Nigerian Father Sues after Ebola Fears Keep Daughter from Connecticut School

Stephen Opayemi 
•  CANAN protests quarantine
Nduka Nwosu in New York
with agency report
A  Nigerian father sued a Connecticut elementary school on Tuesday, saying his seven-year-old daughter was discriminated against and banned from school for 21 days based on irrational fears of Ebola because she attended a wedding in Nigeria.
According to Reuters, Stephen Opayemi filed the lawsuit in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut. He asked a judge to order the schools in Milford, Connecticut, to immediately permit his daughter to return to her third-grade class.
Opayemi’s daughter has not experienced any symptom associated with Ebola and her health is fine, but parents and teachers were concerned she could transmit Ebola to other children, the lawsuit said.
“We’re hoping this will get her back into school as soon as possible,” the girl’s mother, Ikeolapo Opayemi, said in a brief interview at their home.
Although the mother declined to discuss details of the lawsuit, citing the advice of the family’s attorney, she said they had lived in Milford for more than six years. Asked if she was surprised by the school system’s actions, she nodded in agreement.
Nigeria had 19 Ebola cases and seven deaths this year before the World Health Organisation declared the country Ebola-free on October 20. The epidemic is centered in three other West African countries, where about 5,000 people have died: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The Connecticut third-grader, Ikeoluwa Opayemi, travelled to and from Lagos, Nigeria, between October 2 and 13, according to the lawsuit. Her father, a native of Nigeria, also went.
Jonathan Berchem, the Milford city attorney, said he had not seen the suit and could not comment on it. Elizabeth Feser, the school superintendent, did not return a call requesting comment but said in an email she had not been served with the suit.
African communities in the United States have reported an increasing amount of ostracism since the Ebola epidemic began. At least two speeches by Liberians have been cancelled by US universities, and a college in Texas refused admission to Nigerian students over worries about the virus.
A neighbour of the Opayemi family, Prashant Batil, said his 6-year-old plays often with Ikeoluwa and that he believed the school system was overreacting.
“The parents are extremely responsible people, and if they say she does not have Ebola, I would have no reluctance for my daughter to play with her,” Batil said in an interview.
Opayemi’s suit was filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The law prohibits discrimination based on someone having a physical or mental impairment, or on the belief that someone has such an impairment.
Milford officials refused the father’s offer to have both himself and his daughter screened for Ebola, the suit said.
According to the suit, a city health official said in an October 15 meeting that the risk of the girl infecting anyone was minor but that she ought to be quarantined because of rumors, panic and the climate of the school.
City and school officials told Ikeoluwa not to return to school until November 3, the suit said.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said there is little risk or no risk of contracting Ebola unless someone has been in close contact with a person who has it and who is symptomatic.
Grappling with an unfamiliar public health threat, some state and local officials have called the federal guidelines insufficient to protect Americans and have imposed tougher measures.
New York and New Jersey have insisted on mandatory quarantines for travellers arriving from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone who had contact with Ebola patients.
The case is Ikeoluwa Opayemi v. Milford Public Schools and City of Milford, US District Court for the District of Connecticut, No. 3:14-cv-01597.
In the meantime, a Nigerian-American group, the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANAN) has kicked against the decision by the school in Connecticut, warning it “will not take this escalation of ignorance and racism regarding Ebola and Nigerian-Americans lying low”.
In a statement made available to THISDAY, CANAN said Ebola racism must stop now referring to Miss Opayemi.
“We are appalled that a school headed by otherwise responsible educators can succumb to unsubstantiated medical fears and chose to respond with discrimination and denial of a young girl’s right to education,” CANAN said.
The statement added: “The Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANAN) will not take this escalation of ignorance and racism regarding Ebola and Nigerian-Americans lying low.
“We are appalled that a school headed by otherwise responsible educators can succumb to unsubstantiated medical fears and chose to respond with discrimination and denial of a young girl’s right to education.
“CANAN rejects the flimsy excuse of the School District Superintendent Elizabeth Feser that she acted to protect the interest of other students and staff of the school. If that excuse was not a rash, erratic and immoral one, it would have been laughable.”

THISDAY

Citing Constitutional Powers, FG Moves to Oust Tambuwal

•  Withdraws security aides, picture deleted from N’Assembly website
• Speaker, APC legislators meet, vow to fight
• Opposition party, PPA, others flay action

Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Muhammad Bello and Yemi Akinsuyi

The battle for the leadership for the House of Representatives was stepped up a gear on Thurday following the determination of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led federal government to oust the House’s speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, with presidency sources citing President Goodluck Jonathan’s oath to defend the constitution.
Tambuwal had defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday, leading to the withdrawal of his police escorts early yesterday by the acting Inspector General of Police (IG). His photograph has also been deleted from the website of the National Assembly.
In a brief statement, the Force’s spokesman, Emmanuel C. S Ojukwu said Tambuwal’s security personnel were withdrawn for violating the constitution.
The police said: “In view of the recent defection by the Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tanbuwal, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, from the People Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC), and having regard to the clear provision of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have redeployed its personnel attached to his office.”
However, Tambuwal expressed shock over the statement issued by the Nigeria Police Force justifying the withdrawal of police security personnel attached to him by the IG.
But presidency sources informed THISDAY that Jonathan was within his rights to uphold the constitution, which he had sworn to defend when he was sworn-in as the president.
They said since Section 68(1)(g) cited by the IG is explicit on a lawmaker vacating his/her seat should he/she move to another political party, Tambuwal’s position as the speaker of the lower chamber of the National Assembly had become untenable.
A presidency source further explained that whereas the presidency shall wait for and abide by the outcome of the lawsuit instituted by 37 House of Representatives’ lawmakers stopping the leadership of the lower chamber from declaring their seats vacant, Tambuwal, on the other hand, was never one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit in question.
They explained that in his capacity as the speaker, he was a respondent to the lawsuit and therefore had not and cannot institute legal action halting the leadership of the House, of which he is a member, from declaring his seat vacant.
In this regard, the presidency source said Tambuwal was simply clutching at straws and did not carefully think through the implication of his defection to APC on his position in the House.
“As far as we are concerned, he has effectively lost his seat and it is the president’s determination to uphold the intendment of the constitution.
“This should not be seen as the executive meddling in the affairs of the legislature or judiciary. It should be seen as a constitutional matter, which the president has sworn to uphold.
“So the IG was right to have withdrawn the police escorts attached to Tambuwal’s office, as it was a privilege and not a right. He lost that privilege once he defected and effectively vacated his seat in the House of Representative,” argued the presidency source.
But the speaker’s spokesman Imam Imam said the implication of the IG’s statement was that “as sanction for this alleged constitutional breach, he had removed Rt. Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal from the Office of Speaker House of Representatives”.
The spokesman added: “For the avoidance of doubt, the question of whether or not there is a division or faction in the PDP has been resolved by Lord Justice Faji of the Ilorin Division of Federal High Court in suit FHC/ IL/CS/6/2014, in which the court held that indeed there were factions in the PDP.
Again in suit no FHC/S/ CS/4/2014, the Sokoto Division of the Federal High Court per Justice Aikawa, the judgment of the court was that there was not only a division, but faction in the PDP which later merged with the APC.
“As the number four citizen in the hierarchy of protocol in the country, the speaker is entitled to security protection by the security agencies. Therefore we see the action of the acting Inspector General of Police as not only a contempt of the courts but a ploy to bring harm to the person of Rt. Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.”
Imam stressed that nothing in the constitution, nor the Police Act confers on the police force adjudicatory powers including the interpretation of the constitution.
“In any case, even Section 215 of the 1999 Constitution does not contemplate the issuing of or compliance with unlawful orders by the president and or the Inspector General of Police, respectively.
“What the acting Inspector General of Police has done therefore has no basis in law including the constitution which he has cited.
“It is a brazen act of crass impunity, gross constitutional breach and contempt of court. The Inspector General should desist from assuming or usurping the constitutional functions of the judiciary,” Imam said.
He reminded the IG that the speaker was elected by House members from among themselves under Section 50(1) (b) of the constitution and could only be removed from office by two-thirds of the members of the House.
Imam stressed that Section 68(1)(g) of the constitution, which refers to a member vacating his seat on the grounds of defection, which the IG referred to, has a proviso, which has been and is still a matter for judicial and not police interpretation.
He added, however, that the speaker has faith and confidence in the judiciary and is persuaded that it cannot be stampeded into administering injustice.
The statement, notwithstanding, THISDAY learnt that some legislators of the APC in the lower chamber met with Tambuwal thursday at his residence to ensure that the speaker continues to enjoy his privileges.
THISDAY gathered that a number of options were considered, including taking legal action against the government. If that fails to work, they intend to engage the services of a reputable security firm to provide VIP protection for the speaker.
Hon. Ali Ahmed (APC, Kwara) told THISDAY over the telephone that they, as opposition lawmakers, had an inkling that this was going to happen since the government was aware that the impeachment of Tambuwal would be difficult given the House rules, which make it impossible to recall members from adjournment without the consent of the speaker.
“From the moment he defected, we expected that something like this would happen. We expected that the federal government will remove his security detail,” Ahmed said.
“May be their argument will be that since he has decamped, he has ceased to be the speaker. We will meet with him and know from which quarters this is coming before we decide what to do,” he added.
“It is wrong to remove his security detail as long as he remains the speaker. You don’t play politics with security. The security detail are supposed to protect privileged citizens like him. They are not anybody’s private property,” a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who preferred anonymity, also told THISDAY.
In the same vein, Mr. Sa’idu Mohammed Tudun Wada, a legal practitioner, said the withdrawal had a political undertone to it, “because all this while he has been the speaker, it has been the tradition to assign police escorts to protect him and other public officials”.
“Why are his own being removed now that he has defected from the PDP?” he asked.
Citing the right to self-defence available to the speaker as a Nigerian, Tudun Wada said Tambuwal could go to court and challenge the removal of his security aides on the grounds that a precarious political situation would prevail in the country which calls for him to have his security personnel to remain intact as a public figure.
“But he cannot engage thugs to protect him but private security men who are recognised by law. The withdrawal does not bar the speaker from protecting himself,” the lawyer explained.
Similarly, a civil society group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to order the immediate restoration of the full compliments of security detail to Tambuwal and sanction administratively the top security officials in the armed security community that authorised the withdrawal in the first instance.
In a statement jointly issued by the group’s National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said it received with the utmost shock and unpalatable consternation the undemocratic development of the withdrawal of the security operatives attached to the office and person of the speaker on the alleged orders from above.
The rights group said the security officials who did the unthinkable of effecting the withdrawal of security cover given Tambuwal could even be mistaken as persons plotting to undermine democracy and the rule of law and must be dealt with accordingly in line with the principle of the rule of law.
HURIWA said it smacked of illegality and the height of impunity for the police, under any guise, to have contemplated, talk less of actually enforcing the primitive, punitive atrocious act of withdrawing the statutory security detail attached to Tambuwal on the nebulous and unqualified grounds that he switched his allegiance from one registered political party to another.
The group said the action was capable of damaging, in a very serious way, the international image of Nigeria as a democracy.
In its reaction, the APC also has called on the president to show a better understanding of democracy by immediately restoring the police personnel that the IG unlawfully withdrew.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed the party described the announcement of the withdrawal of the speaker’s security detail by the IG as a usurpation of the role of the judiciary by the IG “especially bearing in mind that the question of the interpretation of Section 68(1)(g) of the constitution on which he anchored his illegal act is currently before the courts for resolution”.
The party said, for the avoidance of doubt, the position including the manner a person becomes the Speaker of the House of Representatives is to be found in the constitution, and no constitutional provision or legislation says membership of the ruling or dominant party in the House is a pre-requisite.
“Furthermore, as the number four citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the security detail and apparatus attached to the person of the speaker is not based on his lineage, person and or political leaning. It is on account of the position and the protection required for that position and in Nigeria’s best interest.
“This unfortunate use and deployment of Nigeria’s security forces in a partisan and political way portends danger and further weakens important institutions of governance and jeopardises national security.
“Under President Jonathan, we now have a police force that is monitoring and making conclusions with respect to party membership, qualification, of an otherwise elected official. This is unheard of in any decent democracy.
“It is unfortunate that President Jonathan who has been a successive long term and unique beneficiary of our democracy and constitution is now demonstrating the greatest disregard for the laws that govern and guide us as a people.
“President Jonathan, who is the only individual who benefited from the same constitution to become a governor from a deputy governor without an election and from a vice president to president in similar legal circumstances, now desecrates the same constitution.
“APC rejects this challenge to democracy and modern society. We reject President Jonathan’s illegality and call for respect and compliance with the law. We reject this meddling in the affairs of the legislature especially given the resolution of President Jonathan and his close advisers thursday at their meeting to ask the deputy speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha to unlawfully reconvene the House before the adjourned date.
“May we remind President Goodluck Jonathan that under the House Rules only a resolution by all principal officers of the House and not even the speaker of the House can reconvene the House before the adjourned date not to talk of the deputy speaker,” it said.
APC was joined by the leadership of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), which also faulted the action of the police.
The National Chairman of PPA, Peter Ameh, while unveiling the electoral guidelines and timetable for the party’s primaries to journalists in Abuja yesterday, said the same police failed to invoke its powers on governors and other political office holders who defected from PPA to PDP and other platforms.
Ameh, who condemned the action in strong terms, warned that rather than drag Jonathan’s name in the mud, the police should rise to its constitutional mandate, by taking proactive and decisive measures to nip in the bud the brewing crisis in the country, so that further threats to the peace and stability in the nation will be averted.
The PPA chairman said the police by their act, did not only vindicate Tambuwal’s party, but have also displayed their inconsistency.
He wondered why the police failed to invoke the same Section 68(1)(g) of the constitution when governors and other political office holders defected from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other platforms.
“I believe Mr. President is not aware of this. This kind of action is unworthy of trust and lacking in consistency. Let’s not continue to waste stick when burning issues affects just us,” the party said.
While elaborating on the decisions reached at the meeting of PPA’s National Executive Committee (NEC), Ameh said the party fixed the fee for expression of interest/nomination forms for the presidency at N19 million (N4 million and 15 million respectively) and expression of interest form/governorship nomination forms at N2 million and N7 million, respectively.

THISDAY

Restore Speaker’s security – APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday called on President Goodluck Jonathan to show better understanding of democracy by immediately restoring the security detail the Inspector General of Police unlawfully withdrew from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

In a statement in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party described the withdrawal of the Speaker’s security detail  as  a usurpation of the role of the Judiciary by the Inspector General of Police, especially bearing in mind that the question of the interpretation of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution on which the Inspector General of Police anchored his illegal act is currently before the courts for resolution.

The party said for the avoidance of doubt, the position including the manner a person becomes the Speaker, is to be found in the Constitution, and no constitutional provision or legislation says membership of the ruling or dominant party  in the House is a pre-requisite. Furthermore as the number four citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the security detail and apparatus attached to the person of the Speaker is not based on his lineage, person and or political leaning. It is on account of the position and the protection required for that position and in Nigeria’s best interest.

“This unfortunate use and deployment of Nigeria’s security forces in a partisan and political way portends danger and further weakens important institutions of governance and jeopardises national security. Under President Jonathan, we now have a Police Force that is monitoring and making conclusions with respect to party membership, qualification, of an otherwise elected official. This is unheard of in any decent democracy.

“It is unfortunate, the party noted that President Jonathan who  had been a successive long term and unique beneficiary of our democracy and Constitution is now demonstrating  the greatest disregard for the laws that govern and guide us as a people. President Jonathan who is the only individual who benefited from the same Constitution to become a Governor from a Deputy Governor without an election and from a Vice President to President in similar legal circumstances now desecrates the same Constitution.

“The All Progressives Congress rejects this challenge to democracy and modern society. We reject President Jonathan’s illegality and call for respect and compliance with the law. We reject this meddling in the affairs of the Legislature, especially given the resolution of President Jonathan and his close advisers yesterday at their meeting to ask the Deputy Speaker, Mr Emeka Ihedioha, to unlawfully reconvene the House before the adjourned date.

“May we remind President Goodluck Jonathan that under the House Rules only a resolution by all principal officers of the House and not even the Speaker of the House can reconvene the House before the adjourned date not to talk of the deputy speaker.

“Regrettably the priority of President Goodluck Jonathan on the  night that Mubi, a town with a population of about  two million people in Adamawa State,  fell to the Boko Haram insurgents was how to illegally remove the Rt Hon Aminu Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.”

NATION

AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON : On the Increasing Rate of Cult Violence and Growing Hunger in Bayelsa State. – By Comrade Prekebena Kariebi

Your Excellency,
Chief Seriake Dickson
Governor Of Bayelsa State,
Government House,
Yenagoa,

Your Excellency,

I want to first commend you for the bridges and refurbished roads your administration has done.Yes! Having said that, I want to draw your attention to the increasing rate of cult violence and growing hunger in the land. It is senseless to deny the fact that majority of Bayelsans are moaning in pain, crying out to you, pleading with you to please set aside your high super infrastructural projects and concentrate on employment and empowerment for the youths and women.

Though your social media aides will tell you differently but the cold truth is that the people would rather have water running in their homes, they would rather have flood-free inner roads to curb the menace of robberies and cult(street gangs) activities(If the inner streets are not in a bad conditions, the police can respond quickly to a distress call) than having an airport and what have you.

Your Excellency sir, you have lost any ground gained by the renunciation program because you did not keep to your end of the bargain and Bayelsans are now paying for that direly. We don’t sleep in peace anymore. Where did you start to having it wrong?. You came in as a restoration agent and the people cheered, two years down the line and the story has completely changed.

I sincerely plead with you to employ both graduates and our streets brother, engage them in pipeline Surveillance, keep them busy, integrate them back to the society and above all train them to have a skill or education to make them independent.

Your Excellency, there is serious grumbling in the land. Majority of your subjects are not happy with you, despite your alleged huge and super duper infrastructural projects. Do you wonder why?

Sir, I urge you not to listen to your retinue of lap dogs and praise singers, they are only after your downfall and will jump ship, immediately cracks begin to appear. Listen to the yearnings of your people. Come back to your people; ask them what they want; not what you think they want.

Building airports and bridges, refurbishing roads are very noble projects but everything has its place and time, for now your people are near the fainting stage. Their salaries are heavily taxed, our students bursary and scholarship are not being paid. Yet the man you appointed as Executive Chairman of the Bayelsa State Scholarship Board, Hon. Foster Ogola is building a two story mega super duper structure right now as we speak. The youths are unemployed, our state university has a lot of courses unaccredited and our market women are crying out over heavy taxation.

Your Excellency, in closing, sir, there is serious hunger in our land. Why not take a walk among the people, dressed in disguise and inquire if your administration is being praised by your people? There is still time to correct all your mistakes and win the heart of your people, if you really care. Walk among your people and feel their pulse but I advise you do so in disguise, lest the people out of ‘love and excitement’, give you the VIP treatment, “Stephen style” all the way.

Comrade Prekebena Kariebi is the Founder/National Coordinator of the Niger Delta Youths Anti-Cultism & Nonviolence Organization.

Rivers: Walson-Jack cries out against PDP illegality, injustice

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been called upon to postpone the proposed Ward Congresses of the party scheduled to hold in Rivers State on Saturday November 2, until the complaints and grievances of some members of the party have been addressed. Hon. Nimi Walson-Jack, a frontline governorship aspirant on the platform of PDP who made the appeal in a statement in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, said his call was for the PDP leaders in Abuja to provide a level-playing field for all aspirants.

In the statement signed by Oraye St. Franklyn, Media Director, Rivers Converge and spokesman for Walson-Jack, the governorship aspirant expressed concern that “the many submissions of the concerned and aggrieved members made to the party through the South-South zone of the National Integration Committee were yet to be treated.” He further said, “Unless the issues raised are adjudicated upon and resolved, the planned Ward Congresses would only consolidate illegalities and injustice.”

The statement appealed to PDP’s National Working Committee to release the proceedings, findings, recommendations and the party’s position on the serious issues raised. Hon. Walson-Jack assured the party’s leadership that members of the party would have peace of mind, when it takes a position on the hijack of the PDP in Rivers State by an ethnic-based organization; the refusal of the State chapter of the party to issue Delegates Nomination Forms to members other than those of the Grassroot Development Initiative (GDI); the administration of the PDP to the exclusion of certain members; the non-registration of new party members and revalidation of membership of old members who are opposed to the interest of a group in the State PDP; the illegal and unconstitutional removal of Ward, Local Government and State party officers elected at the congress of 2012, and zoning and rotation of elective offices.

Hon. Walson-Jack further said that “millions of Rivers people are waiting to hear the party’s position on the monumental forgery that has led to a complete change of the names and documentation of officers elected in 2012 with persons who never contested elections and some of whom were not even members of the PDP at the time of the said State Congress.”

Walson-Jack predicted that a postponement of the Ward Congresses would save the party time, resources and avoidable litigation, “the end product of which no person can predict at this time”. He insisted that unless the contentious issues were addressed, the Ward Congresses scheduled for Saturday, November 1, 2014, “would be a sham and would be detrimental to the interest of the PDP in Rivers State, ipso facto, Nigeria.”

It would be recalled that in a memorandum submitted by concerned stakeholders of PDP in Rivers State to the party’s National Integration Committee (South-South zone) October 2014, some members of the PDP had complained and expressed concerns that the Rivers State chapter of the PDP had been hijacked by the Grassroots Democratic Initiative (GDI), an ethnic, non-governmental organization formed by Mr. Ezebuwon Nyesom Wike, another PDP governorship aspirant in Rivers State. The administrators and operators of the PDP have consciously or unconsciously subjugated the PDP to the GDI.

The petitioners equally explained that the present “State Executive Committee” and the “State working Committee” are unconstitutional, having been composed in a manner inconsistent and contrary to the constitution of the PDP, and further stated that the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has been administered in an oppressive manner that promotes exclusion of Party members from programmes, meetings and activities.

“Even without a formal registration process, persons desirous of joining the PDP were compelled to join the GDI before being accepted into PDP activities. Refusal to identify or join the GDI meant being excluded from PDP membership activities and programmes. Officers of GDI at State/ LGA/Ward levels automatically assumed office as officers of the PDP”, they had told the PDP national leadership.

In their grievance, the petitioners also stated that officers of the party at the state, local government and ward levels have at various times advocated the candidacy of individuals and acted in ways and manners inconsistent with and in violation of their oath of office, making it impossible for them to conduct, supervise, or be part of a neutral or impartial ward congress or state convention.

Such officers of the State Executive Committee were accused of participating in activities that violated their oath of office and allegiance sworn to under the Constitution of the PDP, and had used the judicial process to unlawfully usurp the powers and functions of the National Executive Committee of the PDP.