March 12, 2016

n

Vol. 6 No. 11

Saturday, March 12, 2016

NEWS

Fuel scarcity may linger till end of March — NUPENG

P.7

National Mirror Online

TOP STORY

Kidnappers demand N50m for pastor’s son

P.2

@NationalMirror

N150

LIVING

P.31

‘How I was tricked into prostitution in Libya’

A’Court confirms Ibinabo’s jail term •Actress faces five years incarceration

P. 6

L-R: Ambassador of Saharawi Republic to Nigeria, Mr. Oubi Bachir; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Special Envoy of Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Muhamed Salem Ould Salek; President Muhuammadu Buhari; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geofery Onyema and Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, during the visit of Special Envoy of Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic to Presidential Villa Abuja yesterday.

FG apologises for power •blames sabotage, vandalisation situation ... gives employment letters to victims of P. 7

NIS recruitment tragedy Sealxk T

P. 7

Face-saving tips for men who finish too quickly

e Waj 0 P.2 P. 34

PAGE

2

MARCH 12, 2016

Top Stories

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Mile 12 crisis: I was shot, left to die –Teenager Stories By Patience Ogbo

1

6-year-old Bolaji Kalejaye is writhing in pains in the hospital after he was shot during the crisis at the Mile 12 area of the state last week Thursday.

Bolaji wrote his Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB) on March 3rd and was filled with hopes of becoming a medical student in few months time.

But that dream might have been dashed as all his parents’ savings towards his education have been spent on surgery and medical bills as they battle to keep him alive at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

Bolaji got into trouble barely an hour after he left his JAMB centre for his parents’ house at Mile 12 area of the state however, instead of walking home to the embrace of his anxious parents, walked into the fierce fighting between Hausa and Yoruba youths at the area that fateful day and sadly was hit by a stray bullet from behind and left to die.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Kalejaye, who scored 250 in the JAMB explained how he managed to pack his intestines after he was shot, walked about 50 steps to the nearest police station (Mile 12 police station) only to be chased by officers on duty.

He said: “I left the house around 5am that day for Ikeja, where my JAMB centre was. Since I was going for an examination, I did not go with my phone because I did not want to be harassed.

“We finished writing JAMB I left for the house. It was in the afternoon that the bus I boarded got to Mile 12. Immediately I stepped off the bus, I took about two steps and saw people raising their hands up. I followed suit.

“Suddenly people started running and I joined them in running. As I was running too, I noticed police people were behind me as I ran. It was while I was running that I realised that I have been hit by a bullet.

“The bullet hit me from behind and brought out my intestine in front. I was bleeding, I was thirsty but I refused to drink water because we have been thought how to survive gunshot wounds.

“I was crying for help but no one answered me. So, I removed my tee shirt and used it to pack my intestines up and pushed them inside. I managed to walk about 50 steps to the police station that is under Mile 12 bridge, where I pleaded with them to help me.

“But the policemen there

chased me away. They saw that I was bleeding badly but they told me to go away that their station was not hospital. I was becoming weak. I had to beg some of the area boys hanging around to help me.

“Fortunately, one of them knew me and they rushed me to a nearby private hospital. I don’t know the name of the hospital. It was the doctor in that hospital that removed the bullet which was hanging on my outer stomach.

“It was in the hospital that I now gave them my daddy’s number that they should call and tell him that I was shot. So, my daddy came and they doctor now told them to transfer me to specialist hospital. That was how my parents brought me here and I was operated on,” he said.

Already, the victim’s mother, Mrs. Alero Kalejaye, a fish seller, who said they have spent all their savings and even borrowed to save her son’s life since the explained that the doctors informed her that Kalejaye needs to undergo another surgery in two weeks time.

While crying, the mother of five added that she had resorted to begging in order to save her son’s life.

“We have spent over five hundred thousand naira (N500,000) since this incident happened. I have even called my crayfish customers and borrowed money from them. It is so bad that on Monday I went begging from General Hospital to Computer village in order to raise money to buy drugs for my boy.

“I am begging Nigerians to help me and safe my son’s life. I am begging them because at the moment, I do not even have money to eat. It is the relatives of his other ward mates that have been assisting me with money to even buy bottled water for him.

“Now, I do not even know where to start, but I thank God that he is recovering. The doctor has done scan and said that the bullet dis not touch his spinal cord. They brought out all his intestines and stitched him from his upper to lower stomach.

“At the moment, a pipe (catheter) is on his body from where he passes out faeces. The doctor says another surgery will be done in two weeks time, and I don’t know how to get money for that.

“Some of the money we have spent here are the savings for his admission and the school fees for his older siblings. Where do I start?” She sobbed.

Asked why she didn’t go in search of her son when the crisis started, Mrs. Kalejaye said she travelled to Ondo State two days before the violence and only returned that Thursday.

Bolaji “I was not around. I went to Ondo State on Tuesday to buy creyfish. It was on my way back,

when we got to Ijebu Ode that we heard there was fight at Mile 12.

I spoke with Bolaji around 5am because he had asked me to wake him by that time.

“When I called, he told me he was already up and set to leave the house for his Jamb centre. He also told me he won’t go with his phone. So, I was worried when I heard of the fight and I felt uneasy around 1pm.

“I called his twin brother and asked if Bolaji was home but he said no and that he was not feeling alright too. That he was feeling as if something was wrong.

“When I got to Mile 12, people were talking about a young boy that was shot from the back and his intestines came out. They were narrating how the boy packed his intestines and how police people refused to help him. I

did not know it was my Bolaji.

“I was carrying my crayfish basket on the head and rushing home. Immediately I got home and saw his father’s face, I knew something was not right. I asked him and he told me that he won’t lie to me. That night alone, we spent over N250,000 in the hospital and since that we have been doing one test or the other and also buying drugs.

“My son was still holding his Jamb paper on his hand when he was shot. Why would the police chase a child like that away? Are they not supposed to rescue an innocent child that was hit by stray bullet?” she queried.

Mrs. Kalejaye has appealed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and other well spirited Nigerians to assist the family, through her First Bank account3026288658, Alero Kalejaye.

Kidnappers demand N50m for abducted Redeemed pastor’s son

K

idnappers of a 5-year-old boy, Jonathan Sulieman , the son of a Zonal Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Okene, Kogi State are demanding N50million before the boy,a nursery 2 pupil will be released.

Saturday Mirror gathered that suspected gunmen numbering about four kidnapped the toddler on Monday about 7:45am when he was being driven to school in Okene.

According to the father of the boy, the gunmen had perfected plans to have his son kidnapped and they succeeded in their plans.

Pastor Sulieman who spoke with Saturday Mirror over the phone stated that the kidnapped of his son is devastating and calls on the police and other security agencies to help rescue his son.

“Jonathan is my last born. He is only five years old and I feel bad such is happening to him. He was kidnapped on Monday when he was being driven to school about 7: 45am by our driver. His elder sister and a neighbour’s child were in the car. According to what the driver told me, four gun men used a cross bar in front of the street gate at number 10 Ajoboloko Street to block the

Jonathan

car in Eika-Adagu community where the College of Education is located along the OkeneLokoja Road. He said the other children fled but the gun men took over the car and drove off with my son. The gun men later abandoned the car a few metres away but they took my son. We have recovered the car.”

Speaking further about the kidnap of his son, Pastor Sulieman said he has resorted to prayer and fasting for the safe return of his son.

He said, “The kidnappers contacted me on Wednesday and they demanded N50m ransom.

I told them I don’t have such amount and they asked me what I have but I pleaded with them that I am a teacher and a pastor and I am not that buoyant. They told me that I am not serious and they hung up on me. They have not called me since then and efforts to call reach them have not been successful. I have reported the kidnap to the police in my local government area but they are yet to give me any good news. I am appealing to those who kidnapped my little boy to release him unconditionally. He is a little boy and he needs his parents.”

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Starter

3

Can government end incessant herdsmen/farmers clashes?

Incessant clashes between farmers in the South and Middle Belt and militia men who are generally believed to be herdsmen of Northern stock have become a matter of grave concern in Nigeria. The federal government must now take the bull by the horn to stem this ugly tide, writes JULIET UMEH

F

or residents in remote villages in the middle belt states of Benue and Nasarawa, sleeping with the two eyes closed is no longer a luxury they can afford. No fewer than 300 persons were confirmed CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

PAGE

4

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Starter

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘They destroy our crops with impunity’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

dead in what appears to be renewed outbreak of violence in Agatu local government area of Benue state. The attacks were carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen in various part of the local government. The affected villages include Okokolo, Akwu, Ocholonya, Adagbo, Ugboku and Aila, which were completely burnt down by the attackers. “Several communities including Obagaji, the local government headquarters, where people usually took refuge in the past, have been deserted”, a source hinted.

A resident of Akwu told newsmen in Benue that “People fled into Ugbokpo in neighbouring Apa council. It is a well coordinated attack on Agatu communities.” As I speak with you, fighting is still raging; many are missing and we have a huge number of displaced persons without facilities to house them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Opiatoha K’Idoma, a socio-cultural organisation of Idoma sons and daughters, have called on the federal government to put an end to the endless crisis in the area.

According to the group, “What we see happening in Agatu today can be likened to happenings in the NorthEast and we call for urgent action by the Federal Government.

“The Idoma nation is helpless.

Over 300 Agatu people have been killed and others maimed in one week without concerted effort by the state government to abate the attack, killings and destruction.

“On the other hand, there are no identifiable camps to cater for the Internally Displaced Persons, which include mostly women and children; we call on the Federal Government to establish a full military base in Agatu, otherwise the area will soon become history.”

The Benue attack follows the growing menace of alleged Fulani menace across the country. Not too long ago in the evenings of 24, January 2016 precisely, the peaceful settlements of Omafuvwe, Etefe and Edjekuo, all in Ughelli South Local Government, Delta State, were thrown into pandemonium.

Men believed to be herdsmen of the Fulani stock stormed the locality with guns, shooting indiscriminately in the communities.

It was a simultaneous attack that caught the residents of the affected communities off guard.

By the end of the attack, several residents were left seriously injured including women and children, many

Berom killings by Fulani herdsmen

currently in critical conditions in the hospitals within the two Ughelli local government areas.

Police sources confirmed this incident and also identified some casualties in the clash. For instance, the DPO, Otu-Jeremi, Superintendant of police, Mr Oghenedoro, reported that on the said date of attack,

shooting by the herdsmen as they fled the farms in the villages where they had taken their cattle for grazing.

“The Fulani herdsmen were chased into the bush but all efforts to locate them proved abortive. All the victims of the clash were taken to Central Hospital, Ughelli, where they are responding to treatment,” explained

Suspected Fulani herdsmen raided four vill ­ ages in Girei Local Governm ­ ent Area, killing scores including a DPO. They looted the town of food, live stock and set many houses ablaze information was received that the three communities were attacked by Fulani herdsmen. Though four patrol teams led by the DPO were mobilised to the scene, damage had already been done. One Ajoro Oghenero, male, aged 15 years; Igbono Ijoro, male aged five years and one Ofere Adajire, also male, age 15 years, all sustained bullet injuries following indiscriminate

the police superintendant.

The police also added that investigation has started on the matter and effort is on to arrest the culprits. In an effort to douse the tension, the DPO Otujeremi, had activated the herdsmen/community relations network and in telephone interview said that efforts are ongoing to bring peace to the

beleaguered communities.

Tracing the origin of the bloody confrontation, Pastor Edewor Egedegbe, President General, UtoEwu Axis Development Union, said that trouble started when the gunmen who many eye witnesses identified as Fulani herdsmen were dislodged in February last year from the area.

The community leader said that the herdsmen had destroyed their crops with impunity in the name of grazing their cattle. As a result, the community had asked them to leave their bushes to forestall further destruction of their crops and farmland.

Rather than heed the admonition, said Egedegbe, the herdsmen resorted to attacking their youths who in turn resisted the attacks and it resulted in a full blown crisis which left the three villagers dead. At the end of the bloody confrontation last year, the herdsmen were said to have fled the area. For many members of the community, the belief is that the Fulani herdsmen may have made a bloody come back.

The herdsmen in continuation of the bloody attacks then invaded the villages on that Saturday night, escalating the crisis.

The DPO decried the level of destruction done to lives and property of the people adding however that normalcy has returned to the area.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Starter

PAGE

5

‘Climatic vagaries create upsets’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

The assurances notwithstanding, residents are said to be fleeing the area in their droves owing to alleged threats by the herdsmen who reportedly threatened to come back for a full blown war on the communities.

This development according Pastor Egedegbe is alarming, noting, too, that at the moment there is palpable fear amongst the people just as he called on both the state government agencies and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, to come to the aid of the people in the area as they have lost their means of livelihood to the alleged invasion by the cattle herdsmen.

In fact, available indices show that the militias are ubiquitous. Late last year, Olu Falae, prominent chief, politician and former secretary of the Federation was kidnapped by men he identified as Fulani men.

Falae was only released after his family parted with hefty ransom.

Though police have since captured the abductors and are currently standing trial, the incident brought no small disquiet. Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-cultural group, had at the peak of the crisis threatened to eject all Fulani men from the South East.

The North is not spared the marauding offensives of the militias, only last week, the DPO, Vonokilang Police Station, Direi, Local Government Area, Adamawa State, 29 others were yes­terday killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

It was learnt that some suspected Fulani herdsmen who were on vengeance over a quarrel between them and some farmers two years ago had stormed Demsare, Wunamokoh, Dikajam and Taboungo communities.

The DPO, a Chief Super­intendent of Police (CSP), Okozie Okereofor, who just assumed duties two months ago, was reported­ly ambushed when he was leading his men to the dis­ puted area and shot dead. Also killed were 29 others.

The corpses of the Po­lice Officer and the civil­ians were deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre, Yola.

Spokesman of the state Police Command, DSP Othman Abubakar, confirmed the death of the DPO, saying that he and his team were attacked while on official duty in the affected villages before he was killed by suspected Fu­lani herdsmen.

Abubakar who declined to give the number of death, said he was yet to gather enough facts on the incident.

Faces of grief

“The suspected Fulani herdsmen raided four vil­ lages in Girei Local Govern­ment Area on Sunday morn­ ing around 5:30 am, killing scores including a DPO. They looted the town of food, live stock and set some houses ablaze,” he said.

Herdsmen/farmers and local community clashes has been on the increase in the last 15 years. At the core of the menace, say some experts, is the dearth of grazing lands in the North as result of climate change and desertification. For instance, Baba Adamu, a former cattle rarer, recalls that his entire cattle was wiped out in Zaki Biam, Benue State after local farmers attacked them allegedly for grazing on their farms. “Lack of rains drove us to that place where I lost all my cattle,” he said. Adamu is now a well digger in Ilorin but says that he is moving down south because it appears that the area is becoming more arid.

“We will be moving southwards towards Ogbomoso from next year,” said Adamu. The aridity is connected to a bigger global phenomenon called climate change. According to experts, weather conditions across the world are now being altered as result of global warming. The scientists say that man’s activities in the industrial areas have hurt protective coverings in the ozone layers; that is, that buffer

that shields the earth from harmful heat from the sun.

With more heat from the sun, the glaciers, especially in the arctic region are melting, resulting in wind displacements on the oceans.

The result of this combinations of climatic vagaries result upsets, realignments both geographically and geophysical. Some parts of the globe, as result of this condition would experience lesser rains or shift in rain periods from their natural calendar. There would be flooding in some places too as result of more water from melting glaciers in the oceans. There would also be change in temperature, necessitating human and animal physiological discomforts. These would all result in demographic displacements too, when people move from one place to another. Like in the case of Adamu, there could be violence associated with the phenomenon, too.

Fulani herdsman of the lower Sahel and Sudan savannah from North-west and north east Nigeria are now migrating and gradually, becoming natives in the middle belt region all to find greener pasture for their herds.

This is not acceptable to the root and tuber farmers of the Middle belt.

The farmer has the fears that Fulani herds will destroy his farmlands.

The natural result is clash over right to the lands. Experts believe that conflicts might continue unless federal government does something decisive. This is because the effect of climate change in far northern Nigeria has assumed such magnitude that the minimum vegetation cover in Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, kebbi, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Yobe, Maiduguri, Taraba, and Adamawa states respectively, has already fallen below 10 percent as against the ideal requirement of 25 percent ecological cover as recommended by UNEP to support Fulani man and his herds.

Therefore the encroaching desert as a result of climate change has affected the ecology of northern Nigeria in terms of inadequate productive land for food and cash crops, greener pastures for animal grazing, decline in water availability. These have often led to conflict over marginal and fragile arid ecosystem.

But what can government do to stem the tide of this menace?

For many experts and going by recommendations made, only the creation of grazing reserves for herdsmen and encouragement of ranching by farmers may solve the problem in the long run. But can federal government summon enough will power to do these?

PAGE

6

NATIONAL NEWS

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Manslaughter: Appeal Court sends ex-beauty queen, Ibinabo, back to prison Wale Igbintade

T

he Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, yesterday dismissed an appeal filed by star actress and former beauty queen, Ibinabo Fiberesima challenging the judgement of a Lagos High Court which sentenced her to five years imprisonment for the death of one Dr. Giwa Suraj.

The embattled actress was sentenced to five years imprisonment by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi for reckless driving which caused the death of one Dr. Giwa Suraj in an auto accident along the Lekki-Epe expressway, Lagos.

The deceased was a staff of one of Lagos State’s hospitals.

Dissatisfied, Fiberesima in her amended appellant brief filed by her lawyer, Nnaemeka Amaechina urged the court to set aside the five year sentence and restore the decision of the Magistrate Court.

But, delivering judgment yesterday, the appellate court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the decision of the Lagos High Court.

In a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Jamilu Yammama Tukur the court held that the trial Magistrate Court lacked the discretion to grant Ibinabo option of fine having been convicted.

The court held that the appeal lacks merit and thereby dismissed it accordingly.

Other members of the panel are Justice U.I. Ndukwe-Anyanwu (Mrs.) (presiding) and Justice Tijani Abubakar respectively.

Immediately, the judgment was delivered, Ibinabo who was visibly apprehensive throughout the proceeding burst into tears and wept priouvouslly as prison warders led her to the blackmaria.

“I don’t want to go to prison, don’t let them take me away” she pleaded with her lawyer.

The court had earlier ordered that the appellant, Fiberesima, to appear before it when judgement is to be delivered.

Speaking on the judgement, her lawyer, Nnaemeka Amaechina said the judgment will be challenged at the Supreme

... affirms 5 years jail sentence Court adding that a Notice of Appeal had been filed already.

Fiberesima had earlier been awarded a N100, 000 fine by an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court, but the then Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner of justice, Supo Sasore (SAN), felt unsatisfied with the judgement. This prompted the state government to take its case to the Lagos High Court.

At the Lagos high court, Justice Oluwayemi set aside the option of fine imposed by the Magistrate’s Court and sentenced Fiberesima to five years imprisonment for dangerous and reckless driving.

In her judgment, Justice Oluwayemi held that the trial Magistrate exercised judicial recklessness when he gave the convict an option of fine.

The court held that the option of N100, 000 given to the convict did not serve the purpose of justice in the matter and subsequently ordered that the N100, 000 should be returned back to Ibinabo Fiberesima.

The court added that Section 28 of the Road Traffic Law clearly provides that where a reckless and dangerous driving has caused the death of a person, the accused person shall be guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment of seven years.

Dissatisfied, Fiberesima in her amended appellant brief filed by her lawyer, Nnaemeka Amaechina before the Court of Appeal urged the court to set aside the five year sentence and restore the decision of the Magistrate Court.

Amaechina had argued that the Magistrate’s Court exercised its discretion properly and there was no ground to review it by the high court.

He submitted that by virtue of the Notice of Increased in Jurisdiction of Magistrates, No. 7 of 2006, the trial Magistrate could only impose a maximum of 7 years imprisonment or N100, 000.00 fine.

He added that N100, 000.00 fine is the maximum limit the trial Magistrate can impose as fine and that was what it imposed on the appellant.

In her response, counsel to Lagos State, Rotimi Odutola (Mrs.) argued that the law creating the offence of dangerous driving causing death has provided for a term of imprisonment as punishment for anyone convicted under Section

28, hence the trial Magistrate ought not to exercise such arbitrary discretion to impose N100.000.00 as fine.

Odutola further submitted that the children of the deceased have been permanently deprived of the “measureless contributions’’ of their father to their lives as a result of his death caused by the appellant.

She urged the court uphold the judgement of the Lagos High Court and dismiss the appeal.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command had in 2005 charged the ex-beauty queen [Fiberesima] to the magistrate court on a two-count charge of dangerous and reckless driving along Epe Expressway, Lagos which resulted in the death of Dr. Giwa Suraj.

NNPC redeploys Alegbe, names NUJ boss, Garba, as replacement

T

he management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC on Thursday formally announced the appointment of new Group Executive Directors, GEDs for its restructured divisions, as some top officials were either redeployed or seconded to key positions in the corporation.

Top among those affected was former Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, GPAD, Ohi Alegbe, who was redeployed to the Corporate Social Responsibility unit in the Group Managing Director’s office as Group General Manager.

Mr. Alegbe was replaced

by Mohammed Garba.

Until his appointment, Mr. Garba was the president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.

Also appointed as GGM in charge of Downstream Division was Surajdeen Afolabi, who was suspended in October 2015 over the controversial multi-billion Naira SAP Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) project. Mr. Afolabi would support the GED Downstream with the strategy in the execution of projects.

The new GEDs/Chief Operating Oficers for the five business focussed divisions announced on

Tuesday by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, include Bello Rabiu, who would be in charge of the Upstream division of the petroleum industry; Henry Ikem-Obih (Downstream); Anibor Kragba (Refineries); Saidu Mohammed (Gas & Power)and Ventures (Babatunde Adeniran).

The GEDs/COOs for the two service divisions include Isiaka Abdulrazaq for Finance & Accounts and Isa Inuwa for Corporate Services divisions.

Other appointments include Ugochukwu Afamefuna Vitalis (Refineries); Yusuf Matashi (Gas & Power) and Ladipo Fagbola (Ventures). Ahmadu Sambo was named GGM for Finance & Accounts, while Modupe Bammake was named for Corporate Services division.

Similarly, the heads of the strategic business units, SBUs include Roland Ewubare as the managing director of Integrated Data Services Limited, IDSL under the Upstream division, while Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, formerly managing director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, was appointed new MD of NNPC Retail under Downstream division.

Managing Director of Lekki Gardens, Richard Nyong(right) and contractor, Taiwo Odofin being arraigned at an Ebute Metta Chief Magistrate Court, yesterday for their role in the collapse of a five-storey building in Lekki, Lagos..

Nigerian women lambast Ndume for asking men to get more wives

T

he International Federation of Women Lawyers have expressed outrage over the comment by a Nigerian senator, Ali Ndume, advising men to marry more than one wife “to show more care to women”.

In a statement Friday, FIDA said Mr. Ndume’s remarks were disparaging and meant to demean Nigerian women and portray them as “sex objects”.

While contributing to a debate on a motion to mark the International Women’s Day, Mr. Ndume had also singled out Senate President Bukola Saraki,

advising him to marry a second wife.

“I urge men to marry more than one wife,” said Mr. Ndume, Senate Leader, (APC, Borno South). “The first care of a woman is marriage.”

The FIDA maintained that the clamour for gender equality cannot be realized by women being married off to men.

“May we remind the Senator that Nigeria is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and his utterances negate its provisions,” the group said in the statement signed

by Inime Aguma, Country Vice President, FIDA, Nigeria.

“Article 16 of that Convention says that ‘State parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and the General Recommendation in Article 21 states that: “Polygamous marriage contravenes a woman’s right to equality with men, and can have such serious emotional and financial consequences for her and her dependents that such marriage ought to be discouraged and prohibited.”

The group noted that the Holy Bible which Mr. Ndume referred to in his comments does not recognize polygamy “as the wording of Mathew 19:4-6 refers to the union of one man and woman to the exclusion of any other being”.

The group also urged Mr. Ndume and his colleagues to pledge “gender parity” and not trivialise the role of women in the society.

“FIDA Nigeria stands with the female senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and say ‘No’ to this degrading motion moved

by Senator Ali Ndume.”

(PREMIUM TIMES)

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

PAGE

NATIONAL NEWS

7

FG apologises for power situation…blames sabotage, vandalisation

T

he Federal Government has blamed the prevailing power situation in the country on gas failure as well as sabotage and vandalization of power infrastructure, while apologizing to Nigerians for the hardship which the situation has imposed on them.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said all efforts are being made to rectify the situation and ensure a gradual improvement in the power situation. ‘’There will be a decent improvement in the power situation from this weekend, thanks to ongoing remedial efforts that will

double the current power supply to 4,000WM. Getting back to the 5,074MW all-time high that was reached earlier will take a few more weeks,’’ he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said at a time the routine maintenance by the Nigeria Gas Company has affected the supply of gas to power stations, forcing down power supply from an all-time high of 5,074 MW to about 4,000MW, a combination of unsavoury incidents further crashed the power supply to about half that figure. ‘’The vandalization of the Forcados export pipelines forced oil companies to shut down, making it impossible for them to

produce gas. Then, workers at the Ikeja Discos, who were protesting the disengagement of some of their colleagues after they failed the company’s competency test, apparently colluded with the National Transmission Station in Osogbo to shut down transmission. ‘’Finally, the unfortunate strike by the unions

at the NNPC, over the restructuring of the Corporation, shut down the Itarogun Power Station, the biggest in the country.

Due to these factors, only 13 out of the 24 power stations in the country are currently functioning. It is this same kind of unsavoury situation that has affected fuel supply and subjected Nigerians to un-

told hardship,’’ he said.

The Minister strongly condemned the situation in which some Nigerians, under the guise of the various unions in the oil and gas sector or sheer vandalization, will continuously sabotage the country’s power infrastructure. ‘’The bitter truth is that for as along as these

groups of Nigerians continue to sabotage the power infrastructure, Nigerians cannot enjoy a decent level of power supply. We therefore admonish all Nigerians who may be agitating for their rights in whatever form to refrain from any action that will further hurt the same people they claim to be protecting,’’ he said.

Mr. Korodo said that from all indications, loading of petrol at NNPC depots and private depots was slow.

He said if there was no improvement in loading the product by next week, the situation might be worse.

“The pace of loading of fuel at NNPC depots in Mosinmi and Ejigbo is very slow as most tankers drivers that wanted to load, left the depots with nothing.

“Even at private depots where they sell above the ex-depot price, the pace of loading is very slow.

“Presently, we need massive loading of petrol nationwide to get over the present scarcity.

“I am imploring the government to improve on supply of fuel to all depots nationwide so that our tanker drivers can get the product and transport it to filling stations,” he said.

Meanwhile, scarcity of petrol continued as queues of motorists persisted in few filling stations that were selling the product.

At the Mobil filling station in Orile, Lagos, motorists lamented waiting endlessly to buy petrol.

A welder, Samuel Johnson, said that most filling stations were not selling inside jerry cans, adding that this had kept him out of job in the last two weeks.

Mr. Johnson appealed to government to compel attendants at filling stations to be selling to those with jerry cans if they could produce their identity cards.

He said the situation was further worsened because there was no electricity supply in the last two weeks at Orile where he works.

with National Diploma, Higher National Diplomas, HND, and degrees are based in Kano.

There are 176 persons who have been cleared by government as victims of the exercise, nationwide, according to National Coordinator of the victims, Edmund Osumah (Esq).

Osumah spoke with our correspondent when National Mirror exclusively covered the protest carried out by the victims in Abuja recently. The protest apparently compelled the government to engage the victims.

Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danba-

zau, had told journalists recently in Abuja shortly after defending the budget of his ministry before the Senate Committee on Interior that the ministry would soon issue employment letters to the victims.

“We have decided that we are going to finally take them on board, so very soon we will issue them their letters of employment. We have a committee that is looking at the overall exercise and on the other aspects, we will take decision later.

There is a presidential directive and we are implementing that directive, so yesterday we took a final decision on that.

NUPENG says fuel scarcity may linger till end of March

T

he Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) on Friday said the ongoing fuel scarcity in the country might linger till the

end of March.

The South-West chairman of the union, Tokunbo Korodo, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, during the resumption of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for false declaration of assets in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

(PREMIUM TIMES)

...offers employment letters to victims of Immigration recruitment tragedy Marcus Fatunmole ABUJA

A

fter two years of intense public rage, Federal Government yesterday offered appointment letters to victims of fatal and botched recruitment test conducted by the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, in March 2014.

Saturday Mirror authoritatively gathered that the letters were presented to the victims at the Nigerian Immigration Training School in Kano and Port Harcourt.

Beneficiaries of the em-

ployment include replacements for the deceased applicants for the 2014 Immigration job, and other regular recruits who are currently being trained at the two institutions.

The victims and the dead were promised automatic job by the former President Goodluck Jonathan-led federal government, shortly after the poorly-conducted test claimed about 20 lives, and provoked public wrath.

National Executive Council under former President Jonathan had pledged to offer three job slots to each family of the deceased, two males and a

female each. But, sources could not confirm whether the promise was followed while government made good its promise.

A source who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent yesterday: “I learnt that we would remain in the school for either three or six months for the training.

But, we got our employment letter today. The letter came two years after the government had promised us. The delay notwithstanding, I thank God on behalf of my colleagues, both living and dead.”

National Mirror had exclusively reported

yesterday that Federal Government had invited victims and persons who replaced the dead applicants for the futile 2014 exercise to training at the Immigration schools.

Sources confided in our reporter that the victims, replacements with other regular recruits, numbering over 1000 in each of the training schools obtained their letters.

The trainees are grouped into the two schools, according to their academic qualifications.

Applicants with senior secondary school certificate are deployed to Port-Harcourt, while those

PAGE

8

Libya deports 172 Nigerians for immigration offences Olusegun Koiki

T

he Libyan Government yesterday deported 172 Nigerians over several immigration irregularities.

The deportees arrived the hajj camp area of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport around 7:00am comprising 166 males and six females.

The Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Mr. Ekpedeme King confirmed the deportation with our correspondent on phone, but could not give the registration number of the aircraft that brought them into the country.

The deportees our correspondent gathered were repatriated into the country with chartered aircraft from Libya.

The returnees were received by various agencies such as Immigration that checked their identities to ascertain their nationalities, Police, National Agency for Protection and Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, and other relevant stakeholders.

As at the time of filing this report, the returnees had moved away from the Lagos Airport to their various destinations.

King told our correspondent that the deportees were returned to the country for overstaying their visas in Libya and other immigration offences in the North African country.

He said, “What I can tell you is that some Nigerians were deported today (yesterday) for immigration offences. Most of those brought overstayed Libya.

One of the deportees, who simply identified himself as Chris claimed that he travelled out of Nigeria about two years ago in search of greener pastures.

He however insisted that he didn’t commit any crime in Libya that would warrant his deportation back to Nigeria.

Last November, about 76 Nigerians were deported from three European countries including United Kingdom.

NATIONAL NEWS

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Court remands MD, Contractor over Lekki building collapse Patience Ogbo

A

n Ebute-Metta Chief Magistrate Court on Friday granted the request of the Lagos State Police Command seeking to keep the Managing Director of Lekki Gardens, Mr. Richard Nyong in custody pending the conclusion of on-going investigation into collapse of a five-storey building under construction on Kushenla Road, Ikate Elegushi area of the state which killed no fewer than 35 persons.

In a statement by Ola Akingbade, the Deputy Director, Public Affairs Office, Ministry of Justice, Lagos State,the court also ordered one of the contractors handling the project, Odofin Taiwo Henry to be kept in police custody at State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Unit at Panti Yaba alongside Nyong for the next 30 days.

Magistrate Folashade Botoku, who granted the remand order, held that same was in the interest of justice and public safety. 34-year-old Nyong was apprehended on Thursday, while Odofin was arrested on Wednesday.

The building had crumbled around 3am on Tuesday with several workers trapped in the rubble. The state government had sealed the building, which was originally designed to be a three-storey structure but in a brazen act of defiance and impunity, the owners of the building, Messrs Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited, the promoters of Lekki Gardens, were said to have criminally unsealed the property and continued building beyond the approved floors until the unfortunate incident.

Nyong and Odofin were brought to court at about 1pm in a black Range Rover Sports Utility Vehicle with registration number (Abuja) KWL 682 CN. When the case was called, police prosecutor, Godwin Osuji informed Magistrate Botoku of an ex-parte application seeking to remand the defendants beyond the constitutionally prescribed period, saying the application was brought in the interest of justice, public safety, public order and morality.

He said in view of the circumstances of the case, it was impossible for the

police to conclude the investigation within two days, hence the need for the application. According to Osuji, as at Thursday, 24 bodies were recovered from the scene of the incident, while others were still being recovered. He added that some of the relatives of the victims were still making efforts to identify their dead bodies, while autopsy is yet to be conducted.

He said: “In view of the circumstances of this matter, it will be impracticable for us to conclude investigation in two days as there are so many agencies involved and so we have come to court in order not to run foul of the law.”

He, therefore, urged the court to grant the request to keep the defendants in custody of the Police Criminal Investigation Department pending conclusion of investigation. Responding, counsel to the defendants, Bode Olanipekun orally applied for the bail of his clients. Olanipekun, in the alternative, urged the court to order that the police should release his clients but that they should make themselves available

to police when needed.

However, Osuji, in response, said it was trite law that an application for bail could only be filed after the defendants must have been arraigned on a criminal charge. He said at the moment, the police was yet to file any charge against the defendants and as such the application for bail was not yet ripe.

In her ruling, Magistrate Botoku ruled that under Section 264 (1) of the Lagos State Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2011, she was empowered to order the remand of a defendant as in the instant case, but that the major consideration is the justification of such application.

She held that having gone through the facts of the case, it was in the interest of justice for the application to be granted, as there was merit in it. Magistrate Botoku therefore ordered the defendants to be kept at the Criminal Investigation Department Panti for 30 days at first instance, subject to variation upon further applications. The matter was consequently adjourned to April 12.

Fire outbreak at Tapa street, Lagos Island, yesterday.

Sixty-five lawyers represent Saraki

T

he Code of Conduct Tribunal has adjourned the trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to March I8.

The tribunal, Friday, took the decision after Mr. Saraki’s new lawyer, Kanu Agabi, asked the tribunal to rule first on the senate president’s objection to the powers of the tribunal to try him.

Mr. Saraki is facing charges of alleged false asset declaration and corruption.

The senate president’s bid to thwart the trial

…as tribunal adjourns corruption trial failed after the Supreme Court said the tribunal has powers and was constituted to hear the case against Mr. Saraki.

On resumption of the case at the tribunal, Mr. Agabi, a former Attorney General of the Federation, who led 64 other lawyers to represent Mr. Saraki, presented a fresh motion, seeking a ruling from the chairman of the tribunal, Umar Danladi, on the initial application that the tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to try Mr. Saraki.

Mr. Agabi said a copy of

the application had been presented before the Ministry of Justice and was also addressed to the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs.

He argued that the tribunal chair had an an obligation to rule on the new application.

Citing section 396, of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, Mr. Jacobs objected to the application, saying the matter was not ripe for hearing, and that the application was a new development which he knew nothing about.

“The Ministry of Justice is not the prosecutor in this court,” Mr. Jacobs said.

He added that the new move by Mr. Saraki’s team was new to him.

Responding, Mr. Agabi pleaded with Mr. Jacobs and apologised for not personally handing the application to him.

Another tribunal judge, William Atedze, urged Mr. Jacobs to indulge Mr. Agabi since he had apologised.

The matter was adjourned till March I8.

(PREMIUM TIMES)

Nigeria’ll support Western Sahara on self determination Rotimi Fadeyi

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said Nigeria would stand with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in line with several resolutions of the African Union (AU) on the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence.

A statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina said Buhari spoke while receiving Mohammed Salem Ould Salek, Minister of Foreign Affairs of SADR Buhari assured him that outstanding issues on self determination for the country would be scrupulously attended to.

“The issue first came up when I was in office as military head of state.

After I left government, Nigeria remained steadfast on it.

“In my maiden outing at the UN General Assembly last September, the issue of Sahrawi was in my speech. You have no cause to doubt our commitment. We stand with our African Union colleagues on this issue.

“Nigeria will maintain focus till everything is finally resolved positively,” Buhari told Salek, who visited Abuja as Special Envoy of President Mohammed Abdelaziz of SADR. Salek said his country would never forget the role Nigeria and Buhari as a military Head of State played in recognizing his country in 1984, when it sought self-determination from Morocco.

“It paved the way for the UN to adopt several key resolutions on Western Sahara, elaborating a peace plan. History is now repeating itself, as you are the President of Nigeria at a time the Sahrawi issue is being put on the front burner again.’’

The Special Envoy told the President that his country needed a special push from Nigeria again, as it received in 1984, “to accelerate matters”.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

T

he Government of Osun on Friday said it cannot act outside the outcome of a forensic audit of the staff of the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital Osogbo which has identified cases of irregularities in the recruitment of some staff.

The Government’s statement came in response to a rally embarked upon by some staff of the Teaching Hospital on Wednesday who claimed that government had concluded plans to disengage them.

Signed by the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Mr. Semiu

MARCH 12, 2016

ADO EKITI

A

Federal High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti yesterday ordered the Directorate of Security Services (DSS) to release a member of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon Afolabi Akanni, in their detention with immediate effect.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo ordered the DSS, in the alternative, to produce Akanni in Court on Wednesday, March 16 and show cause why he would not be released.

Akanni, representing Efon Constituency, was arrested last Friday by DSS for undisclosed reason and whisked to Abuja and had since been detained by the security agency.

Akanni, had through his lawyers, Barristers Obafemi Adewale

PAGE

9

Forensic audit of LAUTECH staff reveals unapproved recruitments —Govt

Okanlawon, the statement revealed that it was in the cause of the forensic staff audit that the government discovered various illegal recruitment of staff in ex-

Court orders DSS to release detained assemblyman Abiodun Nejo

SOUTH WEST

and Bunmi Olugbade approached the court through an ex-parte application, seeking the protection of his fundamental human rights in line with Section 35 (1) of the 1999 constitution.

An ex-parte motion number FHC/AD/ CS/18/16, dated March 10 and supported by 21-paragraph affidavits, deposed to by a member of the State House of Assembly, Hon Tunji Akinyele, sought an order of the court compelling the DSS to release the detained lawmaker pending the determination of the substantive issue.

He also sought an order restraining the DSS from further re-arresting, harassing or intimidating him until the main issue pending before the court had been entertained and judgement dispensed.

cess of over 600.

The audit panel, according to the statement, set up in 2015 revealed that about 678 staffers were illegally employed without government approval.

Besides, some of these

staffers were just administrative officers not urgently needed for the growth of the hospital.

Government said that available statistics also showed that some of the administrative officers in

question with Bachelor’s Degrees and Higher National Diploma holders were recruited as security and Ward Assistants on Grade Level 02 only to be promoted to Level 07 within three months of their

unapproved appointment.

Government thus noted that it discovered over 500 staff that are Executive and Assistant Executive Officers more than triple the number of available doctors and consultants.

Kemi Olaitan

statesmen, members of the state House of Assembly and the general public to help prevail on the state government to pay their salaries.

He urged the government to do the needful so as to ensure full commitment to residency training.

He said, “We want a full completion and installation of infrastructures and equipment, payment of our entitlements as resident doctors.

“We also call for the payment of our salaries as members no longer have funds to come to work, feed, continue unusual self sustained residency training and social responsibility”.

He maintained that it would be exactly five months that they last collected salary, despite ren-

dering essential services to save lives of the people.

Oiwoh added that there are some other perennial hydra-headed problems bedevilling the hospital, such as lack of commitment to residency training, incomplete and uninstalled infrastructures which have continued to hamper service delivery.

He listed others as poor doctors welfare, epileptic and grossly unsatisfactory payment of salaries and other entitlement of residency training to resident doctors.

“Inspite of all untoward hardship being experienced by all members of ARD, we have never relented in our resolutions and efforts to ensure that the people enjoy the best of

health care delivery.

“If we are being owed November and December 2015 salaries in March 2016, we cannot even project when we shall begin to receive 2016 salary.

“The highest level of understanding and maturity been displayed by our Resident doctors should not be used as a whip against us.

“As it stands today, our members can no longer fulfil our daily obligations not to talk of attending to other pertinent issue beckoning our attentions.

“Embarrassment has being our lot i.e. from our children schools, our landlords and even in the market with the resultant effect of no money for food, no means of transport to work”, he stated.

…as resident doctors demand five months salary IBADAN

A

ssociation of Resident Doctors (ARD), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, yesterday appealed to Oyo State government for the payment of their five months outstanding salaries.

This was contained in a statement signed by the President of the association, Dr. Seb Oiwoh, and made available to journalists in Ibadan, the state capital.

He called on well meaning citizens of the state, stakeholders, elder

Ekiti 2018: APC tasks new entrants on victory drive Abiodun Nejo ADO EKITI

T

he All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has charged new entrants into the party to work assiduously for the victory of the party in the 2018 governorship election in the state.

APC State Chairman, Chief Jide Awe, who said the party was repositioning to ensure victory in the election, charged new entrants to work with the party at all levels to bring the needed positive change to Ekiti State and the nation.

Awe, represented by his Deputy, Chief Mrs Kemisola Olaleye, spoke at Igede Ekiti in the Irepodun/Ifelodun Council area yesterday while receiving thousands of defectors led by erstwhile Peoples Democratic

Party (PDP) chieftains Chief Femi Akomolafe, Ayo Famutimi and Ojo Ilesanmi into APC. APC Senatorial Candidate, Ambassador Gbenga Olofin who said he had been working tirelessly to ensure the defection of the multitude into the APC, described the leaders of defectors as astute politicians who would bring their wealth of experience and popularity to bear and ensure the party victory.

Olofin, who said the present PDP administration had failed Ekiti State, urged Ekiti people to be patient and prepared for change and as well and be prayerful with the President Muhammadu Buhari Federal Government, adding: “There is still hope for Nigeria economy to improve”.

R- L: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle), with Chairman, Civil Service Commission, Mrs. Adeyinka Taiwo Oyemade; Director General, Public Service Staff Development Centre, Mrs. Olubunmi Fabanwo; Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita; Lagos State Head of Service, Mrs. Olabowale Ademola; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Establishments & Training, Mrs. Folasade Ogunnaike and Director, Lagos Liaison Office, Mrs. Ibironlke Okikiola during a courtesy visit by the Head of Service of the Federation, at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Friday, March 11, 2016.

Ambode restates commitment to civil service reforms

L

agos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Friday restated his administration’s commitment to reforms in the state civil service, saying that only a viable workforce can drive the policies and programmes of any government.

The Governor who spoke when he received the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, on a courtesy at

the Lagos House, Ikeja, said he remains a strong supporter of public service reforms, adding that any government desirable of making positive change in the lives of the citizenry must have a motivated and trained workforce.

“We do not have any choice, because the engine room of whatever it is that is our policy or programme is actually in the public service and in the civil

service, so it is important that we must tag along on the same wave length with all the civil servants for us to be able to achieve all the programmes our party, the APC has decided to put across to all Nigerians,” he said.

He assured Mrs. Oyo-Ita of his administration’s continuous support to enhance the partnership between the state and federal government in the areas of

training and retraining of public servants, saying that it was germane to ensuring continuity in governance.

Earlier, Mrs. Oyo-Ita said she was in Lagos to visit some of the federal institutions in the state, just as she sought the Governor’s support towards revving the comatose nature of some of the federal training institutes so as to make them efficient.

PAGE

10

NORTH

zekiel BAUCHI

GOMBE

G

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Bauchi govt plans programmes for women

Opposition to my election in courts E based on lies – Dankwambo B Williams Attah

MARCH 12, 2016

Titus

auchi State Government says it has planned programmes for the women folk in the state to empower them.

Hajiya Hadiza Abubakar, wife of Governor Mohammed Abubakar of the state made this known in Bauchi while addressing a gathering celebrating International Women’s Day. The programme, tagged ‘Planet 50-50 by 2030, Step up Gender Equality’, was celebrated with various women organisations from all the 20 local government areas of the state.

Hadiza said that it was the collective resolve to help women and girls to achieve their ambitions through systematic educa-

tion for them.

She said that it was her heartbeat that women were neglected in various sphere due to the cultural and religious norms.

Hadiza said that women must stand up and create awareness and develop conscientious inclusive flexible culture that would value women and men’s contributions effectively She traced that the state government had executed programmes since its inception geared towards gender dimension.

According to her, women would be carried along in all sector, especially in education, health and socio-economic areas towards empowering women in the state.

Hajiya Asabe Hamma, Bauchi State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Child Development, had

earlier said that the day was a global event to celebrate the economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and identify areas of gaps.

Hamma said that the above could be achieved through sustained advocacy, awareness creation and self development effort by women themselves.

“We should remember that the society includes men and women, boys and girls, and therefore, in our efforts, all must be carried along for better performance.

“While we digest these hard but true realities, I hope you will all reinvigorate your commitment to push women agenda forward at all levels and in your various endeavors,” she said.

Hajiya Titi Yakubu, Director, Development

Exchange Center (DEC), Bauchi, in a speech at the occasion, frowned at segregation being meted against women in the society..

Yakubu pointed out that women face segregation, especially when seeking employment in financial institutions and other places.

She also pointed out that President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed six women ministers as against the 35 male ministers, which according to her “should have been one man to one woman.”

The director urges women to fight the global disparity between the two genders and equate it.

She further urged women to be solid and vibrant to ensure that their children gain equal right in spite of the prejudices confronting the women folk.

overnor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo has descended hard on the opposition All Progressives Congress in Gombe State for prosecuting the case against his election up to the Supreme Court level based on lies and deception.

According to the Governor, who was on a thank you tour of the state after his Supreme Court victory, the APC in Gombe had prosecuted the case based on lies and deception after clearly conceding defeat after the April 2015 Governorship election.

Speaking at the Palace of the Emir of Akko, Alhaji Mohammed Atiku Mu’azu, Dankwambo stated that the kind of opposition exhibited by the APC was the very dangerous type that would not take the state anywhere.

He said: “Taking me to court by the APC from the election tribunal up to the Supreme Court was just full of lies, and this kind of opposition breeds enmity which is not good for the development of Gombe State.”

“This is not what we, the people of Gombe, are known for; this kind of negative opposition has to stop,” he Mai of Tula Community, Alhaji Abubakar Buba-Atare (left) welcoming Governor of Gombe, Ibrahim Dankwambo in his palace in Gombe, yesterday. regretted.

He said he followed due process to retain the mandate of the people, and therefore, expressed his gratitude on behalf of all Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contestants who stood of the facility at new Koton ued detention of accused “Out of 130 cases, we considWale Ibrahim Karfe Prison yesterday, persons without trial, par- ered I, granted 4 unconditional for election in 2015 from LOKOJA Justice Ajanah howev- ticularly when no efforts are release, granted conditional former President Goodluck s part of efforts to er, expressed worry over made continue the case, will release to one and ordered that Jonathan downwards. decongest prison fa- the high rate in which peo- be tantamount to breach of about 10 inmates should be takIn his remarks, the cilities in Kogi State, ple, especially the youths, fundamental human rights, en to Court for their bail. We Emir of Akko, Alhaji the Chief Judge of the state, commit very serious offenc- according to section 35(4) of have 29 convicts and a total of Mohammed Atiku Justice Nasir Ajanah, has es ranging from culpable constitution of Federal Re- 220 inmates in this facility. The Mu’azu, acknowledged number of people in the prison granted 4 prison inmates homicide, armed robbery, public of Nigeria the developmental strides He therefore, warned exceeds the prison again.” unconditional release from kidnapping and rape in the of Dankwambo in his that no magistrate should Justice Ajanah also exthe custody and one other state.

Emirate, which has resulted was released on bail While granting uncondi- adjourn cases beyond two plained that two weeks would in opening over half of In the same vein, he or- tional release to four inmates, weeks, adding that very be devoted toward the end of their villages to roads and dered that 10 other prison the Chief Judge explained soon, all magistrates will April for assizes where most inmates should be taken that the basic principle of the submit the list of the cases of the criminals will be conelectricity. back to court to process law is that no person shall be they are handling, decided sidered and those who have not He however, decried known their fate will know. their bail while the investi- arrested and prosecuted ex- or disposed off. the return of activities cept for established or known The Chief Judge pointThose granted freedom were gation of their cases continof restive youths in the offences. ed out that there were 199 Shola Akanbi, Godwin Pete, ues unhindered area known as yankalare, He also pointed out that awaiting trial, noting that Danlami Opaluwa and Yakubu, Justice Nasir Ajanah, and called on the state who gave these order while the section of the Constitu- 130 cases were treated and while one Momoh Jimoh Aliu government to initiate reviewing cases of 199 await- tion has stipulated the peri- the remaining 69 cases fell was granted bail with N5,000 more youth development ing trial inmates during the od an accused person can be within the responsibility of and one surety. programmes.

Prison Decongestion Tour detained, noting that contin- the Federal High Court .

Kogi CJ releases 4 prison inmates ---Warns magistrates against frivolous adjournment

A

Gombe Assembly pass N76.8 billion 2016 budget into law Williams Attah GOMBE

T

he Gombe State House of Assembly has passed into law the State’s 2016 Appropriation Bill of seventy-six billion, eight hundred and four million, one hundred and seven thousand, thirty-two naira ninety-four kobo (N76, 804,107,032.94).

This is reflecting an increase of two hundred and fifty seven million, one hundred and ninety-five thousand naira (N257, 195, 000.

00) above the initial proposal presented to the House by the Governor last December.

This action was followed by the adoption of the recommendation contained in the report of the House Committee on Appropriation resented to the House in its chambers.

Presenting the report, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Solomon Philip Jisimah, said the budget is made up of a capital expenditure of thirty-four billion, five hundred and seventy-seven million, six hundred and fifty-nine thousand six hundred and fifty-eight naira forty-seven kobo (N34, 577, 659, 658.47) and a recurrent receipt of forty-two billion, six hundred million, eight hundred and sixty-five thousand naira (N42, 600, 865, 000.00).

He said the budget will be funded with a recurrent receipt of forty-two billion, six hundred million, eight hundred and sixty-five thousand (N42, 600, 856, 000.00) and capital receipt of thirty-four billion, four hundred and seventeen thousand, six hundred and twenty-five naira fifty-three kobo (N34, 004, 417, 625.53) with a deficit of five hundred and seventy-three million, two hundred and forty-two thousand, thirty-two naira, ninety-four kobo (N573, 242, 032.94).

He explained further that capital expenditure has the highest sectorial allocation of thirty-four billion, five hundred and twelve million, six hundred and fifty-nine thousand, six hundred and fifty-eight naira forty-seven kobo (N34, 512, 659, 658.47) followed by the economic sector which has twenty-one billion, one hundred and seventy-two million, nine hundred and twenty-three thousand four hundred and eighty-two naira (N21, 172, 923, 482.00) while the administrative, regional development and judiciary sectors followed with N1.5 billion, N20 million and N670.5 million respectively.

MARCH 12, 2016

POLITICS

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

PAGE

11

Beyond Zuma’s visit Lekan Adejuwon

R

ising from a two-day official visit, the South African President last Tuesday, may have kick started what many have described as a subtle diplomatic mission to restore the age long frosty relationship between his country and Nigeria.

The South African leader is making the first visit to the country since the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari last year.

It would be recalled that relation between the two countries came to an all time low in 2012 when South African authorities deported 125 Nigerians who landed at the Johannesburg Tambo International Airport aboard a South African Airways and Arik Air flights from Nigeria.

According to the host country, the Nigerian passengers were allegedly carrying fraudulent yellow fever cards.

Nigeria, in a swift reaction to the perceived ill treatment of her citizens also deported over 80 South Africans in batches under the same charge of possessing illegal travel documents.

The ugly development made the then Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Late Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru in a fit of anger retorted; “The way you treat me is the way I will treat you, if you treat my people with dignity, I will treat your people with dignity.

If you treat our own people anyhow, we will do the same thing to you” Furthermore, he said; “When you deport two Nigerians from your country on flimsy excuses, there will be appropriate reaction.

It will not be retaliation, but you will know that we are reciprocating one way or the other. South African immigration authorities or officials do not have a monopoly of deporting travellers” As the dust over the brewing diplomatic row appeared to have settled, another rounds of trouble resurfaced in April 2015 when South African citizens carried out a spate of xenophobic attacks on foreigners living in the country including Nigerians and other nationals.

It is on record that over 800,000 Nigerians are living in South Africa.

Nigerians were reportedly counting their losses during the unprovoked attacks as the Nigerian Consul-General, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke listed the losses to include looted shops, burnt shops, two burnt mechanic workshops, 11 burnt cars and two stolen cars, among others.

Ajulu-Okeke said “Nigerians have compiled damages to their property and it is totalling about 1.2 million Rand or N21 million, which will be sent to the Federal Government for further action” She said that in Durban, two of the three Nigerians who were wounded during attacks had been treated and discharged from the hospital.

The action, in a related development, led to the Nigerian government recalling her envoys from Pretoria while the South African government condemned the move describing it as “an unfortunate and regrettable step” But what seems the last straw that broke the camel’s back in the diplomatic rift be-

tween the two African largest economies was the seizure of over $9m, supposedly money meant for the purchase of arms by the Jonathan government in by the Sout African government.

The action came on the heels of heightened insurgency in the North East and against the international arms embargo on Nigeria.

Since then, the relationship between the two countries has remained cold, until Zuma’s visit last Tuesday.

The outcome of preliminary meetings on Tuesday between President Buhari and his visiting South African counterpart has raised hopes that the frosty relations between the two countries will soon end.

This hope was rekindled when Zuma announced the signing of 30 bilateral agreements between the two countries, noting that both leaders had committed to improved trade and economic ties.

He also indicated that the seizure last year, of Nigeria’s money for the purchase of arms, which had further strained their relations had been resolved noting that the money will soon be returned after the resolution of some technical details.

But many analysts have looked beyond President Zuma’s august visit to Nigeria as a tonic to woo the country in order to protect the many South African business interests in Nigeria It is on record that Nigeria has provided a safe haven for a number of South African blue chip companies which include MTN, Power Giant, Eskom Nigeria, South African Airways, South African Breweries (SAB miller), Stanbic Merchant Bank of Nigeria, Multichoice, Umgeni Water, Refresh products, PEP Retail Stores.

Others are Shoprite, LTA Construction, Protea Hotels, Critical Rescue International, South African-Nigeria Communications and Global Outdoor Semces Oracle amongst others.

The telecom giant, MTN is currently having a face-off with the Federal Government over some issues in its operation in the country where the company is to cough out over a trillion naira as fine to the Nigerian Communications Commission NCC. But speaking publicly for the first time since the fine on MTN was imposed last October, President Buhari had blamed the

tardiness of the telecoms giant in complying with the directive by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on the registration of all subscribers on its network for aiding Boko Haram in carrying out its attacks which have led to the death of about 10,000 Nigerians.

Taking a cue from the reconciliatory mode, Buhari said concerns expressed over perceived harsh regulatory actions, which had seen Nigerian regulators impose stiff penalties on some South African companies, would be looked into.

Although he frowned on MTN’s decision to take the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to court over the regulator’s $3.9 billion fine for the telecom firm’s failure to disconnect 5.2 million unregistered subscribers.

“The concern of the federal government was basically in the area of security and not the fine imposed on MTN. You know how the unregistered SIMs are used by terrorists and between 2009 and today, at least 10,000 Nigerians were killed by Boko Haram, at least 10,000.

Zuma, who addressed a joint sitting of National Assembly, struck a similar cord with Buhari’s expectations.

The South African President told the session presided over by the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, that the two countries needed to strike a more rewarding business partnership by diversifying their economies to notable sectors such as agriculture, electricity, infrastructure development and manufacturing.

In his opening remarks, Saraki described Zuma’s visit as unique, saying it was similar to US President Bill Clinton’s visit to Nigeria in 2000.

“Your visit today is symbolic. This will be the first time in the life of this Eighth National Assembly that we will be honouring a visiting president in a joint session of the National Assembly.

“It is therefore befitting that this honour goes to you Mr. President and by extension the people of South Africa” In the closing speech, Speaker Yakubu Dogara tactically drew Zuma’s attention to South Africans’ xenophobia and their disdain for Nigerians, saying if Nigeria had been beneficial to the country, it should also translate to a good relationship among citi-

zens of the two countries.

“South Africa has a large population of Nigerians living and contributing their quota to its development. We, as representatives of the people, seek that this brotherhood between our leaders translates to good relations between citizens of both countries and it is only then that both countries can speak of true integration of our peoples in the interest of our continent” Meanwhile, some members of the National Assembly have expressed optimism that the visit of South African President, would end xenophobic attacks against other Africans in South Africa saying the visit was a welcome development and an indication that South Africa appreciated Nigeria’s contribution in the fight against Apartheid.

Senator Yusuf Yusuf (APC-Taraba Central) said that beyond protecting Nigerians living in South Africa, Zuma’s visit would enhance the Nigerian economy in many areas, especially security, commerce and communication.

“President Zuma’s visit shows a good cooperation between Nigeria and South Africa and it is for the first time that the President of South Africa is coming to the National Assembly.

“On the Xenophobic attacks in the country, I believe that dialogue is the best way to move every nation forward and that is what this visit I believe will avail the two countries,’’ he said.

Similarly, Sen. Fatima Raji-Rasaki (PDP-Ekiti Central) said insinuations that Zuma’s visit was to garner support to stop impeachment moves against him was not tenable.

According to her, his visit has nothing to do with the impeachment move against him because the country has internal mechanism to adequately handle such issue.

She said “The visit shows commitment of the two countries to develop Africa. “ I thank God that South Africa did not forget the role that Nigeria played during Apartheid.

“I don’t think his visit is because of any impeachment move, because in a democratic setting you agree to disagree. “ Even during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s time, there were several moves to impeach him; so, I think Zuma’s coming is to further strengthen the relationship of his country with Nigeria.’’

PAGE

POLITICS

12

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Why PDP kicked against Ali Modu Sheriff –Hon Ogundele Hon Sikirullai Wale Ogundele, two-term member of Ogun State House of Assembly and former Chairman of Ifo Local Government Area bares his mind on some burning issues in the polity including the fate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Governor Amosun, and 2019 LEKAN ADEJUWON reports:

P

rior to the 2015 election in Ogun State, you were one of the contenders for the governorship election jn the state, but all of a sudden, you chickened out and since then you seemed to have gone on sabbatical.

Are you temporarily taking a recess from in politics?

Let me first of all, correct that perception about my chickened out. I have never been a coward. I have always been a goal getter believing that what was worth doing at all is worth doing very well. There is no crime in coming up with an aspiration or having an ambition which I had then. History will not forgive us if our unborn children got to know that governorship was zoned to Egba around that time and based on my credibility, I did not participate. That was one of the reasons why I decided to run considering my pedigree and my capabilities. But there is something in politics which one should take cognizance of which is party supremacy. When it was initially zoned, I ran, but it was later zoned to another senatorial district-Yewa which has never had a governor before. So when it was zoned to that district, I had to step down. I did not chickened out as you wrongly said. As a politician who had contested elections and won, you must not expect things to go your own way always. So I had to put everything to support the person that the party fielded at the time GNI and at the end of the day, we were rigged out. As for me I just decided to go back to the drawing board to look at where we’ve had problems and so far we have commenced the process of rebuilding the party for the coming elections. I never chickened out.

Also, there were pockets of intra-party crises in the PDP in the country during the period which has not abated up till now. Only yesterday, some aggrieved members of the PDP floated a new part in Abuja. Do you see yourself aligning with the new body?

Let me first correct the misconception that we have crisis in the PDP. It was just a mere disagreement and in all associations , we are bound to have misunderstanding or disagreement and at times we disagree

Ogundele

to agree on some issues bases on principles and ideologies not forgetting individuals differences but these disagreements in most times are being misconstrued to mean crises. It is not only PDP that is having problems today. Even the ruling party in Nigeria is having very serious problems. I don’t see disagreement in politics as crisis. This is because crisis end up in breaking bones or exchange of blows. The constitution allows freedom to associate.

If disagreement is not properly managed, it may lead to a break up. So I don’t believe we have crises. If some people came up with the idea of forming a new party, they are free. As for me Hon Sikirullai Ogundele I am still studying the situation. I want to look at what is likely to be the prognosis of that misunderstanding, if the break up of PDP is the best answer, I will support. I am watching and studying the situation. I am also consulting with my constituents. I wouldn’t go against formation of a new party because PDP has been dented somehow and political alliance is not new in politics.

AD transformed to AC, ACN and finally to APC. We are bound to have coalition of people of like minds coming together. So it is completely legal.

The reason I asked that question is that you have been a PDP chieftain in Ogun State which for 8 years was in power but the party has become the opposition in the past 6 years. Don’t you think that something must have been fundamentally wrong with the party which may lead to someone like you leaving the party?

To some extent I want to agree with you.

In a situation where you have improper management of issues, people are bound to have mis-judgement. I want to believe Nigerians misjudged PDP and that was why they voted PDP out. The majority of those APC people today were former PDP. So, Nigerians just got tired of PDP, I mean the structural body of the PDP comprising of the people that defected to the APC, contested in the party and won despite the fact that they were the major contributors to the problems affecting PDP. It is purely analytical. So the problem is just the name of the party. So whatever might have happened to the PDP as a party I don’t see it af-

fecting the structural pattern of the party because the people that left were still voted for in the APC. So if some people feel like, well, this party has been adequately dented and the name is no longer sellable again, they might come up with formation of new party whereby some of the aggrieved APC members, some of the aggrieved PDP members and other people with like minds form a new party and when you look at the credibility of those forming the party, I would consult with my people and get to know which way to go You rightly opined that the PDP has no structural problem but some people may like to argue that PDP is its own problem, take for example the recent appointment of Ali Modu Sheriff as the Acting Chairman of the party, shouldn’t the party go for a less controversial person?

Let me say to you that since we’ve been having national congresses, there has never been a time when the emergence of party chairman has a 100% support from members. I can start fo give you names from Ogbulafor to Bamangar Tukur. All of them were not fully supported by the cabal in the party. But in this case of Sheriff, what I observed that brought about the ill feelings about his emergence was he mistakenly said that “I would take you to victory in 2019”. That was what generated noise in the first instance because he was appointed to complete a term of Mu’azu which is supposed to be 3 months and you are now aspiring to hold it to 2019 whereby we are looking at zoning presidency to the North. To an average person, we should be looking for a national chairman from the south. Now that you want to indirectly block that permutations, that was why they rose against him and I think it has been settled.

You have been a critic of the Governor Ibikunle Amosun-led administration especially in the area of projects during his first term, have you had a cause to change your mind now that he is on the second and final lap?

I have decided not to make comments about the government again because I don’t want to judge because the bible said ‘judge not’ but that doesn’t stop us from

making observations. What I said that time just few months into his government was that this man has got nothing upstairs.

This man has gotten no blue print for the people of Ogun State. If you want to come and take responsibilities at that level, one must come with plans, one must be focus, but I want to believe the governor of Ogun State today is not responsive to the people of Ogun State. They are running a penny wise pound foolish government, policy summersaults and what have you.

Do you have your facts?

Look at some of the projects that he has embarked upon. Take for example, the pedestrian bridge that was erected at Ita Eko. No single person has ever stepped on that bridge. The place is under lock and key now. Look at the planting of flowers, the bridge constructions. In his first four years, he intended to do over 30 bridges.

In four years he successfully constructed 3 to 4 bridges and now he is coming up with other bridges. I want to believe it is policy summersault. He said during campaigns that education is going to be free, health is going to be free for pregnant women. Get to any of our hospitals today. The governor has put all his concentration on roads beautification. Is that what the people of Ogun State need now? He has abandoned other sectors of administration such as health, education and agriculture. No one single investor has come to Ogun State in the past xix years.

Lastly, 2019 in the life of politicians is just around the corner, what are the plans and permutations of your party?

Like I said earlier, I and other like minds have gone back to the drawing board. We are looking up towards having a governorship candidate from Ijebu. Two times, the opportunity has been given to the Yewa but they failed and the Egba is the one doing it now. So to the best of my knowledge Ijebu is working hard to present a credible person which I believe, is Hon. Ladi Adebutu.

This is largely because the family has been the sole largest employer of labour in Ogun State through the Baba Ijebu Premier Lotto business. So many youths could have turned to robbers if not for the lottery business which has helped to put food on their tables. So we are looking at the popularity of this person, we are looking at the economic advantage of this person to us the people of Ogun State. We are looking at the generosity of his parents and his own generosity too. The family has done so much But I want to take you up on that sir. In politics, sometimes 2x2 doesn’t add up to 4. Is it not too early to come to that conclusion because there is always intrigues and power play among you politicians, what if the scenario changes along the line?. Are you giving a personal view?

As a politician that has been on holidays for a long time and with the level of my understanding in politics, we need somebody that has the popularity. We need credible person to come out. Ladi Adebutu is a politician. He is also an industrialist. He has the largest pig farm in Africa not only in Nigeria. He has his chain of businesses.

There is a lot of credibility attached to him and I believe the person we need now is not a controversial person and Ladi Adebutu fits that vaccum.

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

TALKING POLITICS ‘There’ll be more Eses until we make example of Yerima’ —Prof Wole Soyinka

“A

governor, now senator, boasts that he has a right to marry and consummated a marriage with a 13-year-old, when it’s proven that he actually paid the father who was a driver in Egypt, and we screamed at the time that this was a crime, not only in Nigeria but in a Moslem country – Egypt; that this was cross-border s*x trafficking, in addition to flouting the laws of this nation and Egypt.

“He took the girl from school and then announced his right to consummate the marriage – that his religion permitted him to do so.

“Acts of impunity inevitably lead to problems such as Boko Haram.

“When you invoke religion, there are others who will say: ‘O, you say you are pious, but I am holier than you, therefore I can interpret that same source the way I want to authorise me to kill you, your

‘I’ve done my best for Ese’ — Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

“T

he matter is worrisome, to the extent that two people phoned me in the morning today from South Africa over the matter.

I told them clearly that I had directed for her repatriation since the last six month.

“I can also remember that I ordered the District head of Kura, The Sharia Commission and Hisbah to investigate the allegation she (Ese) raised that her mother wanted to kill her.

“The duo confirmed to me that the allegation raised by Ese is true.

“I requested police intervention just to get her a cover to take her back home.

“I think it is the Police authorities that caused the delay. I have done my best for her and even directed for action.

It’s unfortunate that the police delayed

“U

nder Section 38 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, no child of school age should be forced to convert to another religion other than his parents.

“The section says no person attending any place of education shall be required to receive religious instruction or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or observance if such instruction ceremony or obser-

— Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State

this matter which has embarrassed us.

“Ese is under aged and she can’t be married off as an under aged. Every Muslim also knows that marriage can’t be without guidance.

“She must be taken back to her parents; she can only marry when she reaches the age of 18 years.”

— Mallam Muhammed Garba, Kano State Commissioner for Information, Youths and Sports

“T

vance relates to a religion other than his own, or religion not approved by his parent or guardian.

“Ese was attending a school in Bayelsa State when Yunusa allegedly abducted her to Kano State and forcefully converted her to Islam without her parents’ approval.

“That is a violation of Section 38 of the Constitution, “Yunusa’s father had spoken out that he warned his son not to bring Ese to Kano, adding that when the Emir learned of it, he directed security agencies to intervene.

“There is a United Nations convention for the rights of the child. Nigeria as a UN member ratified the convention and domesticated the law in 2003.

Since 2003, we have had the Child’s Right Act. Under Section 15 of the Act, every child in Nigeria shall be educated at the expense of the state from primary to junior secondary school.

“In fact, under that law, it is a criminal offence not to allow your child to be educated.

“What Yunusa has done by taking that girl from her school in Yenegoa is a violation of that law.”

‘Ese’s abduction must be thoroughly investigated’

‘Don’t link Kano State Govt with Ese’s abduction’ he state government condemned the whole episode particularly, the security agencies’ poor handling of the matter.

“Although, the state government was not aware of the incident, the directive of Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi, for the release of the girl should have been acted on.

“Government therefore, ordered that the abductor be brought to book since the Constitution and Islamic teaching abhor abduction and forced marriage.

“We urge the public to ignore any

13

‘Don’t mix religion with criminality’ —Femi Falana (SAN)

wife, your brothers, your family; because I say you’re not holy enough and I can prove it.

“That is what happens when we allow people to get away with impunity based on religion.

“So, let’s take religion out of this. We’re talking about pure criminality and it is my demand, and will always remain my demand, that until you make an example of people like Yerima, there will be thousands of Yunusa, the man who abducted Ese.”

PAGE

statement by anyone or group, linking the government with the matter in the social media, as such act was meant to tarnish the image of the state.

“The alleged abductor was responsible for his action and should solely take responsibility for it, as the state has cordial relation with Bayelsa indigenes living in Kano State.

“The government enjoined indigenes of Kano state living in other parts of the country to live peacefully with their host communities and respect their ways of life”.

“T

his matter has to do with enforcement of the laws of this state. This matter is not

religious; “It is not a matter that has to be swept under the carpet, because of one tradition or the other.

“We as a government is seeing this matter as one of law enforcement; the rights of a young girl, innocent child-

hood, her right to proper development and her right to grow up in the company of her parents and also practice for now the faith of her parents. A lot has happened.

“I want to use this opportunity to assure all that the Nigeria Police Force is working hard and I have directed the Ministry of Justice to collaborate effectively with them to ensure that this matter is prosecuted to a logical conclusion.”

“I also trust and believe that, the Police investigations would also extend far and wide, because there are questions begging for answers and we as a government, we want to know why adults, fathers and grandfathers, who saw a minor taken away from here down and into circumstances she found herself in far away Kano did not make it a priority of returning that child; that minor to the lawful and proper custody of her parents.

“We want to know why it took this long; we like to know those who knew what was going on, but did not say something We like to know those, who could have saved this situation much earlier, but did not.”

PAGE

14

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

15

PAGE

15

Sentencing minors to illicit marriages

Ese Oruru’s saga throws light on a phenomenon that may have been with us for a long time, reports JULIET UMEH

H

ell was almost let lose last week at the news of the alleged abduction/ forced marriage of Miss Ese Rita Oruru, a teenage girl from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, who was taken away last year from her mother’s shop in her home state by a Kano indigene named Yinusa. For the parents of Ese, Mr Charles and Mrs Rose Oruru, life apparently became a hell of sort while trying to secure the release of their 13-year-old child. Before Ese regained her freedom last week, her mother, Mrs Oruru, said the man who forcefully took their child away was not ready to release her.

In a chat with Mr Oruru, Ese’s father, he informed Saturday Mirror the genesis of Ese’s ordeal. “My daughter was abducted

from my wife’s shop. My wife sells food and the boy in question is one of her customers.

That fateful day, the boy came into the shop and mysteriously lured her out. And when it happened I didn’t keep quiet, I reported to the police. I went to Kano with two police officers; we stayed there for one week. We have been travelling up and down to Kano.

This is Nigeria, things that concerns big men are different from poor man’s own. I am very happy that my daughter has been released and talking about the punishment, the law will take its course. Nigerian government knows how to punish someone who is trafficker or kidnapper.”

Mr Oruru is appreciative of the efforts of Child Protection Network, CPN, a nongovernmental oraganisation, which in the

past one year that their daughter was in the strange home of the abductors, relentlessly searched for her until she was found. “This is the agency that worked for me. I cannot commend the police, because had the matter been left for the police to singularly handle, it would have ended in disappointment.

The police did not do any work, though they accompanied me to Kano. When we returned from Kano, they failed to do a follow-up until CPN picked it up again and other agencies joined them,” he said.

He also berated the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, for not playing positive role because he acted under pressure mounted on him by the general public and government agencies. “It was when all the agencies in Yenegoa and Abuja criticised him that he acted, but earlier, he didn’t make any attempt because he was the one that collaborated with the council to hold the girl. So I didn’t see what the Emir did. The tension was too much for him

because of the suspicion that the case could cause a communal crisis and that’s why the Inspector General of Police, IGP, forced him to release the girl,” he added.

But other reports have it that Ese was abducted in August last year from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, by Yinusa, and taken all the way to Kano, where she was allegedly hypnotised, brainwashed, converted to Islam, renamed Aisha and married off as a child-bride. Many Nigerians therefore called on the IGP to intervene and Emir of Kano to facilitate the immediate release of the innocent teenage girl. Finally, Ese who turned 14 on February 22, was released to her parents after much pressure by the general public and civil society groups. The matter has not ceased to attract condemnation in every sense of it since it came to the public notice.

Like Ese the 14-year-old house help of Malam Yahai, a businessman who hails CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

PAGE

16

Mirror

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘Minors cannot consent to marriage’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

from Jigawa, and his wife, was not lucky because she suffered emotional torture as she was ravished of her innocence. The girl whose identity was not revealed was allegedly put in a family way by her master.

The ugly result of the unholy romance between her and her master, was discovered few weeks back. Although her master, Malam Yahai, pleaded not guilty to the charge of impregnating the youth brought against him at the Garki Local Government Area Court, the presiding judge nonetheless called for a further investigation of the case, adding that a date for next hearing of the case will be fixed after the police have concluded investigation.

While narrating her ordeal before Magistrate Aliyu Roni of the Garki Local Government Area Court, Maugatarin Bawan Allah Village, the girl said that on several occasions whenever his wife was out of the house, her master had sexual relation with her, therefore she insisted that he must take responsibility for the care of her son.

Last Tuesday, as the nation was celebrating the discovery of Ese and her transfer to Abuja, the nation’s capital, three girls of Babington Macaulay Secondary School, Ikorodu, Lagos, were abducted by gun-wielding gang who stormed their classrooms during the hours of evening prep after gaining entry into the school through a hole dug through the school’s wall. The abduction of the students attracted prompt response by the Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode and security chiefs to the school and drawing strategy that will lead to their rescue.

In Surulere, Lagos, Mrs. Bilikis Balogun, mother of, Nofisat, is a sad woman, because a 30-year-old man identified as Ikechukwu Obasi, allegedly had carnal knowledge of her nine-year-old girl, when she returned from an errand he had sent her. Nofisat’s mother, who narrated her daughter’s ordeal, told newsmen that even though the accused had left his apartment, she would want the full weight of the law decide the punishment he deserves for defiling her daughter. While narrating when and how the debasing incident took place, she said she was in the market when her daughter came crying, and told her the story about how their neighbour deflowered her.

Sunshine State, Ondo, is also represented in the social evil by the case of incest by Femi Orojo and a 13-year-old girl, who was also allegedly raped and impregnated by the Okitipupa, Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo Stateborn man, who is old enough to be her step father. According to reports, the accused had allegedly committed the offence in October 2015, while his wife, the mother of the victim, Bunmi, was away from home.

The hapless mother however explained that her husband was at large after confessing to the crime but unfortunately, her innocent 13-year-old was already five months’ pregnant when it was discovered last week.

However, it was not well-understood why the girl was unwilling to establish the identity of the man who put her in the family way, but in a statement, she mentioned that Orojo had promised to kill her if she revealed the illicit affair to her mother. Although the Ondo State

Police Spokesman, Mr. Femi Joseph, said the suspect had not been arrested, but investigation into the matter was still ongoing.

Recently, the Nigerian press was replete with reports of amorous affairs between hell-bound masters, step fathers, guardians, and the worst of it all is that these illicit affairs were between those uncouth men and young girls under their care leaving out their legally married wives. Sadly, some of these evil men go as far as violating younger children of two or three years.

Now questions begging for answer include why are older men having developed sexual appetite or getting attracted to underage girls, not considering their ages and knowledge to make responsible decisions about coitus.

Experts say perhaps some of the reasons this ugly situation keeps occurring may be because children of nowadays mature fast and develop early adult features. Diet is by far the most important factor – medics and psychotherapists both point to improved feeding being the cause of change in children’s bodies over the past century.

Apart from feeding which may result in precocious bodies, “many other things about young girls turn on men. These include weight, average or a little above.

Lips, medium or large- sized. Hips and buttocks: huge, wide, or flat. Breast, not too small, not too large; not droopy or saggy, but appealing sexually. Good complexion, clean head hair, intelligence, assertiveness,

Oruru’s parents

rulers in the North, the Emir of Kano, the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria. Opara said it is bad enough that such indiscretions and criminal abuse of the rights of children are happening in the northern parts of the country, with the knowledge (and sometimes active participation) of the elite. “To go across the Niger and actually abduct an underage Christian, forcefully convert her to Islam and marry her off is nothing but an act of deliberate provocation and an attempt to further inflame the already smouldering fire of ethnic and religious sentiments across the country,” he declared.

A mother, Mrs. Olufunke Phillips, averred that under no circumstance should this evil act be condoled. “A 13-year-old girl is a child. People should stop saying she

People should stop saying she consented to follow the man to Kano. She is a minor. She cannot give consent. You can’t take a child out of her State and away from her family, take her to Kano, convert her to your religion, change her name then marry her. This is not a jungle and we are not wild animals having initiative, a sense of humour and attractive looks. Many young girls are naturally sexy. They wear clothes that are too colourful, sexy and attractive. Everyone that sees them thinks they are ready for any man because their sexy image gives a wrong signal to men,” an old mother stated.

Phillip Hodson, fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, says: “The best way not to go into puberty is starvation. Early puberty is about great nutrition, in the classic sense of getting access to good protein, good vitamins and minerals.” He underlines that earlier puberty is often accompanied by a commensurate growth in height – this is particularly evident among Japanese girls over the past half century. However, having a sexual attraction to children is not normal and never will be,” he maintained.

While the release of Ese was lingering, a lot of furious Nigerians were voicing out, amongst them is a social analyst and Director, Corporate Communications and CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Opara, who could not believe at the mention of one of the most respected traditional

consented to follow the man to Kano. She is a minor. She cannot give consent. You can’t take a child out of her State and away from her family, take her to Kano, convert her to your religion, change her name then marry her. This is not a jungle and we are not wild animals,” she asserted. She believes that Yinusa and everybody involved in the abduction saga should be arrested. “We need to at least get some things right in this country.” She asked: “How do you explain that in 2016, in this day and age, a man can kidnap your child, change her name and forcefully marry her?” Bottom of Form A social commentator, Samuel Ogbonnaya, probed: “How on earth does any sane mind accept that a 13-year-old girl has the maturity to accept to be married and her religion forcefully changed without the express approval of her parents? I thought it is the convention that parents approve their kids to be married and are believed to be the ones to handover their child to whoever that has followed the process?

This is one major reason this country needs to reconsider the question of unity.

My values, religion, tradition, culture and

morals forbid situations like this one.”

However some other people believe that globalisation, internet and celebrity culture, which expose children to the adult world too soon, is a contributing factor to this menace. “Images of thin or overtly sexy celebrities, magazines aimed at seven to 13-year-olds but with content more suitable for older teenagers, and the easy availability of suggestive images, pornographic or bawdy pictures are reasons children grow up too quickly,” Mrs. Busayo Odebiyi, a secondary school teacher admitted.

“Children need growth and emotionally maturity to cope with what life throws at them,” says Mr. Ejike Onyekwele, a civil servant. “The pace of modern life is so fast that it is even snatching away the precious years of childhood. A toxic combination of marketing, media and peer pressure means children no longer want to be seen as children, even when as parents we know they still are,” he said. But he suggested that there should be a radical rethink in society to revalue childhood and protect it as a precious time – “not time to put pressure on children to grow up far too fast by engaging them in one form of illicit affair or the another,” he advised. But Mr. James Udoma, a teacher in Unique Comprehensive Secondary School, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, who totally condemned the act of violating children, says if kids go through puberty early; that does not mean they will become sexually active earlier because their emotional maturity will not match their sexual development.

Making his point on this important subject, a gynaecologist and obstetrician, at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Joy Agbara, totally condemned the idea of putting underage girls into family way because of its negative health consequences as a young girl is often not psychologically, physically and sexually mature. Speaking further, Dr Agbara, stated that such pregnancy results in complications that may pose too herculean to them – gynaecologists.

The doctor explained: “A teenager is still a child, an involving woman who is still requiring care. For instance, the pelvic bone of a woman is formed as a child, but it grows to the point where one gets within the reproduction stage where baby can pass through. And when there is teenage pregnancy where the pelvic girdle is not well developed, that is why you have some of the obstructed labour in these girls and the consequences.”

Entervaganza

The Saturday Mirror Magazine

Fashion Frenzy Dressing casual P.24

Relationships IsIsforeplay fireplay an essential part of sex?

P.34

Sex talk Face-saving tips for

men who come too quickly P.34

Cuppy

... refreshingly different

c How I became first PAGE

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

18

ELEBRITY

c

e

l

e

b

r

i

t

y

Nigerian to participate in Girls 20 —Kate Ekanem Kate Ekanem is a writer and a girl’s right activist. She also has the distinction of being the first Nigerian to participate in the Girls 20, an annual summit which is endorsed by the G-20. She was at last year’s summit which held in Turkey as a representative of the African Union, and she spoke with OSEYIZA OOGBODO on her participation and her mandate which she has to implement now she’s back in the country.

Why did you become a writer?

After my mother’s death when I was just two years old, and as the only child of my mother, I was mostly lonely, no one to talk to, and no one to call mine because my dad was mostly occupied with work, I grew fond of books. I was crazily in love with animated stories, and so, at age 5, I started writing short stories. It was a relief and a break from boredom. I created characters I could communicate with. With writing, I was never alone.

What have you achieved as a writer?

I wouldn’t say I’ve achieved much because I’m still growing and also working on becoming better. But as a 22-year-old writer, I’m proud my works have been published in several magazines and blogs such as Tru Applause magazine, Huffing post, Pulse magazine, Connecticut, just to mention but a few, and in 2012, my first travel story with the Derive Crew, Austria, was published in English and translated in French and other languages and I have successfully organized several writing workshops for schools and Authors Talk for emerging writers.

Why did you go into girl’s right activism?

As a child, I had lived in fear. Fear of being spanked for nothing. Fear of being raped when in the midst of men. Fear of being disrespectful. As far as I can remember, I was a child who wanted to please everybody that came my way. I was afraid to say ‘no’ to anything. That feeling of fear and insecurity grew in me. I felt caged in a way that it affected me badly and resulted to so many mistakes in life. But as I grew and attended seminars, I discovered that I really have a right to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ I discovered I could use my voice to get myself out of any situation I find myself. It was a great discovery and by that, I decided that it would be important to make other girls realize that there was power in their

voices. I needed to make all girls that came by way understand that they could say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to whatever situation, and that is what I have been doing. So far, it has been worth my devotion.

Is activism stressful or easy?

Activism is easy when it’s your passion, but it’s a bit demanding.

You represented the African Union at the Girls 20 last year October, November in Turkey. How did it come about?

Girls 20 is under the umbrella of the G-20 summit. It is a global summit that selects 27 girl leaders between the age of 18-23 from different countries around the world to represent their country or continent with an aim of assisting the G-20 leaders with a communiqué that would help them achieve their goals of creating one hundred million jobs for women by 2020. I was nominated for it, and then asked to fill out some forms that required information concerning my service to the girl child. It was challenging, I must admit, because the applicants were more than 3,000 across Africa. All bright, brilliant young ladies across Africa wanted that position.

Now you’re back in the country, tell us about your mandate that you want to implement.

As a representative of Africa, I am expected to execute a project that would economically engage at least 200 girls and women across Africa. My project is titled African Women Empowerment and it would involve the south, east, west and north of Africa. Specifically, it’ll involve Nigeria, Namibia, Morocco and Ethiopia in professional training in ICT, photography and bead making. It’s a form of connecting Africa with same skills. My tenure lasts for eight months, and sadly enough, three months are gone already with my project still on hold.

What is your plan to present your mandate to President Buhari?

All delegates were sent back to their various countries to submit the communiqué officially to their President and to execute the mandatory project with full support from their government. Unfortunately, I am the only delegate who has been unable to reach out to her President or receive support towards her mandate.

I have tried and I am still trying to reach out to the President and corporate organizations for support towards my mandate. I represented 54 African countries in Turkey and it breaks my heart that my voice that was meant to be heard is now confined to the comfort of my cupboard as my communiqué is yet to reach the President and my mandate has not been executed.

How do you feel that you’re the first Nigerian to be a delegate at Girls 20?

For a girl like me who has no mother and a father who is still struggling to survive, it was a dream come true. I still can recollect

that evening when it was announced that I had been chosen out of 3,000 girls across Africa. I felt like fainting. I had shed so many tears for the opportunity because it was like breaking a record in the history of Girls 20. No Nigerian has ever been chosen since its inception in 2009. I therefore feel exceptional and I give all thanks to God, yes, but I’m not happy about it because Nigeria is the giant of Africa and if Girls 20 has been in existence since 2009, being the first Nigerian to be chosen should be something my country should be proud of.

Tell us about your other awards, fellowships, recognitions and suchlike.

I have been awarded several awards like the Youth Integrity Award, I am a Development Dialogue delegate, the most recommended runners of the Queens Young Leaders Award by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth of England, I am also among the Vital Ladies of the Vital Initiative Africa and a fellow of the 2016 US Carrington Fellowship.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

PAGE

s w ne Hitlist N Cruzin wins NBMA Best Entertainment Programme

H

itlist N Cruzin, the TV entertainment programme produced and presented by Mursty Adinoyi, and which prides itself as the best entertainment programme on television, has proven that it’s truly the best by winning the Best Entertainment Programme on TV award at the Nigerian Broadcasters Merit Awards.

“I’m very excited that we’ve won the NBMA’s Best Entertainment Programme on TV category,” gushed Adinoyi, HNC’s producer-presenter, while speaking on the award. “Not only am I excited and happy, I’m also very thankful to God because without Him, it wouldn’t have been possible.

“I’m very excited because the NBMA is a highly rated award, and it’s not an easy award to win, so winning it, and not just any category, but the best entertainment category, it means you’re doing something right.”

Speaking further, he said, “I’m very hap-

MARCH 12, 2016

py because this award is just proof that all our hard work at HNC has not been in vain. HNC is one programme that a lot of research and effort goes into, and we know we deserve the award because of our hard work.”

Modestly, he admitted he didn’t know HNC would win the category, saying, “I didn’t know we’ll win it. For the mere fact that we were even nominated, we were already happy. And we hoped to win, but when it comes to winning awards, you are never guaranteed, and that’s why we’re just so excited and happy that the public chose us as the rightful recipient of the award.”

Concluding, he said, “Now that we’ve won the best entertainment programme award, I want to assure all our fans, well-wishers and partners in progress that we won’t rest on our oars. Rather, the award will ginger us to work even harder, so people should look out for an even more enhanced HNC on AIT Network, TVC and other stations.”

Ike Chuks goes low

with

Oseyiza Oogbodo 08036961187 kingseiza@gmail.com

Adinoyi

OUCH endorses Timi Dakolo

W

hen OUCH unveiled its 2016 collection recently, celebrities, entertainers, style influencers, fashionistas and other friends of the brand were on hand at the intimate event.

The event, which doubled as the finale for the OUCHMan 2016 search, was hosted

O

Chuks

n the back of massive success and critical acclaim for his 2015 single, Play Like Play, award-winning British-Nigerian artist and 2009 Britain’s Got Talent winner, Ike Chuks, returns with his exciting new afrobeat hip-hop single, Go Low, along with its infectious music video.

With early support for the TwoSeven-produced single from the likes of BBC 1Xtra, Bang Radio and Reprezent Radio, Go Low is already proving to be a massive hit for Chuks, especially as its video, by Director Q, is also getting more and more people to fall in love with it.

19

Dakolo

by the delectable Zina Anumudu and the dashing OUCH and Martini ambassador, Bryan Okwara.

Speaking on the day, OUCH’s creative director, Uche Nnaji said, “The 2016 collection themed My Way is for the man who loves exclusivity in style. I am very happy to be associated with Bryan Okwara and Timi Dakolo this year and very proud of our new OUCHman.

Award-winning musician and The Voice Nigeria coach, Timi Dakolo, was also announced as the new brand ambassador. The night of exquisite glamour and style was attended by a host of stars and media personalities that included Audu Maikori of Chocolate City Group, Adebola Williams, Noble Igwe, Ifeoma Williams, Victoria Kimani, Mai Atafo, Denola Grey, Shade Ladipo, Tewa Onasanya, Remi Adetiba, Swanky Jerry, Yomi Casual.

Model and actor Charles Ujomu emerged as the OUCHman 2016 ahead of other 3 finalists: Odache Obe, a banker; Francis Egwuatu, Mr Universe Nigeria; and Otto Cannon, Gulder Ultimate Search viewer’s choice winner.

The winner was announced by Nigeria Country Manager, Viacom, and image consultant, Ifeoma Williams; RED Media co-founder, Adebola Williams; style influencer, CEO of 360 Nobs, Noble Igwe; and the style doctor, Uche Nnaji.

PAGE

20

news

MARCH 12, 2016

Alake, Amosun commend Adams on festival promotion H

RM Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, the Alake of Egbaland, has commended the efforts of Otunba Gani Adams, Chief Convener, Olokun Festival Foundation, for his immense contribution towards the revival of the cultural heritage of the Yoruba race.

He made this statement at his palace during the grand finale of the weeklong activities marking the 30th anniversary of the Lisabi Festival.

“I want to commend Otunba Gani Adams for his immense contribution towards the success of Olumo Festival for two days. He came there with about 10,000 of his men. He organised different activities which added colour to the event. He has been doing this consistently for the past three years. God will continue to bless you,” stated the Alake.

The event which was graced by eminent sons and daughters of Egbaland also had Governor Ibikunle Amosun and his cabinet members in attendance.

During his speech, Amosun too said, “I want to specially thank my friend and brother, Otunba Gani Adams, for supporting this festival. You are highly appreciated.”

Adams, in his speech, said the importance of the Olumo Festival can never

Alake (standing), Adams (in white cap) and other festival attendees

in anyway be over- emphasized.

“Much as the Egba people and the Yoruba in general recognize the heroic contribution of Lisabi to the development of Abeokuta, the Olumo Rock also has a very adorable place in the history of the Egba people.

“The annual celebration of the Olumo Festival as part of the Lisabi Day celebration has provided a very veritable platform

Waje appears on African Voices … drops Ominiknowest video

A Waje

ward-winning Nigerian singer and UN ambassador, Waje, has appeared on CNN’s African Voices. She talked about several issues including the African Women project, her new album and her mission to help homeless kids in Nigeria. The songbird also talked about how she uses her music platform to impact lives and be a voice to several Nigerians.

Following the interview, Waje dropped the visuals of her song, Om-

iniknowest. Produced by E-Kelly and directed by Clarence Peters and shot in black and white, Ominiknowest shows Waje at her fiercest, hitting back at naysayers and critics.

While undeniably Fela-influenced, the video has Waje take on several personas. From a fiery Malcolm X, to a sultry Marilyn Monroe, a 90s Janet Jackson in all her tomboy glory and shades of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Josh steps up to the plate, showcasing his smooth vocals and infectious flow, to great effect.

Born in Edo State, Josh grew up in Madrid, Spain before moving to the United Kingdom to further his education. He began making music as a songwriter and vocalist in his early teens as a member of his church choir, writing his first single, Pretty Baby, at the age of 16.

His second official single, Dance For Me, is already in the works.

Josh

Young Josh debuts Baby Ooh

I

ntroducing new and exciting UKbased afrobeat rising star, Young Josh - real name Joshua Osahenoma Evbota - with his brand new single, Baby Ooh, produced by RexxiePonDaBeat, and its accompanying music video, which was recently premiered on VEVO. Taking his inspiration from 2face Idibia and Wizkid, Baby Ooh is a fresh and captivating bass heavy afrobeat dance number laced with lush drums and horn arrangements over which

for sons and daughters of Egba descendants to come together and project the uniqueness of what mature bequeathed on them.

“My observations since I arrived in Abeokuta and which I have also observed in the last few years have shown that the Egba people really relish the importance of this festival, and the continuous support of the traditional ruler of this ancien

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

CLASSICAL LYRICS

Surulere Remix Artist: Dr SID Intro Rehn rehn rehn rehn Oya e ma rerin lo eh…ahn ahn Eh ehn ehn ehn ehn dr sid…ahn ahn Nitori olorun lorun dr sid Ehn ehn ehn mavin no ni Don Baba Jay Verse 1 (Wizkid) Ah, Surulere … aro Masha Kilo … aro Akerele Shitta Small London dey feel am Anything I do them go talk My people steady hustle non-stop Me and Jazzy cruising round in a Porsche Dr SID got the girls on lock … eh eh Mommy mi mommy mi o Father Lord abeg bless mommy mi o And stop enemies to follow me o Baba loke lo sheY oun to yi … ah eh Mommy mi mommy mi o Father Lord abeg bless mommy mi o And stop enemies to follow me o Baba loke lo shey eyi tan … ah eh Ah mo ni ehn ehn Ehn ehn ehn ehn ah ah Nitori Olorun lorun … ahn ahn Ehn ehn ehn ehn Ah oya e ma re rin lo eh Ehn ehn ehn ehn … o na na na na Nitori Olorun lorun eh … ahn ahn Ehn ehn ehn ehn Ah oya e ma re rin lo eh Chorus Baba loke lo se gbogbo nkan Oya won lenu O ya won lenu eh eh … ahn ahn Awon fa mi lete kin tuto Won o le ri mi Won o le ri mi lailai ... lai lai Awon aiye won ro pe opari Awon ko lo lorun mi … o na na na Awon ko lo lorun mi o o eh Suru Surulere … surulere Suru laiye mi … suru laiye mi o Surulere … surulere Suru laiye mi … suru laiye mi o Surulere … surulere Suru laiye mi … suru laiye mi o Surulere … surulere Suru laiye mi Verse 2 (Phyno) A bu m that same boy si ogwuagor daputa Were ndidi n’eso uwa na achu kwa aku na uba Ihe m ga-eme di mu na obi Nwata ka ra ajo obi So, ihe o bula m mere my hood si m n’obi Now check a, á di m popular than the VP Now my story bu status na their BB Ufodu na a koheri m si ha biko free me Ihe o bula soro gi na-me u cannot be me I got my city on my back I’m a cognac sac Na enweta commercial money without a dance track Okwa mu na Sid na aku Ihe anyi ga-ako ka nku Anyi puta kita umuaka asi na anyi na esi ndu ndu Asa m si m na m nye ya quality time M si ya na watch m bu Rolex and that’s quality time Chukwu echetego the rain Ha a na agbaka their brain I gé nti i ga afu na o bu don jazzy again Gerrout Chorus Suru laiye mi o Verse 3 (Dr SID) I don make mistakes I don grow I don learn some things I no know So I thank god I still dey here Una dey look but you no know say E don tey the days wey I dey cry out eh My fire no go die out Enemies them want me to bow out But my rivers of blessing will never dry out Ni si yin t’aba n sere Won bere talo n sere Ma ma fi wa sere O sa mo Dr SID ti gbe tutun de Oya je ka sere Hmm dokita wo’le Awon agba ati omo kekere E dide Oya make we dey let them know say Chorus

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

21

DJ Cuppy, Yemi Alade, Kehinde Bankole, others make YNaija 100 list YNaija.com, in partnership with Leading Ladies Africa, has announced its annual list of Nigeria’s 100 Most Influential Women, #YWomen100.

In its second year, the #YWomen100 spotlights women who have made incredible strides in their chosen field of endeavour – overcoming obstacles and shattering the proverbial glass ceiling.

“These women have done a lot in blazing the trail in different sectors - inspiring many others to believe in themselves, break boundaries, and see their gender as a unique opportunity rather than a limitation,” said Francesca Uriri, Founder, Leading Ladies Africa.

Expectedly, many celebrities were on the list, and below are some of them and why they were chosen. powerful voice and an outgoing personality. Starting out from the Nigerian Idol competition, Omawunmi has distinguished herself in the industry with her unique and sonorous voice and let’s not forget her eclectic dance moves.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Described as Nigeria’s literary star, Chimamanda is a novelist, nonfiction writer and short story writer, and has received numerous awards and distinctions. She is uncompromisingly unconventional and is unafraid to talk issues that many would rather stay silent on; her thought-provoking articles challenge the conventional mode of thinking. Her book, We Should All Be Feminists, adapted from her 2012 TED Talk has been adopted by Sweden as part of its efforts to promote gender inequality. The message of the book has also been adopted as guide to conversations in Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In. Beyonce also sampled excerpts from Chimamanda’s TED talk on her Flawless song.

Toke Makinwa Love her or hate her, Omotoke Makinwa is here to stay. A distinguished and hugely successful OAP, vlogger and media personality, Toke has a knack for building houses with the bricks life’s thrown at her. Her versatility and impeccable taste in fashion has unarguably earned her a spot as one of Nigeria’s style icon. Her media presence and popular vlog have spurred brand endorsements, media deals and a slew of new opportunities. Talk about a woman rising!

DJ Cuppy Cuppy started off her career as a disc jockey seven years ago at the age of 16 in London but has since become a household name across the African continent. In August 2015, she embarked on a continental tour tagged DJ Cuppy Takes Africa which saw her visit eight African cities. Her desire to grow in the music industry led her to pursue a Master’s degree in Music Business at New York University. She is also an intern at Jay Z’s Roc Nation.

Kemi Adetiba Kemi is a prolific music video director, filmmaker and television director whose works have appeared on Channel O, MTV Base, Soundcity and BET. She recently announced the launch of her new talk show, King Women, a visual movement that acts as an accessible/online source of mentorship and emotional upliftment to young, impressionable ladies.

Kemi Lala Akindoju Lala as she is popularly called is an award-winning actress, producer, casting director and CEO of The Make it Happen productions. Her company is targeted at telling African stories through all mediums; especially film, television and stage. Lala is responsible for producing The Wives and Lagos Life, London Living

TY Bello

Cuppy

Makinwa

which were very successful shows. She has also featured in over 70 stage and film productions around the world.

standing Radio Presenter in West Africa 2009. After a successful career as a radio presenter, she moved on to create Matse Cooks, an innovate food blog and she later started the Matse Cooks TV Series on Youtube where she teaches other food enthusiasts how to make mouth-watering dishes.

Kehinde Bankole Kehinde is an actress, model and television host. With many of experience in the Nigerian movie industry under her belt, she stole the hearts of many with her breakaway performance in the award winning October 1 movie. Her commitment to improving herself and giving her best with each work has surely paid off for Kehinde as she won the award for best actress in the 2015 edition of the AMVCA.

Matse Uwatse-Nnoli Matse is a woman of many parts. She stood out as a radio presenter winning awards such as the Women in Media and Entertainment Awards for Excellence in Radio Presenting, and the African Voices Awards in Nairobi, Kenya as the Most Out-

Mo Abudu Mosunmola is an entrepreneur and pacesetter in the media industry. Her numerous and continuous achievements have proved that she is not here to joke.

From starting the Moments with Mo talk show that inspired many to building an enviable brand with EbonyLife TV, Mosunmola Abudu is on a roll. Her movie, Fifty, has received several local and international awards/accolades.

Omawumi Magbele Popularly known as Omawumi, this singer, songwriter and actress is has a

Everyone knows and loves TY Bello – and if you don’t know or love her yet, then you will. As a photographer, musician and artiste, T.Y’s works are deeply evocative, personal, human and powerful. She captures the world in a way that makes us all see and appreciate beauty. And we won’t forget just how instrumental she was to the rise of Jumoke Orisaguna – the now hugely famous bread seller.

Waje Aituaje Iruobe, known as Waje, is a singer whose vocal range covers three octaves.

When she is not singing, she works with the youths of her community through an organization she calls Waje’s Safe House, where she teams up with other NGOs quarterly to help fight causes including poverty eradication, education, and women’s rights.

Yemi Alade The afropop singer, who came into the limelight after winning the Peak Talent Show in 2009, has remained consistent in the music industry. She is best known for her hit single, Johnny. She has performed across the globe, sharing the stage and songs with both international and local acts.

EVENTS

PAGE

22

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Glamour all the way at the AMVCAs When the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards held last Saturday, celebrities saw it as an opportunity to showcase their fashion sense, and they did so to the best of their ability. Genevieve Nnaji, Eniola Badmus and Mercy Aigbe were some of the celebrities who stormed the glam event in glam outfits.

Anna Ebiere

Eku Edewor

Emma Nyra

Eniola Badmus

Genevieve Nnaji

Isio Wanogho

Mercy Aigbe

Toni Tones

Vixen

Yemi Alade

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

t n e n a Perm touch from

B

etween caring for the family, keeping up with a career responsibilities and all, ladies and mums especially, find little or no time to care adequately for themselves, let alone spare time for make-up. Makeup artist, Tolulope Apara of Tolu Makeovers, is bent on making make-up the least of a woman’s worries. She recommends permanent makeup particularly of the eyebrow for all busy women who still want to look beautiful and outstandingly at that. “The most obvious advantage is that you are saved from the stress of having to have it shaped even as you are hurrying to catch up with so many other things, only to have it wiped off the minute you attempt wiping off sweat off your face,” she pointed. The ladiess here are obviously free of such worry.

Style & Glam

PAGE

23

le StyGlam and

with Yemisi Adeniran

(08037801158) ydiran@yahoo.com

PAGE

24

Style & Glam

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Fashion f

Dressing O

ne best way to go about dre et way. The jacket piece co free events. It’s cute, easy a the activities you may want to engag choice, a style you love and a prefer day really edgy and very adventurou well to give you that admirable look Going the jacket way especially the by a fashion artist like Yomi Adu is s hippy and happy look today. Her wor and a large dose of personality into ou for a fanfare.�

Check these models out!

Fashion f

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

frenzy

MARCH 12, 2016

casual

essing casual is to go the jackomes real handy for your work and very convenient for every of ge in. Just pick a colour of your rred pant or skirt to make your us. Remember also to accessorise you desire. e made to measure types designed simply the best way to combine a rds : “ We infuse play, adventure ur designs to make your day ready

frenzy

Style & Glam

PAGE

25

PAGE

26

MARCH 12, 2016

SOCIETY Mirror

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

with Deola Adeoti.

Tel: 07055695565, mofat07@yahoo.com

Benin stands still as Ooni weds T oday, all roads will literally lead to Benin City as His Imperial Majesty Oba, Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, ties the proverbial knots with his new bride, Wuraola Otiti Zynab Obanor, an Architect based in Dubai, UAE. The much-anticipated event which would be attended by first class kings, political juggernauts, business titans and high-octane socialites will kick off at noon at the Edo Hotel, Okada Drive, GRA Benin City, Edo State.

And according to the wed-

ding invitation, there will also be a thanksgiving ceremony of their traditional union tomorrow at the Royal Court of Ife, Aafin, Enuwa Square in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The choice of Benin for the first stanza of the wedding is because the new Olori has Benin roots and is also from Ile-Ife. Before now, friends and family had picked a very unique Aso Ebi for the gig and the impression outside is that they can’t wait to storm the events.

Ooni and Wuraola have been

dating for a while.

The Ooni was said to have been smitten by the simple nature of ravishingly pretty Wuraola, who is a cousin to Jennifer Obayuwana, Polo boss daughter.

Jennifer was one of those who first announced the marriage on her Instagram page.

The Olori-to-be was also said to have fallen for the Kabiyesi’s style and finesse.

Oba Ogunwusi, 41, was once married to Adebisi Adebukonla.

The marriage crashed due to undisclosed reasons.

What no one will tell you about Femi Gbajabiamila Come June 25th, 2015, one of the very brilliant lawmakers in the land, Femi Gbajabiamila will be a year older on earth. But what we are yet to know is whether he would be throwing a jamboree to mark the milestone or not.

However, there is one thing many people do not know about the circumstances that surrounded the birth of the lawmaker and we shall be telling you here for free.

Do you know that the birth of the Lagos born lawmaker was shrouded in mystery? It was an

experience many fortunetellers will describe as a sign of an unusual demeanor.

Her mother, Alhaja Lateefat Gbajabiamila had ceaselessly wished for a child after she had her first issue, which was a set of twin girls. Her prayers were unanswered for 8 long years, which was a lengthy wait for a woman in want.

With much faith in her God, she finally got pregnant and gave birth to a girl. Now the pressure then began to mount for a boy. It

ity shy did all in his capacity to make peace between the two warring families.

And lest we forget, let’s quickly tell you that the mon-

eybag is also the Pro-chancellor at Adeleke University in Ede, Osun State. He as well has a big stake at Unity Bank and many other companies.

Business Mogul, Deji Adeleke slows down O

ver the years, business icon, Adedeji Adeleke has explored many horizons, built Business Empire and as well, earned global recognition.

Now at 59 years old, the Pacific Holdings Limited boss is slowing down a bit.

Though he is still the chairman of his company, what he does these days is to designate work to people, most especially his children.

Few months back, the Ede Osun State born businessman appointed one of his sons, Adewale Adeleke as the Director of Pacific Energy. Pacific Energy is one of the chains of Adeleke’s

companies. The firm operates in the power sector and specifically deals with power generation equipment and offers energy management and maintenance services.

Apart from Adewale, sources said the billionaire also plans to introduce his other children into his business. At the moment, one of his progenies, David Adeleke popularly known as Davido is making him proud in the music industry and has dragged him to the limelight several times. Not too long ago, the music star dragged his father into his messy fight with his baby mama and daughter, but the billionaire who is public-

was another accomplishment that returned her desire to give birth again. Soon she got pregnant, and planned to deliver her next child at Island maternity on Campbell Street, Lagos Island. Lateefat, who is a trained staff nurse and Midwife, had made adequate preparation for her oncoming baby. Her husband’s cousin who was meant to escort her to Island maternity didn’t turn up.

The unexpected began on June 25th 1962 when the labor pains kicked in and her experience as a midwife made her decide to deliver the baby herself. Due to her work ethics and she having a maternity center at Ebute Meta, she had prepared her Labor ward for her next delivery.

She courageously made her way to the Labor ward while the baby was quite hasty to be born. She had reached out to her neighbor who lived opposite the building, and by the time she had arrived, the baby’s head was already out. Her neighbor was dumbfounded and was about to call for help, but Lateefat calmed and assured her that she was capable of delivering herself.

Femi Gbajabiamila was born in an unusual circumstance that made Lateefat joyful beyond control. She immediately called her husband, who left work hurriedly to embrace his ‘Arole’, as the Yoruba call the first male child. He later had two younger siblings whom strengthened the family tree.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Fashion

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

27

Guest G

‘Can’t stand Watch your salt! arrogant people’

As far as Benita Oghuekim is concerned, no mountain is too high to climb. ‘Success comes easy with determination,’ she told YEMISI ADENIRAN

M

W

hat attracted you to modelling?

Well, I may not be able to say exactly now, all I can say is that I have always love to showcase myself since I was a child. I remember my mum always shouting at me, criticising the long hours I used to spend in front of the mirror. I would leave the front of the mirror but I was always going back. I always wanted to decide the best way to smile, talk, pose and walk. I think that was how I got the idea of modelling, although I did not know what it was all about. But my mum and others knew. They would laugh at me and say I did not like to do any strenuous work other to be posing around. Later on, I started seeing models on Television and I fell in love with the career.

Do you want to make a career out of modelling?

If God says so. I see modelling as an hobby. Yes, an hobby for now because I still must get my degree before any other thing.

How supportive are your parents of this choice of yours?

I am enjoying their support and I

guess I will continue to if I will also keep my side of the bargain, which is not to allow it intercept my education.

What does fashion mean to you?

It is a trend, a way of wearing what suits you at a point in time. For me, I wear in anything beautiful but simple. I’m a simple girl and I love to show that all the time.

What’s your turn-on?

Humble people and people that are good, what they do honestly without being fake.

Turn off ?

Arrogant people, I hate them with a passion.

For how long have you been modelling and how has it been?

I have been modelling for a couple of years now, like some five years now and I tell you, it has not been so rosy but it has been quite exciting and rewarding.

The thrills and all the attention are just enough to pay for all the pains. And as far as I know, there is no pain without gain.

All those people up there will always tell you of the different prices they have paid before getting there. So, I’m not going to see whatever hitch I have experienced as a deterrent but as a stepping stone to the success I desire.

ost of us get more salt than we need. Recommendations from the American Heart Association range from 1,500 to 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day.

But the average person takes about 3,400 milligrams of sodium each day, well above the limits recommended for good health.

Who should cut back on salt?

•People age 51 and older •Africans •People with high blood pressure, diabetes, or long-term kidney disease Cutting back on salt can cut blood pressure in some people. It can help lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and kidney damage in those who have high blood pressure. If you want to cut back, you need to watch what you eat. You may be shocked by some of the foods that are high in salt.

Cereals: Check out the nutrition facts label. Some brands of raisin bran have up to 250 milligrams of sodium in each cup.

Canned vegetables: They often have preservatives, sauces, or seasonings that add extra sodium. A cup of canned corn or peas may have 730 milligrams. Rinse canned veggies thoroughly, or look for labels that say “no salt added” or “low sodium.”

Packaged meats: Are you a lover of hot dog, salami or the like? One look at the salt content should stop you in your tracks. Two slices of dry salami made of beef or pork can have 362 milligrams of sodium.

Flavorings: Some of your favorites may be super salty. One table-

spoon of barbecue sauce can have 690 milligrams of sodium. The same amount of soy sauce may have up to 1,024 milligrams. Half a cup of spaghetti sauce may have 554 milligrams of sodium.

Nuts: Rethink those salty peanuts. An ounce of most dry-roasted brands have 192 milligrams of sodium. Buy the unsalted variety, which are practically sodium-free.

Snacks: They’re hard to resist, but they may have a lot of sodium in every ounce. Potato chips have 136 milligrams, cheese puffs 240, and pretzels 385.

Condiments: If you think those little extras you add to your food aren’t a source of salt, think again.

One tablespoonful of Ketchup contains 167 milligrams of sodium What’s in a name? When you’re scanning a food label, don’t just look for the word “salt.” Watch out for various forms of sodium or other names for the same thing: sodium alginate, sodium ascorbate, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), sodium benzoate, sodium caseinate, sodium chloride, sodium citrate, sodium hydroxide, sodium saccharin, sodium stearoyl lactylate, sodium sulfite, disodium phosphate, monosodium glutamate (MSG), trisodium phosphate all mean one and only one thing: SALT! Don’t forget your medicine cabinet!

Surprise! Some headache or heartburn medications have sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. Read the ingredient list and warning statement to be sure.

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

28

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

WOMAN

Nigerian women are destined for the top – Taiwo Ajayi With the theme of this year’s women’s day as “Step it up for gender equality, ” veteran actress Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett urges Nigerian women to brace up for more challenging roles in the society to curtail discrimination against the women folk. “Women should stop seeing themselves as second class citizens”, she told YEMISI ADENIRAN in this interview.

N

igerian women just celebrated this year’s International Day for Women. What’s your assessment of Nigerian women?

Well, Nigerian women are getting better and better by each day. They are no longer confined to their traditional role of just home keeper and baby maker. They are now slugging it out with their male counterparts in all spheres of life. This is commendable and I am impressed.

The theme says gender discrimination against women should be discouraged for a gender-balanced society come 2030. Do you see this as achievable?

Yes it is achievable. With the way women are going, the sky is just the starting point.

Nigerian women are destined for the top and we will surely get there. All that is important is that they should not lose focus on the higher positions. They should desire

more challenging and decision making positions in all the sectors available in the country. Particularly, politics, more women should take the bold step to contest and to win. Women should also learn to rally round their counterparts when they vie out for political posts. We should believe in ourselves, hold our hands up and give good support to ourselves. We should not look down on ourselves or constitute problems to ourselves as we used to do, we should stop seeing ourselves as second class citizen so that our situation will get better and we will be able to succeed in our fight for gender equality. Men should also believe in us, give us the right support and trust us in all that we do knowing well that whatever exploits and achievement we have will come to them.

As a feminist, what‘s your opinion on the saying that we live in a man’s world?

I don’t support or believe in such sayings.

It is not the men’s world but the women’s.

Women carry more responsibilities at home and even in the society as a whole. They are the ones who manage the home, the kids, issues at home, relatives of the man and their own; they even manage the men themselves. Women are the instruments God used in making babies. They are stronger than the men which is why you will see a woman going all the way to cater for her children, her home in spite of herself. They are more respectable which is why it takes years for a widow to re-marry unlike widowers. They go out to work and still come around to see to the affairs of the home and that of the men especially in bed. I am proud of women and I say it is high time women realized who they are and appreciate their superior position and not otherwise.

You were brought up by well-

enlightened parents. What were some of the fond memories of your childhood that you would love to share?

It was indeed a blessing to have had my kind of parents. They were not just educated, they were enlightened, they were disciplined and very responsible. They had an indebt idea of the various sides of life and they tried their best to get us exposed to it. They wouldn’t encourage any act of indiscipline, disrespect and dreaded above all slothfulness from any of us, their children. They loved hardwork and encouraged us to be hard working in any of our choice careers. They were also liberal minded and wouldn’t impose any career on us. We had a library in our home and so, were exposed early in life to the importance library from the cradle. My mother, I could remember, was among the first women who went out to work in the days when

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

girls were supposed to have their place at home and the kitchen particularly. She was articulate and I knew I got that from her.

As it is with children up till now, we were curious and anxious to know and discover many things, and our parents encouraged us to read, to discover while they also helped us to unravel a lot of riddles. It was indeed fun those years. My mother helped in developing my vocabularies at a very tender age. We had newspapers to read. We were prepared early for life, we were given a pace ahead of others.

How would you compare those years with what we have today?

There are no bases for comparison of the two. Parents, these days don’t have as much time as they are supposed to have with their kids./ Many if not all are always out of the house hours before the kids were awake and would not be back before the kids sleep. Children are lonely these days.

The ones who have attendants to look after them, just make do with whatever they can get from these people. There is too much gap between parents and children and this is constituting more evil in the society. Parents don’t devote enough time to children, they give more attention to money and other issues of life at the expense of their children. Unfortunately, this is where the kids also get the wrong inkling about the desperacy for money from. How many homes these days can boast of having libraries in their domains, yet we keep complaining of the poor reading habit of the youths in the society?. I think we need to do more in this area. It is the responsibility le, the perception of the youths about the real essence of life will be improved upon and it will be better for the society. We will be safe from the problem of corruption and desperation for money. Well, there is no doubt, civilization is expected in our midst but, parents need to take time out to censor and monitor what their children do, tutor them on the right paths, and start that as early as when the kids were born.

What was life like as a twin?

Life was normal. There was no big deal as it used to be viewed superstitiously. It’s just that you came double while others were born not in pairs. We were best of friends, both well educated as it was with my other siblings. But she died a few years back.

You have made a huge success in both braoadcasting and the acting career.

What would you attribute this to?

God Almighty and determination to be a success at it. God is always ready to help His children but most of the times, we are never willing Many are usually willing with the words of their mouths but when it comes to putting on an action, they are never bready. Meanwhile, it is important to be ready in our action than mere words of our mouths. No one can become anything great in life except God helps him or her, so, it is a clear fcat that God has seen me this far. I will always not forget my parents efforts as I have been saying in all of these. They did a lot in preparing me and my siblings for the challenges of life. They were there for us and exposed us to all that needed to know to make us stand the test of time. On my own part, I had no other option than to be great. I am frm a great lineage and I have got no other option than to keep this up in my own choice of career in life. I was dedicated, focused and determined to be relevant in life and I thank God for helping me to succeed at this.

Most artistes today are not like that.

They only love the fame and not the work that needs to go with it. What do you have to say to this?

It is obvious. Anyone who is not able to work hard to get success will have problems succeeding the right way. They will be forced to cut corners and this can only be

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

With the way women are going, the sky is just the starting point.

Nigerian

women are destined for the top and we will surely get there.

All that is

29

Keeping ABREAST

World’s first Hijab-jersey unveiled on Women’s Day

important is that they should not

lose focus.

They

should desire more challenging and decision making positions in all the sectors available in the country.

temporal. It is good top try to pay one’s dues at the point required because there is surely the law of what goes around comes around.

What’s your take on those who believe in using what they have to get what they want?

I will advise them to use their brain and efforts to get what they want because that is what God has deposited in them from creation. If they will apply their brain, they will really know what to use to get whatever they want and they will be proud to talk about it anywhere. Apart from this, I believe that those who will rather use their bodies to get what they want have no respect for themselves and deserve no respect. They place no value on themselves and are not proud of who they are. It is good for a woman to have respect for herself.

Any woman who does not have respect for herself will be treated as a trash by men and even her counterparts. That is why it is good for us to have trust in ourselves first.

Interestingly, anyone who cannot trust herself will find it hard to trust others.

You look good and admirable still in spite of your age. What’s the secret?

It’s God and the way I believe I carry myself. If you are active and firm, you will look good for a very long time if not till you die. Besides, I just try to eat right, sleep well and keep well. I make sure I am who I am. I love myself and I am proud of what and who I am. I don’t aspire to be another person, I am simply pleased with myself. I think all of these and more are responsible for my good look.

What do you have to say to widows who find it hard to cope with life after the demise of their husbands?

I will advise that they be strong and take life the way it has come and with what it has offered them.

No matter how loving couples can be to each other, it is rare for both to die the same day. One will surely go before the other. It is now left for the other to be strong and continue from where the late one stopped.

Well, it is a painful experience but it is sure to happen at one time or the other. They eed to stop pitying themselves and take bold strides to go on with life. They must have the picture of their husbands at the back of their minds and imagine what he would want them to d at that particular instance and take steps to do it. They should know that if God had not seen that they could continue, He wouldn’t have allowed their men to go at that time. They need to encourage themselves that things will work and that it is definitely not the end of the road for them.

M

uslim women footballers who want to stay true to their religious practices as they play their sport can now do so with the launching of the world’s first female hijab-jersey.

The record-breaking event was ensured by Afghanistan women’s football team which took delivery of the first set of these jerseys with in-built hijabs with the help of sportswear company, Hummel.

The kit was released on International Women’s Day as the first ever branded national strip to incorporate a hijab.

Hummel’s owner, Christian Stadil said: “We don’t sponsor the biggest teams in the world, but we make partnerships with teams and clubs with a story to tell,

like Afghanistan.

“We try to meet the Afghan people where they are, and right now that is by helping the women play football with or without a hijab.”

Popular ex-captain of the Afghanistan women’s football team, Khalida Popal, who helped design the kit said: “The national team shirt symbolises all of our culture, our tradition, our history.

“It was a huge honour to captain my country but it was an even bigger honour to be seen as a role model and an inspiration for thousands of young girls and women in Afghanistan.

“To wear that shirt and to lead your country out onto the football pitch is something that stays with you forever.”

Popal retired from the sport following a knee-injury. ‘Football was not easy for us to play, especially in a male-dominated country,’ Popal told The Associated Press.

‘It was not acceptable for women to play.

Football is a man’s game.’

Paul Fitzgerald, the designer of the outfit, which has been hailed as “cool”, said: “From the outset it was clear that the shirt was enormously significant.

I asked [former team captain] Khalida to think of something that inspires her about Afghanistan and she told me about the Afghan mountains – that was really my starting point.”

It is still difficult for women to participate in sports like football due to the religious stigma attachedin the Islamic nation. It is estimated up to 25 women’s football teams are active across Afghanistan and there are about half a dozen national players.

Playing football in Afghanistan is a risky business for women, so many members of the national team live in Europe.

When women are allowed to play in Afghanistan, they are usually required to wear a headscarf. But that often proves tricky with the cloth sometimes falling over the players’ eyes.

How much this new jersey affects their level of play is yet to be determined. However, it will make it much easier for them to enjoy football without worrying about losing parts of their attire.

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

30

Parenting

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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

10 ways to make your kids Tiny Feet love reading 1. Embrace technology: There is something wonderful about seeing your child curled up with a book rather than some electronic device. But, an e-reader might entice your reluctant reader to actually sit down and get started. Plus, there are so many free books out there, including great classics, that your child might actually read more if given the chance to explore what’s available.

2. Create a reading hide-out or a cozy spot for your readers: Lure your children into reading by coming up with a spot for reading only; a spot so enchanting or fun, they’ll want to read just to be able to enter! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy—drape some blankets over chairs and make a tent. Fill it with fluffy pillows and a stack of books. Put a bowl of candy inside with a note that reads: “For every chapter read, please eat one of these.”

3. Hook them, then reel them in: One mother I heard about does this to get her kids to read on their own: She’ll start reading aloud and then excuse herself to cook dinner. The kids are already so interested in the story that they’ll take the book

themselves and read, to see what happens next.

4. Make the library an adventure: Gather up the kids and head to the library. Get them their own library card. Let them check out on their own. Tell them they need to check out at least five books. When you leave, head to a yogurt shop or a park. Pull out one of the books and dive right into it, reading aloud while they eat their snack or lie on the grass.

5. Start a family reading night or book club: Make your book club night special and fun.

Snuggle in your bed with the kids or sit by the fire. Have a chart in their rooms where they can check off the chapters they read so they can be prepared for the next book club night.

6. Read to reluctant readers: Even if your child can read on his own, keep reading to him.

This will allow you to gauge what interests him and holds his attention. It will also allow you to read books that might be too difficult for him, but he still enjoys the story.

7. It’s the words that matter: Yes, you want your kids to read quality material, but there’s nothing wrong with letting them read

ParentingUpdate

magazines, the sports section of the newspaper or other “nonbook” material.

8. Be a reading cheerleader: Kids model our behaviour, mum.

Let them see you reading. Talk about what you’re reading. One mum I know, while reading War and Peace, had fun with her kids by showing them how big the book was. They became interested in her progress and would ask her what page she was on. It also gave her the chance to introduce them to a great writer and share bits and pieces of world history.

9. Don’t make reading a punishment. If you have a non-reader, it can be very tempting to use reading as a discipline tool. “If you hit your sister again, you’re going to have to read for 20 minutes!” But, this will only make your non-reader dread opening a book even more.

10. Find their love: What is your child interested in? What captivates them or keeps their attention? Try different genres— adventure, non-fiction, biographies—until you hit upon the one that will make your child want to read.

Culled from www.imom.com

BORN TO: Mr. and Mrs. Ola AGE: 8 days BIRTH WEIGHT: 3.5 kg Have you just had a baby? Send a picture of your bundle of joy to mirrorbabies@gmail.com

Man gets 200 years in jail for killing his 4 children

A

40-year-old man in Kisii County, Kenya, was on Monday, February 29, sentenced to 200 years in prison for killing his 4 children. Kisii resident judge, Joseph Karanja ruled that Misati will serve the sentence concurrently for 50 years for each of the four counts of murder he had been charged with.

According to Standard Digital News, the case has been in court since 2013 when Misati was charged with killing his four children, Toto, 3, Brian, 9, Ontoyo, 7, and Naomi Mogutu, 5.

Lukas Misati committed the crime outside their rental houses in Egesa in Kitutu Chae Central, on the night of November 10, 2012 following a feud with his wife, Helen Kemunto.

In her affidavit, Kemunto told the court that her husband came home

NAME: Erioluwa Ola

Lukas Misati on the night of that fateful day, woke her up and said he wanted them to move. She refused and Misati attacked her with a knife. Kemunto escaped with injuries and managed to get treatment at a nearby hospital.

“I managed to escape and went to seek treatment at Kisii Level Five

Hospital,” the affdiavit reads. But when she returned home, she found the children missing.

“I thought they had shifted to another house. My husband called our landlady and told her to inform me that i pick my children from a nearby bush. However, one of the children lay dead at the doorstep while the other three bodies were in

the nearby nappier grass” A postmortem carried out on the bodies revealed that the deaths were caused by strangulation. Misati was on the run for one year before he was picked up by the police on November 21, 2013. After his sentencing, Misati recounted that everything happened so fast to be able to tell what happened that night.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

PAGE

Mirror

31

Girl, 19, recounts ordeal in traffickers’ den Patience OGBO

A

19 -year - old girl Bisirat Lamidi who was rescued from a brothel in Tripoli Libya is undergoing counselling to relieve her of the trauma she experienced in the hands of her traffickers.

Basirat, a Senior Secondary 2 student was lured to Libya by a cartel in Abeokuta with a promise that she will gain employment in the United States of America but her sweet dreams of a blissful life in US was cut short as her traffickers moved her hundreds of kilometers by road through the desert to Libya to work as a prostitute.

Narrating how she was trafficked, Basirat said “ One of my parents’ former tenant in Oyo state, Amoke Yemi called me and said her brother is in America and asked if I want to come to America.

I said I don’t mind. She told me that she can arrange my travelling papers. I was excited and informed my parents. My parents spoke with her on the phone and she assured them that she can hasten my travelling to America. She told my parents that she has a friend who can handle all my travelling documents and that was how she linked me up with Alhaji Muritala Sanni.

Alhaji Muritala Sanni told me to come to National Theatre Iganmu with N500,000 . I did as they said and I came to Lagos. I met a lady called Hafsat who wanted to travel.

I also met Alhaji’s wife Alhaja Lateefat, her mother, Mrs Ebunoluwa Bankole and Amoke Yemi at the National Theatre Iganmu. I ended up paying them N520,000 my parents gave me . That was in December 18th 2015. They said they will assist me to travel by air to America but it was all a lie.

Alhaji Muritala Sanni told me that we had to travel that same day. That was how I and the other lady Hafsat were moved into a bus from Lagos to Kano. I asked if we are not travelling by air but Alhaji Sanni said we will travel by road before he will put us in a plane. So that was how we travelled by night bus to Kano. As soon as we arrived in Kano, they handed me and Hafsat to an agent to take us to Niger. They call the agent a burger and what he does is to push us to the next travelling point. We started travelling in a hilux van through the desert.

We travelled for about 11 days and we got to Agadeshe. There were alot of other girls in the van and as the journey became difficult, you will see girls falling off the van into the sand dunes and the driver will come out of the van and shout ‘Allahu Akbau’. They will not assist the girls that fell by the way side but will continue moving. The driver will say the girls have died and sand has covered their bodies. I was shocked and horrified and pleaded with them to allow me go back to Nigeria but they refused.

I was given garri, groundnut, five litres of water, a head warmer and coat. The Nigerien soldiers who met us in the desert beat us with horse whip and collected our provision and money. They raped some girls in front of us. These are girls who do not have money to settle them but they did not rape me. When we finally got to Libya,I saw more than 100 girls in a room.

Basirat

The house belongs to Alhaji and his wife.

He told me I have to become a prostitute . I refused and decided not to eat . After much appeal to Alhaji Muritala and his wife, they assured me that I can leave but should pay N2million before I can go free. I found a way to reach my parents. I told them to rescue me from the cartel and my parents contacted Barrister Ojay Akinwale of the Alliance of Rights Defenders to come to my rescue. Alhaja Lateefat has a brother in Tripoli called AZ who is in charge of the girls. His job is to prepare the girls for prostitution. AZ tried to persuade me to

accept my fate and work for my release but I refused. He told me that they usually give soft tissues like facial wipes to girls to insert in their vigina so they don’t feel pains or contract diseases but I learnt from the other girls that the tissue can get stuck inside a woman’s body and she can die.

They said many young virgin girls had died after they used the tissue and it got stuck in thier stomach. All the stories I heard made me to appeal to my parents the more to rescue me. Escaping from the brothel is not easy because the OPC men working as security for the cartel are on ground

monitoring us. I don’t know what the Human Rights lawyer told them and Alhaja ordered that Hafsat and I should return to Nigeria. Hafsat was my guardian and she made sure nobody molested me. We were treated like slaves and fed with flour and oil only in the evenings. The girls are made to sleep with 5 to 10 men in a day at 10 Dina (N1000) per round and 50 Dina (N5000) for all night sex . They have quack nurses that abort pregnancies for the girls. Alhaja had a roll of shops which serves as Boutique, CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

PAGE

32

Mirror

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘They told me I was going to work in America’

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 hairdressing Salon,and a tailoring ship infront of the brothel disguising the brothel from preying eyes. However, due to the pressure from Nigeria, Alhaja paid for our flight from Libya to Ghana and we travelled by road to Nigeria. When we got to Seme border, we appealed to the driver to allow us to alight as we were instructed by the lawyer but the driver refused. Unknown to us, Alhaja had marked us for death but Prince Tunji Oshokoya was already on ground at Seme border with police men and they forced the bus to stop because the policemen threatened to shot the driver. That was how we were rescued. I can describe my experience as horrific. I will never be tempted to travel out of the country. I feel sorry for the other girls still in custody of the trafficking ring in Libya. Government should come to their rescue and bring them back to Nigeria. The government should also arrest all those behind trafficking girls out of the country.”

One of the trafficked girls (names withheld) a mother of one who spoke with Saturday Mirror from Libya said “I was trafficked along side my two friends in 2014.

We did not pay money to Alhaja Lateefat and her husband. It was Mrs Ebunoluwa Bankole that talked us into travelling abroad. She said her daughter and her son in-law will give us better jobs in America.

I was an hairdresser in Abeokuta but we landed in Libya by road through the desert.

We have been working as prostitutes since we got to Libya. Anytime we plead to go back to Nigeria, Alhaja Lateefat and her husband would tell us to inform our families to pay them N2 million or we should work to pay him back for the expenses he incurred while bringing us to Libya. We can’t escape because the cartel employed men from Nigeria to work for them as security men.

They are called OPC men and they watch us like hawk every second. I appealed to my parents to raise the money (N2million) but they don’t have such amount because they are poor. Moreover, I did not inform my parents about travelling abroad. I have seen hell and want to return to Nigeria . We are more that 100 girls the cartel is camping.

Government should come to our rescue.

Some girls have died , while others ran away.”

It can be recalled that the NAPTIP Officials arrested Mrs Ebunoluwa Bankole the mother of (Alhaja Lateefat Sanni, the woman who is said to be behind the trafficking ring in Nigeria and Libya ) over her alleged role in trafficking over 100 girls and ladies from Ogun State to Libya for prostitution.

Alhaja Lateefat’s husband identified as Alhaji Muritala Sanni is allegedly a member of the syndicate .

Barrister Akinwale urged the government and NAPTIP to take urgent measures to repatriate the girls and arrest the members of the cartel. He said “ From the information we gathered, Alhaja Lateefat is back in Libya after she was assisted to escape arrest in Nigeria . We learnt that she has been bragging that she will use her connection to get her mother released from NAPTIP custody. Government should provide the finance and equipment for NAPTIP to do its work in Nigeria and

abroad and it’s sad that the Nigeria Embassy in Libya has failed in its responsibility to Nigerians in Libya. NAPTIP should have police team backing them for their operations or the NAPTIP Officials should be empowered to carry arms. Government should take human trafficking seriously and work with the relevant international agencies to repatriate these girls and also arrest the members of the cartel. From our Investigation, these couple have been running the cartel for the past twenty years and they have never been arrested until we stepped in and exposed them. We took thier photographs to NAPTIP and they succeeded in arrest Mrs Bankole but her daughter escaped arrest when operatives went to her home in Abeokuta to arrest her.

Unknown to the operatives, Alhaja Lateefat has the community members in her pay roll so when she was been taken into the police van, her sister started shouting thieves, thieves and the community members came out and attacked NAPTIP Officials and security men with broken bottles and other weapon which led to Alhaja Lateefat escape.

NAPTIP succeeded in arresting some of the attackers but we learnt a majority of the suspect escaped while they were being transported to Lagos and others have been granted bail , a move we frown at . We also want NAPTIP to prosecute Mrs Bankole in Lagos where the crime was committed as we learnt that they are moving her to Ogun State to be arraigned there. We want her and her husband to be declared wanted and Interpol should repatriate her and her husband to face the law” The parents of other ladies trafficked to Libya by the syndicate are appealing to the federal government to rescue thier daughters and prosecute members of the

Barrister Ojay Akinwale

Mrs. Ebunoluwa Bankole few weeks later, my step daughter called me that she was going to America and I should send her younger sister to come and pack her property from Abeokuta that she was on her way to America. I was shocked but when she called me, she told me that she was in Libya. I shouted and asked her what she was doing in Libya. She told me that Libya is thier destination. I became worried when she started calling me with different phone numbers. I called one of the numbers and a man picked the phone. Rufiat later called me and I confronted her to tell me what was going on with her. She opened up and told me she was in trouble in Libya. That she was trafficked for prostitution. I have been calling her to return to Nigeria but she told me that OPC security are monitoring them. I am appealing to government to help rescue Rufiat”

As the journey became difficult, you will see girls falling off the van into the sand dunes and the driver will come out of the van and shout

‘Allahu Akbau.’ They will not assist the girls that fall by the way side but will continue moving gang.

Adisa Diyaolu 59 is the step father of one of such ladies still in captivity in Libya.

He said “ My step daughter Rufiat Oladeinde, 21 was trafficked to Libya by this syndicate. Rufiat was 18 years old when I married her mother. Rufiat is a mother of a three months old baby boy and she is an hairdresser. She was living with me and her mother in Lagos but she relocated to Abeokuta in Ogun State to set up a shop with her friends. Sometimes last year,she told me and her mother that she and her friend want to travel to America. I asked her who was taking them and she introduced Mrs. Ebunoluwa Bankole to me. I went to Abeokuta to see Mrs Bankole and she assured me that my step daughter would be in good hands in her daughter Mrs Lateefat Sanni’s care. However, I was shocked when

Rufiat ‘s mother Deborah Diyaolu cried profusely as she narrated her daughter’s absence from home. “ Rufiat was decieved to go to Libya.

They told her she was going to America to work as an hairdresser but they trafficked her and her friend to Libya . I did not give her money to travel. She told me that the people who took her away paid for her transportation. She is in Libya looking for money to come back to Nigeria but she and other girls are being watched. She told me that if I can raise N2million for Alhaji Sanni that she will be set free. My daughter is in bondage and I need government to help her and other girls in her condition to come back to Nigeria “ When contacted over the trafficked girls, Mr. Famakin the Zonal Commander for the National Agency for the Prohibition

Prince Tunji Oshokoya in Trafficking in Persons NAPTIP South West said the agency is working with international partners to arrest and repatriate Alhaji and Alhaja Sanni to Nigeria. The NAPTIP boss confirmed that Mrs Ebunoluwa Bankole, Alhaja Lateefat’s Sanni mother is in custody.

He said “ Mrs Ebunoluwa Bankole is in our custody. She was arrested for human trafficking as a member of a syndicate with her daughter and son in-law. The syndicate traffick girls to Libya and efforts are being made to have the couple arrested. We are working with our international partners to get them back to Nigeria to face thier crime” Mr. Famakin confirmed also that NAPTIP operatives arrested Alhaja Lateefat in Abeokuta but she escaped. He added that Mrs Bankole has since been charged to court and is on bail but nobody has come to take her bail.

“Operatives went to Abeokuta to arrest Alhaja Lateefat . She was apprehended and was being taken into the vehicle but she started shouting thieves , thieves and people in the community , including her family members pounced on the operatives and assaulted them with broken bottles.

They assisted her to escape. We arrested five of the people and charged them to the federal high Court Abeokuta for assault and obstruction of duty. We arraigned Mrs Bankole at the federal high Court Abeokuta because investigations revealed that most of the offences were committed there.

Nobody has come for her bail that is why she is still in our custody”.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

33

Dear Bukola

Having problems with your marriage, family, relationship, career or life generally?

Help is at hand with Bukola Oyetunji, Relationship Expert, Life Coach, Motivational Speaker, Author of Stranded With a Status and One Good Spouse Deserves Another. www.bukolaoyetunji.blogspot.com, Follow on twitter @bukolaoyetunji

bukola.oyetunji@gmail.com. +2347012974472

My faith is being questioned

Dear Bukola,

I

am a born again Christian who spends most of her time serving God and helping people around me. I got married 15 years ago and till date, I am yet to be blessed with a child of my own. Everyone around me has suddenly become counselors but the problem is they want me to renounce my faith and look for children from unclean sources. My husband has also accused me of not trying hard enough to get children and he has threatened me severally that if I can’t give him what he wants, he would try ‘other options’. I have a feeling my prayers are going to be answered soon but still, the happenings around me are beginning to get through to me. Please I need your advice.

Anonymous.

My husband never gives compliments F Dear Bukola,

I

have been married for 4 years and we have 2 children. I really love my husband but the problem I have with him is that he never gives compliments. I work myself out to please him but it’s just like he never notices. Unfortunately when I make a slight mistake in the house he goes off about how incompetent I am. He doesn’t seem to notice how hard I try to get appreciation or compliments from him no matter how little.

Please help cos this attitude of his is affecting me!

Anonymous.

Dear Anonymous, here are different types of men and there are different types of ways through which they show their appreciation. Some men are just the way your husband is, they seldom

T

give compliments. That still does not mean they do not notice the good things you do around the house or how hard you try to please them, of course they notice but expressing it is just the problem they have. You have to move past the stage of doing things because you want your husband to give you compliments for it. Do things because you enjoy doing it, that’s the only way you can be happy and remain sane. I am not saying it is good for the men to be selfish with givng compliments all I am saying here is that a man who was not brought up to give compliments (especially the type whose father never gave his mother compliments) should not be expected to suddenly give compliments to his wife. It’s not part of him; believe me, you can’t force it out of him. About him complaining over your slight mistakes, you need to let him know you are not perfect so you can make mistakes just

I am scared for my life I Dear Bukola,

was recently caught red-handed by my husband in an affair with one of my male colleagues. I don’t want to go into details of how I became a promiscuous wife but believe me, it isn’t what I planned to do in my marriage. The thing is I am scared for my life because even after my husband discovered I was cheating on him, he didn’t react at all. The only thing he told me was that I shouldn’t let it happen again. I know my husband to be the temperamental and jealous type so

this attitude of his has given me a lot of sleepless nights. I think it would be best I move out of the house because I really don’t know if he is plotting any revenge against me. What do you think?

G

Dear scared wife, etting caught red-handed in an extra-marital affair is enough reason for you to be scared for your life. Just like you are feeling right now, I wish your husband had reacted in a different way too but he didn’t. If he is a temperamental and jealous type and all you got from him was a warning that you shouldn’t do it again, sweetheart, I am

like every other person out there. If he fails to understand, don’t worry, still be happy. See it from the positive angle that he wants you to be a better person. The most important thing I want you to know however is that under no circumstances should you let this attitude of his make you feel inferior.

You are a wonderful woman but the only person that can appreciate you and make you feel fulfilled is YOU. If you accomplish any difficult task, praise yourself for it! If you did a good job at something, applaud yourself and give yourself a treat for it! If you got a promotion at work, celebrate yourself.

Whatever positive achievement you get, appreciate yourself for it because a lot of people out there wish they were you.

Don’t wait for anyone to make you feel worthy. It is your life so, LIVE IT! Wish you all the strength you deserve…..

really scared for you too. Men by nature cannot put up with the idea of another man having sex with their wife not to talk of them now catching her red handed doing it. You have to take some steps to iron this issue out once and for all. It may be difficult to do but if you know you still want to be in the marriage, involve some elderly people or your religious leader (Pastor, Imam etc.) confess your sins to them and also let them know how your husband’s lack of reaction to the issue is making you uneasy. Let them sit both of you down so as to allow him pour out his anger and disappointments instead of bottling it up.

After this, you should know whether you are safe in the marriage or if you should take to your heels.

Lastly, you should know also that engaging in extra-marital affairs is what you shouldn’t have done in the first place so you must beg for your husband’s forgiveness and most importantly that of God. Good luck with it.

Dear Anonymous, irstly, I thank God for the grace with which He brought you this far because so many women out there did not wait this long before they renounced their faith only to regret it later on. The counselors around you are giving you such advice because they do not know how faithful the God you are serving is. God makes everything beautiful in his time, all we need to do as humans is to wait patiently and let his plans and promises over us come to fulfilment. About your husband, keep praying for him, he will stand firm by you in this journey, you will both arrive at God’s planned destination. We have seen or heard testimonies of people who waited long before they got blessed with children and believe me, if you talk to them they will tell you the wait was worth it! Nothing or no one can stop you from receiving your own testimony soon too.

Do you know also that when answers to our prayers are almost knocking on the door that is when doubt starts to set in?

Please I beg you to let go of every negative counsel and put your eyes on Christ only for He is the author and the finisher of your faith and He is faithful enough to take you to your expected end. He will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, so trust him to make you laugh last. Remember also that whatever you get from an unclean source will give you more sorrow than happiness that’s just the way it is. It is only what you get from God that can give you peace of mind and everlasting joy, so don’t let anyone push you to the wrong altar…. Fix your eyes on Christ alone for you and I both know He will never disappoint you. Keep serving him more with all your might, don’t grow weary in doing well and don’t be jealous of those whose time has come.

Those who mock you now will celebrate God’s faithfulness over your life soon. I wish you all the grace you need.

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

34

Male

Jide animashaun 08034710902

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Angle

Is foreplay an esse U

It’s overrated

nlike most men that I know, I love to muse and do a little bit of crazy things to jazz up my life in different ways. I do get bored easily when my mind is not on overdrive thinking of naughty things to do or say to stir up my life especially my sex life. So this weekend while thinking of that elusive craziness my mind went to the idea of foreplay and what it entails and why most women think we men are not so into it. It got even better when I found myself in the midst of a few friends and I threw the question to them. The answers I got turned out to be quite fascinating though because they were so stereo-typical with the women. They were of the opinion that men, especially Nigerian men, do not really like foreplay that much but are more into going straight to sex itself instead of trying to put them in the mood which is primarily the idea of what foreplay is all about. Almost all of the women contributing considered excellent foreplay very important to orgasms and felt that men who aren’t into foreplay are not only inconsiderate but are generally lousy lovers. They also said that they believe that most African men hates the idea of foreplay.

Let me clarify here that we do not hate foreplay. The truth is that we just don’t have the luxury of time to spend that we should be using being busy with the real stuff on an unnecessary venture. For most men, foreplay is a bit like eating an appetizer before the main dish, it has a time and a place and is alright in small doses. A few minutes of kissing and petting to warm up for the main event is fine, but a lengthy session of dry-humping and slobbering kisses is a no for us. A perfect imagery of foreplay for most men is something one of the guys said. He likened it to going to watch a classical musical show at a stadium of your favourite band, only to find that a bunch of unknown bands were playing support slots for a lot time while you don’t know when your band will be coming

up on stage. You’d be frustrated, right? And not necessarily because you didn’t like any of the bands. They may be vocally very pleasant, but you’d feel aggrieved because you were there for the headliners, not the other take-it-or-leave-it stuff.

This may indeed sound very harsh but the truth is that when most men want to have sex, they actually want to have sex and not to spend hours fiddling around and pretending to get more and more turned on. Believe it or not, when an African man is in bed with you and you’re naked, he is already turned on and wasting time on protocols of sex won’t just jell. Too much foreplay not only means that we won’t be able to last as long, but also that we won’t want to, as we’re likely to be so tired from hours of endless wanky-pokey that we won’t have the energy for a marathon session. So in the future, if you want incredible sex, forego the warm-up and dive straight in at the deep end. Trust me when I say that most men find nothing sexier than a woman who’s raring to go right away. And if, for whatever reason, you really need some lengthy foreplay to get those juices flowing, just make sure it doesn’t end up becoming a marathon contest of who can last longer snogging and fondling because you may well find that by turning yourself on, you’ll actually turn him off.

Foreplay though very good, should not be so prioritized that other aspects of sex and lovemaking ends up being relegated to the back all because of over-westernization of ideas.

We need to know when and where to put a check on things and be more practical. Not all men but most categorize and relate sex and emotions differently than women. It doesn’t mean we are selfish or that we are not thinking about you. As long as the other aspects of the relationship are healthy then it shouldn’t really affect one’s libido and sex life. Therefore, foreplay shouldn’t be a priority before sex.

SEX TALK

This column is x-rated

Face-saving tips for me who finish too quickly

Early ejaculation happens to the best of men. You’re with a girl and it’s feeling good -- really good. All of sudden, it feels way too good. Before you know it, you’ve concluded your business and you’ve barely made it past the one-minute mark. As she stares quizzically into your eyes, you have a split second to decide what to do about your early ejaculation. Should you try to play it off with a joke or genuinely apologize? Here are the dos and don’ts of how to react.

Laugh it off Trying to casually make a joke of the situation is a valid reaction. If you can get her to laugh about it with you, then it will just be an amusing hiccup in an otherwise pleasurable evening. Take a break, have a good laugh and then try again. If she does not find it funny, you have two options: (1) Try distracting her or (2) Find yourself a girl who’s not so uptight.

Apologise Sure, you could apologise for your premature ending. It’s a fine option as long as you don’t grovel. A quick “sorry” wouldn’t hurt, but don’t dwell on it. It really doesn’t require a solemn declaration of regret. The only

thing you could really be sorry for is leaving her unsatisfied after your quick orgasm.

Don’t sulk Grown men should not sulk. It is not becoming at the best of times, and it is certainly not appropriate on the occasion of early ejaculation. Be a man, suck it up and try again.

It may be disheartening, but acting like a petulant two-year-old will guarantee that you don’t get a second chance. You could also get some dubious points if you manage to directly or indirectly make her feel like your early ejaculation was her fault.

Don’t panic Do not panic. In the event of an unexpected climax, resist the urge to flee the room in shame. Stay calm and try to act like it’s not a big deal. She’ll still be out there when you finish hiding in the bathroom, and your freakout will just make things more awkward when you finally chill out.

Don’t try to explain The phrase “this never happens to me” should not escape your mouth in this situation.

She probably won’t believe it despite your in-

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

35

Female

Angle

YEMISI ADENIRAN 08029894772 email: ydiran@yahoo.com

ential part of sex?

I

This column is x-rated

en

sistence on the rarity of the occurrence.

In fact, she might even think you are protesting too much. Believe it or not, women are aware that it happens every once in a while. She doesn’t need an explanation.

Don’t fake like it didn’t happen Faking an orgasm is one thing, but faking not having an orgasm is probably even harder. There is gel-evidence left behind after all. So don’t try to pretend it didn’t happen; just act like it didn’t. Instead of pausing to acknowledge it, just move on and keep the pleasure going by other means. Your penis does not have to be directly involved for sex to continue.

Distract her The best possible reaction to early ejaculation on your part is to focus your attention on her pleasure, thereby distracting her from the fact that you’re already finished. If you’re using your mouth or hands to please her, she won’t care when you had your orgasm.

Try, try again No matter which of these reactions come to you at the moment of your untimely orgasm, you can save the situation by getting yourself together and starting from the beginning. If you can’t manage to get it up a second time, make sure she is happy for the night by using the other means at your disposal and giving her a repeat performance in the morning, which will be sure to last lon-

This column is x-rated ger than the first.

The ultimate face-saver for Premature Ejaculation is a great repeat performance. So, how can you guarantee that your repeat performance will have redeeming value? Which positions are great for prolonging ejaculation?

Instead of the missionary, these two positions offer guys a LOT more control during intercourse and when performed the right way, can significantly boost your endurance in bed: Woman on top and Spoons If changing positions still fails you, you should be able to improve matters by simple ‘distraction techniques’. This means turning your mind to something else when you sense that a climax is near. For instance, you can: •Think very hard about something totally unconnected with sex, such as your best friend’s funeral!

•Pinch yourself hard.

•Bite the pillow.

Wear a condom. Yes, the good old condom. If you think the three distraction techniques do not or may not help, there is one last way out; wear a condom.

One of the most overlooked simple cures of premature ejaculation is to wear a condom. Besides being a good practice against sexually transmitted diseases and a contraceptive, a condom can help reduce the sensation of great sex and thus prolong the action.

Absolutely so

f you ask 10 women if they look forward to making love with their men, you will be surprised to have may be one out of them responding positively. Whereas this should not be, it is a common issue in most marriages and relationships.

Love making which is supposed to be the sweetening ingredient of every relationship is most times, viewed with contempt. Most women don’t look forward to it, in fact, the game which is supposed to be fun to the two players is seen by the woman as a task.

One major reason for this kind of feeling and disposition from the side of women is the fire brigade approach with which most men handle sex. Majority of our men appear to see their women as some pleasure assets that can be used anytime they like. They usually forget that the woman also need a feel of the fun, they are not to be used or seen as some dump site. Many men, for all you care don’t understand the place of foreplay in love making. So, once they feel horny and pressed by the urge for sex, they simply descend or pounce on the woman, have their fill of the fun and afterwards, go limp.

This is nothing but an abuse. Oh! Did I just say an abuse? It is an assault, rape and of course a denial of gender equality just as the theme of this year ‘s International Women’s Day spells out.

Honestly, whether we like it or not, women deserve as much fun as men do in love making. It is therefore a denial when the man fails to consider this but just go on to satisfy his urge.

This is where the word, foreplay comes to mind. Foreplay in sex is that preparatory session that a man endeavour to take his woman through before the real sex show. It is a trip that most women love and enjoy before the real action. It is that touch here and there that makes her hot and very responsive during the sex action. And may I also inform you that it is the only thing that can make a woman look forward to the next sex session. So, who loses if it is underrated?

If you as a man wants to be your woman’s delight every time you propose sex to her, then you must control your urge and embrace the act of foreplay . But you won’t have a pass mark if you do not know where to touch. The areas to touch are those places that is known as the erogenous zone.

They are those areas of the body that are very sensitive to sensual touch. The zones are described as parts of the body where you have a concentration of nerve endings, such that when given a sensual touch, the woman, like the man, gets some sweet sexual feeling.

Although there are other areas, most men know just one or two; majorly, they know of the woman’s breasts and her clit.

These areas I want to mention today can be termed as secondary erogenous zones. They are very key to having real fun and therefore cannot be overlooked.

Meanwhile, let me say that the fact that those particular parts of the body appear very sensitive to one person does not mean that they do to another. But to a great extent, there are some areas that are certainly com-

mon to majority in terms of the feeling they give when they are touched. So, to give your woman that sweet feeling before sex, you cannot afford to ignore these zones.

Lips: Even the uninitiated would tell you that the lips are very sensitive to touch. Apart from kissing the lips, you can lightly brush your partner’s with your own and make her to open them wider. From that end, you can go on by licking her upper and lower lips until she allows you to go further and explore more.

Wrist: The inner side of the wrist gives you an opportunity to excite your woman. With the sensitivity of the layer of skin in that area of the body, you are bound to turn her on.

Neck : The nape of the neck is very sensitive. Because the skin around the area is very tender, it can be easily stimulated. Kissing the back of the neck or licking it with the tip of your tongue will certainly do some magic.

Feet: Not many people consider the feet as very sensitive. However, it has been proved that a light stroke on the ankles can make a woman feel quite excited. It can be particularly pleasurable when you trace the contour of her leg with your finger. It would also not be a bad idea to carry out some massaging. You may need a light aromatic oil to use gently in order to moderate pressure to mould her feet till she purrs with pleasure.

Knees: With the amount of nerve endings at the back of a woman’s knees, she is bound to be very sensitive to touch in that area. Caress the back of her knees and lick the area with the tip of your tongue. You can even nibble it lightly.

Inner thighs: The inner thighs would send a woman exceedingly excited with pleasure any day. It is an area which needs to be concentrated upon during foreplay. You can do this with your finger tips or the edge of your tongue. If well done, you would leave the woman shivering with excitement in wait for the next action.

Butt: This is considered to be one of the most erogenous zones in the body of the woman. You could caress or fondle them. Because of the denser muscle mass in the area, some pressure could cause some excitement. You are bound to turn your babe on if you do the needful.

Breasts: This is probably the clearly obvious area in a woman’s body that any man would bet could make her squirm with excitement if well touched. To achieve the desired result, you must resist the temptation to go for the nipples, which can be very attractive. Stroke or caress down the collarbone or upwards from the ribs. Using semi circular stokes in the same direction as you go nearer the breasts will do wonders.

It is important to take your time to discover your woman’s most sensitive parts and capitalize on it. On the other hand, partners should also go the extra mile to guide each other through their sensitive zones. Don’t forget that not everyone responds to touch in all the parts of the erogenous zones the same way. You would be adequately guided by the response of your woman as you explore the different parts of her body. So, go ahead and explore. It’s fun and women definitely love it.

PAGE

36

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

divorce court

‘She doesn’t respect me, I can’t live with such a woman’

• She never respects me as her husband, so why should I keep living with someone like that —Husband • I was surprised when I got court summon as he never told me anything that has to do with divorce. I pray the court to give us more time to try and reconcile, I don’t want to lose my husband —Wife

A

businessman, Mr Emmanuel Godwin has prayed a Mararaba Grade 1 Area Court, Aso Pada, to dissolve his three-year-old marriage over her wife’s disrespect and arrogance.

“The reason of seeking for divorce is to have peace of mind and also have happy times, but my wife does not give me that. My wife and I always have misunderstanding and she never respects me as her husband, so why should I keep living with someone like that?”

Godwin of Tudun Wada, Mararaba close to Abuja, told the court that his marriage with Sarah, his now estranged wife, which was contracted in 2014 has not produced any child.

He also told the court that he tried his best to make his wife

happy and make the marriage work, but his wife has simply refused to change her bad character.

“I am just tired of the union and I pray the court to grant my wish of divorce,” he added.

But in her response, Sarah denied the claims and said that she is not ready to divorce her husband because she still loves him.

“I was surprised when I got court summon as he never told me anything that has to do with divorce. I pray the court to give us more time to try and reconcile, I don’t want to lose my husband,” Sarah begs.

The Judge, Albert Maga, therefore directed Sarah to visit her parents-in-law, along with her own parents, for a possible reconciliation.

(NAN)

‘My wife is dirty’ ‘He does not perform his • She is so dirty that I can’t even sleep with her; I buy food because our kitchen is too dirty to cook. Anytime I clean it up, she messes the house up again. She can’t keep the home or cook. Every corner of our house stinks and unless I sweep, she doesn’t.

Our rooms are filled with dirty laundry —Husband • I have told him that the house is too big for me alone to maintain —Wife Stories by Muda Oyeniran

A

55-year-old husband, Elder Moses Ajuwa , has told the Igando Customary court that his wife’s body odour has made it impossible for him to continue sleeping with her and wanted the court to dissolve his three-year marriage to the 30-year-old woman, Hauwa, on that account.

Apart from the smelly body odour, Elder Ajuwa also told the Grade A Customary Court sitting in Lagos that his wife is also lazy and has failed to fulfill her obligations as a married woman, hence she is a disgrace to womanhood.

In his words: “I do not know why I must continue with this marriage. My so called wife can’t cook or keep the home.

She’s so lazy and dirty I can’t even sleep with her; the only thing she knows is to dress up

and go to parties. I want a divorce.

“I can’t continue with this marriage; it is better to be a bachelor than stay married to this excuse of a woman. She has failed at being a woman. I married her so she could take care of me after my first wife died; this is the worst mistake I ever made.

“She can’t keep the home or cook. Every corner of our house stinks and unless I sweep, she doesn’t. Our rooms are filled with dirty laundry and I had to take my two children from my late wife to her family for proper care because I don’t want them in her care because she will turn them to slaves.

“She is so dirty that I can’t even sleep with her; I buy food because our kitchen is too dirty to cook. Anytime I clean it up, she messes the house up again.

“She never stays at home, once she gets one clean cloth

and can dig her makeup out of the dung-hill she created in the room and a corner of the sitting room, she’s off. She rarely takes her bath. I have tried my best to make her change without success. Please separate us,” Elder Ajuwa told the court.

In her defence, the wife denied all the allegations levelled against her. She told the court that her husband does not like her going out and is too autocratic.

“I am a small girl and he wants me to dress like an old woman.

That I’m married doesn’t mean I should act like a dead woman.

I want my marriage to work but my husband needs to relax his stance. His other allegation is in bad faith because I have told him that the house is too big for me alone to maintain.”

The court gave the couple two months to see if they can resolve their issues or proceed to divorce.

fatherly duties’

• The children are distributed to different family members.I have been responsible for the children’s upkeep and my husband has stopped supporting me for a long time now —Wife • She does not respect me —Husband

A

45-year-old salesclerk, Monsurat Biliaminu, has urged an Agege Customary Court to dissolve her 24-year marriage over alleged lack of care from her husband Monsurat said that her husband had refused her to seek employment, but did not want to take up his responsibilities by catering for her and their six children.

“When l married him, I thought he was a gentleman, but he is not. He does not perform his fatherly duties.

The children are distributed to different family members.

“I have been responsible for the children’s upkeep and my husband has stopped supporting me for a long time now,’’ she said.

The respondent, Abubakar, 55, also told the court that he was fed up with the marriage because of his wife’s stubborn-

ness. “ She does not respect me and takes laws into her hands. I made a container for her to sew clothes, but later realized that she had started selling herbal drugs.

“She travels as far as Ghana and Togo to market her products and leaves home for weeks without telling me and leaves the children unattended to,’’ he said Abubakar said he had been taking care of the children and ‘wants the court to grant him their custody’.

“I want the custody of my children and the court to fix a day their mother can see them.

“We can arrange a meeting place because I do not want her to come to my house again”.

The President of the Court, Mr P.A. Williams, adjourned the case to April 7 for judgment.

(NAN)

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘I caught her with another man in her shop’

A

n Ado-Ekiti Customary Court has dissolved a seven-year marriage between Olubodun Kunle, and his wife, Dupe over assault, adultery, frequent fighting and lack of proper care for the children.

Kunle, 42, had told the court that he wanted a divorce because his wife voluntarily packed out a year ago and dropped his children with his mother.

He said that the wife was fond of quarrelling with their neighbours and would not accept corrections.

The father of three also said his wife was fond of leaving home early and coming back late at night without caring for the children and him.

He added that he once caught his wife with another man in her shop and later got to know that the man was her

divorce court

MARCH 12, 2016

former boyfriend.

Dupe, 32, denied the allegations of frequent fighting and adultery, and told the court that efforts to reconcile with her husband proved abortive.

The court’s President, Mr Ogunsemi Joseph, in his judgment, held that the marriage had broken down irretrievably, adding that there was no room for amicable settlement any longer.

Ogunsemi, who dissolved the marriage, awarded custody of the children to the wife, and ordered that the husband should be responsible for the payment of the children’s school fees.

He also ordered that the husband should pay the sum of N3, 000 as monthly allowance on each of the three children.

(NAN)

T

he Chief Imam of Jamaitul Islam of Nigeria, Ikorodu, Lagos, Alhaji Jamiu Bello has denied taking his wife, Mrs Busola Bello to the Ikorodu Customary Court for the dissolution of their marriage.

According to a letter from his lawyers, Nurudeen Ogbara & Co, the

story titled “My third wife is troublesome,” which was published on this page on February 27, 2016, in which Alhaji Bello was reported to have approached the Ikorodu Customary Court seeking the dissolution of his marriage to his third wife due to her troublesomeness, is “baseless, false and meretricious.”

37

.

‘My wife steals my money to play Baba Ijebu’ • I never knew that I was married to a criminal for three years. She constantly steals my money to play Baba ijebu —Husband • My husband doesn’t care about me and our son. He only drops N50 or N100 a day for my feeding and my son. —Wife

A

Imam denies divorcing wife

PAGE

mild drama was played out at the Agege Customary Court when a middle aged man, Mr. Momoh Abdul Ganiyu told the court that his wife, Mrs. Doris has been stealing his money to play local gamble game popularly called baba Ijebu in local parlance.

He said that contrary to his earlier believe that he was married to responsible woman but her behaviour is that of a criminal. “I never knew that I was married to a criminal for 3 years. She constantly steals my money to play baba ijebu.”

Aside of this, he continues, “she is a street fighter. She almost throws my co-tenant wife from our one story apartment for the quick intervention of neighbours who averted the tragic incident,” Mohom recounts.

He is praying that the court dissolve his three years marriage which is blessed with a son owing to lack of respect, constant stealing and fighting.

Momoh gave the court the knife that his wife tries to use to stab him.

The petitioner, who came to the court with a swollen face that was banged, gave a graphic account when his wife out of annoyance attempted to bite off his eyes, according to him it was

by God’s grace that made her

to miss his eyes when her teeth landed on his cheek.

“My wife is very troublesome, when I was asking her to return my stolen money, she refused.

In the ensuing argument, she attempted to bite my eyes but God saved me that she missed her target. She bites my cheek continuously with her mouth full of blood, while I was heavily bleeding from the teeth attack,” Momoh opined.

In her defence, Mrs. Momoh said that problem started when she lost her job. She explained that her husband is a tight-fisted man that only gives her N50 for daily upkeep. She added anytime she demands for a raise; he would turn her into his bouncing bag.

The defender display a hotel receipt and a empty pack of condom that he alleging used to the court, stressing thatthe petitioner preferred to use his salary on hotel and with women of easy virtue.

“My husband doesn’t care about me and our son. He only drops N50 or N100 a day for my feeding and my son.This condition had made her to resort into begging her family member for feeding. He preferred to use his money in hotel. When he is very happy, he would drop N3000 for monthly feeding,” she said.

She went on to refute the claims of her husband that she is a chronic gambler that she often steal his money to play baba ijebu. She pointed out that the baba ijebu receipt that her husband gave the court as exhibit was not hers.That her son picked it on the floor insisting that he just want to give her a bad name.

The court was shunned when she narrated that her husband after impregnating her asked her to abort it or risked being push out of her matrimonial home. According to her when his antics failed, he resorted to punching and kicking of her belly in order to forcefully abort the pregnancy.

In her word, “When I was pregnant for him, he told me that due to his present condition he can’t fathered any child. To make sure I lose the pregnancy, he often punched and kicked my belly.

“He gave me N4000 and introduced me to his friend, one Momoh that took me to a hospital in Ishaga area of Lagoswhere I had the abortion. I did it because he threatens to kill me if I don’t.”

The president of the court, Mr. Emmanuel Shokunle urged both parties to maintain peace and later adjourned the case for further hearing.

PAGE

MARCH 12, 2016

38

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Caesarean Delivery: What’s true, what’s not?

W

hile celebrating the International Women’s day this past week, it is sad to observe that maternal mortality rate in Nigeria is still one of the highest in the world. Currently at about 600/100,000 live births; it means roughly that every 1 in 100 women who go into labor will not come out alive. When this is compared with a country like Singapore where it is less than 5, it is totally unacceptable.

A number of factors have been adduced to the high rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria, including poverty, ignorance and poor health system amongst others.

These have made obstetric care not easily accessible to women; and where available, it may not be affordable. Even when the woman can afford it, sometimes, cultural belief and social factors may serve as barrier to good antenatal care.

As such, only one third of deliveries are said to take place in a proper hospital setting while the rest take place at the traditional birth attendant’s or at home.

But even in cases where antenatal care and delivery are managed in the hospital, it is sometimes the case that the woman and family will refuse intervention like surgical delivery when labour becomes complicated. It is not uncommon to find such women leaving the hospital to their churches, homes or back to the traditional birth attendant!

The reason for this is not farfetched .Aside from cost consideration; it is a prayer point in almost every contemporary church that no pregnant woman should deliver her baby surgically but through ‘’normal’’ delivery. In addition, our aged mothers will not only pray a similar prayer, they will also resist vehemently, any suggestion that their daughters or wards should be delivered via a Caesarean Section.

To them, they have been delivering their babies before the white people arrived with their knives. More so, they themselves didn’t deliver surgically, so there is no reason why their offspring should do so. Where did she inherit that from?

As a result, not only will pregnant women run away from any suggestion of surgical delivery, they are also wont to label the doctor that mentioned it as wicked. They sometimes add a few words of curses. It is his daughter or wife that will deliver with CS! Let me quickly state at the start that, vaginal delivery is the preferred mode of delivery, even by the medical practitioners. It is always the first consideration for every woman. But there is a factor that supersedes by far, this special consideration for vaginal birth and that is - the route of delivery which has higher chances of preserving the lives of mother and child- should be considered in every situation. Therefore, when facts are put on the table and consideration is given first to preserving the life of the pregnant woman and her baby, Caesarean Section may sometimes be the safest of the choices.

What is Caesarean Sectioning?

Caesarean Section or C/S as commonly referred to, is a surgical operation which involves the delivery of a baby by cutting through the wall of the mother’s abdomen and the womb. History traced its origin to as early as the tenth century in the ancient Roman Empire. At the time, it was a surgery performed to save the babies of women who already succumbed to failed labour or who passed away shortly before their due date of delivery. Late into the eighteenth century, its mortality anywhere in the world was still as high as 80%.But this is not the case any longer as medical science has witnessed advances which has now made Caesarean Section a very safe surgery. Such include discovery of antibiotics, good anesthesia, blood transfusion and better surgical techniques. Currently, millions of Caesarean Sections are

performed round the world. It is now not uncommon for some women to request for the procedure simply for the sake of it or fear of going through “stress of labour”. The current recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) however is that C/S should only be carried out for medical indications only in order to reduce the rate of ‘unnecessary’ C/S.

Indications:

C/S could be planned or carried out as an emergency and there are different indications for both. Some indications are considered absolute where C/S is the only route of delivery considered safe, For example when a baby is lying transverse at term. In some other situations, indications are considered relative, wherein C/S is a better option, not because vaginal birth is completely impossible, but because it carries higher risks. It is this type of situations that constitute doctors’ dilemma

in our setting. If a doctor advises CS for relative indications, and the woman runs to her pastor, who assured her to damn the doctor; when the woman eventually takes the risks and survives narrowly; it is testimony time! More often than not however, such women unfortunately lose their babies, their lives or both. Then it is just destiny!

While it is not our place to completely rule out divine intervention as they do occur, it is the tendency to abuse such that constitutes a hindrance to what is best for the pregnant mother and baby.

Here are a few reasons why it may be safer for you to have a Caesarean sectioning 1) When labour is prolonged and the baby is considered too big 2) When the baby is no longer getting enough oxygen and is in danger(fetal distress) 3) When the placenta is before the baby and there is risk of severe bleeding(placenta previa) 4) When the baby lies abnormally i.e. presenting with the buttocks, legs etc 5) Health conditions such as hypertension or heart problems in the mother 6) Previous C/S, depending on the number of times and other coexisting conditions The list is by no means exhaustive and it is your doctor who can objectively decide with you on if and when you need surgical delivery. Let’s now look at some pros and cons of Caesarean Section

Advantages:

C/S removes the risk of perineal injury such as tears and other complications With C/S bleeding can also be easily controlled, thereby minimizing the risk of excessive bleeding C/S may also reduce somewhat, the risk of long term complications such as uterine prolapse or urinary incontinence

Disadvantages:

C/S is surgery after all and like any other surgery comes with its own risks It takes longer for the mother to recover compared with uncomplicated vaginal delivery C/S leads to a higher chance of a re-

peat C/S C/S may therefore limit the number of births (… so not suitable for a woman who desires 10 children!!!)

Making your decision:

Making the right decision lies with you principally. Never let money or lack of it be the first consideration in choosing whether to accept the option of surgery or not. Rather, together with your doctor assess your situation and that of your baby with regards to the best route of delivery. If in doubt, you can always inform your doctor of your desire to seek a second opinion. Sometimes the decision to operate is simply because the baby is precious, as in the case of an eventful pregnancy in a 40yr old woman who is pregnant for the first time after 15 years of waiting for conception; which may prompt a consideration of controlled delivery to minimize risks, even in the absence of other obvious morbidity.

Conclusion:

In concluding, it is good to reiterate the fact that vaginal delivery of the baby is the primary goal of medicine. This has been reinforced by WHO ,who recently gave guidelines such as the need to wait till at least 39 weeks before a decision to operate is taken in the absence of overriding emergencies, and making efforts to discourage elective C/S without medical reasons etc. This is in a bid to, on the one hand, reduce the number of C/S from its current global rate of about 25% and on the other hand reduce complications where C/S is necessary.

Still, the need for C/S will always be there. Rather than seeing it as a form of punishment or as a calamity, it should be viewed by all and sundry as just another way to bring a baby to life and give the mother an opportunity to be alive to nurse her baby.

On this note, I hereby wish every pregnant woman out there not ‘normal’ but safe delivery!

You can chat with a doctor FREE at www.prettyhealthcare.com.ng. Every Wednesdays and Fridays (4-8pm)

Sport

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

PAGE

39

Enyimba, Wolves, Nasarawa set for continental action Enyimba players in a training session ahead tomorrow’s match

Ifeanyi Eduzor

I

t will be a busy weekend for Nigeria’s remaining three representatives in the continent as they confront their opponent’s tomorrow in the first round first leg encounters of both the 2016 CAF Champions League and confederation cup respectively.

In the lucrative CAF champions League, two time winners; Enyimba of Aba who recorded an aggregate 2-1 victory over Viper of Uganda will play host to Vital’O Fc of Burundi at the Adokiye Amiesieamaka Stadium, Port Harcourt while Warri Wolves who recorded a work over against Sporting Clube da Praia Cruz of Sao Tome and Principe will host Sudanese giant, AlMerrikh at the Warri Township Stadium in another CAF champions League encounter also slated for Sunday.

While Enyimba could be said to be up against an unknown opponent, the same could not be said of the Seasiders who are facing one of the most popular and consistent team in the continent.

Both Vital’O of Burundi and Al-Mer-

rikh of Sudan are strong names in their respective country’s league. Statistics indicates that the Burundians who are making their 9th appearance in the CAF Champions League were finalists in the African Cup Winners Cup competition in 1992 where they lost to Africa Sports of Cote d’Ivoire and has won their country’s League a record 19 times and the Burundian FA cup 13 times, making them a strong opposition in the continent’s lucrative league. But the intimidating record of the People’s Elephants who boosts of a good home record will be an advantage when the Nigerians host their East African visitors in Port Harcourt.

It is expected that the Coach Paul Aigbogun tutored side will make good use of their continental experience to record a massive victory over the Burundians whose best record in the championship was a second round finish in the 2000 edition.

As soccer loving Nigerians expect Vital’O not to present a big problem to the Aba millionaires, the same could not be said of Al- Merrikh who will be guests of Warri Wolves considering their intim-

idating record which saw them emerging Sudan Premier League champions 20 times as well as winning Sudan cup a record 24 times.

The Ombudsman based club side is also not new comers in the continent as they have appeared in the CAF Champions League 19 times emerging semi- finalists in the 2015 edition.

This record no withstanding, Wolves who are making their second appearance in the championship after failing to go beyond the second round in their maiden appearance in 2007 are expected to record a convincing victory against the Sudanese to enable them have a chance of scaling through the second leg in Ombudsman in a fortnight.

Although this match will be very difficult to predict considering the pedigree of the two teams but the Sam Okpodu led side will be counting on their good home record to tame the Sudanese.

Nasarawa United will also have their hands full as they host Algerian Club Sportif Constantinois in the confederation cup match at the Abuja National Stadium.

The solid miners who recorded a 4-2

aggregate victory over AS Generation Foot of Senegal to progress to this stage of the second tier continental championship will be confronting the oldest Algerian team which has had one CAF Champions League appearance and two confederation cup appearances with their best result being in 2014 when they crashed out in the second round.

Although the team is not one of the leading football club sides in the North African country, but the Lafia based Nigerian side with one Champions League and one confederation cup appearances must guide against underrating them to ensure they record a good win that will make the return leg in Constantine, Algeria in a fortnight a mere formality.

As the three Nigerian club sides host their opponents tomorrow, it is expected that they put in their best to ensure they record impressive results that will make the reverse fixture easy for them.

The second leg is expected to take place between March 18-20 with the overall winner of the two legged encounter proceeding to the Group stage of the competitions.

PAGE

40

MIRROR SPORT

MirrorGolf With Pius Anakali

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tel: 08023367071

Sovereign Trust Insurance Open tees off Afolabi Gambari

T

he fourth edition of Sovereign Trust Insurance Golf Tournament will begin today at the Ibadan Golf Club (IGC) with over 200 players scheduled to participate in the two-day tournament.

The 36-holes event will see professional and amateur golfers compete in the different categories.

Last year’s edition attracted professional golfers from different clubs across the country where foremost player Lateef Lasisi from Abeokuta Golf Club led the pack. But organisers of the 2016 event said only pros in Ibadan would compete.

They are Emeka Obi, Nduka Benard, Monday Daniel, Alfa

Sanusi and Salisu Ibrahim.

Competition Secretary of the Ibadan Golf Club, Col. Ade Sunmonu (rtd), said yesterday that the club had the tradition to organise befitting tournaments that would be appreciated by other golf clubs in the country.

“Our decision to field the pros again this year is to motivate them to realise their dreams,” Sunmonu said.

Corporate Communication and Brand Manager of Sovereign Trust Insurance, Segun Bankole, told National Mirror that his organisation targeted promotion of the golf brand as it did with the insurance company.

“We have promoted golf in the past four years and have no regret in partnering the Ibadan Golf Club in achieving our objectives,” Bankole said.

Woods deserves credit, says Spieth

W

orld number one, Jordan Spieth believes Tiger Woods doesn’t get enough credit for his impact on professional golf, its coffers and its worldwide perception.

In an interview for Golf Channel’s “Feherty,” Spieth expounded on how Woods took the mantle of the sport from Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Woods

“Tiger Woods deserves a million thank-you notes and a million cases of nice wine from every golfer that’s coming up and wants to play the PGA Tour as well as those that are already on the PGA Tour,” Spieth said.

“He deserves 100% credit for doing what Arnie did in his days and taking the game to the level it is today. He really doesn’t get the credit he deserves from the players. We all believe it. I don’t think we stress it enough to other people, how much we owe to Tiger and Phil and the great players before them.”

Woods’ role as a worldwide ambassador for the sport and, to an unclear extent, influence on purses are just starting to be understood, primarily because of players like Spieth, the generation of pro golfers directly influenced

by Woods and the product of the PGA Tour he helped cultivate.

Nagi endorses Rio Olympics golf course

T

he Rio 2016 course is in “surprisingly” good condition, says Brazilian golfer Miriam Nagl who took part in the first test event this week.

Nagl was one of only nine home players to compete in Tuesday’s event on the new links course after international golfers declined invitations, with many pointing to clashing schedules.

“I never expected it to be so well developed,” the 35-year-old said. “I would say it’s equal to a good course like the Doral in Miami.”

She added: “Apart from the bunkers, which have too much sand, I have to say the course is in great shape.

“It suits a player using mid and long irons to approach the greens. The second shot will matter.”

The Reserva de Marapendi was designed by American Gil Hanse, who renovated Donald Trump’s Doral and The Country Club in Massachusetts, which will host the 2022 US Open.

Construction of the coastal course in Barra; three miles from the athletes’ village began back in March 2013.

The layout was supposed to be ready to be inspected in 2014, but land ownership and environmental issues meant construction was held up.

Another recent concern has been mosquitoes, which have been largely responsible for spreading the Zika virus in Brazil and other countries in South America.

Nagl, who grew up in Germany but is hoping to qualify for Brazil, said: “My mum in Berlin gave me some mosquito spray before I left for Brazil. However, I didn’t see one mosquito. I was surprised because it was so hot and humid.

Sixty players will compete over 72 holes of stroke play in both the men’s and women’s events in Rio.

Nagi

L—R: Marketing Director Delta State Sports Commission, Mathew Tuoyo , Secretary General PWA , Sesan Olukoya, Asaba Stadium Manager, Chuks Enegide, Admin Director , UPWP, Godwin Topman and a wrestler, Victor Idoreyin Ebenezer, aka Power Vic shortly after signing the letter of approval in Asaba.

Wrestling: PWA title defence gets Delta Govt approval Ifeanyi Eduzor

D

elta State Government has signed the letter of approval for the much awaited PWA African Wrestling heavyweight title defence between the reigning champion, Power Lee of Nigeria and his challenger, Angolan, Marvelous Buffalo.

Signing the letter in Asaba, Chairman Delta State Sports Commission, Tony Okowa stated that the State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa is passionate about hosting the championship slated for May 1, at the Asaba Township Stadium.

He noted that the decision of the state government to sponsor the title defence tagged “The Re-

turn of Glory, Asaba 2016” was not only to encourage the champion who is an indigene of the state but to also send a message to the youths that they can become meaningful citizens of the country through sports even as he charged the champion to ensure he retains the title.

According to him, signing of the approval letter is an indication that the state government is fully committed to ensuring that enabling environment is not only created for the champion to defend his title but to put him in a position to win more laurels for the country at the international level in no distance time.

Receiving the letter from the Marketing Director of the Delta State Sports Commission, Mathew Tuoyo, Secretary Gener-

al of PWA African Wrestling Federation, Sesan Olukoya expressed gratitude to the Delta State government for its steadfastness in hosting the championship just as he noted that the wrestling body will ensure fair play at the competition.

Meanwhile, PWA African Wrestling heavyweight champion, Power Lee has promised Nigerians that he will not disappoint them on May 1.

Power Lee whose real names are Godspower Ikpide noted that if he could go to Cameroon and defeat their champion to win the belt, he will not allow an Angolan to take the belt away from him in the presence of his fans with a warning to his opponent to be prepared to be stretched out of the ring.

Oil Games: Gold medal excites NNPC coach Ifeanyi Eduzor

F

ollowing their second consecutive football gold medal win at the just ended Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry games (NOGIG) held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Chief Coach of Nigeria National Petroleum Company , Frank Onyiriuka has expressed gratitude to his players and management for the victory.

Onyiriuka whose team defeated Shell F.C 3 -0 l in a pulsating final said team work and total dedication, discipline and encouragement by NNPC management ensured they won the trophy According to the former player of defunct ITT, Stationary Stores and NNPC Football Clubs the players’ total commitment and good spirit of sportsmanship added to management’s total support propelled them to beat all comers to the title even as he assured that his tea is ready

NNPC Coach, Frank Onyiriuka (2nd right) and his players displaying the trophy.

to defend the title in next year’s edition.

Onyiriuka while stating that the victory will inspire him to do more for NNPC football club noted that fairness and picking of the best players for all matches were his watchwords throughout the NOGIG games.

“I am particularly grateful to the management of NNPC for

the support it gave the players throughout the duration of the championship which enabled us to lift the trophy.

“I am equally grateful to my players especially my team Captain, Charles Uyi Olokan and Emmanuel Abdulahi who scored our winning goals for their dedication, discipline and handwork”, he concluded.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

MIRROR SPORT

PAGE

41

PAGE

42

LEISURE

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

PAGE

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

43

MARCH 12, 2016

Crime Watch Landlord’s son, six others nabbed for forging govt papers Patience Ogbo

P

olicemen attached to the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Panti Yaba are investigating seven suspected fraudsters that allegedly specialise in forging and printing fake government documents.

Lagos state commissioner of police Mr. Fatia Owoseni while parading the suspects at the state command Ikeja stated that the suspected fraudsters include six male and one female.

CP Owoseni gave the names of the suspects as Gbenga Olawale said to be the leader of the gang, one Okanlawan Abdullahi, Shakiru Atoyebi,Mojeed Ahmed ,Akeem Adeyemi, Usman Olajide and a woman identified as Sarah Otun.

Items recovered from the gang according to the police boss include 5000 copies of General Trust Insurance Company papers, 1000 copies of Mutual Benefit Assurance papers, 2500 copies of Kano State Internal Revenue documents, 2000 copies of Motor Vehicle documents, 71 copies of Auto - Reg papers ,six number plates and 5 robber stamps .

The CP said “ police acted on Intelligence report that the gang was printing fake documents in thier apartment. Police

Suspects officers burst their hideout and arrested them in the act and recovered all the forged documents they have printed. Investigation reveals that they use the different fake number plates they printed to evade police arrest . The suspects will be charged to court after a thorough investigation has been conducted “ The suspected leader of the gang ,Gben-

ga said he was decieved by his customers to forge government documents. “ I am a printer by profession but people started asking me for other jobs to help them print government documents.

I thought they are government people so I was happy to do the business with them. I used the apartment I rented at Ebute Metta for the office. Items I have helped to print

Police arrest 5 men for snatching Toyota Corolla Patience Ogbo

P

olicemen attached to the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS ), Ikeja Lagos State police Command are investigating a gang of suspected car snatchers.

Luck ran out on the gang when they were arrested by the police while allegedly attempting to sell a Toyota Corolla car the gang allegedly stole at gun point from Ogun State .

The police subsequently arrested one Sunday Odah 21, Emmanuel Ihenacho 27, Sunday Ejah 27, Yakubu Michael 27,Samuel Adenike 27 while the suspected gang leader identified simply as Obi is said to be at large.

Emmanuel Ihenacho one of the suspected armed robbers narrated how the gang snatched the car at gun point.

He said “ I am a driver and one of the gang members that snatched the car. It was one Obi that brought the gun. Someone called me on the phone that he needed a car and I told my other gang members that someone needed a car. We laid ambush for car owners at Ogijo so we saw a man driving a clean Toyota Corolla car.

We used our Okada ( commercial motorcycle) to block him and he came out of his car and ran away. We took the car and were about to sell it but police operatives swopped on us and arrested us. This is my first robbery operation. I went with the others so I can get money to eat”

Armed robbery suspects Other members of the gang also said poverty led them to armed robbery Sunday Odah 21 the alleged driver for the gang said “ One Obi called me that he has a car for me to drive to a place for a buyer to inspect. That was how I left my bricklaying job at Odongonya, Ikorodu and came to meet him and other men all of a sudden, he blocked the driver of a Toyota Corolla car. The man ran away when he saw us and left his car. Obi ordered me to take over the steering of the car to the place where we will sell it but police arrested us . I was decieved by Obi. I don’t know where he is but I got myself into this mess because I told Obi that I need money and this is how he helped financially but I am regretting it because I have landed in police net.”

A third suspect, Sunday Ejah on his part said, “I am a commercial motorcycle rider. Somebody called me to take him to Agbede Road . He said he wants to sell his car. On getting there he told me to wait to take him back but police came and arrested us. I don’t know his name but he landed me in this trouble.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of police, Mr Fatia Owoseni stated that the gang members were arrested by Anti Robbery operatives from SARS Ikeja after information reached the police that a gang of armed robbers had snatched a car from Ogun State and were in Lagos with the stolen vehicle .

He said “ On March 5th, at about 2.

30hours, teams of detectives attached to the Special Anti- Robbery Squad ( SARS) Ikeja, upon information that one grey colour Toyota Corolla car with registration number AGL AW has been snatched at gunpoint at about 05 :30 hours of the above date by a group of five men, the detectives trailed the snatched vehicle to Baruwa Ipaja Lagos where the suspects namely ; Sunday Odah, Michael Yakubu, Samuel Adeniyi , Sunday Ejah and one Emmanuel Ihenacho were arrested and they have since confessed to have snatched the said vehicle at gun point.

One dane gun was recovered from the armed robbers and also the snatched vehicle was recovered.”

The CP added that the case is under investigation and suspects will be charged to court soon.

include 5000 copies of General Trust Insurance Company papers, 1000 copies of Mutual Benefit Assurance papers, 2500 copies of Kano State Internal Revenue documents, 2000 copies of Motor Vehicle documents, 71 copies of Auto - Reg papers ,six number plates and 5 robber stamps. I have been doing this business for more than two year. I have done it for more than two hundred people. It is now that the police arrested me that I know that the business is illegal “ Another suspect, Ganiyu Abiodun denied being a member of the gang.

He said “ I don’t know anything about printing and forging fake papers. I am a mechanic and the son of the landlord where Gbenga resides. He rented the house from my father as a residential building but we noticed that he was also printing in the room. Police said I am among his gang but I don’t know anything. The police are saying I should have reported him to the station when I noticed his behaviour was illegal but I felt he was doing a genuine business. I don’t know anything about Gbenga’s work as a printer. He is not my friend either. He is just my father’s tenant so I am appealing to police to release me because I don’t have anything to do with the crime”.

Another suspect who have his name as Anthony Misaki said he was arrested where he spent the night at Otto Ebute Metta.

He said “ I am a refrigerator repairer.

I came to spend the night in Gbenga’s house after my house was demolished at Kadara EbuteMetta. My landlord sold the house to another person and they forced us to leave our abode. I decided to spend the night in Gbenga’s apartment but police came and raided us. I told them that I don’t know anything about the printing but they arrested me along with Gbenga and others.

I am innocent. I don’t know anything about the forged documents and other incriminating items the police are talking about” CP Owoseni stated that the police are on the trail of other suspects and they will be arrested soon.

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

PAGE

40

MIRROR SPORT

MirrorGolf With Pius Anakali

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tel: 08023367071

Sovereign Trust Insurance Open tees off Afolabi Gambari

T

he fourth edition of Sovereign Trust Insurance Golf Tournament will begin today at the Ibadan Golf Club (IGC) with over 200 players scheduled to participate in the two-day tournament.

The 36-holes event will see professional and amateur golfers compete in the different categories.

Last year’s edition attracted professional golfers from different clubs across the country where foremost player Lateef Lasisi from Abeokuta Golf Club led the pack. But organisers of the 2016 event said only pros in Ibadan would compete.

They are Emeka Obi, Nduka Benard, Monday Daniel, Alfa

Sanusi and Salisu Ibrahim.

Competition Secretary of the Ibadan Golf Club, Col. Ade Sunmonu (rtd), said yesterday that the club had the tradition to organise befitting tournaments that would be appreciated by other golf clubs in the country.

“Our decision to field the pros again this year is to motivate them to realise their dreams,” Sunmonu said.

Corporate Communication and Brand Manager of Sovereign Trust Insurance, Segun Bankole, told National Mirror that his organisation targeted promotion of the golf brand as it did with the insurance company.

“We have promoted golf in the past four years and have no regret in partnering the Ibadan Golf Club in achieving our objectives,” Bankole said.

Woods deserves credit, says Spieth

W

orld number one, Jordan Spieth believes Tiger Woods doesn’t get enough credit for his impact on professional golf, its coffers and its worldwide perception.

In an interview for Golf Channel’s “Feherty,” Spieth expounded on how Woods took the mantle of the sport from Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Woods

“Tiger Woods deserves a million thank-you notes and a million cases of nice wine from every golfer that’s coming up and wants to play the PGA Tour as well as those that are already on the PGA Tour,” Spieth said.

“He deserves 100% credit for doing what Arnie did in his days and taking the game to the level it is today. He really doesn’t get the credit he deserves from the players. We all believe it. I don’t think we stress it enough to other people, how much we owe to Tiger and Phil and the great players before them.”

Woods’ role as a worldwide ambassador for the sport and, to an unclear extent, influence on purses are just starting to be understood, primarily because of players like Spieth, the generation of pro golfers directly influenced

by Woods and the product of the PGA Tour he helped cultivate.

Nagi endorses Rio Olympics golf course

T

he Rio 2016 course is in “surprisingly” good condition, says Brazilian golfer Miriam Nagl who took part in the first test event this week.

Nagl was one of only nine home players to compete in Tuesday’s event on the new links course after international golfers declined invitations, with many pointing to clashing schedules.

“I never expected it to be so well developed,” the 35-year-old said. “I would say it’s equal to a good course like the Doral in Miami.”

She added: “Apart from the bunkers, which have too much sand, I have to say the course is in great shape.

“It suits a player using mid and long irons to approach the greens. The second shot will matter.”

The Reserva de Marapendi was designed by American Gil Hanse, who renovated Donald Trump’s Doral and The Country Club in Massachusetts, which will host the 2022 US Open.

Construction of the coastal course in Barra; three miles from the athletes’ village began back in March 2013.

The layout was supposed to be ready to be inspected in 2014, but land ownership and environmental issues meant construction was held up.

Another recent concern has been mosquitoes, which have been largely responsible for spreading the Zika virus in Brazil and other countries in South America.

Nagl, who grew up in Germany but is hoping to qualify for Brazil, said: “My mum in Berlin gave me some mosquito spray before I left for Brazil. However, I didn’t see one mosquito. I was surprised because it was so hot and humid.

Sixty players will compete over 72 holes of stroke play in both the men’s and women’s events in Rio.

Nagi

L—R: Marketing Director Delta State Sports Commission, Mathew Tuoyo , Secretary General PWA , Sesan Olukoya, Asaba Stadium Manager, Chuks Enegide, Admin Director , UPWP, Godwin Topman and a wrestler, Victor Idoreyin Ebenezer, aka Power Vic shortly after signing the letter of approval in Asaba.

Wrestling: PWA title defence gets Delta Govt approval Ifeanyi Eduzor

D

elta State Government has signed the letter of approval for the much awaited PWA African Wrestling heavyweight title defence between the reigning champion, Power Lee of Nigeria and his challenger, Angolan, Marvelous Buffalo.

Signing the letter in Asaba, Chairman Delta State Sports Commission, Tony Okowa stated that the State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa is passionate about hosting the championship slated for May 1, at the Asaba Township Stadium.

He noted that the decision of the state government to sponsor the title defence tagged “The Re-

turn of Glory, Asaba 2016” was not only to encourage the champion who is an indigene of the state but to also send a message to the youths that they can become meaningful citizens of the country through sports even as he charged the champion to ensure he retains the title.

According to him, signing of the approval letter is an indication that the state government is fully committed to ensuring that enabling environment is not only created for the champion to defend his title but to put him in a position to win more laurels for the country at the international level in no distance time.

Receiving the letter from the Marketing Director of the Delta State Sports Commission, Mathew Tuoyo, Secretary Gener-

al of PWA African Wrestling Federation, Sesan Olukoya expressed gratitude to the Delta State government for its steadfastness in hosting the championship just as he noted that the wrestling body will ensure fair play at the competition.

Meanwhile, PWA African Wrestling heavyweight champion, Power Lee has promised Nigerians that he will not disappoint them on May 1.

Power Lee whose real names are Godspower Ikpide noted that if he could go to Cameroon and defeat their champion to win the belt, he will not allow an Angolan to take the belt away from him in the presence of his fans with a warning to his opponent to be prepared to be stretched out of the ring.

Oil Games: Gold medal excites NNPC coach Ifeanyi Eduzor

F

ollowing their second consecutive football gold medal win at the just ended Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry games (NOGIG) held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Chief Coach of Nigeria National Petroleum Company , Frank Onyiriuka has expressed gratitude to his players and management for the victory.

Onyiriuka whose team defeated Shell F.C 3 -0 l in a pulsating final said team work and total dedication, discipline and encouragement by NNPC management ensured they won the trophy According to the former player of defunct ITT, Stationary Stores and NNPC Football Clubs the players’ total commitment and good spirit of sportsmanship added to management’s total support propelled them to beat all comers to the title even as he assured that his tea is ready

NNPC Coach, Frank Onyiriuka (2nd right) and his players displaying the trophy.

to defend the title in next year’s edition.

Onyiriuka while stating that the victory will inspire him to do more for NNPC football club noted that fairness and picking of the best players for all matches were his watchwords throughout the NOGIG games.

“I am particularly grateful to the management of NNPC for

the support it gave the players throughout the duration of the championship which enabled us to lift the trophy.

“I am equally grateful to my players especially my team Captain, Charles Uyi Olokan and Emmanuel Abdulahi who scored our winning goals for their dedication, discipline and handwork”, he concluded.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

PAGE

SOUTH EAST

45

Anti-corruption: Buhari asked to follow due process

Umahi earmarks N250m to fight Lassa fever

resident Muhammed Buhari has been asked to ensure that his anti-corruption crusade follow due process and rule of law so that it would not be interpreted as being a witch-hunt against the opposition.

Rev. Jeremiah Nwachukwu, the General Overseer of Bible Base Church however advised the President to give room for constructive criticism from opposition.

“He should pick good policies from the opposition. He has done well in anti-corruption war, but he should go the whole log.

He should start from the root and also prosecute corrupt people from his party, All Progressives Congress (APC). There should be no sacred cow,” said Rev. Nwachukwu said.

The cleric also asked the president to respond to the demands by the members of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) instead of killing and incarcerating them.

Rev. Nwachukwu said that IPOB was a response to the long marginalization of the people of the Eastern parts of Nigeria, especially

ABAKALIKI

P

the South East.

He warned that killings and continuous detention of the leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, and others, cannot stop the agitation for Biafra, saying “you can kill the messenger but not the message. We must do something now. IPOB is the cry of a baby, and you must respond to that cry”.

The cleric who condemned the ruling of the Federal High Court Abuja to allow witnesses of Federal Government to testify against Kanu in mask, asked President Buhari to do the needful by addressing the numerous injustices meted to Ndigbo in Nigeria.

He however, said that the coming of President Buhari to power was for a divine purpose, and Nigerians should exercise patience as the President was just taking off, stressing that by his nature, he does not please anybody.

But he said that the president needed to do something very urgent to address the dwindling economic situation in the country so as to reduce the suffering of Nigerians.

Aliuna Godwn

T

he governor of Ebonyi State, Chief David Umahi, yesterday said his administration has earmarked over N250 million to fight Lassa fever epidemics in the state.

Umahi made this known shortly after he inspected the ongoing work at the Lassa fever virology centre, located at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, embarked upon by his administration.

Recall that the state government had last week, declared a state of emergency in the health sector, following the increasing cases of Lassa fever outbreak in the state.

The governor noted that the purpose why he approved the sum of N250 million was to ensure that the centre is completed within the three weeks timeline given to the committee in charge of the

project.

He stressed that the State Executive Council has also approved four ambulances and four Dialysis machines, both to be stationed in each of the designated hospitals in the three senatorial zones, and a hospital within the state capital.

“Exco went further today (yesterday) to approve four ambulances to attack Lassa fever. One should be in Abakaliki here and one should be in each of the designated hospitals in the three senatorial zones.

“And we have also directed that emergency building or caravan should be constructed. It is not good to allow any suspected Lassa fever patient to go to our general hospital or primary health care centre because it could further spread, and that is why we want to isolate any case identified through advocacy campaign.

“We have also approved, as Exco members, another four sets of dialysis machines apart from the other equipment associated with Lassa fever approved for the centre. One of the dialysis machines will be in the hospital here and one in each zone in the hospital of your choice.

“So, on the whole we are spending close to N250 million to attack Lassa fever.

About N64 million is for building the mini hospital and the laboratory. We have money for equipment, campaign advocacy and so on”.

Earlier, the CMD, who conducted the Governor, deputy, and other Exco members round the building, commended the Governor for coming to their aid, saying “we had reported and complained countless times to past administrations on the need for a Lassa fever lab centre in the state, especially

in 2005 when so many of our staff and patients died of the disease, to no avail”.

He said a lot of people both indigenes and non indigenes have died of the disease in the state which wouldn’t have been so, if they were given prompt diagnoses and treatment.

The chairman of the special committee on lassa fever, Prof. Odoh thanked Governor Umahi for his leadership style, and for giving them the encouragement and logistics to carry out the assignment.

In another development, Governor Umahi, has commissioned the Izzambo/ Federal Girls College Street lighting project along Enugu-Abakaliki Highway.

Performing the ceremony, the governor charged his aides to sack workers whose efforts/ intentions were to frustrate the programmes of his administration whenever such worker was identified; just as he appealed to all, to work together for the development of the state.

PUBLIC NOTICE

ADVOCACY CENTRE FOR SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT

This is to inform the general public that the above named Foundation has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No 1 of 1990.

The Board of Trustees are:1. Zariyatu Abubakar — Chairperson 2. Muhammad Baba Gombe — Member 3. Badamasi Adamu Ali — Member 4. Aishatu Abubakar Hashidu — Member 5. Ibrahim Yusuf — Secretary Aims and Objectives 1. To enhance the capacity of our communities in the area of advocacy.

2. To engage in human and community, resource development through educational programmes.

3. To enhance leadership and good values in communities.

Any objections to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: IBRAHIM YUSUF

PUBLIC NOTICE

WILDAN CARE FOUNDATION

This is to inform the general public that the above named Foundation has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No 1 of 1990.

The Board of Trustees are:1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Dr. Alkali Yahaya Umar Abubakar hashidu Dr. Ummu Abubakar Habu Abdu Esq. Zariyatu Abubakar

— — — — —

Chairman Member Member Legal Adviser Secretary

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To offer support to orphans and vulnerable children and youth including the caregivers.

2. To advocate for women inclusion on leadership, governance and political participation.

3. To develop and deploy social media platforms to promote tolerance, diversity and peaceful coexistence.

Any objections to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: IBRAHIM YUSUF

L-R: General Commanding Officer, 81 Div, Nigeria Army, Major General Tamunomibi Dibi; Regional Director, Afrocet Montgomery, West Africa, George Pearson, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Institute for Industrial Security, Wilson Esangbedo; President, Association of Industrial Security & Safety, Dr. Ona Ekhomu; Former Regional Vice President, Asis International, Dennis Amachree, and Assistant Commandant, Nigeria Security & Civil Defense, Corps, Lagos, Lugard Osemwegie, at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Securex Exhibition, recently.

Anambra attracts N25bn investments –ANSIPPA

G

overnor Willie Obiano’s investment drive has yielded bountiful result as the State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA) has attracted about N25 billion worth of investment to the state in the last two years.

The Managing Director of the agency, Mr. Joe Billy Ekwunife, stated this in Awka, the state capital, when a delegation of the Anambra State City Chambers paid him a courtesy call to intimate him of the forthcoming First Anambra State Jubilee Trade Fair in Awka as well as present the Trade Fair banner.

The Managing Director

said that this tremendous achievement was made possible by the active support of Governor Willie Obiano, who was eager to see that the state becomes investors’ haven.

He noted that ANSIPPA as a body was at the heart of the Governor and that is why he set it up very early in his administration, noting that ANSSIPA’s board and management were made up of accomplished people in their respective professions.

Endorsing the trade fair, Ekwunife urged the Chamber team comprising the President of Onitsha Chambers, Uche Apakama; Awka Chambers, Chief Ndubuisi Nwo-

bu and the chairman of the Trade Fair Organising Committee, Mr. Sunny Nwchukwu among others to work hard to ensure the success of the fair.

He said they would prevail on the investors they had attracted to attend the fair which will holds in November this year.

Ekwunife said that his organisation was willing to do whatever they can to ensure the success of the fair, saying that although they started on time they should not relax.

“We will endorse this project hundred and ten percent.

We will be willing to do whatever we can do for the success of the Trade Fair. We will give it maximum support. And it

will succeed because the Governor has done what he supposed to do by providing security for business to thrive,” he said.

Earlier, the Anambra State Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, Mr. Ifeatu Olejeme, had advised the chamber delegation to carry out extensive survey of the cost of organising the trade fair.

The Commissioner said that if the fair is well planned, it would turn out to be a huge success, adding that many companies would want to be part of it because of the niche Anambra State and Onitsha market in particular have carved in trade and commerce.

PAGE

46

A’Ibom Assembly Rerun: APC candidate allegedly compromises with PDP Julius Onwuma UYO

A

head of the House of Assembly rerun in Oron/Udung Uko State Constituency of Akwa Ibom state on Saturday, March 12, 2016, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Victor Ini Okonhas been alleged to have compromised with the ruling People’s Democratic Party in the state.

Hon Okon, an erstwhile Local Government Chairman of Oron was said to have to vanish into thin air after collecting huge amount of money from the party hierarchy in the state to prepare for the house of Assembly elections.

It will be recalled that fresh conduct of House of Assembly elections was ordered in four constituencies, including Oron/Udung Uko by the Court of Appeal after appeals by the candidates of the APC were upheld.

Speaking on the issue, a chieftain of the party and one time Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of the State, Chief Victor Iyanam said that, it has been alleged that he has compromised with ruling party in the state but that investigations were ongoing to find out the true position.

His words, “What we hear is that he has compromised. We have not seen him since they started the preparations for the rerun.

“The party is still looking at it, still investigation to see whether he has not made any statement, who knows whether he has been kidnapped. He has not made any statement and his phones are not available”.

When asked if the party has made a formal report to the Police, just in case he is missing, Iyanam said that it is most unlikely because his family seems unperturbed and are going about their business.

Also speaking on the development, another chieftain of the party who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the Okon has betrayed the party and that he has bought over by the PDP.

SOUTH SOUTH

MARCH 12, 2016

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Gas explosion rocks CBN Calabar …18 injured, 2 in critical condition

Richard Ndoma CALABAR

G

as cylinder explosion yesterday hits the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN Calabar office, inflicting injuries to 18 of the CBN Staff with another two in critical condition.

National Mirror learnt that the gas explosion occur around 11. am on Friday morning.

As at the time of filing this report no casual in terms of death is said to have taken place outside the ones who were said to have sustained injuries.

The CBN which is located around the Calabar cenotaph and eleven round about 11 by Calabar Road was besieged by a large crowd of people who had thronged from the nooks and crannies of the metropolis to see what had happened.

There was serious traffic hold up along the premises of the CBN due to the vehicular movement because people were scampering for their dear life as a result of the disaster.

The incident occurred around 11.am to 2.pm causing men of the Navy, Police, Army, Civil Defense and others assisted officials of the state Fire Service in bringing the situation under control.

However, the Cross River State Commissioner of police, Mr. Henry Fadairo, who spoke to journalists in a brief question and answer session, said that the explosion was caused by gas cylinder explosion in one of the units of the CBN office.

The police boss averred that the explosion which brought panic causing some resident to run helter skelter in the state capital, stressing that the explosion was not a bomb blast as speculated in some quarters. ``The team of expert handling the situation confirmed to me that 18 persons were injured while two others are said to be in a critical situation. ``The explosion was caused by gas cylinders in the CBN. It is not a bomb blast as it is already being speculated in some corners. ``The police in company of the Navy, Army, FRSC and the Civil Defence were

on ground to help the state Fire Service to bring the situation under control. ``We also assisted the medical team to convey the victims to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital where they are currently being attended to’’, he explained.

An eye witness who said he was Ben Odion by name explained that he was coming out of Access Bank that shares a boundary fence with the CBN, added that he heard a bang which sounded like a bomb explosion around 11.am stressing that he was happy when

he discovered that it wasn›t a bomb but a gas cylinder explosion.

Odion however maintained that the sound of the explosion was very harsh and heavy on his ear drums as if it was a sound of a bomb explosion which threw the whole place into

pandemonium. ``The explosion occurred around 11.am this morning. The explosion was too heavy to behold. ``I am afraid if that explosion would not claim the lives of CBN staff because it was too heavy, he said.

Scene of the explosion at Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) premises in Calabar, yesterday.

C’River SUBEB chairman dispels allegations of torn certificates Richard Ndoma CALABAR

T

he Cross River State Chairman State Education Board (SUBEB) Dr.Steven Odey yesterday in a media briefing debunked allegation leveled against him that he tore personal certificates belonging to some teachers who were suspected to be fake.

Dr.Odey also denied allegation that he made his colleagues to seat on the floor poured with water during a screening and verification exercise which he conducted for teachers in the state.”How can I ask my very colleagues to sit on the floor because I want to verify certificate. I am highly educated and well refined I couldn’t have done that” The SUBEB Chairman denied the allegations while answering questions from journalists in his office in Calabar.

He said that he was shocked when he news of the spurious allegations got to him adding that though he did all his best to execute his job only to received bashing from detractors who were eager to smear charcoal on his image.

“I have written to Jos plateau and Katangora to verify the certificates.”If teachers could forge certificates then who are those to that would do the right thing that will instill discipline in the nation`s educational system. Education does not know if you are PDP or APC. The education of every child is rest on our shoulders to ensure that they do well”.

“Are you aware that there was one certificate that had the same serial number that was being presented to the verification team by four teachers, I had a teacher who voluntarily surrendered his certificate

to us because it was fake, with some who could not even clear their grade two exams yet enjoy grade level 12 salary” Dr.Odey queried.

The SUBEB boss boast that he had documents in his possession, which he is still investigating to verify if they were fake or genuine.

According to him, there was a case of a person who claimed to be teacher but has no certificate yet he is on salary grade level nine adding that 33 teachers were illegally brought into the service.

“You cannot be building beautiful structures across board in the name of building schools and those who are supposed to drive the process are unqualified.”

The Board Chairman added.

He said 27teachers were discovered with fake certificates in Boki Local Government Area in Cross River State adding that

about 33 teachers had been replaced since Ayade came on board.

When asked why he decided to embark on the verification exercise Odey said the exercise became necessary when it was alleged that a particular woman who had been married to a man somewhere out of the state but was still collecting salary with several others who had died but their salaries were still running up to January 2016.

The SUBEB chairman lamented, “It was disheartening that when I went on a spot assessment of schools I discovered that some pupil could not read. And I made a vow that all this must change in terms of basic education up to JSS 3. I was not happy when Cross River State was rated among the least educated states and I started negotiated with my staff on how to revive the system” The SUBEB chairman added.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

MARCH 12, 2016

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

PAGE

47

South Sudan troops systematically raped girls and women, U.N. says

B

urning people to death. Suffocating them in shipping containers.

Looting and destroying villages. And raping girls and women by the hundreds, if not the thousands -- sometimes by groups of soldiers, who made family members watch and took their victims away as property.

These horrific allegations and more are in a United Nations report released Friday focusing on South Sudan. It chronicles what it called a “scorched earth policy that deliberately targeted civilians” by those working with and for the African nation’s government.

This has been the dark reality since a civil war flared in December 2013, after which all parties, including rebels, allegedly inflicted pain, suffering and humiliation on innocents. South Sudanese forces gained the upper hand in 2015 and, in doing so, began carrying out an inordinate amount of travesties, according to the U.N. report.

The document says that females young and old became pawns in this conflict. Many allegedly became sex slaves -- sometimes in lieu of paying soldiers or affiliated militias -- who were considered property, forced to become “wives” and made to do things like carry looted items and do chores.

“This is one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world, with massive use of rape as an instrument of terror and weapon of war,” said the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, whose office outlined the allegations in “searing, devastating detail.”

“Yet it has been more or less off the international radar.”

Responding Friday, a spokesman for South Sudan’s military claimed the U.N. report was not “genuine.”

Gen. Malak Ayuen said that his army has not seen reports of human rights violations, adding that anyone

found to have committed such acts will be investigated and brought to justice. For now, though, Ayuen insist-

ed that South Sudan’s government is working toward finalizing a peace agreement outlined last August.

“Our mission is to protect the people of South Sudan,” the military spokesman said.

“This is what we’re try-

in Indian Wells, California that Sharapova should “pay” for her error if she was deemed to have been negligent.

Haggerty said Sharapova has taken 500 milligrams of meldonium “on a regular basis” for 10 years, one of several medications used to treat vari-

ous ailments.

The drug’s inventor Ilvar Kalvins, meanwhile, told CNN that athletes who train at high levels could suffer heart attacks if they suddenly stop using the drug, which was first manufactured 32 years ago and used by the Soviet military in the Afghan war of the 1980s.

Maria Sharapova: Star’s confession ‘could reduce punishment’ M

aria Sharapova’s admission that she failed a drug test could reduce any further punishment she receives, according to a lawyer who has represented athletes in doping cases.

In a news conference Monday in Los Angeles, Sharapova said she tested positive for meldonium, an anti-ischemic drug the Russian tennis star claimed she had used since 2006 that only became a banned substance this January.

The five-time grand slam champion -- the world’s richest female athlete -- didn’t read an email that revealed the 2016 drug list, she added, and that was the reason she continued to take it.

A provisional suspension begins Saturday, pending determination of the case, with first-time offender Sharapova facing a ban of four years. It likely would drop to two years or less if anti-doping officials find Sharapova didn’t intentionally take the drug to enhance performance.

Her revelation surprised the tennis world, not only because the 28-year-old is known as one of the most professional players around, but because in the overwhelming majority of incidents when players fail a test and are initially notified, they keep it quiet.

“Ordinarily in these cases, the athlete is either disputing that the substance was in the body, that the samples weren’t handled correctly, that there’s some sort of explanation that absolves them entirely,” Steven Thompson, a trial lawyer with Chicago-based Nixon Peabody, told CNN. “She doesn’t take that position. She’s not saying this was something someone slipped into a water

Sharapova bottle, or anything like that.

“Her position is, as I understand it, she did take this as a prescribed drug product for many years, and unfortunately didn’t realize that it had gone on the banned list.

It’s not an excuse, but it’s a reason that may have

an impact on the ultimate outcome.”

Serena Williams, a 21time grand slam champion, praised her bitter rival for having “the courage” to come clean but former men’s No. 1 Rafael Nadal was harsher, telling reporters ahead of this week’s BNP Paribas Open

Murder suspect killed by his hostages A murder suspect who escaped from a Mississippi jail was shot dead by a family he held hostage for several hours inside their home Thursday, police said.

After more than a week on the lam, Rafael Arnez McCloud was found dead in the bathtub of a home in Vicksburg, Mississippi, according to investigators.

The homeowner told police a man with a knife, later identified as McCloud, approached him around 4 a.m. Thursday as he and his 5-year-old son headed into the garage. The man forced his way into the home, according to the homeowner.

Hours later, the family used their own gun to fight back and escape.

A statement released by Vicksburg Police on Thursday evening gave details of

the attack that ended with McCloud’s death.

“According to the homeowner,” police said, “he was bound in the bathroom by the suspect. The homeowner said he was able to free himself, fought with the suspect and sustained a stab wound to the back side of his shoulder.”

The man, his wife and his child were held in the bathroom, police said. The situation turned when the wife was allowed to leave the bathroom at some point, police said.

“The wife returned with a handgun and fired one shot believing to strike McCloud.

After the husband’s bonds were cut by the wife, the husband took control of the weapon and fired additional shots striking McCloud,” police said. “The family then ran outside and flagged a mo-

torist and asked them to call 911.”

When investigators arrived at the scene just after 7 a.m., they found McCloud in the tub with multiple gunshot wounds.

McCloud, 34, escaped last week after taking a jail employee hostage with a makeshift weapon, authorities have said.

Investigators warned they believed McCloud was armed and dangerous as they searched the area for him and offered a reward for his capture. Thursday morning they announced that the hunt for the fugitive had ended.

“This is certainly not the outcome that we wanted,” Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said. “Our goal was to capture him safely and have him stand trial for the criminal charges he was in

jail for. I am relieved that the family this morning was not injured more seriously than they were.”

The husband was being treated for his injuries, which were not life-threatening, Pace said. The wife and child were not injured, authorities said.

The experience was “very traumatic” for the family, Vicksburg Police Capt. Sandra Williams said, adding that exhausted investigators who had been searching for McCloud are happy the hunt has come to an end.

“There’s no telling how many lives were saved,” she said.

McCloud had been in custody on charges in the killing of 69-year-old Sharon Wilson, whose body was found in an abandoned hospital in late June, according to the Vicksburg Police Department.

Quote of the day “Some of the witnesses who would be called to give evidence against him include some of his subordinates, and so if granted bail, his presence will have impact on them.”— Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, while stating reasons why Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, should not be granted bail regarding his N3.97bn money laundering charge.

Saturday, MARCH 12, 2016. www.nationnationalmirroronline.net

BACK PAGE

Adejare Adeboye: A classic paradigm at 74!

L

ast week, the classic paradigm simply called Adejare Adeboye marked 74 years on earth, enjoying the surpluses of life after the biblical three score and ten. And he is still counting, in good health, enjoying unparalleled closeness to his God. Adeboye’s exploits in the body of Christ in Nigeria will be remembered for as long as the Bible remains. If you don’t remember him for his teachings, you will remember him for his long fasts, which often get people worried about him. If you don’t remember him for his fasting, you will remember him for his singing and dancing, or for his simple yet classic dressing. And if you don’t remember him for any of these, you will surely remember him for ONE thing. Can you guess what it is?

Cast him in the mould of Moses, Abraham and Joshua (as in the Bible and not as in Nigeria), you will not be off mark. These were the classic thinkers of those days, who directly heard from God and not from themselves, who pronounced blessings that came to pass, who hardly caused but knew the end of the enemy from the beginning.

Adeboye is like his fellow disciples of Jesus, some of whom suffered martyrdom. They would give up everything for their Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Adeboye is committed to one and only one book: The Holy Bible. He does not know any other book. He sees heaven as his reward and there is nothing on earth that can be an alternate reward for him, not even the best that the earth has to offer.

Adeboye simply lives to see if he can attract one more life to Christ.

He lives for the joy of ensuring that more people like you and I do not end up in hell fire. There is no other purpose for his existence. He only appreciates the eternal life of glory promised those who truly surrender their

CFR

What is that ONE thing you think Adeboye will be remembered for as long as people worship God? His mantra, “LET SOMEONE SHOUT HALLELUYA,” has become priceless to the body of Christ! lives to Christ. His only mantra is: “Heaven is real.” For him, no mathematical theory, qualitative or quantitative methodology can change the reality of heaven!

Adeboye has many friends. You will find among them Mark, who died in Egypt when he refused to deny Jesus, Peter, who famously said: “I feel unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus had died,” Barnabas, who was stoned to death in Salonica, Andrew, who said, “I have long desired and expected this happy hour, the cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it,” James, who was beheaded, Apostle Thomas, who was stabbed with a spear in India, Matthias, who was stoned and beheaded, Jude, who was flogged to death with whips, Luke, who was hanged in

Greece, and Apostle Paul, the only one who died peacefully of old age in Turkey. The calling of Adeboye and his friends have long been consecrated by the blood of Jesus.

The proof of Adeboye’s calling is obvious and no science can make him change from his focused objective. He cannot be separated from his master. He is impossible to penetrate by the enemy. He is a living proof of the existence of God, a signature of GOD! Simply called Daddy GO, whatever he says comes to pass. Righteous, faithful, a giver and a singer, he has only one friend: The Holy Bible, and only one human love: Mummy GO, who is herself a photocopy of Daddy GO. All they do is teach the Bible, a holy book that was written by 44 writers in three different languages:

Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Even though most of the writers were not well educated and most of them did not know each other, the Bible remains a complete comprehensive library of humanity. It is the most ancient book in the world and a treasure chest of life’s experiences: past, present and future.

To Adeboye, the summary of the encounter with Jesus is sweet, full of ‘honey and milk.’ I also summarise the Jesus adventure as follows in another work of mine: “If the price to pay for receiving him is death, and there are precedents, it will be glorious to die for him. What is more important than the everlasting attraction of the glory in life after death? Now you are to enjoy the earth without paying the price of death as immediate and instant reward for sin, since Jesus and his apostles had died for our sins.

What then could hold you back in receiving him? What a glorious day when he returns. What a conclusion of the entire Prophesy.

What a time to spend in Heaven where there is no sin, the very first time we truly enjoy ourselves with the Creator and his son. A permanent memory we shall all keep. I only hope you will be there. I pray we do not miss each other in our permanent glorious home. I will certainly look out for you.”

Now, what is that ONE thing you think Adeboye will be remembered for as long as people worship God? His mantra, “LET SOMEONE SHOUT HALLELUYA” has become priceless to the body of Christ!

Daddy GO, Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), as you celebrate 74, here is a wish from a son to a father: Igba odun, odun kan sir! *Ibrahim is a post-graduate student of Major Programme Management at the University of Oxford.

Printed and published by Global Media Mirror Limited: Head Office, Mirror House, 155/161 Broad Street Lagos; Abuja Office: NICON House, Central Business District Area, Abuja.

Email:mail@nationalmirroronline.net. MD/CEO: Sunday Olajide: 08060852080; Editor: Gbemisola Olujobi: 07033860196; Advert Hotline: 07066178740. ISSN 0794-232X.