Oct 28 2016 by GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LIMITED

Amid opposition, Senate amends CCB, CCT Acts •Saraki again loses bid to stop trial

George Oji and Doosuur Iwambe Saraki

Vol. 6 N0. 1471

enate yesterday amended the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, and Code

of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Acts amid opposition by some senators. But as the senators were amending the Acts, their leader, Bukola Saraki, had

his application before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, challenging the jurisdiction of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

Kachikwu

ExxonMobil discovers one-billionbarrel well off Nigerian shores P.4

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Jimoh Ibrahim is Ondo PDP guber candidate –INEC •Court says Jegede lacks locus standi to challenge Ibrahim •It’s victory for God –Candidate •See full list of candidates on Pg.3

FLASHBACK: L-R: Secretary of Ondo State PDP Electoral Committee, Mr. Bernard Mikko; PDP governorship candidate for Ondo State, Barr. Jimoh Ibrahim, CFR, (holding his Certificate of Return) and leader of Ondo State PDP Governorship Primary Committee, Mr Ali Gulak, at the Ondo PDP Primaries in Ibadan recently.

George Opara, Ojo Oyewamide and Doosuur Iwambe

fter series of legal fireworks and intrigues, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has finally recognised Jimoh Ibrahim Folorunso as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the Ondo State governorship election. Ibrahim’s deputy is Alabi Ebenezer, a former party Chairman of PDP in Ondo State. The INEC release signed by its Secretary, Augusta Ogakwu, to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Ondo State, showed that the number of candidates for the governorship election is 28, with Rotimi Akeredolu also named as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). His CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

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Jimoh Ibrahim is Ondo PDP guber candidate –INEC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

deputy is Alfred Agboola Ajayi. An obviously elated Jimoh Ibrahim reacted in five words: “The victory is for God.” Ibrahim’s reaction could be understood against the background of the intense challenge on who is the authentic candidate of PDP in the Ondo State governorship poll between him and former attorney general in the state, Eyitayo Jegede, who was chosen as the candidate of the Sen. Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee. However, the whole distractions have been put to rest permanently. On INEC’s recognition of Barrister Ibrahim, Hon. Benard Mikko, the PDP acting National Publicity Secretary, said “it is not only victory for the people of Ondo State, but also a victory for the rule of law and diminishing impunity in our electoral system”. He said “the PDP NWC under the leadership of Sen. Sheriff is pleased with this development and hereby congratulates the people of Ondo State as they go to polls on November 26, to vote PDP and elect Bar Jimoh Ibrahim as their next governor.” Chairman of the PDP in Ondo State, Prince Biyi Poroye, said the decision of INEC listing Ibrahim as the party’s flagbearer in the forthcoming election is the beauty of democracy. Poroye said it is the wish of the people of the state, and expressed confidence that the election would be won by the PDP. He commended INEC for allowing the rule of law to guide its decision on who is the authentic candidate of the party. The chairman disclosed that the party’s national body would in a matter of days set up a campaign committee. “I can assure you that a lot of people will now start trooping into our party now that the storm is over. We will soon commence our campaign. “We commend INEC for allowing justice to reign in this matter. We thank the people of Ondo State for standing by us. By the

grace of God, PDP will win the governorship election in the state,” he said. However, INEC recognition of Ibrahim came barely 24 hours after the PDP National Working Committee, NWC, and its entire leadership had warned officials of the commission that they risk contempt of court and consequent imprisonment if they rejected their candidate. In the INEC approved list of candidates for the election are Olusola Oke, candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Adeuti Stephen Taye is the Labour Party (LP) candidate. Olu Agunloye is listed as the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, while Aidi Bolarinwa Elijah is the candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). Others are Famusipe Rufus Idowu (APGA); Daniel Ogungbemi (KOWA); Oluwasegun Odidi (PDC). However, four female governorship candidates made the INEC list, with other four women deputy governorship candidates. The female governorship candidates are: Margareta Modupe Ogunyoku (Ojo), ADC; Oluyi Falashade Hellen, APA; Falana Olamide Juliana, DPP, and Orunmoluyi Temidola Olagbegi of PPN. Before the list was released, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja had earlier declined to grant an application filed by Mr. Jegede, seeking to appeal an earlier decision that ordered INEC to recognise Mr. Ibrahim as the PDP governorship flag bearer. The judge, in a ruling that lasted for about one hour, held that Jegede lacked the locus standi (to appeal the decision of the court. Justice Abang had on Friday, October 14, ordered INEC to recognise Ibrahim as the flag-bearer of the PDP for the November 26 governorship election. The court, in its ruling, made the order to reinforce a verdict it earlier gave on June 29, which recognised the Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of the

PDP. The said judgement had directed INEC to only deal with the Sheriff-led faction instead of the Ahmed Markafi-led group. The ruling therefore nullified the candidature of Jegede. The ruling was based on the application brought by the Chairman and Secretary of the PDP in Ondo State, Prince Biyi Poroye and Ademola A. Genty, respectively, and their counterparts in Osun and Oyo states. The application was for the enforcement of the June 29 judgment of the court affirming Poroye, Genty and others, who emerged from the May 10 congresses of the party in the South West, as the

authentic leaders of the party in the region. But consequent upon the October 14 ruling, Jegede, in a motion filed on October 17, had sought to be joined in the suit as an interested party to enable him appeal against the judgment. Some of his grounds for the application included that he was affected by the October 14 ruling of the court and as such, he intended to appeal against it. But Justice Abang held that Jegede was not mentioned in the substantive matter and as such, he lacked the locus standi to seek leave to appeal the judgment. He said: “Jegede lacked

the right to be joined in the main suit and as such, he cannot be joined thereafter or have the right to appeal the judgment and therefore he was not entitled to appeal. “There is nothing from the records of the court leading to the judgement of June 29, showing that the applicant has interest in the matter.” The judge further stated that it was the political party that submits the list of candidates it wants to sponsor in an election. “It is only the political party that can state that a candidate’s name has been submitted. Without a party, a candidate cannot go for election. It is the party that canvasses votes; it is

a party that wins the election. Only political party can stand for an election,” he said. Justice Abang also held that since PDP, which has the right to appeal the judgment has not done so; it was not in the place of Jegede to do so. The judge also ruled that another ground in which Jegede was not entitled to appeal, was that he did not participate in the primaries conducted by the plaintiff on August 29. “In this case, there was no evidence that Jegede participated in the primaries conducted on August 29. It is not a candidate that nominates himself. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3>>

President Muhammadu Buhari (right) with former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, during an audience with the President at the State House in Abuja, yesterday.

Amid opposition, Senate amends CCB, CCT Acts CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CCT to try him over false assets declaration charges dismissed. The senators, who opposed the amendment of the bill argued that it would be morally wrong and politically inaccurate to carry out the exercise, now that Saraki is facing trial before the CCT. But majority of the senators who are ardent supporters of Saraki insisted on the amendment and they out voted those in opposition to pass the bill. The House of Representatives had forwarded the draft amendment bill of the CCB and CCT Act to the senate for concurrence. The senate had earlier this year commenced the amendment of the CCB and

CCT Acts, following the trial of Saraki over alleged false assets declaration and money laundering while he was the governor of Kwara State. But the senators were forced to abandon the amendment as a result of mounting pressure, which was championed by civil society organisations and the media. The House, however, went ahead and successfully effected some amendments to the two acts sometime in May this year and forwarded same to the senate for concurrence. Against the practice in the National Assembly where the senate was expected to merely concur to the bill from the House, the senators spent time to effect comprehensive amendment of what was passed by the House.

Some of the amendments introduced by the senate included the removal of the sole powers to appoint the Chairmen of both the CCB and CCT from the President and investment of same to the senate. Section 20 (4) made mandatory the appointment of the chairman and members of the CCT to be subjected to the confirmation of the Senate. Another significant amendment to Act is to make it compulsory for any case of breach or non compliance to be brought to the notice of the person concerned to enable him make a written admission and where such is done, there shall be no reference to the Tribunal. “Upon complaint(s) of any breach or where it ap-

pears to the Bureau that there is a breach of the provision of this Act, any person concerned shall be given particulars of such non compliance or breaches to explain before any reference to the Tribunal,” the new provision provides. Section 4 (2) of the draft bill was also amended to substitute the word “President,” with that of, “the National Assembly” as the one to appoint members of staff of the Bureau and exercise disciplinary control over them. The amendment also removed the fixed tenure of the Chairman and members of the Bureau until they attained the age of 70 years and subsequently, tenurised same. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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Amid opposition, Senate amends CCB, CCT Acts CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

“The chairman and members shall serve for a term of five years subject to renewal for one further term,” the bill stated. Other areas that were amended include Section 18 (1) of the existing Act which reads, “The President may by order exempt any cadre of public officers from the provisions of this Act if it appears to him that their position in the public service is below the rank which he considers appropriate for the application of those provisions.” Section 18(2) of the existing Act provided that, “The President may by order confer on the Bureau such additional powers as may appear to him to be necessary to enable it to discharge more effectively the functions conferred upon it under this act.” The issue took another dimension when Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, attempted to withdraw the bill because of outpouring of emotions. His motion to withdraw it was seconded by the Chairman of the Unity Forum, Senator Banabas Germade. Unfortunately, when the question was put to vote, the motion was defeated and it did not go down well with the Unity Forum Senators most of who later gradually left the chamber. Ndume had also tried to caution against removing the powers of the President that enabled him to control the CCB. But he attracted serious opposition and one senator from one of the South East states described as a sectional leader. At a point, Ndume asked the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the session to call the lawmaker to order. One of the senators who opposed the passage of the bill, Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe North) in his presentation said: “The Senate is a moderator on legislation. This bill emanated from the House of Representatives and our colleagues there passed it. I agree totally with the submissions of some of our colleagues here that we don’t have to tarry to pass it. “We will be doing ourselves and this National Assembly a better service if we step down this thing and move on with some other

things that will make this a better bill only when we convince ourselves that what we are trying to do is not for our sake. “If we are affected today because perhaps either one of us or some of us are before the tribunal or something, this is not a permanent situation and when we legislate, we legislate for maybe centuries and we legislate dispassionately not for ourselves. “Mr. chairman, I feel very passionate about this that whatever we feel about any situation that we are in, let’s make sure that that thing doesn’t get into us when we legislate for the sake of our people.” But Ekweremadu cautioned Lawal against describing the amendment of the bill as self serving. He said: “For the purposes of the public, I think we need to put this in proper perspective. This bill came as a House bill and like other House bills we concurred but in reference to this we decided to send it to the committee so that they can have another look at it, we would have passed it that same day. But we sent it to the committee and came up this morning. “The question was put as to whether we should consider it and the answer was yes. So, we didn’t just consider it because we wanted to consider it, the question was properly put whether we should go to the committee on the whole to consider it and everybody said yes. “Now we are taking it clause by clause but we have not jumped to any particular clause. Sometimes we take two or three clauses but here because of the sensitive nature of this, we are taking it clause by clause and we are even bending over backwards to reconsider issues. “So it will be unfair to us to accuse ourselves here of being unnecessarily hasty and that is not fair to this senate. “So, please, if the Leader wants to change his mind about reconsidering the bill I don’t have problem with it. “But we should not create the impression that there is any haste in reconsidering this bill and we have followed the rules to the latter up to this moment.” Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal has once again dismissed Saraki’s objection to his tria by the CCT. The dismissal was the sec-

ond time the Appeal Court would be delivering judgment on the same subject of jurisdiction of the CCT to try the Senate President. The court had last year delivered a similar verdict affirming the jurisdiction of the CCT to try Saraki. The appeal court judgment was validated by the Supreme Court on February 5, 2016 where the apex court dismissed his appeal for lacking in merit.

A seven-man panel, presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, had held that the CCT was properly constituted to exercise jurisdiction over Saraki’s trial and has jurisdiction to try criminal matters. Delivering judgment yesterday, the four man panel presided over by Justice Abdul Aboki unanimously resolved all the eight issues formulated for determination against Saraki.

Affirming the earlier ruling of the Danladi Umar-led CCT that affirmed the tribunal’s jurisdiction, Justice Aboki held among others that contrary to Saraki’s contention, the Attorney-General of the Federation had the power to institute charges against him before the CCT. The appeal court also held that under the Constitution, the Code of Conduct was not under any obligation to invite the appellant to enable

him make written admission of breaches in his asset declaration forms before charges could be initiated against him. It held that the Tribunal had rightly departed from its earlier decision exonerating a former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu on account that he was not invited by the CCB to confront him with the allegations levelled against him.

L-R: Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Isa Dutse, and Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, during an Interactive Session between the Senate Committee on Apprropriation and the ministers in Abuja, yesterday.

ExxonMobil discovers one-billion-barrel well off Nigerian shores

xxonMobil said it has discovered up to 1 billion barrels of oil off Nigeria’s shores. In a statement yesterday, the company said the “significant discovery” at Owowo-3 well extends an existing field worked by the U.S. multinational.

ExxonMobil is the operator and owns 27 per cent of Owowo. Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, holds majority shares. Other partners include Chevron, France’s Total and Chinese-Canadian Nexen.

The news comes the day before ExxonMobil announces third-quarter results. Oil multinationals in Nigeria are suffering attacks by militants who have slashed production, driving the country into recession.

Lagos-based SBM Intelligence risk analysts estimate that ExxonMobil, Dutch-British Shell and Chevron lost $7.1bn in the first half of this year — some 70 per cent of earnings — through militant attacks, low oil prices and weak refinery margins.

Chibok schoolgirl’s child not for Boko Haram

ne of the Chibok schoolgirls that came back with a child was already pregnant before she was abducted along with 219 other girls by Boko Haram gunmen on 14 April 2014. A source close to negotiations to free the remaining schoolgirls told NAN that there was no truth whatsoever in stories making the rounds that the girl was impregnated by one of her Boko Haram abductors. The informed source clarified that contrary to some media reports, the girl had conceived before her abduction after being properly married.

“The girl and her parents have confirmed this. The child is not a Boko Haram Child,” he said. The source also debunked stories that one of the girls came back pregnant, with some reports specifically saying one was four months pregnant. The NAN source trashed the stories as unfounded. “None of the girls released was sexually harassed or abused while in captivity by their abductors,” he said. “The current state of the girls is a source of joy as they are receiving

the best medical, psychological and other forms of support from the authorities as directed by the Federal Government “All groups including the families, The Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG, and Chibok Community are happy with their condition as medical experts work to address their health conditions. “The girls have been visited by members of International Committee of the Red Cross, which played a great role in getting the girls freed. “It is obvious to everyone that having been in captivity, the girls were traumatised but since

their release, they are showing signs of recovering well,’’he said. Rumours, speculative reports about the state of the 21 released Boko Haram captives, are said to be creating stumbling blocks to further talks with the insurgents. The insurgents were said to be angry with Government for breaching some understanding reached with them when the 21 girls were being handed over 13 october. However, government sources have denied any link with various speculative reports, especially in the social media.

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PSC dismisses 6 policemen, promotes 4 CP, 109 officers George Opara ABUJA

olice Service Commission, PSC, has promoted four Deputy Commissioners to Commissioners of Police, 109 officers, dismissed six officers and suspended the promotion of 12 other officers. Dismissed officers were said to have commit-

ted various offences ranging from impersonation, forgery, insubordination and negligence to disobedience to lawful order. The dismissal was said to be part of the decisions the commission took on the 55 disciplinary cases brought before it. The newly promoted commissioners are Posi E Ajunwa, Akinsanmi Francis Ayo, Kenneth

Ebrimson and Akpoebi Agberebi Egbuson. In addition, 17 Assistant Commissioners of Police were promoted to the position of Deputy Commissioners as 78 Chief Superintendents of Police moved to the rank of Assistant Commissioners of Police. Chairman of the commission, Dr. Mike Mbama Okiro, a retired Inspector

General of Police made this development public at the end of the twoday, 17th plenary meeting he presided yesterday in Abuja. Similarly, the commission has endorsed the promotion of one Superintendent of Police to Chief Superintendent of Police; 12 Deputy Superintendents of Police to Superintendent of Police and one

Assistant Superintendent of Police to Deputy Superintendent of Police. Other promotions include two Chief Superintendents of Police to Assistant Commissioners of Police on acting capacity, two Superintendents of Police to acting Chief Superintendents of Police, two Deputy Superintendents of Police to acting Superintendent of Police, six Assistant Superintendents of Police to acting

Deputy Superintendents of Police and 12 Inspectors to acting Assistant Superintendents of Police. But the commission rejected the recommendation for special promotion of one DSP and one Inspector and returned the recommendation for the appointment of a Deputy Commissioner of Police to Commissioner of Police on acting capacity for proper presentation.

N5.1bn Armsgate: How Jonathan’s aide laundered N250.7m - EFCC witness Wale Igbintade

L-R: Project Manager, SCC Nigeria Limited, Engr. Michael Rolbin; Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN; Managing Director, SCC Nigeria Limited, Engr. Levy Yuvel and Director, Renewable and Rural Power Access in the Ministry, Engr. Abayomi Adebisi, during the Minister’s inspection tour of the Kashimbilla 40MW Hydropower Plant in Taraba State, yesterday.

How I laundered N1.2bn in Ghana-must-go bags for Fayose –Witness D oosuur I wambe ABUJA

lade Oluseye Sunday, star witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the ongoing trial of an associate of Gover nor Ayodele Fayose of Ekitu State, Mr. Abiodun Agbele, Thursday gave a vivid account of how he moved about N1.2 billion to Fayose prior to the 2015 general election. The witness, a senior manager and a branch head of Zenith Bank, Akure, Ondo State, told Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that he helped the duo of for mer Minister of State, Defense, Musiliu Obanikoro and Fayose, to move the fund which was stuffed in Ghana-

must-go bags in two tranches. Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, Sunday infor med the court that he saw the accused (Agbele) on June 17, 2014, when his zonal head, Abiodun Oshodi, infor med him that he received a message from one Lawrence Akande who is a regional manager in Ibadan, Oyo State, that a customer of the bank would be coming with cash through Akure branch, and since his branch is in Akure, he should arrange for a bullion van to be taken to the airport to convey the cash when it arrives. “After about one hour, my zonal head, Abiodun, walked to me, saying that the customer in question was in the bank with him and

I followed him to his office and he introduced the defendant to me as the customer. “He told me that they have security details and I don’t need other securities since they had enough. That was how we left the office, me, my zonal head and the bullion van driver with the defendant and some of his securities, including one Adewale who happened to be the Aide De Camp of Obanikoro. “I was able to recognise Senator Obanikoro since the appearance resembles his picture that I used to see on the television or newspaper, but I cannot recognise the third person that came out of the aircraft with him. “The cash was packed inside several sacks popularly referred to as Ghana-

must-go. The aircraft that brought the second tranche of the cash was of a smaller size when compared with the aircraft that brought the first tranche. The sacks were many and as such I cannot remember the number.” Agbele, an accomplice of Fayose, who was arraigned alongside Obanikoro (in absentia), Sylvan Mcnamara Limited, A. O. Adewale, Tunde Oshinowo and Olalekan Ogunseye (all at large) before the court on an 11-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N1.2 billion, allegedly transferred from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA. The trial has been adjour ned to November 14 and 17, 2016 for continuation of trial.

compliance officer with Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB, Kayode Temitope Olanrewaju, Thursday told a Lagos Federal High Court, in Lagos how WaripamoOwei Dudafa, former Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan, laundered N250.7 million in his account between 2013 and 2015. Dudafa alongside Joseph Iwuejo and four companies are being arraigned before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on alleged N5.1 billion fraud. At the resumed trial of the accused persons, Kayode, who is the third prosecution witness, while being led in evidence by the EFCC lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, informed the court that his bank received a letter from the EFCC requesting for the account opening packages of D Jakes Fast Food and Restaurant, of which Dudafa, his wife, Preye, and his son, Dudafa Jnr were directors, and one Florence Itekesi. Kayode also informed the court how N63.2m in the installments of N3.2m, N20m in three places were deposited in the account of D Jakes Fast Food and Restaurant on March 18, 2013. The prosecution witness also stated that the fast food account with the banks also received N20 million, N79.2m from 313 Bureau De Change and one Abubakar Murtala Bashir, on January 23 and 26, 2015, while adding that N88m was paid into the account by Danbazau Global Limited and

Bambura Global Company. He also stated that N20.3 million was paid into the fast food account by Dambazua Global Limited on January 30, 2015. However when crossexamined by lawyers to the accused persons, Mr. Gboyega Oyewole and Sunday Abumere, the witness informed the court that the fast food’s account are domiciled at the Yenagoa branch of the bank, and that it was opened in 2007. He also stated that there were inflows of cash in the account when it was opened but that he did not know if it had been dormant before it was reactivated. Justice Mohammed Idris has adjourned to December 8, for continuation a trial. The duo was arraigned before the court on 23 count-charge bordering on alleged N5.1 billion fraud, by the EFCC. They had pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and granted bail by the court. In the charge, the EFCC alleged that Dudafa and Joseph Nna who also claimed to be Taiwo Ebenezer and Olugbenga Isaiah, had between June 11, 2013, and June 2015, used different companies to fraudulently steal and commit the alleged offences. Some of the companies alleged used in committing the alleged offences includes Seagate Property Development & Investment Limited, Avalon Global Property Development Company Limited, Iwejuo Joseph Nna, and Pluto LUTO Property & Investment Company Limited; Iwejuo Joseph Nna and Rotate Interlink Services Limited.

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L-R: Corporate Communications/Brand Public Relations Manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Patrick Olowokere; Corps Public Education Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Imoh Etuk; Sustainability/Regulatory Relations Manager, NB Plc, Mr. Edem Vindah; and Head, Media Relations and Strategy, FRSC, Mr. Bisi Kazeem, during a press conference on ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ campaign in Lagos, on Wednesday.

L-R: Guest Lecturer, Pastor Toyin Fafowora; celebrant, Prof. Olabopo Osuntokun and Historian, Prof. Bolanle Awe; at a Public Lecture to mark 80th birthday of Prof. Olabopo Osuntokun in Ibadan, yesterday.

L-R: Director, Royal-Child Heritage Microfinance Bank Limited (RCHMB), Mr. Festus Agu; Chief Operating Officer, RCHMB, Mrs. Ivy Orieji; Dr. Becky Enenche; Senior Pastor, Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Dr. Paul Enenche and Chairman, Board of Directors, RCHMB, Mr. Michael Orieji, during the inauguration of RCHM Bank in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

L-R: Managing Director, FSDH Merchant Bank, Mr Rilwan Belo-Osagie; Chief Executive Officer, FMDQ OTC, Mr Bola Onadele Koko and Head, Debt Capital Market, Stanbic IBTC Capital Ltd, Mr Kobby Bentsi-Enchill, during the FSDH Merchant Bank’s N14.17bn and N814.12m Commercial Paper Quotation Ceremony in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

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Buhari reviews 13% derivation to oil-producing states Chidi Ugwu Rotimi Fadeyi

resident Muhammadu Buhari is presently reviewing the application of 13 per cent derivation allocation to the oil producing states, says Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Dr.Ibe Kachikwu. Kachikwu, who disclosed this in Abuja during an interview with journalists shortly after the president launched the sector’s policy road map, noted that the move is part of Federal Government’s plans to address the issues confronting the Niger Delta. The Petroleum Sector Policy Road Map which was launched at the Presidential Villa is tagged: “The 7 Big Wins.” Kachikwu said the Federal Government would be reaching out to the state governors in order to ensure that funds are chan-

...flags off oil, gas road map nelled to the core areas where oil is produced. “The president is also reviewing the proposal we gave him to look at how the 13 per cent derivation is applied. Right now it is a budgeting tool for state governments. We are going to be appealing to them to begin to put that into the core areas of the oil producing communities. And not just see it as a budgeting number,” he said. According to him, all stakeholders including the president, the minister from the states and security chiefs would meet on Tuesday with about 50 leaders of the Niger Delta, in order to tackle the lingering crisis in the region. He noted that the Federal Government would be launching a $10 billion infrastructure rebirth programmes in the region by instalments.

The minister noted that the fund, which will be released in instalments, would not come strictly from the Federal Government, but also from individuals, interested international organisations and state governments. Kachikwu said the Niger Delta state governors will have to meet to decide which cross border infrastructure the fund would be expended on. He said: “Finally, we are also launching $10 billion infrastructural rebirth investment programmes in the Niger Delta region. This is not money that is going to come strictly from the federal government. It is going to come from investors, individuals, who are ready to do private sector infrastructure, obviously states and federal governments as the case may be and international organisations that have shown interest to help.

““What is more important is not the number but the conceptual alizarin of the process. It is a fact that governors will have to come together from the region to begin to look at cross state interests, whether there will be railways, whether there will be power facilities, whether there will be specialist hospitals or whatever.” Kachikwu said government was also looking into the amnesty programme towards its wind up in about a year. He added that the issue with the programme is that people have taken it to be “a social collection point... We are going to be looking at issues like coastal control and Niger Delta subsidiary policing and paramilitary types of organisations.” He further noted that the government would also address the issue of funding

for those that are ready to go into private businesses. The 7 Big Wins were Policy and Regulation, Business Environment and Investment Drive, Gas Revolution, Refineries and Local Production capacity, Niger Delta and Security, Transparency and Efficiency and Stakeholder Management & International Co-ordination. Owing to the plans to remove the crisis in the region, the ministry has now targeted zero closure of oil facilities by next year, unless for technical challenges. Kachikwu revealed that the issue of security in the Niger Delta will cease being the responsibility of the military to become that of the oil companies, in line with international practices. Buhari, at the occasion, said oil and gas remains a critical enabler for the successful implementation of the budget.

The President explained that the sector was also the source of funds for laying a strong foundation for a new and more diversified economy as well as take care of foreign exchange requirements. He said the task before the Petroleum Resources Ministry was to maximise the potentials and opportunities across the whole range of oil and gas industry to stimulate the economy despite the current economic challenge. According to him, this would require creativity, innovation, technology and robust partnership amongst various stakeholders. He said there was also the dire need to instill a new culture of transparency and efficiency in the industry, streamline operations along the best practitioners by championing and implementing strategic reforms at every layer of the industry.

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NNPC, police strengthen ties to curb attacks on oil, gas facilities Chidi Ugwu ABUJA

igerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, have pledged to work

more closely to tackle incessant attacks on oil and gas facilities across the country. According to a statement signed by NNPC spokesman, Garba Deen Muhammad, the two

Customary Court of Appeal kicks as Reps move to strip its power George Opara and Ubong Ukpong

hief Registrar, Customary Court of Appeal, FCT Judiciary, Abuja, Uthman Shehu Abbas, has opposed the proposed amendment of the court’s Act seeking to remove civil matters from its jurisdiction. At the House of Representatives’ public hearing Thursday on a bill for an Act to amend the Customary Court Act F 39 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, Uthman submitted that doing so would mean not only to cage the Customary Court’s jurisdiction but castrating its operations. He also kicked against the proposal to stop customary courts from sitting over other matters, arguing that no lawyer was trained exclusively to handle or sit over customary cases; rather they are trained in all aspects of the profession. The chief registrar observed that the proposed bill for amendment of the FCT Customary Court Act 2007 was based on the judgment of Justice Ugochukwu A. Ogakwu of March 17, 2011 which struck out three very

important aspects of the matter, a decision which he said was vindictive. The judicial officer further challenged the proposal on grounds that there is an ongoing appeal against the said judgement which probably informed the need for the amendment. However, Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai who is sponsoring the bill that brought about the proposed amendment gave detailed explanation on what separates civil from customary matters, citing constitutional provisions to back the amendment. The lawmaker said with plans to increase the number of FCT judges to 75 and over 65 magistrate and district courts within the territory to effectively handle civil matters, customary courts, established in 2007, should concentrate only on Customary Laws. But Hon. Muntari Dandutse, chairman, House Committee on FCT Judiciary has assured stakeholders at the hearing that all divergent views expressed on the occasion would be put into consideration in the committee’s final report to the Committee of the Whole.

agencies made this commitment on Wednesday when the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, visited the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, at the Force Headquarters in Abuja. Speaking during the event, Dr. Baru drew the attention of the police to the growing insecurity

ADO EKITI

oni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Thursday visited monarchs in Ekiti State, saying a new era of unity among Yoruba traditional rulers that would bring development to their people had come. Oba Ogunwusi said there was need for unity in Yorubaland to usher in a new era of peace, unity and development.

He said: “Unity has come to Yorubaland. There is nothing like unity. It is my prayer that our youths will be gainfully employed; the barren will be fruitful and when there is unity, there will be development; things will go well. “The new era in Yorubaland will bring good things to us; we want our youths to be empowered; businessmen and businesswomen to be prosperous in their businesses. Peace

tion, refineries shutdown and loss of lives. He called on the police boss to deploy police personnel to all oil and gas facilities, adding that the corporation was ready to provide whatever support is needed for enhanced security. The IGP, on his part, stated that the police have

enjoyed long-standing cooperation with NNPC and expressed optimism that such collaboration would continue. He said the police was working on a number of strategies to build capacity for effective policing of the difficult terrain where some of the oil and gas facilities are located.

Again, fire outbreak causes panic at Lagos Airport Olusegun Koiki

or the umpteenth time, a major fire outbreak was Thursday averted at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos. The fire incident, which occurred at exactly 11.30am, our correspondent learnt, emanated from the Avio Bridge E-54 at the terminal. It took the timely intervention of fire fighters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, for the fire and smoke which enveloped the entire environment to be put off. Reason for the fire incident remained unknown as at the time of filing this report, but a source close to the terminal said the incident may not be unconnected with the inferior cables used by contractors in the recent remodeling exercise, spearheaded by former Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah.

Unity among Yoruba monarchs precursor to devt, prosperity –Ooni Abiodun Nejo

around oil and gas facilities with the latest being the attack on the Chevron gas pipeline in Delta State. The GMD explained that the attacks on oil and gas facilities are taking a toll on the nation’s budget with massive shortfalls in revenue as well huge losses in petroleum products, environmental degrada-

will reign in Ekiti; peace will reign in Yorubaland,” the Ooni prayed. The monarch, on the occasion which marked his first official visit to Ekiti State since his enthronement as the Ooni, stopped over at Aramoko Ekiti where he visited the Alara, Oba Olu Adeyemi. He later visited the Owa Ajero of Ijero Ekiti, Oba Joseph Adewole in Ijero Ekiti and the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe in Ado Ekiti.

But, the acting spokesperson of FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, in a telephone conversation with our correspondent debunked the fire incident claim, saying it was a spark from one of the cables at the airport. Our correspondent learnt that it took almost an hour for the fire to be put out. The incident also disrupted flight activities in and out of the airport while it lasted. Besides, our correspon-

dent gathered that the entire water in the fire tender was exhausted within minutes and the fire fighters had to refill the tank in order to finally quench the raging inferno. A statement by Yakubu described the incident as a hitch. She said power has been restored shortly after the spark that happened at the Finger Main Distribution Board at the E-Finger of the airport. The statement hinted

that the spark occurred at the E-Finger of the airport at about 11.30am. The statement added: “However, the engineers successfully corrected all defaults and normalcy was restored at affected areas. “While assuring airport users of safety and security at our airports, FAAN wishes to apologise to passengers, airlines and the general public for the inconvenience caused by this interruption.”

Editorial

Friday, October 28, 2016

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Onaiyekan on persisting leadership insensitivity

he slow response of the Nigerian state to critical national issues can be quite distressing, indeed, exasperating to many. It is, therefore, not surprising that Roman Catholic Cardinal and the Archbishop of Abuja Archdiocese, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, at a public function some days ago in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, again drew public attention to the recklessness and revelling going on in government circles even when the country is grinding in economic recession. Onaiyekan said it was quite disturbing that most of the present senators who were once governors in their respective states still drew pensions as ex-governors and yet collect millions of naira as lawmakers, while a large percentage of Nigerians die daily because of abject poverty. National Assembly members, he said, “make laws appropriating huge allowances for themselves along with vehicles whose costs are in millions of naira and openly display insensitivity to the suffering of the people who voted them into office”. The President, governors and National Assembly members should be sensitive to the current economic recession by cutting down on ostentatious living, Onaiyekan advised. He was no less peeved at the sub-

sisting high cost of running government at both federal and state levels at a time when living for the common man had dropped to zero. The Cardinal canvassed a cut in the allowances and salaries of national and state lawmakers; as well as in the earnings of their counterparts in the executive arm of every tier of government. In the news since April this year, for example, were reports that about 21 governors and deputy governors currently serving as senators or ministers and receiving pay in their capacity as lawmakers were still drawing billions of naira in pension payments and salaries from their states, even when millions of civil servants in their home states wallowed in hunger and destitution without salaries for months unend. They, without conscience, draw the huge pensions, salaries and allowances regularly, whether or not their states had enough funds to service the gluttony; and without minding the grinding financial plight of their states and the widespread poverty ravaging the nation. According to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the affected governors, while holding office, arm-twisted or bribed their various Houses of Assembly into approving for them bogus and illegitimate pay packages and property, like

Yet the best of leaders worldwide cultivate good followership by walking their talk and living by example posh vehicles and houses in contravention of extant laws and regulations by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the body constitutionally vested with the power to fix the salaries and allowances of public officers. As if that was not enough, most of such leaders were accused of carting away government property or auctioning same to themselves and their cronies at ridiculous prices, especially when leaving office. On the eve of the departure of many governments in the country, state or federal, public funds and property are looted with impunity. Treasuries are emptied in a matter of days if not hours; and newly appointed government functionaries are left without anything of substance to inherit. One report said “government furniture, including kitchen utensils and mattresses”, are parked away. The new people in government

ON THIS DAY October 28, 2006 The funeral service took place for those executed at Bykivnia forest, outside Kiev, Ukraine. Roughly 817 Ukrainian civilians (out of some 100,000) executed by Bolsheviks at Bykivnia in the 1930s – early 1940s were reburied. The Bolsheviks were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903.

Letters tothe theEditor Editor Letters to

October 28, 2009 The Peshawar bombing killed 117 people and wounded 213 others. The bombing occurred in Peshawar, Pakistan, when a car bomb was detonated in a Mina Bazar (Market for women and children) of the city. Pakistani government officials believed the Taliban was responsible, but both Taliban and Al-Qaeda sources denied involvement in the attack. The incident drew harsh international criticisms.

would then apply for virtually everything they needed to work with - vehicles, furniture, et cetera - afresh, which they too would later re-loot at the end of their tenure; and the vicious cycle continues. It is shocking that the relevant agencies that ought to wade in and crosscheck the allegations against the double earnings of former senators and ministers now in government have remained docile since the matter came to the public domain, despite the fact that the Code of Conduct for public officers frowns at such rip-off. Not amusing, too, is the fact that the economic recession ravaging the land does not reflect in government houses in Abuja and the states, from what the Cardinal has observed. Yet the best of leaders worldwide cultivate good followership by walking their talk and living by example. For the umpteenth time, we say no nation can survive the nature of barefaced leadership recklessness, lip service to slashing the cost of governance, profligacy and, perhaps, quiet looting, even under the strict regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, for too long without bearing the harsh consequences, part of which would include prolonged economic suffocation, widespread crime and the continued erosion of morals.

x October 28, 2014 An unmanned ‘Antares rocket’ carrying NASA’s Cygnus CRS Orb-3 re-supply mission to the International Space Station exploded seconds after taking off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia, United States. Antares is an expendable launch system developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now Orbital ATK) to launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South West

Friday, October 28, 2016

Policeman strips naked to evade arrest Patience Ogbo

police corporal identified simply as Ogogor attached to the Area ‘C’ Police Command, Surulere, Lagos State Police Command, has been arrested for attempting to extort N30, 000 from a woman. It was gathered that the Lagos Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, ordered the arrest of the suspected policeman following complaint by a human rights activist that the policeman had demanded N50,000 from a woman for violating traffic rules. The source said: “The policeman arrested the woman over allegation that she beat traffic light. The policeman followed the woman to her UBA bank to withdraw the money. He told her that if the matter gets to the station, the woman will pay N50,000 fine, but that

if the woman parts with N30,000 he would release her impounded vehicle. The woman went to the UBA bank to withdraw the money but called a human rights activist who subsequently called the Lagos Police Commissioner. The CP ordered that policemen should rush to the scene to arrest the suspected policeman and he was caught in the act. Sadly, the policeman became violent and began to resist arrest. He ran under a parked vehicle to evade arrest, but was forced out. In the process, he started tearing his uniform. He striped to his pants to avoid being arrested, but some area boys came to assist the policemen who came from the CP’s office to effect the arrest and they dragged him into the police van.” The suspected policeman is being detained at the Police Headquarters at Ikeja to face orderly room trial, sources said.

Oyo police parade 64 suspects Kemi Olaitan IBADAN

yo State Police Command, Thursday, paraded 64 robbery suspects out of 167 arrested during the first half of the ‘ember months. Commissioner of Police, Mr. Samuel Adegbuyi, while addressing journalists at the Command Headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, said the suspects were involved in series of criminal activities such as rituals, fake currency operation, murder, human trafficking and impersonation. Adegbuyi, who disclosed that a high number of robbery gangs who have been terrorising areas like Elebu, Challenge, Orita and environs in Ibadan were nabbed, said he was spurred by the imperative of informing the public on efforts of the command to vigorously fight crime and criminality in the state. He said among the suspects is a team of robbers who were recently caught while attempting to break into the vault of a new

generation bank in Oyo town. The suspects, Ismaila Olarinde, Moshood Adeniyi, Ahmed Akande and Abiodun who confessed to the crime, said one Saliu Ahmed is the brain behind their operations. In addition, a gang of Okada (commercial motorcyclists) robbers, who recently killed a son of one of their victims along Elebu area in Ibadan after robbing the family of a huge sum, was also paraded. The suspects, who confessed to the crime, however expressed regret that they had no intention of killing the young man. The CP said, “In the first half of ember months, Oyo Police Command has arrested over 167 hardened criminals through intelligence report and information from the public. Of the list, 53 of them were nabbed for armed robbery, three for ritual, another three suspects for fake currency operations, two for murder, one for impersonation and two for human trafficking.

L-R: Programme Officer, Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Dr Jacob Mignouna; Deputy Director, Agricultural Development, BMGF, Dr Enock Chikava; Executive Director, African Agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF), Dr Kytere Dennis; Director, Global Consultation Programme 21, Dr Claude Faquet and Deputy Director-General, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture(IITA), Ibadan, Dr Kenton Dashiel, at a workshop for an effective cassava production in Africa, in Ibadan, yesterday. PHOTO:NAN

N40bn fraud: Probe Fayemi, others, Assembly urges EFCC …allegation baseless - Minister

A biodun N ejo ADO EKITI

kiti State House of Assembly has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, seeking investigation and prosecution of the immediate past governor of the state and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi and others, for allegedly looting the state to the tune of over N40 billion. The petition, dated October 24 and signed by Speaker of the House of Assembly, Pastor Kolawole Oluwawole, is entitled; “Complaint of fraudulent practices against former Ekiti State governor and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi & others: Call for investigation & prosecution.” A statement by Ekiti State governor’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Lere

Olayinka, Thursday listed other people mentioned in the petition as Mr Dapo Kolawole, Mr Yemi Adaramodu, Mr Abiodun Oyebanji, Arc Oyelade (CASA Nig Ltd) and Mr Bayo Kelekun. According to him, Deputy speaker Segun Adewumi, who submitted the petition in Abuja yesterday in the company of the Chairman House Committee on Information, Dr Samuel Omotoso and Hon Sina Animasaun, had told journalists: “Since EFCC has claimed that the commission does not have any complaint against those holding power in Abuja, we have decided to submit this petition openly. “This is so that Nigerians and indeed, the entire world will be able to follow it up and ask questions from EFCC as to what has happened to it.” Omotoso, who corroborated the Deputy

Speaker, said the petition bordered on 10 major issues, namely the construction of new civic centre, construction of new governor’s office, mismanagement of the N25billion bond and N5billion commercial bank loan and construction of new government house. Others include diversion of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) N852.9 million, fraudulent purchase of 156 units of Ford vehicles from Coscharis Motors and inflation of road contracts. Animasaun said the state House of Assembly could no longer pretend as if nothing was wrong in the face of the alleged monumental looting of the state’s treasury perpetrated by the immediate past All Progressives Congress, APC government of Fayemi, hence the complaint to the EFCC. The petition, which was accompanied with several documents

read; “Consequent upon the resolution of the House of Assembly, we write to request for the investigation of the following allegations of fraudulent practices against the for mer Gover nor of Ekiti State and incumbent Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi and others.” In his reaction, Fayemi said he would not be distracted by the “childish and ridiculous allegations.” The minister said the lawmakers’ claims were not only baseless, but a calculated attempt to distract him. His Special Assistant on Media, Mr Yinka Oyebode, in a statement said the Ekiti Assembly’s petition to EFCC was nothing but a rehash of old tales told by little minds. He added that since the allegations lacked substance, it is bound to fail like the previous ones by the state government and its agents.

Gbodofon area of Osogbo, it was learnt, saw the floating body and drew attention to it. A crowd of passersby immediately gathered and made efforts to retrieve the body, all to no avail. An eyewitness, Cosmos Alamu, told news-

men: “When I got to the scene, people were engaged in hot argument that it was a teddy bear floating. But others said it was human. “A man looked for long stick to check the floating object but couldn’t reach it. Fire fighters later came to the scene

and evacuated the dead girl from the river.” Another eye witness, who has a shop near the scene, said it was a girl’s corpse that was retrieved from the river and expressed concern over how the victim drowned without anyone noticing her.

School girl found drowned in Osun B oladale Bamig bola OSOGBO

school girl, whose name could not be immediately confirmed, has been found drowned inside Osun River. Some passersby in

South West

Friday, October 28, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

N3.7bn debt recovery suit: Lawyers seek disqualification of one another Gbenga Ogunbufunmi

wo Lagos-based lawyers, Kunle Ogunba, SAN, and Dada Awosika have approached a Federal High Court, Lagos, seeking an order disqualifying them in a N3.7 billion debt recovery suit pending before the court. The suit marked a FHC/L/CS/1593/14, is between Ecobank Nigeria Limited against First Deepwater Discovery, Debt Management Office, DMO, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, Stallionaire Energy and Coastal Services Limited, and Stallionaire Nigeria Limited. In the suit filed by Ogunba, counsel to Ecobank Plc, the bank is demanding the payment of N3,682,207,434.86 debt, whereas in a counter affidavit filed by First Deepwater Discovery Limited, the company contended that it is not owing the bank in any form; rather, it is the bank that is owing N15,555,674,295.66 in bank charges and commission improperly and arbitrarily posted into the company’s account. However in the twist of events, counsel to Deepwater Discovery Limited, Awosika, is seeking an order of the court disquali-

fying Ogunba from representing Ecobank Nigeria Limited, being the appointed receiver/manager by the bank, pursuant to Clause 6.06 of the Mortgage Deed dated September 17, 2012, executed between the bank and First Deepwater Discovery. Awosika stated that Ogunba’s continued representation would amount to a breach of the extant terms and conditions of the said Mortgage Deed as well as acting in violation of Rule 17(3), (4) and (6) of the rule of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007, made pursuant to section 124(4) of the Legal Practitioners Act Cap 20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990. In an affidavit sworn to by a legal manager of Fist Deepwater Discovery Limited, Hussaina Idris, it stated that certain petroleum product facilities were availed First Deepwater Discovery by Ecobank Nigeria Limited, and in consequences of which First Deepwater Discovery pledged his property at Ijegun Egba, Kirikiri, in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, Lagos, as collateral. It added that all the processes as well as applications filed by the receiver/ manager and his law firm on behalf of the bank against First Deepwater

Four die in Ogun auto crash Femi Oyeweso ABEOKUTA

t least four persons have been confirmed dead, while three others sustained varying degrees of injury in an accident that happened Wednesday night along Abeokuta - Ibadan highway. The auto crash which occurred at about 10pm at Alakija village near Olodo in the Odeda Local Government Area of the state involved a cement-laden truck with registration number YKS 194 XA and a white Toyota Picnic passenger space car marked (OYO) BDJ 427 SX. Public Relations Officer, PRO, of the state Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, TRACE, Babatunde Akinbiyi, who

confirmed the accident, explained that the driver of the space car ran into the moving truck from the rear. Explaining that nine persons were involved in the crash, Akinbiyi stated further that the driver of the car, including three other passengers died on the spot with three other passengers critically wounded, while the driver and motor boy of the truck now at large, escaped unhurt. The TRACE PRO attributed the cause of the accident to over-speeding on the part of the car. Akinbiyi, however, told journalists that corpses of the victims have been deposited at the morgue of the state General Hospital, Ijaye, while those wounded in the crash were taken to a private hospital in Odeda.

Discovery, were filed and argued by Ogunba and his law firm against the interest of the First Deepwater Discovery. He further stated that the Deed of Mortgage between the bank and First Deepwater Discovery expressly states that the Receiver/ Manager shall be an agent

of the First Deepwater Discovery, who shall be solely responsible for his acts or default or for his remuneration. However, Ogunba (lawyer to Ecobank), in seeking an order of disqualification against Awosika, said having been appointed as the receiver/manager of First Deepwater Discovery

and he (Ogunba), having been appointed as receiver/ manager to First Deepwater Discovery, assumed the role of an agent to the respondent, thus creating a relationship between him and First Deepwater Discovery. Ogunba also stated that he is the surviving and stat-

utorily recognised directing mind of First Deepwater Discovery, and that he did not at any point whatsoever instruct or authorise Awosika and his law office, D. A. Awosika & Partner, to either file an action or file a defence on behalf of First Deepwater Discovery in the suit.

L-R: Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on Security, Mr. Yinka Akinrinde; representative of Victoria Island Ikoyi Residents Association(VIISET), Dr. Mohammed Salami; representative of the Lagos State Governor/Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello and Executive Secretary, VIISET, Mr. Lateef Muse, at the handing over of Hilux vans to VIISET in Lagos, yesterday.

Suspected rapist not Peace Corps cadet –Commandant Boladale Bamigbola OSOGBO

eace Corps of Nigeria, PCN, Osun State command, Thurs day said a suspected rapist held at Saint Charles High School, Osogbo, after raping a minor was never a member of the corps, alleging that the man also burgled its office in the school before committing the act. It would be recalled that 24-year-old Imram Olale-

kan, apprehended by men of Osun State Police Command after allegedly raping one SS1 student while being questioned by newsmen, said he was a Peace Corps cadet under training. His claims were however dismissed by the State Commandant of the PCN, Patriot Ayinde Paul, who, while reacting to the incident, called on the police to beam its searchlight on how the suspect got the Peace Corps uniform he

had on when he was arrested. Ayinde who displayed the database of officers working with the Corps in Osun State, said no one bearing Imran Olalekan was recruited and blamed the mix up in the identity of the suspect on the existence of an organisation that is secretly sending security personnel to schools even after the state government had barred the organisation from carrying out such a duty.

He disclosed that from the accounts of the victim, the suspect arrived the school around 7am, saying the official resumption time for PCN officers working in the school is 7.30 am. He added that the rapist was also said to be dressed in mufti when he allegedly raped the victim. “From our findings, the suspect must have burgled our office in the school and stole a uniform belonging to our officers there.

Experts decry high nutritional burden in Africa

igeria alongside other nations in West and Central Africa suffer huge burden of nutritional challenges, experts have revealed. Despite living in modern age with availability of technology and information, an unprecedented number of Africans fall victim of health challenges such as diabetes, obesity, stunted growth, cognition, miscarriage and stillbirths. The problem is directly related to poor nutritional knowledge, said Mrs. Chi-

oma Emma-Nwachukwu, Manager, Nestle Nutrition Institute Africa, Anglophone (Central/West Africa Region) at a media workshop it organised in Agbara, Ogun State. Corroborating, Dr. Bartholomew Brai, presidentelect of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, listed low breastfeeding rate and inadequate food production among factors responsible for the problem, and urged increased set up of research centres with every Nigerian taking to farming to help

ease the problem of hunger/ malnutrition. Speaking on ‘Early nutrition and later life outcomes,’ Brai noted that exclusive breastfeeding is crucial to a baby’s first 1,000 days of life, and helps to shape society’s long-term health, stability and prosperity. “For a healthy, well developed foetus, baby and mother, there is need for the latter to eat balanced and varied diets with right amount of vitamins and minerals,” he said. According to him, stud-

ies show that 50 per cent of child’s diseases and deaths are due to poor breastfeeding. “Without the basic breast milk (exclusive for first six months), no matter what you do, the child may never get to be as bright and tough as kids breastfed after two years.” Mrs. Emma-Nwachukwu said Nestle contributes to addressing health challenges in its environment through providing safe, mineral-fortified beverages (products), clean water and building nutritional knowledge.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South East

Friday, October 28, 2016

Strike looms as FG owes universities over N800bn R aymond Ozoji AWKA

cademic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, said the union may embark on a nationwide industrial action should the Federal Government fail to implement the agreements reached with the union in 2009 and 2013 respectively which basically has to do with the revitalisation of the Nigerian university system. The union said it is earnestly hoping and praying that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari responds as fast as possible to the demands that ASUU has placed on its table through the federal

Ministry of Education. Chairman of ASUU, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, NAU, Awka, Associate Professor Dennis Aribodo, who spoke with a team of journalists Thursday in Awka, disclosed that ASUU is angry with the Federal Government and could no longer remain patient seven years after the union signed an agreement with the government. Aribodo said NAU chapter of ASUU has met and resolved that should the Federal Government fail to live up to its responsibilities in honouring the 2009 agreement reached with the union and the 2013 memorandum of understanding

signed with the union , it should not blame ASUU for whatever happens after November 12, 2016. He said due to government’s inability to provide the required funds to enable public universities function effectively, ASUU embarked on strike in 2013 which he said lasted six months

in order to compel government to honour the agreement reached, adding that the strike prompted government to sign another memorandum of understanding in 2013 that led to the release of the first N200 billion for all the universities for 2013. He therefore expressed dis-

pleasure that those of 2014, 2015 and 2016 have not been released, stressing that the Federal Government is owing public universities about N800 billion. Aribodo also revealed that earned-academic allowances of lecturers have not been paid since 2009 and that ASUU

members are no longer comfortable with the situation. Another pressing issue he pointed out was the National Universities Pension Company. He said though the union has met all the conditions necessary, people still retire without pension benefits.

Okorocha swears in new commissioner, six perm secs Chris Njoku OWERRI

mo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, Thursday sworn in a new Commissioner for Information, Mr. Obinna Nshirim, and a special adviser on security, Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG, Mr. Hillary Opara (rtd). The governor also swore in members of the Judicial Service Commission, They are Barristers Teddy Akwari, Nelson Ezerioha, Iheukwumere Alaribe and Mr. Kelechi Iwueze; while six new permanent secretaries were also sworn in. They include Dr. Irene Chima, Mrs. Pat Ekennia, Mr. Augustine Uzoigwe, Mrs. Rose Izuogu, Barrister Ifeanyi Nwobi and Mr. A.O. Amadi. Also sworn in is the son of former governor and exSenate president, Mr. Evan Enwerem Jnr who was sworn in as the Transition Committee chairman of Ikeduru Local Government. Chairman and members of the State Civil Service Commission were also sworn in. The chairman is Mr. Bonaventure Ibebuike. Addressing the new appointees yesterday, Governor Okorocha told them that their appointments were not for compensation, but in anticipation of their capacity to do the job for which they have been ap-

pointed. The governor charged them to live up to expectation and shun corruption and selfishness in the discharge of their duties and think more about the interest and well-being of the state, advising the new Commissioner for Information to bridge the communication gap between the people and the state government. He charged the chairman and members of the Imo State Civil Service Commission to recruit over 3,000 Imo sons and daughters who must be computer literate to serve in various ministries and government agencies. To the chairman of Ikeduru Local Government, Mr. Enwerem, the governor said his appointment “is to

Enumerators of National Bureau of Statistics measuring a child during Multiply Indicator Cluster Survey 5 in Angwa Tiv Kado, in FCT Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

CAN suspends Imo chapter indefinitely Emmanuel Ezeh ENUGU

hristian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Thursday, said the Imo State chapter of the body has been suspended indefinitely. Chairman of CAN in the South East, Most Rev. Prof. David Eberechukwu, who disclosed this in a press statement made

available to journalists in Enugu, called on the former chairman of CAN in Imo State, Bishop Stafford Nworgu, to stop misleading members of the public. Crisis had engulfed the Imo State CAN following disagreements arising from the election of the state executive members, prompting the national leadership of the Christian body to suspend all

activities of the group in the state. The CAN leader in the zone, in his statement, said the general public should note that “CAN in Imo State has been suspended and there is no CAN structure in the state till further notice at the state level. “It is important to say this because it has come to the notice of CAN in the South East and at the

Glo Campus Storm hits Federal Poly, Nekede, today

he excitement continues today at the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri, as Globacom’s high octane student music concert, the Glo Campus Storm, hits the institution where students are anxiously waiting to have their own feel of the star-studded show. Students of the institution in Nekede, which is located on the outskirts of Owerri, are bracing up for an evening of sublime entertainment which rarely

occurs in the school. One of the students, Samson Onuoha, an ND II undergraduate, said: “We are seriously waiting for the show. Music concerts of this magnitude rarely happen in this school. I’m sure students from other institutions around like FUTO (Federal University of Tehnology, Owerri) will also attend the show,” he said with optimism. Among artistes billed to perform at the Nekede event are MI, Omawumi, and Victoria Kimani. Popular comedian, Gordons, will

add spice to the night as he anchors the show, while DJ XGEE will produce the vibes from the juke box. Globacom said in a statement yesterday that the ongoing Glo Campus Storm is another demonstration of its immense love for students and youths of Nigeria. “We have built a very good relationship with them over time and regularly, we entertain them with the best of Nigerian artistes, knowing their love for music. The Glo Campus Storm concert is an entertainment show

designed to reward students nationwide and give them the opportunity of winning mouth-watering prizes and becoming Glo Campus ambassadors,” the statement read. The company revealed that “a competition will be held at the Federal Polytechnic during the show to select 10 Glo Campus Ambassadors, made up of five males and five females. Two of them who will emerge ‘Glo Data Dude’ and ‘Glo Data Diva’ will each go home with N100,000.”

national level that the outgone chairman, Bishop Stafford Nworgu, is presenting and parading a non-approved executive in Imo State. This is an embarrassment.” Eberechukwu added that CAN president, Dr. Sampson Ayokunle, had already directed that the executive council should not be recognised pending when all the administrative matters in the area are resolved. “We, therefore, sound this note of warning that a violation of this directive is tantamount to total disobedience to the CAN authority. “The church will not tolerate crisis and hopes to bring about a lasting solution to the crisis in Imo State CAN,” he added. In a reaction, the secretary of CAN in the 17 southern states, Dr. Joseph Ajujungwa, commended the CAN national president for his intervention, urging all the parties concerned to give peace a chance.

South South

Friday, October 28, 2016

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Edo govt suspends traditional ruler Isesele Ezekie BENIN

do State government has suspended the Onojie of Uromi, HRH Anselm Aidenojie, from office for seven days. A letter signed by Secretary to the State Government, Prof Julius Ihonvbere dated October 26, titled ‘Suspension from Office as Traditional Ruler,’ states: “I write to convey to you the decision of the Edo State Executive Council at its meeting on October 26, suspending you from office for seven days as Onojie of Uromi. The suspension from office was based on, among other reasons: ‘Your unprovoked attack, inflicting grievous body harm on one Mrs Betty Okoebor on September 28 in full public glare to the embarrassment of those present and causing disgrace to your otherwise esteemed office; ‘Your refusal, even after

two weeks, to respond to a query issued by the appropriate authority within the stipulated 72 hours demonstrating total disregard and disrespect for constituted authority; and ‘Travelling outside the country without appropriate permission in further demonstration of your disregard for extant regulations and laws. “In the circumstances, the State Executive Council has arrived at a conclusion that these and other acts of misconduct of Your Royal Highness, the Onojie of Uromi, are not only distasteful but also unbecoming of a traditional ruler of your status. “Based on the above and convinced that your Highness has denied yourself of the opportunity of entering a plea against the charges against you that were duly conveyed in writing to you, and therefore in exercise of the powers conferred on the State Executive Council

Benin monarch lauds journalists for coronation coverage

enin monarch, Oba Ewuare II, Thursday commended the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, for proper and adequate coverage of all aspects of the coronation ceremonies. Chairman, Coronation Planning Committee, Prof. Gregory Akenzua, conveyed the appreciation of the Oba at a post-coronation session with newsmen in the palace in Benin. “This gathering is to express appreciation and commend your effort during the activities of the coronation ceremony of Oba of Benin Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II, just concluded. “Your noble role played throughout the period, especially your hard work, contributed to the overall success of the programme. “Oba is now in the palace, I urge you to continue and sustain the love and loyalty you demonstrated during his coronation.” Akenzua added that in due course, the monarch would invite journalists and discuss on how the palace would want to relate with the media. He however said that Oba

Ewuare II had outlined many noble things he would like to do, adding that the monarch would need the cooperation of the media in achieving these laudable programmes during his reign. Chairman, Coronation Planning Committee Subcommittee on Media, Mr Joseph Omoriotomwon, apologised to the journalists for any inhuman treatment that may have occurred during the coronation ceremonies. He added that there is nothing the planning committee would have done without the cooperation and understanding of the media practitioners.

by virtue of Section 28(1) of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Law (1979) and all other Laws enabling it in that behalf, has approved your suspension from office as the Onojie of Uromi with immediate effect for a period of seven days, that

is, from October 26 to November 1, 2016. “Consequently, within the suspension period, you shall cease to be recognised and treated as traditional ruler or as the Onojie of Uromi in Edo State and you shall not exercise any pow-

ers or function or enjoy any privileges provided for under the Traditional Rulers and Chief Law (1979) and all other relevant provisions under the said law. “Within the seven-day suspension, you are required to tender unre-

served apologies to your victim, Mrs Betty Okoebor and the government of Edo State. However, if within the said seven days no public apology is tendered by your very self, you will stand deposed as the Onojie of Uromi.”

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike (left) and Group Managing Director of Access Bank , Mr Herbert Wigwe, after the inauguration of the Rivers State Golden Jubilee Celebrations Committee in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

A’Ibom ranks 31st in non-oil remittances, says RMAFC Julius Onwuma UYO

evenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, has revealed that Akwa Ibom is ranked 31st amongst all the states in non-oil remittances to the Federal Government. The commission, led by Mrs Martina Odom, disclosed this during a courtesy call on Governor Udom Emmanuel at Government House, Uyo, the state capital. She said, “There is the need to block leakages and capture illegal miners into the tax net.

“This would increase the share of the state as a beneficiary of the 13% derivation from non-oil revenue, as well as move the state to an appreciable level from the 31st position in the table of NonOil remittances States to the Federation Account.” Odom informed the governor that they were in the state to conduct a holistic audit of the activities of operators of formal and informal mining sectors of the state, adding that the exercise is being carried out in conformity with the provisions in paragraph 32 (a) part 1 of the third sched-

ule of 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. She stated that the dwindling oil revenue has made it necessary for the country to diversify the economy and explained that the monitoring is expected to cover the minerals and mining activities in the state as well as in the Local Government Councils from 2009 to 2015. She indicated that solid mineral sector has contributed over 50% of revenue to the Federation Account since the recession began and expressed optimism that with government’s effort at diver-

sification, solid minerals would yield more revenue to the federation account. Emmanuel in his address, called for the review of revenue sharing formula by the Federal Government to give more allocation to states based on mineral deposits and in adherence to the derivation principle. He urged the team to take advantage of the tour to explore other solid minerals that abound in the state, explaining that the quality of sand deposits available in the state is the best in the production of glass.

EFCC arraigns graduate over $900 fraud in Benin

29-year-old graduate of the Delta State University, Victor Okunmwendia, on Thursday appeared in a Federal High Court, Benin, charged with a $900 fraud. This was contained in a statement issued by Mr Wilson Uwujaren, Head of Media and Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and made available

to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja. Uwujaren said the accused, who was arraigned by the commission before Justice Patricia Ajoku, was charged on a three-count of fraud and obtaining money by false pretence. He said the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. Counsel to the commission, M.T. Iko, told the court

that the accused presented himself as Sister Julia Imoke, founder and Coordinator of Happy Home Orphanage, Benin, to extort money from unsuspecting persons. The persecutor said Okunmwendia conspired with others, now at large, to obtain the sum of $900 from one Ada K., a female. Iko alleged that the accused got the money

through Western Union Money Transfer under the guise that he was Imoke, the founder and coordinator of the “fictitious orphanage.” He said the alleged offence was contrary to Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same law. After the accused took

his plea, Iko asked the court to fix a date for trial and to remand the defendant in prison custody. Attempt by the defence counsel, Osman Idehen, to move a bail application was refused by the court. The presiding judge adjourned the case till November 16 for trial and ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison custody.

Friday, October 28, 2016

APC spokesman vows to shun probe panel Marcus Fatunmole And Ajibola Winner ABUJA

eputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Timi Frank, Thursday vowed to shun a disciplinary committee set up by the party to probe him over undisclosed offences. Frank also cautioned the party against any action that would stop him from being a member of the APC. While addressing journalists in Abuja, Frank alleged that the committee was constituted by National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun to suspend him from the

ruling party. He emphasised that the committee lacks locus standi to investigate him and that members of the committee, including writer of the petition which the committee is working upon, are not known faces to the party. The committee was set up last Wednesday by National Vice Chairman, South -South, Utufam Etah. Members are Hon. Ben Davidson Opute (Secretary), Dr Wilson Samuel, Rt. Hon. Dan Akpan, Barr. Tony Odey, and Hon. Solomon Edoja (Chairman) Frank and the petitioner will be invited by the committee, which promised to make its proceedings open to the public.

Frank urged Odigie - Oyegun to stop running the APC like a ministry of government. He vowed to maintain his office, stressing that only a national convention of the party could replace him. “I want to remind Oyegun not to run the party as a ministry. This is not the time when he worked as a Permanent Secretary. This is a political party. He cannot hire and fire at will. Why is it only my office that they want to appoint an acting spokesman”, he queried. He went on: “I am not aware of any committee until now and I have not been served with any letter. If that is true, I am waiting to receive a letter from such

committee. I don’t know who set up that committee. I don’t know whether it is a committee approved by the party structure or appointed by the National Chairman. “With the names I saw in that committee, I can tell you that these are not known names to the party, and I don’t know the petitioner. How can you petition somebody you don’t know? This is to let you know that he is working for his sponsors. It is very clear that this is the handiwork of my national chairman. “That does not mean that I don’t respect the process of the party. I will only appear before a committee that will be constituted by respected party

Former Vice-President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar (left) with former governor of Niger State, Dr Aliyu Babangida, during Babangida’s visit to former Vice President in Abuja, yesterday.

members because such a committee will enable me lay my complain about the party. And, I believe it will do what is right and take my complaints to the next level. But, how can I appear before a committee that will take its report to Oyegun to decide my fate?

“If by tomorrow the committee says they invited me and I refuse to appear, and so, they found me guilty, I am ready to face the battle. I will also do everything possible to defend my position as Acting Publicity Secretary of this party.

NASS urged to fast-track physically-challenged bill

ational Assembly and state governments have been challenged to fast-track passage of bills for special persons’ welfare pending before the lawmaking bodies, to alleviate their pains and plight. According to the National Coordinator, Special Persons Association of Nigeria, Pastor Chidi Nwankwo, there is urgent need to redouble efforts since the people are suffering the more under the economic recession despite that most promises made earlier were yet to be fulfilled. The cleric, who spoke in Lagos at its 2016 annual national handicapped awards and anniversary theme: ‘Help from Above,’ said such aid was imperative as the paralympians, by laurels won each time they represent Nigeria abroad, had shown their worth and heaped honour and accolades on the country. While acknowledging that the greatest help comes from God, Nwankwo said the organisation has constraints of infrastructure, funding, vehicles and more, and appealed to all and sundry for support.

Lagos State Head of Service, Mrs. Olabowale Ademola, lauded SPAN for its foresight, commitment and recognition of abilities in disabilities. Represented by Mr Samson Ajibade, the Director, Welfare Matters, she however assured that the state government was giving attention to the handicapped, as a percentage of the workforce are engaged as staff, with approval given for special walkways/seats in some government buildings. Recipients of awards were Ahmad Koleosho, a winner at the 2016 Rio Olympics in table tennis (also a staff of Lagos Ministry of Science/Tech); Mr Nasiru Sule, national tennis trainer, on behalf of paralympians; while FEGO ‘78/83 set for social media presence and resourcefulness. Among participating schools that showcased various creative displays at the event were National Orthopedic specialist school, Onikpan; Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria; Group of schools, Iyana Ipaja; and Wesley I and II special schools.

Chibok Girls: Group slams Ezekwesili, Buhari’s daughter over BBOG franchise face-off Patrick Okohue

he Action Team Against Conscription and Kidnap, ATACK, a developmental, human-rights, nonprofit, non-governmental organization, NGO, has condemned what it called the unwarranted claims to the franchise of the collective efforts of Nigeria as a country and Nigerians as a people to rescue or ensure the release of over 260 young girls abducted at Chibok, Bornu state in 2014 by the Boko Haram.

The organization, while apparently referring to the recent media reports over the dust raised between former Minister, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili of the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign, BBOG and Hadiza Buhari-Bello, of Africa Support and Empowerment Initiative, concerning the use of the name ‘Bring Back Our Girls’, described the bickering as insensitive. Reports have it that the BBOG accused Hadiza Buhari-Bello of trying to hijack the Bring Back Our Girls franchise from their organisation. The National Coordinator of ATACK, Mr.

Debo Adeniran said “those groups engaging in unnecessary altercations over franchise even when the battle against insurgency is still fiercely ongoing, with close to 197 girls still in captivity only show the shallow level of their sensibility to the seriousness of the trauma Nigeria and Nigerians especially the victims have passed through over the whole episode. “The development apparently points to a conclusion that reveals they are attention seekers and or might have other mercantilist agenda being hidden from the public.” Adeniran in a release

signed by ATACK Media Coordinator, Wale Salami, added that, “nobody or organization has the sole right to claim glory or franchise over any of the Chibok girls, none of the organization went into the Sambisa Forest in ensuring the rescuing of these girls. The interest should fundamentally be for Nigeria to be totally free of abduction, conscriptions and kidnaps. “These shenanigans must stop! The truth is that kidnappings, abductions, conscriptions etc. occur incessantly across the country and increasingly on daily basis, but then the attention seek-

ers pay no attention. “As an organization, since 2014, ATACK had dedicated every Thursday of the week to doing campaigns and other symbolic actions on issues of kidnapping, abductions and conscriptions to draw the attention of the government and public to daily worsening situation in the country as far as those heinous crimes against humanity are concerned.” He added that, “it is also important to put into consideration the experience the released girls had been forced to pass through before now.

The government must take responsibility for their rehabilitation by helping them to overcome the trauma they have been through. “We commend the Nigerian Military, particularly the gallant troops who are the real heroes in the successes achieved so far since the Boko Haram insurgents began their terrorist acts in the North Eastern part of the country. We call on government not to relent in its efforts to ensure that all Nigerians under abduction, kidnapping etc. are rescued and reunited with their families.”

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Friday, October 28, 2016

I can’t be distracted, Fayemi tells Ekiti Assembly Ayo Esan

he Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has said that he would not be distracted by “the childish and ridiculous allegations of fraud levelled against his administration in Ekiti State by the State House

......says allegations mere fabrications

of Assembly. Dr Fayemi who was reacting to the petition submitted by the state assembly to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC alleging that N40billion under his watch as governor of the state was mismanaged , said the lawmakers’ claims are not only baseless, but a

CACOL lauds Court of Appeal’s ruling on Saraki Robert Awokuse

he Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL has hailed the ruling of the Appeal Court in Abuja over the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to try the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki over false assets declaration. CACOL made the commendation in a statement by its Executive Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran. Adeniran, while applauding the judgment said the Senate President should be fined for taking the case to the Appeal Court for the second time. This approach by Saraki according to Adeniran was to buy more time in order to delay justice. “In fact, with this ruling, damages should be awarded against him for abuse of the judicial system. This is because the earlier ruling of the appeal court had been validated in February by the Supreme Court, yet Mr. Senate President went back to the appeal court.” The executive chairman further noted that with the judgement, other issues brought before the Appellate Court were all resolved. Adeniran said: “With this development, we urge the federal government to prosecute the cases with the CCT against Saraki with utmost diligence given his very apparent penchant for slipperiness, this his dancing in circles from CCT to Appeal Court, Supreme Court and back to the Appeal Court is a perfect example. “However, it is a loathed fact that we would have a Senate President who would eventually be spending more time in a court

room than in the National Assembly. In other climes where the principles of the constitutions are upheld and the issues of morality are taken seriously, the Senate President would have been required to vacate his post instantly in order for him to clear his name. This act would definitely create a trend to be emulated in our polity. “The assets declaration breaches allegedly perpetrated by the Senate President is no small offence and little wonder why he sought to seek a dismissal of the case in the Appeal Court even after a clear verdict had been previously reached. This trip to the Appeal Court was an unnecessary distraction to the subject matter and it laudable that the judiciary used these events to affirm its watchdog role in the constitution,” Adeniran stated.

calculated attempt to distract him. The Minister’s Special Assistant on Media , Mr. Yinka Oyebode, said in a statement on Thursday that the Ekiti Assembly’s petition to EFCC is nothing but a rehash of old tales told by little minds. He added that since the allegations lacked substance, it is bound to fail like the previous ones by the state government and its agents. The statement by Oyebode reads: “The petition by the Assembly is nothing but another calculated attempt to distract and

tarnish the hard earned reputation of the honourable minister with spurious allegations. “The Ekiti Assembly and indeed the Ayodele Fayose –led administration, had spent the last two years rehearsing and rehashing all manners of ridiculous allegations in their desperate effort to taint Dr Fayemi’s reputation. As at last count, they have come up with six different attempts, with varying degrees of falsehood. “Dr Fayemi’s four years meritorious service in Ekiti remains an open

book. The administration’s financial dealings and executed projects were well documented and copies of the documents are with the Assembly. We enjoin them to read the necessary portions and get the right answers to their puerile posers. “But if their intention is to distract the Minister and paint him in corrupt garb, then they have failed, as Dr Fayemi cannot be distracted by the government’s cheap blackmail. “At this stage of our democracy, it is sad that a whole House of Assembly would be involved in what is known as Pull

Him Down Syndrome. But the good news is that Ekiti people know the difference between those who serve them well and mere pretenders. “Dr Fayemi remains focused on his current assignment of leading the economic diversification plan of the Federal Government through the mining sector and no illconceived machination can distract him. Finally, the Fayose-led government is advised to concentrate on the provision of amenities in the state and desist from its maniacal penchant for falsehood and cheap blackmail.

Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu (right), presents a souvenir to the Director, African Department, IMF, Mr. Abebe Selassie, during a visit by the Africa Department of the IMF to the Senate in Abuja, yesterday.

Kwara’ll not conduct LG polls —APC Wole Adedeji ILORIN

he ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in Kwara State has said the statutory Local Government election will not be conducted in the State because there is no money for it. The party in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr., Suleiman Buhari said the council election would cost government N1billion which the State cannot afford for now. In place of the election however, the APC spokesman affirmed that Transition Implementation Committees, TIC would be put in place in all the 16 Local Governments Areas across the state. He however dismissed reports that selecting peo-

ple to be appointed into the TIC had foisted crisis that is now tearing APC apart in the state. According to him, the reports which suggested that there is a brewing crises in the party over the nomination process to the proposed Transition Implementation Committee is untrue and misleading. “It is utterly untrue that there exists crises in our party over the appointment of persons into the Transition Implementation Committee. Therefore, we urge members of our party in Kwara State to disregard the misleading report. “While it is true that the leadership of the party has requested for the submission of names across the 193 wards in the state, we want to emphasize that we have experienced party

administrators in our party. “Therefore, we can assure party members and the people of Kwara State that the nomination process into the proposed Transition Implementation Committee will be hitch-free. The party will ensure justice and equity in the entire process”, he said Affirming that the TIC would be to patronize

party men noted to have worked for the APC Buhari said “We also want to assure party members who tirelessly worked for the success of the party during the elections that their contributions will not be in vain. “As a party, we believe that the idea of the Transition Implementation Committee, TIC for the 16 local government councils in the state is in the

best interest of Kwarans, considering the fact that our state cannot afford to spend over N1bn on council elections in the face of economic reality”, he concluded Local government elections in Kwara are statutorily due this month because the tenures of the incumbent officers who were elected in October 2013 have come to an end.

APGA NWC pledges support to Chairman adeola tukuru ABUJA

ational Publicity Secretary of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Ifeatu Obi Okoye, yester-

day said that the National Working Committee members’ support to the national leadership of the party under Dr Victor Ike Oye as the National Chairman is resolute. Okoye further affirmed that the recent minor disagreement that

occurred in the national leadership of APGA has been resolved by the national stakeholders of the party. He urged members of the NWC to abide by the said decision and revert to status quo ante bellum in the interest of stability.

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Friday, October 28, 2016

Mother Teresa and her journey to sainthood Sunday Onyemaechi Eze

ast September 4, all roads led to St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City where His Holiness, Pope Francis, after due consideration by the Catholic Church, proclaimed Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, famously known as Mother Theresa of Calcutta, a Saint. “After due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother bishops, we declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint, and we enroll her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole church,” Pope Francis said in Latin. An honour exclusively reserved for those who uniquely served God and humanity with their all; and the price for those who according to Saint Paul in 2 Tim 4: 22, “have fought the good fight, have finished the race and have kept faith.” No doubt this world acclaimed papal proclamation came on the heels of her good fight, a good race and a wellkept faith here on earth. Even before her demise, she had already carved a niche and earned herself that sobriquet with a dint of her diligence, perseverance and dedication. The world only waited for her transition for that to be accomplished. It was a solemn gathering of the faithful with the hosts of heavenly powers in attendance.

Mother Teresa gave hope to the hopeless, voice to the voiceless and life to the even the ‘lifeless.’ Her works of charity, love for the poor resonates throughout the world and cut across all colours, race, ethnic and religious divides. Her service to humanity broke down barriers and immensely opened up unimaginable frontiers. The lives and times of Mother Theresa was characterised by her unrelentless and unreserved life of giving. Mother Teresa was born on 26 August, 1910 in Skopje (now capital of the Republic of Macedonia), but then part of the Kosovo Vilayet in the Ottoman Empire. After having lived in Macedonia for eighteen years, she moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life. At the age of 18 she set out to become a catholic nun by taking up the cross of Christ, as she forsook the pleasures of the world to serve God and humanity. She joined the congregation of Sisters of Loreto in Dublin, Ireland where she adopted the name Sister Mary Teresa after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. In May 1931, Sister Mary Teresa moved to Darjeeling, India, for her novitiate period and afterwards she was sentto Calcutta, where she was assigned to teach at Saint Mary’s High School for girls, dedicated to teaching girls from the city’s poorest Bengali families. On May 24, 1937, after taking her final Profession of Vows to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience, she took on the title of Mother Tere-

Mother Teresa gave hope to the hopeless,

voice to the voiceless and life to the even the ‘lifeless’

sa. Through her kindness, generosity and unfailing commitment to her students’ education, she sought to lead them to a life of devotion to Christ. “Give me the strength to be ever the light of their lives, so that I may lead them at last to you,” she wrote in prayer about her students. She taught in India for 17 years before she experienced a “new calling” in 1946 to devote herself to caring for the sick and poor. The school took off in an open space while the established home for the dying destitute came up in a dilapidated building she convinced the city government to donate to her cause. She was the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor. In October 1950, she won canonical recognition for the new congregation, which she founded with only a handful of members, most of them former teachers or pupils from St. Mary’s School. Her order established a hospice, centers for the blind, aged and the disabled. In 1971, Mother Teresa opened her first American-based house

of charity in New York City. And in the summer of 1982, she secretly went to Beirut, Lebanon, where she crossed between Christian East Beirut and Muslim West Beirut to aid children of both faiths. While there, she also opened Gift of Love, a home to care for those infected with HIV/AIDS. The charity was considered one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century. Over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, she established a leper colony, an orphanage, a nursing home, a family clinic and a string of mobile health clinics. By the time of her death in 1997, the Missionaries of Charity numbered more than 4,000 in addition to thousands more lay volunteers with 610 foundations in 123 countries around the world. She was awarded the Jewel of India, the highest honor bestowed on Indian civilians, as well as the now-defunct Soviet Union’s Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee. In 1979, Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work “in bringing help to suffering humanity.” She died in September 1997 and was beatified in October 2003. On December 17, 2015, Pope Francis issued a decree which recognised a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, paving the way for her to be canonised as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Eze, a media and communications specialist is the publisher of thenewinsightng.blogspot.com.

Of confidentiality of patients, court and medical doctor

Victor Ifedayo A dekeye

he medical practice is built on the express and implied trust between the medical practitioner and the patient, which allows the patient the confidence to disclose private and sensitive information about him/ her with the assurance that such information will be kept in confide by the medical practitioner. This trust plays an important role in medical practice, as the absence of it might lead to the concealing of information by patients; and this will subsequently lead to a detrimental or ineffective treatment of such patient thereby defeating the sole purpose of the practice of medicine. The expediency of this trust has led to various medical ethical codes that guarantee the right of medical confidentiality to every patient in a medical practitioner-patient relationship. In a definitive mood, medical confidentiality is the ethical principle that obligates medical practitioner to keep in confides and secret, information or data obtained in the course of treating a patient and not disclosing same under any circumstances except those allowed by law. This confidentiality duty runs throughout the lifetime of the patient and even after the death of such patient as any disclosure after death will amount to a breach of ethics in which action can be taken up by the beneficiaries to the deceased estate. It is also important to mention that the

The medical practitioner is legally bound to obey the court order on subpoena and give evidence as ordered by the court information protected by confidentiality is constrained to information received in the course of treatment and related to such treatment but not to those obtained outside the purview of treating such patient or disclosed to the medical practitioner when he is not acting in his professional capacity. Medical confidentiality is not absolute as there are exceptions where medical practitioners are allowed to disclose sensitive information obtained during the process of treating a patient. These exceptions include but are not to disclosure to prevent harm to third party, disclosure to prevent crime, disclosure to protect public interest, disclosure at the request of a public authority and many more. The interest in this piece is focused on the disclosure requested by the court; and that will be the main thus of this piece. The law court in the performance of its judicial duties has the power to compel the attendance of a medical practitioner who has within his knowledge facts and information about a patient to give evidence as witness in court if

such information will play an important role in doing justice and settling the disputes before it. The mode of bringing a witness to court is through a legal instrument called subpoena in which the witness is invited to give evidence about facts within his knowledge before a judicial siting. The medical practitioner can be brought to court either to give evidence (subpoena testificandum) or to produce a document or tangible evidence which was obtained in the course of treating the patient such as the medical record (subpoena duces tecum). When this subpoena is received, it becomes germane for the medical practitioner to appear in court on the stated date as the failure to do so amounts to a contempt of court which is punishable therefore. At the receipt of this subpoena, the medical practitioner should contact the patient, inform him/her of the receipt of such subpoena and advise that the services of a legal practitioner should be obtained who will thereafter make ample legal attempts to protect the medical practitioner from giving such evidence on the basis of medical confidentiality or it irrelevancy. Admissibility of evidence in court is governed by relevancy and despite the expedient nature of medical confidentiality, if the evidence is relevant to the proceeding, the court has the power to bypass the confidentiality protection and order that such information be divulged to the court. However, the

burden of proving to the court that the information within the confines of the knowledge of medical practitioner is relevant to the case is on the party seeking to use such information as evidence in court. However if the court fails to vacate the subpoena, the medical practitioner is legally bound to obey the court order on subpoena and give evidence as ordered by the court. If the medical practitioner is subpoenaed testificandum, he can be cross-examined but if subpoenaed duces tecum, he cannot be cross examined as he is only in court to produce tangible evidence. It is important to state that this disclosure by the medical practitioner should be restricted to the information needed/ requested by the court and the court order should not be used as an instrument of full disclosure wherein the medical practitioner will disclose all the sensitive information disclosed to him by the patient. Any information disclosed in excess of the court’s requested information constitutes a breach of medical confidentiality in which the patient can subsequently claim damages. Adekeye is a Lagos-based medical law practitioner 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. Pseudonyms may be used but must be clearly marked as such.

Politics

Friday, October 28, 2016 Friday, January 17, 2014

NationalMirror Mirror National www.nationalmirroronline.net www.nationalmirroronline.net

Ambassador, others insistCommunity on restructuring Mirror Robert Awokuse

igeria’s former Ambassador to Switzerland, Ambassador Humphrey Orjiako, former governor of Kwara State, Chief Comelius Adebayo and Core Federalists – an organisation committed to the call on restructuring have lend their voices with other Nigerians to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the agitation for restructuring of the country They insisted that it is the only way to forestall the challenges bedeviling the country. The call was heralded at a book launch, authored by Ambassador Orjiako, entitled, “Nigeria: The Forsaken Road to Nationhood and Development”. In his presentation, Orjioka, proposed a six structure zone, arguing that prevailing 36 states structure currently operated in the country is not helping the growth of the country. According to him, arrangement of these zones

should not be seen as immutable or cast in iron. “They could be reformatted in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the peoples that inhabit them using the peaceful instrumentalities of consultations, negotiations and referendum. The consultative states need not to be deestablished, they would cease to be federating units and become zonal development centres, while the local governments take up the task of grassroots transformation within their zones,’’ he said. The Chairman of the occasion, Chief Comelius Adebayo, in his opening remarks said, “From my vantage position of age and experience, I can confidently say that when Nigeria was a true Federal State it worked fine. I can also affirm that since Nigeria became a unitary state as the aftermath of the tragic events of January 1966 and a federal state only in paper, she has not functioned as nearly as well but has been moving dangerously close to a precipice of a failed state.”

He therefore advocated structure it was practi- able to address the prob- umakin, said the central for restructuring of the cally difficult for any min- lems in the areas he has plank of restructuring is country. ister to make any impact. noWhen knowledge of. forcome Nigeria to go back to the come , come to In his remarks, the According to him, lookAgbaje further chal- the true practice of fedwillgroup sit uptoinconthis Ministry. Rev. Chris Okotie, Peoples Democratic Party,speaking ing at the size of Nigeria,everybody lenged the eralism wherein mineral PDP governorship candia minister who sits in tinue to sell the six-zone resources that abound in on the state of the nation PETROLEUM RESOURCES,ALIISON MADUEKE date in Lagos at the last Abuja and HON has MINISTER limitedFORconcept federation to the all states would be freed general election, Mr. Jimi knowledge of events and generality of Nigerians. from the exclusive list so Agbaje said that under happenings across the naAfenifere National Pub- that states would move the present government tion, will certainly not be licity Secretary, Yinka Od- into prosperity.

Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki (3rd left), Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Lasun Yussuff (2nd left), Senator Dino Melaye (right) and a cross-section of Nigerians in Switzerland after an interactive session with the Senate President and members of his delegation to the 135th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Geneva, on Wednesday.

CESJET condemns govs over neglect of governance Adeola Tukuru ABUJA

he Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency, CESJET has observed with concern the growing trend whereby state governors abandon their mandate in pursuit of ventures that have no bearing on what they were elected to do. Executive Director of CESJET, Comrade Joyce Adamu in a press statement yesterday in Abuja said this trend has resulted in an obvious failing of governance, worsened the economy of the country at large and has created the risk of a citizens’ uprising if not immediately addressed. According to her, the centre believes that this trend came about because the governors have a poor understanding of their roles, which is why they spend more time - out . “All the 36 governors irrespective of party affiliations are guilty of non-performance in this regard. It is pertinent that they immediately retrace their steps if they want

to regain relevance in the country”, CESJET said. She said a situation where they persist in this no performance and exploiting the poor understanding of the responsibilities of the three tiers of government on the part of the citizens to cover up for their failings cannot continue indefinitely. “ The fact that Nigerians blame either the federal or local government is no license to continue fooling the populace. “The state governors have reduced themselves to fulfilling the roles that would have been expected of local government chairmen while leaving the issue of their people’s economic empowerment to the federal government knowing full well that it is their responsibility. “Their excuse that states are broke is untenable since they are still able to undertake expensive foreign trips at the expense of their respective states. The claim that the states are broke would be acceptable if they can prove that they are no longer able to fuel their

convoys from their states’ capitals to Abuja. “ But to the extent that they can afford expensive flight tickets and exotic hotels abroad they must stop lying that their states are broke. “We therefore challenge the governors to tell their citizens what costcutting measures they have implemented since the recession was

declared. “They must also prove the result that such costcutting measures have yielded. We make these demands because we know that not only have the governors been lazy in coming up with winning economic ideas to turn their states around, they have also been wasteful even in the management of

funds designated as bailout intervention by the federal government. “It is depressing that governors are continue to live lives of opulence while the long suffering people that elected them are wallowing in bitter poverty that they have no hope of exiting if the states continue to operate like casinos and ATMs for the rul-

ing class. “We advise the governors to take heed and return to fulfilling the mandate for which they were elected as the growing hardship and discontent in the land will consume them first if the people do not immediately begin to see a seriousness to turn the situation around on their part,” she said.

Oyo Accord denounces ex-Reps member Kemi Olaitan IBADAN

yo State chapter of Accord Party has denounced a former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Bukola Ajaja, who is laying claim to the leadership of the party, warning her against making provocative statements. The party in a statement signed by the state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Akeem Olatunji, on Thursday, said Ajaja

seized to be a member of the party when she lost a return ticket to Hon. Gbenga Adewusi in the build up to the 2015 elections. He said Ajaja is currently serving in the All Progressives Congress, APC government as one of the Special Assistants to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara. The party accused her and members of her group of deliberately attempting to cause confusion in Accord with a view to tarnishing the image and decimating

the party so that her real party could have an easy ride in next year’s council elections. He said, “Ajaja on Monday claimed to be the leader of the APC agents who organised a kangaroo congress at Olubadan with the sole aim of decimating Accord as well as dragging the party’s name through the mud so that APC can have easy ride in the forthcoming local government elections. “We wish to state categorically and inform members of the public and thousands of our members to be aware of

the antics of these agents who have been heavily paid to cause confusion in the polity. “Accord in Oyo State hereby salutes the courage and steadfastness of our teeming members who made sure that our various wards and local government chapters were not infiltrated. “Accord Party led by Alhaji Wahab Oyelade from Ogbomoso zone is one indivisible entity as the impostors are only existing on paper and in the minds of their sponsors in APC”..

Mail Mirror

Friday, October 28, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Gov. Ajimobi should read this

I Nigeria at 56: Hope not lost

ast Saturday, Nigerians celebrated the 56th anniversary of the independence of their country. We may not be where we ought to be, but there is hope for the country; we just need to chart a new course in our developmental agenda. The current economic crisis in the country presents us with a great opportunity to start afresh. Over the years, we relied only on crude oil, which made our people lazy. As a result, we forgot agriculture, which we built the early years of our nationhood around. Then, we had cocoa in the West, groundnut and cotton in the North, palm oil in the East; and the Nigerian economy was thriving. In fact, there was a time Nigeria was the world’s largest exporter of cocoa. The biggest mistake we made was losing focus on developing through agriculture, as a result of the new focus on crude oil. Today, that crude oil that took away agriculture from us is now a curse to us. We had over-relied on the black gold, and its crash in the global oil market has brought us nothing but economic woes. However, I believe that we can still retrace our steps and return to agriculture. In fact, we have no choice than to return to agriculture. It is often said that agriculture is the largest employer of labour in the country, and it can absorb all unemployed people. So, if this is the case, why don’t we reorganise this sector to our advantage. We can begin to work towards overcoming Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana as the world’s largest exporter of cocoa; we can develop our cashew industry, thereby becoming one of the biggest cashew exporting countries in the world. Therefore, as Nigeria celebrates its 56th independence anniversary, we should not lose hope, but believe that with more hard work, we can achieve our dream for a better country. We should see the opportunities in the challenges we are facing at the moment to restrategise on the right path to follow, which is unarguably agriculture. Edwin Onome, Ikeja, Lagos

Letters to the Editor

owe it a social responsibility to draw the attention of Governor Abiola Ajimobi to one indigene of Oyo State in dire need and find a way to rescue him from his predicament. Such a timely gubernatorial help would transform his life. He is 18 years old Abiodun Adegoke with a height of 7 feet, 2 inches! In England, they lovingly call such tall people, Beanpoles. He has just been admitted to resume and complete

his secondary education at Segun Odegbami International College and Sports Academy (SOCA), Wasimi, near Abeokuta, Ogun State. He should have finished his school leaving certificate and be in first Year at a university, but failed to do so following his inability to cope with the psychological effect of the taunting by the public, the bullying by school mates and the financial constraints he had to face.

So two years ago, he left school in SS1 and retired into isolation, remaining mostly indoors weeping for the ‘misfortune’ fate had dealt him. He admits he is facing psychological challenges because of his unusual height and is only trying to cope with the attention he attracts everywhere. All of that until Chief Segun Odegbami found and took him in to resume a more purposeful life. At SOCA, he is to be well

Residence stayed behind after a mud slide at Kurata slum in Lagos, recently. PHOTO:SAMUEL ADETIMEHIN

Attention Jos Electricity Distribution Company

e are writing this with the hope that the management of Jos Electricity Distribution Company in charge of electricity supply in Makurdi, Benue State, will act quickly before things get out of hand. Before the privatization of PHCN in Nigeria, the officials of the national power monopoly were known for stealing component parts of transformers, accusing the people of being responsible in a sinister extortion game. Each household benefiting from such a transformer was made to pay some amount of money for replacement of stolen parts or they remain in darkness. After collecting money from people, they quietly return those parts and fix them back, making fool of people. We were happy that with the privatization of PHCN the duping will end. It saddens our hearts that this duping attitude of stealing parts from electricity transformers by the officials of the defunct PHCN and making it a case against the people with the aim of getting money from them illegally is being exhibited by some officials of the new owners of electric-

ity distribution companies in the country, and Jos Electricity Distribution Company is a case study in this matter. As we write now, many residents at Akpehe community within Makurdi are living in total darkness and the officials of JEDC are to blame. These officials, having the keys to one of the fenced transformers at Akpehe, woke up a few days ago and announced that something had been stolen from the transformer and accused people within the area of being responsible, expecting them to contribute money and give them in order to purchase and replace the stolen parts. The question is, who stole these parts if not the same persons who are having keys for that transformer in question. There is no single sign of somebody breaking into the fenced transformer and these officials are the people in possession of the keys. If not them, then, who did they gave the keys to and why? Enough of this duping of our people by the officials of JEDC, if the ongoing hardship in the country is the reason behind this stealing habit, then the people of Akpehe are not responsible for

the hardship and they should not be punished for it. This is a complaint and a warning to the management of JEDC. They should do something now before it is too late. Achiaga Richard and Onah Victoria Amaka, Makurdi, Benue State

schooled, trained and groomed to gain a very good education as well as sports excellence that would open up opportunities available to someone with his exceptional gift of nature. Guess in what sport? Basketball, of course! There is no doubt that he may be destined to be a great basketball superstar in the mould and background of the legendary Akeem Olajuwon. This is what SOCA is committed to steering him towards. But there is a big challenge the finances to take care of the rest of his education. Interestingly, Abiodun is from Ibadan. What will it take the Oyo State government to take up the financial commitment of supporting him to finish schooling in Nigeria? Being in SS2, he has less than two years left to complete his studies. Undoubtedly, American College basketball scouts will soon be on his trail, and a successful future with the support of the Oyo State government will be a big plus for the people and government of the State. Your Excellency, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, here is a challenge for you, and an opportunity to demonstrate goodwill and support for one of your children from the state. It will be a positive gesture by you that would reflect and reciprocate the kindness and benevolence of the good people of Ibadan and Oyo State. I am sure you have Chief Odegbami’s phone number. Contact him over this case. Akintokunbo A Adejumo wrote via akinadejum@aol. com

Kudos to INEC on Edo election

want to commend the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the successful conduct of the Edo State gover norship election. I am happy that the success has justified the postponement by the electoral body, and I hope this achievement will be replicated in Ondo State next month when the citizens votes for a new state chief executive. I want INEC to start preparing for the Ondo State election now that it is done with that of Edo. It is important that the date for the Ondo State gover norship election is not tampered with so that losers in the election will not have

anything to blame their loss on. It is also important that INEC meet the security agencies that will monitor the election in order to fashion out ways through which this electoral assignment will take. We don’t want a situation whereby the electoral body and security agencies will be working at cross purposes. I, therefore, want to urge Ondo State citizens to participate actively in the forthcoming election so that the new gover nor will be indebted to the people, as this will make him work hard towards taking the state to the next level. Olajide Adebayo, Akure, Ondo State

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North

Friday, October 28, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Abubakar seeks concerted efforts to end farmers/herdsmen crisis

ormer Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Thursday said all hands must be on deck to find lasting solution to the bloody face-off between herdsmen and farmers in the country, and should not be left to government alone. He also said clashes between farmers and herdsmen are not limited to the country, as it occurs in virtually all the countries in West Africa. He stated: “We have to join hands with government to resolve the crisis. The solution to the persistent clashes between farmers and herdsmen requires that all hands should be on deck.” Abubakar stated this during a visit by Niger

State governor, Abubakar Bello, his Kebbi State counterpart, Abubakar Bagudu, Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh and Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele, at his Maizube Farms on the outskirts of Minna, Niger State capital. He blamed the increasing crisis on the rate of urbanisation that has led to reduction in availability of grazing land for livestock. He therefore urged government at all levels to set aside grazing reserves with adequate water points to reduce the crisis, destruction and unnecessary killings by the feuding farmers and herdsmen, as well as build schools for their children.

Katsina to pay 30,441 students scholarship allowances

o less than 30,441 students are set to receive scholarship allowances worth several millions of naira from the Katsina State Scholarship Trust Fund. Speaking with newsmen Thursday, DirectorGeneral of the fund, Isah Ahmed, said arrangements had been concluded to commence payment of the scholarship allowance to benefiting students. Ahmed said as a way of fast-tracking the payment process; the state government had approved the release of N412.9 million for payment of the allowance. He said the payment would cover students from the state that were currently studying sci-

ence and non-science based courses in 102 institutions of higher learning across the country. He added that the trust fund had commenced screening of students who gained admission into tertiary institutions for the 2016/2016 academic session with a view to paying them. Ahmed however said that soon as the screening exercise was completed, the trust fund would commence payment of scholarship allowance only to those that scaled through the process. He said by way of assistance, the fund was also providing special allowances to law students and that each of them was receiving about N440,000 yearly.

Sokoto disburses N31m to 775 beneficiaries

okoto State government said it has disbursed N31m to 775 beneficiaries under its Conditional Cash Transfer project of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Bala Kokani, disclosed this at a press briefing in Sokoto. Kokani said the disbursement was intended for beneficiaries to send their children to schools. The commissioner also

said preparation for the 2017 budget was on, adding that experts were currently going through the document for necessary fine tuning. On the 2016 budget, Kokani said the state government achieved significant success in meeting the targets for the 2016 budget, and assured that next year, more projects would be implemented for the benefit of the citizenry. He equally expressed satisfaction with the level implementation of this year’s budget.

Deputy Governor of Bauchi state, Mr Nuhu Gidado (middle) with a team of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) during the team’s courtesy call to the Government House in Bauchi, on Wednesday. PHOTO: NAN

Kwara, NULGE clash over salary deductions

Wole Adedeji, Ilorin

he battle line may have been drawn between Kwara State government and the local government workers over N33.6 billion teachers’ salary. The workers union, National Union of Local Government Workers, NULGE, had demanded a refund of the money said to have been illegally deducted by the state government from

the council allocations. The NULGE secretary in the state, Comrade Afolabi Abayomi, in a statement had demanded on behalf of the council workers, the N33.6b the state had been deducting from Local Government allocations since 2009 to pay Junior Secondary School, JSS salaries. He also alleged that the state government had not only defaulted in paying its contributive fund to Local Government Pensions but had also been withholding

the regularly disbursed Federal Government LG pensions for 84 months leaving poor pensioners in the sector to die in droves since 2009. Abayomi said the action of the state government was outrightly illegal, pointing out that payment of basic education was not the responsibililty of the local government in the constitution but primary education. Reacting to the NULGE demand, Senior Special

Assistant, SSA on Media and Communications to the government, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, described the demand as illogical and baseless, asking the union workers to face the realities of the time because of the current drop in monthly federal allocations. Akorede also argued that the state intended to help local governments by planning to remove JSS teachers’ salaries, as a palliative to their lingering inability to pay salaries.

Security of lives, property our topmost priority - el-Rufai A za Msue KADUNA

aduna State Deputy Governor, Barnabas Bala Bantex, has briefed Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, SOKAPU, on how Governor Nasir el-Rufai is tackling insecurity in southern and other parts of the state. Bantex said provision of security to all citizens of the state was among the el-Rufai-led government’s top priorities, as part of the campaign promises made to the electorate. Bantex disclosed this during a stakeholders meeting jointly organised by the office of the deputy governor of and SOKAPU, to find a lasting solution to the lingering security challenge that has contin-

ued to ravage the region. The deputy governor, who dispelled accusations labelling the government as insensitive with regards to attacks in the southern part of the state, noted that the government was considering measures already to address the issue. Bantex noted: “This government has demonstrated enough political will to address security challenge. The previous government in the state failed to implement recommendations of the peace and reconciliation committee set up by the late Governor Patrick Yakowa which recommended setting up a committee to study challenges in southern Kaduna and recommend to government measures to be taken. “On July 1, 2015, Malam el-Rufai inaugurated the

Martin Luther Agwai committee to stamp out attacks on Southern Kaduna communities, which has since submitted it report to the government and the government is dutifully implementing the recommendations therein. “This government is also aware that unemployment among youths is a major contributor to youth restiveness and insecurity. Measures are being taken to create job opportunities by wooing investors into the state. Multi-million dollar investments are pouring into the state that would create thousands of jobs for unemployed youths.” Bantex lamented the negative impact of colonial rule on the people’s psyche, by making them believe that government should do everything for

them. He stated that in the past people usually embarked on community development programmes, a practice now neglected. He decried the failure of the previous government to make education and other social interventions accessible to the Fulani herdsmen who are allowed to wander in the bush, a situation he said was responsible for some of the security challenge faced today. Bantex reiterated the resolve of the administration in making the state peaceful and safe for every citizen. “This government recognises peace and security as very cardinal to development. We are therefore committed to doing all we can to ensure the people live in secure environment peacefully,” he said.

Your

FRIDAY

Friday , October 28, 2016

Emma Ogosi

Evi Edna Ogholi Ogosi was grimacing. When we got to the house, Emma Ogosi asked me ‘Evi, what were you discussing with the journalist?’ Emma Ogosi started punching me, as usual. He told me that, ‘Evi, the journalist was chasing you”. To complicate matters, Evi alleged Emma flushed down his wedding ring down the toilet in the presence the entire family and grossly abused Evi and her family. Another incident took place after she performed a duet with another artiste Priye her former chorus singer at a concert. Evi alleged Emma was angry because of the duet performance and accused Priye of maintaining a suspicious

eye contact with Emma during the performance. Emma vetted out her anger on Evi, “chopped off a flesh – from the lower part of my face (jaw, to be precise) with his teeth”. Emma went on with the beating her until she lost consciousness, it would have been a fatal incident for the sake of Fyne who quickly rushed her to a hospital in her car. The battery continued according to Evi in Accra – Ghana, were Emma wanted her to stop greeting the show promoter who was the organiser of Evi and her band’s tour of some West African countries out of sheer jealousy and also when she was discussing with a male family

Women should not be in such violent relationships. Marriage is for better for worse but not when there is a threat to one’s life

P. 21.22

Arty News

friend on how to arrange cake for a surprise birthday for Emma even amidst the family crisis. Emma concluded she’s having affair with these men and all the stories ended up in severe battering. One human-rights activist who begged for anonymity because of the domestic nature of the story said leaving Emma was the right thing to do. According to the Human/Woman Rights activist, “women should not be in such violent relationships. Marriage is for better for worse but not when there is a threat to one’s life. So many women have died due to the fact they couldn’t leave their marriage because of the nature of our traditional society that doesn’t allow women quit from violent relationships even when their lives are threatened”. The two musicians Edna Ogholi and Emma Egosi were household names in Nigeria in the 80s through 90s. Edna got married to her producer boyfriend then, Emma Ogosi and Nigerians are wondering what could have caused the crisis for the two love birds of the 90s. In the wake of this quarrel, both had claimed being the story behind the other’s success in the music industry.

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How assault, jealousy ruined my marriage —Evi Edna Ogholi

Inside FCT

n the wake of the shocking revelation that Evi Edna Ogholi dumped a relationship that may have influenced her career when her estranged husband Emma Ogosi was facing financial crisis and a depleting fortune, Nigeria’s first iconic female reggae artiste, Evi Egna Ogholi recently threw a bombshell when she alleged that she was a victim of ‘habitual wife battering’ by her ex-husband, Emma Ogosi out of irrational jealousy. Evi accused Emma of turning him into a punching bag and serially assaulting her in the presence of their two children. Contrary to Emma’s report that Evi left him when she felt the party was over and can no longer cope with the reality of cutting her cloth according to her size, Evi response indicated she ran for her life to avoid a looming fatality that was destined to be the outcome of constant wife battering. Evi alleged Emma was usually filled with erratic rage anytime he saw her with a colleague or an admirer which is usually the case in show business, Emma constantly battered her, accusing her of infidelity. She cited several instances where she was assaulted by Emma because journalists were speaking to her but Friday Flavour is yet to confirm these claims. According to a statement she released which opened the can of worms, Friday Flavour deduced she is in Paris and may not return to her husband. Part of the statement read: “One day, Emma Ogosi and I went to Ras Kimono’s party, at Ras Kimono’s residence in Lagos. At the party, a journalist (names withheld), walked up to me, to greet me and to interview me. As he was asking me questions, Emma Ogosi walked up to me ... Emma Ogosi told me, ‘Evi, let’s go home, just like that (without even saying goodbye to Ras Kimono)’. On our way back home, Emma

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

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ISIGUZO DESTINY

Flavour

Critics

VOL. 4 No. 827

WEEKEND STARTERS

LagosPhoto kicks off

he 2016 LagosPhoto Grand Opening is scheduled to take place on Saturday October 22, 2016 at 6pm at the Escalator Exhibition Hall, Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos. It will run until November 21, 2016 with an array of international photographers like TY Bello, Assad Hannah, David Uzochukwu, Emma Trousse, Ishola Akpo and many others exhibiting their works. According to the curator of the festival, LagosPhoto 2016 explores the role of acts of repetition that shape gender, image, identity, social agency, power and social constructs in contemporary society. The repetitive acts imbued with belief become coercive and normative. It shapes our general idea of what is true in determining an African image, gender, religion, beauty, social class. TY Bello

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t least 50 practicing visual artists under the aegis of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA), Lagos State Chapter and 32 artists from Rivers State willconverge on Lagos to showcase their artworks in their annual exhibition known as October Rain. Tagged: “Perspective of Change, the exhibition which will take place at the Nike Art Centre, Elegushi Road, Ikate Roundabout, Lekki-Epe Express Way, Lagos, from Saturday, October 29 to November 4, 2016 is dedicated in honour of Late Samuel Olagbaju. Dotun Alabi, the Chairman, SNA Lagos State Chapter, explained that two things make this year’s exhibition unique include: “live performance by top leading artists - Mr. Jelili Atiku, Mrs. Odun Orimolade and Mr. Durodola Yusuf at the Art work for SNA exhibition opening ceremony.

Art Man

SNA Lagos hosts ‘October Rain’ exhibition

Art Man

Friday, October 28, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigerian film industry undergoing revolution –Enogieru Director Douglas Iziegbeariase Enogieru, is a passionate movie director willing to go the extra mile to see his dreams come through. He draws attention to the impediments against the war on piracy in this interview with REGINA OTOKPA. Excerpts:

ow did you find yourself in the world of film making? Becoming a film maker was more like a tug of war, dumping my mother’s dream of wanting to be a lawyer, and dumping law for film is a mystery nobody thought anyone would have been able to succumb to. I actually was studying law and was in my second year at university of Benin. I had to leave law to study film at the film and broadcast academy where I graduated as a film maker. It was basically about dumping what my family has always wanted me to study to go ahead with what I had always wanted to study and the reason behind it is passion. Growing up, I used to see moves on the television and I didn’t even know how they were produced even though we were not allowed to see those movies but when we are opportune to see movies like Things Fall Apart, Tales by Moonlight, there was this thing that comes to my consciousness that there must be people behind all of these scenes in the television. That quest to know how a movie was put together was what stimulated my interest into studying film. Given your international experience, how would you rate the quality of films produced in Nigeria? There is actually no standard with which we can use to rate the quality of films produced by Nigerians but the film industry in Nigeria is still undergoing a revolution; a lot of developmental processes are still on. It will be wise to say that the film industry is sub divided into three. We have the free market system where everybody can produce a movie and sell, we have Nollywood where we have the semi class film below standard budget for film making and of course today, we have quality films being produced by some

Enogieru at work

Nigerians who are trying so hard to set the pace in quality visual story telling. It is a three way thing but the best way to describe it is the good films are less than one third but there are good films produced by Nigerian film makers except that the number of quality of films has not outweighed the numbers of substandard film. I must say every film is good because it has to do with someone’s intellectual ability but it depends on the disposition to them. Even though we don’t have a standard for measurement yet, so far we are coming up, it’s a green one. The Nigerian film industry indeed has grown from what it used to be but as we strive to meet up with the standard of other countries, these countries are getting even much better. Do you see the industry getting to the present standard of other countries soon? The study of film making here and outside Nigeria is just the same; the environment, the set of people telling you how it is made over there is what makes the difference. Most of the things that may seem like a difference is that they get to spend a lot of money in the budget, they carry out a lot of proper planning, scheduling and scripting. They carry out a script conference, reading, editing, rehearsals and of course these things come with a budget. Also, the quality of production personnel is a top priority, they are highly trained and they know what they are doing. The industry today in Nigeria isn’t what it used to be and growth is constant, at the stage where we are, we are gradually growing in terms of knowledge and knowledge brings about quality. We will get there but we are not there yet. How well do you write? I write a couple of scripts at my own level but presently I am working with a professional screen writer so I allow him do his thing, I just watch and read. How many movies have you produced so far? I have produced about five personal films with great story lines. We have Sophia’s Pain, our award winning film Zyra which was written by five writers including a Nigerian, Ghanian, Liberian and a Canadian which won an award in the best Nigerian short film category at the Eko International Film Festival. We also have Shared which was produced In December, we have submitted Shared for a number of festivals around the globe. Given your position, how often do you effect changes on a script? I don’t take laws into my hands by tam-

Enogieru pering with the intellectual properties of an individual. Every screen play that has been written is an intellectual property of the writer, basically I summon the writers we together share some ideas and agree on what we want. How often do you shoot movies outside Abuja? When I have to shoot or direct other people’s stories but it depends on where the producer wants it to be done. Sometimes back I was in Liberia to shoot the highest selling movie in Liberia so far, Killer Bean which sold 13,000 copies in two weeks. When it is my job, it depends on where I am comfortable with, for instance we shot Zyra in Benin City but I shoot some in Abuja. What are the challenges you encounter while shooting movies in Abuja? The fear of being imprisoned because we don’t know who is who, whose house not to station our cameras even without recording them, getting artistic locations. Accessing props is also not easy because of the situation of the country, people are very careful of who comes in and goes out. The present administration has promised to fight piracy; do you see the federal government wining this war? Piracy is as old as life itself and so it is not a war that will be won. What are the mercenaries put in place so far, how well does the government of the day know the history of the industry, what effort has the government out in place to collaborate with the industry practitioners, what is the relationship between the government and the film marketers because those are the angles we need to

Piracy is as old as life itself; so it is not a war that will be won

look at, those are the angles piracy comes from. For now, I am not thinking that the present government will be able to win that war because no effort has been made. Who do you look forward to working with in the industry? Before now I was looking forward to working with Benjamin Gbemanayi and we are working now. I am looking forward to working with Tope Oshin Ogun that is one lady I respect so much in this industry. With the demise of Amaka Igwe, I almost thought we would not have another woman perform as much as she performed before now but I see Tope Oshin Ogun standing in that capacity and she has been doing great. My brother Eric Aghimien, the director of A Mile from Home, we are already talking and we might be working on my next project together. Internationally, I would appreciate if I become a script supervisor or assistant director in the Mel Gibson set because I would love to work with him, directing a show for the Warner brothers would be the height in my career. When you dropped out of school to study film making what was the battle like at home? What won the battle for me was the love I have gained from my mum, she loves me a lot. My parents are farmers, imagine coming from a home where your parents are struggling hard to send you to school with the belief you should study law and make money for the family, be a good man to the society then you wake up suddenly to announce you want to study film. Could you tell us a little bit more about yourself? I am a native of Bini from Edo state. I was running brain child motion pictures, a child hood dream which metamorphosed from dear mother pictures and now I am with Icon and Legends where I hope to shoot my first feature film Black Veil before the end of the year.

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Arty News

Friday, October 28, 2016

29 21

Retro Africa’s ‘Afro-spective’ REGINA OTOKPA

t was four hours of undiluted fun for lovers of art, to explore the beautiful works of four unique artists; Diseye Tanfua, Frank Enebeli, Ibe Ananba and Uchay Joel Chima, at Afro-spective, a contemporary art exhibition organized by Retro Africa in collaboration with Nordic hotel in Abuja. According to the founders Retro Africa, the second edition of their Afro series aims at showcasing contemporary art from an African perspective, by echoing past influences, bold fashion statements and satires as social political commentary, and also to reveal a journey between artists’ inner reflections, life’s inner stimuli. Stunning art enthusiasts with beautiful sculptures and vibrant paintings, Abdullahi Umar explained this was in a bid to “show case a lot of works that appeals to a large amount of people and provide a little bit of everything,” using African artists. Dolly Kola-Balogun added that Retro Africa was committed towards promoting art culture in Africa starting from Abuja. “We are bringing people from different walks of life, from different industries into one sphere just for the love of art. We just want

to show that art can be visibly displayed through different forms and through different mediums. “The idea of Retro Africa is to promote art culture within the Abuja scene and across the nation and the continent. We link Abuja with Lagos and Lagos with the international community. Commenting on the level of art enthusiasm by Nigerians, Dolly noted that “The art in Nigeria is very well established in many art platforms especially in Lagos. In Abuja it is not as developed as I would

At At Afro-spective exhibition

like to see but its growing and you can see from this exhibition that there is enthusiasm there is a thirst for different things especially curative art not just for art sake. This turnout is pleasing to me and I hope to see more of it.” Displaying six of his paintings, Ibe Ananaba believes it is the responsibility of African artists to write the African story in a positive form, to correct the negative impressions tagged on Africans outside the continent. According to him, his paintings aim at reflecting everything that happens in the fashion, music politics, social and technology space, to create culture and movement. “This a collection of artists coming together to show their arts, to create an experience. For me it’s like another way to visually tell the African story. I believe it is my responsibility to write the African story in a positive form because if you leave it out there people will tell your own story and they will tell it the way they want to. “Art is empowerment, it’s the voice with which we speak, it’s the key that unlocks access to some places you can’t even imagine,”Ananaba added.

About Unilag98 Law Eastern Forum OLUWASANMI FEMI

here is actually no doubt that a lot is required to move the nation forward. While peace and harmony are necessary ingredients towards this goal, it becomes commendable what a group of

Members of Unilag98

professional called UNILAG98 Law Eastern Forum is doing. Formed a couple of years ago, this group consists of men and women of integrity who have sworn to use their financial and intellectual resources to move forward their school, University of Lagos, South Eastern States and Nigeria in general. With a President like Ifeyinwa Onunkwo and Secretary General like Uju Madubogwu, the non-profit association has been at the vanguard of championing good causes in the society. Aside visiting orphanages to give succour, the group is also at the forefront of fighting for prison decongestion in Nigeria. According to its secretary

Uju Madubogwu, “The forum is a nonprofit Association comprised of Eastern members of class 98 that gained admission to study Law in the year 1998 at the University of Lagos. We decided to come together as a group to assist ourselves, solve problems in the nation at large but with particular focus to the Eastern States in Nigeria and our alma mater in various ways”. The group is already making inroads in the political sphere of the nation as one of their members, Barr Rita Maduagwu, has become a Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly. Continuing, the National President, Ifeyinwa Onunkwo averred that the group is set to do more of such projects with the help of government and corporate bodies.

Musa

Excitement heralds ‘Moments of Laffter’ TOSIN ADAMS

here is astounding excitement in the air as Lagos is set to witness the first edition of ‘Moments of Laffter with La Casera’. The event which comes up on Friday November 4, 2016 is slated to hold at Goddis Hotel and Bar, located on Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos and will start at 10pm. Jointly organised by Kakus Global Entertainment and Ahmedo Artistes Live Shows, it is a variety night that will feature comedians, musicians and dancers. Some of the fast-rising acts who are billed to perform include: Gee Vee, Makati and Leo. According to Ahmed Okezie Musa, this is the first in the series of shows that will be coming to entertainment lovers in Lagos and has been packaged with the ultimate satisfaction of the audience in mind. “You are aware that our show Ahmedo Artistes Live Show has been a huge success and we hope to replicate it with this show which will be showcasing the fast rising stars from all genres of entertainment. It is coming to Lagosians with the support of La Casera, and this will go a long way in giving upcoming acts the platform to showcase their talent.”

Art teachers receive Lion Dance training in China JOEL AJAYI

he Chinese Cultural Centre Nigeria held its monthly cultural fiesta recently where it showcased a presentation on Lion Dance by Physical Education Teachers of the FCT. The teachers were recently trained in China on the dance by the Culture office of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Nigeria. Some artists from The FCT Arts and Culture who were also recently trained in China too, under the auspices of Art friends of China Cultural Centre Visiting Programme made some presentations about their trip to the country. Speaking, Mr Yan Xiangdong Cultural Counselor Chinese Embassy appreciates

the effort of the participants urging them to special report focuses on China-Africa culcontinue with their good work as China and ture and on Chinese Lion Dance. Nigeria are having a brotherly relationship They explained that their time in China that will continue to foster good bilateral re- was well spent and the dance is performed lationship. during festival. The Nigerian delegate perHe also said the Chinese Cultural Cen- formed the dance of a small lion. Speaktre, Nigeria is to share our heritage to our ing on the benefit of world class dance, Nigerian brothers, promising his country’s they explained that the lion dance promote continued support and sponsorship of Nige- friendship and cultural integration as it rians to travel to his country to learn more in entertaining, interesting, builds flexibility, the various area of life. strengthens the minds and body and fosters The teachers corporation. who participatThey also suggest ed at the trainthat the dance could ing were also enhance our military met with some training because it Zimbabwean would help in flexcounterpart in ibility, stamina and China which endurance. Cross section of paticipants at was why their The Lion Dance the lion dance training

is a famous Chinese cultural dance that is staged during very important events like welcoming of very important guest, or during festivals. It is very colourful and entertaining. The rationale behind training of PHE teachers in the field is to promote cultural integration between Nigeria and China at the same time provides a physical exercise activity through dancing. On the other hand the Art presentation is also to integrate Culture and promote cultural exchange between Nigeria and China. Other dignitaries at the event were Mrs. Victoria George, Deputy Director Co-Curricular FCT-Secondary Education Board, Hajiya Fatima Abdulrahman, immediate past National President ANCOPPS, Mr Yakubu Ibrahim, Desk Officer, Chinese Embassy SEB amongst others.

Inside FCT

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, October 21, 2016

Hawkers, herdsmen panic as AEPB raids

The exercise that

MARCUS FATUNMOLE & AJIBOLA WINNER

commenced about seven days ago by the AEPB

n response to growing menace of hawking and activities of herders in the Federal Capital Territory, especially in the city’s municipal, Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, said it has arrested 589 hawkers, 25 cows, 51 sheep, including nine herdsmen in the nation’s capital. The arrests were carried out between May and September this year, said Acting Director of the board, Mrs Omolola Olanipekun, while speaking with newsmen in Abuja earlier this week. Olanipekun said the culprits and their animals were arraigned in the FCT mobile court. Inside FCT observed that since the current All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government took over power in the city, hawking and herding have been on the increase; resulting in huge criticisms from residents and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Herders freely moved their cattle anywhere in the FCT, including the Federal Secretariat, the nation’s nerve center of public service. APC had promised pro-poor programmes which would help the lessprivileged have better access to means of livelihood. But, sensing abuse of the opportunity afforded many of the less-privileged, the FCT Minister, Muhammadu Bello, recently gave AEPB and security agencies the marching orders to rid the

and the Task Team on the instruction of the

Minister is a continuous one

Herdsmen in FCT city of filth and other environmental abuses. “This sensitization campaign took the board couple of weeks before the commencement of enforcement by prosecuting defaulters at the mobile court. “Since my assumption, in May this year, about 589 hawkers have been arrested and prosecuted between the month of May and September. “Also, within the five months, 25 cows, 51 sheep and nine herdsmen were arrested and convicted with fines range from N3,000 to N7,000, accordingly,” Olanipekun said while addressing journalists. According to her, AEPB had been sensitizing residents of the city on the ills of street hawking. She also informed that the board had met with leadership of herders in the city and told them to desist from moving their cattle within the city.

In a related development, 16 herders have been arraigned and convicted before Sanitation Mobile Court by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA. FCTA carried out the prosecution through its agencies namely the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, and the FCT Task Team on Environmental Sanitation. The agencies impounded 36 cows and 38 sheep according to a statement made available to National Mirror recently by Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary in the FCTA, Muhammad Sule. The organizations commenced arrest and prosecution of herders in the nation’s capital in the last one week, the release said. “The AEPB and the Task Team thus,

tendered the impounded cows and sheep as exhibit to secure the conviction of the arrested herdsmen. “The exercise is sequel to the directive of the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, for the Abuja Environmental Protection Board and the FCT Task Team on Environment to stop forthwith the grazing of cattle within Abuja metropolis. “Those arrested have been made to face the consequences of their actions as they have paid various fines to serve as a deterrent to others with strong warning to desist from doing same. “The exercise that commenced about seven days ago by the AEPB and the Task Team on the instruction of the Minister is a continuous one,” the release stated. It would be recalled that cattle rearing had become a menace in the city, prompting Chairman, Senate Committee on the FCT, Dino Melaye, to issue a directive on the FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, to ensure any herder caught in the city is arrested and prosecuted, while cattle caught are impounded.

Recession: Abuja father abandons baby in hospital JOEL AJAYI

he last may have not been heard about the hardship, hunger and gnashing of teeth facing many Nigerians today. Day in day out, the economic challenge in the country is taking serious tolls on every household in the country. No doubt, poverty currently ravaging the country is gradually making citizens devise various means of meeting their financial obligation while many shy away from their duty. This is a situation that led to a middleaged man identified as Mr Tony Ojonugba to abandon his wife and 5 month old baby girl in the Specialist Hospital Gwagwalada in the Federal Capital Territory FCT. It was gathered by Inside FCT that, Mr Tony a mechanic and father of two abandoned his wife and baby in the hospital as a result of lack of money to pay for the medical bills of his daughter. Investigation revealed that the new born baby fell sick two weeks before she was taken to hospital for treatment. The mother of the baby spoke to the inside FCT, narrated her ordeal: “What happened was that, two weeks ago, I discovered that my baby is not faring well and I called the attention of my husband, he told me that things are not going well with him right now that he did not have any money to take the

baby to the hospital, that God will heal the baby. “I was not comfortable with his answer because the situation of the baby was getting worse day by day. And after ten days, the baby did not take the breast anymore and she look very lean. So, when he came back from work in the night, I was already crying because my baby is dying in hands. “He was a bit confused because of my crying, he then said I should take the baby to the Gwagwalada teaching hospital in the morning that he will quickly go and look for money to settle the hospital bills. When I carried the baby to the hospital in the morning, the Doctor called me all sort of names that, I am a wicked mother because the condition of the baby is very worsen. He asked for my husband and I told him he is coming that he went to look for money. “And I used the little money in my hands to foot some little bills in the expectation that when my husband comes, everything will be settled but here I am, second day, I have not heard from him, he refused to call, I put calls through his number, is always switched off.” Continuing the narration:”But I thanked

Hospital in Abuja

God, as I was crying trying to put a call through, speaking Igala language, one of the security men who is working in the hospital, who noticed I was in deep sorrow approached me and asked if all is well with me I replied, it is not well with me and I explained everything to him. “He told me that there is a group inside the hospital called social welfare unit that always help cases of abandoned patients that is genuine, that I should go and complain to them, that they will help me, when I got to the office, I explained myself, they collected my husband’s number, called him but to no

I can tell you today, that there is never a week that we don’t have an issue of people abandoning their patient in the hospital because of money

avail. “The social welfare unit told me not to worry and they went ahead paying all the bills for the baby and I can confirm to you that my baby is stable now.” When inside fct contacted the security man, he pleaded not to mention his name: “I just want to help the woman, she even sent me to go and meet the husband and when I met with the husband, he opined that he has no money that is why he chose not to show up, I have no option than to dash him N500 naira to buy food for the other baby who is just two and half years old. “The truth of the matter here is that her husband doesn’t have any money. “I can tell you today, that there is never a week that we don’t have one issue of people abandoning their patient in the hospital because of issue of money.” He revealed.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, October 1438AH Friday, January 17, 2014 Thursday, October 3, 2013 28, 2016 27th of Muharram,

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Community Mirror 33 23 Worship CALL TO

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

RELATED BY BUKHARI AND MUSLIM

THE PLATFORM with

PAGE

Sekinah LAWAL

08055102994, sekinah207@yahoo.com

When the come , come to come everybody will sit up in this Ministry.

‘Fruits of change are imminent in Nigeria’ Rev. Chris Okotie, speaking on the state of the nation

Sekinah Lawal

agos State Commissioner For Home Affairs, DrAbdulHakeemAbdulLateef has assured Nigerians that the fruit of change is eminent in the country while advising those attempting to pull down the national leader of All Progressive Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to drop the move as it is unprofitable. Dr. AbdulLateef who describedTinubu as the hero of Nigeria’s democracy also warned against unwarranted discord between the APC leader and President Muhammad Buhari. He gave the admonition at a religious gathering in Ikeja, Lagos. “God elevates who ever He wishes irrespective of man’s inhumanity to such individual. Asiwaju is fond of identifying great minds and promoting such individuals, many people could not identify as agents of transformation Nigeria need. He sacrifice numerous things to bring back the country on track” “It’s unfortunate that because of 2019, some individuals are now creating divisions and enmity between Asiwaju and

President Buhari. Seed of discord you have planted will never germinate”, he prayed. They believe the only way to achieve their aim was to create discord between PMB and Asiwaju. It is just unfortunate that many people don’t think of collective good.” “Asiwaju stood firmly behind

HON MINISTER FOR PETROLEUM RESOURCES,ALIISON MADUEKE

PMB at a time when his kinsmen were against his emergence as Nigeria President. The fruits of change in the country are imminent. Nigerians must avoid wrongdoings which brings nothing good but destruction to the perpetrators.” “Encourage Nigerians to complement PMB instead of trying to

humiliate an individual that has been used to save the political entity called Nigeria at a point the party at helm of affairs was ruining the economy and planting hardship for Nigerians by sharing our collective wealth among selected few without remorse.” He emphasized that Asiwaju is a pathfinder, builder and mo-

‘Our Commissioner is a Compassionate Servant Leader’

S Secretary-General, Global Union for Zakat Rite, GUZR, in Sudan, Ustadh Abdulraziq Mohamed Mukhtar (second right) presenting a gift to Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs Dr. AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef (third right) during a visit to AbdulLateef in Lagos. With them are (from left) Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation (ZSF) Executive Director Prince Sulayman Olagunju, ZSF Chairman Dr. Tajudeen Yusuf, Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, Jaiz Zakat and Waqf Trust Fund, Imam Abdullahi Shuaib, GUZR Deputy Secretary-General Dr. Nasreldin Fadle Maula and GUZR official in Sudan, Mr. Shamsideen Bolatito.

Islamic economy focus on all round benefits — AbdulLateef …says recession is a consequence of corruption

Sekinah L awal

he current economic recession in Nigeria has been described as a product of various corrupt practices and that man-made economy is individualistic approach while Islamic economy is collective with focus on all round socio-economic development. “Islamic economy guarantees a society where no one struggles to be educated from primary to tertiary level. Provisions of jobs, assess to qualitative health care delivery, safety of lives and property are prioritized. It doesn’t allow corruption to grow but create conducive atmosphere for people of other faiths

to live happily and coexist with others without any hindrance.” Giving assurance that the recession will become a thing of the past if Nigerians sustain the fight against the hydra headed-monster called corruption at all levels of governance was the Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr. AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef recently in Lagos. Delivering a paper entitled; “Current Nigeria Economic Crisis: Islam, The Antidote,” at the annual symposium organized by the Muslim Postgraduate Association, MPA, UNILAG branch, Dr. AbdulLateef said that failure of man to recognize

Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad: Excellent leadership by example 24

tivator who has elevated many individuals. Babatunde Fashola and the present Governor of Lagos State, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode were identified by Tinubu. Today, they are all performing wonderfully by adding value to the standard of living. He also identified me and others too numerous to mention. So, Why do you attempt to humiliate such rare icon? He queried. “Bola Tinubu is one of the few individuals used by Allah to unite Nigeria and strengthen democracy. So don’t pull him down due to envy, hatred and jealousy”

and adhere to the guidance of the ownership of the country and its inhabitants was the genesis of Nigeria’s economic crisis. “We are in a world, created and managed by Allah and He has the best provisions on how to manage both human and material resources. Nigerians must do away with corrupt practices, interest and trading of items that destroy the economy.” The Commissioner implored Nigerians to embrace mechanized farming, this he said would address the rising unemployment, shortage of food supply and enhance revenue generation. “Our lands are fertile, we have the best weather

condition. Allah has blessed us with wisdom, which He didn’t give the animals, so why do we fail to utilize the wisdom to have industrialized agricultural sector” “Quran is the manual of life; it is the guidance for peaceful living. Whoever follows the guidance of Allah will never experience economic recession or any form of societal crisis”, he stressed. He observed that with the resources bestowed on Nigeria by Allah, no Nigerians should suffer to assess qualitative education at all levels, enjoy health care services, housing and any other essentials of life should not be problem.

Healthy Corner WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Ending deaths after childbirth 24

taff of Lagos State Home Affairs Ministry have described the Political Head of the Ministry, Dr. AbdulHakeemAbdulLateef, has a Compassionate Servant Leader. In a release signed by Olalekan Murisiku, Media Assistant to the Commissioner, it stated that according to the Director of Public Affairs of the Ministry, Mr. KayodeOyekanmi, the 365 Days in office of Dr. AbdulLateef was eventful. “The Home Affairs Family wishes you greater accomplishment in the years ahead. Our Commissioner is Humane, Vibrant and Compassionate” “You have Wisdom and understanding to lead the Ministry aright”. “You are a man of intelligence and integrity personified”, “One year of good and tested leadership quality with style.” These are some of the goodwill messages. In his reaction, the Commissioner thanked members of Home Affairs Family saying leadership is about selfless service. “I am pleased and humble to be called to serve. I remain grateful to God and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for giving me the opportunity. Our success stories in the ministry were as a result of the strategic approaches of the Governor of Lagos State.” Dr. AbdulLateef was appointed as the ministry head precisely on 19th October, 2016 by Lagos State Governor Ambode.

Hajj is now with ease — Pilgrims

Arts Call toLounge Worship

Friday, December 17, 2010 Friday, October 28, 2016 27th of Muharram, 1438AH

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Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad: Excellent leadership by example

he man, Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad, the Chairman, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, is one leader worthy of commendation. When many in his position will sit back comfortably in their offices waiting for subordinates’ reports, this man would be seen even in the dead of the night monitoring all activities to ensure all is well. Throughout our stay in Hajj, I was marveled by his extraordinary vigor and dedication to duties. Many at times I would meet him by chance on his own, doing monitoring with his own personal camera at hand. When it comes to astute leadership and dedication to excellent service delivery, give it to him! Working day and night to ensure better Hajj for Nigerians, he repeatedly urged Nigerian pilgrims to be law abiding, tolerant and be good ambassadors of their respective families, states and the nation in general, in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to make Nigeria a better place for all by introducing policies and

Barrister Mukhtar programmes to better the lives of all Nigerians, including generations yet unborn. Barrister Muktar ensured that NAHCON’s officials accorded priority to the welfare and consular services of the pilgrims. An excellent coordinator, manager of human and material resources and executioner of plans and policies, he is working diligently with commitment and high sense of patriotism to make Hajj an easy task for Nigerians. He was seen working with staff and the states pilgrims’ welfare boards/agencies and

all other stakeholders to ensure a successful coordination, management and execution of the Hajj operations and even the years to come, taking welfare, security, consular and medical services of the pilgrims as great priorities. Barrister Mukhtar was always seen putting in place every necessary arrangements to ensure the comfort of the pilgrims right from home, in Saudi Arabia and coming home in collaboration with other stakeholders. Though, so many areas must still be worked on, we must give it to this our amiable chairman of NAHCON for his diligence and discipline. I spoke with many Nigerian pilgrims and they expressed their satisfaction with the many improvements they witnessed during the 2016 Hajj exercise and commended NAHCON for a job well-done while looking out for more improved Hajj operations next year and subsequently. The e-wristband introduced for pilgrims is quite commendable and will help a great deal if allowed to flourish. There is great change in Hajj exercise under his leader-

Healthy Corner WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Ending deaths after childbirth The Department for International Development (DFID) has said that 33,000 women die from pregnancy complications in Nigeria every year. •to reduce maternal, new-born and child mortality in Nigeria •Nigeria has the highest number of maternal and new born deaths in sub-Sahara Africa. •Over 70% of maternal and child deaths in Nigeria were preventable •Ensure proper care for pregnant women to help safe delivery •Pregnant women must always seek medical attention at hospitals with quality medical officers. Skilled care before, during and after childbirth can save the lives of women and newborn babies Timely management and treatment can make the difference between life and death for both the mother and the baby •Women die as a result of complications during and following pregnancy and childbirth • The major complications that account for nearly 75% of all maternal deaths are: •severe bleeding (mostly bleeding after childbirth) •infections (usually after childbirth) •high blood pressure during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia) •complications from delivery •unsafe abortion The remainder are caused by or associated with diseases such as malaria, and AIDS during pregnancy

t: 08055102994 e: sakinah207@yahoo.com

When it comes to astute leadership and dedication to excellent service delivery, give it to him! Working day and night to

ensure better Hajj for Nigerians, he repeatedly urged Nigerian pilgrims to be law abiding,

tolerant and be good ambassadors of their respective families, states and the nation in general ship. Year round, NAHCON, the Saudi authorities and all other stakeholders keep meeting and planning to make things work out fine and for all arrangements to be concluded in good time. Another national service worthy of commendation is the introduction of the National Media and Medical Teams to ensure successful Hajj operations and this really gives a sense of patriotism and belongingness. While in Makkah, he kept appealing to all pilgrims so as to ensure that whatever rules and regulations set up by the Saudi Arabian Authority to ensure their safety were not disobeyed. “We should suspend our desire to perform Hajj as officials and attend to the pilgrims to perform their Hajj. On our part, we will demonstrate that will.” And truly, he did not perform Hajj. He is truly carrying out his responsibilities with the fear of Allah. The 2016 Hajj operations was the best compared with previous years. Under his leadership, NAHCON is set to record tre-

mendous success in the areas of security, good accommodation, effective feeding, transport and airlift of all Nigerian pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia. There is great change in Hajj under the present leadership of NAHCON. Throughout the year, NAHCON, the Saudi authorities and all other stakeholders meet and plan and I am sure preparation for next year’s Hajj should be on already and I believe this early preparation is among the reasons we are getting it right. All arrangements will be concluded in good time if there are early good preparations. And we pray it will continue to get better. The new stone throwing policy really worked and we thank Allah the Most-High, for making the tasks easy. It is our hope and prayer that Barrister Mukhtar will get the needed support in taking Hajj operations in Nigeria to greater heights. He is the kind of leadership character Nigeria requires at this moment. May Allah SWT, make the tasks ahead easy for him and his team, Aamin.

After sunset, NAHCON Chairman was there with Nigerian pilgrims leaving Arafat and ensuring that the buses were on time to convey pilgrims to Muzdalifah where they spent the night following in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

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Friday, October 28, 2016 27th of Muharram 1438AH

World leaders should ensure justice

uslims have been urged to be united, uphold human values and strive to make this world a harmonious place to live in. The head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community gave this advice in his keynote address at Canadian Parliament. Khalifatul Masih V believed that on the basis of humanity, we are all joined together and should therefore be united. “If human values and human rights are not upheld in one country, it has a knock-on effect in other parts of the world. In this age when the fear of Islam is on the Islam, let me reassure all of you that Islam is not what you commonly see. Literal word of word Islam is peace, love, and harmony and all of its teachings are based upon these noble values.” He reiterated the fact that there should be no compulsion in religion. “What a clear statement that enshrines freedom of thought, religion and conscience. Governments should not concern themselves with what type of clothing a woman chooses to wear. I am not advocating that people with extremist views should be tolerated or free to pursue their beliefs According to him, there is no need to fear a true Muslim saying unjust interventions cannot have any positive affect. This can only lead to restlessness and discord. “It is a case of huge regret that Muslim countries are a centre of such instability and disorder. Ch23-V9: A true Muslim is a person that

Friday, January 17, 2014

Call to Worship

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Community Mirror

EveryFriday Friday Jalsa services Every with with are silent When theKhalifatul come , come to come propagation everybody will sit up in this Ministry. Rev. Chris Okotie, speaking

fulfills any covenant with which they have been entrusted. Rather than justice, we witness injustice at every level of society - both between people and nations.” “Regrettably some major powers have not played their role in peace and have enacted on the state of the nation unjust policies. Huge stocks of weapons MINISTER FORAlmighty, PETROLEUM RESOURCES,ALIISON MADUEKE y theHON Grace of God the siah (peace be on him). have been sold to Muslim countries withannual Jalsa Salana of Canada First of all, we should be thankful to out considering the consequences. If major Jama’at commenced and end- God Almighty that He had granted the powers cease to trade arms and ensure other ed by showing the Grace and Mercy Jama’at such serving workers. Who desupply lines are cut, such conflicts would be brought to a conclusion. Thousands of inof God Almighty. For this, whatever spite of being educated if asked they nocent civilians are being killed. What will thankfulness we offer to God Almighty clean toilet, they serve food, they cook be the ultimate result of such arms trading? is low. It is His Grace that despite of food, they give security duties, they work In order to tackle radicalization, we must this that our resources are very little, in the parking, they do selflessly whatevalso assess what are its causes & symptoms. we hold Jalsa all over the world. And it er they are asked to do. Children fondly The major cause of radicalization of Musis just mercy of God Almighty that usu- give duty. Guests are very much imlim youth has been the economic crises & ally the arrangements are also good. pressed when in the Jalsa Gah, children many reports corroborate this. In-spite of We don’t have experts with profession- serve water to the guests silently and zealtheir education, many youths have not atal skills for all the departments who ously. Surprisingly they ask how do you tained suitable employment and have been can produce the best quality in all the generate such spirit of service in these marginalized. The root cause is injustice departments. We have volunteers from children. At such a time when Muslim and inequality. Developed nations ought to among Khuddam, Atfal, Ansar, Lajna religious groups, children who go to Mahave championed the rights of weaker nation & sought their advancement. Another and Nasirat also. Among them officers drasas, and the children and the youths example of world’s injustices is reflected in are appointed and subordinates are in the name of Jihad are being trained for world’s politics. also appointed. Sometimes, according atrocities; life is being threatened by cruTime has proved Canada’s decision to not to the secular education, a less-educat- elty; at the same time Ahmadi children take part in the Iraq war is the right one. ed is appointed as officer then one may and youths are doing life giving work. I hope and pray that Allah enables world be a doctor, engineer, or a PhD-holder When there are gatherings for distribuleaders to act in this way so that true & long obeys him. It does not make any differ- tion of the spiritual water and spiritual lasting peace can be established. May Alent that one is highly educated or one food our children, youths, boys and girls lah grant wisdom to the world’s leaders so has a higher worldly status - this is the are serving the physical water and physithat the world we leave behind is a world of kind of obedience we see in the Jama’at cal food. And they are entering into that peace & prosperity.” Huzoor concluded. Ahamdiyya. Then they cooperate by all real Jihad which is life giving and not life means. Not only cooperation, as I said threatening. Hence some people express before, they show full obedience also that when young children joyously and and obediently they perform their du- responsibly serve water they get spontaties and services. neous love. In those three days, it looks like as if Many among these workers for the arthe worldly thinking has disappeared rangements of the Jalsa have been workfrom the minds of all the workers. Only ing before the start of Jalsa and many Jalsa and selfless work become the think- will be working after the Jalsa for wind ing of the most workers or all the work- up. Neither they were worried about ers who offer their services for the Jalsa. their jobs or personal things nor monHence it is not a human work which etary losses. Some of them met me and converts the thinking into such a scope told me that they did not get time off from which gives actions a selflessness and their work for the Jalsa so they resigned humility. It is solely a Grace of God Al- from their jobs. Neither these people are L-R: Finance Secretary, Ahmadiyya Musilm Jama’at Nigeria, Alhaji Abdul Ghaniyyu mighty. Had it not been the Grace of the worried about their sleep nor rest. They Idris; Amir, Dr Mashhud Adenrele Fashola; The Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdul Rosheed God Almighty then it would have not were concerned that they have to do this Akanbi,Ilufemiloye Telu 1and Naib Amir, Special Duties, Engr. Alhaji Ahmed Al-hassan, generated this spirit of service in the service and with that they were worried during the courtesy visit to the Oluwo of Iwoland in Iwo Osun State. children, young, old, men, and women. to complete the preparations for the Jalsa It is the God Almighty Who creates this in its best that they can do. Hence I ask passion in the hearts of the workers that the participants of the Jalsa, but before they have to serve the guests of the Prom- that I personally thank all the workers, ised Messiah (peace be on him) selflessly, children, guests, girls, boys, women, and keeping it above all the personal desires men who offered themselves voluntarily and thinking and keeping in mind the and with the spirit of service performed pleasure of God Almighty and the ser- the lowest of the low work and did it with vice of the guests of the Promised Mes- fullest of the responsibility.

Ahmadiyya

Hon. Sani Zorro; Mr. Fola Adeyemi; the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni and Mr. Kayode Komolafe at a colloquium organized by Lagos NUJ in collaboration with Dele Giwa Foundation to mark the 30th anniversary of Giwa’s death in Lagos on Wednesday.

L-R: Oba AbdulWahab Oyedotun, “Bibire 1” (Arutu Oluokun) The Orangun of Ila; Naib THE Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Lagos State Council, Mr. Deji Elu- Amir, South West, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nigeria, Barrister Alhaji Abdul Azeez moye, Umar Saad, Olamide Odeleye; Kingsley Roberts; with executive members of Alatoye; Naib Amir Special Duties, Engr. Ahmed Al-hassan and Hon. Azeez Musibau, Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria, CSEAN, during a workshop on cyber during the courtesy visit to The Orangun of IIa in IIa, Osun State. security for Journalists in Lagos recently.

Call to Worship

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Friday, October 28, 2016 27th of Muharram, 1438AH

Hajj is now with ease —Pilgrims Alhaja Modupeore Nimotallahi Yusuf, AbujaNigeria:

ave been planning and looking forward to performing Hajj for long. The Hajj was stress-free, the Medina accommodation was very close to Haram and everything was so easy. The experience is awesome; we pray that God will make Nigeria stress-free and peaceful too. We thank almighty Allah, NAHCON and others for making our journey smooth, memorable and enjoyable. I am very happy. My happiness is boundless. I thank Allah, I thank Allah, I thank Allah. May Allah accept our Hajj, May Allah safeguards us. I also thank Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, NAHCON, the Media, FG and Saudi Authority’s efforts at ensuring a stress-free Hajj for us. We have prompt medical attention and proper arrangement too. My appreciation also goes to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Jagaban, Iyaloja of Nigeria, Alhaja Folasade Tinubu-Ojo and my son, Alhaji AbdulWahid Popoola, may Allah continue to bless and protect them, Aamin. Muslims should be united more for the progress of Islam. Thumbs up

Alhaja Hajara Abdullahi Usman, Abuja

s a first-timer, I really enjoyed my Hajj. The processes were so orderly and smooth. All arrangements in Muna quite interesting though can still get better. I must also appreciate Lagos State for their efforts at making their pilgrims so comfortable and happy. The arrangement for stone throwing was commendable and less-stressful. It is our fervent prayer that Nigeria too will be a bit close to Saudi in terms of citizens’ welfare. We did not pay anything for medical. We visited Makkati Clinic and they treated us well. Unfortunately, some of our medical staff from Nigeria still carried their attitude to Makkah. We thank Allah for His mercy and pray that Allah will be with our President Buhari to be able to take Nigeria to the next level. There is security day and night, no fear. It has been a wonder-

Alhaja Bilikis for NAHCON and all Islamic organizations, it can only get better. I also give commendation to Lagos Amirul-Hajj for a great job.

Alhaja Bilikis Popoola, Iyaloja Ijangbara-Irorun Market, Lagos State ful memory praying for ourselves, our families, relatives, states and the nation especially seeking for Allah’s intervention over the recent economic recession and insecurity.

Alhaja Hajara

his Hajj is well–organised and NAHCON really deserve commendations in order to do more. The initial experience was a bit stressful but we thank Allah for everything. Saudi Authority gave us drugs before we can enter. There is security and fear of God; safety of lives and property. We were constantly advised on maintaining good hygiene, on the need to take enough liquid at all times due to high temperature among others. Once again, NAHCON deserves commendation for its innovations that have transformed Hajj in Nigeria. It is not easy to manage 76,000 pilgrims of different backgrounds. There is so much poverty in Nigeria and we pray that very soon, that will be history. There is regular Sebil (charity) in Saudi; there is nothing they cannot give as I pray that Allah will open His doors of mercy for us in Nigeria too. Everything is easy, free health, cheap food etc. good human relationship and good trans-

Alhaji Ibrahim Yusuf

must commend the hajj commission boss for his sacrifice. We have never had it this good over the years. Everything went well. I can attest to the fact that this year has been fantastic. Our accommodation was great, we were wellfed and movements to several sites were so easy. The introduction of feeding of pilgrims in Makkah, Medina Mina and Arafat has ensured marked improvement in the welfare of pilgrims; same for the transportation system. This is my first time of performing Hajj and I am glad it went well. We are extremely happy to have fulfilled the one of the pillars of Islam. It is an opportunity that every Muslim looks forward to. We are very happy to be here for Hajj because of the wonderful arrangement in place for this year. We did not encounter any problem from Nigeria to this place.

portation. Even with the language barrier, they will still attend to you. There should be better proper arrangement in subsequent Hajj operations. I must commend Lagos State for so many initiatives, Qur’an reading, sermon, food among others and other states must emulate Lagos.

Alhaja Modupeore We thank Allah that the security of Nigeria is better; our foreign image is getting better too as our economy is being positioned for greater output and we pray to Allah to make the fight against corruption yield good results. We commend NAHCON for good planning aimed at transforming Hajj operations in Nigeria and changing the image of Nigerians on Hajj through its intensive orientations to the pilgrims who nowadays do not encounter so much security and consular challenges as it used to be in the past.

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Islam and Terrorism Toyyibah Akinlusi, an SS2 student at Crescent School

number of people today view Submission (Islam in Arabic) as a hostile and aggressive religion. This stereotype has been sadly reinforced by the acts of terrorists and fanatics, who in no way represent what the religion truly stands for. They have hijacked the religion of Islam for their own selfish and evil goals. Hence, the world opinion tends towards viewing Islam as a violent religion. People associate Islam with ISIS / daesh, suicide bombers, Osama bin Laden, and September 11th. Very few see it as a religion that forbids any kind of aggression, and permits fighting only in self-defense (Quran 2:190). Yet, this is what the truth is. The religion of Islam, described by God in the Quran stands for peace and tolerance. It does not condone or encourage terrorism. In the remainder of the article we address some of the common misconceptions about the Islamic and Quranic perspectives on war and peace. These misconceptions

are fueled by some people who quote parts of a few Quranic verses out of context. It is unfortunate that rational open-minded folk accept these misquotations without examining the context of the passage they are written in. As with most other books, the Quran must be read as a whole. Taking a single verse—or a part of a verse—out of context, can naturally lead to incorrect conclusions. No religion of God is evil, rather the people who abuse the religion are. Aggression is Forbidden. Fighting is permitted only in self-defense. The Quranic verses on this are very clear. God repeats, “do not aggress”, multiple times. Only if attacked, is one permitted to fight back. If the other party refrains from aggression and offers one peace, we are told to stop fighting. Rules of War* [2:190] You may fight in the cause of GOD against those who attack you, but do not aggress. GOD does not love the aggressors. [2:191] You may kill those who wage war against you, and you may evict

them whence they evicted you. Oppression is worse than murder. Do not fight them at the Sacred Masjid, unless they attack you therein. If they attack you, you may kill them. This is the just retribution for those disbelievers. [2:192] If they refrain, then GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful. [2:193] You may also fight them to eliminate oppression, and to worship GOD freely. If they refrain, you shall not aggress; aggression is permitted only against the aggressors. *2:190 All fighting is regulated by the basic rule in 60:8-9. Fighting is allowed strictly in self-defense, while aggression and oppression are strongly condemned throughout the Quran. [5:87] O you who believe, do not prohibit good things that are made lawful by GOD, and do not aggress; GOD dislikes the aggressors. [8:61] If they resort to peace, so shall you, and put your trust in GOD. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient. [4:90] ... if they leave you alone, re-

frain from fighting you, and offer you peace, then GOD gives you no excuse to fight them. The Quran also reminds the submitters (muslims in Arabic) that they should not be provoked by past animosity into committing acts of aggression (5:2). Additionally, God insists that submitters (muslims) must be absolutely sure before striking in the cause of God (4:94). Anyone who offers one peace, cannot be attacked. [4:94] O you who believe, if you strike in the cause of GOD, you shall be absolutely sure. Do not say to one who offers you peace, “You are not a believer,” seeking the spoils of this world. For GOD possesses infinite spoils. Remember that you used to be like them, and GOD blessed you. Therefore, you shall be absolutely sure (before you strike). GOD is fully Cognizant of everything you do. To be continue next week

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Friday, October 28, 2016 27th of Muharram, 1438AH

Call to Worship

Fight kidnapping like terrorism, MSSN tells FG T he Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit (MSSN Lagos) has asked the Federal Government to treat the increasing rate of kidnapping in the country like terrorism. The Amir (President) of the MSSN in Lagos, Saheed Ashafa, said this in a press release to condemn the abduction of Mallam Muhammed Awwal Maidoki and his family members. Maidoki, who has been released, was kidnapped together with his wife Ummu-khulsum; younger sister, Hafsatu Maidoki:

and his younger brother’s wife, Aisha. Maidoki is a former national president of MSSN and currently the Chairman of the Sokoto State Zakah Commission. Ashafa lamented that security agencies have abandoned their duties in the country and were more interested in looting the citizens by the roadside. He said, “This is the effect of bad policing. It is unfortunate that those saddled with the responsibility of protecting us are now more interested in looting us. The rate of kidnapping in this country shows that a major

reform is needed in the police force. “A situation where vehicles get freed when stopped for a search after settling the police shows how porous our security level is; and how humans can be easily moved when abducted in the country. “A proactive move is needed to end the current rate of kidnapping. Kidnapping must be seriously fought by the current government like terrorism. This is because it is a poisonous gift that may graduate to terrorism act. “Kidnapping is as dangerous as Ebola and other deadly diseases as

it leaves disturbing experiences that are capable of causing psychological disorder in some victims.” The Muslim students’ leader said it was disturbing that clerics were rewarded with kidnapping despite their sacrifices for the country’s growth. Ashafa, who urged government at all levels to protect citizens under their jurisdiction, complained that youth’s unemployment contributed to the dastardly act. He said, “It is disturbing that some youths could see kidnapping as something worthwhile.

This is embarrassing and depressing. Maybe if there are enough jobs, some of the youths wouldn’t have engaged in criminal acts; but unemployment should not be a valid justification for anyone to be engaged in kidnapping. “More painful is the fact that kidnappers are now going after those who spent productive part of their lives to build the society. They impacted positively in the society both physically, mentally and financially but are reaping undeserving and condemnable fruit of kidnapping.” He called on security

agencies to ensure the arrest of perpetrators behind the abduction of Mallam Maidoki and his family members. While recommending stiffer punishment for kidnappers, he said, “It is important for officers of the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to see the arrest of the kidnappers of Maidoki as germane. The growing kidnapping rate calls for review of punishments for kidnappers. Punishing caught culprits severely could discourage others from engaging in the criminal act.”

Recession: Akintunde calls for patience, understanding S ekinah L awal

he economic recession being experienced in the country requires understanding, perseverance, patience and sacrifice on the part of Nigerians, especially the labour force. Emphasising a constant discussion between government and labour as a recipe to averting endless labour crises in the country. Making this assertion in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital was the National President of National Council of Muslim Organizations (NACOMYO), Alhaji Kamaldeen Akintunde at a forum put together by At-Taoheed Women’s Society. Alhaji Akintunde noted that workers were the engine room of government and should not be starved of what is due to them for sustainable & increased productivity. He enjoined government to be magnanimous at all times and always call labour for talks. He also implored labour to exercise restraint and seek redress in accordance with the labour law. The Muslim leader lamented Nigeri a’s over dependence on oil, noting that a diversified and multi-economy will guarantee economic stability and prosperity.

Alhaji Akintunde commended the women for supporting and cooperating with their husbands in this hard times, noting that such understanding underscores domestic harmony required for societal transformation and advancement. Meanwhile, the NACOMYO President renewed the call for girl-child education to enhance family status and societal development. He commended the FG for accepting to undertake responsibility for the care of released Chibok girls, noting it as a boost to girl-child education. He opined that the development had rekindled hope that the remaining girls, still in captivity will soon rejoin their families, urging FG & the international community to double their efforts. He decried the incessant kidnap, abduction and other crimes being perpetrated in the country, calling for National Summit on Security to address the growing violence and insecurity in Nigeria. He lamented the abduction of formal National President of NACOMYO and Chairman Dawah Coordinating Council of Nigeria, Engr Muhammad Lawal Maidoki & some members of his family and thank Allah for their release.

Editor of The Pathfinder, Alhaji Abdulfattah Olajide, with his daughter, Miss Sakinah Olajide (right), his son, AbdulAzeez Olajide, and his wife, Alhaja Fatimah Olajide during AbdulAzeez’s graduation ceremony at the University of Ilorin recently.

FOMWAN holds annual conference

he 31st annual conference of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria, FOMWAN, is holding in Lagos Southwest Nigeria. The event will bring together Muslim women across the 36 states of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) between November 3rd to 6th at the University of Lagos. The formal opening comes up on Friday at the University of Lagos Auditorium. The theme of the conference is “Human Development, Peace and Security” and the keynote address will be presented by the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr. AbdulLateef AbdulHakeem. In a release signed by Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Chairman, Alhaja Lateefah Okunnu and Dr.

Sariyu Ashiru Amirah, FOMWAN, Lagos State, over 2000 delegates are expected within and outside Nigeria especially from its almost 1000 affiliate groups and branches in London, Ireland Senegal and Ghana.

Those expected at the opening ceremony are President Muhammed Buhari, his wife, Aisha Buhari, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister for Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Raji Fashola, the

Sultan of Sokoto and President General Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his wife, Mrs Ambode and Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule.

‘Attain peak of your career’

agos State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr. AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef has advised youths who dream of a better future to aim at attaining the peak of their chosen career. He gave the admonition at a youth camping programme in Akoka, Lagos. Noting that Islam emphasized seeking of knowledge from birth to grave, he warned youths from cutting corners to

attain greatness and described education as liberation of the mind. The Commissioner also stressed the need for people to learn the Quran and live by the scripture, said the essence of creation was to worship Allah. “Knowledge of the Qur’an helps one to live as responsible individuals if obeyed to the letter. Strive to acquire knowledge, learn and read the Qur’an. Strive to know the

meaning of the Qur’an, obey the dictates of Allah as stated in the Qur’an. Try to memorize the Qur’an and teach others the Qur’an to seek Allah’s pleasure.” He also implored youths to emulate Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). “Pay adequate attention to your education, it’s your future, don’t toy with it. Be sincere in what you do and use your time judiciously.”

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Formerly known and called as OYINDAMOLA OLUTOSIN AWOTIDEBE-OBADAN now wish to be addressed and called as OYINDAMOLA OLUTOSIN AWOTIDEBE. All former documents bearing the above names remain valid, general public should please take note.

Formerly addressed and known as MISS HAMMED ROFIAT OLABISI now wish to be called and addressed as MRS OLALEYE ROFIAT OLABISI. All former documents bearing the above names remain valid, general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME This is to certified that OYETUNDE MUMEEN BABATUNDE is the same one person as RASAQ MUMINI BABATUNDE, that henceforth wish to be addressed, known and called as RASAQ MUMINI BABATUNDE. All former documents bearing the above names remain valid, Wema Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Plc and general public should please take note.

Formerly called and known as SOLAHUDEEN ABUDUROFIU BABANIYIOMO now wish to be known, called and addressed as OLASUPO RAFIU GBENGA. All former documents bearing the above names remain valid, general public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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I formerly called, known and addressed as AGOKUN OKE on BVN. Henceforth, I wish to be known, called and addressed as AGOKUN OKE STEPHEN. All former documents remain valid. General Public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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MARIRE: I, formerly known and addressed as MARIRE EVA . O. , now wish to be known and addressed as MARIRE EVA MADU. All former documents remain valid. BANKS and general public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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Formerly known and addressed as MISS ADEKUNLE ZAINAB OLUBUKOLA now wish to be known, addressed and called as MRS OLALEKAN-ADEKUNLE ZAINAB OLUBUKOLA. All former documents bearing the above names remain valid, general public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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CORRECTION OF NAME

I HEREBY STATE THAT MY NAME WAS WRONGLY WRITTEN AS ELOCHUKWU ELISUS CHUKWUDALU INSTEAD OF ELOCHUKWU CHUKWUDALU ELI. THEREFORE, MY CORRECT NAME IS ELOCHUKWU CHUKWUDALU ELI. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC, PLEASE TAKE NOTE. CHANGE OF NAME

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PUBLIC NOTICE

THE PROPHETIC CHURCH OF NIGERIA AND OVERSEAS (CHRUBIM AND SERAPHIM) The general public is hereby notified that the above named CHURCH has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for inclusion of additional Trustees under part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990. THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. The Most Reverend Apostle Japhet Ifedayo Ikudehinbu - Replacing--The Most Reverend Apostle Richard Olukayo Omomowo 2. Most Reverend Apostle Segun Iyaomolere 3. Most Reverend Apostle Isaiah Johnson-- Replacing-- Most Apostle General Samuel Amurun. 4. Most Supreme Apostle Bayo Enigbokan 5. Most Supreme Apostle Samuel O. Jonathan 6. Most Supreme Apostle Nelson Ogede (Newly appointed) 7. Special Apostle Julius B. Owotuga (Newly appointed) Objection to any of the above named persons should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication. SIGNED: THE TRUSTEES

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Business News

Friday, October 28, 2016

Electricity: GenCos may begin direct sale to heavy consumers Chidi Ugwu Abuja

here are indications that electricity generation companies (Gencos) are considering the option of selling some of their generated power directly to heavy consumers. The Managing Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Chiedu Ugbo, who gave the hint at the October edition of Nextier Power Dialogue in Abuja, said the consideration is as a result of the continued failure of distribution companies (Discos) to pay for electricity sold to them as at when due. Ugbo said the option of direct sale to heavy electricity users like steel plants was being considered by the Gencos so as to ensure prompt collection of

funds. He said the option of direct contract was considered so that non of parties in the electricity production value chain would feel shortchanged, adding that Discos have often failed to adequately pay for whatever volume of power they get from them despite indications that these heavy buyers often pay their bills promptly. Ugbo, however, said the proposal would need the approval and declaration of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, because Nigeria’s power policy would not permit operators to independently choose who to sell their services or products to. It is recalled that the (DisCos) and Generation Companies

(GenCos) have always blamed setbacks in the power production chain to weak transmission network. The blame game started on August when its Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Dr. Atiku Abubakar alleged that the distribution companies were rejecting load allocation from the Nigerian Electricity System Operation (SO) for inability to meet up with invoicing for the load to the Market Operator (MO). The TCN is composed of the MO and SO.

He said: “On a final note, let me assure the DisCos and GenCos and the generality of Nigerians that TCN is determined to improve the services so that it does not appear and it is not the weakest link in the power sector value chain. Although he declined to name the DisCos that were rejecting load, Atiku said the TCN has the capacity to transfer more power to the companies. Meanwhile, the DisCos under the umbrella of Association of Nigerian Electricity Distribu-

tors (ANED), said that the companies were losing an average of N1 billion monthly as a result of the limited capacity of the TCN in different parts of the country, especially in the Northern areas. The association’s Executive Director, Research & Advocacy, Sunday Olurotimi Oduntan, said in a statement: “Even worse is TCN’s inability to meet its financial obligations, relative to this shortfall, thereby compromising the DisCos’ ability to meet their obligations to the Market Operator.

Stanbic IBTC to increase allocation to agric sector Johnson Okanlawon

tanbic IBTC has said it planned to increase its allocation to the agricultural sector, given the importance of the sector to job creation and economic prosperity and growth. The bank’s Chief Executive, Mrs. Sola David-Borha, reiterated this commitment at the 2016 Stanbic IBTC Business Leadership Series in Lagos. According to her, financing remains a critical component of a vibrant and sustainable agricultural sector and that the group will continue to help unlock opportunities that exist in the sector through its support for businesses and initiatives across the entire agriculture value chain. “We all know that agriculture is capable of creating millions of jobs across the entire value chain, drive export and the much-needed foreign exchange. We intend to continue to support that sector by increasing our allocation and providing a platform for engagement. “We have a defined risk appetite for agriculture and we have structured our portfolio to ensure that we manage this risk as we support farmers in primary production as well as agro-allied businesses,” David-Borha said. She said as the next growth sector, the focus on agriculture is not misplaced and urged stakeholders in the agriculture value chain, particularly governments and private sector players, to renew the focus through partnerships and initiatives that will maximise the sector’s potential. She explained further that

the group was committed to providing platforms like the business leadership Series for showcasing Nigeria’s economic potential to the world, particularly ongoing reforms in the agricultural sector, with emphasis on improvements in infrastructure, agro-industrial zones, financing and an enabling policy environment crucial to the full exploitation of the agricultural value chain and attainment of food security. “Stanbic IBTC remains committed to the diversification drive of the federal government and we will continue to seek opportunities to showcase the country’s economic potential as well as provide financing for viable projects in agriculture and other sectors of the economy,” David-Borha said.

L-R Mr. Henry Serry, Chairman, Sierra-Leone Leadership Awards, Mr. Ime Okon, CEO Keystone Bank Sierra-Leone, making a few remarks after receiving the awards (Best bank of the year and Best foreign CEO) last weekend in Freetown, while Mr. Peter Sasellu Chairman organizing Committee, Sierra-Leone Leadership Awards watches on.

Recession: NRC assures workers of job security Fidelis Ugbomeh

orkers of Nigerian Railway Corporation have been assured that the planned concessioning of some aspects of railway operations in the country will not

FirstBank wins Digital Bank of Distinction award

irst Bank of Nigeria Limited has won the Global Finance Digital Bank of Distinction award, 2016. This new award according to the bank recognises outstanding accomplishments in digital banking made by middle-market and local banks. “The award honours banks that may be outspent by their global competitors but still consistently provide best-in-breed solutions to their retail and corporate clients”, a statement said. According to Global Finance, the Best Digital Bank Awards are the undisputed authority on the world’s leading digital banking service providers. Now in their 17th year, these awards have be-

come the most prestigious honour in the industry. Speaking on the award, the Head, Digital Banking for FirstBank, Mrs. Folasade Femi-Lawal said that the award is a testament to FirstBank’s commitment in leveraging evolving technologies to bring fast and convenient financial services closer to Nigerians, in line with the bank’s digital banking strategy. “Today, we are delighted that we have been able to deliver digital banking solutions that support the consumer lifestyle by providing users with an instant suite of financial options on various digital platforms in a convenient and highly secure environment.

lead to job loss as been speculated in some quarters. Managing Director of the Corporation who gave this assurance recently in Lagos in an interview granted our correspondent said that the concession of rail operations is basically aimed at attracting the private sector to invest in railways and not bring in foreigners to take over rail operations. He enjoined staff to maintain the existing rolling stocks so as to boost passenger and freight services in the country. While acknowledging the fact that management has continued to ensure prompt payment of salaries as at when due the NRC boss stated that plans are underway .to review salaries of workers He reiterated that |the duty of workers is to attract customer through the provision of efficient passenger and freight services. Asked if the Corporation can generate enough revenue to meet its recurrent expenditure he declared that all; over the world including the United States where the railways is operated by the private sector,

the railways is supported by government through grants because it is a social service. According to Okhiria it is very expensive to maintain tracks, par salaries, purchase rolling stocks and maintain offices. He also disclosed that plans are in the pipeline to review the 1955 Railway Act so as to create room for private interests to invest in the Corporation The Managing Director explained further that the Federal government has for the first time provided the 15% counterpart funding required for the construction of the Lagos to Kano standard guage rail line and the Kano to Maiduguri Standard guage rail line as part of its commitment to boost rail transportation. He hinted that the Corporation was awaiting the report of the Transaction Advisers and Exim Bank support funding to enable the project commence in earnest adding that the phase one of the project from Lagos to Kano will commence before the end of this year while the second phase from Ibadan to Ilorin will commence next year.

Business News

Friday, October 28, 2016

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FG, expert disagree over foreign airlines’ frequencies Olusegun Koiki

he Federal Government has appealed to foreign carriers flying into Nigeria not to scale down their operations in the country. This is as the former President of Aviation Round Table, ART, Capt. Dele Ore said that the reduction in frequencies of foreign carriers to the country was a blessing in disguise for indigenous airline operators. Speaking on Wednesday when he received the West African Regional Manager, Emirates Airlines, Manoj Nair, the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, said that the current challenges facing the industry in the country would soon be over. Sirika also appealed to the management of Emirates and other airlines to reconsider their decisions to either suspend operations or scale them down, stressing that such decision would adversely affect their long-standing costumers on such routes. The minister explained that government was cognisant of issues like foreign exchange, aviation fuel and infrastructural deficiencies that have over the years created operational difficulties for carriers in the coun-

try and assured that the government would continue to improve on the creation of conducive environment for all. While recalling the recent concession given to airlines by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to enable the airlines procure the required forex to clear the backlog of matured foreign exchange obligations, Sirika the intervention as a direct fall-out of efforts of the Ministry to minimise the identified challenges. He also promised to immediately tackle the Emirates complaints about foreign exchange challenges with the relevant authorities. However, former ART President and director of operations in the defunct Nigeria Airways, Capt. Dele Ore, in an interview with journalists said that the reduction of flight operations in Nigeria by some foreign airlines was a blessing in disguise for operators. The industry expert charged the nation’s carriers to as a matter of urgency take full advantage of the situation to increase their share of the market. He said: “How many Nigerians are employed by them? It’s all capital flight. If the government didn’t do that, we will not know how much money is leav-

Kaduna to acquire 50,000ha for wheat farming A za Msue KADUNA

aduna State Government has said it plans to get seeds for 50,000 hectres in 2017 for wheat farming, starting with 5,000 hectare this year. Speaking at the training workshop on wheat production, processing and utilisation organized by Lake Chad Research Institute in collaboration with Kaduna State government, Governor Nasir El-Rufai, who declared war on high rate of unemployment said youths and women would betrained to revamp the agricultural sector. El-Rufai, while calling on the youths to embrace agriculture said his administration will provide the trainees land adding that the state has the capacity to excel in agriculture. The governor noted that Kaduna had engaged 25,000 unemployed on tree planting as well as thousands were also engaged in the state free feeding programme as one of the steps to reduce unemployment which he described as dehumanizing.

El-Rufai said: “We must go back to agriculture for us to feed ourselves and also feed the nation. Our youths must embrace agriculture. Any obstacles they will face we will remove it for you to achieve greatness in agriculture. We have the capacity to feed the nation. We have the land and capacity to excel in agriculture. We will provide you with land. “We want more women into this agriculture training on wheat farming and production. If you excel, others will join you. We asked for the Lake Chad Institute Executive’s commitment to enabling Kaduna State to get seeds for 50,000 hectres in 2017”, the governor added. In his remarks, Executive Director Lake Chad Research Institute, Dr Oluwasina Olabanji, said the most critical challenge for Nigeria today is the encouragement of domestic production. Olabanji however advised that, everyone has to contribute in order to fast track achieving self-sufficiency through domestic production.

ing our economy but now it is obvious. The ones who feel that because they cannot repatriate their funds are free to go back to their countries. This is what will encourage the Nigerian govern-

ment to support indigenous airlines.” Decrying the 97 per cent of the passengers’ market share in the country being controlled by foreign carriers, he advocated

the review of the Bilateral Air Service Agreements, BASAs, entered by Nigeria with some countries, which have been having a negative effect on domestic airlines

L-R: Head, Resourcing and Talent Management, Stanbic IBTC, Carol Olayi; Country Head, Human Capital, Stanbic IBTC, Olufunke Amobi; Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Yinka Sanni and Head, Reward, Recognition and Performance, Stanbic IBTC, Temitope Popoola; at the Annual 48th National Conference of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management in Abuja recently. Stanbic IBTC won the Human Resources Best Practice Company of the Year at the event.

Swedish-Nigeria mercantile trade hits $8.4bn Isaiah Erhiawarien

he mercantile trade between Nigeria and Sweden last year showed that Swedish imports from Nigeria were worth about $6.3 billion while its exports value was $2.1 billion. The Swedish Minister for EU Affairs and Trade, Her Excellency Ann Linde, who disclosed this at a media chat in Lagos, said that Sweden wasbuying more from Nigeria than it was selling, noting that Sweden’s relations with Nigeria are long-standing, close and strong. Linde who was in the country with a Sweden Business Delegation,SBD, for a three day conference said Sweden seeks to further strengthen and deepen the ties between both countries noting that Sweden is among the most digitalised and dynamic knowledge-based economies worldwide. According to her, the open Swedish society welcomes new ideas and divergence in opinion, and that it has laid the foundation for Sweden’s success in the field of innovation stressing that Swedish companies bring the latest technological solutions and have high ambitions with regard to quality and environmental standard. She disclosed that the visit was also meant to help Nigeria attain its economic diversification moves, and that companies represented in the SBD are poised towards providing extensive knowl-

edge in the areas of smart cities, energy, transport, healthcare, ICT, agriculture and finance. She added that ICT will play a crucial role in diversifying the economy and paving way for new companies and jobs in Nigeria, and that the SBD team is willing “to share experiences of how innovations and ICT can enhance productivity in many sectors where well-functioning and sustainable transport, energy and

healthcare solutions are all important to the creation of smart cities.” The Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs. Inger Ultvedt said that in her remark that the Swedish Export Credit Corporation and the Swedish Export Credit Guarantee Board can provide unique and competitive financing solutions to relevant projects in the Nigerian context at attractive interest rate.

TEF holds entrepreneurship forum, attracts 54 African countries

ony Elumelu Foundation, TEF, has convened its 2nd Entrepreneurship Forum, adjudged as the largest gathering of African entrepreneurs, attracting over 1, 000 African entrepreneurs. Celebrating the 2016 cohort of Elumelu Entrepreneurs, drawn from over 45,000 applicants in 54 African countries, the forum would ensure completion of an innovative 12-week online training. On completing the programme, Elumelu Entrepreneurs would become members of the largest entrepreneurial alumni network in Africa. Chairman of UBA Group, Mr Tony Elumelu said “the Forum is the centre-piece of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, and through it, we are giving from the perspective of empowering recipients, instead of making them

dependent on us’’. The business guru, who is also the Chairman of Heirs Holdings equally noted that the entrepreneurs would change the face of Africa by creating a wave of dynamic African businesses, bringing wealth to their communities and countries, while driving economic growth across the continent. As part of marking ten years of TEF Entrepreneurship Programmes, there is a commitment of $100 million, where participants would be eligible to receive up to $10,000 seed capital to implement their business plans. Elumelu Entrepreneurs are spread across sectors as diverse as agriculture and fashion. Already, the thirty-six per cent of those chosen were women, a significant increase on the first year’s twenty-four per cent. Entrepreneurs range from 18 to 54 years old.

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Formerly known and addressed as ADEKOYA ABEO DUDUYEMI, now wish to be known, called and addressed as OWOTUYI ADEPEJU OMONIYI. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as ALUMONA OMENOGO MERCY, now wish to be known, called and addressed as OGIERIAKHI OMENOGO MERCY. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS AFUSATU ABIKE ADEBISI NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN, CALLED AND ADDRESSED AS MRS OYETOLA ABIKE FARINU. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as AZEEZ ABBAS, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ABDULWAHAB OLUWAROTIMI ABBAS. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as OLABAYO DAMILOLA SUKURAT, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ADEBANJO DAMILOLA SUKURAT. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CONFIRMATION OF NAME

This is to confirm that I, LINUS TONY CHUKWULATA is one and same person as DURU FRANCIS OGUBUNKA, that he now wish to be known and addressed as LINUS TONY CHUKWULATA. All documents bearing the above names are mine and remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OGUNYEMI ODUNOLA RUTH, Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. CEPHAS ODUNOLA. All former documents remain valid, General public should take note. CHANGE OF NAME

FORMERLY OLANREWAJU RAMAT NOW OLAREWAJU RAMAT FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. ALL BANKS AND GENERAL PUBLIC NOTE. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as ADEOBOYEJE ABIGAIL ABOSEDE, now wish to be known and addressed as SALISU ABIGAIL ABOSEDE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as OSHO ATINUKE ABIONA, now wish to be known and addressed as POPOOLA ATINUKE ABIONA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MISS SULEIMAN RASHEEDAT OMOLOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ELAKHAME SULEIMAN RASHEEDAT OMOLOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as OLATUNDE OLARENWAJURAHEEM, now wish to be known and addressed as MUTIU OLATUNDE- MORUFU. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

FORMERLY KNOWN, CALLED AND ADDRESSED AS EUNICE CHINWE UZOR NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN CALLED AND ADDRESSED AS EUNICE CHINWE NDU. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE. CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as RASAK OWOYEMI, now wish to be known, called and addressed as MR. ALERU RASAK OWOYEMI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as YEKINI ADEOLA, now wish to be known, called and addressed as YEKEEN ISMAIL ADEOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as JOY NGOZI EGBUNONU, now wish to be known, called and addressed as JOY NGOZI IWUCHUKWU. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

FORMERLY MISS ALAYANDE GRACE AYANGBEMIJO NOW MRS.AKINYEMI GRACE AYANGBEMIJO F.D.R.V. SKYE BANK, ALL EMBASSIES AND AUTHORITIES CONCERNED PUBLIC NOTE. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly MISS.OYEKALE RUTH OYEBISI now want to be called and addressed as MRS.AJAO RUTH OLUKEMI.All former documents remain valid General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as IBRAHIM SHAKIRAT TAIWO, now wish to be known and addressed as IBRAHEEM SHAKIRAT TAIWO. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MISS OGUNLUSI OLUWABUSOLAMI OLUWATOMISIN, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ALAMOH OLUWABUSOLAMI OLUWATOMISIN. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as SAKA ISMAILA ABIODUN , now wish to be known and addressed as ARIKEWUSOLA ISMAILA ABIODUN. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as ETTI AFEEZ OLAITAN .B, now wish to be known and addressed as BARUWA- ETTI AFEEZ OLAITAN. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MICAH PREYE, now wish to be known, called and addressed as AGBE KEHINDE. That I was born on the 26th day of March, 1984. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

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CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as PAUL TINA, now wish to be known, called and addressed as NJIRINZE CHRISTIANA NGOZI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as OLORUNWEMIMO GIFT ELIZABETH, now wish to be known, called and addressed as OLORUNWEMIMO EBUNOLUWA ELIZABETH. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as UGELE MOSES JOHN, now wish to be known, called and addressed as UGELE MOSES OSOMUNRIE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known as MISS. BALOGUN MERCY IYABO now wish to be know and address as MRS.ADEGOKE MERCY IYABO. All former documents remain valid N.Y.S.C and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Mrs.TIAMIYU ATOKE SADIAT now want to be addressed and called MRS. TIAMIYU SADIAT. All former documents remain valid General public take note. CONFIRMATION OF NAME

This is to confirm that I, OYEDEMI OLABODE OLAWALE is one and the same person as OYEDEMI OLABODE RAHMAH. All former documents bearing any of the above names are mine and remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MRS BRIDGET NKEONYE ALUMONA. now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. BRIDGET NKEONYE AKABUNWA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as OKORO OLUCHUKWU PRECIOUS @ OKORO ONUABUCHI PRECIOUS, now wish to be known and addressed as OKORO PRECIOUS. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as MRS. ADELEKE VICTORIA ADEBISI, now to be known and addressed as MRS ISHOLA VICTORIA R. ADEBISI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as EZE VIVIAN ONYEKACHI, now wish to be known, called and addressed as OGE VIVIAN. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as SAMUEL OLUWAFUNMILAYO ELIZABETH, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ODIMBA OLUWAFUNMILAYO ELIZABETH. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as ODEYALE ELIZABETH TEMITOPE, now wish to be known, called and addressed as MRS. OLADOKUN ELIZABETH TEMITOPE. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as MUSTAPHA IBRAHIM OLATUNJI, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ADEGOKE IBRAHIM ADETUNJI. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CONFIRMATION OF NAME\ DATE OF BIRTH This to confirm and certify that I ISMAILA YEKINNI SUNDAY is the same person bearing ISMAILA LAWAL. That I now wish to be known, called and addressed as ISMAILA LAWAL henceforth. My date of Birth is 30th August 1967. Former documents remain valid. Eco Bank Plc and general public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as OPARA OGECHI JOY, now wish to be known and addressed as ONYEMA OGECHI JOY due to change in my marital status. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note .

Formerly known and addressed as EJEMBI JAMES, now wish to be known and addressed as AMEH .F. OMALE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note . CHANGE OF NAME

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS ALIYU IBRAHIM, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AS ALI IBRAHIM. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE.

CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as ADENIYI RUKAYAT ABOLANLE now wish to be known and addressed as LUKUMON RUKAYAT ABOLANLE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CORRECTION OF NAME

That my name was wrongly written as AGIDI AHUSSA BANGOS instead of BONGOS HUNSA AGUIDI. That my correct name is BONGOS HUNSA AGUIDI. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as OLORUNFUNMI DARE, now wish to be known, called and addressed as OLORUNFUNMI SUNDAY OPO-OLADARE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as OFFIONG EFFIONG EKAN JIMMY, now wish to be known, called and addressed as IKWO EKAN JIMMY. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CONFIRMATION OF NAME

This is to confirm that I, OLABINJO IDIAT OLUWATOYIN am also known as OLABINJO AMOPE (MRS) IDIAT, now wish to be known as OLABINJO IDIAT OLUWATOYIN. All documents bearing the above names are mine and remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I Formerly MISS OLISEDEME RACHEAL IFEOMA now wish to be called and address as MRS OLISE RACHEAL IFEOMA. All former documents remains valid. NYSC and General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly SEGUN ADEKUNLE EMMANUEL now want be known and addressed as ADEKUNLE SEGUN. All former documents remain valid.First bank and General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as BABATUNDE AJAYI, now wish to be known and addressed as AJAYI DOMINGO AKINADE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as BOSUN MICHAEL TAIWO, now wish to be known and addressed as OSIDELE MICHAEL TAIWO. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as DOMINIC BROWN ABUTU, now wish to be known and addressed as ABUTU DOMINIC BROWN. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as UDOFIA COMFORT IDONGESIT, now wish to be known, called and addressed as UDOFIA COMFORT ENIEFIOK. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as ANTIGHA PAUL, now wish to be known, called and addressed as KEN-ANTIGHA PAUL UWEM. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OMODAMISI ELIZABETH FUNMILAYO, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. OMIWOLE ELIZABETH FUNMILAYO. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. ADDITION OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as ENO OKON NYOH now wish to be known and addressed as ENO DOMINIC ARCHIBONG. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as AYINDE MONSURAT TUNRAYO now wish to be known and addressed as LAWAL MONSURAT AYINDE. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and Addressed as AGBANIMU MODUPE DEBORAH KEHINDE, now wish to be known, called and Addressed as ORISANDE MODUPE DEBORAH KEHINDE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as KAREEM OLASUNKANMI ADESHINA, now wish to be known, called and addressed as KAREEM HAMEED OLASUNKANMI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS THEODORA JOKPAOGHENE OROVWUJE, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. THEODORA OROVWUJE AKPOVBOVBO. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known, called and addressed as EMMANUEL BRIGHT UCHE now wish to be known, called and addressed as EMMANUEL COLLINS PRINCE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as ABOH ECHE ADUMA, now wish to be known and addressed as ADUMA JOSEPH GIDEON. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as FATIMA MUSA, now wish to be known and addressed as FATIMA MUSA LAWAL. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MONDAY JOHNSON, now wish to be known and addressed as NWAJI MONDAY. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MRS EJOOR PAULINE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS EJOOR PAULINA EMOYENA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as MISS IWEGBU STELLA NWANNEAMAKA now wish to be known, called and addressed as MRS IGE STELLA NWANNEAMAKA. All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as LUCAS APANISILE, but now wish to be known and address as FRANCIS AGUNBIADE. All former documents remain valid, Ekiti South West Local Government, Ilawe-Ekiti and General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I,formerly known and addressed as MRS OLUWADARE CHRISTIANA FOYEKE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS AND PROPHETESS OBASANJO CHRISTIANA FOYEKE. All former documents remain valid general public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as KORODO RAMOTA, now wish to be known and addressed as SOLUADE BOLANLE SUNKANMI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Friday, February 14, 2014

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as ABIOLA ADEDEJI BABAJIDE, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ABIOLA ADEDEJI ALIU BABAJIDE. First Bank Plc and general public to take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as ISSA-LOOKMAN, now wish to be known and addressed as ISSA KABIRU OLUMIDE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

FORMERLY KNOWN AS ADENEKAN TOYIN ELIZABETH, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS PETER TOYIN ELIZABETH. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known, called and addressed as OHAEKE GIDEON CHUKWUBUIKEM now wish to be known, called and addressed as HERBERT GIDEON CHUKWUBUIKEM. All fomer documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as OBIKELECHUKWU ISDORE, now wish to be known and addressed as OBI KELECHI ISDORE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MISS CHINASA DEBORAH OBI, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS CHINASA DEBORAH ONYEBUCHI. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as ADEYI ADEYEMI TEMILADE, now wish to be known and addressed as ADAM ADEYEMI TEMILADE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as FASINA OLAIDE BABATOPE, now wish to be known and addressed as OLUSINA OLAIDE BABATOPE. All former documents remain valid, general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Friday, October 28, 2016

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as MONDAY UDOFIA, wish to be known, called and addressed as JONAH MONDAY ANIEKEME. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as AGBOOLA OLUWABUNMI ELIZABETH, now wish to be known and addressed as AWOLESI OLUWABUNMI ELIZABETH. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly Known and addressed as MR. SHITU SANUSI MOJEED, now wish to be known and addressed as MR. SANUSI MOJEED SHITU. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known, called and addressed as OSAMAGBE ABIYE wish to notify the general public that the family name be known, called and addressed as EBOIGBODIN, that former documents of family members remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as NWATU OFORBUIKE now wish to be known and addressed as NWATU OFORBUIKE MATHEW. My nat. Drivers license was wrongly written as ‘MATTHEW’. All former documents remain valid general public should Please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MISS OKAFOR NGOZI ANN, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ADEBAYO NGOZI ANN. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as DAVID EMMANUEL, now wish to be known and addressed as AJAYI OLUGBENGA EMMANUEL. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as FASINA TEMITOPE OLAJUMOKE, now wish to be known and addressed as OLUSINA TEMITOPE OLAJUMOKE. All former documents remain valid, general public take note. CORRECTION OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as MISS KAZEEM ATINUKE BALQIS now wish to be known, called and addressed as MRS IBRAHIM ATINUKE BALQIS. All former documents remain valid. N.Y.S.C. and general public take note.

This is to inform the general public that my correct name is AKINNIYI OLUWAFELA STEPHEN. Not AKINNIYI OLUWAFELA. as appears in my national ID Card. Henceforth my correct name is AKINNIYI OLUWAFELA STEPHEN. All former documents remain valid.Ecobank plc, GTBank and the general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as ALADE IYABO RUTH, but now wish to be known and address as DADA IYABO RUTH. Date of Birth: 30th October, 1972. All former documents remain valid, Heritage Bank and General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS SALAMI TEMITOPE SHAKIRAT now wish to be known and addressed as MRS LAWAL TEMITOPE SHAKIRAT. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as DARE ZUBAIR WASIU, now wish to be known and addressed as OLAREWAJU ABDULWASIU SUBAIR. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as OWOSENI TAYO ROSELINE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. DAILO TAYO ROSELINE. All former documents remain valid.General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as ADEYINKA IDOWU SEFIYAT, now wish to be known and addressed as OLADOYIN ADEYINKA SEFIYAT. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as OGAGAVWORIA VONA PATIENCE, now wish to be known and addressed as UDJEMU VONA PATIENCE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, Called and Addressed as IPINTAYE CATHERINE MOYIN,wish to be known, Called and Addressed as IPINTAYE CATHERINE OLAYINKA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MISS UGOCHUKWU SHALLOM FAITH, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. EBIGHE SHALLOM FAITH. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly Known and addressed as AKPOMEDAYE ADJARHO BAMIDELE, now wish to be known and addressed as ELIJAH JOSEPH. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as MISS. AKEEM ADEOLA ALAJA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS YESIRU KAFILAT IYABODE. All former documents remain valid. ZENITH BANK, SKYE BANK and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly Known as MISS OMEJE KELECHI, now wish to be known and addressed as DISI OMEJE KEREN KELECHI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as JEMILLA ABIOLA ARIORI, now wish to be known and addressed as JEMILLA ABIOLA ABASS. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as JOHN-EMEH BUKUNOLA BOLANLE, now wish to be known and addressed as JOHN-EMEH ADEYEMI BUKUNOLA BOLANLE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as ABIODUN TOYIN MARY now wish to be known, called and addressed as ABIODUN TAIWO MARY. Also, my correct date of birth is 15th day of January, 1977. All former documents remain valid. Diamond Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as ADEDARA JOY. now wish to be known and addressd as ADEDARA OLUSOLA JUMOKE. And my correct date of birth is 17-12-2016. All former documents remain valid. the general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as EMEANA CHIMA THEOD. now wish to be known and addressed as EMEANA CHIMA THEODORE. And my date of birth is 28-01-1979. all former documents remain valid, banks and general public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as UGBONG MATHEW KISSMOUR, now wish to be known and addressed as ODITA KISSMOR JIDEOFOUR. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

OGUNBOTE: Formerly known and addressed as MISS. OGUNBOTE DAMILOLA REBECCA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. OLATOYOSI DAMILOLA REBECCA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, Called and Address as MISS AKINWOLE OLAIDE RUKAYAT, now wish to be known, called and Addressed as MRS BADMUS OLAIDE RUKAYAT. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, OKOLIE VERONICA UGOMMA That I was formerly known, called and addressed as ANYIGBO VERONICA U. That I now wish to be known called and addressed as OKOLIE VERONICA UGOMMA. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly Known and addressed as ESTHER NATHANIEL INOYO, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ESTHER OYANNA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known, called and addressed as TIWALOLA IFEYINWAN ALAMU now wish to be known, called and addressed as OSUCHUKWU PHIBIAN IFEYINWAN. All former documents remain valid.General public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as MR ADEWUSI LATEEF ADEDEJI, now wish to be known and addressed as MR JOHNSON LATEEF ADEDEJI. All former documents remain valid. FIRST BANK PLC and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as ADEBOWALE OLUBUKOLA COMFORT, now wish to be known and addressed as ALABI OLUBUKOLA COMFORT. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as OLAYIWOLA LATEEF ADIO, now wish to be known and addressed as OLAYIWOLA DAVID WEALTH. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as BOLANLE GLORIA FARIMOYO, now wish to be known and addressed as BOLANLE GLORIA AKINSEYE. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CONFIRMATION OF NAME

Confirmation of name: This is to confirm/ certify that I, EWEOLA ARIYO AMOS is the same and one person as OLABOJI ARIYO OLUSOLA now wish to be known, called and addressed as EWEOLA ARIYO AMOS. All former documents remain valid. Skye Bank Plc and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS AMEEN KAOSARA OMOPARIOLA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS EJIMOKUN KAOSARA OMOPARIOLA. All former documents remain valid.The general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as UYANWANNE GRACE OKENIGHO OLUWAKEMI. now wish to be known and addressed as ODIA GRACE OKENIGHO OLUWAKEMI. And my date of birth is 15-04-1993.all former documents remain valid, banks and general public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as OWOWOLE TAIBAT OMOTUNDE, now wish to be known and addressed as OLADELE TOIBAT. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CONFIRMATION OF NAME

This is to confirm and certify that IHEMADU VALENTINE and IHEMADU VALENTINE NONSO is one and same person, but now wish to known and addressed as IHEMADU VALENTINE NONSO. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, Called and Addressed as MISS JECINTA CHIMEZIE AWAKA, now wish to be known, called and Addressed as MRS JESSICA CHIMEZIE ONYECHEFULE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MISS ABORISADE OLAJUMOKE OLUBUKOLA, now wish to be known, called and addressed as MRS. ADEBAYO OLAJUMOKE OLUBUKOLA. All former documents remain valid. GTbank, Ecobank and general public please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I, AYODELE ADEKOYA, the Managing Director of OLUWAYEMISI NIGERIA ENTERPRISES, was formerly known and addressed as AYODELE ADEKOYA. That I now wish to be known and addressed as LADI ZAINAB LAWAL. All documents bearing my former names remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note. CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I EJEM ORIE UFIEM is same and one person bearing EJEM ROSELINE UFIEM that due to my BVN account details, I wish to inform authority concern that both EJEM ROSELINE UFIEM and EJEM ORIE UFIEM is same and one person. General public to please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly known and addressed as MR SOLOMON TAIWO AREMU, now wish to be known and addressed as MR FAGBEMI TAIWO AREMU. All former documents remain valid. SKYE BANK PLC and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as MISS ADEGBAYO ROSELINE FUNMILAYO, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ODUNFA ROSELINE FUNMILAYO. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as IBHALU MERCY SHALOM, now wish to be known and addressed as OGUNBUNMI MERCY SHALOM. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as DAVID JAMES, now wish to be known and addressed as DAVID JOEBOY EFFIONG. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known, called and addressed as MISS AKINYELE JUMOKE REMI now wish to be known, called and addressed as MRS ALONGE JUMOKE REMI. All former documents remain valid. Authorities Concerned and general public take note. CHANGE OF NAME

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS YEKINI RAHAMON ADEBAYO NOW WISHES TO BE KNOWN,CALLED AND ADDRESSED AS YEKEEN RAHMAN ADEBAYO. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID GENERAL PUBLIC TAKE NOTE. CHANGE OF NAME

I,formerly known and addressed as JIMOH SHADE SHAKIRAT now wish to be known and addressed as ADEOSUN- JIMOH FOLASHADE SHAKIRAT. All former documents remain valid general public should please take note. CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as VICTOR BLESSING, now wish to be known and addressed as ACHA-NNENNA BLESSING VICTOR. All former documents remain valid. General public take note. CONFIRMATION OF NAME

This is to confirm and certify that OLANREWAJU OLAWALE JOHN and OLANREWAJU WALE JOHN is one and same person. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Agri Business

Friday, October 28, 2016

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FG urges Nigerians on balance diet consumption Stories: Abolaji Adebayo

he Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has called on Nigerians to make conscious efforts at eating balance diets, saying it would reduce the rate of illness and diseases in the country. The Minister made this call in his office on Monday, 24th October, 2016 when he received a delegation, led by the Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan and the Country Manager of Harvest Plus, also based in Ibadan. He disclosed that Nigerians ate badly as a result of the fact that most of the foods in the country contain too much carbohydrate, while clarifying that eating well was not the same as eating much. Ogbeh pointed out that there was serious crisis of malnourishment in the country, with 37 per cent of Nigerian children malnourished, which, he said, has posed a threat to the future of those children. He informed that the Government was making serious efforts to ensure that Nigerians eat well-balanced food. “We need to spread the message far and wide”, the Minister stated. The Governor of Niger State, Dr. Abubakar Bello, who was at the meeting, expressed satisfaction with the work of the University College Hospital and Harvest Plus. He invited Harvest Plus to his State for more discussions, as he looked forward to partnering with the organisation. Earlier, the Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge expressed interest in the expansion of the University College Hospital Agricultural Initiative, UCHAI, through the UCH Ventures.

L-R: Mr. John Jatua of Aso Savings, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Prof. Danbala Danju and General Manager, Aso Savings, Mr. Enesi Makoju during the familiarization tour to the farm land in Kwali Area Council, Abuja.

He disclosed that the UCH Ventures, which was registered in 2009, offers pre-retirement training opportunities in aquaculture and Fadama farming to its staff, aside improving the internally generated revenue of the hospital through the Ventures. He said further that the management of the hospital has deemed it necessary to expand UCHAI through UCH Ventures to accommodate retirees, some of who are still agile enough and willing to make a living through agriculture. Alonge also said that many of the health challenges at the Hospital’s staff clinic and the geriatric center were nutrition related. He said, “In view of this, UCHAI has established a working relationship with Harvest Plus, an international organisation at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan. The relationship has a two prong approach, one of which is the sourcing for raw materials in various value chains in agriculture, and the second is on science of nutrition and

Group urges govt to tap job creation potential of agric Abolaji Adebayo

he Animal Science Association of Nigeria, ASAN, has called on the government to lure youths into agriculture with good incentives as a way to reduce unemployment in the country. It stated that this would also reduce social vices like cultism, prostitution and street begging, as the youth would be actively engaged in agriculture. Speaking in Lagos, the ASAN’s President, Taiwo Adeoye, implored government to raise the interest of young peo-

ple in agri-business by providing them with easy access to funds, infrastructure and training. He urged the government to train youths in modern ways of agriculture and agri-business immediately after high school. He said after the training, those who choose to start an enterprise should be funded and encouraged while those who choose to work should be placed in the farms of those who choose to create enterprises, adding that way, their knowledge would be used to build their businesses and become sustainable.

healthy living, which is premised on fortification of foods.” The Medical Director expressed his conviction that the advent of fortification of staple foods in Nigeria through Harvest Plus would address epidemic of Diseases Related Malnutrition, DRM, which has been a major but overt health challenge in hospitals. He said in aligning with government’s vision, UCHAI sought the assistance of the ministry in provision of

seeds, insecticides, fertilizers, farming tools and equipment. The Country Manager of Harvest Plus, Dr. Paul Ilona called for a new or complimentary strategy to address the challenge of hidden hunger in Nigeria. According to him, this is due to the revelation from a study conducted in 2013, which indicated that there was only 13 per cent compliance of Vitamin A in Nigerian foods. He stated further that for the foods to be more nutritious, there was need to work along the value chain and ensure extra nutrients in Nigeria crops. He informed that his agency was assisting over one million Nigerian farmers to grow Vitamin A cassava and beans, adding that through the efforts of his organisation, about 25 products now contain Vitamin A in Nigeria. He called for continuous support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to enable his organisation reach out to other States in Nigeria, and pledged that Harvest Plus would continue to work with other relevant stakeholders, especially the youth to ensure that Nigerians go for more nutritious foods. He used the opportunity to invite the Minister to the Nutritious Food Fair which will hold in Calabar later in the year.

Don calls for use of livestock manure to boost soil fertility Kemi Olaitan Ibadan

he Executive Director, Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, IAR&T, Ibadan, Prof. James Adediran, yesterday called for the use of livestock manure and mineral fertilizer on soils by farmers in the South-West, South-East and South-South regions in order to boost agricultural production. He gave the advice while declaring open the 2016 stakeholders training workshop on Integrated Soil Fertility Management, ISFM, of South-West, South-South soil health consortium held at the training hall of the institute. He said the decline in soil fertility in the South Western part of the country in particular has resulted to crop low yields and low productivity of farmers, stating that production cannot be increased without supplementing the farm nutrients from outside either through livestock manure or mineral fertilizer. He said, “Fertilizer application rates in South West are very small (10-20 kg/ha) far below the target of 50 kg/ha set by the Abuja Declaration and smaller compared with application rates in regions more economically developed countries. All the

scientific evidence indicates that on SW, SS and SE depleted soils, production cannot be increased without supplementing the farm nutrients from outside either through livestock manure or mineral fertilizer.” Adediran further recommended proper crop management practices which include the use of appropriate varieties, land preparation, spacing, planting dates, weed, pest and disease management practices as ways to ensure referterlilization of the soils in a bid to increase production in the regions. On the rationale behind the training, he said it is towards promoting the use of ISFM technologies to boost crop production while sustanably intensifying land use. He said for the government at all levels to diversify the economy through agriculture and stop rural-urban migration, all efforts must be put in place to ensure that soils are well managed and provide proven technologies for farmers to alleviate poverty. “In order to stop rural urban migration and diversify Nigerian economy, agriculture must be seen as a profitable venture. This is only possible if our soils are properly managed and proven technologies gets to farmers to alleviate poverty. This is the essence of this project which aims to increase uptake of ISFM technologies in order to improve farmers’ livelihoods”, he said.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, October 28, 2016

Business Maritime

IFC to fund $1.5bn Apapa Traffic Mgt System project Stories; Francis Ezem

he International Finance Corporation, IFC, an arm of the World Bank, has approved a proposal to fund the Traffic Management System, TMS, for the seaport environs in Apapa, Lagos. The intervention is expected to bring succour to businesses and other operators who, over the past years, had been subjected to harrowing traffic gridlocks along the route. The gridlocks have also adversely affected economic activities at Nigeria’s two biggest and busiest cargo ports, the Lagos Ports Complex and Tin Can Island Ports Complex, both in Apapa. The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers Council NSC, Has-

san Bello, disclosed that the council had already engaged the services of NAFITH, a United States-Jordanian firm for the new traffic management system. According to him, the IFC has accepted to provide the funding for the project, which is primarily designed to rid Apapa and environs of the perennial traffic jams that have negatively affected activities at the ports, thus making them inefficient and uncompetitive. He however disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Transport would monitor and coordinate the implementation of the project in conjunction with the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA ensure that the project achieved the desired results. It was however gathered that the decision of the council to evolve the new traffic management system may not be uncon-

nected with the report of an earlier study conducted by an international consultant for the council, which shows that no fewer than 7,000 trucks access the two major seaports in the area to either to pick, drop containers or scout for business. The report also shows that out of the 7, 000 trucks that come to the ports daily, only about 1, 700 of them have genuine businesses of picking or dropping loaded import and export consignments or drop empty containers used in delivering some goods. Part of the report of the study also indicates that with an expected increase in the volume of consignments in the nearest future in response to increase in demand and possible change in consumption pattern, this trend might get worse, as the number of the trucks might more than double. It was probably in response to fears by

stakeholders that if urgent measures were not put in place to curb this trend, the gridlock experienced in the past years, especially between 2014 and 2015 might be a child’s play compared with what might happen in the nearest future. Investigations show that the new traffic management system might in the long run include the introduction of a call-up system for the truckers, among several other mechanisms to be adopted to control the influx of trucks that have no immediate business at the ports. It was further gathered that this new system would also curtail the activities of some truckers that queue on Oshodi-Apapa Express Way for days and weeks while waiting to lift refined petroleum products from the tank farms littered in Apapa.

Cocaine seizure: Customs CG lauds Tin Can command

Amaechi

Bello

WACT introduces customers’ online cargo tracking platform

s part of measures to ensure effective service delivery and safety of cargo, the West Africa Container Terminal WACT, operated by APM Terminals at the Onne Ports Complex, has launched an online terminal services platform. The facility is designed to help customers have better control over the movement of their cargo. This digital platform will also help optimise logistics operations by providing real-time visibility into the status of cargo within the container terminal. With the aid of this platform, customers can select needed terminal services and book and pay online from their own office, rather than by coming to the terminal. Managing Director of the company, Aamir Mirza, who made this disclosure, said that these new services will help companies that handle the cargo movement throughout Nigeria operate more effectively and efficiently. “We are pleased to offer these on-line services to help make our customers operate more efficiently, adding that the tool will further enable business in and around the company’s port communities.

“Upon signing up, customers will have access to three core features: visibility into the movement of their cargo; support in getting their container in or out of the terminal at timings of their convenience; and online order and pay services. Additional services will be added to the platform based on customer demand”, he further explained. Investigations show that initial reaction to the platform has been positive. For instance, one of the firms operating at port identified as IFY Fancy, an import customer at WACT, who was also one of the first corporate customers introduced to LIFT, was excited knowing customs inspections can be booked through the platform without having to come to the terminal. “It will save us cost to not have to go to the terminal to do business anymore.” said Jennifer Nnajiuba, Company Secretary at IFY Fancy. WACT Onne started commercial operations in 2007 and has become the most efficient Nigerian gateway to markets outside the Lagos area. It has an annual throughput capacity of 314,000 Twenty Equivalent Units, with 250 reefer plugs and a depth of 12 meters alongside.

he management of the Nigeria Customs Service has commended the Tin Can Island Port command over the recent seizure of substances suspected to be cocaine. The Controller in charge of the TCIP, Comptroller Bashar Yusuf and his officers had penultimateate week detected and seized the substances allegedly concealed in a 20-foot container consignment belonging to Nigerite Nigeria Limited, which has already been handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA for further investigations. However in a letter of commendation dated October 20, 2016 and signed by the Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Enforcement, Intelligence and Investigations E I & I,Dan Ugo on behalf of the Comptroller General, Col. Hameed Ali, the management described the seizure as a mark of ‘ooutstanding ddiligences’. The management therefore charged the command not to relent in this diligence to ensure that illicit and dangerous goods do not find their way into the country and also urged other commands to intensify their intelligence network, which played a primal role in detecting and seizing the unmanifested substance.

It was gathered that the said container was among the 17 units of 20-foot containers, but was particularly picked following intelligence gathered on it. The command had carefully followed the intelligence until it was eventually discovered that there were eight black bags in the container that were not manifested. Comptroller Bashar had while briefing news men on the seizure, said that the non-manifestation of the said bags fuelled suspicion of foul play which necessitated the involvement of the operatives of the NDLEA for due diligence analysis, investigations and feedback.

Bashar

Somali pirates release Naham 3 crew, four years after

he remaining crew members of the fishing vessel Naham three, which were hijacked by Somali pirates in 2012, were released from captivity on October 22, according to Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP). “They are currently in the safe hands of the Galmudug authorities and will be repatriated using a UN Humanitarian flight shortly and then on to their home countries. They are reported to be in reasonable condition considering their ordeal. They are all malnourished,” John Steed the Coordinator of the Hostage Support Partners (HSP) for Oceans Beyond

Piracy, said. The crewmembers of the Oman-flagged fishing vessel were hijacked in March 2012 some 65 nautical miles south of the Seychelles. Of the original 29-member crew, one person died during the hijacking and two more succumbed to illness during their captivity. The remaining 26 crewmembers spent much of their captivity on land in Somalia. Consisting of members from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, the crew was held for 1672 days.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Capital Market

Friday, October 28, 2016

Equities rise 0.47% as Total top gainers Johnson Okanlawon

rading in equities extended its previous gains on the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, as more investors took advantage of stocks with good earnings. The All Share Index added 0.47 per cent to close at 27,236.78 points, compared to the increase of 0.08 per cent recorded the preceding day. Market capitalization gained N45billion to close at N9.480trillion, compared

to the increase of N8million recorded the preceding day to close at N9.32trillion. The market breadth tilted to the bears’ camp with 18 symbols in the losers chart as against 15 gainers. Total Plc led the gainers’ table with N29.72 to close at N319.72 per share, followed by WAPCO Plc with N4.11 to close at N48.62 per share. Unilever Plc added N1.99 to close at N50 per share, while Cadbury Plc

appreciated N1.12 to close at N13 per share. Okomu Oil Plc was up 99 kobo to close at N41 per share. Seplat Plc shed N15 to close at N375 per share, while Forte Oil Plc lost N605 to close at N117.45 per share. Flour Mills Plc depreciated N19 to close at N19.31 per share, while UACProperties Plc declined 17 kobo to close at N3.24 per share. Eterna Oil Plc was down 14 kobo to close at

N2.81 per share. Volume of trades decreased by 2.75 per cent from 159 million shares traded in the previous session to 155 million shares. The value of stocks traded was 1.75 billion naira as Source: NSE against 1.74 billion naira, representing a 1.04 per cent Exchange Rate increment from the previous Naira US Dollar trading level. $1 305 Transactions in Gainers the and Losers StartAcDate 26/10/2016 through End Date 27/10/2016 shares of FBN Holdings, Market indicators and Losers PrintGainers Date 27/10/2016 Start 26/10/2016 through End Date 27/10/2016 cess Bank, Transcorp andDate All-Share Index 27,236.78 points Print Date 27/10/2016 Diamond Bank topped the Market capitalisation 9.36trn activity chart as most traded Gainers for Equities equities by volume. 2016-10-26 2016-10-27

Nigerian Breweries declares N7.9bn interim dividend Johnson Okanlawon

igerian Breweries has announced an interim dividend of N7.929 billion, that is N1.00 per ordinary share of 50 kobo in the share capital of the company for the nine months period ended September 30, 2016. This is despite the marginal decline in the company’s profit for the period occasioned by the current challenging environment. According to a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange and signed by the company’s Legal Advis-

er, Mr. Uaboi Agbebaku, it recorded four per cent year-on-year rise in the revenue, but an 11 per cent decline in operating profit. The unaudited and provisional results indicate that the company’s revenue rose from N214. 918 billion recorded at the end of September 2015 to N222.716 billion in the same period in 2016. The statement attributes the 11 per cent decline in operating profit of the company which stood at N37.962 billion at the end of September 2016 from the N42.766 bil-

lion in the same period in 2015 to higher input costs as a result of rising inflation combined with the devaluation of the naira. It explained that the negative impact of scarcity of foreign exchange combined with the naira devaluation more than offset the lower interest costs resulting in a 94 per cent increase in net finance costs. The company’s profit after tax declined by 23 per cent from N26.175 billion in the period under review in 2015 to N20 billion in the same period in 2016.

The statement added that the macro economic environment deteriorated further in the third quarter compared to the first half with continuous down-trading by consumers. Although, the operating environment is expected to remain challenging for the rest of the year, the company said it will to continue to focus on our twin agenda of cost and market leadership supported by innovation. It expressed confidence that the company is well positioned to take advantage of any upswing in the market.

FBN Holdings announce N417.3bn gross earnings in nine months Udo Onyeka

BN Holdings Plc has announced N417.3 billion gross earnings for the nine months ended September 30, 2016. According to a statement the earning moved up by 7.0 per cent when compared to N390.0 billion attained within same period in 2015. Also net-interest income within the period, stood at N202.9 billion, up 5.2 per cent when compared with N192.9 billion recorded in 2015. The statement also said operating income increased by 20.7 per cent to N333.9 billion while operating expenses is

N161 billion, down by 5.1 per cent when compared to N170.4 billion recorded same period in 2015. Meanwhile, Profit after Tax stood at N42.5 billion, down by 15.3 per cent when compared to N50.2 per cent figure of 2015. Total assets is N5.1 trillion, up 21.6 per cent in contrast to N4.2 trillion posted as at December 31, 2015 while customer deposit is N3.3 trillion, up 10.9 per cent when compared with N2.97 trillion as at December 2015. Commenting on the results, Group Managing Director ,UK Eke, said FBNHoldings’ performance has again demonstrated its underlying

resilience despite the ongoing macroeconomic and business challenges with gross earnings and profit before tax closing at N417.3 billion and N57.5 billion respectively. “This has been achieved through sustained revenue generation as well as increased cost efficiencies. Although the current currency weakness is a challenge for our remedial process, we are steadfastly progressing on improving the overall risk management culture, governance and technology as well as the degree of compliance across the Group. “The Group remains committed to ensuring

S/N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Symbol

TOTAL S/N Symbol AIRSERVICE 1 TOTAL CADBURY 2 AIRSERVICE 3 WAPCO CADBURY 4 LIVESTOCK WAPCO 5 CAVERTON LIVESTOCK 6 UNILEVER CAVERTON 7 OANDO UNILEVER NPFMCRFBK 8 OANDO ETI 9 NPFMCRFBK 10OKOMUOIL ETI 11DIAMONDBNK OKOMUOIL 12NAHCO DIAMONDBNK 13ACCESS NAHCO 14DANGCEM ACCESS 15 DANGCEM

Gainers for Equities

Closing Price(N) Closing Price(N) 2016-10-26 2016-10-27 290.00 319.72 Closing Price(N) Closing Price(N) 2.00 2.20 290.00 319.72 11.88 13.00 2.00 2.20 44.51 48.62 11.88 13.00 0.78 0.83 44.51 48.62 0.94 1.00 0.78 0.83 48.01 50.00 0.94 1.00 5.01 5.19 48.01 50.00 1.01 1.04 5.01 5.19 9.73 10.00 1.01 1.04 40.01 41.00 9.73 10.00 1.13 1.14 40.01 41.00 2.68 2.70 1.13 1.14 2.68 2.70 5.65 5.68 5.65 5.68 174.17 175.00 174.17 175.00

16.46

MPR

Crude oil price

$45.85

0.05 4.11 0.06 0.05 1.99 0.06 0.18 1.99 0.03 0.18 0.27 0.03 0.99 0.27 0.01 0.99 0.02 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.83 0.83

10.25 % Change 10.00 10.25 9.43 10.00 9.23 9.43

6.41 9.23 6.38 6.41 4.14 6.38 3.59 4.14 2.97 3.59 2.77 2.97 2.47 2.77 0.88 2.47 0.75 0.88 0.75 0.53 0.53 0.48 0.48

Losers for Equities Losers for Equities

sustained improvement in our performance with a view to restoring shareholder value he said.

Inflation

% Change

29.72 Gain(N) 0.20 29.72 1.12 0.20 4.11 1.12

2016-10-26 2016-10-27 S/N Symbol Loss(N) % Change Closing Price(N) Closing Price(N) 2016-10-26 2016-10-27 S/N Symbol Closing Price(N) Closing Price(N) Loss(N) % Change 1 MAYBAKER 0.90 0.82 -0.08 -8.89 1 MAYBAKER 0.90 0.82 -0.08 -8.89 2 AFRIPRUD 2.60 2.47 -0.13 -5.00 2 AFRIPRUD 2.60 2.47 -0.13 -5.00 3 UAC-PROP 3.41 3.24 -0.17 -4.99 3 UAC-PROP 3.41 3.24 -0.17 -4.99 4 FO 123.50 117.45 -6.05 -4.90 4 FO 123.50 117.45 -6.05 -4.90 5 SKYEBANK 0.63 0.60 -0.03 -4.76 5 SKYEBANK 0.63 0.60 -0.03 -4.76 6 ETERNA 2.95 2.81 -0.14 -4.75 6 ETERNA 2.95 2.81 -0.14 -4.75 7 UNITYBNK 0.65 0.62 -0.03 -4.62 7 UNITYBNK 0.65 0.62 -0.03 -4.62 8 PORTPAINT 1.52 1.45 -0.07 -4.61 8 PORTPAINT 1.52 1.45 -0.07 -4.61 9 SEPLAT 390.00 375.00 -15.00 -3.85 9 SEPLAT 390.00 375.00 -15.00 -3.85 10 FIDSON 1.38 1.33 -0.05 -3.62 10 FIDSON 1.38 1.33 -0.05 -3.62 11 WEMABANK 0.61 0.59 -0.02 -3.28 11 WEMABANK 0.61 0.59 -0.02 -3.28 12 FCMB 1.09 1.06 -0.03 -2.75 12 FCMB 1.09 1.06 -0.03 -2.75 13 AIICO 0.57 0.56 -0.01 -1.75 13 AIICO 0.57 0.56 -0.01 -1.75 14 14DANGFLOUR 3.57 3.51 -0.06 -1.68 DANGFLOUR 3.57 3.51 -0.06 -1.68 15 15UBAUBA 4.26 4.20 -0.06 -1.41 4.26 4.20 -0.06 -1.41 16 16UCAP 2.50 2.47 -0.03 -1.20 UCAP 2.50 2.47 -0.03 -1.20 17 17FLOURMILL 19.50 19.31 -0.19 -0.97 FLOURMILL 19.50 19.31 -0.19 -0.97 18 18ZENITHBANK 15.00 14.95 -0.33 ZENITHBANK 15.00 14.9527, 2016-0.05 -0.05 -0.33 OTC FX FUTURES OPEN CONTRACTS AS AT OCTOBER (4:30PM)

Contract Tenor Contract (Month) 1 NGUS NOV 23 2016 Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange © © Published by The Nigerian Stock Exchange 2 NGUS DEC 21 2016 3 NGUS JAN 25 2017 4 NGUS FEB 22 2017 5 NGUS MAR 22 2017 6 NGUS APR 26 2017 7 NGUS MAY 24 2017 8 NGUS JUN 21 2017 9 NGUS JUL 19 2017 10 NGUS AUG 16 2017

Rate (%)

Gain(N)

Settlement Date 23-Nov-2016 21-Dec-2016 25-Jan-2017 22-Feb-2017 22-Mar-2017 26-Apr-2017 24-May-2017 21-Jun-2017 19-Jul-2017 16-Aug-2017

NGUS SEP 20 2017

20-Sep-2017

NGUS OCT 25 2017

25-Oct-2017

Value of Open Current Rate Contracts ($’mm) ($/₦) 382.72 Page Page 300.50 11 of of 425.27 295.50 146.22 290.50 178.79 285.50 206.17 281.50 794.42 276.50 141.65 273.50 498.93 270.50 465.09 267.50 160.19 264.50

Total

40.81 -

3440.26

255.50 258.50

Termination of Trading Trading shall cease at 2:00PM eight (8) calendar days before the expiry date of each respective Contract. i.e. the Tuesday preceding the week the contract expires.

NITTY Tenor

Rate (%)

Change (%)

17.1446

0.76

17.2154

0.59

17.3871

0.74

Exchange

Rates (N)

WAUA

417.836

USD

305

EURO

333.2125

CFA

0.4955

YEN

2.912

Tenor

Rate (%)

SWISS FRANC

307.3358

O/N

12.05

POUNDS STERLING

373.6555

18.7772

20.1762

SDR

419.009

NITTY as @ October 26, 2016

NIBOR

21.7088 NIBOR as @ October 26, 2016NIBOR FAQs

WorldNews

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friday, October 28, 2016 -

Page 36

Russian war ship refuels in Africa enroute Syria A fol abi G ambari

Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, sighted off the North Africa’s coast yesterday

military action in the Syrian city of Aleppo, the ministry of foreign affairs requested clarification from the embassy of the Russian Federation in Madrid,” the Spanish foreign ministry had said on Wednesday in a statement. It added that permission had been granted in September for three Russian ships to dock in the port of Ceuta between October 28 and November 2, explaining that such stops for Russian naval

vessels had taken place for years in Spanish ports. NATO had said the final decision on resupply rested with Spain. “We are concerned and I have expressed that very clearly about the potential use of this battle group to increase Russia’s ability and to be a platform for air strikes against Syria,” NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told journalists on Tuesday.

Ghanaian ministers face evictions

utgoing ministers in Ghana could be forcibly evicted from their official residences if they fail to move out in time, under new laws. Ministers and other gover nment officials are being given a three-month deadline to hand over stateowned homes and vehicles, from the date of the new president’s inauguration. The law targets presidential appointees who try to cling on to the perks of office after a new leader is elected. Ghana goes to the polls

Ghana’s President John Mahama

–German Chancellor, Angela Merkel

WORLD BULLETIN Migrants perish off Libyan coast Reports yesterday said almost 100 migrants are missing after their boat sank off the Libyan coast, quoting the country’s navy. The boat, carrying 126 people mostly from African nations, left Garabulli, east of the capital Tripoli, early on Wednesday morning. “The coast guard received a distress call later that day. Twenty nine people were rescued but the rest were unaccounted for,” a navy spokesman, Ayoub Gassim, said. Survivors told rescuers the plastic boat had ripped and taken on water. “Because of overcrowding one of the sides of the boat got torn and water leaked in,” Gassim added, stressing, “Ninety-seven illegal migrants are still missing or they have drowned.” In a separate incident on Wednesday, Medecins Sans Frontieres said it had found 25 bodies in a partially flooded inflatable dinghy off Libya’s coast.

WITH AGENCY REPORT

arious reports yesterday said battle group including Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, refuelled at sea off North Africa en route to Syria. The Kuznetsov can carry dozens of fighter bombers and helicopters. Plans for some of the ships to dock at a Spanish port were cancelled after NATO allies voiced concern. NATO is concerned planes form the carrier could be used to attack civilians in the Syrian city of Aleppo. The naval battle group has been sailing for the past week from Russia to the Mediterranean. The battle group has two tankers with it and it was is not clear which of the vessels actually refuelled, according to reports. The Russian Embassy in Madrid formally withdrew a request to Spain for refuelling after being approached by the Spanish Foreign Ministry. “Given the information which appeared on the possibility that these ships would participate in supporting

“Our policy towards migrants hasn’t changed and we remain committed to the ideals of protecting human dignity”

on December 7. After previous transfers of power, some officials have had to be forcibly evicted and had their state-owned vehicles seized after failing to hand them back. The law does not apply to presidents and vice-presi-

dents as we earlier reported. The bill, which was passed by MPs on Wednesday evening, will now go to the president to sign into law. Existing legislation requires officials to hand back gover nment property after they leave office, but

The naval group also includes a nuclear-powered battle cruiser, two anti-submarine warships and four support vessels, probably escorted by submarines. The battle group is expected to join about 10 other Russian vessels already off the Syrian coast. Some 2, 700 people have been killed or injured since the Russian-backed Syrian offensive started last month, according to activists.

this is the first time a strict time limit has been applied. Ghana’s current leader John Mahama is standing for re-election and his main opponent is Nana AkufoAddo. The winner will be inaugurated on January 7 2017.

Man shot dead at US Embassy

police officer shot and killed a man who stabbed him as he stood guard outside the United States Embassy in Nairobi yesterday, authorities said. “The officer fired back in self-defense and managed to kill (the attacker). My officer is in hospital in a stable condition. The victim died on the spot,” the Gigiri division commanding officer of the Nairobi Police, Vitalis Otieno, said. The man killed was a Kenyan national, police said, but they are not releasing his name

while the case is under investigation as his motive was not immediately clear. “The officer was stabbed in the head,” Otieno said. Further details about the officer’s injury were not immediately available. The US Embassy confirmed that a shooting had taken place outside its premises and said none of its staff members were involved. Photos circulating on social media showed what appeared to be the man, lying lifeless next to a pool of blood as a uniformed officer looks over him, taking

notes. The US Embassy is located in Nairobi’s Gigiri district among several other embassies and United Nations offices.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta

Congo nabs Rwandan rebel

A Rwandan Hutu rebel commander, Habyarimana Mucebo, wanted for atrocities committed on Congolese soil, has been arrested in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A senior member of the Rwandan FDLR rebel group, Mucebo was captured in Rutshuru, northeastern DR Congo. Members of the FDLR fled into DR Congo after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The slaughter of some 800, 000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus sparked years of unrest in the region. “Mucebo has been taken into custody for interrogation,” the Congo army said in a statement. Most senior figures of the group are wanted by Rwanda for their alleged role in the 1994 killings. For many years, the Hutu rebel group had become a source of instability in DR Congo’s North Kivu province.

Quake wrecks historical sites Historic buildings in central Italy have been badly damaged by two strong earthquakes that forced hundreds of residents out of their homes. “It was miraculous no deaths had been reported,” Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said as dozens of people were treated for shock or light injuries. “Rescue teams have been struggling to reach some areas but officials say the situation is not catastrophic,” Alfano addded. A quake rocked the same region in August, killing at least 298 people. Wednesday evening’s 5.5-magnitude quake struck near Visso in Macerata province, followed by a 6.1 magnitude tremor in the same area two hours later. The first tremor sent people running out of their houses, potentially saving lives when the second stronger quake struck. Numerous smaller aftershocks followed.

Friday, October 28, 2016

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Sport

Rotherham and Bolton showed interest over the weekend. Time is not on my side at my age and the Championship is a bit closer to where I wish to be – Osaze Odemwingie

Akwa United sign Coach Maikaba 39

Aaron Samuel returns in January, says agent

uper Eagles forward, Aaron Samuel, will return from a long-term knee injury in January, his agent has disclosed. “Everything is going well with Aaron’s rehabilitation and he is expected back in action in January,” the player’s agent Atta Aneke said. The 22-year-old Samuel suffered a meniscus injury while playing for CSKA Moscow in the Russian Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg in late April, but only went under the knife in June at a specialist hospital in Germany. The former Shooting Stars forward has been recovering at his former base of Norway, but has now returned to Nigeria on holidays. He played last season for CSKA Moscow on loan from Chinese club Guangzhou R&F.

Ahead battle with Algeria: Wenger tasks Iwobi on finishing Everest Onyewuchi With Agency Report

s Coach Gernot Rohr continues to assess the readiness of Super Eagles players in Europe for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Algeria, Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, believes Alex Iwobi will need to bring something extra to his game to score his first goals for the club this season.

Nigeria was able to put two goals past Zambia in Ndola a few weeks back with strikes from Man City forward, kelechi Iheanacho and Iwobi, and will hope to do more at the Match Day Two of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers at the Uyo Stadium in Akwa Ibom State on November 12. Wenger played Iwobi in the No.10 role in the 2-0 EFL Cup win against Reading on Tuesday night, and he watched him link the play smartly. Iwobi had sights of goal

against Reading but he could not finish and one moment served to undermine what was a positive all-round performance and Wenger says the Super Eagles man must banish nerves to become a more complete footballer. “He (Iwobi) is not a typical winger and I think he can play in the number 10 role. “He turns the game forward, he passes the ball through the lines very well, he has a final ball in him. “I think he has all in the locker to pass and give the final ball.

What you want from him now is the finishing – that’s still a little part that is missing in his game. “He is too nervous at the moment when he has the possibility to finish,” Wenger said. Iwobi scored two goals for Arsenal last season. Super Eagles will host Desert Foxes of Algeria at the Akwa Ibom International Stadium in Uyo looking to take another giant step towards qualifying for a third World Cup on the bounce and all hopes lie on Iwobi and Iheanacho again.

Aaron Samuel

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Bet9jaNLO Super 8: Racine, FRSC in semi-finals Ifeanyi Eduzor

S Racine Football Club of Lagos and Federal Road Safety Corps Football Club of Abuja have progressed to the semi-finals of the ongoing Bet9ja Nationwide League One Super 8 at the Agege Stadium. AS Racine defeated Enyimba Feeders FC 1-0 to book a place in the semis yesterday afternoon courtesy of a 92nd minute Stephen Anyanwu well taken free kick. With the semi -finals scheduled for today’s afternoon, AS Racine and FRSC had tough times with their group matches but both scaled through with 4 points and 2 points respectively to progress. “It was a good game of football, Enyimba Feeders are not a bad side, but I am happy with my players for winning the game,” Victor Okechukwu Agali, AS Racine coach said. His counterpart from Enyimba Feeders, Lawrence Ukaegbu said it was a very good game and he never expected his players to concede a goal at the dying minute after playing so well, but he painfully admitted that football can be cruel sometimes if you are on the losing side in the manner his team lost to AS Racine. “Such is football. It’s a game I never expected to end like this. It was a game I believe we would have won. The players are very sad to have lost the game in added time” Ukaegbu said. In the semi- final pairings, AS Racine will clash with Papilo FC of Owerri, while My People FC will meet FRSC in the other semi- final clash As the clock continued to tick towards a barren draw in the Racine and Enyimba game, a free kick was awarded by the centre referee to AS Racine at the edge of the box on the left side and the resultant kick was beautifully curled into the net by Anyanwu, who was drafted into the game in the 52nd minute of the game by Victor Agali, the technical adviser of the team. Agalli told National Mirror shortly after the game that his team played against a very good side and the match would have gone either way or even ended in a barren draw, but he was very happy with the victory.

Mourinho charged over Liverpool referee comments M

anchester United boss, Jose Mourinho, has been charged by the Football Association for claiming it would be “difficult” for Referee Anthony Taylor to officiate their game with Liverpool. Mourinho added that appointing Taylor for the October 17 match had put “pressure” on the Manchester-based official. BBC Sport reports that managers are not supposed to speak about referees prior to matches. Managers were banned from talking about officials in the run-up to

matches in 2009 in an attempt to prevent their comment from influencing decisions. Mourinho has until October 31 to respond to a charge of improper conduct and bringing the game into disrepute. Taylor issued four yellow cards - all to Manchester United in the goalless draw. Former referees’ chief, Keith Hackett, was among those to question the Professional Game Match Officials Limited’s (PGMOL) decision to assign the match to Altrincham season-

ticket holder, Taylor, claiming it would be “intolerable” if he got a big decision wrong. PGMOL stood down Leicester fan, Kevin Friend, in April when he was due to take charge of the Foxes’ title rivals, Tottenham, in their game against Stoke. Mourinho foresaw the potential for the FA to take action against him when he spoke before the game, claiming that he “did not really want to say too much more on the matter. I have learned a lesson... by being punished so many times for my words about

referees”. The Portuguese was given a one-match stadium ban and fined £40,000 last November after the FA backed Referee Jon Moss’ claims that the then-Chelsea manager refused to leave the officials’ changing room and verbally abused him and his colleagues at half-time of a defeat at West Ham. Mourinho was also fined £50,000 for claiming that referees were afraid to award penalties against his side last season after the Blues were beaten 3-1 by Southampton last October.

FIBA Africa Zone 3 tourney: First Bank players give credit to unity

wo top players of First Bank Basketball Club, Chioma Udeaja and Nkechi Akashile, have attributed their success at the ongoing FIBA Africa Zone Three Championship in Lome to bonding. Udeaja, who is also captain of the team, stated that the players have played more as a team

L-R: Group Head, Retail/SME, Heritage Bank, Obioma Emenike; The Torch Bearers: Zainab Yunusa of Mind Builders School and Elizabeth Opawole and Favour Ojo of Readington Schools, Lagos; Divisional Head, Retail/SME, Heritage Bank, Mrs. Ori Ogba and Divisional Head, Corporate Communications, Mrs. Olusola Longe-Okenimkpe and others at the flag-off of Skoolimpics Road Show in Lagos recently.

…as Pillars dominate Customs because they have been able to carry out their coaches’ instructions during games. She added that the camping, which was held before the competition started also helped the players understand themselves more. “It was good we had the camping because it allowed the players to get use to each other especially the new ones. “What we have to do is to use our strength to our advantage, and that is, unity. It has kept us going and hopefully it will help us at the African finals in Mozambique,” she added. Despite dominating proceeding at the Zone Three championship, Udeaja commended all the other teams, nothing that their good results were a result of good preparation Speaking in the same vein, Akahile also said that the team’s aim is to go to the African cham-

pionship to do better than their last outing. “We have finished fourth in the last two editions of the African championship. But with the level of the team now, we can win a medal in Mozambique”. First Bank will take on home team, Etoile Filante, tomorrow, final day of the competition.

Meanwhile, Kano Pillars made it three wins out of three games, beating local rivals, Nigeria Customs 80-60 in of yesterday’s games at the FIBA Africa Zone Three Championship in Lome, Togo. Customs have two win from four games and will take a deserved rest today as Pillars go in search of their fourth win against NIGELEC of Lome.

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7 West Ham, Chelsea fans arrested over violence

ondon police said yesterday that they were holding seven men arrested following violence at the English League Cup clash between West Ham United and Chelsea. The police also said 30 people were stopped from attending the game prior to the match between the two London sides. Skirmishes broke out towards the end of the Hammers’ 2-1 win on Wednesday, with police and stewards battling to keep supporters apart as coins, bottles and plastic seats were thrown. There was a heavy police presence in place at the London Stadium, formerly the Olympic Stadium, which has seen repeated violence involving West Ham fans since they moved into their new home at the start of the season. The seven men were arrested for public order offences and

were being held in custody at several police stations. Britain’s Sports Minister, Tracey Crouch, was among those calling for anyone involved to be given a life-ban. “No-one wants to see a return to the dark days of the late ‘70s and ‘80s,” said Crouch in a reference to the years when English football hooliganism was considered to be at its height. “It is completely right that strong action is taken and that anyone involved in last night’s trouble is banned for life,” added Crouch, a qualified Football Association coach. Meanwhile Crouch’s fellow Conservative lawmaker, Mark Field, said West Ham should play behind closed doors if there was a repeat of Wednesday’s violence. Commander BJ Harrington, who led the match-day police operation, said an investigation had been opened.

Akwa United sign Coach Maikaba

oach Abdul Maikaba has joined Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side, Akwa United, for the upcoming 2016/17 season. Maikaba guided Wikki Tourists to fetch a continental ticket, CAF Confederation Cup in the immediate past season. Supersport.com reports that an official of the Uyo-based side, Uwem Ekoh, said the former Enyimba coach is expected to endorse his contract papers in the next few days. “The truth right now is that Coach Abdul Maikaba has accepted to join us but he is yet to formally sign the contract documents. “That is expected to be done in the coming days once he is satisfied with the terms contained in

Sports

Friday, October4,28, 2016 Thursday September 2014

the contract papers. “Maikaba met with the chairman as well as the management where personal terms were agreed and he was formally handed the contract papers for him to study and revert to the chairman. “We hope he will turn in the papers latest on Friday (today) so that he can sign almost immediately as well as unveiling,” the official told supersport.com. He is expected to resume training with the players next Monday to start preparation for the upcoming season. The former Kano Pillars coach had on Wednesday confirmed that he would be heading to Uyo later in the day to tidy up his contract talk with Akwa United.

Abdul Maikaba

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Implementing the Kienka and other committees’ reports

he Godwin Kienka led For me, l don’t have anySports Reform Com- thing against government mittee has since con- nominees but events hanging cluded its assignment. It has over some of the nominees also submitted its report to have compounded the retenthe Minister of Sports and tion of the idea. Membership Youth Development, Barr. of government nominees apSolomon, Dalung, who insti- pears to be counterproductive. tuted the committee. The need to holistically look at the various problems that have become impediment to the growth and development of sports administration in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. The outcome of our participation in various international sports championships speaks volume of the state of things staring us in the face. The Kienka Committee was to make recommendations to government with a view to proffering solutions to the myriad of inGodwin Kienka tractable problems that have taken the country’s sports growth and Some of them can be extremely development tino a state of over-bearing, while some have little or nothing to offer to the coma. While some of its recom- boards. Many of them have no mendations will be examined clue of their roles while many in subsequent editions of this others know nothing about the column, I would like to start sport on whose board they are with the issue of government appointed or even practically nominees on the board of blank on sporting activities sports federations. The com- generally. Their initial erronemittee has recommended ous impression was that there that the idea of government would be money to share or nominees be done away with. enough foreign trips to underTo put it clearly, that govern- take. Experience has however, ment should not appoint any- shown that few months on the body to serve on the board board without money to share of any sport federation. It is or foreign trips to undertake, indeed an issue that govern- they quickly become invisible, evaporated and had to melt ment should fully examine.

away. That is not to say that some negligible few who are sound with good sporting records on the boards are not deserving of commendation. I had once been appointed as a government nominee for a four-year tenure before contesting election which l won for yet another four year- tenure. I have a moderate idea of what obtains at board meetings and its inherent politics. Woe be tide a board whose government nominee is forced on the board as its President. Often than not, they operate as garrison commanders whose shadow you dare not observe not to talk of having the liver to ask valid questions. Some of them run the boards like one maximum emperor presiding over a conquered territory but knows nothing about the territory. It is important to also examine the previous reports of various committees instituted by some past ministers of sports with a view to extracting from their reports, areas that would be beneficial to the actualisation of our sports agenda. The Air Commodore Emeka Omeruah Committee’s Report as well as that of Gen. Ishola Williams and that of Brig. Gen. Dominic Oneya reports are still lying idle somewhere in the Sports Ministry after submission. The need to act fast on the committees’ recommendations is essential. Time is fast running out. Another All Africa Games is around the corner. Ditto the Commonwealth Games and the next Olympic Games. HARD BUT THE BITTER TRUTH Humility and simplicity are like twin brothers. Respect they say beget respect. Learn to humble yourself and respect others or else, you will be humbled. Hard But The Bitter Truth. Until next week Friday, stay out of trouble and God bless Nigeria

WORLD RECORD

Largest Peruvian folk Vol. 06

No. 1471

Friday, October 28, 2016

N150

The largest Peruvian folk dance consisted of 1, 247 couples and was achieved by the Municipality of Arequipa (Peru) in celebration of the city’s 474th anniversary on August 24 2014.

Judiciary as Buhari’s nightmare (III)

ccording to Magu: “One of the big challenges we have in the effective prosecution of the war on corruption is that of very senior lawyers who Nigeria has been very kind to… When we have corruption cases, cases of people who have stolen food from the mouths of our children… they run to these same senior lawyers, give them part of the stolen money and mobilise them to fight us, to delay us in court and to deny Nigerians of justice…”. When issues about the rot in the judiciary arise, the way President Buhari had broached it, the bench and bar conveniently shrug it off. They turned around to blame outdated laws, shoddy investigation and prosecutorial processes; as well as poor funding, the lack of modern equipment, inhospitable working conditions and inadequate motivation of the judiciary. But with the subsisting unholy matrimony, a significant portion of the bench and the bar now find themselves, it does seem

ormer Spain and Barcelona goalkeeper, Andoni Zubizarreta, was named sporting director of French giants, Marseille, yesterday, club president, Jacques-Henri Eyraud, confirmed. Zubizarreta previously served the same role at

FRIDAY WITH Dozie Okebalama

dozieokeama@yahoo.co.uk 08164966858 (SMS only) no amount of remediation of the setbacks of the nation’s judiciary would make them see to it that justice is never defeated by technical rules of procedure, which has largely been the case for decades. Only self censure and radical reorientation would, including removing the CJN as head of the NJC. The other alternative would be tracking down the irretrievable bad eggs and crooks among the lot and dealing ruthlessly with them the way the DSS is trying to go. It was thus obvious that the fate that befell the arrested judges had been brewing. The fact that the greatest sympathy the embattled judges have mustered since the DSS burnt their fingers came from the commanding heights of the nation’s judiciary, including the NJC, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) as a body, senior lawyers, including the hardly known in the profession that are smart enough to grab public attention by suing the authorities for the judges’ arrest, simply buttressed sibling/elite conspiracy. But there is a dangerous dimension to the ‘spirit de corps’; which is the fact that the bar-bench solidarity is a pointer that the cleansing of the bench and the bar promises an awesome task for the Muhammadu Buhari administration because of entrenched and largely compromised interests. But no profession by whatever name called deserves the privilege or permission to desecrate the society that sustains

Has the Nigerian bench not embarrassed the nation enough? it with impunity and without consequences. Besides, there are, perhaps, some judges and lawyers alike that are irritated by the ungodly matrimony between the bar and the bench, which many have been complaining about over the years. A Professor of Law, Bolaji Owasanoye, for instance, recently lamented that lawyers were the ‘singular biggest’ threat to the success of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 because of their rigid attitude to the letter and spirit of the law, whereas the said Act is the product of widely expressed concern by Nigerians on the delay in the administration of criminal justice, including the trial of high profile cases of corruption. Besides, another senior lawyer, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) that seems largely at home with the rot in the bench and the bar, Dafe Akpedeye was also quoted as saying at a public lecture in Edo State recently as follows: “However, I dare say that we lawyers know better. In my view, show me a corrupt person and I will show a lawyer by his side, advising on how best to break the law and get away with it freely In fact, the general notion

today is to the effect that when politicians steal from public coffers, they set aside a portion of their loot for the endless battles that will inevitably follow, in a bid to frustrate the prosecution…”. Indeed, one’s faith in the nation’s judiciary waned irretrievably with the exposure of the face-off between former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloyius Katsina-Alu and ex-President of the Court of the Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami some years back, when the latter accused Katsina-Alu of making spirited attempts to make him pervert justice in the governorship election petition of Sokoto. This was about the time the EFCC said some judges were on its radar because of allegations bothering on corrupt self-enrichment and their stupendous wealth. Is it not quite interesting that a good number of seasoned lawyers, despite wide-spread suggestion that the DSS arrest of judges infracted the law, have spiritedly insisted that no law shields judges from lawful arrest, provided, just like legislators’ utterances in parliament, they (judges) are not picked up based on their pronouncements in court? In that case, how does the arrest of judges suspected of corrupt escapades constitute a threat to democracy? The said judges, in any case, are still innocent in law, and would be set free if eventually exonerated. Those alluding to the embarrassment of the judiciary and mouthing separation of powers and the rule of law miss the point. Being in the Bench is integrity-driven. When former United States Solicitor-General and Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, Robert Houghwout Jackson (1892–1954) stated: “We are not final because we are infallible; we are infallible because we are final”; a statement popularised in Nigeria by the late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa of the Supreme Court, what the remark meant, if twisted a little, was that judges, too, can err. Are we saying that suspected erring judges should escape justice? What’s the embarrassment there? In any case, has the Nigerian bench not embarrassed the nation enough? Concluded.

Sport Extra Zubizarreta named Marseille sporting director Barcelona from 2010 to 2015 and helped the Spanish champions recruit Neymar and Luis Suarez. Zubi, 55, won 126 caps for Spain during a distinguished playing career in which he represented Ath-

letic Bilbao, Barcelona and Valencia. His appointment comes a day after Marseille parted company with Belgian sporting director, Gunter Jacob, as the club’s new owner, American tycoon,

Frank McCourt, continues his overhaul of the ninetime French champions. The Spaniard will work alongside new coach, Rudi Garcia, after the former Lille and Roma boss signed a three-year contract to

take over at the Stade Velodrome last week. “Marseille has a big heart, a great football soul like Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona,” said Zubizarreta, referring to two of his former clubs.

Zubizarreta

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