The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said it did not force the former Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, into confessing his alleged involvement in N109bn fraud.

An operative of the EFCC, Abdulhamid I. Muri, whose duties involve intelligence gathering, conducting surveillance, undercover operations and interacting with informants, told the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja on Tuesday during the continuation of the hearing in the 14-count charges bordering on money laundering brought against him by the EFCC.

EFCC arraigned Idris alongside Godfrey O. Akindele, Mohammed K. Usman, and Gezawa Commodity Market and Exchange Limited before the FCT High Court on 22nd July 2022.

However, during the sitting on Tuesday, Muri, who was also the third Prosecution Witness (PW3), in the ongoing trial-within-trial of the former AGF, told Justice Halilu Yusuf of the FCT, High Court that EFCC did not promise Idris that he was not going to face prosecution for his N109bn alleged loot.

While narrating how the defendant made his statement voluntarily, pointed out that the Commission did not make such promises to the defendant.

Muri said he first met the defendant through the former EFCC Kano Zonal Commander, Faruk Dogon Daji, who introduced him to the defendant and informed him that the defendant came to submit some documents linked to the investigation.

He said: “On the 10th June, 2022, the first defendant went to our office and met the then zonal commander, Mr Faruk Dogon Daji, an Assistant Commander of EFCC, ACEI, in his office and based on this, the Zonal Commander sent for me and told me that the first defendant came to submit some documents that are linked to the investigation that was on-going concerning him and that I should take him to my office to write a about the documents.

“The first defendant in the company of one Lawal Badamasi followed me to my office and the office is an open office where everybody can come in and go out and there in the office, there is one Mubarak, a staff of the Commission and Yusuf Baba Yusuf.

“I administered a cautionary word, I told him his rights, I wrote out the cautionary word and he said he understood and thereafter he volunteered his statement mentioning the documents one after the other and signed the documents with the date of that day.”

When confronted by the prosecution counsel, A.O. Atolagbe, with the allegation of the EFCC promising the defendant that the Commission will not prosecute him, Muri, said the Commission did not make such a promise to the defendant.

He said: “The first defendant is alleging that this statement of June 10, 2022, is a product of promise, that he will not be prosecuted, what is your take,” Atolagbe asked.

“It is not true my Lord; I am not the investigation officer, I am just directed to take his statement.”

According to Muri, the former AGF was not detained in the facility of the Kano Zonal Command of the Commission.

The judge then discharged the witness after the cross-examination and adjourned the matter till 29th October 2024, for defence of trial-within-trial after the counsel to the first defendant cross-examined the PW3.

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja on Tuesday adjourned until Oct. 21 for the continuation of the trial of the suspended governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele over alleged procurement fraud.

Emefiele is charged with an alleged 20-count amended charge, preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He was alleged to have engaged in criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence when he served as the apex bank’s boss.

Specifically, the EFCC alleged that the former CBN boss forged a document titled: Re: Presidential Directive on Foreign Election Observer Missions dated January 26, 2023, with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201 and purported same to have emanated from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (AGF).

Besides he is also accused of using his office as CBN governor to confer unfair and corrupt advantage on two companies; April 1616 Nigeria Ltd and Architekon Nigeria Ltd.

Emefiele in the amended charge was alleged to have, on Feb. 8, 2023, knowingly obtained, by false pretence, 6.2 million dollars by falsely representing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation vide a letter dated Jan. 26, 2023, with Ref No. SGF 43/L.01/201 requested the CBN to provide a contingent logistic advance for $6,230,000 “in line with Presidential directive.”

Justice Hamza Muazu adjourned until Oct. 21 after hearing the testimony of the 9th prosecution witness (PW9).

He further adjourned until July 8 for a hearing of Emefiele ‘s application seeking for the release of his passport to enable him attend to medical appointments.

Earlier, the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, brought two witnesses PW8 and PW9.

Umar Tilde the 8th prosecution witness (PW8) works with Zenith Bank as Compliance Office.

He told the court that EFCC, requested account opening documents, a statement of account, and a certificate of identification for the account of Emefiele

” We responded by submitting the requested documents to the EFCC.

The documents from Zenith Bank, account statement of the defendant and the certificate of identification were all admitted in evidence and marked as: Exhibits ED1, ED2 & ED3.

On whether Emefiele had only one account with the bank, he said the letter from the EFCC had different account numbers.

” We responded based on the account numbers supplied,” he said.

The prosecution 9th witness is
Mrs Abibia Ockiya-Ogeleye, a lawyer Principal Partner, A & A Legal Consociate.

She handled the incorporation matters at the CAC for Architkun Nigeria Ltd.

According to the witness, before 2021, the company had two directors.

” I added one person, which is Madam Esther Oyeladun.

” There are three Directors- Omoile Makonbo, Omoile Margaret and Esther Oyeladun.”

The witness added that all she did was given to her by Esther Oyeladun.

After her testimony, Matthew Burkaa, SAN, Emefiele’s counsel told the court that, his client applied for the release of his passport to travel for a medical appointment.

The Debt Management Office says the rise in Nigeria’s public debt stock from N97.34tn in December 2023 to N121.67tn in March is partly due to exchange rate fluctuations.

The Director-General of DMO, Patience Oniha, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja.

She was clarifying misconceptions about the recently released update of the country’s total debt profile.

She said that the securitisation of N4.90tn as part of the securitisation of the N7.3trn Ways and Means Advances approved by the National Assembly was also responsible for the N24.33tn increase in the debt stock.
According to her, there is also the interest rate, as well as new borrowing of N2.81trn as part of the N6.06tn provided in the 2024 budget.
She, however, emphasised that the debt stock included the domestic and external debt stock of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The total public debt as of March 31, showed that the total public debt in Naira terms stood at N121.67trn compared to N97.34trn as of December 31, 2023.
“While detailed information was provided on the data, such as the split between external and domestic debt as well as the fact that the debt stock includes the domestic and external debt stock of the 36 states and the FCT, it has become imperative to provide some explanations.
“It is important to recognise the fact that Nigeria has undergone some major reforms that have impacted economic indices such as the dollar/Naira exchange rate and interest rates.
“These two, in particular, affect the debt stock and debt service,” she said.
Oniha said that the increase in Naira in terms of N24.33tn between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, did not strictly represent new borrowing.
She said that the total external debt stock was relatively flat at 42.50 billion dollars and 42.12 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2023, and the first quarter of 2024, respectively.
“The Naira values were significantly different at N38.22tn and N56.02tn, respectively, representing a difference of N17.8tn.
“This explains the perceived sharp increase of N24.33tn in the total debt stock in the first quarter of 2024.
“The difference in the exchange rate for the two periods also explains why, in dollar terms, the total debt stock actually declined in the first quarter of 2024 to $91.46bn,” Oniha said.
She said that the debt report was somewhat an improvement from the past, before President Bola Tinubu’s government.
According to her, if you discount FX impact, the debt is moderate and within the normal limit.
She urged the Federal Government to prioritise fiscal retrenchment while assuring that the various measures to attract foreign exchange inflows would increase external reserves and support the Naira exchange rate.

The Presidency has pleaded with Nigerians not to mount unnecessary pressure on President Bola Tinubu over the new minimum wage demand.

The government assured that Tinubu would transmit the proposed bill to the National Assembly once it is ready.

Speaking to Punch, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga wondered what the rush for the transmission of the bill was all about.

Onanuga’s position is coming barely 24 hours after the Organised Labour asked the President to consult with them before transmitting the bill to the National Assembly.

The Union had complained that the National Executive Committee which will accommodate about 300 Labour leaders, is being stalled by Tinubu’s delay to transmit the wage bill.

The President, during his Democracy Day broadcast, disclosed that a consensus had been reached between the Federal Government and Labour on the new wage, a development which the Organised Labour debunked.

However, Onanuga, while admitting that he had no idea when the bill would be submitted, called for patience.

“People should be patient,” he stated.

His appeal comes one week after he reiterated that the ₦250,000 wage being demanded by the workers’ union is unsustainable, warning that the Federal Government cannot channel all its resources to meet such demand.

Governors of the southern region of the country, have maintained their stand on the need for the creation of state police.

The Governors, who met yesterday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, under the auspices of the Southern Governors Forum, reiterated the need to have control over the security architecture of their respective states as the chief security officers.

Speaking on a national television interview, the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, who just replaced former Ondo governor, the late Rotimi Akeredolu as the chairman of the forum, said the governors of the region are united in their call for state police.

He argued that federal security officers deployed to various states do not understand the local terrain, language or culture of the people, and before they settle down to understand such things, they are transferred to another state, making it difficult to gather intelligence on security issues.

Abiodun stated that it is obvious that the federal police is short of manpower, but with the creation of state police, security operatives who understand the terrain will be able to complement the efforts of the federal officers in curbing insecurity.

The Ogun Governor said: “We all spoke with one voice in support of state policing.

“We spoke with one voice in support of regional security outfits which almost all regions have set up.

“The outfits are working hand in glove with the law enforcement agencies and providing them with intelligence and support.

“We all know that we cannot have any meaningful development in the atmosphere of insecurity.

“We all spoke with one voice in support of state policing, and regional security outfits, working hand-in-glove with the security outfits.

“The governors are called state chief security officers. But, we know that the Commissioner of Police is appointed by the Inspector General of Police and is only answerable to the IG.

“And when the governor needs to call the attention of the CP on an urgent task in his state, the governor will have to first clear with the IG.

“What have we discovered? In most cases, a policeman from Borno, Maiduguri, posted to Lagos or Ogun states, for instance.

“Such an officer doesn’t understand the terrain, he doesn’t speak the language and he does not get the level of intelligence he needs.

“By the time he is settling down to understand these factors, he is transferred to another state.

“We’re calling for community police to tame insecurity in the state and the nation.

“Under the state police arrangement, a policeman posted to his ward won’t have problems with language and intelligence.

“In that case, the policeman understands the community and the locals, language, the sentiments and, he knows the criminals within his territory.

“It is also common knowledge that the federal police have a shortage of manpower.

“We, as governors, are not in charge or control of our states as far as security is concerned.

“Yet, we fund the federal police operations, yet we are not getting the best from them. They don’t have enough personnel.

“State policing is not something new.

“We have several types of policing structure in other climes where we took our democracy from.”

The property of a former military governor, General Anthony Stephen Ukpo (Rtd), in Rivers State which was revoked by the immediate past governor, Nyesom Wike, has now been reinstated by Gov Siminalayi Fubara.

The land was initially revoked by the Wike-led administration in a bid to allegedly spite former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

According to The Whistler, the property in question, Ogeyi Place Hotels, formerly Le Meridien Hotels Limited, is located at Plot 319, GRA Phase II, Port Harcourt

Fubara's administration announced the cancellation of the revocation in a newspaper publication, citing that the original revocation was “made in error”.

The decision comes amidst a backdrop of recent political tensions and realignments in Rivers State.

In December 2022, an unconfirmed letter purportedly issued by the Wike-led government to Ogeyi Place Hotels Limited indicated that the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the hotel was revoked for alleged default on ground rent payment.

At the time, Opunabo Inko Taria, former Media Adviser to Governor Wike, criticised the action, suggesting it was a punitive measure against the hotel for hosting a meeting of supporters of Atiku.

The revocation was seen by some as part of Wike’s political maneuvering ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

“My friend, where are you? I have been calling your line since, you no dey pick” 

“Where else would I be at this time? I am either at work or at home. But to tell you the truth, I didn’t see your calls. I am at this joint that I just discovered. Omo, the pepper-soup is something else. The fish tastes like it was brought to my plate from the very eye of the Atlantic Ocean itself.” 

“One of these days, they will use food to carry you away. Just remember that you are not responsible for yourself alone. You have a family, and very soon, you’d be a grandfather. You can’t be eating all about, looking for where soup is sweet all over town. But that is not why I am calling.”

“So what’s up? Come and join me. I will send you the address and we can talk over some nice delicacies. They even have palmwine. Frothing palmwine. Tastes as if it was tapped by my great grandfather who was famous for being a champion palmwine tapper in his days. I wasn’t there, but I was told the story by my father who heard it from his own father. I come from a long line of distinguished professionals you see.” 

“I am calling you because of you”

“Calling me because of me. What kind of English is that?” 

“It is your wife.”

“What about her? I still spoke with about an hour ago”

“She asked me to talk to you.” 

“I don’t remember getting her upset in any way. When I am done with this pepper soup, and palm wine. I am almost done. I am going straight home to eat her food. I. know if I don’t eat at home, there would be trouble.” 

“She told me you are planning to travel to Port Harcourt and she doesn’t think that is a good idea at this time. There is crisis in that state.”  

“Oh. God. God. This woman and her troubles. Okay, you tell me. What does she say is the problem in Port Harcourt? I am going there for business. You know the nature of my work.” 

“She says the work can wait. It is not just Port Harcourt. The entire Rivers State. She does not want you to go to a place where the Governor and his Godfather in Abuja are fighting. Policemen have turned the state into a police zone. Deposed Council Chairmen are aggrieved. Lawmakers are in court, over who is a genuine or fake member of parliament. Everybody in Rivers State is now a lawyer quoting Section this, Section that of the 1999 Constitution. Angry youths are threatening fire and brimstone.” 

“Oh my. For Heavens’ sake, there are about 10 million people in Rivers State. Why are we behaving like these white people who sit in their own countries, read one or two stories in a part of Africa, and they quickly issue a frightening travel advisory or write a whole book: Nigeria On The Brink, The Coming Death of Democracy in Africa. We exaggerate too much There are people living in Rivers State who have given testimony that there is no crisis in the state. It is just politicians behaving like over-pampered children.” 

“The interim Chairman of APC in Rivers state says the state is at war. APC wants the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state. Chief Tony Okocha should know.” 

“What do you expect him to say? The APC is playing a script in Rivers. They have grabbed 27 members of the House of Assembly who defected from PDP to APC. They want to take the state through the back door and mischief. Wike is helping them. It is all politics. I can’t stop my business transactions in Port Harcourt because of some of the politicians. I have spoken to some of the elders, they say…” 

“I beg, elders, we all know these elders… Well, your wife is concerned and troubled. If there is a blow out in Rivers and you are caught in-between, nobody will know that you are just a greedy Ijesha man, always looking for where to eat.”

“I am a man of courage. Nothing scares me. The logic of making money is that in the midst of crisis, you look for opportunities.” 

“The only thriving business in Rivers State today is to be either pro-Fubara or pro-Wike. I hear that business is becoming more lucrative than crude oil theft.”

“You know me. I am a man who goes to where even angels fear to tread.”

“Your wife said exactly the same thing. She said you are an angel. But she does not want you to join the angels yet.”

“Oh God. Don’t worry. I know her problem. There is this Aso Ebi she wants to buy. Once I give her the money for it, she’d go for her owambe and allow me go to Port Harcourt. How can some characters fighting for their own stomach in Port Harcourt become an issue in my house in Lagos. Tomorrow, now, if I decide I want to go to Kano for business, my wife will again carry placard, and start calling friends and neighbours…”

“No. It won’t be your wife then. I will be the one to carry the placard. You don’t know this country? You want to go to where two brothers are quarrelling over the stool of the Sarkin Kano? Have you seen those tough-looking boys carrying hefty sticks about, each one defending his own Emir? If they hit you twice with those local baseball sticks, all the bones in your body will give way immediately. You know your wife won’t be able to come to Kano to rescue you. Even if anybody asks me to come and rescue you, my wife and children will refuse. You want to go to a state where lawyers and judges are part of the confusion. Let them resolve their matter first before you go and start looking for business in troubled zones. What business are you looking for in Kano? You want to go and buy kolanuts?”

“Lawyers and judges are part of the problem in this country. They are messing things up in Rivers, and in Kano. These days, I don’t even know which court ruling to believe. One judge says one thing, another judge says another thing…creating panic within the community. I thought lawyers always say that the law is meant to help modulate society and ensure order”

“The law is an ass…Have you not heard that? When judges make mistakes, they tell you to go and file an appeal in a higher court. When you get to the Appeal Court and they make a mistake again, your lawyers will advise you to go the Supreme Court. If you fail again at the Supreme Court, the Justices will tell you that it is part of their fundamental human rights to make mistakes because they are human beings and if you are not happy, you can take your matter to God.  You see, this is why we all have to be careful.”

“What a country!” 

“What a people!”

“When will we ever get it right in this country? The people are complaining of hunger and wages. The leaders want new presidential aircraft. University teachers are threatening to go on strike over unpaid wages. Prostitutes are telling their customers that the dollar has gone up against the Naira….” 

“Wait. Wait. I think I am running out of credit. My phone is saying you have one minute left. I think they  do this you have one minute left, just so someone can buy credit and help them make more money. These telcos. Please you will have to call me back…”

“Hello”

“Hello.”

“Can you hear me?” 

“I moved from where I was. Let me change my location… Can you hear me now?” 

Okay, I think it is better. These telcos. Well, let’s thank God. You remember those days when we used to climb on top of a tree or look for a mountain top before we could get a phone signal, or those days when we used to queue for a whole day at P and T to place a call to someone in London or the US.”

“We are in the age of Artificial Intelligence, bros. We need to do better. Let me even run something by you. I met some oyinbos. We are thinking of doing business in Zamfara. Gold mining, especially now that the Nigerian Government is beginning to focus on gold for Central Bank Reserves, Foreign Reserves and for addressing shoring up the value of the Naira. You saw the Minister of Steel Development presenting gold bars to the President the other day, product of artisanal mining of gold. I am trying to think ahead. We can get into that line of business.” 

“Razzmatazz. What did I call it? Razzmatazz. Photo. Is it from artisanal mining and alluvial deposits Nigeria will join the league of gold mining countries? We have been prospecting for gold in this country since 1913. There was something like a small boom in the 1930s. In the 1980s, Nigeria formed the Nigerian Mining Corporation. Section 44(3) of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining law of 1999 vests ownership of mineral resources in the Federal Government. But the big problem in this country is illegal mining.”

“That is precisely what the Tinubu administration is trying to do. Close ranks with artisanal miners, bring them into the fold, provide a framework. It is called a National Gold Purchase Programme that meets the London Gold Market Standard.”  

“There is no framework that they are going to come up with that is new. When Mrs Oby Ezekwesili was Minister of Steel and Mining, she designed a framework for mining development in Nigeria. Dr. Kayode Fayemi as Minister of Steel further fine-tuned the road map. Go to the website of the World Gold Council. This is serious business, not a business for small-time miners. Do we have the technical capacity? Do we have technical partners? What lessons are we learning from the example of Ghana, a country that was originally known as Gold Coast? Before you join the Gold Rush, do your home-work.”

“I try to look at the positive side of things. Nigeria has just sold about 70 kilogrammes of gold to the London Bullion Market, making about N6 billion. We have to start from somewhere. The country has about 600, 000 tonnes of gold reserves. There are possibilities here. Besides, going to and fro Zamfara will become very easy, very soon, now that the state Governor is building an international airport to promote trade and tourism.” 

“Tourism in Zamfara. You want to go and get yourself kidnapped. The bandits of Zamfara are so daring, they can even kidnap aircraft and all passengers.  I don’t think the Governor is serious. Has he paid civil servants and pensioners before embarking on a white elephant project? I think he must have heard that when you try to build an airport, you can award big, big contracts.”   

“I am already talking to my Chinese contacts”

“Just be careful with these Chinese people.  One Chinese investor has just seized Nigerian properties in the UK”

“If you go and check the case, I am sure you would find that our people are the problem. We don’t ever respect terms of contracts. We gamble with everything and when our partners move against us, we would start shouting sovereignty. In any partnership, trust is important.”   

 “Just be careful. By the way, have you heard that the Governor of Sokoto after deposing 15 traditional rulers is also planning to remove the Sultan of Sokoto. I saw a statement by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) warning Governor Ahmed Aliyu not to try it because the jurisdiction of the Sultan goes beyond Sokoto.  He is the spiritual head of all Nigerian Muslims.” 

“I keep wondering why Governors no longer respect traditional rulers. Tension everywhere. I just hope that one day, one Governor will not wake up on the wrong side of the bed and make an attempt to depose a traditional ruler and cause real mayhem in the country.” 

“Na wa. Are you going for Chivido?”

“What is that”

“The wedding of Chioma and David Adeleke. I hear all the billionaires in town will be there.” 

“So, are you a billionaire? Why do you want to go to a billionaire’s wedding party? You don’t have important things to do with your time?” 

“I have just been following the story, and the gbas gbos between Davido and his baby Mama, Sophia.” 

“Look, let me wash my hand. As old as you are, you go about monitoring society gossip. Go and get busy my friend.” 

“Wash that your hand very well. No carry cholera from pepper soup joint go house oh.”

“Comot my friend. Old man wey sabi gossip.” 

IT was a bit of an emotional period for me when names of people who fought for democracy kept popping up in the Democracy Week. It was quite good hearing from the family of Mr Alao Aka-Bashorun, Father of the Nigerian Pro-Democracy Movement. He led many, including lawyers, against the rapacious regimes of Babangida, Shonekan and Abacha. Aka-Bashorun watched over the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC; the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU; and generations of radicals like a protective mother hen.

Also, hearing from the family of Dr Fredrick Fasehun was quite moving. When elements of the Abacha gang bombed the convoy of then Lagos State Military Governor Buba Marwa behind the Sheraton Hotel, the regime blamed it on Fasehun. For this, he was held in isolation in an underground cell at the Ikoyi Cemetery. He told me that his most traumatic experiences were the three occasions a notorious secret security agent named Abdulrahman carried out his fake executions, rolling bullets in his gun barrel.

One day, I got the good news from Fasehun that he had been moved to the notorious Criminal Investigation Department, Alagbon, Ikoyi. It meant he would be able to interact with other detainees and, we could have access to him.

When I visited, Fasehun wanted me to help nurture a militia, the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, OPC, he had established before his detention. Quite a number of them, including later leader, Chief Gani Adams, were our cadres in the Campaign for Democracy, CD.

I was quite familiar with three of the OPC co-founders, people who today, are virtually unknown. There was Iya Ijebu, a stoic elderly woman and, Baba Oja, an elderly market leader both from the Babalola Market, Mushin. You will imagine these were not their real names. But any day, they helped to hold the Mushin/Isolo axis in any pro-democracy protests or shut down of roads and businesses. The third was Tony Engurube who had vast knowledge in mass mobilisation and underground cell work both in Sweden and Nigeria. He had been detained by the Gowon regime in the mid- 1970s for making public the salaries of the Armed Forces following wage reviews. Engurube who later fell sick and passed on in Dr Fasehun’s Besthope Hospital, Lagos, was the Father of armed militancy in the Niger Delta.

There is Akanni Iromini. In those days before the age of the internet, one of our major ways of communication with the populace was through leaflets, handbills and posters. Any of these found on a person meant instant detention without trial. It could also lead to disappearance. Yet, they were always in circulation nationwide. It required a lot of courage, tact and good luck to move them across the country.

 Unfortunately, the secret services discovered one of our major printers, Mr Akani Iromini. That was the beginning of his spells of detention. His printing press and means of livelihood were destroyed. Despite these, he continued in the struggle against military dictatorship. Today, somewhere in bustling Lagos, Akani Iromini is battling with ill-health and desperately in need of assistance.

Iromini and I also belonged to a group that campaigned for the release of political prisoners, visiting their families and bringing them together for various activities. It was symbolically named after the Campaign for Democracy, CD, President, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti who had been sentenced to life imprisonment. In those days, belonging to such an organisation was considered treasonable.

In the group were three fantastic lawyers: Nike Ransome-Kuti, Tope Egunjobi and the quite reserved Jide Bello. Also in the organisation was Dr Bosede Afolabi, now Professor of Gynaecology dedicated to drastically reducing childbearing, sickle cell and maternal mortality. There was also Muhtar Bakare then of Citibank, and later, publisher of Farafina Books. There were also Messrs Femi Ojudu and Uba Sani, later Senators. The latter, today, is the Governor of Kaduna State.

We were daring. For instance, we penetrated the Agodi Maximum Prisons to lift up the low spirit of Ben Charles Obi, a journalist who had been sentenced to life imprisonment. Obi’s aged mother was his dependant, the magazine ‘Classique’ he worked for was dead, as was its publisher, Mrs Mee Mofe-Damijo. So he felt virtually alone in the world. As a political prisoner, he had no visiting rights, so Nike had to disguise as an evangelising priest to get to him at the prisons.

Sometimes we were lucky. We once held a reception for the children of political detainees at the Excellence Hotel Ogba. We sent out different venues and time. By the time the regime realised where we were and sent armed contingents of the police to stop the programme, it was over. Sometimes, we faced rejection. For instance, we once organised a birthday programme for incarcerated Chief Moshood Abiola and the family locked us and our guests out. We once visited Mrs Stella Obasanjo whose husband, later President Olusegun Obasanjo, was in prison. Those around her pointedly refused us access. They did not want her to be associated with us.

We felt some urgency when General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua died or was killed in the Abakaliki Prisons on December 8, 1997. The group was particularly worried about the safety of incarcerated CD Vice Chairman, Comrade Shehu Sani, who had been taken to the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH, by prison officials.

So, we organised a publicised special programme and photo exhibition for political prisoners and their families. The Abacha regime was determined that the programme should not hold. It sent armed police men and the security services around the streets adjoining the venue which was Beko’s house on Imaria Street, Anthony Village, Lagos. Also, a helicopter hovered overhead, in intimidating fashion. But in a move that boosted our confidence and ensured the programme held, then United States Ambassador, Walter Carrington, gathered and led a convoy of ambassadors with flags flying. The regime lost its nerve and allowed the convoy through. As the programme wore on, the helicopter noise was disturbing. In the midst of it all, a child was busy, playing with the telephone handset and placing it on her ear as if making a phone call. It was an award-deserving photograph which we widely circulated. That child was Ebube, daughter of incarcerated journalist, George Mbah.

The heroes of democracy in our country are mainly those unnamed or virtually unknown. They include Mrs Suliat Adededeji, murdered on November 14, 1996 in her Iyaganku, Ibadan home; and Ms Rebecca Onyabi Ikpe, sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for exposing the lie that was the claimed 1995 coup attempt. There is also the journalist, Mrs Ladi Olorunyomi, thrice detained at the notorious Directorate of Military Intelligence, and the hundreds killed in pro-Democracy struggles, with many buried in unmarked graves.