“WHY WE HAVE NOT REMOVED DEAD PERSONS FROM VOTER REGISTER, BY INEC”
The Independent National Electoral Commission has linked its inability to expunge dead Nigerians from the nation’s voter registration to the absence of adequate data of dead people.
INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this when he received chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra, at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja on Friday.
Currently, 84,004,084 Nigerians are registered to vote but there are fears that the INEC register is grossly inaccurate due to the failure of the commission to remove dead persons from it.
INEC and the NPC had in 2018 signed a Memorandum of Understanding that would see the NPC providing information of dead voters to the electoral umpire but not much has been achieved.
Yakubu explained that the commission had been conducting a periodical cleaning of the voter register by removing ineligible persons or multiple registrants from it using a combination of technology.
He, however, regretted that technology cannot assist the commission to identify and remove dead persons from the record.
He maintained that although INEC has the largest biometric register of citizens in Nigeria complete with photographs and fingerprint information for voter authentication, there is a need to further enhance the credibility of the voter register.
The INEC boss, therefore, called on the NPC to periodically avail the electrical umpire data of deceased Nigerians for a proper clean-up of the register.
“Perhaps you may wish to start by availing us with the list of prominent Nigerians who have passed on, civil and public servants compiled from the official records of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other Nigerians from hospital and funeral records across the country,” Yakubu told Kwara.
“We appreciate that this is a herculean task but that is partly why we have an NPC. We are confident that NPC has the capacity to do so. This information is critical for INEC to enhance the credibility of the National Register of Voters,” Yakubu said.
Curiously, old boys of St. Gregory’s College love dogs. However, their wives are not so keen on keeping dogs as pets. Beware. Hence, they have sent out a huge warning courtesy of the front page of “The Punch” newspaper of September 25, 2021.
“UNGUARDED DOG BITES OFF ONDO UNDERGRADUATE’S PRIVATE PARTS.”
“A dog, identified as Charlie, has bitten off a part of the private parts of a yet-to-be-identified undergraduate of the Adekunle Ajasin University, in the Akungba Akoko area of Ondo State.
City Round gathered that the student had visited a friend at the Vanilla Villa, around the Permanent Site, outside the school premises when the dog attacked him.
During the attack, the dog reportedly bit the victim’s private parts but some good Samaritans came to his rescue.
The Public Relations Officer of the institution’s Students Union Government, Oluwafemi Adegbeyeni, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent, said the undergraduate was rushed to a nearby hospital.
He said, “From what I gathered, the student went to visit a friend at Vanilla Villa, around the Permanent Site. Maybe knowingly or unknowingly he was bitten by the unguarded dog. The victim was quickly rushed to a hospital for treatment because the dog bit off part of his private parts.
He is currently being treated and still alive and that is the information I got from people who live in the area. The incident happened in the morning and from what we gathered, the dog has been a threat to people living in that area but we have been warning students to secure their dogs. The incident happened outside the school premises.”
A post on Instagram made by Instablog9ja showed when men of the Ondo State Police Command arrested the dog at a hostel where the incident occurred.
Footage attached to the post showed a man tying the dog to a patrol van. The police were later seen taking the dog away in the van.
Efforts to get a reaction from the state Police Public Relations Officer proved abortive.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Funmi Odulami, said the dog bit the upper thigh of the victim, adding that the impact of the attack affected the undergraduate’s scrotum.
She said, “A pit-bull dog known as Charlie, two years and three months old, owned by one Abass Olagunju, 24, a 400-level Animal Science student at the Faculty of Agriculture, Adekunle Ajasin University, attacked and bit one Sadiq Opeyemi, 18, 100-level of the same department, at their hostel in Vanilla Villa Permanent Site, Akungba.
Opeyemi Sadiq, who was running to meet the owner of the dog, was attacked by Charlie. The bite affected the skin of his scrotum. He was immediately rushed to Inland Specialist Hospital, Ikare, where he was treated and discharged.”
As evidence that human beings can be as savage as dogs, “The Punch” newspaper added the following headline:
“HOW HOODLUMS KILLED LAGOS POLICE CHIEF WITH MASTER’S IN LAW MONTHS TO RETIREMENT”
“Fresh facts have revealed the gruesome manner in which a Chief Superintendent of Police attached to the Lagos State Police Command, Kazeem Abonde, was murdered on Thursday by hoodlums in the Ajao Estate area of the state.
Abonde, who was also a lawyer, was killed nine months after his retirement from the Nigeria Police Force and became a full-time legal practitioner at a chamber based in Osogbo, Osun State, City Round learned on Friday.
He was lynched during a joint operation on the enforcement of the ban on motorcycles plying restricted routes in the state while one of the police operational vans took to the neighborhood was destroyed.
The raid was reportedly carried out by a tactical team comprising operatives from the Operations Department of the state police command headquarters, Ikeja, the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, Rapid Response Squad, and the Ajao Estate Police Division.
The spokesperson for the police in the state, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, in a statement on Friday, said the team had also raided flashpoints in the area and wanted to leave the estate when the hoodlums struck.
He said, “After the successful operations which led to the arrest of some of the suspects, other criminal elements and hoodlums in their large numbers laid siege to the exit of the estate and attacked the policemen with guns, cutlasses and other weapons. Unfortunately, during the fatal attack, CSP Kazeem Sumonu Abonde attached to the Operations Department of the command was brutally killed by the hoodlums.
“The DPO Ajao Estate, CSP Abdullahi Malla, and other police officers equally sustained varying degrees of injury. The corpse of the deceased officer has been deposited at the Yaba Mainland Hospital for autopsy.”
Ajisebutu said the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, had ordered an investigation into the incident and vowed to ensure that those responsible for the dastardly act would be brought to book.
A colleague of the deceased who spoke on condition of anonymity told our correspondent on Friday that Abonde was supposed to retire from the Force in June 2022 and had planned to practice as a lawyer afterward.
“He was already preparing for his retirement. He was a lawyer and wanted to join a chamber he co-founded in Osun after retirement. Abonde was a fine officer and we will sorely miss him,” the colleague said.
Another source close to the late Abonde said the 54-year-old slain officer was enlisted in the Nigeria Police Force in June 1987 and rose through the ranks to a CSP in June 2019, lamenting that his death was devastating.
“He studied Law at the Lagos State University. He graduated in 2014 and proceeded to Law School. He became a barrister in law in 2016 and went back to LASU for a master’s degree. He bagged LLM (Master in Law) in 2019,” the source added.
Our correspondent learned that Abonde, a native of Ona Ara Local Government, Oyo State, was the Divisional Police Officer, Ilemba Hausa, Lagos, before he was posted to DOPs, his last place of assignment where he was Operation Officer 1.
Meanwhile, the Executive Chairman, Isolo Local Council Development Area, Adebayo Olasoju, has appealed for calm by the residents of Ajao Estate and other concerned parties regarding the attack.
Olasoju in a statement on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Iskilu Alao, said the chairman, some officials of the council, and the Area Commander, Area D Command had visited the scene of the incident.
The statement read in part, “Ajao Estate being a major entry point especially to foreigners coming into our dear nation deserves the serenity obtainable in a city of equal status in advanced countries.
While the investigation into both the remote and immediate causes of the violence is being carried out, the law-abiding citizens of Ajao Estate are hereby urged to go about their lawful business as there is enough security presence to forestall resurgence.”
The Chairman, Community Development Committee, Isolo LCDA, Adesegun Olatunde, said the executive had stopped movement of Okada motorcycles on the estate as one of the immediate measures to address the violence.
He said, “No okada motorcycle is allowed on the estate for now. We are going to have a PCRC (Police Community Relations Committee) meeting today (Friday) to deliberate more on it. Some years back, they (okada motorcycle riders) had issues and they went destroyed an armored tank.
After that incident, they were not allowed to operate in Ajao Estate. But after the #EndSARS protests, they suddenly resurfaced and started operating. On Osolo Way and the 7/8 bus stop, you would see them on the road. They were not organized at all. Now, they have created problems for themselves. You cannot kill a senior police officer and go scot-free.”
The task force said on Thursday that 410 motorcycles were impounded on prohibited routes in Isolo, Ojodu-Berger, Ojota, Lagos Island, Surulere, and Second Rainbow along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.”
“The Guardian” newspaper confirmed its appetite for dodgy (or dog) stories with its front-page story on September 25, 2021.
“ANAMBRA DOG TRAGEDY: UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITIES OF FOREMOST DOMESTICATED ANIMAL.”
“The dog has been a human companion for more than 18,000 years, making it one of the first domesticated animals in history. However, keeping dogs as a pet comes with a lot of responsibilities. In fact, in the southeastern part of the country, there is an adage that warns thus: “The dog that laughs also bites”. Thus, as friendly as dogs are, they can also be very aggressive.
In a response to a question on why people keep pets, particularly dogs, on www.quora.com, one MJ Lejer wrote: “Because dogs can be a wonderful addition to someone’s family and/or themselves. Dogs are affectionate, loyal, loving, can offer an alarm system, and are the warm and cuddly nest to you if you have been kind and loving to them! But dogs are a responsibility; they require care, food, water, shelter… and some training if they are to be good pet citizens. And that responsibility can be from eight to 20+ years, depending on the breed! But their companionship and unconditional love can be a tremendous reward for taking care of them right!”
Lejer’s submission is quite apt, especially when considered against the backdrop of the incident that happened at Global Growth Academy, Amokpo, Umuanunwa, Nteje, Anambra State, last Saturday, where 11 dogs belonging to the owner of the school feasted on a two-year-old pupil.
It was reported that the school’s proprietor, Chief Chinedu Oka, is a returnee from the United Kingdom and that the victim was taken to the school for enrolment by his parent when the incident happened.
A source had said: “A parent took the child to the school for enrolment when the incident happened. The owner of the school rears dogs on the premises, despite the community’s warning against it. While the parent of the child was perfecting the documentation and registration of the child, the child wandered off.
On sighting the baby, one of the dogs rushed at him and dragged him into their pen where about 10 of them devoured the two-year-old boy without any school official on hand to rescue him.”
The development reportedly angered members of the community’s vigilante group who entered the school’s premises and killed all the dogs.
A similar incident had happened in September 2014 at 35 Adegboyega Street, Akesan, Igando, Lagos. In the incident, then four-year-old Omoniho Isaac Abraham narrowly escaped death as two dogs belonging to the caretaker of the house, Stanley Jegede, pulled out his skull. Two elder brothers to the victim also got injured while trying to evade the dogs’ attack.
Narrating the incident then, the father of the victim, Abraham Odia, said his wife went to buy something for the children, shortly after she left, the children came downstairs with their bicycles to play as he lives upstairs.
But unknown to them, the giant dogs belonging to the landlord’s brother, Jegede, were not chained.
“Immediately the kids came down, two of the dogs chased them. The third dog was chained. The children ran back upstairs, but the dogs chased them up. Three of them ran up, but the dogs still attacked them forcing the other two who were 12 and seven years old to jump down and leave their younger one who could not jump. They sustained fractures on their legs. The dogs pounced on the boy who could not jump, tore his skull, and battered his face,” he said.
What could have gone wrong with the dogs that made them turn violent? Or was it the fault of the victims? What should a household consider before choosing a dog as a pet and what kind of dog should they get?
The wives of Old Boys of St. Gregory’s College were adamant:
“NO DOGS ALLOWED WITHIN THE PREMISES
OF THE COLLEGE”
At King’s College, some dogs are more equal than others !!
Bashorun J.K. Randle is a former
President of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN)
and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region.
He is currently the Chair
