was a starry- eyed 24 Years old military officer but a Marxian revolutionary.

The Arabs have always had a condescending attitude to Black Africans. They were in the forefront (in conspiracy with reactionary Black African Traditional rulers and elites) of the slave trade that resulted in depopulation and the destruction of the black civilization for more than four hundred Years. This is responsible for the genocide attitude of Sudanese Leadership to the Darfur people of Sudan who are of Black African descent and ethnicity; even though the Sudanese ruling class is of black African ancestry despite its false claim to be Arab.

The racist attitude of the Arab people has manifested in the suppression of people of black ancestry in Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania. I have no doubt that the Libyan Leader is the wary and envious of the potential of a united and strong Black African nation such as Nigeria to his warped idea of Arab nationalism cloaked under Islamic fundamentalism, alas his mischievous position on Nigeria. I remember the despicable role played by the Libyan Leader in destabilising the West African sub-region which led to the bloody and fratricide civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia that resulted in death of thousands of people in these countries.

I do not subscribe to the theory that religious or ethnic diversity is the root cause of the multifarious problems of Nigeria. How do we divide the country along religious demarcation in view of the undisputable fact there is admixture of the adherents of Christian and Muslims everywhere in the country? Indeed it is a fallacy and misnomer to catalogue Nigeria as Muslim North and Christian South. There is no such dichotomy.

Even in the Sokoto Caliphate, the supposed bastion of Islam, there is a very substantial Christian and animist population in Zuru, Kebbi State. In the North East Region, where Islam gained a foothold more than eight hundred Years ago, there is a substantial Christian population in Southern Bornu State. What of Kaduna State in the North West with its substantial Christian population? How do we demarcate this area? We also have substantial Christian population in the North Eastern States of Taraba, Adamawa, Gombe and even Bauchi States.

In the North Central Region, there are Muslims as well as Christians in Nassarawa, Niger, Kogi, Kwara, Plateau States as even as the Federal Capital Territory. Even in the South-Southern Region which is supposedly a predominately Christian bastion, there is a substantial Muslim population in Edo North. In my own State, Cross River State, there is a thriving Muslim community co-existing harmoniously with their Christian brethrens.

The South Western Region’s religious demography is even more confusing and complex than any other part of Nigeria. In an average house hold in the South-West Region, you will find in the same nuclear and extended family adherents of Islam, Christian and Animists living together in perfect harmony. For example, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a good Christian but his immediate elder sister was a Muslim. The former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has a sister who is a Muslim while he is a Christian. In view of this inherent contradiction of the religious demography and complexity of Nigeria, is it feasible to divide Nigeria along the lines as advocated by the mercurial Libyan Leader and other separatist from Nigeria? It is clear advocacy for the balkanization of Nigeria is weird, ill-advised and ill-motivated.

Colonel Gaddafi advocated the Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s theory of the Balkanization of the Indian-sub continent for Nigeria. Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) was an Indian British trained Lawyer and Politician and the Leader of the Muslim League of India. At Independence from British, he became the Governor-General of India. However, personality difference between him and Mohandas Gandhi (Leader of Congress Party) culminated in a bitter row which made him to advocate for the partition of India along religious lines (Hindi and Muslim).

How do you we apply the Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s doctrine of the Balkanization of India along religious lines propounded in 1940s as advocated by Colonel Maummar Ghaddafi of Libya to the Nigeria situation or as a solution or anodyne to the myriad of political and constitutional problems grapping and confronting the Nigerian Federation? Is religion the cause of the notoriously corrupt predilection of the political elite in Nigeria? Is religious or ethnic diversity the cause of the scandalous under-development of the country after fifty years of the attainment of political independence from Great Britain, so much that we cannot generate electricity power to service the country?

Even if the country is divided along religious or ethnic lines into many countries (such as the Old Soviet Union & Yugoslavia), I do not see these new countries making much progress if the present visionless, ill-disciplined, stupid and hopelessly bankrupt elite are still the same set of leaders that these countries will be saddled with.

Who are these fanatics or fundamentalists that are usually deployed to the street in the North to carry an orgy of mindless violence and brutal killings like the ones we have seen in the Plateau recently? These are the ordinary people, the un-educated, un-informed, the illiterates, and the masses, what Karl Marx called the lumpen proletariat; that are extremely and desperately poor, unprivileged or dispossessed. They are hapless victims of the stupidity of failed leadership in Nigeria.

These are the people that are always used by the elite as cannon fodders to ignite crisis when their interest is threatened. When the economy is rejuvenated and buoyant; when economy can absorb the army of idle youths by way of employment and wealth creation; when our schools can admit this army of youths , then there will no youths that can be used and manipulated by our selfish politicians to divide and rule.

Nigeria is better as one indivisible and indissoluble country anchored on true federalism which guaranteed total autonomy to the federating regions or states. The pluralism and diversity of Nigeria is a pillar of strength not a weakness. It can be harassed by a transparent, nationalistic and visionary/transformational leadership into a source of great strength.

If European Countries with all their diversities and differences can come together under the banner of European Union, I do not see any reason why Nigeria should be Balkanized along ethnic lines. Nigeria is not the only country with great diversity or heterogeneity; What of India; what of Indonesia, what of United States of America. It is clear that the strength of the United States of America is anchored on its diversity. India is a huge country with great diversity. It has diversity in religion. It has differences in ethnicities and languages. It has fissiparous tendencies that are un-paralleled. It has extremists that are always baying for blood, carrying out unspeakable terrorist acts but nobody has suggested the division of India along ethnic or religious lines.

Indonesia (even though it is predominately Muslim Country) more mosaic complexity than Nigeria. It is fourth most populous country in the World after China, India and the United States of America. It is composed of more than 18,000 Islands. It has more than 5,000 languages. It has more than 1,000 ethnic nationalities. One of the provinces of Indonesia, Kalimantan, there are more than two hundred ethnic nationalities. It has a substantial Christian and Hindu population.

There has been a succession movement (East Timor) in Indonesia but nobody has suggested the division of the country along ethnic lines. Indonesia is also a notoriously corrupt which had suffered dictatorship and repression like Nigeria for several decades. What we need is a transformational leadership like, the ones we have seen in India and Singapore. India was mired in instability, political turmoil, corruption, chronic poverty and civil strife some thirty or so years ago but it has put itself in order.

I remembered vividly when I was in Secondary School in the late 1970s’ one of our Indian Teachers who was overwhelmed with the first salary he received at the end of the month that he became overwhelmed with joy and excitement that he went complete bonkers and a fit of lunacy. My India Teacher stripped himself naked, threw the wads of naira he had received as his payment and jumped, howled and shouted that he had never seen that kind of money in his more than thirty years as a graduate teacher. I told this story just to make one point how seeming strong Nigeria was in the 1970s before her decline. Today India is one of the emergent super economic and technological powers.

It has superbly educated and sophisticated elite who are found in the West and United States of America in many strategic sectors and repatriated billions of dollars to India sub continent that has helped in the tremendous economic growth of the India. What of our neighbour here in the West Africa sub-region? Ghana, which has made giant strides in recent times, is not a homogenous country. It is heterogeneous in terms of religion and ethnicity. The problem of Nigeria is leadership; it is not religion or ethnicity.

Our People have always co existed peacefully even during the pre-colonial times. When the colonial over lords came they did not meet a society that was in the classical Hobbesian and anarchistic state. These ethnic nationalities were not on each other throat or killing one another. They were several nation states comprising of many ethnic nationalities and sub-ethnic nationalities. The Benin Nation State was composed of several other ethnic nationalities made up of the Benin people, Ijaws, Delta Igbo, Urhobo, Isoko, and Igala etc.

The Junkun Confederation was made up of the Igala (Kogi), Idoma (Benue), Nassarawa, Junkuns (Taraba), Ekoi (Ejaham) (Cross River) etc. It straddles the present Cross River, Benue, Nassarawa, Taraba, Adamawa, Gombe, and Federal Capital Territory. Sultan Mohammed Bello of the Sokoto Caliphate suggested in one of his works that the King of the Junkuns had a Seaport in Calabar, Cross River State, known as Atakpa. Atakpa today is one of the neighbours of Calabar.

I have a dream that Nigeria will emerge from its present depressing state to one of the major powers in the world that will be the pride of the black race despite the mischievousness of the likes of Colonel Gaddafi. The progressive shall surely take over power in Nigeria and all decisive things such as ethnicity and religion shall There is the need for all patriots to take the gauntlet threw by Colonel Gaddafi and worked assiduously to liberate our country from the clutches of backwardness and lawlessness which has caused the recent killings in Jos that had given the audacity to the likes of Colonel Gaddafi to make such a weird suggestion. Nigeria shall arise again. The Youths of Nigeria should take the gauntlet.

Okoi Ofem Obono-Obla

• Obono-Obla is a Barrister & Human Rights Activists. He lives in Abuja, Nigeria.