Roving Informant

Tuesday, 1 March 2016

"No Bank Day" In Nigeria!

A not-for-profit group, Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria, dedicated to advocacy for consumer rights and protection is supposed to lead a Tuesday, March 1 protest, tagged "No Bank day", to boycott banking activities to protest exorbitant deductions by banks.

Roving Informant went round some banks around Ajah, in the Lekki - peninsula axis of Lagos state, to see if the "No Bank day" boycott was observed.

Indications from pictures taken of different banks shows that there was normal activities in banks on Tuesday, March 1st.

Abduction Of Her daughters, Confiscation Of Her Academic Papars, Traveling Passports, Canadian Residential Documents By In-Laws, Ex-Minister's Estranged Daughter In-law Cries Out!

Over the failed move by the Nigeria Police and their marriage sponsors to intervene in the case of gross domestic violence (wife battering in which Christina lost two pregnancies, also while beating her, her hairs pulled to the very level that she had to go on low-cut), undue interference in a marriage by the mother-in-law, abduction of her two daughters and restraining her from knowing of their where about nor seeing them, seized academic papers, traveling passports, Canadian residential documents alongside her personal belongings; Christina Onwuliri the estranged daughter in-law to Lady Viola Onwuliri, wife of Late Professor Celestine Onwuliri, and Nigeria's Minister of state Foreign Affairs and later State Education, in Ex - President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, have accused her mother in-law, of undue interference in her marriage, in which the mother - in-law imposed decisions on the young couple. Christina has called on the Human Rights Commission to investigate and intervene the matter.

Christina and Hubby Chukwuemeka Onwuliri

Five years after their marriage, Christina said it’s been war between herself, her mother in-law lady Viola Onwuliri and her husband Chukwuemeka Osmond Eleihe Onwuliri over lady Viola Onwuliri's undue and unhealthy interference in the relationship of her children’s marriages. “Since our marriage was contracted, my mother in-law has continually decided what happens in my home, thereby having undue and unhealthy interference in the relationship with my husband. She said.

“Between 2011 and 2014, while I was living in Port Harcourt with my husband, he physically and mentally abused me. For example, when arguments concerning on way forward in the marriage, he gets infuriated and physically beats me and locks me up in the toilet for as long as he wishes,” she stated.

As informed, the current happenings which has escalated to the very level of the daughter in-law being locked out of her matrimonial home by her husband after being manhandled and abused by him has been a matter of review before the Nigeria Police and Human Rights office in Abuja. Not only that the former Minister allegedly influenced the reason to what made her son to lock his wife out of their matrimonial home and took possession of her two grand children.

lady Viola Onwuliri

“In another interference of my mother in-law, she said that my husband is not obliged to keep me in Canada where we based or elsewhere in the world. And after this encounter with her, my husband told me we will be visiting Nigeria in February. I had no misgivings about it.

“When we arrived the family house in Owerri, I noticed the presence of a Catholic priest, a serving Honourable member of the State House of Assembly and few others that I don’t know their names. Later, I noticed that my husband picked up a bag and was leaving without prior information to me. Cautiously, I approached him to know where he was going, but to my greatest surprise, he violently pushed me into a room and locked me up.

“At that point, I saw those men taking my children away without my consent. Then, I started screaming and was helpless but had no option than to start breaking the window panes in the room to get myself out. When they saw I was breaking the glasses, one of the drivers opened the door and I came out shouting for help, and then my children were nowhere to be found.”

The Onwuliri's in response to the accusations brought against them tagged Christina a 'Mad woman' whom the family has done everything to alleviate from her poverty background, including securing an academic job for her father. This claim was however disputed as recent publication by Ugochukwu Favour-Mayor, who paid Christina a visit in her father's house in Owerri - Imo state capital, revealed that Christina showed no signs of mental ailment, also that Christina's father have been in Imo State University’s Faculty of Engineering since 2006.

Christina and her father

In a quick move to rate her an ex-wife against the threat of rising media reports and reactions in her favour, news revealed that the Onwuliri family had served a divorce notice to Christina.

NNPC Moves To Tackle Fuel Crisis!

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has appealed to Nigerians for understanding and support as it works towards a stable supply of products across the country.

In a statement on it's twitter page, the NNPC revealed that the management is doing everything possible to end the prevailing challenges experienced by motorists, commuters & the general public in accessing fuel.

To this respect, the Group Managing Director, and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has activated an intra-Ministerial Joint Monitoring Task Force made up of officials of DPR, PPPRA, and PPMC, to ensure and enforce compliance to the rules and regulations governing the supply and distribution of petroleum products.

The statement also revealed that the NNPC is partnering with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria in a bid to end the resurgence of fuel queues across the country. The collaborative efforts is expected to see that queues disappear in the days ahead as supplies are ramped up across the country.

Accordingly, there have been increased daily fuel supply to filling stations in the Abuja through Suleja Depot and Lagos area by an additional 50 trucks. Supplies to Port Harcourt, Calabar, Kano and Kaduna cities have equally been increased.

Monday, 29 February 2016

Increasing Cases Of Abduction, Faith Conversion And Forced Marriages!

Following the recent abduction of 13 years-old Ese Oruru, from her home in Bayelsa state, Southern Nigeria, by some Fulani/Hausa men, on August 12 2015, and taken to Kano North-Western Nigeria, for underage marriage, a rights group identified as The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), in a statement issued on Tuesday, March 1st, called on Nigerian authorities to immediately ‎commence the prosecution of the abductor, Yunusa Yellow.

Ese Oruru

In an exclusive audio recording obtained by PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, February 29, Ese Oruru said she came to Kano to convert to Islam.

“My name is Aisha Chuwas. I am 17-year-old. I came here to be a Muslim and I will stay here,” she said in the audio.

In the statement, MURIC's Executive Director, Ishaq Akintola said Yunusa‎’s action ”violated the law and caused a Christian family to go through a traumatic period‎.”

”Our position is based on the fact that the girl is a minor,” the group said. ”Attempting to marry off the girl without her parent’s permission is not only a breach of common law but also a violation of the Shariah provision on the need for the parents’ approval before nikah (Islamic marriage) can be deemed valid (La nikah bila waliyyin)

”Of particular significance in this regard is the express command in the Glorious Qur’an that women should be married with the permission of their parents. The Qur’an says inter alia, “ …And marry them (i.e. women) with the permission of their parents(Qur’an 4:25).” He said.

It will be recalled that in 2013, the dailies was agog with the case of a 26 year-old-lady Charity Uzoechima, who gained admission into the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State in 2012 to study Public Administration but converted to Islam and could not accomplish her academic pursuit.

Charity was reportedly kept in the palace of Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, for “safety”, for three months without any contact with her family was all over the news.

In an exclusive telephone conversation in 2013, Charity now Aisha, called on Nigerians to leave her alone to practice the religion of her choice, pointing out that nobody forced her into the religion and she should be left alone.