HRH Eze Desmond Ogugua – Salute to Courage

By Joachim Ezeji As the rampaging menace of kidnapping continues to ravage the south-eastern part of Nigeria, one man who towers shoulders above his contemporaries in confronting the menace by speaking out is HRH Eze Desmond Ogugua, the traditional ruler of Eziudo autonomous community in Ezinihite Mbaise Local Government Area. After reading his story in a recent SUN Newspaper weekend edition I made up my mind to re-echo his voice by devoting this column to him. He is a man of courage. If every octogenarian in present day Nigeria is to tell the raw truth at all occasions, then, Nigeria will surely be a much better place. Sadly, in Nigeria today, while many so called old men are keeping quiet as evil thrives, some are simply part of it. In reaction to a recent ugly incident of kidnapping in his community, HRH has had the opportunity to say the truth as it is, and I hope the government of Imo State led by Ikedi Ohakim heard him. The governor must take the message very seriously. Eze Ogugua emphatically holds the view that there are two reasons kidnap has become a scourge among our people. He says that one is political, and the other is economic. He argues that the poverty created by the government through neglect in communities has made some idle and evil minded youths to resort to kidnapping as means of making themselves heard and as a weapon of retaliation to society for abandoning them. According to him, the result is the proliferation of the art as even robbers have diverted their art to kidnap for better returns. Eze Oguguo pointed out that in the beginning; government didn’t take the issue serious until it developed into this bigger problem. He also argues that the police have not been equipped to handle the kidnap problem; insisting that that there is no way that you can climb the iroko tree without a rope. In his words “Police can’t chase kidnappers who are more sophisticated in arms out of town with just their bare hands.” Arguing further, Eze Ogugua explained that politicians are a remote cause of kidnapping. He argued that the kidnappers are youths the politicians used in their desperation to win elections; and , in his own words; “Today, these armed men the politicians gave birth to have turned the arms against unsuspecting persons in the society, including the same politicians. I am sure they must have found out that they sired a clan of hoodlums they can no longer control. The horde of hooligans they created have gone out of control and turned terror on all of us”. HRH Eze Oguguo then recalled an ugly incident of kidnapping in his community: “I have a good instance at hand on a kidnap that took place in my community on July 27, 2009. I was overseas for medical attention when the incident occurred. When I came back four months later, not much had been done by the police who literally left the matter unattended to. The victim had neither been found nor his condition known talk less of identifying the kidnappers”. He continued: “The victim was Pius Onyeremadu. After his kidnap, a report was made at the police station. When I came back, I summoned the community leaders to tackle the abomination. In the course of the interrogation of some people, I suspected two persons who I later handed over to the police for further investigation. The police in Alagbon, Lagos, were later invited and CID from there interrogated the suspects who confessed to the act and named nine others who were part of it, including the owner of a dangerous hotel in the town”. According to the Monarch, it was in that dangerous hotel the victim, Onyeremadu, was kept with a signpost on the rooms where he was barring people from coming closer there. The nine persons were later arrested and taken into custody by the police while they continued with investigation during which it was found that the victim died on August 20, 2009, barely a month after he was abducted. By the time Eze Ogugua returned in November, his community devised several means to track down the kidnappers and possibly release their victim not knowing he had died. One of their strategies was community prayer sessions. They assembled at village squares in all the villages of the Eziudo community and prayed that God should apprehend the kidnappers. Ironically, the suspects were part of the prayers. They joined as the prayer train moved from one village to the other. As the prayer leaders voiced their petition to heaven, they all joined to chorus a loud amen.
Unknown to them, prayers get answers, and as they unknowingly prayed against themselves to be caught and exposed, so they were later caught. Indeed, they were later caught and in their confession had told the police that they dumped the body of the victim in Imo River after he died in their custody. But when they were taken to the river with divers, they recapitulated on the earlier confession and accepted to say the truth on where the body was discarded. They asked the police to take them back to the community that the man’s body was stuffed inside a soak-away pit in church premises in Eziudo. As they got there, this time, their tale was right. They pointed at the cesspit that has not been in use for sometime in the premises. The police commenced a dig of the pit. A video recording of the expedition showed four policemen from Alagbon cracking the concrete slab on the pit with pickaxe to make it wide enough for someone to climb in and confirm the testimony. The man’s remains were squeezed into the pit via a little gap and the smaller slab replaced. As the police gained access into the pit, they beckoned on the villagers to come closer and see the man’s bones littered all over the place. His dress was first picked up from the moist earth and shown to family members who confirmed it was his. Painstakingly, the policemen harvested Onyeremadu’s bones like in Ezekiel’s vision in a yellow polyethene bag. With that they climbed off, displayed the odd specimen before the people before taking them away as exhibit and for forensic analysis after which they would be released to the family. Since the investigating police came from Alagbon, the suspects were taken to Lagos for proper interrogation and investigation, after which they were brought back to Owerri for trial. Eze Ogugua in this story revealed that his community is defraying the cost of everything that has been done so far on behalf of the community; yet, the police are asking the community to defray the forensic analysis of the bones at a cost of N250, 000 before that could be handled. In his words, he lamented “The problem has cost us much money, and it is not yet over”. Curiously, neither the government nor the police are helping the community to defray the enormous costs involved in exercise of this nature. Cases of this nature have become goldmine for police officers as they see it as opportunities to make money. Why should communities be left to defray the entire cost of security incidents of this nature? What is Governor Ohakim doing with the colossal security funds he allocates to himself every year? Incidents of this nature are often the purpose of security votes. I therefore use this medium to call on the Imo State Government to quickly refund all expenses incurred by the community without any further delay. This is the only effective way to encourage and motivate people and their communities as otherwise dispirits them. Also, a pathway should be created to couple the security vote of the governor to the security issues in the dispersed communities. Such coupling will enable communities to handle what is required to uphold peace through their Chiefs and local vigilante bodies. Eze Oguguo had recalled “I know how much I have spent in organizing security groups, summoning meetings of elders and youths and assisting the police in its efforts so far”. He continued “If a monarch has no money, he can’t handle this and things will get worse”. That is true! I hope the Governor is reading this piece, if not let his aids take this piece and show him. The gospel truth as told by HRH Eze Oguguo is that the society can’t effectively tackle kidnapping and other dangerous crimes without the cooperation of the local leaders in the communities. To do this the government must be fair and transparent, using public funds for the public, not otherwise. Despite the fact that government collects a lot of revenue and maintains enormous resources, what else is stopping government from extending appropriate support to local communities? It is a sad revelation, but it takes courage to say it. HRH Eze Desmond Oguguo had revealed and I quote him “Government (both state and local government) has never assisted my community in any way in this ugly incident. It has been my people and the police. I would solicit the support of the government for traditional rulers and community leaders in this wise.” What a tale!

Ill Advised: NCC’s N6.4bn SIM cards Registration Budget

By
Joachim Ibeziako Ezeji

In 2007 I had travelled abroad for six months, and unlike my previous trips, I returned to discover that my GSM number was no longer mine, it has been re-allocated by MTN. This was despite the fact that I had bought that line (08035767048) at an exorbitant price of N14, 000 (US$100) in 2004. When I visited the MTN office on Wetheral Road, Owerri to find out why it has to do that, what I got was an arrogant response that I’m not supposed to travel out for long without making provision for roaming my phone. On further enquiry on how to roam, MTN told me that it would cost me a minimum of N50, 000 (US$320) to initially set up roaming. To me that was outright extortion and unacceptable.

Based on suggestions by worried friends and acquaintances that inundated me with queries on what was wrong with my line, I came to find out that MTN had already resold my number to another customer, an Alhaji, who lives in Kano. To confirm this development, I put a call through on the number, and low and behold, it was true, as a friendly voice from a Hausa/Fulani man picked the call. He identified himself as an Alhaji, confessing that he had already received thousands of calls on my behalf. He also said that he has been having sleepless night as a result. I was not surprise that was the case, because that line was me in totality. It was a primary communication medium for all my businesses both local and international. Alhaji accepted to return the number to me provided we worked out the conditions. But that was not to be, as I soon jetted out again, out of the country within a few days.

I am therefore keen to find out how the proposal by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to spend N6.4 billion on the registration of SIM cards in its 2010 Budget would fit into such excesses by service providers like MTN. Would it mean that henceforth, even if I travels and stay away for 12 months that my line won’t be revoked and resold?

In as much as I absolutely find nothing wrong with acquiring data of network customers in Nigeria, I find a lot wrong and faulty by NCC doing it, and the way it has chosen to do it. To me this amounts to a colossal conspiracy to loot public funds. It is absolutely bizarre. It baffles me that even the National Assembly could allow this seemingly day light fraud to stand. I will argue it from just 5 points.

First, a SIM card registration similar to the current exercise would have been plausible had it been that we truly have a viable and working national ID card data base. What we currently have is an outright caricature of how it exists in other countries. The national ID card scheme in Nigeria failed and is incapable of providing a backbone or shield for the current SIM card registration exercise. Without a viable National ID card scheme, how sure are we, that the information being provided by those queuing to register their SIM is actually correct.

Second, what technology is being used for the registration? Is it a networked computer system that shares data nationally or merely a one stop entry system computer that is akin to manual entry? Is the data capturing merely being written down on note books? Against these backgrounds, what is the guaranty that data being provided is secured to safeguard it from theft and use against innocent victims i.e. what mechanisms exist to guide against identity theft?

Third, to what extent was the level of stakeholders’ sensitization, mobilization and participation carried out prior to the current registration? Stakeholders’ in this regards include network customers, service providers such as MTN, the government and also the small scale retailers and hawkers of the cards etc. The failure of this component in the whole arrangement is certainly its nunc dimities. In a country with highly sophisticated informal sector such as ours’, the sensitization and engagement of stakeholders is the only plausible pathway capable of enlisting workable suggestions for this scheme. But when one man sitting somewhere with crude ideas of how to make quick money is allowed to have his way, this is exactly the kind of schemes that are pushed down to us. They will tell you that network users would not need to pay money to register their details, but that is just one side of the story. Another side of the story is that there is a colossal N6.4 billion that is to be looted in disguise. How sustainable is the scheme? How much data will that amount of money register before it runs out? Who will fund follow up exercises? The whole set-up is simply ridiculous and riddled with puzzles upon puzzles. Moreover, experience has shown that when things are merely conceived from above and pushed down just like that, then look around very well, you would find out there; a clique out to “Chop Money”. Once that N6.4 billion is squandered, nothing again would be heard about the scheme. It would be dead as the National ID card.

Fourth, is registration of SIM cards the job of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)? The outright answer is a big – No. The proposal is out rightly a curious exercise because the NCC being a regulator ought not to have any business with registration of SIM cards. Such exercise should be the responsibility of the service providers. This is the case everywhere where users’ details are ever taken. Moreover there is nothing innovative about the idea other than the haste to loot the N6.4 billion by those promoting it. There are more cost effective innovative ways to achieve a similar result. For example, service providers could be directed to sale telephones on contract bases as is done in Europe and America. What this means is that new phones would henceforth mostly be given out on contract bases. With such contracts the data of subscribers is easily gathered.

Finally, enforcement; I am interested to know who is going to enforce this scheme. What if I refuse to register my details, who is going to force me to comply? There is currently no law backing this scheme, so customers who opt not to register their details are certainly not breaking the law. Would the police be used to implement this illegal scheme or is it the courts, who?

I have also heard people applaud the scheme as being capable of arresting or deterring kidnapping. But that is the most watery arguments in its support so far. Kidnappers often make calls only with the lines of their victims, not theirs. The persistence of kidnapping in Nigeria and the resort to this scheme as a panacea exposes the lack of capacity to think out genuine solutions. I will juxtapose my argument with the event of the kidnap of the British boy – Sahil Saeed who was snatched from his residence in Jhelum, a city in northeast Pakistan, in March 2010.
The kidnappers had put a ransom of £100,000 in cash on the head of the 5 years old boy. A series of telephone calls between the kidnappers and the boy’s father Raja Saeed provided the clue to smash the syndicate which also had international dimensions.

Follow up investigations made via tracking the GSM networked lines of the kidnappers saw to their eventual arrests. Two Pakistani men and a Romanian woman were arrested in a flat 6 miles South of Barcelona and another two other suspects were arrested at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. The Kidnappers were arrested and detained just hours after Sahil was freed by his captors immediately after the ransom was paid. Payment of the ransom had been a collective agreement by the security forces that relied on the effectiveness of a closely co-ordinated surveillance operation involving officers from Britain, France and Spain. The Surveillance was built on phone calls, most of which were made from Barcelona.

The original ransom demand came from an Urdu speaker who gave the family a three-day deadline to pay the cash in Manchester, before changing the drop-off destination to Paris. A total of 15 instruction calls were made, four of which came from Barcelona, police said. Mobile phones on which some of the calls were made were found in the raided flat, they added.
In a statement, Spanish police added: 'To comply with the deadline, the boy's father travelled to Manchester. 'Once there he received new instructions ordering him to travel to Paris with the money. It was in this city that the place for the handover was finally determined. 'Several people went to that place, in a public street, and police observed the criminals split the money and put it into a small bag and a small suitcase with wheels.

'The boy's whereabouts was unknown so the people who had gone to pick up the money, a man and a woman, were tailed. 'The French police followed them in a car to the border where Spanish police took over. 'After travelling around Barcelona they headed to Constanti, parked up and took several packages and the suitcase in which they had placed most of the ransom money out of the car, helped by a third person, before heading into a nearby flat.

'A watch was placed on the property until police were certain the boy had been released in Pakistan and the operation to arrest the suspects was then launched.' Police refused to give a timeline for the rescue, but Sahil was later found wandering in a field in the village of Dinga in Punjab.

The success of the operation was not based on any SIM card registration; Please, Nigeria, wake up!