Friday, March 8, 2013

3 suspects held over First Lady’s stolen properties EXCLUSIVE AYODELE OJO

DEPUTY EDITOR, POLITICS

Vol. 3 N0. 573

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ollowing the stunning revelation by wife of the President, Dame Patience Jonathan, penultimate Sunday, that some of her belongings

INEC can’t deliver credible elections in 2015 –Buhari P.13

were sold off upon rumours of her death, security operatives are said to be probing the incident and may have narrowed down their invesCONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

Friday, March 8, 2013

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No amnesty for Boko Haram, says Jonathan INUSA NDAHI AND AZA MSUE

CAN commends President’s decision

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday turned down the request by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar to declare an amnesty for members of the deadly Boko Haram Islamic sect.

The President said in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, that the clamour to grant amnesty to the group at this moment was not possible.

“How can a government grant amnesty to a faceless group or ghosts who CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

A corps member who collapsed during the swearing-in for 2013 NYSC Batch ‘A’ being carried off the p parade g ground in Bauchi,, yesterday.

Anger in N’Delta over 83% oil blocs to northerners Revoke all licences or…, South-South leaders warn

Venezuelan President, Chavez, for burial today

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Eket set for 2face, Annie’s native wedding

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Anger in N’Delta over 83% oil blocs to northerners SOLA ADEBAYO, AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST, TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE, A ZA MSUE, AND SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN

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nger reigned in the Niger Delta yesterday, hours after the revelation that northerners owned 83 per cent of oil wells not in control of the international companies.

Consequently, leaders of the oil-rich region have demanded that President Goodluck Jonathan revoke the controversial oil blocs owned by northerners immediately to redress the inherent injustice in the allocation of the oil facilities.

Some of them, however, threatened war if President Jonathan failed to accede to their demand.

But the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, demanded the setting up of a commission of enquiry into the allegation.

In a statement, the forum’s spokesman, Mr. Anthony Sani, called for a thorough investigation into the matter which outcome

should be published stating the state of origin of oil bloc owners, production volume and date of acquisition to ascertain the truth.

The Niger Delta leaders, who reacted to the revelation by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, on behalf of his colleagues, said failure by Jonathan to act would precipitate fresh crisis in the region.

They warned that the present arrangement under which virtually all the oil wells were allocated to northerners was not acceptable to them, adding that only an urgent review of the scheme could avert violent reactions by their people.

The leaders also warned that failure by the National Assembly to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, as presented by the executive would ignite “unprecedented” crisis.

The South South Peoples Assembly, SSPA, described the development as “annoying.”

SSPA’s President and a former Governor of Edo

State, Chief John OdigieOyegun, told that Jonathan must come out to redress the anomaly.

Odigie-Oyegun said: “The 10 per cent host communities’ fund as spelt out in the PIB is basic and they must get it because they have suffered for too long.

“We are glad that it has come out that 83 per cent of the oil blocs were allocated to northerners. This should be redressed with urgency.

“The oil blocs should be

revoked and reviewed or that every other one to be given out from today should be given to the southerners, especially those whose lives are being degraded by oil exploration.”

The Ijaw National Congress, INC, the umbrella body for the Ijaw ethnic nationality in the zone, also asked Jonathan to revoke the oil blocs, warning that fresh war was looming in the Niger Delta over the issue.

INC’s President, Chief

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session with stakeholders, including the Deputy Governor, Abubakar Aliyu; former governor now Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim; Senators Alkali Jajere and Ahmed Lawan; House of Representatives members and former Minister of Finance, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Lawan, spoke on the security challenges, especially the Boko Haram insurgency affecting the state and how to resolve them.

He urged the President to immediately convene a meeting of stakeholders to resuscitate the Lake Chad Development Commission, which offered job opportunities to the people of the North-East sub-region.

Ciroma, whose speech was read by retired Air Commander Ibrahim Alkali, said that the people of Yobe State had been living peacefully with one another since it was created in 1991.

The former minister noted that due to neglect in agricultural development, health care delivery and poor education, the state

body will drill any oil in the Niger Delta if the PIB is not passed into law as it is.

“We are demanding Jonathan to revoke all oil blocs in the country. Let them bring all the issues to the table so that we can discuss it. We want a national conference. If the PIB bill fails and derivation is not approved for the oil communities, no more oil exploration will take place in the region until things are done properly.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

President Goodluck Jonathan (4th left); Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn El-Kanemi (3rd left); Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima (3rd right); PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur (left) and other Emirs, during the visit of the President to the palace of Shehu of Borno in Maiduguri, yesterday.

PHOTO: STATE HOUSE

No amnesty for Boko Haram, says Jonathan refused to show themselves physically like the Niger Delta militants?” he said.

President Jonathan stated this yesterday at an interactive session with Yobe Stakeholders/Elders in Damaturu during his twoday working visit to Yobe and Borno states.

The visit is seen as an attempt by the President to silence critics, including opposition governors, who have been accusing him of not visiting the two volatile states and epicentre of Boko Haram’s activities.

The President and his entourage had arrived at the Maiduguri International Airport in a presidential jet at 10:33a.m. and were received by Governor Kashim Shettima and some traditional rulers before departing for Damaturu at exactly 11am.

After a closed-door meeting with Emirs and traditional rulers at the Government House, the President and his entourage, was accompanied by Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam to the Wawa Hall where they had an interactive

Joshua Benaimaisia, in a telephone interview with National Mirror, accused the northern governors and their people of fuelling the anti-Niger Delta activities in the National Assembly.

Benaimaisia, said: “Another war is in the offing in the Niger Delta if the PIB is not passed as it is. This is total respect for the owners of the resources and we may be forced to ask for total resource control.

“We will control our resources ourselves and no-

started to witness violence from 2002, which had now aggravated to Boko Haram insurgency and terrorism perpetrated by jobless youths.

He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to complement the efforts of the state government in job creation, even as he called on President Jonathan to expedite action on the oil exploration project in the Lake Chad Basin.

Ciroma also called on the Federal Government to create a N100bn emergency intervention fund for the next five years to Yobe State alone, whereby N20bn would be given to it yearly.

He added that the Almajiri Model School system should be enhanced to rid the streets of beggars.

The elder statesman noted that this would go a long way to nip the menace of Boko Haram affecting northern region in the bud.

Senator Bukar told the President that the continuous marginalisation of the North-East, which allegedly started since 1960, was responsible for the anomalies witnessed in some parts of

Borno and Yobe states.

He, therefore, advised the Federal Government to correct the neglect by providing dividends of democracy.

Reacting, President Jonathan said: “The issue of granting amnesty to the sect became a public discourse, but people failed to understand that during the Niger Delta crisis when government granted amnesty to the militants, it was borne out of the fact that the militants in the likes of Asari Dokubo, Ateke Tom, among others presented themselves physically to the Federal Government where they dialogued with each other, laid down their arms before they were granted the amnesty.

“But in the case of Boko Haram, nobody wants to come out and identify himself or herself as Boko Haram, not to even talk of their leaders. So, how can the Federal Government grant amnesty to Boko Haram members who are a faceless group?”

He noted that terrorism is a global phenomenon and wondered why some people

kept on insinuating that he had not visited Borno and Yobe states, stressing that on several occasions, he had indicated interest to come to the two states to reassure the people in the area of Federal Government’s concern towards the insurgency as he did in some states like Kano and Niger.

The President said that when suspected Boko Haram members attacked the Police Headquarters and the UN Building in Abuja, he personally visited the sites of the attacks, but expressed his dissatisfaction when some people, whom he described as his enemies, insinuated that he refused to pay a visit to the two most affected states.

“As government, our doors remained open for dialogue with the sect members who chose to come out in the open so that we can have peace,” he said.

The President also said that his administration had not marginalised the NorthEast, stressing that he took an oath of office to serve all Nigerians, irrespective of where they reside.

He recalled that when he took over the mantle of leadership, his administration approved the construction and rehabilitation of federal roads in the NorthEast, saying the zone benefitted more than any other in the country.

The President also told the stakeholders that the agitation for oil exploration in the Lake Chad Basin was being given appropriate attention by the Federal Government, adding that last year alone, N10bn was expended and that government had earmarked N16bn this year to encourage exploration in Inland Sedimentary Basins.

He explained that seismic data on oil exploration was the responsibility of oil companies and not the Federal Government.

Although the President was silent on the request for N100bn emergency intervention fund, he said the Federal Government had already earmarked billions of naira as ecological funds, in addition to the setting up of an agency for its management.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

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Friday, March 8, 2013

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Photo News

Friday, March 8, 2013

L-R: Senator Oluremi Tunubu; Co-author, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; President/CEO, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Chairman, Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande, at the presentation of a book: “FINANCIALISM: Water from an empty well,” in Lagos, yesterday.

PHOTO: ADEMOLA AKINLABI

L-R: Chairman, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Lagos State chapter, Prof. Kofo Odeyemi; Dr. Kemi Odukoya of the Department of Community Health, College of Medicine, University of Lagos and Dr. Brai Bartholomew of the Nigeria Institute of the Medical Research, during a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, yesterday.

PHOTO: OLUFEMI AJASA

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L-R: Lead Economist, World Bank, Mr. John Litwack; Country Director Nigeria, World Bank, Dr. Marie Francoise Marie Nelly, Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Bright Okogu and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, during a press briefing on the 2013 Federal Budget in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan (left), being decorated as a patron of the Legislators Wives’ Association by the wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Helen Mark, in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

National News

Security, infrastructure get lion’s share of 2013 capital budget TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

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he Federal Government yesterday restated its commitment to the development of critical economic and social sectors of the economy in the 2013 budget by making substantial allocations to security, critical infrastructure and human capital development in the fiscal year.

This was even as it also explained how the executive and legislative arms of government amicably resolved the oil benchmark price in favour of the position of the legislature, adding that the concessionary position of the executive on the issue was informed by the imperative of avoiding a situation that the impasse would hurt Nigerians and the economy if allowed to persist for long.

Giving these insights during the media briefing on the 2013 budget yesterday in Abuja, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-

Iweala, said allocations to key sectors of the economy were aimed at promoting the continuity of the four main pillars on which the 2012 budget was based namely: Macroeconomic stability, Structural reforms, Governance and institutions, and Investing in priority sectors.

The minister listed the budgetary provisions for the key sectors as comprising N950 billion for national security purposes, covering N320 billion for the police, N364 billion for the armed forces, N115 billion for the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, and N154 billion for the Ministry of the Interior; Human Capital Development (i.e. Education and Health) - N705 billion; Critical Infrastructure (including power, works, transport, aviation, gas pipelines, and Federal Capital Territory) - N497 billion; and Agriculture/ Water Resources - N175 billion.

In addition, she disclosed that the SURE-P programme has a projected allocation of N180

billion, an amount which will be augmented by the 2012 unspent balances of N93.5 billion, adding that the amount will be used to make further progress in the provision of social safety net schemes, maternal and child healthcare, youth development and vocational training for Nigerians.

On the revenue profiles of the budget which had $75 as oil benchmark price; Oil production of 2.53 million barrels per day projected real GDP growth rate of 6.5 per cent; and average Exchange Rate of N160/$, Okonjo-Iweala put the Gross Federally Collectible Revenue at N11.339trillion as against the N9.682 trillion accruals in 2012 with oil revenues accounting for N2.358 trillion as against the N1.949 trillion accruals in 2013, representing 58 per cent of the revenue earnings from the sector.

In addition, the minister said non-oil sector is projected to rake in N1, 742.08 trillion compared with the N1, 611.10 trillion earned from the sector in

2012 while the total Federal Government’s retained revenue is put at N4.100 trillion as against N3.561 trillion in 2012.

A further decomposition of the non-oil revenues indicated that Value Added Tax will generate N107.90 billion as against N127.05 billion in 2012 to government coffers compared to the N457.12 billion targeted from Companies Income Tax (CIT) and Independent Revenue figures of N455.78 billion, an amount which is higher by about N9.0 billion of the N446.78 billion earned from the source in the previous year.

Expatiating further on the expenditure provision, she disclosed that the 2013 budget makes provision for an aggregate expenditure of N4.987 trillion, representing a modest increase of 6.2 per cent over the N4.697 trillion appropriated for 2012, adding that this is made up of N387.97billion for Statutory Transfers; and N591.76 billion for Debt Service.

She explained that N2.38 trillion is budgeted for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Ex-

penditure, of which N1.717 trillion is the provision for personnel cost while overhead cost is projected at N208.9 trillion while a total of N1.62 trillion had been provided for Capital Expenditure compared to the N273.5 billion provided for the Subsidy Reinvestment (SURE-P) programme.

In view of the provisions, the minister said the fiscal deficit is projected to improve to about 1.85 per cent of GDP in 2013 compared to 2.85 per cent in 2012, an improvement which, she said, fell well within the threshold stipulated in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 and clearly highlights our commitment to fiscal prudence.

According to the minister, the Appropriation Act has its priority focus on reduction of the cost of governance; restructuring the budget in favour of capital expenditure; extension of IPPIS to more MDAs; commencement of the implementation of the Oronsaye report while government continues to await the “White Paper”; improvement in debt man-

agement/sinking fund - retiring maturing obligations.

She projected that at least N100 billion would be saved from recurrent expenditures of the MDAs through the continued rollout of Integrated Personnel Payment Information System, IPPIS, across all MDAs and the implementation of the Oronsaye Report.

Others are, focus on infrastructure , especially ongoing capital projects; job creation through (a) reducing infrastructure challenges, (b) YouWin, SURE-P, and so on; fiscal measures to promote domestic industry and create employment; and supporting gender programmes and sporting activities.

On how the impasse on the oil benchmark price for the budget was resolved between the National Assembly and the Executive, Okonjo-Iweala said the concession by the executive to retain the $79 oil benchmark price was made for the purpose of moving both this budget and Nigerians forward.

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Friday, March 8, 2013

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3 suspects held over First Lady’s stolen properties CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

tigations to three suspects.

The First Lady had said that some of her close associates sold her belongings while she was on sick bed in a German hospital believ-

ing she would not return to the country alive.

A highly reliable source in Abuja disclosed to National Mirror that two choice properties belonging to the wife of the President

Anger in N’Delta over 83% oil blocs to northerners CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

The Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujarhedeen Asari-Dokubo, insisted that the oil blocs should be revoked and the beneficiaries be made to pay reparation over the money they had “illegally” made through the allocation of the oil wells.

“We are demanding that the oil blocs should be revoked and they should be made to pay for what they have criminally stolen from the people of the Niger Delta.

“Jonathan should confiscate these oil wells criminally taken from us; otherwise we will result to self-help. We will do it in our own way; we won’t go to court because we won’t get justice from the courts.

“The head of the Federal High Court is a northerner, the President of the Court of Appeal is a northerner and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, is a northerner.

Where are we going to get justice?

“We are not going to court but we are going to repossess what belongs to

us by any means necessary.

“Those calling us names have realised what we are fighting for. They attacked us over mere pipeline contracts. These same people talking about PIB and 10 per cent communities’ fund are very insensitive. I think they want war and they are beating the drums of war.

“Everything about oil is controlled by the North.

What is left for other parts of the country where the oil comes from?

“We are no fools. It is time to revoke the oil blocs.

If there is equity, southerners and northerners should have equal share of the oil blocs. Do they declare their solid minerals and which southerner is mining their solid minerals? How come it is when it is petrol issue that is difficult?” he said.

Similarly, a repentant Niger Delta militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemukpolo, a.k.a. Tompolo, also asked Jonathan to revoke the oil blocs, adding that they should thereafter be distributed equitably to stakeholders across the country, with bias for the CONTINUED ON PAGE 12>>

had been recovered from the buyers.

The properties are believed to be held in trust for the First Lady.

Mrs. Jonathan had on Sunday, February 17, during a thanksgiving service at the Aso Villa Chapel revealed that while she was undergoing surgeries and passed out for seven days, those close to her sold off some of her belongings with the hope she would not come back to life.

Her words: “I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his. My doctors said all hope was lost.

A black doctor who is with us in this service was flown in from London when the situation became critical.

It was God himself in His infinite mercy that said I

will return to Nigeria. God woke me up after seven days.

“I know that some people somehow leaked the information that I was dead.

They are people that I trust and rely on. To them, I was dead and I would never return to the country alive.

Some of them even sold off my things.

“I won’t say everything here. It is the Lord’s doing that I returned alive.”

Impeccable source close to the seat of power, however, told National Mirror that a prominent businesswoman, an aide of the First Lady and a top government functionary had been quizzed for their alleged involvement in the sale of the properties.

It was also learnt that

the international passports of the three suspects had been seized by security operatives.

“Even before the President’s wife made it public that her properties were sold off by her friends, security agencies had been briefed about the development.

“After painstaking investigation by a team of detectives, three people were picked as the masterminds of the sale of the properties.

“They have been interrogated and to forestall a situation where they will flee the country, their international passports have been seized.

“I am also aware that security operatives have also recovered the First Lady’s properties sold out by the suspects,” the source told

National Mirror.

It was further learnt that the properties, valued at several millions of naira, were located in Abuja and Lagos.

The source said that the businesswoman, who is believed to be very close to Mrs. Jonathan, might have facilitated the sale of one of the properties while the presidential aide and top government functionary perfected the documentation of the illegal transaction.

As at the time of going to the press, it was not clear whether the three suspects have refunded all the proceeds from the sale.

The source added that the suspects might be charged to court after the investigation had been concluded.

Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada (left) with the British Minister of State for Armed Forces, Mr. Andrew Robathan, during the signing of memorandum of understanding on counter-terrorism in London, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

No amnesty for Boko Haram, says Jonathan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

On the resuscitation of the Lake Chad Development Commission, the President said it required a huge amount of money to transfer water from Central Africa to the Lake, stressing that government needed about $14bn to embark on such projects.

He added that the project needed the assistance and intervention from foreign countries, even as he said that the countries around the basin, including Nigeria, could not cough out such a huge amount of money to embark on it.

The President, who was accompanied on the visit by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamaga Tukur; service chiefs, min-

isters and other Federal Government officials, commissioned the newly- constructed library at the Yobe State University, which was named after him.

He later donated N200m to the institution.

President Jonathan also commissioned the Red Bricks Housing Estate on Gujuba Road and the Ring Road dual carriageway in the state capital.

Meanwhile, Gaidam said the Boko Haram insurgency had retarded development and service delivery in the state.

Gaidam stated this yesterday when President Jonathan paid him a courtesy call in continuation of his oneday official working visit.

The governor said that prior to the challenges to

security being experienced, the state used to be adjudged as one of the most peaceful states in the country and the people known for their hospitality and affection towards strangers.

He said it was regrettable that peace was suddenly disrupted by the sect and other militants attacking security outfits and causing considerable loss of lives and property worth hundreds of millions of naira.

Gaidam said it was unfortunate that during the last one year, the state government had been providing assistance to the security operatives, including handsome financial package to the families of the operatives killed or injured, noting that such money could have been channelled towards de-

velopmental projects.

He explained that the accumulated expenditure for the state government was about N4.8bn from the beginning of the insurgency to date, including the measures taken by the state government towards extending relief to the affected people.

Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigerian, CAN, in the 19 northern states and Abuja yesterday commended President Jonathan’s declaration of no amnesty for Boko Haram sect members.

Northern CAN Public Relations Officer, Mr. Sunday Oibe, while reacting to the President’s statement, called on security agencies to place the region’s politicians on security watch, saying Tuesday’s discovery

of a bomb factory in a politician’s house had vindicated the association.

CAN insisted that people should stop canvassing amnesty for Boko Haram whom they described as murderers.

It said: “We, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in 19 northern states commend President Jonathan for making a bold declaration that government cannot grant amnesty to a faceless group.

“President Jonathan should continue to take such stands in all his official conducts. How can a government grant amnesty to murderers who killed innocent Christian women and children and burnt churches?

“Boko Haram agents who are canvassing am-

nesty without considering the sect’s atrocities should grant them amnesty not government. “There is heat on ground now and Boko Haram started contracting people to speak on their behalf for amnesty. Government should stand firm against evil doers, we said it before that government should not grant amnesty to Boko Haram “We said it before that Boko Haram members are everywhere in the North.

Tuesday’s discovery of arms, bombs, weapons in the house of a politician in Kawo, Kaduna, confirmed our earlier statement. We called on President Goodluck Jonathan to monitor politicians because a majority of them are members of Boko Haram sect.”

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News

GEORGE OJI ABUJA

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fter three days of intense debate on the general principles of the draft Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, the senators yesterday unanimously passed the bill from the second stage and committed it to the committee stage.

In a voice vote conducted by the Senate President, David Mark, after all the senators had concluded their individual contributions on the bill, there was an overwhelming aye vote without any dissenting vote for the bill to pass the second stage.

The bill was consequently committed to the Joint Committee on Petroleum (Downstream and Upstream, Gas and Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal for further legislative work.

The committee was given six weeks within which to conclude public hearing on the bill and report to the entire Senate.

Mark appealed to the committee to ensure proper legislative work on the bill.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Senators vote in favour of PIB •It’s not North versus South –Mark He, however, warned that if at the end of the day it was found out that the committee was biased, the Senate would throw away the work and indict the committee.

The passage of the bill for second reading was seen by many as anti-climax considering the initial opposition that greeted the draft bill on the first day of its introduction on Tuesday by northern senators.

The opposition of the North to the bill was hinged on three planks. The first was the excessive powers conferred on the petroleum minister by the bill. The second was the opposition to the 10 per cent host communities’ funds, while the third was the lack of independence and financial autonomy of the National Frontiers Exploratory Agency, charged with the responsibility of exploring oil in all parts of the country.

In his closing remarks before the senators voted on the bill, the Senate President appealed to his colleagues to allow their senses of patriotism and nationalism guide their decision on the bill.

He said the bill was not about North or South or one section of the country against the other.

Mark noted that history would judge the senators in the way they decided on the bill.

He said: “We are all very united on the fact that so much power is given to the minister, particularly where the minister can grant lease unconditionally, you can also revoke lease unconditionally.

“We also all agreed that the frontier exploration services should be properly funded and independent and the time within which it will compete and start prospecting for oil in all parts of the

country.

“Those who spoke very strongly for South-South or Niger Delta also emphasised this, and this was an area where people expressed fear.

“The fact of the matter is that we all need to be on the same wave-length.

“I must emphasise that the bill is not North versus South, far from that. Because what is good for the North is also good for the South and what is bad for the South, is bad for the North.

“So it is not one section of the country versus another section of the country.

“The bill also, like a senator pointed out, is like the life-wire of this country.

It has national interest as well as international interest and I think the IOCs are very interested in the debate that is going on, just as Nigerians are interested in the debate.

“Let me emphasise that

L-R: Chairman, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, Mrs. Ngozi Olejeme; Chairman, Trade Union Congress, Comrade Peter Esele; AIG Aliyu Musa and Hon. Rufus Omeire, at the launch of Microfone Grassroots Telephone in Abuja, recently.

N3bn Nollywood grant: Reps demand even disbursement TORDUE SALEM

ABUJA

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he House of Representatives yesterday asked the Presidency to disburse the proposed N3 billion grant for Nollywood to the Yoruba, Hausa and English genres of the film industry.

Hon. Aminu Suleiman (PDP-Kano State), who moved the motion calling for the even distribution of the fund, disclosed that from all indications, not all sectors of the industry

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benefited from the N32 billion released before the last general elections by the Federal Government.

He said that the sectors like the Kannywood (Hausa film), the Yoruba film were neglected.

Hon. Jerry Alagbaoso (PDP- Imo), who supported the motion, argued that since the Nigeria film industry comprised Kannywood, Yoruba film, etc, it would not be proper if the N3 billion was given to Nollywood alone.

In his contribution, Hon.

Rotimi Makinde (ACN -Osun) warned that the film industry represents all Nigerians so it must eschew discrimination.

The Minority Whip, Hon. Samson Osagie (PDP -Edo), however, opposed the motion, saying “as a responsible parliament we should not come here and encourage Federal Government to be throwing money on a project that did not follow due process.”

He said the money in question was not cap-

tured in any subhead in the budget and had no place with the legislature.

But countering Osagie’s view, Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta) hinted that there should be no reason for such since it had already been appropriated for in the budget.

The Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, who presided over yesterday’s plenary, ruled in favour of the motion which was referred to the Committee on Culture.

no bill has come to this chamber that we have not tinkered with. It will go for second reading and public hearing and by the time it comes back there will be amendments, additions and subtractions. So the draft bill that has been given to us is not sacrosanct. When the bill goes for public hearing, the committees that will look at it will bring the bill back in a manner that will reflect the views that we have expressed here and the view that was gathered from

the public.

“So I want to say that the bill is a worthy bill. The important thing is whether the bill guarantees the transparency we want in the petroleum sector, because that is a key issue because there is no transparency at the moment.

“Does the bill ensure that more revenue accrue to the government and by extension to the people and more importantly does the bill ensure the independence of the new companies that will come out from the unbundled NNPC and finally does the bill encourage investment?”

Foreign reserves savings, ‘voodoo economics’ –Tinubu JOHNSON OKANLAWON

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he National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has described the accumulation of foreign reserves by the Federal Government at a time the productive sector was being starved of funding as voodoo economics.

Tinubu, who spoke at the launch of a book co-authored by him and the former US Consul General in Nigeria, Mr. Brian Browne, entitled; “Financialism: Water from an Empty Well,” noted that the government was choking the private sector by keeping the money in reserves.

According to him, the government pays 16 per cent interest rate on N42 billion domestic debt, earns two per cent on $46 billion foreign reserves, while the manufacturers pay 20 to 25 per cent interest rates on bank loans.

“Their voodoo economics is choking up the private sector,” he said.

Tinubu argued that the accumulation of money by the government was a misplaced objective for these times, saying that the driving purpose must be “to channel idle human and material capacity into productive streams that furnish jobs and manufacture tangible goods bettering the living conditions of every citizen.”

He said: “I believe in the national government saving money if saving is for the purpose other than itself. For a government that prints its own currency, to save that currency for merely for saving’s sake is to ac-

cumulate worthless paper.

“Instead, our money must catalyse development enriching the broadest spectrum of people. To say we are saving money for a rainy day while everyone is already drenched and wading through flood waters makes little sense to me.”

Tinubu pointed out that the country must shun the philosophy that says “better to save money and spend the people,” adding, “I say better to spend money and save the people.”

The former governor of Lagos State also condemned what he called the global drift towards finacialism, an offshoot of capitalism that concentrated too much power and resources in the financial system that resulted in the 2008 worldwide economic recession.

He said: “The global economy had become unbalanced and it has unbalanced our national economic architecture. We are told that we live in an age of capitalism. If only that were true, things would not be so bad. We live in a time where capitalism has been consumed by a more virulent ideology. That ideology we deem as ‘financialism.’

“Under capitalism, the financial sector was adjunct to the real sector. The financial sector served as the circulatory system, efficiently allocating funds to the most productive agents within the real or manufacturing sector in order to keep that sector vibrant. Such vibrancy generates employment for the bulk of the people. High levels of employment give birth to stability and a standard of living conducive to democratic aspirations.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, March 8, 2013

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8

News

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Yakowa: No foul play in helicopter crash –Investigation S EGUN A DIO

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ighty-two days after a Nigerian Navy Augusta helicopter crashed killing former Kaduna State Governor, Sir Ibrahim Patrick Yakowa and for-

mer National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi, an interim report into the crash has been submitted to the naval authorities.

Shortly after the crash, an Accident Investigation Board (AIB) was constituted by the

Nigerian Air Force at the instance of the Nigerian Navy to ascertain the cause of the fatal crash.

The Investigation was conducted by aviation experts in collaboration with the manufacturers -Agusta

Westland.

In a statement by the Director of Naval Information, Commodore Kabiru Aliyu, the team of investigators revealed that the cause of the crash could either be human error or material failure or a com-

bination of both.

The team also said that to determine the actual cause of the crash, there would be the need to tear down the engine of the helicopter in order to carry out detailed forensic analysis.

It is said that this aspect of the investigation will be carried out by Turbomeca, the manufacturers of the engine.

Before now, an independent police report has equally ruled out sabotage as a possible cause of the crash.

Rice millers donate 150 vehicles to Customs IJEOMA EZEIKE

ABUJA

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L-R: Commissioner representing Ogun State in Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Mr. Wale Banjo; former President Olusegun Obasanjo and PCC Director of Investigation, Mr. Ademola Aderemi, during their visit to the former President in Abeokuta, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Conviction: S’ Court fixes Sept 26 for hearing Bode George’s appeal EMMANUEL ONANI ABUJA

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he Supreme Court yesterday adjourned till September 26, hearing in an appeal filled by a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, against his conviction.

George is challenging the judgement of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the decision of the Lagos State High Court that sentenced him to a prison term of two years over contracts splitting and inflation in 2009.

One of the grounds of appeal upon which the PDP chieftain is challenging his conviction is that the appel-

late court erred in law when it refused to upturn the twoyear jail term slammed on him.

The appellant further contends that the court erred in law when it found him guilty of not obeying administrative directive, as Chairman of Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

Another ground of ap-

peal is his claim that he was tried in error by the Lagos State High Court, instead of a federal high court.

It will be recalled that Chief George was convicted alongside former Managing Director of the NPA, Alhaji Aminu Dabo, Captain O. Abidoye, Alhaji Abdulahi Aminu Tafida, Alhaji Zanna Maidaribe and Mr. Sule Aliyu.

n its drive to support effort to check economic sabotage, the Rice Millers, Importers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (RIMIDAN) yesterday donated 150 operational vehicles to Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

The donation is to complement Customs’ effort in combating the menace of high influx of smuggling and to help in the effective patrolling and monitoring of borders.

Donating the vehicles to the Federal Government, RIMIDAN President, Mr. Tunji Owoeye, said that an estimated 30,000 metric tonnes of rice is being smuggled monthly into Nigeria, adding that the quantum of rice being smuggled through the nation’s land borders from the Republic of Benin is increasing on a daily basis.

Owoeye said: “A survey in our local markets will attest to this fact as most of the rice products you

see on display for sale are smuggled into the country through our land borders.

“So, by simple summation, 30,000 metric tonnes is smuggled every month.

This means that the Nigerian Government will be losing over N3 billion worth of revenue every month.

“The implication of this is that huge amounts of money invested into rice by genuine entrepreneurs would go down the drain and investment in the sector will become uninteresting because there are no measures to protect investors’ interest.

“In addition, the intention of the Federal Government regarding empowerment of local producers will be in jeopardy because no economy grows with this kind of counter -action by unscrupulous elements.”

He noted that the Federal Government lost N32 billion to the activities of rice smugglers in 2012 which has undermined the government policies and programmes directed at boosting local food production.

Jonathan assures corps members of safety, robust welfare TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE, DENNIS AGBO AND DANJUMA WILLIAMS

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday assured the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, who are newly deployed to the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of adequate protection and improved welfare condition.

The President gave the assurance in his address at the orientation ceremony held across the country yesterday for the 2013 “Batch A” corps members.

Delivering the address

in Lagos by the Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Dr. Idiat Adebule, who stood in for Governor Babatunde Fashola on behalf of the President, Jonathan reiterated his administration’s commitment to protect lives and property of not only the corps members, but also the entire citizens and other nationals in the country.

He said the Federal Government had strong faith in NYSC scheme, describing it as a very viable tool for the implementation of critical national development.

The President, however, advised the corps members to be dedicated to duty, be courageous and tolerance

of one another.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Lagos State NYSC Co-ordinator, Mrs. Adenike Adeyemi, disclosed that a total of 2, 323 corps members made up of 946 males and 1377 females had registered so far under the batch in Lagos.

He urged them to take all the four cardinal programmes of the scheme, namely: the orientation course, primary assignment, community development service and the windup/passing out exercise seriously.

Given the peculiarities of the mounting security challenges bedeviling the North-East, the Gombe

Jonathan

State Coordinator of the scheme, Mr. Teryima Manasseh Igyude, called for striking a balance between the safety of youth corps members and commitment to effective discharge of statutory functions by stake holders, especially as

it regards national unity and development.

The coordinator gave the charge yesterday at the official opening/swearing-in ceremony of the 2013 batch “A” orientation course for the 1, 320 youth corps members posted to the state.

He, however, commended the state government and the security agencies in the state for bringing the activities of terrorists and other criminal minded elements to the barest minimum.

Igyude told the corps members that Gombe State is safe for them to stay and serve the nation under peaceful atmosphere.

Corps members de-

ployed to Enugu State are to undergo vocational training to acquire skill that will help them excel in the labour market.

NYSC Coordinator in the state, Mr. Hilary Nasamu, dropped the hint yesterday during the swearing-in of the 2013 “Batch A” corps members.

He said that vocational and entrepreneurship training is obligatory for the corps members as a result of decision agreed on by the NYSC Board.

Nassamu said the vocational training would enable the corps members become job creators instead of job seekers after the service year.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South West

Friday, March 8, 2013

9

Ladipo Market may be reopened soon –Fashola MURITALA AYINLA

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agos State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday said that the shut Ladipo market may be re-opened before weekend if the cleanup exercise being carried out by traders is completed.

This is even as the Imo

State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, appealed to the traders to cooperate with the state government on the clean-up exercise.

Both Fashola and Okorocha spoke when they paid an unscheduled visit to the market.

Fashola said he was concerned about the plight of the traders, but stressed that the environmental degrada-

tion in the market could not continue unchecked.

The governor insisted that business must be done in a sustainable manner in the market.

He said: “While you are doing your businesses, your landlords and those who leave around here must be able to access their homes.

“The factories here must be able to operate while you

are also doing your businesses so that all of you will generate the revenue that we need to upgrade your market.”

Fashola said the market would be opened if the traders could hasten the cleanup before the weekend.

Speaking earlier, Okorocha urged the governor to rehabilitate some bad portions of the Ladipo Road.

The visiting governor also urged the traders in the market to eschew factions, adding that there was a lot to enjoy from government if they could unite.

He said: “Please cooperate with the governor. When next I come here, I want to come and launch the new Ladipo Market with the governor with electricity, good road network, water and oth-

er things you want. Please cooperate with him.

“When I asked him what can be done to improve the lives of our people, he said to me that he can do anything to make the Igbo happy here.

“I sincerely thank the governor for bringing me, because the impression out there is different from what I am seeing.”

PDP’ll sweep Oyo LG polls, Akala tells Ajimobi ‘Osogbo - Kwara boundary road ready next year’ KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

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ormer Oyo State Governor, Adebayo AlaoAkala, has challenged his successor, Abiola Ajimobi, to conduct local government elections, saying that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would win threequarter of the councils.

Akala, who threw the challenge at the Ibadan PDP forum held at the Jogor Centre yesterday, said the people had missed the good governance of the party and were waiting eagerly to bring back the PDP through their votes.

The former governor said the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, government was just marking time, adding that if it was sure of delivering dividends of democracy to the people; it should not waste time in conducting local government elections.

He said: “There is no doubt that the government in the state has failed the people and the people are now yearning to have the PDP back in power in the

state. This will start from the local government elections.

“I am therefore calling on the state government to conduct the council elections and let us begin from there.”

Acknowledging that there are still aggrieved PDP members, Akala assured that the party elders and stakeholders would do everything possible to bring every member into one fold.

The former governor claimed he had no favourite in the party as all members were his friends.

He urged members present at the forum to take the message back to their various wards that the PDP was one and that all members should endeavour to work for its victory at the coming polls.

The state Chairman of the party, Hon. Yinka Taiwo, said the people still loved the PDP, adding that members of the party needed to put their house in order.

He said: “When we were coming, many people were shouting PDP. This showed that our party is coming

back in 2015. Those not at this meeting will soon come.

Let us all work assiduously in our local governments to entrench unity.”

Chieftains present at the meeting included former state PDP Chairman, Chief Dejo Afolabi, former Sports Minister, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Layiwola Lakojo, Alhaji Bisi Olopoeniyan, Chief Yekini Adeojo (member, PDP Board of Trustees, BoT), Dr. Saka Balogun, Mogaji Nureni Akanbi (Chairman, PDP, Ibadan Forum), former Oyo SUBEB Chairman, Prof. Soji Adejumo and Chief Jacob Adetoro.

Others were Chief Adigun Irawo, Chief Folorunso Fagbohun, Mr. Femi Babalola, Dr. Nureni Adeniran (former Education Commissioner), Dr. Gbola Adetunji, Mr. Dare Adeleke (Oyo State Coordinator SURE-P), Dr. Laolu Adepoju, many former commissioners, party chairmen and many PDP stakeholders.

Oyo pension fraud: Retirees seek EFCC’s intervention KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

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etired primary school teachers in Oyo State have called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to probe suspended staff of the Local Government Pensions Board for allegedly misappropriating N1.6 billion of the pensioners’ fund.

The pensioners asked the EFCC to determine the exact amount misappropriated by the suspended officers.

The pensioners, who addressed journalists in Ibadan yesterday, expressed shock that an alleged fraud of initial N2.6 billion which later rose to N5.7 billion from the Auditor-General’s

report could be “reduced to a mere N1.6 billion.”

The retirees, whose pension and gratuities were allegedly misapplied by the 10 officers currently facing trial, said the amount they were being tried for was a far cry from what was missing because “as pensioners we have facts and figures to back our claims.”

Their spokesman, Comrade Tunji Ogunwale, Ogunwale, and the Chairman of the pensioners, Comrade Remi Babatunde, said 10 of their members had died while awaiting their entitlements.

Ogunwale said: “The National Assembly did a wonderful job by helping to expose those who have stolen police pension fund in Abuja. But the police here

in Oyo State had reduced N5.7 billion stolen from Local Government Pensions Board to a mere N1.6 billion - what an irony?

“Our own members of Oyo State house of Assembly even when on recess (the death of 10 primary school teachers due to poverty caused by the non-payment of gratuities, pension and pension arrears courtesy of the pension fund looters) is enough to call off their recess and treat this case as an issue of national importance.

“Oyo State House of Assembly should wake up from its slumber and rescue the helpless pensioners from the clutches of these fraudsters who are spraying musicians all over with own money.”

ADEOLU ADEYEMO OSOGBO

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sun State Government yesterday promised to complete ongoing extension into dual carriageway of Osogbo Kwara State boundary road before the end of next year.

The Special Adviser to the governor on Works and Transport, Mr. Oladepo Amuda, gave the pledge at an interactive programme organised by the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, in Osogbo, the state capital.

Amuda said all necessary arrangements had been made by the government to complete the road early.

He said: “The state government has committed huge sum of money into the project. The determination of the government is to complete it before the end of the first term of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration.

“The government had since the award of the contract insisted that the road dualisation must not exceed 20 months. That 20 months duration would lapse in Oc-

Politics

tober 2014.

“We therefore appeal to motorists and other road users plying the road to be patient with the state government on the road construction because quality work will be done on the road.

“We charge the people to cooperate with the government in its efforts to transform the state and we also called for understanding of all categories of people in the ongoing renewal programme of the government in all the major towns in the state.”

DID You

2015: Can opposition cage Jonathan?

HEAR? •Naeto C too tour America rica

The Nigerian constitution permits two terms. Jonathan is going to do two terms, whether the Northerners like it or not.

•Ghanaian stars –Dr. Dejo Raimi, former Oyo State SSG. Samini, Majid d Rotation of the presidency is going to be Mitchell, ro rock ock k in the interest of the country. All those that are after the interest of the country should GPTBFS support it.

–Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, BoT member of ACF •Laide Bakare’s ka are’s Everybody has the right to aspire to the ve highest political office in the country. latest move Jonathan too is free to run.

–Chief Joshua Benaimasia, Acting National •Nigeria, South outh h President of Ijaw National Congress (INC) Jonathan has the federal might. Nobody can stop him from contesting.

–Ogbeni Lanre Banjo, NCP chieftain

Africa battle tttle at AMVCA A

Saturday Starter

Zara Battling ill health

Tears of demolition

The bulldozers of the Lagos State Government are extra busy these days. First in Ijora-Badia, a sprawling shanty town, which is adjacent to Orile and Costain train stations, and later in the more upscale ItunOmo Estate, in Odoragushin area of Epe, rumbling and rampaging bulldozers moved in, reducing hopes, dreams and futures to rubbles.

In both cases, the government of Lagos State states unequivocally that, “Our intervention is a strategic one, to upgrade the quality of life.” But the affected communities are as bemused as they are traumatised. The refrain on every lip is “We voted for this government.

Is this what we will get in return?” There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth among the landlords and residents who are saying with one bitter voice, “Fashola has finished us.”

What’s happening in bedrooms this year?

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South West

De-registration: NCP appeals judgement against INEC K AYODE KETEFE

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he National Conscience party (NCP) yesterday filed an appeal to the judgement of a Federal High Court which upholds the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to de register political parties.

Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court had on Wednesday held in a judgement to the suit filed

by NCP that the provision of the Electoral Act which makes it mandatory for parties to win election for them to be accorded recognition by INEC was constitutional and that the Electoral Act does not infringe on the constitutional right of the plaintiff.

But in a prompt response, the NCP’s lawyer, Mr. Marcus Eryahono, yesterday filed a one-ground notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal in Lagos which prays the appellate court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgement of the lower court, given by Justice Abang.

In the notice, it was stated the lower court erred in law by refusing to invalidate the provisions of section 78(7)(ii) of Electoral Act 2010.

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

IGP urged to probe killing of Ekiti varsity student ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

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nspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar has been urged to investigate last Friday’s killing of a 28-year-old 400 Level student of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Mr Seyi Fasere.

The student was killed by the police in Oye-Ekiti in Ekiti State.

Mother of the slain student, 60-year-old Mrs. Florence Fasere, said it was incumbent on the IGP to investigate the killing with a view to tell the public the “unwholesome practice of the policemen at Oye-Ekiti, who deliberately shot dead my son to cover up their inability to arrest the robbers that attacked their station and bank in the town”.

The bereaved mother, flanked by her husband, 65-year-old Mr Joseph Fasere, told journalists at Ilupeju-Ekiti yesterday that her son left their Ilupeju residence for school at Ado-Ekiti last week Thursday when the commercial vehicle he boarded alongside other commuters ran into a scene of armed robbery at Oye Ekiti, which forced them to escape for their lives.

According to her, the policemen, who were on the lookout for one of the armed robbers, saw Seyi, arrested him, tied his hands to the back and shot him on the neck at close range.

The woman, who said she got a phone call on Friday morning that her son had been shot dead by the police, also narrated her ordeals in the hands of the police at the Oye Divisional Police Office.

She said: “When I introduced myself as Seyi’s mother, they treated me rudely and pushed me behind the counter. I was

there till about 6pm in the evening. They dragged my son’s lifeless body before me.

“One of the policemen who identified himself as “akobi esu”, (meaning the first born of the devil) boasted before me that he was the one that pulled the trigger that snuffed life out of my son”.

According to her, her son was innocent of the robbery because the flood that accompanied the heavy downpour on Saturday forced the fleeing armed robber out of his hiding under a bridge where the police later

picked him up.

The woman added that the injured armed robber, now receiving treatment at Federal Medical Centre in Ido-Ekiti, who claimed to have hailed from Kogi State, told the police that he did not know Seyi when the lifeless body was shown to him.

A 72-year-old woman, Mrs Victoria Adewuyi, who boarded the commercial bus alongside Seyi and three other passengers, told journalists at Ilupeju Ekiti yesterday that the slain Seyi and other occupants of the bus escaped into the bush,

where they hid for about 45 minutes before the gunfire between the police and the robbers subsided.

The septuagenarian said: “Seyi was not a member of the armed robbery gang. We boarded the same bus and we escaped together when we ran into the robbery scene.”

The Ekiti State Police Command spokesman, Mr Victor Babayemi Olu, who said the matter was still being investigated, denied that the late student was arrested before he was shot.

Olu said Seyi’s body was discovered in the bush on Friday morning.

The police spokesman said: “One of the robbers who was shot and arrested said he could not identify Seyi because he was not among them.”

L-R: Chairman of the Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences, CSP Bayonle Sulaiman; Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and his Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, during the visit

by Fashola and his Imo State counterpart to the Ladipo market in Lagos, yesterday.

Two health workers held for baby’s disappearance EFCC arraigns man for N44.9m scam ADEOLU ADEYEMO OSOGBO

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wo health workers working with a private clinic in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, are being interrogated by the police for sudden disappearance of a new born baby allegedly belonging to one Mrs. Gbadebo Nurudeen Simia.

The two suspects (name withheld) are now being quizzed by the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID).

National Mirror investigations revealed that the health workers exchanged the baby boy for a baby girl at the Intensive Care Unit of the clinic.

The Osun State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Folasade Odoro confirmed the incident.

She said Mrs. Simia was delivered of a set of twin (boys) prematurely in a private hospital on old Ikirun Road in Osogbo and one of the babies was confirmed dead by the doctors.

Mrs. Odoro said the other baby was referred to the Intensive Care Unit clinic where the two suspects were alleged to have done the exchange.

She quoted the father of the babies, Ibrahim Gbadebo, to have said at the police station that: “my wife was rushed to the hospital at Testing Ground area and she was delivered of a set of twin prematurely “boys” .One of the babies died immediately and the other baby, because of his condition, was referred to the Intensive Care Unit of hospital for medical attention”.

She said that Gbadebo reported that the health workers allegedly exchanged the remaining baby boy with a girl, adding the the incident would be meticulously investigated.

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he Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) yesterday arraigned one Patrick Fernandez, 50, before Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja on a five-count

charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretences and issuance of dud cheques worth N44.9 million.

The offence is contrary to Section 1(1) of the Dishonoured Cheques Act Laws of Federation of Nigeria 2004.

Alaafin, Alake shun S/West traditional rulers’ meeting KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

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rominent Yoruba traditional rulers, such as the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, yesterday shunned the peace and conflict resolution meeting set up to broker peace among the warring monarchs in the South-West.

The meeting, which was initiated by the Olugbo of Ugboland, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan, was attended by many notable kings from the zone.

There was a mild drama at the Premier Hotel in Ibadan, the venue of meeting. The hotel’s Managing Director, Mrs. Tola Ajayi, was hostile to journalists as she accosted the photojournalist from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mrs. Yinka Bode-Are, ordering her to go out of the venue, saying journalists were not invited.

As the photojournalist was explaining that she was invited, the MD ordered a police sergeant to walk her out of the hotel.

Among the notable monarchs that attended

the meeting included the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade; Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odugade; Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi; Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran; Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona; Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Kiladejo; Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejuyigbe; Olowo of Owo, Oba Olateru Olagbegi and many others.

When the monarch began arriving at the venue, they first sat at the lobby of the hotel.

One of the charges read: “Patrick Fernandez between 29th March and 1st April, 2012 at Ikeja within the Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud did obtain different types of Nokia phone sets worth N13, 800,000 only from Okay Computers when you falsely represented to her that the money was to be paid within one week after delivery/collection of goods and which promise you failed to abide with.”

Another count reads: “Patrick Fernandez on or about 7th April, 2012 at Ikeja within the Ikeja Judicial Division with intent to defraud issued a FCMB Cheque No 10564279 in the sum of N8, 150,000.00 to Okay Computers which when presented for payment was returned unpaid on ground of insufficient funds in the account”.

When the charge was read to him, he pleaded not guilty.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South East

Friday, March 8, 2013

11

Okorocha fingered in plot to impeach deputy gov CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

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s the Imo State House of Assembly Ad-hoc Committee on Works investigating the allegation of financial gratifications against the state Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Ag-

baso, submits its report, Governor Rochas Okorocha, has been fingered in the recent move by the House to impeach the deputy governor.

Although, the state government has denied such move, Agbaso was said to have fallen out of favour with the governor when

he refused to support the governor’s second term bid. It was also gathered that the deputy governor’s refusal to support the relocation of the state university from Owerri to to Ogboko, the governor’s home town became part of the deputy governor’s sins.

It was gathered that the governor’s camp had concluded plans to replace Agbaso with a loyal Owerri indigene as deputy governor, if the impeachment plot succeeds.

According to a top government official, Okorocha’s camp “is becoming suspicious of the deputy

governor since he refused to support the governor’s political ambitions.

However, when contacted, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chinedu Offor, described the allegation as malicious and unfounded.

According to him, “The House is investigating al-

legations of corruption against the deputy governor by a contractor.

“The governor does not control the House. The claims of his involvement are wicked lies without foundation. Constitutionally the House has the right to carry out the investigation.”

Killing of Ndigbo: MASSOB declares June 8 sit-at-home day CHARLES OKEKE AWKA

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he Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, yesterday declared June 8, 2013 as Biafra’s public holiday.

The body said the day has been set aside for Biafrans to sit-at-home throughout the land.

This was contained in a statement issued yesterday

by MASSOB’s National Director of Information, Comrade Uchenna Madu.

The statement, which was released to journalists by the group, said the scheduled sit-at-home exercise is a protest against alleged wanton killing of Ndigbo by Nigeria’s security agents.

MASSOB singled out the lingering case of six innocent Ndigbo killed in Apo village, Abuja in 2005 as one that gives it serious concern.

According to MASSOB; “The APO six killing is one of the numerous killings of Ndigbo in Nigeria that have

gone with little or no consequence. It was the insecurity of lives and property of Ndigbo in Nigeria that propelled MASSOB to clamour for the state of Biafra.”

MASSOB said it was based on the foregoing that they have directed Ndigbo all over the world to sit-athome on June 8 and reflect on the continued and unprovoked massacre of Igbo people in Nigeria.

Shedding light on the form the sit-at-home will take, Madu said; “As a mark of respect and honour for Biafra, our fatherland, all public and private schools, markets, shops, banks, business premises, motor parks etc; shall close from 6.00am to 4.00pm, there shall be no Okada, Keke and movements of vehicles.”

MASSOB, which said that the exercise is anchored on the principle of non-violence, also maintained that Ndigbo are expected to use the opportunity offered by the sit-athome exercise to fast and pray to God for their emancipation.

L-R: Special Adviser to the Kwara State Governor on Security, Alhaji Yinka Aluko; Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, uncle to the late Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ejike Asadu and widow, Mrs. Oby Asadu, during the governor’s condolence visit to the deceased’s family house in Enugu, yesterday.

EFCC re-arraigns Enugu ex-governor, Nnamani K AYODE KETEFE

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he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday re-arraigned the former Governor of Enugu State, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, over alleged offences of money laundering.

He was arraigned on an amended 105-count charge

bordering essentially on the offence of money laundering alongside his former aide, Sunday Anyaogu and seven companies, including Rainbownet (Nig.) Ltd; Hillgate (Nig.) Ltd; Cosmos FM; Capital City Automobile (Nig.) Ltd; Renaissance University Teaching Hospital and Mea Mater Elizabeth High School.

All the accused pleaded

not guilty to the charge.

Yesterday’s re-arraignment was necessitated by the transfer of the former trial judge, Charles Archibong, which made the case to start afresh (de novo) before a new judge.

The accused were now charged before the new trial judge, Justice Mohammed Yunusa, who incidentally is now the third trial judge to entertain the matter.

Female detainees accuse DPO of sexual harassment NWABUEZE OKONKWO ONITSHA

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here was confusion yesterday in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State as three female detainees accused the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of Fegge Police Station, Onitsha, Mr. John Mark, of sexually assaulting them while in police custody.

The accusation came to limelight following the detention of an Onitsha-based journalist and publisher of Third Eye magazine, Mr. Nweke Nweke, inside the same station.

Narrating their ordeal in the hands of the randy DPO to journalists yesterday, the detainees, who simply identified themselves as Nkechi, a foodstuff dealer; Chika, a recharge cards dealer and Chidinma, a sales girl, al-

leged that the DPO and his patrol team had raided their street trading area opposite Ekeson Motors Park, arrested them, and detained them arbitrarily.

The trio further alleged that few hours after their detention, the DPO brought them into his office and allegedly forced them to have sex with him before they could be released or else they would be charged to court and imprisoned.

According to them, “Policemen stormed where we were selling our wares, arrested us and took us to the Fegge Police Station and after sometime, the DPO invited us to his office and ordered us to remove our clothes and he started inserting his fingers into our private parts, threatening that the only way he will release us

was if we agree to suck his penis.”

They confessed that some of them who were afraid to remain in detention had to yield to his demand, but those who refused his advances were ordered to be clamped into cell and later charged to court where they were given bail.

According to Chidimma, who said she was forced to have sex with the DPO, under gun point; “He brought out a gun and asked me to remove my clothes and pant which I did, he had sex with me and after three days, he called me and ordered me to come to his house where he again had sex with me at gun point and when I became pregnant, he gave me N20, 000. He gave me N15, 000 the first time and

N5, 000 the second time to abort the baby which I did in a private hospital at Nkpor, near Onitsha.”

Calling on the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ballah Nasarawa, to come to her aide, Chika, a GSM recharge card seller also alleged that she was sexually abused by the DPO when she refused to pay N21, 000 for her bail.

She said she was ready to defend her allegation against the DPO anytime, anywhere, adding that he had arrested them on several occasions and forcefully had canal knowledge of them at gun point right inside his office.

Also narrating his ordeal in police custody, the detained journalist, Nweke, said he went to the station to plead with the DPO to release his sister-

in-law’s mobile phone seized by him for allegedly refusing to have sex with him but the DPO instead ordered his men to detain him.

When contacted, the DPO, who confirmed that he actually detained Nweke and wanted to charge him to court yesterday before the intervention of the state police commissioner, said he had no comment on the sexual harassment issues raised and referred them to the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emeka Chukwuemeka, for further information.

Meanwhile, the PPRO said he had not been briefed by anybody concerning the incident and promised to see the DPO first before getting back to journalists.

Ritual killing: Police, community differ on number of corpses CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

I

mo State Police Command yesterday denied reports that 10 dead bodies were dumped in Mgbirichi River in Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of the state.

But the community insisted that they actually saw 10 unidentified dead bodies in the community’s river, which incidentally serves as a source of drinking water for the people.

State Police Commissioner, Mohammed Katsina, yesterday in Owerri at the command headquarters, described the report as false and unfounded.

According to him; “Only two dead bodies were found in a gully in the village and they were at advanced stage of decomposition and not in a river as alleged by the villagers.”

The commissioner in a press release signed by the state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Joy Elemoko, a deputy superintendent of police, revealed that the homicide section of the state Criminal Investigation Department, CID, has commenced investigation into the cause of death and possible identification of the corpses.

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South South

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Anger in N’Delta over 83% oil blocs to northerners CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Suspected stolen crude oil in containers impounded by the Joint Task Force operatives in Swali area of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, yesterday. Right, JTF personnel evacuating petroleum products from the tanks used to store fuel by suspects.

PHOTOS: NAN

JTF destroys depots used for adulterated petroleum products EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

J

oint Military Taskforce (JTF) personnel yesterday stormed the popular Swali market in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, and destroyed the depots used by distributors of adulterated petroleum products.

The three suspects linked with the storage of the products were arrested by the JTF and handed over to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for prosecution.

The presence of the JTF personnel in the busy market generated tension among traders, as six wooden makeshift warehouses used by the distributors were brought down by the security personnel.

Also destroyed by the security outfit included 104 sur-

•Arrests three suspects

face tanks and 112 drums containing various quantities illegally refined Automated Gas Oil and other products.

National Mirror observed that the JTF personnel transferred the adulterated products into its oil tanker 094 before destroying the surface tanks and drums.

JTF spokesman, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the personnel could not burn the products and their storage facilities because of their locations and the environmental impact of such action.

He said: “We discovered these depots last year and took samples to the laboratory. After close examination, they were discovered to be adulterated products”.

Nwachukwu said the court had declared that the products were adulterated

and ordered the JTF to destroy them.

The spokesman described distribution of the illegally refined products as a major aspect of illegal oil business that had encouraged pipeline vandalism.

He said: “JTF will not be deterred in its resolve to eliminate oil theft. It is unwarranted the threat by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to shut down some of its facilities owing to oil theft.

“We have just transited into the third month of year 2013 and the JTF is not relenting. So far, we have arrested 260 suspects, eight vessels, nine barges and 90 open wooden barges.

“We have, as well, scuttled 452 distilleries or cooking spots of stolen crude oil with-

in this period. As a matter of fact, at the moment, one of the oil companies is pleading with JTF to evacuate the several vessels impounded and docked at its Jetty including the NPA jetty because there was no more space for vessels to berth.

“It is therefore quite difficult to reconcile the upsurge spoken of by SPDC given these record achievements.

I am however not unaware that our patrol troops have often times reported incidents of ruptures on the pipelines whenever they find one and as we speak, there are still a good number of those ruptures left unclamped along SPDC pipeline in Dasaba and Mekakiri creeks for instance and till date SPDC has done nothing to salvage the situation and yet it is issuing undue threat of shutting down.”

Bayelsa pays N4bn to complete abandoned hotel EMMA GBEMUDU YENAGOA

G

overnor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State yesterday gave N4 billion cheque to a contracting firm, Sedogi Nigerian Limited, for the completion of the abandoned 18-storey tower hotel in Yenagoa, the state capital.

The contract agreement indicated that the project would be completed in 18 months.

The hotel was abandoned about three years ago by the administration of former Governor Timiprey Sylva.

Dickson also paid a

•Introduces free meal in boarding schools

cheque of N700 million to Okmas Nigeria Limited for the dualization of the AIT Road in the state capital.

The governor said: “The N4 billion is to enable you re-mobilise to site. We have engaged world class consultants from South Africa, who have the experience and expertise in the development of tourism facilities.

“They will work with you and with the support of the government, we believe that by the grace of God, the project will be successfully executed.”

Dickson commended

representatives of the construction firms for their commitment, stressing that the projects would go a long way in transforming the landscape of the state capital when completed.

Meanwhile, the state government has concluded arrangements to introduce free meals in boarding schools across the state starting from September, this year.

Governor Seriake Dickson disclosed this yesterday in Yenagoa when the Senate Committee on Education, led by its chairman, Senator

Uche Chukwumerije, visited him at the Government House.

Adding that compulsory boarding would begin in September, he said the government had begun the construction of three special schools to run academic programmes and leadership training.

The governor regretted that the nation had suffered decadence in human capacity development over the years, stressing that this necessitated the radical reforms in the education sector.

people of the oil-rich belt.

The ex-militant commander, who spoke through his Media Assistant, Mr. Paul Bebenimibo, said the prevailing sharing formula of the oil blocs which heavily favoured the North was unacceptable to the people.

The Prof. Pat Utomi-led United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy, UNDEDSS, also demanded that the Federal Government scrap ownership of all oil blocks in Nigeria.

Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, UNDEDSS, through its Secretary-General, Mr. Tony Uranta, said that government should scrap ownership of all oil blocs and begin at zero point to re-allocate them in the spirit of fairness and equity.

“Oil blocs should now be allocated based on federal character principle since the nation is reluctant to give us either total control or make sure the Niger Delta gets what it deserves,” he said.

In Benin, Edo State, the Trade Union Congress, TUC, said it was studying the claim made by Senator Enang.

The TUC National President, Peter Esele, in telephone interview with National Mirror yesterday said: “The TUC is presently in a meeting as you are calling me now. We are already deliberating on the issue.

We will make our position known and clear on the matter. I will inform you and make our position available to you when we take a decision on the issue.”

Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan said he still believed that oilproducing communities deserve more than the 10 per cent provided in the bill.

Reacting to the submission that northerners dominated the ownership of oil blocs in the country, Uduaghan said it would be unfortunate if the allegation was true.

However, there are dissenting views from the North.

Second Republic Presidential Adviser, AlhajiTankoYakasai, described the assessment as faulty, adding that the South-South senators who released the figure might have done so out of bias against the North.

Yakasai, who served under ex-President ShehuShagari, challenged the lawmakers to publish those who had benefitted from the allocation to enable Nigerians had independent assess-

ment of the allocation.

“Any honest assessment should contain all the people allocated oil blocs and the volume each individual is packing to enable Nigerians decide who is benefiting more than the other.

“The assessment should also be done state by state or zone by zone, including the totality lifted because it is wrong for anybody to select a few people to make a case.”

Tanko quoted American Forbes Magazine, which he described as highly credible as indicating in one of its reports that only four of the 11 Nigerians involved in oil business are from the North, which means that the rest are from the South.

“The money used in floating banks and high profile businesses are realised from oil blocs, so if you publish the names of shareholders in Nigerian banks and their stakes in these banks, you will find out that the North is far below on the ladder,” he said.

The ACF noted that the North had fewer of the rich Nigerians on the Forbes list than their southern counterparts, adding that the investigation would assist to improve on the equitable management of oil blocs in accordance with provisions of the federal character.

The organisation’s statement reads in part: “The attention of Arewa Consultative Forum has been drawn to the allegations on the floor of the Senate that 83 per cent of oil blocs is owned by northerners; and that there should be application of federal character in the allocation of oil blocs.”

“Given the important constitutional provisions that access to all national resources be equitable and conform with provisions for federal character, ACF wishes to appeal to the National Assembly to investigate the allegations and publish the distribution of oil blocs according to state together with their volume and from which dates.

“Or the Federal Government should institute a commission of enquiry to establish the veracity or otherwise of such allegations.”

The forum, however, noted that “ACF is alarmed by the allegations because it is not long ago that the Forbes magazine said 11 Nigerians are now on the list, and that all of them except Dangote who is a manufacturer owe their riches to oil. The North had fewer of the rich Nigerians on the list than the South.”

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

13

Politics

How Tenders Board, contracts, debt profile tore Ogun lawmakers apart

14, 15

INEC can’t deliver credible elections in 2015 –Buhari FELIX NWANERI

F

ormer Head State and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2011 elections, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has called for wholesome changes at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying the electoral body, as presently constituted cannot deliver any meaningful elections in 2015.

Speaking at the Africa Diaspora Conference in London on Tuesday, Buhari said: “All the present indications are that INEC as it is presently constituted would be unable to deliver any meaningful elections in 2015. The electoral body has developed a very cozy relationship with the executive and judicial arms of government that its impartiality is totally lost.”

The CPC leader, who also accused INEC’s lead-

ership of corruption, said what is required for the country to have free, fair and credible elections is a group of independent minded, patriotic and incorruptible people with the capacity to handle a strenuous assignment of conducting elections in Nigeria.

His words: “In the runup to the last elections, INEC requested (and received with indecent haste) in excess of N80 billion (about £340m) a hefty sum by any standards, so that it could conduct the elections including organising a bio-metric voters data specifically for the 2011 elections. But when opposition parties challenged the patently dishonest figures it announced and subpoenaed the biometric data in court, INEC refused to divulge them on the laughable excuse of “National Security.

“INEC’s top echelon is immersed deep in corruption and only wholesale

changes at the top could begin to cure its malaise. What is required is a group of independent minded, patriotic and incorruptible people with the capacity to handle such a strenuous assignment of conducting elections in Nigeria.

“It is not difficult to find such people but whether the Federal Government and the National Assembly have the inclination to do so, I am not so sure.

The only way I and many more experienced politicians than myself expect the 2015 elections to be remotely free and fair is for the opposition to be so strong that they can effec-

tively prevent INEC from rigging.”

Buhari, who also used the occasion to absolve himself of any blame over the 2011 post-election violence, said: “Some commentators and public figures have wrongly pointed accusing fingers at me for inciting post-election violence. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I have been a public servant all my adult life: a soldier, a federal minister, a state governor and the head of state. My duty is to Nigeria first and foremost.”

According to him, the post-election violence was triggered by the grossest injustice of election rig-

ging and accompanying state high-handedness.

On calls for the restructuring of the country, Buhari said Nigeria’s problem is not so much about structure but process, even as he noted that a careful and civil conversation should be held to look closely at the issue.

He said: “I firmly believe that state creation has now become dysfunctional, as disproportionate amounts of our meager resources go to overheads at the expense of basic social services and infrastructural development.

Moreover, I also believe that Nigeria’s problem is not so much the structure

but the process. Nevertheless, I believe a careful and civil conversation should be held to look closely at the structure.

“But how do we go about it? Go back to the regions? I do not think this would be acceptable; except perhaps in the old Western Region. Try the present six geo-political zones as federating units?

I believe there will be so much unrest and strife in the South-South and North-Central; this is not to say that there will be no pockets of resistance in the North West and North East as well – the consequence of all these will unsettle the country.”

Electoral reform: Atiku seeks full implementation of Uwais’ report EMMANUEL ONANI ABUJA

F

ormer Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has made a passionate appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to ensure full implementation of the report of the Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais-led Electoral Reform Committee.

Atiku made the admonition yesterday in Abuja, at the public presentation of a book in honour of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Uwais.

According to the him, “though the Uwais Committee made far-reaching recommendations, regrettably, a number of such recommendations have not yet been implemented.

I will like to call on the National Assembly and the Presidency to implement those recommendations

so that we will have a credible electoral process in this country.”

The idea, in Atiku’s estimation, is for the country to shore up its electoral fortunes in 2015, in order to rank “among the countries that have achieved a remarkable progress in electoral process.”

Also speaking, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Aloma Mukhtar, identified a credible electoral system as a panacea to an enduring democracy.

In her address as chairman of the occasion, the CJN reasoned that: “The best approach of an emergence of political leadership is through an electoral system.. Democracy is practicable in Nigeria only through a credible and fair election.”

She expressed the hope that the country’s electoral system will get better.

L-R: Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kings Omire; Governor Seriake Dickson and the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo during a visit to the governor in Yenagoa, yesterday.

PDP governors’ forum not for Jonathan’s ambition –Uduaghan • Says Amaechi’s NGF not a trade union

D

elta State governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, yesterday said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum was not formed for the purpose of President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential ambition in 2015.

Uduaghan also said that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) under the leadership of Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State is not a trade union, contrary to the belief in some quarters.

Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, had last Thursday said that the PDP Governors’ Forum was formed because the leadership of the party was not pleased with the way Amaechi was directing the affairs of the NGF like a trade union.

But speaking with journalists in Abuja, Uduaghan said the NGF is not a trade union, stressing that it was just a meeting point for all state governors to exchange ideas.

Uduaghan said the PDP Governor’s Forum was not formed with the idea to checkmate Amaechi as chairman of NGF, but rather, help him as the chairman of the NGF. He said: “The PDP Governors’ Forum has nothing to do with anybody’s ambition in 2015. The PDP Governor’s Forum was formed to create a platform for PDP governors to have a voice both within the party and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

“What has happened before now was that at the

time the NGF started way back 1999/2000, when the first set of governors were in place, that time, most of the governors were PDP. Only a few, maybe two of them were not PDP. “But now that we have more governors that are not in PDP, the pressure effect of the non-PDP governors in the NGF has become very significant.

The chairman of the NGF will therefore have challenges to speak on behalf of PDP in such a body where he is supposed to be chairman of all the governors, PDP or non-PDP.”

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Politics

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, March 8, 2013

How Tenders Board, contracts, debt

FEMI OYEWESO writes on the crisis that engulfed the Ogun State House of Assembly on Tuesday, leading to the suspension and counter-suspension of members, breaking of the mace and the intervention of Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

T

he two-day drama that took place in the Ogun State House of Assembly which culminated in the breaking of the mace, the symbol of authority; suspension and counter-suspension this week clearly attested to the fact that all is not well with the 7th legislative Assembly of the Gateway State contrary to what people were made to believe.

The crisis in the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) dominated Assembly became too glaring during the Tuesday’s sitting when the suspension of four lawmakers led to a fracas and completely polarised the lawmakers along two blocs of G-12 and G-14. The lawmakers in the G-12 are those loyal to Governor Ibikunle Amosun while those in the G-14 are members of the opposition political parties as well as those who have an axe to grind with the governor.

The altercations and damaging remarks exchanged by the lawmakers showed the deep animosity in the Assembly and that all is not well particularly in the ACN. Before now, majority of the lawmakers have expressed frustration over what they called “ineptitude leadership of the Assembly under Speaker, Suraju Ishola Adekunbi” whom they felt was imposed on the House by the governor to guarantee legislative loyalty to the executive and ensure easy passage of its policies that require legislative backing.

The crux of the matter was an alleged fraud in the award of contracts.

This was why some members felt that the Speaker was bent on imposing his stooges as the chairman and members of the Tenders Board.

The integrity test Prior to the event of Tuesday February 28, when the crisis over the Tender’s Board started, there had been deliberate efforts on the part of the leadership of the ACN to manage the situation which political analysts believed was self-inflicted. The worst aspect of it was the integrity test of the Assembly leadership under Adekunbi. The Speaker had once been summoned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Abuja to defend himself over a petition alleging his involvement in the purchase of official cars for the state lawmakers.

Adekunbi was alleged to have inflated the contract for the supply of 28 Toyota Avensis cars for the state lawmakers to the tune of N168 million claiming that each of the cars cost N6 million.

National Mirror gathered that the shocking revelations discovered in the process of awarding contracts for the purchase of the official cars prompted the ICPC to advise the Ogun lawmakers to put in place, a Tenders Board which will be responsible for the award of contracts in the House of Assembly rather than the Fund Management Committee (FMC) presently chaired by the Speaker to ensure due process.

Crisis over tender’s board

The broken mace.

The Tenders Board was to guard against situations where the contract awarding committee would equally be the approving authority, particularly when the integrity of the House leadership has been enmeshed in controversies.

In the House, there is a standing committee known as Select Committee under the chairmanship of the Speaker. It is a committee statutorily saddled with the responsibility of appointing membership of the tender’s board. Attempt by the Speaker to manipulate the process of composition of nominees for the board, however, sparked off the anger of the lawmakers during the plenary of the House on February 28.

Majority of the lawmakers resisted the process adopted by the Speaker when he was reading the report of the Assembly’s Committee on the selection of the members of the Tenders Board for their approval. The report indicated that the Speaker had smuggled in names like that of his deputy, Tola Banjo as chairman as well as other loyalists. The lawmakers immediately kicked against it and that sparked off a rowdy session with the members protesting the alleged manipulation.

Following the confusion, the Speaker called for a voice vote on whether to accept or reject the report of the Select Committee. The lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected the nominees and called for a fresh nomination. But Adekunbi insisted and used his veto power against the dissenting voices that were apparently in the majority.

One of the lawmakers, Adijat AdeleyeOladapo (Ifo State Constituency II) raised a point of order; citing Order 40 of the House Rule which stipulates that in the event that a voice vote does not reflect the true posi-

THE LAWMAKERS ALL TENDERED

UNRESERVED APOLOGY TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OVER WHAT THEY DESCRIBED AS THEIR SHAMEFUL CONDUCT WHICH TRAILED THE PLENARY

ASSEMBLY ON TUESDAY

OF THE

Ogun State House of Assembly in disarray on Tuesday.

tion of the voting patter, any lawmaker has the right to call for “division”, which means actual voting by number counting.

But the Speaker refused the actual voting which should have followed immediately and the House subsequently adjourned.

Suspension and counter-suspension The Speaker’s camp was not comfortable with the dissenting voices which were essentially from the second term legislators which included the likes of Remmy Hazzan, Job Akintan, Abiodun Akovoyan, Adijat Adeleye-Oladapo among others.

They had however, prepared to place six lawmakers particularly the second term legislators who are the arrowheads in the rebellion on an indefinite suspension.

The idea was to create an avenue for the camp of the Speaker to enjoy the simple majority support in the House.

It did, however, not come as a surprise when on Tuesday, the Speaker eventually called for a motion to suspend four legislators: Hazzan, Adeleye-Oladapo, Akintan and Obafemi. The G-14 lawmakers saw it as a rehearsal cum execution of an already prepared script. They also responded by snatching and eventually damaging the mace, which is the symbol of authority in the House to indicate that whatever resolution reached on the floor that day was null and void.

The G-14 lawmakers quickly reconvened, appointed Hazzan as the Speaker extempore and reversed all the decisions reached earlier by the House under Speaker Adekunbi. They also retaliated by suspending Adekunbi and three others whom they accused of standing the House Rules on the head.

The scenario was similar to the full blown crisis that consumed the 6th legislative Assembly in the state.

Inept leadership Speaking with National Mirror, Hazzan attributed the crisis to inept leadership and deliberate attempt to cover fraudulent activities. The lawmaker emphasised that there were rules guiding award of contracts and that was why the House attempted to set up the Tender’s Board.

“Of course, because of the need for transparency, we requested that those in

the Funds Management Committee should not be in the Tenders Board. But apparently because the leadership of the House has a lot to hide, they decided that it’s the same face in the FMC that should still be in the Tenders Board. Of course, majority of us objected; we requested that there should be actual voting, it was never allowed and the Speaker just pronounced that the ayes have it and that was it. It was a fraud.”

He further said that the manner at which Adekunbi and his cohorts carried out the suspension of the four of them was alien to the Rules of the Ogun Assembly, alien to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as alien to human rights.

He further explained that the G-14 who were in majority, suspended the Speaker, his deputy, Tola Banjo, the Majority Leader, as well as Olakunle Oluomo because they connived to put the Rules of Ogun Assembly “in a manner that showed that we are people that displayed anarchy when we are not.”

Hazzan further accused the executive of not being open about the financial status of the state as regards its debt profile.

His words: “But we know that it is in the region of N50 billion and above, which is

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G-14 MEMBERS Remmy Hazzan (Odogbolu) (Leader) Akintan Job Olufemi (Yewa North II) Obafemi John (Remo North) Adijat Adeleye Oladapo (Ifo II) Elemide Oludaisi Olusegun (Odeda) Solaja O. Bowale (Ijebu North I) Adegbesan Joseph F. (Ijebu North II) Onademuren Samson O. (Ijebu North-East) Abiodun Matthew Olu Akovoyon (Ipokia/Idiroko) Adeleke Salmon (Imeko-Afon) Anifowose Elizabeth F. Mrs. (Obafemi Owode) Obafemi, Adegboyega Olowo-Oloja (Ijebu East) Allen-Taylor Olufemi Wilfred (Abeokuta South II)r Fasanya Victor Oludotun (Abeokuta South I)

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Politics

Friday, March 8, 2013

15

profile tore Ogun lawmakers apart even higher than what they alleged that the former governor piled up. What we are saying is that we have remodelled our financial instrument law such that before any loan is sought, you must first have to justify the need for the loan, the repayment plan and of course, the existing loan stock that you have such that we’ll look at the date when your tenure will lapse in a manner that will not pass a burdensome debt burden to the next administration.

“So, those are the issues and even after looking at all of that, the requirement is that 2/3 of the lawmakers in the Ogun Assembly must say yes. But because they are not sure of getting the 2/3 requirement, that was why they wanted to suspend us to enable them have the 2/3”.

“Even in the last budget defense session, they were very conservative with figures and we made up our minds that no further loan will be approved except that we know how much we owe. That is the problem.

“So, Ogun State people should know that we are so indebted that even the executive is also afraid to tell us how much.”

Reacting to allegations that the refusal of the executive to pay loans obtained by the lawmakers led to the division among them, Hazzan said it was a sheer attempt to call dog a bad name to be able to hang it.

“If I took a loan in my name, how do I expect the executive to come and pay for me? ...What I want every citizen of Ogun State to know is that this government is drawing us into high indebtedness and they have seen that the financial instrument law that we have passed will not allow them to get loan cheaply. They have taken so much already; N50 billion is already more than what the former governor took in eight years, now within two years, they have taken more than that.

“So, they are looking for simple majority so that they would amend that law; that is the reason behind this suspension which we have reversed. Ogun people should be put on notice that we are saying no to indebtedness. Let all banks and other financial institutions be put on notice. We will not bow to any loan or debt that does not have a definite repayment plan.”

The day after and Amosun’s intervention On Wednesday morning, security operatives cordoned off roads leading to the Assembly complex to enforce the order of the ‘suspended’ Speaker.

Before the close of work on Tuesday

G-12 LAWMAKERS 1.

Rt. Hon. Adekumbi Suraju Ishola (Yewa North I) (Speaker) 2.

Tola Banjo (Ijebu Ode) (Deputy Speaker) 3.

Hon. Solarin Samuel O. (Sagamu II) 4.

Olakunle Oluomo (Ifo I) 5.

Jolaosho Olutobi Israel (Ewekoro) 6.

Sonuga Olusola (Ikenne) 7.

Ojodu Olayiwola Jamiu (Abeokuta North) 8.

Adegbesan Joseph F. (Ijebu North II) 9.

Aina Nurudeen Akinpelu (Ado-Odo/Ota I) 10. Bankole Olusola Akanbi (Ado – Odo / Ota II) 11. Edunjobi Babatunde (Yewa South) 12. Harrison Adeyemi (Ogun Waterside)

by the special grace of God you will be seeing us doing our legislative responsibility in accordance with the extant law. You will see us discharging our responsibility in a normal way by appreciating ourselves, giving ourselves due recognition as members and true representatives of Ogun State.”

Intrigues

Tukur

Amosun

Hazzan

March 5, the Speaker in a statement jointly signed by the Clerk of the House, Muyiwa Adenopo had ordered that the suspended four members of the G-14 to keep off the Assembly Complex and that explained reasons for the heavy presence of the police at the assembly complex.

The police prevented the four legislators: Hazzan, Adijat, Akintan and Obafemi from gaining access into the Assembly.

But sensing danger in the state, Governor Amosun quickly initiated a peace meeting to forestall a reoccurrence of the mistake of the immediate past administration.

The feuding factional members of the Assembly were all summoned to the office of the governor at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta for a meeting which lasted about three hours where they all agreed to work in harmony.

The lawmakers all tendered unreserved apology to the people of the state over what they described as their shameful conduct which trailed the plenary of the Assembly on Tuesday.

National Mirror, however, gathered that the peace meeting was initiated by the former Speaker of the Assembly, who is now a Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to the Governor on Political Matters, Tunji Egbetokun, on the instruction of the National Leader of the ACN, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Egbetokun, who himself was a key actor in similar crisis that rocked the 6th legislative Assembly in the state, prevailed on the warring lawmakers to take a cue from the experience of his tenure, bury their differences and allow peace to reign in the interest of the state.

At the end of the meeting, both Governor Amosun as well as the 26 lawmakers

Adekunbi

anchored the resolution of the crisis on the fact that it coincided with the 26th posthumous birthday anniversary of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Amosun also described the resolution of the crisis as a worthy and befitting birthday gift to the late sage who had laboured selflessly to place the state in an enviable height.

The governor said: “I want to apologise on behalf of the House of Assembly, the good people of Ogun and to all lovers of democracy. This is Ogun State, the home of Awolowo, Obasanjo, Soyinka and other giants who have laboured selflessly to make us what we are.

“So, we cannot afford to let them down, we are sorry. There can be no befitting birthday gift than this to the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. They are the one that have laboured selflessly for all of us.

So, I think this is a perfect birthday gift for Baba Obafemi Awolowo and respect for all others who have laboured to place Ogun on an enviable height in the context of the Nigerian nation.”

To Hazzan: “We offended the entire citizenry of Ogun State, but, sometimes you cannot completely rule out such when there are issues and it is going beyond what temper can handle.

“We are saying here to all the good people of Ogun State that we are sorry because this is a state where the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo hailed from and he ran the best of parliament back then in the 60s and 70s. It should not be the state that would be an example of what is repugnant to the acceptable norms in a legislature.

“But of course, we have risen far above that; thank God, it is one big happy family.

We will proceed from here to the chamber and it is going to be business as usual in the way it is meant to be done; in a legislative due process with our rules, with the constitution, with our extant laws and with acceptable convention.

“Everything that transpired before now, we are rising above it. The House is one.”

The Speaker also apologised for the conduct. His words: “Sincerely, we want to use this medium to apologise to all good people of Ogun State for what transpired at the hallowed chamber yesterday (Tuesday).

“Hon. Remmy Hassan has spoken well, we have met, we are one big happy family, it was quite unfortunate just as he has rightly said, we have actually risen above that and

The House had been divided against itself right from the day of its inauguration.

There were two factions loyal to two different chieftains of the party. There was a faction loyal to the state governor, while there was another loyal to the former governor, Olusegun Osoba. This has polarised the ruling party in such a way that they find it difficult to forgive one another.

The script played itself out when the Speaker and particularly, his deputy, Tola Banjo, were to be elected in the House. The initial arrangement was that the Osoba group should produce the Deputy Speaker since the Speakership was ceded to the camp of the state governor.

So, when it was time for selecting names for positions, all the nominations were just rubber stamped as planned before. But when it was the turn for that of the deputy speakership, another name was nominated and that sparked off reaction from Hazzan who raised his hand and vehemently opposed the nominee.

That was where the seed of destruction among the lawmakers started from in 2011. The deputy speakership position was supposed to be for either OladapoAdeleye or Hazzan.

This development signalled the beginning of the feud among the lawmakers, which is essentially between Amosun’s group and that of Osoba.

Now, the governor’s camp, G-12, is working hard to break the ranks of the G-14.

Governor Amosun is said to be making efforts to win more lawmakers to join the G-12 which is already in the minority.

A source close to Amosun’s camp confided in National Mirror that efforts were in top gear to break and dismantle the G-14 camp headed by Hazzan as the executive has allegedly offered several millions of naira to any lawmaker from the G-14 that is willing to cross-carpet to G-12 and make its number to swell.

Speaker Adekunbi had hoped that the suspension of the four lawmakers from the G-14 would hold, hence the anti-Amosun camp in the House would have been reduced to 10 out of which further “purchase” would have been made.

It is being alleged that the sum of N20 million is being promised those willing to defect to the other group.

Although the lawmakers have publicly declared that they have resolved the crisis, the big question that remains unanswered and which essentially ignited the war has not been resolved openly: the constitution of the members of the Tenders Board.

Their resolutions on the composition of nominees for the tender’s board was neither made know to newsmen even after their meeting, nor was it further debated on the floor of the House when the lawmakers reconvened on Wednesday after the governor mediated in the crisis.

Analyst believed that the crisis was only suspended and not resolved.

Editorial

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The N4bn African First Ladies’ Peace Mission house

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he Presidency persuasively defended the proposed N4 billion African First Ladies’ Peace Mission (AFLPM) building project recently; stressing its preference to go ahead with the job in spite of widespread criticisms against the ambitious plan of President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Dame Patience Jonathan.

Spokesperson to the First Lady, Ayo Osinlu, in a spirited argument, traced the origin of the controversial building project to the United Nations’ sponsored ‘Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace’, held in Beijing, China between September 4 and 15, 1995, where the delegates prepared a ‘Declaration and Platform for Action’ aimed at achieving greater equality and opportunity for women; a follow-up meeting held in Zimbabwe in 1996, where the AFLPM was constituted as a body; and another held in Congo Brazzaville in 2008, where Nigeria was elected as the president of the Mission under former First Lady, Turai Yar’Adua. Osinlu also stated how, following the unfortunate demise of former President Umaru Yar’Adua, other African first ladies urged Dame Jonathan to ‘please’ provide leadership for the AFLPM, a job she is currently performing with all vigour, considering how passionate she feels about the N4

billion building.

The First Lady’s spokesman also listed the advantages accruable from the project, such as the attraction of international conferences and meetings to the country, and creating job openings for Nigerians. He argued that not going ahead with the project would be disappointing to the AFLPM, which demanded a secretariat from its current president (Dame Jonathan); and injurious to Nigeria’s leadership status in Africa, as well as the country’s credibility as a nation. Indeed, as at yesterday, the First Lady was still soldiering on in pursuit of the N4 billion, with reports saying she was set to meet with the wives of federal lawmakers with the intention of urging them to pressurize their husbands to approve the vote.

In truth, nothing may be wrong with the noble objectives of the AFLPM, which include influencing African leaders to avoid plunging their countries into crisis; and in the event of violent conflicts or wars, intervening by helping and protecting women and children who are obviously the most vulnerable victims of strifetorn nations. Ordinarily, therefore, the AFLPM complex is a public interest project and not the personal property of Dame Jonathan. The AFLPM can play critical international roles in peace missions, refugee issues,

IF THE AFLPM

PROJECT MUST GO ON, FUNDS FOR IT SHOULD COME FROM OTHER SOURCES child trafficking and prostitution, just like the African Union (AU) in the affairs of the African continent. The body could also be leveraged to frontally address the problems of bad social and economic policies of African leaders, which have tendencies to cause social discontent, dislocations, youth restiveness, insurgence and wars. But persuasive as the merits of the N4 billion project would seem, they are non-convincing, considering the prevailing harsh economic situation of Nigerians. Youth unemployment and underemployment are extremely high, with all tiers of government indulging more in lip service than taking serious and concrete steps to address same. Public infrastructure and critical social services are also decrepit or totally lacking, while corruption, stealing and monumental frauds are the baptismal names of the nation’s public sector and its officials. These are some of the reasons critics view the N4 billion proposal for the AFLPM as frivolous and suspect.

Besides, there are many other

international organizations performing similar roles which the AFLPM parades as its set objectives. They include the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Red Cross Society, among others. In Africa, the AU instituted the Peer Review Mechanism (PRM) to regulate the excesses of reckless leaders, too. Perhaps more importantly, the presidency of the AFLPM is rotational. There are many African countries better off economically than Nigeria. Why must the AFLPM insist on Nigeria providing its secretariat? Can’t the body’s conferences be hosted at the International Conference Centre in Abuja or other posh venues?

These seem some of the reasons critics view the project as an ego trip, especially when the office of the First Lady is an unconstitutional contrivance of some sitting heads of state popularized during the military era. However, if the AFLPM project must go on, funds for it should come from other sources, like African countries, international donor agencies, non-governmental organizations and the organized private sector at home and abroad. It is a grandiose project that ought not to be executed with public funds and at public expense.

The National Assembly should not undermine public interest in approving the project.

ON THIS DAY March 8, 1999

March 8, 1979

March 8, 1911

The Supreme Court of the United States upheld the murder convictions of Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing. The attack was on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It remained the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19 children under the age of 6, and injured more than 680 people.

PhilipsdemonstratedtheCompactDiscpubliclyforthefirsttime.

The compact disc, or CD for short, is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and play back sound recordings only, but the format was later adapted for storage of data (CD-ROM), write-once audio and data storage (CD-R), rewritable media(CD-RW),VideoCompactDiscs(VCD),SuperVideoCompact Discs (SVCD),PhotoCD,PictureCD,CD-i,andEnhancedCD.

International Women’s Day was launched in Copenhagen, Denmark. Women’s Day (WD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions, the focus of the President Jonathan celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women’s economic, political and social achievements.

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As Nigerians celebrate Women’s Day GRACE KETEFE

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oday, March 8, 2013, Nigeria will join the rest of the world to celebrate the International Women Day (IWD).

The observation of the IWD dates back to 1900 in response to some of the activities of the international labour movement at the turn of the 20th century in North America and Europe. Women in their large numbers condemned insensitive labour policies and laws which were not only discriminatory but constituted a gross violation of their rights.

Interestingly the IWD is also a time to reflect on the progress made, calls for changes and celebrate the act of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played exemplary roles. The IWD has assumed global dimension for women in developed and developing nations. The United Nations began celebrating the IWD in 1975 during the International Women Years. Each year’s celebration has its peculiar theme. For this year it is “A promise is a promise: Time for Action to End Violence against Women.”

Being a relentless and vociferous advocate for women’s rights, I deem it appropriate to stir the consciousness of Nigerians on this momentous day and “incite” them into paying more attention to women’s rights. We must begin to hold our leaders accountable to their promises; enough of empty promises by both electives and appointive leaders who almost always promise to put women agenda on their priority list, but would end up failing monumentally

when it comes to policy execution.

The Federal Government, through the Honourable Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, in its statement submitted at last year’s 56th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, New York, affirmed the government consistent commitment to achieving women empowerment and gender equality. In addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV), the minister informed the Commission that several initiatives had been put in place to curb the menace by the government, civil society groups and international organisations. Some of these, she added, included development of policy on sexual harassment in schools, development of gender policy for the police force, one for the training of senior police officer to respond to issues of gender-based violence.

Now with the benefit of hindsight, all the promises captured in the above statement ended up unfulfilled, unlike the statement submitted by the South Africa government, which contained essentially of promises fulfilled. The statement made by the authorities of South Africa, read in part: “South Africa has transformative law such as the Domestic Violence Act, Maintenance, Employment Equity Act to promote the rights of women and girls”. The South African government in this statement further affirmed that it launched the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence chaired by the Deputy President as a signal of the priority attached by the government to combating the scourge of GBV in South Africa.”

Studies show that Nigerian women, like their counterparts the world over, to a more

OUR LEADERS DO NOT CONSIDER GBV AS TOP PRIORITY IN POLICY MAKING PROCESS, WHICH

EXPLAINS WHY

16

YEARS AFTER, THERE IS STILL NO NATIONAL LAW SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITING

GBV

or lesser degree, are subjected to GBV irrespective of class, age, religion or social status. Incidents of domestic violence such as wife battery, rape, acid bath and spousal killing etc, are on the increase in the country. Unlike other countries, Nigeria is, however, under the obligation to create a legal framework to prevent GBV and also protect victims of GBV. Suffice to say that since 1999 till date civil society organisations and the government have at various times submitted both to the state and federal legislative houses the following bills prohibiting GBV - Violence Prohibition Bill (2003), Domestic Violence (Prevention) Bill, Elimination of Violence Bill (2006) - all submitted by the Federal Ministry of Justice. And the last but not the least is the Violence Against Persons Bill in Public and Private and all forms of Violence

Against Women (2012). For this latter bill to pass at the National Assembly, it must be supported by at least 120 legislators. As at today only five legislators have signified their intentions to support the bill.

Our leaders do not consider GBV as top priority in policy making process, which explains why 16 years after, there is still no national law specifically prohibiting GBV while most states of the country do no not have specific laws prohibiting GBV and punishing perpetrators of such. Only five, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Cross River, Lagos and Ekiti, out of the 36 states have laws prohibiting domestic violence.

There exists an urgent need therefore, to challenge the social prejudices and institutional structures in order to protect women and men from any form of GBV, and there is an urgent need to entrench the culture that holds the perpetrator of these evils accountable to prevent needless loss of lives and properties.

Hopefully by this time next year, women would want to see the federal and state government taking concrete action in preventing and addressing violence against women in pursuance of the General Assembly Resolution 65/187. We need to focus on strengthening our national legal and policy framework, enhance the prevention and protection measures, improve knowledge and data collection systems, and facilitate cooperation at all levels.

Ms. Grace Ketefe is a Fellow, PILnet Global Network for Public Interest Law, New York, visiting scholar Columbia Law School, United States of America

Obasanjo: The quintessential leader @ 76 EKE AGBAI

WHILE PERFECTION IS BEYOND HUMAN

Continued from last Wednesday

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arlier in 1978, OBJ was the first Nigerian head of State to meet with Chinese Vice –Premier Geng Biao.

He met with President Jiang Zemin, with President Hu Jin Tao in 2004 and 2006 respectively. He was the first President to seize on the imperativeness of trade and investment promotion as an instrumentality through which the 21st century Nigerian foreign policy must be reshaped, redefined and refocused as a paradigm shift, wherefore in August 2001, OBJ government signed a bilateral agreement on INVESTMENT PROMOTION and PROTECTION. His signed another agreement to develop Cooperation in Communication in space program. This led to China’s assistance for Nigeria to launch her satellite internet to expand the cellular network.

Obasanjo’s leadership style is characterized by what former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin will describe as a Probabilistic Decision Making process. Here, a leader weighs his options against two contending forces and settles for the one with the least adverse consequences after identifying all relevant variables and attaching probabilities to each of them. This is an analytical process involving subjective judgment with his instincts, experience and the way he feels on an issue.

We saw the former president use this approach during the volatile days of Libe-

ATTAINMENT, IT MAY BE INACCURATE OF ME TO SUGGEST THAT

CHIEF OBASANJO

IS WITHOUT HUMAN ERROR ria when he had to weigh the two options of either agreeing to give Charles Taylor asylum against leaving him to stay back in Liberia. His love for peace and security of African neighbouring countries compelled him to grant that warlord asylum against the nation’s prevailing popular opinion, given Taylor’s poor human right records.

We saw him exhibit same approach in Sierra-Leone, Senegal and Ghana elections, where he headed the African Election Monitoring Team. He persuaded former President John Kufuor to accept the outcome of Ghanaian election, thus averting a possible political impasse.

During the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York, of which Baba was in attendance and so was l, Clinton remarked that President Obasanjo was a man of honour, who said what he meant and meant what he said, and that American government valued the integrity in him.

Clinton reminded the Nigerian delega-

tion during a private audience that in 1978, Obasanjo told President Carter when he visited Nigeria that he would hand over power to a democratically elected civilian government. And he did just that. That the former president held the distinct honour of being the only Nigerian head of state to host while in office, three American presidents, including President Bush and himself.

Obasanjo is passionate about Nigeria, especially her unity, security and togetherness. You can’t doubt his capacity to lead, his vision, tenacity, firmness and total control.

As the first African president to have the vision of a Presidential Library, fashioned after the American model, Obasanjo has come to realize that lack of well groomed leadership in Nigeria is one major problem confronting us. The Presidential Library and his recently launched Obasanjo Foundation will focus to a large extent, on leadership recruitment and training of the child, especially girls’ education; health and African security and peace promotion.

During the launch in London last month, Chief Obasanjo had this to say: “I look forward to a great future for Africa, a future in which African continent will match its military strength with moral restraint, its self reliant on economic wealth with true independence, its power with purpose. An Africa, which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, protect the beauty of our environment, preserve old African houses like those unfortunately destroyed in northern Mali city of Timbuktu; finally, an Africa which will be safe for democracy and diversity”.

While perfection is beyond human attain-

ment, it may be inaccurate of me to suggest that Chief Obasanjo is without human error. This error(s) is arguably discernible when he is judged in segments. But when the statesman Obasanjo is placed in historical perspective, in totality, it is almost impossible to fault my conclusion that he is a Nigerian icon, a quintessential leader and indeed an African legend. To those who are quick to point out his misdemeanour, permit me to remind us all of what former US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said most eloquently in her memoir, NO Higher Honour: ‘Today’s headlines and history’s judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter’.

At the end the day, whatever view you have of him, whether you like him or not, Baba will continue to be an enigma and elicit excitement from all Nigerians and Africans for many more years to come.

Happy birthday, ‘Mr. President’.

Concluded Dr. Agbai, agbai.eke@gmail.com, is the Executive Vice President, Center for policy & Foreign Engagement, USA Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: mail@ nationalmirroronline.net mirrorlagos@ yahoo.com or 08164966858 (SMS only). The Editor reserves the right to edit and reject views or photographs.

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Suspension of Ogun Lawmakers

W Sultan of Sokoto means well, but…

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n Tuesday, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammad Saad Abubakar, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to declare amnesty for the members of the fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram, as part of the measures to halt the insurgency by the group. According to the revered northern leader and President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, extending amnesty to the sect members will pave the way for dialogue with the Federal Government. Expectedly, his call has attracted mixed reactions with the South reaching a near consensus that the suggestion had no basis.

However, both the call and the reactions highlight the huge debate divide in the country. The Sultan of Sokoto, like any northern leaders, is concerned about the pervasive insecurity in his region and the consequences arising from it. Recall that just like week, Lt. General TY Danjuma, another respected northern leader, painted a grim scenario of what Boko Haram has turned the region into, likening it to a war situation.

The Sultan desires peace, he might not be interested in the mechanics for getting peace. The South should show understanding, engage the leaderships of the North on the steps to be taken to get the desired peace.

Pouring hot airs the way they are doing in the South would not help matters. After all, looking at the entire security challenge from the systemic perspective, a sick North will rub on the peace in the South.

Mallam Inua Bamayi, Abuja

hat distinguishes man from animals is the observance of law and order. Developed societies of today attained such status because of adherence to the rule of law. Any right-thinking person should therefore, support any measure taken to enforce law and order in order to keep the society a going concern.

Given the above background, the suspension of four members of the Ogun State House of Assembly by the leadership of the House should be

commended.

Three weeks ago on a radio programme, one of the suspended legislators threatened to precipitate a crisis in the legislative chamber. She collected a handful of three other lawbreakers and violated Rule 38 of the House at the penultimate sitting of the legislature.

What is more, after they had been suspended at the plenary last Tuesday, they decided to break the mace of the House in order to prevent further legislative business. They even went further to

I

However, I advise the House leadership, led by the Speaker, Honourable Suraj Ishola Adekunbi, to stick to the rules of the House.

While we call on the police to investigate the criminality of the lawmakers with the aim of prosecution, they must be allowed to return to the chamber at the end of the maximum number of days prescribed by the House Rule. That way, we will all be seen to be promoting the rule of law in Nigeria.

Steven Oladele, Abeokuta, Ogun State

NO HOME FOR THE POOR! A woman whose apartment was brought down during the demolition work on shanties along railway line at Ijora in Lagos, recently.

Whither the Nigeria Police Force? t is no longer in doubt that the men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force are an endangered species. The force has suffered more than any other security agencies in the country since the ravaging insurgency in the North began in 2009 and palpable general insecurity in other parts of the country arising from the activities of kidnappers, militants, armed robbers and assassinations of different hues took heightened form under the current democratic dispensation.

Nothing underscores this development than the series of killing of top po-

announce the suspension of the leadership of the House after destroying the mace. We must not condone this brazen display of lawlessness anywhere in the country.

Of course, any discerning mind could see the hand of the discredited opposition in the attempted crisis. Having failed to create a state of insecurity in order to stall the ongoing development strides in the state, they have now shifted to the House in order to present a façade of crisis in Ogun State. That won’t work.

lice officers across the country in the last one week.

First it was Kwara State Police Commissioner, Mr. Chinwike Asadu who was wasted by yet to be identified gunmen in Enugu last Saturday while on a visit to his home state. Within the same time, Superintendent of Police, Dahiru Ibrahim Majia, commander of Police Mobile Force Squadron 9 in Kano, was allegedly shot dead in front of his house. Yet again just on Wednesday the death of the Divisional Police Officer of Gwoza Divisional Police Station, Borno State and his deputy made headline news in all the newspapers.

Letters to the Editor

Before these new killings, across the length and breadth of Nigeria news of the death of police men and the destruction of police stations were regular news items. But nothing underscores the prevailing de javu feeling in the country than the ease with which top police officers are now daily killed. “These people entrusted with security of Nigerians, if they die so cheaply, it means nobody is safe”, has become the mantra resonating the nation’s airwaves.

How is Nigeria different from Somalia or the Congo Democratic Republic where life has become short, nasty

and brutish? The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan cannot afford to be distracted now with the less engaging issue of second term ambition when in less than two years he has been on the saddle the country is imploding.

The situation in the North can be explained away as a circumscribed design by the northern power oligarchs to make the country too hot for him. However, how do we explain the spate of insecurity in the South that makes it possible for the likes of CP Asadu to die the way he did, even in his own state? What about the pervasive kidnappings going on across the entire south and the rapa-

cious activities of cultists in our tertiary institutions that the security agencies seem not to have any answer?

The pursuit of second term ambition must be based on verifiable accomplishments in every facet of governance. Nigerians only hear of billions of naira voted for security, but the results of such spending are not felt.

Perhaps, I should remind IGP Muhammed Abubakar of the promise he made to Nigerians concerning Boko Haram. He said they would soon be a thing of the past.

He has not been able to walk the talk.

Comrade John Aigbo, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The 455 Nigeria’s ultra rich

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our hundred and fiftyfive ultra rich persons in Nigeria are said to hold a staggering $60 billion dollars in wealth among them, according to a new World Ultra Wealth Report by the Singapore based research firm, Wealth-X. Who says we do not have enterprising Nigerians, young and old; who says there is no wealth to be created in the country? The report says resources including oil and minerals lead the surge in wealth accumulation on the continent.

It is not only in Nigeria things are happening. South Africa still leads the pack of the super rich Africans with 785 people worth a combined $100 billion! She is closely followed by Egypt with a mega-wealthy population of 490, who hold between them a combined $65 billion. Nigeria holds the third position.

Kenya comes fourth with 125 super-wealthy individuals who hold a combined worth of $16 billion; and Tanzania comes a distant fifth with only 105 superrich people, whose net worth is $14 billion.

Wealth-X defines ultra-high net worth individuals as those with a net worth of $30 million after accounting for shares in public and private companies, residential and investment properties, art collections, aircraft, cash and other assets.

Over the next five years, the number of super-rich individuals in Africa is expected to grow at the fastest rate globally, expanding by an average of 6.9 percent each year with Tanzania and Kenya expected to lead the growth of the ultra-wealthy in the continent. While Tanzania super-rich population is expected to grow by 13.8 percent over the next five years that of Kenya will trail by 11.3 percent.

For the United States of America, the global capital of ultra wealthy the growth rate will be at just 2.4 percent annually. This means that decline has set in in iiNorth America and Europe which have hitherto contained the greatest collection of richest people in the world.

You only need to read the current edition of the authoritative The Economist magazine to get a corroborative evidence of the projection of Wealth-X publication. It says in its cover story that Africa is the continent to watch.

So, why rush to Europe, America and Asia when the gold we seek is buried deep in the underbelly of our ‘poor continent’.

Anne Okon, Ikorodu, Lagos

Send your letters or or mails mailsto toPMB PMB10001, 10001,Ikoyi, Ikoyi,ororour ourEmail: Email:mirrorlagos@yahoo.com mirrorlagos@yahoo.com and info@nationalmirroronline.netor or 08056180209, 07033375481 and info@nationalmirroronline.net 08054103275, 07033375481 (SMS (SMS only).Editor The Editor reserves thetoright edit and letters reject letters or photographs.

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Friday, March 8, 2013

Annie and 2face Idibia

been put into logistics for the marriage. “It is the exclusive privilege of the couple to give a figure what it cost to put this together, but the guests are being kept in beautiful hotels and well-taken care of. The two families are already prepared and Eket town is brimming with activities in anticipation of the entertainers who would be around and probably perform at the event”.

Like every artiste with 2face’s kind of stardom, the issue of his marriage has attracted a lot of attention, buoyed by his previous dalliances with women

WEEKEND STARTERS Designing Africa project opens

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oday at 6 .00 p.m., the opening reception for the project titled: ‘Designing Africa: Appropriating Culture, Mediums and Meanings’ holds at the African Artists’ Foundation, AAF, gallery in Ikoyi, Lagos. To feature Native Almaqri, Chinenye Emelogu, Ifeanyi Oganwu, Alafura Sikoki-Coleman and thanksthanksafrica, it will run till April 5.

Ohiwerei’s Allow at Terra Kulture

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h e e x hibition of recent works titled: ‘Allow’ by the artist Pita A work by Opara Ohiwerei, which opened on Thursday continues at Terra Kulture, Victoria

Island, Lagos. It will close on March 12.

Mainly working in oils, awardwinning Ohiwerei has come up with a unique technique he calls “scratchee” and has shown his work in one man exhibitions across Europe, Africa and USA. His paintings have also raised money for a variety of charitable organisations.

COSON all stars tennis match

T Olamide

he COSON All Stars Table Tennis Blow Out kicks off this Sunday at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos by 2.00 p.m. Among those expected are COSON Chairman, Chief Tony Okoroji; COSON General Manager, Mr. Chin-

edu Chukwuji; top music stars like Olamide, Ruggedman, Banky W, Sammie Okposo, Olu Maintain, Adewale Ayuba, Koffi, AY, Basorje, Yaw and countless stars will serve, smash, spin and loop as they battle for one million naira cash prize.

CCA shows Adolphus Opara’s Emissaries

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he Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Lagos, will tomorrow present the exhibition by Lagos-based photographer, Adolphus Opara titled: ‘Emissaries of an Iconic Religion.’ It is Opara’s first major solo exhibition in Nigeria and it will open at CCA Gal-

lery, Yaba, Lagos at 3.00 p.m. and run from March 11 to April 21. Curated

by Jude Anogwih, it is organised by CCA and supported by the British Council, London.

‘Jumia feeds Lagos’ on Sunday

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n giving back to the community, Nigeria’s leading online retailer, Jumia, will carry out a CSR initiative named ‘Jumia Feeds Lagos’ on Sunday involving 500 volunteers including Jumia staff, partners and personalities from media, entertainment and all works of life. On the day,

volunteers will converge in Yaba early in the day to cook up a storm for the less privileged. There will also be lots of fun, games and music to spice up the day, with highlight being our volunteers interacting one on one with the less privileged with an aim to giving them ‘hope’ for tomorrow.

Zainabu Jallo’s play

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rown Troupe of Africa’s performance of Onion Make Us Cry, a play by Zainabu Jallo is on for a second showing this Sunday at Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos. Time is still 6.00 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.

Escape P. 34

Denrele’s Day P. 24-25

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hat started with an engagement party on February 14, 2012 at Club 10, (then owned by ex-soccer star, Jay Jay Okocha) would supposedly today culminate in one of the entertainment industry’s biggest weddings of the year as Innocent Idibia, fondly called 2face, one of Nigeria’s most renowned music artistes and Annie Macaulay, a Nollywood actress, tie the nuptials in a traditional way.

Although the couple had intended to have a quiet traditional marriage, feelers from Eket town say it is gradually turning to a carnival of sorts as many entertainment stars from the movies, music and comedy sectors are already thronging Eket, Akwa Ibom State for the event, whose estimates run into millions of naira. The venue is the Apostolic High School, Esit Urua Community, Eket-Ibeno Road, Annie’s hometown.

Indications are also rife that with the influx of family, friends and colleagues of the couple, the three available flights scheduled to fly to Uyo today may be insufficient for the number of guests being expected.

2face Idibia’s publicist, Mr. Bayo Omisore, who spoke exclusively with Friday Flavour confirmed that preparations were in top gear as at Thursday, hinting that Annie, the bride, was playing a pivotal role in making sure that the event was hitch-free.

As at press time, Friday Flavour gathered that the couple have secured five reputable hotels in town to accommodate their invitees. The list of entertainers already on ground in Eket is also impressive with names like Sound Sultan, Kate Henshaw, Iyanya and Tana Adelana amongst others. Air conditioned buses are also stationed at the airport to drive guests to their hotels as the two families eagerly await the marriage rites which has adopted red and gold as the theme colour.

Also speaking exclusively with our reporter, Naomi Adenuga, publicist of the bride, said so much had

which sired five children.

But in a dramatic turn last year, he had shocked the world when he settled for Annie Macaulay, an actress whom he met when he was still cutting his teeth in the industry as an upcoming musician. He would eventually feature her as one of the vixens in the video of his monstrous hit, African Queen, from where the two became an item and further consolidating their romance with a baby girl, Isabella Eneh Idibia.

Today’s traditional marriage, according to many industry sources, is a confirmation that 2face knows where his heart belongs. Describing the reasons for settling down with Annie, 2face once confessed that it was a decision he made from the depth of his soul.

“Like any other thought about something important, you start feeling the need to do something or go somewhere different from deep within. Then you just make your move one time; no shaking. The timing for marriage should not be determined by any outside influences”.

On her part, the bride, while describing the steps to matrimony with 2face and how it would affect her acting career had said: “2face picked up the microphone and I thought he was going to do all the normal hypes he does when he goes to the club. But he shocked me.

He started saying things about how I have always been there for him since day one. How I have sacrificed a lot for him. How I have cried and stood strong during his trying moments. I didn’t even know when he walked up to me and he said ‘Please, will you marry me?’ He was saying so many things that I can’t even remember. It all blew my head. As a married woman, I would be more selective with the roles I take now. I would go away from controversial roles but that doesn’t mean if I see a good storyline I wouldn’t do it”, she added.

On March 23, the marriage festivity is expected to shift to Middle Eastern paradise, Dubai, United Arab Emirates where the couple have scheduled their white wedding as well as honeymoon.

Inside FCT

NGOZI EMEDOLIBE

P. 26

Eket sizzles for 2face, Annie’s native wedding

P. 32-33

16 PAGES OF ARTS, REVIEWS, LIFESTYLE AND BUZZ TO START YOUR WEEKEND

Mirror Mongers

VOL. 3 No. 573

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20

Artman In The House

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Artists should not hide for fear

Mudi Yahaya is a conceptual photographer and filmmaker. Among many exhibitions, he was at the Lagos Live Art Festival organised by GoetheInstitut Nigeria to celebrate its 50th anniversary in Nigeria. He granted Friday Flavour’s TERH AGBEDEH this interview at the Kongi’s Harvest Gallery where his works showed at the festival at Freedom Park last year.

Are children allowed to see your exhibition?

Why not? The whole idea is to provoke thought.

It is better for us not to hide these things. We have had this discussion before where we spoke about the effect of the colonisation on the African identity and how in the wake of colonisation there is always violence. And it’s across the continent but we hide it below our skins. So, when you bring the violence to the fore, you start talking about the dilemma that a forced system of government, be it democracy or whatever it is, places on us. One of the pictures in my exhibition is speaking about the violence of migration. It says I love Naija. It is about the big community of Africans in the Diaspora. They love Nigeria and are preoccupied with everything Nigerian but they will never come back because Nigeria is a place they hate. But they are so involved in its politics, they have a comment on everything Nigeria but they are so distant. It is also a ruptured landscape of migration for instance.

You did not name the works?

They are all named but this is moved out of a bigger body of work from my exhibition last year titled: Ruptured Landscapes. In reality, every image is named after a film or a film-based material. They have all these connotations to aesthetics that have been misinterpreted.

The I love Naija work is understandable but what is behind the work Shedding tears of blood?

I’ll give you an example; ‘everybody run, run, run; sorrow, tears and blood’. So, I love Nigeria with sorrow, tears and blood. It is the story of the average Nigerian, ‘suffer, suffer for world, enjoy for heaven, suffering and smiling’. And it is our identity now that has ruptured our consciousness. We don’t report corruption and we even have names for it – Chwua chwua, egunje and it has not become part of our psyche. It is the destruction in our landscape of what is decent, what a good citizen is; all these have been totally damaged. Some of it is colonial heritage, while some is our own evolution of coming to terms with what modernity is.

Can you explain the rationale behind some of your other works?

One of my works is a pun of how we quickly come to conclusion –a man with a beard holding a knife dripping with blood wearing trousers with the colours of the Union Jack, the American or the French flag. When you see a portrait of a man with a beard in Nigeria, it is automatically Boko Haram and that is so unfortunate because Moses (from the Bible) had a beard. Why must it be a Muslim?

The works are based on different segments of a whole body of work on ruptured landscapes. I’m dealing with gender issues and sexuality on all forms of landscapes.

How different is this body of work from For Crown and Country, the exhibition held at Goethe-Institut in 2012?

The photographic strategy here is that I interject

Chikwendu Yahaya

CONSCIOUSNESS HAS BEEN BROADENED TO THE POINT

THAT TODAY, ONE CAN HAVE AN EXHIBITION WHERE YOU HAVE A WOMAN WITH HER THIGHS ASTRIDE into the works directly where you can for instance see incisions on the body here, so this is body politics. While the photographic strategy for For Crown and Country was appropriation. For each body of work, I come up with a different photographic strategy and execute.

Will different pictures be on display for each day of the exhibition?

No, these are the works that deal with the body. As you can see in the exhibition, it is talking about the body and these are the ones that deal with the body and body politics directly. But if these body of works were other things… a ruptured landscape does not necessarily have to be a three-dimensional body, it also has to be a mindscape.

How do you get models for your creations?

You look for people that have the aesthetic qualities that can project your work well and people that are close to what you are trying to speak about. The man with the beard and knife dripping blood was

our security guard. As this is also performance, he does not have to work hard to fit into the part.

You have done this sort of work for some time.

Would you say that it has affected the culture of keeping things hidden?

I will say it is amazing. What surprises me is that at the time I did this exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, Lagos, there had been an earlier exhibition by a girl called Zanele (Muholi) and she was talking about lesbianism. It was upfront and it caused a lot of problems. Security people came to visit CCA for instance. CCA was very conscious about me showing there, in fact, I would say they were almost against it. And I never really showed them exactly what it was until it was too late. There was uproar after the show; people said they didn’t understand me, that maybe I am depraved and all kinds of things. But it is strange now, the consciousness has been broadened to the point that today, CCA can have an exhibition where you have a woman with her thighs astride. I would say that maybe I opened the door.

How does that make you feel?

I would say the work continues. One would want more artists to speak their minds, to speak about the world as they see it and not hide because of the fear of persecution because it becomes a problem.

If issues bother you, bring them out, let’s talk about them. Within discussion and conversation we might get a resolution that could help humanity. And it is only when we start saying that these things exist in

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Artman In The House

Friday, March 8, 2013

21

of persecution –Mudi Yahaya

Mudi flanked by two of his works at the Lagos Live Art Festival The I love Naija work at Freedom Park.

Teaching a workshop at the Modern Day School of Art in Lagos

Being interviewed by a Deutsche Welle reporter.

With Goethe-Institut Nigeria Director, Mark Andre-Smachtel at the exhibition, For Crown and Country in 2012.

FACT FILE •

Mudi Yahaya accompanied his mother – who was much in involved with culture –to many museums and galleries in Russia, England and America, where he lived as a child.

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He could draw when he was in grade one, but did not have time to develop his skills.

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He came in contact with the works of Sterner, Constable and many famous English painters while in England and was deeply fascinated by many photographic works at the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

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His father loved to take pictures; his grandfa-

our society that we might have a resolution. So, I feel that as a messenger, it tells me there is more work to be done.

There seem to be no boundaries in the works that you and your contemporary artists put out. You take pictures and make films for instance, why do you think that is happening?

To understand that, one has to trace the roots of what postmodern art was. There was a gentleman called Duchamp in the 1960s, who declared that art could be anything. He spoke of an art that was going to be influenced by technology and with technology comes a certain type of freedom to create. So, from the 1960s till now, art for art sake has become the real

ther, a blacksmith, was also a bit of an artist.

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He may have studied engineering to please his father but after graduation, he decided that he wanted to be a writer, so he bought a printing press with the money his parents gave him for his master’s degree.

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Mudi continued to experiment with photography but his career as a photographer took a turn for the better when UNICEF invited him to take pictures of polio victims in Northern Nigeria during a polio outbreak.

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He would later take pictures for the United Nations and the BBC.

form of art in a real sense because it is a free art. It is the art that is real, contemporary and now. And because we are bombarded by different channels now, we are living in a very flat, multi-channelled and multi-layered world. So, automatically, the art has to mimic reality. Because of that, there has emerged what is called a trans-disciplinary studio. It is not just enough to be able to render, but there are now new categories. There is a category between who is a commercial artist, studio artist, what is commercial art and critical art that has critical value in it. More importantly, the medium is no longer the message; anything can go so far as you can pass a message. If you render alone, then you are seen more as being a craftsman or an artisan as opposed to being an art-

PHOTOS: TERH AGBEDEH

ist because it is now not limited to a medium. So, the modern, post modernist artist is an artist that operates in a trans-disciplinary studio.

You mentioned art for art sake and the impression one get is that you are not doing it for the colours since art does not exist in a vacuum and your art is talking about what obtains in the society.

No, when you say art for art sake, I am not doing it for the money or to sell. If it’s art that has a lot of colours, we are still talking about colours that are emotive, they do something. If you go to a room that is blue, your consciousness will shift from a room that is orange. So, it has a strong philosophical underpinning and this is where the argument that there is no art in Africa comes from. It is so much that conceptual art or postmodernist art is linked to philosophical theory.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on three documentary films on hierarchies of memory and I am shooting that in Germany. I am working on a film on the Nigerian Civil War about a narrative on how identities change and how people can be influenced. But I am looking at it from the position of an individual; how a war can ravage a whole family. In photography, I am working on more performance-based set pieces, I am setting up a bigger studio where I can have sets.

You mentioned showing in South Africa the other day. Is that exhibition over now?

Yes, I showed in Cape Town and in Johannesburg.

22

Critics

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Festival

From war-weary Jos with love Approximately a year ago, theatre enthusiasts gathered in the city of Jos, Plateau State, —some were still on their way— when a bomb exploded at the St Finbarr’s Catholic Church, killing many people. Just a day before the blast, the 2012 edition of the annual Jos Festival of Theatre got started.

IZUCHUKWU OKEKE

T

his year again, just a day to the commencement of the 2013 edition of the festival organised by the theatre group, the Jos Repertory Theatre, JRT, the headline across various national newspapers was the fighting which had led to the brutal murder of several people in Plateau State.

It seems plausible therefore to say that, each time the city of Jos is going to witness the explosion and beauty of theatre, the beasts of mischief, death, fear and their human agents bare their fangs. But each time, mischief and fear are always defeated.

In 2012, the JRT performance on the Sunday of the bomb blast witnessed more turnout of audience than the day before it. This year also, the tales of violence did not succeed in stopping the crowd of theatre lovers that kept trooping in to be part of the JRT’s one week menu of theatre.

Festival and the human connection The annual Jos Festival of Theatre has now etched a space in the calendar of theatre in Nigeria. Thanks to the JRT, the festival defies all odds to give the warweary Jos audience something to cheer about each year.

Like previous editions, this year’s festival was a huge success. One full week; yet the audience was not tired of coming each day; people turned out full of excitement and expectation.

The plays featured this year included a pre-festival play, Banana Talks, then followed by Wale Ogunyemi’s Queen Amina of Zazzau; August Wilson’s Jitney; Vaclav Havel’s Audience; Tennessee Williams’ Cat on Hot Tin Roof and Femi Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel.

Indeed, one cannot get a better blend of dramatic experience anywhere of so many international and local plays being staged in one festival. While Ogunyemi and Osofisan are Nigerians, Wilson and Williams are Americans and Havel is Czech. So, the six plays staged in the festival represent three different continents and various epochs, united in one common denominator which is our common humanity. The plays exemplify our capacity to be human and our ability to thrive despite challenges.

Audience participation Given the social diversity of the plays, it is no surprise the audience kept turning out at the performances. But one cannot take it for granted. Like noted earlier, Jos has been bedevilled by petulant war mongers who have been putting the city

in the news for all the wrong reasons. For some people, this could serve as deterrent to abstain from the festival. But not so for Jos people, they kept coming! And this is something worthy of commendation. Not only that they came, they were commendably cheery, self-disciplined and easy going. It touches the mind that these wonderful people share this city with war-mongers.

Main players Kudos is also due to the Jos Repertory Theatre troupe. One week of rotating cast across plays, adapting them across settings and epochs is no mean feat. But the troupe kept the audience coming and sustained the dramatic tempo.

Of note is the fact that the JRT is made up of Christians and Muslims, all working together to achieve the success the festival was. The fights in the larger society mean little to these theatre practitioners. Among the crew and cast are young men and women who though are of different faiths, but are united in a common goal –working together in rehearsals and putting up thrilling performances. There is a refreshing harmony and understanding among them and a kind of family bonding which theatre enforces.

Also, members of the troupe come from different tribes and languages, majorities and minorities, north, south, east and west, united by Jos and JRT. Among them, no one speaks of where one comes

Actors Ebuka Ifebunso (L) and James Akolo Anthony interpreting their roles in ‘Banana Talks’, the pre-festival play

ONE CANNOT GET A BETTER BLEND OF DRAMATIC EXPERIENCE ANYWHERE OF SO MANY INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL PLAYS BEING STAGED IN ONE FESTIVAL from; there is only one JRT which each of them is proud to belong. So, Nigeria needs to learn from this small theatre group; lessons in peaceful co-existence, lessons in commitment to a cause and love for one another while pursuing it.

Role played by U.S Mission Nigeria The 2013 festival had been ticket free, thanks to the U.S. Mission Nigeria, who supported the JRT, once again. This is worthy of mention, because the theatre in Nigeria is suffering from poor patronage. Not just security, poverty, attitude and other social stresses are realities that affect audience participation in live theatre in Nigeria.

If this poor patronage must be cor-

rected, there is need to create a platform for people to come, see and appreciate theatre. In this regard, the support of U.S. Mission, which makes it possible to throw the gate open to all and sundry to come to the theatre in Jos, is laudable.

This gesture has made it possible for more people to participate in the theatre and opens them to understand and appreciate live theatre better.

It can even get better A week-long festival and there were almost no complaints, what with the performance of JRT on and off the stage.

But one can hazard to say that things can get better in areas such as audience participation, publicity, costume, props; there is a wide room for improvement.

Is JRT thinking of owning its own theatre, perhaps not? By what they have achieved, this is also a possibility. A theatre of their own will help in coping with the challenges of international plays especially; such plays cry for true stages.

This will also make their performances more conducive.

Indeed, there is a buzz around the JRT troupe, a lot of excitement among the cast, crew and audience; there is discipline in the management, there is hope for the future. Yes, things can only get better.

Book Men of the cloak, no matter their leaning ought to preach peace but when they have their fingers on the trigger and are not afraid to squeeze it, then trouble lurks all over.

Shehu Sani’s new play, When Clerics Kill, allows these men, and women, too to hold their fire and make their arguments.

TERH AGBEDEH

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he quote “Every nation has the government it deserves”, is credited to the French-speaking Savoyard Actors on philosopher, set of the film writer, lawyer and diplomat, Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821).

Over the centuries, the quote has produced several variants which narrow it down to society getting what it deserves.

Walking the tightrope But is the Nigerian society getting what it truly deserves? People will argue for and against that and Nigerians are constantly involved in this argument whether they are at the corridors of power or not, rich or poor, minority or not.

All the sides of these arguments are captured in Shehu Sani’s play of eight acts titled: When Clerics Kill, published this year under the Kraftgriots imprint by the Ibadan-based Kraft Books Limited.

The plot is an everyday reality, and it is simply that things have over the years degenerated into violence which tears at the very core of the society. The Nigeria of Shehu Sani’s play has been fragmented by suspicion and distrust for people who belong to the other religious group, who originate elsewhere and speak a different tongue. The characters in the play that include the common man that bears

the brunt of the vicious circle resulting from the blame game, as well as the religious and political leaders, focus on why the country is in the doldrums it finds itself. Everyone holds his or her interest above that of the country and is willing to protect it even unto death sometimes without realising that where the freedom of one citizen ends is where that of another begins.

For the Imam here, anyone who does not profess Islam is an infidel and must either be flushed out of the society or even annihilated. Even the country’s constitution counts for nothing. It is the same sentiment with the pastor. The two are extremists who indoctrinate their followers with their slanted beliefs. The followers are frustrated with the fact that nothing seems to be working in the society that is so endowed and they take out

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Critics

Friday, March 8, 2013

23

Theatre

Exalting Nigerian culture on stage

It was a great moment at the German School, Beach Land, Lagos, when Ntoroso Odido Dance Company recently thrilled the German staff of the school with a creatively packed total theatre performance of Ajigbe: the Face behind the Mask.

OLAYIWOLA AWAKAN

U

nlike an aspect of the entertainment industry where foreign cultures are imitated, the live theatre genre is focused on promoting the rich cultural heritage that abounds in the country through varied display of indigenous dances, appraisal of Nigerian heroes, festivals, ethnicities and an attempt towards correcting the ills in the country.

Among the many Nigerian theatre companies which promote Nigerian arts and culture is the Ntoroso Odido Dance Company, which has a vision of showcasing Nigeria’s creative minds to the world. The Dance Company has distinguished itself with outstanding stage performances in dance, drama, music and drum ensemble. After a season of German tour in 2012, the company recently performed her master piece production titled **Ajigbe: The Face behind the Mask** before the staff of the German School, Beach Land, Lagos on Saturday March 2.

The play covers Nigeria in a way that the rich culture of the nation would be highly appreciated. The total theatre performance, as directed by Kenneth Ophopho and choreographed by Michael Ejinkeonye and Matthew Maxwel, employed a unique style in telling the Nigerian story. The play treats the Niger Delta issues, religious differences, ethic

disparities, power tussle, political palaver, corruption and insecurity challenge that have bedevilled the nation.

With rich costumes to depict major Nigerian masquerades, the play tells the power of Nigerian culture and how this has kept the country’s citizens hopeful regardless of numerous challenges. The stage performance ends with a dance session of the various masquerades, while Frank Ebisidor, a prolific and skilful drummer alongside his team entertained the audience with a powerful drum ensemble to climax the production.

According to Ejinkeonye, producer cum choreographer of the play, “Ajigbe talks about the good, bad and beautiful of Nigeria. The good basically is the rich culture that we have; the bad is the government, no basic amenities for the people and the beautiful aspect is that rich cultural heritage that keeps us going regardless of the odds”.

He also laments the moribund state of Nigerian art and culture, “Art is dying in this country. What those who occupy the entertainment industry, most especially music, do now is pure imitation; they imitate foreign artistes. We should always promote those who have done a lot showcase our heritage, people like Fela Anikulapo Kuti”.

More so, the head of the German School, Beach Land Lagos, Ute Fricke who organised the school’s performance for her staff to have a feel of the creative

Performers depicting Efik culture in dance

Another set of performers depicting Yoruba culture

production expresses optimism in the revival of the Nigerian theatre industry. In her words, “Ajigbe gives a wide coverage of Nigeria and the Nigerian culture. Nigeria is rich in culture but unfortunately the country is not making good use of the rich culture. It will be nice not to copy the Western culture but to stick to the diverse cultures that exist within the country and promote them. This cultural promotion should

of sectarian violence their frustration on each other. It does not matter that some of them have co-existed for decades, only now have they decided, perhaps because the politicians who want to take advantage of the situation, have enlightened them that the other is evil. The policemen and soldiers who should keep the peace whenever there is trouble contribute their own quota to the madness by either taking sides or not doing anything at all. The circle goes on, the imam is up against the pastor, husband, his wife, the student, his classmate and the result is turmoil. But there is no solution in sight as no one intends to back down. At least not in this play that is heavy on dialogue and almost lacking in drama except when Christians and Muslims clash in the first scene of Act Four. Perhaps it was never intended to be performed on stage.

But that is not to indicate that the message is not spread or comprehensible, it comes piercing at the very centre of the situation of things at this time in the country. Many questions are raised, for instance, in the first two scenes where we meet John and Martha the Christian couple, as well as Sagir and Tani, the Muslim couple, they present

THE BOOK IS A MUST-READ FOR EVERY NIGERIAN INTENDING TO KNOW WHERE THE TROUBLE WITH

NIGERIA STARTED AND

HOW TO FORGE A WAY OUT OF IT the situation with each asking a list of pressing questions.

The two early scenes serve as a succinct introduction to the play, while the rest paint the picture of how everyone is involved in the situation for bad or good.

Bound in a melancholic yet arresting cover, every word in the 106 pages of When Clerics Kill is a must-read for every Nigerian intending to know where the trouble with Nigeria started and how the nation can forge its way out of it. Besides, most Nigerians who read the play, if they are true to themselves, will recognise their own voices and may well begin to do what will change things for the better rather than just talk about it.

not be done by foreign agencies but by Nigerian agencies. I think plays should be staged at the national theatre by Nigerian theatre troupes for people to go and see. That will in the long run help to revive the theatre industry in the country”, she said.

Surely, with such performances from highly creative theatre companies, Nigeria is bound to be the envy of the Western World!

24

Inside FCT

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Boom for traders at Zuba fruit market CHIDI UGWU

T

he Zuba fruit market in Abuja is indeed a booming business arena with enough capacity to cater for the fruit needs of residents of the FCT. Covering over 800 square meters, the market is where one can buy various types of fruits, which arrive the capital city from different parts of the country.

Fruits are brought in from such states as Enugu, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Kogi, Kano, Ondo and Abia to mention a few with over 60 trucks discharging full loads of fruits on a daily basis in the ever-busy market.

Inside FCT can report that some of these edibles abounding in this famous market include: Avocado Pear, kolanuts, cashew, banana, coconut, onions, dates nuts, bell pepper, paw-paw, lime, orange, potato, pineapple and water melon, among others.

A rough count of vehicles offloading various types of fruits when our reporter visited the market gave a figure of 166 vehicles including Mercedes Benz 911, Mack truck, Peugeot J5, Peugeot 504 Station Wagon and others.

“Offloading is going on day and night, so you can imagine the number of trucks that this market plays host to every day. We record more than 60 trucks per day and not including smaller vehicles like those Peugeot J5, that come from Enugu, this ten tyre trucks for instance, we have more fifty inside the market now, offload and loading fruits”, the General Secretary, Nigerian Fruit Sellers Association, Zuba, Mallam Ibrahim Yusuf, told our reporter.

Some of the traders who spoke to Inside FCT noted that the market is thriving and has provided avenue and source of daily bread for thousands who engage in one form of job or the other there.

ALL THE MAJOR HOTELS IN ABUJA

AND ITS ENVIRONS GET THEIR FRUIT SUPPLY FROM THE FAMOUS

MARKET Mr. Thomas Eze, a native of Ozalla in Enugu State, said he has spent over 10 years in the market selling various types of fruits.

Eze said he takes full load delivery of fruits from about five Peugeot J5 trucks every week, adding that he sells all kinds of fruits depending on the season.

“I am a dealer, so any type of fruit that customers bring, I buy and resell”.

For Mrs. Maryam Okoriko, a native of Kogi State who has been a seller in the market for about a year, said the market provided a solution to her several years of joblessness. Now, she is full of thanks to God for leading her to market where she now ekes out a living.

“I sell pineapples, paw-paw, oranges, water melon, limes, avocado pears and other fruits. Some of these fruits are from Edo, Kogi, Enugu –these Avacado are from Enugu and the oranges are from Keffi and Akure. I am making gain, anything that God gives me in a day is my gain –this is where I make money to take care of my family.

Expectedly, given the number of tasks required in such large market, other ancillary services also boom alongside the normal fruit business, for as truck and cab drivers bring the fruit to and fro the market, wheel barrow pushers and potters were seen conveying goods from one point of the market to another.

ROTIMI FADEYI

T

ZUBA FRUIT

he influx of people from different parts of the country to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, in search of the golden fleece brought with it a lot of pressure and demand for the basic things of life like food, shelter and clothes.

This high demand triggered astronomical increase in the prices of goods and services, particularly in city centre of Abuja, a situation which has pushed many people to the satellite towns where prices of food and accommodation especially are relatively affordable.

However, considering the fact that a substantial number of the workforce live in satellite towns and work in the city centre, most workers leave home early in order to beat the heavy traffic that usually builds up during morning rush hour and resumption time.

As a result, many people leave home without having their breakfast, an important meal of the day.

Therefore, they depend on make shift roadside restaurants popularly known as mama put or buka for

A typical fruit stall at Zuba

One of the truck drivers, Okechukwu Arize, told Inside FCT that he transports at least two trucks load of fruits every week from Nsukka, in Enugu state to Zuba.

Arinze, who claimed he spend nights in the market whenever his offloading is delayed, wondered where all the fruits brought to the market goes and if the fruits are being consumed by the residents of Abuja.

He said: “I was here twice last week with two truck load of cherry fruits; I am back again this week with another one. I am sure that God willing, I will come back before the end of the week with another full load. Where do they take all the fruits to”? queried Arinze.

However, Mallam Ibrahim Yusuf, said

all the major hotels in Abuja and its environs get their fruit supply from the famous Zuba fruit market.

“All hotels in Abuja, and other companies come here to buy fruits and many are being supplied from this market.

Also individuals come to buy and resell to end users”.

Yusuf said that presently, the market is able to supply all the needs of people in terms of fruits. He recalled the reluctance of traders to relocate when government moved the fruit market from Central Area to Zuba noting that the relocation generated a lot of confusion.

According to the general secretary, initially, traders were unhappy that they were forced to move from the usual place in Central Area; some moved to

Abuja “bukas” rebound THEY CAME TO DRIVE US AWAY FROM OUR STRATEGIC LOCATIONS WHERE WE WERE SURE OF SELLING OUR FOOD;

THEY DIDN’T THINK OF HOW WE WOULD SURVIVE breakfast and possibly lunch before returning home for dinner.

Operators of these make shift restaurants were making impressive sales from the services rendered to keep body and soul together considering the large number of people that patronise them.

Recently, though, there was a clampdown by FCT

authorities on the operators of these restaurants, practically dislodging them from their various locations and removing their structures and canopies under which they operate. With the action, FCT authorities assumed the buka operators had been effectively dislodged and permanently put away from the streets of Abuja.

However, like the proverbial cat with nine lives, Inside FCT discovered that the operators have returned and this comeback is with a new method of operation; rather than operate from under canopies and other discernible structures, they have resorted to utilising the shades of tree branches and uncompleted buildings where they arrange a few tables and chairs for patrons who come around to eat lunch.

One of the operators of the make shift restaurants who simply identified herself as Maryam told our reporter that it is now like a game of hide and seek

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Inside FCT

Friday, March 8, 2013

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Abuja tree planting: What hope for satellite towns?

IJEOMA EZEIKE

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the Tomato Market in Maraba, Nasarawa State, while others opted for the government allocated Zuba.

He noted that those who eventually made the move to Zuba are now thankful to government as the market has continued to boom making it the fruit centre of the capital city.

Yusuf, however, said there are still some daunting challenges facing the market among which include is lack of electricity, in adequate water supply and storage facility, as well as security issues.

According to Yusuf, electricity and storage facility are of high priority to the successful operation of the market as the goods are perishable and need to preservation.

“Preservation is the area we have big problem because we do not have storage facility, some people have come in the past claiming to be government agents and making all sorts of promises about providing storage facility but we are yet to see anything from that visit.

We lose lots of money due to lack of storage facility; any goods not sold within three days are deposited in the dust bin”, he lamented.

He also bemoaned the dilapidated condition of roads leading to the market stressing that lorries and trucks which bring goods find it difficult to meander through the road which are in a state of great disrepair.

hat is this country turning into?.. when are we going to get it right?.. were rhetorical questions Mr. Chukwudi Chukwujekwu, a trader resident in Abuja, asked when the wives of governors stormed Abuja for the tree planting exercise.

Ordinarily, one would have looked the other way but the exercise generated negative reactions from Abuja residents especially those that reside in the remote areas.

While the top echelons of the society are busy with fancy plans to decorate Abuja, the masses in satellite towns are calling on them to replicate the same idea in their areas. It is no longer news that residents of satellite towns lack electricity, good roads and other basic amenities. What has continued to amaze many is why the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, chose to beautify the city excluding satellite towns.

Chukwudi, in his reaction to the tree planting exercise, said; “This is total gross misconduct and I have a right to ask questions. Does the FCT Minister ply the horrible satellite town roads? In any case, how are we sure that the tree planting exercise will be sustained.

They have not even maintained the ones we have.

“Whatever they are doing is mere demonstration because we are not going to gain anything from it, they should try and fashion out other ways of doing things from which the poor masses will benefit”, he concluded.

Monday, March 4, was a day the wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan along with wives of about 10 governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and stalwarts of the party stormed the National Stadium in Abuja for a tree-planting exercise which near-

after clampdown with the authorities, saying that they have not been treated fairly.

“They came to drive us away from our strategic locations where we were sure of selling our food and making some money; they didn’t think of how we would survive or even provided an alternative location for us”, she said.

“Since we have to survive and we don’t have another business for now, we have to find a way to sell our food under the shade of trees and sometimes inside uncompleted buildings”, she added.

A civil servant who would not disclose his name said he patronises the make shift restaurants because he cannot afford the cost of food in big restaurants located in high brow areas of the city. “I don’t earn much as salary and I cannot be going to big restaurants for breakfast so I have to eat where my pocket can afford”, he said.

One of the makeshift canteens

WHATEVER THEY ARE DOING IS JUST MERE DEMONSTRATION BECAUSE THE MASSES WILL NOT GAIN ANYTHING FROM IT ly became a political rally.

Dressed in the PDP regalia, different women and youth groups were on hand to sing praises of the party at an event that was originally designed to plant trees. This was even as access roads leading to the ill-maintained National Stadium, venue of the tree-planting exercise, were blocked.

For hours, the only access road leading to the airport through the city gate was almost blocked as operatives of the Department of State Service, policemen, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), officials and men of the Civil Defence Corps manned strategic points, making it difficult for motorists to navigate round the area.

Mrs. Jonathan told the audience that the essence of the exercise was to change the face of the nation’s capital adding that it will also serve the dual purpose of protecting the environment from Green house effect.

She appealled to wives of state governors to embark on tree planting and landscaping to make the nation more habitable.

FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed warned against any distortion of the Abuja Masterplan.

“I must warn all those who deface the environment of our beautiful city and abuse the Abuja Master Plan that the FCT Administration will take adequate and necessary steps to enforce discipline in these areas”, he said.

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Mirror Mongers

Friday, March 8, 2013

Business of police kits T hank God for the Presidential visit to the Police College at Ikeja, Lagos. After the interest aroused by the rare visit, re-construction works are not only going on there but at other Police College campuses across the nation. What the story has taught Nigerians and especially members of the Nigeria Police Force is that their complaints must be channelled to President Goodluck Jonathan for it to make any impact. In view of this, MM wishes to bring another ‘rot’ to the President’s knowledge, so he can use his good office and visit to make changes forthrightly.

Several illegal deductions are still going on at an office called MSS in the Police Force, which has led to loss of millions of naira by officers at the lower rung of the police hierarchy. This has also led to a situation where several state commands pay different salaries

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Juicy Niger Delta posting

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MD Abubakar

to their officers.

Perhaps this is not as disheartening as the revelation that police officers who wish to own the new camouflage uniform launched by the Police Inspector General, M. D Abubakar, must cough out N10,000. But now that the light blue uniform is no longer a hot item, it costs only N2000. However, according to police records, the uniforms are supposed to be free.

ith the volatile nature of countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia, they do not represent an ideal place for Nigerians to go in search of greener pastures. In Nigeria, places like Maiduguri, Damaturu, Jos and of course, the Niger Delta also paint the above scenario. But there is a big difference here, according to what MM gathered. While the Niger Delta is rife with stories of kidnapping and occasional shootings, the buzz is that men of the Navy pay as much as N300.000 to be posted to serve as members of the Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Ni-

ger Delta. The posting is so juicy that enthusiasts, who offer bribes to get it, also celebrate such postings with a lavish ‘Thanksgiving Service’ for ‘God’s goodness’.

But underneath the merriment, MM leant is the anticipation that the soldier’s financial misery vanishes once he gets to the Niger Delta. Although, JTF members have rarely been indicted for extortion, the buzz is that keeping an eye on those meaning to steal Nigeria’s crude is more lucrative now than being a politician. Little wonder, rough estimates of oil theft run into trillions of naira on a good (or bad?) year.

Okorocha’s battles

Okorocha

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t is not easy to be Rochas Okorocha indeed. It does not have to do with the number of children he is sponsoring in schools (estimates put it at 3,000) or the number of special advisers he has (he is battling for supremacy in this regard with Isa Yuguda, governor of Bauchi State). The buzz is that

the frontiers of the war are expanding and something needs to be done about it now. After he pulled a faction of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, into the merger that gave rise to the All Progressive Congress, he was confronted with the mysterious demolition of Ojukwu Memorial Library being built by the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, Ralph Uwazurike, located in Owerri.

But the latest battle confronting the governor is what he would do to Owerri indigenes.

MM gathered that indigenes of the town are seething in anger over a billboard that allegedly appeared in the governor’s town Ogboko, Orlu, reading, ‘Permanent Site Imo State University’.

Innovative religious services

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ompetition always brings out ingenuity, or how do we describe the place of handbills and billboards in today’s attempt to woo worshippers.

Like the ewe learning to chew cud from it mother, it appears that the younger generation of pastors are doing well in creating themes for their church services. For Valentine’s Day, a church, God House International, headed by a pastor in his early 20s did well with his service directed at spinsters when he organised his crusade under the theme, Give Me a Spouse or I die. While the record of

those who did not get spouses and failed to die is unavailable, another group of three pastors last week held what they termed, Prison Break, Season 1, maintaining that their mission is to ‘Break Curses and Demonic covenants’. At some other locations, themes like First Fruit, were also being used to depict the fact that the first quarter of the year has berthed.

MM observed that things are already getting on the digital way with some of these worship centres dealing with identification codes like BB pins.

ONE-SECOND Q&A

DOYIN OKUPE

Opinions are rife that Rasheed Maina, a man wanted in connection with the disappearance of pension funds is close to the powers that be. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Communications, Doyin Okupe reacts: Senators said they have been seeing the man around the Presidency?

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Okupe

ook, the Senate made an official complaint to the President. The president cannot intervene in matters of National Assembly with any individual or any person, because due process must be obeyed.

The President was informed officially by the Senate and when he received that information, he instructed appropriately the IGP to issue that declaration to declare Maina wanted. I think that’s an act that is commendable and it shows the President isn’t backing anybody and that this President wouldn’t subvert the constitution that he has sworn to defend. The relationship between the Presidency and the Senate is so deep and congenial that it isn’t possible to sacrifice it. What is going on is very painful to the Presidency.

Yaum al-Jumu’ah, Rabi Al-Thanni 26, 1434AH Friday, March 8, 2013

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Call to Worship

On the authority of Anas bin Malik, the servant of the Messenger of All, the prophet said: “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”

RELATED BY BUKHARI AND MUSLIM

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he Madrid Central Mosque or Abu-Bakr Mosque is a building located in the Cuatro Caminos neighborhood of Tetuán district.

During its construction, its proximity to the Estrecho metro station gave birth to the popular name of the Strait Mosque.

The building, spread over four floors, has in addition to the Mosque and offices, a nursery, a school, a library, an auditorium and a shop. It performs worship, charitable, educational, cultural and social functions, having signed an agreement with AlAzhar University for the training and provision of Imams.

Opened on 21 September, 1992, it is the largest Mosque in Europe. Made of fine white marble, it includes a college, ritual bath house, gymnasium, cafe and an Arabian restaurant called Zahara.

The exterior is seen as closed solid, while the interior forms a frame for the integration of the multiple social activities centering around the Mosque. The internal spatial organization is based on ordered system of patios: entrance patio, main patio, and patios designed for special purposes.

The ground level group’s functions of mass character but aiming to provide conditions for quiet and concentration: the mosque, permanent exhibitions, education, teaching area etc.

The underground level contains an auditorium, a hammam, multi-purpose rooms, and temporary exhibition space.

Madrid Central Mosque Hadith

Abu Yahya Suhaib b. Sinan said that Rasulullah (PBUH) said: “Wondrous are the believer’s affairs. For him there is good in all his affairs, and this is so only for the believer. When something pleasing happens to him, he is grateful, and that is good for him; and when something displeasing happens to him, he is enduring (sabar), and that is good for him.”

(Muslim)

Madrid Central Mosque

Quiz Corner debuts

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‘We need more Muslim scientists’

Alone at home 28

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Law in this Life and the Next (1)

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e have already stated that the effect of the true and perfect Divine law upon man’s heart in this life is that it lifts him from a savage condition and converts him into a human being, and thereafter invests him with high morals, and finally makes him godly. One of the effects of the practical ordinances of the law is that a person who follows the true law progressively recognises the rights of his fellow beings and exercises his faculties of equity, benevolence and true sympathy on their proper occasions. Such shares with his fellow beings, according to their respective ranks, the bounties with which God has favoured him, like knowledge, understanding, wealth and means of comfort.

Every Friday with

Khalifatul

Ahmadiyya He sheds his light like the sun upon the whole of mankind and like the moon, acquiring light from God, conveys it to others. Being illumined like the day he shows the paths of virtue and goodness to others, and like the night he covers up their weaknesses and provides comfort for those who CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

Hijab crisis: COHI warns govt not to renege on agreements 29

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Call to Worship

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here was a young boy. We were in the same class and lived in the same neighbourhood. We have been so used to each other. It is normal for us to play together in the streets that people even teased me as being his wife. Anyway, it did not matter to me initially but with time, I took deep interest in him but never revealed it to anyone. I would always want him around. Destiny had it that along with his own blood sisters, they used to stay back in our house before the arrival of their mother who will pick them up in her car by 3.30 pm on her return from work.

I returned from school one fateful day.

My parents were not around. I was very tired that I just flung into the bed; not even bothering to remove my uniform. This boy appeared as usual, but without his sister.

What I saw next was that he was trying to undress me. I woke up from my short sleep to see him in the act but I did not resist. I just kept on looking on initially as I was even confused of what to do. He was trying many things on me touching and sleeping on me. This I have never experienced. I was just there motionless. At a point he tried to remove his undies, that was when he heard his mother shouting his name from outside. He jumped up and quickly dressed up.

After he had left, I was still thinking what he was up to. I have never been taught by my parents about these kinds of things.

Really, that brief encounter turned my sexual feelings on. I later got to know about sex from my friends in my JSS I, that experience occurred in my primary five. I desired that that boy had had his way. I began to have strong feelings for any male that comes closer to me. At times, when even my cousin sleeps in our house, I will feel like undressing myself and sleeping over him.

I would be there but lack the courage to do so. Right from my tender age (JSS 1), my

Yaum al-Jumu’ah, Rabi Al-Thanni 26, 1434AH Friday, March 8, 2013

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Alone at home WHAT MOTHERS MUST DO IS TO PROTECT AND GIVE THEIR DAUGHTERS RELEVANT ORIENTATION sexual urge was wild, even though I was yet to attain maturity.

I think the on-going story should make meaning to all mothers. We expose our daughters to early sexual harassment by being negligent of their welfare in school and after school. Whoever has female children must never take any chance. A direct or indirect early sexual exposure can lead a girl into Zina.

Stories abound on how primary school pupils play love even in the school not to talk of secondary setting. Most female children have untold stories. They might never even be obliged to tell it if pressed in any form due to fear or protection of dignity and confidence. What mothers must do is to protect and give their daughters relevant orientation.

Parents should discourage their female children from staying or sleeping in any other place other than theirs. This is not to say that, they cannot fall into it while within. Experience has shown otherwise. But their staying outside the home is more dangerous. There have been cases of husbands attempting or even succeeding to have sex with the sisters to their wives. There are cases of male friends to their brother-inlaws doing same. Although in the modern

times and its challenges, there is virtually no safe place, but we can still properly guide our children and prevent them from this mess.

Give your daughters orientation commensurate with their age. Do not think they are too young. A girl of even five can be told in a way she will understand. For example, “my daughter, if anybody, it may be a girl or boy, a man or woman tries to be rubbing his or her hand over your body or tries to ask you to lie down or tries to touch you like this (trying to demonstrate touching some sensitive parts); you should not allow them, you should scream, and you should let me know about it. Is it clear?

That kind of thing is not good because it will cause problem for you as a young girl.

But if it happens and you tell me, that will show that you are a good girl. I will then tell you some good things you have to do.”

You may not know who wants to seduce your daughter or who she herself is interested in. Your close friend could at times be your albatross. As soon as your daughter is 4 or 5, you should start to give her sex education proportional to her age. You can let her know that a girl is special and different from a boy. So, it is not good for a boy to touch her body. It is not good for her to be

alone with a boy and the like. This becomes imperative with the rise in paedophilia, incest, incessant harassment of young girls and sexual assaults occurring in many homes, neighbourhood and schools these days. It is becoming even more difficult to trust just any man. Every male is a suspect.

Too hard to believe? The mother has more roles to play in this. She must be extra-ordinarily sensitive. Her eyes should sense any suspicious movement around her daughter. She should ensure her female children have their rooms or a carved space that is private. However, a balance must be observed here to avoid over-protection which again can lead to pretensions on the part of the girl. She should teach them how to dress within the home because a sister may tempt her brother or even her father. This is because she possesses all that can tempt a man. So, if she does not observe Islamic decorum within the home, it may incite passion or cause mental inconvenience.

Dr. Zafaran is the Director, Vanguards Academy

ZAKAT IS 2.5% OF YOUR TOTAL WEALTH KNOWN AS NISAB AFTER HAVING FULFILLED ALL OBLIGATIONS, PAY YOUR ZAKAT

Solat differentiates Muslims from non-Muslims

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olat refers to obligatory prayers. It is one of the five pillars of Islam and one of the clear indicators of a practising Muslim. Almighty Allah has commanded us to pray five times on a daily basis and this has remained since the time immemorial. It must be noted that each of the prayers has its own appointed time details of which could be found in the holy Qur’an Chapter 17:78, 24:58, 30:17 – 18, 76:25, etc It would be recalled that all Prophets of Allah including the last Prophet, Mohammed (PBUH) observed Solat. This can be found in the holy Qur’an Chapter 2:3 – 5; part of which reads thus: “…Who believe in the unseen and observe prayer and spend out of what We have provided for them...It is they who follow the guidance of their Lord and it is they who shall prosper.”

Proper observance of Solat makes Muslims to be faithful in all their dealings because it will encourage them to always do the right thing and discourage them from doing evils. On the Day of Judgment, Solat will play a vital role in determining the permanent abode of mankind; either paradise or hell fire.

There are many verses of the holy Qur’an that tells us how important Solat is. Chapter 2:110 says; “And observe prayer

and pay the Zakat and whatever good you send on before you is for yourselves, you shall find it with Allah; surely Allah sees all that you do.”

Also, Chapter 2:277 reads; “Surely, those who believe and do good deeds, and observe prayer and pay the Zakat shall have their reward from their Lord, and no fear shall come on them nor shall you be wronged.” The quoted verses do not stop at the observance of Solat alone but payment of Zakat, doing good to one another, etc. This is an indication that Solat leads while other good things expected of a Muslim follow.

Keeping faith with other four pillars of Islam is an exercise in futility, although, Allah is All-knowing and Forgiving. It can be deduced that lazy and people with vested interest in earthly things find it difficult to observe Salat.

In conclusion, the major issue that differentiates a Muslim from non-Muslims is Solat. Furthermore, bearing Muslims names has not qualified one as a Muslims but keeping adherence with the five pillars of Islam, following the dictates of the holy Qur’an and teachings of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

Sheikh Abdul Ganniyy Umar Arikunkewu is the Founder/National Chief Missioner of Jubatu Rohfatu Llahi Islamic Society Of Nigeria (JUBFAT)

L-R: Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; National President, Jama’atu Ta’Awunil Muslimeen, Sheikh Dawud Imran Molaasan and Asst. Chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon.Mudasiru Togun during the laying of the foundation stone of Al-Ummah College of Education (UMCOED) at Iwo recently.

L-R: Lagos District Amir of the Companion, Alhaji Muhd. Warith Wale Sonaike; Alhaji Abdul-Mojeed Adedeji and Alhaji Abdul-Salam Abass at the monthly joint Usrah of the Companion held recently in Lagos.

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uslim youths have been told to focus more attention on sciences and also the knowledge of Islam in order to be better Muslims.

Speaking on the topic; “Islam in the 21st century: Compliments or contradictions”, at the monthly joint Usrah of the Companion, the Deputy-Amir of the Companion, Lagos District, Alhaji Nojeemdeen

Friday, March 8, 2013

Call to Worship

Yaum al-Jumu’ah, Rabi Al-Thanni 26, 1434AH

‘We need more Muslim scientists’ Jimoh urged Muslims to be very versatile and up-todate in contemporary sciences and Islam as Islam is the basis for all knowledge.

“I want our youth to know that they have advantage over others as those who are exposed to true Islamic knowledge from young age will have the opportunity of knowing many scientific facts. And that is why more verses of the glorious Qur’an are now been

appreciated.

Reacting to the issue of humiliation of female Muslims for using Hijab, he urged the state government to give to Muslims what is their right by wading in promptly making the erring principals to answer for their misdeeds.

“We are trying to mould our children according to Islamic injunctions and the best time to do this is when they are in primary

and secondary schools.

Even in UK and US, Muslim children wear Hijab to schools, why will it be different in our own case?”

Also speaking, the Amir of the Companion, Alhaji Muhd- Sabit Wale Sonaike called on Muslims to live up to expectations as Islam is pro-science and scientific findings are confirmation of Allah’s words in the Qur’an. “Allah has directed us on all innovations and

the onus is on us to live to expectations.”

He called on the present administration to do more in the area of fighting corruption as Nigeria is the only country where people steal public fund and walk free. “Nigerians have no reason to be poor and that is why our government should do more to deliver dividend of democracy to the masses.” Ustaz AbdulHakeem Abdul-Lateef

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enjoined pious Muslims not to neglect politics in order to put things in the right perspectives. Reacting to the issue of beating students for using Hijab he pointed out that it is a display of some people’s hatred for Islam as people must be allowed to practice their religion, he therefore urged them to go through the judicial process in seeking redress and not resort to violence.

Group establishes College of Education

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L-R: Deputy National Amir of the Companion, Barr. Musbaudeen Oyefeso; Imam Abdul-Lateef AbdulHakeem and the Deputy-Amir, Lagos District of the Companion, Alhaji Nojeemdeen Jimoh at the monthly joint Usrah of the Companion held recently in Lagos.

Hijab crisis: COHI warns govt not to renege on agreements

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he Council of Higher Institutions (COHI), an arm of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, (MSSN) Lagos State Area Unit, has advised the Lagos State Government not to renege on the agreement it reached with the society following last Thursday’s mass protest in Alausa against the victimisation of Muslim students using hijab in secondary schools by their principals.

The group warned that reneging on the agreements may result to the disruption of the relative peace being enjoyed in the state at the moment. The Assistant General Secretary of the MSSN, Lagos State Area Unit, Mr Sulaimon Dhikrillah, said the group was not out to fight the state government, but to demand the recognition and protection of the rights of Muslims as guaranteed by the country’s constitution.

He said the state government had agreed to issue a circular to stop the school authorities and teachers from molesting Muslim girls over the use of Hijab. He added that the government’s rep-

resentatives at the meeting on Thursday presented evidences that investigation had commenced in the case of the Principal of Kadara Junior Grammar School, EbuteMetta, who allegedly administered 43 strokes of cane on a JSS 1 student over her use of hijab, and pledged to follow it to a logical conclusion.

Speaking on the case of Mrs. Elizabeth Omidele, Principal, Mafoluku Senior Grammar School, Oshodi who allegedly removed the Hijab on an SSS 3 student, Bareerah Tajudeen, outside the school premises and also suspended her, Dhikrillah revealed that the principal had recalled Bareerah under a stringent condition.

“The principal coerced Bareerah to signing an undertaken antithetical to this resolution moreso she was made to serve punishment on the assembly for the same reason. It is our further request that the government should call the principal of Mafoluku to order in the spirit of justice,’ he said.

Concerning the demand that hijab should be part of uniform for Muslim students in Lagos State, Dhi-

krillah said the government representatives promised to table it before the State Executive Council meeting on March 3rd (Monday).

It would be recalled that members of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria,

Lagos State Area Unit had, on Thursday February 28, 2013, stormed the state governor’s office in Alausa in protest against victimisation of Muslim girls using hijab in state secondary schools by their principals.

prominent Islamic group in the State of Osun, Jama’tu Ta’wunil Muslimeen Society of Nigeria has established a College of Education named; “Al-Ummah College of Education (UMCOED)” in Iwo. Speaking at the laying of the foundation stone of the college at the permanent site, Oguro, the State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola urged Muslims in the country to develop the habit of good character as part of their religion’s tenets, just as he declared that faith without good character is nothing in Islam.

The governor advocated that Muslims seek knowledge at all cost as directed by Prophet Muhammed, stating that if God needs only faith, God will not create human beings because Angels have faith than human beings. He urged them to be patient in whatever they are doing, stressing that God in the Holy Qur’an has ordered every Muslim to be patient and diligent in dealing with Muslims and non-Mus-

lims. “Islam is knowledge, knowledge is Islam and what differentiates human beings from animals is knowledge.

I seek for the support of the Ummah in the state for the project. I urged the proprietor and the implementation committee to name Ta’wunil Institute of Bilingua Studies and offer short-term training on Arabic and English languages before the completion of the project in order to remove the barrier of unemployment of Muslims in government establishments.

Also speaking, Chairman, Implementation Committee, Prof. Alagbe Wasiu Gbolagade disclosed that the mainobjective for the establishment of the institution is to compliment the efforts of the government particularly on Education. Earlier in his welcome address, the National President of the group, Sheikh Dawud Imran Molaasan urged the state governor to give every citizen of the state their own right in the scheme of government projects.

Cross section of Muslim students demonstrating against discrimination of the use of Hijab at the Lagos governor’s office recently.

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Call to Worship CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

are weary. Like the sky he provides shelter under his shade for everyone who is in need, and pours down the rain of grace at its proper time. Like the earth, out of utter humility, he becomes like a floor for everyone’s comfort and gathers them close to afford them security, and offers them diverse types of spiritual fruits.

Thus, he who adheres to the perfect law discharges his obligations to God and to his fellow creatures to the utmost. He loses himself in God and becomes a true servant of His creatures. This is the effect of the practical ordinances of the law on his life here.

Their effect in the hereafter is that a person who adheres to them will observe his spiritual relationship with God as a manifest reality. The service that he rendered to God’s creatures out of his love for God, which was stimulated by his faith, and his yearning for righteous action, will be manifested to him as the trees and rivers of paradise. In this context, God Almighty has said: we call to witness the sun and its light; and We call to witness the moon when it follows the sun and obtains its light from it and conveys it to people; and We call to witness the day when it manifests the light of the sun and shows up the paths; and We call to witness the night when it darkens and envelops everything within itself; and We call to witness the heaven and the purpose for which it has been created; and We call to witness the earth and the purpose for which it has been spread out like a floor; and We call to witness the human soul and its quality which makes it equal to all these other things; that is to say all those qualities which are found dispersed among the other bodies that have been mentioned are all comprehended in the soul of the perfect man.

As these bodies serve man in diverse ways, the perfect man performs all that service by himself. Then He says: he will be delivered from death and will attain salvation who purifies his soul, that is to say, who serves God’s creatures out of his devotion to God like the sun and the moon and the earth.

It should be kept in mind that in this context, life means life eternal, which will be bestowed upon perfect man. This is an indication that the fruit of conforming to the practical ordinances of the law will be the eternal life of the next world, which will be sustained forever by the vision of God. Then it is said that he who corrupts his soul and does not acquire the qualities for which he was bestowed appropriate capacities and goes back after spending an unclean life, shall be ruined and shall despair of life eternal.

Then he said: this is illustrated by the event of the she-camel of Allah, which was hamstrung by a wretched one of the tribe of Thamud and was prevented from drinking at its fountain. This is an indication that the soul of man is the she-camel of God which He bestrides, meaning that the heart of man is the place of Divine manifestations. The water of the she-camel is the love and understanding of God which sustain it. Then he said: when the Thamud hamstrung the she-camel of God and prevented it from having its drink, they were overtaken by God’s chastisement and He cared not how their dependants would fare. Thus would be ruined one who corrupts his soul and prevents it from taking spiritual nourishment and does not desire

Yaum al-Jumu’ah, Rabi Al-Thanni 26, 1434AH Friday, March 8, 2013

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Law in this Life and the Next (1) IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THE

SUN AND THE MOON AND THE DAY AND THE NIGHT AND THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH to foster it.1 Regarding the philosophy of Allah’s swearing by various things, one needs to be reminded that there is a deep philosophy in God’s calling the sun and the moon etc. to witness. Some of our opponents, out of their lack of knowledge, criticise God for calling to witness created things. As their intelligence is earthly and not heavenly, they fail to appreciate true insights. The purpose of taking an oath is that the one who takes an oath puts forward a testimony in support of his claim. A person who has no witness of his claim calls God to witness, for He knows what is hidden and He is the foremost witness in every controversy. Such a person puts forward the testimony of God by taking an oath in His name, meaning thereby that if God does not thereafter chastise him, that would be proof that God has confirmed the truth of his claim. It is, therefore, not permissible for a person to take the oath of any created thing, for no created thing possesses knowledge of the unseen, nor has it the power to punish one who takes a false oath.

In these verses, God calling various phenomena to witness is not the same thing as a person taking an oath. Divine manifestations are of two types. One, those that are obvious and concerning which there is no controversy. Secondly, there are those Divine manifestations which are inferential concerning which people differ and can fall into error. By calling to witness the obvious phenomena, God Almighty’s purpose is to establish by their evidence His inferential manifestations.

It is obvious that the sun and the moon and the day and the night and the heaven and the earth, possess the respective characteristics that we have mentioned, but everyone is not aware of the characteristics possessed by the human soul. Thus, God has set forth His obvious manifestations as witnesses for the purpose of explaining His inferential manifestations. It is as if He says: If you are in doubt with regard to the qualities with which the human soul is invested, then reflect upon the sun and the moon and the other phenomena cited which obviously possess these qualities.

You know that man is a microcosm that comprises a tiny representation of the pattern of the universe. As it is clear that the great bodies of the macrocosm possess these qualities and provide benefits for God’s creatures, then how can man, who ranks above all those bodies, be without those qualities? That is not so. Indeed, like the sun, man possesses the light of knowledge and reason whereby he can illumine the world. Like the moon, he receives the light of vision and revelation from the Divine and conveys it to others who have not yet arrived at the highest stage of human progress. Then how can you say that prophethood is a false notion and that all prophethoods and purported Divine laws and books are only the imposture and selfishness of certain human beings.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

L-R: Naib Amir, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nigeria, Alhaji Ahmed Alhassan; former Cameroun’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Nji Nchankou Njoya; Missionary-in-Charge, Maulvi Abdul Khalique Nayyar; Amir, Dr. Mashhud Aderenle-Fashola; Imam-Faysal, Abdel-Aziz and former Amir, Engr.

Hussain Sumonu, at the 3rd National Conference (Jalsa Salana) Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Cameroun,at the Masjid Al-Hudaa Mosque, Hausa Quarters, Mamfe, Manyu, Cameroun.

L-R: Missionary-in-Charge, Maulvi Abdul Khalique Nayyar; Amir, Dr. Mashhud Aderenle-Fashola; Senior Divisional Officer for Many Division Cameroun, Mr. Peter Tieh Nde and President, Cameroun, Ahmaddiyya Muslim Jama’at, Alhaji Ahmed Isa.

Lagos State Missionary, of Ahmaddiyya Muslim Jama’at, Muallim Muhammad Qasim Oyekola; Central Missionary, Kwara State, Maulvi Abdul Lateef IIori, Welfare Sectary, Alhji Muyili Olagunju, Alhaji Abdul Fatayi Apoyin; General Secretary, Alhaji Raji Dauda, Tabliq Secretary, Dr. Saidi Timehin and Sadr, Khudamm-ul-Ahmadiyya, Abdul Rafiu Abdul Quadr.

L-R: Sadr, Majlis Ansarullah, Nigeria, Alhaji Mikail Odukoya; Alhaji Ahmed Alhassan; Mulvi Khaleel Ahmad Khan and Maulvi Nadeeem Wasee, at the 3rd National Conference (Jalsa Salana) Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Cameroun,at Masjid Al-Hudaa Mosque, Hausa Quarters, Mamfe, Manyu, Cameroun.

PHOTOS: BAYOOR EWUOSO

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Arty News

Friday, March 8, 2013

31

Femi Kuti, celebs live at AMVCAwards ...organisers say show must go on despite fire disaster at M-Net’s Lagos studio ADENRELE NIYI

F

or the maiden edition of The AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards, AMVCA, holding tomorrow in Lagos, Afrobeat crown prince, Femi Kuti and his Positive Force band will take to the stage in an event to be screened live to over 50 countries on the African continent via DStv and GOtv. With voting for the awards having closed on March 3, the glamorous night is touted as a gathering where African film stars and other celebrities will come out to shine. The glittering twohour and 30-minute gala is being held in association with MultiChoice and sponsored by Amstel Malta.

Festivities begins with an exciting one-hour red carpet session hosted

by entertaining television presenter, Denrele Edun, alongside AfricaMagic hosts, Helen Paul and Uti Nwachukwu (Jara); Dolapo Oni and Eku Edewor (53 Extra); Lawrence Maleka (StarGist); plus NicWang’ondu and Sarah Hassan (Mashariki Mix). The AMVCAwards proper is hosted by Nigeria’s popular show compere, IK Osakioduwa and Zimbabwean TV star, Vimbai Muntinhiri.

Joining Femi Kuti on the music line-up is Nigerian vocalist, Tiwa Savage along with award-winning Kenyan Afro-pop outfit, Sauti Sol. However, organisers are keeping close to chest the identities of other great performers scheduled for the night.

Guest presenters are equally impressive; stars such as Chinedu Ikedieze, Desmond Elliot, Fabian Adeoye Lojede,

L-R: Kuti, Vimba and IK

Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi, Gideon Okeke, Genevieve Nnaji, Ireti Doyle, Jim Iyke, Joseph Benjamin, Lizz Njagah, Majid Michel, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Osas Ighodaro, Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD), Rita Dominic and Stephanie Okereke, are all expected to present awards.

Meanwhile, given that the awards will happen days after a fire outbreak damaged M-Net’s Ojota-Lagos Studios –home to several AfricaMagic shows,

makes the AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards all the more special, says M-Net Africa Managing Director, Biola Alabi.

“The physical investment will definitely be rebuilt because we are committed to this market. But the emotional legacy of Ojota, the spirit of determination and hope, lives in the fact that we can create an awards show such as the AMVCAs and with it, hopefully a night of magic!”, Alabi enthuses.

KSA vows to win Grammy Award ADENRELE NIYI AND KEMI OLAITAN IBADAN

J L-R: Hip-hop artiste, Vector; Brand Manager, Veleta Fruit Wine, Chioma Alonge, and Brand Manager, Teezers, Akintayo Akinseloyin at the event

Hip-hop act, Vector celebrated in ‘Variety Nite’ TERH AGBEDEH

E

nigma Variety Nite, powered by Chelsea London Dry Gin, Teezers and Veleta Fruit Wine, celebrated the young and highly talented Nigerian rapper, Vector the Viper, at Ember Creek, Ikoyi, Lagos, on February 27.

Other young and up-andcoming artistes (most of whom are protégés to Vector) like Dayve McCoy, Jemal, Karucee and the engaging female rapper, Rymcee also thrilled guests at the event.

Omobaba, the self-styled ‘Handsome Comedian’, was on hand for comedy skits.

The event was hosted by Mariah and Kosh of Beat 99.9 FM and had celebrities including Jeffrey Daniels (of Shalamar fame), Ruggedman, Modenine and Jafextra, in attendance.

Mr. Innocent Oboh, Head of Marketing, Intercontinental Distillers Limited, IDL, told reporters on the red carpet that IDL looks out for young Nigerians with talent to showcase and celebrate. “We are the best blend and Vector is the best in the music industry”, he claimed. Likewise, Mrs. Chioma Alonge, brand manager of Veleta Fruit Wine, said the brand supports music and musicians because it means dance.

uju music maestro, Prince Sunday Adegeye Adeniyi, aka King Sunny Ade, has made a vow that he would not quit music until he wins the prestigious Grammy Award; an accolade given by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States of America, USA. KSA gave this declaration in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Wednesday, during a roundtable discussion organised by the League of Veteran Journalists (Oyo State Chapter) at the Iyaganku Press Centre.

With a music career spanning over 50 years, the King of Juju music had twice been nominated for the Grammy in

the World Music category. Also, KSA is widely known on the international artistic scene; his music was featured in the 1983 film Breathless starring Richard Gere and the 1986 comedy One More Saturday Night. He had a film role in Robert Altman’s 1987 comedy O.C. and Stiggs.

Sunny Ade agreed with the submission of Professor Olawale Albert, the Director of Institute for African Studies, University of Ibadan, that if Nigerians wanted him to win the award, it would not be difficult.

“We expect every one of you to assist Nigerian musicians. I will continue to work hard. If I don’t get the award, I won’t leave music. That is why I am trying to train my children; if I don’t get it, my children will get it. Nigerian musicians would get it”, he emphasised.

KSA also disclosed that the scholarship award which he had been giving out since 1970s had produced no fewer than 60 graduates in Nigeria presently.

The Juju exponent used the forum to debunk the belief that a rivalry existed between him and his Juju music counterpart, Chief Ebenezer Obey.

“There was no rivalry of any sort between me and my good brother, Chief Ebenezer Obey; the rumour of rivalry that was being carried at that time only existed in public perception”.

Speaking on the proliferation of obscene and immoral music, KSA said it should be blamed on the public that promotes such music. He went on to commend the country’s media for the enviable heights he has attained in the music industry.

Davido, Jedi impress U.I students LINUS KINGDOM

S

tudents of the University of Ibadan (U.I) were thrilled with the initiative of First Bank Nigeria Plc which brought Afro-pop singer, Davido and comedian, Jedi to spice up the “Against all Odds” youth talk delivered by motivational speaker, Willie Jolley on Thursday, February 28.

The event, which was staged at the institution’s International Conference Centre, was a follow-up of a similar one held at the University of Lagos on Tuesday, February 26.

Davido

Majority of the music-loving U.I undergraduates who trooped to the venue in anticipation of Davido’s performance were not disappointed as consistent audience chants eroded the venue when he was performing. Others were seen recording his artistic presentation on their mobile phones. Jedi was also not found wanting as he complemented the euphoric atmosphere with rib-cracking jokes.

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Escape

Friday, March 8, 2013

General Hassan Usman Park, Kaduna

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Fura de nono, a local drink made from guinea corn, on sale on a street in Kaduna main market

Kaduna: A breakfast to remember PELU AWOFESO

A

bdullahi makes great Shayi in Southern Kaduna. His shed is as pedestrian as nearly all such ‘eateries’ come, but Abdullahi makes every effort to keep his little corner of Maiduguri Street tidy.

And what is more, the six-footer goes about his business serving customers with a pleasant banter and a warm smile.

Having spent the past few days in the city, I decided to go have a sip of Abdullahi’s brew and reflect on my encounters. It is just gone past seven in the morning and at that time of the day, it happens that I am the only customer seated on the bench; the red-painted kiosk a few feet away, manned by another Mallam, is also opening for the day.

While seated there, munching on bread and plain fried egg, the conversations that go on in my mind were those I had at the breakfast table the previous day with Laura and Veronica. Laura, a teacher, is Welsh and has been in Nigeria only a short while, Kaduna being her first exposure to the country. She has several more months to go on her teaching contract. “I am amazed how quickly I have settled down in this place”, she said a moment after she joins Veronica and I in the dining area of a guest house, as the fruit juice is being served.

If Laura had experienced any serious culture shock on her arrival, which is very likely, she made no mention of it. But her earlier days were rather inconvenient –she literally had to endure Kaduna’s heated air.

“I was always sweating a lot”, she recalls, sipping from her glass of orange juice. “But now, I am pretty much adjusted to the weather”.

Much of that adjustment is evident in her clothing: a simple sky blue singlet over a light, matching cotton skirt. And much to her satisfaction, she is so well attuned to the environment that she can now tell what the weather is going to be like –hot or cool– the next day, simply “from the air I feel coming into the room the evening before”.

Just recently, Laura has had to bother about getting water supplied to her apartment, occasionally having to use her own money to sort out some utility challenges and living through intermittent blackouts, but these don’t seem to be much of a trouble to her. If anything, she feels just at home with it, even when she has never had to worry about those basics back home.

The coffee-and-tea ensemble arrives and the conversation is interrupted for a moment. It is my opportunity to look around the dining room: Two neatly laid tables

IF I HAVE MET ANY EXPATRIATE WHO LOVES NIGERIA AND WISHES FOR THE DOMESTIC TOURISM SECTOR TO MEASURE

UP TO UNIVERSAL STANDARDS, IT MUST BE

FACT FILE •

Kaduna State is the successor to the old Northern Region of Nigeria, which had its capital at Kaduna.

•

In 1967, this was split up into six states, one of which was the North-Central State, whose name was changed to Kaduna State in 1976.

•

Governed by Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, the ancient city of Zaria is a part of Kaduna.

•

Mai Shayi means ‘Tea Seller’, they occupy modest stalls and makeshift sheds at roadsides.

•

Combining light food cooking with tea making, Mai Shayis are heavily patronised by low income earners and others who have developed an appetite for their unique styles of preparing budget meals.

VERONICA

are all there are in the sparsely furnished room and from the open windows, covered by white see-through curtains; I can spot the guest house’s interlocked compound and front gates. Everything is just as cosy as can be and the terrazzo floor reminds me of the dining rooms of some of the guest houses in which I have eaten in Jos. Then with the passing of time, we started to feel the dining room get warmer. The generator is on but the air-conditioner is not. “You see, this is the one thing I keep telling you”, Veronica chips in, in-between bites of home-made toast bread, slices of onions and tomatoes. “If the light situation can be solved, then, everything else will fall in place”.

Veronica is Pilipino and she has lived in Nigeria for some 20 years, more of that time spent in Northern Nigeria. She speaks Hausa fluently and has a chieftaincy title from Imo State. If I have met any expatriate who loves Nigeria and wishes for the domestic tourism sector to measure up to universal standards, then it must

be Veronica. And she has played a major role in bringing Laura to Kaduna.

So far, Laura has been to see a Durbar ceremony which she thoroughly enjoyed; and she is thirsty for more of the Nigerian experience. “I would like to visit different parts of the country and get to see what is unique to each place”, she said. “It would be great to be able to do that”. And she has registered at the famed Zaki Club, a multi-purpose recreation spot owned by

Travel News

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spAfrika, organiser of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF) on Thursday announced the addition of three new acts for the 14th chapter of the international music event, now billed as Africa’s biggest and best.

In addition to the more than 37 artists already announced for the 14th CTIJF, an excited Festival Director and espAfrika CEO, Rashid Lombard, said that the Dainius Pulauskas Group, Portico Quartet and Cape Town band PHFAT will also take to the stage at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) on the weekend of Friday,

3 more acts announced for 2013 April 5 and Saturday, April 6.

This announcement completes the full line-up for this year’s festival, which will see some 41 artists from countries across the world as well as from within South Africa descend on Cape Town for the 2013 event.

The Dainius Pulauskas Group is one of the most influential and active Lithuanian jazz outfits and considered to be the ambassadors of Lithuanian jazz. Jazz critic Jan Patterson described the group as a

“unique sextet whose mixture of melody and muscle, lyricism and the unexpected, places it firmly at the forefront of progressive European jazz-fusion”. It is supported by the Embassy of Lithuania to the Republic of South Africa.

London Portico Quartet is acclaimed for its distinctive sound created by their use of the 21st century percussion instrument called the hang. Due to release a new album this month, Portico Quartet set to perform one the

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Escape

Friday, March 8, 2013

Good Taste

Real moments at Reeds

a dining dini ning ing experience exp xper eriie er ienc ience nce e

From the palatable menus, the amazing glamour to the thrilling views across the street, Reeds Restaurant situated on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi-Lagos, gives an intimate and lasting experience beyond just dining, says ADEOLA OJEDOKUN.

Abdullahi the Mai Shayi

Bar seats at Zaki Club

the Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) and thronged by the expatriate community in Kaduna since the 1970s.

“I have five weeks to get a tan”, she said excitedly as the conversation winds up. Before we rise up and leave, I asked Laura what she felt when she made up her mind to come to Nigeria. “Well, people were like ‘Nigeria! are you mad?

Don’t worry, we give you a month or two, you will run back’. That was disturbing, to tell the truth”.

What does she feel now that she has had a feel of the country? Would she ever

CT jazz fest Moses Molelekwa stage, is known for taking their audiences on an electroacoustic-ambient music journey like never before. Their music is described as strange, beautiful, cinematic and futuristic, and South Africans will experience it thanks to the support of the British Council.

Rapidly growing in popularity is PHFAT, a three-piece band from Cape Town that produces a unique blend of psychedelic, bass and rap music will perform on the Bassline stage. PHFAT cut their teeth at local gigs such as

consider staying beyond the two years on her contract? She didn’t have to mull over the question. “I don’t know what will happen after the contract expires”, she said, cuddling her cup of tea with both hands, “but I can tell you that whatever happens, I will always want to come back to the country, even if they will be short visits. Nigeria is not a place, I am sure, I would leave forever”, And off she goes to lounge by the Zaki Club swimming pool.

Pelu Awofeso is a travel journalist and travel-book author based in Lagos.

Splashy Fen and Oppikoppi, releasing their first album in 2011. Nominated for Best Dance Video at this year’s MK Awards, PHFAT were awarded a MK MVP for their hit single City Of Thieves which is currently number one on MK Top 10 and enjoying extensive coverage South African radio stations.

PHFAT’s next album is due for release later this year.

Lombard went on to announce an exciting addition to this year’s music celebration in the form of top DJs who will work their recorded music mixing and blending skills on two stages at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) during the festival.

I

t all started with a special invitation from fashion designer –Kiki Kamanu to dine as well shop her Spring/Summer Collection last Christmas season– it promised to be one of those sweet memorable experiences, so I took a friend along. Cleanliness is a big one at Reeds, the environs is simply charming, a good dash of colours and designs stay clean and beautiful on the walls. The convenience is fresh and the atmosphere is cool; for that I felt relieved. At least it is said that a good atmosphere encourages a good dine.

This was a wonderfully relaxing experience in fine dining. We were at the restaurant for more than four hours.

Most part of these long hours spent eating and drinking by the glass wall close to the bar directly overlooking the ever-busy Awolowo Road. From the buzz and the laughter around us, you could tell that we were not the only ones who were having a good time.

Reeds offers a relaxed dining environment for both lunch and dinner providing a mouth-watering Thai Fusion menu, ranging from the Tom Kha Gai, Som Tom Toa Huu and Yum Ruam Mirt all comprising interesting ingredients; prawns, calamari, Papaya, tofu, peanuts, carrots, etc which basically means they fuse the best of Thai food with more contemporary gastronomy. Multiple small courses are presented beautifully and served at a nice slow pace in an ambience suited to unwind with friends, enjoy a romantic night out, impress business associates or host a private function.

The restaurant also serves grilled Beef Skewers, Satay Gai, Tord Man

Meal serving at Reeds

33

FROM THE BUZZ AND THE LAUGHTER AROUND US...

WE WERE NOT THE ONLY ONES HAVING A GOOD TIME Pla all a blend of chicken, peanut, beef, lemongrass, noodles, vegetables, etc Main courses at Reeds are pretty salivating, from the Gang Kheaw Wan (very spicy green curry made with creamy coconut milk), Panang Goong (spicy red curry coupled with basil, coriander, coconut and red chilli), Geang Gawi (Yellow curry carefully spiced and cooked with coconut milk, pineapples, tomatoes and potatoes), Pla Swaan (crispy whole fish dressed in a garlic and chilli marinade), etc.

The menu also has a wide and exquisite range of desserts that are mouth watering: Deep Fried Ice Cream, Tiramisu Cake, Caramel and Cashew Nut Cheescake.

We found ourselves slowing down so that we were able to carefully savour each bite while also enjoying beautiful views from the windows. Soft lighting, fresh flowers, progressive artworks, decadent desserts, an extensive wine list and impeccable service were the order of every day. With free Wi-Fi throughout the venue, we found it ideal to work on those pressing emails over dinner.

The bar and lounge area, complete with purple leather bar stools, fancy purse hooks, comfortable couches, cheeky poofs, voile encased private booths and a hot playlist of house, lounge and world music, is widely regarded as the place to be and to be seen.

On offer is a fusion bar snack menu of delicious appetisers that are perfect for sharing, great as a light lunch or to whet your appetite before dinner.

The prices for our meal was extremely reasonable considering the quality of the food, service, atmosphere and the experience, it was definitely a fun-filled time at Reeds.

Adeola Ojedokun is a Lagos-based writer, PR consultant and food connoisseur.

34

Denrele’s Day Adenrele Niyi Denrele’s Day is a collection of witty & sincere articles inspired by a zany imagination

Friday, March 8, 2013

My 2nd waka-pass

CLAPPERBOARD with

denrele@nationalmirroronline.net Follow on Twitter@MizNiyi

so for award nominations and recast Denrele’s Day, I made a ognitions that have come from the promise to share with you industry).

But, I also see the wisdom and the outcome of last Friday’s hangout with the anonymous su- economic sense in using popular perstar I had a ‘run-in’ of an embar- faces and close friends to feature rassing nature with. The brouhaha in music videos. As a matter of FYI our first encounter generated and (for your information), Nollywood his unfriendliness left a sour taste film makers, particularly of the in my mouth, one which he was ea- Yoruba genre, have been accused ger to remove by this appeasement of utilising a barter arrangement to secure the services of actors for of inviting me out to dinner.

However, in spite of his best their productions –appear in my intentions, we couldn’t meet as film for free and I will reciprocate planned. He received an urgent the gesture when next you have a call from out of the country and it personal project.

No one is exactly certain where required the international artiste travelling to attend to some busi- it started or with which artiste it ness concern (at least that was the did. Somewhere in the process of information I got). It is a bit of a reinventing itself, the Nigerian disappointment considering I an- music video industry too happened ticipated gleaning plenty of infor- on the smart idea; get friends, conmation from him that I could put to temporaries, well wishers to feause in our paper and also relate the ture for free in your music video, eliminating huge ones he permits models’ appearme to for this F WERE WORKING ance fees. column.

So, for my milThe good news PROFESSIONALLY AS lisecond-head-nodis that we struck A VIDEO MODEL D ding appearance an agreement to on Djinee’s blazing pick up the hangPROBABLY BE OUT hot Overkillin’ vidout plan where we left off when OF BUSINESS BY NOW eo, I wasn’t paid.

While I’ve always he returns to the been a huge fan of BECAUSE MY ONLY country. Another Djinee’s refreshexciting detail is that he offered FEATURE WAS THREE ing originality as a musician, I would me a cameo apYEARS AGO have politely depearance in his clined if I were next music video! Of course, appearing as my fa- asked to appear scandalously-clad and rump-shaking. No disrespect mous self...LOL! For those who are new to ‘Den- to professionals who get paid to do rele’s Day and are unaware of my that; after all, it is widely believed previous ‘video vixen’ role, this fea- that sexually titillating symbolism ture, if it ever comes to fruition (roll- can sell practically anything.

I didn’t particularly mind being ing my eyes now), would be my second appearance in a video by a music seen on the video of a song with a artiste. If I were working profession- strong positive message (which was ally as a video model, I’d probably be explicitly reviewed at an earlier out of business by now because my date). Nonetheless, I was snagged last and only feature was three years between being a video hottie – withago. The cheery news is that my work out coming across as sleazy – while in the media has naturally brought also keeping a tough mien in line with the videos theme. A very comme into proximity with scores of gifted and inspiring Nigerians. Like plicated mix and the end result?.. in my off-the-job people encounters, comme ci, comme ça! (so-so).

The same snag I am in presently. some of these relationships I nurture, others I discard and some I al- The international artiste who is offering me a slot in this new video is low the tide carry us.

One of the afore-mentioned better known for sometimes raunsustained relationship is with chy lyrics and provocative video vixens. In any case, I’ll leave my Afro-soul/pop singer Djinee of the “Ego” and Overkillin’ fame worries till we get to shoot and the (Djinee also sang the hook on M.I’s director specifies precisely what he massively successful single Safe). expects from me. If the role I have While preparing to shoot the video to play challenges my moral belief for Overkillin’, the video’s director, or personal ethics, I may then poaward-winning Mex of Pixel Chaos litely decline this 2nd opportunity (PXC) (who also shot the video for to waka-pass in a music video.

And the identity of the mysSafe and Ice Prince’s Oleku) requested that I come in to the stu- tery international artiste...? Tale dio for a cameo appearance –no for another day or perhaps when lobbying, no godfatherism tactics, the video is eventually released it no bribing. I suppose it was on the would become public knowledge merit of my work in the media for who I’ve been going on about!

Love and peace for the weekend. which I am grateful (and even more

L

I I

, I’

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Eddie Ugbomah www.edifosafilm.com

The living must learn to live

T

hree weeks ago, a close brother of mine died. People and even his family don’t know that Justus and I had two major plans in our kitty. First, we were planning a film on how some Nigerians are doing their best to frustrate President Goodluck Jonathan. This film was to show that if you don’t close your gate, enemies will come in. The second thing was the promise he made to me that he will escort me to meet Dr. Uduagha, the governor of our Delta State.

For the past two years, I tried to get the governor to listen to my appeals. I tried through a colleague, Richard Mofe Damijo, RMD, also a state commissioner and he was afraid to introduce me to the Governor. I wanted the Governors support for my 72nd birthday, my autobiography and my 50th anniversary in Entertainment. I am very sad that the two projects did not happen in his lifetime. I swear and pray that I will make the Film and I will launch my book with or without Delta State Government.

I became the Chairman of Nigerian Film Corporation, NFC, the Consultant of the Censors Board, Chairman BOT of Producers’’ and Directors’ Guild, made 13 celluloid films, got Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), all on merit so the show must go on. It could have been sweeter if we had jointly finished the film “The Hijack”. Many Nollywood stars made so much money from the Presidential election, so when they heard about my film, they volunteered to act in it. These boys failed to turn up for the shooting; instead they went around gossiping and abusing me. Justus came in with some senior actors to finish the film. Justus did not demand for a penny instead he was contributing financially and personally.

I intend to finish my autobiography, raise cash to shoot the film and celebrate my 50 years in the entertainment plus my 73rd birthday by the grace of God this December. I will shame those Nollywood leeches who I pity because they are not growing but running others down. The job of a father is to pray, advice and support his children. No sane man will support or listen to these tribalistic, power drunk people rampant in the entire Industry. Look at Nollywood, Yoruwood and Kannywood; they are all man-made ‘deadwoods’. This is a massive industry that can create jobs, propagate and give this nation a better name. The problem is that most of those struggling to lead are sons of paupers, half baked, semi-illiterates from wrecked homes. They are smallminded, selfish, non professionals who are just thinking of how to get a share of the national cake they did not bake. I am only looking forward to a better industry.

I want to ask this question; how far has

NIGERIA WOULD MAKE A GREATER NAME AND MORE FRIENDS IF

NOLLYWOOD SHOULD WAKE UP AND BE RESPECTED

NEXIM and Bank of industry gone with the entertainment intervention loan?

Why can’t these civil servants bend a bit?

I am not asking them to break the law, but bend a little to accommodate those that have shot good films. Ijeh and Figurine were box office hits, so, the producers deserve a chance to get this loan. Some people got the loan to build cinema houses... what films are they showing..? Foreign films of course! I wish the states and federal government know how fast a good film can recoup investment.

There are now over 16 good cinema halls in Nigeria mainly in the southern states. A good film can hit the country and the world. When Nigeria won the African Cup of Nations, we made a lot of friends from all over the world. Nigeria would make a greater name and more friends if Nollywood should wake up and be respected. I have now created three Halls of Fame for actors, musicians and broadcasters. These are Nigerians that have served the nation and must not be forgotten.

The two main topics of this essay are on my friend Justus Esiri who has gone but not forgotten and to remind the Presidency and our Minister, Mallam Maku, that there is no vacancy at the Censors Board. Patricia Bala should be allowed to clean up the mess. I am not writing for any job, I am writing this for sanity and growth of the movie industry. God has given me everything but I can’t ignore my industry which I have served for 50 years.

I pray that we will learn to respect appreciate and celebrate the living.

For the past six years both the Censors Board and the NFC have practically done nothing. NFC people just sign MOU daily and the Censors Board always introduces unworkable projects –giving marketers opportunity to make noise. There are competent people who can run these places but Censors Board must not be allowed to continue. NFC did not meet any of her responsibility other than wasting N10m yearly going on jamboree to Cannes Film Festival and other festivals. A new productive Managing Director with the reputation and will to salvage the film industry is needed. The N1.6bn sunk into the NFC should be used to improve the industry so we can all smile.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

People In The Mirror

Friday, March 8, 2013

35

Array of stars at premiere of My Life, My Damage The premiere of My Life My Damage, a film produced by Uche Jombo-Rodriguez, held recently at the E-Centre Ozone Cinemas, Lagos. It was a gathering of Nollywood stars at the movie that gave Nollywood’s rising actor, Tonto Dike her first shot at a big screen production. The producer was accompanied by her husband, Kenny Rodriguez, who was in Nigeria for the high octane event.

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Uche with her husband, Kenny

L-R Ayo ‘AY’ Makun, Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez and Chidi Mokeme

Rita Dominic

AGN president, Ibinabo Fiberesima

Stephanie Okereke-Idahosa

Tonto Dike

Film producer, Emem Isong

Desmond Elliot

L-R Dakore Egbuson-Akande and Monalisa Chinda

One Management opens high-tech office/facility Last Saturday, One Management, a leading entertainment outfit run by Emem Ema of defunct music group, KUSH, opened ‘The Cave’, its new office facility and audio and video recording facility in Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi-Lagos. The roll call of guests included the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Professor Duro Oni; CEO, Consolidated Media Associates (Sound City), Tajudeen Adepetun; Ex DG Film and Video Censors Board, Emeka Mba; film and stage veterans, Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva, amongst others.

Prof. Duro Oni, left, cutting the ribbon to declare the facility open, assisted by Tajudeen Adepetun (R), while others look on.

Emem Ema welcoming Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva to the facility launch

Photographer and former Kush member, TY Bello being entertained by the Bata Drummers at the launch

L-R: Eme Ema, Lekan Abdul, CEO, Clean Serve Energy and Raufu Ladipo, President-General of the Nigerian Football Supporters’ Club.

Inspiro NAIJAZZ all-stars band performing at the launch.

Friday, March 8, 2013

36

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Mirror Drive STORIES: OLUSEGUN KOIKI

T

he 83rd edition of Geneva Auto Show commenced yesterday in Swiss with auto companies trying to outwit one and others with the showcasing of their latest brands to thousands of auto stakeholders and professionals in attendance.

The show, which is held annually in the month of March, is a 10-day fair where different vehicle manufacturer, dealers and shoppers attend to catch a glimpse of the latest brands in the auto industry. The 2013 edition commences March 7 and ends March 17. It will be hosted at the Geneva Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport.

Since the auto show’s commencement, exotic supercars often steal the spotlight during their debuts. Prototypes, new equipment, technical breakthroughs, international partnerships, as well as political and social debates, have been announced at the exhibition.

Show organisers claim that among the 900 vehicles on display, more than 100 are new models. Last year the show attracted 702,014 visitors, down 33,000 on 2011. The record attendance was 747,700 in 2005.

Geneva Auto Show is regarded as a level playing field for the world’s automakers, aided by the fact that Switzerland lacks an auto industry of its own.

“Switzerland is one of the few countries without a national motor industry,” said exhibition manager Tanja Walther.

“For this reason, the Geneva Motor Show has more of an international character than the four large shows of the manufacturing countries (Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Detroit) which attempt above all to display their national products to the best possible advantage

Maserati GranTurismo MC-Stradale

High-tech, eco-friendly cars on parade Some of the vehicles that will catch the glimpse in this year’s edition are as follows: Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale A four-seat version of the Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale was yesterday unveiled at the Geneva motor show. It follows the original MC Stradale, shorn of the standard GranTurismo’s rear seats, which arrived in 2011.

The range flagship, the MC Stradale carries an array of

modifications over the standard GranTurismo. The exterior features a carbonfibre bonnet with central air scoop, forged 20-inch alloy wheels and a new rear bumper arrangement. Maserati claims the interior includes “new materials and style”.

As with the two-seat version, the new GranTurismo MC Stradale is powered by a 4.7litre V8 producing 453bhp, which now also features in the GranTurismo Sport. It is paired with an MC Race Shift six-speed automated

manual transmission.

The GranTurismo MC Stradale’s claimed top speed is 188mph, with 0-60mph expected to take around five seconds. Improvements in efficiency have also been announced, although no figures have been released.

Stopping power is provided by Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes.

There is no word yet on pricing for the four-seat MC Stradale, although expect a figure in the region of the two-seater’s £110,000 (British pounds). The

Geneva motor show also marks the European debut of Maserati’s Quattroporte saloon.

McLaren P1 McLaren’s mighty P1 hybrid flagship, poised for its global debut this week, looks like becoming the first hypercar ever to deliver properly on the elusive ‘F1-for-the-road’ promise that manufacturers have been making for their fastest road cars for more than a quarter century.

It has the huge V8-plus-electric power (903bhp) and ultra-high

Toyota opens new facility, rewards clients

O

ne of the leading automobile companies in the country, Toyota Nigeria Ltd. (TNL) said it has opened the first world class body and painting centre in Oregun, Lagos to further satisfy the yearnings of its clients nationwide.

This is as the company last week rewarded its outstanding customers with various prizes in Lagos.

The Chairman, TNL, Chief Michael Ade-Ojo disclosed at the ninth annual edition of

the auto company’s awards that the opening of the centre was part of efforts of the management to fulfil its responsibility of satisfying customers.

Chief Ade-Ojo further described the facility as “truly the first world class body and pant training centre in the country”..

He said, “This ultra-modern facility is a place where our dealer technical staff will be receiving training on body and paints. This is in addition to the various other trainings

they have been receiving at our Lekki head office – free of charge.

“Needless to say that this will enhance the delivery of superior quality service to our numerous customers and ultimately break new grounds in the realm of customer satisfaction”.

Also, the auto company rewarded its clients in the different categories who had stayed behind it in the last one year.

Among the awards were dealer, customer and journalists of

the year.

The recognition award went to Kojo Motors Ltd. with spare parts worth N1m while Metropolitan Motors Ltd. emerged second runner-up with the key to a new brand Toyota Avanza.

The first runner-up award went to RT-Briscoe Nigeria PLC with the new Generation Toyota Corolla and Elizade Nigeria Ltd. came out first as the dealer of the year with the award of the new Toyota RAV4.

Ade-Ojo however noted

that the past year started on a shaky note with the fuel subsidy crisis, which was immediately followed by flood disasters in many parts of the world including Nigeria, stressing that all this made the auto business in the country challenging for most parts of 2012.

But declared that despite the obvious challenges, TNL was still able to finish the year on a sound footing and attributed this to the immense goodwill of its customers and dedication of its dealers nationwide.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Mirror Drive

Friday, March 8, 2013

GENEVA MOTOR SHOW HAS MORE OF AN INTERNATIONAL CHARACTER THAN THE FOUR LARGE SHOWS OF THE MANUFACTURING COUNTRIES

PARIS,

FRANKFURT, TOKYO, DETROIT

price pr p ric ice (£866,000) ice ( 86 (£ 66, 6,00 000) 00) 0 that one would expect expe pectt of of the th he spiritual sp pir i ittua uall successor successo or to tthe to he iillustrious he llllus ustr trio ous u McLaren McL cLar aren en F1 F1 of of 1993, but 19 99933, b bu ut what wh w h hat att really rea ealll lly sets lly sse ettss the the h P1 P1 apart a ap pa arrt is is its ittss ground-breaking grro ou un nd d--b brrea eaki k ng g acac-

37

Kia Cee’d GT, Procee’d GT

T

h P he Procee’d ’d and d C Cee’d ’d GT (the hot hatch treatment will be applied to the three and five-door cars) are both expected to be unveiled at the Geneva show, which began yesterday. Both cars are fitted with a new 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine fitted with a twin-scroll turbocharger and uprated internal components.

In addition to the 201bhp, the engine has 195lb ft of torque, meaning it has no direct rivals - the next Golf GTI has 217bhp, while the likes of the Astra

Renaultsport VXR and d R lt t Mégane Mé have 276 and 261bhp. The GT’s 0-62mph time of 7.7sec is also slower than the more powerful hatches, and more on a par with Vauxhall’s 177bhp Astra GTC SRi. Top speed is rated at 143mph.

The transmission is a six-speed manual, driving the front wheels (which are 18-inch as standard).

Expect a retuned suspension to cut roll and improve handling over the standard Cee’d, with a lower ride height.

A deeper front bumper with enlarged air intakes, LED run-

ning lights i li ht and d red trim help set the GT apart from the standard Cee’d. At the rear the car gets twin tailpipes and a deeply sculpted, diffuser-style lower bumper. Inside, there are Recaro seats with red stitching, red GT badging and alloy pedals.

The first 500 Procee’d GTs will be available as a 1st Edition model, with only “a handful” coming to the UK. Procee’d GT 1st Edition models feature a number of extras, such as gloss black wheels and door mirror cappings and bespoke badging.

Toyota i-Road

T

oyota unveiled a new three-wheeled electric vehicle yesterday at the commencement of the Geneva auto show. The Toyota i-Road is just 850mm wide and is designed for easy manoeuvrability on city streets.

The three-wheel i-Road seats two people in tandem under a weatherproof cover and body. It can be driven without a crash helmet and Toyota says the cabin has a ‘car-like environment’.

The i-Road is 2350mm long, 1445mm high and has a 1700mm wheelbase. The narrow width means that up to four i-Roads could be parked in a single car parking bay.

Land Rover

tive aerodynamics package.

While delivering a svelte drag factor of 0.34 in ‘clean’ form, the P1 can automatically deploy a rear-mounted wing and two flaps ahead of the front wheels, in appropriate driving modes, to deliver such unprecedented levels of downforce for a road car that driving “actually gets easier as the car goes faster”.

Even well short of its 218mph top speed, the P1 can generate 600kg of downforce, an amount equal to many Le Mans racers

and about five times greater that of the recently launched McLaren MP4-12C. Its advantage over non-McLaren rivals is even greater.

“The P1 is designed to be driven to a racing circuit with great levels of comfort and refinement,” said McLaren Automotive Managing Director Antony Sheriff, “and then to be used on the racing circuit where it will offer an experience matched only by purposebuilt racing cars”.

The zeroemissions, allelectric powertrain uses a lithium-ion battery to power two 2kW motors mounted in the front wheels.

The driving range is around 30 miles, after which the battery can be fully recharged from Toyota I Road a conventional domestic power supply in three hours.

The i-Road uses a lean actuator and gearing mounted above the

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible

2014 ChevroletCorvette Stingray vonvertible

C

hevrolet launched a convertible variant of its new Corvette Stingray at the Geneva motor show.

As yet, Chevrolet has released no further details on the seventh-

generation Corvette convertible other than two official images. The convertible will follow its Corvette C6 predecessor in having a fabric roof rather than a folding metal one.

Spyker B6 Venator

2013 Toyota-Fortuner

Spyker B6 Venator

front suspension member, linked via a yoke to the left and right front tyres, to balance the vehicle during cornering.

The Corvette was designed as an open car from the outset, so should require little modification to create a convertible. With the roof not integral to the Corvette’s structure, there should be little dynamic sacrifice as a result of losing it.

Expect an identical mechanical specification to the coupé.

This means it will be powered by a 6.2-litre V8 with 450bhp and 450lb ft, mated to either a seven-speed manual or six-speed automatic.

Following its debut at Geneva, the Corvette Stingray convertible should go on sale next year. As there will be no official UK imports of the coupé, it is unlikely the convertible will be sold over here, either.

T

he first details of the Spyker B6 Venator (means hunter in Latin) have been revealed. The 375bhp V6-powered sports car was unveiled at the Geneva motor show and is being touted as a Porsche 911 rival.

The car was revealed as part of an interview with Spyker’s CEO Victor Muller in the Wall Street Journal.

He indicated the car sits on an aluminium chassis, has a carbon-fibre body and will weigh 1397kg. Muller said it would cost between £105,000 and £130,000.

38

x

Cocktail

Friday, March 8, 2013

FOR YOUR SUCCESS

WITH DR. DEJI FOLUTILE

Today's Tonic (107) “When one door of happiness closes, another opens but often we look so long at the closed door that we don’t see the one that has been opened for us.”

–Helen Keller There Is Always A Way Out! Worries and anxieties have the power to blind us to the opportunities that abounds around us. Once I was looking for 700,000 naira to do a particular business and was almost at the verge of taking loans when my eyes were opened to a long time investment that I once did which miraculously turned to millions of naira. As a matter of fact the document was under my reading table all the time and I didn’t know!

Let’s keep our eyes open. When one door closes millions are wide open somewhere. I believe this implicitly!

Someone says many look but only few see!

TEL 08104942999 E-MAIL deji.folutile@gmail.com Follow me @TwitterOWOTIDE

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Oddities

People, dogs team up to fight excess weight at gym

A

Chicago-area gym suggests working out with your

pooch.

K9 Fit Club offers bow wow boot camps and other classes for people and their puppies to exercise together in Chicago and nearby Hinsdale, Ill. The fitness center opened last year after founder Tricia Montgomery exercised with her dog and lost 130

pounds.

Montgomery says her late basset hound, named Louie, lost 22 percent of his body weight.

Fans of the gym say

classes are beneficial to both man and man’s best friend.

Montgomery says dogs struggle with the same weight issues that people

face, including heart problems and diabetes.

People who work out at K9 Fit Club say exercising with their dogs keeps them motivated.

Ex-con accused E d off sneaking ki b back into jails

M

ost people who’ve done time in jail can’t wait to get away. But this week, New York City authorities accused one former inmate of sneaking back in.

Yonkers resident Matthew Matagrano, 36, was arraigned in Manhattan on Saturday on charges that he impersonated a Department of Correction investigator.

Officials say that for at

least a week, Matagrano used phony credentials to get into multiple city lockups, including Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center, where he mingled with inmates for hours.

Investigators said the case was still unfolding, but some of the allegations were detailed in a criminal complaint describing Matagrano’s entry into the Manhattan jail yesterday.

It said that when ques-

tioned, Matagrano had admitted to arriving at the jail at around 3:30 p.m. and gaining entry by showing a gold shield and saying he was an investigator from the department’s intelligence unit.

According to the complaint, he stayed until 11 p.m., giving cigarettes to inmates and smoking with them in a common area. He is also charged with stealing a radio from an office while inside.

Cindy Rodkin, a member of the K9 Fit Club, working out with her dog, Khaki, during a class held in Chicago.

PHOTO: AP

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

39

Business & Finance By the end of second quarter of 2013, we expect the actual nationwide enrolment exercise will be launched by the Presidency. From the time it is launched, it is our target to have hit 100 million enrolments in 30 months Director General, NIMC, Chris Onyemenam

I am an incurable optimist on Nigeria. I believe the future is so bright you may need to wear a shade. But then, it’s all about choices we make as a nation in respect of leadership options and development strategies. If we make the right choices, the future is unbelievably great Former Minister of Finance, Remi Babalola

Shippers’ Council blames exporters’ losses on poor due diligence FRANCIS EZEM

C

argo Defence Fund, an initiative of the Nigeria Shippers Council has blamed the loss of huge sums of money by Nigerian exporters to international fraudsters on their failure to conduct proper due diligence on their would-be foreign partners before commencing business transactions.

Records show that as at December 2011, a total of 27 cases of non-payment from various buyers of charcoal alone from Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany and others were pending at the Council.

As at February 2013, these figures have gone up to 41 despite an alert ran by the fund last year warning charcoal exporters to Europe to stop exporting to those fraudulent buyers..

Other statistics also shows that a total of

447,576, 000 euros and N3.4 million totaling over N100m has been lost by the various Nigerian charcoal exporters to these fraudulent European buyers.

Secretary of the fund, Ms Azuka Ogo, who spoke at a recent enlightenment programme organised for the exporters

by CDF and Maritime Arbitrators Association

of Nigeria (MAAN), said that most exporters fail in their business from the point of signing the agreement with their foreign partners.

According to her, most exporters and importers do not bother to do detailed investigation on the partners they wish to go into business with, a development that makes do business with unsta-

ble and dubious business partners.

“I was disturbed that most of our exporters and importers sign export or import contracts that leave them totally exposed to problems when it happens. They sign agreement with Chinese without having a Chinese version on same contract”, she said.

She also said: “This is crucial as the partner at no time could claim ignorant of the content of the contract as has always been the case with many exporters. This is the reason why we teamed with Maritime Arbitrators to see what we could do to empower exporters with standard contract document that could remove their exposures,”

T

he International Air Transport Association (IATA), has said that global air travel demand statistics for January, 2013 increased by 3.7 per cent when compared to

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Global passenger travel increases by 3.7% in January – IATA OLUSEGUN KOIKI

Arik Air

same period in 2012, which was 2.7 per cent growth.

The increase in passenger growth also led to swell in the load factor for the period at 77.6 per cent from 77.1 pr cent in the previous year according to IATA. The Director-General, IATA, Mr. Tony Tyler noted that passenger travel is growing in line with business confidence levels, stressing hat recent

months have seen some positive economic signs emerge in both the United States and China while the Eurozone crisis seems to have stabilised.

He added, “Of course, risks remain; the impact of US budget cuts has yet to play out and fuel prices are high. But even with those headwinds—real and potential—we still see underlying support

NEXIM Bank, The Crown Agents collaborate on technical capacity building

40

for continued and potentially even strengthened growth.”

IATA noted that the Asia-Pacific airlines captured over half of the growth in demand between October and January.

It added that Middle East airlines posted the strongest growth rates for January with a 14.3 per cent increase in demand,

which it said was nearly evenly matched by a 14.4 per cent growth in capacity and load factors for the region were above the global average at 78.6 per cent.

IATA said the region’s carriers have successfully tapped into demand from emerging markets with the strength of their network structures and efficient hubs.

48-hour cargo delivery in Nigeria is as elusive as ever

42

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Business News

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

NEXIM Bank, The Crown Agents collaborate on technical capacity building TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

T

he Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM) has opened discussions with The Crown Agents to explore how the two organisations could collaborate in strengthening human and technical capacities of the bank.

The Crown Agents, an international development agency, specialises in working with public, private sector and nonprofit entities’ leaders across the world to make profound changes to systems, organisations and society To achieve the agenda, the Managing Director of the bank, Mr Roberts Orya met with the management The Crown Agents led by the Chief Executive, Mr Terence Jagger, in Abuja. He lauded the expertise of the Crown Agents in the level of expertise and commitment they have deployed in improving good governance and capacity for several public finance institutions, commercial and investment banks, supply chains,

L-R: Chairman of Vigeo Power, Mr. Gbolade Osibodu; one time aide of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Akin Osuntokun and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, during a business dinner organised for the governor by Igbimo Ure Ekiti in Lagos recently.

among others which has led to palpable increase in prosperity, and poverty reduction in various communities and economies.

A statement issued by the bank’s Head of Corporate Communication, Mr Chinedu Mogh-

alu, quoted Orya while as saying that the capacity-building initiative would further help in enhancing the quality of the bank’s manpower resource and indicated a willingness to work with the organisation in the areas of capacity building

Zinox, Intel partner to enhance Nigerian technology KUNLE A ZEEZ

Z

inox Computers, Nigeria’s indigenous computer manufacturer, has strengthened collaboration with Intel Corporation, the world’s computer chips and hardware manufacturer towards the development of locallydeveloped Information technology tools in Nigeria.

The thrust of the partnership is to continually seek to address the needs of consumers in different strata ranging from individuals in the education sector and ancillary sectors that bear requirements for advanced technology.

The two companies said the

long technical relationship between Zinox and Intel is sustained through the shared core values of innovation, trust, and grass roots relevance.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to the headquarters in Lagos, the Global Vice President, Intel Corporation, Mr. Greg Pearson, said Intel was pleased to partner with the company.

He said Zinox was recognised

by Intel as a regional leader with the capacities and high ethical value required to deliver on its promise to use technology to drive development both within and outside Nigerian.

Expressing enthusiasm for the Nigerian hardware industry,

Pearson said that as a long standing member of the Intel Diamond Club, Zinox would continue to enjoy information and technical exchanges to make the company more relevant to the economy.

Reacting, the Chairman of Zinox, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, said the partnership with Intel was an endorsement of the world-class standards in production and corporate governance that have been put in place by the company.

He said that Zinox shared the Intel passion for adequately empowering the education sector. He informed that Zinox has been responsible for the computerisation of over 65 per cent of the tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Nigerian developers create 250 apps on Blackberry 10 platform KUNLE A ZEEZ

M

ore than 250 locallyrelevant applications have been created by Nigerian software developers on the newly launched BlackBerry 10 platform.

The Managing Director, West, East and Central Africa, Blackberry, Mr. Waldi Wepener, disclosed this during the official launch of the company’s nextgeneration mobile device platform to Nigerian customers.

Wepener said Blackberry has partnered with a number of Nigerian application developers to ensure a wide selection of top Nigerian brands and mobile

apps, which are now available on the all-new Blackberry Z10 smartphone, powered by Blackberry 10.

He said the Blackberry 10 platform is robust and reliable, with an intuitive, gesture-based interface that is designed to learn, support and adapt to the way that the user works, thus providing a truly-unique user experience.

He also said the recentlylaunched Blackberry Z10 utilises this platform to deliver a faster, smarter experience that enables the user to keep moving in an ever-changing environment. To support these adaptive features, Blackberry has partnered with Nigerian developers

to build a range of applications specifically for the Nigerian user.

“We are proud to see Nigeria’s innovative developer community get behind the Blackberry 10 platform, with more than 250 local apps now available and many more coming.

“Having locally-relevant and available content ensures delivery of a completely unique user experience while also enriching the Nigerian developer ecosystem on Blackberry 10 platform.

We are committed to continuing to work closely with the Nigerian developer community to further enhance the local content available across our products,” he said.

and strengthening for both the NEXIM Bank’s staff and its export-oriented clients.

The statement noted that NEXIM had in the past accessed the expertise of The Crown Agents for its staff capacity training needs, Orya noted that

the bank’s greatest asset is its human capacity and vouched that the quality of the NEXIM’s staff is not comparable to what is obtainable in any ministry, department or agency of government in Nigeria.

According to Orya, the bank is at the frontline of institutions that embrace robust enterprise-wide risk management framework, good corporate governance principles, smarter business processes, compliance with regulations and relevant government policies, adding that “without a sound and technically savvy workforce, there is no way the bank would have been able to remain on track towards becoming the lead export development bank in Africa”.

Jagger thanked Orya for welcoming the team and acknowledging the work of Crown Agents and assured that his organisation could provide the bank with assistance in improving physical infrastructure and building sound organisational, financial and legal structures.

DaarSat Pay TV services return, owners assure subscribers TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

D

aar Communications Plc, owners of DaarSat Pay TV services, has said the high-definition television services will hit the airwaves today (Friday) again after over two years of suspension with strong assurances to offer world-class services to its old and other potential Pay TV subscribers globally.

The newly repackaged services, according to the owners, would be richer in content quality and depth as well as more customer-friendly.

Briefing the media of the over two-years re-engineering initiatives undertaken by the owners to re-position company for innovative high-definition services delivery yesterday in Abuja, the Managing Director, Dr. Pedro Obaseki, disclosed that huge investments and other operational capacity building efforts had been put in place to ensure that the company would never go down again.

Obaseki, who recalled that the company was the first company to re-define broadcasting and electronic media broadcasting in the country, attributed the challenges that led to the suspension of the services for over three years largely to Federal Government’s cancellation of the under-17 FIFA World Cup after the

company had invested hugely in technology for its broadcast.

He however said the coming back of the DaarSat services was the result of efforts by the owners, particularly the Chairman, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, to demonstrate to Nigerians and other subscribers that their expectations for quality services would be met, after the crisis.

Obaseki said: “Today, we are here to talk about the re-launching of DaarSat. DaarSat started precisely on October 8, 2008 when the late president Shehu Yar’Adua launched DaarSat as the first direct to home Pay TV business in Nigeria that was first Nigerian-owned and was broadcasting in native high-definition.

We became the first high definition broadcaster in Nigeria.

“However, unfortunately DaarSat went down circa November -December 2009. And it has been a tortuous journey ever since three years and a month that we have been down. But going down is not the great story to tell but the greater story is the fact that we went down and we are up again and making us the first Pay TV business in Nigeria to have ever gone down and come back. Any time I say that in the last two weeks, my colleagues will clap but I think it is another clarion call for us not to let ourselves, or let our company, or let our dealers, or let our subscribers, or let our nation down again.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business News

Friday, March 8, 2013

MTN Nigeria to invest fresh $1.5bn in network expansion KUNLE A ZEEZ

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bout 13.1 billion rand (around $1.5 billion) of the total MTN Group’s Capital Expenditure (Capex) of 29 billion rand (over $3 billion) for this year will be spend on network expansion for its Nigerian market.

The group’s allocation to its Nigerian operation for 2013 is the highest in all its over 20 countries of operations.

Next to MTN Nigeria in the capital expenditure allocation is South Africa, followed by Iran with 5 billion Rand and less than 2 billion rand respectively.

Corporate Services Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Wale Goodluck, disclosed this dur-

ing an interactive session with pressmen in Lagos yesterday, saying the $1.5 billion allocation to MTN Nigeria represents slightly less than 50 per cent of the tola Group’s Capex.

Goodluck, who recalled that $1.3 billion was used as Capex for MTN Nigeria in 2012, said Nigeria is still favoured in the current year with by taking the lion share of the Group’s total capital expenditure.

According to him, the current $1.5 billion is directed at network expansion such as the building more base stations and fibre transmissions across the country.

He said the fresh investment will allow the over 45 million telecoms subscribers on MTN Nigeria’s network to enjoy improved access voice and data

services with better coverage.

According to him, MTN Nigeria did not only fully capitalise its $1.3 billion Capex for 2012 but also used the $300 million carryover Capex for 2011 to embark on its soon-to-be-completed network modernisation and swapping exercise which began early last year.

Specifically, Goodluck said the telecom firm, which currently has about 9, 000 sites across the country, will build and upgrade addition 5, 000 base stations on its 2G network and about 4, 000 sites on 3G network.

“Looking at MTN Nigeria, we continue to grow our voice network and also grow our data business at 100 per cent rate annually. The data business is going to be a lot more significant than voice.”

41

Software developers compete in Visa $10,000 app contest KUNLE A ZEEZ

S

oftware developers from sub-Sahara Africa are currently competing for a $10, 000 set aside by Visa Inc., a global electronic payments company in collaboration with South African Tourism have set aside $10,000 to be won by software developers to build the continent’s best travel app.

First announced at the eTourism Summit in Cape Town last year, the Africa App Quest is built on the growing use of apps for travel and to capitalise on the continent’s growing popularity as a global tourist destination.

According to research commissioned by the World Bank, even with the economic slowdown, Sub-SaharanAfrica’s travel and tourism industry is expected to achieve an annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent over the next ten years. The world average is 4.1 per cent.

Head of Cross-Border Mar-

keting for Visa Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Jodie Schorn, said, as a proud partner of South African Tourism, Visa was excited to collaborate with the organisation on initiatives such as the Africa App Quest that have the potential to reach a global audience and strengthen inbound travel.”

Schorn added: “We encourage all developers – whether up-andcoming or already established in the industry - to get involved in the Africa App Quest. This is a great way for developers to make a name for themselves in the global travel and tech community.”

Entries can include anything from online safari guides and urban directories to game spotting and recording apps, online booking and shopping tools, or apps interpreting local cultures.

All app entries must be compatible with mobile devices for iOs, Android and Windows. Any application that uses technology to improve and increase travel in Africa is eligible.

Access Bank integrates AccessTrade into E-form ‘M’

A

L-R: Lagos State Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Kayode Opeifa; ace actor, Olusegun Aderemi (aka Kanran) and Head Sustainability and Responsibility, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Adrianne Nwagwu; during a Drink IQ workshop for health journalists and Nollywood stars in Lagos recently.

Agric Ministry to boost fruits, vegetable export MESHACK IDEHEN

T

he Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said the time has come for Nigerian horticultural and vegetable farmers to stop wasting opportunities ,including situations where cargo planes fly out of Nigeria empty, despite the fact that they can make huge returns through flowers, fruits and vegetable exports.

He said stakeholders in the nation’s agriculture must begin to tap into the business prospects at home and abroad, while hinting also that the ministry of agriculture will be working with DHL aviation on market-driven approach to get Nigeria on

the global map in horticulture.

Adesina told National Mirror on Thursday, that DHL planes come to Nigeria and leave empty, but that the ministry has recognised that this provides opportunities for Nigeria to take advantage of these opportunities, adding the ministry will put in place what is necessary considering that horticultural value chain for domestic market is already developed and the country is looking at foreign market.

According to him, government will provide support for training of farmers and at the same time work with experts in getting the nation’s farmers certified to enter into the export market, disclosing also that three types of infrastructure to support horticul-

tural business, including cold storage facilities, irrigation and rural infrastructure will be provided.

Adesina observed that urbanisation and income growth in both developed and developing nations will lead to higher demand for horticultural products and specialised products, adding Nigeria is the largest national producer of okro, most of which sadly ends up in the local market.

The minister also expressed discomfort with the irony of importation, particularly of what Nigeria is capable of producing, saying the country is importing a lot of our horticultural products from South Africa, due to lack of value chain and standards that are developed for horticultural market.

s part of its strategic initiative to support the growth and development of the Nigerian economy and its customers, Access Bank Plc has concluded the integration of its online trading platform AccessTrade with e-Form ‘M’ Portal introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in conjunction with Nigerian Customs Service and Messrs. Webb Fontaine Consortium.

This was disclosed to our reporter at the just concluded Access Bank Customer Engagement Forum on e-Form ‘M’ by Ebenezer Olufowose, Executive Director, Financial Markets Division of the Bank in Lagos over the weekend.

According to Ebenezer, “We have integrated our AccessTrade

platform with the e-form ‘M’ portal so that transactions initiated by customers on AccessTrade are fed into the e-form M portal.

Access Bank had launched its AccessTrade platform and had trained its customers on usage and benefit of this online trading platform to ensure that customers leverage on the possibilities of hitch-free foreign trade transactions available for users of the platform.

The Bank’s AccessTrade platform enables customers to initiate and execute online trade transactions across the globe anytime of the day irrespective of time zone differences. It is a unique “first” in the Nigerian Banking Industry which has transformed trade finance business in Nigeria.

BOI to partner Ogun on tomato production STANLEY IHEDIGBO

I

n pursuant of its commitment on the development of women empowerment, the Bank of Industry (BOI) has agreed to partner with the Ogun State on tomato production.

Speaking at the BOI office in Lagos, during the visit of the Ogun state First lady, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, said she was at the bank to seek financial support for her Uplift Development Foundation (UDF) on a tomato production project.

Managing Director of the bank, Ms. Evelyn Oputu, assured Mrs Amosun

the bank’s willingness and readiness to support any good idea to empower women in the country.

“We will be happy to work with Ogun state and the lady first on any project that will contribute to the development of the economy and empowerment of women. “ The first lady said the state has about 500 hectares of land to plant tomato, which will engage thousands of women directly and indirectly in the production.

She said about N6million is need for the tomato production, while N80 to N85 million is needed to purchase machines to process it for commercial purpose.

42

Maritime

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘48-hour cargo delivery in Nigeria is as elusive as ever’ More than seven years after the completion of seaport reforms, Nigeria has not been able to achieve an appreciable efficiency in the release of cargo. FRANCIS EZEM writes.

W

hen the Federal Government embarked on the highly criticised port reform programme because of its shoddy nature, the desire was to reduce cost of operation, enhance efficiency and check cargo diversion. Regrettably, more than seven years after the conclusion of the exercise and the subsequent coming on stream of private terminal operators, though a level of success has been recorded in some aspects, efficiency cargo release has remained a mirage.

Only recently, Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Monitoring and Evaluation, Professor Sylvester Monye, who also heads the Presidential Committee on Port Reform claimed that dwell time of cargo has reduced from 39 to five days from the date of arrival of the consignment. The special adviser, who had ever since been faced with a barrage of criticisms for deceiving the government and people of Nigeria was basking in the euphoria of the transfer of about 500 abandoned containers at Apapa Port and Tin Can Island Port to Ikorodu Lighter Terminal. The erudite professor was also carried away with the temporary removal of the trucks that park indiscriminately on port access roads such as Mile 2-Apapa Expressway, among several others.

Prior to the removal of the abandoned containers and clearing of the roads with the help of Lagos State Government, Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala announced a reduction in the number of government agencies operating at the ports from 14 to about six including the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.

The affected agencies were National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Directorate of Naval Intelligence and Standards Organisation of Nigeria.

Others include, Nigerian Plant Quarantine Services, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, among others. Also barred from participating in goods inspection were the Intelligence Unit of the Nigeria Customs Service, the enforcement unit of the service, as well as the controversial Comptroller General’s special squad.

The minister, who addressed newsmen after inspection of the ports said; “I am with a simple message from Mr. President and that message is that it is time for our seaports to start working and they must start working for honest and hardworking Nigerians not for those who are working to make things more complicated, make money out of our ports and make things more difficult for honest business person, man or woman in this country.

“We must make our ports work for Nigerians who want to create jobs, that is what Mr. President wants us to do and our being here today, is a demonstration that we need to act and that this is no longer time for talking. We know that without an efficient port system, there would be high cost in the economy and so what we are doing now is to reduce those costs so, that our business people would have the wherewithal to create more jobs”, she had insisted.

She had also announced the introduction of 24-hour port operation for the seven days of the week. This was in line with the projection of achieving 48-hour cargo delivery, which has continued to prove elusive, most unfortunately.

Part of the strategies of the Monye committee to

Dikko

Nweke

48-HOUR CARGO CLEARANCE IS ACHIEVABLE IN NIGERIA SINCE IT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED

IN OTHER SEAPORTS, INCLUDING

WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES, BUT IT IS NOT FEASIBLE FOR NOW, DUE TO THE SOME

LACK OF INTERCONNECTIVITY AMONG THE VARIOUS AGENCIES OPERATING AT THE SEAPORTS achieve speedy cargo delivery was the proposed simplified clearing procedure christened Five Smart Steps to smooth and efficient cargo clearance as a way of consolidating the achievements already recorded.

Under the new system, all necessary documentations relating to import, including payment of duty must be concluded before the arrival of the consignment unlike what is in practice now when the importer will begin to source funds days after the arrival of the consignnment.

President of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Alhaji Olayiwola Shittu, a member of the committee, who shed more light on the new system, noted that it will use the Single Window Platform provided by the Automated System for Customs Data of Customs, will help to reduce cargo dwell time to between 48 and 72 hours from the date of arrival of the cargo.

More than eight months later, the new clearing system, which was said to be awaiting approval of the Federal Executive Council, is yet to see the light of the day, thus, giving port users cause to worry.

Only recently, founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam raised the alarm over the worsening delay in the release of cargo at the nation’s seaports.

According to him, at the current stage of development at the nation’s seaports, it takes over three weeks for consignments to leave the ports, which he described as unfortunate.

This rather unfortunate development fuels the diversion of Nigeria-bound cargoes to neighbouring West African seaports with the attendant huge loss of revenue to the government.

Part of the issues is the low compliance level of the importers and the decision of Customs to carryout out 100 percent physical examination on over 80 percent of the imports.

An industry source said: “You cannot achieve the projected 48-hour cargo release with the high level of physical examination of imports by Customs, it is not possible”.

Immediate past chairman of the Tin Can Island chapter of ANLCA, Mr. Kayode Farinto, insists that the dream of achieving a 48-hour cargo clearance at the seaports would continue to be unrealisable until necessary measures are put in place.

“The inability of government to enthrone a regime of interconnectivity among the various stakeholders such as the Nigeria Customs Service, terminal operators, shipping companies and other government security agencies that participate in cargo release will continue to hinder speedy and efficient cargo delivery within 48 hours” “48-hour cargo clearance is achievable in Nigeria since it has been achieved in other seaports, including some West African countries but it is not feasible for now, due to the lack of interconnectivity among the various agencies operating at the seaports”, he noted.

“It is unfortunate that successive ministers of transport and finance have paid a lip service to the issue of connecting the various stakeholders on-line real time and until we are able to do that the dream of 48-hour cargo release would continue to be elusive”, Farinto stated.

President of NAGAFF, Mr. Eugene Nweke, who commented on the development noted that the Nigerian port system is truly in need of efficient procedure in cargo clearance. This, according to him, probably informed why most stakeholders received the news of the five smart steps with joy and excitement.

He, however, expressed optimism that the recent approval for the introduction of Single Window Concept will go a long way in creating the much needed connectivity and facilitate speedy and efficient cargo delivery.

That is most desirable for the Nigerian ports.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

STORIES: FRANCIS EZEM

T

he Institute of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (IFFN), has made a strong case for the establishment of Coast Guard like the United States’ system as a lasting solution to the menace of piracy, sea robbery, oil theft and other illegalities on Nigeria’s maritime domain.

Nigerian’s waters are now considered as nearly dangerous as Somailia’s.

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Nigeria’s venture partner in crude oil exploration had early this week threatened to shut its operations, especially around the Nembe Creek in Bayelsa due to increasing oil theft to the tune of 170, 000 barrels per day.

National president of the institute, Dr. Zeb Ikokide, who spoke in an interview, noted that the only panacea to the menace of piracy in Nigeria is the establishment of a Coast Guard, which only function would be to secure the nation’s marine environment.

According to him, though the government established the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to enhance maritime security in the country, the Nigerian Navy is the traditional agency charged

Maritime

Friday, March 8, 2013

Piracy: Freight forwarding institute canvasses Coast Guard

Somalian pirates in operation.

with the patrolling of the territorial waters.

According to him, NIMASA as a civil agency does not have the powers to carry arms on board its platforms, the Navy as a military organization is not allowed to lift up arms against vessels, a development that makes both handicapped.

He also observed that in view is this vacuum, there is no agency in Nigeria specifically charged with the fighting of

piracy and other illegalities on the nation’s waters, a development that makes It expedient for the creation of a Coast Guard like that of the United States of America.

“You will recall that PICCOMS, which was an adhoc committee set up then to fight piracy and sea robbery wanted to metamorphose into a Maritime Security Agency, which was opposed by some stakeholders including NIMASA”, he

2012: Group blames Nigeria’s cargo volume decline on duty benchmark

N

ational Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders has said the drastic decline in Nigeria’s import volume last year was primarily due to the imposition of duty benchmark on some selected goods by the Nigeria Customs Service, which compelled importers to reduce their volume of imports in anticipation of uncertainties that might trail the new policy.

Import duty benchmark, which is first of its kind in Nigeria, is a situation whereby the same duty rate is charged on selected imported items irrespective of their values.

Under the policy, a total of 26 imported items were selected and they include complete knocked down and fully built air conditioners, different models of television sets, fully built and CKD refrigerator, car and truck tyres, aluminium coils both colour and ordinary, small generating sets and both CKD and fully built motorcycles.

Others are tomato paste, auto batteries, margarine and motorcycle spare parts, wines, made up textiles, biscuits, granite tiles, candles, yeast, aluminium pro-

43

files and roofing nails.

The then port manager in charge of the Lagos Ports Complex, Apapa Mr. Joshua Asanga had while briefing the newly appointed managing director of the authority, Mallam Habib Abdullahi,, raised fears over the sharp decline in the number of vessels that call at the ports.

Asanga had noted that, that was the first Nigerian ports would experience such decline in cargo volumes even in the last quarter of the year, which is usually characterised by massive importation of consumer goods in preparation of the Yuletide and New Year celebrations.

Chairman, Lily Pond Port chapter of the association, Mr. Emmanuel Agubanze, who spoke in an interview in Lagos, noted that the imposition of duty benchmark on imported goods last year was directly responsible for the decline in cargo volumes.

“Benchmark killed business in 2012. For several months, most importers had to stop importation of goods on account of the policy in order not to run into trouble, because it sounded so strange that goods of different

values are made to pay the same duty, so they needed to wait”, he argued.

He also said: “Duty benchmark was an arrogant imposition by Customs, it remains the greatest mistake made by the management of the service”.

Port statistics show that the average number of vessels waiting to berth at the nation’s seaports, which reflects the volume of cargo traffic for 2012 stands between 90 and 95 ships of all types and sizes.

This compares to the figures of over 130 and 145 recorded in the last quarter of 2011, which stakeholders believe is something to worry about.

This is more so when viewed against the background that that was the first time the nation’s seaports would record a decline in the volume of imported goods especially after the Federal Government concluded the port concession programme in 2006, which among other factors was intended to bring about efficiency, reduce cost of operation and above all make Nigeria a hub seaport in the West and Central African subregion.

stated.

“As it is now, the government is at cross roads as to who actually should be entrusted with the powers of safe guarding the nation’s territorial waters in terms of fighting piracy, sea robbery and other illegalities, which supports the argument for the creation of a Coast Guard just like the US”, he also argued.

On whether he is opposed to the moves by PICCOMS to metamorphose into a maritime

security agency, which led to the draft of the Maritime Security Agency Bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives but was thrown out by the Senate, he insisted that he is interested in the creation of a separate agency to fight piracy in the country.

“It depends on how government plans to achieve this, it might decide to allow the PICCOMS metamorphose into a maritime security agency or create a new agency all together but Nigeria needs an independent body to fight piracy and other crimes on the waters”, he argued further.

Ikokide, who doubles as Chief Executive Officer of ZEE-BEE Resources Limited argued that just like the PICCOMS, staffers of the agency would be a blend of both the Navy and NIMASA, which will make it not a military nor purely civilian organiation.

He argued that the creation of such agency had become necessary because some powerful interests, who are feeding fat from the illegalities on the nation’s waters would not want any fight against the scourge to succeed.

Sunk cruise ship ready for refloating

I

talian cruise ship, Costa Concordia is expected to be refloated in summer 2013 and towed away to be cut up for scrap.

The Costa Concordia disaster was the partial sinking of the Italian cruise ship, when it ran aground at Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, on January 13, 2012 with the loss of 32 lives.

The only thing to be left after the disaster is the boulder that wrecked the ship. The mayor of Giglio and Costa Cruises plan to position the boulder on the island as a memorial after it has been removed from the water.

The ship, with 4,252 people from all over the world on board, was on the first leg of a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea, starting from Civitavecchia in Lazio, when she hit a reef during an unofficial near-shore salute to

IMO Scribe, Mr. Koji Sekimizu

the local islanders. To perform this manoeuvre, Captain Francesco Schettino had deviated from the ship’s computer-programmed route, claiming that he was familiar with the local seabed. The collision with the reef could be heard onboard and caused a temporary power blackout when water flooded the engine room. The captain, having lost control of the ship, did nothing to contact the nearby harbour for help but tried to resume the original course, before a U-turn back to Giglio. In the end, he had to order evacuation when the ship grounded after an hour of listing and partly drifting.

Meanwhile, the harbour authorities had been alerted by worried passengers, and vessels were sent to the rescue. During a six-hour evacuation, most passengers were brought ashore. The search for missing people continued for several months, with all but two being accounted for.

Costa Concordia, operated by Costa Cruises, was one of the largest ships ever to be abandoned and she dominated international media in the days after the disaster. Schettino was arrested on preliminary charges of multiple manslaughter in connection with causing a shipwreck, failing to assist 300 passengers, and failing to be the last to leave the wreck.

44

Capital Market

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, March 8, 2013

Equities regain vigour, up by 0.3% JOHNSON OKANLAWON

T

rading in equities closed on bullish note on the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, as gains recorded mostly in the oil and gas sector halted the three days bearish trend.

The All Share Index rose by 0.13 per cent to close at 32,772.73 points, as against the decline of 0.16 per cent recorded the preceding day to close at 32,731.08 points.

Market capitalisation increased by N2bn to close at N10.49trn, in contrast to the drop of N2bn recorded the preceding day to close at N10.47trn.

The Oil and Gas Index led the sectorial indices by 2.48 per cent to close at 192.57 points, followed by the Insurance Index with 0.91 per cent to close at 150.04 points.

The NSE 30-Index appreciated by 0.13 per cent to close at 1,568.58 points, but the Consumer Goods Index declined by 0.59 per cent to close at 953.58 points.

The Banking Index lost 0.03 per cent to close at 412.93 points, while the Lotus Islamic Index depreciated by 0.59 points to close at 2,083.48 points.

Market analysts have said that improved liquidity from a market-

making programme on equities introduced last September has also helped to build confidence.

They based their prediction on falling bond yields and strong earnings. These, they added, were powerful lures for investors to return to the market.

According to Reuters, analysts expect the momentum to continue this year.

“We expect the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s All-Share Index to reach the 38,000 mark if the earnings growth is sustained, the sub-Saharan Africa investment director of Silk Invest, Ms.

Funmi Akinluyi, said.

Earnings for the majority of listed firms, including full-year results for banks, are due to be released from this month, and most analysts expect them to show significant growth.

For instance, Diamond Bank expects 2012 profit to hit N30bn. The bank posted a profit of N23.2bn, compared with a loss of N16.3bn in 2011.

The index of Nigeria’s top ten banks has risen by 20.5 per cent so far this year on earnings expectations.

A total of 350.3 million shares valued at N3.66bn were exchanged in 5,911 deals.

Hedge fund investors rediscover taste for equities –Survey

H

edge funds which bet on rising and falling shares have jumped to the top of investors’ buy lists, a survey by Credit Suisse showed on yesterday, as a rebound in stocks encourages a return to a sector many had been avoiding.

Reuters reported that the so-called long-short equity hedge funds have historically been among the biggest and bestknown in the industry.

But years of underperformance - including

against their low-fee longonly rivals - had left investors disillusioned and many shifted their money into funds that play fixedincome assets, deemed better at managing macroeconomic risks.

According to the survey, for which Credit Suisse quizzed close to 550 institutional investors representing $1.03trn of hedge fund assets - almost half the industry - long-short equity funds have become the most sought-after invest-

ments for 2013.

Last year more than a quarter of investors indicated to the Swiss bank they planned to cut their exposure to equity funds, more than any other sector. Emerging markets equity funds are now the second-most popular, Credit Suisse said.

In this year’s survey respondents also predicted total hedge fund assets would hit a record high of $2.42trn at the end of 2013, driven by positive performance and net new

money.

Investors indicated a preference for mid-sized managers running between $500m and $2 billion, and expect the average fund to return 6.9 percent, up from 5.4 percent in 2012.

So far this year the average manager is up 2.5 per cent, according to Hedge Fund Research.

Equity funds have fared slightly better, up 3.3 percent, but this still lags the 6.2 percent gain in the MSCI World Index.

Standard Bank profit rises by 22% in 2012 JOHNSON OKANLAWON

S

tandard Bank Group has said that its profit for the 2012 financial year rose by 22 per cent, after it sold an 80 per cent stake in its Argentine operation for $400m.

A statement from the bank yesterday said that while its return on equity declined to 14.2 per cent in 2012, net income climbed to 16.15 billion rand ($1.77bn), from 13.2 billion rand in 2011.

Analysis of the result showed that earnings per share, excluding one-time items, rose to 9.41 rand, while cost-to-income ratio was 58.7 per cent for 2012, compared with 55.2 per cent at Absa Group Limited and 55.5 per cent at Nedbank Group Limited.

The bank’s Group Chief Executive, Mr.

Jacko Maree was quoted in the statement as saying that the group’s results for 2012 reflect divergent themes.

He said, “On the one hand, they indicate the considerable challenges the group has faced.

Many of the negative factors are evident in Corporate and Investment Banking’s results, with headline earnings down 13 per cent from 2011.

“On the other hand, the exciting prospects of our Africa-centred strategy are beginning to show in the performance across our business units. Overall, the growth areas aligned to our strategic focus did very well, and the areas that we are in the process of scaling down have performed worse than expected.”

According to the statement, the bank’s focus on

maintaining its position in South Africa and growing in chosen markets in the rest of Africa paid off in 2012.

It said that revenues from the group’s banking activities increased by 17 per cent and in the rest of Africa revenues were up an impressive 38 per cent.

“This was the result of Standard Bank’s consistent efforts over the last few years to gain new customers, win new mandates and increase its reach, underpinned by significant investment in systems and people.

“A major focus area for 2012 was on driving transactional banking revenues. Transactional products and services revenue grew 32 per cent.

In Personal and Business Banking, transactional banking revenues grew 14 per cent, despite hold-

ing prices flat for personal market customers and, in some instances, reducing prices in South Africa,” the bank said.

It stressed that transactional banking revenues now make up more than 40 per cent of the group’s banking revenues, saying that income growth far exceeded cost growth in the rest of Africa, resulting in a lower cost-to-income ratio for the region, and allowing excellent revenue growth to translate into even better headline earnings growth of 68 per cent.

The bank added that liberty results were particularly strong with headline earnings up 42 per cent as a result of favourable investment markets and steady performance from its retail insurance business in South Africa.

Source: NSE

Source: Afrinvest

Market indicators All-Share Index 10,487.0 points Market capitalisation 33.8 trillion

Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CHANGE

OANDO

15.40

16.90

1.50

% CHANGE 9.74

UACN

50.50

53.02

2.52

4.99

WAPIC

1.14

1.19

0.05

4.39

UNILEVER

50.00

52.14

2.14

4.28

LIVESTOCK

2.21

2.30

0.09

4.07

UTC

0.74

0.77

0.03

4.05

CORNERST

0.52

0.54

0.02

3.85

RTBRISCOE

2.12

2.20

0.08

3.77

ABCTRANS

0.55

0.57

0.02

3.64

UNITYBNK

0.83

0.86

0.03

3.61

CHANGE

% CHANGE

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

PRESTIGE

0.85

0.80

0.05

-5.88

JOHNHOLT

2.00

1.90

0.10

-5.00

CUTIX

1.81

1.72

0.09

-4.97

ETERNA

3.83

3.64

0.19

-4.96

FTNCOCOA

0.61

0.58

0.03

-4.92

CADBURY

33.61

32.00

1.61

-4.79

UBCAP

1.54

1.47

0.07

-4.55

STERLNBANK

2.74

2.62

0.12

-4.38

AIICO

0.95

0.91

0.04

-4.21

ROYALEX

0.76

0.73

0.03

-3.95

Primary Market Auction TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

91-Days

32,488.72

11.95

7-Mar-13

182-Days

20,000.00

13.80

7-Mar-13

364-Days

57,119.37

15.57

7-Mar-13

Open Market Operations TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%)

DATE

91-Days

30,647.81

12.40

21-Feb-13

182-Days

20,000.00

15.08

21-Feb-13

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED

MARKET DEMAND

AMOUNT SOLD

DATE

$150m

N/A

$150m

6-Mar-13

$250m

N/A

$234m

4-Mar-13

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, March 8, 2013

45

46

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

47

Community Mirror “Individually and collectively, we are at war and the enemy is not hidden.”

Ayede residents in fear of reprisal attacks

NOBEL LAUREATE, PROFESSOR WOLE SOYINKA

48

FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

M

ore than 1000 residents and landlords of Ajegunle/Araromi community in Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State have protested alleged plans to evict them from their ancestral homes.

The protesters, who carried placards with various inscriptions, also accused Governor Ibikunle Amosun, of directing the state Urban and Regional Planning agency to evict them under the guise of development.

Led by the village head, Alhaji

Ajegunle residents protest eviction Tajudeen Aina and Iyaloja of the community, Omotayo Amos, the protesters alleged that the government had issued a 24 hour ultimatum to vacate their villages. Inscriptions on some of the placards read: “we grew up there, we have no place to go”, “please don’t send us away; Ajegunle/Araromi our hope” among others.

The protesters also displayed the quit notice of March 4 March, 2013, to the community by the Mowe/ Ofada Zonal Planning office, claiming that all buildings

in the community are illegal and demanded that residents vacate within 24hours after the order.

The quit notice also stated that all houses and other buildings, located few meters from the Shagamu Interchange on the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway are illegal structures, as they contravened the law of the state.

The protester were however, prevented from gaining entrance into the secretariat complex where they demanded to see the governor.

But at the main entrance to the governor’s office, one of the leaders, Samson Ogunsona, said the community had earlier conceded portions of land to the government where both the trailer park and Nestle foods company are located.

He also said that government agents had posted quit notice on more than 1,000 houses in the community, claiming the administration needed the entire land for development.

Ogunsona, also said that, more

Residents of Ajegunle/Araromi community protesting eviction

PHOTO: FEMI OYEWESO

than 3,000 people live in the community, where the majority earn their livelihood, even as he expressed shock that, the government wants to demolish all houses there for projects alien to the natives.

Also speaking, the village head, Chief Tajudeen Aina, alleged that the claim by the government was an attempt to evict them from their ancestral homes where past village heads were buried.

“We plead with the government to leave us alone. We voted for it. It should leave us in our ancestral homes. We can’t leave here.

The governor should spare us the planned eviction. Our houses in Sagamu have been demolished, where else can we go”?

The community secretary, Temitope Amos, also faulted the government’s claim that all the buildings were illegal, stressing that most of them have approved survey plan.

He further stated that information they are receiving, reveal that government plans to take over the 120 hectares in the community and allocate same to foreign investors.

The persistence of the protesters however, compelled the Special Adviser to Governor Amosun on Security Matters, Patrick Akinduro, to assure them that their grievances would be made known to the governor.

“I learnt some people from Ajegunle/Araromi are protesting and came to address you. I will take your grievances to the governor who knows better and we shall get back to you soonest”.

CD commends police boss for rescuing kidnapped victim Four armed robbery suspects arrested CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

T

he Campaign for Democracy, CD, has commended the Divisional Police Officer,DPO, in-charge of Onitsha Central Police Station, Mr. Temitope Fasugbe, for rescuing Chief Michael Mogbu from kidnappers.

It would be recalled that Mogbu, a business mogul and industrialist, was kidnapped on March 3, 2013 at his residence on Oraifite Street, Awada in Idemili North LGA on his way to church by four gun men and taken to an abandoned building at NkwelleEzunaka in Oyi Local Govern-

ment Area.

Dede Uzor A. Uzor, Chairman, CD South-East Region, gave the commendation when news of the successful operation was revealed to friends and family members of Mogbu.

“We are proud of the gallantry displayed by Temitope Fasugbe and his team that rescued the victim unhurt.

The team confronted the hoodlums in a gun duel that lasted for more than 20 minutes, as the kidnappers fled with gun wounds.

The police are now searching the entire area after the incident. This is a commendable breakthrough in chasing and tracking down of kidnap-

pers”, he said.

Uzor, also lauded the DPO for bursting a syndicate of car snatchers in Onitsha recently, where the police recovered nine vehicles, these include five Camry Toyota, two Kia vehicles and two other exotic cars.

He also arrested some members of the Anambra State Traffic Agency, ASTA, who had constituted nuisance to road users in Onitsha and environs.

Fasugbe, recently banned police officers from incessant arrests and harassments of commercial motorcycle operators in Onitsha; which some of them were used as means of extortion.

OJO OYEWAMIDE AKURE

F

our suspects alleged to have robbed a clergyman, Pastor Lucky James, have been arrested by the anti-robbery detectives attached to Yaba Police Station in Ondo town.

The hoodlums reportedly invaded the pastor’s residence house on Erodo Street and ordered everyone to lie down or be killed.

Community Mirror learnt that a concerned resident called in the police, who immediately arrived at scene of the crime.

Luck, however, ran out of the suspects as they were apprehended while robbing their victims, even as they were taken

to the police station where they were said to have confessed to the crime.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Wale Ogodo, confirmed the incident, saying four of the robbers were arrested at scene of the crime.

According to Ogodo, the suspects are Nnabike Nwafor, Amos Philips, Lomi Adepetu and Emmanuel whose surname was not known as at time of this report.

The spokesman said the hoodlums had been attacking innocent persons in Ondo town before nemesis caught up with them, adding that they have been transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Section, SARS, in Akure for further interrogations.

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Community Mirror

Friday, March 8, 2013

Ayede residents in fear of reprisal ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

R

esidents of Ayede Ekiti, community in Oye Council Area of Ekiti State, are now living in fear of reprisal attacks by armed robbers.

Their fear stem from the fact that local vigilantes killed one of the robbers that invaded the community two weeks ago, even as the situation is causing them sleepless nights.

Consequently, the residents who are calling for the establishment of police station in the community also urged law enforcement agents to protect them from any attack from hoodlums, as they are apprehensive that some of the robbers are

laying siege on the town.

The residents also called on the police to protect them from attacks by Fulani herdsmen, who alleged that one of their members is missing in the community.

One of the residents, Mr Kunle Adeleye, said in Ado Ekiti, that cattle have been destroying their farm lands, even as incessant attacks by robbers now constitute source of worries to them.

According to him, more than seven hectares of his maize farm were destroyed by cattle last year, just as other farmers suffered similar fate, a situation, he said is now discouraging farmers.

He said that part of

efforts to redress the insecurity that followed relocation of the police station from the community in 2009, the town organised vigilantes to protect their and property.

He said: “Last week, the vigilantes killed an armed robber and we later discovered a black cloth hanging at the outskirts of the community,which the residents interpreted as a sign that the robbers would attack us in revenge and we have to act to prevent any calamity�.

Spokesman for the Ekiti State Police Command, Mr Victor Babayemi Olu, said they were studying the community’s request for a police station, even as he affirmed that it is a welcome development.

Ekiti urges renovation of ancient houses ABIODUN NEJO ADO-EKITI

E

kiti State Government has advised owners and inhabitants of ancient and dilapidated houses in the state to renovate them to prevent their sudden collapse and make them safer for habitation.

Special Adviser, Office of the Deputy Governor, Ekiti State, Hon. Bamitale Oguntoyinbo gave the charge in Ilogbo and OyeEkiti when he led state government delegation to inspect the houses that were recently ravaged by rainstorm.

He said Governor Kayode Fayemi was really disturbed at the havoc wrecked by the rainstorm in the state but thanked God that the incident did not claim any lives.

Oguntoyinbo who noted that most of the houses badly affected by the rainstorm were actually old and in state of disrepair, advised people still living in such houses to relocate to better apartment so as not to keep constituting nuisance to other residents in the area.

The Special Adviser also urged the local government caretaker committees to move round

the communities to identify buildings that have become death traps and mark them for demolition.

Oguntoyinbo assured victims in the communities that government would not abandon them but give them succor by providing relief materials through the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

The Owalogbo of Ilogbo-Ekiti, Oba (Dr.) Edward Oke Ajayi who spoke on behalf of the victims in his community thanked Governor Kayode Fayemi for his love for the people and for showing genuine

concern for the welfare of the people.

He called on the state government to quickly make the relief materials available to the victims.

He said most of the victims are aged people, some of who are widows, whose sources of income can hardly cater for their daily needs.

On his part, the Oloye of Oye Ekiti, Oba Oluwole Ademolaju thanked the governor for the love shown by identifying with the victims. He commended him for being responsive to the needs and yearnings of Ekiti people.

THE NIGERIAN SECURITY PRINTING & MINTING PLC 160,Samuel Ladoke Akintola Boulevard, P.M.B 144, Garki, Abuja

INVITATION TO BID FOR THE SUPPLY AND INSTALLATION OF HIGH PRESSURE ELECTRICAL & DIESEL FIRE HYDRANT ENGINE / JOCKEY PUMP AT THE LAGOS FACTORY The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc [NSPM] intends to LQVWDOO D KLJK SUHVVXUH HOHFWULFDO GLHVHO ÀUH K\GUDQW HQJLQH jockey pump at the Lagos Factory by the end of March, 2013.

Interested reputable companies with cognate experience in the industry are invited to register and collect bid documents from: The Secretary, Major Tenders Committee,Room 14, Ground Floor, Corporate Headquarters, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc,160, Samuel Ladoke Akintola Boulevard, P.M.B. 144, Garki, Abuja.

Interested companies are required to submit the information VSHFLĂ€HG EHORZ LQ RUGHU WR TXDOLI\ IRU FRQVLGHUDWLRQ ,QFRPSOHWH VXEPLVVLRQV PD\ OHDG WR GLVTXDOLĂ€FDWLRQ RI WKH ELG GRFXPHQW 1. &RS\ RI &HUWLĂ€FDWH RI ,QFRUSRUDWLRQ 2. Copy of form CO2 and CO7 as the case may be.

3. &RS\ RI 9$7 UHJLVWUDWLRQ FHUWLĂ€FDWH 4. &RS\ RI WKH PRVW FXUUHQW WD[ FOHDUDQFH FHUWLĂ€FDWH 5. Evidence of similar projects carried out, if any.

6. Organizational structure of the company including names RI WHFKQLFDO DQG PDQDJHULDO VWDII WKHLU TXDOLĂ€FDWLRQV DQG cognate experience.

7. Audited accounts for the preceding three (3) years.

8. (YLGHQFH RI ÀQDQFLDO FDSDFLW\ DQG FDSDELOLW\ WR H[HFXWH WKLV project.

9. Prospective contractors must show evidence of Employees open Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) with a Pension Fund Administration of choice for indigenous companies and evidence of remittance of such contribution for both Employer and Employee to the appropriate Pension Fund Custodian when they are eventually selected.

10. Evidence of compliance with statutory provision of section 6(i-ii), of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) ACT, as amended.

SUBMISSION OF BID DOCUMENTS AND DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION The bid document should be packaged neatly in binders and submitted in 2 no. copies, each in separate and wax-sealed envelope by the companies’ representative. The package will be registered and the companies’ representative will be required to sign the register, and deliver the bid document by hand, not later than 2.00pm of 21st March, 2013 with a non refundable fee of N20,000.00 in Bank Draft drawn in favour of (The Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Plc) and package addressed to: The Chairman, Major Tenders Committee, Room 3, 2nd Floor, Corporate Headquarters, Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Plc., 160 Samuel Ladoke Akintola Blvd., P.M.B 144, Garki, Abuja.

Committee concludes delineation in Cross River OKAY OSUJI

T

he Boundary Tracing Sub Committee charged with determining the mutually acceptable boundary between communities in Ogoja and Ikom local government areas of Cross River State, has concluded its assignment.

This was contained a letter by the Director General of the Border Communities Development Commission, Mr. Leo E. Aggrey,.

According to it, the SubCommittee has communicated the completion of the

exercise. It said the state team led by the Deputy Surveyor- General, John Adah with the Ogoja and Ikom zonal offices and Director General, Border Communities Development Commission, Mr. Leo Aggrey, identified the boundary landmarks that are acceptable, delineated and planted beacon stones and other biological berries.

In a letter of February 20, 2013, and addressed the Acting Governor, the DG requested his inclusion into the resolutions of the Committee.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Bids will be opened on the same day 21st March, 2013 by 2.30pm at the NSPM Plc Board Room, 2nd Ă RRU 5RRP DW WKH &RUSRUDWH Headquarters, Abuja.

NOTE:

1. NSPM is neither committed nor obliged to consider any

cotractor or to award any contract to any of the companies submitting bids.

2. NSPM reserves the right to reject any or all of the bids.

3. NSPM will only correspond with the companies that are successful in their bids.

4. 1630 ZLOO RQO\ FRUUHVSRQG ZLWK GXO\ DXWKRUL]HG RIĂ€FHUV RI WKH companies and not agents or persons acting on their behalf.

Signed:

Management

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

49

World News

Venezuela gives Chavez state burial today

“Entering the eurozone should be a really big ambition of ours. We need to make an analysis these days and to take a decision if we maintain the deadline (of 2015)”

50

–Romania President, Traian Basescu

Kenya poll: Candidate alleges rigging, calls for halt to vote count

T

he political coalition led

by Kenya’s prime minister said yesterday that the vote tallying process now under way to determine the winner of the country’s presidential election “lacks integrity” and should be stopped, as it alleged that some vote results have been doctored.

The statement by the coalition of Raila Odinga — one of two top presidential candidates — said the counting process should be restarted using primary documents from polling stations.

The election commission chairman said there was no way to doctor the results and that final presidential results would be announced late Thursday or Friday.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta had a substantial lead over Odinga as of Thursday evening Kenya time, though less than half of the polling stations had been tabulated.

Kenya on Monday held its first national election since its 2007 vote sparked tribe-one-tribe attacks that killed more than 1,000 people.

Minor protests have cropped up since Monday’s vote, but no massive rioting or ethnic violence has occurred. But as more time passes without a final result, tensions are rising, sparking fears that the dam

Kalonzo Musyoka, center, gesturing as he leaves after speaking at a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya, yesterday.

PHOTO: AP

now holding back potential protests could break.

Though Odinga’s party said it continues to call for “calm, tolerance and peace,” its call for a halt to the vote count and allegations of vote rigging could agitate its supporters. Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, Odinga’s running mate, said the announcement “is not a call to mass action.”

Odinga’s supporters in 2007 felt they had been cheated out of an election win over President Mwai Kibaki. Those supporters took to the streets, kicking off

two months of clashes that, in addition to the ethnic violence, saw more than 400 deaths caused by police who were fighting protesters. A 2008 government report said the results were so tainted it was impossible to say who actually won.

Odinga faces Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta in this year’s election. One of them must capture 50 percent of the vote in order to win; otherwise there is a runoff.

Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto face charges at the International Criminal Court

for their alleged involvement directing postelection violence five years ago. The court announced Thursday that the start of Kenyatta’s trial would be delayed from April until July.

Officials on Thursday continued to add up votes from tally sheets that have been transported to the capital, results that are being played across all Kenyan TV screens. The partial results as early afternoon Thursday Kenya time showed Kenyatta with more than 3.1 million votes; Odinga had almost 2.6 million.

Ex-Italian PM, Berlusconi, jailed in wiretap trial

A

n Italian court sentenced ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday to one year in jail over the publication by his family’s newspaper of a transcript of a leaked wiretap connected to a banking scan-

Berlusconi

dal in 2006.

Italian justice system rules mean the 76-year-old media billionaire would not have to serve any jail time until the appeals process has been exhausted, and a higher court may still overturn

the ruling.

It came in the middle of a political impasse arising from last week’s election which left no party able to form a government on its own, although Berlusconi’s center-right formation emerged as the second strongest in parliament.

Berlusconi is in the middle of a series of trials, with separate cases over charges of tax fraud and paying for sex with an underage prostitute due to wind up this month.

Following Thursday’s verdict, he repeated denials that he was in any way connected with wrongdoing and said the decision showed that politically motivated judges were conducting a campaign against him.

“It is impossible to tolerate judicial persecution of this kind which has been going on for 20 years and

which re-emerges every time there are politically complex moments in the political life of our country,” he said in a statement.

Berlusconi’s brother Paolo, publisher of the family-owned Il Giornale daily, was sentenced to two years and three months over the same case, which centered on confidential wiretap transcripts related to a bank takeover which appeared in the newspaper.

The court awarded 80,000 euros in damages to Piero Fassino, who was head of the main center-left party at the time of the incident and whose remarks were caught on the wiretap and published in the newspaper.

Fassino asserted that Il Giornale published the transcripts shortly before the 2006 election to create the impression that he had exercised improper pressure in the attempted takeover of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro by insurer Unipol in 2005.

WORLD BULLETIN Int’l Women’s Day: UK Foreign Secretary urges action on sexual violence

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for greater international action to tackle sexual violence in conflict, as the world marks International Women’s Day today.

Hague will mark the day with a vow to redouble efforts to tackle the culture of impunity surrounding sexual violence in conflict and ensure survivors’ voices can be heard, British High Commission in Abuja reported yesterday, in a press release.

The Foreign Secretary’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI), a key foreign affairs priority for the UK’s G8 Presidency this year, aims to increase the number of perpetrators facing justice, push for greater international action and help countries improve their efforts to tackle these crimes and support survivors.

In parts, the statement says: “International Women’s Day is a chance to celebrate women’s achievements, but also to highlight where more work needs to be done.”

Ousted Pistorius detective quits South African police

The South African detective ridiculed for his slipshod handling of the initial investigation into the killing of Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius’ girlfriend has resigned from the force, police said on Thursday.

Warrant Officer Hilton Botha, a detective with 24 years experience, was the first officer on the scene after the Valentine’s Day shooting of law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp.

However, he was pulled off the case after it emerged he was being investigated for seven counts of attempted murder. He was also criticized for mixing up key facts about the investigation at Pistorius’ bail hearing.

Last awaited cardinal arrives Vatican for conclave

The last cardinal who will participate in the conclave to elect Benedict XVI’s successor as pope arrived in Rome, yesterday.

Vietnamese Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man attended the yesterday afternoon session of the pre-conclave meetings in a Vatican audience hall after his flight landed earlier in the day. He said nothing to reporters as he arrived.

He was the last of the 115 cardinal electors to arrive in Rome, and his presence now means that the cardinals can set a date for the conclave.

It’s not clear, however, if they will decide Thursday on a date or take more time to discuss the problems of the church and what type of pope could best fix them.

50

World News

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Venezuela gives Chavez state burial today V enezuelans are ready to bury, today, their leader Hugo Chavez, who died on Tuesday after 14 years in power.

Tens of thousands of supporters of the powerful Latin American president queued to pay their last respects to him.

His body lay in state at the military academy in the capital Caracas before his state funeral on Friday.

His supporters want him interred alongside Simon Bolivar, the 19th Century independence leader he claimed as his “revolutionary” inspiration.

Chavez died at the age of 58 after a two-year battle with cancer.

Thousands queued through the night, on Wednesday through Thursday morning, to file silently past the open coffin, where Chavez is lying in an olivegreen military uniform and his signature red beret.

His family and close advisers, as well as the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay, paid their respects on Wednesday.

A woman weeps beside the coffin of Hugo Chavez Hugo Chavez inspired great devotion among supporters

of his socialist ‘revolution’ Other world leaders - including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are flying into Caracas for his funeral.

Several Latin American nations are holding periods of national mourning for the left-wing leader, who was a strong advocate of regional unity.

Chavez’s supporters are pressing for a change to the constitution so he can be

buried in Venezuela’s national Pantheon alongside Simon Bolivar, the “Liberator” who led Venezuela and other South American countries to independence from colonial rule.

Normally, celebrated Venezuelans can only be admitted 25 years after their death.

The coffin, covered in a Venezuelan flag, was placed in a hall dedicated to the “liberators of South America”.

Thousands of people lined up quietly to say one last goodbye to Chavez,

among them government officials and Latin American leaders such as Bolivian President Evo Morales and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Classified Space for sale

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North

Friday, March 8, 2013

51

Violence: Nigeria’ll soon become a failed state –Suswam A ZA MSUE KADUNA

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overnor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State yesterday said activities of Boko Haram in the North showed that Nigeria would become a failed society if urgent steps were not taken to arrest the situation.

Suswam, who was Guest Speaker at a oneday summit organised by

Coalition of Civil Society Groups and Non-Governmental Organisations coordinated by CITAR-NGO in Kaduna, also warned that there would be no North if the activities of the sect were not checked.

Speaking on the theme: “Our Diversity, our strength,” the governor noted that the mindless killings in the region were indices of a failed nation, which posed a grave dan-

ger not only to the people of the region but the entire country.

He added that if not handled decisively, violence being unleashed by the sect would ground the economy of the North.

Suswam said Northern leaders and indeed the Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, tackle the insurgence in the region decisively as the repercussion of the activi-

ties of the sect could better be imagined in the next 10 years when the entire economy of the North would have collapsed.

Suswam, however, denied saying that Boko Haram was after Christian governors in the North, describing the purported report as the handiwork of mischief makers, who wanted to blackmail him.

He said: “The mindless killings going on the North

clearly indicate that Nigeria is heading towards a failed society; because all the indices are there.

“In a country where life becomes valueless, it means that that country is heading towards a failed society.

“In the North where dignity was the order of the day, unfortunately today, we are mindlessly killing people.

Every day you wake up,

you hear stories that 10 people have been killed here and there. I feel that we must collectively, especially those of us from the North, take the issue very seriously because the repercussion 10 years down the road is better imagined.

“We fourth a war to keep this country one, after 40 years we are still dealing with the same issues that led to the civil war.”

Kano attack: Police, CAN disagree on casualties AUGUSTINE MADU-WEST KANO

P

L-R: Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu; Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wamakko and Deputy Governor, Alhaji Muktari Shagari, during the inspection of Murtala Mohammed Hospital in Sokoto, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

FG must centralise civil servants’ recruitment –Perm Sec JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

T

he Federal Government needs to centralise the recruitment of civil servants to address cases of fraud being experienced in the exercise.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Civil Service Commission, FCSC, Ambassador Sani Saulawa Bala, said this yesterday at the biannual meeting of Permanent Secretaries of Civil Service Commission in the Federation held in Katsina State.

Bala disclosed that most of the federal agencies were not following the rules and regulations as regard the recruitment of civil servants.

He said: “A situation where you have proliferation of recruitment agencies, and everybody is recruiting, left, right and centre without consideration to the rules and regulation, you are bound to have problems.”

The permanent secretary also said that there was need to check excess-

es of some government agencies, adding that the Federal Government must make it a priority to “centralise the issue of recruitment” in the country.

He observed that the Federal Civil Service Commission was the only body handling recruitment exercises in other countries, and wondered why that of Nigeria was

different.

Bala said if the commission was allowed to handle all recruitment exercises, the often reported scandals would not occur.

On the biannual meeting, the permanent secretary said it was organised to prepare for the annual conference of Civil Service Commission holding Delta State later this year.

He said the meeting

would discuss how best to deepen and sustain the various reforms being undertaking in order to have an effective and efficient civil service.

Earlier, Governor Ibrahim Shema said his administration had since its inception, introduced policies to improve the welfare of civil servants in the state.

NECO releases results, records improvement PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA

T

he National Examination Council, NECO, has released the result of the 2012 November/December, Senior School Certificate Examination, SSCE, with candidates scoring 33.89 per cent in English Language and 54.79 per cent in Mathematics.

The result is an improvement on candidates’ performances in the two subjects since 2010.

Comparative analysis of the two core subjects in the

last three years showed that 4.6 per cent credit pass in English Language was recorded in 2010, 10.03 per cent in 2011, while 33.89 per cent was scored by candidates in 2012.

Credit pass in Mathematics in 2010 was 18.74 per cent, 44.74 per cent in 2011 and 54.79 per cent in 2012.

However, the three main science subjects of Biology recorded 22.84 per cent, Chemistry, 30.17 per cent and Physics, 0.26 per cent.

In 2010 Biology recorded only 3.45 per cent credit pass, 8.30 per cent in 2011

and 22.84 per cent in 2012, Chemistry had 6.02 per cent in 2010, 5.73 per cent in 2011 and 30.17 per cent in 2012, while Physics recorded 0.00 per cent in 2010, 0.05 per cent in 2011 and 0.26 per cent in 2012.

Announcing the release of the SSCE results in Minna yesterday, the Registrar and Chief Executive of NECO, Prof. Promise Okpala, noted that there had been an improvement in the 2012 SSCE results over the two previous years, especially in English Language and Mathematics.

olice in Kano State and the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, are sharply divided over the casualty figure in last weekend’s attack in which 13 Christians were reportedly killed by Islamic extremists.

The state CAN Chairman, Bishop Ransom Bello, on Wednesday alleged that 13 members of the association were shot dead in their compounds by people suspected to be Boko Haram members because of their Christian faith.

Bello told journalists that the attack was being handled by the Abuja Headquarters of CAN which had already begun investigation into the dastardly act.

Reacting yesterday to media reports on the incident, the state Police Commissioner, Musa Daura, said the figure was not as high as 13, but eight.

Addressing journalists at the Bompai headquarters of the state

Police Command, Daura described the publications that gave the figure of 13 victims as “misleading and unfounded,” even as he denied being contacted “by any individual or group on the issue”.

He said: “I want to make it categorically clear to the press and the public that on February 23 at about 2200 hours, a distress call was received at the Control Room that unknown gunmen attacked and killed innocent people in Shekar Madaiki, a suburb of Kano.

“Based on that ugly incident, armed security men were deployed to the scene, and search was conducted around the vicinity of the attack, the security agents discovered eight dead bodies, while a number of arrests were made; and we intend to make the outcome of the investigations public.”

But Bello disputed the commissioner’s position that eight people instead of the 13 were killed.

Group lauds efforts to arrest Asadu’s killers WOLE ADEDEJI ILORIN

A

n Ilorin-based Muslim Media Watch Group, MMWG, yesterday praised Enugu State Government forr its efforts to track down the killers of the Kwara State Police Commissioner, Chinwike Asadu.

The group commended the pledge of N10 million by the government to anyone who could volunteer information leading to the arrest of Asadu’s killers.

It noted that Asadu’s

killing “has again confirmed the fact that we are yet to succeed in curbing violent crimes and insecurity that have crippled socio-economic development of the country.”

In a statement signed by its coordinator, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, MMWG commiserated with the Kwara State Government over Asadu’s death.

It said: “We pray Allah to expose those behind the dastardly act so that they could face the wrath of the law.

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North

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

NUT urges Yuguda to reinstate 2, 000 sacked teachers IJEOMA EZEIKE ABUJA

T

he leadership of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT, has appealed to the Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, to reinstate about 2, 000 teachers recently sacked by the state government.

NUT President, Comrade Michael Alogba Olukoya, made the appeal at a news conference in Abuja yesterday,

while urging the governor to ensure quick and amicable resolution of the impasse.

He expressed sadness that the Bauchi Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, in December 2012, disengaged about 2, 000 primary school teachers on the “inexcusable ground of possessing National Certificate of Education, NCE, of the National Teachers’ Institute, NTI.”

Olukoya also faulted the decision of the state government to impound NUT’s check-off dues “ostensibly to cripple the union.”

While calling for dialogue in resolving the issues, the NUT categorically urged the state government to reabsorb the disengaged teachers while the process of verification of their certificates continued.

The NUT leadership also called for the immedi-

ate release of unpaid salaries of the affected teachers from January to date in the interest of fairness, equity and justice.

Comrade Olukoya further demanded for the release of the check-off dues of the NUT in compliance with Trade Union Act of 2004.

He said the leadership of the union had made an attempt to meet with Governor Yuguda to amicably resolve the issue but was rebuffed.

The Trade Union Act stated that it is mandatory on employers to deduct check-off dues from workers’ wages and release same unconditionally to the registered office of the union.

The NUT president said the union was desirous of a quick solution to the dispute and called on the state governor to grant the leadership of the union audience to dialogue on the way forward in the sector.

The national leadership of the union assured teachers in the state that the union was doing everything possible to resolve all issues with the relevant authorities.

He commended the Bauchi State Elders Advisory Committee, the state House of Assembly and the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, state council for their efforts in fashioning out ways to resolve the issues.

Money laundering: Goje seeks stay of proceedings

•To know fate April 12 DANJUMA WILLIAMS GOMBE

A

Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu in one of the wards after commissioning the newly built National Youth Service Corps, Orientation Camp Clinic, in the state, yesterday.

Air Force’ll strategise to tackle insecurity, says Badeh A ZA MSUE KADUNA

T

he Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, yesterday said that the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, would continue to strategise in confronting the current security challenges facing the nation.

Addressing participants at the closing ceremony of a joint symposium for 156 students

of Senior Course 35, Department of Land, Sea and Air War Fare organised by the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, AFCSC, Jaji near Kaduna, Badeh said the force think-tank would assist in addressing emerging challenges confronting, not only the service, but the nation at large.

The chief of air staff said he would strive to build an air force that the nation can truly be

proud of and that would compete favourably with others across the globe.

Badeh, who was represented by the Air Officer Commanding, AOC, Training Command, TC, NAF, Air Vice-Marshall Usman Isyaku, assured that NAF would pay particular attention to the report of the students from the symposium and implement workable recommendations.

He observed that over the years, many policies

in NAF have been products of students, stressing that tackling these issues will help in the overall defense transformation strategy.

Meanwhile, the Commandant, AFCSC, Air Vice-Marshal Eko Effion Osim, said repositioning NAF will require, among other things, a combination of new concepts that would take advantage of emerging opportunities to fulfill its constitutional role.

Auto crashes claim 23 lives in Katsina JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

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uto crashes recorded in Katsina State in the last three months have claimed the lives of at least 23 people and left 123 others injured.

Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Sector Commandant, Mr. Habu Dauda, revealed this yesterday at a one-day

stakeholders’ conference on transportation.

Dauda said 12 people lost their lives in January, five in February and six people in March.

He said within the period, about 122 people sustained varying degree of injuries in accidents involving 55 vehicles.

He lamented the increase in the number of road accidents in the state

and attributed same to over speeding, dangerous overtaking and over-loading of passengers.

Dauda maintained that stakeholders’ meeting was organised to discuss ways of minimising road accidents in the state.

He said at the end of the meeting, a standing committee would be set up to achieve set targets and come up with recommen-

dations.

Earlier, Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Ibrahim Katsina, said a technical committee to reduce road accidents in the state was recently set up by the state government.

He said the committee is to ensure a reduction in the rate of road accidents by as much as 50 percent before 2015 as declared by the United Nations.

Federal High Court sitting in Gombe, has reserved ruling till Friday, April 12, in the application brought before it for stay of proceedings on the money laundering charges preferred against the former Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Muhammad Danjuma Goje, by the EFCC. The presiding judge, Justice Babtunde Qadiri, reserved ruling on the matter after listening to arguments from both the defense and prosecuting counsel in Gombe yesterday.

The defense counsel, led

by Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, had filed a motion urging the court to stay proceedings in the substantive trial,

pending an appeal filed by them at the Court of Appeal Jos, on the decision of the court to continue entertaining the case in Gombe.

He argued that the accused persons had to appeal because they had earlier requested that the hearing venue be shifted from Gombe to any part of the country for reasons bordering on security.

However, the prosecuting counsel, led by Wahab Shittu, objected to the request, saying a continuation of the case was paramount, since the appeal as regards a change of venue does not relate to the merits of the case.

Shittu said granting stay of proceedings as requested by the accused, would delay the conclusion of such a criminal case.

Kogi LG poll: Voters urged to reject PDP WALE IBRAHIM LOKOJA

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head of the May 4, 2013 local government election in Kogi State, voters in the state have been urged to vote en mass for the candidates of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, to attract development to the state.

A chieftain of the party and member, Board of Trustees, BOT, of the ANPP, Otunba Babalola Fabunmi, who made this call while speaking in a chat with National Mirror in Lokoja, said ANPP is an alternative party in the state for now.

He said ANPP will participate actively in the forthcoming local government election in the state, adding that the party will contest the 21 chairmanship positions and the 239 ward councillorship

positions on May 4, 2013.

The ANPP BOT member called on the electorate in the state to vote out the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, stressing that the PDP had slowed down the pace of development in the state in last nine years.

“If the voters again vote for the PDP during the forthcoming council, then the state will remain perpetually stagnant without any meaning development,” he said Fabunmi maintained that that future of the state lies in the electorate, urging them to vote out the PDP. On the merger plan by opposition parties to form the All Progressives Congress, APC, Fabunmi said the plan will work and deliver Nigerians from the present socioeconomic challenges facing them.

Friday, March 8, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Sport

It is my wish that this golden era in Al Ahly never ends. I really would not see the era end soon

Celtic fines Ambrose for indiscipline

AL AHLY VETERAN MIDFIELDER, MOHAMED BARAKAT

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W/Cup qualifier: Keshi drops Yobo, calls up Martins IKENWA NNABUOGOR

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uper Eagles’ coach, Stephen Keshi, has recalled Levante of Spain striker, Obafemi Martins, as he released his 15-man foreign professionals’ list yesterday, in Abuja ahead of the March 23, Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifier against Kenya.

Fenerbahce of Turkey central defender and captain of the Eagles, Joseph Yobo, appears to be singing his career swansong as he leads the notable names of absentees that also include Ikechukwu Uche and his free-scoring Turkey-based brother, Kalu Uche; Nosa Igiebor, and injured AFCON top scorer, Emmanuel Emenike Israel-based goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, tops a list of 15 overseas-based professionals as Keshi eyes a victory to consolidate Nigeria’s top spot in Group F. The list also includes 11 of those who were in the squad that lifted the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa last month, while there are two major surprise calls.

Portugal-based six-foot plus midfielder, John Ogu, earns a surprise call to justify his commanding performance in the heart of Academica Coimbra midfield in the Portuguese top flight.

Olympic team striker, Babatunde Michael, who plays for Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine, also gets a surprise promotion from the junior team.

Midfielder Nnamdi Oduamadi, who

also shone brightly for the last U-23 squad in their qualifying games, is called. Oduamadi, who is well admired by Keshi is now set to make his final bow with the seniors after injuries prevented him from doing so in two previous occasions under former Eagles’ coach, Samson Siasia.

Keshi had on Tuesday, released a list of 24 home-based players, who are expected to enter camp in Abuja on Sunday.

THE LIST Goalkeepers Vincent Enyeama (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel); Austin Ejide (Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel) Defenders Efe Ambrose (Celtic FC, Scotland); Elderson Echiejile (FC Braga, Portugal); Kenneth Omeruo (ADO Den Haag, The Netherlands) Midfielders John Mikel Obi (Chelsea FC, England); Ogenyi Onazi (SSLazio, Italy); Fegor Ogude (Valerenga FC, Norway); John Ogu (Academica de Coimbra, Portugal) Forwards Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, Russia), Brown Ideye (Dynamo Kyiv, Ukraine), Victor Moses (Chelsea FC, England), Babatunde Michael (Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine), Nnamdi Oduamadi (A.S Varese 1910 FC, Italy), Obafemi Martins (Levante FC, Spain).

Martins

Police charge Kanu’s hotel MD with N1.4bn theft

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Kanu

he Managing Director of a hotel belonging to former Super Eagles’ captain, Nwankwo Kanu, has been arraigned before an Igbosere Magistrate’s court for N1.4billion theft from the hotel.

Forty-nine-year-old Ayoola Gam Ikon was arraigned along with another hotel staff, Oke Samuel on a 19-count charge of obtaining money under false pretence.

The hotel, Hardley Suites Limited, is situated on Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, off Elsie Femi Pearse Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

According to the charge, with suit No. K/8/2013 preferred against him by the police, Ikon

between 2005 and 2012 allegedly defrauded the hotel of about N1.4bn under the pretence of using the money to expand the existing facilities at the hotel by constructing and furnishing additional blocks of 30 suites and conference facilities, but he allegedly failed to use the money for the purpose and instead converted the money to his personal use.

He was also alleged to have forged a special resolution purportedly made by the board of directors of Hardley Suites Limited to obtain loans of N187million, N50million and N493 million from Skye Bank Plc without authorisation.

The police said the offence con-

travenes sections 8 (a) 1 (a) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006.

But the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The prosecutor presented before the court an application for the remand of the accused persons in prison custody pending advice from the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) on the ground that the lower court lacks the jurisdiction to try the matter.

But the Chief Magistrate, Mrs. O.O. Oshin, refused his application after citing sections of the Criminal Justice Administration Laws of Lagos State to buttress her claim that the court has the jurisdiction to hear and

admit the accused to bail.

She granted the first defendant bail in the sum of N1 million with two sureties in like sum. One of the sureties must be the defendant himself. The other should be a civil servant on Level 16.

The second defendant was also granted bail in the sum of N500, 000, with two sureties in like sum. One of the sureties must be a Level 16 civil servant, while the other must be working with a reputable company.

They were however remanded in Ikoyi Prisons, Lagos pending when they fulfill the bail conditions.

The matter has been adjourned till 4 April, 2013 for mention.

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Surulere LG team hailed

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hairman of the Surulere Local Government, Mr. Tajudeen Ajide Yusuf, has commended the council’s football team for what he calls the fighting spirit of the players and officials.

The team has won five straight matches in the Lagos Junior League up till last weekend.

“We need these players for the development of football in Lagos State,” Yusuf, who spoke to National Mirror yesterday, reckoned.

The chairman also commended the council’s Director of Sports, Tajudeen Disu; HOD Education, Gbenga Shogbamu, Head of Resource Centre, Segun Adenuga; and team coach,

Owolabi Aworinde, for lifting Surulere over other contenders in the league.

Yusuf, who was a former footballer, however urged the players be disciplined to prosecute the remainder of the season successfully.

“The players must believe in themselves,” he counseled, adding, “I will do everything within my ability to ensure they are motivation for the task ahead.”

Meanwhile, a match commissioner, Alhaji Okanlawon Lawal, has described the Surulere team as one of the most competitive in the Junior League.

“I can only urge the local government authorities to continue to motivate the players to achieve excellence,” Lawal said.

Police Games: IGP strikers eye polo gold

has Port Harcourt Octopus and Chilkied Securities vying for the top finish against Bobmanuel Construction and Neportal teams while favourite Port Harcourt Ayutan will meet IGP Strikers in the Biennial Games Cup. Senator Hadi Sirika’s Rubicon will also confront the Bayelsa Police Strikers in the final of the IGP Cup which will be decided before a capacity crowd that include governors of the South South region and the Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, who will be Special Guest of Honour.

Meanwhile, President of Nigerian Polo Federation (NPF), Francis Ogboro, has commended the organisers of the Police Games for including polo in this year’s comepetition.

“The decision will surely expand the horizon of polo in the country in furtherance of our resolve to identify with the Nigeria Police Force and I this is worthy of commendation,” Ogboro said yesterday in Port Harcourt.

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s the Police Games ends in Port Harcourt this weekend, the Police IGP Strikers team is in pole position to win the biggest prize in the polo event that debuted in the biennial competition this year.

The wave-making polo team booked a final berth in the race for the MD Abubakar Cup after a hard fight in the semi finals at the Port Harcourt Polo Club ground.

According to the IGP captain, CSP Aliyu Abubakar, the team is upbeat to win the first golden MD Abubakar Cup and make history as the first Police team to win the gold medal.

Organisers said yesterday that the polo players would also compete for the Mike Okiro Cup as well as the Police Games Cup. The campaign for the Okiro Cup which enters its finals today

Polo action at the Police Games

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FIFA writes NFF on ‘lesbian players’

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Super Eagles’ midfielder John Mikel Obi (l) and assistant coach Daniel Amokachi during the AFCON 2013 finals in South Africa last month

orld football governing body, FIFA, is reported to have written to the Nigeria Football Federation over claims that lesbians are now banned from playing in the female football league.

Chairperson of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), Dilichukwu Onyedinma, was quoted last week as making the statement.

But BBC Sport story yesterday, on the purported FIFA letter to the NFF did not give any details as to when the letter was written and sent.

“Any player associated with it (lesbianism) will be disqualified,” Onyedinma had said. In a speech at the NWFL’s recent annual general assembly, Onyedinma was reported to have said that lesbian players would no longer be eligible for the Nigeria women’s national team and would “be sacked” from their club sides.

While contravening FIFA’s anti-discrimination policy, the situation is made more complicated because homosexuality is not approved in Nigeria A Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill that specifically outlaws same-sex unions is awaiting Presidential assent.

Maigari targets 10th Laloko faults spot for Nigeria World Cup plans N

A FOLABI G AMBARI

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ormer Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Dr. Kashimawo Laloko, has picked holes in the country’s programme for the World Cup 2014 qualifiers which resume across Africa on the weekend of March 22 to 24.

The Super Eagles will host Harambee Stars of Kenya in what promises to be a tricky encounter at the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar on March 23.

Laloko, who bared his mind to National Mirror in Lagos yesterday, regretted that Nigeria had not reckoned with the burden of being the reigning African champions after the Eagles’ feat at the recent Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

“At this point in time, we should be talking about consolidating on the AFCON success which derived more from good fortune than anything else,” Laloko remarked.

“But we have again started the way we did prior to the Nations Cup finals with the invi-

tation of a multitude of players as if the rebuilding process is starting all over again.

“The competition ahead will be tougher and will require a steely resolve as we have suddenly become the team to beat and the earlier we realise this, the better for our chances at making it to the Brazil 2014 finals.”

Meanwhile, Laloko, who is Proprietor of The Football College (TFC), Orile Imo, Ogun State, has urged the government to desist from paying lip service to education and sports development as key to national growth.

“Physical education deserves a prominent place in the educational advancement of the youth and I think it is high time the government reviews the schools’ curriculum with a view to doing the right things,” the former school teacher said.

He lamented the dearth of quality teachers in schools, saying the government had over the years failed to encourage systematic production of teachers to aid sustainable development of the youths.

igeria football boss, Aminu Maigari, has asked the Super Eagles to aim to be in the FIFA top 10 this year.

Nigeria is currently ranked 30th in the world after Super Eagles won a third AFCON crown in South Africa last month. Their best FIFA ranking was fifth in April, 1994.

“Like you know, we have secured a friendly with the CONCACAF champions, Mexico. It is part of our drive to ensure that we finish the year among the best 10 footballing nations in the world,” Maigari told MTNFootball.com.

“We are in talks with the other soccer powers in the world and we hope to utilise every FIFA free window.”

The Eagles will on May 31 in Houston, Texas, United States take on Mexico in a friendly preparatory to the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has thrown its weight behind Maigari ahead of his CAF Zone 2 executive committee elections holding this weekend in Morocco.

Maigari is up against his Benin and Niger Republic counterpart for the position vacated by Nigeria’s Amos Adamu.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Friday, March 8, 2013

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Win Window on Nigerian p players abroad

with IIKENWA NNABUOGOR ikenwa.nnabuogor@gmail.com

Debut goal delights Huan

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ylis Ballsh of Albania midfielder John Huan says he was delighted with his first goal since he rejoined the club after a messy transfer deal that bundled him back to Kano Pillars where he played for four months. Huan netted his side’s first goal in the final group game that ended in a 3-2 loss in the Albanian FA. Despite the loss, Bylis Ballish topped the group to pick a ticket to the knockout rounds.

Huan has so far played in four league games but yet to get on the score sheet since his return to the club that also pays the wages of four other Nigerians, including the league second top scorer with nine goals, Solomon Izuchukwuka.

The former Kano Pillars player says his goal also wiped away his tears of languishing at Pillars without kicking a ball for four months.

Celtic fines Ambrose for indiscipline

He believes the goal will usher in a lot more before the season ends in the summer.

“A lot of things ran through my mind when I scored the goal because of what I went through regarding my transfer from Kano Pillars,” Huan recalls.

“I was very happy for opening my goals account and I believe a lot more will come before the season ends.

“We still got some games left and I hope to score since I’m playing regularly now. It was not easy for me when I returned but God helped me to settle down quicker than I thought with the support of my Nigerian brothers.

“The support has been overwhelming and I’m happy to be back among them again. I will continue to do my best.”

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uper Eagles’ defender Efe Ambrose has been sanctioned financially for reporting late to training on Wednesday morning ahead of their Champions League second leg clash against Juventus, according to The Scottish Sun, National Mirror has gathered..

Juventus completed a twolegged victory over Celtic, running away 3-0 winners before the Celtic fans, to qualify for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League on a 5 - 0 aggregate.

The Turin giants won the second leg tie Wednesday night 2-0, thanks to goals by Alessandro Matri in the first half and Fabio Quagliarella in the second period.

Ambrose was played from the bench as a result of his indiscipline as manager Neil Lennon ran tactical changes..

“That is what happened, it was this morning. There was disciplinary action taken against him.

But it wouldn’t have affected the team selection tonight,’’ Lennon told the scottishsun.co.uk.

Ambrose replaced Kenyan Victor Wanyama just before the start of the second half, his seventh appearance in the Champions League.

Emerum waits for big chance

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sperance of Tunisia new signing Emeka Emerum has told National Mirror he’s prepared to wait for his time and grab his opportunity when his debut game comes. The 18-year-old striker, who recently got his registration papers with the Tunisian FA after signing a four-year contract, is yet to play his official game for the Blood and Gold.

Emerum, who dumped CA Bizerte for the 25 time Tunisian champions, has proved he is worth to be handed a big chance in the league or champions League, having been registered for the continental club championship as well.

The former Bayern Munich youth teamer was also handed his first unofficial debut against the Flying Eagles in a friendly game played last week at the Esperance complex.

Emerum told National Mirror that he was not fully set for his much expected bow for the Tunisian kings and promised he would prove to the world what he could do.

“I have been in safe hands with the best crop of players in the Tunisian League and I just can’t wait to do my thing,” Emerum said.

“I have also been taken into the wings of my African brother Harrison Afful who I respect and admire so much.

“I know it’s just a matter of time before I would be given my time to prove myself. I’m so happy to be here and I can’t thank God enough for this massive opportunity He has given me.

“The experience I have gained playing with the big players has been immense and valuable because it will help shape my future as a player.

“Esperance are the biggest club in

Tunisia and among the best in North Africa and the Arab world with numerous laurels in their cabinet.

“So, it was a good choice for me but I must not forget the contribution of CA Bizerte in my development.

“I hope to achieve a lot with the team and I just can’t want to get into the groove. The coach decides and I respect his decisions.”

Emerum eyed a chance with the Flying Eagles and hoped he would catch coach John Obuh’s eye in the friendly game last week but was overlooked.

Ambrose

Chibuike’s Eagles’ dreams still alive

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osenborg of Norway midfielder John Chibuike says his dreams to play for the Super Eagles is still very much alive, despite interest from Sweden. Reports emerged last year that the authorities in the Swedish national team made enquiries about the availability of the former Enugu Rangers star.

Chibuike left a commendable record in Sweden having been named Best Foreign Player after spending three years at BK Hacken, which reportedly sparked an interest on the player. He confirmed to National Mirror about the interest but said he was yet to be contacted thereafter.

The former Rangers star says the Nigerian blood still runs in his veins and is prepared to wait for the golden chance to defend the colours of his fatherland.

“It’s the dream of every player to play for his country and I’m still waiting for the opportunity to come by way,” Chibuike said.

“I will never forget my days in Sweden and the fond memories will live with me for the rest of my life but I

knew it would be easier for to play for Nigeria.

“The process of getting citizenship in Sweden is long concerning the requirements and all of that and then, it will be a bit tough now that I’m playing in Norway.

“I have also nursed the dreams of playing for Nigeria so day as you know that my home town Aba has long produced players for the Super Eagles.

“I want to continue with the tradition and I hope I will be there one day. Injuries slowed me down a bit last season but I’m fully fit this season.

“Rosenborg are one of the biggest clubs in Norway and I want to achieve things here by winning titles and going on to play for Super Eagles.”

Chibuike joined Rosenborg in a mouth-watering 1.2 million Euro transfer switch, one of the biggest in the Norwegian transfer market in recent times. He penned a four-year contract.

He’s spending his second season at the 22-time Norwegian champions and netted 10 goals.

Chibuike