thegoodfellas/blogset-br huggingface dataset:
would still be in section, including some commercial and private businessmen, who would be at the mercy of the few commercial motorist that would be plying the roads. These people will have almost no bargaining power over these commuter drivers at this period. Prices in general will rise and it might not go down again, as price is one of the things that will always defy the law gravitational force that "Anything that goes up must come down".
Your Excellency, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Governor Ezenwo Nyeso Wike, I thank you so much for the road project you embarked upon in Rivers State, most especially, the one in Gambia Street, in Mile II Diobu area of Port-Harcourt, as that project affected me positively. Diobu area and D-line use to be among the prestigious areas of Port-Harcourt town. In the early 90s, there use to be regular flow of portable Pipe-born water in Port-Harcourt Township and Diobu axis of Port-Harcourt, which were among the three planned areas of Port-Harcourt Local Government Area, which also included old GRA. When there was shortage of Portable pipe-born water supply in Diobu axis of Port-Harcourt, we usually carry Jerri cans to Gambia Street to get portable pipe-born water for our daily use. It was only after the year 2014, after the burnt down of Port-Harcourt power station which caused low power supply that traders and residents of Gambia Street began buying power supply generators for their homes and businesses. At the extreme of Gambia Street was an adjacent street called "Aynama", which connected Gambia Street to the popular Ikoku Street that was parallel to Gambia Street on the left and Okija Street was parallel to Gambia on the right. These two streets were famous for their business activities in all kinds of motor spare parts and industrial electrical equipment respectively. And then, with time the road on Ayama Street that linked Gambia to Ikoku and Okija was flooded which caused it to get spoilt. Grasses sprang up here and there on the road and due to neglect; it covered the whole of Anyama Street. The houses began to collapse as repairs were not done on them due to loss in their value. And the mechanics took over the empty plots of land in Gambia and Anyama streets. The situation remained that way since the early 90s, and the only road into Gambia Street was the entrance through Ikwerre Road, and the problem with that was that there was a mosque on the out-sketch of that entrance. And so, on Fridays, for about two hours or thereabout, the road was usually taken over by the Muslim faithful who had gone to the mosque to pray. And so every Fridays, at about 1:00pm until 2:30pm, the entrance at Gambia was usually blocked to vehicles until the prayer was over. As a result of the bad roads which resulted in loss of value of the houses there, shanties sprang up in and around Gambia Street. The Muslim merchants and their petty trader set up their quarters close to their mosque, while the none-Muslims set up theirs towards the extreme of Gambia. The implication of all of these was that as people, especially those with low educational background and low income resided there, crime rate increased the in the neighborhood. Some visitors who went to the neighborhood to repair their cars in Gambia Street had their jewelries or their wallets snatched from their pockets or their necks. People seeking for houses to rent had refused to move
into the empty houses in Gambia Street and Anyama because of the violence. And to worsen the matter, when those who were residents there finished eating food from their take-away packs, they dump the packs into the gutter and the garbage flow down to the extreme of Gambia Street. And if the wastes were able to scale through the hurdles in the gutter, they end up in the Nta-nwaogba bridge, which is one of the causes of blocked of drainages in Port-Harcourt City today. To curtail the violence in Gambia Street, on few occasion, the police. Had driven into the street of Gambia to restore order as shooting between the factions were carried out by the youths there in broad daylight, which sometimes resulted in the locking of shops in Okija and Ikoku Streets. The hoodlums usually sight the arrival of the police van from a distance because there was only one entrance, and the hoodlums make their escape through the narrow tracks in the ghetto. The police had placed a container at the extreme of Gambia Street, intending to have an extension of mile one police station there but the question remained, "which group of the police would volunteer to be sleeping in the container". And so the container had remained vacant until this day. Many state administrators came to power and left, and Gambia Street still remained the way it was. I had a shop in Gambia Street to-let, but it remained vacant for almost two years. Then his Excellency, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Honourable Ezenwo Nyeso Wike went to campaign in the vicinity, and he promised to construct the roads in Gambia Street if elected into power. And so I begged God to let him achieve his ambition if he would construct the road for the people. Today the roads had been constructed and normal activity have almost returned to the area. And not only had the houses and shops been occupied gradually, the value of the houses have began to appreciate as well. The hoodlums have started leaving the area as the police had successfully made numerous entries into the neighborhood through the now numerous roads, and they had made huge arrests. The place is gradually becoming unsafe place for people with bad motives for moving into the area. Now while the Muslims are doing their prayers on Fridays, vehicles could still go in and out of Gambia through Ayama Street, which is adjacent to Gambia Street at its extreme. Another issue now is that the mechanics at the extreme of Gambia Street would not leave the area even after the deadline given to them had elapsed. They claimed the empty plots of land there are in contention between those who claimed to have bought them and the indigenes of the place, and that the government of the state had also come out to say the land belong to the government. The mechanics said that with this development, only the government could put up any structure there, and that apart from the government, either of the
other parties wishing to put up structures there would have to wait until the lingering issues are resolved, which might takes years. And that the government is not ready to put up any structure there at the moment, and so they have all the time in the world to remain there. My advice to the state government is to put a stand of solar energy light at the end of Gambia Street and another at Chief Jack's Lane, which is the gathering spot of the hoodlums. On Wednesday 23rd August 2016, a youth who seemed to have a little problem with speech had an ear-piece in his ear, from which he was listening to music in his touch screen phone. We watched the youth dance in front of the Church of God Seventh Day, and while he was leaving, as he was about to walk past Jack's lane five other youths rounded him up. One of the five youths held him by the collar and they pulled him into Jack's lane, and when next the youth walked back to Gambia Street after thirty seconds, he had only the ear-piece hanging on his neck. He was furious and actually managed to say that he would be coming back with the police to arrest everybody on the street, and the people were not moved by that at all. Instead, they sympathized with him for his misfortune. The free education programme embarked by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State is another good development. Although I really cant tell how he is able to sustain it in this present hard time. I spoke to a political science students of Imo State University about the scholarship programme for undergraduates from the state by the governor, and she told me that Governor Rochas Okorocha since 2013 had extended the free education programme to students from other states of the federation. By Damian Chidiebere Dike
My book "Both Sides of the Same Coin" published in UK by Damian Chidiebere Dike is now on display for sale in St Paul Books and Media Centre, Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA), at 2nd Artillery, Aba Road, Port-Harcourt. Tel:08137029258, 08100033655, E-mail:stpaulsph@gmail.com. Both Sides of the Same Coin is on sale in www.amazon.com for about 25 dollars, which is about N6,000. See link below: http://www.amazon.com/Both-Sides-Same-Coin-Damian/dp/1496982002.But at St Paul Book and Media Centre, the same book is going for about half that price. This offer will run until the stock available for sale is exhausted.Visit St Paul Bookshop and media Centre and you will be treated to the comfort befitting of a modern bookshop. You don't have to exert much energy as you simply walk in through an automatic slide door that opens as you approach and the bookshop is fully air-conditioned 24 hours. St Paul Book and media Centre, Port-Harcourt, with its 6500 square feet display area, is one of the largest Book Centers of our Province and is a well furnished state-of-art facility that offers a wide range of books and Religious articles procured from different publishers and manufactures from Asia, Europe and America. It also has a Chapel and a conference room. Heartbreaking and DiscouragingIt is heart breaking and discouraging to see your own people, who are supposed to be promoting your work even when they know you are doing below standard, but instead, they undervalue the work you have laboured to do for them, even when the work is above average standard required of such. This makes me want to say It is enough, I quit writing. But I wont say that because that will be giving up one single thing I know I can do with ease.Even though I am not going to give up on my writing soon, I have decided not to make anymore calls for book launch again, until my work begins to be appreciated by those who are supposed to do that, by this I mean my relatives, friends and colleagues, before I will be reconsidering my decision. Though, a lot of people showed encouragement, especially, the learned ones like a lecturer in my faculty who gave me N5,000.00 in appreciation for the work, a doctorate degree lecturer of education in University of Port-Harcourt gave me N5,000.00, a judge in Port-Harcourt gave me N30,000.00, a police ASP gave me N10,000.00 and finally, another lecturer in my faculty helped me to edit a work I did and he wants to have a talk with me probably on how I can improve on my work.Putting behind all these heartbreaks, I Damian Chidiebere Dike want to announce that yesterday 11/03/2016 seems to be one of the happiest days of my life. Remember the petition I made on Facebook on the first week of January 2016, see link; https://m.facebook.com/damian.dike1... it wasnt by mistake that I made that brief petition, I want to inform you that I began to reap its gain. Yesterday was one of my best days because I have been longing to publish my books
in Nigeria with a good publisher more than going outside the shores of this country to publish my works. This is because a mighty house or big tree must surely have a good foundation or solid roots to enable it stand for a long time.My happiness is that my work has finally gotten to the people who matters in Nigerian literary works. I have been longing to participate in this competition since April 2013 when I first heard of it, but I had to wait until 2016 before I could participate in it. The prize is something that can turn somebodys life around for the better and if one doesnt win the prize, ones work would circulate around the country, which could guarantee one a good publisher locally, but I am optimistic that this is my chance to win. I made my submission two days ago and yesterday they sent me an e-mail acknowledging receipt of my submission. I have been happy for the whole day like I have already won.
If you have been in the system, you will see that there are a lot of loopholes and the tendency to get corrupt in any level of government is always there. President Buhari was once the governor of North Eastern state in those days, later he became petroleum minister under Obasanjos administration and from there, he became military head of state. The former military head of State, General Abacha appointed him as chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund. Do you think some other person in his place will hold such positions and will not have houses all over Nigeria? It is believed that he has a bungalow in Daura, Kastina State, another one in Kaduna and a rented accommodation in Abuja and he is a former head of state.President Buharis qualities in his previous government as Military Head of State is one of the most vital element of his characteristics that distinguishes him from the other leaders, but the most interesting thing about him is that he listens to advice from all those who have made various contributions to his victory in the poll, but he makes the final decision. And most at times, he makes his decisions to favour the majority of his citizenry. According to Hans Kelson (1881-1973), an Austrian jurist, professor of law, justice of Supreme Court of Austria and author, his pure theory of law, tells us that A law is valid, because it derives its validity from higher norm, and that in legal system there is a hierarchy of norms, whereby inferior norms derive their validity from a higher norm, until we get to a grundnorm, which is the final authority in a given legal system, and the source of all laws and authority, beyond which we cannot look because it is the support base, supreme law, grand law, root, ultimate premise and source of all norms, and which is in itself not supported by anything. The Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 confirmed this stand in section 1(1), where it states that This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Section 1(3) says that If any other law is inconsistent with the provision of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void. These are parts of the supremacy sections of the constitution. In UK, Parliament is supreme and so laws made by the parliamentarians cannot be reviewed like it is done here in Nigeria by the judiciary through judicial review. The Acts passed by the Parliament in UK is not subject to be reviewed; they are valid and supreme. The Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 has directed that there is only one President for the Federation, he and not his associates can appoint people for position in the Executive and Judiciary. In section 147(3) it states that any appointment under subsection (2) of this section by the president shall be in conformity with the provisions of section 14(3) of
this Constitution. Subsection (2) of this section says that Any appointment to the office of the Ministers of the Government of the Federation Shall, if the nomination of a person to such office is confirmed by the senate, be made by president. And what did section 14(3) CFRN 1999 say? It States that 14(1) The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice, 14(3) The composition of the Government of The Federation or any f its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote National unity, and also to command National, thereby ensuring that there shall b no predominance of persons from a few state or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies. How far have the provision of section 14(3) been abided to by the administrators of this present government.? The entire sections of Chapter ll, which are sections 13-24 already have been made non-justiciable by section 6(6)(c) CFRN 1999, which states that The judicial powers vested in accordance with the forgoing provisions of this section shall not, otherwise provided by this constitution, extend to any issue or question as to whether any act or omission by any authority or person or as to whether any law or any judicial decision is in conformity with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy set out in Chapter ll of this Constitution only section 14(3) CFRN 1999 and section 15(5) CFRN 1999, has been made justiciable by the justiciable provision in section 147(3) CFRN 1999 and by the provision of Item 60 of the Exclusive Legislative List under Part 1 of the Second Schedule CFRN, 1999, respectively. In the case of Attorney-General Ondo State V. Attorney-General Federation, the Supreme Court held that court cannot enforce any of the provisions of Chapter ll of the constitution until the National Assembly has enacted specific Act as it has done in respect to section 15(5) CFRN 1999, which state that The State shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power. And so going back to the issue of our stake holders, we can hold to the argument that the stakeholders in the present government should have asked for a contract term before sinking their money in the project of electing a new president from an opposition party. They should have made it clear to the incumbent president before his election that they were investing in him for a reason, and they should have kindly told him that when they get to the villa, they would want to produce such and such positions in his administration. At least they can now sue on the contract or he can as well fulfill his promise as a gentleman. Barr. O.V.C. Okene stated that a contract is an agreement which the law will enforce or recognize as affecting their legal rights and duties. This means that there must
be mutuality of purpose, which is the meeting of the mind or intention of both parties to be bound by the terms of the contract. There is a call for Senate president to sack his vice to retain his seat; does he have the constitutional backing to do so? Dont you think that a strong opposition to the ruling government in the senate is not what is needed now to fortify the present administration against corruption? Take for instance confirmation by various people all over the federation that electric power supply has been on its peak even when much cant have been achieved on it in just thirty days of the present administration. It means that enough electric power to be supplied was there in the past administration but that some people were making profit from the non supply of electric power to the masses. One reason is that some small group will have to procure diesel at exorbitant price to power important sectors, there will be importation of refined petroleum at exorbitant prices coupled with illicit subsidy, and there will still be the importation of substandard power generating sets into the country. No wonder we hear every day of people climbing high tension poles to cut electric cables, not to mention the vandalism of transformers, and most of these vandals have been found electrocuted in the act. In another case instance, where the Federal Government presumes it needs six hundred billion for whatever purpose that may or may not be justifiable at the end, if it controls the majority of the Assembly members and also can boast of the President, Speaker, and their vice in both houses of Assembly as their party members just like in the past government, if such matter is put to vote, the result will always be The yeah has it. The country will remain in the same position which is the same reason why the past government was voted out of office. This time around in the Parliament, the Yeah or Ney cannot have it easily, the presenter of the proposal will have to do more work to convince every member of the House and then seek for vote from his party and opposition members. This is possible because it is not parliamentary system of government where the principle is collective effort of the parliamentarians or ministers, nobody is going to be sacked for not working as a group; the issue here is to vote Yeah on Ney for good or bad policies respectively.Initially, the executive and the legislative positions in the country have been zoned to the three major zones which are the North, West and South. The President comes from one of the zone, the Vice-president comes one of the two remaining zone and the senate President comes from the remaining zone. In this government, the south only managed to get elected to the position of Vice-Senate President and some politicians are clamouring for his removal. I need somebody to clarify me on how this can be done under the law. I know this
is all about party supremacy, where the party will want to control every position but this is not parliamentary system of government where the leader of the party that has the majority in the parliament becomes the prime-minister, and he forms his cabinet from the Parliamentarians from his party that are elected in the House. As such, there is fusion of power of the parliament because the Prime-minister is a member of the judiciary, the executive and the legislative, unlike in the doctrine of separation of power and principle of check and balances by different arms of government enshrined in a democratic system of government.As a constitutional and contract law student, I advocate for the supremacy of the constitution and the principles of a contract. As a lawyer, if you bring up a case like he one above for my advice, I will not say that either of the parties is treated fairly or unfairly because he should have been compensated for this commitments but I will uphold the view of the law which is governed by Judicial Precedents, and it is following past judgments to resolve present cases with similar material fact. I Damian Chidiebere Dike is saying, there is nothing wrong with Nigeria; the problem is Corruption and President Buhari has started on a good note by giving the Economic and Finance Crime Commission (EFCC) the freedom to act according to the law and drag past and immediate government officials to court. And before they say I no follow, they have coughed out the sum of two hundred and fifty million each as bail but this should not be extended to hunt non party members. These bail fees represent a significant figure in the account of the government account but from where did the past government officials get such huge sum of money. This EFCC probe will put some fear into a lot of the politicians because once they have a case like that, they wont be able to contest for any other election until there is judgment in the case, or that they are discharged and acquitted. Politics in Nigeria is a game where you aspire to amass as much wealth as possible for you and your family but President Buhari have come to show that it can be the other way round, that is the game of giving-up some wealth that is supposed to be accrued to you under the law to save some fund for the government and move the country forward. President Buhari and his Vice have reduced their annual salary by fifty percent, and the financial implication of this is that all past democratically elected presidents of Nigeria and their Vice will receive fifty percent reduction in their annual pension, see section 84(5) CFRN 1999. It states in section 84 that There shall be paid to the holders of the offices mentioned in this section such remuneration, salaries and allowances as may be prescribed by the National Assembly, but not exceeding the amount as shall have been determined by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal
Commission. And subsection (5) states that, Any person who has held office as ampresident or Vice President shall be entitled to pension for life at a rate equivalent to the annual salary of the incumbent President or Vice-President. Let see who will be next to reduce their salaries.