Business as usual after Bushiri hosts live church service

The Enlightened Christian Gathering leader and his wife Mary are now considered fugitives by South African authorities, after fleeing to Malawi but despite violating his bail conditions, self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri took to online to hold his first virtual church service since fleeing to Malawi last month which was well attended by his followers around South Africa and other places in Southern Africa. Although they face fraud, theft and money laundering charges to the tune of R102 million, and were granted bail of R200, 000 each. South African authorities are now pursuing an official extradition process to return the pair to stand trial for their alleged crimes in South Africa. It is still not known exactly how they managed to leave South Africa. Bushiri said he would approach the Malawian government for assistance, and reportedly has a number of demands for the South African government to meet before he and his wife returned to stand trial. Bushiri voiced “safety and security issues” for he and his wife, saying the threats escalated when they got out of jail. He also said they were in Malawi temporarily. In another development, a Malawian government official has declared that the Malawian government will handle the extradition with care and would not be pressured to hand over its citizens. Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola has revealed that the South African government expects to send documents of the extradition process of fugitive pastor, Shepherd Bushiri and his wife, Mary, as prescribed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) protocol. “We expect them to send the extradition papers in two weeks instead of the 30 days set by SADC. “It’s date we have set ourselves as the central authority because we understand the urgency of the matter and upon sending the document we will communicate with our colleagues in Malawi with the requests that have been mentioned in the documents,” he said This came after a Cabinet meeting was held on 18 November. The Bushiris violated their bail conditions by skipping the country to Malawi. Speaking to the media, Lamola said Cabinet was “satisfied” with the manner in which the justice, crime, prevention and security cluster had handled the Bushiris’ matter. However, the minister added that it had not yet been established how the couple escaped the country. “Cabinet was also briefed on the issue of Mr. Shepherd and Mrs. Mary Bushiri, who fled to Malawi while out on bail following charges of fraud and money laundering. “I don’t want to fuel any further speculation on how they fled South Africa, but warrants of arrest have already been issued and they have been reflagged by international organization Interpol in the process. After that then the provisional arrest will be able to kick start the extradition process under SADC protocols. “They will without a doubt be back in South Africa so they can stand trial and we assure them that the legal process will be fair, as it has always been. “We are confident that the Malawian government will handle the extradition, and the matter overall, with care. We believe that the Malawian judiciary is robust and capable of withstanding pressure on any matter,” he said. The Bushiris were due in court on the matter in January 2021. The first warrant of arrest was issued for the couple last month, while a second warrant of arrest was issued by the North Gauteng High Court early this month. They were each required to regularly present themselves to authorities as part of complying with their bail conditions and that they have failed to do. Compiled by Nica Richards

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Comrade Sunny Ofehe is a Nigeria-born; Dutch environmental rights activist and political activist whose activities focus on the environmental degradation in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria and in extension the general condition of the people of Nigeria. He does not shy away from expressing his opinion on matters of national interest from time to time. He has lived and settled in the Netherlands since 28th November 1995 after he fled the country under the late military dictator, Sani Abacha. Comrade Ofehe founded a non-governmental organization called Hope for the Niger Delta Campaigns (HNDC) headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 2005. HNDC has focused on bringing the plight of the people of the Niger Delta to international awareness. The HNDC facilitates dialogue with all concerned from community to governmental level, such activities have exposed his life to danger several times but according to him, it is a price worth paying to see his people treated fairly and justly in sharing and distributing of natural resources of the country. He has taken his fight to the door steps of the Royal Dutch Shell in The Hague and brought them to court. He started a publication - Niger Delta Diaspora magazine called “Inside Niger Delta Magazine”, all as part of his efforts to expose the plight of the people in the Niger Delta region. In 2017, Ofehe joined the political race to become Governor of Delta state of Nigeria, an adventure that we are sure he has not abandoned but for a later date. Now he is involved in promoting the interest of the people of Nigeria to his vast international networks and bringing development to his people and reducing the dependency on the government to solve all the nation’s problems. Despite his very busy schedule we pinned him down for this exclusive interview on the state of the nation and most recently the global cry of Nigerians to end SARs and restructure the country. We wanted to hear his take on this national matter and he did not disappoint us. Listen and read excerpts from the interview.

TV: Northern leaders recently met in Kaduna where they accused the EndSARS protesters of seeking to dismember the country. What is your opinion on this? Comrade Ofehe: On the accusation of the EndSARS protesters by the Northern elders that the protesters are seeking to dismember the country, I consider this accusation preposterous and lacking any iota of merit. This presumption is rather a baseless accusation. We must remember that the matter of SARS and Police brutality in the country has been a public discussion for a long time. There is hardly any Nigerian today that has not experienced some form of police brutality even including people from the Northern part of the country. It shouldn’t surprise anyone and we must not play any form of politics with it. Like I said earlier, it’s a matter that affects us all. The sad reality is that successive governments have failed to take a proactive action to end police brutality. So the recent actions from them towards innocent citizens generated public anger that led to the recent violent protests across the country. Though, I must admit that some of the protests turned violent with wanton destruction of public and private properties and looting. This is usually expected when hoodlums hijack or infiltrate any peaceful protests.

The protests were not targeted towards any part of the country, as the composition of persons that took part in the protests, cut across all the geographical and ethnical section of the country including the North. We saw protesters from all tribes, religion and varying age groups coming together in one of the most sophisticated forms of peaceful protests not seen in any part of the world. Despite being peaceful, people came together to show the world that we could be our neighbor’s keeper. It was more like a carnival with sharing of food, drinks and medical materials. To brand such a peaceful and well-coordinated action by the protesters dismembering of the country by a supposedly elite group of Northern leaders undermines the protesters rights to peaceful assembly. People have the right to demonstrate peacefully and Governments should respect international law and let them do so. TV: They also called for censorship of social media. What is your perspective on this? Comrade Ofehe: It is a fundamental human right for people to gather to celebrate or to air grievances, in public spaces and online. The UN Human Rights Committee, whose experts monitor how countries implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights advise that Governments cannot block internet networks or close down any website because of their roles in organizing or soliciting a peaceful assembly. Governments cannot prohibit protests by making generalized references to public order or public safety, or an unspecified risk of potential violence, by using the reason to censor the social media. The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, extends to digital activities, this protection of the right to peaceful assembly extends to remote participation, including online assemblies. Though, activities of social media users can actually be alarming. Fake news spreads quickly with social media, which is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. We must admit that some stories and pictures shared on the ENDSARS protest were founded on falsehood. These actions by a few unscrupulous groups must not be allowed to diminish the overwhelming powers and advantages of social media usage. The right to peaceful assembly extends to online activities. Therefore, the governments should not block or hinder Internet connectivity in relation to peaceful assemblies. Some tyrannical countries have censored social media activities in their countries but it never helped in any way. Remember, the matter social media censorship has already been taken care of, when Nigerians overwhelmingly rejected the bill at the Senate. TV: The Inspector General of Police and the Senate president also attended that regional meeting. What in your opinion are there implications of a security chief and the nation’s number 3 person attending a regional meeting? Comrade Ofehe: Let us look at it this way, both the Inspector General of Police and Senate President are from the Northern part of the Country. Considering the caliber of personalities attending such events, it is not out of place for both parties to attend if invited. It is usually the practice to invite dignitaries from one’s area to attend such a forum. Don’t forget that the Presidency also requested cabinet Ministers to go back to their various States and meet with their constituents at the peak of the protest. So there is nothing wrong with attending such meetings. Though some persons from the North seem not to agree with disbanding SARS, there is no intentional bias to take side with one’s people as against other regions. TV: Are you not scared that the police are virtually on strike and the president is not ordering them back to work?

Comrade Ofehe: The EndSARS protest has two-dimensional effects on the Nigerian Police. The first is that it exposed the police brutality suffered by many Nigerians while at the same time exposing the poor condition suffered by our brave police officers in uniform. At the beginning of the protests the police were drafted to maintain peace and order while at the same time protecting private and public properties until the protests were hijacked by hoodlums, the police and their stations became targets of attacks. We even saw how prisons were taken over and prisoners freed in some states across the country. In the aftermath of the protests turning violent, the police officers became victims. There were horrible videos and pictures circulated on social media showing police officers being beaten and some even burnt alive. When you have a situation where your workstations become targets of arson and officers wearing uniforms are attacked on the street then you have to take precautions. The precautions some of the officers have taken are to go to work not wearing the uniform. This has made most police officers virtual on the street. Though the whole protest is for the overall benefit of the police. The President has ordered a judicial review of what happened and most importantly has agreed to look into the welfare of police offices. The both arms of the National Assembly have also agreed to push for police reform while ready to approve meaningful police reform bills. As for the President not ordering them back to work, that has always been the man’s style of handling issues of National discussed. Calm and relaxed in the face of National outcry, this method as applied by Mr. President doesn’t translate into taking sides. It is just a style of leadership approach adopted by him, though Nigerians don’t seem to like it. TV: There are issues around IPOB causing unease in the South South, what is your take on their agitation and the method they’ve adopted? Comrade Ofehe: The protest took more prominence in the South/South and South/West region of the Country. IPOB agitation has been on for long, but their recent disturbance is taking advantage of the ENDSARS protest to drag the South/ South region to sympathy with their course. They wanted to impress the militants to probably take up arms and this is the hijacking the Government is talking about, that the genuine course by the ENDSARS Protestants has been hijacked. Everyone who knows me and what I stand for can testify to the fact that I am a strong proponent of a united Nigeria. In our nation’s diversity, I see a lot of strength and that has been shown in the cause of our nascent history. What Nigerian needs to benefit economically from our diversity is patriotic leadership. Countries like China, Russia and India are global economic players because of the population and diversity. These are part of the many characteristics that make up Nigeria. So we must not allow the greed of politicians and agitators divide us with ethnicity and religion. The June 12th Presidential election that offered our country Muslim-Muslim tickets, yet we all came together to make it the freest and fairest election in our history is the hallmark of our strength. Therefore, I am not in support of the IPOB agitation and the violent method they adopt. Self-determination as the IPOB agitation can be categorized denotes the legal right of people to decide their own destiny in the international order. As we know Self-determination is a core principle of customary international law, which is also recognized as a general principle of law, enshrined in several international treaties. However, the general approach must be peaceful and diplomatic. TV: There are fears that the country may be heading towards a major conflict. What in your opinion can be done to avert this calamity? Comrade Ofehe: On the issue of the country heading towards a major conflict. YES! People are now becoming more paranoid, especially as current economic hardship seems to be more prevalent on the people. Now they are taking it on their elected representatives in various tiers of government. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in a report about poverty and

inequality from September 2018 to October 2019, said 40% of people in Nigeria live below the poverty line. In Nigeria, poverty can be traced to low or declining levels of economic growth, income inequalities, unemployment, corruption, bad governance, diversion of funds into non-developmental projects, fund embezzlement, inappropriate macroeconomic policies, inadequate endowment of human capacity. There are structural issues bothering on governance and system failure as well. These issues should be looked into and addressed

as a matter of urgency. Issues such as the large remuneration given to government officials, agitations of restructuring, resource management, devolution of power to the Federating units, State and regional policing vis-à-vis true Federalism and recommendations of past national conferences should be looked into. We saw a lot of looting during the demonstrations and this can be attributed to the high rate of poverty among the people in the country. Once the government can address these issues I have mentioned, the people will enjoy the benefits and the impending calamity can be avoided. TV: How do you assess the war against terror in Nigeria against the backdrop of the recent rescue of an American by the United States’ special forces on the soil of Nigeria? In all honesty, I am personally disappointed in the way the country has managed the war against terror. It is very disturbing when we hear how the Boko Haram terrorist group has overrun our military in the North East. We should not forget that the Nigerian military has had a very good reputation internationally and our strength and capacity made us the pride of Africa. The Nigerian military have led so many international peace missions in countries like Liberia and Sierra-Leone. To now see that we have not been able to declare full victory over our home terror group calls for national concern. There is no sincerity in fighting the war against terror in Nigeria. There is a connivance of certain people at the top with the terrorists and sabotage of government sincere efforts in fighting terror. Government should therefore do more in the area of intelligence gathering so as to outsmart these terrorists. Modern warfare now uses intelligence and unmanned drones to flush out enemy targets, our fight against Boko Haram should shift to this direction. The United States successful operation in Nigeria soil points in that direction, and this is one approach being adopted in the modern day war against terror. So information gathering should be given more attention, as against moving troops to troubled zones, without proper fighting hardware and aerial backup. TV: Some people feel that Nigeria has never been as divided as it is presently. What or whom do you think is responsible for this and how do we pull back from the brink? Comrade Ofehe: Our country has never been more divided as it is today. This is the sad reality and it should give every Nigerian serious concern. As I earlier said, our diversity should be our strength and not divisive. Though the issue of division has always been there, however, the political class is more responsible in dividing the Nation further. Politicians have either played the ethnic or religious cards while seeking elective office. Rather than divide us with their rhetoric, they should use their campaigns and office to unite us as a people. Religious differences also play a key role in this, but politics of concentrating more resources, developmental projects and appointments on one region, particularly where the President hails from to the detriment of other regions, contributes greatly in dividing the Nation. So, a fair resource allocation, even distribution of projects and carrying the whole country along on the issue of political appointments and employment will unite us. As the saying goes, injustice somewhere, is seen as injustice everywhere. TV: Some people talk Resource Control, some talk restructuring, some talk separation while some feel the country is just fine as it is. Where do you stand here?

Comrade Ofehe: Resource Control, Restructuring, Devolution Comrade Ofehe with his business partner & friend, Prof. Dr. Ernest Franzek

of Power etc are all elements of the Federal system of Government that we are professing to be practicing. However, what we practice is not true Federalism, as too much power is still concentrated in the center. I strongly believe in true Federalism. Once we practice true federalism, every other mentioned element like resource control, restructuring will be embedded in our day governance. Maybe then those who agitate for separation will embrace our newfound system of governance. The journey to a prosperous Nigeria requires each of us to work together in harmony. This way we can achieve the dreams of our founding Fathers. TV: Thank you for your frank discussion and wishing you success with your future endeavours. Comrade Ofehe: Thank you too for the opportunity and let us continue to promote the unity of Nigeria, as we have no other country we can truly call our own.