Headline
133m Poor Nigerians: Buhari Dragged To Court Over Failure To Probe Spending On ‘Social Intervention Programmes’
Published
6 months agoon
By
Editor
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari over “the failure to thoroughly, effectively and transparently investigate spending on all social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes and projects executed between 2015 and 2022.”
Joined in the suit as Respondent is the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
A recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows damning revelations that some 133 million Nigerians are poor, despite the government reportedly spending N500 billion yearly on ‘social investment programmes.’ Half of all poor people in the country are children.
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2357/2022 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to “direct and compel President Buhari to thoroughly and transparently investigate the spending on all social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programs and projects executed between 2015 and 2022.”
SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel President Buhari to ensure that suspected perpetrators of corruption and mismanagement of public funds meant to take care of the poor face prosecution, as appropriate, and any stolen public funds are recovered.”
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that, “Nigerians have the right to be free from poverty. Allegations of corruption in social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes pose both direct and indirect threats to human rights, and contribute to extreme poverty in the country.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “Investigating the allegations of corruption in the spending on social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes and projects and recovering any stolen public funds would serve the public interest.”
According to SERAP, “The Federal Government has a legal responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability in how public funds are spent, to reduce vulnerability to corruption and mismanagement.”
READ ALSO: Buhari Opens Up On Death Claim, ‘Jubril From Sudan’
SERAP is also arguing that, “The government has legal obligations to effectively and progressively address and combat extreme poverty as a matter of human rights.”
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi, and Blessing Ogwuche, read in part: “The failure to address extreme poverty has resulted in high levels of inequality, and serious violations of economic and social rights of socially and economically vulnerable Nigerians.”
“The NBS report suggests a grave violation of the public trust, and the lack of political will by the government to uphold the country’s constitutional and international human rights obligations.”
“The consequences of corruption are felt by citizens on a daily basis. Corruption exposes them to additional costs to pay for health, education and administrative services.”
“Corruption undermines economic development of the country, trapping the majority of Nigerians in poverty and depriving them of employment opportunities.”
“Extreme poverty is the greatest denial of the exercise of human rights, as it denies millions of Nigerians not only their economic and social rights but also civil and political rights such as the rights to life, human dignity, and political participation.”
“The failure to address extreme poverty has resulted in high levels of inequality, and serious violations of economic and social rights of Nigerians, particularly the socially and economically vulnerable sector of the population.”
READ ALSO: Your Christmas Message Is Meaningless, Blackmail, Group Takes Swipe On Buhari
“The report that 133 million Nigerians are poor suggests corruption and mismanagement in the spending of trillion of naira on social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes, including the reported disbursement of over $700 million from the repatriated Abacha looted funds to these programmes.”
“The report also shows that the purported social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes are clearly not working. It also shows a failure by the government to uphold the constitutionally and internationally guaranteed human rights of the Nigerian people.”
“The government has a sacred duty to ensure transparency and accountability in the spending of the country’s resources, including the spending of public funds on social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes and projects.”
“Section 14(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] provides that, ‘the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.’”
“Under Section 16(1)(a)(b), the government has the obligations to ‘harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient, a dynamic and self-reliant economy’, and to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen.’”
“Nigeria has also ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which recognize legally enforceable economic and social rights, such as the rights to education, health, safe food and clean water, security, and shelter.”
“Successive governments have systematically neglected social and economic rights, and failed to address severe poverty and inequality in the country.”
“The allegations corruption and mismanagement in the spending of public funds on social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes and projects would clearly amount to a fundamental breach of national anticorruption laws and the country’s international anticorruption obligations.”
“The 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey reveals that 65% of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (nearly 47 million) live in the South. Poverty levels across States vary significantly, with the incidence of multidimensional poverty ranging from a low of 27% in Ondo to a high of 91% in Sokoto.”
READ ALSO: Groups Drag President Buhari To Court Over New NDDC Board
“The NBS also shows that over half of the population of Nigeria are multidimensionally poor and cook with dung, wood or charcoal, rather than cleaner energy. High deprivations are also apparent nationally in sanitation, time to healthcare, food insecurity, and housing.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
VANGUARD
You may like
-
You Destroyed Nigeria, Did Nothing Better – Sowore Knocks Buhari, Osinbajo
-
Buhari Leaves Eagle Square For Daura
-
JUST IN: Buhari Constitutes Boards Of Aviation Agencies Hours To Leave Office
-
JUST IN: Buhari Renames 15 Airports After Awolowo, Danfodio, Idiagbon, Others
-
Buhari Confers National Honour On Anyaoku, Emefiele Others
-
FULL TEXT: Buhari’s Farewell Speech
Headline
BREAKING: DSS Arrests Ousted CBN Governor, Emefiele
Published
10 hours agoon
June 9, 2023By
Editor
The suspended Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has been arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS.
Emefiele was earlier suspended on Friday by President Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu also appointed Mr Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi as the acting Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, in replacement for Emefiele.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: President Tinubu Fires Emefiele As CBN Governor
Details to follow…
Headline
Delayed Justice: 3 States In US Remove All Time Limits On Child S3x Abuse Lawsuits
Published
17 hours agoon
June 9, 2023By
Editor
Ann Allen loved going to church and the after-school social group led by a dynamic priest back in the 1960s.
The giggling fun with friends always ended with a game of hide and seek. Each week, the Rev. Lawrence Sabatino chose one girl to hide with him. Allen said when it was her turn, she was sxually assaulted, at age 7, in the recesses of St. Peter’s Catholic Church.
“I don’t remember how I got out of that cellar and I don’t think I ever will. But I remember it like it’s yesterday. I remember the smells. The sounds. I remember what he said, and what he did,” she said.
Allen, 64, is one of more than two dozen people who have sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine, over the past year, seeking delayed justice since lawmakers allowed lawsuits for abuse that happened long ago and can’t be pursued in criminal courts either because of time limits or evidence diminishing over time.
More survivors are pursuing cases as states increasingly consider repealing time limits for child sex crime lawsuits. Vermont was the first state to remove the limits in 2019, followed by Maine in 2021 and Maryland this year.
Michigan, Rhode Island and Massachusetts are poised to take action before their legislative sessions end.
“The momentum is irreversible,” said Marci Hamilton, CEO of CHILD USA, a think tank aiming to prevent child abuse and neglect.
In April, Maryland lifted time limits on child sexual abuse lawsuits against institutions less than a week after the attorney general detailed decades of abuse of more than 600 children by over 150 priests associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Other states, meanwhile, have briefly removed the statute of limitations on lawsuits for childhood abuse. More than 10,000 lawsuits were filed when New York set aside time limits for two years.
Across the country, those lawsuits have targeted churches, summer camps, scout groups and other institutions accused of enabling pedophiles or turning a blind eye to wrongdoing.
READ ALSO: Trump Indicted In Classified Documents Probe
More states eliminating the limits would help achieve justice and prevention, according to advocates who say survivors tend to keep the trauma to themselves, backed by new research suggesting survivors typically come forward in their 50s.
“More and more people come forward as they realize that they’re not alone,” said Michael Bigos, one of Allen’s attorneys, whose law firm has brought 25 lawsuits since last June and is evaluating more than 100 additional potential cases, including about 65 targeting the Portland diocese.
In his law offices, Allen looked at a photo of herself at her first communion at St. Peter’s, which serves what was once Portland’s Little Italy neighborhood and hosts a popular street party each summer.
The photo was taken after the assault. Her joy and exuberance are gone. “When I look at it, I see a pretty damaged child,” she said.
Sabatino quickly became part of the fabric of St. Peter’s when he arrived in 1958 after leaving another church where parents reported to police that he had sexually abused their 6-year-old daughter. The priest was warned by the Diocese of Portland not to engage with children or play games, but was soon doing both.
Parishioners, including Ann Allen’s family, invited him into their homes. He visited her family’s beach house.
READ ALSO: JUST IN: Ex-US Presidential Candidate, Renowned Religious Broadcaster Dies At 93
Allen thought she was lucky when she was selected to hide with him. But the abuse became a dark secret she carried for decades.
She never considered telling her parents. Allen said she didn’t think anyone would believe her.
“School principal in California, Allen was protective of children, especially those who reported abuse. She would try to help them and say right things — things she wished had been done for her. Then, she went home to “curl up in a ball,” she said.
But her secret came bubbling back when she returned to Maine and had to confront her past, she said.
Robert Dupuis tells a similar story.
He was 12 years old in 1961 when he was abused by the Rev. John Curran in Old Town, a riverside city in Maine. Decades later, he sought help from Alcoholic’s Anonymous when his marriage was in jeopardy. He acknowledged the abuse in group therapy, at around age 55, and the revelation changed his life.
“It healed me and it freed me from holding back,” the 74-year-old said.
His marriage and friendships have improved, he said. Now, he encourages others who have been abused to come forward.
Most of Maine’s newly filed civil lawsuits target the Diocese of Portland, accusing leaders of ignoring accusations against priests like Sabatino and Curran, or simply moving them to new parishes, allowing the abuse to continue.
Diocese officials concluded that allegations against Sabatino and Curran were credible. Both have long since died.
Maine removed its time limits in 2000 to sue over childhood sexual abuse, but not retroactively, leaving survivors without recourse for older cases. Changes in 2021 allowed previously expired civil claims. The Legislature also is considering easing the statute of limitations on criminal charges for sexual assaults of children.
The Portland diocese contends survivors had ample time to sue and it’s unconstitutional to open the door to new litigation, which could lead to requests for damages of “tens of millions of dollars.”
A judge rejected the arguments. The diocese has appealed to the state supreme court. An attorney and a spokesperson for the diocese both declined comment.
READ ALSO: Trump Risks 10 Yrs In Prison Over Classified Documents Case Indictment
For Patricia Butkowski, it was 1958 when her family alerted police that she said Sabatino assaulted her at a parish in Lewiston. After the diocese transferred him to Portland, Allen and others became victims.
“I’m now at 70 feeling emotions and allowing myself to feel emotions that I never knew I had. Anger is at the top of it. I’m like a volcano spewing and there’s just so many emotions, and anger at the church,” she said.
Butkowski, who now lives in Oklahoma City, wants the church to apologize and acknowledge the wrongs done to her and others so she can “hopefully regain some sort of faith before I die,” she said.
“What was done to me by the priest damaged my soul,” she said. “I don’t have a soul anymore. It’s broken.”
Headline
Trump Risks 10 Yrs In Prison Over Classified Documents Case Indictment
Published
21 hours agoon
June 9, 2023By
Editor
Former US President Donald Trump faces seven charges as he has been charged over his handling of classified documents after he left the White House.
The 76-year-old if convicted, might be jailed for a maximum of 10 years as it was the second indictment in three years.
BBC said the charges against him including unauthorised retention of classified files are yet to be made public.
Trump is campaigning to make a return to the White House in 2024 and legal experts have said the indictment will not prevent Trump’s ability to run for the presidency again.
READ ALSO: Trump Indicted In Classified Documents Probe
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he was innocent and had been summoned to appear at a federal court in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday afternoon, where he will be arrested and hear the charges against him.
“I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former president of the United States,” he wrote.
He added, “This is indeed a dark day for the United States of America. We are a country in serious and rapid decline, but together we will Make America Great Again!”
Trump’s attorney Jim Trusty said the former president had received details of the charges in a summons document.
READ ALSO: Trump’s Lawyers Meet Over Documents Probe
He said they include conspiracy, false statements, obstruction of justice, and illegally retaining classified documents under the Espionage Act.
However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to comment and the indictment has not been publicly released, BBC said.
An indictment is a document that sets out details of charges against a person, ensuring they have notice of alleged criminal offences.
The Secret Service will meet Trump’s staff and his security officers to plan his journey to the Miami courthouse.

I Would Have Slapped Kwankwaso If I Met Him In Aso Rock – Ganduje Fumes

Troops Neutralize 6 Bandits, Recover Arms In Kaduna

Burna Boy Continues World Stage Onslaught

Communal Clash Claims Seven, Injures Scores In Delta

BREAKING: COVID-19 Heath Workers Block Hospital Management Board’s Entrance, Demand Payment Of Allowances In Edo

Edo Guber: ‘Oshiomhole’s Triumphant Entry Has Left You In Trauma, Demoralised,’ APC Mocks PDP
Trending
-
Business1 week ago
BREAKING: NNPCL Confirms Increase In Fuel Pump Price
-
Headline1 week ago
President Biden Falls On Air Force Stage
-
News6 days ago
Fuel Subsidy Removal: Embrace Bicycle – FRSC Urges Nigerians
-
Metro7 days ago
JUST IN:Yahaya Bello Escapes Death As Gunmen Attack His Convoy, Injure Security Aides
-
Headline3 days ago
Tragedy As Nigerian Woman Of Four Shot Dead By US Neighbour Over Children’s Disagreement
-
News6 days ago
EFCC Seals Off Abuja, Rivers Properties Of Delta Federal Lawmaker-elect Over Corruption Allegations
-
Headline6 days ago
Sweden Declares S3x As Sport, To Hold First Competition Thursday
-
News5 days ago
BREAKING: Federal High Court Restrains NLC, TUC From Embarking On Strike