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House Committee Calls NAPTIP To Account For Alliance Hospital CEO’s Detention
The House of Representatives has summoned the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to address allegations of the unjust detention of Dr. Christopher Otabor, the Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Hospital Abuja.
Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petition, Rep. Mike Etaba, has mandated NAPTIP’s Director-General, Mrs. Fatima Waziri-Azi, to present herself before the committee on April 18, amplifying concerns surrounding this matter.
The chairman emphasized that a failure to appear would force the committee to issue a warrant of arrest.
Expressing disappointment in NAPTIP’s absence during the investigative hearing, he noted the four-day detention of Otabor.
The committee additionally called on the police officer involved in the alleged organ harvesting case against Otabor to appear and provide insights into the situation.
He said, “We will handle this matter the way it should, we will be thorough in our investigation and whoever is found guilty will be punished.
“This country is not a lawless country; whoever violated the Nigerian constitution will be dealt with severely.
“Everybody that is supposed to respond to the petition must be here, or we will issue an arrest warrant.”
The committee expressed dismay that NAPTIP relied on social media for information leading to Otabor’s detention, deeming it an unfortunate and unacceptable practice that has the potential to tarnish an individual’s reputation.
They emphasized the gravity of the matter, asserting that it surpassed the acceptable standards for their hearing.
He said “We must get the date of the arrest and those involved in the arrest, including the statement from the IPO.
“Why we are discouraging the Japa syndrome, some who are preventing and helping this country to grow are hounded down, this investigative hearing will be a fact finding mission.”
Rep. Victor Ogene (LP-Abia), a committee member, praised the CEO of Alliance Hospital for bringing the issue before the lawmakers, acknowledging the transparency of involving the “people’s house.”
He highlighted the absence of relevant law enforcement agencies that were expected to present their cases, expressing a need for their presence in the proceedings.
He said, “The D-G of NAPTIP should be summoned before this committee; she knows why she did the illegal detention. The law has prescribed a term of detention.”
“We have an organisation paying a bill of over N70 million and if the staff were driven away, you know how that will affect them and their family.”
Otabor revealed that the police had previously questioned him regarding organ harvesting allegations, later confirming the falsehood of the claims and releasing some of his detained staff.
He explained that, without conducting an investigation, NAPTIP ordered his arrest and subjected him to a four-day detention based on a video circulating on social media alleging his involvement in organ harvesting.
Otabor asserted that the organ harvesting allegation was an attempt to tarnish his long-standing goodwill and reputation.
He accused NAPTIP’s Director-General of orchestrating a deliberate effort to embarrass and diminish his image, citing a display of excessive power and intimidation.
Otabor, a respected multi-specialty healthcare service provider, highlighted that during his four-day detention at NAPTIP, no inquiries related to investigations were made, and his phone was not subjected to search.
Otabor contended that the organ harvesting allegations were rooted in hatred, emphasizing that he had taken legal action against the newspaper that implicated his hospital in such a heinous act.
The President of the African School of Governance, Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu has admonished state actors against resorting to brutal force in the bid to muscle out separatist agitators.
In the aftermath of Mazi Simon Ekpa, the Finland based Biafran nationalist agitator being caught in legal web and the Nigerian government moving swiftly to seek his repatriation, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned that ‘We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.’
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The political economist, while expressing his hope in Nigeria, made it clear that “hope is not a strategy”.
He bared his mind in a series of posts on his verified handle on micro-blogging site, X on Friday.
Moghalu wrote, “Despite sustained contemporary difficulties, I am hopeful about Nigeria. But hope is not a strategy. We need to improve state capacity for effective governance.
“We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.
“We must learn to be honest with ourselves and address the root causes of our problems. Why ignore them, when the problem is actually quite solvable? The problem with continuing with this approach is that when the danger crystallizes, those who thought they were benefiting from
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has criticized the federal government’s plan to secure an additional N1.7 trillion loan through Eurobonds to cover a shortfall in the 2024 budget, describing the borrowing as unsustainable and harmful to Nigeria’s economy.
In a statement shared on Thursday via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Atiku accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of burdening Nigerians with debt while failing to provide clear answers about the country’s fiscal challenges.
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He also faulted the National Assembly for enabling what he called a “voracious appetite” for loans.
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate expressed alarm over a recent World Bank report ranking Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), calling the development troubling.
“The recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning,” Atiku stated.
He raised further concerns about the government’s decision to benchmark the proposed loan at an exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official rate being over N1,600.
“What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1,600 to 1 USD,” he said.
Atiku questioned the need for additional borrowing, given the government’s earlier claims of record-high revenue collection.
“In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why are they still borrowing?” he said
He accused the government of a lack of transparency, describing the borrowing spree as detrimental to Nigerians already struggling under economic hardship.
“There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.”
Atiku also referenced a report by BudgIT, a budget monitoring group, which criticized the 2024 budget for its inefficiencies.
He alleged that corruption, rather than infrastructure or development needs, was driving the government’s borrowing decisions.
“These loans are powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. This voracious appetite for humongous loans is deeply concerning,” he said.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s financial history, Atiku lamented the return to significant foreign indebtedness just years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration cleared the country’s debt.
“It is agonizing to see that just a few years after the Obasanjo administration took us out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” he stated.
He called for a more cautious approach to borrowing, urging the government to prioritize fiscal responsibility and transparency to avoid worsening Nigeria’s economic challenges.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken a historic step, issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The charges include crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during Israel’s recent assault on Gaza.
In a detailed statement, the ICC accused the Israeli leaders of “intentionally and knowingly depriving the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
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The ICC’s move marks a significant escalation in international scrutiny of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu and Gallant are alleged to have orchestrated policies that caused severe harm to the civilian population in Gaza, leading to widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.
Alongside the charges against Israeli officials, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Deif has long been a central figure in Hamas’s military operations. Israel’s military claims to have killed him in a July airstrike, although this has not been independently verified.
The warrants highlight growing calls for accountability amid the ongoing conflict in the region. The ICC’s actions are likely to provoke heated debate and may complicate diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis.
With the warrants issued, global attention now turns to how the international community will respond and whether any practical steps will be taken to enforce them.
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