Saturday, August 4, 2012 by GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LIMITED

ACN, CPC merger talk won’t work

Vol. 02 No. 34

P. 8

–Tofa

Ogun

Emir of Fika Riot over killing of escapes death ...As suicide bomber strikes Yobe mosque P. 7

P. 6

five students

Saturday, August 4, 2012

N150

Nigeria’s gold hopeful, Okagbare, qualifies for semi finals ...Morton, Asumnu, others on course

P. 56

INSIDE MAGAZ INE Fashion •Flirty ‘n’ fearless •For the love of Adire

Sex talk •20 ways to have sex like an Olympian

Relationships •Have social media boosted communication

P. 17

Actress on the move

Celebrity

P. 18

‘I wentt ffor GUS G to prove I’m tough’ Crime Watch

P. 52

Man, 23, jailed for defiling 5-year-old girl

x e S lk Ta

P. 32 & 33

London Olympics: Osazuwa Uhunoma of Nigeria in action at the women’s heptathlon high jump ...yesterday

Land dispute

Patience, Turai return to court P. 6

• AGF, FCT minister may face contempt charge

Lagos bans NURTW at motor parks, highways

P. 8

Living

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

INSIDE Alpha Beach: Community at the mercy of the Atlantic

P.35&37

Gridlock traders: Hawkers who thrive in traffic P.36

Okada man strips naked to protest police extortion

P.40

Crime of love: Woman couriers drug for ‘Mr Right’

P.52

Answering nature’s call in the open 33 MILLION NIGERIANS DEFECATE IN THE OPEN, DEPOSITING ABOUT 1.7M TONNES OF FAECES INTO THE ENVIRONMENT ANNUALLY –UNICEF

ABOUT

FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON AND OSEYIZA OOGBODO

From Accountancy to vulcanising P.39

Police arrest female kidnapper in Bayelsa P.49

t the last World Sanitation Day in Abuja, the UNICEF’s Country Representative and Chief Ambassador, Dr Suomi Sakai, made a shocking statement. “It is estimated that about 33 million Nigerians defecate in the open, depositing about 1.7m tonnes of faeces into the environment annually,” she had said. Sakai said that the development had resulted in a high level of contamination of the environment in which garbage and faeces often find their way into water resources. To an average urban dweller in the country, especially a Lagos resident, however, the statistics may not be that shocking. In Lagos, the topic came to many as a rather disgusting talk! While would anyone want to be reminded of those irritating spots littered with human faeces. But a significant number of residents who

spoke with Saturday Mirror, especially in Mushin, Egbeda, Shasha and Iyana Ipaja areas of Lagos State felt, perhaps, they could as well get the dirty thought off their minds by sharing their various ugly daily experiences with regard to some people’s despicable habit of defecating in the open places, including the roads. For such people, it is no longer the question of whether or not some unknown persons defecate in public places. Olamide Bayonle, a resident of Shasha who runs a roadside food canteen at Simpson street in Akowonjo, said she has lost count of the amount of faeces that her eyes have seen in recent time. “I even saw some on my way to my canteen early this morning. It was very irritating. One is becoming tired of sighting heaps of faeces on the roads every day. I think something urgent must be done about it and the concerned authorities would need to watch out for these fun seekers who hang out at some of these night joints. They are the people who always do it. If you want to know, hide somewhere

around this area at night and you would see them. Even big men sometimes park their cars somewhere and do it in the cover of the night,” Bayonle added. But Augusta Nkwocha, a roadside pepper seller at Mushin has a different suspicion regarding the kind of people who litter the roads and other public places with their faeces. “I will be insincere to say that some Nigerians are not of the habit of defecating in the open. This is something you and I see with our open eyes on a daily basis. But I am strongly of the opinion that the area boys are largely responsible for this. Therefore, I feel that the best way to correct this social decadence is to send these area boys away. Most of them don’t have shelter. So they sleep and do everything, including excreting outside.” Monday Bright, an Okada rider at Iyana Ipaja, saw it as a shortfall of a corrupt system orchestrated over time by successive governments in the country. “It is part of the rots in our system CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

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August 4, 2012

Saturday Starter

tate Police. Those in support of it would speak about it with passion. They would advocate for it, stressing its importance. As far as they are concerned, it is about a major step towards solving the seeming intractable problem of insecurity in the nation. They have a point. Of course, it goes without saying that State Police would, any day, solve some knotty issues that have made life in any society unsafe. One of the arguments in favour of State Police is the fact that the society is policed by the locals, so to speak. That is to say, the policemen assigned to those areas are very familiar with their terrain, having come from within. With such an advantage, it is often very easy by the police to track down criminals and easily get to the root of any crime carried out within their jurisdiction. Not only do they know the key people in the society and their characteristics, they are well equipped to urgently control what can turn out to be a major crisis or disaster.

That is not to say that the concept of the State Police is not open to abuse. Those who fear that the disadvantages therein outweigh the advantages would tell the whole world that the lives of those against the establishment are at risk. In their view, real or perceived enemies of the state are cowed by the state with the police. Such a situation, they argue is worst under a political setting where the government of the day has decided to silence its opponents. The police, in such a circumstance, go on rampage, carrying out the order of their masters. The pros and cons of the State Police is the reason for the argument in recent time about whether or not it should be in Nigeria. Reasons are being canvassed by the opposing sides over the issue and it appears that so much controversy still awaits it.

Stirring the

State Police controversy

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Saturday Starter

Who wants

TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

ateline: 27 July, 2012, Minna, Niger State. The Northern Governors’ Forum NGF had just risen from its meeting attended by 18 governors of its 19 member states. Its chairman, host and governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, had just read their communiqué. The body rejected the establishment of state police. It, however, called for the amendment of the section of the Constitution which borders on the control of the Commissioners of police. Aliyu, who read the communiqué said, “The Forum is not in support of creation of State Police. It however resolved to prevail on the Federal Government to embark on Police Reform that will assist the states in control and management of police affairs, and sound philosophy of modern policing by amending the provision of Section 215.” The forum’s statement was greeted with diverse and contrary reactions. It was a complete departure from their earlier stance. Their counterparts from other regions were almost scandalised by the decision of the NGF. The northern governors were earlier in tandem with their counterparts from other geo-political zones on the demand for the establishment of a state police which would be controlled by each of the governors of the 36 states. The 36 governors had at a forum earlier collectively made a demand for state police. The statement of the AGF has now put a clog in the otherwise expected smooth sail of the demand for state police through the National Assembly which individual members had either expressed willingness to grant acquiescence or dissent to as the case may be. What on earth could have prompted the calls for the establishment of another policing arm this time to be under the control of state chief executives who are also the Chief Security Officers of their respective domains as against the current existence of the almighty Nigeria Police Force? The demand for state police did not just crop up now. It first reared its head at the very tender age of this political dispensation. Governors under the auspices of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) had begun the call then but it was not as forceful and vociferous as the current one. Part of their claims then which are also being reiterated now is that the current Nigerian Police Force is not efficient and effective enough to police such an entity as Nigeria. Another argument which is deferred to by many advocates of state police now is that in the spirit of true federalism, each federating unit should own, control and manage its own internal security apparatus. One other argument that is also often touted is the return to the status quo. In the First Republic and even the preceding years, Nigeria’s policing had never been under one central body. It was the

Jang

Babangida

IT IS ON RECORD

THE FORUM IS NOT IN

THAT NOBODY

SUPPORT OF CREATION OF

STATE POLICE. IT

HAS FAULTED OUR REASONS.

RESOLVED TO PREVAIL ON THE

FEDERAL

ANYBODY FEELS HE

GOVERNMENT TO EMBARK ON POLICE REFORM after the incursion of the military and the introduction of unitary that the existing structures were scrapped. In the forefront of the current crave for state police are the governors of South West geo-political zone including their South South and South East coun-

Uduaghan

IS NOT READY FOR

STATE POLICE, THAT IS HIS OPINION terparts. They have been unequivocal in their demand for a security outfit they can control. But reacting to the balking of the NGF, Governors Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta)

Ehindero

WITHOUT

SO IF

Fayemi

IT IS A

POLICE,

STATE POLICE

CONTRADICTION

MEANS THE

TO CALL US

SECURITY

ABSENCE OF

CHIEF SECURITY

OFFICERS IF WE

STATE

CHALLENGES WILL WORSEN

NATIONAL POLICE FORCE

DON’T CONTROL POLICE

and Babatunde Fashola (Lagos) had chided the group for its newly adopted position. To Fayemi having the whole country under the control of the NPF is unacceptable. He said: “It is contradiction in terms to call state governors the chief security officers of their states and yet they don’t have control over the instrumentalities of security control. “The NPF has central control from Abuja which is unacceptable. Crimes are essentially better controlled by local communities because it’s easy for the people to know the geography, culture and crime history of the community. It is incongruous to bring somebody from afar to police a strange environment.” Aregbesola, said that, “There is nowhere in the world where our own structure of the police is being replicated. In other parts of the world, institutions are allowed to have their own police. “In such environments, crime rate has been reduced to its barest minimum. The Nigeria Police could be very effective and efficient but their challenges are majorly the structure and equipment.” While Mimiko, through his Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, insisted that states should be allowed to control their police. “The best thing that could happen to this country is if the state governments are allowed to be in total control of their security by having their own police which will take orders directly from the governors,” he added. Uduaghan, said the South-South believed in state police. “If we do not consider having state police our security challenges will continue to get worse,” he stated. However, before the U-turn of the NGF, piqued by incessant riots and the frustrations associated with delivering the dividends of democracy in an atmosphere of rancour, Kaduna State governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, had advocated for states governors to be directly in control of security agencies, especially the police. Setting up or creating state police would help deal with crises before they escalate, the governor had submitted. Yakowa said this at a two-day peace and unity conference organised by the leadership of Arewa Consultative Forum. A dissenting voice in the NGF is Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang. Jang’s whose state has remained a theatre of ethnic war and terrorist attacks. He is a strong proponent of state police. “It is on record that nobody has faulted our reasons. So if anybody feels he is not ready for state police, that is his opinion; but we must look at the reason some of we are calling for it and how we intended to implement it. No sentiment should be used,” the retired Air Commo-

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August 4, 2012

Saturday Starter

state police? dore said. What are these reasons put forward by Jang and his colleagues in the push for the decentralisation of the police force and establishment of state police? Chief Ayo Adebanjo, a lawyer and chieftain of the Pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, gave some. “It is believed that once you are under the federal system, beside any other thing, state police is very important. Besides, with the problem we are having in the country there is justification for state police. State police can be a better security arrangement against anything. “The question of the state police is that it is the people in the state that would be in the force. What is happening now is that somebody from Zaria, Kaduna State is being asked to go and be a policeman in Osogbo, Osun State. There is no way he will understand the native language and economy of the place he is posted to,” he said. But what is state police? Sunday Ehindero, a retired Inspector General of Police IGP, attempted an explanation. According to him, “State Police means the absence of a National Police Force. It means a locally controlled police force. There will continue to be a local police stationed in say Lagos State or Kebbi State or Enugu State. They may continue to be commanded by Commissioners of Police (CPs). However, they will not be under the supervision of the Inspector General of Police (IGP). “The IGP will not have the power to control the CPs. In other words, section 214 of the 1999 Constitution as amended may have to be altered. The Constitution in section 214(1) provides for the whole country Nigeria a single police force and prohibits the establishment of any other police force for the country. It is a centrally controlled police force in a strong-centered presidential system of government. “The concept of a state police is tied to the question of who controls the contingents of police stationed in the states. Where there is a state police force, the IGP is divested from the control of the contingents of police men stationed in the states under the Commissioners of Police. Similarly, the President would have no direct dealings with the states in relation to the maintenance of law and order. Rather it would be the responsibility of the Governors of the states. What we have, now, is a federal controlled police force operated on a state basis.” As much as the concept may look appealing to its proponents the mere mention of state police now draws the ire of some others. One of these is the President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. To the President, it is not only unacceptable; the country is not also ripe for it. Speaking at the North Central Zonal meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), President Jonathan

said that if state police forces were introduced now, there was a great likelihood that they would be misused. “State Police may be theoretically good, but looking at our political environment, it could be abused to the detriment of the country,” the President said. He said that the consensus of members of the National Council of States was that state police should not be permitted until Nigeria’s political development gets to the stage where the citizenry can be sure that it will not be misused. “The consensus is that we should get to the point where we will be sure that whoever is in power will not turn it against the people. The first step is for us to have confidence in elections conducted at the

state and local government levels,” President Jonathan said. Toeing the President’s line of argument is the IGP Mohammed Dikko Abubakar . Abubakar, at the Kaduna State Police Command Headquarters, after paying a courtesy visit to Governor Patrick Yakowa before holding a town hall meeting with some community leaders in the state kicked against it, saying Nigeria was not ripe for it. According to him, “the position of the Nigeria police before now on the issue of state Police has not changed. Nigeria is not ripe enough for a state police, period! Look at what is happening in Kaduna State now. If this magnitude of crisis was left to a state police, how would it curtail it?” Also buying into this view is the National Publicity Secretary of All Nigeria Peoples Party ANPP, Mr Emma Eneu-

‘State Police will kill rule of law’ A

s a retired police officer, what is the meaning of state police and what is your view about the agitation for the creation of state police? State Police is good but we are not yet civilized and developed to have state police because we have greedy and corrupt politicians who would create state police and use it against their opponents. They would also use the state police to suppress crimes within their areas. Boko Haram is introduced by the politicians. We have some thugs operating in some states and these thugs are above the law because state governors don’t want them to be punished because they are making use of them. No matter the offence they commit, they will not punish them. So if we have state police there would not be rule of law and state executives would do whatever they want. Also, there would not be professionalism. If you are a Commissioner of Police in a state and you are against any political party and if that political party wins an election, they will dismiss or retire you. And if they retire you, there would be no continuity and professionalism in police service. What are the advantages of having state police in Nigeria? We are not yet ripe for state police because if we have state police now the situation that we are seeing in this country would worsen. There would be violation of human rights. There would be injustice and opposition would be suppressed while state governors would promote thuggerry in their state and there would professionalism. Why do you think Nigeria is not ripe for state police? It is not yet ripe for Nigeria at all to have state police. We are too corrupt. If

Tsav

we were less corrupt and we were tolerant; we believe in God and we accept the will of God, then one can say we are ripe for state police. But now, we are not because what all Nigerians think about is wealth. Every Nigerian wants to get money to enjoy life. They don’t think about death. When we start thinking about death; that is when we can have state police. Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, former Lagos State Commissioner of Police and elder statesman

kwu, who declared that the country is unripe for such a security outfit. Eneukwu said the call to create state police now would worsen the whole situation because some powerful people in the state would hijack it for their interest. He urged the Federal Government to device a method that would not allow unnecessary interference from any quarters if state police were to be created. Another political party, the Congress for Progressive Change CPC, also kicked against the establishment of state police. The CPC Secretary, Mr. Buba Galadima, said instead of establishing state police government should embark on police reform aimed at strengthening police to make it respond to emerging challenges. He said the United Nations UN recommended that countries should have at least 220 police officers per 100,000 citizens. Nigeria, Galadima added, had not met that requirement but government should work toward increasing the current 377,000 police officers to meet the UN standard, saying that was more appropriate rather than creating state police. The Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, however, has a different view. It insisted that having state police would help check the spate of violence in the country. The Church urged the Federal Government to allow for the creation state police in order to check the spate of violence across the country. Osun State Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev Afolabi Popoola, during a press conference in Osogbo to mark the diocese’s silver jubilee, made this known. He said, “Nigeria needs God’s grace at this moment of our national life. We need to help ourselves too by doing what is right. The establishment of state police will help curb violence in the country.” But Abubarkar Tsav, a retired Commissioner of Police would also distance himself from the creation of state police. To him too, though it is a lofty idea, the situation is not yet right. “State Police is good but we are not yet civilized and developed to have state police because we have greedy and corrupt politicians who will create state police and use it against their opponents. And they will also use the state police to suppress crimes within their areas. Boko Haram is introduced by the politicians.” he said. As the debate continues, the crime rate in the country keeps skyrocketing; in the northern states of Bauchi, Borno, Sokoto, Kano and Plateau, the killing spree by fundamentalist terrorists group, ethnic militias and Fulani herdsmen continue. Down South, armed robbery, rape, kidnap, advanced free fraud and other crimes continue almost unabated. But the debate for the establishment or otherwise of state police continues.

National News

August 4, 2012

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Land dispute: Patience, Turai return to court

•Adoke, FCT minister may face contempt charge EMMANUEL ONANI ABUJA

he last may not have been heard of the cold war between the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, and her predecessor, Hajiya Turai Yar ‘Adua, as both parties are expected back in court on September 24. On that day, they are expected to continue arguments on the parcel of land located at the Central Area, Abuja, which is the source of their quarrel. The parcel of land, measuring approximately 1. 84 hectares and “bounded by

beacons numbers PB 48, PB 1596, PB 1599 and PB 6827, was said to have been allocated to the former First Lady for the building of a secretariat for African First Ladies. However, it was later gathered that Turai converted the land for personal use for her Non-Governmental Organisation, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation. Consequent upon this purported change in plan, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Usman revoked the Certificate of Occupancy, C of O, and re-allocated same

to Dame Jonathan for the construction of a peace secretariat for Forum of Wives of African Heads of States, which she incidentally heads. The disputed plot of land is covered by “an accepted Offer of Right of Occupancy dated 19th February, 2010”. It lays in-between NANET Suites and Federal Secretariat, Shehu Shagari Way, Central Area District, Abuja. As parties return to court, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed

and Federal Capital Development Authority will be battling to save their neck over an order of injunction restraining all defendants from carrying out any activity on the plot of land. Presiding Judge, Justice Peter Affen, gave the order, which still subsists in spite of the fact that Mrs. Jonathan has already hosted her counterparts across the region there. There are fears that the plaintiff may file contempt proceedings against the defendants. The contempt charge was consequent upon a subsisting order of interlocutory

injunction restraining the defendants from acting on the notice of revocation dated 2nd November, 2011. Adoke had filed a motion on notice brought pursuant to Order 7 Rule 7 (2) of the FCT (Civil Procedure Rules 2004) , where he urged the court to discharge the restraining order saying “the previous allocations were duly revoked and a fresh allocation made out to the African Peace Mission in overriding interest.” He further contended that, “The invitations to the members of the African Union’s First Ladies Peace Mission had already gone

out and it would be most humiliating for Nigeria in the diplomatic circle to make an about-turn at this time, given, the time constraint to effect any other changes in venue.” Accordingly, the AGF had formulated two issues for determination to wit: “Whether this Honourable Court may not set aside its injunction where such injunction is against public interest or policy; “Whether the court is deprived of its jurisdiction to determine a matter where there is a breach of the fundamental principle of fairhearing.”

Riot in Abeokuta as truck crushes five students FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

Former Prime Minister of Britain, Mr. Tony Blair, (l) with the President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, during a meeting in Abuja, recently. PHOTO ROTIMI OSASONA

Third Mainland Bridge: Lagos govt announces second complete diversion

he second complete diversion of traffic on Third Mainland Bridge, initially scheduled for tomorrow will now take place on Sunday, 12th August, 2012. The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Comrade Kayode Opeifa, who disclosed this in his office at Alausa praised the efforts of the people of Lagos for their cooperation and perseverance during the first exercise. He explained that the concrete casting of the second and third expansion

joints inward Lagos Island would now be done on Sunday, 12th August, 2012. According to him, motorists inward Lagos Island and Ikeja would experience complete diversion of traffic from the bridge and would be restricted from having access to the bridge from 6 am to 12 midnight on Sunday, 12th August, 2012. He commended the efforts of the contractor, Messrs Borini Prono, for the successful execution of the casting of the first joint out of the three joints inward Lagos Island which he

said was carried out within the scheduled timeline. He added that motorists are, however, free to use the Third Mainland Bridge the way it is been used, tomorrow. The Commissioner urged motorists to continue make use of the existing alternative routes during the time and appealed to them to always obey traffic rules and regulations as well as the officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA). He appealed to motor-

ists to bear with government, pointing out that repair works and diversions were to ensure the safety of motorists and protect the interest of the public in general. He said government was doing its best to ensure that the repair work is completed within the stipulated period.

tudents of the Federal College of Education (FCE), Osiele, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, yesterday trooped to the street in protest of the crushing of five of their colleagues by a truck. The incident, which occurred around 6:30 pm ignited serious violence which saw the protesting students of the institution setting four trucks ablaze. Saturday Mirror gathered that the truck, loaded with granite, rammed into the taxi conveying the students, killing them immediately. The development, it was further gathered, infuriated the colleagues of the dead students who barricaded the Abeokuta-OdedaIbadan Road with bonfires. The action of the students resulted in a serious traffic snarl on the highway as motorists and commuters could not proceed further to their respective destinations. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the death of the students, however, added that miscreants

had also hijacked the students’ protest. The PPRO explained that there were conflicting number s of victims, but maintained that only two students had been confirmed dead at press time. Adejobi added that the Police Commissioner, Ikemefuna Okoye, attempted to calm the protesters but they refused to be persuaded. “The protest was hijacked by miscreants; it was not just a student protest again. The CP tried to address the protesters but they went on the rampage. The police had to dislodge them with tear-gas. “Most of the students retreated when the management tried to address them but some hoodlums who hijacked the protest continued, threatening to burn all the trucks at Asero motor park. “As to the number of victims, there are conflicting reports. The command is yet to be briefed by the DPO (in charge of Obantoko Division) who is busy maintaining law and order in the area.” He, however, gave the assurance that policemen were on ground to ensure normalcy returned to the area.

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National News

August 4, 2012

Emir of Fika escapes death

…as suicide bomber strikes in Damaturu mosque …terrorist kills self with bomb in Kaduna

INUSA NDAHI AND AZA MSUE DAMATURU, KADUNA

arely one month after the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garba El-Kanemi and the Deputy Governor of the state, Alhaji Zannah Umar, narrowly escaped death when a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Maiduguri, the Emir of Fika and chairman of Yobe State Council of Chiefs, Dr. Muhammadu Abali Ibn Muhammadu Idrissa, narrowly escaped death. A suicide bomber had detonated an explosive

when the royal father was coming out from a central mosque located in front of his palace at Potiskum, after the Friday congregational prayer, but he was unhurt. An eye-witness who gave his name as Salisu Musa said the bomber was found sitting among the entourage of the emir. But noticing that he was a stranger, he was asked to move away from the entourage. He said although he moved away, barely after the prayer and the emir was stepping out, the man was sighted rushing towards the emir.

The eye-witness said the police orderly of the emir, upon noticing the move, pushed the suicide bomber away before the explosion triggered off. His words: “During our Friday prayer at the central mosque located in front of the emir’s palace here in Potiskum town, an unknown person was initially sighted sitting among the Emir’s entourage. He was asked to leave the place and he did. But immediately after the prayer, the same person was sighted rushing towards the emir. The emir’s police orderly

quickly pushed the man away and the bomb exploded affecting the police’s arm and injuring dozens of people.” A visit to the scene of the incident showed the corpse of the suicide bomber. He was torn into two with his waist and chest gone separate ways. He had a yellow gown with a cap and sandal on. Sympathizers and worshippers at the scene were asked to leave the place to allow security operatives made up of policemen and soldiers do their work. A rowdy session fol-

Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Osita Chidoka, (3rd right) with some newly decorated officers at the commission’s headquarters, recently.

Proposed dialogue: FG to reach Boko Haram through emirs OMEIZA AJAYI

ndications emerged yesterday that the federal government may have enlisted the support of traditional rulers and opinion leaders in some northern states to obtain direct contacts of top members of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. The step is with a view to dialoguing with members of the group. The traditional rulers and opinion leaders enlisted, it was gathered, are those from some of the northern states with

a prevalence of violent crimes and rise in the activities of Boko Haram. The government is said to be fed up with the use of intermediaries for purposes of such negotiations blaming the failure of previous efforts at talking with the sect on the use of “agents” who would rather prefer to conceal the identity of the sect leaders. Saturday Mirror source disclosed that the government is considering which of the traditional rulers to engage for the process as it is closely studying the attacks on two influential

emirs in the region. It would be recalled that barely a month after the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garba El-Kanemi, narrowly escaped being killed by a suicide bomber, the Emir of Fika, Dr. Muhammadu Abali Ibn Muhammadu Idrissa, also escaped death in the hand of another suicide bomber in Potiskum, in Yobe State. Speaking on the efforts of the government to dialogue with Boko Haram, the Director, Department of State Security Service (SSS) in the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Little John Oko-

jie, had on Wednesday disclosed that although the service would not shy away from its duty of crime prevention, it had become difficult for the federal government to dialogue with the sect due to its invisible mode of operation. He added that the sect was usually represented by intermediaries who would rather not disclose the identity of the sect members, a situation that he said had made the issue more complicated than the Niger Delta insurgency. A security source in the presidency told Sat-

lowed with a military personnel shooting into the air to disperse the crowd. It took the intervention of some elders in the area to calm down members of the crowd who had become enraged and started protesting at the action of the soldier who shot into the air. The victims of the explosion were all rushed to the emergency unit of the General Hospital, Potiskum for treatment. No fewer than 15 people were seen being attended to by health personnel when at the hospital. The blast has started receiving condemnation. A muslim cleric, Adamu Abdullahi, described the attack as very unfortunate. Security has since been intensified in the town with thorough checking at military road blocks and the road in front of the Divisional Police Office. When contacted on phone, the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Toyin Gbagadesin, said “the Police Commissioner will soon speak with the press on the matter.” In a similar development, a suspected suicide member was killed on Thursday in Mahuta, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis when the bomb he was carrying exploded on him. Reports said the man suspected to be a member of the terrorists group, Boko Haram, along with three others, had entered the Afaka district of the area, allegedly to eliminate the district head, Ab-

duwahab Aliyu, on Thursday night at about 10 pm. Saturday Mirror gathered that youths of the area who were said to have raised eyebrows about their movement immediately mobilised themselves to apprehend the suspect and disarm him. . Conscious of the fact that he was to be attacked, he took to his heels. It was in his bid to escape that the bomb he had on him exploded and killed him. An eyewitness said “It happened at about 10 pm on Thursday when some suspicious persons entered the village and some residents started questioning them and discovered that they were armed. “The youths were able to disarm one of them who admitted that they were on a mission to kill the village head, for allegedly exposing their members. The other suspects escaped and it was when the youths were pursuing them that the bomb exploded on the one who was apprehended and he died instantly” said a resident who witnessed the incident.” In a telephone interview, Kaduna Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abdulrazaq Balteh, confirmed the incident but said that no arrest was made. He confirmed that one person who carried a bomb died. His words: “To the best of our knowledge, the only person killed was the one carrying the explosive device and we have started investigating the matter.”

urday Mirror that the new National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, had intimated President Goodluck Jonathan of his plans to use traditional and religious rulers in the region to get a direct access to the sect members who are indigenes of such emirates. “You know his (NSA’s) background as a son of a former Sultan and he is close to these emirs. That explains his visits to some of them very recently. So, he is liaising with them and other leaders in the region to get the direct contacts of the sect members rather

than resort to the use of intermediaries. “He knows that the success of his tenure will be determined by how far he goes in addressing the Boko haram menace”, the source stated. Saturday Mirror recalls that only few days ago, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, had restated the position of the Army on the president’s decision to dialogue with the sect, explaining that the actions and pronouncements of the Army would not be an obstacle to such interface.

National News

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Lagos bans NURTW at motor parks, highways • Defends new traffic laws MURITALA AYINLA

fter years of lawlessness and violent extortion of commercial motorists in the state, the Lagos State government yesterday wielded its big stick over the activities of members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURWT) on the highways and motor parks across the metropolis. Henceforth, it is a grave offence to stand on the roads or anywhere in the state to demand toll or fees from commercial motorists in the name of NURTW or other groups.

Speaking at a joint press conference to shed more light on the controversies trailing the state’s new road traffic law, the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Comrade Kayode Opeifa, who was supported by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, said collection of tolls from motorists along the road by any union had also been banned. His words: “Henceforth, union activity is no longer allowed in all the garages in the state. What they need to do now is to operate the way other unions in the state

operate. They are meant to be in their offices. We recognised the right for them to associate but we believe that the motor parks should be made easy for those who want to carry out their business of commuting in the state. “Henceforth, no union member should be seen on the road collecting money on transport operators. It is illegal and this is how it is contained in the white paper adopted by the state government yesterday. Also, drivers and conductors in the state will be required to wear uniform”. The commissioner said the new traffic laws in the

state are meant to ensure safety, security of lives and property within the state, as well as enhance service delivery. He said the development was in response to the clamour of residents and agitation over the activities of the NURTW and other unions in the state. The complaints, he said, bordered on fightings at garages, collection of money on the roads indiscriminately, disturbing passengers and drinking alcohol. “Government will soon commence the re-registration of motor parks across the state. The situation where people just park ve-

hicles in a certain area converting it to motor parks is now illegal,” he added. On the enforcement of the new traffic laws, the Lagos State Attorney General said although the law came into effect on Thursday the enforcement would not commence until it is gazetted. He said: “We do not have enough men for the enforcement of the law but we will require the assistance of the residents of the state by complying to the new Lagos State road traffic law. The fact that none of our men is on ground does not give residents of the state the opportunity of taking law into their hand.”

While assuring the people of the state that sensitisation of the public would be given priority instead of enforcement, Ipaye said as more people comply with the law, the traffic officers in the state would have less work to do in terms of enforcement. While he explained that the law was not aimed at generating revenue into the coffers of the state government, he stressed that money ever generated from arrests of vehicles for committing offences are not enough to cover the expenses incurred by the state government during the enforcement of the law.

Demolition in Abuja: Court warns parties to maintain status quo EMMANUEL ONANI ABUJA

Bayelsa State governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, displaying the free new school uniforms to be used by all primary and secondary schools in the state, at the Executive Council Chamber, Government House in Yenagoa, recently.

ACN, CPC merger won’t work –Tofa AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

eteran politician and former chairman of All Nigerian Peoples Party Elders Committee, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, has expressed doubt over the success of the ongoing merger talks between the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC. He based his opinion on the “seeming foot-dragging on major issues on the matter by the leaders.” The former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC, in the aborted third republic also

expressed concern over the future and fortune of his party, the ANPP, which he said was bedeviled with the twin problem of factionalisations and exodus of key party members. Speaking in an interview with Saturday Mirror in Kano, the elders statesman said a number of reasons justified his fear. He explained that till date, no concrete steps or decisions had been taken by the leadership of both parties to assure Nigerians of their seriousness to come together and form a strong front that would wrest power from the ruling PDP in 2015. “I doubt if the ACN and CPC’s decisions on the issue of merger and fusion would

go anywhere because what we read and hear every day is that they are talking, but I doubt strongly if the leaders have really agreed exactly on what they want, such as who gets what under the arrangement.” Tofa noted that the issue of position sharing would constitute major threat to the merger plan between the two parties, especially as it affects the ambition of ACN leader, former governor, Bola Tinubu and General Mohammadu Buhari of the CPC. To him, “if they have to make progress in that direction, the two leaders need to sit down and sort out their differences so that the atmosphere will be enhanced

enough for both top work in the best interest of what they desire to do and not in their individual interest. If they do this, then we will be talking about some progress, otherwise, I have my doubt whether this project will work.” He said that he was optimistic that with a strong opposition party via merger the PDP would face a strong opposition in the 2015 exercise, adding that what the opposition leaders needed was to reposition themselves for the challenges ahead to make some sacrifices. “My advice is that these leaders should concentrate in achieving their targets taking the interest of Nigerians into considerations”.

Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, sitting in Bwari, yesterday, warned the Federal Capital Development Authority and residents of Mpape community in Abuja against doing anything that would affect the subject matter of a suit pending before it. Trial judge, Justice Abubakar Kutigi, gave the order while delivering ruling in an application filed by some residents of the densely populated suburb - also referred to as “Maitama extension –against

the FCDA and Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed. Plaintiffs in the suit are Jacob Obor, Olasogba John, Isreal Awoyemi, Young Okeugo and Macos Gabriel. They are in court for themselves and on behalf of other residents. They are praying the court to grant them an injunction restraining the FCDA from proceeding with the planned demolition of their houses “numbering over 500,000”. The applicants further urged the court to hold that the proposed demolition of their houses is illegal and offensive.

CITM commends Reps over passage of bill A ZA MSUE KADUNA

he registrar of the Chartered Institute of Treasury Management, CITM, Mr. Olumide Adedoyin, has said that the passage of a bill for the establishment of the institute by the House of Representatives will ensure professionalism among treasury managers and tackle corruption. Mr. Adedoyin stated this in Kaduna yesterday while speaking with journalists as he commended the House

for its courage and having the political will to pass such an important private bill. He noted that the passage of the bill would further boost Nigeria’s image among the comity of nations, especially in its quest to promote transparency and adopt zero tolerance to corruption. He stressed that with the passage of the bill, a standard had been set to ensure that only professionals and properly trained personnel would handle the treasury in future.

Politics

Babangida

TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

he call, this week, by former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), for a process to kick-start dialogue with armed belligerents has underscored the enormity of nation’s state of insecurity. Nigerians, in the last few years, have been experiencing series of attacks by some armed groups, with the latest in the North, being by the terrorists group, Boko Haram. The dreadful sect, in the last few months, has killed many people through bombing of some places. Needless to say that the activities of the group have left majority of Nigerians panicky and unsure of what the next moment would be like in terms of safety. It was in view of this disturbing state of insecurity that Obasanjo and Babangida, in a joint statement, titled, “A call for peace and dialogue” called on governments at all levels to scale up efforts at addressing the security challenges confronting the nation. The statement reads in part: “Unfolding events in our dear motherland, Nigeria, over the last few years are threatening to unravel the nearly a century old labour of our founding fathers and subsequent generations in building a strong, united, peaceful nation that can accommodate and cater for the needs and aspirations of our diverse communities. “The loss of innocent lives being experienced by the day across the nation is simply unbearable. Currently, the nation is gripped by a regime of fear and uncertainty that virtually all citizens have difficulties going about their normal day-to-day lives without great anxiety and trepidation. This cannot be allowed to continue! “As the holy month of Ramadan com-

Dasuki

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Obasanjo

Boko Haram: When dialogue becomes non-negotiable mences, Nigerians, wherever they are and whatever religion they profess, are accorded a great opportunity to turn the tide against insecurity, violence and hatred. Religious leaders, in particular, have an even greater challenge to use the immense virtues of this holy period, to inculcate among the millions of citizens the spirit of mutual respect, humility and forgiveness. Ample opportunities are, therefore, at hand to bring all armed belligerents to table for meaningful dialogue with the authorities for our future and that of our children and grandchildren. “We need to reiterate that no meaningful development can ever occur in an atmosphere of violence and hatred. History has shown that any society that is built on the structures of violence and intolerance cannot prosper. We need to appreciate that God in His infinite mercy has blessed our country with abundant resources and talents, but we need peace and harmony to harness them, not just for our own well-being, but also that of our children and grandchildren. We owe

this future generations of Nigerians this much. “On our part, we are ready to do whatever is possible to promote the quest for peace and harmony. And we are ready to join hands with all patriots to sustain and further enhance the unity and progress of this country.” The two leaders stressed further that, “While we are very much aware of the efforts various governments in the country are making to confront the escalating security challenges across the country, we believe that it is time that these efforts are scaled up to be more involving and inclusive. “In this regard, whatever robust security measures are put in place to contain the situation, as is normal in such circumstance; they must be complemented with an equally intensive process of community involvement. We, therefore, urge all governments in the country, starting with all the 774 local councils to comprehensively engage their communities at the various levels, including elders, youth organisations, trade unions and as-

sociations, women bodies, the clergy and other community stakeholders.” The call by both Obasanjo and Babangida for a dialogue with the terrorists group is in tandem with suggestions in some quarters in the country. Even the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, on assumption of office, said the best way of solving the problem of insecurity remained a dialogue with the dreaded sect. Indicating that he was already making a move towards that, he said, he already had the contact numbers of some top members of the group. With the renewed call for a dialogue with Boko Haram, many are at sea as to how to go about it. This is in view of the earlier failed attempt by the government to sit at the roundtable with the group and resolve the problem. Worried by the consequences of the activities of Boko Haram on the nation, the president of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, Comrade Shehu Sani, was the first person to initiate a move for a dialogue. Nothing however came out of it. Also, earlier this year, members of Boko Haram announced its readiness to dialogue with the government and the group chose the President of the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Dr. Ibrahim Datti Ahmad, to lead its team of negotiator. But hardly had the negotiation started than Ahmad declared that he had withdrawn from the exercise, blaming insincerity on the part of the government for his action. To many Nigerians, the decision of the Ahmad-led group to withdraw from the peace talk was a bad omen. Many believe that the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal of the trusted allies of Boko Haram from the peace talk might prevent future negotiation. Infact, the group accused the government of leaking issues discussed at their meetCONTINUED ON PAGE 11

POLITICS

Mr. Osita Okechukwu, National Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), and former governorship candidate of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Enugu, is unhappy about the poor political development of the country. In this interview with TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE, he speaks on the ongoing merger talks between CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), declaring that they would be concluded before March 2013. He also bares his mind on corruption, the impeachment threat against President Goodluck Jonathan by the House of Representatives and Igbo presidency among other issues. Excerpts:

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘ACN, CPC’ll merge before March 2013’

hat is your view on Nigeria’s democracy and are you really satisfied with the state of the nation? Permit me to state that we are, as a matter of fact, under civil rule transiting to democracy. We cannot, in all honesty, claim to be in democracy. We lack the core ingredients of a democratic society. No society can boast of practising democracy when, like Nigeria, lacks transparent, free and fair elections. For the avoidance of doubt, since 1999, we have never had a transparent election. Secondly, 70 per cent of our judges, most of the time, do not serve the cause of justice. Thirdly, our state legislatures are rubber stamps and the National Assembly has become a trade centre. We are in deficit of democratic ethos; therefore one cannot be satisfied. It is because of the fact that our elections are more selective than elective that those in public office easily breach the social contract between the leaders and the led. The monumental corruption in the land is a sign post of ineffective democracy. If we have genuine democracy, the National and State Assemblies could have been executing their oversight functions without let or hindrance. How mature are we in the way we play politics in Nigeria? We are far from being mature in the architecture of our politics. How can we talk of maturity when we jettisoned the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? The Constitution, in Chapter 2, clearly states that the primary objective of government is the provision of welfare and security to the people. It goes ahead to define the economic objectives and cautioned that the economy must not be run in such a manner that the means of production and exchange will be concentrated in

Osita

the hands of few people. This chapter is observed more in breach than in practice; for example public houses were privatised and the monies realised vanished. May I remind you that Chapter 2 is not justifiable, but you are quoting it as if it is? Yes, I know what you mean. This is what I have been saying; the constitution was manipulated to allow for the breach. Take for instance, the paradox provided by Section 6(6), which on one hand foreclosed the justifiability of Chapter 2, while in this vein the oath of office of the president or the governor makes Chapter 2 mandatory. What is the effect of the breach of Chapter 2 of the Constitution? In a nutshell the concept of public good and safety net were subverted. This is the root of the budget war today between the National Assembly and the Executive headed by President Goodluck Jonathan. If Chapter 2 was observed to the letter, the issue of casual implementation of the budget could not have reared its head. It came about because the managers of the economy loathe state capitalism and promote private capitalism. For them public sector has no role to play, which is the greatest joke. For it is the public sector which built the rail lines, the tunnels, highways, dams and other critical infrastructure in Europe, North America and China. Since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has always been at the helms

of affairs. Why are the opposition parties so weak that they cannot take over power from PDP? Opposition parties are weak because of several reasons. Lack of transparent, free and fair elections make the opposition weak. The incumbent manipulates the election to remain in office. Elections are supposed to be referendum or the report card of the incumbent. Secondly, there is only one source of supply – the oil revenue. This makes it imperative for those whose only agenda is ‘Food is Ready,’ to personify what some call – Any Government in Power (AGIP). The top opposition figures we found in the First Republic were dependent on their farm products, not solely on petrol-dollar. What is the present state of the CPC considering the leadership tussle in the party? There is no serious crisis in the CPC. What you have is the activities of the few people who were recruited by the PDP to kill the party. PDP did so when it went out of its mandate to dislocate Alliance for Democracy (AD), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and today, it is demolishing the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). There is a report that former Head of State, General Mohammed Buhari, is prepared to run for 2015 presidency. How true is this? What I am aware of is that General Buhari is doing all he can to mobilise Nigerians to vote PDP out of power. Take for instance, he believes that all progressive forces must unite in order to create

a granite coalition, which is a national platform, to win elections in 2015 and beyond. Buhari is not placing his personal interest above the core objective of the coalition. He admonishes everybody to put his ego in the cooler, in order to nurture a veritable platform. What is your view about the ongoing merger talks between ACN and CPC? One can simply say that we have learnt a lot of lessons from our failure to consummate the merger before the 2011 elections. We are doing all we can to make sure that there is no miscarriage any more. One can safely say that we cannot afford to repeat the mistake we made before. As luck will have it, we have time on our side, unlike in 2011. We also know that Nigerians are tired of the vice grip and stranglehold of the PDP; so we can’t afford to fail to unite all the progressive forces. Do you indeed foresee anything positive coming out it considering the failure of previous efforts? As I said earlier, barring any unintended obstacle, the merger will be concluded before March 2013. It therefore provides us time to market the name and the manifesto of the new baby. What is your view about the rate of corruption in Nigeria? The rate of corruption in Nigeria today is nauseating, unconscionable and indecent. It is crass accumulation and unimaginable recklessness. The corruption in Nigeria is the bane of our CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

POLITICS

August 4, 2012

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 ings to the press. Immediately the Ahmad-led committee withdrew from the negotiation table with the federal government, members of Boko Haram foreclosed any possible dialogue with the government. The dreadful sect, through its spokesman, Abdul Qaqa, via a telephone conference in Hausa language, told journalists few days after the collapse of the peace talk that the group no longer wanted peace and it would no longer dialogue with the Nigerian government. The transcript of ‘Abdul Qaqa’s’ Hausa telephone conference reads in part: “Following endless pleas by some notable Nigerians, whom we have enormous respect for; we resolved to give another chance. These people said they would intercede between us and the government, they said they have the capacity and we trusted them, unfortunately however, the opportunity was messed up.” Several efforts by the government, group and individuals to return members of Boko Haram to the negotiation table since then have not yielded any fruit. The seven-man team set up by the federal government, made up of top operatives at the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), a member from the State Security Service (SSS), the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) and a member from the Cabinet Office, to negotiate with the dreadful sect is yet to achieve any positive result.

Boko Haram: When dialogue becomes non-negotiable The seven-man committee was set up in fulfillment of parts of the recommendation of the Usman Gaji Galtimari-led presidential committee set up to look into disturbances in the North last year. Prominent Northern leaders, governors, traditional leaders, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and many others have also worked round the clock to ensure that peace return to the North, which is presently in the grip of Boko Haram, but no success has been achieved. The decision of the federal government to make a Northerner, in the person of Colonel Dasuki, as NSA has not brought any positive result. In fact, the activities of the dreadful sect have increased since then. Even the home state of the NSA, Sokoto, was attacked on Monday as two police stations were bombed by the group. Considering how several efforts to engage Boko Haram in peaceful discussions had failed, it is not unlikely that the call by Obasanjo and Babangida, may not yield any fruit too. Speaking on the need for a meaningful dialogue with the militia, the Executive Secretary of National Dialogue Steering Committee and the scribe of the United Niger Delta Energy Development Se-

‘ACN, CPC merger talks will be concluded before March 2013’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 development and had thrown Nigeria 200 years backward. PDP’s government harvests corruption, the coalition we are packaging will wage strenuous war against corruption. This is our assurance; it cannot be business as usual. Do you think anti-graft agencies are really fighting corruption in Nigeria? The EFCC, ICPC and Code of Conduct Bureau are all compromised. They are not independent of those in power. This is their greatest handicap. We are going to overhaul their legal framework to make them totally independent. How do you see the ongoing bribery allegations between Hon. Farouk Lawan and Mr. Femi Otedola? Let’s put the issue in its correct perspective. Sting operation or no sting operation, Mr. Femi Otedola and Mr. Farouk Lawan are of the same stock the Corporate Nigeria. They have been looting the country since our return to civil rule in 1999. While Otedola is a key member of the Corporate Nigeria, Lawan is a key member of the PDP. PDP and Corporate Nigeria are in an unholy alliance to loot Nigeria. Corporate Nigeria since 2003 general elections had been funding the PDP. Few days ago, there was a threat by the House of Representatives to commence impeachment process of President Goodluck Jonathan if he fails to fully implement the budget by September. What is your reaction to this devel-

opment? I understand that the Senate has joined the move to impeach President Jonathan. It is a welcome development, for there is no cogent reason to halt the funding of the budget. Is there any decoder one can use to address the dilapidated infrastructure, decayed social services and gross unemployment without funding the budget? How can a government which, in its own enlightened selfinterest, had pegged the oil sales at $72 per barrel per day and is selling between $90 and $100 per barrel per day, complain of brokerage? This is worrisome when the Federal Inland Revenue and Nigeria Customs Service have almost met their target financial profile. There is an agitation for the creation of a state in the South-East. What is your position on this? One does not think there is any patriotic Nigerian, who loves equity who will vote against one additional state for Ndigbo? This is more so when we are under the canopy of “Food is Ready” and “Share the Money” as represented by the PDP. It is unfair that Ndigbo were marginalised. Do you support the agitation for Igbo presidency in 2015? I am not opposed to president of Igbo extraction; however he cannot come in 2015 under the canopy of the PDP or of APGA. Therefore any Igbo who wants to be president must think out of the box and think the unthinkable by joining the progressive movement to build a platform.

curity Strategy (UNDEDSS), Mr. Tony Uranta, said whosoever would lead the dialogue must be those who the sect has confidence in. His words: “The Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives have all agreed that dialogue is the way forward. And in fact, Mr. President himself, tacitly endorsed national dialogue while receiving the report of the Belgore committee set up to review or to propose reforms for a standard constitution. Mr. President himself seems to be on the same page with the majority of Nigerians. In fact, everybody is now saying, Boko Haram has to dialogue. Even the NSA, Sambo Dasuki, is talking about reaching out to talk with them. Talk is the key word. The more we talk, the more we understand one another and the less likely we are to jump to wrong conclusions about each others’ intentions or ambitions. There must be dialogue at the state level, there must also be dialogue at the regional level, and very importantly, there must be dialogue at the national level.” Also supporting a possible dialogue with the militia, the spokesman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani, urged the federal government to engage the dreadful sect in a peaceful dialogue. “There is nowhere in

the world where force has ever worked on terrorism. We gave examples of Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and we have given example of Somalia. It was against that experience that we said let us try talking to them and we have been very consistent on that,” he said. The leader of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, is of the view that Obasanjo and Babangida should lead the dialogue process on the account that the militia would respect their views as national leaders. He expressed confidence that dialogue would halt the ongoing dastardly acts in many parts of the country. The National Publicity Secretary of the Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Engr. Ralph Ndigwe, tasked Obasanjo and Babangida as senior members of the Council of State to impress on the government, at the council, the need to call for dialogue. With dialogue remaining the best way to solving the problem of insecurity, many are very eager to see government make another move in that direction. What, perhaps, baffles them however, is how to get the group, Boko Haram, to sit around the table and iron whatever knotty issues that exist out. As it is, many believe that dialogue has become non-negotiable.

In your refreshingly different Depression in Nigerian property market The Nigerian economy is in problem. Nowhere is this fact brought home more than the country’s major business district, Broad Street, in the heart of Lagos, the nation’s commercial capital. Many high-rise buildings are empty and begging for occupation by tenants, who are not eager to hire them. Owners are putting many of the structures up for sale but buyers are few. Businesses are no longer taking up office spaces. According to experts, this situation is likely to continue unless certain steps are taken, and on time too. What other remote and immediate factors are responsible for the lull in the property market, what buildings are most affected, what are operators going through, and what needs to be done to reverse the ugly trend? Find out in your Sunday Mirror, tomorrow.

Reps, Okonjo-Iweala face-off

On July 19, the House of Representatives went on recess. But before the break, it had already signified its intention to take up President Goodluck Jonathan, Ministry of Finance and by extension the presiding minister, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for what the House described as a breach of the Appropriation Act, especially as it affects the Budget implementation. And the Reps are angry, warming up to take on the minister. How will this play out? We serve you details based on what they are saying.

‘Why we moved against IBB’

Col. Tony Nyiam, rtd, remember him? He was one of those arrested in connection with the 1990 Gideon Orkar coup. Twelve years later, the ‘straight-shooting’ army officer is ready to reveal all. And, indeed, he told all in this explosive interview. He spoke extensively on how he was recruited into the coup plot, why coup plotters moved against the administration of General Ibrahim Babangida.

Royal rumble!

All is not so well in Ijesa Kingdom – Reverred Owa Obokun of Ijesa Land, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, is at “war” with his chiefs. The fight has polarised the kingdom with the Kabiyesi on the one hand with some of his chiefs and another faction led by the second-in-command, Obanla of Ilesa, Chief Oyekanmi Ogedengbe. What is the cause of the royal rumble? Some say it is due to the 15 per cent allocation to the traditional council while some believe it is the oath of allegiance the chiefs were allegedly being forced to swear to. In this report, we bring you the details and how it would likely play out. Keep a date with us. These and many more available tomorrow in your

NATIONAL NEWS

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Jonathan tasks African leaders on development ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

Nigeria on the Brink of People's Revolt - Tunde Bakare

unde Bakare, serving overseer, Latter Rain Assembly and convener, Save Nigeria Group, SNG, is a radical pastor who has consistently challenged the country's leadership to make a positive impact on the lives of its citizens. Recently, he felt the compulsion to speak out, and he chose the platform which his church provides him as a preacher to do so. His critical sermon which dwelt on “how to change government peacefully and make the society better” irked the powers – that – be in Aso Rock. Consequently, Bakare was invited for a chat with the director of the State Security Service, SSS, Lagos, after which he was asked to go and tone down his message. In an exclusive interview with Newswatch, Bakare recounts his encounter with the SSS and warns that Nigeria was on the brink of People's Revolt. Grab a copy of Newswatch for the startling revelations in Bakare's interview with the magazine.

Boko Haram takes on the caliphate

or the first time since its campaign of death and destruction began, Boko Haram, the Islamic fundamentalist sect attacked Sokoto, the seat of the caliphate last week. Newswatch has details of the bombing and why the group attacked Sokoto in the Holy season of the Ramadan fast.

Obama: Walking a Tightrope

ith just a few months to the presidential election in the United State, President Barack Obama is facing a tough re-election battle based on his poor handling of the American economy. What are Obama's chances in the election scheduled for November 6, this year? Find out in this week's edition of Newswatch.

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resident Goodluck Jonathan has challenged African leaders to unite to overcome the developmental challenges facing the continent in order to be relevant in the affairs of the world in years to come. Jonathan regretted that despite the fact that most African countries have been able to overcome the shackles of colonialism and establish democratic governance, the continent is still under the oppression and war against poverty, diseases, ethnic conflicts and underdevelopment. Speaking yesterday at the joint meeting of the houses of parliament of Jamaica, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence in Kingston, Jamaica, Jonathan noted that Africa must be battle ready

to overcome the challenges facing the continent. “I am happy that the black man has put the shame of dispossession behind him and is moving on. At independence, many African states had ephemeral democratic governments that were overthrown by military dictators. Dictatorial regimes invested heavily in self-preservation and not development. The destiny of the Black person is in the hands of the Black people. “But the other truth is that the Black race is still at war against poverty, against diseases, ethnic conflicts and underdevelopment. This must be addressed.” Jonathan stressed that time had come for Nigeria and Jamaica, and indeed the rest of the world, to work together to reduce the level of the artificial forces that had kept the majority of their people from making progress. Jonathan said that Af-

rica must explore and put into maximum use all the abundant resources in the continent and also take the lead in the emerging competitive world. “In a highly globalised and competitive world, states are forming strong regional economic blocs. To promote trade and investments, boundaries are beginning to get narrower and narrower every day. It is for the same reason that we must support one another in tackling the scourge of imbalances in the prevailing global order. As black people, with a common ancestry, we must unite.” He explained that the predicament of the black race is inherently shared by Nigeria with its population of 167 million people, saying that it was this reason that past Nigerian leaders took it upon themselves to be part of the fight for the total liberation of African countries from the shackles of colonialism.

…Celebrates Anenih’s commitment to nation-building

resident Goodluck Jonathan has commended former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, for his commitment to the common good, as well as the sustained growth and development of the nation. “Given your commitment to the common good, as well as your uncommon wisdom and unwavering dedication to the sustained growth and development of our dear nation, it is my

prayer that Almighty God continues to imbue you with robust health and enduring strength in the many years of fulfillment ahead of you,” the president stated in a commendation letter to Anenih on the occasion of his 79th birthday. The PDP chieftain and former Minister of Works and Housing (1999 to 2002) was born on August 4, 1933. In the one-page letter dated July 30, 2012, entitled “Felicitations,” the President said: “On behalf of my family, the Government and

people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I extend warm felicitations to you as you mark your 79th birthday anniversary which comes up on Saturday, the 4th of August, 2012. “I join your family, friends, political children and numerous well-wishers to thank God for the life of outstanding accomplishment and dedicated service with which He has blessed you. May His favour continue to abide in your life. I wish you, Dear Leader, a very Happy Birthday!”

UNN researcher tasks FG over research equipment DENNIS AGBO ENUGU

foremost researcher and professor of pharmaceutics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof. Emmanuel Chinedum Ibezim, has called on the federal government to provide adequate equipment that will aid drug research in Nigeria. He said the call became

imperative following challenges faced by drug researchers who must travelled out of the country in order to carry out extensive research. Prof. Ibezim made the call while delivering the 68th inaugural lecture of the University entitled: “Exploring the Exciting World of the Wonder Agents Called Drugs”. He observed that although Nigeria was

blessed with the best of brains, their efficiency was limited by inadequate facilities. “Drugs are everywhere but you need research to get them out. On the course of my drug researches, I traveled out a lot of times because the equipment is not here in the country. “We have also tried to use computer simulations and molecular modeling but they have limitations.

Sport

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

CAF Champions League

Sportive Olympique de Chlef of Algeria line up before a match. INSET: Sunshine Stars’ Izu Azuka on the prowl against Esperance.

Sunshine Stars battle Algerian opposition for survival SAYO OGUNDEJI

fter salvaging an important away point a fortnight ago to Etoile Sportif du Sahel in far away Tunisia, Nigeria’s only representative in the lucrative CAF Champions League, Sunshine Stars of Akure, will aim to consolidate their position in the group standing when they host Sportive Olympique de Chlef of Algeria at Dipo Dina International Stadium in Ijebu Ode on Sunday. The coach Gbenga Ogunbote-led team had earlier lost their first match in the money-spinning stage of the competition by 0-2 to Esperance of Tunisia at IjebuOde, thus making their chances of quali-

fication from the group look shaky. General Manager of the team, Mike Idoko, who was obviously excited after the team’s outing last week in Tunisia, believes the away draw was what the team needed to revive their chances in the competition, adding that the game against the Algerians would be better than their former outings. “Getting a point on the road is better than losing at home; although we wanted outright victory, but unfortunately we could not score. I think this is good for the boys’ confidence. The result will motivate the team in our next away match against the Algerian team. “I want to assure our fans that in our next match, we will play our hearts out

3SC targets top-four finish P. 14

and get the long-awaited victory, to top our group,” Idoko said ahead of the crucial tie tomorrow. Sunshine Stars, who were runners up in the Nigeria Premier League last season, occupy the third position on the log and must raise their game to get the maximum points against Sportive Olympique de Chlef of Algeria. Despite the match looking seemingly easy on paper, Coach Ogunbote has stressed the importance of winning their home matches, which he argued would help their cause of winning their first major continental competition. “We lost our first match in the group because we failed to do the right thing, but we have every opportunity to correct

Nestle Milo Basketball Championship is beginning to yield fruits –Muhammad P. 42, 43

those mistakes and make our fans happy again. I believe the players are ready to do just that come Sunday. “We got the much-needed away points in Tunisia and the best way to announce our seriousness as an ambitious team is to do our best and win the remaining matches, which I strongly believe we have the quality and ability to achieve provided we play to our full potential,” Ogunbote concluded. The team’s goalkeeper, Ocheje Moses, who only on Wednesday got his first invitation to the Super Eagles’ team, supported his coach’s assertion, and added that the hunger for success by his colleagues would help them defeat the visitors.

Nnaji counts on Chukwumerije for Olympic P. 43 medal

SPORT

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Eliminating racism in modern Olympics

rior to the first modern Olympic Games that was held in the first week of April 1896 at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, racism in sports had been a major problem manifesting itself around the world. And today, the subject matter has become the greatest threat to the development and sustenance of sporting culture across the globe. Racism also has led to a wide range of controversial incidents, which have been reported in the media, thus raising pertinent questions on how best to curb this cankerworm. From records, sport itself does not induce racism, but it is the people that participate in the playing, organization, and implementation of sports that have brought racism into it. Some nations, such as the United Kingdom have used sports to battle the over-arching racism in its society, yet the phenomenon has refused to let go, as the notion of fair play is often shown the backdoor. According to records and prior to the 1936 Olympics, there was opposition to the Olympic Games being held in Germany. Despite this resentment, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members cast their votes in 1931 for the Olympic Games to hold in that country, thus indirectly giving support to Adolf Hitler to further promote his ideological belief of racial supremacy. As a result of this,

HARD TACKLE with

Andrew Ekejiuba anelsports@yahoo.com

08054103021

Spectators in the Olympic Stadium are seen here giving Nazi salute in Berlin, Germany, on August 1, 1936 during the Olympics.

other nations that had earlier indicated interest in participating in the 1936 Olympics threatened boycot, with Spain and the Soviet Union going through with a full boycott. In swift defence, Hitler’s Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics and further minimized its antisemitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion. At the end, the regime deceived the world by exploiting the gains of the Games and impressing many foreign spectators and journal-

ists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany. Having rejected a proposed boycott of the 1936 Olympics, the United States and other western democracies missed the opportunity to take a hard stand that contemporary observers claimed might have restrained Hitler and bolstered international resistance to Nazi tyranny. After the Olympics, Germany’s expansionism and the persecution of Jews and other “enemies of the state” accelerated, culminating in World War II and the Holocaust.

It is worthy to state that racism was not limited to Germans alone, as Americans observed racism as well in sports, which also percolated throughout the Olympics, and made discrimination commonplace in many aspects of the games. For example, prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games, Greece’s triple-jump champion was expelled from the Games after posting a tasteless tweet about Africans and the West Nile virus. Hellenic Olympic Committee officials reacted swiftly by dropping Voula Papachristou from their Olympic team after she tweeted a joke about African immigrants. The athlete posted a tweet reading, “with so many Africans in Greece, at least the West Nile mosquitoes will be eating food from their own home.” The comments created uproar on Greek social media as this only died down when Greece announced it would place Papchristou outside the Olympic team. To be candid, Papachristou’s tweet was tasteless, insane, and not at all funny because such statements contravene the values and ideas of the modern Olympic movement. As if that was not enough, Nigeria’s D’Tigers suffered great humiliation from a Lithuanian man, Petras Lescinskas, who gave a Nazi salute during last Tuesday’s D’Tigers’ basketball

game against his country. At the end, Lescinskas, 36, went down in the history of the London 2012 Olympics by becoming the first person to be convicted of a racially aggravated offence at the ongoing games. Lescinskas, an accountant from Lithuania was arrested at the Olympic Basketball Arena during the Lithuania-Nigeria match for his conduct and later charged at the Stratford Magistrates Court, where he pleaded guilty to racially aggravated offence. He bagged a 28-day prison sentence with an option of fine amounting to 2,500 pounds. From the foregoing, it is evident that as sports development progressed in so many sportsloving nations, race relations have equally progressed at a comparable rate. And this has created palpable fear among IOC member-nations on the likely future of sports at the global level like the Olympics. Therefore it is the opinion of HT that concerted efforts should be made by the IOC to fight this hydra-headed monster while visting stiffer penalties on racist-minded individuals because they have no place in modern Olympics. The earlier prompt actions are taken to fight this new war, the better for sports development across the world, because it is morally right to live and compete in a sporting world devoid of discrimination, since men are equal and same before the eyes of God!

SPORT NEWS

3SC targets top-four finish SAYO OGUNDEJI

fter defeating Heartland FC of Owerri 2-0 on Wednesday to consolidate on their chances of picking a continental ticket, Shooting Stars of Ibadan have made known its ambition to maintain its grip on the top four in the Nigeria Premier League. The Oluyole Warriors are currently occupying the fourth position alongside former league and continental champions, Enyimba of Aba, but are only separated on goal difference with two

matches to go. The team faces Kwara United next in Ilorin and the media officer of the club, Jubril Arowolo, stressed that the players have expressed their readiness to do the club proud by grabbing the continental ticket for their darling team. According to Arowolo, the management of the club is impressed with the turnaround fortune of the side and will do their best to keep the morale of the players high till the remainder of the matches. “There is no doubt about the fact that this team has improved tremendously in

Abesan Cup gets boost AFOLABI GAMBARI

P Vincent Ogah (left) of Tornadoes challenges Babalola Ibrahim of 3SC in a Nigeria Premier League match.

the last couple of weeks and we want to finish the season by winning our remaining matches. “Our target is not to drop below our current position in order to stand a better

chance of picking one of the available slots for continental ticket and I believe the players are ready to make it happen, starting with our game against Kwara United,” Arowolo said.

Okoro charges Sunshine to go for broke against ASO Chief IFEANYI EDUZOR

ioneer Coach of Super Falcons, Clyde Okoro, has charged the country’s representative in this year’s

CAF Champions League, Sunshine Football Club of Akure, to go for outright victory when they confront ASO Chief of Algeria tomorrow in the money-spinning championship slated for Dipo Dina Stadium,

Ijebu- Ode. Sunshine Stars, playing in the premier African club competition for the first time, made a disastrous start in Group A four weeks ago by losing 2-0 at home against defending champi-

ons Esperance of Tunisia. They however improved on their form in the second match when they held another Tunisian side, Etoile Sahel 0-0 in Sousse to keep their hope of qualifying for the semi- finals alive.

atron of Abesan Football Development Association, Ejiro Omonode, has again demonstrated his passion for Nigerian youths by donating two sets of jerseys for the ongoing Abesan Dareta U-17 Championship. The veteran sports journalist made the presentation while receiving officials of the Abesan Football Development Association, led by its coordinator, Tayo Adeyemo at his Ikeja office on Tuesday. Omonode who made similar donation last year said he will continue to support activities of the association as a means of empowering Nigerian youths through sports.

The boss of Mastersports International said the company is ready to identify with programmes that will improve sports in the country. “We at Mastersports are ready to contribute our quota to sports development in the country. Sports belong to the youths and it’s the responsibility of every Nigerian to encourage them to produce outstanding result for the country,” he said. Meanwhile two teams have qualified for the semi-final of the competition. United Academy and Future Heroes reached the semi finals after winning their first two group matches. United Academy defeated Terry FC 7-1, while Heroes demolished Alade Academy 4-1.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

SPORT

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Supporters Club’s drums, trumpets seized

very sport has its rules and regulations, especially as it concerns spectators cheering their teams and players. In tennis, spectators don’t holler or cheer their favoured players when the rallies are on. Ditto in golf, at which everybody must remain silent once a player is putting on the hole. Last Tuesday, at the ongoing London Olympics,

the Nigeria Football and other Sports Supporters Club led by their leader, Rafiu Ladipo, did not run afoul of any extant rule of distracting noise at a dunking event when the organisers seized their trumpets and drums during the D’Tigers’ game against Lithuania. Ladipo complained to no end to have their equipment back to cheer the D’Tigers, who went on to

lose the game 72-53. Sadly, no Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) or top official of the Nigerian delegation official was there to complain or appeal on behalf of the cheering party. It was D’Tigers’ second game after beating Tunisia in their opener, before last Thursday match against the United States Dream Team, which they also lost by 156-73 points.

Nigeria had defeated Lithuania by a point in the FIBA Olympic qualifiers held in Caracas, Venezuela last month. “They had a different team – different approach, different mentality and a little adjustment of the roster. They had much better offence and that worked for them. They have been together for a long time and that also showed,” Coach Ayo Bakare lamented.

Man jailed for abusing D’Tigers

A Nigeria supporters club on duty

Diaspora Nigerians storm Games Village

igerians in the Diaspora have been trooping into Team Nigeria’s secretariat at the Games Village to felicitate with their compatriots. Many of the visitors, are Nigerian athletes representing other countries at the ongoing London Olympic Games and those living abroad, who came to identity with their roots. Host Great Britain is the greatest beneficiary of Nigerian-born athletes and some of them called at the secretariat to wish Team Nigeria well. Sometimes, some of the athletes try to speak their mother tongue or come to ask or exchange Nigerian pins. Quarter-miler, Christine Ohuruogu, came in her Great Britain’s uniform and among other things said, “Yes, I am a Nigerian. My Dad told me I am from Imo State. It’s incredible. I love Nigeria.” Also Marilyn Okoro said, “I came to identify with my people. I wish you the best of luck in the Olympics.” For Abiodun Oyepitan, “It’s lovely to be here. You get good feelings being around your people.” Besides athletes, there have been scores of Nigerians who are volunteers in the Olympics streaming to the Team Nigeria House to identify themselves and speak the language. They ask serious questions from politics to the

Christine Ohoruogu

state of the nation and of course, sports in Nigeria. One asked, “Is there stable light in Nigeria now. I came around with my Dad but we had to change our date of departure because I was scared of darkness.”

Lithuanian man who gave a Nazi salute during last Tuesday’s D’Tigers’ basketball game against his country, Petras Lescinskas, has become the first person to be convicted of a racially aggravated offence at the ongoing London Games. Lescinskas, 36, an accountant from Lithuania was arrested at the Olympic Basketball Arena during the Lithuania-Nigeria match for his conduct. He was later charged at the Stratford Magistrates Court, where he pleaded guilty to racially aggravated offence and was fined £2,500. He was told that his behaviour and that of other Lithuanian fans was “despicable”. During the match, Lithuanian supporters behaved in such a loud and aggressive manner that other spectators moved away from them. There were “monkey-style noises when Nigerian players had the ball,” the court heard. It was one of the reasons, the organisers seized the trumpets and drums of the Nigerian Supporters Club, to avoid a clash.

Becky Owen, prosecuting, told the court. “He was seen to make a Nazi salute,” while placing his fingers across his lips. Lescinskas told police after his arrest that it was common practice in his country to celebrate in that way and it was something he had been doing for some time, the court was told. He pleaded guilty to a racially aggravated offence under the Public Order Act, pleading through his lawyer that he was “deeply embarrassed” and “deeply remorseful” about what he had done. Fining him £2,500 plus £85 costs, district judge Sonia Sims told him, “This type of conduct tarnishes the whole ethos of the Games.” She said that his Nazi salute had been an insult to all those who had lost their lives in the Holocaust and his behaviour was “despicable.” The judge said that she did not accept that what he had done was acceptable in Lithuania, ruling that he would serve 28 days in prison if he failed to pay the fine.

Croatia net first women’s team win in basketball

roatia got off the mark at the fourth attempt to stay in with a hope in the women’s Basketball tournament with a 56-75 win over Angola. In a meeting of the two remaining winless teams in Group A, Croatia made light work of the African champions, breaking clear late in the first quarter and opening up a double-digit

lead before half-time. They pushed the advantage to 20 early in the fourth quarter to give themselves hope of progressing to the quarter-finals if they can win their final group game against Turkey on Sunday evening. Angola did their best to make a fight of it early, tying it 11-11 on Astrida Vicente’s jump-shot in the

first and then coming from 20-11 down to get within 2218 late in the first on Angela Cardoso’s basket. But Croatia responded to go 28-18 clear early in the first and Angola’s challenge faded as Antonija Misura made it 41-29 to Croatia shortly before half-time. Luisa Tomas had 14 points and Nadir Manuel 12 for Angola.

XXXTH OLYMPIC SUMMER GAMES

London 2012

EVEREST ONYEWUCHI REPORTING

July 27 - August 12, 2012

Angola stun GB women’s handball team

ngola defeated Great Britain’s women’s handball team yesterday morning as they ended the host nation’s hopes of making the quarter-finals with an emphatic 31-25 win. It was the fourth successive Group A defeat for Great Britain, who had already lost to Montenegro, Russia and Brazil in their opening three matches. They had hopes of beating the African champions, having done so in the Copper Box in November’s test event, but Angola stunned them. Despite nine-goal Marie Gerbron top-scoring, sloppy play in the attack-

ing third cost Team GB victory, with too many missed chances and handling errors. Despite a solid start keeping the deficit down to 5-4 after the opening 10 minutes, Britain could not make it pay at the other end due to several misplaced passes and glaring misses. Angola scored five of the next six goals to open up what was looking like an already unassailable five-goal lead after 18 minutes. Lyn Byl, Team GB’s top scorer in the tournament, stopped the rot with a nice turn and throw and Gerbron added a penalty to keep her side in it.

Ewa Palies of Great Britain goes up for a shot during the women’s handball Group A tie against Angola, on Friday at the ongoing London 2012 Olympic Games.

LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES MEDALS TABLE RANK

COUNTRY

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

TOTAL

1. People’s Rep. of China

2. United States of America

3. Republic of Korea

4. Great Britain

5. France

6. Germany

7. Italy

8. People’s Rep. of Korea

9. Russian Federation

10. New Zealand

11. Kazakhstan

12. South Africa

13. Japan

14. Netherlands

15. Hungary

16. Ukraine

17. Australia

18. Romania

19. Brazil

20. Belarus

MAGAZ INE Fashion •Flirty ‘n’ fearless •For the love of Adire

Sex talk •20 ways to have sex like an Olympian

Relationships •Have social media boosted communication among couples?

Halima

Actress on the move

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Celebrity B

efore GUS, what were you doing? I was a model. I’ve been modelling since 2004. I’ve done lots of jobs; I lost count when I did my 31st. I would say I have been successful in modelling because I am known. But I’ve always had a thing for entertainment and I’ve always wanted to go into the music industry but I’ve never really had the platform. I was looking for a platform which I felt GUS was going to give me and it did eventually. Is that why you went for the competition? It is one of the reasons actually. The main reason I did was because I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to know what I was capable of doing mentally and physically because people always wrote me off because of my size. They didn’t believe I could do physically challenging stuff but I knew I could within me. However, you can’t just know, you have to let people know. So, I had to go for the show to prove to people and to myself that there’s a lot I could do and I actually surprised myself. I wanted to make people proud, I wanted to make my family and friends proud and I also wanted to use it as a platform to break into the entertainment industry whether I had won the competition or not. You became a model in 2004. Between then and 2011 when you became the Ultimate Man, which outstanding jobs did you do? They were so many but the ones I can’t help but remember include the ones I did for MTN. I’ve modelled for MTN so much that my friends used to tease me then that MTN should make me an ambassador. I think I did like 60 different jobs for MTN, calendars, billboards, TV. I’ve also done stuffs for banks. And basically, in the country, modelling is very random but I try as much as possible not to do jobs for competing brands. I can’t do a job for MTN and then you see me on a billboard for another telecoms firm. It’s not professional. As a successful model you said you were; were you recognised and known in public like a true celebrity? People recognised me from jobs I’ve done and even from my acting jobs. I do act as well. I started acting in 2007. But between 2004 and 2007, a lot happened and people used to recognise me from jobs I had done, so, I will say I was a mini local celebrity among my little group of friends. Would you now say GUS has made you into a real celebrity? Yes, GUS has made me into a real celebrity. I won’t lie about it. I’ve always wanted to be a celebrity. I’ve always wanted people to see me and say oh I know that guy from this or that and for them to walk up to me and take pictures with me. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want. Now, I’ve achieved it through GUS.

‘I went for GUS to prove I’m tough’ Christopher Okagbue is now known as the Ultimate Man by virtue of his winning the Gulder Ultimate Search (GUS) 8. In this interview with OSEYIZA OOGBODO, he speaks about his life before, during and after GUS 8. Excerpts: You are now known as the Ultimate Man. Do you feel justified bearing that title? Yes, I feel justified because if you watched the show, you would have seen that it wasn’t by my power that I won. I always say that, it was by God’s grace because he gave me the strength that I used. What people were seeing was me running on the strength God gave me and I believe that I merited it because in most of the tasks we did, I was always coming tops. It wasn’t my plan but for some reason, at a task’s end, I would find out I came first. That was the reason why most of the people who watched the show actually liked me and wanted me to win because it wasn’t a case of some-

one who was always coming last in tasks suddenly winning. So there was a buildup to my success. Was it really tough in that jungle, after all, you guys were fed, protected and all that? I can tell you for a fact that no matter what you think you know, you will never know how tough it is until you are actually there. What you sit down in your living room watching is not as easy as you think. So trust me when I say it was tough. We had to live outside for months. We had to battle the elements and also ourselves. There was no single moment of peace and relaxation because things happened at random and anybody could

be evicted at any time and for any reason, not just coming last in a task. You might come last and they won’t evict you, so you don’t know what’s going to happen, so you always have to be alert 24/7. So for that period of time that we were in the jungle, we always had to be on the tips of our toes. Then, battling with the hunger and the environment, we were cut out of civilisation, but I will say that the tactic I used to conquer when I was in the jungle, I basically told myself that everything you know about civilisation, the comfort of your home, bed and the good food you eat, forget about them for the next couple of months. Just pretend like you are in the dark ages and that was how I got by.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Entervaganza

With OSEYIZA OOGBODO

08023755142 kingseiza@gmail.com

Kunle Afolayan joins list of African leaders A

Abubakar

Halima Abubakar hooks Sylvia Nduka

ultiple award-winning actress, Halima Abubakar, has returned to location to work further on her forthcoming movie, Mistresses. And she did so with ex-Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Sylvia Nduka. “Having Sylvia on location with me to act in Mistresses is a major plus for me,” Abubakar disclosed happily to Entervaganza. “Her presence in the movie will only enhance it and give it a commercial edge. She is a world famous personality and I’m thankful to her that she agreed to appear in my movie.” And on why she is working further on the movie, she said, “When I saw the preview and some of the scenes were not convincing enough in my sight, I decided to go and reshoot them because I want Mistresses to be perfect and of international standard. I’m also going to add more scenes and use the latest softwares and equipment for the post production.” She added that “we will also shoot some scenes in London with some British and American actors and immediately Mistresses is released, it will be back to location again to begin work on my second movie, Away And Alone. I’m working this hard because of my fans. I always want to please them and give them the best at all times.”

ward-winning Nigerian film director and actor, Kunle Afolayan, who has distinguished the art of filmmaking in Nigeria with his groundbreaking cinematic pieces, recently received another nod for his meritorious work on the continent. African Leadership Network (AFL) has recognised him as a ‘2012 New Generation Leader for Africa.’ He was selected from among thousands of suitably qualified young African candidates who were presented to AFL’s selection committee. The honour, relayed to Afolayan via a statement signed by Fred Swaniker, AFL co-founder, also confers him with automatic AFL membership. Each year, AFL scours the continent in search of a new generation of leaders for Africa, leaders who despite their relatively young age, have tremendous influence and so are uniquely positioned to play a role in taking Africa to a new era of prosperity. With this recognition, the innovative filmmaker, whose latest film Phone Swap won the award for Best Achievement in Art Direction at the 2012 African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), assumes a global identity with the capacity to intervene in relevant issues which relate to the continent. Still fresh out of his two-year ambassadorial contract with Nigerian telecoms company, Globacom, the director is both delighted and humbled by the AFL recognition and the responsibility that comes with it. “AFL picks top shots from different life endeavours for this recognition. Biola Alabi, M-NET Africa MD; Wale Tinubu, Oando PLC Group Chief Executive, Asa the international musician are amongst those selected this year. That I was picked as well is an acknowledgement of my work and that

Afolayan on location

I really appreciate,” the MD, Golden Effects Pictures stated. He continued that “I will put in my own contribution as an African and as a young entrepreneur, but I am open to further collaborations with multinationals on impactful projects. I enjoyed the opportunities I benefitted from Glo while the contract lasted and I am also excited about our brand association with business entities like BlackBerry International, IRS Airlines, Unilever, GSK, MTN, Seven-Up, Virgin Nigeria and many more.” Historically, Afolayan comes from a line of brilliant and consummate art personalities. His late father, Adeyemi ‘Ade Love’ Afolayan, was one of the renowned veteran thespians of tradomodern cinema industry in Nigeria. In contemporary times, the family has produced actors, singers and art academicians of note. With an educational background in Business Administration and a Diploma in Digital Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy, USA, the younger Afolayan continues to extend the frontiers of filmmaking techniques with his daring thematic treatment. For his profound work on the 2009 thriller, The Figurine, he went home with five 2010 AMAA statuettes including the one for Best Picture. “The main thing in my career now is to produce a movie that does not only represent Nigeria but Africa and possibly earn Nigeria the first Oscar or Golden Globe nomination. Golden Effects Pictures is hoping to shoot a new film this year set in 1960, a significant year in the history of my country. We will also embark on training to build capacity in the local movie industry. So it is a new beginning for us basically,” he disclosed.

Tonii

Nigerian Idol finalist wants to make money Beautiful and ambitious singer Tonii has dropped her latest single, Making Money, in her bid to become a major league force in the entertainment industry. A finalist in the first edition of Nigerian Idol back in 2010, Tonii first registered her presence in the industry with Silateya which was released in 2007. It was accompanied by a video and even though music reality show rules often times stipulate that artists with already released songs are not eligible for participation, she got in the show though she didn’t win. Getting into Nigerian Idol is however proof that she is indeed talented. Only the very best out of several thousand that audition make it to the final stage which she did. Apart from that, Silateya itself is a lyrical and vocal masterpiece of a song. Last year, she dropped Iwo Ni Ma Ba Lo and I Rule and they did well. Now, she is back with Making Money. Will it be the song to make her into that irresistible music star who is sought after for all shows and events? Time will tell.

ENTERVAGANZA

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

CLASSICAL RYHMES

AIRWAVES LINK

DStv is not killing Nollywood –Lillian Amah O

ne of Nollywood’s prominent actor-producers, Lillian Amah, has thrown her weight behind the satellite television service provider, DStv, she has insisted that “DStv is not killing Nollywood.” Amah said this while responding to Entervaganza‘s questions on her take on the view of several Nollywood stakeholders that DStv’s 24hour broadcast of Nigerian movies is a detriment to the industry even as they hold that it has led to drop in the sales figure of Nigerian movies. But to Amah, “As far as I am concerned, DStv is free to keep showing Nollywood movies as long as they honour the agreements they have

Amah

s the second edition of the Nigerian Ent e r tainment and Lifes t y l e Awards (NELA) is set to hold on Saturday, September 22 at the NH Har-

with the content owners.” She continued: “I won’t say DStv is killing Nollywood. I will rather say its practitioners are killing Nollywood. Stakeholders should learn that lack of professionalism will destroy the industry and should endeavour to put out works that can compete internationally. “DStv on their part should learn to pay adequately for intellectual property and go for good quality works instead of paying peanuts for every trash they can get hold of. They are playing on the intelligence of their viewers and will eventually kill the goose that lays the golden eggs when people become fed up of junk and stop viewing their channels.”

Journalists battle for NEL awards

rington Hotel, London, the nominees for the two media categories have been released. Disclosing them, Emmanuel Oghenede, NELA’s media consultant, gave the names as Bayo Adeoye (Nigerian Com-

Alabi

Ayodele Lawal (PM pass), Ay and Oseyiza Oogbodo News) an (National Mirror) for the (Nationa and Manprint category ca di Umoh (TVC), Michael Nwadibe (STV) and Abiola Ajayi (LTV) (LT for the electronic category catego added that “while He a two of the nominees will walk away with the coveted awards come September 22nd, we are tem presenting special pr rrecognition awards tto two eminent me-

Gawat’s fans optimistic about his return

ven as Aremu Gawat, the popular on-air personality, still remains missing, several of his fans are optimistic that he would eventually be found, be returned or return by himself hale and hearty. Their optimism stems from their reason for

believing Gawat is missing. Even as they wished to remain anonymous, they told Entervaganza: “It is obvious that it’s because of the Ramadan festival that he was kidnapped. Every Ramadan is a busy period for him and those who kidnapped him did so in order to get for themselves all those things that he

gets during Ramadan. “We beseech the people behind his abduction to please leave him. We know they abducted him simply to prevent him from benefitting all he does during Ramadan. We are calling on them to please release him as he is a very nice man whom a lot of people are benefitting from.”

Gawat

dia personalities, namely Yemi Olowolabi and Jide Alabi. “Alabi is a seasoned TV and radio presenter and the programme manager of Rhythm FM. He is also an actor and has contributed immensely to the Nigerian media. Likewise Olowolabi. He is the executive producer of Red Carpet TV and also a former Chief Press Secretary to former Ondo State Governor Olusegun Agagu.”

E-Star

Chinwe Ike Artiste: Resonance Intro: Oh ha ha Oh ha ha ha (3x) Verse 1: Everyday you must wake up And say a little prayer To the one who loves you un-con-di-tionally You must acknowledge his name Chorus Onye siri na ogaghi e cheta gi Onye ahu anala Onye ahu e fuola Onye siri na ogaghi e cheta gi Onye ahu anala Onye ahu e fuola Cheta na Chinwe Ike Chinwe Ike Chinwe Ike Cheta na Chinwe Ike Chinwe Ike Chinwe Ike Verse 2: O kaka Onye kere ihe nine Agbada gbachiri uzo Onye riwe ike Nna no na eligwe Otito diri gi Isi mbido kam jebe ebe Onye di ka gi eh Chi kacha nma Chikacha bu Na ra ekele eh Na ra ekele eh Repeat chorus: Verse 3: And everything you do You must put him first And know that he is the best And always he will prove to be There are no doubts to it Repeat chorus till fade

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ENTERVAGANZA

August 4, 2012

BOX-OFFICE HITS

BRAIN BEHIND THE SCENE

Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor … Writer and producer

Gharoro-Akpojotor

oy Gharoro-Akpojotor is not just any writer-producer. She is a consummate professional who doesn’t rely just on her latent talent but keeps developing it to ensure she is able to carve a niche for herself in the extremely competitive film sector. “I like to be the person to make my vision come true by working closely with the cast and crew to do so,” she says of her work behind the scenes as a writer, producer and even director. When she discovered her love for making film, her recourse was to study Film Studies at Queen Mary College, University of London and she graduated with a BA. In her own words: “I served as a guinea pig during my first year in the university taking Film Studies as a single honours course and it was a very exhilarating experience. I learnt a lot because I went there to learn so I offered myself at all times for studies, practicals and so on that would lead to more knowledge. “I have always known that I wanted to write and I started writing films when I was doing my A-levels and through some hard work, dedication and a very tough lecturer, I was final-

ly able to reach a height in my writing that I didn’t think possible.” Being that she knows her own shortcomings and the need to address them, she returned to obtain an MA in Creative Writing in Films, Plays and TV from City University, London. With her innate talent as well as that acquired from education, it was only natural that she would delve into many sectors of filmmaking. After her first degree, wanting to move into practical filmmaking, she wrote, directed and produced her first short film, Heart Me. Though it was a valiant effort, it made her realise that directing was not the right path for her. She therefore continued producing and writing. Now, she is reaping the dividends of all her hard work. Her work has won awards and has been commended at international film festivals, leading to worldwide distribution. She isn’t resting on her oars though. She is always busy with projects. She is busy on a short film which examines when the line in a friendship between two people becomes blurred and gets confused for something else and the plot revolves around two women. Talking about what influenced her into films, she chose three movies that made an indelible impression on her. “Saving Face by Alice Wu and Hu Die by Yan Yan Mak really influenced me and Rag Tag too also helped in pushing me to believe that I can do whatever I put my mind to, regardless of how big my dream is. It just takes determination and hard work, but the reward is always great.” Apart from films, she also works on documentaries, music videos and corporate projects.

mo Gucci is the everyday Nigerian movie. It is a stereotype of many movies out there: that of wayward characters who eventually come to realise the errors of their ways after a lot has been destroyed in their lives. Produced by Mercy Aigbe, it is certain to be a success because it stars top actors and actresses, is aimed at the young and middle-aged and because most Nigerians don’t really care about the contents of movies. All they want is to see their favourite stars in movies. Describing it, Aigbe said it is very

entertaining and educative and is about the escapades of four beautiful and adventurous girls who want to live a life of fun without realising that the consequences of such lifestyle are nothing to write home about. Directed by Abbey Lanre, it is known by two names: Omo Gucci or Gucci Girls. Whichever one you want to call it by is okay because some of its promotion posters have Gucci Girls on them and some have Omo Gucci. Apart from Aigbe, other top acts in the movie are Doris Simeon, Iyabo, Ojo, Femi Adebayo, Akin Lewis and Akeem Rahman.

he fun lies in finding out in the new film, Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, how Greg (Zachary Gordon) copes. He may not be a role model but he is not a disgrace and we are sure he is not going to turn into a delinquent, as Jeff Kinney, the author of the books on which the three films made so far are based, has said. The films also have a character called Chirag Gupta, who speaks with an unnecessarily heavy Indian accent. Chirag, a classmate of Greg, is the shortest person in the class but he has a strong punch. He too is undergoing growingup pains and has to learn to cope. Chirag is played by Karan Brar, an Indian American actor who is also on the hit Disney Channel show, Jessie. While the films make a number of narrative leaps from Kinney’s six novels, they retain the author’s celebration of Greg’s defiant if not occasionally unruly deeds. Like a modern-day Dennis the Menace, he’s no paragon of pre-

adolescence, but his borderline behaviour is usually harmless and frequently relatable.’ Though this is the third movie adaptation of the Wimpy Kid book series, it blends elements of the Wimpy Kid novels The Last Straw and Dog Days.

ENTERVAGANZA

CELEBRITY FAVOURITES

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August 4, 2012

SHOWBIZ SNOOPS

Send your views and comments as SMS to 08023755142

Big Brother StarGame update Who wins the $300,000 tomorrow?

Lady May

Prezzo

Talia

Cornell Udofia Favourite Food

Keagan:

DEPENDS ON WHAT MY TASTE BUDS

The final lowdown

WANT AT A PARTICULAR POINT Favourite Drink WATER Favourite Designer (Intl) PAUL SMITH Favourite Restaurant/Bar CALABAR KITCHEN Favourite Day Of The Week SUNDAY Favourite Perfume COOL WATER AND ANY RALPH LAUREN’S Favourite Fashion Item MY BELTS AND MY SHOES Favourite Movie I’LL TAKE MY CHANCES AND UYAI Favourite Brand Of Telephone Handset BLACKBERRY TORCH Favourite Quote IN LIFE YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW

The Big Brother Stargame which began with 35 contestants has now come to its last week with the remaining six counting on public votes to make them the ultimate winner. Lady May, Prezzo, Wati, Talia, Keagan and Kyle are in the running to win the USD 300 000 prize after Sunday’s eviction of Uganda’s Jannette. This year’s show added a bit of a twist with the inclusion of celebrities and partners to the game. Fourteen couples lived in “downville” while seven celebrities lived in “upville” for 91 days. As expected when people who come from different cultures and backgrounds are forced to live with each other 24/7, the show was not without its fair share of drama. Ghanaian comedian DKB was evicted from the house after he slapped fellow housemate Zainab during an altercation, then there was the love-hate relationship between Zimbabwean housemates which also resulted in a fight, leaving Big Brother with no choice but to expel both of them from the show. But after all the tears, fights, laughter and romance, it has come down to Lady May from Namibia, Prezzo from Kenya, Wati from Malawi, Talia from Zambia, Keagan from South Africa and Kyle from Uganda. Now, viewers will get to decide who takes the USD 300 000 prize. Voting opened immediately after Sunday night’s show and closes at 06:00 CAT

Kyle

on Sunday morning. The winner will be announced during a live show on Sunday

Finalists beg for votes

This is why you should vote for your favourite Housemate; in their own words! Nerves clearly got the best of our StarGame finalists during their speeches this evening. However, one thing is for sure. Big Brother StarGame is an experience the bunch will not forget any time soon.

Kyle:

Kyle reflected on the very beginning of his journey. “Going into the game, I was terrified. When I walked into the house, I relaxed instantly. I have met lots of wonderful people in here,” he said. Kyle then gave a shout out to the Housemates that have fallen by the wayside. Kyle did not say what he would do with the money.

Keagan:

“I have been real since Day 1. Everything me and my partner Lee did is stuff we do on the outside. This has helped me bond with Africa. All I can say is it has been very difficult in the House. This House is definitely full of surprises and has been a true test of my character.” Like Kyle, Keagan did not say what he would do with the cash.

Talia:

“Everyone in here deserves to win. People have been entertaining since Day 1. There is so much I

Wati

did not know about myself that I know now. The house helped me to achieve this. I should win because I put in 100 percent into everything I do and I am responsible for all my actions.”

Wati:

Wati revealed how adventurous he is and needs the USD 300 000 to build houses for those in need.

Prezzo:

“My mission was simply to entertain.”With me what you see is what you get. I am no saint and it has been a roller coaster ride. There have been many ups and downs. I have learnt to live with others and we have all sacrificed a lot. If I win, it would make my country and my mom proud. I will use the money to get my daughter a college plan. A parent’s best gift to his child is a good education. I will also give some of it to those in need.” Prezzo then apologised for everything he has done that might have offended anyone.

Lady May:

Jaws dropped when Lady May took to the stage. The Namibian made a grand entrance in shorts, with her drum in tow. She did not make a speech and instead sang a song titled “Always Be Lady May”. Lady May stunned all when she dropped to the ground and wriggled around the stage. The diminutive singer also tossed her hair about, like a woman possessed. The looks on her fellow Housemates faces...Priceless! There you have it Africa! Who is your vote going to?

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ENTERVAGANZA

August 4, 2012

SHOWBIZ SNOOPS

Thelma O’Khaz makes music comeback

any people hearing that top Nollywood actress Thelma O’Khaz has dropped a single, Ready For You, featuring Yemi Sax will definitely think the actress has joined the train of actresses who went into music. The reverse is the case however. O’Khaz was actually into music before acting and she even performed on the same stage with the Plantashun Boiz at the Fame Music Awards in 1999 and The Movie Awards (THEMA) in 1997. It was at that THEMA that she met her husband who liked the way she sang and they got close, then married. As fate would have it, she found herself in Nollywood and she has distinguished herself there. All along though, she never lost sight of her music aspirations and she has been recording all along.

O’Khaz

King Wadada hits street hawker OYINKAN SOMORIN

MI and Naeto C in the studio

MI, Naeto C collabo out

he keenly-anticipated collaboration record between heavyweight rappers MI and Naeto C is finally out. The record, which finally came about at the instance of alcohol maker, Hennessy, is the theme song for this year’s edition of the annual Hennessy Artistry project which seeks to aid the music industry’s growth. Consequently, the release of the song, followed by its video’s release, will herald the beginning of a club tour of Lagos and Abuja at the end of August. “We are all set to give our fans and Hennessy lovers some seriously good music, good shows and an allround amazing experience on this year’s Hennessy Artistry project. This track, our first major collaboration as a duo, is only the beginning, and I’m really glad that Hennessy made it happen,” MI said excitedly. Produced by TY Mix with co-production by MI and Naeto, the song was released yesterday and it is expected to take over the airwaves. Meanwhile, Hennessy Artistry has begun the search for the artists that will support headliners MI and Naeto C on the club tour. Music lovers are urged to vote at the HennessyNigeria Facebook page to select the artist they want to see on the tour. Some of the hopefuls are Burma Boy, Chuddy K, Dammy Krane, Dpzle, Flowssick, L.O.S, Ms. Jaie, Rayce, Solid Star, Tilla Man, Tunde Ednut and Vector.

eavily dreadlocked reggae musician, King Wadada, was involved in an accident last Saturday on his way to a presentation with his managers Ayeni Yomi and Sarah Owatemi. The unfortunate accident happened close to Ikeja GRA when a male street hawker was about to cross the road. Unfortunately, Wadada’s driver, who had just successfully avoided a vehicle, didn’t notice the young man on time to avoid hitting him. After the collision, the car occupants all alighted and attended to the hawker who was rushed to a hospital within GRA for treatment. It was confirmed through a source that the hawker, who had a serious injury to the head, was asked to return for check-up. The reggae musician paid the bill for the treatment and check-up before the hawker was dropped off at the bus stop nearest his home (this was insisted by the street hawker). Wadada continued his journey to his presentation but it was a close call for the musician that the young man didn’t die. Although the accident left a huge impact on his car with a broken windscreen to show for it, King Wadada remarked “I’m just glad that he is okay.”

Wadada

Phemz

Phemz begs for record deal

promising upcoming artiste, Oluwafemi Oduru aka Phemz, has sent out a call to record labels in the country to sign him on. Chatting with Entervaganza, Phemz was the very epitome of humility as he disclosed that he was really in need of a record deal. “I need a record label to sign me on, not because I want an easy ride on a label’s back but because that’s the normal procedure and also because I’ll be honest and say I can’t do it by myself. And that is a shame because I have what it takes and I want the world to feel the classic, evergreen music I’m making and will make.” He added that “it’s very difficult for an artiste to run his career by himself. It takes a lot of money which I don’t have and my fear is that I don’t want my talent to waste.” He continued that sometimes talent is not enough to make it as someone who has talent but has no support will end up nowhere while someone without talent but has support will end up successful. He isn’t just begging for a record deal. He has been approaching record labels and the results so far have not been positive. “I got in touch with Wizkid to help me get signed on to his label, EME. He told me he had sent my songs to Banky W and that if Banky likes it, they will get back to me but I’ve not yet heard from them. I also called EME’s Segun Demuren and he said it’s Banky W that might be able to sign me presently.” Passionately, Phemz said, “I want a label to please sign me so that we can jointly bless the world with very good music. I don’t want to blow my own trumpet but I know my worth and I know that with the kind of R & B I do, I am sure no record label will regret associating with me as my music will definitely go worldwide.”

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Woman

No woman should marry before age 18â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Rose Odiette Barrister Rose Odiette is the president of Sunshine Foundation, a group designed to cater for the aged and the less-privileged. Although the whole idea emanated from the late May Ellen Ezekiel Mofe Damijo (MEE), she has run the organisation with commitment since 1992. She told YEMISI ADENIRAN all about the journey, her job and life as a single parent.

hy are you attracted specially to old people? I think it is a natural thing. I am a lawyer and I have been practising for years now, but you see, I feel good having to play a part in the lives of people who are at the very last lap of their lives. It is a privilege to be one of those putting smiles on their faces. The bible says we should honour our parents and the elderly on earth that our days may be long too. Some people regard them as being expired. That is very painful. They just abandon them and go their ways; it is bad and very painful. Old age times are times when we should be extra-ordinarily good to our aged people because they are about to go. You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be good to them when they are dead and gone. These and other reasons are why I am committed to them and I have no regret doing this. What was your relationship with the late May Ellen Ezekiel (MEE)? The late MEE and I used to be good friends. I was one of her numerous readers when she was alive and that was how we got to know each other. I was an ardent reader of her column and I read her column religiously. She was a good woman who felt strongly for the poor and the less-privileged. She lived for this and actually wanted to do more but for death that came calling on her untimely. We had some peculiarities together while she was alive and I guess that brought us together.

Odiette

What are these peculiarities? As I said, she was plain-hearted, ready to assist and listen to anyone who came her way. Without sounding immodest, I share this peculiarity with her. For instance, I got to read of her desire to assist the less-privileged through a foundation through her column and that was how I logged unto it. This is to tell you how bare she was

with issues. Again, she got married at a tender age of 17; I did at the same age too. She ended up with a broken marriage; I ended up with one too. The only difference we have here is that her own marriage was a childless one while mine is fruitful. I have four children. When exactly did Sunshine Foundation berth? It was founded while she was alive and this was on May 27, 1992. How come you are the president of the foundation even when she was alive? She was the coordinator while I was the president when she was alive. The reason was that she was into many things while she was alive. She did not have much time to dedicate to the foundation, so, she asked me to handle it. It was a voluntary decision borne out of passion, no money, nothing as a physical reward. But we were enjoying all because it was our own way of contributing to humanity. Unfortunately, we lost her in 1996 when we needed her most. When she died, we thought people would come and take over some of these projects she was handling while alive but no one could and that was why it has been like this. But we thank God because the dream is still kept alive. What are the visions of this foundation? The visions of Sunshine Foundation are simple; it was established to fill that wide gap between the privileged and the less-privileged - a gap that has been existing for a long time. Whether we like it or not, we are in a country where we have no form of social welfare which people can fall on to when they have problems. We harp on celebrities who may not be able to help as much as they should. One of our

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WOMAN

August 4, 2012

mission statements is to bring into the consciousness of people that a lot of indigent people are in dire need of help. When we first launched out, a lot of people were surprised that we have such people and they are these many because of various reasons. Some have no children at all, others had but these children had died one time or the other. There are some whose children are just not responsible or the children are unable to adequately cater for them for all manner of reasons one can think of. Part of our plans now is to extend our tutorials to the youths. We have discovered that the best way to reduce the number of these aged people on the streets is to begin to prepare our youth for their old age. If some of these men and women were cultured this way when they were young, they would not have ended up this way. Whether they are blessed with children or not, they are supposed to have deduced a way of catering for themselves. I believe the youths need to be taught the habit of saving towards their tomorrow. We intend going from school to school to do this because the earlier the better. Old age is not meant for alms begging. What has the foundation achieved so far? Ever since I joined MEE in this vision, I have felt good and inspired. We were doing it weekly at the initial stage; between 1992 and 1996, to counsel and to guide these people aright. We were able to rent houses and give scholarships. By 1996, we streamlined it to just the aged because then there were no NGOs committed to this. We have tried so many corporate organisations for programmes for these old people, but we were turned down. There were cases where people won’t even let us in; it was that bad. We basically link helpers directly to these aged people. We have gone to John Holt, wrote and wrote and it took years before they could respond. They gave us a small generator but by the time they came to see what we are doing with these old people, they became hooked to the vision themselves. Although we have many who are logged unto the vision, we need more to make the dream a worthwhile one. These aged ones need help. The Catholic sisters are the ones in charge of the Mushin home, but we facilitate the supply of drugs to them. We visit them regularly, meet their needs and help the care givers in whatever aspect that they want. What are the challenges of this job? The issue of old people is yet to be resolved. The homes are not enough. The ones we have here are not the type you can just walk into and get shelter for an old person. The procedure is not that easy, several times, they reject them and they have to go back to the streets. Meanwhile, old people need a place to keep their heads. We need more homes to take care of

these people - more homes than what we have now. We had a programme sometime ago designed like a day-care for the aged where they can come during the day and go in the night, but there were no financiers and we had to stop. Right now, no one is looking at it but it is important. No one wants to give their support like they will readily do to women and youths. We have had to rely on our meagre income. However, I must not hide the fact that The Household of God Ministries has been our only benefactor. They are the one funding us. Nigerians and the corporate world would rather invest in music and dance. We need the government and other related NGOs to come to our aid. Government should provide subventions and social welfare homes in Nigeria.

Keeping ABREAST

Can one link your passion to help others to any of your childhood dreams? I did not come from a wealthy home. It was survival that was paramount. But I know I have always wanted to help people in need. You were married at 17 like MEE and had a failed marriage just like her. What would you blame this on and what’s your advice for the single and married? Marriage is never cast in iron. Anyone can be married at any point in time. I wouldn’t blame anyone or anything on our failed marriages. I will not also discourage anyone who intends marrying early in life. This is because it has worked for other people. Our own, I would say, were just ordained to have gone the way they did. That ours failed is not enough reason for others not to marry. However, sincerely, I would not advise any lady to marry earlier than 18. Ideally, it should be age 21 when the lady involved can be sure of her pulse, likes and dislikes. A 17-year old girl is nothing but a child and can only act as a child. At whatever time one is now set for marriage, it is important that the person is sure that the said partner is able to complement her. The decision must never be because you want to move away from home, not for his money. Marriage is a beautiful institution but it does not mean that not being married will diminish you. People are always looking for ‘absolutes’ which are always creating problems in homes. There are no absolute people anywhere; you just can’t have it all. Whichever way you choose to go, be ready to make some sacrifices. If you decide to be a housewife, you may not have an income and if you decide to be a career woman, you won’t be there to make breakfast for your kids. You will need help of some other people and that will cost you some cash. Something will definitely go for something. Above all, maturity, understanding and fear of God are all that a marriage needs to succeed. If couples will be ready to give thought to all of these factors, successful marriages won’t be impossible.

Sharon and her dog

Saved by a dog! A

woman has hailed her pet dog as a ‘guardian angel’ after it sniffed out a cancerous lump growing in her breast. Sharon Rawlinson only went to see her doctor because her dog, Penny, had been pestering her for months, sniffing and nuzzling the area where the aggressive tumour was growing. The 43-year-old was sent to hospital for checks by her doctor - where a scan picked up the fact she had breast cancer. She began a course of chemotherapy, and will have the tumour removed in an operation. Mrs Rawlinson, of Newark, Nottinghamshire (UK), said: “Penny was pawing me for weeks. “She would gently paw me as if she was trying to get something out of my left breast, but I ignored it.

“When she stood on me in the middle of the night and wouldn’t get off, the pain was like a thousand bee stings and the next day I felt bruised. “It was only when I checked the next morning that I noticed a lump but again I ignored it as I thought it was an injury.” Mrs Rawlinson, whose mother died from breast cancer nine years ago, plucked up the courage to have it checked in January. She was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer and started chemotherapy. After she started treatment, Mrs Rawlinson said 18-month-old Penny never bothered her in the same way again. The mother-of-two said: “Dogs are not just a man’s best friend, they are a girl’s best friend too.” Who needs diamonds if you can have a dog like Penny?

All in the genes: Why do women live longer than men?

cientists are finally beginning to understand one of life’s enduring mysteries - why women live, on average, longer than men. A group of scientists worked to uncover differences in longevity and biological ageing across male and female fruit flies that carried mitochondria of different origins. They found that genetic variation across these mitochondria were reliable predictors of life expectancy in males, but not in females. According to the lead researcher, the results point to numerous mutations within mitochondrial DNA that affect how long males live, and the speed at which they age. He said: “Intriguingly, these same

mutations have no effects on patterns of ageing in females - they only affect males. “All animals possess mitochondria, and the tendency for females to outlive males is common to many different species. “Our results therefore suggest that the mitochondrial mutations we have uncovered will generally cause faster male ageing.” The researchers said the mutations can be entirely attributed to a quirk in the way that mitochondrial genes are passed down from parents to offspring. “While children receive copies of most of their genes from both their mothers and fathers, they only receive mitochondrial genes from their mothers.

Culled from www.mailonline.com

August 4, 2012

Parenting

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Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression

Keeping your children busy during holidays H

olidays are the time for fun and family, but it is also the time when sibling rivalry, power struggles and the like surface, creating tension for both parents and children. The root cause of negative vibes during the holiday season is boredom. How can you keep your children engaged throughout the holidays? Here are a few suggestions. Encourage your children to mingle with their peers. Whether you decide to go somewhere for a couple of days or choose to stay at home, encourage your children to make new friends, play and engage in fun activities. Mingling with others from their same age group will reduce tiffs among siblings at home. Take your children on outings. For instance, you can go trekking with your child or simply go for a walk or picnic in the countryside. If your child loves to listen and learn, tell them about the flowers, birds and plants that you see on your trips. Several museums and galleries have programmes specially designed for children. Entry is usually free and your

child will be able to learn several new things. Another good idea is to plan a family trip to an amusement park or theme park over the weekend. You can enroll your child for painting or music or dance classes. Choose an area in which your child displays interest and aptitude. Ask your children what new skill they would like to acquire, or whether they would like to hone their existing skills over the holidays. If your child seems interested, don’t hesitate to sign them up for lessons. It is a great way to remain engaged and to meet others who share the same interests. If you are not busy, you can enroll for something too. Learning a new craft and sharing the excitement is a great way to bond. Several organisations like churches, mosques and clubs offer holiday camps for children. You can choose between day camps and residential schemes. These camps offer programmes that involve art, sports, camping and outings. Before you enroll your child for camp, check out some basic facts like whether the staff are trained and equipped

ParentingUpdate

Jehova Pembele

to handle emergencies; the reputation of the camp; how many children are enrolled and what kind of activities are planned. Holidays are a great time for children to meet and spend quality time with grandparents, aunts and uncles, so take your children to meet family and friends over the holidays. It is especially interesting if they live in another state because children look forward to travelling, seeing new places and meeting new people. Such an outing is sure to be an enriching experience for your children and it also helps strengthen bonds between family members. If your children are interested, let them join you in cooking or gardening. Girls love to help their mothers out in the kitchen and learn new recipes so, be willing to share your kitchen with them. Assign tasks as per your child’s age and chose recipes accordingly. If your child is a teenager, you can try your hand at cooking a gourmet meal, whereas, if she is a small child, go in for something simple like cookies or salads. If both parents are work-

ing, you may have to arrange day care for your children. Even then, try and keep your weekends free so that you can plan activities. Children are full of energy and curiosity. Keeping them engaged in different activities

helps divert this energy in a positive and healthy manner. When children learn, make friends and do things they enjoy, they automatically become amicable and holidays become a fun time instead of one wrought with tension.

Tiny Feet

NAME: Pelumi Aduragbemi Afolabi BORN TO: Mr. & Mrs Ibrahim Afolabi AGE: 3 months BIRTH WEIGHT: 2.6kg

Have you just had a baby? Send a picture of your bundle of joy to mirrorbabies@gmail.com

Boy, 2, drowns in canal after going missing from his home while his father watched the Olympics

two-year-old boy has drowned after falling in a canal last Saturday while his father watched the Olympics on TV. Jehovah Pembele wandered off while playing with other children outside his home in Northampton. He was found 100 yards away in the Grand Union Canal. Desperate attempts to revive him failed and he died in hospital the next day. His father, Fernando had left Jehovah, who was also known by the nickname Giovani, playing happily with friends while he watched the ladies Olympic football match between Great Britain and Cameroon. A neighbour, who didn’t wish to be named, revealed: ‘Fernando wanted a drink from his home,

so he came out of his neighbour’s and went back into his own home. At that point, Giovani was playing happily in the street on his bike.’ Five minutes later, the father returned and discovered he was missing. The neighbour added: ‘The bicycle was on the pavement, but there was no sign of Giovani. ‘He asked his neighbour if the boy had gone into the house and they looked everywhere inside, upstairs and downstairs.’ Neighbours then joined in the search and the police were called at 6pm. A search of the canal was conducted and police found the toddler, still dressed in his summer top and shorts, 30 minutes later. Officers administered CPR at the scene before paramedics ar-

rived. The child was taken to Northampton General Hospital and later transferred to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester. Effort to revive him continued throughout the evening and into the early hours, but he was pronounced dead at 3.25am. Giovani was the youngest of four children. He had two older sisters aged around 4 and 10, as well as an older brother, thought to be aged around 6. The family’s home is close to the Grand Union Canal and it is thought that little Giovani wandered to the bank between two blocks of flats, where he then toppled into the water. A force spokeswoman said they are not treating the death as suspicious.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

le StyGlam and

with Yemisi Adeniran

(08037801158) ydiran@yahoo.com

elieve it or not, local fabrics are the in thing in fashion today and adire is not an exception. Adire, an integral part of the Egba culture in Abeokuta, Ogun State, is currently enjoying a new trend in its production, handmade print as it creatively add glow to its end product, making it a wearable art. Stunningly making a rare statement, it remains a wonder that the adire like other local fabrics, could creep into our oďŹ&#x192;ces, campus and daily wears .And with the timelessly creative hands of our designers, the adire is made more glamorous and versatile. If you are young and young at heart, you will sure stop at this in your tracks to admit the ethnic twist of the adire going this season.

STYLE & GLAM

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Fashion Frenzy

YEMISI ADENIRAN

Flirty ‘n’ fearless BEAUTY

Q&A

hether you’re setting out on a nerves-filled first date, celebrating a seriously romantic occasion or landing anywhere else on the wild ‘n’ wonderful dating timeline, the flirty dress is just the number to vote for. It is definitely in a class of its own. In whichever way it is designed, it adds a spring to your step, a hip to your hop, a flame to your candle and put a smile to your entire face. Best part is the sexy-yet-modest look. Cute and hot all at once, this stylish dress not only add a bit of fun and uniqueness to your outfit, it adds a whole lot of sex appeal. They can be strapless, mono-strapped, short or long sleeved or specially designed as the wearer pleases. With their long design, they offer the adorner some level of elegance and delight that princessly distinct them out of the crowd. Layer a designed compliment over a lacy or other soft material and you will be set for a headache-free date outfit. It’s that easy.

Your candid response to all fashion questions Evening beauty tips How can I rid my face of wrinkles and blemishes? Taking even a few minutes for a night time facial routine can improve the health and beauty of your skin. After enduring makeup, oil, harsh weather, and pollution all day,

your skin needs some tender loving care in the p.m. We know you’re tired at night. But if you can, hold off on your shut-eye just long enough to follow these night-time tips. Wash your face at night Don’t slip into bed without sans cleansing. Your makeup grinds into your skin all night, causing breakouts and even stretching out

the pores based ma without t remover o Boost As you

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STYLE & GLAM

August 4, 2012

s, which makes your skin look older. We recommend an oilakeup remover, which can handle even waterproof mascara tugging delicate skin. Use a cotton pad to sweep the makeup over your skin, and follow up with a gentle face cleanser. t collagen with vitamin A u get older, collagen production in your skin decreases. If

Facelift

eyes bigger

Make your look

f you’d like to make your eyes look bigger, there are several ways to go about doing that, and not all of them involve make-up!

you never stopped making collagen and never damaged collagen, you would never get a wrinkle, your pores would stay small, you’d never get a scar, and your skin would stay nice and tight. Collagen is key to stimulate collagen production, which will help smooth fine lines and reduce the appearance of pores, Applying vitamin A in the form of either a prescription or over-the-counter retinoid every night.

Steps 1.Groom your eyebrows the same way a picture frame affects the way the picture looks, your eyebrows affect the way your eyes look. The simple act of removing stray hairs can make your eyes more noticeable. However, don’t make the mistake of assuming that the thinner your eyebrows, the bigger your eyes will look.. 2. Reduce any puffiness in your eyes. Swelling in the skin on and around your eyes can make them look smaller. 3. Make your eyelashes look longer. There are several ways to go about doing this: • Curl your upper eyelashes with an eyelash curler. • Apply mascara. • Apply false eyelashes. 4. Don’t apply eyeliner all the way around your eyes. When you apply eyeliner on your lower lashes, do it just below the lash line, not inside the rim, and don’t let the line come all the way to the inner corner of your eye. 5. Extend eyeliner past the outer corners of your eyes. The line should move upwards a little as well, mimicking a very long eyelash. This will make your eyes look wider, but is a tricky technique. If the eyeliner isn’t applied symmetrically, it can make your eyes look lopsided. 6. Add white eyeshadow or eyeliner to the inner corner of your eyes. This brings more light into them and gives the effect of them being larger. Make sure it is not an incredibly harsh white. You can also use it on your lower waterline, which extends the white part of your eye. 7. Get rid of dark circles under your eyes. This won’t necessarily make your eyes look bigger, but dark circles will detract from even the biggest, most beautiful eyes.

STYLE & GLAM

August 4, 2012

Model

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net ww

Trendz

Lovette

‘Modelling keeps me high’ She is smart, unassuming but aspires to make a rare impact in the modelling career. 21-year-old Lovette Ukachi told YEMISI ADENIRAN about the fun and the frills of modelling.

hat attracted you to modelling? The fun and the fact that it enables me meet new people. I love meeting new people and this career has helped me in a way. It keeps me on and high. How will you describe yourself ? I am a down-to-earth person and love to explore my horizons. I am in my youthful days and should explore it perfectly. I am a model and I love to take pictures. I do ushering jobs and the rest of them; I love to see myself behind the camera. I am a fun-to- bewith person. I am just like every cute girl who has principles and believes the future is dazzling. I am a realist to the core; I am very creative and stylish. What are the challenges you have

faced? There are many challenges ges in this industry and one of them is getting jobs. Most of the agents find nd it hard to give us jobs because they y have too many models at their disposal. posal. The most annoying thing is when n you have to call an agent many times mes before re e your name gets registered in her n his or he er head; it’s always very painful. Even nful. Eve en when you get invited, it still not ll does no ot mean that you have an automatic job. b. You will have to be going and coming ng back for it. You may be lucky to have ve it and you may not. There are so many ny other ones, but you know, we have to keep focus on the act as nothing good od comes easy. What inspires you most in this is job? God is my main source of inspiraation and I think my boyfriend also so does. He gives me all the support I need ed to go on especially when I’m pissed off ff the whole show. What’s your best modelling addvice to others like you? Be focused and believe in yourself. lff. That way I believe you will fly.

Sexy frilled bum shorts YEMISI ADENIRAN

re you in the mood for the extra ordinary? Go the way of the frilled bum short wears and you will definitely find expression. They are sexy, flatn tery and hot this season for any of your te casual dates or red carpets. Cute on both c the skinny and the curvy, the frilled bum th sshorts are no doubt for the bold and daring. You can pair them with an equally skimpy Y tank top, billowy blouses or lengthy tunics ta like any of these stylish models. What you li must have at the back of your mind is a m ssmooth, straight and sexy pair of legs to keep the look chic and fashionable. k

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Male Essentials

08036961187

with Oseyiza Oogbodo kingseiza@yahoo.com w

ome men make a fashion statement in what is probably the simplest of ways to do so: they shave the hair on their head to-

tally. In addition to standing out because of their resultant shiny heads, they also go to no extra trouble to maintain their skinned heads. Its maintenance is simply them visiting the barber to shave their head cleanly again once their hair is growing again. Ikechukwu is a perfect

example of a skinhead guy. His head is always devoid of hair. So also Tuface Idibia, Segun Arinze, Keke Ogungbe, Joe El and many other guys. And when their heads are shining in public, you just can’t help but feel like sporting a skinhead too. And the good thing about a skinhead is that it is suitable for every walk of life and profession. Unlike some hairstyles that corporate people cannot indulge in, they can go for the skinhead and no one will raise an eyebrow.

Skinhead guys

Dress suits’ basics 1

You eventually want to own three suits. Your first suit should be either navy blue or gray, possibly with a light chalk stripe (like a pinstripe, but softer), and in an all-season, medium weight. Either of these colors will fit into most social settings. Your second suit should be the one you didn’t get the first time around. Your third should be black – not for funerals, but for black tie

affairs. If you work in a field where suits are the norm, you’ll probably want more than three; once you’ve covered the basics, you can move on to more distinctive suits (pinstripes, different weights, unconventional colors, etc.).

Suits are made of wool or cotton. Higher thread counts signify higher quality, but are ironically not as

durable, so stick with something midrange. Ask the salesperson to help you with this. (Yes, ask the salesperson. Suits are not self-serve.) Synthetic fibers need not apply.

You never button the bottom button. Apparently, Edward VII got fat and couldn’t button his vest over his belly, so now nobody does. On a three-

button jacket, you button the middle; the top button is optional. If you have a jacket with 4 or more buttons, you obviously know what you’re doing already. A gentleman carries a handkerchief in his front breast pocket. You don’t have to get fancy, just fold it square to fit and have 1/4” to 1/2” sticking out the top. Then proffer it as needed. And wash it after.

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Relationships

Have social media boosted They are bridge builders

all it what you will, social media have come to stay and there’s nothing we can do about them. Whether we like them or not and whether we want to become involved in their usage or not, they have been helping ordinary people stay in close proximity with one another as friends and partners. Creating lasting compassion in relation to building a relationship as a couple requires a level of persistency and emotional attention and social media have been able to create an avenue for this through frequent chats with your partner. ‘With social media your partner is just an arm’s length away’ should be a slogan for the social media we have around now. Everyone’s on facebook or on some other social media. A lot of times people have met, dated and even got married through time shared chatting on these networks. For most people, when thinking or talking about social media, it is usually as a means of reaching the widest circle of friends forgetting that one on one communication is also done on it. People meet and bond on them. For others, it’s a virtual form of reality whereby people, especially couples can be very close to one another without being physically present with each other. In this present age and time where most couples hardly ever see themselves for more than a few hours each day due to the nature of their jobs, it is even more pertinent to find a way for them to keep in touch with each other throughout the day through any means possible. Most times, making phone calls is not an option worth considering when you look at the financial cost implications. Having to get in touch with your spouse every few minutes or every other hour throughout the day on voice calls is quite expensive for the average couple. The social media therefore have become a veritable and inexpensive avenue to keep in touch with your partner within the timeframe of when you’re both apart every day. I know a lot of people may not agree with me, citing the reasons

that social media have killed the non physical aspect of communication. But the truth of the matter is that it’s not the social media that have contributed to the death of this significant aspect of communication, but the lifestyles we all are now living whereby getting rich quickly and thereby having financial comfort has become the order of the day. People are now more comfortable speaking with each other behind the cloak of a computer screen because it hides their inadequacies of their work coming before building of interpersonal relationships with each other. Taking time off to share problems and generally being there for each other is no more the order of the day. Communication between couples is being negatively affected because people are less comfortable speaking to each other in person due to time spent away from each other at work and on the road going and coming back from their work places. They have developed misleading perceptions and are not psychologically equipped to handle the complexities of building personal relationships with each other. Everything is put on the backbench because of the rat race to be something or somebody. Should we then blame our problems on something that has actually helped us to stay in contact with each other? I personally do not think we should. For me, I believe that a lot of relationships that are still existing today would have died a natural death a very long time ago if not for social media which have made it easy and cheaper to stay emotionally and psychologically in contact with each other. Social media is allowing compassion to grow through regular chats with each other by couples. The slogan for facebook which says that facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life really says everything for me. I believe reliance on social media by couples has increased the level of relationship between couples because it has really made personal interaction an arm’s length away. To connect and stay with your partner is just one click away.

SEX TALK

This column is x-rated

15 ways to have sex like an Olympian There is one thing we are realising watching the games this past week: Olympians are hot. They have incredible endurance, their bodies are chiselled and toned, and they look awesome sweating. While you may not look like an Olympian -- you can have sex like one! Try these 15 tips to having longer-lasting, steamier, gold medal sex before the games end. Pretend you just met “When our sex life started to slow down, I started thinking about how another woman would see my husband if she just met him -- and this made me want to impress him. I did things like buying new lingerie, getting up just a little earlier than usual to join him in the shower or making time to play later in the day. We totally rediscovered each other’s sexiness after that.” Tease each other “Sometimes, when my husband and I wake up and hear the kids, we start kissing and caressing anyway. Of course we don’t continue, but we get all worked up and then go all day stealing little looks and kisses. Sure, we could steal away and end the torture, but I think that secretly, we both enjoy this little dance. It definitely keeps things exciting!”

Act on your moods “My problem was that even if I was in the mood when my husband was at work, by the time he got home I’d be too exhausted. It started to get so frustrating! Then, I figured out a plan. Every time I get in the mood during the middle of the day, I put a tube of lubricant or something suggestive under his pillow. Even though I may be too tired to initiate sex later, he finds my little clue and definitely gets the message.”

Get high-tech “I’ve started emailing my husband sexy fantasy scenarios on his personal email account. This really helps me to get brave. Because sometimes, I just feel silly showing him my sexual side when we’re face-toface. Getting his mind going like that has certainly has paid off.” Rent an “adult” movie “There are so many helpful sex videos available that are not intimidating at all. The one I like best is narrated by a sex therapist; it’s instructional in nature. You learn how to effectively stimulate someone, but on a really non-threatening level.” Take matters into your hands “My husband and I were always too busy for love. Finally, one night we were getting serious about fooling around and what happened? The phone rang! Even though he

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

RELATIONSHIPS

August 4, 2012

CHINWE ANNIE AMAECHI 07028684481 chinweamaechi@gmail.com

communication amongst couples? Not really

This column is x-rated picked it up, I decided to take matters into my own hands, and kept right on kissing him, all over. I loved that power, and he went wild too -- when he finally got off the phone.” Be at each other’s mercy “Once I whispered in my significant other’s ear to take hold of my hand. Then I told him I was going to close my eyes and he had to place my hand anywhere on his body. Then I massaged whatever area it was. He was kind of in control, but ultimately I controlled the pleasure.” Surprise him -- and yourself ! “I flashed my boobs at my husband when he got home from work last night. Enough said, right?” Be aggressive “Telling my husband what to do in bed is very erotic. Although I wouldn’t want a puppy dog for a husband all the time, it is so much fun to say what I want, when and how. Then there is seeing his response! He gets even more turned on than me.” Share (racy) compliments “My husband and I were fooling around in front of a mirror. He stood behind me and slowly undressed me. But as he moved along he told me how beautiful each part of my body was. I didn’t mind a bit. Compliments are a wonderful way to heat up any situation. The next time we got in front of a mirror, I gave him a few compliments of my own!” Do a little dance “I know that lots of women feel comfort-

This column is x-rated able doing a striptease, but I’m always too shy to try it. I have my own version of one. I just dance for my fiancé, making him want to touch me, but never let him. After I’ve taken off just a few items of clothing, I let him do the rest! It’s all at my speed, and he loves it! In the end, we’re both very happy.” Spend intimate time together “Read a chapter of a book together every night. You can eat apples, drink wine, or read erotic literature to each other. Make an effort to touch, cuddle and spend intimate time together. That leads to an exciting evening no matter what!” Get -- and give -- sneak previews “What I like best is when my boyfriend and I describe what we’re about to do to each other before doing it. As he talks, I can practically feel what will happen to my body. When he finally does it, I go through the roof !”

Make a bedroom rule “There is one standing ‘rule’ in our bedroom. We are not allowed to use the same position more than once in a week. Of course we break the rule, but not often, and it generally keeps us from getting into a boring sexual routine.” End Boredom with a routine “We always celebrate the new year with sex! We’ve tried to time our orgasms so we both come right at midnight, but haven’t been able to achieve that yet. The good news is that we just get to keep trying next year!”

ne of my y favourite quotes regarding relationships is the one that states “communication is the blood of any relationship”. It is so true. Once communication breaks down in any relationship, the timer starts to count down to the collapse of the relationship. Unless something is done to improve communication in such a situation, the relationship is bound to hit the rocks. As the days, weeks, months and years go by, the IT world keeps bombarding us with new means of communication. Social media is now “the way forward” for businesses, news dissemination, etc. But are social media the way forward for relationships to thrive? Effective communication between partners ought to reduce speculations about what is going on in the lives of the partners and build intimacy on a continuous basis. You should know how your partner’s day at work went, his/her state of health (physically, spiritually and emotionally), and his/her goals per time. How will you know unless you are told? How will you be told unless you ask or he/she volunteers the information? How will there be such a conversation if you do not make out time for it? Can such information be given properly on the phone or bbm? Of course, this may be the only way to communicate when the partners are not in the same vicinity for a long period. We know that a relationship is not all about romance and intimacy, but we must admit that intimacy and romance must be present for a marriage or love relationship to thrive. Therefore, in my opinion, any form of communication which does not boost intimacy and romance, is no proper communication. So, my second question is; has social media helped to build intimacy; I mean real intimacy? Most of us don’t know how to write well by hand because we have laptops, iPads and other gadgets to “write” with. So, love letters are now extinct for a lot of people. We now have free midnight calls, so some people communicate with their “out of jurisdiction” loved ones more at night when they are fighting sleep, instead of during the day when they are up and doing. Blackberry messenger and other “free” chat software also give us some

kind of fals false feeling of closeness and connection. We see updates in profiles and assume we know what is going on in a loved one’s life. A couple could just chat for five to 10 minutes while they are apart and assume they have communicated for the day. They get home, have dinner in front of the T.V, then hit their pillows. They may or may not have sex before they sleep. Whatever is the case, they do not think it strange or negative not to have a face to face meaningful conversation about themselves and their relationship on a daily basis. At the most, they may discuss living expenses, house rent, school fees or some other family project. You can assume that you know how your partner’s day is going at work because he/she said “cool” when you asked “how is your day going?” You can also feel you have “talked” to your partner well enough for the day just because you had three phone calls that lasted for less than five minutes each time. There is always a lot of catching up to do each day. The weekends can never be enough. The truth is that most couples talk, hug, kiss and express intimacy on blackberry messenger and facebook much more than face to face. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s the unfortunate truth. “I love you” has now been abridged to “luv u” and has been converted to a cliché used to end a phone call. It has lost its emotive force and deep meaning. A man can say “luv you” up to five times a day – at the end of a phone call, bbm chat, text message or email, but it is very unlikely that when he gets home later the same day, he will look into his wife’s eyes, kiss her and say “I love you” passionately. Maybe the problem is that people are not using social media the right way or have placed social media as a substitute for face to face communication, rather than use it as a complimentary method or addition to the good old face to face communication. I know that those who are getting it right will forever cherish social media. Couples that find time to have deep and meaningful conversations regularly would actually say that social media add spice to their relationship. Bottom line? Social media has boosted some communication lines, but what percentage? So have social media boosted communication between partners? It does not seem so.

August 4, 2012

Dear Igho

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

TTel: e 08023924679 (SMS only) ighomit@gmail.com

Having diﬃculties with relationships, family, work or any other aspectt off your life? lif Help is at hand with TOBORE IGHO OVUORIE Dear Igho, I’m 14 years old and I’m in love. Truly, I love this guy and he loves me too but we only communicate through the phone because he’s in Lagos while I’m in Port Harcourt. He’s 20 years old and I’m afraid he might be cheating on me. What do you think?

Can he be cheating on me?

Zoe Briggs, Port Harcourt.

Dear Zoe, You just broke my heart with your mail. I pray this guy won’t break your heart the way you just broke mine! I mean, I’m still stunned at how and why a 14 years old girl would be so confident about love to the extent of even talking about cheating. Come on, give me a break! Yes, I know at this age you would be conscious of how you look and other such things, but my dear, beauty is nothing when you can’t match it with intellect. Sex and relationships fade always when your partner has nothing of value to be proud of about you. Spend less time thinking about what would not add value to you now or in the nearest future. If this guy has other relationships here in Lagos, it’s because it suits him. At 20, he can’t be thinking about marriage and so, he might be experimenting with other girls the same way he’s likely to be experimenting with you. Sweet heart, use you head and time well. Please!

Is it right for her to sleep over? Dear Igho, I have a question for you. Do you think it’s right for a girl to sleep over in her boyfriend’s house when they are not even engaged? My brother’s girlfriend does that; she comes to the house when mum’s not in town and sleeps over. She works in Abuja but comes to Kaduna on weekends and she has a rented apartment in Kaduna. Please ma, is it right? Safia, Kaduna.

Dear Safia, Whether your brother in this case is your older or younger brother, I’ll advise that you gently discuss with him and hear his opinion. You may subtly drop the hint that your mum might get to know if care is not taken. Since you feel strongly about this issue, don’t appear too saintly. What your brother does is within his own limit of spiritual and moral understanding. We’re all different in many ways; learn to accommodate other people’s faults. But really, since she has a house in town, they can take their ‘wahala’ there without being rude to your mother’s sensitivity and yours too.

I now need her contact details! Dear Igho, This is the second time I am writing you though I saw your reply on Saturday Mirror when you published my number in order for Briggie to contact me. However, till this moment she has not. So Igho, I will appreciate you giving me her email. I think you remember me. Remilekun,

Lagos.

Dear Remilekun, It’s unethical for me to release anyone’s details, worse still, contacts without their permission. Like you said, I published your profile, hence, left the ball in her court. She definitely had seen that publication. I’ll yet get across to her first to know if her contact details could be disclosed.

Please help! He’s too good for me

Dear Igho, I’m 24 years old, a graduate and a virgin. I have a boyfriend whom I’ve been dating for eight years now. The problem is that he’s too perfect for my liking that is; he is very handsome, kind, caring, generous and quiet to a fault. Most times, I feel I’m the man in the relationship. He just asked to meet my parents officially but I feel I don’t love him enough because I’m easily carried away by new guys that come my way. Please help me. Sophie, Abuja.

Dear Sophie, Since you don’t seem to like this guy, I’d suggest you pass his number to me so his profile could be published. Maybe when you see many ladies swooping all over him and dying to have him, you would understand that proverb that

I need a serious man Dear Igho, I’m 31, AS genotype and in need of a Christian man for a serious relationship. He has to be kind-hearted, honest, gentle, patient, romantic, tall, between 31-37years and working class.

says you don’t know what you have until you lose it. Okay, let me save you the heartbreak you may have if I did that! To be candid, I would say hold on to what you have and thank God. Many ladies out there are crying to have a man who has half the qualities your guy possesses. I think you’re confused because you wouldn’t still be with this guy after eight years if you didn’t feel anything for him. I beg, take him to mama and papa, get their blessing and invite the whole “Dear Igho” readers to your wedding. Good luck!

Opeyemi. 07037694201

Dear Opeyemi, As requested, your profile has been published but I hope you equally possess all these attributes you’re seeking in the man. Wishing you the best in your search for love!

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Living

Alpha Beach:

Community at the mercy of the Atlantic The beach is different things to many people, so is the sea. Both are, however, loved by man. But when the serenity of the sea is shattered and it becomes turbulent, it overshadows all in its path. The Alpha Beach, Lagos, now suffers from its progenitor and mentor, the Atlantic Ocean, which is at present threatening to consume it. Now, the Alpha Beach has become a ghost of its former self, no thanks to ocean surge. FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON

“I

was asleep and suddenly I felt the rush of water by my bedside. I immediately woke up and I saw water rushing in torrent taking over everything in the room. I was initially shocked. I didn’t know whether to shout or cry and there I was, standing in the midst of water which had overtaken everything. All our belongings were drenched in water. I felt helpless” Those are the words of Mrs. Rosaline Abudu, a resident of Okun Alfa community as she recounts her experience during the recent ocean surge that claimed property worth million. According to Abudu, initially, her

thought was that it was only the rain that was responsible. She however soon discovered that the Atlantic had also over-flown its shores, leaving everyone and their property at its mercy. “There was no sign of the storm before I went to bed. Then, at midnight, I felt some water around me and when I got up, behold, it was the ocean. My room had fallen apart likewise my children’s room. I discovered that several other buildings had also fallen, but nobody was injured neither did we record any death, apart from material and financial loss” Abudu who has been living in the neighbourhood for over seven years says she does not have any other place to go to because of paucity of funds. “I have been living here for the past

Alpha Beach

seven years with my four children, two boys and two girls, except for my husband, who lives and work in Edo State. And from the look of things, I’m not going anywhere in search of accommodation because there is no money for that right now. Some of my neighbours, selling dinks there have moved out in search of a calm place for business. Though I’m scared, I don’t have anywhere to go to,” the mother of four lamented. She revealed that “the beach is fast becoming a menace to the community. Something similar happened last year and cut across the only tarred road that leads to Lafiaji Community. The commercial motorcycle operators, now find it very difficult riding on the sand. It takes only healthy jeeps to drive on the sand. When there was sea surge in Au-

gust last year, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola visited us. But our hope was dashed when he said that it wasn’t within the state’s jurisdiction to embark on any meaningful development there, but the Federal Government’s. For many years, Okun-Alfa, a coastal community in Eti-Osa Local Government of Lagos State hosted thousands of fun-seeking patrons on its shoreline, popularly called Alpha Beach. The beach, during its peak, was a melting pot for fun-loving nationals from West African countries, Europe, and America who visited to soak in fresh air and sun bath. Because everybody, irrespective of their social status, would find a fitting CONTINUED ON PAGE 37

LIVING

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Selling at speed of light: Hawkers who thrive in gridlock

Hawkers who display and sell their wares on the roads during traffic jam are on the increase. FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON was in their world recently. Her report:

t was a Monday evening along Ikorodu Road, Lagos; the traffic was heavy and the atmosphere tense. Being a hot day, the weather was very warm and the humidity was made barely bearable by the gridlock. Most commuters retuning from their places of work were tired and hungry. A woman sitting next to the reporter in a commercial bus suddenly poked her head out of the window and beckoned on some young men moving between the lines of vehicles. About four of them scampered to her side: some cradling cartons of assorted sausage rolls and others soft drink and bottled water. After supplying the woman with her orders, the traffic eased and the bus zoomed off. But the woman had not paid. Hence, again, the boys took after the vehicle and caught up with it amidst gasps and heaving. Welcome to the typical Lagos road during traffic jam. Chigozie Azubuike is a street hawker. He has been selling soft drink on the streets for the past three years. He told Saturday Mirror that the job is quite a tedious one and that it requires a lot of energy. “The business is quite a tedious one but one has to keep body and soul together. Since I do not have a large capital to start off a better business, I better stay in this one. I am into this business until I am able to raise enough funds to do a better and less stressful business” Chogozie did not just find himself in the business of chasing after moving vehicles to sell his wares. According to him, when he came to Lagos some years ago, he had nothing and feeding was a big challenge. Also, he could not afford to be a liability to his cousin who brought him to Lagos since the agreement was that he would be ready to work to earn a living for

himself. “I dropped out of secondary school and when my cousin who lives in the outskirt of Lagos agreed to bring me to Lagos, I promised that I would do whatever I could lay my hands on. Things were tough but with the assistance of my cousin, I was able to raise N3, 000 three years ago and that I used in starting the business. I first started with bottled water and gradually I graduated into selling plastic soft drink,” he explained. Like Chigozie, there are countless street traders on the roads of Lagos. On a daily basis, hawkers display their wares on roadsides, even on walkways, pedestrian bridges and any available spot where they can easily advertise their wares to passersby. Those not so lucky to get a location take the option of mobile marketing, combing the length and breadth of streets, bus stops, bridges and all. The highways are major marketing grounds for them to make ends meet. While hawkers pray for traffic jams, street traders take advantage of major bus stops, garages to reach more customers. Amarachukwu is another street hawker who sells in the traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge. He has been into the business for over two years now. “I have been selling in the last two years now. I do not have enough money to embark on the business of my choice that is why I am doing this. I want to save for another kind of business. The stress of street trading is becoming really unbearable lately with the task force arresting street traders here and there, it is becoming really frustrating these days. I don’t know what the government wants us to do, we are only trying to earn a living for ourselves instead of engaging in crime” lamented Amara, an indegene of Imo State. Although Amara did not disclose his income on a daily basis from street hawking, he says he manages to pay

his bills and do little savings from whatever he gets as profit at the end of the day. According to him, it is not the type of job one would do for too long a time but it could serve a lot of purposes when there is virtually nothing left to do because with little capital, one could then start something going. “Street trading is not something you do for a long time but it is a means to an end. If you are focused and determined, you could save up something tangible over a period of time and do something meaningful with “ On how they cope with the stress of running up and down to make sales in traffic, Adebolu who sells art paintings along Ikorodu road says it is something that they have become used to over the time. “When you do something over time, you become used to it, especially when you know that your means of survival depends on it. I cannot steal or engage in prostitution; the only thing I know how to do is to work and I have been doing this for a while. So, I am used to it. It is stressful though”. Good as the services they provide may seem, it is no longer in contention that the trend has fast become a nuisance in the state with the unpleasant stories about them increasing daily. Recently, it was reported that some gunmen disguised as hawkers robbed unsuspecting motorists. Tony Ogechi, sells sausage rolls on the streets. He described his current condition as pathetic. “Even in other businesses, you still come by some with evil intentions disguising themselves as genuine business people when they are really not. Most of us selling in traffic know ourselves because we have a body and a forum where we discuss. It is a rule that, nobody must steal anything from your market. We are all our brothers’ keepers and that is the way we operate.

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LIVING

August 4, 2012

Community at the mercy of the Atlantic

Abudu

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35 entertainment spot at Alpha Beach, its popularity soared, with a heartwarming reputation that endeared it to thousands who dreaded the adjacent Kuramo Beach, notorious as a den of hoodlums. “Business was good in those days,” recalled Mike Orji, who relocated to the beach from Ajegunle about eight years ago. Mike who operates a barbing salon and a bar at the beach side told Saturday Mirror in reminiscence of the good old days when business was booming along the shoreline of about two kilometres. On why he still remained in the community despite the threats from the ocean surge Orji says he would really love to leave and go to a calmer place but for financial constraints. “A lot of people have left here because of this crisis but the only reason I am still here is money. Once I am able to raise fund to get a better apartment in a calmer area, I will surely leave. Even the business that seems to be the attraction for me when I came here has been paralyzed by the ocean surge that seems to have become the order of the day now. When the beach was okay and calm, we had a lot of visitors to the beach and business was booming. But now, the whole place is a shadow of itself,” says Orji. Orji further tells Saturday Mirror that a standard room in the area goes for between N1,500 to N3,000 depending on the location and size as well as the state of the room while it costs more in other areas around Lekki. However, the community head, Baale Atewolara Elegushi tells Saturday Mirror that the surge is not a new thing in the environment but that it is just taking a new turn from what it used to be. “In the days of our fore fathers, there used to be surge but it happens like once in every 10 or six years. But now it is no longer like that. At a time, it used to happen like once in five or four years but it seems to be taking a new turn now. We also experienced this last August. May be it wants to start hap-

Orji

One of the affected buildings

pening on a yearly basis now. Each time the community experiences an ocean surge, it chips away the shoreline and pushes the community further

inward,” explains the Bale. The traditional further makes a clarion call to the federal and state governments and then the international com-

munity to kindly intervene and put an end to the problems once and for all just like they did with the Bar Beach sometime ago.

Help! Alpha Beach is being swept away –Baale Baale Atewolara Elegushi is the head of Okun Alfa also known as Alpha Beach community where there was an ocean surge recently. He spoke with FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON. Excerpts:

s the head of the community, what have you done about this issue of ocean surge? We have written to Lagos State government and so they are fully aware. A tractor was brought in from the local government to create a channel for the water to drain. Hon. Kazeem, the chairman of the local government and the five royal fathers were also here at the scene of the surge. When was the very first time this community experienced an ocean surge? Ocean surge has been on since the days of our fore fathers but it has never taken this kind of turn. It used to be once in 10 or eight years back then and whenever it happened then, they would do rituals to appease the gods and things would become normal. However, the story is now different. At some point it used to be every three years and now, it happened last year and we are experiencing it again this year. It is now like it wants to be surging every year now. What are the responses you have got so far? Ministry of Justice has invited me to come. Whatever they say will determine the next line of action to be taken. They told us to do a report on what has happened and how much the community was affected. We have already done this. What is the level of destruction so far? If you take a look at the wall in this sitting room, you will discover the level

Baale Elegushi

of water that got in here. Our electronics, furniture and other essential belongings were all destroyed by the flood. We just thank God that no life was lost. If you go to the health centre which is close to the beach, you would also see the level at which the flood destroyed things. The fence and even the roof of the building are all gone. What do you see as solution to this problem? I think the best solution will be what the government did with the Bar Beach. The current of ocean is strong and if nothing is done, things will get worse around here. If not attended to, we don’t know what would happen to us in the next 30 years. The water has eaten deep

into the town. Where our fathers and grandfathers were is now like the third town to where we now are. If care is not taken, the whole community will be overtaken by water and there will be no more Okun Alfa community. What is your expectation from the government? We want the government and the entire global community to come to our rescue and help us put an end to this whole issue so that the community can stop living in fear of the ocean. What do you think is now responsible for the constant ocean surge? I think it is as a result of many things. For instance, there is this report that there have been issues with water globally. What we heard was that there were some countries that were iced and are now melting that had added to the water content of the entire world and this is part of the Atlantic Ocean. Another factor is the issue of shipwrecks at the water banks that will be there on the high sea without moving and being removed, they also add to it. Another thing is that because the wave has been reduced at the Bar Beach end, it now seems to be diverting to other nearby beaches where it could exert its power. The only permanent solution is to do the type of embankment they did at the Bar Beach. It is calling for an urgent attention. I am using this forum to beg the government to please attend to us and help us out of this crisis before it gets completely out of hand.

LIVING

Oresanya

August 4, 2012

Abah

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Ahmed

Menace of open defecation CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

and the successive governments from independence are the cause. An average Nigerian only thinks about himself. So, he takes actions that please him regardless of the effect on others. It is exactly the way our leaders behave and they have passed that habit onto us. We can say it is a shortfall of the problem of lack of shelter among the poor. But the fact is that many people who have toilets at home still love an open air thing. So, what is the problem? Indiscipline!” Bright opined. Muibat Akorede, a resident of Egbeda area of Lagos, cannot forget in a hurry the day she had one of her two legs messed up by human faeces on her way home from work recently. “I was coming from work that fateful night. A colleague of mine had dropped me off on the main road. So, trekking home on my street, I didn’t know that someone had deposited his faeces on the road. It was a heap which got my shoes and my socks enmeshed. I didn’t even notice immediately until I started perceiving the stench oozing out from my legs. I felt terrified. So, since then, any time I am walking on the road, I trek with caution. It is an ugly habit that requires an urgent attention. Measures must be put in place to stop the perpetrators.” Unlike many others, the female road sweepers cannot afford to take their eyes away from heaps of such human faeces which usually decorate the sides of the roads they clean each morning. For Mrs. Kehinde Akinyemi, a road sweeper with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), packing faeces from the roads has been one of the most frustrating experience in the job. “We see faeces almost every morning but since our duty is to keep everywhere clean, we have no choice than to pack this the excreta. The experience has been tough but we thank God who has given us the will to carry on,” Akinyemi said. Mrs Victoria Omotan, another road

sweeper with LAWMA, also lamented the inconvenience caused her and her colleagues by the people who defecate on the roads. “There is always a fight because some of us like to avoid sweeping the spots where there are faeces. But if everybody dodges the responsibility like that, nobody will pack these heaps of waste. It is really part of our toughest challenge in this job. We don’t know the people who do it because they usually do it at night.” Omotan lamented. Another road sweeper in Lagos, Mrs Jumoke Arolake, also decried the habit and called for an urgent action to stop the perpetrators. “We are not finding it easy at all. Every morning, you find all sorts of silly things littering the road. The worst has always been the faeces. No matter how hardworking a person can be, nobody wants to be packing another person’s shit. It is an unpleasant experience. We have no choice but it will make our job easier if our environment is free of such things. It can make someone to get easily tired of the job. The government in this state is trying its best but these people should know that our salary is not much. They should stop compounding our problem,” she explained. Alaba Ayodele, a radio repairer who resides in Moricas area of Agege, is very livid about the manner in which he usually finds at the entrance of his house daily. He, however, believes that it is “may be because our house is not far from the market place. Every morning we wake we find all sorts of nonsense even faeces at our gate. The annoying thing is that you will never be able to catch those doing it redhanded. Sometimes I wonder if we ever have a government in this country that truly cares about the welfare and sound health of its citizens.” Sule Ahmed is a commercial driver and he is wondering what could prompt some people into doing such. “I wonder why people do what they do. I want to be sure that a person in his right thinking sense will not do a thing like that. Although if someone is pressed and there

is no toilet around, one may likely do that especially at night but it is a bad thing to do and I don’t ever wish to find myself in such a situation that could push me into defecating in the open. Sometimes when you even travel along open the express road, you see some people doing it in the open without even caring to know who is watching them do it.” Sule Musa, a water seller popularly called meruwa who resides in Agege area of Lagos State further stated that sometimes lack of good toilet can lead to such situation as open defecation stating that he had had course to resort to open defecation sometime. “The toilet in our house is bad and the sight of it alone could make you throw up and sometimes when you are trapped in an environment where it is difficult to get toilet to answer the call of nature, you will be left with no option than to look for a little bushy place to do it. I remember that I have had course to do that sometimes ago when I was travelling. There are no eateries or residential houses so I had to do it in the bush as quickly as I could,” he added. Taiwo Awobiyi is a petty trader who sells Paraga around Alagbole area in the outskirts of Lagos. She abhors the idea of doing such openly but at the same time blame the rise in this form of menace on the government who has not provided enough public toilets for people to use. Defecating in the open is no doubt a shameless thing to do. How will someone in his right thinking sense feel like defecating and now feel the right thing to do is to do it openly. It is very disgusting. However I think government is to blame for this societal menace people who defecate openly constitute in the society because if there are enough public toilets built by the government or the people, there wouldn’t be a thing like that and even if there are, they will very reduced.” Rasaq Adeyemi, a resident of OjokoroIjaiye, is very much aware of the practice of defecating in the open. He disclosed to Saturday Mirror that he not only comes

across faeces on the road but even in the house he lives. “I can’t tell you where my house is, but it’s a very big house with a lot of tenants. There is one toilet on each floor, so people have to wait in line to use it sometimes. Apart from that, there’s no water in the house so people find it difficult to use the water they buy to flush the toilet. “What most of the tenants do is to pass stool in nylon and then throw it into the compound. The compound is not laid with cement so throwing stool there is easy as it will eventually decay into the ground. As I’m talking to you, my compound is littered with dirt of all kinds including human faeces and urine.” Betty Abah, an environmental expert with Nigeria’s foremost NGO on the environment, Environmental Rights Action (ERA), said she’s “very much aware that people defecate in the open and especially in public places like the parks.” Speaking on why they do so, she said, “The reason is attributable to a number of factors. One of them and which is a major factor, is the lack of adequate facilities in the public to cater for people that want to use them. Thus, when nature calls, they have no alternative than to answer the call whenever it catches up with them. “Another reason is lack of a culture of hygiene on the part of some members of the public. Some people, including adults have not trained themselves to use conveniences well and properly. It’s a shame because when you compare it to the state of the same facilities in some Western countries, you just can’t believe it.” About the implications of the unsavoury habit, and if it affects the environment, she said, “Of course, it worsens the state of our environment and can have health implications. You know that a dirty environment yields pests such as rats and rats cause laser fever. Others like typhoid fever and cholera are as a result of polluted water and human waste is a CONTINUED ON PAGE 39

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LIVING

August 4, 2012

From Accountancy to vulcanising Ademola Yusuf is not your run-of-the-mill by the side of the road vulcaniser. He holds a National Diploma in Accountancy. He is also striving for more. But how did he end up practising such a trade? OSEYIZA OOGBODO

t was the morning of Sunday, June 3, 2012, and Ademola Yusuf, a vulcaniser, was in his work-clothe tendering to tyres at the ramshackle contraption which served as his workshop. As busy as he was, he threw a greeting the way of a passerby who, simply looked the other way in obvious ignominy. Probably involuntarily, Yusuf muttered a retort which this reporter, because of proximity, caught: “That guy and I were in the same department in school, yet he didn’t answer when I greeted him (obviously because of my job here).” School? What could the vulcaniser have got to do with a school, many must have wondered. Could he have been a student in a higher institution? For all that anyone may care to know, the vulcaniser is a holder of an Ordinary National Diploma in Accountancy from the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State. Said he, in an interview with our reporter: “I was admitted at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State to study Accountancy in 2005 and after my Ordinary National Diploma (OND), I went for my Industrial Training (IT) at RT Briscoe Nigeria PLC at Matori.” There at RT Briscoe, while on his internship, he worked as an LPO monitoring officer and customer service officer at RT Briscoe and not in the accounts department. Yusuf who is also computer literate however told the story of how his education was stopped for lack of financial wherewithal. “I couldn’t go back for my Higher National Diploma due to a lot of factors. The chief factor was my inability to meet the financial obligations required.

Yusuf

While in the diploma class, the financial stress was just too much for me and I only survived because I didn’t want to be a stark illiterate like my father. “It was my brother who paid for my first year school fees but every other financial requirement was borne by me. It was really tough to survive and most times I would do without food. I remember that there was a day I was to write an exam and I had to walk all the way from my house to school because I didn’t have the transport fare. The walk took me all of 90 minutes and I was stressed out while writing the exam.” It wasn’t only financial stress that stood in his way. Just like his fellow student snubbed him because he saw him working as a vulcaniser, social stress

Yusuf tending to tyre

was also a problem for him in school. “It is not easy to be in school if you don’t have money,” he lamented. “Even though I was in school to study, I had to have a social life and it wasn’t easy having a decent social life and that also stressed me a lot.” As it is now, Yusuf is currently a fulltime vulcaniser but with the aspiration to continue his education. “I didn’t return to Ilaro because of all the stress I encountered. Then, it was the money I would make as a vulcaniser during break and holidays that sustained me. “But since I didn’t want to return to Ilaro, I tried to gain admission into the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in 2008 and

2009 respectively but it didn’t work out. I even tried to return to Ilaro in 2010 with no success too. But now, I’ve set my sight on YABATECH and I’m just waiting for the admission form to be out.” And on how he came to be a vulcaniser, he said, “The workshop I work in is owned by my father. He didn’t force me into vulcanising but I picked interest in it myself when I was in JSS 1 in 1998. It’s my father’s job and I’m proud of it. Right now, I’ve been able to save a lot of money. So, I’m sure when I gain admission, I will have a smoother ride in school this time.” Yusuf, however, refused to disclose the amount he makes daily in his toil as a vulcaniser. His reason: whatever he makes is his personal business.

Menace of open defecation CONTINUED FROM PAGE 38 major pollutant.” On how the habit could be stopped, she said, “More enlightenment, more orientation. Also, the government has to make concerted efforts to build facilities.” Speaking further, she said, “Defecating in the open is a symptom of primitivism, but not in all cases. Part of the blame has to be put at the door step of government for poor planning and also for not providing public conveniences. You can see that the recently deceased the late Otunba Gaddafi made a huge fortune from his VIP Mobile Toilets. In a way he took over the role of government in providing necessary public infrastructure.” Ola Oresanya, the Managing Director of LAWMA, the Lagos State Government organ charged with disposing waste in the state told Saturday Mirror that LAWMA was not designed to take care of defecating

in the open. “People, who defecate in the open, even when they see all the development going on in Lagos, are psychiatric cases. When such people are apprehended, they should just be put in ambulances and taken for psychiatric tests and treatment. “The habit is abnormal and only abnormal people do it. No normal person will even urinate in the open, not to talk of defecate.” Admitting that LAWMA street cleaners do come across such faeces in the course of their duty, he said, “We do not allow our staff to use their hands to clean such faeces. When they come across them, they draw our attention and we send a steam washer to go and do the cleaning.” Mrs Folashade Olapade, Head of Waste and Sanitary Management Unit in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos, did not dispute the fact that some Nigerians are in the habit of defecating in the open

but she insisted that such habit is currently nowhere to be found among residents of her local government area. “I do not know of any place in Alimosho where people defecate in the open. If you see anywhere like that you are free to draw our attention to it. But I doubt if such things exist here because Alimosho is not a village. It is a well developed place where residents are very sensitive to the happenings in their environment. If you do anything of such, the people themselves will arrest you. If you say there are faeces in Agege, well I may not totally disagree with you because it is a relatively rough area. “But even then, I don’t think anything like that is common in Lagos State now, because, Lagos is now a megacity. But I can tell you that here in Alimosho, you can’t see anything of such because our officials are very hard-working and they go round all the time to ensure that the environment is clean. Most of the houses here have

their own toilets, which are usually water system because we are discouraging pit latrines in the homes. So, those houses that have pit latrines are now changing over to water system. Those who cannot afford the white water closet are encouraged to get the cement version which is the cheapest. And people are complying. “So, there is no temptation for any residents to leave their various homes to go and defecate in the open. If they are doing it, we will definitely get reports but no such have been reported in the last four years since I became the head of this place. Here we have a very diligent and committed team, who are always out to enforce sanity in our homes and our environment. Companies in this local government, especially where they are selling food like eateries are mandated to have good toilets, cloak rooms, first aid box, water facilities, refuse bin with tight fitting cover, refuse bag and so on.”

LIVING

August 4, 2012

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SEGUN ADIO

major break down of law and order was averted in Lagos on Wednesday when about 50 commercial motorcyclists, practically threw caution to the winds in their attempt to engage officers of the Nigeria Police in face-off. The policemen were reportedly posted to the Onipanu Police Station in Shomolu area of Lagos State. But for the timely intervention of the Divisional Traffic Officer (DTO) of the station, Alhaji Ogundimu, hell would have been let loose. The senior police officer’s intervention, however, could not deter a member of the Okada riders from stripping himself naked in protest of the alleged illegal extortion by the law enforcement agents. It was on Wednesday, 1 August, around 4:25pm, when a policeman identified as Adiele allegedly seized a commercial motorcycle from its rider. He also demanded a high sum of money from the okada man for the release of his motor bike. It was alleged that on a daily basis, policemen in the area often seize commercial motorcycles from their owners, apparently for picking passengers where they were not supposed to, and demanding huge sums of money from their owners for the release of auto bikes. It was also alleged that the amount often demanded by the law enforcement agents for the release of each Okada ranged between N2, 00 and N10, 000. However, on this fateful day, immediately the policeman seized the Okada, virtually all Okada riders plying the Shomolu /Onipanu road started converging apparently in solidarity with their arrested colleague. One of the assembling Okada riders was Adeniyi Olaide, popularly called Baba Ibeji. It was reported that Olaide suddenly insisted the policeman at the centre of the brewing crisis would not take the motor bike away from the scene of the crisis. When the policeman threatened to deal with anyone that ‘obstruct the course of justice,’ Olaide reportedly stripped himself bare naked in protest. After he stripped himself naked, Olaide began to stuggle with the policeman for the possession of the bike. That was when the policemen sent to his station for reinforcement. It took the intervention of the DTO to calm frayed nerves. He ordered that the seized motorcycle be returned to its owner. The senior police officer thus dispersed the gathering crowd. Speaking to Saturday Mirror, Olaide, who claimed that his action was to dissuade the policemen from continuously extorting them in the area, added that: “I had no choice but to strip myself naked before the world because the problem of these policemen had reached an alarming stage. Everyday they hide themselves in corners along the route we

Olaide dragging the Okada with a policeman

Olaide walking away from the scene naked

Okada man strips naked to protest police extortion

z I had no choice but to strip myself naked before the world because the problem of these policemen had reached an alarming stage –Okada man z No one beat him nor threatened to beat him as claimed –Police officer ply. Once we try to pick passengers, they would jump out of their hiding and seize our Okada. They would threaten that they would take the Okada to Alausa otherwise we should cough out between N2, 00 and N10, 000,” Olaide said. Another Okada rider, Akeem Bakare, also told Saturday Mirror that the government must urgently address

the way and manner innocent citizens are being unduly harassed by the policemen of the division. “These policemen have turned us into ATM machines. They always demand from us N10, 000 or a little less anytime they seize our Okada. That day this same policeman who seized the Okada that led to the trouble was prevailed upon by his colleagues to

allow the Okada man go but he was adamant. His colleagues were sober when they saw Baba Ibeji naked, but this policeman was not moved,” Bakare said. Bakare claimed that a colleague of his had been pleading with the law enforcement agents in the area in the last five days to release his seized Okada but to no avail. In an interview with Saturday Mirror on telephone, Adiele laughed off the Okada riders’ claim that he seized the motorcycle in question and demanded for money from them. Adiele, claimed that the police in Lagos State had been mandated by the Lagos State Police Commissioner to clamp down on vehicles and motorcycles without number plates. “That story that I seized the Okada that day was totally false. That day, our boys on patrol actually seized some Okadas without numbers plates and those whose riders were without helmet. I was in the office when a distress call came in that Okada riders had gathered trying to cause mayhem over the arrest of one of them. Most Okadas in that Onipanu and Shomolu axis are without plate numbers and their riders don’t wear helmets at all contrary to laid down regulations,” Adiele said. The DTO also confirmed the incident. He, however, denied that a policeman seized Olaide’s Okada. According to the police officer, “The story they gave you is not totally true. The policeman arrested his Okada. The Okada people are the same. The man that stripped himself naked just appeared from the blues and lay down on the road begging for the release of the seized Okada. When the policeman insisted that he would take the Okada to the station, the man ran into a beer parlour and appeared with two bottles of stout and broke them on his head. No one beat him nor threatened to beat him as claimed,” the police officer said.

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SPORT

August 4, 2012

Morton, Omotosho, George on fire

rack and field competitions of the ongoing London 2012 Olympic Games began inside the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, East London yesterday with three Nigerian athletes qualifying for the next round of their events. The first Nigerian to take to the track was Uhunoma Naomi Osazuwa, who ran in the fourth Heat of the 100m Hurdles heptathlon event. She finished 7th in her group, returning a time of 13.46secs that failed to

qualify her to the semifinals. United States-based Amaechi Morton came after Osazuwa, competing in the Heat 1 of the 400m Hurdles and qualified with his time of 49.34secs. The two female quarter-milers, Omolara Omotosho and Regina George also picked semi-finals tickets from their Heats. Omotosho came fourth in her group with 52.11secs, while George qualified for the semis by winning her Heat on a time of 51.24secs.

XXXTH OLYMPIC SUMMER GAMES

London 2012

EVEREST ONYEWUCHI REPORTING

July 27 - August 12, 2012

Gumel presents weightlifting medal

Morton

Boxing body sends refs back home, punishes 2 others T he world boxing governing body, International Boxing Association (AIBA), on Thursday in London said it had expelled referee Ishanguly Meretnyyazov from Turkmenistan from the 2012 Olympic Games. “He was expelled with immediate effect and he has been on his way home,” AIBA President Wu Ching-Kuo said in a statement. He also said a second referee, Frank Scharmach of Germany, had been suspended for five days by AIBA, while a technical official from Azerbaijan

was equally sent home. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Meretnyyazov had on Wednesday failed to stop a men’s bantam weight 56 kg bout. This was in spite of the fact that competition number two seed Magomed Abdulhamidov, from Azerbaijan, was knocked down six times in the final round of the fight The Azerbaijani fighter was later declared winner of the fight by 22 to 17 points, to the annoyance of the camp of his Japanese opponent who immediately lodged a protest.

Satoshi Shimizu of Japan, who was trailing by seven points going into the last round against Abdulhamidov, was roundly acknowledged to have won the fight. When the Japanese had first knocked the Azerbaijani down, he had struggled to get up. The Competition Jury, after reviewing the fight on Thursday following Japan’s protest, had subsequently awarded the fight to Shimizu who has now advanced to the quarterfinals. Shimizu’s team had appealed the outcome, with

the Japanese boxer’s team leader Masamori Yamane accusing the referee of trying to support Abdulhamidov by attempting to fix his headgear. After deliberating for over an hour, AIBA had said that under its rules, the referee should have given the Azerbaijani fighter “at least” three standing counts. It said the counts would have resulted in the contest being stopped. AIBA thus overturned the result and gave victory to Shimizu, who had been stunned by the original decision hours earlier.

GB’s Davies may quit swimming

reat Britain’s David Davies has admitted that his illustrious swimming career may well be over after failing to qualify in the 1500m freestyle event here. The Welshman, who was searching for a third Olympic medal after a silver in Beijing and bronze in Athens, finished seventh in his heat in a time

of 15:14.77 minutes. The 27-year-old was disappointed to end in the manner he did but is content with a supremely successful career. “I think that is probably my last race. I would have liked to have gone out on a better note,” he told newsmen. He added, “It’s been a privilege to swim in front of all these amazing fans.

But at the Olympics, you only enjoy it if you get what you want, and I didn’t want that result, obviously. “It’s been a tough year, a tough four years; my body is dealing with all the knocks you get as you get older, swimming in the distance events. But I’m proud that I persevered, I got here,” he said.

Davies

igeria’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, Engr. Habu Gumel, on Wednesday became the first Nigerian member of the international body to present a medal at an Olympics. Gumel presented the medal at the weightlifting event of the ongoing London 2012 Olympic Games inside the ExCeL Sports Complex. The Nigerian IOC member presented the medal to Xiaojun Lu of China, who set his second world record of the event by scoring a total 379 while competing in the Men’s 77kg category. After the ceremony, Gumel told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the

venue that he felt honoured performing the role. He said it was particularly significant since the presentation was made, among others, to an outstanding Chinese athlete, who broke the world record twice in a given competition. “I am sure it was by co-incidence that I was selected for the medal presentation,” he added. A former secretary of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Olabanji Oladapo, who is the Executive Vice President of the African Table Tennis Confederation, hailed the choice of Gumel for the presentation. Oladapo said, “The role he performed was an honour to Nigeria.”

Gumel

Saudi’s first woman bows out in judo

fter days of controversy and hours of negotiation over whether she could compete in an Islamic headscarf, Saudi Arabia’s first female athlete to appear at the Olympic Games bowed out after 80 seconds yesterday. Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani, one of the two Saudi women chosen to compete at the London 2012 Games, wore something akin to a swimming cap to cover her head in her +78kg last-32 judo defeat by Melissa Mojica. Despite the quick end to her Olympic adventure, she hopes her legacy will last for years.

“I’m really happy to be at the Olympics and proud to represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and thank all those who stood with me,” she said. The shy 17-year-old looked ill at ease as she entered the arena in an ill-fitting judogi (a judoka’s white robe) that appeared several sizes too big.

Shaherkani

SPORT

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nestle Milo Basketball Championship is beginning to yield fruits –Muhammad The NSSF President, Mallam Ibrahim Muhammad, has expressed delight with the qualification of Nigeria’s D’Tigers for the ongoing Olympic Games in London. In this interview with ANDREW EKEJIUBA, he chronicles the positive effect the Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship has brought to the country’s basketball development and what fans should expect in the 14th edition of the competition this month. Excerpts:

hat are we expecting to see at this year’s edition of the Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship? What we should expect is that fans would be treated to good basketball action. They should come and see a competition where talents will be discovered and the country will be proud of what they will see at the end of the day. After 14 years of Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship, would you say that the aims and objectives of the competition have been achieved? Of course we can beat our chest and say a lot has been achieved. From what we have seen and what the nation is now displaying, we are proud of the achievement made by this competition. Look at the ongoing Olympics in London, a product of this Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship is the captain of the D’Tigers in the name of Olumide Ayodeji. Even the products of this competition are currently playing for majority of the basketball clubs in the country, so we are on course in the development of the sport in the country. If you take your minds back, Nigeria used to be reckoned as a top basketball playing nation, but it came to a time we slept off as most of our state basketball clubs dissapeared, just as we saw in other sports like boxing, tennis, handball and hockey. These aforementioned sports are almost dying off because most of the schools are not carried along in the development of these sports. Also, the sponsors are not helping matters because they have not been going to the grassroots. Therefore, if the old ones go off and you don’t have the younger ones to replace them, we are into big problem and this is what our competition wants to avoid. Aside Oyedeji, who are the other

Mallam Ibrahim Muhammad (second from right) during the presentation of the female trophy for the 14th Edition of Nestle Milo Secondary School Basketball Championship in Lagos recently. Photo: Bayoor Ewuoso.

products of this competition? As I said earlier, we have many of the products of this competition playing for many basketball clubs in the country. For example, go to the Kano Pillars Basketball Club and you will see lots of the products of Nestle Milo Secondary School Basketball Championship playing for them. To say the least, between 50-70% of the basketball players playing for various clubs in the country are products of this competition and you can see that it is only this competition that is targeted at the grassroots for the younger ones in schools who will replace the ageing ones. What are the major problems militating against basketball development in Nigeria? The problems are not only affecting basketball, but most sporting events. With respect to our National Sports Commission (NSC), the youth’s sports development programme is only agitated verbally. The practical aspect of the development of youth sports are not being pursued seriously as it should be. Go to the schools, you discover that most of the shylocks have taken over the fields where these kids train. Instead these shylocks have erected houses and farms on these playing fields. Also we need more sponsors to come forward and help in the development of sports in the country at the grassroots level. Example, Nestle Milo has done a lot for basketball development in the country and you can see the unquantifiable effort they have made and the amount of financial support they have put forward in seeing that our basketball develops. In NSSF we use sports to motivate a child to achieve an educational goal. For example, moving all these competitions from one state to the other is an excursion for the kids involved and opening the horizon of the children with more knowledge. And at the end of the day the unity of the

BETWEEN

50-70%

OF THE BASKETBALL PLAYERS PLAYING FOR VARIOUS CLUBS IN THE COUNTRY ARE PROD-

UCTS OF THIS COMPETITION AND YOU CAN SEE THAT IT IS ONLY THIS COMPETITION THAT IS TARGETED AT THE GRASSROOTS.

NSSF President, Mallam Ibrahim Muhammad

country is made stronger through sports and discipline is achieved because we don’t compromise when it comes to discipline in Nestle Milo Championship. What awaits the possible participants at this year’s finals? A lot awaits them because our sponsors are ever ready to support the participants as they have been doing before now. I don’t want to say much in this regard, but to call on Nigerians to endeavour to be there in Lagos come August 7-11 during the national finals. Every single year the sponsor of this competition, has always made us happy and they have continued to surprise us continuously in terms of their support for the competition. When Nigeria’s D’Tigers qualified for the men’s basketball event at the London 2012 Olympics, how did you feel? I was very happy and I know that every sports-loving Nigerian was happy for what

we achieved by qualifying against all odds. Look at the D’ Tigers, what are their chances of getting a medal at the ongoing Olympics? There is hope because I can see the determination and zeal which the team put up in their build up for the global showpiece. You can also see that things are changing gradually in Nigeria because people are not ready to tolerate any lackadaisical attitude in sports development. I am happy that democracy has made it so, as the eyes of people are now open to see that the right players are selected to represent the country. Even a sports administrator who fails to do the right thing is often forced to change from their negative ways so that our game can grow. Some Nigerian sports administrators have often been accused of using a fire-brigade approach to prepare athletes for major competitions like the Olympics, do you think it is the right CONTINUED ON PAGE 43

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SPORT

August 4, 2012

Nnaji counts on Chukwumerije for Olympic medal IFEANYI EDUZOR

resident of Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), Jonathan Nnaji, has expressed optimism that Beijing Olympic bronze medalist, Chika Chukwumerije will do the country proud when taekwondo event starts at the Games. He told our correspondent that Chika, who is Team Nigeria’s captain has what it takes to challenge for honours at the Games even as he noted that the training tour of South Korea which the athlete embarked on before the commencement of the Games will be of tremen-

dous help to him in London. “I want to assure Nigerians that Chika Chukwumerije is going to improve on his performance in Beijing. “He is one of the most promising athletes we have and the training tour he embarked in South Korea prior to the championship and the experience he gained over the years will be a very big advantage when he takes the centre stage in London,” Nnaji said. Nnaji, who is also the 1st vice President of Nigeria Olympic Committee, noted that the priority of the Federation is to develop talents at the grassroots just as he promised that the Federation would embark on talent

Hoopers’ coach sure of continental success SAYO OGUNDEJI

Chika Chukwumerije

hunt shortly after the Olympics to enable it prepare athletes for 2016 Brazil Olympics.

Jinkam bemoans state of badminton

Mighty Jick set to storm US N IFEANYI EDUZOR

lobal Wrestling Academy light heavyweight wrestler, Peter Ejike Mbadinuju, popularly known as Mighty Jick will soon storm the United States of America to perfect his art of professional wrestling. According to the wrestler, his plans to travel to the United States is to enable him learn the latest techniques in the sport as well as prepare to challenge for the world title in future. “My aim of going to the United States is to enable me get exposure in the latest techniques

involved in professional wrestling as well as train with the best wrestlers in the world. “I believe that having defeated all my opponents in my weight category especially in the Eastern part of the country, I have to improve on my game to enable me win a world title for the country,” he said. The wrestler who received his basic wrestling lessons from ‘Iron bone’ noted that his speed, stamina, stylish skills and determination will see him through in the US even as he promised to prove to American wrestlers and others from different continents of the world that great wrestlers abound in Nigeria.

Mighty Jick (left) punishing Silent Tiger during a training session.

igeria’s number one male badminton player, Ifraimu Jinkam, has expressed regrets at the state of badminton in the country with an appeal to the National Sports Commission and corporate organizations to take the development of the sport serious. He told our correspondent that lack of sponsorship is affecting the development of the game even as he noted that players inability to attend international competitions has prevented them from accumulating points that will enable them qualify to participate in the Olympic Games. “I am so disappointed with the state of badminton in the country which has affected not only the players, but our ability to participate in international championships,” he said.

fter guiding his side to defend its title last weekend, coach of Royal Hoopers Basketball Club of Port Harcourt, Ogo Odaudu, believes his team’s recent feat on the home scene will propel it to a successful outing on the continent. The current champions defeated their arch rival and former champions, Kano Pillars by 65 -52 points in an epic final to emerge winners of this year’s Dstv Premier Basketball League. Hoopers alongside Kano Pillars will represent Nigeria at the FIBA Zone three African Club Championship holding later in the year. Odaudu who praised his boys for their dedication and doggedness expressed confidence in the team to surpass its past achievement when the continental competition kicks off later in the year. “Retaining the trophy shows we are still a good side irrespective of the challenges we faced during the regular season and beating Kano Pillars to it makes it sweeter. “Our intention as a club is not only to represent the country in the continental competition, but rather make our impact felt by doing everything possible to win it. “We have a crop of players who are experienced and have been together for a long time and I strongly believe that the recent achievement will motivate the players into giving their best in order to also rule the African continent,” Odaudu who led the Port Harcourt-based side to its back-to-back victories said.

‘Nestle Milo Basketball Championship is beginning to yield fruits’ CONTINUED FROM 42 thing to do? It is not the right thing, but situation forces them to do so. For example, if money meant for the development of sports or for a major competition are not released on time from the budget, what do you expect the sports administrator to do? Of course the fire-brigade approach becomes the only way out. Take a look at what happened prior to the commencement of the Olympics in London. Even at the last minute, the entire funds where yet to be fully released. It is so sad and nobody will query that. So, govern-

ment bureaucracy is a major problem in sports development in our country. How do you monitor the progress of the products of the Nestle Milo basketball competition before they hit stardom? We have a technical partner, Col Sam Ahmedu (rtd), who is in charge of that aspect. He is always monitoring the progress of these young lads who pass through our competition. From the maiden edition of this competition till date, Col. Sam will tell you exactly where these products are; talk less of we, the teachers that are always with the child. During and after competition, our prod-

ucts are highly monitored in such a way that we guide them effectively in achieving their academic dream and sporting career in basketball. In our competition, there is nothing like cheating because we try as much as we can to see that those featured in our competition are truly students. You can see if we fail to do this, the children will imbibe the culture of cheating which at the end will be a dangerous legacy. That’s why we must screen and offload any cheat from our competition. If NSC, NFF and other sporting bodies should rally round NSSF you will see that the issue of using over-aged players in youth

competitions in Nigeria will be a thing of the past. So, I want to use this medium to call on the federal government to support school sports, so that our sports development policies would see the light of day. Finally, what’s your candid advice to our sports administrators towards having a good basketball development culture in the country? My advice here is simple, and I want to appeal to them to shun anything that has to do with monetary incentive, instead they should look towards the future and rally around the budding talent and support him to stardom.

LEISURE

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Hernia W

quickly by tenderness and sometimes symptoms of bowel obstruction (nausea and vomiting).  The affected person may appear ill with or without fever.  This condition is a surgical emergency.

hat is a hernia?

A hernia occurs when an organ or fatty tissue squeezes through a weak spot in a surrounding muscle or connective tissue called fascia. The most common types are inguinal (inner groin), incisional (resulting from an incision), femoral (outer groin), umbilical (belly button), and hiatal (upper stomach). In an inguinal hernia, the intestine or the bladder protrudes through the abdominal wall or into the inguinal canal in the groin. About 80% of all hernias are inguinal, and most occur in men because of a natural weakness in this area. In an incisional hernia, the intestine pushes through the abdominal wall at the site of previous abdominal surgery. This type is most common in elderly or overweight people who are inactive after abdominal surgery. A femoral hernia occurs when the intestine enters the canal carrying the femoral artery into the upper thigh. Femoral hernias are most common in women, especially those who are pregnant or obese. In an umbilical hernia, part of the small intestine passes through the abdominal wall near the navel. Common in newborns, it also commonly afflicts obese women or those who have had many children. A hiatal hernia happens when the upper stomach squeezes through the hiatus, an opening in the diaphragm through which the oesophagus passes.

What Causes Hernias? Ultimately, all hernias are caused by a combination of pressure and an opening or weakness of muscle or fascia; the pressure pushes an organ or tissue through the opening or weak spot. Sometimes the muscle weakness is present at birth; more often, it occurs later in life. Poor nutrition, smoking, and overexertion all can weaken muscles and make hernias

When to Seek Medical Care

more likely. Any condition that increases the pressure of the abdominal cavity may contribute to the formation or worsening of a hernia. Examples include  obesity,  heavy lifting,  coughing,  straining during a bowel movement or urination,(diarrhoea or constipation)  chronic lung disease  fluid in the abdominal cavity. A family history of hernias can make you more likely to develop a hernia.

Hernia Symptoms and Signs The signs and symptoms of a hernia can range from noticing a painless lump to the severely painful, tender, swollen protrusion of tissue that you are unable to push back into the abdomen.

Reducible hernia  It may appear as a new lump in the groin or other abdominal area.  It may ache but is not tender when touched.  Sometimes pain precedes the discovery of the lump.

 The lump increases in size when standing or when abdominal pressure is increased (such as coughing).  It may be reduced (pushed back into the abdomen) unless very large.

Irreducible hernia  It may be an occasionally painful enlargement of a previously reducible hernia that cannot be returned into the abdominal cavity on its own or when you push it.  Some may be chronic (occur over a long term) without pain.  An irreducible hernia is also known as an incarcerated hernia.  It can lead to strangulation (blood supply being cut off to tissue in the hernia).  Signs and symptoms of bowel obstruction may occur, such as nausea and vomiting.

Strangulated hernia  This is an irreducible hernia in which the entrapped intestine has its blood supply cut off.  Pain is always present, followed

All newly discovered hernias or symptoms that suggest you might have a hernia should prompt a visit to the doctor. Hernias, even those that ache, if they are not tender and easy to reduce (push back into the abdomen), are not necessarily surgical emergencies, but all have the potential to become serious. Referral to a surgeon should generally be made so that the need for surgery can be established and the procedure can be performed as an elective surgery and avoid the risk of emergency surgery should your hernia become irreducible or strangulated. If you find a new, painful, tender, and irreducible lump, it’s possible you may have an irreducible hernia, and you should have it checked in an emergency setting. If you already have a hernia and it suddenly becomes painful, tender, and irreducible, you should also go to the emergency department. Strangulation (cut off blood supply) of intestine within the hernia sac can lead to gangrenous (dead) bowel in as little as six hours. Not all irreducible hernias are strangulated, but they need to be evaluated.

Hernia Treatment Self-Care at Home In general, all hernias should be repaired unless severe pre-existing medical conditions make surgery unsafe. The possible exception to this is a hernia with a large opening. Avoid activities that increase intra-abdominal pressure (lifting, coughing, or straining) that may cause the hernia to increase in size. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

LETTER

How effective is HIV treatment drugs? Dear Doctor, Please doctor, I and my wife are victims of HIV. And we were asked to take some medications. These we have used for eight months, but our tests are positive after treatment. Is HIV a silent killer? I am worried. Thanks. Sam---------------------------Nassarawa State

Mirror doctor replies, Although there is no cure for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), medications have been highly effective in fighting HIV and its complications. Drug treatments are designed to help reduce the HIV virus in your body, keep your immune system as healthy as possible and decrease the complications you may develop. You and your doctor will work to-

gether to develop a treatment plan that best meets your needs. Three main factors will be considered when designing your treatment plan. These are; your willingness and readiness to begin therapy, the stage of your disease and other health problems. It’s important that you take your medications exactly as prescribed. This is a crucial part of your treatment success. Most medications have side effects,

which your doctor will discuss with you. Individuals respond differently to medications and side effects may vary. At this point, it is important you know that the medications will help reduce the virus in your body if you use them as prescribed. Don’t be so anxious that your test results are still positive. You need to develop a positive attitude to accepting the fact that you are positive and can live healthy life. Ensure you are registered with an approved health facility that caters for patients that are positive. This is for effective monitoring and management. The drugs are free.

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘Cattle business is lucrative’ FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON

attle business, no doubt, is a big business employing a large number of people across the nation, especially in the Sahel Savannah areas of the North where it is common to see entire families or communities earning their livelihood from cattle rearing. When you talk about cattle business in Nigeria, which is mostly nomadic, you think of the nomadic Fulani who traverses the entire length and breadth of the nation with their cattle in search of favourable climatic conditions for the cattle to prevent running the business at a loss. However today, a few non-Fulanis have picked interest in the business and are also making a livelihood from it. Emeka Njoku, a business administration graduate from the Lagos State University is one of such few non-Fulanis, who are into the business of cattle rearing. While speaking with Saturday Mirror, Anambra-born Emeka, who plies between Lagos and the Cattle Market in Maiduguri, said although cattle rearing is not an easy business, it is lucrative all the same. Emeka noted that he got into the cattle business through a friend of his who is from Adamawa State and had been doing the business for long. “Another thing that prompted my interest was during my service year as a youth corper in Adamawa State where I served some twelve years ago. My friend’s grandfather was a cattle rearer and because of my closeness to my friend, I came to see the lucrativeness of that business, and that got me interested in it,” noted Emeka. According to Emeka, he started his own cattle business about seven years ago and the business has helped in putting food on his table and in taking care of his needs. On the problems he encounters in the business, Emeka said the major problem is the issue of space to keep the cattle. “Space is one of the major challenges of the business. You need to have a spacious place

to keep the cows and in most cases the space must be close to a big field where the cattle can go to graze.” He added: “Before now, the task force used to collect exorbitant amounts from us at the border when we were coming into Lagos State but we thank God that all that is over now. You can now come into Lagos freely without being expected to make unnecessary payments; you just offload your cattle” Emeka, who said he has some fulltime employees, said the price of a cow depends on its size. We have the medium-sized, which goes for between N90, 000 and N100, 000; and we have the bigger ones that sell for between N150, 000 and N200,000. On feeding, he said every herdsman is happy during the rainy season because during the rainy season, “we don’t have much problem on their feeding because they feed on fresh grass but in the dry season, we buy feed for them.” A bag of the feed, he said, goes for between N2, 500 and N4, 000. “For instance, if you have five cows, you will need about 10 big bags of feed per week to feed them but during the rainy season, you don’t have to spend so much in feeding them,” stated Emeka. Emeka further noted that cattle business is quite capital intensive and time demanding but he quickly adds that it is also a very lucrative business. “The business involves so much capital and a whole lot of time, especially when you have young cows to care for, it could be very time consuming. However, you can engage the services of

I STARTED THE BUSINESS WITH ABOUT

N500, 000

ROUGHLY SEVEN YEARS AGO AND TODAY

I CAN TELL

YOU THAT THE BUSINESS IS WORTH SEVERAL MILLION some staffs and it is always better to employ those who know about the business rather than to start tutoring a novice on how to go about it from the scratch. “I started the business with about N500, 000 roughly seven years ago and today I can tell you that the business is worth several millions, and I am able to pay my bills and do what a man should do conveniently. The returns may not come immediately but with time, the business becomes stable and your patience will be worth the effort at the end of the day.” Emeka said he could not put a figure to his yearly turnover as it varies because it depends on demand. “Yearly turnover depends on how many cows one is able to sell. For instance, if you bring five cows, you can make up to about N700,000 to N800,000 yearly. In a month, you can get about N50,000 to N60,000 after all the expenses.

Njoku

So at the end of the month, you can settle your workers and whatever remains will be yours,” he stated. Concerning particular challenges faced by the business, Emeka says, “before now, you did not always need to go to the market all the time yourself, you could send money to your contact and your goods would be sent to you but the cashless policy has incapacitated the business in many ways than one as you could barely withdraw a substantial amount at once like we used to. Again, the several incidences of Boko Haram striking here and there in the North have really been a challenge especially for those of us here in the South. Travelling down to get cattle and other things are really being affected because of the crisis. We are only hoping that things will change soon.”

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Making money from sachet/bottled water production found to be gradually taking over sachet type of packaging.

Demand is assured Apart from the fact that there is an existing market for bottled water, well purified and packaged water is exportable to Europe, Far-East, some African countries and America. Details of the companies, countries, prices and standard required will be given to prospective investors on request. Presently, a plastic bottling can for pure water production is taking over. This is found to be more lucrative too. This is because not every type of investor can invest on it like ordinary nylon/ cellophane packaging of water.

Sachet water

ntroduction When one looks at many packaged water brands in the market and companies behind them, one would conclude that the business is saturated. One would also conclude that the business does not generate much income or profits. However, from the research conducted by the writer and other teams of the consulting group, you are authoritatively informed that this business is still very lucrative. In fact, more and more serious rich investors are still needed in the industry. The success in this business today depends wholly on how professional the project is packaged and managed. Many people, who can not apply the required professionalism required, have dropped along the line giving way to those who have the required capital backed up with professionalism. The project is no longer a child’s play. Capital requirement The product is so diverse that no amount of capital is considered too small or too big for the project. If you have so much money, you will also have more sophisticated areas to innovate and become the leader if you can. If you are not rich, you may have to operate in the sachet water packaging scale. The demand for pure water has grown very high. It is now a household consumable product. Therefore if you want to invest in this area do not be discouraged but be professional. The writer will guide prospective investors this year 2012 in setting up this project from feasibility studies, site planning, procurement and installation of machines, development of marketing strategies

and recruitment of experienced manpower to manage the project for profit. The need for clean water The need for good quality drinking water packaged under very stringent hygienic condition cannot be over-emphasized. When one considers the costly effect of water-borne diseases like crawcraw, worm infections, water blindness, dysentery, diarrhea, typhoid fever, cholera to mention but a few, it becomes paramount to go for clean (pure) water. Without adequate clean water, one suffers dehydration and eventual death. Water provides the medium in which all biochemical reactions take place. Water also plays a major role in the “evolution of biological systems”. Almost 80% of all hospitals in Nigeria today lack good potable water. Hence the need to remove the entire undesirable elements and pathogens it may contain through treatment. Pure potable water is very essential for healthy living. It has no substitute. Simple production processes From the above, investment into innovative purification and packaging of colorless, odorless and tasteless, drinking water seems a very lucrative business. Already there is rampant and most popular way of packaging water in cellophane sachets usually called pure water” and sold for N10. Though this aspect of packaging water is simpler, cheaper and enhances easy entry and exit, and higher turnover because of the cheapness of the products, it has been observed that this has been abused by a lot of people. A more organized means of production of pure water has been

Production plant The plant can be set up at any part of the country. The plant consists of a water treatment plant made up of seal sedimentation, tank, filters, suction pump, alpha chambers, pressure gauge and stainless tank and tama flow 700, an industrial purification system. This machine incorporates from consecutive operations-pre-filters, activated carbon, polisher and ultra violet sterilizer. It also has v/v designed for 30-3 L/ min maximum flow rate, 60 PSIG Max pressure, 220 V/50 Hz voltage, 254-barometer wavelength lamp and 99% bacteria elimination rate. The plant can produce 30 liters of well-purified water per minute. This implies that it can purify about 14,400 liters of water per shift of eight hours. There must be water purity testing machine to make sure that the water is germ free. Finally corking machine is needed. Raw materials required The raw materials for this project are water, plastic cans and water treatment chemicals such as Ozone, etc. All these are locally available in plastic-making companies in Nigeria. The chemicals are also available in Nigeria. The water could be obtained regularly either from borehole or natural spring water. Financial Projection Preliminary Expenses Plant & Machinery Accommodation Motor Vehicle Operational Expenses Contingencies Total

Bottled water

Production techniques Production techniques are very easy. It involves rust removal, filtration to produce clear, colorless, tasteless drinking water. The chemicals are added to clear any bacteria and germ free from the water. The water is then filled in the bottle, corked and is ready for sale. General requirements/Financial projections Studies carried out indicated that a prospective investor must have a decent building walled and painted with very clean environment, if he must obtain the NAFDAC approval to be in business. From studies also carried out, the project requires the sum of N3.6 million to set up sachet water producing and N9.6 million for automated bottling/ sacheting plant (The cost breakdown is shown below). The gross profit margin for the project is worked out as N9.7 million in the first year and N14.27 million in the fifth year. Projected operating costs for the first year is N1.140 million and N1.519 million in the 5th year. When the operating costs are deducted, the investor would be recording N6.096 million in the first year and N9.030 million in the fifth year as net profits. It is a very lucrative business.

Small scale industry water sachets (pure water) (N’000) 250 1,300 550 3,000 1,500 250 6,850

The new dimension of water bottling with 20-liter dispensers and bottle racks

Bottled Table Water (N’000) 500 15,000 1,550 5,500 2,000 500 N25, 050

is also very lucrative and can be incorporated into this project plan.

Courtesy: Uba Godwin, 08034494437, E-mail: ubagodwin@yahoo.com

People

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON

Monday Ubani:

A cheerful giver TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

pparently taking strength from the saying, “there is ability in every disability”, Miss Bunmi Dada, a visually impaired woman in her mid 30s picked music as a career from her childhood and now she has become a force to reckon with. Music to Bunmi is an avenue to appreciate the work of God and that is why she is emotional whenever she is ministering with her songs. Since Bunmi discovered her singing talent while in the primary school, she has used her voice to minister to many people. And hardly can anyone listen to her without marvelling at the work of God. In deed many people do get emotional and feel the presence of God whenever Bunmi is rendering prises to the Most High with her sonorous voice. Bunmi, was born in Lagos to Mr and Mrs Dada as first of five children. She began her musical journey right from childhood in the Christ Apostolic Church Children Choir where she was first given the opportunity to perform a rendition titled, “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.” Her physical challenge notwith-

gainst the backdrop of a very humble background, Monday Ubani made a decision even as a child that he wanted to be a voice for the voiceless and be a helper of the helpless through the legal profession. Looking back today, about four decades after, he is thanking God for the many lives he has positively impacted on. “I come from a very poor family and I wanted to be a very important person in the society. I wanted to be a voice for the voiceless and to help the less privileged because I know what it means to grow up without the basic things of life and I wanted a career that could give me the platform to do all these and that is why I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer,” he recalled. Today, Ubani is not only a lawyer but one of repute. After 23years of being at the bar, Ubani became the chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association NBA (Ikeja chapter), some few months back. Indeed, his is a dream come true as he has used his career as a platform to assist the less privileged thus restoring smiles on the once gloomy faces. One of such occasions was at the site of the Dana plane crash. Some days after the gory incident, Ubani came in the company of the parliamentarian group, a radio programme, anchored by Moyo

Oyatogun, which deals with the ills of the society and which he (Ubani) actively participates in, to donate N1 million to the families of the displaced victims. Ubani at the site explained his motive: “I grew up not having many needed things and I know what it means to live in poverty and because I told God to help me actualise my dream of being a voice for the voiceless and helping the needy and less privileged, I always feel good doing that for others: it is for me a dream come true.” Thinking back in retrospect on how he was able to see himself through the university despite his humble background, Ubani said: “Everything in life is about determination. If you make up your mind on something and you are focused and prayerful, you will definitely achieve your goal in life no matter how tough the terrain is. I know I am from a poor family and Law is an expensive course and so I made up my mind that whether expensive or not, I was going to be a lawyer. I didn’t buy all the books because the money was not there. I also arranged myself as to feeding. I ate once or twice a day so as to save money for other things; so it is about arranging your life knowing where you are coming from and where you are going. Today looking back to those years I can only be grateful to God for taking me this far in life”.

Bunmi Dada: Singing to conquer disability standing, Bunmi never gave up in her quest for knowledge. She attended Notredame Girls’ Secondary School, Oro, Kwara State and it was there that she developed her talent in music. She joined the school’s choir and took part in several musical concerts. After this, she proceeded to the Federal College of Education (Special) Oyo, in Oyo State where she studied Theatre Arts. Despite being visually impaired, she was very active at the department as she took active part in many activities. She featured in stage performances like: ‘The Dark Tunnel,’ where she acted as an Immigration Officer, ‘Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels,’ where she acted as one of the villagers; to mention but a few. Bunmi is not only a singer and an actor but also a song writer. She writes all her songs. She was also a member of the Federal College of Education (Spe-

cial) chapter of the Redeemed Campus Fellowship Choir, and she performed both on and outside the campus. In 2010, she wrote a song for “Nigeria at 50” titled “God Bless Nigeria”, which she performed at an Independence party organised by a multinational company in Lagos. As a singer, her music inspires all who listens to it and has changed a great number of lives. As a song writer, she draws inspiration from all her experiences in life and the challenges she had encountered and conquered. Bunmi released her first album: ‘Damilare’ in 2005 and she is about to release her next album titled: ‘Alive’ The album is featuring three artists: Bata Gospel singer, Bisi Adunbarin in ‘Mo lolorun, Cobhams and Joan in ‘Alive and Tolucci in ‘Alabar. Despite her physical challenge, Bunmi believes that with God on her side, she has no limit.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

REGIONAL NEWS

August 4, 2012

Edo guber: PDP drags Oshiomhole before tribunal SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN

Furore over arrest of Bayelsa ex-PDP youth leader EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

ontroversy is trailing the arrest of a former youth leader of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Bayelsa State, Suobere Appah , by operatives of the Joint Military Taskforce (JTF) in Yenagoa. Appah and two other persons were arrested last Monday in Yenagoa by security agents over their alleged involvement in a failed bank robbery in the state capital. But counsel to and loyalists of the erstwhile PDP youth leader said his arrest was a frame-up instigated, by the state government to dent his image.

BENIN CITY

he People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has filed a petition on the Saturday, July 14, 2012 governorship election in Edo State, exactly three days to the 21-day deadline for filing petitions, Saturday Mirror reliably learnt on Friday. A notice of the petition was pasted on the board of Court 1 of the High Court of Justice Complex on Benin— Sapele Road on Friday, acknowledged by the Secretary of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal for Edo State, Mrs. J. J. Aliyu. The petition confirms our report last week that PDP was preparing a petition on the election mostly based on an alleged non-qualification of Oshiomhole concerning filing presentation of a Modern School certificate. Confirming the submission of the petition, Chairman of Edo State PDP, Chief Dan OsiOrbih said, “I can confirm to

you that as I am talking to you now, if you go to the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal for Edo State, especially the desk of the secretary of the tribunal, you will find that the tribunal has received the petition. Our candidate submitted the petition to the tribunal yesterday (Thursday).” Also, in a conversation on his mobile telephone,

Governor Adams AliyuOshiomhole’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Osarodion Ogie, admitted that the governor was already aware of the submission of a petition by the PDP. He said the governor was ready, however, to confront Major-General Charles Airhiavbere (retired), the PDP candidate in the election at the tribunal. Saturday Mirror reli-

ably gathered that the PDP was also raising a constitutional issue on the acceptable educational qualification that a citizen must possess to contest an election into the office of a state governor. Based on this finding, it was learnt that the party has filed another matter for determination at the Federal Court of Appeal in Benin City.

According to the result of the 2012 Edo State Governorship Election that was declared by INEC, ACN scored 477, 478 votes; the PDP 144, 235 votes; the ANPP 3, 642 votes; the CPC 2, 793 votes; the SDMP 807 votes; the LP 604 votes and the NCP 504 votes of the total cast votes of 647, 698. Oshiomhole won in the 18 local councils in the state.

Police arrest suspected female kidnapper, others in Bayelsa EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

24-year-old lady, Destiny Quickpenny, was among the four suspected kidnappers arrested last Thursday by the Police authorities at Akenfa, Bayelsa State. The suspects, Bunnie Prominent, Abuo Wa j i n ko r o, B u n n i e Professor and Destiny Quickpenny, allegedly kidnapped a commercial motorcycle operator, Moses Onuh, 23, at his residence at Azikoro village

at about 7pm. Commissioner of Police, Kingsley Omiri, disclosed this to journalists yesterday in Yenagoa, saying the suspects were heading out of the state with their victim before the Police authorities got a tip-off of the incident. Omiri further said his men swung into action immediately by blocking major exit routes and conducting stop and search exercise in the city. According to the Police boss, they received information on the iden-

tity of one of the suspected kidnappers and headed to his residence where his sister was arrested. It was gathered that the arrest of the suspected kidnapper’s sister got to him, while they were on transit with their victim before they finally surrendered themselves to the Police at Akenfa Police Station where they were apprehended. In an interview with Saturday Mirror, the victim, Moses Onuh, said he could identity one of the female kidnappers

because he had conveyed her on his motorcycle in the past. Onuh said he was dragged from his home and beaten up by the kidnappers before he was forced into a waiting car. The commercial motorcyclist said his neighbours alerted the Police immediately he was whisked off by his abductors. In another development, suspected kidnappers last Thursday at Akenfa killed a staff of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Sunday Udoh, while driving.

Court nullifies elections of 8 councilors in Ogun Group pushes for ex-OSOPADEC boss as ACN dep gov candidate TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE

head of the forthcoming October 20, 2012 governorship election in Ondo State, Ilaje indigenes in Lagos have called on Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leaders to pick former chairman of Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC), Chief Adewale Omojuwa, as the party’s deputy governorship candidate in the election. The Ilaje Indigenes, who spoke on the aegis of Ilaje Democratic Coalition (IDECO), in a statement jointly signed by its leaders, Prince Omowole Jide, Omoboye Ade and Ajimosun Kajola, advised the leadership of ACN to pick Omojuwa as running mate to the party governorship candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu.

FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

n Ogun State High Court sitting in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government yesterday nullified the electoral victory of the eight newly elected councilors who were candidates of the Caretaker Committee of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. Delivering judgement in a suit brought before it by the Bayo Dayo-led faction of the PDP in the state, Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu annulled the July 21, 2012, local government election, which brought the eight councilors into office. It was learnt that four councilors from Ipokia, one each from Ikenne, Odogbolu, Ijebu North and Remo were disqualified by the judgement. Dipeolu, however, ordered the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission to accept the candidates on the list of the Dayo-led State Executive of the PDP as the duly elected flag bearers of the

party in the recently conducted council poll. The judge gave her ruling on the premise that the list of PDP’s candidate who contested the election was that of the contemnors rather than that of the Bayo Dayo-led faction, which she said was “the only recognized state

exco of the Ogun PDP. “The list of candidates for the election into the local government councils in Ogun State submitted to the 11th Contemnor (OGSIEC) by any officers, organs, members of the first defendant (PDP) other than the applicants is hereby nullified as the

applicants are presently the only authentic excos in Ogun State until their terms of office expire”. The court, however, dismissed the prayer of the Dayo faction, which again sought to commit to prison, members of the Caretaker Committee put in place by the National

Headquarters of PDP in Abuja for Ogun PDP. The three members of the caretaker committee are Ireti Oniyide, Tunde Oladunjoye and Fasiu Bakenne, who had earlier been sentenced to prison for contempt of court by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.

L-R: First daughter of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Rev. Tola Oyediran; Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and his wife, Sherifat, during a visit of the Awolowo family to Governor Aregbesola in Osogbo, Osun State, yesterday.

REGIONAL NEWS

August 4, 2012

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Military ready to defend Nigeria’s internal security – Army boss PRISCILLA DENNIS

Benue Gov’s wife lauds cultural troupe HENRY IYORKASE MAKURDI

ife of Benue State Governor, Doorshima Yemisi Suswam, has commended the state’s cultural dance troupe for bringing glory to the state and the country at large. The state’s Swange Dance Troupe recently came 2nd over all best in the Sabah International Folklore Festival held in the state of Sabah, KotaKinabalu, Malayasia, recently. Presenting the 2nd best award winning contingents at the government house banquet hall yesterday in Makurdi, the governor’s wife, who herself led the troupe to the competition, said the Benue State Arts Council troupe were automatically chosen by the Minister for Culture and Tourism to represent Nigeria based on their excellent previous performances.

Adamawa releases N30m counterpart fund to NGO

he Adamawa Government has paid N30 million as counterpart fund to the Sasakawa Global 2000 agriculture-assisted programme in the state, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Lucy Ishaku, has said. Ishaku told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday that the payment was due to the remarkable performance of the programme last year. “A counterpart funding of N30 million was paid to Sasakawa Global 2000 last year following its remarkable performance. And the state government is ready to pay another counterpart funding this year,” Ishaku said.

MINNA

he General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Garba O. Wahab, has said the army as well as other security operatives, including the Police is prepared to defend the territorial integrity of the country to ensure security of lives and properties of the citizens. Wahab said this while on a courtesy visit on Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu in Minna, yesterday. Gen Wahab, who acknowledge that army’s participation in suppressing security uprisings occasioned by the activities of the dreaded Islamic fundamental group, Boko Haram, and other counterterrorism intrusions, had over-stretched the armed forces, maintaining that the service is equal to the challenges orchestrated by the sect. In the words of Gen. Wahab, “We are stretched, like any other country that is involved in internal security operation or counter terrorism, we are over stretched but that is

not to say we cannot perform and we are still performing our job to ensure adequate security of lives and property.’’ While fielding questions from reporters, he expressed the preparedness of the army to sub-

due violence in any part of the nation. He then appealed for understanding of the general public for the involvement of the army in internal security operations, while assuring the civil society that his officers

and men had been trained to carry out their operations in accordance with the rules of engagement and global best practices. Responding, Governor Mu’Azu, who thanked the army boss for the visit, commended the army

units in the state for keeping the peace in the Power State. The governor singled out the Commander of 31 Artillery Brigade and Army Training and Doctrine (TRADOC) headquarters located in the state.

Court strikes out IGP’s forgery case against Rep ADEMU IDAKWO LOKOJA

Lokoja High Court yesterday dismissed a case instituted against a Member of House of Representatives, Honourable Sumaila Ina Husseini, representing Igalamela/ Odolu, Ofu, Ibaji and Idah constituency of Kogi State. The Inspector General of Police had brought a case against Husseini, of three count charges of forgery, impersonation,

and desertion of duty post as a public officer in an agreement with others to cause harm or injury against the law maker while in the Nigerian Navy before the court in Lokoja. The trial Judge, Justice Husseini, S.T, while delivering the judgement, said the prosecution failed to prove the ingredient of all the offences alleged. The judge, who discharged and acquitted the lawmaker, told the prosecution that the court could not rely on

hear say but a genuine proof as well as evidenc, and dismissed the case. The lawmaker’s ordeal was instigated by a petition written by one of the aspirants that he defeated in the People’s Democratic Party, PDP Primaries in the build up to the National Assembly election in 2011 in the area. Honourable Sumaila Husseini, who spoke to journalists immediately after the judgement, said he had been vindicated by the judgment of

the court. He therefore called on the aggrieved to drop his sword and join hands with him for the overall development of the area. “Politics must not be done in this way; let us stop running ourselves down because there is no gain it,” he stated. Equally speaking, the counsel to the victorious law maker, Barrister Emeje Aruwa, said the judgement had been served and everything that brought the case up had been laid to rest.

Eviction order: Plateau communities alert of increasing danger JAMES ABRAHAM JOS

espite ongoing military operations in some communities in Platueau

State in the wake of the killing of two lawmakers recently, inhabitants of the affected communities have cried out saying theyr are still in fear for their lives. There has been tension in Karku-

ruk, Kuzen, Song one and two in Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas of the state after the ignobl;e attack on the law makers. Riyom council Chairmen, Hon. Sam Gyang

Audu expressed this fear yesterday when Governor Jonah Jang led a delegation of security chiefs in the state to greet and sympathize with the people over the recent happenings in the area.

Borno awards N457m irrigation contract INUSA NDAHI MAIDUGURI

n its efforts to address youth unemployment and enhance wealth creation in the state, the Borno State Government has awarded a N457 million contract for the development of six irrigation centres across the three senatorial zones of the state. Signing the contract on behalf of the state government at the conference hall of Water House in Maiduguri, the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Baba Bashir Garbai, said the project was meant to create jobs for the teeming youths in the state as well as enhancing wealth creation and provide quality food for the people of the state. Garbai said that the ministry had constituted a monitoring team to ensure that apart from completing the project

Adamawa State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Lucy Ishaku (right), presenting post-harvest and agro-processing machines to a representative of Adamawa Farmers Service Providers, Mr. Etan Buki, in Yola, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

according to specifications, it would also ensure sustainability of the irrigation project. The commissioner stated that the ministry also needs the collaboration of the state Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource

as well as the state Agricultural Transformation Team for its success. The commissioner said the N457 million contract is going to be funded through the Subsidy Reimbursement Fund, adding that the government

of Kashim Shettima has accorded priority to job creation trough agricultural transformation. Also speaking at the occasion, Chairman of the state’s Agricultural Transformation Team, Engr. Ibrahim Ali, said

that the idea of the irrigation scheme was to transform the mundane method of farming to modern and effective irrigation system, stressing that 80 per cent of Borno population are farmers.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

REGIONAL NEWS

August 4, 2012

Toxic waste: Lawmakers storm Kaduna refinery Katsina distributes food, allowances to Almajiri schools

he Katsina State Government has distributed food items, cooking pots, buckets and allowances to 10 Almajiri Quranic schools in Katsina Central Senatorial District as part of efforts to eradicate street begging. Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Almajiri Affairs, Alhaji Lawal Gambarawa, disclosed this on Friday while distributing the items to one of the schools in Yan’daki Village in Kaita Local Government Area. He said that the food items, which included bags of millets, maize, sorghum, beans and sugar, would be provided monthly to assist them in feeding their pupils.

A ZA MSUE KADUNA

he Kaduna State House of Assembly Committee on Environment and Natural Resources has visited the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) Limited on a fact-finding mission on the toxic waste allegedly dumped in the Rido community of Kaduna metropolis by the company. The media was awash recently with reports that waste suspected to be toxic dumped by the KRPC had caused the death of three persons and thousands of chicken in Rido community. Though the house committee has not filed its final report, it said lack of proper information and communication between the KRPC and the community might be responsible for the wide belief that the waste was toxic in nature.

Chairman of the committee, Mallam Haruna Inuwa, said from what the committee has seen, it hoped that by the time the waste was finally analyzed by experts it might turn out not to be toxic as people were made to believe. Mallam Inuwa com-

mended the KRPC for various support projects like primary schools blocks, clinic, borehole, toilets built for the community, stressing that the company should not be discouraged from providing such social amenities for the people as there was still more to be done for the entire host

community. According to him, “We can’t say it is toxic because we have not seen the analysis yet, so we cannot draw a conclusion on it. We are going to put our information together and report back to the House, it is the House itself that will take the final decision, not the

committee. We came to investigate and report back to the House, so we will report back to the whole House. We will only make recommendation to the House, and it will be left for the House to either reject or adopt our recommendations. So the final say is with the House.”

Kano police clamp down on suspected robbers AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

etermined to rid Kano State of criminals, especially armed robbers, and improve the general security in the state to enhance peace and stability, the Kano State Police Command has designed a number of security measures to achieve results in that direction. The command’s special squad and intelligent unit reconstituted by the state Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has

in the last three weeks arrested no fewer than 200 criminals most of them suspected armed robbers and on whose possessions assorted dangerous weapons were recovered. Saturday Mirror’s investigations revealed that the security teams have also mapped out black spots in the commercial state and have been carrying out constant raids in the areas, including Brigade, Rigiya Lemu, Rigiya Zaki, Hotoro, Zango, Dakata and other known flash points suspected to be harbouring criminals. Statistics from the Po-

lice Command made available to Saturday Mirror show that no fewer than 200 criminals had been rounded up by the Command and interrogated by the State Criminal Investigation Department for offenses ranging from armed robbery, theft, unlawful possession of firearms, criminal conspiracy, house breaking and cheating, culpable homicide and rape. From the records, which covered the months of June and July, most of the suspects were arrested in connection with armed robbery

and sexual abuse of minors with no fewer than 20 rape cases involving mostly girls from 3 to 14 years. The Commissioner of Police lamented the increasing rate of sexual assault in Kano involving teenagers. He said for instance, “One Shehu of Gama quarters, a teacher lured one of his pupils, 14 years old and sexually assaulted her, another case was that of Mohammed and Musa who gangraped a 14 year old girl at Gwamaja quarters who is now carrying a 3 months pregnancy.”

Imo to complete 27 modern hospitals next year Orji lauds Ahaoma Kanu, CNN African journalist winner GEORGE OPARA ABIA

overnor Theodore Orji of Abia State has congratulated Ahaoma Kanu an Assistant Editor with National Daily Newspapers, for emerging the CNN African Journalist of the Year, 2012 in far away in Zambia, and plans a state recognition for his feat. In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary, Ugochukwu Emezue, the governor said he was overwhelmed with joy with this latest feat by an Abian who hails from Oboro Ikwuano LGA. According to him, “This wonderful performance of Ahaoma Kanu has again proved that Abia has potentials that can rule the world, if given the opportunity.”

CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

mo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, yesterday in Owerri pledged to complete the 27 modern General Hospitals before the second quarter of next year. Okorocha, who made the pledge during inspec-

tion of the hospitals in Mbaitoli Local Government Headquarters, Nwaorieubi, disclosed that the project had reached advanced stage. He said that the priority and determination of his administration was to provide adequate healthcare delivery to improve the standard of living and

ensure a healthy population required for economic growth of the state. He assured Imo people that government would continue to pay attention to critical sectors in the state to ensure that Imo State becomes the industrial hub and health destination for the people in Nigeria and beyond,

adding that his administration, in line with its rescue mission, is determined to offer first-class medical facilities to the people as obtained in other developed nations. Okorocha also disclosed that some groups In the Diaspora had pledged to support his administration by build-

ing some hospitals in the state following his recent visit to the United States of America. He called on Imo people to continue to support the policies and programmes of his administration to improve the welfare and infrastructural development of the state.

L-R: Anambra State Governor Peter Obi; Chairman Nigerian Union of Teachers, Anambra State chapter, Comrade Ifeanyi Offordile and National Chairman, Comrade Michael Olukoya, during the governor’s donation of N1 million to the state’s NUT building project in Awka, recently.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Crime Watch

P. 53

Suspect alleges brutality, sues Police for N500m

BRIEFS

Man, 23, jailed for defiling 5-year-old girl

Crime Watch

Crime of love: Woman couriers drug for ‘Mr Right’ Susan Eneanya is 38 years old and desperate for marriage. She eventually found a man who promised to marry her but on one condition: the money for the wedding ceremony must be ready. For this, she decided to help. Now, Eneanya is in the custody of NDLEA. Why?

SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN BENIN CITY

n Ikpoba Okha Area Customary Court sitting at Idogbo, Edo State on Tuesday sentenced a 23-year-old grinding machine operator, David Monday, to three years in imprisonment for defiling a five-year-old girl. The prosecutor, Inspector Victor Ehiorobo, said that Monday had on 21 July, 2012 at 28 Ekogiawe Street off Jesus Christ Road, Off Upper Sokponba Road in Benin City, had an unlawful carnal knowledge of the girl, an offence punishable under Section 218 of the Criminal Code Cap 48, Vol. II Laws of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria of 1976 as applicable in Edo State. The prosecutor also informed the court that Monday was arrested after the act. According to the prosecutor, Monday after his arrest made a confessional statement that was attested to by a superior police officer, while the victim was taken to the Police Medical Centre, G.R.A., Benin City for examination and treatment. While pleading for the court’s leniency, the convict whose shop is at 3rd East Circular Road Market, Benin City told the court that he committed the act under the influence of the devil. The President of the court, Mrs. Esther Eweka, said that Monday did not merit the mercy of her court and subsequently sentenced him to a three-year-jail term with hard labour and without the option of fine.

Monday

Eneanya

SEGUN ADIO

edding bells for Susan Eneanya were meant to ring before the end of the year. At age 38, she had eventually found a man willing to lead her down the aisle. But this dream could only be realised if and when she comes out of her current travails. Eneanya is currently in the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) having been found to be in possession of a banned substance. On the face of it, Eneanya never wanted to go against the law, but for the man she gave her heart to, she would do anything. Eneanya, who risks jail if found guilty of the offence, chose to make her man happy and threw caution to the winds. The 38-year-old single woman, said she was promised marriage by the man she loved, only if she would take a consignment to his colleague in Malaysia. Having waited for ‘Mr. Right’ for so long, Enenanya agreed to the proposal and chose to travel to the Asian country with the banned drug. Her destination, she was told, was Kualar Lumpur, Malaysia. Eneanya was not the schooling type. Early in life, she settled for business and found drink selling her ideal work. She sold drinks on the Lagos Island, but not contented with proceeds from her chosen

trade, in 2007, Eneanya left the shores of Nigeria for Italy, for greener pastures. However, for reasons best known to the Azzuri police, Eneanya was deported to Nigeria last year. She reportedly returned to the country with virtually nothing, even worse off than she left her fatherland. With life becoming crueller to her, she decided to settle down in marriage. That was when she met the man who allegedly introduced her to the illicit business of drug. The two were reportedly due to be married later this year. After receiving assurances from her lover and husband-to-be, Enenayna, an indigene of Anambra State, headed for the airport and was scheduled to fly Emirate Airlines out of the country. That night, she was laden with 900 grammes of substance that later tested positive to be methamphetamine. The instruction was that she should swallow the substance, but the fear of the drug bursting right in her stomach made Eneanya to seek alternative means of ferrying the consignment out of the country. She decided to conceal the drug in the sole of her shoes. She did not put on the shoes for the journey but concealed them inside her luggage. On the day she was billed to travel, Eneanya walked into the sprawling departure hall of the airport complex oblivious of what lurked around the corner for her.

She sat glued to a seat reading a novel until passengers for the Emirates Airline flight for the Asian country were summoned to the checking counter by the public address system. Once the announcement was made, Eneanya walked briskly towards the counter and submitted herself for the usual search. Nothing was found on her, but as she made to collect her luggage from the machine, the machine indicated that the luggage was laden with a banned substance. It turned out to be true. The banned substance was not immediately discovered until further checks revealed that the woman concealed the drugs in the sole of one of her shoes inside her luggage. She was immediately arrested and detained for further questioning. NDLEA Airport Commander, Hamza Umar, said Eneanya was cooperating with investigating officers and would be charged to court upon completion of the probe into her illicit trade. Confessing to her crime before the antinarcotics agents, Eneanya said that she was deceived into believing that she would not be caught by security operatives at the airport. “I am really sad the way my life has turned out to be. I did not know that things would turn out this way. They (her sponsors) gave me the assurance that all necessary arrangement had been made. The most annoying thing is that the man who claimed to love me was the one who lured me into this mess. He told me that he would marry me once he was able to raise enough money for the wedding so I decided to assist in raising part of the money by agreeing to travel with the drug,” Eneanya claimed. Narrating how she was deported from Italy in 2011, Eneanya continued her story, “I used to sell drinks in Lagos before I travelled to Italy in 2007. Unfortunately, I was deported in 2011 from that country. As a matter of fact, that was the beginning of my frustration in life. I came back with nothing from Italy and I thought I could not continue that way. I decided to settle down in marriage, but the man who showed me love made me to smuggle drugs. He has now abandoned me to my fate. I was told to ingest the drug but I was afraid so they hid it inside one of my shoes,” she said. Reacting to Eneanya’s arrest, chairman of the NDLEA, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, who maintained that the anti-narcotics agency would not relent in its drive to rid the nation of drug couriers, said that drug control is one battle that must be won in the interest of collective peace and development. “We must join hands in the campaign to make Nigeria drug-free. This suspect is one of those that bring the image of the country into disrepute. When drug traffickers get caught abroad, it is the image of the country that suffers” Giade added.

Do you have a story for us? Contact 08138773277 or crimewatchmirror@yahoo.com

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

CRIME WATCH

August 4, 2012

Suspect alleges brutality, sues Police for N500m z I’m not a robber. I’ve never seen those they paraded with me as robbers before –Suspect z Yes, you are a robber –Police It was to be a run-of-the-mill parade of arrested suspects. Along the line, however, the music changed. One of the suspects, Dare Ogunneko, denied point blank being an armed robber. What more, he also alleged police brutality amongst others. SEGUN ADIO

nlike his peers at the suspects’ parade organised by the police, this particular suspect was vociferous in his denial of the charge. But just as strong or even more was the insistence of the police that 25-year-old Dare Ogunneko as is a suspected armed robber who had been long on their wanted list. Hence, confusion now trails the real status of Ogunneko who was arrested by members of a vigilance group in the Ago Iwoye university town of Ogun State whom the police claim is a notorious armed robber. Ogunneko’s travails reportedly started on Monday, June 25, 2012 when he was arrested with four of his friends in the late hours of the day. Ogunneko and his four friends were reportedly arrested by members of a vigilance group on patrol of the community. Ogunneko, now in prison custody, claimed that he and his friends were returning from a party when the night guards arrested them. Upon their arrest, the five suspects were handed over to men of the Nigeria Police at Ago Iwoye Police Station in the Gateway State. The policemen attached to the station, also, debunked Ogunneko’s story. The policemen, who reportedly investigated the case, but preferred anonymity, claimed that Ogunneko is an armed robbery suspect who had long been on the police wanted list. It was also alleged that the other four members of the group had been released while only Oguneko is the only one left in police custody. Speaking from his detention, Ogunneko, who claimed he was never a criminal, alleged that when the vigilance group brought his four friends and him to the police station, the law enforcement agents asked for a sum of N5, 000

Ogunneko

each f r o m each of them before they would be allowed to go home. According to Oguneko, his four friends were able to raise the money and hence were promptly released. But he was unable to raise the money hence his continuous incarceration. He further alleged that three weeks after his arrest, he was surprised to see that he was being joined with suspected robbers and paraded as a member of a robbery gang. He told Saturday Mirror from detention that he was severely tortured under the guise of interrogation, a situation which left him with serious lacerations. “It is strange how the police turned the story upside down. Men of a vigilance group arrested five of us while we were returning from a party. They later handed us over to the police. At the police station, we were asked to pay N5, 000 each for bail. The following day the other four were able to raise their own money individually and as such were allowed to go” he said. He continued: “I was shocked that what started like child’s play had culminated into allegations of robbery. I have never seen those they paraded along with me as robbers before.” He added that the policemen under the pretext of interrogation tortured him mercilessly to extract forced confession from him. In his words, “At the police cell, most of the time when I was taken

to the torture chamber, I would pass out only for me to regain consciousness inside the cell several hours after the troture had ended,” Ogunneko said. Officials of the prison who do not wish their names in print claimed that they had had to contribute money several times to take the Ogunneko to the hospital. One of the officials disclosed that nobody thought that Ogunneko would survive the injuries he sustained while in police custody. “Most prison officials hardly go to Dare’s (Ogunneko) cell when he first arrived because of the offensive odour around him,” the prison official added. A case of abuse of power against the police at Ago Iwoye had since been filed at the Headquarters of Zone 2, in Lagos. The identified policemen were reportedly summoned and questioned over the torture. The policemen were said to have returned to their base after their interrogations at Zone 2. But moved by the gory photographs of Ogunneko in police cell, some nongovernmental organisations are taking the matter to higher authorities in what they term a case of inhuman treatment of a suspect. To this end, a Lagos Lawyer, Chief A.G. Giwa, whose Stephen & Solomon Foundation in collaboration with the Knights of St. Mulumba, Lekki-Sub Council, led by Sir Patrick Ikemefuna, the Metro Grand Knight of the Order has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police over the incident. The organisation claimed that torture is a violation of provisions of the 1999

Nigerian Constitution , Section 34 and 36 which state that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty and every person is entitled to human dignity. In a statement in Lagos, the organisations frowned at Ogunneko’s case stating that it had brought to the fore the “dehumanising treatments meted out to suspects, the moment they are apprehended by the members of the Nigerian Police Force. It does not matter the status of such fellow, he or she will be maltreated, abused and denigrated all in the guise of sieving information from them.” The statement said there were many of such cases that were never heard of noting that that of Dare became public knowledge because of the legal assistance offered him by the officials of Stephen and Solomon Foundation and the Knights of St. Mulumba Lekki-Sub Council. The two associations also vowed to make sure Ogunneko’s Fundamental Human Rights are upheld and that he be allowed to receive medical attention in a well equipped government owned hospital against the treatment he is currently receiving at the ill-equipped prison’s medical personnel. The foundations further pledged free legal services to Dare by instituting a civil claim for N500, 000,000 being damages for the infringement of his fundamental human rights. But the police in Ogun State are adamant, insisting that Ogunneko is an armed robbery suspect who was arrested. The investigation of the torture case against the law enforcement agents conducted by Zone 2, of the force, is however not made public.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Crime Extra

Master clubs apprentice to coma over stolen money Julius Benjamin is an automobile mechanic who has five apprentices. A couple of weeks ago, he left everything and went underground. Why would a man of such means abandon everything and take off? SEGUN ADIO reports.

n auto-mechanic, Julius Benjamin, is now reportedly on the run following the manner in which he treated one of his five apprentices. Benjamin had reportedly beaten one Feyisara to a state of unconsciousness for allegedly stealing his money. The incident reportedly happened on Saturday, July 21, 2012. Three days before then, Benjamin, who runs an auto mechanic shop under the power line around Ayobo area, in the AyoboIpaja Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, had reported that a sum of N110, 000 was missing from his safe inside the shop. Benjamin has five apprentices learning the trade under him in the shop, of which Feyisara is one and the most senior of them. On Wednesday, July 18, 2012, Benjamin was said to have left the work shop to attend a union meeting somewhere at IyanaIpaja. He claimed to have left the sum in his safe in his office and handed the key to his office to the most senior apprentice, Feyisara. The meeting dragged on until late in the afternoon and Benjamin report-

I THINK BENJAMIN WENT TOO FAR BECAUSE WHEN FEYI EVEN CONFESSED TO HAVE TAKEN THE MONEY AND PROMISED THAT HE WOULD

RETURN THE UNSPENT PART,

LISTEN.

BEN WOULD NOT

HE LOCKED THE BOY UP IN HIS OFFICE AND BEAT HIM UNTIL HE ALMOST DIED. WE WERE THE ONES WHO SAVED THE BOY’S LIFE

edly called Feyisara to dismiss his juniors and lock up the work shop. The following day, Feyisara was said to have been at the work shop before any of the unit apparently to open shop. Benjamin resumed later to discover that the N110, 000 he kept in his safe the previous day was missing. The Ilaro, Ogun State-born auto mechanic reportedly called all his apprentices to his office to register the development. All the five apprentices reportedly denied having anything to do with the missing money. One of the apprentices, who spoke with Saturday Mirror on phone on condition of anonymity, disclosed that their boss warned that if in three days,

his money was not returned of found, he would use any means to find it. “When the issue of missing money was first raised by our boss, we were all summoned to his office for questioning. Everyone claimed innocence of the charge and he said that after three days and if the money was not returned, he would use any means to retrieve it,” the apprentice said. The following day, Feyisara was said to have been away from work without formal permission from his boss. It was said that Benjamin had called Feyisara’s uncle, with whom he lived, on his mobile telephone, but the latter was suprised to learn that Feyisara did not resume for work that day. Feyisara

was said to have returned home late that day claiming that his boss had sent him on an errand. It was around 10:00p.m. That same evening, Feyisara’s uncle reportedly called Benjamin on phone to report that the young man just returned home claiming that he (Benjamin) delayed him in the work shop. Since it was late, Benjamin could not come down to Feyisara’s house but informed his uncle that he would be there first thing the following day. Benjamin made good his promise. Alas, by the time Benjamin got to Feyisara’s house around 7:00a.m, he was said to be away from home claiming that he was going to the work shop. That was Saturday, July 21, 2012. When Benjamin and Feyisara’s uncle were still deliberating on the young man’s whereabouts, one of Feyisara’s cousins informed his father that he overheard Feyisara conversing on phone with a friend of his on a party they were billed to attend that day. The young boy claimed he knew the friend Feyisara had telephoned. The two men did not waste time. They headed for the house of the friend Feyisara had reportedly gone to. On getting there, they reportedly found Feyisara in new clothes, with a hightech GSM handset, expensive necklace and some other items. All these his uncle claimed he did not buy for him nor seen on him before. Without waiting for explanations, Benjamin reportedly got hold of Feyisara and had him tied up. Benjamin reportedly took a taxi cab straight to his work shop with Feyisara still tied up at the back seat. Feyisara’s uncle reportedly left them at the stage for his own work. Once the taxi arrived at Benjamin’s shop, the auto mechanic reportedly whipped Feyisara silly with horse whips and fan belts demanding he (Feyisara) produce the missing money. Benjamin allegedly beat the young man until he fainted. All items found on Feyisara were reportedly confiscated while Benjamin’s co-workers at the workshop reportedly conveyed Feyisara to a clinic where he was immediately placed on admission. It was reported that Feyisara’s condition worsened the first day he was taken to the clinic. However, when Benjamin learnt of the deteriorating health of Feyisara, he panicked; fearing the worst. He reportedly fled his home in apprehension of the worst happening to the battered apprentice. A sign writer who reportedly runs a shop close to Benjamin spoke with Saturday Mirror on the matter. The man who refused to give his name claimed that Benjamin resisted all efforts to free Feyisara from his. “I think Benjamin went too far because when Feyi even confessed to have taken the money and promised that he would bring the unspent part of it, Ben would not listen. He locked the boy up in his office and beat the hell out of him until the boy almost died here. We were the ones who saved the boy’s life,” he said

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

August 4, 2012

Quote

the

day

I have my fear that what is happening in the country now may be a prelude to the country’s disintegration. Government is not functioning properly and we keep going backward. So the fear of disintegration is high and I entertain that fear too that if we don’t do something quickly and positively, this country may end up splitting into different components.” Former Nigeria presidential candidate, Bashir Tofa, reacting to the insecurity in the nation last Thursday.

Saturday, August 4, 2012. www.nationalmirroronline.net

Lessons for Africa from China’s development experiences (II) C

hina understands the world we live in and China does not take anything for granted. Africa must not see the world on its face value. We must dig deep and turn things over before we accept them for what they really are. In the past, Africa had opened its doors wide and before we knew what was happening, we had been done in. That happened in slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism and terms of trading in the so-called international market. We must watch out for globalization, unequal agreements like EPA and burdensome terms of borrowing to avoid the debt trap. China was politically strong and stable if not economically developing; so she could not be intimidated or threatened. Africa must learn the lesson of strength in unity and size through integration. Our emphasis must be integration and investment. Size and political stability give China resilience from and resistance against external pressure. No matter how you define democracy to China, it has chosen its own path of democracy that suits its internal contents and contexts for now

with President Olusegun Obasanjo hexcellency2011@yahoo.com and system of economy to go with it. In strength of unity and stability, through integration, Africa can make its own choice of political and economic system. Development and technology cannot be parceled like a DHL parcel post to be delivered and then unwrapped by the recipient for instant use. Development to be relevant must be home-grown, nurtured and sustained. Deng Xiaoping initiated and pushed through necessary and desirable economic reforms leading to opening up in 1978. He was consistent for over ten years when Jiang Zemin took over in 1989 to 2002. China knew what problems must

be solved to release people’s energy and enthusiasm for development. African leaders need to know about their countries no less than what Deng Xiaoping knew about China to initiate the reforms that kick-started China’s near monumental development and progress. The seed was sowed, it was consistently watered and sustained for almost twenty-five years before people started to enjoy the fruits of the reform and fully embraced the reforms as a new paradigm. China can say and do with tenacity, patience, discipline, single-minded commitment and uniformity of purpose. Africa must learn these lessons and imbibe them.

Regime change in Africa tends to turn everything overboard. Taking two steps forward and on step back cannot be the way to go for Africa. Our progress must be cumulative, consistent, continual, continued and sustained. In many respects, China has shown the way that Africa can follow in spite of the differences earlier noted. With discipline, elimination of corruption and waste, efficiency and the right leadership that the time demands, Africa can muster much more resources internally for its development than it does at the moment. Like China, Africa must be the architect of its own fortune and development, then others can help. In Africa, you have to bend down, ready to carry your load before others can help you. If nothing at all, China can avoid mistakes made by Africa in its development agenda and process. Learning what not to do is a good enough lesson. China must not follow the path of GDP growth alone without adequate impact on the living standard of the people.

CONCLUDED

Olympics 2012 Men’s SPORT EXTRA Quarter-Final Fixtures London 2012: Egbunike pleased with Okagbare, others Today’s Matches EVEREST ONYEWUCHI, LONDON

eam Nigeria’s athletics Chief Coach, Innocent Egbunike, has praised the feat of Blessing Okagbare, Gloria Asumnu, Omolara Omotosho, Amaechi Morton and Regina George, who zoomed into the semi-finals of their track events yesterday. Okagbare finished first in her Heat 4 of the women’s 100m with a time of 10:93 secs while Gloria Asumnu came third in her Heat 3 of the same event at a time of 11:13 secs. Both athletes have booked their places for the women’s 100m semi-finals taking place today. In the women’s 400m, Omolara scraped through on her time of 52.11 secs, her first

time at the Olympics, while George, a USbased athlete, also making her debut in the Olympics, was graceful in her time of 51.24secs. After their races, Egbunike offered a smile and said they were taking it step by step. “It was competitive. I was nervous, but I realised it was just another race and I kicked. When I found myself leading, I was confused as I couldn’t imagine I would be doing so. But I kept on pumping till the end. “I now feel I can make it to the final where it will be anybody’s race. I won’t feel that way again. Now I feel I can be in the top three,” Regina said at the Mixed Zone. For Morton, “The important thing is to move into the semi-finals and try to qualify for the final.”

Japan v Egypt 12:00 Mexico v Senegal 14:30 Brazil v Honduras 17:00 Great Britain v South Korea 19:30

Olympics 2012 Women’s Quarter-Final Results Sweden1 – 2 France Nigeria’s Regina George (right) celebrates with Senegalese Thiam Mbacke after the 400m women’s Round One Heat yesterday at the ongoing 2012 Olympics.

United States 2 – 0 New Zealand Brazil 0 – 2 Japan

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