CELEBRATION OF BABA JANG ON HIS REAL BIRTHDAY~ EDWARD PWAJOK, SAN, LB, KSGG

CELEBRATION OF BABA JANG ON HIS REAL BIRTHDAY 

Though I know a book is being written on you, which will provide details on your legendary life, I felt duty - bound , as one of your sons to publicly state your real birthday which is today .

You were born exactly 75 years ago on the 15 th of March, 1946. The official date of 13 th March , 1944 was based on the information supplied by your elder brother, Da Pam Jang who took over the responsibility of fathering you after your Dad’s death in 1956.

However, a few years ago precisely in 2015, the then SUBEB Chairman, Late Dr Lyop Mang brought your Primary School Certificate to you. That Certificate has has your Date of birth of 15-03-1946 which was the date given by your Dad who took you to school and got you enrolled. 

In spite of loosing your Dad at that humble age and your humble background , God has so blessed you that today, you are one of the respected statesmen in the Country.

Years after leaving public Office, you are still a crowd - puller to confirm your charisma and popularity .A bold and patriotic leader , your position on public issues is within the public domain as you always speak for the people on critical issues , never shying away by playing safe .

Age has not dimmed your clear vision on national issues. It has not weakened your resolve. It has not diminished your faith . You still have confidence in the younger ones many of whom you mentored including my humble self. 

I can only offer prayers on this day for the Almighty to bless you with good health and longevity. Thank you for all the good things you have done for me . Happy birthday Sir, and age gracefully .

EDWARD G PWAJOK , SAN, LB, KSGG

INSECURITY: NIGERIA 🇳🇬 WITNESSING SIGN OF STATE FAILURE ~EDWARD PWAJOK, SAN, LB

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former member of the House of Representatives Hon. Edward Pwajok, in this interview speaks on the deteriorating security situation in the country among other issues.

*_Do you think having death penalty for kidnappers would resolve the reoccurring issues of criminality in the country?_*

Let me answer in this way, by starting with some questions to you who is a journalist and to the media in general. For us to properly understand these issues, it is important to pose some of these questions to the relevant authorities. We should ask the government and particularly the security agencies and the police, how many kidnap suspects they have, that is those suspected of being kidnappers? How many have they prosecuted, how many have been convicted? From there, you go to the Ministry of Justice and find out how many suspected kidnappers they are prosecuting in various courts, and how many they have been able to convict. I am starting from that angle because I just read a report that a US government agency found out that over 8600 Nigerians were killed during violent attacks last year alone. Now, how many persons are standing trial on account of those attacks. So, we need to be scientific in our approach; that is why I am saying that the media has a role to play; we need to know whether they have been able to identify the kidnappers, whether they are with the Police, whether they are in prison or they are at large. If we just say let us slam death sentence on kidnappers, how many kidnappers are now standing trial; it may even be that some people are playing to the gallery, because if you don’t have persons that are standing trial, so it is a cosmetic pronouncement; at the end of the day, nobody will be convicted and nobody will be executed. So, to me we have to put the horse before the cart. That is to say, let us strengthen our intelligence gathering mechanism, let us strengthen our crime fighting mechanism. You and I know what is happening in today’s Nigeria; the Minister of defense said everybody should go and defend himself. The implication of that is that government security has failed; if the security has failed and you are now coming with a death sentence for kidnappers, that shows that we are at the mercy of kidnappers; it is only God that can save Nigerians. For me, the number one thing that we ought to be doing is not just strengthening or tightening the punishment, we need to strengthen intelligence gathering in Nigeria; by doing this you will be able to know who the kidnappers are. For example, if you go to beer parlours, brothels and super markets, you will see those who ordinarily have no visible means of income or livelihood but they spend outrageous amounts of money. That should raise some suspicions in the security agencies. They should be able to investigate that this person is spending beyond his income, where is he getting his money from. We have had that kind of information before on account of kidnappers because the kidnappers when they kidnap their victims and collect ransom, they spend the money either in beer parlours, brothels and supermarkets by spending profligately, some of them even talk freely when they get drunk, that will enable us get information. Are we doing that in Nigeria today? In our various communities, may be somebody was barely feeding but suddenly you see him driving expensive cars, nobody in the community even the traditional ruler will not raise eyebrows, do you know whether that person got his money from ransom from kidnapping? I am raising these issues because the government and security agencies ought to take them seriously and it is not just an issue of strengthening the punishment. I told you that over 8600 persons were killed in Nigeria and the punishment for murder is death; has it discouraged people from killing their fellow human beings; it has not and the reason is because there is no prosecution. You are a Journalist, find out, how many people that have been killing Nigerians; they call them either bandits, insurgents, militants or Fulani criminal herders; find out how many of them are being prosecuted. For me, issues of insecurity should be taken seriously and let government do the right thing, that is my take.

*_The Senate recently called for the declaration of state ofemergency on the security sector following the kidnapping of students ofGovernment Science Secondary school in Niger State, is that the way out?_*

That will not work. If you declare state of emergency, it means you have the tools to do things extraordinarily. What is the strength of the Armed Forces? If you declare state of emergency, it means you are going to deploy and strengthen the Armed Forces to certain areas to overwhelm the criminals in that area to restore normalcy. Today, we all know that the Armed Forces and the police are over stretched, their manpower is not enough. The Military are in all the states of the federation to the extent that if there are attacks in some areas, even if you invite the military to go there, they do not even have sufficient personnel, so how effective will the state of emergency be? If you declared state of emergency, let us say there are some forests where some kidnappers reside or criminal herders reside; they will go there in full force and take control. Do we have sufficient number of the military to do that? To me, the Senate should have engaged first with the security agencies to find out what should be done to declare state of emergency. State of emergency means you have to take some extraordinary measures to now go and overwhelm the criminals. But in Nigeria, it can be abused because you now have some security personnel that will now use the state of emergency to deny Nigerians their fundamental human rights; some may even take some people’s properties in the name of state of emergency. They should tell us what they exactly mean by state of emergency. Are you removing somebody from office, that will be illegal, what are you going to do, let Nigerians know pursuant to the state of emergency or what will the National Assembly invest in the security sector to now say we are declaring state of emergency; they are not very clear that is why I am afraid that it can be abused.

I JOINED OTHERS IN SEEKING CLARIFICATION OF THE IDENTITY OF THOSE FARMERS CARRYING AK47. . ARE THEY FROM PLATEAU, OR FROM WHICH STATE?

 Hmmmmm!

We are living in interesting times with many revelations. The other day the security invited Dr Mailafia for interrogation to clarify his interview on the identity of his informants on those causing insecurity in Nigeria. 

Sheikh Gumi went to the forests and bush to meet bandits and kidnappers who bore arms and no one has invited him as if the security are not interested in knowing the identity of the bandits .

The other day Garba Shehu declared that farmers should seek permission before going to their farms . 

The Gov of Bauchi has defended arms bearing by herdsmen .

Our Defence minister has declared those without means of defending themselves as cowards and urged citizens to defend themselves .

Now our Gov is reported as saying farmers also bear AK 47 Guns. 

I join others in seeking clarification of the identity of those farmers. Are they from Plateau , or from which state?

We know AK47 are expensive

and majority of Plateau farmers struggle to purchase fertilizer.

So is it the farmers that can barely afford fertilizer that can purchase those expensive weapons ? Or is it that our Gov who also doubles as the Chairman of northern Governors was referring to farmers from other parts of the north ? We need more details or clarification please. 

EDWARD PWAJOK, SAN, LB, KSGG 

Zawan Community drags Plateau Government to court over alleged illegal sale of land

Community drags Plateau Government to court over alleged illegal sale of land

dailypost.ng1h

Zawan Community of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State has dragged the State government to a High Court sitting in Bukuru over alleged illegal sale of land by the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Town Planning, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture.

Others dragged to Court in the same suit are Shagari Abubakar Ya’U and Haladu Aminu Madaki.

The Land owners (plaintiffs) prayed the court to stop the defendants from illegally selling the Bukuru Cattle Market and the Reclaimed Mining area, among others in their community.

Counsel to the plaintiffs, Edward Pwajok (SAN) had applied for three motions to be granted by the court Presided by Justice S. J. Bakfur.

The three motions include change of counsel from Francis Okafor Esq to E. D Pwajok Esq (SAN), Motion to substitute 17 deceased plaintiffs with their successors and Motion to join Ministry of Lands, Survey and Town Planning, Ministry of Agriculture, Shagari Abubakar Ya’U and Haladu Aminu Madaki in the suit.

The three motions were moved and granted to the Plaintiffs by the judge.

Meantime, Counsel to the plaintiff, Pwajok (SAN) prayed the court to adjourn the matter to another 30 days to enable him amend the writ of summons and statement of claim after the defendants’ counsel failed to appear in court.

The judge, thereby adjourned the matter until 1st and 2nd of February, 2021 for hearing.

THE REAL REASON FOR THE TRAIN TO MARADI

THE REAL REASON FOR THE TRAIN TO MARADI

When I was governor, they brought some Fulani people in trucks to Wase. When the security report got me, I told them to send the people back to wherever they were coming from and there were noises everywhere that Jang did not want people in Plateau. My former colleague in Niger was the one who made the loudest noise over the issue. Surprisingly, when the same people landed in Minna, Niger State, he also put them in trucks and sent them back. Now, it is happening everywhere and has even gone to the southern part of the country. The Yoruba speaking states in the South-West irrespective of party differences have united, established Amotekun security outfit and sending the Fulani and their cows out of their states.

The question is: where are these Fulani people from? We have lived with Fulani people without any problem. My father’s neighbours were Fulani and when I was growing up, out of curiosity, I used to follow their children to tend to cows in the bush and there was no problem. We know the kind of cows they rear. But the kind of cows we see today is different from the ones Nigerian Fulani used to rear; something is wrong somewhere. What is happening is not a secret; people are being brought from Mali, Chad and all over to come and occupy native land. Is it somebody’s agenda to create a territory for some people in Nigeria

Has the Nigerian situation ever made you shed tears?

I think I have shed enough tears when I was governor over the situation of things, in the state and the country at large. Let the others who are now in office shed the tears if they love the people they are governing. I know how many times I shed tears in my bedroom as a governor. Sometimes, women would wake me up with a telephone call about people who had been killed. At a point, I had to ask God if it was what he made me a governor for – to always bury my people who were being killed and had no power to do anything about it. That was why I started crying out for states to be allowed to have their own police.

-Ex-Governor  Jonah Jang 

( Punch Newspaper 27th September  2020)

Now you know why the rail line to Maradi was approved, to fast track the resettlement  of Fulani's and their cows from Niger and elsewhere in Indigenous  land in Nigeria. Expect more 

JUNE 12: OUR DEMOCRACY WAS PAID FOR. Edward G Pwajok, SAN, LB, KSGG

JUNE 12: OUR DEMOCRACY WAS PAID FOR

I thank the Almighty that I had the historic duty to sponsor the bill in 2018 in the National Assembly which led to the passage of the Bill for an Act to amend the Public Holidays Act wherein the Schedule to the Act was amended by deleting 29th May and replacing it with June 12

With that singular amendment, May 29 which was declared a Public holiday to celebrate Democracy is no longer a public holiday but June, 12 of every year beginning from 2020. It is to the eternal credit of the 8th National Assembly, that the Bill which was initiated in the House of Representatives with my humble self as the lead Sponsor was expeditiously passed and which the Senate concurred with. Thereafter, President Buhari assented to the Bill which made it a Law bonding on the whole Country.

Sometime in the future, God sparing my life, I may provide highlights of the pros and cons of the debate in the House. Suffice it to say that the case for a separate day to celebrate Democracy had to be made to justify it being different from Independence Day. There were other issues such as the proliferation of holidays to honour individuals.

Most former colonies set aside one day to celebrate independence. Nigeria celebrates

Independence on October 1. Independence and Democracy are different. A

Country can be independent without being Democratic.  

Democracy is a system which a people use to govern themselves. It is different from totalitarian systems such as military or monarchic rule. Usually in a Democracy, leaders are elected for fixed terms and there are Freedoms such as Expression, movement, Religion, liberty etc. which the people have a Right to. The most acceptable definition of Democracy was given by the 16th President of the USA, Abraham Lincoln at an address in 1863 during the Civil war at Gettysburg. Because of its significance for even this day, I have taken the liberty to cite at some length part of the speech. 

...’ It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us- that from these Honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that Government of the people by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth ...’ 

The Global average for holidays is 11 days, in Nigeria, 13 days are observed as public holidays, South Africa has 12 for the year 2020, while Iran has the highest number of public holidays in the world with 27 paid public holidays. 

In South Africa, for the year 2020, 1st January which was New Year ’s Day, 21st March was celebrated as Human Rights day to commemorate the Sharpeville massacre, 16 June is youths day to commemorate the Soweto protest against the killing of 700 youths, 24th September is Heritage day to celebrate their cultural heritage. 

In the USA there are about ten Annual national holidays including January 21st to celebrate 

Martin Luther king, February 17th to celebrate their 1st President, George Washington’s birthday, May 25 to celebrate memorial day, July 4th to celebrate their independence, October 12 to celebrate Christopher Columbus and November 11 to celebrate veterans. 

In many Countries there are peaceful sometimes even violent struggles to establish Democracy  

In Nigeria, the struggle for Democracy climaxed with the June 12 1993 election which 

Chief MKO Abiola won but which the Military regime of General Babangida annulled. This led to series of pro Democracy struggles which even led to the death of so many including Pa Rewane, Bagauda Kalto, Mrs Kudirat Abiola and ultimately MKO Abiola himself .June 12 became a watershed in Nigeria’s history as the election marked the first time Nigerians voted irrespective of religious and regional differences by voting for MKO Abiola / Kingibe a Muslim/ Muslim ticket. Abiola defeated Bashir Tofa in his home state Kano. MKO was a business tycoon who sacrificed his wealth to fight to claim the mandate Nigerians gave him. He died in July, 1998 under the detention ordered by General Abacha. 

The struggle for a return to Democracy was epitomized by Abiola. The nation went to the brink as a result of the suppression of the pro Democracy struggles by the Juntas of Babangida and Abacha. The struggles had many martyrs .The stability of the 4th Republic owes much to the determination by Nigerians to protect democracy. The Democracy we enjoy today owes much to those Martyrs. It is therefore fitting that the hero of June 12, MKO Abiola has been honoured by the declaration of the day as a public holiday. 

It is debatable if Governments have lived up to the expectations of Nigerians. It is not yet uhuru. Nigerians are not free as we are been killed by Terrorists and state security agents Whereas Americans are freely demonstrating against the excesses of the Police, the FCT authorities are erecting a fence around the Unity Fountain   the Centre of peaceful protest in Abuja. Fundamental Rights which citizens of other Counties take for granted are seen as privileges or even favors extended by the Govt. May I conclude by paraphrasing the popular saying that ‘eternal vigilance is the price of freedom’. 

Happy Democracy day. 

Edward G Pwajok, SAN, LB, KSGG 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE KILLING OF RINJI BALA AND NEED FOR JUSTICE

THE KILLING OF RINJI BALA AND 

THE NEED FOR JUSTICE

I join the people of Plateau State in condemning the cold blooded murder of Mr RINJI Bala , a 20 year old Student of the University of Jos. May his soul Rest In Peace .My heart goes out to the immediate family over this sad irreparable loss .

I only need to add that it is possible for justice to be done and I call upon the State to ensure that the culprit is made to face the full wrath of the law. This will need vigilance and steadfastness by the family , friends of the deceased and the State Government . May I cite a similar case which I prosecuted in the Supreme Court to drive home the point.

In Ochiba v The State (2011) LPELR 8245(SC) the Supreme Court delivered judgement on the 16 th December , 2011,in that case and confirmed the death sentence upon the appellant Sergeant Emmanuel Ochiba for the murder of Godwin Momoh.on the 12 th day of September , 2001 in the heat of the Jos crisis.

A team of Police officers had stopped a group along Tafawa Balewa street in Jos and asked them( Godwin Momoh, Jonathan Mawaiyau, who later became the state Attorney General,and one other person)

 to kneel down and raise their hands. The group of three complied but Constable Emmanuel Ochiba ( that was the rank of the accused) took a gun from one of his colleagues and shot the deceased point blank on his chest.Mr Momoh died instantly.

The Plateau State Ministry of Justice prosecuted the case in the high Court in Jos.Though the accused denied committing the offence , Yargata Nimpar J, as she then was, found him guilty and sentenced him to death in line with the law. The appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed whereupon the Appellant further appealed to the Supreme Court where I led a team of lawyers of the ministry of Justice for the State. 

Justice I T Muhammad ( now the Chief Justice of nNigeria) who presided over the case after dismissing the appeal commended the

Ministry of Justice for for the steadfast conduct of the case from the trial court up to the Supreme Court.

However.  I learnt the convict has been pardoned by the present Governor in exercise of his powers of prerogative of mercy .The suspect in the killing of RINJI needs to be prosecuted to ensure that Justice is done . 

Edward G Pwajok , SAN