*  Giwa Amu shower’s money
*  Gift on Nigeria’s Leading
*  Human Right body organization
*  The Civil Liberty Organization

 

This is an empowerment for CLO, to go out and sensitize Nigerians that the storm is gathering, the tornado has come and that was how Chief Gabriel Giwa Amu explained his donation of one million naira ($ 8,500) to the CLO at the weekend.

 

Chief Amu, who also handed the key of a Toyota Cienna Mini Van, to the chief president of CLO, Mr. Igho Akeregha, said that the CLO to regain its characteristics swagger and mobilize Nigerian citizens to their civic charity of holding elected officials accountable.

 

According to him, the Shenanigans of bad governance remain pervasive and must be confronted. Chief Amu upon learning that the CLO has no copies of the Laws of Lagos State, made copies donated huge bonded copies. He also gave the organization five laptops computer, which was timely, as internal bickering had nearly paralyzed body.

 

Foreign grant for Nigerian Human Right groups dried up with the erroneous impression that democracy is working in Nigeria.

 

The Late Chief M.K.O Abiola, donated N150, 000 to the CLO in 1991 to find it’s highly acclaimed expire of prison conditions in Nigeria, behind the prison walls. The late legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi also made copies of law report available to the CLO. Amu is the single private Nigerian donor to the organization. His contribution to the organization in the neighborhood of N3m.

 

Chief Amu told the groups at the occasion, which include the acting president of CLO.
Mr. Igho Akeregha -- Acting President
Osaze Lanre Nosaze -- Executive Director
Halima Ibrahim – National Treasurer
Princewill Akpakpan – Head Litigation Unit

 

In addition, other officials that extra-judicial killing persist in Nigeria, the member of Chief Bola Ige, Bayo Olu and others remain unsolved.

 

Below is the full text of Chief Amu Statement.

 

“Today, it is my pleasure to welcome you all, to Chief Giwa-Amu’s Chambers and to this epoch-making event of the presentation of a space wagon Toyota Sienna Le utility car and five hi-tech Toshiba brand laptops computers to one of the leading Human Rights crusaders in Nigeria  the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO). Since the tragic annulment of June 12, 1993 election, the country has been hopping from one problem to the other.

 

“Nigerians will not forget in a hurry the formation of an illegal Interim National Government headed by Ernest Shonekan, the November 17, 1993 coup that brought the remnants of the evil regime back to power, the arrest and imprisonment of late M.K.O. Abiola, then the fathomed coup and the eventual aftermath in the conviction of Military officers, civilians and Journalists on trumped-up charges of concealments by publishing coup-related stories.

 

“The problem then became so compounded that the rest of the World considered massive sanction against the pariah Military State of General Abacha. It is on record that the Clinton Administration demanded from the Abuja despot an unconditional release of all political detainees while at the same time calling for the release of a comprehensive programme for an early return to civil rule.

Well-meaning Nigerians, Pro-democracy groups including the CLO who were at the vanguard of the agitation for a drastic change, heaved a sigh of relief. They however did not stop from demanding that Nigeria the sleeping giant in the African sun wakes up to its responsibility.

 

“As expected, some pessimist under the stained garb of patriotism lambasted these progressive Nigerians branding them ‘unpatriotic’. Almost a decade after, the situation in Nigeria today is not better, in other words, it is safe to say that it is now more pathetic. Not with the comatose situation that our various institutions have found themselves, is it Education, Power, Health or the astronomical rise in the volume of unemployed graduates. These are ominous signs that Nigeria is drifting towards the cliff-edge.

Since the return to participatory democracy on May 29 1999, the leadership it seems is bereft of ideas and lacks the vision to move this nation to the next level. No thanks to the eight years, Olusegun Obasanjo wasted, as one cannot point to any masses-oriented programmed of that regime.

 

“Yar’ Adua his stooge has not fared better, as corruption and visionless policies seem also to be the trademark of his administration.

Today the freedom cry is becoming more audible than it was during the regime of the late dark-goggled despot. Go through the streets of Nigeria and what stares you on the face are fellow Nigerians looking gaunt like a ghost, their once velvety skin now coarse and crinkled like a trampled foil, the exuberant luster in their eyes has vanished and is replaced by sickly amber.

Most Nigerians you see walk on our streets now have unsteady gait and often times crashes into someone walking opposite them. Take a ride in our public transport today it is not out of place to see your fellow man sitting with a long lost look in the distance of their blink less gaze with words quarrelling in their mouths.

“The situation we face today is such that an average Nigerian now looks tense and terrified, always suspecting that every passing person has a mission to do him some unspeakable harm. That is what they have turned us into.

Unemployment growth has hit the roof; the fresh graduates strut confidently from office to office, so sure of the potency of their papers, the intrepidity of their certificates. They lumbered through a couple of interviews but tailed off with the inevitable assurance ‘You will be hearing from us’

With so many hopes dashed, so many doors shut against their faces, their clothes soon began to wear off, and their shoes spotting a grotesque morphology around the heels. To eat becomes a dreadful problem, living, gradually turning into an uninterrupted nightmare with nowhere to turn to.

Ladies and gentlemen, if we are not playing the ostrich, with our Nigeria today, take this as a clarion call on you all to take the gauntlet and wake up our leaders from their long slumber, wake them up to their responsibilities. This is not a matter of who will bail us out of the impending yet avoidable cataclysm; we shall all rise up and emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because no one else will do it for us.

 

“As a co-traveler, I have watched the activities of the Civil Liberties Organization over the years. I have also had cause to exchange ideas on one or two occasion with the late Chima Ubani when he was alive. He was a man with rare and unique skill and a fine gentleman.

 

“The body’s concerted efforts at freeing Nigerians from the grips of the mindless and ruthless leaders who has held us all by the noose for so long is quite commendable. They have shown resilience, doggedness, and firmness and if the common saying that the tree of liberty is watered by the blood of martyrs, they paid that supreme price with the blood of my fellow comrade Chima Ubani. We all recall that fateful day, in circumstances that is shrouded in controversy, his life was snuffed out. I am extremely proud that in spite of this huge loss, the body have remained consistent and dedicated to the ideals of the founding fathers. They have remained committed to addressing the sorry plights of the downtrodden, the hewers of wood and the drawers of water whose in alienable rights have been muzzled by some elements we often referred to as the cabal.

“They have remained committed to breaking the shackles placed on us by the modern day imperialist and the burgeoning political class that is bereft of ideas and the vision to move this nation forward.

An African adage says, “You do not hunt parrots with bare hands”, if that is a truism, then we should admit that the CLO has an arduous task at hand and it should be supported morally and financially. With all modesty, let me give this token as my own way of lending my weight behind the noble cause for which you are known for.

“However, I look forward to a time when your entire struggle will translate to a total freedom for the Nigerian masses. Then we shall gather again to celebrate our emancipation from this age long slavery.

 

Once again, welcome to Chief Giwa-Amu’s Chambers and thank you for listening”.

 

..............................................
CHIEF A.G. GIWA-AMU
A.G. Giwa-Amu & Co.

 

blog comments powered by Disqus