Driver’s licence: The palaver By Yemi Olakitan

 

 

 

The controversies trailing the new driver’s licence of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, are far from over. How about the hassles many Nigerians go through to get their data captured, besides the raging legal tussle as to the eligibility of the FRSC to issue the licence? In this special report, Sunday Mirror farms out all the challenges occasioned by the raucous driver’s licence issuance and what many become of the whole exercise in the new year. Ag. Head of investigations, Yemi Olakitan examines the subject.
A driver’s license or driving license is an official document that states that a person may operate an automobile without supervision. The laws relating to the licensing of drivers vary between one country and the other. In some countries a license is issued after one has passed a driving test, while in others; a person acquires a license before beginning to drive and may not need to pass through a driving school.  According to Barrister Shittu, a Lagos based lawyer, the authorities have made the new driving license regime cumbersome with too many procedures, they need to simplify the process and make it easier. ‘‘It is the same thing with registering a business, getting an international passport; we like to make things complicated in Nigeria, thereby creating an opportunity for crooks, thieves and counterfeiters to thrive. If things are simple to obtain, then there would be no need for a black market for fakes who peddle their products as genuine,’’ he said.
In a chat with Seyi Imohi, a taxi driver based in Lagos Island on his experience, he said, ‘‘the government should return driving license procurement and renewal to the local government as we used to do it before. Look at the hassles we go through just to collect a driver’s license. It does not worth it at all.  You collect form, you go to the bank to pay, and then you go to VIO, someone that has been driving for the past 20 years, They are asking the person to go to a driving school, after going through so many procedures, you are then asked to wait for months. This is madness! They should hand it over; people should go to their respective local governments and collect the drivers’ licenses, you want to collect drivers’ license, for six months, you are still on it. They should change the system. It was not like this before. I got my drivers’ license in 1981. It is here with me and it is still intact. This country belongs to all of us. They should put up a system that makes things convenient and not frustrating. They are treating us like second class citizens in our own country,’’ he said.
In another chat with James Xavier, an IT professional, on his experience on the procurement of a drivers’ license, he said, ‘‘when you get to their office and you queue up and spend the whole day to procure the drivers’ license. They will then announce to you that the original license cannot be ready as at yet. You would have to do with a temporary driving license. In which case, you have no choice but to collect it and leave since they are the one body responsible for it. Then after a few weeks or months depending on how lucky or unlucky you are, the original will still not be out. I have been using a temporary driving license for the past one year and a half and there is no hope of a permanent driver’s license in sight,’’ he said.
Speaking further, James said, ‘after using the temporary driving license for weeks or even months, you then get pulled over by FRSC officials while driving and they will look at your temporary driving license that you suffered so much to collect in their office. They will then tell you that your license is fake. How can it be fake when you were the ones who gave it to me in your office? You took my data capture with all the delaying and suffering. You now tell me it’s fake; it means that FRSC is giving out fake driver’s licenses,’’ he said.
In another chat with Yusuf Lawal, a commercial driver, he said, ‘‘I got a temporary drivers’ license since April, this year. They said they will call me for capturing. Up until now they have not call me. I have gone to their office here at Sura, many times. They will just sign here and there. They will say, it is not ready and I have been using the temporary license like that. I have been traveling with it and my car is good although, they have not harassed me on the road but I feel it is taking too long. On what the government should do to arrest the situation, he said, ‘‘I heard a rumour that they will soon make it a local government by local government thing. I heard that soon it will only take three or four days to procure your drivers’ license, I pray that will come true and that it happens as they say because we can no longer continue with this new arrangement. It is not working,’’ he said.
In another chat with a commercial driver, Bioye Oyeniyi, he said, I got my driver’s license in Ibadan, Oyo state. I tried to get it in Lagos state but the hassles were too much so I went back to my state to collect it. They were asking me to pay N25, 000 to get a drivers’ license so I said instead of me to pay that kind of money I will go to my state ad get it and I got it. In fact, drivers are facing a lot of problems in Lagos; driver’s license is just one. What about LASMA? They harass us with the most flimsy excuses and treat us like dung,’’ he said.
Another driver, Mr. Balogun Ayinde, he said, ‘‘I know someone, a friend of mine who has been carrying a temporary driver’s license for the past seven months and when you are driving you ought to carry your driver’s license. What is the use of a professional driver without a license? We are treated anyhow by transport law enforcement agents, all because we do not have somebody at the top. This driver’s license issue has been politicized and monetized. This is why we are facing all these problems in obtaining it. Otherwise, why is there so many problems attached to it? Is this the first time the Federal government has been giving Driver’s license to Nigerians?’’ he said.
Speaking with Mr., Anthony Giobagunwo, he said, ‘‘we want the federal government to help us concerning the problem of Driver’s license. It should not take more than two days to collect your driver’s license. It is not necessary to go to driving school. There are hundreds of Nigerians who have been driving for the past ten years and never went to a driving school. All that should be required is a test result and it should not take more than three days. If you go to these people’s office, they will give you one sheet of paper for one year.  As I am speaking to you, my driver’s license is expired but I have not collected another one because of the hassles. The government should make it easy for us to collect it; you will use one year to fill a form and another year to do capturing and another year to collect it. They need to employ more people to do the job simplify things, so that it will be easier,’’ he said.
Investigations by Sunday Mirror reveals that there are also some private agencies or driving schools who give out driving licenses to drivers in Lagos. In a chat with an official of one of the agencies who spoke on anonymity, she said, ‘All that you need to do is to obtain a form for N5, 000, submit your passport photographs and test results and then after a few days, your driver’s license is ready for collection. She insisted on the genuineness of her company’s driver’s license. ‘Our driver’s license is not fake. It is genuine. We don’t obtain in Lagos. They are from Ogun state. I can assure you it is genuine,’’ she said.
Investigations reveal that some government officials do take advantage of the cumbersome process of obtaining driver’s license to make a business for themselves by giving out driver’s licenses for a fee.
There are many fake driver’s license in the hands of drivers these days that you wonder whether, there is an original one,’’ said Ibrahim, a taxi driver. ‘‘It is all the fault of the Federal Road Safety Corps and other agencies responsible for issuing driver’s license. They should just make the process simple. If you look at the hassles, the waiting, and the queuing up at the FRSC office and then you meet someone who says, I will get you a license within 3 days, you will want to go for it and then when you look at the counterfeit driver’s license. It looks like the original.’’
According to FRSC the government launched a new driver’s license issuing system that changed the requirements and procedures to obtain a driver’s license in 31 Jan. 2012. This chaotic situation actually started in 2013, when the government gave an October deadline to phase out the old drivers license and plate number for vehicles. All agencies of government particularly in Lagos State found it lucrative to pounce on vehicles on the road and challenge owners or drivers of such cars to produce their driver’s licenses.  The Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIO, and Nigeria Police especially have in such circumstance declared as “fake” even the drivers licenses issued by FRSC causing their victims to part with some money.
It is widely believed that the officers of the authorities involved in the issuing process are taking advantage of the scheme to enrich themselves.  Applicants attributed the compromise to demand for gratification and inhuman treatment, especially during the data-capturing stage. The process has rapidly created a business, informally, for the operatives of the agencies that play one role or the other during the stage of documenting applicants, or in the process of capturing their biometric data.
According reports, it is just like a racket from which some FRSC personnel and VIOs are feeding fat. On-duty officers reportedly demand for a minimum of N2, 000 to enable them collate applicants’ forms and where you fail to meet their demands, you will not be able to go through the process in record time. These are some the reasons why Nigerians experienced delay in obtaining their driver’s license.
The FRSC attributed the reasons for the delay to problems with the FRSC’s technical partners during the upgrade to the new system.  In July 2011, a Nigerian national newspaper, not Mirror, reported the Deputy Director of Operations at the Vehicle Inspection Office as conceding that “’driver’s licensing is in a bit of disarray at this point. ‘‘If you go to most states of the federation, you will find that they are not able to produce driver licenses because of the current confusion” and indicated that the different agencies involved in issuing driver’s licenses (i.e., the FRSC, the Board of Internal Revenue and the Vehicle Inspection Office) are using different procedures.  Sources report that citizens with the former version of the driver’s license will be required to upgrade to the new one regardless of whether their current license has expired or not.
However, the situation in other states of the country is not as pathetic as that of Lagos state. Reports say that Ogun state’s system is faster and more organized.  An applicant completes an application form that he or she also dates and signs. The applicant provides a signature on a signature mandatory card, which is then scanned into a database and displayed on the driver’s license. The applicant also provides two passport photographs that will also be scanned into the database and displayed on the driver’s license. He pays “the cashing office” a processing fee in cash or by a bank draft.  In addition to the application form and fee, he also provides proof of his identity or name by producing an international passport, or a birth certificate or sworn declaration of age or affidavit. The declaration of age or affidavit must be sworn before a court by a family member. He provides a written driving test and proof that he or she has passed a road test from an “approved instructor or driving school”. A licensing officer verifies the results before the applicant submits a copy to the licensing office. Once the application has been processed and the documents verified, the driver’s license is mailed to the applicant’s “residential or chosen mailing address.”
Investigation reveal that even in Ogun state, the applicants “can not obtain an on the spot drivers license because the application must be processed”. This includes updating the database and allocating a number to the application. The driver’s license number identifies the applicant and cannot be changed. An applicant can obtain a license from a state in which he is not a resident. Sometimes applicants will receive a driver’s license from a different state than the one from which they applied because of the high volume of applications in the first state.
The idea of an autonomous body regulating traffic, in addition to the Nigeria Police, who are statutorily charged with that responsibility, started from Oyo State, under the government of Chief Bola Ige, who as governor of Oyo State, was tired of the carnage on the old Ibadan-Ife highway. The road ranked first among slaughter houses, called trunk roads in those days; surpassing the Lagos-Ibadan; Kano-Zaria-Kaduna; Onitsha-Owerri-Aba and the Warri-Patani-Portharcourt roadways which were its closest rivals.  The governor thought if the idea was not to degenerate into another opportunity for bribery, it required somebody with integrity. Professor Wole Soyinka was his choice. The Nobel Prize Winner lived up to his expectations as he was frequently on the roads himself, assisting in making the arrests.
Destruction of lives and properties abated very quickly – not only on Ibadan-Ife, but Ibadan-Iwo and Ibadan-Oyo roads.  The change of governors in Oyo State in 1983 and the military coup of December 31, 1983 brought an end to corps activities in Oyo State. When General Ibrahim Babangida came to power in 1985, he provided the opportunity for the nation to revisit the issue of a road safety unit autonomous of the police, who were considered corrupt.  In 1988, by Decree 59, the Federal Road Safety Corps was promulgated into law and Professor Wole Soyinka became the Corps Marshal.  However, according to James Xavier, it can hardly be said that the FRSC is still the same organization that Professor Wole Soyinka left behind since they seemed to have danced to the tune of corruption since Professor Soyinka left.
The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), was mandated by law to take charge of matters of road safety and regulations. However this role has been challenged in court by Nigerians.  it has been argued that, ‘‘the FRSC has no power to issue drivers’ licenses, a function that critics say, constitutionally lies with the states, A coalition of civil society and non-governmental organizations also argued that the FRSC’s practice of issuing driver’s licenses is “an aberration of the 1999 Constitution.”
Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Lagos on March 26 declared that the FRSC had no legal authority to impose new number plates or driving licenses on motorists in the country.  The judge also held that “the ongoing exercise by the FRSC to replace the old number plate with a new one is illegal and unconstitutional because there is no law empowering it to carry out the exercise.’’
Justice Tsoho delivered the judgment in a suit filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Emmanuel Ofoegbu, against the FRSC.  In the suit, Ofoegbu had challenged the power of the commission to impound vehicles of motorists who failed to acquire the new number plates. The plaintiff argued that there was no law validly made in accordance with the constitution prohibiting the use of the old number plates.
However, an Anambra State High Court sitting in Awka ruled that the issuance of new vehicle number plates and drivers licenses by the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, is “legal” and “constitutional,” citing “Section 5 of the Act of 2007.
In May, Adeniyi Ademola, the judge of a Federal High Court in Abuja, ruled that the FRSC lacked the constitutional power to compel vehicle owners to renew their vehicle particulars which had yet to expire and declared the threat of the commission to arrest and prosecute motorists who did not obtain the new license and number plates illegal and unconstitutional.
“The court is also mindful of the recent judgment of a Lagos Federal High Court on the same subject matter, which I completely aligned with.”
In a judgement delivered on June 30, in a suit instituted by one Ajefo Ekwo, against the commission on the legality of the issuance of the new number plates and drivers licences, the trial judge, Peter Umeadi, who is also the Chief Judge of Anambra State, ruled that by the provision of the National Road Traffic Regulation 2012 and the Federal Road Safety Commission Act 2007, the FRSC is empowered to issue new vehicle number plates and drivers licenses.
“I hold that the directive of the respondent to all motorists previously registered to re-register their vehicles for the purpose of changing their old number plates with new vehicle number plates is legal and constitutional and stand firmly on both Act 2007 and Regulations of 2012,” the judge declared.
“Section 5 of the Act of 2007 allows the commission, the Respondent, to make regulations for carrying out the objectives of the Act. The Act of 2007 specifically allows the respondent to make regulation with regard to the designing and producing of drivers’ licenses, and vehicle number plates to be used by various categories of vehicles.”
The judge ruled that it is wrong to hold the FRSC responsible for the discontinuance of the old number plates explaining that by the passing of the National Road Traffic Regulation 2012; it is only natural for the old plates to be changed.
“As soon as the Regulations of 2012 were made, they took a life of their own. It does not matter if it was done by the respondent or that the respondent is vested with the powers. But it is not only the respondent that was vested with the powers therein. It just happened that the Regulation of 2012 and the Act of 2007 allow the respondent to place a pivotal role in the sequence event to realize the goal of the legislations. It is on this note that it should be understood that old vehicle registration license were not discontinued by the respondent qua respondent but by the force of the Regulation of 2012.
“I agree with the learned counsel of the respondent that to achieve the use of legal, legitimate and now only authorized new vehicle registration licences and driver licences the old ones have to be discontinued and the law has vested the respondent with the power to do that.”
According to reports, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) as a result of the judgment said it would begin enforcement of the new drivers’ licence and number plate is Aug 1, 2014.  The Lagos State Sector Commander, Mr Chidi Nkwonta, said that the decision followed the new court judgment.  “This new judgment made it very clear that as from Aug. 1, FRSC should impound. “So, Nigerians must discountenance that first misleading judgment and take this one because we are going to continue enforcement as from Aug. 1, 2014.’’
“We never asked anybody to stop (processing licences). Anybody who stopped ab initio stopped at his own peril. “Neither did the court ask anybody to stop, that judgment never said anybody should stop. “So anybody who did so did it at his own risk and the deadline was supposed to be June 30.
“Now we have extended it to Aug. 1, because we needed to go on appeal on the other matter.  “But right now, there is another judgment which says we can go on.
“So, while we are still waiting for the appeal we are going to go on with this other judgment.“
This was FRSC response to Justice Peter Umeadi of a Federal High Court in Anambra on June 30 which had ruled in a suit filed by Chief Ajefo Ekwo challenging FRSC’s powers to enforce new drivers’ licence and number plates.
Umeadi said that the respondent’s directive to change old drivers’ licence and number plates to new was legal, valid, subsisting and in conformity with the FRSC’s 2007 Act and the National Road Traffic Regulations of 2012.
Nkwonta, however, said that the recent judgment had put aside the earlier judgment of the Lagos High Court ruling that the corps had no authority to produce and fix deadline for the documents.  The FRSC commander said that the earlier judgment was given in error and the commission would stand by the new judgment while appealing against the earlier judgment.
He said that the command had not failed to process the vehicle documents for new applicants that patronized the commission after the initial judgment. Nkwonta said that all the registration centres and 18 additional work stations in all parts of Lagos were functional and the network was effective.  He said that the commission had improved in the processes as well as working at weekends to make it easy for applicants.
According to the FRSC in the new arrangement made public, to apply for a driver’s license, applicants must be at least 18 years old.  Those who are renewing their drivers’ licenses are to apply online at www.nigeriadriverslicence.org or in person at a Driver’s License Centre (DLC). Pay the licence fee online or at the Bank. Present your application form to the Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) Officer and Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO) at the DLC for endorsement. Proceed to the Federal Road Safety Corps Officer at the DLC for biometric data capture. Obtain a temporary driver’s license valid for 60 days. Pick up original driver’s license at the BIR Office after 60 days.
Applicants who are obtaining licenses for the first time are to attend training at an accredited driving school. The driving school will then present you to the Vehicle Inspection Officer (VIO) for a driving test. Pass the driving test and obtain a certificate of proficiency from the VIO. Complete the driver’s license application form at the Driver’s Licence Centre (DLC). Pay the license fee online or at the Bank.
Present your application form to the Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) Officer and VIO at the DLC for endorsement. Proceed to the FRSC Officer at the DLC for biometric data capture. Obtain a temporary driver’s licence valid for 60 days. Pick up original driver’s license at the BIR Office after 60 days.

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RE:CHOCOLATE ROYAL SHUTDOWN

WE ARE BACK AND BETTER

Dear friends of Chocolat Royal:

My family has lived in Nigeria for three generations since 1886. Chocolat Royal grew from a dream I had, of providing a melting pot for Nigerians from different walks of life to interact and enjoy cuisines and flavours from across the globe. Today, we cater to hundreds of families including my own children, grand children, their friends and our personnel, who are among the first line service users at Chocolat Royal. Chocolat Royal has been recognized as a global brand through several awards, including: The International Star for Quality (Geneva - 2003), The World Quality Commitment (Paris - 2007) and the Quality Crown (London - 2010)

Therefore the unfortunate closure of our business outlets on Tuesday, 19^th May, 2015 was neither as a result of any harmful incidence nor ill-intention. There has never been any record of such in our 21 years of award-winning service to our customers and friends. Thus, some sensational reports in a section of the media do not truly portray who we are, and what we stand for.
We are grateful to you, our loyal customers and friends who have inundated us with enquiries. We appreciate your concern and patience. We are thrilled, as we know you all are, to announce to you that Chocolat Royal has been authorized to reopen at all our outlets.
Chocolat Royal, acclaimed as a leading restaurant and cafe in the city of Lagos, gained preeminence for our total commitment to high standards, ethical values and respect for our customers. Be rest assured that we shall continue to dispense safe, high quality products and world class service without comprise.
Again, we thank you all for your support.
We are back with your favourite oven fresh breads and pastries, ice creams, cakes, chocolates and mouth-watering dishes in our restaurants located at 267A Etim Inyang Crescent, Victoria Island; Lekki Palms Mall and Lekki Centro Mall.
We look forward to giving you, your family and friends a treat as always.

Welcome back to Chocolat Royal.

Saada Elias Moussalli

Chairperson, General Foods & Sweets Manufacturing Ltd (Owners of Chocolat Royal)

Boko Haram Willing To Swap Detainees For Missing Chibok Girls

The dreaded terrorist group, Boko Haram is offering to free more than 200 young women and girls kidnapped from a boarding school in the town of Chibok in exchange for the release of militant leaders held by the government.
According to an activist,  who pleaded anonymity with an international news agency because he was not authorized to talk to reporters on the sensitive issue, it was revealed that Boko Haram’s current offer is limited to the girls from the school in northeastern Nigeria whose mass abduction in April 2014.
“The new initiative reopens an offer made last year to the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan to release the 219 students in exchange for 16 Boko Haram detainees, the activist said.
He said the 5-week-old administration of President Muhammadu Buhari offers “a clean slate” to bring the militants back to negotiations that had become poisoned by the different security agencies and their advice to Jonathan.
It will be recalled that Presidential adviser Femi Adesina on Saturday stated that the Buhari led government “will not be averse” to talks with Boko Haram. Vanguard

 

 

IKORODU ROBERS CAUGHT

 

Four members of the robbery gang, which unleashed terror on two commercial banks in the Ipakodo, Ikorodu area of Lagos two weeks ago, have been arrested by the police.

Our correspondent learnt that the suspected robbers were arrested from Okitipupa, Ondo State, and Ikorodu, Lagos State, while three Sport Utility Vehicles allegedly bought from the proceeds of the robbery were recovered.

The suspects’ names were given as Monday Akpan, Bright Agbojule, the third identified simply as Jafaru, and one Baba Ibeji.

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On Wednesday, June 24, the gang, which was reportedly led by a woman, had stormed the Ebute-Ipakodo branches of the First Bank and Zenith Bank at about 8.30am, and carted away millions of naira.

The robbers, who overwhelmed policemen from the Ipakodo division, were said to have carted away about N60m from the Zenith Bank’s strong room, while N20m were stolen from the bank’s ATM room.

The suspects, who dared policemen to confront them, later escaped in two speedboats at the Ipakodo jetty, Ikorodu.

Four persons, including a bank customer, who were hit by bullets during the one-hour operation, were taken to the General Hospital, Ikorodu.

Does Amnesty International care about Nigeria?

SHAME ON YOU AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL!  -Yemi Olakitan

 

The most famous among Boko Haram sympathisers is Amnesty International (AI), which has become the “official defender” of the human rights of Boko Haram members while ignoring the rights of the victims of the sect’s atrocious activities. It appears AI would rather see the sect continue to carry out its mass slaughter of innocent people than the military succeed in eliminating them, and restoring order to the North-east of Nigeria. Its latest report with the mocking title: “Stars on Their Shoulders. Blood on Their Hands: War Crimes Committed by the Nigerian military”, chronicles the “atrocities” of the Nigerian military and conspicuously ignored the deadly killings, abductions, mass murder, torture, mass kidnappings, mass rapes, bloody massacre of entire communities, inhuman treatment and brutal executions of men, women and children in the thousands by the sect.

The second report was actually an assessment by officials of the United States Counter Terrorism - who emphatically declared that Boko Haram was “winning the war” because according to them, ‘’it still retains the ability and capacity to mount deadly lethal attacks and retreat afterwards.’’  America and some of its allies refused to sell arms to Nigeria in the heat of the war under the guise of human rights abuses by our military - a fallout of AI’s persistent accusations.

It is pertinent to point out here that Israel which has faced accusations of human rights abuses in its war of attrition with Hamas regularly gets restocked with massive military supplies of weapons by the same hypocritical United States, because it believes Israel is fighting an existential war with Hamas, which has sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state. But America plays the human rights card when it comes to Nigeria – a country facing an ominous prospect of being overrun.  

It is a shame that AI has committed itself to the defence of terrorists and their supporters, and at the same time, failed so spectacularly to take pictures and video of the horrific atrocities committed by the terror group as evidence of the sect’s inhumanity and war crimes. It has failed to document the mindless killings of so many innocent people whose only offence was that they were going about their normal lives - poor ordinary people savagely murdered for no cogent reason at all. It is granted that the Amnesty International will not make an impact if it accuses the terrorists of war crimes, but it will grab headlines around the world if it accuses the military of it. But must this be done at the expense of protecting the territorial integrity of Nigeria?

The truth here is that the shadowy group and its collaborators cleverly realised early that, “if you want sympathy for your cause, then you don’t call it terrorism - as that will turn off the West”.  So cleverly, they labelled it “insurgency” to make the group seem as if it has a legitimate cause it is fighting for. of course, insurgency is different from terrorism.

If you carry out checks, you will find out most of the establishment people, and even opinion moulders from a particular part of this country, avoid that word “terrorism”, instead they refer to it as “insurgency”. For the simple reason, I suspect is to carry the US and the West along and they have achieved that - to the extent that the US is now in the forefront of accusations of human rights violations against our military. Ironically, America has a poor record on human rights when dealing with terrorists who pose a major threat to its national interests. To achieve its goal of “degrading and destroying” the terrorists, America deploys Special Forces and all sorts of weapons: hi-tech weapons, massive ordinances, including hellfire missiles from drones to target and kill terrorists around the world - also killing and maiming many innocent people in the process with a great deal of property destroyed. We have seen the massive forces the United States and its Western allies deploy in the pursuit of terror groups and their affiliates; we have seen the US detain terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay for nearly 14 years without formal charges or trial, with “industrial-scale” torture of suspects in the prison. Although AI has drawn the world’s attention to the atrocities committed by America, we have never heard AI call for its military top brass responsible for those abuses/violations to be referred for trial.

If we are going to define the word “insurgency”, it is the Niger Delta situation that nearly approximates it, and clearly not the terrorists we have in the North-east. We didn’t see senseless killings or hear of whole villages burnt down - people were kidnapped quite alright and oil infrastructure was vandalised, but certainly not the kind of terror we have on our hands today. The Niger Delta militants were agitating for a larger share of the resources taken from their land, even though it also involved some elements of criminality. But the moment there was an understanding, the restiveness simmered.

. If eventually, the Muhammadu Buhari presidency endorses this indictment of the military or individuals who fought the sect, will it not jeopardise the war against terror? Will it not demoralise our forces? Would our soldiers who fought and died to liberate Nigeria from the terrorists not have died in vain? Beyond that, will it not divide an already divided military?

And more than anything else, is it not a contradiction of monumental proportion for the northern establishment, especially its intelligentsia to be rooting for the prosecution of military personnel on charges of human rights abuses that they are accused of committing against Boko Haram members, while at the same time calling for amnesty for members of the very sect - that has waged war on the country, its people and committed the worst forms of atrocities ever seen in our history? Need we remind ourselves of the unquantifiable plunder and destruction of infrastructure, socio-economic crimes, mass murder of thousands, beheadings, mass kidnappings, mass rape of women, destruction of entire communities and gleefully making a show of it? 
THIS REPUBLIC   By Shaka Momodu, Email: shaka.momodu@thisdaylive.com. Tel: 0811 266 1654