By Francesca Hangeior

A consultant urologist, Dr. Odezi Otobo, says there is no medical or urological evidence having regular sex and ejaculation reduces a man’s risk of coming down with prostate cancer.

Otobo, who works with the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, said this at a medical outreach for men organised by Asi Ukpo Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Calabar.

The outreach, which was held at the premises of the Christian Central Chapel International, Calabar, is part of programmes to commemorate “Movember.”

Movember, which involves the growing of mustaches, is an annual event held in November to raise awareness of men’s health issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s mental health.

The urologist, who was reacting to claims on social media that constant intimacy and having multiple girlfriends could prevent prostate cancer, said the disease was either hereditary, caused by lifestyle, or environmental.

“Instead of taking unprofessional and unscientific advice from different quarters, it is important to visit a hospital if you notice anything, and for those in their forties and fifties, get screened because early detection is key to effective treatment of cancer.

“Prostate cancer is indolent cancer and can be handled when a man is aware, visits a medical facility, and changes his lifestyle, not by having multiple ‘side chicks,’ he said.

On his part, Mr Yegwa Ukpo, the Executive Director, Asi Ukpo Comprehensive Cancer Centre, said they had to commemorate Movember because men’s health issues were hardly addressed in society.

Represented by Mrs Mercy Njoku, Event and Outreach Manager of the centre, Ukpo said there was something about masculinity in a society that made men think they had to keep their issues to themselves.

“I want to appeal to the men to take their health seriously because cases of men slumping and dying in their forties and fifties are on the increase; we don’t want this to continue.

By Francesca Hangeior

The founder of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, has said that he is constantly facing threat to his life by the powerful people behind oil theft in the country.

According to him, the oil thieves are powerful people outside of the Niger Delta.

Tompolo, speaking at Oporoza, the headquarters of the Gbaramatu Kingdom, on Monday, alleged that some naval personnel, a few days ago, forcefully attacked operatives of the private outfit during the arrest of some suspected oil thieves along the Port-Harcourt creeks.

Speaking during a working visit of the Nigerian Bar Association national executive, led by its President, Afam Osigwe (SAN), to the oil-bearing community, Tompolo called for synergy between the Navy and other security outfits.

Tompolo noted that in the course of the surveillance operations to round up crude oil barons, Tantita had stepped on toes and had become the target of revenge missions.

He said, “While doing this work, we have stepped on a lot of toes of people over there in Lagos and Abuja. We have stepped on a lot of toes. As I am here, after my court cases, I cannot travel anywhere because of me and the key people (barons) fighting this battle.

“If I want to travel to Abuja to visit you, I must go with security. Even with two or three security personnel, none of them are happy with me, and they are now collaborating with top players involved in oil theft.

“Most times, you see that Tantita Security now has confrontations with the Navy and every well-meaning Nigerian knows the function of the Nigerian Navy and Tantita, but nobody wants to come out to face the truth.

“If we happen to arrest anybody now, we would get a lawyer from Abuja, Lagos or Ibadan to do the case very well.”

Tompolo expressed worry that efforts to checkmate crude oil theft were being sabotaged in some quarters.

“Some few days back, our people intercepted a vessel in Port Harcourt, where the Nigerian Navy was shooting at Tantita Security, with police, Department of State Services and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

“We want to implore and beg you (NBA). You must play in this present situation, because if we are not careful in this country, maybe we will not have money to do any reasonable thing.

“All of us here know that Nigeria is facing hardship. A bag of rice is over N100,000.

“We are going to do our part locally. But you (NBA) are there at the top. If we make arrest today, lawyers would stand on the other side and this side.

“Can somebody come to load a vessel of 500 metric tonnes in this community? Nobody has that capacity; the person comes from Lagos, Abuja, or neighbouring countries.

“The man here would be a water boy for the people in charge. That is the one we would arrest,” he said.

Efforts by our correspondent to reach the Nigerian Navy spokesman, Commodore Aiwuyor Adams-Aliu, for comments on the issue, were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.

A female official in the Naval Public Relations Office who picked up telephone calls from our reporter simply said she “had been transferred to Lagos,” just as she maintained that “Commodore Adams-Aliu is in the best position to react to the issue.”

Speaking earlier during a courtesy call on the Pere of Gbaramatu kingdom, Oboro-Gbaraun II, in his palace, the NBA President expressed delight over the recent announcement from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited that oil production had risen to 1.8 million barrels per day, with a promise to increase it up to 2 million bpd by the end of this year.

“If the oil production keeps going up, it will benefit all of us and the government will be able to provide for the needs of the people,” he stated.

By Francesca Hangeior

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) to repatriate at least 270 Nigerians who are currently incarcerated or held in detention at Kaliti Prison in Ethiopia.

Justice Inyang Ekwo in a ruling issued a mandamus order directing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NiDCOM to facilitate the repatriation of the imprisoned Nigerians, following the Ethiopian government’s declaration that it lacked the budget to care for them.

Justice Ekwo stated, “I am satisfied that the applicants have made a compelling case, justifying the court’s decision to issue an Order of Mandamus to compel the 1st and 2nd respondents to perform their statutory responsibilities, and I hereby so declare.”

On Sunday, November 17, Sunday Mmaduagwu, Henry Anyanwu, and Leonard Okafor—filed the originating motion on notice. They sued NIDCOM, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), who were named as the 1st to 6th respondents, on behalf of Nigerians detained in Ethiopian prisons.

The motion was filed in accordance with Order II, Rules 1, 2, and 3 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009 (FREPR 2009), as well as Sections 6(6), 34(1), 35(1), (4), and (6), 36, and 46 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The suit also referenced Articles 4, 5, and 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap. A9, LFN 2004 (ACHPRRE Act 2004), and invoked the inherent jurisdiction of the court.

The applicants sought a declaration that their fundamental rights, as guaranteed by Sections 33, 34, and 35 of the 1999 Constitution, as well as Articles 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the CAT, Articles 4(1) & (15) and Article 16 of the UNUDHR, and Articles 3, 5, 6, and 25(1) & (2) of the BPT (General Assembly Resolution 45/11 of 14 December 1990), had been violated by the 1st to 4th respondents.

Additionally, they sought an order compelling the 1st and 2nd respondents to facilitate the repatriation of Nigerians imprisoned and detained at Kaliti Prison in Ethiopia, following the Ethiopian government’s declaration that it lacked the budget for their food, firewood, medicine, and other welfare needs, and in light of Ethiopia’s request for Nigeria to take them back.

In the affidavit accompanying the motion, Mmaduagwu stated that he is the first cousin of Remigius Anikwe, who is currently incarcerated at Kaliti Prison in Ethiopia.

He said Henry is a brother to Chinedu Michael Anyanwu, who is also detained or imprisoned in Kaliti prison, while Leonard is a relative of Okafor Livinus Edochie, who also is in detention in the same prison.

Mmaduagwu stated that upon visiting the prison to see his cousin, he discovered that over 270 Nigerians were being detained there.

He noted that some of the detainees had not been tried, as they did not understand the local language and were not provided with interpreters.

Mmaduagwu described the conditions in the prison as appalling, with any interaction between Nigerians and the locals resulting in severe beatings, leading to the collapse and death of some detainees.

He also said that several young Nigerians, who were merely in transit with visas, had been arrested, stripped of their money and valuables, and subjected to false testimony by witnesses who were coerced into speaking against them in a foreign language.