Sunday, December 23, 2012

Big Read News

THE

P. 3-5

Lagos: Creating wealth from waste

News

P. 9

I have no hand in recent Ogun PDP crisis –Daniel

News

P. 6

Why we passed 2013 budget – Tambuwal, Ashafa www.nationalmirroronline.net

Vol. 3 No. 1

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Harvest of deaths ahead of Xmas celebration

N150

10 killed, eight injured in Bauchi Fulani herdsmen kill one, injure 4 in Ogun

Kaduna: Sambo, Yero, PDP caucus meet over deputy governor’s choice P. 50

New board members appointed for SEC

P. 6

Yuletide: FG beefs up security Pg. 6

Police patrol flash points NSCDC deploys 10,000

NATIONAL MIRROR @ 2 CELEBRATION

Group Managing Director, Global Fleet Group, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR, early yesterday during the Publisher’s Night in celebration of the 2nd year anniversary of National Mirror newspapers

News

Veteran high life musician, Orlando Julius performing at the occasion. see story and more pictures on pages 22 - 35

The First Nigerian National Christmas Tree lit by the First Lady, Mrs Dame Patience Jonathan and assisted by Aso Villa Chaplain, Mr Obioma Ozurunba; Minister of the FCT, Chief Olajumoke Akinjide and Cardinal John Onaiyekan in Abuja yesterday. Photo ROTIMI OSASONA

Four kidnapped Koreans, Nigerian regain freedom

P. 9

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

2

What’s new

TALKING POINT OF THE PAST WEEK DECEMBER 23, 2012

19

Men don’t see actresses as marriageable, they see us as toys –Omoge Campus

The House of Representatives has passed the N161.6bn supplementary budget for 2012 proposed earlier by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The provision is to effect payment of subsidy on petroleum products in order to facilitate adequate supply of

products during the Christmas and New Year season.

The House, which sat till 7p.m. had before passing the supplementary budget, went into an executive session that lasted for almost two hours. Presided over

by Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the House unanimously approved the bill

Senate flays abuse of military aircraft

Aisha Abimbola Musa is an actress and she’s popularly known as Omoge campus because of her lead role in the Yoruba movie titled Omoge Campus released in 2002.

The graduate of Hotel Management and Catering, and mother of two reveals in this interview that a lot of men don’t see actresses as marriageable. She speaks on other matters of interest.

Wellness

Subsidy: Reps pass N169bn supplementary budget

45

Avoid getting constipated during this season As the preparation for the Christmas and New Year holidays reaches fever pitch, holiday shoppers are seen doing their last minute buying to stock their homes with what will be needed to make this year’s holiday a memorable one for their family and loved ones.

The Senate on Tuesday kicked against the use of military aircraft by officials of the Federal Government even as it ordered an investigation into the frequent air accidents.

The upper chamber, debating a motion sponsored

by Senator Chris Anyanwu and co-sponsored by Senator Ahmed Markafi on the crash of the Nigerian Navy

Augusta 109 helicopter at Okoroba, Bayelsa State, on Saturday flayed the incessant use of military aircraft by civilians.

The Senate investigation is to be conducted by its joint committees on navy, air force and aviation. The lawmakers also asked the Federal Government to publish reports of investigations of previous air accidents in the country.

Budget 2013: Reps adopt $79 benchmark The House of Representatives has adopted $79 per barrel of crude oil as the benchmark for the 2013 budget. The Presidency had insisted on $75 per barrel benchmark for the Appropriation Act. The lower chamber also adopted the Medium Term Economic Framework, MTEF 2013-2015, and Fiscal Strategy Paper, before the National Assembly.

The House benchmark

was adopted at plenary session after the Appropriation Committee Chairman, Hon. John Enoh (PDPCross River), briefed a joint conference that the National Assembly had agreed on the $79 benchmark as against the $80 earlier approved by the House.

The Senate had adopted $78 but with the harmonisation, both chambers will now work with the new benchmark proposal.

About 174 Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) officials have been sacked in recent days for offences ranging from indiscipline, corruption, fraud, overzealousness and other offences.

Piqued by the floods of alle-

gations of corruption and overzealousness against the officials, LASTMA General Manager, Babatunde Edu, vowed to deal with offenders, saying the state government is spending enormous resources on capacity building of its enforcement officers.

N32.8bn pension fund: EFCC re-arrests Dangabar The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has rearrested one of the six accused persons facing trial before an Abuja High Court for alleged involvement in fraudulent diversion of N32.8 billion police pension fund, Esai Dangabar.

He was picked up for interfering with the properties which the

court had ordered forfeited to the Federal Government.

The anti-graft agency said its decision was to protect the res (subject-matter) of the criminal case relating to the forfeited pending before the court. Although EFCC did not give details about the forfeited properties the accused attempted to tamper with.

Hakeem Rahman ACTOR

TUE MON TU

Applause

The airline owned by Indian nationals, after several inquests by agencies under the Ministry of Aviation, was re-issued its license on a provisional basis, pending when the ministry would round off its ongoing audit of aircraft in the country. The report also recommended the revocation of the Air Operating Certificate (AOC) of Dana Airlines, because it was not issued in compliance with the NCAA’s Civil Regulations Guideline, 2009.

My Mondays are always tight for me. I’m always busy in Lagos on this first working day of the week. I’m always at location, you know, shooting, doing a new film or doing what we know how to do best.

Tuesday is also the same thing; I’m engage in shooting of films.

WED

2015: Ndigbo in search of credible political platform

The House of Representatives has recommended the dismissal and prosecution of the Director- General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demurren, for alleged “criminal negligence” in the case of the Dana Airline crash in June this year.

The recommendation was sequel to the consideration and adoption of the report of the Senate and House of Representatives’ Committees on Aviation.

LASTMA sacks 174 officials for corruption, indiscipline

I do have one event or the other to attend and so I take permission from location to attend my events. I can easily take permission from location and later come back to location.

You know, we just mix it up, you know it’s fun too, whenever we are on location. I must tell you that acting is fun. It is having fun while making money. It can be tasking though but we know how to go about it. So, Wednesdays, I also create time for church. I go to the Redeemed mid -week service. In fact, I don’t miss it. My parish is Breakthrough Parish at Alapere under Pastor Ajaye Oba. You know, we do enjoy the services of those men of God and each time I miss it, it affects my weekly activities.

THU U

15

Lawmakers demand dismissal, prosecution of Demuren, NCAA boss

Thursdays, I try to fall in love with beautiful girls (laughs).

Yes, I’m serious; I fall in love on Thursdays because I’m less busy on this fourth working day of the week. Any lady that comes across me, that wants me to love her or that shows interest in me, I try to reciprocate. Life is about fun, you know and that is me. That is why those things you see me do in movies, sometimes I act myself. I don’t pretend and that is the fact.

FRI

Former Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, in this no-holds-barred interview speaks about a President of Igbo extraction, his relationship with his successor, Theodore Orji and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid, the National Assembly, and other national issues.

Politics

Seven Days

Fridays, I go to meet up with my friends in the club. We drink, we chat, and we have small beautiful girls hanging out with us who make us happy. Let me tell you, we have a short time to live in this world, so you really need to enjoy it (life)

SAT

Conscience dictates Igbo should produce next president –Orji Kalu

13

I’m always at one event or the other on Saturdays. I celebrate with people because you need people around when you are also celebrating anything. For instance, I’m 20 years on the stage. I’m planning to do something about it. People must come around because I do attend their events.

SUN

Interview

I go to church on Sundays, I don’t miss it. And if there is any event later in the day I try to attend just to unwind. *By Adaeze Amos (0802 301 2293)

3

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

THE

Big Read SUNDAY SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

December 23, 2012

Ojota dump site

PHOTOS: ISIOMA MADIKE

Lagos: Harvesting wealth from waste There had been tremendous improvement in attempts to turn waste around the world. Some have even gone further to generate energy from refuse. But, Nigeria, despite its huge potentials in waste, has never given much thought to the idea until Lagos, which a few years back, carried the burden of filth that turned its environment into an eyesore, decided to explore the new technology. The initiative, through the state Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), is running; recycling the waste and turning it into wealth. Head, Special Investigations, Isioma Madike, who took a tour of the state to see what is on ground, what is being done and how it’s done, reports

E

manuel Nwaghodoh, a lawyer and human rights activist, knows the adverse consequences of littering up the environment, having lived in Ghana for about five years where environmental hygiene is something of a societal norm. With his mind thus conditioned, his actions when he rode on a public bus within the Lagos metropolis, appear quite understandable.

Having bought some bananas and eaten, Nwaghodoh began toying with the pelts, although unconsciously, he contemplated how to dispose of them. No bin in sight; he must have held the rubbish too long for his fellow travellers’ comfort hence their various reactions to his hesitation. Intermittently, one would cry out; ‘Oga throw this thing away now’. He could not bear it any longer. Nwaghodoh watched, somewhat helplessly, as the other person grabbed the “thing” from him and threw them out through the window of the speeding vehicle. That was what he never wanted to do but, instantly, it dawned on him that he was in Nigeria. “The Nigerian nation is not sensitive to dirt,” he said. Perhaps, he is right.

In virtually every urban centre around the country, heaps of refuse dumps literally jostle for space with human beings. Yet, no one seems to bother about it. With Nwaghodoh’s experience, which of course is common place, a vivid picture of what Nigerian streets have become

is thrown up. Empty cans, pockets of assorted food drinks and fast foods; disused household items, faeces wrapped up in newspaper and launched from a certain window scattering into a spatter mess and lately the “pure water” cellophanes, which have assumed a notorious identity, all pile the streets as though they are articles of ornament.

Travel from Lagos to the East and up North, the same disgusting picture stares you in the face.

However, it is worse in Lagos State, according to those privileged to have lived in other cities other than the “Centre of Excellence” with its over 18 million people and booming growth. Lagos, others have acknowledged, faces numerous challenges, particularly, on how to manage its waste. About 10, 000 metric tonnes of waste is said to be generated in the metropolis daily. This amounts to 300, 000 metric tonnes monthly and 3.6 metric tonnes annually.

This staggering figure over time has posed a herculean task to the state governments over the years making the city to always accommodate piles of refuse, littering the streets. Successive governments seemed to have no idea on what to do about the mess. Attempts at converting waste into value seemed to have remained a feeble idea throughout the country. Despite huge potentials in waste, Nigeria, as a developing country has never given much thought to it. But now, a few state governments are daring to venture

‘RECYCLING HELPS TO ENRICH THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE COMMUNITY’

4

into a new technology of converting it to wealth. The Lagos State government is spearheading this programme through its Waste Management Authority (LAWMA). The initiative is to recycle waste and turn it into wealth and the state appears to be making progress in that direction.

A few years back, the burden of waste had turned the Lagos environment into an eyesore. Starting from almost every home, the neighbourhood dumping grounds had, all along been the streets and a few organised dumpsites.

This made the mega city rank among the dirtiest cities in the world. Today, the story is unbelievably different; it has joined the traditionally clean urban centres like Calabar, Uyo, Owerri and Abuja. The new environmental policy, which has transformed Lagos into an enviable status, has become a reference point in the federation. Gradually, the refuse mountains that once dotted the landscape of Lagos have disappeared through a careful conversion of the waste to wealth. The idea of the project is said to have started during the Bola Tinubu administration. He had argued that the only way to catch up with clean cities of the world was to make money from the heap of waste in the city of Lagos by recycling the rubbish materials from the landfill sites into useful products. The money to be generated, according to him, would be used to maintain the city and generate employment. Today, the idea has been brought by the present administration of Babatunde Fashola into reality.

LAWMA, which directly supervises the project, has started churning out recycled products from different locations in the state. From figures available from the agency, 9,000 metric tonnes of waste is generated daily with about 1,200 metric tonnes being converted into other uses.

General Manager of LAWMA, Ola Oresanya, explained that recycling is a process by which materials once used are again transformed into new products. He also said the project has turned out to be a sort of blessing to the state as it has helped to reduce the cost of managing landfill sites.

“It has equally helped in the reduction of waste generated without causing more harm to the environment. It occuCONTINUED ON PAGE 4

LAGOS TO GENERATE 30 MEGAWATTS OF ELECTRICITY FROM WASTE BY 2017

5

4

The Big Read

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘Recycling helps to enrich the environment and the community’

Olusosun landfill site, Ojota, Lagos.

Recycling bins

Recycling plant at Ikorodu

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 pies an important position in the waste hierarchy – the three Rs of waste hierarchy: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (RRR),” he said.

Oresanya told Sunday Mirror that the agency had set up three locations for recycling waste in Odogunyan in Ikorodu where it sited the Waste to Compost plant, which accounts for eight per cent of its recycled products. The Compost Plus is the fertiliser product from the state recycling effort. The product comes out like the fertile black luminous soil common in deep uncultivated forest land and it has no odour and without any chemical mixture. Further investigations revealed that the Compost Plus fertiliser is recycled from wastes such as vegetables, food waste and other wastes from markets. It is used as manure for the trees and flowers used for beautification efforts of the state government.

Earthcare Incorporated, the private sector investor, partnering with the government, presently produces 250 bags of this organic compost daily. Each day, the company and its 70 employees recycle 600 tonnes of organic waste into compost. With a capacity of 1,500 tonnes per day, the company now seeks to develop further so it can meet the demand from the rest of the country. The quality control process to ensure that it is free from harmful materials and contains the proper amounts of plant nutrients is carried out before the product is delivered to the market. “The tests measure the size of the particles, moisture level, mineral content, carbon to nitrogen ratio, acidity, nutrient content, weed seed germination rate and many other factors,” a top management staff of Earthcare Incorporated, who declined his name in print because “we are not allowed to speak to press”, revealed to Sunday Mirror.

The other, the waste paper recycling, has its base at Ojota plant. This accounts for one per cent of recycled products. LAWMA provides N3 million worth of waste papers for conversion. These form the bulk of papers sorted from the landfill sites in the state. They are graded at the Olusosun bailing section while the processing is done at the Jebba Paper Mill. The products from these plants include egg crates, paper towels, tissue paper, toilet paper, newspapers, phone books, paper bags, note books, stamps, business cards and calendars. There are equally the Plastic/ Nylon recycling plant at Ojo and Ojota. These two plants account for two per cent of recycled products. The recycling procedure of LAWMA on plastics involves the high density polyethylene (HDPE) and the Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) from where trash bags or nylon bags are made. Other informal activities in the recycling process are responsible for five per cent.

LAWMA at work

As a step forward, the agency told Sunday Mirror that it has concluded plans to introduce LAWMA Recycling Bank as an option to landfills where it obtains its materials. Oresanya said that the recycling bank shall serve as storehouse for papers, cans, glass and plastic waste and will be situated in every estate within the Lagos metropolis. When introduced, residents would be required to sort their wastes in the categories they fall in. By this, the recyclable wastes will be separated from the non-recyclables and delivered to the recycling bank. The sorting materials would include plastic bottles and other nylon materials, glass, cans and tins. Others are garden waste and compost materials while the last sorting line would make up of paper, cardboards and mixed papers.

However, the bug appears to have caught up with thousands of traders selling vegetables and fruits along cramped alleys of most markets in the Lagos metropolis.

Most of them have become vendors - waste traders. In an open space and at corners of most markets, dozens of people were seen packing old and damaged organic products into big bags. Within a few hours, the trucks from the Earthcare Company will transport the bags to a recycling plant to make fertiliser. A man, who identified himself simply as Lawal, and works at the Mile 12 Market, says this endeavour was long needed but neglected.

Each day, the city of Lagos alone generates 10,000 metric tonnes of waste - 60 per cent of it organic. As the metropolis keeps growing, local governments were pressed to find solutions for dealing with mountains of waste. This was among the motivations of LAWMA’s decision to finding a way out of the mess, says Ade Adu, LAWMA’s Public Relations officer. “We had to look for alternative for this waste,” Adu explained. “In view of that, we now had to involve the government and private individuals in making sure that whatever is being collected is converted to resources. So, in Lagos, we say there is no waste. Every waste is being converted to something that will bring money for an average individual or those that are interested - especially the investors. We are empowering people and promoting cleaner Lagos initiatives,” he stressed.

Earthcare, a company formed in 2009 by association be-

tween an American business, the Lagos government and private Nigerian investment, is one of the pioneers of the city’s recycling programme. Away from the crowds of Lagos is the company’s compost plant in Ikorodu. Programme manager of the company, Japhet Irogbarachi, explains that recycling is not only a solution for disposing of waste, but actually helps to enrich the environment and the community. “There are some areas, some soils that have been degraded as a result of pollution. So, it is only organic fertiliser that can remediate the soil - to add value and enable us to grow more food and ensure food security. And again, the food grown with organic fertiliser is at the premium, it’s natural, free from any toxins. So, you are having safe food, which also adds value to our health,” Irogbarachi said.

He explains further: “It is quite simple. First, the waste is left to dry for eight weeks in the adjoining field. Then, it is sorted in machines, which separate non-organic material, such as plastic from organic residue, which is processed into a dark-brown, fine-grained fertiliser. The bags of compost are then sold all around the country to farmers.”

An environmentalist, and Executive Director of SRADev Nigeria, Leslie Adagome, was quoted as saying that the project is “a laudable initiative”. He is happy that Lagos State has taken such initiative to translate policy issues relating to waste management into action.

Adagome did not stop there. He said that LAWMA has been able to show that it is truly possible and has been able to demonstrate to the business community or the average investor that waste from PVCs can actually be turned into wealth. He said that studies had been done to discover the per capita contribution in terms of waste from PVC related materials, particularly, PVC materials from nylon, papers, and cellophane, among others. “The per capita the individual in Lagos generates has been calculated. And if that momentum is sustained, obviously human endeavour will continue to increase. It is also modelled that at least the volume will continue to increase at the same time. So, the issue of raw material sustainability should not be an issue.

Humans will continue to generate that quantum of waste, which will sustain the private sector,” he said, adding, “I think that other states, especially large cities in Nigeria, starting first with Rivers State, Kano and FCT, which are the very cities where large wastes similar to what we have in Lagos are generated, should really have to emulate what Lagos State government through LAWMA is doing in the area of waste recycling. This is because they really don’t need to put too much into research. They don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Lagos State government has done all the calculations; all they just need to do is to come to Lagos and borrow the experience and replicate in their states. It is quite cheap for them.”

LAWMA, in collaboration with Community Conservation and Development Initiatives (CCDI), is also partnering the Yaba Local Government Area to help generate revenue out of waste materials as well as keep the environment cleaner and safer. LAWMA Manager, Recycling, Mrs. Tolu Adeyo, said the waste bank mounted at the Yaba Council Secretariat was meant for members to deposit waste materials, which, if processed, could help generate wealth for them. This, according to her, would help to stop reckless littering of wastes that would cause environmental degradation or pollution to the society. “Breeze could blow littered wastes into the gutter and during the rain, could find its way into the canal, causing blockage that would later result into flooding of the areas,” Adeyo added.

Meanwhile, the CCDI Director, Programmes, Ms. Kofo Adeleke, explained that the reason behind the project was that the Councils are the best avenues that could be used to inform the masses because they are closer to the people.

She pointed out that they would be able to teach their wards on how to manage the waste banks so as to be able to utilise them properly. While appreciating the gesture, the Yaba Council Chairman, Olajide Jimoh, said the idea was a welcome development that would help keep Lagos and the entire country clean. He said there was no reason for people to keep littering the environment now that the waste banks are in place. “It could fetch both the people and the government wealth respectively,” he assured.

Incidentally, the Head of Service in Cross River State, CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

The Big Read

Sunday, December 23, 2012

5

Lagos to generate 30 megawatts of electricity from waste by 2017 – Oresanya, LAWMA boss Ola Oresanya is the General Manager of Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).

He tells Isioma Madike in this interview that LAWMA is targeting to be the centre of excellence of attraction for solid waste management in Africa by making Lagos the cleanest city on the continent by 2015.

What are the objectives and mission of the Waste to Wealth Programme?

Well, the core objective of the Waste-ToWealth Programme is to harness a new line of economic activities. As an agency, which coordinates the other interested parties in the initiative, we try to provide the enabling environment for management of resource protection in discarded materials (waste) though transformation, re-use and re-distribution. However, our mission is to make Lagos active to generate new jobs and provide credible support for economic development in the state.

When was the programme launched, and how much of the targets would you say have been achieved so far?

Waste-To-Wealth Programme was launched in Lagos in August 1999, by the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The achievement recorded so far include but not limited to the establishment of the biggest com-

post (organic fertiliser from waste) in Africa, located in Odogunyan, Ikorodu.

The plant converts over 800 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste into more than 250 bags of compost. In partnership with our Public Private Partnership (PPP), Messrs Earthcare of Arkansas, USA; the company has so far invested about $20 million in the project through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). We have also established the Plastic Recycling Plants at Ojo, Olusosun, Apapa and Idimu by small scale enterprise (SME) with a total interest capacity of over N100 million through local investments. The plants convert 30 tonnes of nylon/plastic waste materials intro pellets and waste plastic bags/ shopping bags. Apart from that, we have supplied five tonnes of waste craft papers to Jebba Paper Mill, Kwara State within the last two years and established a Waste Recycling Village at Olusosun Landfill.

We have also commenced the training programme and integration of Resource Managers (scavengers), construction and installation of Waste Recycling Banks within Lagos metropolis, establishment of Waste Recycling Association and commenced the methane harnessing for Waste-To-Energy Project at Olusosun. Other things we have achieved thus far are: the conversion of use tyres into new rubber products (rubber mats and slippers), started school advocacy programme on recycling, begin the Green Waste collection programmes at household as well as discount incentives for household waste sorting.

What have been the other drawbacks/ challenges in the course of executing these projects?

The major challenges are basically in the area of infrastructure deficits, acquisition of lands and low awareness on general principles of Resource Recovery Programme (RRP). The global credit crunch also affected the friendly arrangement made by foreign development partners.

What roles have the citizens in the programme and what is the agency doing to increase awareness?

The citizens’ obligation in the whole arrangement is in the area of sorting from source (household) or at community level like patronage of the recycling banks.

Also, preference for recycled product such as compost to imported inorganic fertiliser. The awareness is growing by the day through the intensive campaign on print and electronic media.

What is your agency’s target for the project in the next five years and beyond?

Within the next five years, Lagos should be generating at least 30 megawatts of electricity from its waste and should be able to produce 1,000 bags of compost daily while converting 100 metric tonnes of nylon/plastic daily. Overall, expectation is that tyre should be able to convert over 40 per cent of its msw into other useful purpose by 2015.

How many personnel are involved with LAWMA, both full-time and Private Sec-

Oresanya

tor Participation (PSP)?

LAWMA has about 2,000 staff on its payroll directly. PSP has 11,500 employees; 12,200 are employed to sweep the roads daily and over 2,000 are directly involved in recycling at various levels. So, the total employee in municipal solid waste management in Lagos is about 26,700 people.

What would you say is LAWMA’s near future targets and plans?

LAWMA is targeting to be the centre of excellence of attraction for solid waste management in Africa by making Lagos the cleanest city on the continent on or before 2015.

We have the biggest organic fertiliser from waste in Africa –LAWMA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Mrs Mary-Theresa Ikwen, said her state is keying into this programme. She has said that there would be no going back in copying the example of Lagos State in waste to wealth direction. Ikwen has gone ahead to charge the state Ministry of Environment to adopt strategies that would assist it turn waste collected by its agencies into wealth and even challenged the ministry to come up with a vibrant strategy.

Before now in Nigeria, particularly, in urban cities, garbage was disposed of and dumped at every available space on the street, roadside and canals without consideration for the negative consequences on the people and the environment. In most cities, the volume of waste is so much that taking care of it requires burning at landfills or garbage dumps. This, however, creates another problem as it leads to environmental pollution and attendant health hazards, which, experts say, leads to approximately 20,000 deaths across the nation yearly. In spite of that, efforts at making people pay to have their wastes evacuated by government approved agents had not properly worked, thus leading to a change of strategy. The strategy is to have waste bins in front of every house as is done in organised societies.

This has equally failed due to what many attribute to poverty.

Apart from Lagos, Oyo State with its Ibadan Waste Management Board had also made attempts at effective waste manage-

Fashola

Tinubu

ment. Its agency was established in 1996 with a view to clearing the areas in the city of Ibadan where there is a high turnover of waste. There is also the Ondo State government’s Integrated Waste Recycling and Treatment Project. In addition, feasibility studies for a model waste management plant by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria Limited were once done. But, these strategies are yet to come to fruition.

In other parts of the world, there had been tremendous improvement in attempts to turn waste into wealth. Some have even gone further to generate energy from waste. For instance, Japan’s first attempt to turn waste into energy started almost 10 years ago, with steady improvement since then. The idea caught the attention

of others across the Atlantic. Geoplasma, a Georgia, Atlanta, United States’ company that transforms waste into re-usable products is said to be planning to construct a $120 million waste to energy plant in the United States. The raw material is simply waste from local households that would create enough synthesis gas (better known as syngas) to make electricity available to more than 20,000 homes. The financial projection is that Geoplasma would make enough money from the project to service the loan incurred and still make profit right from the start of operation.

Westing House Plasma Corporation, another American manufacturer of plasma torches, a device that can heat matter to a temperature higher than that of the sun’s surface, is believed to have hired out its test

facility for $150,000 per day to Geoplasma.

That was done to highlight the huge financial gains available in such a project that depends on cheap and available raw materials. The plasma torch has the capability to heat up almost every matter produced by simple mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, according to experts. This is what is referred to as synthesis gas and could be used to produce electricity. Metals and other inorganic materials that do not turn into gas in the conversion chamber fall to the bottom as molten slag. After cooling, the slag could be used to make bricks or to pave roads. The synthesis gas, according to a novel idea by a US-based company, Coskata, could also be fermented into ethanol, which in turn could be used to fuel cars.

This makes the end products of waste that are useful to mankind, endless.

Perhaps, this could be one of the things that motivated the Lagos State government into exploring the opportunities in the waste to wealth programme. Oresanya told Sunday Mirror that the state had commenced the methane harnessing for Waste-To-Energy Project at Olusosun.

But, he was quick to list the challenges his agency is facing at present. They include infrastructure deficits, acquisition of lands and low awareness on general principles of Resource Recovery Programme (RRP).

He also said that the global credit crunch is affecting the friendly arrangement made by foreign development partners.

NEWS

6

Sunday December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Christmas: Govt beefs up security across the nation OMEIZA AJAYI (ABUJA) AND OLUSEGUN KOIKI (L AGOS)

I

ndication emerged yesterday that the Federal Government may have beefed up security across the country, especially in some states in the North where there has been violence in recent times.

Already, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (NSCDC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) promised to deploy over 10, 000 of its men to strategic locations in the city to prevent breakdown of law and order.

NSCDC Commandant in FCT, Mr. Aminu Abdullahi Kofaroro, said: “We are combat-ready to ensure protection of lives and property during this festive period, that is why we are

deploying our men, about 10,000 of them to all strategic locations.”

Kofaroro said the intelligence report brought to him requires that all the nation’s security agencies should work together to prevent likely breakdown of law and order in the FCT. Speaking on the synergy between his command and other security agencies in FCT, Kofaroro said: “When I resumed here, I met with a very intelligent Commissioner of Police, who is our Chairman in FCT and since then we have been working together in harmony, in fact we are enjoying our working relationship, we don’t have any problem at all.”

He, however, advised residents to be law-abiding during this festive period, warning that security operatives would not condone any form of lawlessness.

Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, also confirmed the readiness of the police to provide adequate security for lives and property during and after the Christmas.

In the Federal Capital Territory yesterday, however, there was clampdown on some areas identified as flash points by security agents.

The exercise, which was devoid of press coverage, was reportedly coordinated by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed and the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, Mr. Adenrele Shinaba.

At about 10am yesterday, Sunday Mirror correspondent sighted the security team around the Wuye District of the FCT where security operatives seized motorcycles and confiscated the “wares” of fuel

hoarders usually referred to as “black market operators”.

Sunday Mirror also learnt that traders and mechanic at Apo site of the territory have been warned to ensure that they quit the area on or before December 31.

The FCT Administration has repeatedly expressed its desire to remove the mechanics and traders to a permanent site which it said would be more spacious.

In Kogi State, there is a regular patrol of most towns considered as flash points. In Okene, for instance, Sunday Mirror learnt that anti-riot policemen regularly patrol the hilly town and sometimes shoot into the air to scare away hoodlums.

Also in Lagos, Nigerian Police, Airport Command has beefed up security in

strategic areas of the airport.

Sunday Mirror correspondent observed yesterday at the airport that the command has commenced the search of vehicles, luggage and frisking of persons entering the airport.

The screening, however led to heavy vehicular traffic on the airport road as it takes close to 30 minutes to access the airport from the Ikeja under-bridge area.

Some of the passengers who had hoped to catch flights to different airports in the country had to disembark from their vehicles and resort to walking in a bid not to miss their flights.

The Commissioner Airport Police Command, Mr. Olatuji Calcrick, who confirmed the improved security situation at the airport, said that the command took the proactive step in order not to be caught napping by

unscrupulous elements in the society.

Also, he said the step was part of efforts to keep criminals away from the airport environment.

He said, “We don’t want to take chances with the lives and properties of those using our airports.

We are all aware that Christmas is around the corner and there are higher human and vehicular movement during the period.

“There is tendency for some people to want to use the period to perpetrate criminal activities; hence the screening of cars.”

The CP added that it was not the intention of the police to inconvenience those who have genuine business to do at the airport, but wanted the airport environment uncomfortable to those who don’t have any reason to be at the airport.

Why we passed 2013 budget –Tambuwal, Ashafa MURITALA AYINLA

H

L-R: Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu; Sen. Nuhu Aliyu; Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, at the wedding Fatiha of Abdulsalami’s daughter in Minna, yesterday.

SEC gets new board members

TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

T

he Federal Government yesterday announced the appointment of new members of Board for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with Dr Suleyman Abdu Ndanusa

from the North-Central as Chairman

A statement by the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Finance, Paul Nwabuikwu, named Mallam Mounir Haliru Gwarzo from North-West, Mrs Sa’adatu Mohammed Bello from North-Central

and Hon. Zakawanu Imhobobho Garuba from SouthSouth as the executice commissioners.

Adefunke Abiodun from South-West and Mr Ugochukwu Ikemba from SouthEast will serve as non-executive commissioners.

The statement explained

that the appointment of the new board members was in line with Section 5 of the Investment and Securities Act 2007.

Dr. Ndanusa is a seasoned banker and financial expert with robust experience in financial services industry.

ouse of Representatives Speaker Aminu Bello Tambuwal and the Senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Gbenga Ashafa, yesterday described the timely passage of the 2013 budget as a reflection of the National Assembly’s desire to develop the country.

They said the timely passage of the budget was to improve the lives of average Nigerians and to curb problem of poor budget performance.

Addressing journalists during the burial rites of Olori Adebimpe Akinloye, the mother of a member of House of Representatives representing Eti-Osa Federal Constituency in Lagos, Hon. Jide Akinloye, Tambuwa said that the timely passage of the budget would facilitate good

governance for Nigerians Ashafa spoke at a thanksgiving ceremony held in his Lagos office.

He said the Senate speedy passage of the budget would fast track the development of the nation’s economy, adding that the Senate did so to absorb the National Assembly from abysmal budget performance often blame on late passage of the budget.

The Senator said: “We have promised Nigerians that we will pass the budget before the end of the year and that is what we have done. If the budget is passed on time, it has a way of impacting on the lives of every Nigerian, more people would be gainfully employed owing to arrays of capital projects embarked upon by the government. Besides, the government will also be able to fulfil its electoral promises.”

NIGERIA IN BRIEF Lawyers seek corrupt-free judiciary Some lawyers in Lagos at the weekend stressed the need to put proper mechanisms in place to ensure a corrupt-free judiciary.

The lawyers made this known in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

According to them, the process requires concerted efforts from the judiciary to ensure that 2013 makes a

remarkable difference in the nation’s judicial system.

A Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Spurgeon Ataene, said that it was possible to have a judiciary that was rid of corruption if adequate checks were put in place.

Ataene said that it was most instructive that those to be appointed as magistrates and judges be tested and scrutinised before assuming

such positions.

He said that if these judicial officers were selected based on sentiments, there would be tendency to abuse the profession which ought to be treated as noble.

According to him, the bench is the last resort of the common man and so there should be every element of astuteness on the part of all its members.

‘Nigerians need to consolidate 2011 poll success’ The New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP) at the weekend in Lagos advised Nigerians to begin discussions on issues germane to the country’s democracy ahead of the 2015 general elections.

The NNPP National Chairman, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, told journalists in Lagos that the country must build on its achievements in

the 2011 general elections as well as the success recorded in the Edo and Ondo states governorship polls.

He noted that the conduct of the elections was commended by local and international observers.

Advising Nigerians to always embrace the culture of fairness in the discharge of their responsibilities, Aniebonam said: “We must

rejuvenate ourselves for the 2015 general elections and ensure that we entrust the destiny of our country in the hands of competent people.’’

He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to introduce e-voting in the nearest future, saying: “The excuse of low literacy level in the country is not tenable”.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Dateline

Dateline

7

SHAPING THE FUTURE WITH THE PAST DECEMBER 23, 2012

Oyakhilome

Madike

Oyakhilome, Jennifer saga

How NDLEA boss got the boot K AYODE FASUA

T

he riveting tale of love-gone-sour between the chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Fidelis Oyakhilome, and Jennifer Madike, a Lagos business woman and socialite, generated interest nationwide between 1990 and 1991.

Oyakhilome, a dashing, handsome police officer, before he took up the mantle at the NDLEA, was the military governor of Rivers State. A police officer, his career peaked at the rank of Deputy Inspector-General.

Background Oyakhilome was born on April 13, 1939 in Ewu, Ishan in Edo State. He joined the Nigerian Police Force in 1959. He studied Law at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife between1965and 1968 and from there proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1969.

He became Chief Superintendent of Police, serving in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Rivers State Police Command, Port Harcourt, between 1972 and 1974. For another two years, he also served in Grenada, an island country and Commonwealth realm consisting of the Island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines, in southeastern Caribbean Sea. Oyakhilome was appointed military

governor of Rivers State in January 1984 after the General Muhammadu Buhari military overthrow of the President Shehu Shagari civilian administration. On August 26, 1986, he was redeployed and replaced by Colonel Anthony Ukpo. In 1998, however, he was appointed chairman of the NDLEA. The Jennifer tango Though from the outset, it seemed that Oyakhilome and Jennifer, an Owerri, Imo State-born society woman were merely fond of each other as some celebrities could be, it was soon to be revealed that there was more to their closeness than meets the eye.

The incident that felled Oyakhilome from his Olympian height was his alleged complicity with Jennifer, in offering bailout to drug barons under the influence of Jennifer’s undue closeness to him. The specific banana peel upon which Oyakhilome stepped and tripped, as it were, was the case of a suspected drug baron, Gregory Odilibe, whom the NDLEA had declared wanted over drug offences. The anti-drug agency under Oyakhilome had placed a newspaper advertisement, declaring Odilibe wanted.

But before then, series of events had thrown up delicately pretty, suave and charming Jennifer as a special friend of the NDLEA boss. For instance, during Jennifer’s self-professed 31st birthday on October 22, 1990, the crème de la crème in the Nigerian society attended

a bash thrown at the eyebrow Lagoon Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos, by Jennifer. Among top government officials attracted to the event were Oyakhilome, Health Minister, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, and National Population Commission (NPC) chairman, Alhaji Shehu Musa.

At the period, Jennifer was the president of a company called Biofrika Ventures Limited, located in Adeniyi Jones, Lagos.

An enthused Jennifer, on the occasion, wondrously courted Oyakhilome, having photo snaps with him, and it was afterwards established that most drug barons who dreaded the Oyakhilome-led NDLEA were on hand at the party. They reportedly attended the event to confirm if it was true that Jennifer was close to people in power, and by publicly carousing Oyakhilome, it was enough confirmation to them.

As for the Odilibe case, Jennifer reportedly got in touch with Linus, the fugitive’s brother and one Sam Ejiogu, his friend, assuring them that she could successfully wade into the NDLEA advertisement matter and persuade the anti-drug agency to drop charges against Odilibe. But she maintained that in doing them the ‘favour’, they had to part with a million Naira, which she would have to give to Oyakhilome and his men.

Impressed, the two men promised to get back to Jennifer. Later on, they returned to say that the Odilibe family had agreed to pay the N1 million but that they CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

8

Dateline

Sunday, December 23, 2012

How NDLEA boss got the boot

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

theatre of the absurd. She said out of the N800, 000 she collected from the family of the fleeing drug baron, she actually gave N600, 000 to Oyakhilome. But the NDLEA boss denied the allegations, describing them as mere blackmail.

But what tended to help Oyakhilome a bit initially, was a surreptitiously taped conversation between him and Jennifer which they had on January 9, 1991. There, Jennifer said she was being pressured by the drug barons to make a statement to the effect that she obtained money from them and gave the bribe to the NDLEA boss, to implicate him. In the same vein, on January 16, Jennifer’s sister called on Oyakhilome’s house to deliver Jennifer’s message that it was the Assistant Inspector General of Police, in charge of the Federal Investigations Bureau (FIIB), Adamu Aliyu, who asked her to implicate Oyakhilome. She said Aliyu promised to release her if she did his bidding.

But in all, Jennifer’s statements were contradicted

by Opara, Ejiogu and Linus, the family members and friend respectively, of the detained drug baron, Odilibe.

In their statements to the police, they said it was Jennifer who offered to help them get Odilibe “off the hook of the drug offence for which he was declared a wanted person.”

The police also confirmed their claim, saying there was circumstantial evidence that Jennifer collected money from the trio, and that already, she had bought a one-story building at 27, Obalodu Street, Off Coker Street, Ilupeju, Lagos, for N125, 000.

His sack The late Mrs. Babangida

Attah

could not get it immediately and as such, would be paying in tranches. To start off, they reportedly offered Jennifer N100, 000 in N20 denomination. When further events convinced them that this socialite was indeed close to Oyakhilome, they paid another N500, 000, also in N20 denomination. Along the line, the Odilibe family members started bringing money to Jennifer in the installments of N100,000, N50,000 and N30,000, until the sums added up to N800,000, which was N200,000 short of the bargained deal.

But it was also reported that while Jennifer was collecting money from the Odilibe family, she was also making frantic telephone calls to Oyakhilome to release some arrested drug dealers believed to be connected with the run-away drug baron. She also wanted their seized vehicles released. She had hinged her request on the argument that the barons and couriers were working for certain personalities in government. When it seemed Oyakhilome would not budge, this lady then introduced another dimension. She told him that late Maryam, the wife of military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, had interest in the case.

But Oyakhilome expressed doubts as to the interest of the president’s wife in the case. The ding-dong continued, culminating in Jennifer telling Oyakhilome that Babangida himself was in the know, and could remove Oyakhilome for proving stubborn, by not releasing the detained drug suspects.

With the growing pressure from Jennifer, Oyakhilome put a call across to Maryam Babangida, who distanced herself from the whole saga, saying she had never known Jennifer Madike or her drug baron fellows.

At this time too, the Inspector-General of Police, Aliyu Attah called Oyakhilome, informing him that Jennifer came visiting, to tell him (Attah) that Oyakhilome might soon be removed because he could not comply with a directive from the president’s wife to let off the detained or hounded drug barons.

At that stage, to the government, the cup of Jennifer seemed full. The Vice-President was duly informed and he asked the police to probe the Jennifer involvement in the drug saga. Eventually, she was arrested at her Biofrika Ventures Limited office and detained by the police.

But shortly after her detention, Jennifer, through one Doris Obi, who claimed to be her sister, filed a suit at an Ikeja High Court in Lagos, challenging her detention. In a supporting affidavit, she deposed that her sis-

ter and Oyakhilome had a long personal and business relationship. According to her, Oyakhilome is the actual owner of Biofrika Ventures Limited and that Jennifer was only fronting for him. They were using the firm to handle major contracts for the NDLEA, she claimed.

Oyakhilome’ defence But swiftly, Oyakhilome came out to clear his name.

To start with, he admitted knowing Jennifer intimately.

He said he had known the subject since 1981, when she was brought to him by her parents in company with his cousin, Ani Kadiri. “Her parents said my wife and I should look after Jennifer like our own child,” he further claimed. According to Oyakhilome, at that time, Jennifer’s marriage was almost breaking up as her life was allegedly being threatened by her husband and his family members, thus making him to come forth as a foster parent to the married woman.

On his alleged ownership of Biofrika Ventures Limited, Oyakhilome said his involvement in the company came about following his retirement as a DIG. He said Jennifer approached him with a proposal to establish a company. “I accepted the idea as thoughtful and appended my signature to the memorandum and article of association of Biofrika Ventures Limited because I was no more a public servant.” He said when Jennifer offered him the position of chairman in the new company, he had replied with a joke, “Where do I fit in when you are already the president?”He said he was in the process of taking up the offer when he was appointed NDLEA chairman, and that he quickly told her to let them put his involvement in the business in abeyance.

Furthermore, Oyakhilome tried to puncture several other allegations of using the Biofrica Ventures Limited to collect juicy contracts, and of treating drug barons with kid gloves or with no punch at all. Again, Jennifer exhumed many correspondences between him and Oyakhilome, which indicated that the duo might be in a steaming hot love affair, before the bubble burst.

For instance, in the letters written by Oyakhilome to Jennifer, he started with suggestive compliments like, ‘My Sugar’, ‘My Dearest’ and ‘Darling.’ Why? Oyakhilome responded: “They contain absolutely nothing, because that is the parlance that we use at my level. It is just like calling somebody ‘my darling daughter’.”

To worsen things, Jennifer accused Oyakhilome of actually being in touch with the family of the drug barons and that she was a mere smokescreen in the

As the crisis festered, the Oyakhilome saga had engendered camps of interested parties in the Babangida government. While one group wanted the NDLEA boss to be immediately removed, another opposed the idea, saying that it would encourage blackmailers to seek after people in position of power. Yet, some persons advised Oyakhilome to lie low and refrain from further speaking with journalists on the matter, so that the case could die a natural death.

But at that critical moment, the body language of the Babangida administration indicated that it was becoming embarrassed by the whole saga, more so that while he was governor of Rivers State, Jennifer was said to be in charge of Oyakhilome’s public relations activities.

Besides, when he was made the NDLEA chairman, Jennifer it was, who organised the first media luncheon for Oyakhilome. And so, on March 8, at 11pm, an announcement came on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) that the Federal Government had ordered the immediate removal of controversial Oyakhilome.

Aliyu

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Sunday December 23, 2012

9

Four kidnapped Koreans, Nigerian regain freedom EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

T

he four South Korean and a Nigerian kidnapped last week in Brass, Bayelsa State, have regained their freedom.

They regained their freedom on Friday at about 9:am from their abductors.

Already, two principal suspects linked with the incident have been arrested by the police.

The Bayelsa State Po-

...Two principal suspects arrested lice Commissioner, Mr. Kingsley Omire, spoke with journalists yesterday in Yenagoa, the state capital, while handing over the victims to the management of their firm.

Omire said the victims were released unharmed at Azikoro village, near Yenagoa, before security personnel came to convey them.

The victims are Joon

Suk, Jing Kim, Hi Kim, Doo Lee and Austin Giwa(Nigerian). They are workers of Hyundai Heavy Industries in Brass Island.

The kidnappers had demanded N200 million ransom to secure the victims’ freedom, but Omire said no ransom was paid for the release.

He said: “The InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP) and

the Bayelsa State Government have zero tolerance for crimes. They do not like paying ransom to kidnappers to secure victims’ release.”

However, Omire said the victims were immediately checked into a hotel before conveying them to the police headquarters in Bayelsa for documentation.

They were abducted on December 17 at about

3.30pm inside their boat along Okpoama Island by eight gunmen, but the boat operator was released barely two hours after for identifying himself as an Okpoama indigene.

Omire said the suspects were being interrogated.

According to the police boss, the disagreement that erupted among the kidnappers in their hideout led to

Flood: Osun distributes relief materials to victims T

he Osun State Government has started distributing the relief materials donated by the Federal Government to those affected by flood in the state recently.

L - R: Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; wife of Ogun State Governor, Mrs Olufunso Amosun; and the Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, during the state Christmas Carols & Service of Nine Lessons at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, yesterday

I have no hands in Ogun PDP crisis, says Daniel FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

F

ormer Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has dissociated himself from the recent clash that rocked the state chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the control of the party secretariat.

In a press statement issued at the weekend by his Media Assistant, Adegbenro Adebanjo, Daniel condemned the clash, saying he was neither privy to nor support “remotely or otherwise the current fight and contest for the control of the party secretariat in Abeokuta”.

It will be recalled that

the voluntary release of the victims.

Narrating his ordeal, the Nigerian victim, Austin Giwa, said that the kidnapper whisked him and his colleagues away to an unknown destination after shooting sporadically in the air.

He said: “They demanded N200 million ransom from our company. The kidnappers described our abduction as “bad market” for them.

the fragile peace between the two factions of the Ogun State chapter of PDP last Wednesday snowballed into an open confrontation as supporters of the groups openly engaged one another in a clash at the party secretariat in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The clash occurred between members of the faction loyal to the party’s financier, Prince Buruji Kashamu and those loyal to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the control of the secretariat.

Many members of the two warring factions were injured in the melee which lasted for close to 30 min-

utes before police men arrived at the scene to arrest five persons in connection with the fracas.

But reacting to the incident, the former governor said those touting his name in connection with the clash should “kindly remove the name of OGD from their barbaric actions,” stressing that physical violence has not and could not be the strategy towards resolving any political differences at this 21st century.

He said: “Whereas, it is true that all the so called factions of the party in Ogun State were all members of the OGD political machinery or family be-

fore some of them elected to play different political games for reasons best known to them, whereas it is also true that OGD facilitated the Party office in contention, the role of OGD since the unfortunate crisis that led to the loss of the state to an opposition party was and is still to unite all the various factions of the Party in order to return it to winning ways and restore its glory in Ogun State.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Otunba Gbenga Daniel is not a party to or connected in anyway whatsoever to the violent confrontation at the party secretariat.”

NIGERIA IN BRIEF

The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Wale Adedoyin, launched the distribution on Friday at Ifon in Orolu Local Government Area.

Adedoyin said the state had received 750 tonnes of food items as part of the palliative measure put in place by the Federal Government.

According to him, the vulnerable members of the communities as well as aged persons under the aegis of Agba-Osun were among the beneficiaries of the relief materials.

He said that Ilesa (East and West) and Atakumosa (East and West) had been identified as designated

Speaker backs Akpabio’s wife NGO TONY ANICHEBE UYO

A

kwa Ibom State House of Assembly Speaker, Hon. Samuel Ikon, has promised to support the Family Life Enhancement Initiative of Governor Godswill Akpabio’s wife by donating two bungalows of two bedrooms flat to it.

Family Life Enhancement Initiative is a NonGovernmental Organisation set up by the Akpabio’s wife, Ekaette.

FG urged to restore investors’ confidence in nation’s financial sector A former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Director, Mr Titus Okunronmu, has urged the Federal Government to adopt more aggressive measures to restore investors’ confidence in the financial sector.

Okunronmu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend Lagos that the measures would further ensure stability in the nation’s financial system.

According to him, the banking

system has been over-heated by the recent financial crisis and need urgent attention to achieve sustainable growth Okunronmu noted that there should be proper regulation and enforcement of all economic policies pertaining to the financial sector.

He said that the CBN should ensure that all the required banking regulations and policies were strictly adhered to by all financial institutions.

“The apex bank also needs to monitor and constantly supervise the way loans are disbursed in the banking sector,’’ he said.

Okunronmu said the era when managing directors of banks gave loans to customers without collateral was over, adding that there should be checks and balances in the way loans were disbursed to customers.

He stressed the need for the CBN to encourage banks to expand

dropping points for the distribution of the relief materials.

Others, according to him, are Obokun and Oriade with the drop points at Ibokun, Osogbo, Olorunda and Orolu, while Ifon-Orolu Irepodun serves as the drop point.

The commissioner called on the Federal Government to put Osun on the same scale with other states that experienced devastating flood in the allocation of relief materials.

Adedoyin said the state government had spent several millions of naira on widening of river banks, dredging and channelisation as well as clearing of gutters to allow free flow of water throughout the state.

According to him, the strategy helped in reducing the effects of flooding in the state this year.

real sector financing to boost the nation’s economy and employment generation.

Okunronmu said deliberate efforts should be made to reduce interest rate on loans to encourage investors.

He said that the CBN should vigorously pursue the cashless policy, but added that Nigerians should be enlightened on the advantages of the initiative.

Speaker Ikon spoke when Mrs. Ekaette Akpabio gave a two-bedroom flat to a 38-year-old widow, Mrs. Idongesit Aniekan Joshua, at Mbioto in Etinan Local Government Area.

The Speaker thanked the governor’s wife for assisting widows and prayed for God’s protection upon her family.

In his welcome address, the Chairman of Etinan Local Government Area, Mr. Kenneth Okon, the governor’s wife was in Etinan for a redemption mission.

Victory College alumni meet Dec 26 The national body of Victory College Ikare Old Students Association (VICIOSA) meets on Wednesday, December 26, 2012.

The meeting, according to the Acting National Public Relations Officer, Mr.

Muraina Kilani, will hold at the Olugboja Theatre Hall of the college at 10 am All members of the association are urged to attend the meeting as matters relating to the development of the school would be discussed.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

10

STORIES THAT TOUCH YOU DECEMBER 23, 2012

Celebrities: Our plan for Christmas

Okwara

ADAEZE AMOS, ANGELA DAVIES AND VANESSA OKWARA

C

hristmas is two days away, and the aroma of the festive period can be perceived in the thin air what with the red and green colouration with some sparkling lights that adorn the streets, offices and

residential apartments. Look around you and you would see that hampers of different shapes and sizes have started exchanging hands. It is indeed yuletide again the magical season of love and sharing. The period when families and friends come together to share the much loved customs and traditions which have been around

Novia

Chinyere Wilfred

Okoro

for centuries. How will you be marking yours? Well, some celebrities shared with Sunday Mirror their plans for Christmas.

First on the roll call was Bryan Okwara the Nigerian super model and Mr. Nigeria 2007. He said he is making plans to visit his friends and colleagues in South Africa. “Well for Christmas, I’m planning on taking a trip to visit friends and colleagues in South Africa, Johannesburg, Pretoria and just unwind because the plan is to get away from stress and just have

fun. So, it is going to be lavish, waking up late, lazing about and just taking the weight off. I will also be meeting interesting people and maybe visit Nelson Mandela,” he says excitedly.

Another celebrity is a diva, Zoe Chinaka. She is a musician and a presenter with Nigeria Television Authority 2.

For her, she has already started celebrating. “My Christmas has already started because I have my family with me. It is a good thing I am not travelling this year, so the only thing left is to spend time with my sweetheart,

rest from all these events, busy schedule and receive lots of gifts.

For Nsa Ntuk, an actress and director cum MTN Ambassador Christmas is all about sharing love and that is what she would be doing this Christmas, “This Christmas I am starting a movement of sharing the love of God and spreading the spirit of positivity. Everywhere I turn there is suffering, people maltreating one another, mistrusting one another, greed, violence and unforgiving spirit. It is time to CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

No rollicking Xmas for some kids in TAI ANYANWU

I

Kids of Olive Bloom, Okeira Nla, Ajah

t is another festive season; a time lovely decorations and radiant lightings, that speak volumes about skills of various decorators, adorn corporate buildings and homes in major cities of the world.

Right here in Lagos, the streets are aglow with shimmering candor; bringing home the reality that yuletide is here, even to the impecunious.

From the commercial heart beat of Lagos Island to high brow Victoria Island; from the prime properties of Ikoyi to the bourgeoning Lekki axis; and from the mainland areas to the sub-urban outskirts of Lagos metropolis, activities herald this all important season of the year.

In the homes, parents are making elaborate plans to make it fun time for their kids, regardless of their status.

But what happens to those children in the orphanages, kids care homes and who do not know the luxury of growing up under the loving care of their biological parent? Is it going to be fun for them also?

Sunday Mirror went out to feel the pulse in some homes in Lagos; and found out that it is a case of different strokes for different

folks.

While Kids in some homes have been having a rollicking celebration since October, Kid Care-givers in other Homes merely say they would do what is possible to keep the kids happy on Christmas day.

At No1-3, Sai Close, beside PHCN Transmitting Station, Ajah Lagos, care officials in SRI Sathya Sai Seva Organisation Orphanage virtually sit in the reception and permanently gape at the gate for arrival of no particular donour.

With about 25 kids between ages 23 and below, the orphanage whose Indian founder is now late appears unable to offer any fun for the inmates during the festivities.

Mrs. Yetunde Balogun, Care-giver at the home, explained that some of their inmates studying in different school had already come back home.

“We are expecting donors to make our kids happy.” Though we still get normal support from members of SAI organization nothing has come from other donors for the kids to have fun during this celebration,” she explained.

Mrs. Balogun was however broad minded enough to use the opportunity to thank some individuals and organizations that have been a blessing to the house in the

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

SM Extra

Sunday, December 23, 2012

11

Celebrities: Our plan for Christmas

Udofia

Ajakaiye

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 heal the world with positivity and love and a fresh start as we become the sons and daughters of God. My solution is to spread this message through the films I am writing and in my craft of acting.

I plan to bring this movement from America to Nigeria in all my films and artistic creations that aim to inspire us all to be better people. And of course, I look forward to sharing a delicious meal with my family on Christmas day.”

Cornel Udofia, a publicist and United Nations Ambassador, Christmas for him apart from supporting Nollywood and his friends, means going to church for thanks giving. “I am going to spend my Christmas by supporting Nollywood Xmas with the Stars which is packaged

by Grand Touch pictures owned by Chico and Joy Ejiro. Then from there, I will go over to support my friend Cally Ikpe, the CEO of Nigeria Music Video Awards (NMVA). On December 25, I will not be going to any event as I will only go to Church and thank God for making our name to become famous in the entertainment world. Then on the 26th I will just go to the beach and have fun with some friends,” he enthused.

Another celebrity, Chinwe Okoro, an executive producer and publisher hopes to spend his Christmas in Lagos in the company of her family after going to church. “After which I would return

Chinaka

home and probably watch movies for this Christmas is a resting period for him. “I intend to shut off everything the rest of the day.” and rest. It’s been a long, hard but reUnlike Clara, Meg Doris Alabi, Chief Executive Officer Alabi Couture would warding year and I’m looking forward to entering the new year with the not be spending her whole Christspirit of the season, guiding mas at home resting, she my ventures for 2013 and would be unwinding at having a merry little the beach when she is Christmas seems to done with thanks givbe the nice way to ing in the church. do it.”

“I will be celebratMima Ikyor, ing my Christmas a diva, will be with my family unwinding and loved ones, with her famspending time ily and friends thanking God because to her for the year and the season is a praising Him for period of comthe coming year. ing together to We will also go love and share. to the cinema and Then of course beach and have a Maribel Abii, to the remembrance for my Miss Acting Guild of late dad, Mr. James Nigeria 2012, Yuletide Alabi. Then crown it all Onuma for her spells home comwith thanksgiving in my ing. “There is this popular heart.”

Christmas this year will be a quiet saying that charity begins at home. I one for Ibiyemi Ajakaiye, a musician. will get down to my roots in Mbaise, “My Christmas will be a quite one with Imo state. I’m organizing a funfair at my family. I’m usually working over the my place where family, friends and well holidays but I’m away on vacation this wishers would come together to catch time and excited about catching up with up on old times.”

Ifeoma Anyiam, Nollywood screen siblings I haven’t seen in over a year.”

For Charles Novia, a movie producer diva, is heading off for Ghana with her

Orphanages past.

One is greeted with the sound of silence as one steps into the serene premises of Olive Bloom Orphanage at Okeira-Nla in Ajah.

The distant look on the faces of the infants in the home instantly communicates the mood of the inmates.

Like their counterparts at Sai Orphanage, nothing much is happening except the comfort of the home’s cozy facilities.

Miss Stella Ashibuogwu, care-giver at the home, told our reporter that this is a season when many visitors including other school children come around to celebrate with the kids in-house.

Benjamin Buraimoh, Village Director, SOS Village, Isolo

Alabi

Ntuk

“They are just like other kids, but do not have parents that they can run to for help.

“Even if we do not get support, we will cook for them, their clothes have been bought and their hairs are already done,” she added.

Conversely, it has been swell times for the kids of Arrows of God Orphanage, located just few meters away from Olive Bloom Orphanage.

David Ogo, Managing Director of the Home did not mince words about the excellent support the home is enjoying.

“We are lucky to be in Nigeria where we have a lot of wealthy individuals and organizations who are willing to share. And so many of them have been coming to us to invite us to parties, bring food, donations and to celebrate with us.

“Almost every day, our kids attend lots of activities and receive gift items,” he explained.

An in-house party has also been put together for the pleasure of the kids. Corporate and individual sponsors and

David Ogo, MD, Arrows of God Orphanage

family to mark the Christmas. “I’m taking a short trip to Ghana with my family. I know it’s going to be fun”, she said.

For Chinyere Wilfred, another Nollywood diva, Christmas is a period of traveling to her maternal home to celebrate. “This Christmas, I hope to catch some fun at my maternal home with my children. I will be traveling to Aguta Local Government Area in Anambra state to enjoy my Christmas. Lots of my friends in the Diaspora would be coming home. So, this is a period of uniting with them to share love.”

Florence Onuma, an actress says she has started enjoying her Christmas. “I even started marking Christmas a week before the real day. On the 20th I had a Nollywood show titled Nollywood on Christmas. But on that Christmas day, I’m going to be in my house, cook and eat together with my family and share out to my neighbours and loved ones. You know Christmas is a day of sharing,” she says, giggling.

There is no dull moment for Estito, a fashion designer especially for this Christmas season. “I and my family will be going to the cinemas and amusement parks for a picnic. I’m also going to be organizing a party for the less fortunate people. I will be giving out gifts to the poor and down trodden as I’m fond of doing every Christmas,” she says on a final note.

partners would be in attendance, Sunday Mirror gathered.

The Home, seemingly, do not have much worries as far as keeping the children happy during the festivities.

“I would say it (the Yuletide) would be good if not better than what obtains in an average home because of a number of patronage that our kids will bring for us.

“But as an orphanage, we still have the rest of the year for the kids to survive. There are constant challenges because of the vision we have. Our aspiration is to give the children university education or skills so that when they leave here they can stand on their own, otherwise the whole effort would be worthless.”

At S.O.S Village, Isolo, the central store is flooded with food items and other material need of the mega Child-Care centre which has branches in six locations in different parts of Nigeria.

Just as the relief items never cease to flow in, utility vehicles from the branches were seen loading and carting away the items to branch out-reaches located in Jos, Kaduna, Gwagwalada in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Ibadan, Oru Ijebu, Ogun State and Isolo center.

Benjamin Buraimo, Village Director, confirmed that SOS Village has been having donations from companies in the spirit of the season. He added that specific sponsors of respective houses in the Child Care Home have also been bringing gifts to the adopted house.

“We have lined up series of activities, in conjunction with our partners, for the children to have fun. In this Christmas season, we are looking up to the public to support S.O.S, so we can do more for the children, Buraimo solicited.

“Essentially, we are a child care home providing family based care where children substitute families with foster mothers and grow on long term bases until they can carry on on their own,” the village Director explained.

12

News

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Harvest of deaths ahead of Christmas AUGUSTINE MADUWEST (K ANO), FEMI OYEWESO (ABEOKUTA) AND EZEKIEL TITUS, (BAUCHI)

B

arely three days to Christmas, there has been harvest of deaths in some parts of the country.

Tragedy befell the people of Oja-Odan, a border town in Egbado North Local government area of Ogun State last Friday as some Fulani herdsmen violently invaded the community, killing one and injuring four others.

Sunday Mirror gathered that the Fulani herdsmen slaughtered one man identified as Agbaose Sewotan who protested when the

herdsmen set their cattle to graze on his farmland and destroyed his crops.

Four other members of the community who had gone to render assistance to the deceased were also said to have been critically injured in the incident which occurred at about 6:00 p.m.

An elder brother to the deceased, Oluwole Sewotan who spoke with newsmen at Oja-Odan said the residents of Oja-Odan area were always being attacked by the herdsmen who killed people with impunity.

Members of the community also alleged that the community, which comprised about 30 villages often come under the attack of the Fulani herdsmen who usually operated between the Nigeria border communities and the Re-

public of Benin.

One of the community leaders who also spoke with newsmen, Lasisi Adewole said that the Fulani herdsmen usually encroached and destroyed farmlands in the community particularly during dry season.

Adewole stated that the attacks dated back some years and had claimed the lives of no fewer than 40 innocent residents of the area.

He also alleged that security measures put in place by the state government through the efforts of men of the Nigeria Police, State Security Service (SSS) in the area had been fruitless.

Sunday Mirror also recalled that the present 7th Legislative Assembly in Ogun had at a time, set up a Security/Fact-Finding

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN (2nd right) with other state officials during the switching on of the Festival of Lights on Thursday night, in Lagos.

Committee which visited the crisis-prone zone in the area with a view to finding a permanent solution to the incessant Fulani attack of the people in the area.

The Committee, headed by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Honourable Tola Banjo also had top officials of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Police, SSS as well as the state Traffic Compliant Agency (TRACE) as members.

Commenting on the last Friday attacks however, the Chairman of Egbado North Local Government, Honourable Tajudeen Alani expressed optimism that the recent attack will further forced the state government to look into ways of stopping future occurrence.

“The Ogun State government is worried about the development, and I can assure you that we are going to find lasting solutions to the killings”.

In a related development, two suspected suicide bombers were killed in separate attacks in the Kano offices of the telephone mobile service providers, Airtel and MTN. The attacks which occurred in the early hours of Saturday also left a security guard with Airtel in a critical condition, when its Niger Street in the state capital was hit by the bomber who was equally blown up in the process.

Another bomber, ac-

Abia CP strategises for crime-free Yuletide A bia State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ambrose Aisabor, said the command had mapped out strategies to ensure crime-free Christmas and New Year celebrations in the state Aisabor told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia that ``there will be visible police presence’’ in all parts of the state during and after the Yuletide.

He gave the assurance

that the police would provide adequate security for life and property of residents, people on holiday and those travelling through the state to other states.

The police commissioner expressed delight that serious crimes, including robbery and kidnapping had reduced drastically in the state.

He described Abia as ``the most peaceful and secure state in the SouthEast’’, and promised to

NIGERIA IN BRIEF

maintain the healthy situation he inherited.

The commissioner said the command had banned the use of fireworks, such as knock-out and other explosives, during the Yuletide.

Aisabor explained that the ban became necessary so that hoodlums would not use the fireworks to terrorise unsuspecting residents.

He expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation he was getting

Igue festival, Benin age-long practice, explained

Igue Festival is one of the ways the people of the great Benin Kingdom and the paramount king in the land known as Oba annually appease their ancestors who has guarded them throughout the year which date back to time immemorial This heroic and agelong Benin festival which

is usually done during the end of every year attracts foreigners who are interested in the ancient Benin Empire.

The Festival according to the Secretary of Benin Traditional Council (BTC) Irabor Frank who spoke on behalf of the Oba in an interview said Igue is one of the festivals

in ‘Ugie’ which encompasses all the festivals celebrated in the yearly Benin Calendar.

The palace scribe also hinted that all the festivals have their significance and dates of celebration which include Otue Ugierhoba where all chiefs go to the palace to pay homage to the Oba.

from the residents, saying that information from the public had helped the command to fight crime.

He said he had received no fewer than 200,000 telephone calls from residents, volunteering ``useful information on crime to the police’’ from October to date.

Aisabor noted that most of the calls emanated from Aba, the commercial hub of the state. This, according to him, has the highest crime rate in the state.

cording to security sources aimed at the Bompai office of MTN, but missed it narrowly as his car hit a pole close to brick fence.

He also died instantly when the primed vehicle exploded.

The Airtel office was the first to be hit in the attacks which sparked-off stampede in parts of the city, resulting in panic closure of shops and other places of business in the city.

As at press time, the roads leading to the Kano corporate business areas of Ibrahim Taiwo, civic centre, Beruit and a post office roads were cordoned by operatives of the military-led Joint Task Force and the police which are raiding the areas for possible suspects of the terrorist sect and abandoned explosives.

The police and JTF said that apart from the two suicide bombers who died in the act, no other casualties were recorded from the incidents.

Lt. Ikedichi Iweha, JTF spokesman said the attacker at the Airtel office was shot dead by security personnel manning the entry gate of the Communication outfit as he drove suspiciously into the premises, pointing out that the vehicle exploded thereafter with the suspect trapped inside.

He disclosed further that the one heading towards MTN rammed into the office fence and exploded killing him on the spot.

The state commissioner of police, Ibrahin Idris, commended the security men at Airtel for the gallant display which to him saved the situation.

Confirming the incident, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in a text message noted that there was a coordinated attack by suicide bombers at facilities of the two telecom operators in separate locations in Kano Municipality.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up for the Christmas and new year celebrations with in-

Police arrest 3 robbery suspects over murder of policemen

The police in Imo have arrested three men suspected to be part of the robbery gang which killed two policemen and one soldier in 2010.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Imo, Mr Vitalis Onugu, in Owerri on Saturday.

It stated that the suspects were arrested following a tip

off by an anonymous source who named the informant of the gang. ``We were informed of the suspicious movement of one Chukwuma Nwanjoku and he was arrested. ``When we questioned him, he disclosed that he was an informant of an armed robbery gang and has been providing information to the robbers preparatory for an

attack.

“From the information he gave us, we were able to arrest the rest of them and the man who supplied them with arms.

“The suspects have admitted that they’re part of the gang responsible for killing two policemen and one soldier in Amaraku Junction in 2010,” the statement stated.

creased security presence in the city as more military men have been deployed in Kano streets to improve security and guarantee safety of lives and properties.

House-house search for criminal by police and JTF is still in progress according to security sources.

In the same vein, at least ten lives have been lost and eight others sustained injuries in an accident that occurred along Bauchi/ Gombe Federal Highway near Alkaleri town Headquarters of Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

Briefing newsmen over the incident yesterday in Bauchi, Acting Sector Commandant of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mahmud Kachalla said the accident occurred yesterday in the afternoon in between Tsohuwar Gwaram village and Alkaleri town in Bauchi State adding that it involved 18 people, two cars and one motorcycle.

Kachalla said the 10 people that lost their lives included five female adults, three male adults, a boy and a girl. The eight people injured five male adults, a female adult and two boys”.

He said the causes of the accident were overspeeding and over- loading, stressing that those in the Gulf car which was involved were 14 people who went on a condolence visit in Jigawa State and were on their way to Alkaleri when they Honda head and collision with a Honda vehicle.

The Commandant said the FRSC personnel stationed in Alkaleri rescued the victims and took the injured people to Alkaleri General Hospital for medical treatment.

Kachalla advised motorist to always obey traffic regulations to reduce the rate of accident along our roads especially during this yuletide period when there is mass movement of people.

Deaconness Awoyele laid to rest Mother of Lagos lawyer, Oluropo Awoyele, Deaconness Alice Olufunmilayo Awoyele, was buried on Saturday, December 8 after a 10 a.m. funeral service at Christ Evangelical Church, 40, Mokuro Street, Ile Ife Osun State. Reception took place at Oduduwa College cricket pitch at noon.

13

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Interview ENCOUNTER WITH A NEWS MAKER

Conscience dictates Igbo should produce next president –Orji Kalu DECEMBER 23, 2012

For about two weeks, you were out of the country. What was the trip all about?

I go sometimes to look around both as an independent businessman and also to just see what is happening in other African countries. This is mostly for business and to continue preaching for unity among the Igbo and the Nigerian people living elsewhere

Former Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, in this no-holds-barred interview with Editor, Bolaji Tunji, speaks about a President of Igbo extraction, his relationship with his successor, Theodore Orji and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid, the National Assembly, and other national issues. Excerpts:

Which of the countries did you actually visit, and would you want to relate your experiences in those countries?

I was in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Togo, Congo and I partially headed to Namibia and Angola.

Did you meet with Nigerians in these countries?

Yes, what I tried to do in every place I went was to meet Nigerians in the Diaspora, talk to them and find a way of buttressing the issue of unity of our country and also to see how we can continue finding friendship.

Looking at the national scene, would you say you are satisfied with the way the country is presently; politically, security-wise and so on?

I know that there is a lot of problems in the country and security has not been very good. Economy has not been good too because it ties with the security. Honestly, I have not been encouraged by the way the security system of the country has been and I believe that a lot has been said and done on this. The security situation has been a very big problem and on this I guess that all hands must be on deck because the country is drifting.

In your opinion, what have we not done right, and what do you think should be done?

It stems from people in government not consulting widely. People in government are not doing the right thing to make sure that the security situation is right by engaging in wide consultation.

In view of this, how would you now assess the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan?

No, I am not going to assess him now. I have said it times without number that President Jonathan has told us to give him up to 2013. Honestly, I am going to give him up to this time of 2013 if God gives us life and good health. I will assess him openly but I will write privately before I will assess him in public.

Kalu

One major issue today about 2015 is that of producing a President of Igbo extraction from the South-East. But Northerners are saying that after Jonathan, it is their turn. How do you think this is going to play out?

But even you as a journalist, doesn’t your conscience tell you that it is the turn of the Igbo people to govern? It is about conscience. We are not going to fight the northerners or to fight the westerners. We are not going to fight anybody. We are only negotiating and begging to see that justice is done. Part of what is happening in Nigeria is injustice and you see some of these sects like the Boko Haram, in my opinion and the opinion of the United States, are not terrorist groups. They are just a group that came as a result of injustice. If justice is done to all, there will be no problem. I believe that the northerners in their wisdom will want to talk to us and to have something with us. This is because it is really our turn to be president; we will do the work.

will bid for president … that the problem has always been a kind of a lack of cohesion and unity whereby many candidates are present at the same time and not putting their house in order. How do you want to overcome this?

Where have you seen unity? When Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to be president, was there any unity in the SouthWest? When the late Umaru Yar’Adua wanted to be president, was there any unity in place? It pains me when people want to hang any name on the Igbo people. Many Igbo people are qualified to be president and many will come out like many people were qualified in the SouthWest when Obasanjo wanted to be president. Many people came out including the late Chief Bola Ige and Chief Olu Falae. They are Yoruba people; they are not Igbo. They came out to challenge Obasanjo and later on Obasanjo prevailed. When Yar’Adua wanted to be president there were so many candidates including Atiku, Buhari, are those Igbo people? Don’t say that Igbo has no unity. Yes, there are some cracks but we are patching them. This is what the newly formed Njiko Igbo is working on seriously, to foster unity among our people.

People are saying this is not the first time that the Igbo

Who are those with you in the group that you are cham-

pioning? Would you want to mention some names?

Let me tell you this, every Igbo man anywhere, unless an Igbo man that is insane would not be talking about an Igbo being president. Every Igbo man directly or indirectly is a member of this organisation Njiko Igbo. Let nobody deceive you, every Igbo man, including those dancing around the powers-that-be. Even those who come out to criticise. People are hungry, they can criticise, ‘we don’t want president’. But deep in their minds, they know that what I am speaking about is the right thing to be done. And that is what is going to be done.

You have been championing the cause of the Igbo and have been fearless in airing your opinions. Once you believe in something, you say it. Can we say you want to run for president in 2015?

No, no, I am not talking about presidency. I am talking about the unity of our people. I am talking of oneness of a tribe, a tribe that has given so much to Nigeria and Nigerians as a people. I am talking of a tribe which fought genuinely for independence, a people who despite the civil war were able to reunite immediately among the Nigerian people. Because in every place you go, you see Igbo and that is CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

14

Interview

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘Abolish Senate so that we have only House of Reps’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

the hallmark of the Igbo man. Our strength is that we are in Birnin Kebbi, Osogbo, Ilesha, everywhere. Anywhere you don’t see an Igbo man, run away, nobody lives there.

We have given colour, honour, everything to this country.

The country should for once give us honour by conscientiously agreeing to give us the presidency.

Another issue that is paramount is that of constitution amendment. National Assembly members have been moving round but many people are saying there are some things that need to be put in perspective first.

They have been agitating for Sovereign National Conference (SNC). Should it be SNC now or constitution amendment? What is your take on this?

There is nothing wrong with the constitution we are practicing; the only thing to be amended there is to give the South-East one state more. If you want to amend the constitution today, we should amend it to have one single House. Abolish the Senate so that we have only the House of Representatives because a country that uses 25 per cent of her national budget to service 400 people in the National Assembly is criminal. The legislature should be on part-time, non-residential, if we really want to move forward. No legislator should take more than N1.5 million a year as allowance. Let the real people go and make law for the people and let the real people be accountable to the people not to themselves. The economy will collapse if care is not taken. Who is going to bell the cat, the masses? I believe that instead of going about talking about constitution amendment, these legislators should talk about hunger, insecurity that are holding the people of Nigeria. To me I am not impressed with a constitution amendment. I am thinking more about what to do to evade poverty and bring prosperity to the economy.

How do you think the South-East can go about getting an additional state to equal what the other geopolitical zones have?

This is just one of the injustices done to the South-East.

We have been begging and we will continue to be begging.

We are negotiating with the other parts of the country to reason with us. Yes there was a civil war but the war has ended and we must come together. We are one country and we will continue to fight for its unity.

Would you then say the fact that the South-East doesn’t have the same number of states as other parts of the country mean punishment for their role in the civil war?

What else do you think it is all about? I am surprised that the South-East has given so much to this country called Nigeria. We spilled our blood, nobody is talking about reparation to people that were killed during the civil war. They took our belongings as abandoned properties.

They took everything and changed our money to Twenty Pounds and what else have they not done to us? I believe that justice should be given to us Talking about the civil war, Professor Chinua Achebe did a book recently, ‘There Was a Country’ . The book stirred controversy in the country. He made some assertions that there was deliberate starvation of the Igbo during the war. Apart from that, he spoke about properties that were seized during the period too and said there was a deliberate attempt to pauperise so many Igbo people. As a statesman, how do you see what he said vis-a-vis comments from the South-West leaders in response to his claims?

It is just the politicians trying to create wave where there is nothing. What Chinua Achebe has done is that he has written his opinion which I guess is what he feels is correct. Phillip Effiong just said that he is going to write his own memoir. These people saying yes or no, I don’t understand. War is not a bazaar. In war, you fight with everything you have. Although killing civilians is not part of what you are expected to do, however, at all times of Chief Awolowo’s life, he had never denied that he did not do what Chinua Achebe said. But politicians should stop using it as a political tool.

Recently, some politicians went to Abuja agitating that you should not be allowed to return to the PDP. For a state you have done so much for, one was surprised to

Kalu

I WOULD NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO DO THIS WORK

I AM DOING FOR THE IGBO. BECAUSE IN NJIKO IGBO, WHETHER YOU ARE IN PDP, CPC, PPA OR APGA, THEY ARE ALL MEMBERS SO

I DON’T NEED TO BELONG TO ANY PARTY FOR NOW AS A COORDINATING SOUL know that such a thing could have happened. Why did you think they didn’t want you back in PDP, a party that you were a foundation member?

That shows you the calibre of politics we are playing now. I never told anybody whether privately or in public that I wanted to go back to the PDP. But if I want to go back to PDP, it is my civic right. I had never told anybody whether in private or in the open that I wanted to go back to PDP. I think these leaders should focus on their leadership … on the job we have given them to do. Aba, Umuahia, Ohafia are disaster areas. I expect these people in government to focus on leadership and stop dancing around the groove.

They should be accountable to the people. When I was governor, I was accountable to the people. I have no regret being governor of Abia State. If you give me the opportunity, what I did for the people, I will repeat them again.

They should be able to beat their chest and work for the people. I am not in a contest of popularity with anybody but I want the judgement of the people to prevail. The people are the best judge on earth. Only the people and God can judge anybody.

Would you like to reveal what caused the quarrel between you, Ogbulafor, Abaribe, Nwogu and Chukwumerije?

I have never quarreled with these people before. There is no personal quarrel even with the governor. I can’t re-

member of any. If they can remember of any, they can tell me or the nation. My conscience is clear.

The incumbent governor is a person you practically installed in the Government House when he had some problems. He wasn’t even around when the election was held. Maybe he was still with the EFCC at that time but he came in and you stood by him. Could you really tell us what actually happened between you or you don’t want to make it a public thing?

That shows the character of the man. It is not me you should be asking. It is the man that is carrying the burden, not me. I have no thought of ever offending him, but I give thanks to God at all times. No matter what I have done to this man, for what I did for him, I expect him to find a forgiving heart to me than the way he is doing. I have no regret on what he is doing. That is what God said would happen. We are here, we are for the people and we cannot but be for the people. Our most fundamental issue is speaking the truth and the truth would never lack in our mouth.

Leaders are speaking with both sides of their mouths now.

To me I don’t know what I have done to the governor. If he feels I have done anything to him, he should throw it open to the Nigerian people and let them be the judge. Let the Abia people be the judge. In my conscience, my last discussion with the governor was that he had not done anything for the people, that he should not run for a second term.

That is the truth and I have no regrets in telling him that because it is the right thing to do.

Would you say that is the crux of the whole problem?

That he said he wanted to go for a second term and you are opposed to him going?

There is nothing else. He said it to people, in newspapers. He said it before the election that I stopped him not to go for a second term. I told him not to go and that is the truth. He wasn’t lying then so he should be able to tell the people the truth.

You are a successful businessman. You were successful before you came into politics. One wonders why you are bothering yourself with so many national issues like this. What really drives you?

Well, I am an Igbo man, a Nigerian. If you look at my face, you’ll see the face of a true Nigerian. I am bothered CONTINUED ON PAGE 49

15

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics PROVIDING FRESH PERSPECTIVES TO ISSUES DECEMBER 23, 2012

HOW CAN WE CONTINUE TO RUN A After Yakowa, what next for Kaduna politics? P 16, 41

POLITICAL SYSTEM THAT SEEMS TO TACITLY ACCEPT, PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE THE VERY ‘CORRUPTION’ WE ALL COMPLAIN ABOUT –JUSTICE DAHIRU MUSDAPHER

Benue 2015: I may be interested –Ker P. 40

Briefly

Osun Assembly adjourns for Christmas

The Osun State House of Assembly has proceeded on recess for Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Members of the Assembly will resume on Monday, January 7, 2013. The Speaker, Mr. Najeem Salaam, announced this during a plenary session in Osogbo.

Najeem said that the break would enable the lawmakers to rest, and engage in other activities, including sober reflections.

He advised the people to be moderate in their activities during the festivities.

Meanwhile, the speaker read a letter from Governor Rauf Aregbesola, dated December 20, to enable him present the budget of the state for 2013.

Reacting to the letter, Mr Kamil Oyedele (Irepodun/Orolu State Constituency), said the constitutional duty of the governor was for him to lay the budget before the assembly and that any other procedure was ceremonial.

Oyedele said that Aregbesola had fulfilled the constitutional provision and had lived up to expectation.

He cited section 121(1) of the Nigerian Constitution which empowers the governor to prepare and lay the budget before the house at any time before the commencement of a financial year.

Mr. Bello Osuolale ( Boripe/Bolorunduro), lauded the governor for his humility in the request to present the budget to the assembly.

Ebonyi presents N104.37bn budget for 2013

Chukwumerije

Okorie

Umeh

Okonkwo

2015: Ndigbo, search for credible political platform

D ENNIS AGBO ENUGU

P

robably having realised that it will be difficult to present a unanimously accepted presidential candidate of Igbo extraction in 2015 general election on the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, some politicians from the South-East have begun seeking a credible political platform to actualise the dream of producing the nation’s President.

Presently, politicians from the region have been canvassing Igbo presidency in different political parties such as in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the United Peoples Party (UPP) and in the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA).

No Igbo man from the ruling PDP has, however, summoned the courage to campaign for Igbo presidency probably because of the fear of being victimised by the party leadership that seems plan to give President Goodluck Jonathan from the South-South a second term ticket.

Prominent among the Igbo leaders that have been canvassing for Igbo presidency in alternative platforms to PDP include former Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu; the National Chairman of APGA, Sir Victor Umeh; former lawmaker from Anambra Central Senatorial District, Senator Annie Okonkwo and National Chairman of UPP, Chief Chekwas Okorie, just to mention but a few.

Information available to Sunday Mirror indicates that the leaders would form an alliance in an attempt to achieve Igbo presidency in 2015 election.

Chief Uzo Kalu, for instance, in one of his numerous campaigns, said: “Once unity is achieved, Ndigbo can then begin to talk about the platform to use. “For now, it is about building unity.”

Senator Uche Chukwumeriji from Abia North Senatorial District was reported to have said that it would amount to political suicide if by 2015, Ndigbo are absent in the scene.

Kalu, who has been campaigning for Igbo Presidency, said that his ideas and

whole view are to work for an Igbo man to become the president of Nigeria.

He said that the political party on whose platform to actualise the Igbo presidency did not mean anything.

“These are decisions that will be determined by the majority of the Igbo people, who will sit and decide on which platform we are going to realise this aspiration.

“So, what I am concentrating on now is a group called Njiko Igbo. That is what I am focusing attention on now both nationally and internationally.

I am not focusing on PDP or PPA or APGA. I am not talking about that now.

It is immaterial. The most important thing is get a level playing ground, educate our people on the need for an Igbo man to be the president of Nigeria,” Kalu said.

The former governor and one-time presidential candidate expressed deep disappointment with President Jonathan’s administration, saying the President lied to Ndigbo over his plans for 2015 presidency.

Kalu said: “Jonathan promised NdigCONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Governor Martin Elechi of Ebony State i at the weekend presented a budget estimate of N104.37 billion to the House of Assembly for the 2013 fiscal year.

The 2013 budget is the highest since the creation of the state in 1996, representing an increase of 18.96 per cent over that of 2012 of N86.98 billion.

The budget was tagged, “Budget of Partnership”, as the state intended to execute its programmes and projects with much foreign content in 2013.

“It is envisaged that by partnering with foreigners who are more experienced in technology, procurement and management, our indigenes will learn better ways of evaluation, procurement and construction, necessary in contemporary world,” he said.

According to him, recurrent expenditure in the budget stands at N35.76 billion or 34 per cent while the Capital Expenditure is N63.61billion or 61 per cent.

“N5 billion or 5 per cent is being appropriated as Stabilisation Fund which is still an improvement on the 2012 budget and ultimately leaves more funds for Capital Development.

“The practice of making appropriations for Stabilisation/Contingencies has been rewarding, as it does not leave room for virement from one sub-head to another,” he said.

He noted that there was significant deficit in the 2012 budget performance due to exogenous factors which neither the Federal nor the State Governments could control.

“Similarly, fallout of such failures included the inability of the Federal Government to refund Ebonyi and other states, all legitimate debts owed it.”

Elechi

16

Politics

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

After Yakowa, what nex The body of the late Kaduna State governor, Mr. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, was buried in his Fadan Kagoma home in Jema’a Local Government Area last Thursday.

The death of Yakowa will no doubt renew the long age political battle between Northern and Southern Kaduna for the soul of the state even with the choice of deputy governor and 2015 governorship election. AZA MSUE writes.

T

he body of the former Governor of Kaduna State, Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, has been buried amid sorrow and tears. Mourners have also continued to sympahise with the family and government over the governor’s death in a helicopter crash last week in Bayelsa State.

Kaduna State is now set to engage in some political activities starting with the choice of the deputy governor to Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, who succeeded Yakowa shortly after the latter’s death.

A compelling story of the late Yakowa’s life, political career and death in a military helicopter crash in Bayelsa State, after attending the funeral rites of the father of the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Research and Documentation, Mr Oronto Douglas, tells a story of humility, loyalty, hard work and submission.

After his retirement in public service, the deceased joined politics.

The late Yakowa worked for Ahmed Makarfi’s re-election campaign organisation in 2003. He was the chairman of the Rivers State Screening Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and was appointed by former Governor Makarfi as Secretary to the State Government in 2003.

He was later appointed deputy governor in 2005 replacing his Southern Kaduna brother who had died the same year.

Yakowa was one of the PDP governorship aspirants in 2006, but lost to the then former Governor Namadi Sambo. Sambo thereafter made him his deputy.

Ethnicity and religion seem to have been directing the politics of Kadanua State. Since creation of Kaduna State in 1967, the majority Muslims in the Northern Kaduna had governed, leaving their Southern brothers lamenting marginalisation until Yakowa became the first Christian governor in 2010 following the elevation of the then governor, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, as vice-president In order to balance ethno-religious political post, Yakowa picked Sambo’s former Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, as his deputy.

Sambo’s appointment as the vice-president by President Goodluck Jonathan was a memorable history for the people of Southern Kaduna as Yakowa stepped in as the governor.

When Yakowa finished his predecessor’s first term to seek fresh mandate in 2011, strong political forces from the Northern Kaduna plotted against him.

The late Yakowa

The forces wanted power to shift from Southern Kaduna minority, but Yakowa defeated the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) candidate, who is from the Northern Kaduna, in the 2011 governorship election.

At a time, Yakowa was rumored to be a likely successor to President Goodluck Jonathan in case he decides not to seek re-election in 2015, but the deceased denied the rumour.

In line with 1999 Constitution, former deputy governor Yero was sworn in as governor following Yakowa’s death.

Yero, who named the Kaduna City 4th Bridge Road after the late Yakowa during the funeral rites in Fadan Kagoma, promised to complete all the projects initiated by his predecessor.

He said: “It is pertinent for me to declare in unequivocal terms that I will be

2015: Ndigbo searching for CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

Kalu

bo the 2015 presidency, but he has gone back on his promise and he is now preparing for 2015 elections.

Ndigbo will not support Jonathan.”

He also revealed that he is currently engaged in uniting the various factions within the Igbo political sphere.

Describing the crisis within APGA as unnecessary, Kalu said: “I want to bring together our Igbo leaders, Senator Annie Okonkwo, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Victor Umeh, Chekwas Okorie and other Igbo sons so that we can produce an Igbo president.”

He promised to support effort by Ndigbo to produce the next Nigeria’s president in 2015.

“I am not doing politics now. I am not a member of any party. I am doing Ndigbo now,” he said.

However, APGA National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, seems to have engaged Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, in a cold war over the latter’s endorsement of President Jonathan for second term. Obi was elected governor on APGA platform.

It will recollect that Chief Umeh said APGA would present a candidate for the 2015 presidential election.

Umeh has demonstrated his resolve for Igbo presidency by aligning with the Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, who is believed planned to contest the next presidential election on APGA platform.

Also, Senator Annie Okonkwo, through his chairmanship of Committee 21, has been campaign vigorously for the Igbo presidency.

A new dimension was, however, added for the agitation for the Igbo presidency with the newly

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

17

Sunday, December 23, 2012

A PUBLICATION OF GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LTD BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM OFR PUBLISHER All the Facts, All the Sides STEVE AYORINDE

MD/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

BOLAJI TUNJI

SUNDAY EDITOR

DOZIE OKEBALAMA

COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD

ADESOYE ADEKOYA

CONTROLLER, PRODUCTION

ISE-OLUWA IGE

ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

KAYODE BALOGUN JNR

SM, STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

CALLISTUS OKE

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

FRANK OBOH

HEAD, GRAPHICS

Power generation and gas shortage

A

couple of months ago, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, proudly stated that a multi-billion dollar gas pipeline contract had been awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to link up the National Power Project plants nationwide and put an end to the perennial gas shortage that has dogged electricity generation and transmission in the country. She said while the power plants and the gas sub sector had operated separately in the past, linking gas pipelines with the power stations would enhance the rapid development of the power sector. Indeed, the NNPC had exuberantly stated that it had now surpassed its gasto-power target. Unfortunately, that was the much heard of the gas pipeline contract and linking gas pipelines with power plants, so far.

In spite of the claims by the NNPC that it had surpassed its gas to power aspiration, however, the Chief Executive Officer of Egbin Power Plant, Mike Uzoigwe, disclosed recently that some of the National Power Projects that had just been commissioned could not operate due to the shortage of gas. Uzoigwe’s position seems an indication that the NNPC was either not very sure of its facts with the claim of surpassing its gas-topower mark; or that it has enough gas in stock but could not feed the power plants because of problems associated with pipeline linkage, or both. Whatever the problem may be, Uzoigwe’s revelation un-

derscores the urgent need to expedite action on the execution of the multi-billion dollar gas pipeline contract the petroleum minister said was underway. Indeed, what is the need building and commissioning power plants and allowing them rot away because of gas shortage? All these ought to have been taken into consideration right from the planning stages.

With such contradictions or oversight as the type exposed by Uzoigwe, the much touted transformation of the power sector, stabilising electricity supply and giving respite to power consumers will remain elusive.

In addition, the PHCN claims it is currently generating over 4,000 mega watts of electricity; and whereas the new power plants would come up with more wattage to be added to the national transmission grid, there is the fear that if nothing is done to upgrade the national transmission grid, which is over 40 years old and too weak to carry the capacity of the new power plants, it might be impossible for the PHCN to go beyond the 5,000 mega watts projection by the end of the year. To make matters worse, the grid maintenance company - Manitoba, which had a contract to upgrade the transmission grid, has had its contract ‘suspended’, ostensibly awaiting the contract verification of the new Due Process Office that would either confirm or confute what had been done by the Office of Public Procurement.

In all of these, we think that power transmission and power generation should normally be

executed simultaneously; otherwise there would be a leakage and possible wastage of energy as additional mega watts generated by the new power plants would not be efficiently transmitted through the national grid for lack of carrying capacity.

In addition to fast-tracking the execution of the multi-billion dollar gas-to-power pipeline project, three quick solutions, in our view, beckon for application namely: the FG should upgrade the national transmission grid as a matter of urgency; decentralise the national transmission grid; and allow/facilitate the emergence of cottage power projects that confine their generating, distributing and transmitting plants to their areas of operation (an electric energy coordinated production system known as “embedded transmission” in electric energy parlance); as what is produced does not have to go through the national transmission grid.

Finally, the power sector reform that President Goodluck Jonathan has made the centrepiece of his administration is incomplete and, indeed, would suffer a relapse into obsolescence as long as it accommodates the unwieldy inefficient national grid concept.

And having suffered for too long, it is our considered opinion that the energy sector should be rid of half measures, and one way to quickly achieve this is to have a functionally upgraded national transmission grid that coexists comfortably with a decentralised embedded transmission power system.

Reminiscences DECEMBER 23 IN HISTORY 1944: Greek statue from 510 BC found

A six-foot Greek statue from 510 BC was found in good condition by a farmer who was ploughing. It was hidden from German soldiers by putting it in an Athens museum.

1956: British, French troops withdraw from Suez Canal

British and French troops withdrew from the Suez Canal; this was due to pressure from the United Nations to end the armed occupation of the Suez Canal.

1961: Tshombe leads Katanga into secession

Moïse Kapenda Tshombe led the Congo province of Katanga into secession.

1962: Nkrumah frees political prisoners President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, a leading exponent of Pan-Africanism, ordered the release of the last of his political prisoners, previously detained under the Preventive Detention Act of 1958.

1975: Much time spent on TV by US kids

Jim Winters, writing in The Capital Times, pointed out that the typical American child who had reached the age of 18 spent 25,000 hours watching television and had seen 350,000 advertisements.

1995: Fire kills 540 in India A fire in Dabwali, India, killed 540 people, including 170 children.

2007: Turkish planes bomb Iraq again

Turkish warplanes again bombed Kurdish rebels along the border of northern Iraq. Jabbar Yawer, a spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish security forces, said that the raid lasted more than three hours, but that ‘there was no damage or loss of life’.

The Turkish government said that many of the rebels were holed up in the Qandil Mountains.

2005: Earthquake kills 87,000 in China

An earthquake killed 87,000 people and left millions without homes. This was followed by an outbreak of bird flu and a spill of benzene and other chemicals in China’s Songhue River which poisoned the water supply of millions.

2011: Chinese writer jailed for ‘subversive’ writing

Chen Wei, a Chinese writer, was sentenced to nine years in jail after being convicted of “inciting subversion of state power”. Chen Wei wrote many online essays in which he called for freedom of speech and a reform to the one-party system in China.

18

Opinion

Sunday December 23, 2012

Uncensored U nc

Sheriff S Folarin

E-mail: sheffie2004@yahoo.co.uk 08094217972 (SMS only)

Danladi: I heard there was a helicopter crash this time.

Popoola: Yes, I heard too. The chopper was bound for Port Harcourt after a programme in Yenegoa. They said powerful people were in that chopper. It crashed into the swamp somewhere at Nembe in Bayelsa and exploded. Everyone aboard died.

A Governor was there. A former National Security Adviser…

Danladi: Which of the advisers? Was it that one that said PDP was the cause of Boko Haram?

Popoola: Yes, the retired General who said it right to their faces that PDP was the cause of terrorism in Nigeria. He was from that state, Bayelsa Danladi: And the Governor?

Popoola: Oh, Patrick, the first Christian Governor of Kaduna State. He was VP Sambo’s Deputy Governor in Kaduna State until Sambo was appointed VP by Oga Goodluck.

Danladi: But Port Harcourt isn’t far from Yenegoa. Why did they have to fly?

Popoola: Haba, Danladi; na you dey talk like this? VIP levels na! Also busy people and of course very bad network.

Danladi: But you said Azazi was from Bayelsa and he was a top government functionary. The people were government people. Yet, they couldn’t fix the roads?

Popoola: Even Mr. President is from that state. The only link road into Bayelsa is that tiny trunk road stretching from Port Harcourt into Yenegoa. So horrible.

Danladi: And these powerful people could not even fix their own roads after So many years in government, even as Governor and now as President. It reminds me of Ota and Abeokuta in Ogun State, home of former President Sege. Nothing to write home about.

Popoola: Na so!

Danladi: But were there other casualties?

Popoola: Errm…the papers said so,

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Too many questions…but no answers some orderlies like that…ordinary people.

Can’t remember their names.

Danladi: But they died now, along with those two you mentioned.

Popoola: Yes, they did…Hmm, you see, General Gowon said he would have been in that chopper as well. What a close shave!

Danladi: Ol boy, na wa o. What of that Suntai man sef ? The Governor that should have made Guinness Book of World Records as the first serving plane-owning Governor to fly himself.

Popoola: Governor Danbaba…they said he’s recuperating in a German hospital.

Danladi: Who said?

Popoola: The papers. Some said he’s recovering. Some said he has brain damage.

Others say he’s in a pathetic state.

Danladi: Is that? Pity. We pray for him.

We wish him well.

Popoola: This plane crash problem, when will we overcome it? I also wonder.

Danladi: Heard Dana is flying again.

Popoola: Dana??? The plane that killed about 200 people both aboard and on ground?

Danladi: Yes, they got back their license.

Popoola: On what basis?

Danladi: I don’t know.

Popoola: But we have the FAAN, FCAA, NEMA, and the Aviation Ministry. How are they justifying it?

Danladi: They have not really spoken up. But the papers are helping them to explain that because Dana acted responsibly after the crash, paying compensation and showing human compassion.

Popoola: You mean the same Dana that is now politicizing the payments and paying victims’ families pittance? Read in the papers that a particular Pastor whose property and investment worth hundreds of millions was offered only N600,000.

Danladi: But for some reasons not yet made clear the House of Reps has come hard on Dana and the aviation custodians.

They said Dana’s license must be withdrawn and NEMA boss, Demuren fired.

Popoola: Where is Bellview sef ?

Danladi: Bellview? I learnt they are now First Nation with just one plane.

Popoola: Are you sure? How did you hear this?

Danladi: Of course, investigative newspapers insinuated it.

Popoola: Bellview offloaded over one hundred mid-air somewhere after Sango-

Ota (Lisa) in Ogun State and they still flew?

Danladi: In fact, their license was never seized until it became First Nation.

Popoola: Sosoliso nko?

Danladi: After their crash (it happened after Bellview’s) they were thrown out of the airspace. License seized.

Popoola: Hmmm….

Popoola: What of Albarka Air? Did any of its flights ever crash before the license withdrawal?

Obinna (saunters in): Hey guys, what’s up? Have you heard anything yet about the Subsidy Scam Report and the scandal involving the House Committee on Subsidy Scam and the oil subsidy theif (sorry, Chief), Femi?

Danladi: You mean Faroukgate? Read in the papers that the President vowed to implement the Subsidy Scam Report.

But for the Faroukgate, we haven’t heard much. But we do see Farouk and Femi in the papers either accompanying award recipients to gala events or posing in pix with Mr. President in Aso Rock after visits.

Popoola: Really? What of that terrorist lawmaker? The Senator, Ndume and his playmate, Kondinga?

Obinna: Kondinga was arraigned in a court, tried and convicted immediately.

Oga Senator is still in the Upper Chamber, passing laws.

Danladi: But we heard recently that the SSS revealed that he had conversation 72 times with the convicted terrorist. He should be stripped of his exalted position and put behind bars to rot in jail. He’s a confirmed enemy of the state.

Popoola: Enemy of the state ke? Rot in jail? Like Farouk and Femi, and like Speakers Patricia and Dimeji, he’s too privileged and to go through such. He’s still there, defining our present and shaping our future.

Obinna: Na wa o! What is this land turning into. It is better to ignore these politicians and government sef and discuss more lively issues, or else one will become angry, frustrated and probably get hypertensive. How far with the Nigerian Premier League? Who’s leading?

Popoola: Leading where? The League hasn’t started.

Danladi: They said it will begin in February after the Nations Cup. Obinna: What??? The League hasn’t

begun? Starts in January? Why? Popoola: No one really knows, but what we can tell is that the stakeholders have been fighting in the pages of newspapers bordering on power tussle, nepotism, mismanagement and incompetence and of course, fraud!

Danladi: And for some reasons, the NFF and NPL are tussling. There are also allegations that the pitches are in a poor state.

Obinna: No, don’t tell me that. Which pitches are bad? Nigeria has great pitches and stadiums, having hosted Under-20 World Cup, Under 17 World Cup, Nations Cup twice, African Women’s Championships, ECOWAS Cup, WAFU Championships. We wouldn’t have been given hosting rights if we didn’t have the facilities.

Danladi: See, the facilities ended as soon as the competitions ended. No one was ready to maintain them.

Popoola: They had shown off what they wanted to prove and they had lined their accounts. The ‘cinema’ was over, no one remains in the hall.

Danladi: National Stadium in Lagos was done after the 1999 World Cup and 2000 Nations Cup. Today, it is only available for shit business. National Stadium in Abuja replaced that of Lagos. It was useful for All-Africa Games in 2003 and the 2009 World Cup. Today, it is good enough only for cattle grazing.

Obinna: But what is government doing about it?

Popoola: Ah, government is trying. It has several Commissions of Inquiry in place to look into the problem.

Danladi: Haba, government is commendable! It responds almost immediately with Press Statements and thereafter sets up Commissions, Panels and Committees to look into the problems. There are at present, panels (some with completed and submitted reports to the President) looking into the energy fraud, health issues, telecoms crisis, fertilizer scam, money laundering, subsidy scam, oil theft, terrorism scourge, attacks and kidnappings…

Obinna: But what happens thereafter?

Popoola: The newshounds are there… the papers will find out and tell us.

•Dr. Folarin teaches Politics and International Relations at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State.

Oration for Justice Kayode Eso WALE OMOLE

Y

our epitaph should read: (Here lies an Anthology of wisdom who lived in bravery courage, integrity, dignity, honour, compassion and grace. 1925 – 2012) Hon. Justice Kayode Eso, JSC, CON, LLD, LITTD, FNIALS, CFR: You did not just keep pace with the crowd, you were always far ahead, listening to a different drummer and stepping up to his distinct music – The music of fairness, the music of justice, the music of rectitude, the music of uprightness, with the tune of truth, of integrity of decorum and of propriety.

With abounding courage, temerity and fearlessness, you were able to dish out fairness in appropriate doses to whoever you came across and whoever came across you, regardless of who they were, where they came from, what positions they held.

You were always thinking and responding most positively, demonstrating respect for humanity, regardless of wealth,

age, sex or position. With you, the poor received g eater concern, recognition, consideration and respect with the willingness and determination to uplift them.

The ones in position received respect only commensurate with the quality of their ways and how they performed their duties in accordance with the transparency and integrity they demonstrated in their beats.

A most towering person you were; the one who never saw himself as Mr. Big Man. You responded to requests from all concerned, particularly the young managers of men, just for them to share your talents and experiences.

You crisscrossed and travelled long distances, traversing our nation where transportation is a huge challenge to body and life. Your patriotism was deep on issues and purposes, to proffer solutions and solve problems.

Even as an octogenarian, despite all the miles you covered, all the rivers you crossed, all the valleys you scaled, all the hills you climbed, the cliff you reached, the fame you acquired, the power be-

stowed on you by the Almighty God, you still served with humility and with great passion.

You served your immediate community, you served people from all tribes in the land, you served the nation at all levels and served the world at large.

You never felt so old, you never felt too knowledgeable, you did not act as too famous and not portend as too powerful to serve. You conquered the ego of achievement and remained humble till your last breath on November 16.

You demonstrated commitment towards the school library, the school hall, the provision of power generators and upgrading of facilities in Ilesa Grammar School, even at your advanced age. You created the time to visit, to ask questions and always offered prayers, requesting for God to reward all concerned in remodeling the school so dear to your heart and thanking God for sending these ones that added value to your life by refurbishing Ilegrams in your life time.

In the Ijesa Community, some five years ago, when the people grieved about the

fire which razed down the palace, you accepted to chair the Board of Trustees, providing critical oversight in rebuilding the palace, now a gigantic classical edifice about to receive the roof.

You were never tired nor too busy to provide service regardless of the demand on you across the globe.

You will definitely live forever in the minds of generations to come who will receive your scroll through your indelible imprint. You took personal risks, making difficult but right decisions and giving daring judgments. All these enabled you to know the true joy and satisfaction of surviving in the minefield arenas where empires are built. This is why you singlehandedly built the Kayode Eso Empire.

Even death is unable to destroy the Kayode Eso legacy and footprints.

Hon. Justice Kayode Eso of the Kayode Eso Empire: sleep on, sleep well, good night and good bye.

•Professor Omole, OFR, is former Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

19

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Applause LIFESTYLE, FASHION & ENTERTAINMENT DECEMBER 23, 2012

Men don’t see actresses as marriageable, they see us as toys –Omoge Campus Aisha Abimbola Musa is an actress and she’s popularly known as Omoge campus because of her lead role in the Yoruba movie titled Omoge Campus released in 2002. The graduate of Hotel Management and Catering, and mother of two reveals in this interview with Angela Davies that a lot of men don’t see actresses as marriageable. She speaks on other matters of interest.

Tell us briefly about the movie Omoge Campus Omoge campus was one of my first lead movies and a very challenging one at that. I was a bad girl from the beginning to the end of the movie. That was in 2002 precisely.

I believe you are a wife and a mother Absolutely How do you combine your role as a wife, mother and acting?

It is God. When you have an understanding man who is also encouraging you, you try to balance these three areas so that none suffers. The little time I have at home I make sure my kids feel me to the maximum. I spend lots of time with my kids, every little chance I have to spend with them, I don’t compromise. If I am going out, I go with them, if I am going to see friends, we go together. I make my presence felt with my kids whenever I am not working.

What is your definition of fashion?

Fashion to me means elegance and decency. It does not mean one emptying one’s bank account just because you want to look good. In as much as you want to look elegant, you have to put in mind decency and modesty. You don’t have to go naked just because you want to look good. So, I don’t subscribe to exposing things that are not supposed to be exposed all in the name of fashion. Look good but still cover up the things that ought to be covered.

How do you feel when some married women, even some celebrities, reveal their cleavage all in the name of fashion?

We have our individual differences. I guess they feel comfortable with it. If I should go semi- nude, I won’t feel comfortable. There are lots of things I do that my kids are aware of. Before I wear a cloth, my kids must have seen it. They are very inquisitive that when I bring out clothes, they will ask me, mummy is this a good or bad cloth? And you will be embarrassed. So, anything I can’t explain to my kids, I don’t do and I don’t wear.

too, that is another plus. I make sure that whatever I wear must complement my physique, height and colour. Also, the outfit must be decent, that is very important for me.

What is the misconception you think people have about you?

People think I am rude and arrogant because of the roles I play most times. And for that, I don’t like to be stereotyped. However, because of my physique and voice people tend to be comfortable with me playing the role of a bad girl. Unfortunately, people have misconstrued me to be bad, arrogant and always snobbish but that is not me. But with the new roles that I have played of recent, people are trying to get acquainted with my real person, trying to separate me from whom I really am in movies.

So, can you please describe your personality?

Aisha Abimbola is a humble, extremely down to earth, God fearing, kind and gentle hearted.

I can see that you have lali beautifully designed on your hands. Is this part of your fashion statement?

It is good to go traditional sometimes. I just got tired of having artificial nails so when I went for my niece’s wedding on December 15, I saw lily on everybody and I asked for and see how beautiful it turned out. It is something natural and traditional. It makes me feel Nigerian, African and I love it.

How was growing up for you?

Growing up for me was really tough because I lost my mother two months to my 11th birthday and I had to live with my father. Well, living with a man there were lots of things about a growing girl that he didn’t understand and I missed my mum. And in 2002 when I should be graduating and having fun, my father too passed on. But I thank God because He said He will never leave me an orphan and He has been true to His word. God has been there for me and I am grateful for that.

What do you have at the back of your mind when dressing for a red carpet event?

It is making a statement which is being gorgeous and decent. I have to be gorgeous so that when I appear on the red carpet, people will go wow, who is she? I have got the height and I wear high heels

How did you meet your husband and what was the attraction?

The attraction was what made us friends initially. He was a member of my church, Christ Embassy and we started talking

‘GOVERNMENT SHOULD PUT AN END TO HARSH WIDOWHOOD RITE’

20

‘BEAUTY PAGEANT GOES BEYOND WHAT EYES CAN SEE’

38

20

Applause

‘People think I’m rude and arrogant’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 about Pastor Chris, that was where the attraction started and we became friends. Months later, precisely on November 2, 2004 he asked me to marry him and I said we are just friends, no dating and no courtship.

However on February 3, 2005 we were married.

What do you do to keep your marriage intact because a lot of celebrity marriages have crashed?

(Laughs) Na God, nothing pass God. A lot of men out there don’t see actresses as marriageable, they see us as toys. They see us as women they can just come to, gamble with and go. Imagine a man betting with his friend that I can date that actress, even marry her and have kids from her. And once he is done, he is gone. Before I was married, I had different impressions about marriage but now I know better. There are quite a number of women, even actresses who want to be married but when a man batters a woman and she is at the point of death, do you want her to still stay? A lot of actresses are facing this just that they cannot come out and say this is what we are facing. Some have tried maintaining a loveless marriage, they tried holding on to it and some of them are dead now.

And I am not an advocate of such, if it is not working, don’t die there, instead of you to die and leave your kids as orphans, please leave and take care of your kids.

What is the worst rumour you have heard about yourself?

I have been scandal free so to speak because I have never read any scandalous story about myself.

When you feel low, what do you do to get your spirit up?

Sometimes I get hold of the bible, read my rhapsody of realities, listen to tapes and sometimes I go dancing to forget everything even though I am not a fantastic dancer but I learn new dance steps.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

‘Government should put an end to harsh widowhood rite’ Stella Awoh is a lecturer at the Yaba College of Technology, the current Acting Chairman Society of Nigerian Artistes, Lagos State chapter and the national vice-president of Nigeria Association of female Artistes. In this interview with Adaeze Amos, this iron lady, widow and lover of art and craft who will soon be through with her doctorate degree at the University of Benin, unveils the sufferings of widows.

You did an exhibition of art and craft just recently, tell us about it?

Yes, Hephizibah and Beulah, is an exhibition of art and craft by me. It is a fine collection of mixed media paintings and beautifully handmade hats. To the glory of God I’m multi-talented artist and this wonderful selection of work proves the inseparable link between fine art and craft And you gave half percent of the proceeds from your exhibition to widows? Why Widows?

Why not widows? I’m a widow. Remember, this is a nation where we have time for frivolities. A nation where we are giving attention to gay marriage, where we are giving attention to irrelevant issues. It’s not as if the presidency is not trying for the widows, the first ladies too have tried in their various ways, but they have not done enough. They would only do enough and be central about it when they visit those villages where harsh widowhood rites have been in practice. As we speak right now, I can assure you that there is a widow that is being forced to drink the water that was used to wash her late husband’s corpse. The nation is not doing well because if you go out there, I mean to other countries widows are recognized. The moment a man passed away in Nigeria, the widow is dehumanized, nobody feels about her. Nobody thinks of the way forward. Though we have some foundations that are working but it is not enough until government comes up with a law putting an end to harsh widowhood rite. Widows are working hard, we are struggling but most of them die suddenly after their husband’s death. Most of them life is from grief to grave or from grief to psychiatric hospitals. It takes the grace of God for any widow to lose her husband and move from grief to grace of God. Don’t you think the ’Umuadas’ (fellow widows) in the Igbo speaking states are not helping matters?

Not at all, they are not helping matters. We have the so-called ‘’Umuadas’’ in every state, in every local government in the eastern part of the country and unfortunately it is the same women that men use to dehumanize their fellow women. It is men that put this law but women make sure that it is implemented. And I’m now using this medium to talk to the ‘’Umuadas’’ that they should desist from this. I’m referring them to the Exodus 22:22 in the Bible that God is warning you all that you should not hurt the widows and the fatherless. If you hurt them and He hears their voices because they would surely cry on to Him in his throne of grace. And those of them that hurt the widows would surely be punished. Why do we have so many widows in Nigeria? Why don’t we look back and find out you must have hurt or molested your late brother’s wife or your late in-law in one way or the other and the voice of god is crying out. Read it it’s in the Bible. Umuadas remember as you are hurting a widow today, tomorrow it’s your turn and they are going to retaliate and that is why we cannot put an end to it until the federal government comes up to say no to such maltreatment. A widow that was involved in maltreating somebody, the moment her husband drops dead, the woman that she maltreated will tie her girdle and say yes this is my turn and my time to retaliate. Except the federal government makes a move, talk to Ndi-Eze or traditional rulers.

I believe you pray.

What do you tell God when you pray?

I ask quite a number of things from God but everyday, the most important part of my prayer is thanksgiving and worship. Of all the children that were born in Idumota, of all the children that were raised by single parents, of all the children that were raised by no parents, he singled me out. That alone is something to thank Him for. I do thanksgiving and worship more because it is a privilege to be alive and not as if I am better, bigger or finer. It is just God being faithful to me.

How do you see the inheritance of widows by the younger brothers of the late husbands?

This is honestly a great sin before God and unfortunately Nigerians who are doing this are committing sin. I’m doing a literary work on this. The moment a woman is married to a particular family, the husband dies the in-laws they want to take over. And if the woman refused to do that, they abandon her. Unfortunately some widows welcome that because they are incapacitated, they are helpless.

Not because of sex but because of somebody that would take care of them. But for how long would this last? Remember that children from such fathers are not happy. Go and find out about this, I have carried out research on this. Children from such product are vagabonds, they are urchins. Why should we keep producing urchins? When a woman opens up and she allows an in-law to sleep with her in tears, at nights even when she is not willing, she is raped and the product of such relationship cannot be happy because the wrath of the almighty God is rekindling against such union. Nigerians should be careful in their offices, in their villages, any where you find a widow please the Bible says you should take care of her.

Where are you from?

I am from Lagos State What is your field of study?

I read Hotel Management and Catering at the Lagos State Polytechnic and graduated as a hotelier. I served in 2002/2003 at Yola, Adamawa State at the Nigeria Army Barracks, officers Mess.

How did you get into acting?

For me, acting is a passion. It is a talent and I cannot allow it to die even though I still go into my hotel business, and still do MC for my hoteliers sometimes.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Awoh

Isn’t it right for widows to remarry?

Why not? Nothing stops them from remarrying. In the Bible the second Timothy it is written that no woman is qualified to call herself a widow until she is 60years old. So, please my fellow widows especially from the eastern part of the country, don’t allow yourself to be abused, or deceived. Even in churches, I know of lady that lost her husband when she was 35 years old, a lady got up from the church and was telling her to just get married to her children. That she shouldn’t remarry. Unfortunately she listened to her and now this woman is 70 and she is aging gracefully, she wants to remarry. It is not because of sex, it is for companionship. Remember our children would grow up and leave us and it is really going to be a lonely situation.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

21

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Cocktail Whispers

Stories by Olumide Segun-Oduntan

0818 941 8761 e-mail: lumidezy@yahoo.com

DECEMBER 23, 2012

The other side of Governor Godswill Akpabio Just a few J f days d ago, there h was excitei ment among his people when he joined the Golden club. But not many people are aware that Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State loves to gist so much that he would have probably been a comedian if he was not

a governor.

Yes, according to the information made available to Cocktail Whispers, Sir Akpabio, as he is fondly called by the people Akwa Ibom State, loves to make people happy. In fact, it was learnt that the governor, who turned 50 recently, does

not like to see anyone frowning.

Interestingly, it is for this reason that Akpabio, who is also a lawyer, has set up several programmes to assist the youths in his state. It will also interest you to know that Sir Akpabio would be willing to do anything in order to put a smile on the faces of his people even if it means doing some comedy by the side.

Perhaps, those who call the shots in the Nigerian comic industry may need to watch out just in case Akpabio decides to take his love of comedy to the next stage after his sojourn in government house.

Mudi opens multi-million naira outfit

Osaze Odemwingie prepares for fatherhood

These are happy times for celebrated designer, Mudiaga Clement Enajemo of Mudi Africa. And it is not just the fact that Christmas is around the corner that makes the fashion designer feels good.

The truth of the matter is that Mudi, as he is popularly called, has just opened another arena where he can have the freedom to showcase his design talent. You will recall that Mudi, only a few days ago, opened a new building at Anthony Village, Lagos to serve as the headquarters of his fashion outfit.

Cocktail Whispers gathered that the clothier acquired the property from the original owner sometime last year. And yes, you guessed right, Mudi spent millions to purchase the building.

In fact, Cocktail Whispers gathered that the well-known designer had to sell one of his lands in Ajah, his house in Dolphin, his sports car and another land in Warri before he finally got the money to buy the property in Anthony Village.

Do you know that celebrated footballer, Osaze Odemwingie is about to become a father? In fact, from what Cocktail Whispers has gathered, it appears that the soccer star is seriously gearing up to welcome his first child.

According to the gist at Cocktail Whispers disposal, Osaze is getting every necessary thing ready in order to ensure that his wife, Sarah delivers their bundle of joy safely.

Just as you know, Osaze and Sarah became man and wife at an elaborate event in far away London on May 18, 2012.

Now according to a source, the footballer’s wife is said to be almost completing the nine months’ course. In fact, it was learnt that the couple’s first child is likely to be given birth to sometime in January 2013.

This, according to the source, is the reason the English Premier League Club striker is very excited about his becoming a father and therefore putting things in place for the safe arrival of the baby.

It was also learnt that the couple may welcome their little one at their home in the United States.

OGD, Majekodunmi part ways?

If the feelers reaching Cocktail Whispers is anything to go by, then it appears that the former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and his former Chief of Staff, Chief Yomi Majekodunmi, may have parted ways due to irreconcilable differences.

Those in the know would recall that the duo were very close during Daniel’s time in the Government House. In fact, the ex-chief of staff was said to be among the former governor’s close aides.

However, it seems that things are no longer the same with Daniel and Majekodunmi.

According to a source, the former governor and his ex-chief of staff may have parted ways due to the ongoing case the former governor has with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

While it is not yet clear the exact cause of the parting of ways between Daniel and Majekodunmi, a source has hinted that it may have something to do with image laundering for the former governor.

22

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

National Mirror celebrates 2nd anniversary Ibrahim, at Xmas, gives Orlando Julius N2m lifeline

TAI ANYANWU

Every year, the musical icon would smile to the bank with extra N2 million for the next five years, till when he would become comfortable.

Dr. Ibrahim, also the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Global Fleet Group of Companies, announced the largesse over the weekend, at the Publisher’s Night held in NICON Luxury Hotel, Victoria Garden City, Lagos, to mark the second anniversary of Global Media Mirror Ltd., publishers of National Mirror newspapers.

The veteran musician had thrilled guests at the event; and following his scintillating performance, the publisher promised to give the conglomerate’s corporate patronage to Julius, such as inviting him to play at all the company’s functions, for a fee.

At the Publisher’s Night, the GMD also met with some National Mirror journalists who bagged various prestigious media awards, Apart from receiving morale-boosting warm handshakes from the publisher, the award winners were also bestowed with monetary rewards.

It would be recalled that National Mirror won some awards for media excellence with its Managing Director, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, bagging the Editor of the Year award while National Mirror titles

Veteran musician, Orlando Julius, became N2 million richer on Friday night courtesy of Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, publisher of National Mirror newspapers.

The Group Managing Director, Global Fleet, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR.

Rewards award-winning journalists

clinched the Best Designed Newspaper award.

Miss Ella Oluwadamilola Olamiju, Brands & Marketing Correspondent actually opened the floodgate of awards for the pen-pushers in National Mirror when she won two international awards this year.

Also, Shina Fadare, Senior Political correspondent, won an NMMA award in the agriculture category while Tubosun Ogundare, and Mojeed Alabi, Reporters, Education, also came tops in the education category.

Two weeks ago, Isioma Madike, Head, Special Investigations, bagged another award in the health category. He emerged overall winner in the DAME Diamond Award for Media Excellence on Health story he did on Matthew Nbik whose sickle cell anaemic state was medically reversed at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo State.

Earlier, however, three editorial staff of National Mirror, Sam Eferaro, Tobore Ovuorie and Francis Famoroti had shone in different categories at the second edition of the Rotary International (District 9110) Humanitarian Reporting Awards, in Lagos.There, Eferaro, who is the Health Editor of the newspaper, emerged the overall Reporter of the Year.

The group Managing Director of Energy Group, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR, (middle); being supported from (left) by Daily Editor, Mr. Seyi Fasugba; Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Steve Ayorinde; Saturday Editor, Ms. Olujobi and from right, Dr. Yele Akinrolabu; Sunday Editor, Mr. Bolaji Tunji and MD, Nicon Insurance Ltd, Mr.Emmanuel Jegede.

L-R: Chief Billy Aigbe; his wife Kate and Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim.

National Mirror Choir performing.

L-R: Mr. Jenkins Alumona; Editor, National Mirror, Mr. Seyi Fasugba and Deputy Editor, Mr. Ayodele Ojo.

L-R: Olugbenga Ogundipe of Energy Oil and Gas; Stella Adeyiga of Admin and HR, National Mirror Newspaper; Deputy Admin Manager, Folake Bewaji and Head, Special Projects and Business Development, Amuda Akanbi.

L-R: General Counsel, Newswatch Daily , Ibilola Adefope; Managing Director, Newswatch Daily, Mr. Moses Jojayemi and Editor, Sunday Mirror, Mr Bolaji Tunji.

Nollywood producer and actor, Kunle Afolayan (left) and Sales Representative, Hennessy, Akinsola Akinduro.

Secretary to Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, National Mirror Newspaper, Mrs. Oyinlola Oyebadejo and her husband, Olumide.

Chief Executive Officer, NICON Properties Ltd, Barr.

Olanrewaju Alonge (left) and Resident Director, Academics, The Premier University of Sao Tome, Dr. Ossie Esiemokai.

L-R: Managing Director, YCEDA Global Resources Ltd, Mr. Tope Oyeyemi; Chief Executive Officer, Hanperkay Nigeria Ltd, Prince Adetokunbo Odunaiya and Peju Oyeyemi.

The GMD congratulating National Mirror award winners

L-R: Dr Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR, Regional Manager, Mainstree Bank, Mrs Yvonne Kogolo, Mr Steve Ayorinde and Mr. Em manuel Jegede.

L-R: Sola Dada, Angel Dada and Senior Manager, Strategi Development, National Mirror Newspapers, Alhaji Kayode Balogun.

General Manager, operations, Newswatch, Mrs. Lara Ala (left) and Barr. Mololuwa Adebiyi of Glodbal Fleet.

23

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

How to recover your stolen destiny,

by Prophet Adewunmi

Praise Worship E-mail:richardeghaghe@yahoo.com

E-mail:titusanyanwu.2012@gmail.com 0 @g a co

EDIFYING GOD

31

December 23, 2012

Pope at Christmas

T

he Pope took his opposition to gay marriage to new heights at the weekend, denouncing what he described as people manipulating their God-given gender to suit their sexual choices - and destroying the very “essence of the human creature” in the process.

Benedict XVI made the comments in his annual Christmas speech to the Vatican bureaucracy - one of his most important speeches of the year. He dedicated it this year to promoting family values in the face of vocal campaigns in France, the US, Britain and elsewhere to legalise same-sex marriage.

In his remarks, Benedict quoted the chief rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, in saying the campaign for granting gays the right to marry and adopt children was an “attack” on the traditional family made up of a father, mother and children.

“People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being,” he said. “They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.

“The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned,” he said.

It was the second time in a week that Benedict has taken on the question of gay marriage, which is dividing France after proponents scored big electoral wins in the United States last month. In his recently released annual peace message, Benedict said gay marriage, like abortion and euthanasia, was a threat to world peace.

After the peace message was released last week, gay activists staged a small protest in St Peter’s Square.

Church teaching holds that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered”, though it stresses that gays should be treated with compassion and dignity. As pope and as head of the Vatican’s orthodoxy watchdog before that, Benedict has been a strong enforcer of that teaching: one of the first major documents of his pontificate said men with “deep-seated” homosexual tendencies shouldn’t be ordained priests.

For the Vatican, though, the gay marriage issue goes beyond questions of homosexuality, threatening what the church considers to be the bedrock of

‘Gay marriage, a threat to world peace’

‘Christmas for soul-searching, repentance’

Pope Benedict XVI

society: a family based on a man, woman and their children.

But the Vatican’s opposition has been falling on deaf ears. Under then-Socialist leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the largely Catholic Spain legalised gay marriage. Earlier this month, the British government announced it will introduce a bill next year legalising gay marriage, though it would ban the Church of England from conducting same-sex ceremonies.

In France, President Francois Hollande, has said he would enact his “marriage for everyone” plan within a year of taking office last May. The text will go to parliament next

month. But the country has been divided by vocal opposition from religious leaders, prime among them Bernheim, as well as some politicians and parts of rural France.

The Socialist government’s plan also envisions legalising same-sex adoptions.

Benedict quoted Bernheim as denouncing that in his view, under the plan, a child is now essentially considered an object people have a right to obtain.

“When freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God,” Benedict said.

Nigerian pilgrims explore River Jordan, Dead Sea C

hristian pilgrims from Nigeria currently in Israel for this year’s pilgrimage at the weekend, prayed at the River Jordan where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the pilgrims anointed themselves with water from the river, while others fetched

Briefly

water with containers.

The pilgrims also visited the Dead Sea, and floated on top of the sea which suspends humans on top of it because of its high salinity.

Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David.

It is also popular for the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of 972 texts discovered between 1946 and 1956 that con-

sist of biblical manuscripts from what is now known as the Hebrew Bible.

Mrs Edna Halda, a tourism official, told the pilgrims that the sea was rich with mineral deposits which were used for health and cosmetic products. ``Europeans with various ailments stay in the sea for treatment and relax at the

‘DESTROY THE ROOTS OF CURSE’

27

sea resort which provides efficient conditions for treatment,’’ she said.

The pilgrims also visited Jericho and rode on a motor cable to the Mountain of Temptation.

The Mount of Temptation is the site where Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting meditating during the temptation by Satan.

‘I AM A CHRISTIAN, YET I WATCH PORNS ’

The Parish Priest of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Trans-Ekulu, Enugu, Monsignor Franklin Ezeorah, at the weekend described Christmas as a season for soulsearching and repentance from sins.

Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu, the cleric also described the season as a period of “advent, signifying the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a celebration meant for the whole Christendom worldwide”.

According to Ezeorah, all Christian adherents should keep themselves holy by confessing their sins to be in the state of grace for the coming of Jesus Christ. ``The celebration is very significant in the life of every Christian as it is a season of exchange of gifts, hospitality, visitation and merry-making with the less privileged people in the society.” ``Christmas season is a season for us to forgive our neighbor totally so that our sins would be forgiven by God. The mood calls for happiness, joy and love for one another”. As Christians are celebrating the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, they should inculcate the habit of tolerance for each other and obedience to the commandments of God.” The clergyman explained that tolerance and love had the capacity to engender peace in the society and spread God’s love and mercy on everyone.

Sunday Mirror/Babcock University Bible Quiz: Winners of December 16, 2012 •Paul Unuavworho (08034378721) • Current and past winners can collect their prizes from the office of the Editor, Sunday Mirror, 151/161 Broad Street, Lagos anytime from Monday to Friday. Participants should always indicate their names when sending their entries.

QUOTE

Achievers, champions and movers are those committed to a cause, flowing with their full might.

-Apostle James Akinadewo 34

24

Praise & Worship

Sunday December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Christmas: Okoh urges religious leaders to live by example

T

he Primate of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, has urged religious leaders in the country to live exemplary lives worthy of emulation.

Okoh made the call in a homily at the weekend, at the official handover of the national secretariat of the Joint Council of Knights in Onitsha, Anambra State.

He noted that church leader-

ship must be practical and humane in character, and show love and charity toward others. ``Knighthood, just as other Christian leadership institutions, must have men and women with honour and proven integrity even in their private lives. ``A good Christian leader must promote harmony in his or her community and the society in general,’’ he noted.

The cleric advised the joint council of knights and knight organisations to stop admitting people of questionable characters, adding, ``There must be quality control, henceforth in the knighthood institution.’’

The primate called on the knights to emulate other organisations that control the influx of persons into their associations or body, saying the same should ap-

ply to the knighthood. ``Quality control is essential for the survival of any institution,’’ he said.

Sir Joe Ilonze, the President of the Council of the Niger Knights, said with the handover of the national secretariat, Onitsha had become the national headquarters of all Anglican knights. ``We are delighted and it is a dream come true. Onitsha will

Group embarks on Christmas evangelism

…It’s time to draw close to God –RCCG cleric The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) at the weekend urged Nigerians, especially the youth, to use the festive season not just for merry-making but also to come closer to God. The RCCG Zonal Pastor-InCharge of Province 1, Sabo, Yaba, Pastor Lanre Dada, said this during a news conference at the national headquarters of the church in Lagos.

Dada said that the Christmas season was more importantly, a time to celebrate Jesus Christ and reach out to others through evangelism in a bid to uplift men spiritually.

The pastor told newsmen that it was in such light that the church was holding its yearly outreach programme ``Let’s Go A-Fishing’’.

He said that the programme, which would hold in many centres across the country, was aimed at turning lives of many Nigerians around. ``Let’s Go A-Fishing is an evangelism platform to reach out to people and draw them closer to God,’’ he said.

Dada disclosed that in Lagos State, the programme would hold between December 21 and 25, with popular musicians on stand.

continue to host all knights in the country as the facilities here will take care of their needs,’’ Ilonze said.

The ceremony was attended

by Archbishop Christian Efobi, the Anglican Archbishop on the Niger; Bishop Owen Nwokolo, Bishop of Diocese on the Niger; and Bishop Henry Okeke, Bishop of Mbamili Diocese, among other Anglican bishops in Anambra.

RICHARD EGHAGHE

T

L-R: General Secretary/CEO of The Bible Society of Nigeria, Rev Dr Fred Odutola, his third daughter, Sophia, who just bagged an M.Sc International Management at the University of Bath, UK and his third son, Fred Jr, who works in London who also bagged an M.Sc Technology Management in 2009, during Sophia’s convocation on December 12, in London

KSM preaches strong faith in God RICHARD EGHAGHE

T

he Order of Knights of Saint Mulumba, at its second degree investiture ceremony for some Catholic faithful, in Lagos Region One, has advised Christians to shun corruption and to maintain good and strong faith in God, through daily reading of their cat-

echism and the Bible.

Speaking during a morning mass at the Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, Victoria Island, Lagos, Chairman of the organising committee and Deputy Grand Knight, Lekki Sub-Council, Arc. Johnny Ngonadi, said the essence of the programme was to evangelise and attract more members into its fold.

“By living good Christian lifestyles, when people see us, they will know why we’re Knights and with this ceremony, we have come to identify with our fellow Catholic members in this branch who have not been introduced to Knights because the branch is new. It’s another means for us to identify with one another from other councils and by so doing, more souls are won”, he said.

he president of Tola and Brethren Evangelistic Association (TBEA), Pastor Tola Okunjemiruwa, has assured that this year’s special revival programme of the ministry, tagged, “Ebo Irapada” would witness great harvest of souls and the fulfilment of the essence of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

According to the clergyman, the event comes up on the 28th and 29th December, 2012 at the premises of the Baale’s palace in Ijaba village, via Otta, Ogun State.

He stressed that theme of this year’s message is a continuation of the mandate given to Him by God last year. “Ours is the message of hope, abundance of life, and propagating the kingdom of God. It is the redemption message that Jesus commanded us to spread to all nooks and crannies of the world before He left and that is exactly what we are doing”.

The minister of God expressed strong confidence that God would deliver the land of Ijaba from all evils at the end of the day Spokesman of the association, Mr. Gabriel Illabeshi, affirmed the desire of the evangelistic group to take the gospel to the doorsteps of every other community in the interiors across the length and breadth of Nigeria, and the world at large.

Let’s come back to lifestyle of obedience –Pastor Olusore Pastor Israel Olusore, General Overseer of Livinglight Church International, in this message explains Kingdom behaviours expected of God’s people to imbibe. Excerpts:

I

t does not take long to have a change. All it takes is a change of behaviour. Change your behaviour. After you have left the scene, your work will still be speaking for you. David behaved himself very wisely. Look at 1 Samuel 18: 30, “Then the princes of the Philistines went out and so it was that whenever they went out that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name became highly esteemed.”

The enemies notwithstanding, opposition notwithstanding, he behaved himself more wisely than all the servants. There are servants and there are servants.

The king’s favour is towards a wise servant. You can go from place to place, pillar to post and there will be nothing good out of it. The end is what justifies the means, not the other way round.

God’s Kingdom behaviours

God expects us to work in obedience. Nothing makes God angry like disobedience. Every form of disobedience is sin. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 15:22, “As they delighted burnt offerings and in sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord.

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to eat than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, the principle of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being King.”

God forbid; you shall never be rejected. The Bible says something in Joel 36:11, “If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasure.” That means when I am under pressure, I am not obeying something. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let’s reason to-

gether, says the Lord though your sins are scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. And verse 19 says that, if you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land. From now, you will be eating the good of the land. That is why he said, follow me and I will make you. He says come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest. He said take my yoke and learn of me.

To learn is to receive instruction and obey it. Just learn it and obey it do not mind what is happening.

Very soon, you will be seeing the result. Those who obey Him are actually those who love Him. So a lot of us are working outside of love of God. If you truly love God you will obey Him. God said to me, hundred right moves on a faulty foundation is equal to zero.

Now Nigeria has been on for 52

years. Between Ghana and Nigeria, who got independence first? Ghana did; but Nigeria had more resources than Ghana. Nigeria was making many moves or noises, but then the foundation was faulty. They have applied several principles.

A lot of men of intelligence have been brought in but because of the foundation is wrong everything is just going in disarray.

Now Ghana got it right; and suddenly everything started moving from Nigeria to Ghana. In preparing for this message that is just the example God gave me concerning the nation. Hundreds of right moves on a faulty foundation are equal to zero. Until we come back to the lifestyle of obedience, we won’t move forward. We will only be patching it. But God said ‘stop patching, start making progress.

He said, ‘I guarantee you unending success.’

Olusore

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Praise & Worship

25

Capital punishment is no solution to corruption –Rev Fr. Akinseloyin

which religion they profess. It is on this note that I believe that the Niger Delta development process should focus on developing the people and whatever the government is making in the region; the people’s well being should come first.

In this interview, Rev. Father (Dr.) Clement Oloruntusin Akinseloyin, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Ondo State, spoke with Hakeem Gbadamosi about the Silver Jubilee of his priestly ordination and on his new book written to mark the occasion. He dwelled on various problems facing the Niger Delta region and Nigeria in general.

Excerpts: What prompted you into writing this book, ‘Development Problems in the Niger Delta Region’?

My decision to write this book was informed by the accumulated experiences gathered with working with people from the rural areas of Ondo State, particularly as the director of Justice and Peace Commission which I held from 1990 to 1995 and also from 2004 to 2007. In the course of these periods, I have encountered development challenges, particularly poverty-stricken people, especially in Ondo State, who have visited our office. We put up an office for charity work. And there was no way we could dole out money for those coming begging for alms in our offices. We discovered during these periods that poverty is caused by structural defects in our society-the economic structure, the political structure and the social structure are so exclusive; they exclude the poor people. The ordinary people do not have the opportunity to participate in the economy, they are exempted from participating in the political system, apart from voting. They do not have the opportunity of making their voice known and can hardly engage in profitable economic activities effectively. My motivation therefore is addressing the poverty in the Niger-Delta region.

And you think these problems are tackled in the book, finding a lasting solution to these problems that have eaten deep into our system?

Yes, that’s the entire focus of this book. I presented in the book what might be called ‘Niger- Delta Development Agenda’, based on the capability approach of Amartya Sen and of course, the Catholic social teaching.

The bottomline is that the Niger Delta people are children of God who are created in the image and likeness of God and they have a right to the good of the earth. The natural resources in the Niger Delta region are primarily meant for the Niger Delta people and for development of the area and to improve their lot and so I consider it as paradox and contradictory that the people of the Niger Delta are still living in poverty while there are enough natural resources there.

But don’t you think the agitation by the Niger Delta militants had ushered in the security challenges we are now facing in the

country, especially the Boko Haram insurgency?

To me, the greatest security challenge that is facing this country is the security of poverty; it is true that the Boko Haram insurgents focus attention on attacking public institutions, churches, mosques and other places but the bottomline is that I strongly believe the activities of the Boko Haram is politically motivated.

And it is slightly on the poverty level of those who are involved because people are being recruited into the group and a good number of those who are involved are being brought into the country as mercenary from Niger, Chad and other neighboring countries.

This is a pointer that our borders are porous and I guess our borders need more control and we need to identify those who are Nigerians and those who are not. Illegal immigrants should be deported back to their countries with immediate effect. Those who are also sponsoring the activities of these people should be fished out. As to if there should be dialogue with the insurgents, there is no end to dialogue and as a matter of fact, dialogue should be encouraged as a way of solving issues and not through violence because violence cannot resolve violence. In my opinion, it is true we have democracy but I think we have systemic problem. We have a political structure that is still based on ethnic sentiment and not on objective, principled ways of doing things.

We need a political system that is devoid of emotions and sentiments, that is blind to ethnic, tribal sentiment and not until we place much emphasis on merit and who is qualified to do what, not taking cognizance of where he comes from, I am afraid things will continue to go wrong in this country. There must be a political structure that is devoid of sentiments and emotions.

Let’s look at the Amnesty programme of the Niger Delta region; how realistic is this programme and what effect do you think the programme can have on the ex-militants?

In my own view, the word ‘amnesty’ does not arise. What should be initiated should be the re-integration or re-socialisation programme, bringing back the youths, who have been involved in military activities, bringing them into the society to make

Akinseloyin

them contribute positively to the development of the society.

I commend the government efforts in the area of skill acquisition for the ex-militants which a lot of young men that have put down their arms voluntarily take to more profitable activities. But I still believe that they still require what we call ‘change of orientation, that they cannot continue to expect everything to be done by government, that development is a process of self-actualisation, affirming self-worth and realising more values in life. So, I think the so-called amnesty programme is worthwhile as it has successfully taken a lot of youths out of violence into the productive arena.

But like I said, I do hope that more and more people benefitting from the programme will see whatever skill they might have acquired as a means of self-actualization and as a challenge to contribute to the society and not just depending on government to keep fending for them.

In your book, you talked about using the Amartya Sen’s capability approach and the Catholic Social Teaching theories as a method of advancing social and environmental development in the country. How can this ap-

proach help in developing this nation?

Let me first start with the definition of the capability approach where Amartya Sen defined development as a process of expanding the real freedom that people enjoy. So, capability approach is the approach that enhances the freedom of the people, the freedom to be what they desired or what they chose to be.

It is the process of self-actualisation; therefore, Amartya Sen believes that development should help people to realise themselves and that is why his idea forms the human development reports of the 1990 programme of the UNDP. It is a process of promoting human development, human values, and human wellbeing.

And in a similar way, the Catholic Church also believes that development is about the realisation of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God, being human, being Godly. The similarity between the Amartya Sen and the Catholic development approach is what also informed my proposing a developmental agenda for the Niger Delta region.

That every human being in the region has their right to development, right to self actualization and self-fulfillment, regardless of

Corruption has been identified as a bane to the country’s development. Do you subscribe to capital punishment for corrupt leaders?

Let me state this; that corruption is not just limited to Nigeria, it is a global phenomenon.

Corruption has been described by a social scientist in Harvard University as a behaviour which deviates from normal duty of public role because of private matters regarding family needs and other things. The art of corruption that is so much prevalent in the Nigerian system is aggravated by the structural defects that we have in our political system, in our economic system and in our social system. So, there is no country all over the globe that we don’t have corruption. But ours in Nigeria is such that our political system is so horrible, it is difficult for a just man to operate in our system without being corrupt because our system encourages corruption. Take for instance, somebody who has worked for 35 years is getting retired and not sure of his gratuity and pension, where those who are supposed to manage this pension have embezzled the pension.

So the man who has worked for that long is not sure of the gratuity and pension so he will learn to help himself while in service and do whatever is within him to get himself settled against the rainy days.

Also, people are not promoted according to merits; people are promoted because somebody has influenced it somewhere.

Look at the petroleum industry in this country; horrible things are going on there but hope and desire are that the so-called Petroleum Bill will soon come to see daylight in order to get rid of all the defects and inefficiency in the oil sector. It’s a whole gamut of corruption that we have in the oil sector and I do hope the bill will expunge corruption in the oil sector. This applies to every other sector in the country and there should be stiffer punishment for offenders, but I will not subscribe to capital punishment as two wrongs cannot make a right. For me, any person found to have embezzled or enriched his purse through corrupt practices should be forced to return the money because if you kill him, there is no way to get the money back; but his properties can be confiscated or seized and should be barred from taking any leadership role. Capital punishment should not be introduced as God says in His books that, “Thou shall not kill”.

26

Praise & Worship

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Always, signs and wonders follow –Pastor Okereke Pastor (Dr) Chima Okereke, General Overseer of Global Success Ministry (GSM) digs into the scriptures to tell the faithful that as it was in those days, signs and wonders also abound today, and in greater measure. Excerpts: Isaiah 7: 14 states, “Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. A sign in the context of this message is an evidence to prove an existing truth. God loves to show us human beings signs and wonders, to prove that He is the Almighty in the kingdom of men.

Hearts of men are deceitful and can easily be influenced by evil powers. So, the purpose for the signs is to show mankind that He is the all-powerful God, the one who speaks and it comes to pass.

God also wants to use His signs and wonders to call all His children who have gone astray back to Himself and as well, those who are not stable, to stand firm again in pursuit of His kingdom. In Mark 16: 15-18, the Bible states, “And he said unto them, go ye into the entire world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”. Greater signs and wonders are the extra ordinary miracles done by the power of the Almighty God. These signs and wonders can be done by people who believe in God, called and ordained for preaching of the gospel in order to win souls for God. Now, for you to receive greater signs and wonder, you should believe in the word of God that you have heard. It is only through the word of God that you can receive salvation. Salvation is the first step of freedom from sin and oppressions of the enemies. A step to salvation is a manifestation of a greater sign because the individual has left the way of life that makes things impossible and hard for him; but now into a new life which makes all things possible with God. When a servant of God prophesies and makes a decree for healing and blessings to your life and you don’t believe that God’s power can perform signs and wonders, you cannot receive; it is only when you believe that you can receive.

The signs and wonders of the Almighty God are beyond human comprehension; it is done in a way that no man can understand the way the miracle took place. This makes people tremble at times. Acts 2:43 states, “And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles”. God’s signs and wonders are permanent and can never be reversed. I pray for you this day that greater signs and wonders of the Almighty God shall locate you this season in Jesus’ name. There are several examples in the Bible and even our world of today; when God decided to end the issue of Pharaoh and the Egyptians from the oppression against Israel, the Bible told us in Exodus 14:21-31 that God did greater signs and wonders by dividing the sea; making the sea to become walls on both sides and the ground with spiritual German floor, making it dry. When the children of Israel crossed to the other side, the Egyptians were already following them but the water returned to its original state and Pharaoh with all his Army, died in a single strike.

There is someone going through this message now; by the time you are through with it, all the Pharaoh and Egyptians that are pursuing you shall become history in Jesus’ Name. May be there are enemies that feel they are too big for you to handle; but I have good news for you.

Joshua 10:10-11 tells us a very interesting story. Joshua was fighting with the enemies and some thought they were smart and too big for the God of Joshua, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel; the God of Global Success Ministry…to deal with them; so they ran and as they were going, God bombed them with hail stones.

I pray that all those enemies that had been escap-

Okereke

ing all these years so as to fight you shall be bombed by God in Jesus’ name. Look at the story of Abraham and Sarah; in Genesis 18:9-14; the Angel of the Lord said, according to the time of life, Sarah shall have a son but as at the time the angel visited, Sarah and Abraham were so old, such that the Bible recorded that it had ‘seized to be with Sarah after the manner of women’; which means medically, she cannot conceive or bear a child because she was 90 years of age then. And it came to pass, according to what the angel said, that Sarah conceived and had a son and called him Isaac. I prophesy to someone this day that irrespective of the years you have waited on the Lord for children, you shall receive a sign that will make every one around you wonder and fear God in Jesus’ name. When we talk about greater signs and wonder, we are introducing to you the God that can make impossibilities possible.

Matthew 19:26 states that all things are possible with God; even when all hope is lost and they said your case is hopeless, it is a lie of the devil. John 8: 44 called the devil a liar. God shall surely change that situation in Jesus’ name. In John 11:40-45, we are told of how a brother called Lazarus died and was buried. Then after four days of interment, Jesus arrived. When He asked the sister of the dead man that He wanted them to roll the stone away, she objected saying that the dead man must be smelling by now. But when they finally removed the stone, Jesus called the dead man back to life. Praise the Almighty God! I prophesy to you that all impossibilities in your life shall begin to turn to possibilities in Jesus’ name. This is your time; believe it because there is time for everything. Your own time has come; you must celebrate in Jesus’ name.

• How do you receive greater signs and wonder?

The secret is the power of the King of kings.

He gives you greater signs and wonders for transformation of your physical and spiritual life. In Acts 5: 12, we read that, “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch”. It was recorded in verses 15 to 16 that at a point, Peter’s shadow healed the sick, and those possessed with unclean spirits were delivered. Greater signs and wonders can be experienced by the power of the one who is greater than the greatest. Psalm 62:11: “God has spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God”. Power to heal, power to deliver, power to raise the dead; all power belongs unto God. You need greater signs and wonders so that your ugly situation will change to miracles and testimonies. You need signs and wonders so that you can be an evangelical tool to spread the gospel through your testimonies to the nation. Let me share this testimony with you; which took place on Sunday 9th of December during our service. A brother was brought to the church with a fractured leg; in that leg, there was an iron to support it, after three operations that he had undergone. His quest to walk was to no avail; and on the day he came to our church service, I prayed for him and asked him to rise and walk, and behold he started walking with a leg he had not been using before and later he started running. According to the brother, he said he was expecting that I would tell him to go and after some days, that he would be fine. But he was surprised that the same day he was brought to the church, he was instantly healed by our Lord Jesus.

God made him to know that He is the supreme; the one who works with signs and wonders.

You can receive also from the Lord if you believe.

In Matthew 9:27-30, two blind men followed Jesus crying for mercy and He asked them, ‘do you believe I can do this for you, that is, open your eyes?’

Not necessarily because you are over-qualified but because of my love and mercy; if you believe today, you will see His glory. But one of the greatest ways of receiving, is through the spirit of love. In John 15:11-12, we are told by Jesus that if His joy shall remain in us, we must love one another.

Arise and shake off the old nature of complaint and celebrate this nature of exploit. The Lord bless you, my beloved ones, in Jesus’ name.

•For enquires, please send text messages to the following numbers: 08067802407, 07038638984 and 08033599027

Briefly GSM plans big for Crossover Night The Global Success Ministry (GSM) plans to celebrate the Crossover Night into 2013 in a big way come Monday, December 31, 2012 at the church’s main auditorium.

Founder, General Overseer and Spiritual head of the church, Pastor (Dr.) Emmanuel Chima Okereke, disclosed this in an interview during the week.

He said that the big celebration had become vital in view of the marvelous work the Almighty God has been doing in the ministry, over the years.

“We at GSM, plan to cross over to the brand new year 2013 in grand style, with the presence of God. Our Lord Almighty has been merciful and good to us in this ministry. He has continued to manifest His power and might with the abundance of miracles and shower of blessings in the lives of our members.

“Of great significance, the Lord has continued to use me mightily to deliver and heal all kinds of ailments. He has actually touched the lives of every one of us. Those who come here in search of job can now testify to having good jobs, those with various ailments get cured, while those held in captivity or bondage are delivered and set free. The Lord has in every respect been meeting us at the point of our needs.

“So, we have every reason to celebrate, lift His name higher, worship and sing halleluiah in the highest as we march graciously into the new year,” the man of God enthused.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Praise & Worship

Sunday, December 23, 2012

27

Remember, God is always Destroy the roots of curse, there for you –Oloruntimilehin Founder of Omnipotence Mission of God, Pastor Joshua Daramola Oloruntimilehin, urges all to understand that God is always there for us in every circumstance. He recommends an attitude of inward knowing, that all will be well because there is time for everything in the life of everyone. Excerpts:

G

od is always with people; no matter the condition a person finds himself or herself. Whether someone is in sorrow or happy, God is always with the person. Likewise, God is with a baby in the womb.

Some complain that God has forsaken them when they are facing an unpleasant situation. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1- 8, “There is time for everything, and a season for everything under the heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time uproot; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dace…”

What the Bible portion is pointing out is that God knows every time. Imagine how unborn babies in the womb feed excrete and breathe and remain alive. Brethren, it was about 10 years ago that I knew that babies are the ones that suffer most.

They are subjected to different kinds of situation and they cannot complain about the condition they find themselves in until it becomes unbearable for them, then they cry out. Babies have to go through this situation until they can talk. All that time, God is always there for the infant.

If God is not with them, the babies may not grow into maturity. Even when they are mature, God continues to be with them. The aged also suffer alike. However, many hardly know that God is with them.

When people are facing problems, they always think God is not with them.

There is no way God will forsake anybody. Take Cain for instance. God was with him and had to put a mark on Cain so that no one would kill Cain despite the fact that he killed his brother Abel. Genesis 4:15-16 says it all, “But the Lord said to him, not so if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over. Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.”

When a person sleeps deeply, who wakes him or her up? It is God. Eventually, if God does not wake the person up, then he or she may not wake up again. Some people

Oloruntimilehin

have lost hope because their parents are no more; they should know that God is there for them.

I lost my parents at a very tender age but God has been with me since I became an orphan. Even a person that is dead still has God with him or her. Late Obafemi Awolowo is being remembered in death.

Why? It is because God is with him in death. Similarly, Jesus is also being remembered. God is with everybody and people should understand that.

God is also with those people who do evil and kill people secretly. For instance, God asked Cain where his brother, Abel, was. Cain replied God rudely and asked God if he was his brother, Abel’s keeper?

In the same way, God is with those that are doing well. Jesus recognised people that are good to others when He said ‘whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you have done unto me.’ It is imperative for people to know that God is with them in every circumstance.

God made it clear that He owns both the good and the bad. In Isaiah 45: 7, He says “I form the light and create darkness. I bring prosperity and create disaster, I, the Lord do these things”. Therefore, people are bound to experience bad and good situations sometime in their lifetime. At all times, God is there for everyone; and whatever anyone is passing through, it might just be the time for them to experience the situation. It is because there is time for everything.

When God was arranging time for every situation, He did not say He would not be with people at all times. There is no prayer one will pray to avert the time people are to cry or encounter disasters. These are unavoidable. People should always appreciate God and be thanking Him for any situation they are momentarily experiencing.

I want to implore you to embrace this message spiritually and put it in mind so that you will not allow problems to overwhelm you. Brethren, do not fear, believe that God is with you. Have the faith like a mustard seed that God is with you and will never forsake you. Amen.

says Pastor Bamidele Curse places limitations on a man’s life and prevents a victim from actualising his/her destiny.

General Overseer of Christ Glories End-Time Evangelical Ministry, Pastor Lai Bamidele reveals various dimensions of curses, to equip the believer with wisdom nuggets.

Excerpts:

C

urse is a supernatural power to bring evil upon the life of a man; to bring affliction and injury upon a man’s destiny.

If you look at the scriptures in the book of Genesis 49: 1-5, you will see what a curse means. Also if you go to Exodus 20: 1-5, you will see a similar thing as well.

Every man that is under curse is a man that will live a meaningless life.

When a man is under curse, there is virtually nothing the person will do in life and succeed. Even when he succeeds, he will crash.

Every problem is a limitation and every limitation is a curse. When you see a man that is under a curse, he is a man that is under the yoke of limitation.

If you see the book of Genesis 8: 12-22, curse has many dimensions. There are, curse from Satan, curse from God’s servant, curse from parents, curse from relations and curse that a man attracts by reason of his relationship with God through sin: disobedience to God. If you look at the book of Genesis 4: 8-12, Genesis 9: 22 and Genesis 3:17-19, you will see what is called ‘curse of life.’

The Bible says Noah cursed Ham, his son because he saw the nakedness of his father. Noah placed a curse upon his son. So many parents have injured the destiny of their children’s tomorrow via curse. And you can see from the life of Ham that he became a servant unto his brother because his father cursed him.

Adam and Eve were both cursed for disobeying God’s instruction. Every time a believer is disobeying God, he or she is only inviting lifelong problem into his or her life. When you see a man that is disobeying God’s words, you see a man that is set for a fall.

Look at the journey of a man called Saul. Saul disobeyed God because he could not wait to obey God’s instruction.

He was more eager than God; he was too much in hurry, more than God. And what happened? He had a bad fall. Every man that is under a curse, no matter the height he climbed, he will come down.

If you look the book of Genesis 4:312, the Bible states; “Cain was cursed

for killing his brother and for not being remorseful. Even after killing his brother and God asked him, “Where is your brother?” And he replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Meaning, did you give me my brother to keep? He insulted God and God landed a curse upon him.

If you look at the book of Ecclesiastics 10: 7, the Bible says, “I see servants on horses and kings on the ground.”

Like I told you earlier on, if you look at the book of Exodus 20:1-5, you will see what is called generational curses upon those that serve other gods. Every time you come from a background of idol worshippers in the time past; if you don’t break those curses, there is nothing you will do in life that will be meaningful, no matter whom you are.

Anyone that hates God’s people is a man that is under a curse. Galatians 3:10 is also talking about curses. It says, “Curse is upon everyone that disobeys God’s words and refuses to abide by them.” So whenever you are disobeying God or you don’t abide by His instruction, your life is under a curse already. That is why when it comes to obedience to God’s word, there is no partial obedience. Partial obedience is total disobedience.

In everything you are doing with God, your relationship with Him must be total. Sin is sin; there is no small sin.

You say ‘okay, I don’t drink much; it is only one beer I drank.’ You are a drunkard. It is only once you slept with a lady, yet you have not paid her dowry, the lady that God has not joined you together!

So many men today will tell you that they don’t buy a product that they have not tasted. What are you tasting? You are tasting evil, you are tasting destruction.

In the book of Galatians 4:9, the Bible emphasises that we should not go back to our vomits. You say you have given your life to Christ yet after that, you go back to old things you were doing; old character you have refused to let go.

•For counselling contact: pst_lai@yahoo.com, phone08074484415, 08027502864 and 08161285586

28

T

Praise & Worship

en years ago, precisely on Monday, December, 23, 2002, the Almighty God visited His vineyard and met some of His labourers sleeping and snoring while some were awake but confused on which direction to follow. The vineyard was left to take care of itself and consequently, became malnourished and barren as there was nobody to attend to it. Foreseeing that the work to be done in reviving the vineyard was so much, The Master therefore called many people into the work by an open invitation, but some neglected and despised the invitation while others cast dishonour upon the Master who gave the invitation.

However, in the midst of this negligence and carefree attitude of men toward the vineyard, God found a man spiritually and physically awake, a man who was really burdened by the situation of the vineyard, whose heart was bleeding with compassion for the owner of the vineyard and a man who was ready to make the dried valley of Bacca, a pool.

The man was chosen to lead the chosen people of this generation to the Promised Land, to lead them from bondage of religion to true Christianity, so that in the place where they said unto them, ‘Ye are not my people’, they shall they be called ‘the children of the living God, the chosen of the Lord’ and they shall take the world by signs and wonders.

The people need not be embodied with the pattern of the world, but, wherever they may be on the face of the earth, there, God owns them. The man was chosen to take the mantle and show the light for the present generation. The Scripture says, “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name” (Rev. 3: 12). God said that he that overcomes, whoever is chosen, will be made a Pillar in His temple and upon him shall He write his new name, which is THE GOD OF CHOSEN and make him a priest unto Himself and the chosen people shall be honourable and glorious members of the triumphant, glorified church.

God Almighty held the hand of this man and sowed a seed in that infertile vineyard. Nobody expected the seed to germinate, much less becoming a tree because of the harsh environment. But because the seed was planted by divine order, it defied the cruel surroundings and sprouted to become within 10 years, an extraordinary big tree whose branches have spread beyond nations and continents. And within 10 years, it has become a big shade for all and sundry; the fruit it bears are being used to feed multitude, irrespective of colure and race.

Like in the days of Noah, when the wickedness of man was great and their souls were no longer minding heavenly things, they were incarnated to the point they could no longer retain God in their knowledge. In them there was no piety as everybody was holding a cup filled with sin and wrath of God, such that the whole generation was filled with violence. All the imagination of their thoughts, including the fountain which produced in them every thought, purpose, wishes, desire, and motive, were incurably polluted.

God thus called Noah to build an Ark and have the chosen ones to be separated from the rest of the generation.

The man that God used to plant this seed that symbolises the Ark of this generation was the one who knew where he

Sunday, December 23, 2012

10 years on, the Lord’s Chosen marches on –Pastor Muoka Ten years ago, the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Movement was born amid sneers and suspicion as to whether it will endure or not. However, the Church’s General Overseer, Pastor Lazarus Muoka, is today enthused that the outfit has grown in leaps and bounds, as reflected in this message. Excerpts:

Muoka

was going and was determined to get to his destination with or without opposition. And because of his avowed decision to heed the call of his Master, and bid His will, the devil and his agents have tried to stop him but in vain was the net spread before the bird. Just like in the days of Abraham, whom God called out of the land of his nativity into the land of promise, which was designed to separate him and set him apart for God, and for special services and favours which were further designed, his kindred did not stop him.

The calling of Pastor Lazarus Muoka into the vineyard of God and the emergence of his brain child, The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Movement, since 10 years ago, is as synonymous as the story above. By all indices, the charismatic movement popularly known as The Lord’s Chosen, is metaphorically the Ark of the present generation.

Although it is rightly said ‘many were called but few are chosen’, in this case, many were called into the work but one was chosen to make a nation for God as

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

did Abraham. With a threefold vision statement, namely; grassroots revival all over the world, revival of the apostolic Christian experiences among the body of Christ and revival of heaven consciousness among believers, Pastor Lazarus Muoka, the founder and General Overseer was mandated to harvest 10 billion souls for the Kingdom of God. Like in the days of our Patriarch Abraham when he was asked to build an Ark, many of his generation thought it was a wild goose chase. Likewise, The Lord’s Chosen was written off as at the time of inception. Many thought it would be as one of those Churches that came as a bang and became still as soon as it comes.

Some predicted stillbirth-though devil actually did everything to scuttle the visionbut today, the story of the ministry is real.

It was initially given three months to die and later, when it became crystal clear it would outlive the given time, then a six month lifespan was pronounced and yet the devil remains a liar. Some were even of the opinion that the founder, Pastor Lazarus Muoka was one of those new generation pastors who lay claim to the call of God without hearing from God. But despite all these negative wishes, The Lord’s Chosen is now the place where the eagles gather. What a wonderful God we serve. How great are His riches, wisdom and knowledge. How impossible it is for us to understand His decision and modus operandi. Everything that exists is

by His power and for His glory.

The story is everywhere even beyond the continents, because within the 10 years, it has established its presence in all the countries in Africa, Europe, North America and some countries in South America, Asia and Australia. In Lagos, where the corporate headquarters is located, it has more than 250 branches. In Nigeria entirely, it has over 2000 branches.

Within the 10 years of its establishment more than 4,000 HIV patients have openly testified to having been cured of the disease, through the power of God. More than that number has their blood pressure and diabetes cured through prayer by the man of God. Thousands of prostitutes have been converted to Christ.

Almost a thousand of cancer victims and other terminal diseases have been certified healed after prayers were made for them. An uncountable number of people have been cured of stroke, paralysis, deafness, dumbness, blindness, madness and etc. Wicked people like armed robbers, ritualists, sorcerers, kidnappers and occult men were not left out as they in their hundreds have received the mercy and touch of God of Chosen.

Rom. 9: 16 says, “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy”. It is not the effect either of the will or the works of man, but of the grace and power of God. The making of the chosen people the peculiar people of God, is righteously determined, not by the judgment, hopes or wishes of men, but by the will and wisdom of God alone.

The will of man has nothing to do with the grace of God. Abraham willed that Ishmael might live to be a partaker of the blessing promised to his seed, when he said, ‘O that Ishmael might live before thee!’ But it was not to be. Nor is it of him that runneth: for when Esau ran to fetch venison for his father, that he might receive the blessing, the wisdom of God saw fit to have it otherwise, and to confer the blessing upon Jacob. So it is of God that showeth mercy. Anyone that is chosen to be the instrument to which the world would be revived is solely chosen by the wisdom of God.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Praise & Worship

Sunday, December 23, 2012

What Primate Ayodele said about Bayelsa helicopter crash RICHARD EGHAGHE

W

hile the nation mourns the unexpected death of the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, and the immediate past National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Owoye Aziza and four others in the Naval helicopter crash of last Sunday at Okoroba forest in Nembe area of Bayelsa state, it is apparently unknown to many that the incident had been foretold.

Forty-eight hours before the crash, our correspondent heard first hand from top seer, Primate Babatunde Elijah Ayodele, of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Oke-Afa, that an air accident was bound to occur before the end of the year, and that it would claim the lives of two top political leaders.

Speaking during a re-scheduled interview with Sunday Mirror on Thursday, December 13, 2012, the prophet hinted that the Nigerian Air force should be prayerful of crash-landing or jet crash.

His words: “The Nigerian Air force has to pray seriously against any land-crash or jet crash because I can still see another air crash happening in the country.

Generally, the aviation industry will not be very rosy in year 2013. I see a lot of rubbish in the aviation sector, a lot of things will be exposed in the sector but there will be a lot of re-organisation, renovation and new invention in the aviation industry,” he said. The land-crash, the prophet obviously foresaw in the Air force, looked like the recent Navy helicopter crash, that claimed the lives of Yakowa and Azazi.

Again, Primate Ayodele also disclosed during the interview that not all the state governors, sworn into office on 29th May, 2011, would finish their terms of office. Said the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church founder and leader: “I can tell you that not all the state governors would finish their term in office. I don’t know, may be by impeachment, or by death, but

THE NIGERIAN AIR FORCE HAS TO PRAY SERIOUSLY AGAINST ANY LAND CRASH OR JET CRASH BECAUSE

I CAN STILL SEE ANOTHER AIR CRASH HAPPENING IN THE COUNTRY all the governors who assumed office in 2011 will not finish their terms of office.

So, the governor’s forum has to go into prayer from the beginning of the new year, precisely, the first day of the month of January, to avoid and avert whatever that will make governors not to finish their terms.”

He also disclosed further, “There will be wrangling in the Governors Forum that will seriously affect the Peoples Democratic Party, if not checked.”

Prophet Ayodele’s interview on what the New Year 2013, holds for the nation would have been sufficiently substantiated if it had held on the initial date of December 4, 2012 and published before the helicopter crash which claimed the life of the former Kaduna State governor and others. The interview was rescheduled owing to the Primate’s busy schedules. However, it is not clear yet if the former Kaduna State governor, could be the only governor affected by the primate’s prophecies about governors who would not complete their tenure in office owing to “impeachment” or “death”.

Other predictions made by the popular prophet of God during the interview read as follows: “Through my contact with God as His prophet, what the Lord said about the country in the year ahead is this: I saw a mast hovering in the country. I don’t know what is going to happen. Let’s pray that we don’t lose any elder statesman or one-time president in Nigeria and also in Africa. We should also pray against death of any journalist in the print and electronic media. We should also pray not to lose a serving president.

We have to pray against losing a serving president or ex- President.

“President Jonathan will contest 2015 election and as he is trying to do this, he should be ready for more troubles for the nation. When he contests, there will be a lot of pressure and the Peoples Democratic Party will break into two. In the process, the party will sponsor another candidate against him and there will be confusion among the governors. Some people will be promoting Jonathan while others will go against him.

Two things: another deadlier militant sect will come up to battle him and cause problems and create a lot of tension in the country if he contests. And being in the system, his health will be affected.

That is why we have been telling Jonathan don’t contest 2015. Jonathan will step on some of the political big wigs’ toes.

“I also foresee a revolution in this country and this country will break into six geographical parts and every region will be on its own- Jonathan’s second bid will cause all these. Again, if he contests, he is not going to record a landslide victory- his victory will be very controversial. If he does not contest, there will still be bombing. Another militant group will come up to fight if an Hausa man comes in as president. The country will break but God has not specifically told me the particular or exact time when the country will break up, but be expecting the revolution.

“There will be kidnappers everywhere in the country. It will not be limited to specific areas and they will be on with another means of kidnapping. On

29

bombing, another deadly militant sect will come up. So, we should pray very well that they don’t throw bombs into very busy areas like market places. They will attack police stations and government establishments. So, we have to be very careful. We should also pray against ethnic and religious crisis, especially in Plateau State, and other south-eastern states .We should also pray against political assassinations.

“The constitution review is going to cause a lot of problems, a lot of things are going to be unearthed in the constitution review and I can see about six to seven states being created. I can also see that in the nearest future, Lagos will be broken into two. We have to pray against controversial bill before the House of Representatives. The presidency will be at loggerheads with the House of Representatives while the Senate will get their direction wrong. Both houses should pray not to lose a member in the year.

“In 2013, we still have to pray against flood; it is a very serious thing and it is still going to affect the country. You see, the whole length of Victoria Island, up to the Lekki axis will be submerged by ocean surge. When this will happen has not been revealed to me.

“There will be problems in the House of Reps. The house will be haunted by the EFCC, just as the EFCC will face some challenges in performing its key roles as expected. The chairman of the organisation must be careful against plots to rubbish him. The People Democratic Party’s Board Of Trustees will have a lot of problems on their lap. A lot of politicians will run into problems during the year as the imposition of candidates on the electorate will become minimal. We should pray seriously that Senator Ahmed Tinubu’s effort at leading the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), will not be vein as I can see a political gang-up against Tinubu to reduce his power. We also have to pray against the closure of some universities in the country and the removal of some vice-chancellors. Workers will go on the rampage in some states while some will go on strike for various reasons. ASUU may want to fight the Nigerian Labour Congress to reduce their power and we should pray against this. I see the top hierarchy of Customs and immigration being changed. I see that in the nearest future, they are going to change the uniform of civil defense. The police will have some problems. They must pray so that they don’t lose a very senior and reputable officer.

We should also pray against cholera outbreak in Lagos, Ibadan, Osun, Kwara, Kano, Kaduna, Cross Rivers, Borno and Plateau states.

Let us also pray for the improvement of our economy because I still see the economy fluctuating, mass sack of people here and there. The rich must be careful so that they won’t be attacked every now and then because I can see robbery here and there. So, I don’t see anything good about the economy. The budget will not go as spelt and there will be lots of arguments and debates over this. I foresee probe in CBN which will affect Sanusi and others. I see a lot of issues in NNPC and the bill on petroleum will be passed and Uteh will be enmeshed in lot of crises.

We have to also pray against inflation as I can see the escalation of food prizes’ building materials, the tariff for electricity will be increased and I see changes coming in the power generation of this country. We have to pray very well for petrol not to be high,” the cleric foresaw, among other predictions.

30

Praise & Worship

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

It’s time for God to deliver you –Pastor Chidi Presiding Minister of Kings in Christ Church, Pastor Anthony Chidi, dutifully anointed the congregation to forestall satanic attempts on the lives and businesses of God’s sons and daughters during the festivities. Below are the excerpts from his ministration:

B

rethren, open you Bible and read with me the book of Isaiah 49:24: “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captive delivered?

But thus says the Lord, ‘Even the captive of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered, for I will contend with he that contended with thee and I will save thy children and I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, I am the savior, thy redeemer the might of Jacob.’ May the Lord bless His word?

How many of us understand the question which the Lord has asked here?

What does being a captive mean? A captive is a slave; a slave has no right of his own. A slave cannot move until the master says move. A slave can only sleep when the master says ‘sleep.’ Any time a master wants to kill a slave, the slave has no choice but to submit his head for the master to please himself.

Many people who are reading this message right now are slaves in the hands of a strong man. Your business has been enslaved in the hands of the strong man. And the Lord here poses a

question; can such a slave be delivered from the hands of the strong man? Ordinarily, it is impossible. But the Lord said with Him, it is possible.

How many of us have visited a zoo before? In the zoo, a lion is not served cooked meat. Its prey, for instance, is a goat. It is thrown into the lion’s den alive and the lion would just do what pleases it with the live goat. The question is; can such a goat be rescued from the hungry lion? The answer is ‘No.’ God says in His words, ‘It is possible.’

On this premise, I do not want to know whether you or your family has been a prey in the hands of the mighty for God knows how long. But I prophesy to you with my two eyes open, that every captive here today is delivered in the mighty name of Jesus.

I set you free today in the name of Jesus. I set your family free, I set your business free, I set your marriage free, I set your academics free from that nonsense that has lingered in your family, in the name of Jesus. Some brother may be healthy today, and could faithfully attend to his business and take care of his family. But one day, he comes back from work and suddenly discovers that he could not walk again; because the hand

of the mighty one has captured him.

Today, I put on my prophetic mantle and I declare to every man that has been a slave to sickness here: every infirmity that has enslaved you, every sickness that has consumed your family in the name of Jesus, I set you free today in the name of Jesus.

Can the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captive delivered?

But thus said the Lord… When you hear that word, ‘Thus says the Lord’, it means humanity has disappeared and divinity has taken over. And when divinity enters into any case, that case is as good as dead. I prophesy to you today; after today, those problems, you shall see no more. That sickness, you shall see no more, in the name of Jesus.

Can the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captive delivered?

Thus says the Lord; ‘even the captive of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the predator shall be delivered.

He says ‘for I will fight against those that fight against you.’ When God takes over your battle, you go to rest and see how God will empty your enemy. I prophesy to 98 people; God has taken over your battles in the name of Jesus.

Chidi

Man rejoices: ‘My 13-yr-old infertility is cured’ TAI ANYANWU

I

t was an all-inclusive rejoicing at Kings in Christ Church, as four families dedicated their miracle babies in one service, last Sunday, in Lagos.

One of the outstanding testimonies at the event was given by one Mr. Austin Otevbi, whose 13-year-old marriage had remained barren until September 7, 2012, when God blessed their union with a bouncing baby boy.

Be the dedication proper was conducted, the presiding minister of Kings in Christ Church, Pastor Chidi Anthony, asked if there was anyone who desire to testify to what God had done for them, to the glory of God. Mr. Austin who spoke first described his years of barrenness as “13 years of mental subjugation, 13 years of mental agony and 13 years of sleepless nights.

But the travail gave way to joy unlimited, after the family came in contact with Kings in Christ Power Ministries in Ajao Estate, Lagos, otherwise known as Solution G round.

Hear the happy father of Austin (Jnr): “My name is Austin Otevbi. I am from Ekpo in

Igueben Local Government area of Edo State. I stand here with a deep sense of humility to tell you good people of the Lord, the good thing that God has done for me and my family.

“You know that if pregnancy does not result after the first, second, third and fourth month of marriage, there is bound to be anxiety and worries and the first port of call will be the hospital.

“If you are told that you have low sperm count and that nothing ‘dey’, you will go home and sleep with your two eyes open.

That was my situation until we located this church.

“My wife and I were tested and I was rudely and wickedly told that my sperm count cannot produce a child. I was devastated. We went from hospital to hospital; it was the same dirty story, until we got here,” Austin related.

He recalled that the first day they came to Kings in Christ, he quarrelled with his wife right from their house until they got to the church, just because he had become fed up with going from one church to the other, in search of cure.

“But seeing the Pastor in action I was shocked and I said

Mrs. Austin Otevbi and her baby

to my wife like we say in my area, Shooow, this na fire ooo,” Austin said of his first experience in the church.

“Right from that moment, the pastor took their matter with up with seriousness and performed series of what I want to describe as spiritual surgical operation here on the altar, in his office and everywhere.

“I am not a scientist, I am a historian. But I got to know here that in science, ‘X’ gives ‘X’. I did not know that in religious matters, ‘X’ also can cancel ‘X’. So a lot of prayers and fasting were done to counter all that the enemy had done,’ he said.

Eventually, God answered their prayers on September 7, 2012, and a bundle of joy was delivered to the family of Mr. Austin.

Hear him: “God is the almighty.

God called Satan and Satan answered ‘Sir.’ God told him, ‘Your time is up.’ The door was open and my baby came out. What I am saying is that, we spent 13 donkey years waiting for our baby to be born. Thirteen years of barrenness was terminated in this chapel.”

Based on what God has done for him, Mr. Austin vowed that he would let everyone know that any problem that is brought to Kings in Christ Church can never come out of the worship centre without being solved.

The Edo-born historian went aglow with joy a he praised God and the presiding minister in Igbo language.

Dedicating the children, Pastor Chidi reminded parents that the act of dedicating a child was an obligation and responsibility that

God has entrusted in every parent.

“It is fitting for all parents to recognise this obligation and responsibility to God. Jehobed of old trained her own child, Moses, after having given him to the Lord.

Hanna recognised that her child belongs to God. The Virgin Mary also brought the infant Jesus to the temple for dedication.

“Dedication does not automatically make the child a Christian.

Parents should do same and bring back to the Lord the treasure which He has entrusted to them by recognising and publicly acknowledging the responsibility to put these children in the ways of righteousness and godliness,” he added.

The man of God made the parents to vow that they would prepare and lead the new-born in the knowledge, fear and admonition of the Lord.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Praise & Worship

Sunday, December 23, 2012

E

very man was created for a specific purpose. Destiny is God’s life target for individuals. During creation, everyone was designed with certain abilities or capabilities to achieve a predetermined objective in God’s system; and within a certain situation or circumstance of existence.

You did not come into existence by mere chance after all, especially looking at the biological formation of man.

A single ejaculation from man during sexual intercourse produces 66 million spermatozoa; and only one sperm succeeds to fertilize the woman’s egg, for a child to be formed.

The power that chooses the particular sperm that did the fertilization decides who results from the encounter. Your existence is indeed one against 66 million odds. This proves that you are definitely a deliberate arrangement of God. The scripture bears eloquent testimonies to the fact of predestination in the Book of Jeremiah 1:5.

“Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations”.

Prophet Isaiah speaking in chapter 49 verse 1 equally declares; “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.”

And the Bible speaks in the same vain in the book of Romans 8:29; “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

How to recover your stolen destiny, by Prophet Adewunmi Your destiny is God’s purpose and target for your life. It is always the prime target for Satan the devil, whose mission is to steal, destroy and kill. In this message, General Overseer of House of Prayer, Pastor Segun Adewunmi, explains how you can safeguard your destiny. Excerpts:

Stolen destiny We must know that a person’s destiny can be stolen. As a matter of fact, only few people manage to retain or control of their destiny. There are many destinies that have been aborted and left unfulfilled.

Adam, the first man created by God, is a perfect example of someone whose destiny was stolen. He was created to live in the glory of God in Eden and to lead other creatures in the worship of God. However, his glorious destiny or God’s plan for his life was brought to an abrupt end because Adam yielded to Satan’s deceit. Satan, the devil, stole Adam’s destiny, confirming the scriptures in the book of John 10:10; “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”

In our days, many people still wonder why they face tribulations and their lives have become the opposite of the life they desire to live. The Lord explained why in the book of Jeremiah 29:11; “While man was asleep, the enemy came to sew tares in the mist of the wheat”.

This write-up is intended to assist everyone who must have lost track of his or her destiny to recover God’s will for their. As you read on or keep touch with this column, the promise of God in this regard as expressed in Joel 2:25-26 will be your portion in Jesus’ name:“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously

Adewunmi

with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.”

Satan’s targets But you must watch; the devil usually targets three specific areas in the life of a believer, namely, one’s spiritual power, position or throne and the believer’s possessions.

The power base God warned Adam that if he ate the

fruit of the forbidden tree, he would lose his spiritual power: “Positive death”. Satan, the devil, used deception to steal the power from Adam; so he died positively and his destiny was aborted.

Every believer whose attitude to prayer begins to decline, or is no longer as enthusiastic about Church programmes as he used to be, or faces the harassment of the devil in any department of his life and who is under serious pressure to succumb to the pressure of his Portipher’s

31

wife, should embark on a spiritual renewal and revival exercise immediately so that the devil will not be able to steal his destiny.

The Ark of Covenant For instance, the Ark of Covenant represents the presence of God in Israel. Any problem that the Ark of Covenant confronts vanished. At the time Israel was to capture Jericho, River Jordan which they must cross in order to reach Jericho had overflown its banks.

It was when the feet of the priest carrying the Ark touched the water of the river that God divided the water so that the people of Israel could cross on dry ground.

Because the Ark represented the power of the people of Israel, it became the prime target of the devil. The devil always targets the power of a believer.

He causes a misunderstanding or suspicion between the believer and his spiritual master or prayer partner. He causes fatigue towards prayer. He does anything that weakens our prayer base for the purpose of dislocating our power.

Sin entered the land of Israel because Eli, the Priest and the Judge, was unable to control his two children from the misuse of the offering made to the Lord. People of Philistines captured the Ark of Covenant and carried it straight into the house of their god, “Dagon”.

It happens that the stolen destinies are given unto people who have no capacity to bear them. Same way Dagon fell before the Ark overnight. The Priest put the Dagon back into its position only to meet the dust of Dagon, the third day. It was completely dismembered because the power that was placed before it surpasses that which it could withstand.

Same way, our destiny stolen, will crush those to whom they are given.

Ashdod was the city of Philistine that housed Dagon in whose shrine the Ark of Covenant was placed. The people of the city started to die in their thousands from pile and the tumor of the anus. They located the source of their problems as the Ark and requested the elders of Philistine to take it out of their domain. The Ark of Covenant was taken to Gath and with the Ark, the torment of pile and tumor arrived in Gath.

The people of Gath were dying in their thousands. They immediately requested the removal of the Ark to Ekron but the inhabitants of Ekron refused to have the Ark in their city. It really became a big problem for the Philistines.

Same way, your destiny that was stolen will become a real problem to those that are holding it.

Upon spiritual consultation, the elders of Philistine were advised to return the Ark of Covenant to Israel.

They were also told not to return only the Ark but a substantial Trespass Offering that must consist of gold made in the image of tumor. This is to demonstrate that they admitted to having overstepped their bounds and they were genuinely repentant. Of course, they quickly arranged the offering and set the Ark and the offering on a cart pulled by two animals which went straight to Israel. Your power to prayer, gift of the Holy Spirit, hunger for the work of God, image and the likeness of God that the devil stole through his human agents will be returned to you with commission and interest.

32

Praise & Worship

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Family Fora..cutting the inuagural cake

Family Fora...launch of the book, Yes I Do.

Pastor Nneoma Amaefula

‘Let’s overcome this destroyer of society’ TAI ANYANWU

A

passionate appeal has gone to wellmeaning Nigerians and all peoples the world over to partner with Family Fora, a ministry that has taken it upon itself to provide guidance, liberation and development of vulnerable families.

Rev. Frank Amaefula, a Presbyter in the Assemblies of God Church made the call at the inauguration of the Family Fora Ministry/Book Launch, held in Lagos recently.

Chairman of the event, Evangelist George K C Onyegbuna, had explained that people take fresh marriage vows in church, registries and other customary institutions every day.

However, he regretted that incidents of divorce are on the increase in our society, adding that many gentlemen and ladies had become casualties to the public enemy called ‘broken marriages’.

Some of the reasons responsible for the collapsing family system men have been attributed to a perception that most marriage partners hardly comprehend the import of ‘Yes I do,’ that familiar response often heard at wedding occasions.

Hence, when their unpreparedness

collides with the storms usually associated with challenges of raising the ideal family, such families crack under the weight of their deficiencies.

While giving his keynote address, Onyegbhuna recalled that Nigeria had been making headlines in the news media for the wrong reasons, pointing out that incessant kidnapping in parts of Nigeria was the handiwork of maladjusted boys raised in some homes.

“What we are about to do today is a very serious business. Family Fora is a ministry that God will use to address this critical, societal issue and maybe, Nigeria will begin to make headlines for the right reasons thereafter.

He added, “Today, we want to inaugurate a pace-setting ministry that would expand to Europe, America, Asia and there will be restoration for families, marriages and society in general.

“We urge you to become part of the vanguard that will march forward to overcome the nonsense that is destroying our society,” Rev. Amaefula appealed.

Family Fora Ministry was founded in 2009 with Pastor (Mrs.) Nneoma Comfort Amaefula as president. Prior to its incorporation in 2012, the ministry had brought smiles to many troubled homes

and individuals through its live telecasts and discussions of crucial family issues on Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Channel 10; and other means of propagating the gospel such as conferences, seminars, marriage talk-shows, renewal of marriage vows, books, magazines, Singles’ frank talks and Youths/teenagers’ forum.

“We use every available opportunity to inculcate the right, godly virtues into people. We recognise the place of every member of the family- nuclear, extended and dependants.

“Our fulfillment comes from the smiles on the faces of individuals and families on the verge of breaking up but suddenly bounce back to life and find themselves together again in happy family atmosphere,” the president related.

The high point of the colourful event was the dedication and commission of the Family Fora Ministry. Perfecting the commissioning, Assistant District Superintendent of Assemblies of God, Apapa District, Rev. Sunday Broderick, described Pastor Nneoma Amaefula as a rare gem; a woman with diving calling and remarkable ability of teaching; one who as lots of milk of human kindness ordained by God to bring healing to fami-

lies and society at large.

Rev Broderick defined a ministry as a calling to carry out God’s divine orders to help those that mourn. “It is stewardship, serving as a messenger to carry out orders of your superior; it is not accumulating wealth.

He pointed out that Pastor Amaefula indeed has a ministry and knows her message as well; and therefore called for mass support which he pointed out was necessary for the ministry to blossom.

Another landmark event that accompanied the commissioning was the launching of a book written by the president tilted ‘Yes, I do.”

In own address, the author said there is more to that familiar wedding vow than meets the eye. And in the course of counselling family persons, she decided to point out some of the spiritual, social and other implications of the marriage institution.

She gave the honour of her success in the family ministry to her lovely husband, Rev. Amaefula, who she said, discovered the innate abilities God deposited within her.

“He gave me his shoulders to ride on.

I am riding on the wing of the grace of God in him,” she said.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sold out to stand out

Text Only: 08037188392

Divine Message with Special Apostle James

Akinadewo E-mail: molailatugrow@hotmail.com

H

alloweth be to the name of God Almighty. Our creator painstakingly deposited great raw materials and potentials inside us and His greatness is being witnessed daily the world over.

What an awesome God. Those not focused in life can never be a focus. Anything positively you consistently engage in for days will become part of your system and will ultimately announce you to the world.

A studious student will come out in flying colours and a dogged fighter will remain a champion. Achievers, champions and movers are those committed to a cause, flowing with their full might, plunged headlong and wonderfully rewarded.

That informed today’s piece – Sold out to stand out.

Charger

Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do, and the God of peace shall be with you.” (Phillipians 4 verses 8-9) Going through the Bible quotations revealed some things viz –

Hope for the Hopeless with Pastor Goke

Aniyeloye

F

Praise & Worship 33

Sunday, December 23, 2012

ellow patriot I like to welcome you to this column this week. I will neither rest or stop disturbing the heavens with my cry untill the enemies of this Nation are brought to judgement.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Brothers and Sisters what do you say to this “a house that has full security, well equipped, most relying and most trusted personnel. The landlord went to bed, before morning an unscrupulous elements came killed some of the family of the landlord, the security were asked, how did the animals came in, they replied “Oga I swear they came in through the bush”. Do we blame the security for negligence, no sir! We have to blame the landlord for not handling his house to the Chief security. The bible says “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” Psalms 127:1. Father, it is time for you to put every Herod in this nation to shame, prove to them that without you they are nothing. Every evil watchman in this great country of ours Father, let their evil plan come over them.

Fellow citizen of Nigeria, it is high time

•Lovely and good report – Your daily voyage and endeavours.

•Learned and received – Lectures, training you received. Improve because learning is a daily process.

•Seen and must do – Be consistent in your work. Become better daily for in that discipline you will be announced in your world.

The thrust of this message is that positive consistency pays.

In that business you are engaged in, once you are consistent and eschew laziness, your success will speak volumes.

You must be sold out to your work for you to stand out in your generation. A lazy student will get his result at the end of the term.

Get cracking

The job you are doing is enough to take you from obscurity to prominence. Lazy people always give excuses – the cloud is gathering storm, it is about raining, the sun is too scorching, a Nigerian adage says anyone always giving excuses of sun and rain will die of poverty and hunger.

If you are serious with your work, your work will be seriously confirmed. Be sold out to that work and you will stand out, look around you and see those breaking new grounds daily, are you not spurred with their achievements to do something positive with your life?

•America is known as God’s own country today because some black missionaries worked to their bones to create a wonderful America.

•Britain is the second home to millions because Sir John Macpherson, Spencer Winston Churchill and the likes worked for the progress of Great Britain.

•It is a new progressive order in South Africa owing to the commitments of Dr.

Nelson Mandela and other progressives to end apartheid and create a better country for the people.

•Yorubas in the South Western Nigeria are known for their sophistication and robust educational lifestyle due to the focus of their first premier, Chief Obafemi Awolowo with his free education programmes for the entire race.

•Cherubim and Seraphim Church is a worldwide ministry owing to the solid foundation laid by the founder and prophetic legend, Saint Moses Orimolade Tunolase.

Get cracking and be sold out to the work you are doing. It is the way you positively handle it that will turn it into a big business and catapult you to greatness.

Don’t allow anyone to despise you and your work. Nobody thought comedy will become big business in Nigeria until the likes of Danjuma and Ali Baba turned it into a money spinning trade and the result – stand up comedians are now being celebrated.

Are you a trader, singer, businessman, artiste/artist, student, church worker, accountant, Lawyer or a sewage attendant, no business is small once it bring money, feed your family and made your employer of labour – your zeal will bring you out for honours.

Otunba Durojaye (also known as Gadhaffi) of DMT Toilets, in his lifetime, would tell you that ‘shit’ business is serious business.

You can’t be up and doing in your business and not stand out in your generation.

Be hardworking and keep on doing it, you will be greatly rewarded in due course.

Stand out One

Nigerian actors, Taiwo Hassan (Ogogo) and Yinka Quadri are masters of the game today owing to their hardwork, determina-

tion and survival instincts in the industry.

The duo have passed through thick and thin in the acting world especially the Yoruba genre of the profession and are daily reaping the fruits of their labour for they stand out among their peers after being sold out to their trade.

Stand out Two

Gospel singers with unique voices, Lady Evangelists Bola Are, Funmi Jesugbaye, Dunni Olanrewaju, Bisi Alawiye, Atinuke Obanla, Esther Igbekele, Bukola Akinade and Tope Alabi are leading lights among women in Nigeria’s gospel music industry following their chorus – If others can make it, with God’s backing we can also be celebrated.

With unparalled commitments, they never wavered in their pursuit for excellence and their fame has transcend Nigerian borders.

Stand out Three

A ringing name with great adaptability in Nigeria’s media industry is Dele Momodu. From teaching to press secretary, moved on as a columnist and within months became an editor.

His resilience took him to the military Gulag; he later relocated to United Kingdom where he started Ovation Magazine which has brought him great honours.

He sold his life to what he believed in and stood out in his generation.

You must be sold out to stand out and know that commitment is a key in standing out. Phillip Emeka Emeagwali is being celebrated today as the inventor of the fastest software in computer but it took him 15 years of research to achieve the feat.

Sold out to stand out. Run from sin. Jesus loves you. God bless Nigeria and you are lifted.

Awake to your responsibilities

we hand over the security of this Nation to God. Killings in this Nation has gone into another level, the enemies are all over, when you are traveling by land, they are there, by air, they are laying Waite, Lord deliver us from these blood sucking demons. I decree by the authority of the Most High God, the weapon of our enemies will fail them in Jesus name. Year 2013 is our year of joy and not year of mourning.

The situation in our country is deteriorating to an extent while sleeping you dare not close your eyes. I know one thing for sure, the God that interven in the case of brother Peter will surely interven in the matter of this nation. Listen to this “And when Herod would have brought him fort, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and smother Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And the chain fell of from his hands”. Father, every Satanic chain bounding this country let it fall of today in Jesus name. Things were not like this in 60s and 70s even upto the 80s, Lord wherever the destiny of this nation traded, please restore today.

Brothers and Sisters let’s have a common goal, common purpose, common voice and common fight, remember a house that is divided cannot stand. I asked a question in a couple of weeks ago, I’m yet to recieve an answer to it, “is it wise to dialogue with the devil?”. An animalistic beings in na-

ture keeps distroying your belongings and yet you feel the best way is to plead with the devil. Do you know that the judgement of God is already on them?. The bible says “say ye unto the righteous, it shall be well with thee, say ye unto the unrighteous it shall never be well with thee”.

Fellow countrymen, how long are we going to tolerate the devil, Remeber being on the defensive doesn’t pay always because it is he who is on the offensive will always be empowered to conquer the enemy.

Like I said last week, our emphasis has shifted from our call, I mean our responsibilities. We now hold Programs upon program, we get busy with the work of God and never had time for God the owner of the work. We are now concern with either what we will eat ( prosperity) or fall down and die Programe, Prophet Habakkuk said, “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy”. When things were not working well for Brother David, when he was passing through hard time he said “yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” why! (1) he was a passerby, he knew he was going to cross over, so also you will soon cross over to a better side. (2) what he was going through were shadows they were not real, Ladies and Gentlemen the shadow of a dog cannot bit. (3) fear is of the devil, what do we mean by fear, false evidence appearing real. David refused to submit to the enemy, instead he made up his mind and said “I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from

whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth”. This is the time for religious leaders and bodies to come together and call on our God, the helper of the helpless. And He is faithful to answer us.

Now to our topic, what happens when the church prays. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the supernatural happens this in this year two thousand and twelve, before we cross over to two thousand and thirteen?.

I’m not interested in the house shaking or dishes rattling, I’m just interested in an awareness of God. I’m aware that my God will soon move the unmovables, shake the unshakables in this country.

What happens when the church prays?

Secondly: The surprising happens. They didn’t expect this, ( the release of Peter ) sure they didn’t, when he ( Peter ) came to the door, Rhoda hardly opened the door for him. Then when she told the people that it was Peter, they didn’t believe, they thought it was his ghost or something. Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord Remembers we are dust, and even when we pray He often surprises us? But my Fathers, my Mothers, Brothers and Sisters in the faith, do you realize that the surprising can happen before the end of this year, maybe even this week or even today in answer to our passionate prayers.

To be continued •You can reach Pastor Goke Aniyeloye on gokeaniye@gmail.com or gokeaniye999@ yahoo.com.

34

Praise & Worship

Footprints with Dr. Tunde

Ojewole Email: ojewolea@babcockuni.edu.ng Phone: 08058299434

C

enturies of Jewish prophecies indicated the coming of the Messiah.

All true Jews held the hope of the Messiah so dear, especially to come as a Conquering Monarch; one to deliver them from all forms of oppressions and usher in the messianic age. The messianic promise of Gen 3:15 states: “and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

(NKJV) The first recipients of this promise believed it as messianic, hence Eve’s exclamation at the births of Cain (Gen 4:1) and Seth (Gen 4:25).

Since the edenic promise, every birth was considered a possible Promised Seed.

We observe the twist and turn in the gospel according to Matthew as persons and families were eliminated in search for the right lineage for the Messiah. From Abraham to Isaac, rejecting Ishmael. From Isaac to Jacob, bye-passing Esau. Out of the twelve sons of Jacob, Judah was chosen: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Gen 49:10). Prophet Isaiah said: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa 7:14). Every virgin in Israel hoped to be the blessed mother of the Savior.

With such an hype and holy expectation, why did the birth of Jesus Christ the Messiah catch all of Israel napping, negligent, nonchalant, and unprepared? Even from among the heathens, an undisclosed number of wise men from a far eastern country travelled for about a year, guided

Holy Inquiry with Pastor Paul

Nkirukah E-mail: pstpaul11@yahoo.com

Dear pastor, I have been addicted to pornography from my younger days. But now, whenever I sleep, a spiritual being comes to have sex with me and whenever it comes, I am always too weak to resist. I am a Christian but my parents are not. Nonetheless, God has been answering my prayers, except in this regard. Is it possible for God not to heal me from the recurring bad dream and the secret sin of watching porns?

Daniel Inalegwu, Benue State Dear Reader, If you can meditate and take a deep thought on your statement above, you will understand very well that the fault is yours. How do I mean? In your statement above, you stated that whatsoever you ask the Lord, He is always doing it.

Have you ever taken your time to ask

Sunday, December 23, 2012

by His star, to arrive at Bethlehem of Judea at the time of His birth. To their surprise, the King and the chiefs, the scribes and the priests, the learned and unschooled, seemed ill prepared in Israel to receive the new-born King; except of-course, Joseph and Mary! That night, the Bible lamented: “no room in the inn!” The gospel records: “Luke 2:7 “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

There was no room for Jesus in the inn or guest house. An Oriental inn is thus described: “four rows of apartments are so constructed as to enclose a large yard with a well in the center where the cattle may be kept. The outer wall is usually of brick upon a stone basement. The apartments are entered by the guests from the yard, and are elevated two or three feet above the level of the yard. Below and behind the row of the travelers’ apartments was often the row or the long room of stables, into which the floors of the apartments being a little extended formed a platform upon which the camels could eat.” The stables could be used for asses and camels, buffaloes and goats. Usually, each occupant of the inn brought their own food and bedding.

Some ancient tradition has it that Jesus was born in a grotto or cave, the country being rocky.

Ordinary people journeyed primarily on foot, even over long distances. However, there are numerous biblical references to asses being used to transport people. When

No room

Joseph traveled with his pregnant wife Mary to Bethlehem for the census at the time of Jesus’ birth, Mary probably rode on an ass. In Mary’s condition the journey would be a slow one, and they must have arrived late enough that the inn would be fully occupied. Hence, there was no room at the inn for Him to be born!

Jesus was born financially poor but spiritually rich. He neither inherited a princely estate nor was He cradled in a palace. “He had no rich friends. He had virtuous, pious parents, of more value to a child than many riches. Happy is that child who, whether his parents are rich or poor, has a pious father and mother. It is no matter if he has not as much wealth, as fine clothes, or as splendid a house as another.

It is enough for him to be as Jesus was, and God will bless him.”

In a settled country a traveler could ordinarily expect hospitality from the inhabitants. Throughout the Near East hospitality was viewed as a serious social responsibility (e.g., Gen 19:1–3; Judges 19:15–21). However, Jesus Christ “came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). Frequently, the idle and the profligate, the drunkard and the infidel, thieves and 419-yahoo boys; in short, every kind of guests except Jesus and His genuine followers would have obtained room in a hotel for all types of sinister purposes.

The world cares for its own! “If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19).

Answer these questions and win a prize 1.

Who was weighed in the balances and found wanting? Supply the Bible passage.

2.

Husbands are to love their wives as akin to…? Supply Bible passage.

3.

Irrespective of a person’s high learning, God says he/she is a fool who says in the heart that; “there is …” Support answer with a Bible passage.

•Please, be informed that the first correct entry via text message wins the prize.

See next week’s column for answers to the quiz. Send your answers with your names to 08054238905. Gifts: courtesy Babcock University.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

The story is told that in the year 1775, the manager of the largest hotel in Baltimore, Maryland, USA refused lodging to a man dressed like a farmer, because he thought this fellow’s lowly appearance would discredit his inn. So the man left and took a room elsewhere. Later, the innkeeper discovered that he had turned away none other than the Vice President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson!

Immediately he sent a note to the famed patriot, asking him to return and be his guest. Jefferson replied by instructing his messenger as follows: “Tell him I have already engaged a room. I value his good intentions highly, but if he has no place for a dirty American farmer, he has none for the Vice President of the United States.”

So far this year 2012, have you made room for Jesus in your life and daily activities? You made room for every other people, except Jesus! Not so? Did you make daily devotion sporadic or compulsory? Was church attendance only on special days and occasions? Thank God Christmas is here again! Make room for your Maker in your life today. Say with the composer Emily E. S. Elliot: “Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown; When thou camest to earth for me; But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room for Thy holy nativity O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for Thee. My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus, When Thou comest and callest for me!”

To be continued…

•Tunde Ojewole, Ph.D., is the University Pastor and Associate Vice-President for Spiritual Life, Babcock University.

For enquiries: ojewolea@babcock.edu.ng; 08058299434/08060376577

Answers to December 16, 2012 Quiz 1.

Beatitudes

2.

Earthquakes- Matthew 27:51, 52.

3.

Crucified- 1 Corinthians 2:2.

I am a Christian, yet I watch porns yourself why has he not done this particular one? Or don’t you think there must be a reason for this? Of cause it couldn’t be because you are from anon-Christian background. No , not at all. But before I can give you the reason or reasons, let us carefully examine the scriptures below for a clearer understanding.

James 4 : 7 – 8 reads, ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh unto God , and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded. ‘ According to the scripture above, the Bible states that you should resist the devil. It does not say that God will resist the devil for you, and that is where you are making a mistake. Instead of you to resist the devil, you are complaining.

My dear, if you cannot resist the devil, there is nothing God can do for you. Let’s also see the scripture below for more understanding.

Matthew 5: 37, “But let your communication be, yea, yea; nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

The above scripture is simply talking about determination. You have to be determined, because when you are

determined, then you shall be delivered.

Determination produces deliverance.

Whatever you reject on earth is also rejected in heaven. So when you mean that you don’t want to do a thing anymore, you try to stand by your word, no matter what happens, come what may. Let your word be your bond, always let God and people to take you by your word.

Therefore, according to the scriptures above, it is very evident and obvious that God has not much to do concerning this matter. You are the one to give up pornography. Otherwise, God was not there when you started it. You started on your own, so you have to give it up on your own.

Moreover, like I said earlier, your father and mother being non-Christians, cannot be why you have not been delivered. Instead, you, through your salvation and deliverance, should convince your parents that you are serving a living God. This issue is very, very clear.

Since any time and whatsoever you pray for, God always answers you, except in this particular issue, you then ought to have known that the problem is not God’s; thus God still answers prayers.

Furthermore, you call it ‘healing’ but

deliverance is the right word to be used here. You need to be delivered, instead of being healed. Be aware that you are possessed with the spirit of pornography and as such, you need deliverance, so that the spirit can be cast away, for you to be free once and for all.

In conclusion, I advise that you avoid every environment and atmosphere that can encourage pornography; stop watching catalogues that contain pornography. Stop or avoid watching any programme of pornography on television or through tapes. Above all, you have to look for a very good God’s ordained deliverance ministry and undergo deliverance prayers with determination and with the heart of belief and you will be surely delivered. Why not?

Any time you feel the urge for those immoral feelings, try to carry your Bible and read prayerfully, or you look for an environment where people or Christian fellows are discussing the word of God and join them. ‘Hence, where so ever two or more are gathered in his (God’s) name, there he is in their mist.

I pray that God give you grace to be able to resist the devil in Jesus’ name, amen.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

L-R: Dr. Amos Akingba and wife, Gwen

35

Sunday, December 23, 2012

L-R: Michelle Bello, Fidelis Duker and his wife, Temitope.

Dr. Ibrahim (middle) with members of the Newspapers Distributors Association of Nigeria.

L-R: Mike Dada, Mayowa Adebayo and Kunle Afolayan.

Afro highlife legend, Orlando Julius Ekemode performing.

L-R: Head, Admin/HR, National Mirror Newspaper, Mrs. Biodun Adewunmi; Head, Account, NICON Luxury, Abuja, Mr. Timothy Afolayan and Head, Account, Global Fleet, Mrs. Uche Ososanya.

Mr. and Mrs. Idowu.

Chief Executive Officer, Sloane Communications, Mr. Sesan Ayeni and his wife, Seyi.

Hip pop star, LTK performing

Teflondon and Paul Akinrolabu.

Comedians, Jedi (left) and T.A.

et -

ic e

bi

Member, Newspaper Distributors Association of Nigeria: Mr. Joven Ogunboro; General Secretary, Lagos chapter, Mr. Kenneth Ikediuba and State Coordinator, Chief Nicholas Okereke.

L-R: National Mirror Best subscriber of the Year, Chief Abiodun Ojo; Joy Ojo and Head, Subscription, National Mirror, Mr. Taiwo Oluwole.

Black Image group performing during the occasion.

L-R: Regional Manager, Mainstreet Bank, Yvone Kogolo; Chief Executive Officer, Global Fleet Oil and Gas, Bridget Henry-Iyasere and Regional Manager, Mainstreet Bank,Franca Chukwuma.

L-R: Mr. Chike Cole, Mr. Emma Ileka and Sir Matthew Ojiugo.

Dele Adedeji (left) and artiste, Ara.

36

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net ne e.ne net ne

Heart-throb

Connecting

Vanessa

Send text only to 08025253996

In need of a serious relationship/marriage marrriage

with

My name is Faith, 25 years old, student, an Edo girl residing in Ibadan. I need a handsome, humble and God fearing man for a serious relationship –07037273013 I am Ijeoma, 22 years old based in Benue. I need a serious relationship that will lead to marriage and help me in my education –08188787654

Vanessaonsunday@yahoo.com

My name is Blessing. I am 30 years old, dark and fat. I need a man between 32 and 35 for marriage –08185252511, BB pin: 279491884 My name is Anu Pedro; I am 34 years old 5.11ft tall, dark skinned and good looking. I am living in Lagos and have my own business. I need a good looking working class lady between ages 26 and 35 years for a relationship –07086520261 Emmanuel, a 38 years old landlord in Lagos from Akwa Ibom State needs an employed or business woman who is a Christian as wife –08109870454 My name is Olamide, I am 35 years old. I need a responsible woman living in Surulere between 25 and 30 years to be my wife –07042170813 Easy is my name, 46 years old. I need a humble working class lady to marry –08131602742 I am Bunmi Bamidele living in Oshogbo Osun state. I am a business man and I need a serious lady as wife –08034000749 I am Olawale, Adeoye, 44 years old male, needs an intelligent responsible and God fearing woman between 36 and 40 years old for a relationship that will lead to marriage –07032929710 My name is Israel, 40 years old living in Ibadan. I need a widow for companionship and intimate relationship. She should be educated and resident in Ibadan –08033643296 Models

Spice up your love life this Christmas

J

ulia and Tamuno have been married for about six years now and blessed with two lovely boys.

Tamuno works with one of the oil servicing companies in Porthacourt and comes come home every two weeks for the customary break given to offshore oil workers in the country. Julia had to quit her job after she had their first son so she could stay and manage the home front.

Lately she has noticed that her relationship with her husband has been a bit strained. When he comes home from the Rig, he hardly creates time for just the two of them and this is affecting their marital relationship. He will either complain about the time she gives to the children or the way she dresses nowadays. It’s as if he’s never happy to come home to his family again and this is giving her great concern.

Initially, she thought maybe he was having an affair. When she confronted him with her fears, he assured her he does not fraternise with the prostitutes that stream to their ship like his colleagues. So what could be the reason behind his attitude of not wanting to spend quality time with her whenever he comes back home then?

As Christmas is fast approaching, Julia decided to do something crazy to bring back the excitement in her marriage just like it was when they were courting.

Since she has been prudent with the money Tamuno sends into her account every month, she decided to spend it on creating a romantic Christmas getaway exclusively for the two of them without the pressure of caring for the kids. She managed to convince her sister-in-law to help her take care of the children while she and Tamuno have the Christmas week all to themselves. She has planned for them to go for a romantic retreat at an exclusive holiday resort just off Port Harcourt beach. Her friend Ifeoma and her husband spent some days there last Christmas and she has been dreaming of going there with her own husband. ‘’This is just what we need to bring back romance to our marriage’’, she said to herself.

She went shopping for some sexy underwear and lingerie to make sure her husband finds her attractive again. She has a well laid plan on how she was going seduce and make him fall in love with her all over again.

By the time her husband came back from the Rig, she had a well laid made plan for their getaway. Tamuno was pleasantly surprised that she had gone to

all that trouble just for them to spend some quality time together. As they reached their destination and rekindled their love one more time in the privacy of their lush hotel room, Tamuno once again swore his undying love for her and promised to be a more caring husband and lover for the rest of their lives.

You see, it takes a little effort to put back some spark to that relationship that has lost its excitement and lustre. It just take one willing person in the relationship who will take the initiative to make some changes when they notice that the spice have gone out of their marriage or committed relationship.

The wine in every relationship has the capacity to dry up if both of you do nothing to constantly fill it up. The good book says a wise woman builds her home while the foolish one tears it down. Instead of sitting on the fence and accusing your husband of extra marital affair, why don’t you take positive steps to salvage your marriage especially during this Christmas period when most workers and even business men take a break from their busy schedule?

Don’t spend this season just cooking and feeding your family, think creatively of what you can do to make it a memorable Christmas for them. Surprise them by announcing a family picnic, holiday or even something simple as going to watch a movie or a show in the town you are staying.

If you are in a serious relationship with that special person in your life, begin today to make plans how you can make it a memorable holiday season for him/ her. Don’t allow the economic situation in the country to make a mess of this season for you. Sit down and count the cost of what it will take to make your significant other happy this Christmas.

It might just be a little outing to any of the fast food joints near you or to a romantic getaway like Julia and Tamuno did. It can even be something as simple as organising a house party just for the two of you. Select choice music you know your partner likes and just dance away and make merry. I once told someone it does not take so much money to make your loved one happy; what matters to an understanding lover is the effort you have put to create happiness for them. Cut your coat according to your pocket like they say in the Nigerian parlance. Don’t just stand there; do something to bring smiles and laughter to the lips of your loved one in this season of joy to the world.

Have a blissful Christmas everyone!

Ade is my name. I am 40 years old. A business man and a traveling agent and a Christian based in Ikeja Lagos. I am in need of a pretty, understanding, caring and working class woman. She should be between 30 and 40 years old –08039533557 I am Kunle, 24 years old, dark in complexion 5.10ft tall. I am a loving and caring guy. I am a foreman and a part time student. I need a serious lady single, caring and working for a serious relationship –08103086234 My name is Adewale Toheb, 29 years old graduate. I need a working class Muslim lady in a relationship that will lead to marriage –08023868766 Collins is my name. I am from Ondo I am from Ondo State. I want a responsible, caring and God fearing lady for a serious relationship –08130568026 My name is Vincent. I am 33 years old. I am a business man in Lokoja. I need a beautiful trained nurse from Kogi or Delta state who should be ready to stay in the rural area for a serious relationship –08025138351 I am Hayomide, 25 years old resident in Lagos, a student and working. I need a girl between 18-26 years for a serious relationship –08061354120

In need of a sugar mummy/daddy I am Amanda from Anambra state. I am looking for a sugar Dad that will love me and care for me immensely –08108396695 My name is Gabriel, a 40 years old civil servant. I need a sugar mummy to satisfy me in bed. –08080461856 My name is Kunle, 40 year’s old 5.8ft tall civil servant. I need a rich sugar mummy living in Surulere; age is not a barrier –08082418415 Bamidele is my name, 38 years old living in Lagos. I need a fat or plump sugar mummy to give satisfaction –08078840230 Ola 32 year’s old banker residing in Lagos needs a busty sexually active lady in Lagos for an affair –07035654791 Steve is my name. I am 26 years old. I live in Markurdi. I need a rich and caring woman between 30 and 50 years old residing in Markurdi for a relationship –08022490746 I am AK, 25 years old, working and living in Lagos. I need a sugar mummy –08132688413 I am Dave, 56 years old. I need a cute caring, sweet sexy sugar mummy for a romantic relationship. Tribe, religion is not a barrier. –08087087108 I am Philip, 27 years old from Lagos. I am a good lover. I need a lady between 25 and 38 years old. –07066134291 Davidson 35, a proprietor of an upcoming school. I need a sugar mummy to help me develop the school –08083359559 I am Vica, I stay in Jos. I am 6ft tall looking for a sugar mummy that will take good care of me financially and I will satisfy her –08034756927 I am James, 45 years old. I need a mature sugar mummy, sexy and romantic tribe and age is no barrier. She can be Isekiri or Calabar as an advantage –08123471468, 0817129723 Sola is my name, I’m 32 years old, I need a sugar mummy who is sexy and can take care of me. –08087113581 My name is SY, 32 years old, cute and tall, I live in Lagos and I need a caring sugar mummy from any part of the country. – 070355575964 NOTICE: Please note that we don’t do personal connections outside this column. Calls to connect privately are not allowed. Just send an SMS or email and we’ll get your request published. The request is published on first come first served basis. Thank you!

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

37

&

Weddings Engagements CELEBRATING THE JOY IN MARITAL BLISS DECEMBER 23, 2012

Motunrayo and Abdul-Rasheed weds in style

T

he families of Jimoh and Umar were in an ecstatic mood when their daughter and son, Motunrayo Jimoh and her sweetheart, Abdul-Rasheed Umar walked down the aisle in a stylish wedding recently.

The story of the lovebirds crossed part years ago as they grew up in the same neighbourhood with mutual friends and family trying to connect them including

the brother. th groom’s ’ b th Dark complexioned Abdul-Rasheed tried to woo Motunrayo for a long time but she refused to give in but he remained persistent. The couple revealed that, “along the line time passed, winter fell in love with summer, sun with the moon and then the both of us; we decided to go with the wind.” Today, they have become one flesh.

A year before their wedding day, Abdul-

Rasheed Motunrayo R h d proposed d to t his hi love, l M t where and when she least expected. He visited Motunrayo’s home and asked her parents to trust him with their most prized possession and then proposed with a prayer dedicated to his future bride and she accepted.

Two days before their wedding day, the couple along with their parents, family and friends celebrated their traditional engagement in grand style at Ogudu Recreg ation Centre. The lovebirds were superbly a dressed in gold outfits and coral bead acd cessories. c The Nikki wedding and Moroccan themed reception held at 10 Degrees t Events Centre, Oregun. The bride looked E stunning in her bejeweled sweetheart s neckline and trumpet silhouette while the n groom complemented his bride in elegant g grey three-piece suit. g All the surprise moments added even more to the thrilling atmosphere right m from Abdul-Rasheed’s hilarious serenade f for f his wife to the Motunrayo’s dazzling second dress to the top-notch performance s by b Nigerian star Wande Coal. Coral peach and a gold were the colours of the day. Invited e guests really had lots of fun, food and drinks. d Motunrayo is a young Nigerian fashion designer, she is the creative talent behind d handbag and accessories brand called h Maju while the groom Abdul-Rasheed is M also a a successful entrepreneur.

His selfless attitude endeared me –Oluwashola OLUWASEGUN IJABIKEN

A

desope Durodola and Oluwashola Bejide exchanged marital vows at the Events Garden, Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja on Saturday, December 1, 2012.

Their church blessing which took place at the aforementioned venue was conducted by pastors from the DayStar Christian Centre, of which the couple are both members.

After the ceremony, guests were treated to a luxury reception in another section of the garden. The reception venue was beautifully decorated with drapes, guests in the category of relatives, church members, old school mates and ex Niger State corpers who served in the same year with Oluwashola, were lavishly fed. Also, there was no dull moment as the Divine Melody Singers International rendered melodious tunes to add swag to the event.

The groom, Adesope wore an exquisite black suit, white shirt, maroon bow tie and a boutonnière to match. His sweetheart, ‘Oluwashola who wore a radiant smile throughout the occassion appeared in a transparent long-sleeve bolero, designed with bridal lace over a tube wedding dress.

She harmonized her graceful look with bead necklace, earrings and hair accessories.

According to Olwuwashola, they met three years ago at Daystar Christian Centre, Oregun, Lagos, when she newly joined, however, Adesope was an old member. They were both members of the Reflection Drama Group of the church, and then their friendship grew into a romantic relationship and finally blossomed into marriage.

Oluwashola got endeared to Adesope because of his selflessness. “He is simply selfless”, she revealed. She recalls

that he proposed to her on bended knees one evening, sometime last year at a garden in Oregun and after teasing him, she said “Yes.” Adesope appreciates ‘Oluwashola for her simplicity, humility, smartness and God-fearing attitude.

The bride is an indigene of Akure in Ondo State, while the groom hails from Ibadan in Oyo State.

You have a story to tell us about your wedding/engagement, or your new born baby.

You can call this line 08051980588

BABIES OF THE WEEK

Taiwo Oluwademilade and Kehinde Oluwaseminire Akintoye were born on November 17, 2012 at Ahmadiyyah Muslim Hospital, Abule-Egba, Lagos to Seun and Mary Akintoye.

The identical twins were born at an interval of 15 minutes. While Taiwo weighed 2.9kg, Kehinde weighed 2.7kg.

According to Mary, “During the pregnancy, I craved for suya a lot. I also ate various kinds of fruits. I salivated so much and towards the end of the pregnancy, I felt some heaviness, which made me have weak sensations.”

Mary revealed that her suspicion of being pregnant with twins was when she noticed that the baby-kicking was on both sides of her tummy and at the same time. “Initially, I felt it was the hand on one side and the leg kicking on the other. However, my curiosity was clarified when I went for ultrasound scan and was told that I should be expecting a set of twins. At this news, I felt so happy because twins are special children.”

What does Mary love most about the twins? They do things simultaneously.

“The striking quality of the twins is that they do things simultaneously, like waking up together, crying for breast milk and sleeping at the same time and so on,” Mary emphasized.

What does Mary want Taiwo and kehinde to become in future? Mary said that, “My choice of career for them is to become a lawyer and doctor respectively.”

What is the meaning of their names?

“Taiwo and Kehinde are Yoruba names naturally given to twins meaning the first and second. Oluwademilade means God has crowned me, while Oluwaseminire means God has done me well,” Mary concluded.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

38

A Fashionista’s

World DECEMBER 23, 2012

‘Beauty pageant goes beyond what the eyes can see’ Maribel Abii is the Miss Acting Guilds of Nigeria (AGN) 2012. This Mbaise, Imo state born who is a cousin to Munachi Abii the former Most Beautiful Girl of Nigeria in this interview told Adaeze Amos her duties as the Miss AGN and her lifestyle

As the Miss Acting Guild of Nigeria 2012, what do you represent?

I believe I’m the director, youth ambassador to the Nollywood film industry. My duties I passionately believe should include serving as a buffer between the corporate world and the film industry. Not excluding the teeming audiences globally. I’m supposed to use my office to access and seek solutions to some of the pressing challenges of the industry.

What pressing challenges are you referring to?

Pressing challenges of the industry like the corporate and government participation and the welfare of the actors.

Amongst discovering and reaching out to up-and-coming actors.

What is your pet project?

When I was a contestant, I had a lot of ideas for my pet project, but now as the Miss Actors Guild of Nigeria 2012, having seen the real challenges facing actors and film makers, I have decided to go back to the drawing board to reassess my pet project. So, at the moment, my team and I are developing a project that will leave its footprint on the sand of the industry.

I don’t want to rush and announce a project that would just be repetitive, a project without teeth and with no real impact on my immediate constituency. So, watch out for my pet project soon.

Are you an actress?

Yes, I am an actress. I have featured in just two movies.

Those two movies are No Network and Fool on the Mountain How was your childhood For me, growing up was like every other child from a decent average home. I didn’t get all I wanted at my beck and call but my childhood was fulfilling.

Who are your role models in Nollywood?

My role models in Nollywood are Joke Silva and Liz Benson because of the maturity with which they interpret their characters. Also their self comportment catches my fancy.

Then in the beauty world who are you aspiring to be like?

My role model in the beauty world is Agbani Darego. I lover her strength, her courage and her drive.

Are you in related to Munachi Abii the former Most Beautiful Girl of Nigeria?

Yes, we are cousins.

What would you want to be remembered for in Nollywood even after your tenure?

I would want to leave my footprints on the sands of Nollywood. I’m really passionate about making a positive impact in Nollywood. I believe in getting results and not just to establish a cosmetic scheme that would just apply make-up on real issues. I want to make a real difference and be remembered for it.

And the only way to do that is to at least facilitate or broker one or two solutions to the numerous challenges of the industry.

Would you wish to get married without much delay like Adaeze Igwe Yobo the former Most Beautiful Girl of Nigeria after Munachi?

Most definitely. That is the fulfillment of every woman. That also reminds me, Adaeze Igwe Yobo is one woman worthy of emulation What are the qualities of your ideal man?

My ideal man should be God fearing, calm, honest and obviously well built.

What really got you this diamond-studded crown?

My confidence, carriage, charisma and intellectual ability got me the crown. It wasn’t all about beauty because there were more beautiful girls that contested really but beauty pageant goes beyond what eyes can see.

Many would see you now as a beauty queen, but how do you see yourself even with this crown on your head?

I see myself as a go-getter. Someone who does not take no for an answer. I was born with potent talents which have brought me to where I am today. I try as much as possible to be nice to people but I will always watch it. You know when you are too sweet people would lick you up like candy and when you are too bitter, they would spew you out. So, I try as much as possible to strike a balance in life. But in a nutshell, Maribel Abii is a simple girl who fears God and cherishes mankind.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Opinion

Sunday December 23, 2012

39

Helicopter crash: An unsuitable celebration HANNATU MUSAWA

T

he helicopter crash this past weekend that claimed the lives of Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State, the immediate past national security adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi, and four others was truly a tragedy. It was a tragedy, not only for the obvious reasons that people had died or that it was further confirmation that the Nigerian aviation industry has totally collapsed and does not meet even the most basic standard. What added more to the tragedy were some of the reactions and responses expressed by Nigerians.

Although the reactions from the social networks, commentators and several public voices in and out of Nigeria were mixed with many lamenting the unfortunate deaths, one couldn’t help but mention the inappropriate celebrations which were predominantly based along, ethnic, religious, political and ‘a general disdain towards anything and anyone that is part of government’ lines.

Now, I dislike the ethnic and religious politics that many of our present office holders play, the misuse of position by our politicians when they pull stunts such as using military helicopters to shuttle themselves for private purposes, the sycophancy of flood-condolences of anyone or anything associated with government, the corruption, the stealing, the misrule, the selfishness of leaders just as much as the next person. However, reveling in the fact that a person has died, even if one did consider them an enemy, seems not only vile and disturbing but also duplicitous and distinctly in-humane. No matter what the situation, no matter whom the person, the death of another human being should

inspire contemplation and reflection, not celebration and sneer.

This incident is not the first to expose such a disgraceful display of sadism.

When the late President Yar’Adu’a died, some Nigerians rejoiced at his passing for ethnic, religious and political reasons. Even recently, when the Taraba State Governor, Mr. Danbaba Suntai, escaped death after a plane he was flying crashed in Yola, and when the mother of the Finance Minister Ngozi OkonjoIweala was kidnapped, people used the opportunity to taunt their distress and celebrate their suffering.

In truth, the celebrations undoubtedly confirm the negative prejudices about us and the subtle reality about what we have become as a people. It perpetuates the stereotype of Nigerians as unfeeling, wicked, cruel and inconsiderate. Celebrating the death of a person because they were a part of government or reveling in the fact that someone associated with government has been kidnapped does absolutely nothing to progress us as a people.

I understand the intense suffering, emotion and anxiety that go into being a Nigerian within the backdrop of the crippling and frustrating atmosphere that we exist in, but nonetheless, it seems wildly inappropriate to celebrate a person’s sorrow, agony and especially death. Yes our leaders have shortcomings and have cheated and are continuing to cheat us beyond belief, but celebrating the death or misery of anyone purely because they were or are part of government or because they are of a different tribe or religion is just senseless, primitive and shallow-minded. As a Muslim, who is fully submitted to the teachings of the Quran, I know that it is forbidden in Islam to speak ill of the dead or offend the living relatives of the dead no matter how

acrimonious the relationship was. And as a person who has fully read the Bible, a line from Proverbs 24:17 also comes to mind in this respect; “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.” Therefore none of us, Muslims or Christians, based on our religious doctrine have a carte blanche to celebrate the death of a fellow human being.

No matter how anyone feels about the men we lost last week, the fact of the matter is they are dead and their reckoning has started. They have passed on to a place where each and every one of us is destined to go someday. Instead of focusing on the shortcomings of those that have already passed to the extent where their deaths are being celebrated, our time may be best spent by removing our blinders and whole-heartedly looking inward, examining ourselves to see whether we represent what we want Nigeria to be. To see whether each of us is so different from those we abhor so much.

It would go without saying that anyone who has the heart to celebrate the death of another has the incapacity to operate at the standard we are holding our leaders to and they may even have a higher likelihood of taking a life if given the opportunity. As they say, we each have a choice to be the change we want to see in the world. One must always keep these issues in mind and keep in mind that, behind every death there are hordes of people; wives, children, friends and neighbors who are in pain at the loss of their loved ones. President Yar’Adua, Governor Yakowa, General Azazi and the many other government officials we have lost are no different.

Of course, lessons must be drawn from this Helicopter crash and other tragedies and the behavior of our leaders which has

reduced our society to such a low where we are so indifferent and stony to their personal plights must be addressed. But there is a time and a place for everything.

Now is a time to allow the families of the men that were lost to mourn. It is a time for us to show our humanity as a people and not celebrate another’s death.

I send my best wishes and condolence to all the friends and families of those that passed. Their death, as the death of anyone, greatly saddened me. But more than anything, maybe because Kaduna is my home, I was incredibly moved by the death of the late Governor of Kaduna State, Ibrahim Patrick Yakowa. I never knew, saw or met Governor Yakowa but from all the personal and official accounts one has come to learn of him, as the first person from Southern Kaduna and first Christian to govern Kaduna State, he proved himself to be a detribalized, fair and humble person with a towering spirit.

From most accounts that I have come across, he was a kind and gentle man, with a lively mind, who will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by the vast majority of the populace in Kaduna. He was known to be a person with a profound commitment to creating a humane society and was fair in balancing the trials that continue to plague Kaduna.

In such a state which is deeply challenged by sectarian and ethnic dichotomy and violence, his example of impartiality under adverse conditions must serve as a source of inspiration for other leaders and for young people. He will be warmly remembered for the grace and dignity with which he officiated at the helm of the state he governed. He leaves a powerful legacy of commitment to a humane society, and social action towards this end.

•Musawa is a public communicator

America: No more tears left shreds.

The weapons used in the execution style shootings were legally purchased and were merica is addicted to violence. That’s the registered to the gunman’s mother.

Two 9mm handguns that were used in the paradoxical truth. There are different modes of being an American. America today attack were recovered in the school. One AR15-type rifle also was found at the scene. evokes images of all sorts. Landing men on Authorities confirmed that Lanza fatally the moon. Jammed highways with scattered shot his mother in the face, then drove to beautiful landscapes and polluted air. the Sandy Hook Elementary and unleashed Men and women working feverishly in torrential streams of bullets on students and the lab 24/7 to finding cure for cancer. The face of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The face of staff before apparently taking his own life.

Tearful President Barack Obama with President John F. Kennedy. cracking voice said he reacted to the tragedy The gift of the internet, Face book, iPod, as a parent. “Our hearts are broken today,” iPad, iPhone. The unimaginable abundance of human intelligence and human endeavour he said. “The majority of those who died today were children. Beautiful little kids in the history of man. between the ages of five and 10 years old.”

As one writer aptly observes “One recoils New York City Mayor Bloomberg, a from the images of America and one is staunch advocate of strict gun control said irresistibly drawn to them. Not only if one “Not even kindergarteners learning their A, is American. The images of America are B, Cs are safe.” watched by the whole world.”

Expressing his disappointment about The quiet town of Newtown Connecticut the lax texture of US gun laws, he said: “We of 27,000 people and the world were jolted with high voltage nightmare this past Friday heard after Columbine that it was too soon to talk about gun laws.” when 26 people, including 20 children be“We heard it after Virginia Tech,” contintween the ages of five and 10 years old were ued Mayor Bloomberg. “After Tucson and massacred.

The American infatuation with guns took Aurora and Oak Creek. And now we are a sudden veer into Armageddon by the sense- hearing it again,” he said.

The death toll is the highest shooting less killings of the little ones. since a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Twenty-year old Adam Lanza the identified gunman turned the Sandy Hook Elemen- Tech in 2007. The latest Newtown gun-butchery is sad commentary on America which tary School in Newtown Connecticut into slaughter field by reducing the bodies of eight refused to learn from her past.

The grim epiphany in the indiscriminate girls, 12 boys, and six adults into shards and

BAYO OLUWASANMI

A

gun killings signals a crippling erosion of civilization and humanity of America that is becoming a nation of guns and on the fast lane to devouring its young ones.

The kindergarteners of Sandy Hook Elementary learned early about evil, cruelty, and insanity of a world they once regard as the playful and joyful world of the Big Bird.

Hold your breath and consider the following school shootings: January 16, 2002: Peter Odighizuwa, 43, an expelled law student at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va., shot and killed the dean of the school, a professor and a student, and injured three other people.

October 28, 2002: Robert S. Flores, 41, a student at the University Of Arizona College Of Nursing in Tuscon, Arizona, killed three people before turning the gun on himself.

March 21, 2005: On an Indian reservation in Red Lake, Minn., 16-year old Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend before driving to his high school, where he shot dead seven others.

October 2, 2006: Charles Carl Roberts IV shot 10 girls at West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., killing five.

February 14, 2008: Steven Kazmierczak returned to his former campus at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., where he killed five people before turning the gun on himself. February 12, 2010: Three people were killed and three others wounded when Amy Bishop, a biology professor, opened fire at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

February 27, 2012: Thomas “T.J.” Lane, 17, shot five of his fellow students at a school in Chardon, Ohio. Three of them died within two days following the shooting.

April 2, 2012: Former student One L. Goh, 43, killed seven people at Oikos University, a private Korean Christian college in Oakland, California.

All these paled in comparison to the toll of the deadliest attack ever on a school in the US. On May18, 1927, 45 people, including 38 children, were killed when bombs planted

by Andrew Kehoe, 55, ripped through the Bath School in Bath Township, Michigan, and exploded outside as rescuers arrived at the scene.

Who says guns do not kill?

The opium of defense for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its legion defenders of gun culture is the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution is the part of the US Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

The Second Amendment “protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm, unconnected to service in a militia and the use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.”

The key word in the amendment is “… for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self defense in the home.” The law has been misinterpreted, misplaced, and misapplied.

•Oluwasanmi is a social affairs analyst

40

Politics

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

you have a lot of adrenaline and energy, you could afford to lose energy but it was becoming tough. And as I said it was a troubling decision to withdraw my services after that short tenure officially came to a close.

So what are you doing at the moment?

Doing what I know how to do best – teaching English.

I’ve already reported in my Department; supervising projects at all levels, undergraduate and postgraduate, I feel very excited about it.

Have you been given a designation or are just a lecturer here?

I am a professor of English.

Some see your exit at Veritas as preparation for 2015; what’s your comment?

There’s no harm in people thinking that way. I’m a son of Benue who loves Benue very much and I always try to do my best especially in the area where I know well – education, to improve the quality of life of the people here. I think that in itself is politics. You’re thinking of education in those terms; improving access to education for Benue people. When you stay in a place like this, obviously every other day I’ll be involved in the process of decision making in one way or the other. I think in all modesty I can claim to be a stakeholder in this enterprise called Benue. I haven’t declared any interest but I don’t think there’s any harm when people think that I may be interested.

Ker

Benue 2015: I may be interested –Prof Ker Professor David Ker had a successful tenure as Vice Chancellor of the Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi after which he worked with the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja. Thereafter, Catholic Bishops appointed him Vice Chancellor of Veritas University, Abuja to complete the term of an incumbent. But after two years there he has left and returned to his professorial chair at BSU. In this interview he speaks about why he left Veritas, gives an account of his stewardship there, and also comments on speculations that he may contest for governor in Benue State come 2015. Excerpts: Why did you leave Veritas University?

I left because my tenure ended two weeks ago. I had a two-year tenure; it was a special arrangement with the Bishops Conference that I would do two years to complete the tenure of the VC I was replacing. The idea was that after the two years my appointment could be renewed but for personal reasons I didn’t want the appointment to be renewed. So sometime in September this year I gave them the mandatory three months notice that I would not like my appointment to be renewed , that I would prefer to finish the two-year tenure which was the first appointment in the letter I got.

Some close watchers say you had problems or disagreements with your employers which bordered on staff welfare, emoluments and things like that, what’s your comment?

I wouldn’t describe it as problems. I think there was a slight misunderstanding about the personal emoluments.

We were paying what is known as CONUASS which was the salary scale agreed upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and the Federal Government and it was to enable us maintain a competitive edge with other universities. If you have to be the best, you must be able to offer comparable salaries. And I believe my proprietors believe that that is a bit high. They were hoping they could negotiate something lower than that. That’s natural; I didn’t see it as a major disagreement. They are people who had the money and it was not enough so they had to maximize it. That’s not the reason why I left anyway.

Many think you didn’t agree on that so you had to leave…

I’m not the kind of person that would run away from a challenge. I think we could have solved that easily.

Can you give us a brief account of your stewardship there, about the things you were able to do in two years?

The one I’m most proud of is the fact that I witnessed,

for the first time, the National Universities Commission (NUC), visiting the University for the Accreditation Exercise. Mind you it’s a new university so none of the programmes had yet been accredited. So we were welcoming them in March this year for the first time since the university opened its door to students and staff. And I’m very happy to tell you that the university received full accreditation for all its programs. It’s a major legacy that I believe I’ve left for Veritas because first of all it’s a bit unique that a new institution facing the accreditation team for the first time will get that kind of excellent result in all the programs. I’m very proud of that legacy.

The second thing that I’ve left behind is an atmosphere of peace. If you’ll recall when I got there my predecessor had been kidnapped, the Bursar was kidnapped, three students were kidnapped and there was tension both within the university and outside with the community. By the time I was leaving there was calm both inside and outside.

I give glory to God for giving me that wisdom that allowed me to settle matters amicably with the community of Obehie.

Do you have any regrets? Would have wished to stay on?

No, not at all, I really wanted to leave. You know it’s very challenging on a personal level. I had to discuss that with my family very closely. I’ve been a V.C before and by the grace of God I was a very successful V.C so I didn’t really have anything to prove. But when the Bishops approached me to take the job, I said well I know this job well and this is my church there is no reason why I can’t offer my services to the church in which I worship. So I took the challenge.

I think I left at an appropriate time. The sacrifices I was making were enormous. I once told someone that I was in my second NYSC round because if you remember I had to literally hide in Port-Harcourt and drive every morning to Obehie for work and back meanwhile the report I got was very unsafe but I thank God that I came back okay. The hustle of coming to check on my family itself and so on, it was becoming a bit much for me. If you’re much younger

BSU clocked 20 this year; as a pioneer staff, former Vice Chancellor, as well a major stakeholder as you’ve said, how would you assess the institution?

Oh, I’m so proud of this institution. In words I won’t be able to tell you how I feel. When you came with your newspaper and I saw that we had graduated 23,000 in this university in the 20 years that we’ve been around, my head swelled up again because I know that I’ve contributed a lot to that number and I feel so proud. Everywhere I go, in Lagos, I remember even in Nairobi not too long ago a confident young man walked to me and said he was my student here and he works with CNN, I felt so excited. My joy is the joy of somebody at the back of the yard who has planted some beautiful grains and so on and he goes every evening and he finds that they’re sprouting and producing fruits; this is a wonderful thing that has happened to Benue. Its one industry that I believe very strongly by the grace of God will not die.

Others have seen all kinds of stages of growth, mostly comatose, this one is getting more and more vibrant and I’m proud of it. I’m very proud of Benue State University, I’m very proud of that result. And I’m so happy that I’ve also come back in this 20th year to share in the joy of the successes that we’ve recorded in this period. It’s amazing that it’s already 20 years. I told someone recently that I can remember as a Deputy Vice Chancellor carrying my own broom to sweep the office and dusting it and sitting down and working hard. It all seems like yesterday when you see what you’ve achieved with it. I was looking at the convocation brochure and the names of the members of Senate and so many of them were young men and women that were assistant lecturers in 1992, 1993; isn’t that fantastic?

We’ve grown our own professors and they are solid professors in this university. I think that it should be something that should be cheering news anywhere in the world. So I’m very excited about what we have achieved in 20 years.

Mind you it’s a collective thing that’s why I’m saying “we”; there are many of us. Many of us have been part and parcel of this big dream which Rev. Adasu and his people ensured that it was concretized in 1992.

Are there some areas you wish recorded more improvement, more progress?

Of course, we’re short of space. We’re really short of space, we need classrooms for our students, we need offices for the staff. More seriously is the issue of classrooms for students. They’re overcrowded and I think that it can be done. I think that with the good will that holds this university together, if the stakeholders, we used to talk about these local governments for instance, if they could put in a certain percentage as a contribution to BSU monthly, we will have large lecture theatres where examinations can hold, we’ll have medium sized lecture theatres, that way everybody is comfortable.

The way things are now I used to describe it as lecture by rumour because it got so bad that students sometimes have to stand by the window and because they stand by the window they’re saying, what is he saying? So obviously it’s almost like there’s a rumour but we can minimize that structural deficiency if we sit and work together.

What we did in 2003 was to approach ALGON and ALGON gave us these monies that we built one lecture theatre here and one up there and then the Faculty of Arts building.

That was just for six months’ contribution. If they do that just for two, three years sustainably, we will be very far.

Then there’ll be enough accommodation to take care of the teaming, like I said this is one successful industry that Benue has and we can keep it so.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Sunday, December 23, 2012

41

xt for Kaduna politics?

s

-

n

a -

e

Yakowa as deputy.

Yero inherited insecurity posed by terrorists as his major challenge. For him to govern successfully depends on how he will tackle the menace. The politics of succession has occurred twice in Kaduna State. The first was in 2005 after former governor Makarfi’s deputy, the late Stephen Shekari, died in office. The second was when Sambo was appointed vice-president and the elevation of the late Yakowa as the governor.

Now, Yakowa died and his former deputy stepped in as governor and the office of the deputy is still vacant.

The contest for the office of the deputy governor will be decided by three power brokers in the state –Vice-President Sambo, the new governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero and former Governor Ahmed Makarfi, but it seems Sambo and Yero have agreed to work together to produce the deputy governor.

Yero is from Northern Kaduna and will pick his deputy from Southern Kaduna.

Yero

governor for all and sundry irrespective of religion, ethnicity or geopolitical consideration. My constituency is Kaduna State.

“Nobody will be discriminated on the basis of his faith or tribe. On the contrary, each and every citizen will be treated on his or her own merit. Let me in particular assure the Christian community in Kaduna State that my administration will do everything possible to protect their rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Yero was, in the past, appointed the chief accountant of Nalado Nigeria Limited, a company owned by Vice-President Sambo.

He rose to become the Director of Finance and Administration in Sambo’s company, a position he was holding till Sambo, as governor of Kaduna State, appointed him Commissioner for Finance in 2007 and later recommended to

Likely contenders for deputy governorship The likely contenders for the deputy governorship are: Chairman of PDP in the state, Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga; former Minister of Power for the State, Architect Nuhu Wya and former Minister of Aviation for the State, Mr. Hassan Felix Hyet.

Ambassador Bajoga was elected the party’s chairman this year. He was said to have enjoyed Vice-President Sambo’s support.

Sources said Bajoga may be appointed the deputy governor because of his robust relationship with Sambo.

Architect Wya was Sambo’s class mate. He was nominated for ministerial appointment in 2007 by the then governor Sambo.

Mr. Hyet was councillor and later chairman of Kachia Local Government Area during the military era. He was also appointed Commissioner for Local Government, Finance and Health by former Gover nor Ahmed Makarfi.

Sambo, as the governor, appointed him as the Secretary to the State Government.

Hyet was also appointed Minister of Aviation for the State by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Sources said Yakowa’s widow, Amina, a retired director in the federal civil service, may be named Governor Yero’s deputy.

Some interest groups, however, differ on the issue. Some support the plan to appoint Amina Yakowa as the deputy, while others opposed the idea.

Those who opposed the idea suggested that she should given appointment by the Federal Government to distance herself from the Kaduna State politics.

Amina is competent to handle the position having been with her late husband throughout Mrs. Yakowa his political career.

r credible political platform registered UPP under Chief Chekwas Okorie.

Okorie, who last week in Enugu called for Igbo Political Forum, canvassed for Igbo Presidency, especially through the UPP. At the meeting, the people of South-East promised to present a candidate for the 2015 presidential election on UPP platform.

Chief Chekwas Okorie described as unfair the belief by certain people that Ndigbo cannot rule the country because of their alleged disunity.

Okorie said what Ndigbo required to rule the country was not 100 per cent unity, but 30 per cent, adding that the South-East would rule the West Africa should there be 50 per cent unity among its people.

Participants at the Igbo Political Forum also resolved to begin a massive campaign that would make other zones of the country support the as-

piration, stressing that it was unfair that over 40 years after the nation’s independence, South-East has not produced the president.

Speaking at the event attended by several Igbo leaders from the five South-East states, Okorie said the decision to zone the presidency to the region in 2015 was not personal, but was rigorously debated by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of UPP. He said it was borne out of the desire to enthrone justice in Nigeria, saying: “UPP believes that the foundation of the various crisis and threatening issues plaguing the country arose because certain zones and people are being marginalised.

“There is no better way to move the country forward than to ensure that there is unity, justice and fairness. UPP is ready and willing to address these issues so as to put an end to these challenges.”

Okorocha

422

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO GROWING UP with

Aunty Angela growingup5@yahoo.com

Hello children, It is just two days to Christmas and believe me, Christmas is a time for togetherness, giving, love and plenty of holiday-related activities which can be used to take up time. It is that time of the year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Parents, ensure you children feel this season to maximum by taking them out to interesting and fun filled places. Also ensure that they have lots to eat, drink and most importantly, do not forget to buy them gifts.

Today, all the articles featured are Christmas based. Children you should have lots of fun but please also remember to be very careful in all you do. I wish you all a Merry Christmas in advance.

ITS STORY TIME …

Name: Olamide Olabode School: Oke Ira Primary school Class: Primary 5B Age: 8 years old Christmas is when Jesus Christ was born, that is why they called it Christmas Day so that we can celebrate His birth.

Name: Chibueze Chukwuma School: Oakdale School, Ogba Class: Basic 4 Age: 7 years old Christmas is the day when Jesus was born in a manger. All around the world Christmas is celebrated every December 25 by mainly Christians. Father Christmas will be visiting us that day and he will give us lots of gifts.

We will decorate our houses with lots of beautiful things like balloons, ribbons and colourful decorations. Many houses, offices and schools will be decorated with red, green and gold which are the colours of Christmas.

Christmas is a time to eat lots of different kinds of food, take ice cream, drinks and visit interesting places as well. It is indeed a time to have lots of fun. But the reason for Christmas is Jesus Christ.

The little Christmas tree

T

his is the story of a little fir tree who dreamt of growing up so that he could go and be a Christmas tree in the house of humans.

The older trees, knew more about life, and they told him that being a tree with the humans was not as good as all that. But the little fir tree did not want to believe the older trees and he didn’t have long to wait.

He was so pleased when one day some children came with their parents to choose a fir tree to decorate their living room. The children adored him at first sight. So he was dug up, and then brought into the living room, where he was hung with assorted decorations.

After they had finished decorating him, the little fir tree shone with a thousand glittering lights.

As Christmas drew closer, everyone admired the little Christmas tree. The young fir tree thought: “All the bigger

MAZE

fir trees were wrong” and he lifted his branches even higher so people could admire him better. Up till January, he was the prince of the living room; but then he started to lose his needles.

Now nobody looked at him, touched him, or even bothered to gather up the tiny needles that fell. Then, the whole family decided to put him down into the underground store. The fir tree started to feel very sad that he had even been chosen by the family.

However, after several days of waiting, the little fir tree was replanted. He was so happy to be back in this good old earth that he had missed so much during those endless days when he was shut up in the underground store. Suddenly he understood that the family had left him in the cold of the underground store to keep him healthy.

Each year, the family dug him up again to put him back into the living room. He was very happy with his new family. And yes, in the end the bigger trees were wrong about something - some humans are good after all.

POEM

The True Christmas

Can you find your way through the Merry Christmas Maze?

Start from the letter M down to S.

C is for the Christ child lying in a manger.

H is for the Holy One who saved us all from danger.

R is to Remember Him who died that we may live.

I is to Inspire us that we may always give.

S is for Joyful songs and sacred hymns that praise.

T is to Thank the Lord for showing us the way.

M is for the Miracles that bless us each day.

A is for the Almighty who always puts us first.

S is for the Shepherd who guides us on earth.

Name: Akeredolu Precious School: Tomobid primary school, Agidingbi Class: Primary G5D Age: 8 years old Christmas is the day that our messiah, Jesus Christ was born. It falls on December 25 of every year and it celebrated all over the world.

It is a season of love, gift and having lots of fun with family and friends.

Name: Okechukwu Oluchi School: Agidingbi Junior Grammar School Class: JSS 3 Age: 11 years old Christmas means the birth of Jesus Christ and it is celebrated by everybody. As for me, I normally celebrate Christmas by eating chicken, fried rice and I also go out to places like eateries, visit family members and friends.

I like Christmas because my mother will kill chicken so that I will eat rice and drink assorted drinks until I am tired. Christmas Day is the day I love most in the year and I am sure that Jesus will be happy we are celebrating His birthday for him. Everybody is usually happy on Christmas Day.

QUOTE I once bought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, toys not included.

–Bernard Manning

Name: Emmanuel Daniel Jessey School: Omole Junior Grammar School Class: JSS 2C Age: 13 years old Christmas is that time of the year when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is a time to visit our family members, loved ones and friends that we have not seen in a long time.

It is a time to visit interesting places with the whole family. It is also a time to show love, forgive, give out gifts and visit cinema houses to watch interesting movies.

But most importantly, Jesus Christ is the reason for the season.

JOKE

Christmas Prayers A few days before Christmas, Alex, Edward and Ben were spending the night at their grandparent’s house. When it was time to go to bed, and anxious to do the right thing, they all knelt down to say their prayers.

Suddenly, Ben who is the youngest began to pray in a very loud voice.

“Dear Lord, please

anta Claus ask Santa ng me a to bring station, a play-station, ntainmountainbike and a cope.” telescope.”

Alex, his older brother leaned over and elbowed him and said, “Why are you shouting when praying? God is not deaf.”

Ben replied, “I know but grandma is.”

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

O US

WORD SEARCH

Name: Ayomide Oluyadi School: Susan Memorial School Class: Basic 6 Age: 11 years old Christmas is the season we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ who died for our sin on the cross of Calvary.

It is the season to show love by giving gifts to the needy. It is when family members go out together to have fun. For many children, it is when our parents buy us new clothes, shoes, watches, sunglasses and other nice things so that we will look good and be happy. One interesting thing about Christmas is that we eat fried rice, drink soft drinks and also take ice cream.

Name: Ani Romanus School: Omole Junior Grammar School Class: JSS 2D Age: 12 years old To me, Christmas is the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a day to have fun with our friends and family. It is also a time to visit our grandparents that are in the village.

Christmas Day is the day I love most which is December 25 because it is the day our parents takes us out. It is also a day that we will cook delicious foods and visitors will visit our home. We also decorated our house with Christmas tree with lots of beautiful decorations and lights.

Grab a gift musical chair

oliday season parties are filled with music so why not bring some fun and games to them as well. Grab a gift musical chair is a great way to entertain both the children and adults so everyone can be a winner.

Number of players: 8 -10 people What you need: Small gifts wrapped in at least three layers of wrapping Christmas music CD player Activity: Place chairs in a circle and put a gift on each

S

B

C

J

E

S

U

S

M

D

A

E

X

H

N

W

T

R

E

E

N

L

P

O

A

S

W

O

B

C

T

L

L

L

M

S

X

L

S

O

A

S

E

L

W

T

I

A

R

R

C

T

G

Y

O

Q

M

E

E

A

L

H

N

S

N

T

I

A

G

T

A

G

A

M

S

N

H

I

R

I

U

I

Y

I

D

K

F

I

F

O

S

L

R

E

E

T

N

T

W

N

L

H

E

C

A

N

D

L

E

I

C

R

D

E

H

T

A

E

R

W

J

E

L

V

E

S

D

P

N

N

Find and circle all the words related to Christmas. They could be found in any direction.

Christmas Angel Reindeer Decoration

Santa Claus Jesus Wreath Snowman

Gift Bells Lights Elves

Candle Tree Holly Bows

DID YOU KNOW? The length of Santa’s beard varies

CHRISTMAS FUN

H

43

Sunday, December 23, 2012

chair. Each child then takes a seat in one of the chairs and places the gift on his/her lap.

When the music starts playing the children will start passing the presents to the right until the music stops.

Each child removes a layer of wrapping from the present he/she is holding when the music stops. When the music starts again, the children pass the presents to the right again until the music stops.

When the last layer of wrapping is removed, each child gets to keep the present in his hands.

Everyone is a winner with this game.

DOT GAME Please connect the dots and find out what it forms.

T

he length of Santa’s beard varies according to who meaeasures it. The most recent measurement was conducted by the Head Professor Elf who used his right foot to make the measurements, and the dimensions were found to be a massive three feet and a few sticking out hairs.

In order to make sure Santa’s beard stays handsome and bushy, the elves have established Santa’s very own Elf Barber Shop. Taking good care of Santa’s beard is quite a task indeed; just keeping the beard curly requires hard work performed by a dozen elves.

TONGUE TWISTERS

RIDDLES

Why does Santa go down the chimney on Christmas?

Answer: Because it soots him What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?

Answer: It is Christmas, Eve How do sheep say Merry Christmas in Mexico?

Answer: Fleece Navidad What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus?

Answer: Claustrophobic Why is Santa so good at karate?

Answer: Because he has a black belt

Seven Santas sang silly songs Santa’s sleigh slides on slick snow Clever Carol carries crimson candles carefully

POP

Children, you can send your contributions and pictures through this email address growingup5@yahoo.com or call telephone number: 0805 198 0588

44

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

45

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Wellness YOUR HEALTH AND HEALTH RELATED ISSUES DECEMBER 23, 2012

Avoid getting constipated during this season

Facts

VANESSA OKWARA

A

s the preparation for the Christmas and New Year holidays reaches fever pitch, holiday shoppers are seen doing their last minute buying to stock their homes with what will be needed to make this years’ holiday a memorable one for their family and loved ones. A peep into their shopping bags will reveal assortments of meat, choice drinks, cakes, sweets and other goodies they will use to entertain themselves and their would-be guests.

Few people often remember to add fruits and vegetables into their menu plan during the Christmas and New Year break as some consider them boring for a festive period. Little wonder you see so many people getting constipated from eating foods not rich in fiber that would have helped to digest all the junk foods they loaded into their stomach during the brief holiday.

Constipation may be considered normal as everyone experiences constipation at some point in their life. If you’ve ever been constipated, you know how uncomfortable it can be. The thought of using the toilet becomes

Constipation affects almost everyone at one time or another.

The most common causes of constipation are poor diet and lack of exercise.

Other causes of constipation include medications, irritable bowel syndrome, abuse of laxatives, and specific diseases.

In most cases, following simple tips such as drinking plenty of liquids and eating foods rich in fiber will help relieve symptoms and prevent recurrence of constipation: Do not ignore the urge to have a bowel movement. torture for the sufferer as the strain put on the anus becomes unbearable, painful and frustrating.

This uncomfortable feeling can be avoided if we stay away from things that could make us get constipated.

Understanding its causes, prevention, and treatment will help most people find relief.

Early detection of meningitis saves lives –Physician An Abuja based medical practitioner, Dr Daniel Onaiwu, has said that early detection of meningitis can go a long way in saving lives.

Onaiwu told the News men in Abuja that failure to treat it early, could lead to paralysis.

Meningitis is a serious, sometimes fatal illness, in which a viral or bacterial infection inflames the meringes, causing symptoms such as severe headache, vomiting, stiff neck, and high fever.

The doctor explained that bacterial meningitis could

be life threatening, as the infection could cause the tissues around the brain to swell.

Onaiwu said that acute bacterial meningitis was the most common form of meningitis representing approximately 80 per cent of all cases.

Normal bowel movement is different for each person. You may not have a bowel movement every day and still not be constipated while another person will be. Although some healthy people always have soft or near-runny stools, others have firm stools, but have no trouble passing them.

Dr Mrs. Christy Onuwa, a family physician with Rosefield medical clinic says, ‘’When you rarely have a bowel movement, or it takes a lot of effort to pass stool, you have constipation. Passing large, wide, or hard stools may tear the anus, especially in children and this can cause bleeding from the anus.’’

Dr Onuwa explained how constipation takes place in the digestive system and the causes. ‘’Constipation occurs when the colon absorbs too much water or if the colon’s muscle contractions are slow or sluggish, causing the stool to move through the colon too slowly.

As a result, stools can become hard and dry. Normally, the waste products of digestion, which is the stool, are pushed through the intestines by muscle contractions.

In the large intestine (colon), most of the water and salt in this waste mixture are reabsorbed because they’re essential for many of your body’s functions. However, when there is not enough fluid or fiber-rich food in your diet or if the colon’s muscle contractions are slow, the stool hardens, dries and passes through your colon too slowly. This is the root cause of constipation’’ she said.

Dr Christy advised everyone to include foods rich in fiber into their menu plan during celebrations. ‘’Christmas and new year is a time people eat a lot of unhealthy foods in the name of enjoyment. Even people under strict diet tend to forget to adhere to it and after the holidays they begin again from square one. I’ll advise that if you do not want to get constipated during this season, avoid too much of red meat and junk food and ask for more salads instead to go with your meal. That way you eat a lot of fiber that will help soften your tummy. It is CONTINUED ON PAGE 46

HEALTH NEWS UNICEF pledges support to fight malnutrition in 7 states UN Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), has pledged to support the fight against food and acute malnutrition crisis in seven Sahel states in northern Nigeria.

Mrs. Edele Thebaud, the Chief of ‘D’ Office of the UNICEF in Bauchi, made this known recently at a one-day

advocacy meeting organised by UNICEF for stakeholders from those states.

The states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano and Yobe.

She said that the states have high malnutrition crisis.

“UNICEF in 2009 initiated the Community Based Management of Acute Malnutri-

tion (CMAM) programme to implement the fight against malnutrition in those states respectively,’’ she said.

She added that the programme began with three pilots local government areas in Gombe state before it was expanded to 42 other local governments in the seven states over the years.

46

Wellness

Know your organs

T

Sunday, December 23, 2012

The Gallbladder

he gallbladder is a small pear-shaped muscular sack that acts as a storage tank for bile. Sometimes called gall bladder, the gallbladder is a small non-vital organ that aids in the digestive process and stores bile produced in the liver.

It is a hollow organ that sits in a concavity of the liver known as the gallbladder fossa. In adults, it measures approximately eight centimetre in length and four centimetre in diameter when fully distended. It is divided into three sections: fundus, body, and neck.

The bile is made in the liver by liver cells and is sent through tiny ducts or canals to the duodenum (small intestine) and to the gallbladder. The gallbladder stores the bile to have it available in larger quantities for secretion when a meal is eaten. The ingestion of food and especially fats cause the release of a hormone, cholecystokinin, (CCK) which in turn signals the relaxation of the valve at the end of the common bile duct (the sphincter of oddi) which lets the bile enter the small intestine. It also signals the contraction of the gallbladder which squirts the concentrated liquid bile into the small intestine where it helps with the emulsification or breakdown of fats in the meal.

Location of the gallbladder The gallbladder is located behind the liver on the

right side of the rib cage. It hits up against the under surface of the liver. There is a duct from the liver to the small intestine which is joined by a duct from and to the gallbladder. Bile moves in both directions into and out of the gallbladder through the cystic duct. This latter duct joins with a duct from the pancreas on its way to the small intestine carrying pancreatic enzymes also used for digestion. The main duct is called the common bile duct. It is common to the liver, gallbladder and farther down line, to the pancreas as well.

Bile is continually being made and secreted by the liver into bile ducts in varying amounts. Some of it goes directly into the small intestine and some into the gallbladder. The gallbladder stores the bile to be squirted down the ducts into the small intestine to help to breakdown the fats when you eat a meal that contains fats. It also acts as a reservoir that uptakes excess bile when there is pressure in the bile ducts.

Bile is a bitter, yellow fluid. It can consist of cholesterol, lecithin, calcium, bile salts, acids and waste materials among other things.

Sometimes the substances contained in bile crystallise in the gallbladder, forming gallstones.

These small, hard concretions are more common in persons over 40, especially in women and the obese. They can cause inflammation of the gallbladder, a disorder that produces symptoms similar to those of indigestion, especially after a fatty meal is consumed. If a stone becomes lodged in the bile duct, it produces severe pain. Gallstones may pass out of the body spontaneously; however, serious blockage is treated by removing the gallbladder surgically.

Eat foods rich in fibre to avoid constipation this season –Expert CONTINUED FROM PAGE 45 important therefore that families consciously include foods rich in fiber and vegetables into their menu. A diet with enough fiber of 20 to 35 grams each day helps the body form soft, bulky stools. High-fiber foods include beans, whole grains, cereals, fresh fruits, and vegetables such as cabbage and carrots. For people prone to constipation, limiting foods that have little or no fiber, such as ice cream, cheese, meat, and processed foods, is also important’’ she elucidated.

Medical experts agree that the bout of constipation people go through results from bad habits they formed overtime in their life. Take for instance; Children get constipated when they postpone having a bowel movement because of stressful toilet training or because they do not want to interrupt their play with friends.

Dr. Onuwa went on to give a list of some of the bad habits people have formed that could lead to constipation: Junk Food and unhealthy diet When you eat junk food and foods that are low in fiber and nutrients and high in fat and sugar, you easily get constipated. And all that fat and too little fiber can cause digestive woes.

“We know that fat tends to slow the gut down, because the gut is trying its best to get all the calories it can from fat. So avoid stuffing your stomach with so much fatty foods this Christmas” says Dr Onuwa Not Drinking Enough Fluids Causes Constipation People who have problems with constipation should try to drink liquids every day. In fact everyone should form the habit of drinking at least eight cups of water every day. It keeps you from getting dehydrated as well as keeps you from getting constipated. However, liquids that contain caffeine, such as coffee and cola drinks will worsen one’s symptoms by causing dehydration. Alcohol is another beverage that causes dehydration. It is important to drink water, especially when consuming caffeine containing drinks or alcoholic beverages.

Lack of Physical Activity Lack of exercise not only causes weight gain and other health problems, it can also affect digestion.

Lack of physical activity can lead to constipation, although doctors do not know precisely why. Lack of physical activity is thought to be one of the reasons constipation is common in older people.

Ignoring the Urge to Have a Bowel Movement People who ignore the urge to have a bowel movement may eventually stop feeling the need to have one, which can lead to constipation. Some people delay having a bowel movement because they do not want to use toilets outside the home. Others ignore the urge because of emotional stress or because they are too busy.

Apart from these bad habits, medical experts listed other things that could cause constipation to include: • Eating disorders • Irritable bowel syndrome • Pregnancy • Antacid medicines containing calcium or aluminum • Medicines (especially strong pain medicines, such as narcotics, antidepressants, or iron pills) • Depression • Frequent use or abuse of laxatives • Specific diseases, such as stroke, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease • Problems with the colon and rectum, such as intestinal obstruction In treating constipation, Dr Christy said most times you don’t need to visit the hospital unless its constipation induced by a disease such as cancer of the colon. ‘’ more often than not, the cure for constipation is all about lifestyle changes. The lifestyle changes that may help treat and prevent constipation include drinking enough water; eating enough fruits and vegetables.

Engage in daily exercise, and reserve enough time to have a bowel movement. In addition, the urge to have a bowel movement should not be ignored’’ she warned.

However, the expert suggested that those who have made diet and lifestyle changes and are still constipated, should see a doctor who may recommend laxatives for a limited time since taking laxative indiscriminately can also make someone to be dependent on taking them and remain constipated permanently.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Your

BONE Health

with Dr. Olatunji Idowu

Growth plate fractures and injuries

Dear readers, let’s us veer off for a moment to discuss a special type of injury which incidentally I’ve seen four times in the last three weeks and on each occasion the diagnosis was missed by the attending physician and the patients were only referred when they did not respond or improve when routine injury measures were instituted. These types of fractures are referred to as growth plate fracture and injuries and they occur principally in children.

What Is the growth plate?

The growth plate, also known as the epiphyseal plate or physis, is the area of growing tissue near the end of the long bones in children and adolescents. Each long bone has at least two growth plates: one at each end. The growth plate determines the future length and shape of the mature bone. When growth is complete; sometime during adolescence, the growth plates close and are replaced by solid bone.

Who gets growth plate injuries?

These injuries occur in children and adolescents. The growth plate is the weakest area of the growing skeleton, weaker than the nearby ligaments and tendons that connect bones to other bones and muscles. In a growing child, a serious injury to a joint is more likely to damage a growth plate than the ligaments that stabilize the joint.

An injury that would cause a sprain in an adult can be associated with a growth plate injury in a child.

Injuries to the growth plate are fractures. They comprise 15 percent of all childhood fractures. They occur twice as often in boys as in girls, with the greatest incidence among 14- to 16-year-old boys and 11- to 13-year-old girls. Older girls experience these fractures less often because their bodies mature at an earlier age than boys.

As a result, their bones finish growing sooner, and their growth plates are replaced by stronger, solid bone.

Approximately half of all growth plate injuries occur in the lower end of the outer bone of the forearm (radius) at the wrist. These injuries also occur frequently in the lower bones of the leg (tibia and fibula). They can also occur in the upper leg bone (femur) or in the ankle, foot, or hip bone.

What Causes growth plate injuries?

While growth plate injuries are caused by an acute event, such as a fall or a blow to a limb, chronic injuries can also result from overuse. For example, a gymnast who practices for hours on the uneven bars, a long-distance runner, or a baseball pitcher perfecting his curve ball can all have growth plate injuries.

In one large study of growth plate injuries in children, the majority resulted from a fall, usually while running or playing on furniture or playground equipment. Competitive sports, such as football, basketball, softball, track and field, and gymnastics, accounted for one-third of all injuries. Recreational activities, such as biking, skiing, and skateboarding, accounted for one-fifth of all growth plate fractures, while car, motorcycle, and all-terrain-vehicle accidents accounted for only a small percentage of fractures involving the growth plate.

Whether an injury is acute or due to overuse, a child who has pain that persists or affects athletic performance or the ability to move or put pressure on a limb should be examined by a doctor. A child should never be allowed or expected to “work through the pain.”

If you have any problem or question about your musculoskeletal system (bones, joints and muscles) do send me a mail at tunjiidowu@live. com for advice. Meanwhile, your comments and feedback on the issues discussed are highly welcomed.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business

47

FRESH BUSINESS NEWS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS December 23, 2012

NPC: Now set for budget reforms?

TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

T

he National Planning Commission (NPC) has over the past two years been at the vanguard of valuedriven governance at all levels, championing the cause of transparency, accountability and cost-effective implementation of public policies and programmes in a way that would ensure improved performance of yearly capital budgets on a sustainable basis.

Largely convinced of the imperative of effective planning and agenda-setting approach in public administration in the country, the Commission is spearheading Nigeria’s return to strategic development planning, after about 30 years of haphazard approach in designing and implementing national development plans by building the necessary capacities at the federal public service and encouraging the state governments to develop their own strategic planning blueprints, in line with the overall national growth aspiration.

Using the Vision 20:2020 Economic policy document and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and other fiscal documents as its templates, the Commission is gradually setting a new set of standards for national budgets by placing emphasis on performance, which it believes, is the most vital basis for approving such fiscal instruments for development.

By fashioning the performance agreement contract strategy and a combination of other evidenced-based measurement parameters for planning and implementation of public programmes and directing MDAs and other entities at the federal level to use them as templates for service delivery, the Commission is today providing the compass for public policy and projects implementation in a manner that very soon, public officials, particularly political appointees at ministerial and other related levels, may individually be held accountable for successes or failures of their organisations.

For instance, as the supervisory agency to the National Bureau of Statistics, the NPC has been canvassing local, including the supports of the various State Governments, as well as international supports for a fully-integrated National Statistical System which it believes evidencedbased results of public programmes and projects implementation can be anchored. One of such initiatives is the ongoing states’ Needs Assessment Survey and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) computation projects.

The Minister of National Planning and the initiator of the performance agreement , Dr Shamsuddeen Usman, working with local and international experts in development planning and public projects implementation strategies, is gradually changing the Commission and it’s other parastatals such as the National Bureau of Statistics, (NBS), the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) and the Centre for Management Development (CMD) into proactively responsive agencies, producing vital statistical and economic data for national development.

In order to ensure effective implementation of the Government’s Development Agenda as encapsulated in the NV20:2020, the Commission is driving the First National Implementation Plan and the Transformation Agenda developed the Key Performance indicators [KPIs] for all the MDAs to facilitate the tracking of policies, programmes and projects. The MDAs are also being assisted to set up and / or fortify the Monitoring and Evaluation Units in their Departments of Planning, Research and Statistics (DPRS).

As part of the effort towards ensuring verifiable and evidence-based policymaking, the NPC, in July made the first-ever public presentation of the Monitoring and Evaluation Report on the performance of the federal MDAs as at December 2010.

Similarly, the Commission is also working closely with the Office of Head of Service of the Federation and the

New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) with management systems to achieve better impacts of such programmes on ordinary Nigerians, in terms of their a view to building among DPRS officers Over the past few months, the Dr Usman-led Commis- socio-economic well being.

The Planning Minister, who presided over the NCDP sion has been collaborating with state governments for the purposes of establishing replicating the Planning meeting, explained that developing strategic plans and Commissions and State Bureaus of Statistics for en- using performance system to guide the implementation hanced planning, data processing, and application to pro- remain the only option for achieving people-oriented degrammes’ implementation at all levels of administration velopment at all levels of government in the country.

While describing the NCDP as crucial to achieving in the country.

In the area of donor co-ordination, the NPC is striving to the broad policy objectives of the national transformastreamline data and improve the overall coordination mech- tion agenda and particularly those of the Vision 20:2020 anism. For instance, the Commission is working to ensure economic blueprint, the Minister said the states should that it has a well-maintained database of all programmes commit themselves to the agenda by taking necessary and projects supported by the development partners just as steps towards ensuring the effective implementation of it has embarked on a comprehensive review of its Official strategic plans and also adopting performance manageDevelopment Assistance (ODA) Policy to ensure that donor- ment systems in view of the implications for a more costassisted programmes are delivered in consonance with the efficient, transparent and accountable capital budgeting 5 principles of the Paris Declaration (2005) and the Accra and utilisation of allocated resources in the states.

It is generally believed that if the state governments Agenda for Action (2007). The latter agenda places emphasis on Ownership; Alignment; Harmonisation; Managing for would embrace most of these policy initiatives and frameworks being fashioned by the NPC as strategic tools of Results; and Mutual Accountability.

Speaking at a recent forum organised to consider and governance, the results of the ongoing efforts to improve review the draft report on the Needs Assessment Survey the efficiency of budgets at all levels of government and held in Abuja, the Minister, ter, who said the States’ States GDP make fiscal instruments impact more positively on the welfare of the computation was being conducted nducted for the first time in the citizenry for suscountry, said this made it imperative for collaborative aptainable developproach by stakeholders in order to ensure the completion ment of the of the project. country in He said: “In Nigeria, the e Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the years has been compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics, ahead since the colonial period, on an aggregate basis. The would fact that the States’ GDP computation has not been b e undertaken in Nigeria iss one of the compelling gin to reasons for the collaborative ive approach that we are maniadopting for the successfull execution of the project. f e s t “In this regard, the National ional Planning Commisearsion is working closely with ith the National Bureau l i e r of Statistics and the Governors’ rnors’ Forum, as well as than the development partners,, to ensure that the proimagcess is successfully implemented mented and built on solined. id framework, so that the project and its benefits are sustained over time”, Usman added.

The Resident Coordinator ator of United Nations System in Nigeria, Mr. Dauda uda Toure, described the Needs Assessment Survey as a major step towards positioning the SSAs for a more efficient planning and statistical service delivery ivery and expressed the hope that the recommendations ations that come up from the survey will be used to improve mprove the capacity and performance of the statistical ical system.

The UN Systems Chief said: “As we progress in our path of development towards becoming one of the world’s 20 largest economies, nomies, and as we strive to integrate with the international rnational economic order, the role of statistics will become progressively more important. In such a situation, tion, the hallmark of a country’s reputation will be the e credibility and transparency of its statistical system and nd the statistical data emanating from that system.”

Only this week, the Commission ommission in furtherance of its sustained ed efforts to improve the quality of capital projects’ implementation and cost-effective governance ce at all levels of administration also organised the Joint Planning Board (JPD) and National Council on Development Planning (NCDP) Meetings, in collaboration with the Benue State Government, in Makurdi where it urged the state governments Minister of National Planning, Dr. Usman to adopt performance

48

Business

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FRESH BUSINESS NEWS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS December 23, 2012

NPC: Now set for budget reforms?

TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

T

he National Planning Commission (NPC) has over the past two years been at the vanguard of valuedriven governance at all levels, championing the cause of transparency, accountability and cost-effective implementation of public policies and programmes in a way that would ensure improved performance of yearly capital budgets on a sustainable basis.

Largely convinced of the imperative of effective planning and agenda-setting approach in public administration in the country, the Commission is spearheading Nigeria’s return to strategic development planning, after about 30 years of haphazard approach in designing and implementing national development plans by building the necessary capacities at the federal public service and encouraging the state governments to develop their own strategic planning blueprints, in line with the overall national growth aspiration.

Using the Vision 20:2020 Economic policy document and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and other fiscal documents as its templates, the Commission is gradually setting a new set of standards for national budgets by placing emphasis on performance, which it believes, is the most vital basis for approving such fiscal instruments for development.

By fashioning the performance agreement contract strategy and a combination of other evidenced-based measurement parameters for planning and implementation of public programmes and directing MDAs and other entities at the federal level to use them as templates for service delivery, the Commission is today providing the compass for public policy and projects implementation in a manner that very soon, public officials, particularly political appointees at ministerial and other related levels, may individually be held accountable for successes or failures of their organisations.

For instance, as the supervisory agency to the National Bureau of Statistics, the NPC has been canvassing local, including the supports of the various State Governments, as well as international supports for a fully-integrated National Statistical System which it believes evidencedbased results of public programmes and projects implementation can be anchored. One of such initiatives is the ongoing states’ Needs Assessment Survey and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) computation projects.

The Minister of National Planning and the initiator of the performance agreement , Dr Shamsuddeen Usman, working with local and international experts in development planning and public projects implementation strategies, is gradually changing the Commission and it’s other parastatals such as the National Bureau of Statistics, (NBS), the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) and the Centre for Management Development (CMD) into proactively responsive agencies, producing vital statistical and economic data for national development.

In order to ensure effective implementation of the Government’s Development Agenda as encapsulated in the NV20:2020, the Commission is driving the First National Implementation Plan and the Transformation Agenda developed the Key Performance indicators [KPIs] for all the MDAs to facilitate the tracking of policies, programmes and projects. The MDAs are also being assisted to set up and / or fortify the Monitoring and Evaluation Units in their Departments of Planning, Research and Statistics (DPRS).

As part of the effort towards ensuring verifiable and evidence-based policymaking, the NPC, in July made the first-ever public presentation of the Monitoring and Evaluation Report on the performance of the federal MDAs as at December 2010.

Similarly, the Commission is also working closely with the Office of Head of Service of the Federation and the

New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) with management systems to achieve better impacts of such programmes on ordinary Nigerians, in terms of their a view to building among DPRS officers Over the past few months, the Dr Usman-led Commis- socio-economic well being.

The Planning Minister, who presided over the NCDP sion has been collaborating with state governments for the purposes of establishing replicating the Planning meeting, explained that developing strategic plans and Commissions and State Bureaus of Statistics for en- using performance system to guide the implementation hanced planning, data processing, and application to pro- remain the only option for achieving people-oriented degrammes’ implementation at all levels of administration velopment at all levels of government in the country.

While describing the NCDP as crucial to achieving in the country.

In the area of donor co-ordination, the NPC is striving to the broad policy objectives of the national transformastreamline data and improve the overall coordination mech- tion agenda and particularly those of the Vision 20:2020 anism. For instance, the Commission is working to ensure economic blueprint, the Minister said the states should that it has a well-maintained database of all programmes commit themselves to the agenda by taking necessary and projects supported by the development partners just as steps towards ensuring the effective implementation of it has embarked on a comprehensive review of its Official strategic plans and also adopting performance manageDevelopment Assistance (ODA) Policy to ensure that donor- ment systems in view of the implications for a more costassisted programmes are delivered in consonance with the efficient, transparent and accountable capital budgeting 5 principles of the Paris Declaration (2005) and the Accra and utilisation of allocated resources in the states.

It is generally believed that if the state governments Agenda for Action (2007). The latter agenda places emphasis on Ownership; Alignment; Harmonisation; Managing for would embrace most of these policy initiatives and frameworks being fashioned by the NPC as strategic tools of Results; and Mutual Accountability.

Speaking at a recent forum organised to consider and governance, the results of the ongoing efforts to improve review the draft report on the Needs Assessment Survey the efficiency of budgets at all levels of government and held in Abuja, the Minister, ter, who said the States’ States GDP make fiscal instruments impact more positively on the welfare of the computation was being conducted nducted for the first time in the citizenry for suscountry, said this made it imperative for collaborative aptainable developproach by stakeholders in order to ensure the completion ment of the of the project. country in He said: “In Nigeria, the e Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the years has been compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics, ahead since the colonial period, on an aggregate basis. The would fact that the States’ GDP computation has not been b e undertaken in Nigeria iss one of the compelling gin to reasons for the collaborative ive approach that we are maniadopting for the successfull execution of the project. f e s t “In this regard, the National ional Planning Commisearsion is working closely with ith the National Bureau l i e r of Statistics and the Governors’ rnors’ Forum, as well as than the development partners,, to ensure that the proimagcess is successfully implemented mented and built on solined. id framework, so that the project and its benefits are sustained over time”, Usman added.

The Resident Coordinator ator of United Nations System in Nigeria, Mr. Dauda uda Toure, described the Needs Assessment Survey as a major step towards positioning the SSAs for a more efficient planning and statistical service delivery ivery and expressed the hope that the recommendations ations that come up from the survey will be used to improve mprove the capacity and performance of the statistical ical system.

The UN Systems Chief said: “As we progress in our path of development towards becoming one of the world’s 20 largest economies, nomies, and as we strive to integrate with the international rnational economic order, the role of statistics will become progressively more important. In such a situation, tion, the hallmark of a country’s reputation will be the e credibility and transparency of its statistical system and nd the statistical data emanating from that system.”

Only this week, the Commission ommission in furtherance of its sustained ed efforts to improve the quality of capital projects’ implementation and cost-effective governance ce at all levels of administration also organised the Joint Planning Board (JPD) and National Council on Development Planning (NCDP) Meetings, in collaboration with the Benue State Government, in Makurdi where it urged the state governments Minister of National Planning, Dr. Usman to adopt performance

Business

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

49

Housing: JAIZ bank to assist Kano workers

Property Watch •For Lagos area as at Friday Dec. 21, 2012 A. Building materials Cement: Dangote Cement per bag of 50 kg.......N1,800 Burham Cement per bag of 50kg.......N1,800 Elephant Cement…………………N1,800 Sandcrete blocks 6 inches sandcrete block ..........N130 9 inches sandcrete block ..........N150

K

ano State Government has reached an agreement with JAIZ Islamic Bank to give loans to civil servants to buy houses, the Head of Service, Alhaji Umar Minjibir, said at the weekend.

Minjibir said in Kano that the government had earmarked 1,373 houses for sale on owner-occupier arrangement.

He said prospective buyers would deposit an initial nine per cent of the price of the house as processing fee for the purchase application.

“The buyer is to deposit another10 per cent of the total amount within a month of getting the offer, then, 20 per cent of the purchase price will be paid within another

60 days, while the remaining balance of 70 per cent will be paid in 275 days.

“In all, the beneficiaries are expected to complete payment for the houses within a year,’’ he said.

Minjibir said that the state government would realise N10 billion from the sale of the houses.

Adamawa Assembly passes N94.8 bn budget

Sand Sand per tipper load .......... N12,000 Sharp sand (double) ..........N22,000 Gravel (single) ...................N18,000 Gravel (double) ..................N23,000 Granite ...............................N120,000 Reinforcement 8mm(153) pieces per ton (N125,000 10mm (153) pieces per ton .......... N135,000 12mm ............................................N161,000 16mm ........................................N172,000 20mm (53) pieces ....................N122,000

T

he Adamawa House of Assembly at the weekend passed the states Appropriation bill of N94.8 billion for 2013 into law.

Wood Timber (hard) 1x1x12 ..........N1,000 Timber (hard) 2x2x12 ..........N600 Timber (hard) 2x4x12 ..........N700 Soft wood 2x2x12 ..........N250 2x3x12 ..........N300 Plywood 3x3x6-----------------N3,500 2x4x8-----------------N2,400 Roofing Sheet Corrugated iron sheet per bundle ...N10,000 Asbestos 4x8 per piece ..................N1,600 Asbestos (solo) ............................N1,100 B. Landed property Focus area: Lagos Mainland 1. Four bedroom detached house with BQ at Omole Phase 11, Kosofe -----N40m Estimated price in 5 years------------N60m 2. 800 square metres at block 47 at Isheri North Estate, Lagos ---------- N6m Estimated price in 5 years----------N15m 3. 6 bedroom wing of duplex plus BQ at Adeniyi Jones off Opebi, Lagos------- N55m Estimated price in 5 years------------N100m 4. A land measuring 5.081 square metre at Ajasa, Ipaja, Lagos------------------------------N25m Estimated price in 5 years---------N50m 5. 2 nos bungalows on 800 square metres along Oba Akran, Lagos----------------N150m Estimated price in 5 years----------N250m 6. 1.12 acres of land with uncompleted building at Marwa Road, Satellite Town, Lagos---------------------------------------------------N1,5bn Estimated price in 5 years------------------N2bn 7. Uncompleted block of flats at Isheri -Osun, Lagos--------------------------------------------------N15m Estimated price in 5 years-------N20m 8. Four bedroom duplex at Gbagada------N18m Estimated price in 5 years-----------N30m 9. 8 nos of 3bedroom flats with BQ at Surulere, Lagos---------------------------------N80m Estimated price in 5 years----------N100m 10. A detached house at Oke Ira, Ogba, Lagos--------------------------------------------------N22m Estimated price in 5 years---------N35m •Compiled by Dayo Ayeyemi, E-mail: dayoayeyemi@yahoo.com

He said that the proceeds would be used to build more houses, which would be sold to civil servants and other interested persons from the state.

He added that a civil servant, who failed to pay within the stipulated period, would be refunded his money and the house allocated to another interested buyer.

L-R: FirstBank’s Executive Director, Public Sector, South, Mr. UK Eke; Mrs. Elenda Osima-Dokubo, an official of Cross River State Government, and Mr. John Iyoha, Group Head, Public Sector South, Calabar, at the ongoing Calabar Festival 2012.

National Central Switch: CBN gives February deadline to MNOs T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed the 16 Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) in the country to fully connect to the National Central Switch (NCS) before Feb. 28, 2013.

The CBN gave the directive in a circular entitled “Timeline for Interoperability and Interconnectivity” on Friday.

The circular was signed

by Mr. Dipo Fatokun, CBN’s

director of banking and payment system.

The circular stated that full connection to NCS would enhance MMOs’ ``inter-operability and interconnectivity``.

The apex bank said the decision for all MMOs to connect to NCS was reached at the Mobile Payment Forum held on Nov. 29.

It added that ``for avoidance of doubt, appropriate

sanction will be imposed on any mobile payment operator that fails to comply with the circular``.

The CBN issued licences to 16 companies to operator mobile money transactions.

The CBN had said that the MMOs were licensed to accelerate the transformation of the nation’s payment system which would emphasise use of mobile phones.

Stockbrokers seek resolution of SEC, Reps face-off

T

he Association of Stock broking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) yesterday urged the Federal Government to resolve the conflict between the House of Representatives and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This is contained in a statement issued by ASHON President, Mr Emeka Madubuike, an made available to the News agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Madubuike said that the passage of the 2013 budget without allocation of funds to SEC was a threat to the capital market’s recovery and Nigeria’s economic development.

NAN reports that the House of Representatives directed the withholding of SEC’s funding in the N4.987 trillion Appropriation bill it passed on Dec. 20.

This followed the lower legislative chamber’s earlier decision not to have anything to do with the capital market’s apex regulator until the removal of its Director-General, Ms Arunma Oteh.

Madubuike said that the conflict should be urgently resolved to avoid jeopardising the entire economy. ``Starving SEC of funds means incapacitating the apex regulator of the Nigerian capital market.

``If this issue is not resolved as soon as possible, we will have a situation where the capital market does not have a regulator. ``The National Assembly and the executive arm need to sit down and the interest of the economy must be uppermost in their minds so that this market can continue on the recovery path. ``Anything that will jeopardise that recovery will not augur well for us,” he said.

He, however, said that relevant institutions should be built for the growth of Nigeria’s economy, noting that SEC was one of such critical institutions.

The budget was N400 million higher than the initial estimate presented to it by the executive in November. The bill was presented to the Assembly by Governor Murtala Nyako in November.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the passage followed the adoption of the report of the Alhaji Usman Lamorde-led House Committee Chairman on Finance, Appropriation and Budget.

Lamorde had earlier urged his colleagues at plenary to pass the bill to fast track the development of the state.

Earlier, before the passage, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr Kwamoti Laori, stressed the need for the introduction of quarterly release of fund to ministries and parastatal agencies in 2013.

Oando acquires ConocoPhillips’ operation for $1.79 billion

O

ando Energy Resources Inc. at the weekend signed a megadeal that will see it acquiring the Nigerian operations of ConocoPhillips for US$1.79 billion.

The deal includes two offshore properties including a 95 per cent operated interest in the Chota Field and a 20 per cent non-operated interest in the Uge Field.

Oando will also take over a 20 per cent non-operated interest in an onshore joint venture, a 20 per cent stake in the Kwale-Okpai Independent Power Plant and a 17 per cent stake in the Brass LNG project.

Oando chief executive Pade Durotoye spoke excitedly after the in a statement after the close of market Thursday.

He said, “This potential transaction represents a transformational step forward for our company”.

50

News

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FG needs N500bn to settle PHCN workers

N

ational Union of Electricity Employees yesterday said that N500 billion was required to pay the entitlement of workers in the power sector.

The union’s General Secretary, Mr. Joe Ajaero, made this known during an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos.

Ajaero said that of the amount, N400 billion would be required for workers’ gratuity, while N100 billion would be used to pay pen-

sion arrears.

He said that it was not the Ministry of Power that should announce what the Federal Government would disburse as severance package to PHCN workers.

The general secretary explained that the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) was in a better position to announce the cost of settlement.

He said it was regrettable that in industrial relation practice, imple-

menting an agreement was always a major problem, after all issues had been resolved.

He expressed the hope that in 2013, the entitlement of the workers would be paid to enable Nigerians to enjoy the expected 5,000 mega watts of electricity.

“We are expecting about 5,000 mega watts of electricity from the Nigeria Integrated Power Project (NIPP) by next year. We

believe this will boost electricity supply to consumers,’’ he said.

The union’s scribe noted that the NIPP project, which had gulped about N37 billion, should have been inaugurated before

the end of 2012.

He said that if the project was inaugurated in 2013, it would coincide with the effort of the private investors, to improve electricity supply.

Ajaero, however,

warned those giving various interpretations to the agreement signed between the government and the union, to desist from doing so, to enable the workers to get their severance package.

Kaduna: Sambo, Yero, PDP caucus meet over new deputy governor A ZA MSUE KADUNA

V

ice-President, Namadi Sambo, Kaduna State new governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, and other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members yesterday met to pick a deputy governor.

Addressing the meeting, Vice-President Sambo called on the new governor of the state to carry all stakeholders of the ruling PDP in the state along so as to move the state forward.

The Vice-President stated this yesterday at the meeting of the stakeholders of the party in the state held at State House, Kawo.

Sambo, while addressing the meeting commiserated with the stakeholders over the death Governor Patrick Yakowa.

He noted that the PDP in Kaduna State had come a long way, stressing that everything must be done to ensure the continued cohesion of the party.

According to him, since 1999, the party had maintained its stronghold in Kaduna and had delivered its promises and manifestos.

“We are gathered here to mourn our brother and in the spirit of oneness, unite our people and ensure peace and stability. I call on the governor to rally round stakeholders to move the

state forward and achieve greatness.

“I urge you all not to rest on your oars and work towards the progress of the state. President Goodluck Jonathan has assured that he will continue to support Kaduna State,” Sambo said.

It will be recalled that Yakowa died in a navy helicopter alongside former National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi and others while returning from Bayelsa State after the burial of President Goodluck Jonathan aide’s father, Mr Douglas Oronto, last weekend.

Speaking earlier, Yero solicited the support of the stakeholders in appointing his deputy.

The new governor who addressed the gathering in Hausa language said the deputy governor will soon be appointed and urged the party stakeholders to help in choosing his deputy.

He appealed to the stakeholders for support and cooperation to carry on from where the late Yakowa stopped, assuring that he would complete all projects initiated by his former boss as well as implement the budget if approved by the state house of assembly.

Also speaking, the chairman of the PDP in the state, Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga, said the meeting was summoned by Yero.

Bajoga noted that al-

NIGERIA IN BRIEF

though the gathering was a solemn one, he recalled that the PDP recorded success as exemplified in the recent primaries and local government elections in the state.

“Your Excellency is on a familiar terrain, and we believe that the bonds of mutual cooperation which existed under the leadership of our late leader will continue to flourish for the benefit of our party in particular and the good people of Kaduna State,” he said.

Some of those who attended the meeting were Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Senator Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, Senator Isaiah Balat, former chairmen of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Makama Rigachikun and Alhaji Ya’u Usman, Senator Nenadi Usman, Alhaji Suleiman Hunkuyi and National Organising secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha.

Others were Hon. Yakubu Barde, Hon. Gideon Gaiya, among several others.

Also at the meeting were two of those being mentioned as likely nominees for the position of the deputy governor.

They include a one-time House of Representatives member, Hon. Jonathan Asake and Special Adviser to the late governor on Religious Affairs (Christian matters), Rev. Joseph Hayab.

NNPP tasks Nigerians on democratic growth

New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP) yesterday in Lagos advised Nigerians to begin discussions on issues germane to the country’s democratic growth ahead of the 2015 general elections.

The party’s National Chairman, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, told journalists that the country must build on its achievements during the 2011 elections as well as the governorship polls in Edo and Ondo states.

He noted that the elections

were scored high by local and international observers.

Aniebonam advised that Nigeria should employ the principles of fairness and equity during the 2015 polls. ``We must rejuvenate ourselves for the 2015 general elections, and ensure that we entrust the destiny of our country in the hands of capable and efficient people,’’ he said.

He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to work

toward e-voting in the nearest future. ``The excuse of low literacy level in the country is not tenable. ``If that old man and woman in the rural areas can use the GSM with little or no hitches, I don’t see any reason why same people cannot use the e-voting machine with just a little prodding,” he said.

He urged Nigerian to join hands to put the country on the path of progress.

Gridlock on Abuja-Lokoja road, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Uphold dream of founding fathers, First Lady urges Nigerians

F

irst Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, yesterday pleaded with Nigerians to uphold the unity of the country by pursuing the vision of our founding fathers.

Jonathan made the plea during the annual distribution of food to the less privileged at the State House in Abuja. ``We don’t need to kill or fight one another as that was not the dream of our founding fathers, so we must strive to uphold the unity of our country. ‘``We need to pray hard for a peaceful new year so

that our dear country can move forward,’’ she said.

The wife of the president said that people should imbibe the fear of God, saying everything on earth is vanity. ``Naked we come and naked we’ll go. The greatest commandment on earth is love. Let us live in love, no matter our religion. ``Nobody can live forever. We must all meet our creator someday and give account of our sojourn on earth. I love you all.’’

In her vote of thanks, Miss Lucy Upah, a member of the Joint Association

of People Living With Disabilities, thanked the president’s wife for her kind gesture. ``We thank you for extending your hand of love to those in need and I pray that Nigeria experiences a peaceful Christmas,’’ Upah said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Association of Widows, Joint Association of People Living with Disabilities and The Needy benefitted from the exercise.

The Association of Market Women and Men and the Albino Foundation were also beneficiaries of the exercise.

Activities increase at Lagos Airport as Christmas approaches

T

he domestic terminals of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, yesterday recorded increased activities as Christmas and New Year approaches.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while some travellers made enquiries for tickets to travel, others arrived and were re-

ceived by their loved ones.

Long queues of passengers characterised some airlines’ counters at the two terminals as travellers waited anxiously to be checked in.

General Aviation Terminal and the Murtala Muhammed Terminal (MMA) 2 were filled to capacity with travellers jostling for

tickets.

Most of the passengers were heading for Abuja, Owerri, Port Harcourt and Calabar.

Some outbound passengers told NAN that they were travelling to meet their families and friends to celebrate Christmas out of Lagos.

300 Gombe Christians to perform pilgrimage to Israel No fewer than 300 Christians from Gombe State will be performing the 2012 pilgrimage to Israel, an official of the state Pilgrims Welfare Board, has said.

Executive Secretary, Gombe Christian Pilgrim Welfare Board, Mr Cambel Jesu, made this known in Gombe yesterday.

Jesu said that 205 of the pilgrims were sponsored by the state government, 30 others were self-sponsored while the remaining 65 were sponsored by their respective local governments.

He said after the screening exercise the intending pilgrims would attend a seminar and the date of departure would be announced later.

Jesu called on the intending pilgrims to be good ambassadors of Gombe State and the country while in the holy land, adding that the state had never recorded any case of absconding.

The executive secretary also called on the staff of the board to assist the pilgrims while in holy land.

Chairman of the board, Rev. Tulfugut Kardi, challenged well-to-do Christians to take up the sponsorship of this spiritual journey instead of waiting for government sponsorship. ``Some people are spiritually blind in spite of the fact that they are rich. They do not know the importance of Christian pilgrimage. ``We thank the government for doing its own, but the rich among us should also take up the gauntlet,“ Kardi said.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Zonal News

Sunday December 23, 2012

51

SOUTH EAST

SOUTH SOUTH

Akpabio has no anointed Ebonyi police assure of crimesuccessor –Aide free Christmas celebration TONY ANICHEBE UYO

G

overnor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom has dismissed speculations that he has anointed a candidate to succeed him in the 2015 gubernatorial election.

The Chief Press Secretary, Aniete Ukpe stated this during a media chat with journalists at the Correspondents’ Chapel office in Uyo yesterday.

He maintained that his boss has not prepared any-

body to succeed him after he leaves office.

“The governor does not have any anointed person for 2015. Fair enough, he wishes that Ikot Ekpene senatorial district, where he comes from should allow the other senatorial districts to vie for the position”, he said.

The governor’s spokesman maintained that his boss, being a man of fairness, would not impose any candidate on the people, saying that Akpabio has always insisted on the elec-

torate as the ones to choose the Governor of the state.

Ukpe said although some people were opposed to the governor’s development effort, what had been achieved by Akpabio’s administration in the last five years had had milestone effects.

“I am not worried about opposition because opposition is part of democracy. It is only when opposition operates outside the expectation of democracy that there is a problem”, he added.

Delta SSG urges unity in Isokoland AMOUR UDEMUDE ASABA

S

ecretary to Delta State Government, Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay, has called on the Isoko people in the state to be united, speak with one voice and collectively work towards the overall development of the Isoko nation.

He spoke in Lagos recently, during an interactive session with Isoko people in government and Isoko people in general, packaged by the Isoko Advancement Network (IAN), an Isoko socio-political pressure group.

Macaulay, a patron of the IAN who used the occasion to respond to issues raised by representatives of various communities and provided useful information on

the activities of the Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan administration in the state, advised the Isoko people to direct their attention to the overall interest of the area and not on him, the SSG. “Do not route for fanciful positions, but positions that have the greatest utility to us as a nation. Isoko people cannot get all at once, but I can assure you, we have our own fair share of the dividends of democracy, if not more. However, Isoko will not be left out in the scheme of things as far as growth and development are concerned in Delta State.” he said.

According to the SSG, an Isoko native, the Uduaghan administration has done well in the areas of infrastructure and ap-

pointments in Isokoland and therefore, appealed for unflinching support to the Uduaghan government.

“The Uduaghan’s government meant well for the people of Isoko nation but despite all the effort of government, some Isoko leaders have continued to frustrate the genuine effort by frustrating and making unnecessary and greedy demands from contractors executing projects in the area.”

The SSG who also ruled out the marginalisation of any of the several ethnic nationalities that make up particularly charged the people of Isoko nation to disabuse their minds about marginalisation and form a formidable front to work for the progress of the area as well the state.

NDE disburses N30m equipment to youths T he National Directorate of Employment (NDE) at the weekend distributed N30 million worth of equipment to unemployed skilled graduates in Cross River State.

The Director-General of the NDE, Malam Abubakar Mohammed, disclosed this in Calabar at the graduation and distribution ceremony of Resettlement Equipment/Tools for the beneficiaries.

The resettlement programme was collaboration between Rep. Essien Ayi, the member representing Calabar South, Akpabuyo and Bakassi Federal Constituency and NDE. The equipment distributed to beneficiaries included refrigerators, sewing machines, computer accessories, photocopying machines

and hairdressing tools.

Represented by the State Coordinator of the NDE, Mr. Edem Duke, the director-general said 80 women and youths benefited from the programme aimed at helping them to establish their own businesses. ``It is gratifying to know that today’s occasion is achieved through a collaborative effort which is one of the emphases of the directorate in her continuous attempt at combating mass unemployment in the country,’’ Mohammed said.

He said that the youths received training for six weeks in trades, such as computer operation, computer repairs, hair dressing, catering, lawn mowing, GSM repairs, cosmetology and interior decoration/

event management.

Mohammed advised the beneficiaries to make the best use of opportunities given by the Federal Government to set up workshops and manage them profitably to enable them to repay their loans promptly.

He appealed to individuals, especially members of the National Assembly, to emulate the initiative of the legislator to reduce unemployment.

In his remark, the Acting Governor of Cross River, Mr. Efiok Cobham, commended Ayi for embarking on the programme and urged him to do more for his people.

He said that the initiative was in line with the state government’s ‘empowerment agenda for wealth creation for the people.

T

he Ebonyi State Police Command said at the weekend that it had prepared for adequate security of lives and property during this year’s Christmas celebration.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Maman Sule, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abakaliki, the state capital, that the command had introduced 24-hour vehicular and foot patrols of every nook and cranny of the state.

He said: “Our men are on surveillance on all the streets, roads, public

buildings and other strategic points in the state, particularly Abakaliki, the state capital.

“The police in Ebonyi State are working assiduously this festive season to ensure security of lives and property.

“In fact, we shall make sure that the peace in the state is maintained during and after the Christmas celebration as breakdown of law and order would not be permitted.”

Sule sought the support of members of the public in the fight against crime

in the state.

The police chief, however, advised parents and guardians to caution their children and wards on the consequences of violating the law.

He urged members of the public to be securityconscious and to volunteer useful information to the police for effective service delivery.

“All those with vital information on any criminal activity or misconduct of officers and men of the command should report to my office for prompt action,” he added.

Gov. Peter Obi (left), handing over the keys of 10 patrol vehicles donated to the Army in Anambra State to the GOC of 82 Div, General Oluwaseun Oshinowo (middle), in Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, yesterday. On the right is Obi Alfred Achebe of Onitsha.

Anambra residents urged to volunteer information on criminals

T

he General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of the Nigerian Army in Enugu, Maj-Gen. Olayinka Oshinowo, has urged residents of Anambra State to volunteer information on criminals in their areas.

Oshinowo spoke at the 2012 West African Social Activities (WASA) of the Nigerian Army held at the Onitsha Military Canton-

ment, Anambra.

The GOC, who was represented by Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Alkali, Commander, 34 Artillery Brigade in Obinze, near Owerri, said that the army would treat the information given with utmost confidentiality.

He said: “All people in Anambra State should cooperate and give information to the security forces. The se-

curity forces are co-operating with one another, there is synergy for each information sharing and intelligence.

“And once this information is given, the Army will protect the identity of person who brings the information.

“Feel free, bring the information, you would be protected and the Army would use that information to deal with any situation.

Obi gives Army 10 more vehicles G overnor Peter Obi of Anambra State has presented 10 more new vehicles to the Army.

The patrol vans were presented at the Governor’s Office in Akwa, the state capital, at the weekend.

Governor Obi said the gesture was part of his administration’s plans to enhance the activities of the Army.

It will be recalled that the governor recently gave the Army some vehicles to boost its performance.

Governor Obi, however,

expressed satisfaction with the Army’s contribution to the security of lives and property in the state.

Receiving the vehicles, the General Office Commanding the 82 Division, Maj-Gen. Oluwaseun Oshinowo, thanked the governor for the gesture, assuring that the Army would continue to support effort to protect lives and property in the South-East.

Gen. Oshinowo said the vehicles would be effectively deployed to serve the pur-

pose they were meant for.

The Majority leader the State House of Assembly, Hon. Hafford Oseke, noted that Governor Obi was committed to enhancing the performance of security agencies in the state.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Col. George Molokwu (rtd), expressed satisfaction with the performance of the security agencies and their cordial relationship with the state government.

52

Zonal News

Sunday December 23, 2012

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

NORTH CENTRAL

NORTH WEST

T

Council donates materials We ’re committed to develop to remand homes rural communities –Kwara

he Legal Aid Council in Kebbi State has donated relief materials to the state’s remand home to support the inmates.

The state coordinator of the council, Salisu Alhassan, told journalists in Birnin Kebbi yesterday that the materials included mattresses, blankets, soap and provisions.

He said the decision to donate the materials to the remand home was to ensure comfort and to give the inmates a sense of belonging.

He said the council would ensure improvement on the donation with the collaboration of other stakeholders.

Alhassan lamented that the remand home had been neglected and that adequate rehabilitation and reform had not been provided for deviants and minors. ``We will strive to reverse the trend and make sure they live comfortably,’’ he said.

According to him, the council has offered legal services for 180 criminal cases of which 85 are pending in courts.

He said 40 criminal cases handled by the council resulted in the discharge of the accused. ``The council will ensure that citizens that lack the means for legal services are

given assistance, particularly on issues of violation of and infringement on rights of individuals.’’

He said the council would expand the scope of its service to cover other parts of the state, especially payment of fines for the poor and first offenders He lamented that prisons were congested due to unresolved cases.`` It is more pathetic that those awaiting trial are in prison,’’ he said, stressing that the council would help in freeing some of them.

He said, however, that the council had problems of transportation and office accommodation

T

he Kwara State Government has reiterated its determination to develop rural communities as part of the measures to curb rural-urban migration among the people.

Speaking on Friday in Ilorin, the state capital, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Isiaka Gold, made the commitment while opening a workshop organised for liaison officers and youth empowerment coordinators from the 16 local governments of the state.

The workshop was at the instance of the Special Assistant to the Governor on Inter-gov-

ernmental Affairs, Alhaji Aro Yahya.

Gold said the government had perfected arrangements to construct more roads in rural areas, provide portable water, electricity and other social amenities and infrastructure for the people.

He said the programme was designed to further improve the wellbeing of the people at the grassroots and reduce the concentration of people in urban centres.

He described the workshop as appropriate to enhance the capacity of political office holders.

Gold urged the participants to monitor proper execution of government

programmes at the grassroots.

Yahya had earlier attributed failure in the local government system to incompetence, corruption and lack of proper focus by council administrators.

He urged the participants at the workshop to be more pro-active in the rural transformation agenda of the state government.

A lecturer from Al-Hikimah University, Ilorin, Mallam Saka Nurudeen, in a lecture on local government councils as platforms for rural development, called on Nigerian leaders to be responsive to the plight of the people.

NDLEA arrests 114 suspects in Niger PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA

T A cross section of members of the Council of Islamic Scholars (Ulamas), during their visit to Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido at the Government House in Dutse on Thursday.

PHOTO: NAN

Institute releases crop varieties to farmers

T

he Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) in Zaria, Kaduna State, has developed and released improved varieties of crops to farmers across the country.

The Executive Secretary of the institute, Dr Ahmed Falaki, disclosed this when Mr. Alex Abutu, Project Coordinator (Nigeria), Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA), led some journalists to the institute.

He listed the improved varieties of crops as cowpea, cotton, groundnut, maize and sorghum.

Falaki, who was represented by Prof. Ezra Amans, a Deputy Director at the institute, explained that IAR had over the years introduced bred and tested select crops.

According to him, the institute has also formally released numerous improved crop varieties to farmers for planting.

Falaki said the institute had added appropriate production packages which included pest, disease and weed control, harvesting, processing and storage techniques.

``For cowpea, we have released nine varieties for different ecologies, with yield potential of 2.5 tonnes per hectare. ``The new 13 cotton varieties are long staple and resistant to leaf spots and bacterial light.’’

He said that the institute had been supplying a variety of cotton to the numerous textile industries and oil mills across the country.

Falaki also said that the most popular of the new 23 groundnut varieties were the rosette and droughtresistant varieties.

He added that the new 14 maize varieties had higher levels of lysine and tryptophan, the two limiting essential amino acids in maize. ``The 45 sorghum varieties are suitable for Sahel, Sudan and Guinea Savanna ecologies,’’ he said, adding that Nigerian Breweries had been using the varieties as substitute for barley.

He said that the release of the crops would go a long way in conserving the

foreign exchange needed to import barley.

According to him, the development of new crop varieties is an important aspect of research aimed at improving production.

He said that significant progress had been made in the development and release of high-yielding disease and pest-resistant varieties with acceptability to consumers. ``For rapid agricultural development to take place, local inputs such as technology generated on continuous basis through research and development activities must be ensured.’’

Earlier, Abutu said that the essence of the visit was to acquaint journalists with some of the remarkable achievements of the institute.

He said journalists found it difficult to report researches because most researchers conceal some of their findings.

The B4FA, a six-month fellowship programme for journalists, was launched this year.

he Niger State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said that it arrested no fewer than 114 suspected drug dealers between January and December.

It said that within the period, about 517.20 kilogrammes of illicit drugs were seized by its officials.

According to a statement signed in Minna

by its commandant, Alhaji Abdullahi Abdul, the agency said 51 persons were convicted, adding that a number of cases are still pending at the Federal High Court sitting in Minna.

NDLEA also said that 69 persons received counseling and afterward integrated into the society.

The agency named most drugs abused by the suspects, especially youths to include Indian hemp and Psychotropic drugs, such

as cough syrups, valium, among others.

Against this back drop, NDLEA boss stressed the need for parents, religious leaders and well-meaning individuals to assist the agency in the fight against drug abuse.

NDLEA, however, thanked the Niger State Government as well as other security agencies, particularly the Army and the police for their support in the fight against use of illicit drugs.

Detractors plan to smear my reputation, Onoja alleges HENRY IYORKASE MAKURDI

T

he Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate in Benue SouthWest Senatorial District in the 2011 general elections, Maj-Gen. Lawrence Onoja, has flayed alleged plan by some politicians to smear his reputation.

In a statement made available to Sunday Mirror at the weekend in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, Gen. Onoja said that his detractors were hell bent on smearing his hard earned reputation by using cynical moves in order to gain prominence in their ambition to achieve political goals.

The General said that

he would not be cowed by those he described as inconsequential politicians whose stock in trade are mainly to run down people who have attained the height of their chosen career.

Stressing that he is contented in the ACN, he assured of the party’s plan to wrestle power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government in 2015.

Gen. Onoja, however, denied alleged plan to defect to the PDP, adding that those peddling the unfounded rumour did not wish him well.

He said those peddling the rumour foresee the brighter future of the ACN and so are envious of his position as the party’s chieftain.

Gen. Onoja said that despite pressure mounted on him by some politicians to dump ACN for the PDP, he, on many occasions, turned down the overtures.

He said: “It surprises me when I see people defecting from one political party to another.

Someone of my status will not wish to be moving from one party to the other.

“Finally, I wish to restate that I remain a bonafide ACN member.

And for those angling for 2015 election and feel Onoja’s name must be smeared for them to succeed, they must be reminded that only God gives power to whom He deems fit and at the appropriate time.

53

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

AFCON: Oliha calls for Eagles’ support P. 54

Lagos boxers set for Fashola’s tourney P. 54

Sport

KEEPING YOU ABREAST OF SPORTING NEWS December 23, 2012

Dubai sport outfit partners Heartland IFEANYI EDUZOR

A

Spot on! Arteta makes no mistake as he scores from the penalty spot to give Arsenal a third consecutive Premier League victory yesterday against Wigan.

Arteta secures victory for Arsenal, as Manchester City chase Red Devils M ikel Arteta’s penalty secured a third consecutive Premier League victory for Arsenal yesterday for the first time since March against Wigan, as Manchester City stunned Reading 1-0 to close the gap on leaders Manchester United.

Arteta scored from the spot just before the hour after Jean Beausejour was penalised for a challenge on Theo Walcott, who again played as a striker.

Arsenal began well and after Arteta was allowed to carry the ball from halfway, he fed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose drive was pushed past the post by Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.

For all of their selection issues, Wigan played with purpose and Arouna Kone should have done better when

he beat Jack Wilshere and Thomas Vermaelen before hitting a tame shot straight at Wojciech Szczesny.

The Ivory Coast striker threatened again when he was played through by Franco Di Santo and tore away from Per Mertesacker, but his shot squirmed wide.

Wigan full-backs Ronnie Stam and Jean Beausejour were still getting forward at every opportunity, yet Arsenal began to exploit the space behind Beausejour after the interval, with Walcott denied from closerange by Al Habsi when set up

by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

It was a policy that paid off when Walcott dropped wide and swapped passes with Santi Cazorla before going down under Beausejour’s challenge.

Arteta waited for Al Habsi to

Mourinho hits back at Benitez P. 55

dive as he stroked in his third successful penalty of the season.

Wigan responded with Kone cutting in from the left and forcing a save from Szczesny, while Maynor Figueroa had a drive held by the goalkeeper.

David Jones thumped a shot narrowly wide from just outside the area and the hosts had a penalty appeal for a handball against Kieran Gibbs turned down as Arsenal survived a nervous 1-0 win at Wigan.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said shortly after the match that the game was tough for his boys.

“It was hard-fought. Wigan are a good side. We were not as good, sharp and fluent as Monday (when beating Reading).

“It was a tough game and Wigan can surprise a lot of teams. Once we were 1-0 up it

was all Wigan but we were well organized,” he said.

Wigan have lost six of their last eight games and are in the bottom three at Christmas for the third straight year.

Meanwhile, Gareth Barry scored a 92nd-minute winner yesterday as Manchester City stunned Reading 1-0 to close the gap on leaders Manchester United to three points.

Premier League champions City looked set to be held by the bottom-placed club before Barry rose above Nicky Shorey to head in David Silva’s cross.

Barry and Carlos Tevez went close in a one-sided first half, while substitute Edin Dzeko had chances in the second half.

This was City’s first match at Etihad Stadium since defeat by United and they did not look entirely convincing.

Napoli problems upset Cavani P. 55

Dubai-based sports outfit has visited Owerri, the Imo State capital where they held talks with officials of Heartland FC. In an interactive session with journalists shortly after the visit, leader of the group and member of the Star Sports International of Dubai, Faisal Al Kamali stated that the talks covered a wide-range of football issues including, partnership, sponsorship, development and players transfer.

According to him, the group was impressed with what it met on ground in Heartland FC and would therefore recommend business co-operation with the Owerri-based team who incidentally emerged winners of the Nigeria’s Charity Cup few days back.

“We met a team with high reputation and good groundwork. They are Nigeria’s over-all champions now for two years and they will be playing in the CAF Confederations Cup. I have also, watched their training and found they have a good team especially in the defence and midfield, but their attack needs more work.

“We’ll love to work with them in improving the team and in many other areas of business,” he said.

Welcoming the Group to Owerri, the General Manager of Heartland FC, Fan Ndubuoke said the zeal to transform Heartland FC into a global brand drove his management team to seek the co-operation of the international sports group.

Heartland General Manager, Fan Ndubuoke

Moyes disappointed with Fellaini P. 55

54

Sport

AFCON: Oliha calls for Eagles’ support IFEANYI EDUZOR

E

x-international Thompson Oliha has advised soccerloving Nigerians not to be bothered by the exclusion of Osazie Odemwingwe, Obafemi Martins and Taye Taiwo from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations squad, but to give Coach Stephen Keshi all the necessary support to enable him succeed in South Africa.

The Super Eagles gaffer on Friday released a 32-man list made up of both foreign and home-based players he invited for camping ahead of the Nations Cup, excluding West Bromwich

Albion and Super Eagles attacker Osazie Odemwingwe, Levante of Spain hitman, Obafemi Martins and Dynamo Kiev defender Taye Taiwo from the list.

The list will be later pruned down to 23 before the commencement of the tournament.

Other big names missing in the list are Kalu Uche, Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Joel Obi, who recently recovered from an injury.

According to him, Coach Stephen Keshi must have his reasons for dropping the three players and Nigerians rather than criticize him for the decision, should allow him concentrate on the job in order to post a good performance in South Africa.

Super Eagles in training

Knockout IFEANYI Eduzor with

08055829770 ifeduz24@yahoo.com

Gbolahan Salami (right) celebrating with teammate, Raheem Owolabi.

3SC welcomes Salami’s return SAYO OGUNDEJI

T

he management of Shooting Stars of Ibadan is excited over the return of their former striker, Gbolahan Salami, to the club after his short spell with former League champions, Enyimba FC International of Aba. Salami, who is quite popular with the Oluyole Warriors’ fans, quit the club amid reports of disagreement with the state’s Commissioner of Sports, Dapo Lam-Adesina, but all that seems to have been buried as the power-playing striker has rejoined his old club.

Speaking with Sunday Mirror, the club’s media officer, Jubril Arowolo, disclosed that the striker’s presence in the team would help in their push for silverwares next season.

“We are very pleased to welcome him back to the club which has been a home to him for a long time and it is our belief that this will help in our drive to win trophies come next season.

“He is more experienced and matured now having tried his luck elsewhere, and we hope to utilize his potential as the team gets ready to build on last season’s performance,” Arowolo stated.

More state finalists emerge for NNPC/Shell Cup ANDREW EKEJIUBA

M

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sunday December 25, 2012

ore state finalists have emerged for the 2013 edition of the All Nigeria Secondary Schools Football Championship for the NNPC/Shell Cup which kicked off in all states across the country on October 30.

Shola Akinwale, National Coordinator of the event told Sunday Mirror that in Niger State, Tukura Day Secondary School, Kotangora defeated Government Secondary School Minna by 5-3 on penalties after the match had ended 1-1 at full time.

In Abia State, Amaba Community Secondary School, Amaba, defeated Reinhold International School, Abriba by 1-0, while in Benue State, Bristow Community Secondary School, Gboko, stunned Government Day Secondary School, Jato-Aka, with a 2-1 win.

In Nasarawa State, Government Science Day Secondary School, Obi, lost 0-2 to Government College, Nasarawa, while Government Comprehensive Day Secondary

School, Bauchi, defeated Government Day Secondary School, Kofar Idi, by 2-0 to emerge champions for Bauchi State.

In Osun State, Progress International School, Modakeke defeated Good Tidings Educational Institute, Osogbo, by 2 – 0, and In Imo State, Ejenekwu Akabo Secondary School defeated Model Secondary School, Umualunaku Ehime by 2-1 to emerge champions.

In Rivers State, Community Commercial Secondary School, Okoboh handed Archdeacon Brown Educational centre, Port Harcourt, a 3-0 win, as Government Arabic College, Gwale narrowly defeated Ma’ahad Sheikh Uba Secondary School, Sharada, by 2-1 in the final match in Kano.

Champions from other states include Magami Government Day Secondary School, Jalingo for Taraba, Winners College, Akure for Ondo State, Annunciation School, Ikere, for Ekiti State, Maiduguri Innovative School for Borno, Army Day Secondary School, Ebonyi for Ebonyi State and Sani Dingyadi Secondary School, So-

koto, for Sokoto State.

Others are Sambo Secondary School, Gusau for Zamfara, Government College, Ibadan, for Oyo, Kwara Football Academy Secondary School, Ilorin for Kwara, Christ Comprehensive School, Kakuri , for Kaduna and General Murtala Muhammed College, Yola for Adamawa State.

Government Secondary School, Akim emerged champions for Cross River while Comprehensive Secondary School, Ogwashi-Uku are winners for Delta State.

In Gombe, Government Day Secondary School, Bogo came tops; Government Secondary School, Wuse are champions for the FCT, while Purple Krown College, Enugu defeated Community Secondary School, Amaroba Inyi 2-0 to emerge champions for Enugu State.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the competition has reiterated that the champion schools from the various states including the FCT will proceed to play in the zonal preliminaries of the championship which comes up on January 9-14, 2013.

Lagos boxers set for Fashola’s tourney A total of 20 boxers from Lagos State are ready to throw punches on Boxing Day, for the prestigious Governor Babtunde Fashola’s belt.

The championship which is in its 4th edition will see the pugilists competing for honours in all weight categories at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park, Yaba.

According to the coach of the Lagos State Amateur Boxing Association, Wusiu Bisiriyu, the boxers who did

the state proud at the just concluded 18th National Sports Festival, tagged “Eko 2012”, where the state won 8 out of the 20 gold medals available to top the medals table in the event are ready to give a good account of themselves at the tournament.

“The boxers who have just finished the sports festival are not tired and are in the best form to give a good account of themselves at the tournament, so they will be part of the action,” Bisiriyu said.

Olaide Fijabi of Lagos State (right) punishing Adeniji Korede of Kogi State in the final fight of the 64kg weight category which he won at the just concluded 18th National Sports Festival.

Ekwelum advocates regular boxing competitions

F

ormer African heavyweight champion, Ngozika Ekwelum, says that unless regular boxing tournaments are organized in the country, it will be difficult for the country to regain its lost glory in the sport.

According to him, Nigeria should not only rely on the performance of boxers at the National Sports Festival to select boxers that will represent her at international competitions, because boxers are rated on how regular they fight.

“I have said it many times that we should go back to

the good old days when boxing tournaments are organized on regular basis.

“It is through these championships that the coaching crew will have enough opportunity to assess the fighters because using only the sports festival to carry out such assessments will not produce the desired result,” Ekwelum said.

Ekwelum who is also the boxing coach of Anambra State noted that there are many talented boxers in the country and it is only when competitions are organized on regular basis that these boxers can be rated.

Uloko laments over poor state of boxing

K

ogi State boxing coach, Daniel Uloko, has expressed concern over the poor state of boxing in the country.

He told our correspondent at the just concluded 18th National Sports Festival, tagged “Eko 2012 that most of the pugilists that participated in the competition, lacked the basic principles of the game, even as he lamented that most boxing coaches are ignorant of the rules governing amateur boxing.

“After watching many of the bouts at the festival,

I discovered that most of the boxers were not well groomed for the championship and even some of their coaches are not conversant with the modern technicalities of the game.

“What this shows is that the game has gone down considerably in the country and there is need for sport administrators to organize regular championships for these boxers, as well as ensuring that coaches go for refresher courses to keep them abreast of what is happening at the international level,” he said.

Sunday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Sunday December 25, 2012

Mourinho hits back at Benitez J ose Mourinho has reopened his long-term feud with Rafael Benitez by suggesting the Spaniard’s mind was elsewhere when Chelsea lost to Corinthians in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup last weekend.

Mourinho has been widely tipped to leave the Bernabeu in the summer, with Benitez mentioned as a possible replacement.

The former Liverpool boss even hinted that he has had contact with the Primera Liga champions by claiming: “I know things, but I am not going to say

anything about Real Madrid because I don’t think I should.”

That triggered a response from Mourinho, who said: “As a Chelsea fan, all I can say is that I hope he wasn’t thinking about Real Madrid during the Corinthians game.”

Speculation about Mourinho’s impending departure from Real Madrid has intensified in recent months after a poor first half of the season has seen them fall 13 points adrift of league leaders Barcelona.

They also failed to top

EURO BRIEFS

Ferguson doubts Ronaldo’s return

their group in the Champions League, which has left them facing a difficult last-16 tie with Manchester United.

The poor results have also come against a backdrop of dressing-room unrest, with Mourinho’s relationship with several key players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, reported to have broken down.

The manager remains bullish, though, even suggesting that the club’s sub-standard form is the fault of the players, not himself.

M

anchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson does not believe Cristiano Ronaldo will ever make a return to Old Trafford. Nearly four years after leaving for Real Madrid in a world record £80 million deal, Ronaldo will be back at United on March 5, 2013 to try and help his current team knock his old one out of the UEFA Champions League.

Hart to learn from criticism

M

anchester City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart has vowed to listen to and learn from his critics. The 25-year-old has earned considerable praise in his City and England career, but this season things have not gone quite so well, as a number of high-profile mistakes have put the spotlight on the former Shrewsbury stopper.

Juventus downplays Drogba link

J Cavani

Napoli problems upset Cavani

N

apoli forward Edinson Cavani says he is enduring the ‘worst’ spell since his arrival at the Serie A club.

Their chances of challenging for the title have been dealt big blows recently with losses to Inter Milan and Bologna.

But Cavani, 25, is hoping his side can get back on track by winning more matches.

Walter Mazzarri’s men were dealt further blows in their quest for the title after becoming the latest Italian team to

be punished in the country’s match-fixing scandal.

The club has been hit with a two-point deduction, as well as having Cannavaro and Grava banned for six months for failing to report the incident.

“It’s a difficult moment, but I’m certain that the team will get back on the right path.

“We’ve identified the reasons behind our dip. I don’t have a magic wand, but I can guarantee that the squad will give everything that it has,” Mazzarri said.

Mancini upbeat on title hopes

M

anchester City manager Roberto Mancini insists his team will successfully defend their Premier League crown despite their stuttering start.

Supported by the investment of the club’s Abu Dhabi-based owners, City’s 35-year trophy drought ended with FA Cup glory in 2011, followed by their memorable last-gasp Premier League triumph in May this year.

There have been reports of City’s hierarchy keen on a new man at the helm following their recent miserable exit in the Champions League group stages.

But having signed a five-year contract last summer, Mancini seems keen on sticking around and is desperate to continue his good work, adding: “We started to win two years ago and every year we won a trophy.

“I think that is very important for us. It could be that in some

seasons you can’t win the Premier League but if you win the FA Cup - I think it’s important to keep this habit.

“For us, it is important to win a trophy every year. If we continue to do it this way, it will be good.”

uventus CEO Beppe Marotta has revealed that the Serie A club has made no approach to Didier Drogba with regards to signing the player in January.

Drogba has been playing for Shanghai Shenhua since June but, amidst reports that he is unhappy with life in China, the ex-Chelsea striker has been continuously linked with a move to Turin.

However, it appears that such claims have been fabricated given Juve’s reaction, and the club claim that they will not look to sign the Ivorian in the upcoming transfer window.

“Drogba? No, we haven’t made any contact.

“He would not be available anyway because of the Africa Cup of Nations.

“I don’t know how people haven’t realised this.

“We have scored a lot of goals this season, and the January transfer window does not always provide the best options,” Marotta said.

Drogba, now aged 34, is currently on a contract worth £200,000 per week with Shanghai Shenhua, who currently sits ninth in the Chinese Super League.

Moyes disappointed with Fellaini

E

verton manager David Moyes has been left bitterly disappointed by the three-match suspension to midfielder Marouane Fellaini.

The 25-year-old received the ban following his head-butt on Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross in last weekend’s Premier League clash.

The suspension will see Moyes’ side left light in attacking options over the Christmas period, a

Fellaini

prospect which the Everton boss thinks could potentially damage their quest for a spot in Europe next season.

“I have spoken to him a few times about it. I said at the time that I had felt he had let us down and that hasn’t changed.

“We needed him. This is a busy

55

Mourinho

PREMIERSHIP TABLE TEAM

P

GD

PTS

1. Man Utd

17

19

42

2. Man City

18

19

39

3. Arsenal

18

14

30

4. Everton

18

8

30

Hart

5. Tottenham

18

5

30

6. West Brom

18

4

30

7. Chelsea

16

11

29

Ancelotti predicts success in 2013

8. Liverpool

18

3

25

9. Stoke

18

2

25

10. Norwich

18

-7

25

11. Swansea

17

4

23

12. West Ham

18

0

23

13. Fulham

18

-4

20

14. Newcastle

18

-6

20

15. Sunderland

18

-5

19

16. Aston Villa

17

-9

18

17. Southampton

17

-11

15

18. Wigan

18

-15

15

19. QPR

18

-16

10

20. Reading

18

-16

9

time of the season where you do pick up injuries and suspensions.

Things will happen, you may get a sending off - but you can’t do what he has done.

“He knows he has done wrong, 100 percent. He is a good lad, he is aware that he has got it wrong,” Moyes told reporters.

When questioned if Fellaini’s suspension will leave the attack without any creativity, Moyes replied: “We’ll find out. That’s why it was a big miss to lose him. We will have to try and find solutions but we don’t have loads of solutions to fix it. People shouldn’t be surprised if we aren’t able to solve it.”

Meanwhile, Nikica Jelavic is struggling to find his form this season, the Croatian having scored only six goals so far.

C

arlo Ancelotti believes 2013 could bring great success to Paris Saint-Germain after seeing his side end the year by clinching top spot in the Ligue 1 table. Though, in theory, second-placed Lyon could still be a threat to their ambition of winning the Ligue 1 title.

Neuer receives Pfaff’s praise

F

ormer Bayern Munich goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff says Manuel Neuer can become the world’s best shot-stopper. The 59-year-old said he admires Neuer, but warned there is still work to be done if he is to live up to his potential.

Neuer

Busquets confident in Roura

B

arcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets is confident in stand-in coach Jordi Roura, who took charge of the club from yesterday’s fixture against Real Valladolid. Coach Tito Vilanova has been in hospital after undergoing surgery on Thursday to remove a tumour, having suffered a relapse of cancer first suffered last year.

N I G E R I A

$16 Vol. 2 No. 54

Sunday, December 23, 2012

www.nationalmirroronline.net

N150

bn, amount the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said is required to bridge the energy gap in Nigeria.

I N

F I G U R E S

N300

bn, sum the MD, Federal Housing Authority, Arc. Terver Gemade, disclosed as needed for its 17m housing deficit in the country.

The Oteh-NASS imbroglio, and a vindictive legislature

Back Page

Comment

E-mail: nwaunah@yahoo.com Unah is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Lagos

with Jim Unah

T

he refusal by the House of Representatives to entertain discussion on the budget submission of the Securities and Exchange Commission-SEC- on grounds that the Jonathan government has not sacked the Commission’s Director-General, Miss Arunma Oteh, after the face-off between the latter and the Chairman of the House Committee on the Capital Market probe, Hon. Hembe, speaks volumes for the character of persons elected into the nation’s legislative assembly.

When the crisis was raging between the House and the SEC DG, many Nigerians had thought that the Senate would mediate in the face-off and normalise relations between the feuding parties.

With the latest development between the House and the embattled SEC DG, and with the members of the House claiming that the Senate is with them all the way in the battle to nail Miss Oteh’s ‘coffin’; and the threat that the Commission would be denied appropriation for 2013 or the capacity to have access to operational fund for its activities in 2013; it seems that even the Upper legislative chamber is in the conspiracy to blackmail the executive arm to

sack a functionary that it probably feel can deliver service to the fledgling capital market of the nation.

The question to pose to the lawmakers, which should stimulate discussions, is this: were the reverse to be the case and the executive is having issues with a legislator who has been heavy-handed in dealing with it, and there is an embarrassing, scandalous misunderstanding in the process, would the legislators agree to sack or send such a member packing on the insistence of the executive arm of government?

Besides, a cardinal tenet of the rule of law to which the legislators should ideally subscribe is that “no one should be made to suffer in person or in property, except for a definite breach of the law, established in the ordinary legal process, in the regular courts of the land.” If Miss Oteh’s conduct in public office has breached the law, and the legislators feel strongly about it, shouldn’t the proper thing to do, for lawmakers worthy of the name, to institute a legal action against the SEC DG for transgressing the law, and allowing the judicial arm of government to pronounce on the legality or illegality of Oteh’s conduct?

And this prompts another question: is there a constitutional provision that allows the legislative assembly to jointly, conspiratorially, deny an agency of state its annual budgetary appropriation, simply because they hate the guts of a public

officer heading such an agency of state?

Are the legislators, by so doing, not acting beyond legitimate authority, beyond their powers in the constitution?

Have the legislators considered how the denial of appropriation to a regulatory agency of the capital market, such as the SEC, will affect the fortunes of the stock market and all the talks about encouraging core investors to put their money in the capital market, to revamp the market and buoy economic activities? How could the lawmakers allow their anger against the conduct of one person in an entire commission push them to act in ways that are beyond legitimate authority; and in ways that could seriously harm the economic health of the whole nation? Isn’t the conduct of the legislators, in this regard, emotional, discretionary? Is this not tantamount to the legislators acting as the accuser and the judge in their own case? Is this sort of disposition allowed for a nation’s lawmakers?

After legions of allegations against the House by virtually all public agencies since the Oteh bluff-calling that completely rubbished the already battered image of the lawmakers, one would have thought that the legislators would adopt a puritanical posture, turn a new leaf and conduct all their affairs with candour. The biggest battle raging between the House and public officers is the one going on between the Chairman of the Pension Reform Task

No mandate for Eagles to win Nations Cup –Abdullahi

T

he Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said yesterday that the Federal Government had not mandated the Super Eagles to win the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in January in South Africa.

Abdullahi made the statement when he paid an unscheduled visit to the Super Eagles’ training session at the training pitch of the National Stadium, Abuja.

The minister told the players that gone were the days when targets were given to teams before any major competition as doing so could put them under pressure to succeed.

“Although, we will be very happy to win the cup, let nobody tell you that we are giving you

mandate.

“Nobody is giving you mandate that you must bring home the cup or you should stay back in South Africa if you don’t win the cup; there is no such thing.

“We believe you are talented and we believe in the ability of your technical crew to bring the best out of you which in turn should win the trophy for us.

“Don’t let anybody put you under pressure that we said if you don’t win we will flog you,” he said.

The minister pledged government’s maximum support to the team’s technical crew to ensure success in the competition.

“We will give the technical crew the support needed to make you shine. Nobody is go-

Force, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, and members of the National Assembly, over refusal of the former to reappear before the House.

There are now allegations and counter-allegations between the lawmakers and the boss of the Pension Reform Task Force; allegations that bother on the legislators demanding for bribe for God knows what.

Too many persons and groups have pointed fingers at the lawmakers for them to think that making a scapegoat of an Arunma Oteh would send shivers down the spine of all others who might dare to spill the beans in future. The way out for the legislators is to go about their duty with a clear conscience; not embarking on a frolic of vendetta. The stakes in not providing appropriation for a regulatory commission of the capital market, through which the Federal Government has just bailed out the ailing stock market with over N20billion, are too high. This will impact rather negatively on the government’s plan to revamp the capital market and bring succour to the investing public.

The image the lawmakers have painted of themselves with the shutdown of the SEC budget is that of a bunch of vindictive, unrepentant politicians, angry that they have been exposed as thoroughly corrupt in demanding bribe for practically every piece of legislation that they manage to pass. This is not good for the image of the nation’s lawmakers.

Arteta secures victory for Arsenal, as Manchester City chase Red Devils

P. 53

PREMIERSHIP RESULTS Wigan 0-1 Arsenal Manchester City 1-0 Reading Newcastle United 1-0 QPR Southampton 0-1 Sunderland Tottenham 0-0 Stoke West Brom 2-1 Norwich West Ham 1-2 Everton Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi

ing to harass you or force you to do what is wrong.

“So, I believe that if we work together we will achieve the needed result,” he added.

Liverpool 4-0 Fulham PREMIERSHIP FIXTURES Today’s Matches Swansea v Manchester United 13:30

Chelsea v Aston Villa 16:00

Printed and Published by Global Media Mirror Ltd. Head Office: 155/161, Broad Street, Lagos. Tel: 0805 423 8905 Abuja Office: NICON Insurance House, Second Floor , Central Business District, Area 10, Abuja. Tel: 08070428249, Advert Hotline: 08098305995, e-mail: mail@mirroronline.net Editor: BOLAJI TUNJI. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos.

Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Ondo State. ISSN 0794-232X