News

Racial inequality a prominent issue in U.S. prisons

Published

4 years ago

March 22, 2022

By Li Zhiwei, People’s Daily

The U.S. has been widely condemned for its long-term and systemic racism against ethnic minority groups and immigrants in its justice system.

While people of color make up 37 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 67 percent of the country’s prison population.

The incidence of human rights violations is particularly high in immigrant detention centers along the U.S. borders.

Data suggests that during the 2021 fiscal year, the U.S. government detained as many as 1.7 million illegal immigrants, of which 80 percent were held in private detention facilities with harsh conditions, including a large number of immigrant children.

Among the 266,000 immigrant children detained by the U.S. in recent years, more than 25,000 have been held for over 100 days.

“There were nearly 5,000 children there (‘emergency intake’ shelter erected in the harsh desert of Fort Bliss), and some 1,500 children are still being held at the troubled site, where conditions in ‘jam-packed’ tents resembled ‘a stockyard,’ were ‘traumatizing’ and risky for the children’s health and safety,” reported the El Paso Times.

Between April and June 2018, the Trump administration implemented a “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Under the policy, adult illegal immigrants were prosecuted by the U.S. government and held in federal prisons or deported, and their children were in the care of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A huge number of immigrant children were forced to separate from their parents.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an American nonprofit organization committed to advocacy for civil rights and racial equality, a total of 4,368 children were separated from their parents or guardians because of this policy, and many still hadn’t found their parents by the end of 2020.

According to over 160 internal reports of the U.S. government, U.S. border officials have committed plenty of misconduct and abuse against immigrants, including verbal, physical and even sexual abuse, pointed out a report released by international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) last October.

There are also allegations of harsh detention conditions, denial of medical care, and other phenomena at the border, according to the report.

“…human rights abuses run rampant in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. Intentional deprivation (e.g. being kept in a cold room without a blanket or being served rotten food), physical and verbal abuse by guards, sexual assault, and rape happen far too frequently…In fact, an independent medical review of deaths in detention found that in over half of the deaths analyzed, medical negligence had played a role,” said an article by Eillen Martinez and two other American scholars, which was recently published on Medpage Today, a web-based medical news service provider.

Statistics show that in the U.S., African Americans are six times more likely than white people to be incarcerated in prisons. One of every three African-American males born in the U.S. can expect to go to prison at least once in his lifetime, compared to one of every 17 white males.

According to the National Public Radio (NPR), Black Americans are four times as likely as whites to be arrested for marijuana possession; and black men spend an average of 20 percent longer behind bars in federal prisons than their white peers for the same crimes.

An article published on the website of Forbes Magazine pointed out that prisoners of African descent are the most likely to suffer from abuse by prison staff among all inmates, which makes them more subject to psychological trauma and more discriminated against when they reenter society.

Private prisons in the U.S. have a significantly higher proportion of inmates of color and more evident racial inequality. Low-income groups, mostly people of color, are likely to be detained because they cannot afford bail and are eventually pressured into pleading guilty. They usually cannot meet the harsh requirements attached to fines or probation, and end up becoming long-term cheap labor in private prisons.

Racial inequality in American prisons, especially in private prisons, is the epitome of the country’s long-standing systemic racism.

The U.S. has a dark history of exploiting the lives of disadvantaged groups (usually people of color) for the profit of the powerful–from colonial slavery through coolie labor, black codes, and Jim Crow laws, the government has sanctioned this practice, pointed out U.S. non-profit organization Abolish Private Prisons, which believes that “Locking people up for profit is simply the latest incarnation of slavery.”

A non-profit, non-partisan think tank Interrogating Justice noted that private prisons in the U.S. are the product of a symbiotic relationship between police departments, court systems, transportation companies, food suppliers, and other departments and businesses, all of which benefit from mass incarceration. Some believe that the U.S. private prison industry is deeply rooted in slavery and has, some argue, modernized state-sponsored slave labor.

American writer Jabari Asim believes that the idea that African Americans can commit a crime simply by existing is more than just a deeply entrenched racist misconception; it is also an idea rooted in capitalism’s need for a cheap, exploitable labor force. Asim noted, private prisons are specifically designed so that states can profit from the nearly free labor provided by incarcerated people.

News

The Most Shocking A/Court ‘Judgment’ in Nigerian History: An unfortunate precedent that should not be allowed to stand

Published

6 hours ago

November 30, 2025

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The last is yet to be heard of wide ranging ex-parte orders as this time around, the charade has moved to the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division. In the case of FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others, the Court of Appeal’s ex parte orders are not only egregious but a chilling sign of judicial capture, smacking of dirty practices at best and corruption at worst.

On Thursday, 27th November 2025, at exactly 2:00pm, Justice Yargata Nimpar delivered a ‘ruling ’ that appeared like a thief in the night, a ghost and unscheduled, the said decision came upon a Motion Ex-parte which was not heard not argued in open court, yet it surfaced, fully written, signed, stamped, and delivered as though it had lived a full life on the Court of Appeal docket.

For many Nigerians, the judiciary has again weathered the storms. Veterans of the legal system describe this episode as “a daylight heist… a judicial armed robbery without guns.”

The controversies over wide ranging ex-parte applications, it would seem, has found its way to the Court of appeal, an intermediate court with limited original jurisdiction as donated to it by statute.

In this instance, barely two weeks ago, we reported the ex-parte orders against NESTOIL and the other defendants listed in the suit before the Federal High Court which led to the transfer of the suit to another judge.

The said interim orders were vacated by effluxion of time, being that ex-parte orders last for only 14 days.

The court however ordered parties to maintain status quo and adjourned the Motion on Notice for hearing by the consent of the parties. That Motion is still pending before the Federal High Court.

It would seem that in order to frustrate that pending Motion, the Plaintiffs somehow filed a similar application to the Court of Appeal which was granted an order ex-parte directing the Lower Court not to take any further steps, including determining the pending application filed by Plaintiffs (now Appellants).

This magically resurrected, fast-tracked application seem to have been rubber-stamped at the fictional “Appeal Bench of Shadows,” as insiders have begun calling it.

A CASE THAT NEVER EXISTED — YET RECEIVED A JUDGMENT

Our Judiciary correspondent gathered that when the court’s official list for the day was released, nothing seemed amiss. No controversial cases. No unexpected hearings.

But somewhere inside the dusty chambers of bureaucracy, a secret file was already being prepared and by 2pm, a judgment carrying the signatures of an entire appeal panel had surfaced — even though none of them had appeared in open court and when the case itself had never been argued before any High Court, making an appellate ruling legally impossible.

By evening, whispers had turned into rumblings. Court workers who handled the mysterious document reported unusual instructions: No public sitting; No mention on the court list; No access to case filings; No digital record and No audio recording of proceedings. Yet an order was made retrospectively to undo a completed act! which is yet another impossibility in law, because the exparte order cannot restore what has been already executed.

“It was like dealing with a ghost file,” one clerk said. “It appeared from nowhere and disappeared into official archives as though it had always existed.”

This judgment, once delivered, spread like wildfire, with legal scholars calling it “a constitutional impossibility.” Veterans said they had never seen anything similar since the 1970s.

Enquiries from our judiciary correspondents indicate that an application can only be hinged upon a valid Notice of Appeal against a decision of a lower court before any application can be entertained at the Court of Appeal.

Further Investigations by our judiciary correspondent reveals that no such Notice of Appeal has been filed nor served on the respondents; no parties have been invited to Settle Records and no Records of Appeal have been transmitted.

One wonders the platform or upon which grounds the ex-parte order was made, observed one senior lawyer, especially as a similar pending application filed by the Appellants has been adjourned for Hearing by the Federal High Court.

Furthermore, the case at the trial court before Justice Osiagor has not been heard on its merits, which documents was placed before the appellate court and all applications before the judge has not been heard or is the court of appeal now a trial court.

A JUDICIARY AT A CROSSROADS

Public outrage rose quickly. Lawyers described the situation as “a hijacking of justice by shadowy interests.” Civil society groups demanded explanations.

A Judiciary where justice can be manufactured behind closed doors…a legal system where influence not merit, decides outcomes…and an institution tested by the weight of powerful external forces, et cetera should not be allowed to thrive.

AN ERA-DEFINING SCANDAL

This judgement will stand as one of the most dramatic challenges ever faced by Nigeria’s justice system. The shockwaves has rippled far beyond the courtroom — touching politics, business, security agencies, and public trust.

One thing is clear: This is the kind of judicial earthquake that rewrites history, shakes institutions, and forces a nation to confront the truths it fears the most. Our judicial correspondences were able to get an incline of the ex-parte orders made by the Court of Appeal as follows:

AN ORDER of interim restorative injunction reversing all steps taken by the Respondents and/or persons purporting to act on the instructions of the Respondents and which steps or actions were taken pursuant to the order of the Federal High Court coram Osiagor, J made on the 20th day of November 2025 pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on the 26th day of November 2025.
AN ORDER of interim injunction restraining the Respondents, their agents, servants, affiliates, and privies from interfering with and interrupting the Receiver/Manager in the performance of his duties pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on 26th November 2025.
AN ORDER staying further proceedings at the lower court pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on the 26th November 2025.

A SHOCKING DEPARTURE FROM JUDICIAL NORMS

Therefore, the Lagos Court of Appeal’s decision to grant ex parte orders in FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others stunned the legal community as ex-parte rulings are meant for rare emergencies and hardly exercised by appellate courts. By acting without hearing both sides, while the matter was already before the Federal High Court, the Court of Appeal has undermined the principle of natural justice and distorted its own role.

NIGERIAN IMAGE AT RISK

At a time when Nigeria is striving to reposition its global reputation, this case sends the wrong message. It portrays the country as one where courts can be hijacked by private interests, where fairness is discarded, and where corruption lurks behind judicial robes. For investors and international partners, it reinforces damaging stereotypes of weak institutions and compromised justice.

AN URGENT CALL FOR INVESTIGATION

These orders are not just irregular — they are evidence of judicial capture. They must be investigated urgently. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, the National Judicial Council, the President of the Court of Appeal and the Nigerian Bar Association cannot remain silent. If appellate courts become arenas for ex-parte adventures, Nigeria’s justice system risks collapse under the weight of manipulation.

CLOSING NOTE

The Court of Appeal’s conduct in FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others is more than a misstep, it is a warning sign of judicial capture. If Nigeria is serious about restoring its image and strengthening democracy, this case must be investigated, accountability enforced, and reforms implemented. Anything less would be an abdication of the judiciary’s sacred duty to uphold justice. We must not allow that to happen.
A very Senior lawyer emphasize that the exparte order of the court of appeal lagos division in Nestoil has the possibility of eroding administrative control of Heads of superior Court from assigning or re assigning matters within their respective courts. Furthermore both the President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Justice of Nigeria may not have the authority to disband a panel and re- constitute another panel over any matter in their respective courts. This decision is a total anarchy to the judiciary and urgent steps must be taken to vacate the strange Court of appeal exparte order.

The conduct of the court of appeal justices is not excusable anywhere in the world and it’s indeed has brought the court of Appeal justices who constituted the panel to ridicule

News

Pius Akutah’s Alleged Fraud at Nigerian Shippers Council Uncovered

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

milcah

Investigations by Nigerian Concord Newspaper reveal that the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr. Pius Akutah, has allegedly misappropriated public funds for a lavish lifestyle.

According to our findings, within months of assuming office, Akutah allegedly purchased a bulletproof SUV valued at approximately N850 million. In addition, he is reported to have acquired over twenty exotic SUVs for use as a convoy.

Akutah is also said to have acquired multiple high-value properties, including three in Abuja’s Maitama and Asokoro districts worth over N2 billion, and two in Lagos’ Banana Island valued at N1.8 billion. These acquisitions appear far beyond the scope of his official salary and allowances.

Further investigation suggests that Akutah may be using public funds to support political ambitions, including allegedly grooming militants across 23 local government areas in Benue State for a potential 2027 gubernatorial bid.

Staff of the Shippers Council reportedly claim that Akutah frequently accesses the council’s treasury without proper authorization. Some insiders have indicated that a petition will soon be filed with the EFCC, ICPC, and the Presidency to report his alleged misconduct.