Opinion
Buhari, Boko Haram And The Bismarck (1)
Buhari. Buratai. And ‘The Bismarch’. What is the link?
The first, we know, and know very well. He is Nigeria’s serving President. The second, we know. And very well too. He is currently Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), an implacable nemesis of terrorists wherever they may exist on Nigeria’s soil, as the scoundrels of Sambisa Forest have since found out.
And The Bismarck? Here, we need to dig a little into the history of World War II. The war was fought in the sea between the British and German navies. For easy understanding, let us rely on the story of one aspect of the sea war as told in the historical film titled: “Sink the Bismarck!”
The nine-year World War II was fought by two major power blocks. There was the Axis powers, led by Germany with Italy, Austria, Japan as major players. The Allies had Britain as leader with France, Poland, the then Soviet Union, Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada etc as members.
By 1942, the war was at its bloodiest. The tenacious British and allied armies were taking a pounding in North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea theatres of war.
Out of fear of possible attack from the northern flank, the German leader, Adolf Hitler, had decided to attack the Soviet Union. He had hoped to quickly crush the Soviets, then turned his full attention against the Allies in the western and southern fronts.
The new Soviet front gave Britain and the Allies the much needed breathing space and time to re-arm and re-inforce. While doing so, they also backed Soviets who, apparently, were not fully prepared for the German invasion and therefore needed help. To help out, Britain had to dispatch convoys of ships laden with critical war supplies to the Soviets. The only viable convoy route was the North Atlantic Ocean through the cold Arctic Ocean corridor to the Soviet Union. It was a murderous gauntlet.
In response, the German Navy unleashed its U-Boats, as its submarines were known. And did the U-Boats cause mayhem! The sea corridor was littered with ship debris from both sides. Allies ship losses were becoming unsustainable. The situation was not only desperate, but also critical.
The Japanese had thrown caution to the wind and bombed United States’ Pacific Ocean strategic naval out-post, the Pearl Harbour. The US promptly declared war on the side of the Allies. This was a huge morale booster to the stretched Allies, especially Britain. With it came million-tonnes of much needed war supplies, and thousands of well-trained military personnel.
To the Germans, it was an unacceptable nightmare. Should all these supplies get to the fronts, Germany would bleed excessively. To check the steady inflow of arms and other war supplies from the US to Britain, the Soviet Union and other fronts; the German Navy put to sea its naval joker: The Bismarck.
As at then, it was said to be the latest, best equipped naval predator afloat. This sea monster of a battleship was appropriately named after a former German leader, Otto Von Bismarck, also known as the “Iron Chancellor” on account of his no-nonsense grip on the country.
And so, The Bismarck was let loose against Britain’s North Atlantic convoys. This sent jitters down the British War Office. The Bismarck was way too dangerous a ship to be toyed with. And it proved just that at its very first encounter with three British warships sent to stop it. In the brief battle that ensued, The Bismarck, with one shell, blew to smithereens the British battleship: “HMS Hood” which sank within minutes.
The second ship was damaged. The third ship thought better than to continue the clearly one-sided duel. Both surviving ships lived to tell awesome Bismarck’s story.
The sinking of HMS Hood sounded the alarm bell. The British Admiralty, which runs the navy, has just had its worst fears confrrmed. While the German High Command clinked glasses and gloated at its new found sea supremacy, The Admiralty, whose sleep The Bismarck had murdered, was burning the midnight oil on how to reign in this naval monster.
A flurry of meetings followed in quick successions. After reviewing all the reports from the meetings, the First Sea Lord, The Admiralty’s overall commander, saw only one option: “Sink The Bismarck!,” he roared. “1 don’t care what it costs. 1 don’t care what it takes, just sink The Bismarck!”
More flurry of activities followed. Fighting ships supporting troops in North Africa and the Mediterranean war theatres were withdrawn into a task force, which promptly set out in search of the German sea terror.
With support from squadrons of naval· airplanes, The Bismarck, all bristling with monstrous guns, was finally located. Wave after wave of air attacks failed to dent it. They did, however, succeed in knocking out its rudder. This looked minor. Even The Bismarck’s captain didn’t think much of it.
However, to the smaller British battleships, it made a whole lot of welcome difference. The German ship could still throw its huge shells at its British adversaries. But it could neither speed nor maneuver.
This allowed its smaller but more maneuverable enemies to concentrate their collective fire power on the helpless German sea pride. And so lethal and effective was their fire power that, by the time squadrons of Luftwaffe (German Air-force) planes arrived the scene on a rescue mission, The Bismarck, the new found but short-lived pride of the German Navy, was already entombed in its watery grave thousands of feet in the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Now, it was the turn of The Admiralty and the War Office to clink glasses and exchange pats on the back. For the Germans, the pill was simply too bitter.
Back to Nigeria. The scenario is not exactly the same. I mean, Nigeria is not involved right now in any World War. Its navy is not locked in any mortal combat like those of Britain and Germany.
All the same, the country is at war. An equally bloody, murderous war. One that similarly threatens its sovereignty. The war, still on-going, is not with another or other countries. But with a terrorist group, Boko Haram. Nigeria’s own version of The Bismarck.
Internationally, Boko Haram is classified as the most vicious, dangerous and blood-thirsty terrorist group on planet earth. That makes the on-going war in the country’s North East, a Boko Haram enclave, very serious, as a matter of fact, more serious than the British/German sea war, given the scale of lives and property destroyed with the attendant massive dislocation of social, economic and political life of the people.
There is though a big difference in the way each country reacted to the threat to its sovereignty. And that accounted for the very low loss on the British side, and horrendous loss on our side. The British Admiralty correctly identified The Bismarck as a mortal threat to the country. It responded promptly and decisively. So decisive that the German warship was never again allowed the luxury of gloating over its sinking of another royal navy ship. “The HMS Hood” was its first and last victim.
The Admiralty’s iron will, decisiveness, prompt and telling reaction enabled Britain to eventually win the sea war.
Uhor, Vice President-General, Rivers State Council for Islamic Affairs, wrote from Port Harcourt.
Nasir Awhelebe Uhor
About six years ago, my client, a UK-based Nigerian widow, became the target of an audacious scheme orchestrated by a notorious syndicate of land grabbers operating under the guise of a land owning family in Ikeja, Lagos. Their objective was clear: to dispossess her of her rightful ownership of three plots of land situated behind the former Tasty Fried Chicken building on Opebi Road, Ikeja. In a disturbing abuse of judicial process, these individuals approached a Magistrate Court then at Ikeja Local Airport, and by misrepresentation and fraudulent manipulation, secured a writ of possession against my client. It appeared their strategy was anchored on the assumption that the rightful owner was deceased. However, unknown to them, my client was very much alive, she only passed on last year.
Following this fraudulent judgment, the land grabbers, aided by a lawyer with an infamous reputation in the Ikeja axis for such sharp practices, took swift and forceful possession of the land. They began advertising the property to prospective buyers, offering each plot for several millions of naira. Upon being alerted by my client’s tenants, I conducted a search and discovered that the defendants had surreptitiously instituted the action using one of their own as the purported adverse party, who did not contest possession. Realising the magnitude of the fraud, I promptly secured my client’s Certificate of Occupancy and filed an application for joinder and a motion to set aside the judgment, backed by robust documentary evidence and affidavits deposing to the true facts.
The defendants, in a desperate and laughable defence, relied on a purported judgment allegedly delivered in the 1920s, claiming global ownership of lands stretching from Ikeja to Agege. When pressed to produce a survey plan or other definitive means of delineating the land covered by such a judgment, they failed woefully. The supposed plan was neither attached nor frontloaded.Fortunately, the presiding Magistrate, a sharp, fearless, and principled judicial officer saw through the deception and set aside the judgment accordingly.
What followed was a calculated legal standoff. After some days passed, I anticipated that the defendants would file a notice of appeal along with a motion for stay of execution, I acted strategically: by 8:00 a.m. of that day, possession had been recovered, effectively foreclosing their efforts to frustrate justice. They served their notice of appeal and motion for stay by 9:00am as I had anticipated.
Predictably, they resorted to harassment by filing a spurious petition at the Lagos State Police Command, alleging trespass. When that failed, they escalated the matter to the Assistant Inspector General of Police at Zone 2, Onikan. However, following a comprehensive review of all court documents and the title records, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, an officer of commendable integrity, sternly warned the fraudulent parties and their counsel never to return with such frivolous claims. He also threatened legal consequences for presenting forged or misleading documents. Regrettably, such land-grabbing tactics are far from isolated. I am presently handling another similar matter at the High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja Judicial Division. In this case, a property owner based in Jos, who has been in undisturbed possession of his land since before the Nigerian Civil War, was excluded from a suit for possession. The Plaintiffs falsely claimed adverse possession and obtained judgment using a family member as a nominal defendant. This is a land that had been returned to the owner (my client) by the Lagos State Government post-war, after a temporary wartime acquisition.
That matter is ongoing, and we remain confident that justice will again prevail. These cases serve as stark reminders of how certain individuals exploit procedural loopholes, such as substituted service and fictitious defendants, to perpetrate judicial fraud. It is common practice for notices of service to be pasted at the premises at odd hours, quickly photographed, and removed before anyone notices, thereby fabricating compliance with due process. This modus operandi, if not checked, undermines the integrity of our justice system. It may very well explain the plight Mr. Peter Obi’s brother, whose reported dispossession, despite a valid Certificate of Occupancy and long-standing possession, calls for judicial scrutiny and legal redress. While the wheels of justice may turn slowly, they remain capable of grinding exceedingly fine, provided legal practitioners act with diligence, and judicial officers remain vigilant and impartial.
There is a compelling need to amend our procedural rules regarding the use of unnamed or unknown persons as defendants in land litigation. Courts, both at High Court and Magistrate level – should be mandated to conduct locus in quo inspections where defendants are purportedly unknown or where substituted service is claimed. Such reforms will deter fraudulent practices and restore public confidence in the judiciary.In conclusion, let it be reaffirmed: the Nigerian legal system, though imperfect, is still a formidable instrument for the protection of property rights when wielded with integrity, precision, and tenacity.
Ubani, is a legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, Legal Advisor of Assemblies of God, Nigeria.
By: Monday Onyekachi Ubani
As the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), contemplates banning the production, distribution and consumption of sachet alcoholic beverages across Nigeria, the move has raised mixed reactions among Nigerians and interest groups. According to NAFDAC the proliferation of sachet alcoholic beverages has been linked to abusive usage resulting in increased health complications, and drunk driving that causes road accidents. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) corroborates some of NAFDAC’s claims. FRSC records show that the 10,617 road accidents recorded in 2023 were due mostly to over speeding and drunk driving.
It is noteworthy that the availability of alcohol in less than 200ml PET bottles and in sachets, makes alcohol quickly consumable even during work hours. Without standardised packaging and regulatory labelling compliances, most of these sachet products are unregistered, come with questionable contents and form the bulk of illicit alcohol. Though lesser in volume, their high alcohol concentrations makes them highly intoxicating. Their ready availability at motor-parks, increase over-indulgence by commercial drivers, most of whom thereafter mount the wheels on low mental alertness.
Alcohol is known to reduce mental acuity and consciousness of the mind. Endowing its addicts with elixir feelings that momentarily blur reality, the alcohol effect additionally boosts self-rating and confidence, placing addicts on realms of happy possibilities where almost every dream is attainable, even if unrealistically. By the time the effect wanes addicts are known to be sad to face stark reality, which is why most are prone to retaking repeated doses to shoot themselves back to the fantasy world. Such fantasy is also the reason many youths and adults would rather invest daily in game-betting gambles than invest in micro innovations that guarantee real economic advancements.
The dawn of neo-medicinal alcohol being marketed in sachets as herbal remedies for organ cleansing, aphrodisiacs, anti- malarial and diabetes cures, is drawing increasing patronage from gullible Nigerians, even as these claims remain medically questionable. Following the rising patronage, all shades of manufacturing quackery are currently cashing-out from the market. Because of the harmful health effects of quack products, it is no wonder that sicknesses relating to organ-damage and male impotency are on the increase. Apart from drunk-driving and the health risks posed by over-indulgence in alcohols, the precious time wasted by addicts in unproductive day-dreams, which should have been deployed to meaningful economic ventures, is also a concern. In times of economic difficulties, as presently facing many Nigerians, there is need for mental clarity to enable one articulate ways out of hardships.
These outcomes may have informed NAFDAC’s decision to pursue banning easily consumable volumes of alcohol. If the ban becomes successful, those who like alcoholic drinks would still enjoy them by taking bigger packs which are low in concentration. Bigger bottles are likely to be consumed at leisure times after work due to their sizes. At that point, most consumers must have spent a productive day, yet have time to enjoy some booze. NAFDAC’s decision to ban unhealthy, anti-productive alcohol packs should therefore be encouraged. It is however, unfortunate that even as NAFDAC had set a long-term goal to achieve the ban, from as far back as 2018, through the then Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Folorunsho Adewole, and had engaged manufacturers on a five-year phase-out plan, the ban has failed to materialise. This is despite the signing of a five-year moratorium document between the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN) and the Association of Food and Beverage & Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) on one hand, and the Ministry of Health, NAFDAC and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (ECCPC), on the other.
Recall that same year, the minister had out-rightly banned over-the counter use of codeine syrups following a BBC documentary on the consequences of its abusive use in Nigeria. NAFDAC’s inability to check the indiscriminate use of sachet alcohol years after the expiration of the signed moratorium highlights how vested interests may stifle good institutional objectives. It becomes worrisome when the pressure on NAFDAC to shelve the ban on harmful alcohol is coming through a hallowed institution, like the House of Representatives. NAFDAC had swiftly introduced the ban on February 1, 2024 after the expiration of the five-year moratorium. But no sooner had the House come upon it to lift the ban. At the moment, the ban stands temporarily lifted till December 2025 even as lobbies intensify.
For the house to claim that “the ban was ill-timed because of the current economic conditions, staggering unemployment, soaring inflation and high rate of poverty,” it raises many questions about the rationale of members of the house, considering the correlation between alcohol addiction and the inability to exit poverty. Members of the legislature should be from the finest minds who go for the sublime. Why would members of the House choose to endorse a situation that is currently ensnaring many into addiction and anti-social behaviours, than safeguard societal sanity? Even as members of the house argue that sachet alcohol sales is sustaining some micro businesses, the anti-social behaviour and health risks engendered by such sales out-weigh any derivable economic benefits.
Opponents of the ban who support the house may also argue that the ban targets low-income earners who patronise sachet products due to affordability, and may further point out that substitutes of other herbal/alcoholic concoctions being marketed as health remedies are available through unregulated markets. Bowing to such arguments would mean that NAFDAC should choose a defeatist position, wherein it has been overwhelmed at discharging its core mandate of safeguarding the health of the nation. As NAFDAC mediates through legislative challenges and lobby groups, members of the executive should bear on the assembly to allow the institution pursue its core goals. Not doing so would be to build a nation of drunkards, where lunatics roam the streets.
By: Joseph Nwankwor