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Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
, 8 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
Yesterday was a terrible day for civic freedoms & constitutional expression in #Nigeria. The "conviction" of IG Wala on charges of criminal defamation, unlawful assembly & incitement was almost certainly designed to chill civic freedoms. Here's why & how
premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines…
The allegation is that Mr. Wala made false allegations against the chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Abdullahi Mukhtar. Assuming this to be the case, this is easily redressed through proceedings in civil not #CriminalDefamation
#CriminalDefamation was invented by colonialists to knee-cap the anti-colonial struggles. It has been struck down as unconstitutional in most African countries, including most recently, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Gambia. #Nigeria can't do worse
cpj.org/2018/05/lesoth…
5 yrs ago, In December 2014, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights struck down #CriminalDefamation as incompatible with the African Charter, (which is domestic law in Nigeria) preserving only the crime of incitement to mass atrocities
ipi.media/african-rights…
In 2010, continental human rights watchdog, @ACHPR, held #CriminalDefamation constitutes serious interference with free expression & impedes the media as watchdogs, preventing journalists and media practitioners to practice their profession without fear
achpr.org/sessions/48th/…
Concerning the crime of unlawful assembly, Mr. Wala was convicted because his Citizens Action To Take Back Nigeria (CATBAN) is said to be unregistered. But "unregistered" is not "proscribed". There's no requirement limiting the right to protest to only registered entities; none!
Finally, concerning incitement, making factually inaccurate claims against the head of the Hajj Commission could easily be civil libel. But it can't possibly (under any guise) rise to the threshold for the crime of incitement under either the Criminal Code or the Penal Code.
On all scores, the conviction of IG Wala is a travesty, which should not be allowed to stand. It should easily be set aside on appeal. Sadly, he would have spent quite considerable time in prison for crimes that don't exist & for prosecution that is evidence of abuse of power.
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Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
Tomorrow, in Addis-Ababa, the Peace & Security Council (PSC) of @_AfricanUnion meets in emergency on the situation in Sudan under. Nigeria will chair it. It's the 1st meeting of any policy organ of the #AU on the epochal situation unfolding in Khartoum
dailytrust.com.ng/nigeria-assume…
Sudan matters to the stability of Africa in a way that arguably no other country does. It is a complex, big, fragile country with borders to the most complex & fragile regions of the continent. The potential for regional stability contagion are huge if Sudan is distressed
Sudan is critical to stability in the #Sahel, North Africa, the #GulfOfAden, the #NileBasin, the #GreatLakes, East Africa; the Horn of Africa, Central Africa & #WestAfrica. There's no other #African country whose wellbeing can so ripple through the continent like Sudan.
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Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
Digital fraud has become a major industry in crime globally with guarantees of anonymity making it very difficult to prevent, detect & redress. Even by the standards of the Ether, some of the manifestations are truly breath-taking. Here's a story that dramatizes the point....
Paul Arisa was born in 1989. He graduated from Federal Government College (FGC) Ohafia in Abia State, #Nigeria, in 2007. He later went to Abia State University where he graduated with a degree in Estate Management. He had a promising future ahead of him.
Smetime in 2011, however, the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) diagnosed Mr. Arisa wth Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer. He was treated for the ailment there with chemotherapy & appeared initially appeared to make some progress
kelechukwuuzoka.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/sav…
Read 10 tweets
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Chidi Odinkalu
@ChidiOdinkalu
Despite manifest incongruities in the official story-line concerning @MBuhari's decision to remove the Chief Justice of Nigeria in Jan 2019, I was willing to suspend my disbelief & wait for govt to present evidence to support its claims of asset malfeasance in the #OonoghenTrial
When it launched its fevered campaign against the Chief Justice before the #OnnoghenTrial in the month before #NigeriaDecides2019, the govt claimed thro its hired hands that he had money running into Billions in multiple bank accounts & over 55 houses
premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines…
Hired amplifiers were procured to skewer a man who could not defend himself. In the media, he was a thief, a rogue & much worse. Digital lynch mobs, many of them amplifier bots with transparent ends to serve created a mood music with a life of its own
#OnnoghenTrial
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Charlie Robertson
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#Nigeria’s GDP slowly picking up since the oil price crash of 2014-16 - up 1.9% in 2018 (0.8% the year before). And last quarter of 2018 was best in years at 2.4% - but not fast enough to deal with Unemployment
If we look at Nigeria's economy and compare it to other oil exporters - it's better than some (Eq Guinea in Africa, Venezuela in Latam), and worse than others. But none have done great since the oil price fall began in 2014
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Christoph Koettl
@ckoettl
#Nigeria’s military used a speech by Donald Trump to justify shooting at protesters in October. We investigated what happened and uncovered that an elite battalion fired machine guns into a crowd of unarmed marchers. nyti.ms/2GwdKAW
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1. The marchers blocked traffic.
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Campaign
@realnews1234
This all started because the #MetPolice & #LBRUT couldn't do their day jobs properly & decided to take the law into their own hands. It started as a small cover up 12 years ago but has turned into British State Persecution.

#Skynews #BBCNews #DailyMail #Guardian #Euronews
My company was raided. It should have been a straightforward matter. But the #MetPolice & #LBRUT forgot to seize my computer & came back to do a 2nd raid. The search warrant didn't permit a second entry, however, #LBRUT entered unlawfully

#Guardian #Telegraph #DailyMail #GMB #UK
Complaints were then made to my MP #VinceCable. He liaised with the #Metpolice & #LBRUT. And then weeks later, the search warrant was completely changed & was passed off as the search warrant executed on the day of the raids.

#DailyPolitics #Libdems #Conservatives #labour #bbcdp
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Emeka Azuka Okoye
@EmekaOkoye
#Nigeria does not make or like #toys smh.

Africa exported $183.4m worth of toys led by the ff:

1. Tunisia: $70.3m
2. SA: $65.2m
3. Kenya: $11.2m
4. Morocco: $11.1m
5. Mauritius: $7.4m
6. Uganda: $5.8m
7. Madagascar: $4m
8. Chad: $1.2m
9. C.Verde: $1.1m
10. Zim: $936,000
/1
#Nigeria doesn't even like #toys smh.

Africa imported $1 billion worth of toys led by the ff:
1. SA: $459.4m
2. Morocco: $86.5m
3. Algeria: $78.5m
4. Egypt: $61.9m
5. Tunisia: $53.3m
6. Angola: $31.9m
7. Mauritius: $25.2m
8. Namibia: $20m
9. Djibouti: $18.5m
10. Libya: $15.4m
/2
140m Nigerians couldn't be #1.

Africa imported $40.1b worth of electronics led by the ff:
1. South Africa: $8.5 b
2. Egypt: $4.8 b
3. Morocco: $4.6 b
4. Algeria: $4 b
5. Tunisia: $2.7 b
6. Nigeria: $1.7 b
7. Ethiopia: $1.3 b
8. Ghana: $1.2 b
9. Kenya: $1.1 b
10. Angola: $1 b
/3
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Just Live With It
@bbc_thismorning
This all started because the #MetPolice & #LBRUT couldn't do their jobs properly & then decided to take the law into their own hands. The result of this decision has led to events stranger than fiction

#BBCNews #Skynews #Itvnews #Channel4News #ThisMorning #TheresaMay #UKGov #LBC
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#Guardian #Telegraph #DailyMail #GMB #UK
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#DailyPolitics #Libdems #Conservatives #labour #bbcdp
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SBM Intelligence
@sbmintelligence
Yesterday, a rare joint session of both houses of @nassnigeria met and issued resolutions that has set it on a collision course with @AsoRock, and holds important political and economic consequences for #Nigeria as it stares down the barrel of #election2019.
The tension between the 2 most important arms of the FG, both controlled by @OfficialAPCNg, has endured through the tenure of @MBuhari's administration and is consequential for the party, for the wider political state of the country and in driving economic policy.
Federal lawmakers, in passing a vote of confidence in the principal officers of @NGRSenate and @HouseNGR, condemned the “systematic harassment and humiliation by @AsoRock of perceived political opponents, people with contrary opinions including legislators and the judiciary,”
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