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We’ll fight graft, Boko Haram together – Buhari ÏÏÏAs

the D-Day for the promised all-out battle against insurgency and graft draws near, the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, has CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

MAP GUIDE 1 Militants enter the 1. university grounds, two guards are shot dead 2.

2 Shooting begins within the campus 3 Students attacked in 3. their classrooms while preparing for exams 4.

4 Gunmen believed isolated in the female dormitories 5.

5 Some students make an escape through the fence

A woman is helped away from the building where she had been held hostage on Thursday, at University College in Garissa, Kenya. At least, 147 people were killed when a swarm of gunmen stormed the university before dawn, officials said. PHOTO: AFP

Presidency:

Terrorists kill 147 in Kenyan varsity

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4

2

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Politics Page Three

3

s

Editorial SON and substandard goods

R

ecently, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) destroyed goods worth more than N500million as a way of checking fake products into the country. According to the agency’s Head of Inspectorate and Compliance, Bede Obayi the goods were about 80 percent electricity cables in nine trucks seized from border stations and unapproved routes in the country. Justifying the action, Obayi said; “We need to destroy them completely as they pose dangers to life and ruin the nation’s economy”.

It is disheartening that despite the hazards associated with the distribution, purchase and use of substandard products, importers still engage in the illicit trade. Unfortunately, most of the products have expired well before but were still kept on the shelves for sale to unsuspecting consumers, even as some are wrongly labelled. We therefore call on the SON to impose stricter penalties on those countries exporting substandard goods into Nigeria, as they do not mean well for the economic development of the nation.

On its part, SON should put its two laboratories to use in order to ensure that any product that undergoes test in Nigeria will be accepted globally.

Statistics have shown that more than 40 percent of the goods imported into the country are counterfeit. There is also no denying the fact that the flooding of Nigeria’s market with substandard products is killing the growth of local industries and creativity, even as it discourages investment. We are of the view

that substandard and counterfeit products are antithetical to national economic development and the well being of the citizenry.

This explains the tough laws on the manufacturers of counterfeit or fake products and the stiff penalties imposed on them by some Asian and European countries. But it is not enough to continue mulling over the importation of substandard goods into the country without putting in place policies to discourage the practice. We therefore call on the government to provide a favourable economic environment and other incentives that would promote and encourage local manufacturing of products that meet acceptable international standards.

To do so government must provide the enabling environment for job creation, so as to enhance people’s purchasing power, as this will help them to go for quality products, even when they are more expensive. The regulatory agencies such as SON, NAFDAC and CPC should be better funded for maximum performance, while the banks should become more proactive in offering long-term loans to local manufacturers to enable them purchase better equipment for the production of quality products.

It is only with such measures that Nigeria could be rescued from her present substandard status in terms of consumer products. Substandard products have been implicated in many accidents in the country be it fire, road or collapsed buildings. They are therefore a danger to society, and should not be allowed to flourish.

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Must partisanship lead to death?

Sam Nzeh

ÏÏÏThe killing of

a man in the Ejigbo area of Lagos State on Sunday by his pregnant wife, for allegedly refusing to support the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has again brought to the fore the need for Nigerians to moderate their partisanship as the general election winds down.

The woman, simply identified as Onyiyechi, and her late husband who was a staunch supporter of the Peoples Democratic Party

(PDP) were said to have engaged in a heated argument on who among the candidates of the APC and PDP they voted for in the presidential election.

The argument degenerated into a fight and Onyiyechi who so much believed in the APC candidate could no longer hold back her anger and she stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife in the chest. Before the man could be rushed to the hospital, he gave up the ghost.

A day after the incident, a commercial motorcyclist in Igangan area of Omu-Aran in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Raphael Abiodun, also beat his wife, Bose, to a pulp over disagreement on the outcome of Presidential and

Words On Marble :

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National Assembly (NASS) poll. The couple belonged to different political parties.

Aside these two incidents, several other extreme acts of party support by Nigerians in this election period abound, making many to ask if supporting a political tendency should lead to bodily harm or death.

We must all realise that while support for candidates in election remains the inalienable right of every Nigerian, it must not be elevated to the level of fanaticism which most often beclouds people’s sense of reasoning. As the 2015 general election winds down, Nigerians must learn to live peacefully with each other irrespective of political leaning.

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Editor, Standard, Archives and Special projects

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Yinka Olujimi

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Group News Editor

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The opinions expressed in the articles published in this newspaper are solely those of the authors. Articles may be reproduced, provided that the original source is indicated.

Zig Ziglar

Jesse Jackson

Mahatma Gandhi

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.

In politics, an organised minority is a political majority.

You must be the change you want to see in the world.

News 4

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

‘We’ll fight graft, Boko Haram together’ Continued from page 1 solicited the cooperation of Nigerians in prosecuting the war.

And, like a true general, he has renewed his vow to lead the campaign.

Buhari, who spoke on Thursday in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) cautioned however, that the war against corruption may take some time to win considering the 16 years rule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“We are asking Nigerians for their cooperation. They shouldn’t expect miracles to happen a couple of months after we’ve taken over because the destruction took so many years; 16 years of the ruling party’s rule of this country. I

believe the country will give us the opportunity to do our best, to pick our priorities, and work as hard as we can.”

The President-Elect also hinted that his anti-graft war would recognise neither sacred cows nor party affiliations.

The interview read in part: Were you surprised when President Goodluck Jonathan called to concede defeat, to congratulate you, because that is a new thing here in Nigeria?

Well, I am not surprised because I think he has been talking to the international community, especially the United States, Europe and in particular Britain.

And I think he is respectful of those countries and their leaders. I feel it was not something ex-

traordinary that, as Commanderin-Chief (they told him that) he should allow the rule of law to take its course. Let the Nigerian election be conducted according to the law. They asked him and I think he gave them his undertaking. And I think he did his best.

Now, the big work really starts.

You’ve made a lot of promises to Nigerians. Have you thought about how you will go about fulfilling these promises?

I think I wouldn’t have made the promises if I don’t know how to go about them. But we identify three fundamental problems, that is, insecurity … which everybody knows, and then lack of employment caused by corruption. And then corruption itself.

How are you going to tackle

National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (right) and former Vice President and chieftain of APC, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar during a courtesy visit to Atiku in Asokoro, Abuja… on Thursday

that beast, Boko Haram? Are you going to offer peaceful negotiations, or are you just going to hit them hard?

Well, hit them hard with what? Boko Haram, by the 14th of February when we wanted to have the election which was postponed, were, according to the government’s calculation, in charge of 14 local governments. These are local governments out of 774 local governments. If for five, six years the Nigerian law enforcement agencies, including the military, could not secure 14 local governments out of 774, how can I promise a miracle when I come (in)? But with the cooperation of our neighbours – Cameroun, Chad, Niger--- and the international community and the commitment we are going to get from the military, I think it will take us a much shorter time to deal with them.

You mentioned corruption, that it is entrenched in Nigeria. Some people will argue that even within your party, there are many people who are as corrupt as some of these people who you say you are going to fight, who are outside your party. Are you ready to tackle corruption to its fullest?

I made that promise and I hope you and Nigerians will give me the opportunity to see whether my effort will be good enough or not.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has described as misleading and Continued on page 6

Presidency: Ijaw youths to meet over election result …May reignite struggle Joe Ogbodu Warri

ÏÏÏThe last may not have been

heard about last Saturday’s Presidential election won by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as foremost Ijaw youth group, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), has called for a meeting of ex-militants to review the outcome of the election.

The meeting is scheduled for Sunday, next week.

The Daily Times gathered that the scheduled meeting would determine the next line of action by the IYC, particularly the struggle for self-determination and resource control.

In a statement issued by IYC’s spokesman, Eric Omare, the group said that the meeting would have in attendance all Ijaw youths, including its founding fathers and leaders like Asari Dokubo, Chris Ekiyor, Kingsley Kuku, among other.

The statement claimed that the meeting was summoned after an enlarged executive council and consultative meetings, comprising founders and former leaders of the IYC, National and Zonal Executive Council members and key stakeholders held at Izon House, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State last Wednesday.

The meeting is scheduled to Continued on page 6

Al-Shabaab kills 147 in Kenyan varsity Osun polls: Omisore loses

appeal, heads to Supreme Court

Ï C Ɛ ƅ ƗƆƌ ƐƐ ƅƊ ÏÏÏHorror was on Thursday un-

leashed by four al-Shabab Islamic militants at the Garissa University in Kenya, resulting in the death of 147 persons.

By the evening, state officials disclosed that operation to secure the university campus was over, with all four attackers killed.

In the United States, two women were arrested over an alleged terror plot.

An overnight curfew was imposed in four counties near the Kenya-Somalia border- Garissa, Wajir, Mandera and Tana River, disaster management officials said.

At least 79 persons were injured

while more than 500 students were rescued from the Garissa University campus,.

About four masked gunmen stormed the university early on Thursday morning, shooting randomly.

Kenyan Interior Minister, Joseph Nkaiserry, said Thursday that “90% of the threat [had] been eliminated”, adding that security forces were “mopping up the area” in case more gunmen were on the campus.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned the al-Shabab[MS1] attack on the Garissa University College in Kenya.

A statement issued on Thurs-

day by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said Jonathan extended heartfelt condolences to the government and people of Kenya and to families of those who died in the attack.

Jonathan condemned the deliberate targeting of innocent persons, schools and other soft targets by terrorists as such atrocious, despicable and barbaric acts of violence which ought to have no place in any civilized society.

He assured President Uhuru Kenyatta and the people of Kenya that Nigeria stands in full soliContinued on page 6

ÏÏÏThe

Court of Appeal in Akure, the Ondo State capital, yesterday dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), candidate in last year’s governorship election in Osun state, Iyiola Omisore, against the election petition tribunal’s judgement which affirmed the election of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

Immediately after the judgement, Omisore announced that he would take the matter to the Supreme Court.

The tribunal, whose members were Hon . justice Elizabeth Nguveren Kpojime, Justice Igometi Ofesi and Justice Abubakar Idris Kutigi, had on February 6, 2015, ruled that Aregbesola was the

winner of the August 9, 2014 gubernatorial election.

The Court of Appeal panel led by Hon. Justice Mshella, on Thursday affirmed the ruling of the election tribunal.

Omisore had approached the court, arguing that the tribunal erred in law when it failed to evaluate the petitioners’ evidence in line with their pleadings which were largely documentary.

He said that the tribunal failed to separate the allegation of malpractice from non-compliance with the manual and guidelines for the election.

According to him, most of the Continued on page 6

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

5 News

Modibbo refutes rumoured exit from gov. race President-elect, Gen. Mohammad Buhari (right) and Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, during Gowon’s congratulatory visit to the Presidentelect in Abuja… on Wednesday

Panic in Ilesa as police arrest thugs with arms Sodiq Adekunle Osogbo

ÏÏÏFew days after elections in

Osun State, two suspects have been arrested for being in possession of arms.

The arms were recovered by armed security men near the collation centre for the results of the Osun East Senatorial District at Ilesa Grammar School, Okesa in Ilesa.

Among items recovered by policemen from the Police Mobile Training College, Ila, were a white unregistered Toyota Hilux van and an 18-seater commercial bus.

NDLEA tightens security at Enugu airport ÏÏÏThe

Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade, has warned that the agency will continue to resist the use of Nigeria for drug trafficking.

Giade gave the warning following the arrest of two businessmen at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu for allegedly trafficking 11.66kg of cocaine and heroin.

The seized drugs have a street value of N105,000,000.

The agency noted that since the Enugu Airport was upgraded to international status, some drug traffickers have been using the airport.

Tom Garba Yola

ÏÏÏThe

governorship candidate of People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), Dr. Ahmed Modibbo, has insisted that he is still participating in the forthcoming governorship and state House of Assembly elections on April 11, 2015.

He made the clarification due to the rumour making the rounds that he had withdrawn from the race to favour another candidate. “I can never sacrifice my integrity and com-

petence because of anybody, all I know is that my party, at the national level, had an alliance with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to support the ambition of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Modibbo said this through his Campaign Director, Sunday Wugira, at a press conference in Yola, adding that the party’s candidate was very much in the gubernatorial race in Adamawa State and the rumour going round town was a purported plan by mischievous politicians to mislead the electorate.

Imo LP candidate murdered

ÏÏÏThe House of Assembly can-

didate of the Labour Party, (LP), in Ngor Okpala State Constituency, Mr Andrew Ugwuezumba, has been murdered.

Ugwuezumba, who is in his 40s and hailed from Umunehi Village, Obiangwu Autonomous Community, was shot dead about 8pm Tuesday on the lonely Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport Road.

He was returning home after a campaign rally at Umuowa Community also in Ngor Okpala.

Daily Times learnt that the assailants had trailed the LP candidate in an unmarked Sports Util-

ity Vehicle from the venue of the rally until they double-crossed his car few poles from his home town.

He was shot several times on the head.

Some of Ugwuezumba’s supporters who were in the same car with him also suffered various degrees of injuries and are receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.

Similarly, on Tuesday night, another indigene of Ngor Okpala council, Mr Bennett Nnaji, popularly known as “Coach” who hails from Umuekwune Umuorisha in Umuohiagu Autonomous Com-

munity was murdered.

Nnaji, 54, the only son of his aged mother, met his untimely death at Umuowa, few metres away from the Airport Junction, on Aba Road. He was returning from his maternal home, Ndiama Ulakwo in Owerri North LGA. The deceased father of three who resided in Abuja, had visited home to share moments with his mother during the elections.

Though killed Tuesday night, Daily Times learnt that his decomposing body was only discovered yesterday morning by passers-by as the assailants had chased him into the bush where

Anambra traders hail Jonathan, congratulate Buhari

Dilionye Dilibe Onitsha

ÏÏÏTraders in Anambra State

have praised the courage of the incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in exhibiting a good spirit of sportsmanship by immediately conceding defeat to his main challenger and President-elect, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd.).

Gunmen kidnap five Exxonmobil official in A’Ibom

Fielding questions from journalists in Onitsha on Thursday, President-General of Anambra State Market Traders’ Association (AMATAS), Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo, stated that by conceding defeat and congratulating Buhari that Jonathan won the respect and admiration of Africans and the international community.

Ezenwankwo, who extolled

the leadership qualities of Buhari, disclosed that as a former military leader, his experience and aversion to corruption, should be the hallmark of his administration on assumption of office.

He advised the Presidentelect, as a matter of urgency, to restore discipline and order, and tackle unemployment in the country.

at Floating Storage and Offloading Vessel (FSO) in Ibeno Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State have been kidnapped by gunmen.

An inside source who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that five indigenous personnel who were working offshore at ExxonMobil were kidnapped on

Monday at FSO by militants.

He said that due to the fear of abduction and post-election violence, the management of ExxonMobil and workers resorted to resuming work at about 11.30 a.m from April 1.

The source further said that since the incident, the management had been shutting down production by 1p.m at QIT, Ibeno.

they shot him.

Meanwhile palpable fear has gripped people of both Obiangwu and Umuohiagu communities as well as others in Ngor Okpala over the double assassination.

Reacting, the governorship candidate of LP in Imo State, Ngozi Olehi, described the murders as shocking, saying he was too stunned to comment on Ugwuezumba’s murder.

When contacted, the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Andrew Enwerem, said he had not been officially briefed on the incident but promised to speak later.

Fire razes Baptist Church Sodiq Adekunle Osogbo

ÏÏÏThe Calvary Baptist Church in

Osogbo, Osun State was, on Thursday, razed by fire.

It was gathered that the fire outbreak, which occurred around 12am, was due to power surge.

When our correspondent visited the church, a portion of the building had fallen. Eyewitnesses said the damage was much because fire fighters could not make it to the scene early.

Chairman of the benevolent committee, Mr. Ademola Ojo, lamented the incident, noting that church members had no premonition of the incident when they finished service around 8pm on Wednesday.

Public Relations Officer for the church, Oluwaseun Ibitoye, said that the fire was suspected to have been caused by a power surge, adding that though the fire claimed no life, some properties were burnt to ashes.

News 6

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Al-Shabaab kills 147 in Kenyan varsity Continued from page 4 darity with them as they come to grips once again with the aftermath of another heinous terrorist attack on their country.

The President affirmed that Nigeria would continue to work with Kenya, other African countries and the international community to rid the world of all terrorist groups.

Jonathan believes that the attack on the Kenyan University and other similar atrocities across the world must strengthen and solidify the resolve of the global community to take more urgent and coordinated actions to speedily defeat the agents of global terror.

Also, UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on Thursday, condemned what he called a “terrorist attack” and said the UN was ready to help Kenya “prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism”.

The Kenyan government earlier named Mohamed Kuno, a high-ranking al-Shabab official, as the mastermind of the attack.

It placed a bounty of $217,000

(£140,000) on him.

A BBC Somali Service reporter said Mohamed Kuno was headmaster at an Islamic school in Garissa before he quit in 2007.

He goes by the nickname “Dulyadeyn”, which means “ambidextrous” in Somali.

Earlier, al-Shabab told the BBC its members were holding Christians hostage and freeing Muslims.

The gunmen reportedly ordered students to lie down on the floor, but some of them escaped.

Student Augustine Alanga told the BBC’s Newsday programme: “It was horrible, there was shooting everywhere.”

He said it was “pathetic” that the university was only guarded by two police officers.

A student, Collins Wetangula, said when the gunmen entered his hostel he could hear them opening doors and asking if the people inside were Muslims or Christians, the AP news agency reported.

“If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot. With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die,” he said.

Al-Shabab said it attacked the university because it is at war with Kenya.

Meanwhile, two New York City women have been arrested in an alleged conspiracy to build a bomb and wage a “terrorist attack” in the United States, according to a federal criminal complaint made public on Thursday.

Noelle Velentzas, 28, and Asia Siddiqui, 31, devised a plot to target police, government or military targets based on their “violent jihadist beliefs,” according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

The two women, who were roommates in the city borough of Queens, researched how to build an explosive device and plotted to attack a military base or police funeral, it stated.

Charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States, they were slated to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Viktor Pohorelsky on Thursday afternoon.

If convicted, they face the possibility of life in prison.

Velentzas praised al Qaeda’s

Officials of Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) during an exercise for driver on danger of alcohol consumption while driving in Abuja... on Thursday Photo: TEMITOPE BALOGUN

Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, considered former al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden a hero and said she and Siddiqui were “citizens of the Islamic State,” the complaint said.

The women also voiced support for beheadings of Western journalists and others by Islamic State, the militant group that controls territory in Syria and Iraq, the com-

Omisore heads to Supreme Court dence on record, gave no expert evidence.”

Olujinmi argued that from the nature of evidence given by all the witnesses, no reasonable tribunal could give judgement in favour of the appellants.

Omisore Continued from page 4 allegations contained in their petition were directed at the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), which failed to call any witness.

But Aregbesola’s counsel, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), submitted that the issues arising from the appeal were straightforward, saying: “The petitioners at the lower court challenged the victory of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in about 930 polling units spread across 17 local governments.

“In proving their case, the Appellants called 43 witnesses; 34 of them gave hearsay evidence while only seven of their witnesses gave direct oral evidence which was badly discredited under cross-examination. The other two witnesses, a supposedly expert witness by the nature of evi-

‘We’ll fight graft, Boko Haram together’ Continued from page 4 unfounded media reports that Buhari has pledged to end the scourge of Boko Haram insurgency within two months.

In a swift clarification, through a signed statement in Abuja on Thursday, Mallam Garba Shehu, APCPCO’s Director of Media and

Publicity said: “His Excellency the PresidentElect is still waiting to be sworn in on May 29. After the ceremony, he would need time to study the security situation and plan strategically with the security chiefs as to the way forward. Time is of the essence here. Therefore, President Buhari didn’t and wouldn’t

peg the decimation of terrorism from the country’s territories to just two months.

“The General was unequivocal about cleansing Boko Haram from our land; he would do a good job of it by giving a final permanent push to rid Nigeria of unscrupulous elements,” Shehu stressed

plaint said.

Since last summer, they read textbooks on electricity, watched online videos about soldering and read “The Anarchist Cookbook,” a book with instructions on building homemade explosives, it said.

They looked for supplies such as wiring and chemicals in a pharmacy and a Home Depot store, it said.

He continued: “The PresidentElect said that much to the world media including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Cable News Network (CNN).

He never put a time-frame to when he would eliminate terrorists, and it would be unfair and mischievous for someone to ascribe to him what he hasn’t said.”

Ijaw youths may reignite struggle Continued from page 4 hold at Tuomo Community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.

The statement also said that the meeting would take a position on the last presidential election, and determine the next direction of the struggle for self-determination and resource control as enshrined in the historic Kaiama Declaration.

The statement read in part, “We call on all Ijaw youths to be alert and ready to heed the call to the service of the Ijaw nation at this crucial time of our history and struggle for survival in the Nigerian state in the face of the grand conspiracy between the north and a section of the south west to continue to suppress and exploit the resource of the Ijaw nation.”

The group alleged that when in 2011, President Jonathan, an Ijaw won at the polls, the people of the northern part of Nigeria did not congratulate or support him.

“Instead they killed hundreds of innocent Nigerians and fought President Jonathan from the day he became the Acting President of Nigeria in 2010 until the north conspired with a section of the south west to take over the Presidency from President Jonathan and the minorities of the southsouth in an election fraught with irregularities.”

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Former I-G, M.D. Yusuf buried in Katsina

L-R: Deputy Rector (Academics), Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, Mr. Tajudeen Sonayon; Rector, LASPOTECH, Mr. Abdulazeez Lawal and Deputy Rector (General Admin), Mr. Olayinka Sogunro during the press conference on the forthcoming 23rd convocation of the Institution held at Ikorodu, Lagos...on Thursday PHOTO: OLAWALE ROTIMI

ÏÏÏThe

remains of former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alhaji M.D. Yusuf, have been buried in Katsina, on Thursday.

Yusuf died at the age of 84 at about 11 p.m., on Wednesday, in Abuja, following a protracted illness.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the funeral prayer, led by the Chief Imam of Katsina, Malam Lawal, was conducted at 2.30 p.m. at the palace of the Emir of Katsina.

The former police chief was buried in accordance with Islamic rites at the Dantakun cemetery in Katsina.

Muhammad Dikko Yusuf was born on November 10, 1931, in the royal family of Katsina and was named after his grandfather, the late Emir of Katsina, Muhammadu Dikko.

He did his elementary and middle schools in Katsina at the old Katsina Provincial School, before proceeding to Kano School of Arabic and Islamic Studies (IAS) in 1947, where he studied English and Arabic.

NSCDC deploys 50,000 personnel for Easter ÏÏÏThe

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has announced the deployment of 50,000 personnel across the nation ahead of the Easter celebration.

Commandant General of the Corps Dr. Ade Abolurin, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja, on Thursday.

Signed by the Corps’ Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Okeh, the statement advised Nigerians that as they were able to conduct themselves in achieving a fairly non-violent presidential and parliamentary elections, they should continue to imbibe the spirit of peaceful co-existence.

“The patriotism shown during the elections is a turning point in the attitude of the masses towards the country. The Easter celebration marks a special time in the Christian calendar. In respect of this, the Corps wishes to assure all citizens that it will not fail in its duty to protect their life and property, no matter the season”, Abolurin pledged.

7 New Dawn

Henry Omunu & Augustine Aminu Abuja

ÏÏÏThe

Federal High Court, Abuja has adjourned till April 13, 2015, the suit challenging the emergence of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, as the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Sokoto State.

Senator Umaru Dahiru had challenged the outcome of the APC governorship primary election through which Tambuwal emerged as the candidate of the party for the April 11 governorship election.

In his suit, Dahiru alleged that the process which produced Tambuwal was flawed and, there-

Sokoto guber: Court adjourns case against Tambuwal fore, prayed the court to bar the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from listing Tambuwal as the governorship candidate of the APC. The presiding judge, Justice Evoh Chukwu, however, adjourned hearing in the suit to April 13, to enable the defendants respond to court processes served on the plaintiff on Thursday morning when the case came up for hearing.

Speaking to reporters after the adjournment, Tambuwal’s lawyer, Sunday Ameh (SAN), said the

case was adjourned to enable the defence go through the court processes served on them by the plaintiff.

He asserted that the plaintiff had employed time-wasting strategies and maintained that the defence is challenging the competence of the court in hearing the case.

“There were pending applications to be taken, but counsel to the plaintiff served us with some processes that will require our action. But, we had to apply to the court to give us the opportunity to react to those processes.”

Boko Haram spotted at Plateau/Taraba borders Moses Ikyaa-Gba Jos

ÏÏÏA

group of Boko Haram fighters have been spotted near Kukar Ibi, around Plateau/ Taraba borders.

Source says they were seen moving in with eleven Hilux vans full of arms and ammunition.

The villagers said there was a need for immediate intervention from the security agents, in order to save life and property.

The sighting of the Boko Haram elements has not been confirmed by the police and men of the Special Taskforce (STF).

The STF spokesman, Capt.

A.O. Iweha, was not picking

calls, while Emmanuel Abu, the Plateau State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), said he was yet to receive any information on the issue, but appealed to citizens to go about their normal businesses, as the command and other security agencies were working tirelessly to contain any threat to security.

Buhari’s victory the will of God – Tompolo ÏÏÏA

former

Niger-Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo, otherwise known as Tompolo, has described the victory of the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, as the will of God. Tompolo’s statement comes

less than 24 hours after another ex-militant, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, said he and his colleagues may be forced to return to militancy following President Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat.

Tompolo, alongside other exmilitants, had also threatened

to wreak havoc if Jonathan lost the election.

However, Tompolo, in a statement by his spokesperson, Paul Bebenimibo, appealed to Nigerians to accept the outcome of the March 28 election for the sake of peace.

Falae urges Buhari to implement confab report ÏÏÏChief

Olu Falae, National Chairman, Social Democratic Party (SDP), on Thursday, urged the President-elect, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to implement the 2014 National Conference report on assumption of office.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had, on Wednesday, declared Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, the winner of March 28 presidential election.

Falae, a former Secretary to the Federal Government, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lagos, that the implementation of the report would help to revamp and re-launch the country. ``I want to advise Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari that he should see government as a continuum. ``I urge him that as soon as he is inaugurated and settles down to initiate action on the implementation of the report of the 2014 National Conference. The implementation of that report, in my humble opinion, is the blueprint for restructuring Nigeria, revamping Nigeria and re-launching Nigeria into a new orbit,’’ he said.

Falae, who congratulated the President-elect on the victory, said his election would send signal that rampant corruption would no longer be tolerated. ``It has sent a signal that rampant corruption will no longer be tolerated and that public officers must disengage from corruption and take their career seriously.’’

Falae

He said, “I believe that nothing can happen if God does not approve of it. I want to appeal to all our people to be orderly, calm and embrace peace. The will of the people is sacrosanct and the existing peace be maintained.

“Peace is a prerequisite for national development. People should remain calm also during the governorship election.”

8

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Politics Jonathan

ASARI DOKUBO

Jonathan was not part of Niger Delta struggles

s

Politics Editor: Akinjide Akintola E-mail: akinjide.akintola@dailytimes.com.ng

Niger-Delta warlord, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has disclosed that outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan has never been part of the struggle of the Niger Delta militants for self determination.

Rather, he said his emergence as president of Nigeria was as a result of the Niger Delta struggles making him a beneficiary of the struggle.

He warned that with the defeat of President Jonathan in last Saturday’s presidential election,

the Niger Delta militants may be forced to return to the creeks.

According to him, this was because the voting pattern in the last election showed a disturbing pattern that the South-West and the North ganged up against the South-South and South-East geopolitical zones.

In a statement by his media aide, Rex Anighoro, he said it was unfair that the minorities groups in the country were being emasculated by the majority ethnic groups.

He expressed the fear that the government of the Presidentelect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, would be vicious which may signal a return to the creeks.

His words: “The conditions that advanced the need to embrace the creeks have been sadly re-energised. It is clear that a vicious government which may maim and murder the voice of the so-called minorities may have just been birthed.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

BORNO GOVERNOR:

North, South West did not gang up against minorities Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has faulted claims that the north and south west ganged up against the minorities in last Saturday’s presidential election.

According to him, Ibos from the Southeast were silent forces that played significant roles in the victory of General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Shettima said contrary to some claims that Buhari was elected by four geopolitical zones without the southeast and the south-south, leaders of the APC in the southeast stood very firm to stop the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from coming out with outrageous votes from the southeast as was the case in 2011, stressing that it was this singular act which ensured that votes garnered

by Buhari in other geopolitical CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Shettima

No more term for me – Jega

After successfully conducting two general elections within his five-year tenure, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, has said he would not serve another term.

Still basking in the eupho-

ria of national and international accolades that greeted his conduct of the 2015 General Election, Jega who spoke in Abuja last night, requested that another person should be given the opportunity to serve after his (Jega) tenure ends in June. He added that he would

not serve in the same capacity again, even if his tenure was renewed “I am grateful to God. I was asked to come and contribute my own quota to national development and I have done my bit to the best of my ability.

Whatever assignment one will

do for five years – just like this difficult one, to me, if one is able to successfully accomplish the task, someone else should be given the opportunity, because for me I am not interested and if I am requested to serve CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

9

Politics

Dokubo-Asari: ‘Militants might return to the creeks’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

“Indeed integration is non-existent as regional gang-ups and supremacy is symbolic with this victory.”

The ex-militant, who had in January threatened that he and his colleagues would wreak havoc in the land if Jonathan lost the presidential election, praised the President for being a true statesman.

He said it was the struggle of the militants that led to the Jonathan presidency.

Dokubo-Asari, said since the South-South had lost the presidency, ex-militants would now meet to decide the next line of action.

He said, “While President Jonathan enjoys his moments and basks in the euphoria of a new world-renowned statesman having congratulated Muhammadu Buhari, we must quickly be reminded that our struggle was never about Jonathan or about the presidency.

“President Jonathan is an establishment beneficiary of our struggle, our sweat and blood that many bled and died for. He was never in the struggle and he can never wish away our collective march for statesmanship.

“Yes indeed, to an extent, he was a mitigating factor in selfdetermination pursuit as we went on sabbatical. This mitigation he seems to have willingly repudiated. The days coming will be critical. We shall study all the conditions and consult widely before determining the way forward for our collective existence and survival as a people. The days coming shall either drive the quest of integration or further separate us.”

Dokubo-Asari

“The days coming will be critical. We shall study all the conditions and consult widely before determining the way forward for our collective existence and survival as a people. The days coming shall either drive the quest of integration or further separate us.”

Militants

Politics 10 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

zones were enough to return him as President elect.

The Governor spoke in Maiduguri while addressing supporters after his return from Abuja to join other leaders of the APC ahead of Buhari’s declaration as President elect.

“Buhari’s election was a panNigerian movement. I have heard some political analysts making some wrong conclusions that the Ibos in the Southeast didn’t contribute significantly to Buhari’s victory but I think they are missing the point because there are two key contributions to winning elections.

“One is to give votes and the other is to prevent opponent from rigging and both have equal relevance. In the 2011 elections, the PDP got a combined figure of about 7 million votes in the southeast, some of these states recorded or so they claimed, having almost 100 percent voter turnout.

“But in 2015, Ibos in the southeast especially our leaders in the APC stood very firm, some of them put their lives on the line, resisted all kinds of humiliation and at the end, they prevented another seven million votes from coming out. In Ebonyi the PDP got less than 300,000 votes, in Abia, the PDP got less than 400,000, even in Enugu the PDP got about 600,000 votes, in Imo also the PDP got less than 600,000 all these were against the big numbers of 2011. We all saw what happened in Rivers, if that was repeated in the southeast, it would have been a major source of concern for all Nigerians but the Ibos did very well by resisting every step against Buhari so they are heroes as far as I am concerned.

“This is also the case in some parts of the south-south. In Bayelsa, the PDP could have recorded 600,000 or so votes but they got less than 400,000 because of the efforts of our men in Bayelsa who stood firm.

In Edo State, Buhari wasn’t far from President Goodluck

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Ibos are heroes of Buhari’s victory

Okorocha

Ngige

“But in 2015, Ibos in the southeast especially our leaders in the APC stood very firm, some of them put their lives on the line, resisted all kinds of humiliation and at the end, they prevented another seven million votes from coming out.”

Jonathan in terms of votes.

And then, if one looks across religious divides, Buhari was voted by all religious groups.

“He wouldn’t have won Ondo if only Muslims voted for him, he wouldn’t have won Benue or get the required 25 percent in Edo and Ekiti. All of these point to one thing that Buhari was voted by all Nigerians and this is why he has promised to

carry the entire country along, he has pledged not to rule but to govern and this is the principle of the APC, he is laying the foundation of the change Nigerians need and that change is not about which party is in power, it is about the changes in the security of lives and property, the changes in the living standards of Nigerians”, the governor said.

JEGA: I won’t serve another term

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

again, I will not do it, by God’s grace,” Jega stressed.

Jega, who conducted the April 16, 2011 and March 28, 2015 presidential elections, admitted that the INEC assignment was a difficult and thank-

less one.

Professor Jega, an academician was appointed in 2010 by then acting President Goodluck Jonathan who had sacked the then Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu following condemnations of his activities.

“I am grateful to God. I was asked to come and contribute my own quota to national development and I have done my bit to the best of my ability.”

Jega

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

11

Politics

Buhari’s victory excites Makurdi youths, say ‘it’s exodus out of Egypt’ Freddie Adamgbe, Makurdi Barely 24 hours after the announcement of the winner of the 2015 Presidential election by the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission,(INEC), Prof Atahiru Jega, scores of Benue citizens and residents poured into the streets of Makurdi, the state capital in jubilation.

They described the victory as “God’s ordained exodus out of Egypt, the land of slavery’’.

Even before the official verdict by the electoral umpire was made public, people had gathered at relaxation joints discussing with excitement as the exciting results kept coming from the states.

Our correspondent observed that chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) retrieved to their shelves as followers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) continued dancing and singing.

The jubilant crowd made up of mostly youths made bonfires at strategic locations around Makurdi, Gboko and Otukpo towns with some of them displaying their riding skills with the chant of ‘’Sai Buhari Maigeskia and Chengi dole’’.

Some of them who spoke to our correspondent like Joe Kanyi, Alfraid Orgem and Iornenge Tsua said their joy heightened with the discovery that even in Benue State, the APC wass in the lead as it won more national assembly seats than the PDP which has been the ruling party since 1999.

A political activist from Benue

“The jubilant crowd made up of mostly youths made bonfires at strategic locations around Makurdi, Gboko and Otukpo towns with some of them displaying their riding skills with the chant of ‘’Sai Buhari Maigeskia and Chengi dole.”

South Senatorial District, Comrade Althanisius Ocholi told Daily Times that since the APC is now in the majority at the upper chamber of the national assembly controlling 64 senators as against 45 of the PDP, Senator David Mark may no longer be the Senate President and may not be able to perpetrate himself at the national assembly to the detriment of other eminently qualified Idoma sons and daughters.

Already, feelers at the Makurdi residence of Senate Minority Leader, Dr George Akume say he may after all be scheming for the top job he lost to Mark eight years ago.

Commenting on the electoral victory of Gen. Buhari, former

Buhari Lagos State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, said he is full of joy because Nigeria has now got a president who is honest, truthful and highly disciplined who can amend the enormous damage caused by the PDP in the country.

The Ex Police Chief however said he symphatised with the president-elect because of the calibre of people surrounding him pointing out that he should endeavour to put rightful people in right places to achieve success especially in tackling corruption

and insecurity in the land.

He also advised him not to retaliate against his enemies but continue to deliver his mandate stressing that he should cut the bogus allowances of elected national assembly members to give enough room for development.

... US based group expresses delight The Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans, (CANAN) has expressed delight at the peaceful conclusion of the Nigerian presidential election with the announcement of the outcome by INEC. In a statement by its Executive Director, Laolu Akande, he disclosed that CANAN and several other US-based groups embarked on a month long prayer session in March crying out

to the Lord to impose His will on Nigeria, saying: “We asked Him to choose for the nation and we believe He has done it.

We praise His name@!

It congratulated the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President-elect, Pastor Yemi Osinbajo saying it is confident that the duo will take the mandate of the Nigerian people with a sense of responsibility

and fear of God. “The Buhari-Osinbajo ticket campaigned and won on the platform of change. We pray that the change would be delivered by the grace of God. We commend General Buhari and Pastor Osinbajo for their determination, resolve patriotism, and exemplary characters which has now been validated

by Nigerians.

“Their determination will be

surely tested by the enormous challenges ahead of the incoming administration and they have our prayers, support and good wishes,” it said.

In a similar vein, CANAN lauded out-going President Goodluck Jonathan for his statesmanship by conceding defeat to the incoming President Buhari saying: “that action by Dr. Jonathan deserves the praise of all people of

goodwill, and has secured the smooth transition of power in the next couple months in Nigeria”.

CANAN congratulated Nigeria and Nigerians, saying that the destiny God has in mind for Nigeria would soon become manifest and restored, while calling on all Nigerians, of all faiths and ethnicities to come together and turn the nation’s diversity into a huge strength.

News 12

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Presidential Poll: PDP has learnt great lessons – Mu'azu Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

ÏÏÏNational Chairman of

the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu, on Thursday, made a confessional statement that the party has learnt great lessons from its loss in Saturday’s presidential election.

Mu'azu, in a press statement in Abuja, however, pointed out that though PDP lost the presidential election, the party was not down yet.

The PDP National Chairman, whose State (Bauchi) is one of the states where the party performed dismally, said: "We are only at our redefining moment."

Rather than being demoralised, Mu'azu declared that members of the party were now more than ever before reinvigorated for the race ahead and were prepared to deliver PDP candidates in the remaining elections.

His words: "As we return to the electorate for the April 11 governorship and state assembly elections, we will recharge with faith in our heart.

"We assure all our candidates in the remaining elections that the party will stand with you, campaign with you and work vigorously to ensure your total victory at the polls," he promised.

Mu'azu disclosed that the party had received reports of serious irregularities that characterised the conduct of the presidential election and would channel its protests to the appropriate quarters.

He stated that for the 16 years PDP had been in power, it had tried to uphold the democratic ethos and deepen the democracy, after three decades of military rule.

According to him, it was incontrovertible that under the PDP-led government Nigeria had moved

from a near pariah status to a strong actor in the international democratic arena.

This, he argued, was a product of various electoral reforms and commitment to transparent, free and fair electoral process at all levels.

Hear him: "Even in the midst of obvious threats to our democracy, the PDP and the government it sponsored continued to stabilize the polity through strict adherence to the rule of law and liberalisation of the political and economic space.

"In the last 16 years, the PDP-led administration achieved significant milestones in our social and economic lives.

"We moved Nigeria from a debtor nation to Africa’s largest economy and one of the fastest growing in the world, a feat, which is accompanied with unprecedented expansion of the private sector, as well as multi-sectorial infrastruc-

Ajimobi chides Akala, Ladoja over Buhari posters 'Tosin Ajuwon Akure

ÏÏÏ Oyo State Governor, Sena-

Mu'azu

ture development, all, great legacies we achieved for our nation.

"Within this period, our party worked very hard in rebuilding and strengthening democratic institutions, tenets and norms, while lifting our status as the leading democracy in Africa and one of the best in the world," Mu'azu observed.

He lauded President Goodluck Jonathan for his heroic act in conceding to the voice of the people, an action, which stood him (Jonathan) out as a true democrat and a statesman.

A cross section of people travelling for the Easter holidays, at Mazamaza in Lagos…on Thursday.

tor Abiola Ajimobi, has described the circulation of posters in some parts of the state, which bore the photograph of the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, with some governorship candidates of the opposition in the state, as a fraud.

Ajimobi, who stated this on Thursday, in Ibadan, while answering questions from journalists, said this was sequel to the discovery of some campaign posters in Bodija and other parts of Ibadan, which bore the pictures of Gen. Buhari, Ladoja and AlaoAkala, with 'Sai Buhari, Sai Akala' boldly written on them.

President-elect felicitates with Nigerians at Easter ÏÏÏThe

President–elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) has called on all Nigerians to embrace peace during this Easter period and celebrate our nation’s rebirth, while commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In an Easter message to Nigerians and the Christian world, personally signed by him and released by the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Gen Buhari urged all citizens of our great nation to unite and use the season of Easter to celebrate both the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the rebirth of the Nigerian nation.

Police nab three community leaders for alleged stealing Monday Osayande Asaba

Afenifere, Ita-Giwa laud Jonathan, greet Buhari 'Tosin Ajuwon Akure

ÏÏÏ Leaders of the pan Yoruba

socio-political group, Afenifere, on Thursday, commended President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for quickly conceding victory to General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The leaders said such singular personal decision from a sitting president has laid a very strong

foundation for Nigeria's democracy to thrive.

Addressing journalists in Akure, the Ondo State capital, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, on behalf of the group, said President Goodluck Jonathan, being the first Nigerian sitting Head of State to ever magnanimously concede defeat, had demonstrated exemplary courage and statesmanship.

Fasoranti, an elder statesman, added that Jonathan, apart from exhibiting a rare demonstration

of patriotism and sportsmanship, had created a benchmark for other leaders to follow.

"By conceding defeat at this crucial time of uneasiness in our land, Jonathan, like the good Christian he is, has made a usual personal sacrifice in this period of Lent and, in the process, saved his country from needless calamity and predicated perdition.

Similarly, prominent female politician and former Special Adviser on National Assembly

Matters to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, also congratulated Buhari on his victory, but urged political leaders to emulate President Goodluck Jonathan's statemanship and magnanimity.

In a statement she signed and made available to newsmen on Thursday, the political leader of Bakassi tasked Buhari to live up to the people's expectations by maintaining peace and ensuring sustenance of democratic values.

ÏÏÏThe

Delta State Police Command has arrested three persons in connection with the missing transformers in Ozoro, headquarters of Isoko North Local Government Council of the state.

They were nabbed recently amd taken to Ozoro Police Station before being transferred to AIG Zone 5, Benin City, for further investigation.

They are the President-General (PG) of the kingdom, Raphael Afemare, and the Vice President, Mr. Ubini, who disconnected seven transformers in the community, while one was allegedly kept in his palace.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

IMF lends Burundi $6.9m to bolster economy ahead elections ÏÏÏThe International Monetary

Fund has said that it would lend Burundi $6.9 million to shore up the aid-dependent central African nation, months before a presidential election in June.

Tensions are running high in the landlocked nation, which is tentatively emerging from more than a decade of civil war, because of a dispute over whether current President Pierre Nkurunziza can run for another term in a vote on June 26.

The IMF also said it would lend Burundi $13.9 million in 2016 to "help strengthen the management of public finances and consolidate the country's economic reform program."

The funds are part of IMF's Extended Credit Facility regime, a financial support program for low-income countries that carries a zero interest rate. Burundi has received about $41.6 million through the program over the last three years.

"The near-term economic outlook remains challenging, and prudent policies will continue to be needed in the face of uncertainties in the external environment, and in the run-up to the 2015 national elections," Mitsuhiro Furusawa, acting chair of the IMF's executive board, said in a statement.

Obama’s granny welcomes his homecoming ÏÏÏ President Barack Obama's

Kenyan grandmother, known as Mama Sarah, has welcomed his planned visit to the East African nation saying it will fulfil a promise he made to her years ago.

"He told me that he was waiting for political stability in the country before he can come," said Sarah Onyango Obama, who is in her early 90s, speaking of the July visit announced earlier this week.

Mama Sarah was the third wife of US president's paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, and lives in the small village of Kogelo in western Kenya which is home to a number of the president's Kenyan relatives.

Obama's late father was born in

Many Burundians have been pauperised by their past leaders

Just under half of Burundi's planned 1.5 trillion franc ($966 million) budget for 2015 will be funded by international donors, according to a plan approved by parliament last year.

With a population of about 10 million, Burundi faces its worst political crisis since emerging

Kogelo and grew up there before travelling abroad to study, where he met Obama's American mother in Hawaii. Although Mama Sarah is not a blood relative Obama calls her "granny" and has visited her in the past, before becoming president.

"Even though we are excited about the visit, we will not compel him to come to Kogelo," she told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.

"What I am happy about is the fact that he will be visiting Kenya.

And that to me is a win for all of us." On Monday the White House announced that Obama will visit his father's homeland in July when attends an entrepreneurship summit in Kenya.

It will be Obama's fourth visit to Africa since becoming US president, but his first to Kenya, since taking office in 2009.

Until now political scandal has blocked a presidential visit to his ancestral home.

For much of Obama's time in power, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta had been under investigation by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

from a 12-year civil war in 2005.

Neighbors and Western donors fear the problems could spark more unrest in a volatile region of the continent.

Regional leaders and senior officials in Burundi's ruling party have urged Nkurunziza to abandon his quest for a third term to

DR Congo army routs FDLR millitants ÏÏÏ

Democratic Republic of Congo government forces, which launched an offensive against FDLR rebels in the east of the country a month ago, has been successful in driving the militants out of parts of North and South Kivu provinces, a military spokesman said.

Congolese army spokesman, General Leon Richard Kasonga said during the weekend the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - a Rwandan rebel movement whose presence in Congo dates back nearly 20 years - has been driven out of two dozen localities in North and South Kivu provinces.

Kasonga said the Congolese army had captured all its military objectives identified in its initial

avoid renewed violence, but so far there is no indication he will step aside.

The IMF said Burundi's economic growth picked up slightly in 2014, while inflation fell "markedly," thanks to falling global fuel and food prices and the country's sound monetary policy.

plan. He said they also "neutralized" 185 FDLR combatants, and other armed groups in the process..

DRC Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda said last week the army is continuing to pursue the FDLR in the forests of eastern Congo.

A health worker at Kibirizi, located on the edge of the vast Virunga forest where many of the FDLR are hiding, told VOA there has been fighting nearby and one place General Kasonga mentioned, Kahumiro, is still off limits to civilians.

The health worker said there has been a lot of shooting, and he does not know if the FDLR has been dispersed, but there is still a sense of insecurity in the forest and on certain roads.

FDLR combatants playing cards with civilians in Lusoa village, North Kivu, DRC, March 28, 2015. (Nicholas Long for VOA News)FDLR combatants playing cards with civilians in Lusoa village, North Kivu, DRC, March 28, 2015. (Nicholas Long for VOA News)

13 Africa Egypt: Sinai Peninsula attack kills 17 ÏÏÏMilitants

have reportedly killed 17 people in the north of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, near the Israel-Gaza border.

Security sources say 15 soldiers and two civilians died when gunmen attacked checkpoints around the town of Sheikh Zuweid on Thursday.

Egyptian forces have been fighting a faction affiliated to the Islamic State group, known as Sinai Province.

Dozens of soldiers and civilians have already been killed this year in northern Sinai.

In the latest incident, gunmen fired on soldiers with automatic rifles and rockets as part of a coordinated set of attacks, police officials say.

Remove all colonial statues, says Zuma's son

ÏÏÏPresident Jacob Zuma's son,

Edward Zuma, who expressed a strong anti-foreigner sentiment on Wednesday, has called for the blanket removal of all colonial statues.

Zuma told News24 that he supported the drive to replace the statue of colonialist Cecil John Rhodes at the University of Cape Town (UCT), as well as that of King George V at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

“Black people need to stop being apologetic about their history,” insisted Zuma, who is the president's eldest son.

“I am fully behind of social movement. The King George V statue needs to go. The colonialist time is long gone.

"At the University of Cape Town they need to put a statue of a black struggle stalwart and at University of KwaZulu-Natal they need to put a statue of King Shaka Zulu,” suggested Zuma.

Zuma

Foreign 14

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Al-Qaeda millitants attack Yemen prison, free 300

Death toll in Chile floods rises to 24, 69 missing

ÏÏÏ The death toll from floods

Yemeni men trample a portrait of Saudi King Salman as scores of Yemeni expatriates, including students and clerics, protest against Saudi-led airstrikes on their homeland, in front of the Saudi Embassy, in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday.

ÏÏÏAl-Qaeda

militants stormed a prison in southern Yemen on Thursday, freeing 300 inmates as fighting continued in other parts of the country between Shi'ite rebels and progovernment forces.

Security officials said Khalid Batarfi, a prominent figure with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, was among those freed from the prison in al-Mukalla.

Meanwhile, Houthi rebels fought into the center of Aden,

the port city that is the last remaining stronghold of those backing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Hadi himself fled Aden a week ago as the Houthis pushed south in an offensive that brought Saudi Arabia and other allies to launch a campaign of airstrikes to try to halt the advance. Also Thursday, Human Rights Watch said one of those airstrikes that killed at least 29 people earlier this week "raised grave concerns about violations

of the laws of war."

The group called on the forces involved in the attack to conduct an investigation, and for the United States, which is giving logistical and intelligence support, to make sure precautions are being taken to protect Yemeni civilians.

"The deaths of so many civilians in a camp with no apparent military target heightens concerns about laws-of-war violations," said Joe Stork, HRW's Middle East and North Africa

director. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply concerned" about the attack Monday on the Al-Mazrad camp in northern Yemen as well as other civilian casualties in Yemen.

On Wednesday, at least 35 people died in an explosion at a dairy in western Yemen. The cause of that blast has not been determined with conflicting reports about whether another airstrike or anti-government fighters were responsible.

ISIS militants seize Palestinian refugee camp

ÏÏÏ Islamic State militants cap-

tured a part of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp south of Damascus, amid heavy fighting.

The apparent victory over proSyrian government Palestinian factions follows other strategic losses by the Assad regime in Idlib and outside of Daraa.

Witnesses say Islamic State militants entered the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp Wednesday on the outskirts of Damascus, capturing large parts of it. The camp has traditionally been under the control of pro-government Palestinian factions.

Yarmouk refugee camp, near Damascus, SyriaYarmouk refugee camp, near Damascus, Syria Thousands of residents of

Yarmouk fled to Lebanon and Jordan after fighting broke out in the camp in 2012. Nearly 15,000 Palestinians are reported to still live in the camp, where food and other basic necessities are extremely scarce.

A spokesman for the United Nations, which does not run the camp, described ongoing "intensive armed conflict" in the area since early afternoon Wednesday, adding there was credible information a variety of armed groups were involved.

Some reports say that the alQaida-affiliated Jabhat al Nusra joined Islamic State militants in the battle to capture much of the camp from pro-government forces. But a pro-Assad regime military analyst told Syrian TV

the two militant groups were fighting each other. VOA could not independently confirm either report. The analyst also condemned the closure of the only remaining border crossing to Jordan under Syrian government control. Jordan shut the crossing after fighting near the border post. Trucks and passenger traffic from Lebanon and Syria are affected by the closure.

American University of Beirut Political Science Professor Hilal Khashan tells VOA he does not believe the eventual fall of Yarmouk to either the Islamic State or the Jabhat al Nusra will seriously affect the strategic position of Assad government forces.

"This whole area is under the siege of government forces and Islamic State troops came from al Hajjar al Aswad, which is another neighborhood of Damascus," he said.

Khashan

devastating northern Chile has risen by one to at least 24, officials said on Wednesday, as President Michelle Bachelet cancelled a trip to a regional summit to cope with the crisis.

Another 69 people, up by 12 from the last tally, remain missing, the National Emergency Office said.

The flash floods broke out last week in the normally arid north, home to the world's driest desert.

Entire towns have been submerged by water and thousands of people have been left homeless.

The number of dead found in thick mud left behind by the floodwaters has risen steadily as the clean-up continues.

"I'm convinced that more bodies will appear," the mayor of the town of Chanaral, Yerko Guerra, told local media earlier Wednesday.

Adding to those fears, the air force said a civilian helicopter had gone missing during emergency relief work in Atacama region. Media reports said it was carrying four passengers.

17 killed in Afghanistan suicide bombing ÏÏÏ A suicide bomber killed at

least 17 people and wounded 50 others in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province Thursday.

A spokesman for the provincial governor told VOA that the bomber struck a rally being staged against alleged corrupt practices of the provincial government.

An Afghan lawmaker, Homayoun Homayoun, is among those wounded. Civil society activists and some lawmakers have been leading the anti-government protests that erupted a week ago in Khost, which borders Pakistan.

A spokesman for the Taliban has said it has nothing to do with the Khost blast.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb in violence-plagued southern Helmand province killed a district police chief. Local authorities say that Hikmatullah Akmal was on his way to the scene of an early morning Taliban attack in Gereshk district Thursday when his car hit the bomb.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

15 Opinion

Letter to the future – our Africa in 2080

I Kolawole Talabi

t is with a sense of pride that I am writing to you!

I am indeed pleased with how things eventually turned out for us, the African peoples of the world. It brings tears of joy that the “Africa Rising” refrain that beclouded our atmosphere in the early decades of the third millennium was eventually replaced with the song, “Africans Shinning”. Our journey from fractious kingdoms into democratic republics has indeed been a tumultuous one. Needless to say, how can we forget all that we have gone through? Colonisation disrupted our traditional structures whilst Western-backed dictatorships sentenced our elite into exile in the so-called first world. From my vantage point, I can see that you have received this letter on the same day I had requested it to be mailed across the continent in my last testament, sixty-five years ago. It is indeed wonderful that the mobile revolution, which was barely taking off when I penned this letter, is now at cruising speed, seamlessly connecting our far-flung populations together in brotherly camaraderie and our peoples with countless business opportunities.

Indeed, we have come a long way and I ought to acknowledge the role your millennial played in the turn-

ing point of our beloved continent.

However, it is my utmost desire to walk you down memory lane so that you and your successive generations do not forget where we were, are and should be. Hence I have chosen to forward the musings of my head under these heavy skies even as Nigeria welcomes the onset of the first rains of the year. Since the September showers of the last wet season, our dear country Nigeria witnessed a barrage of battles between the powers that be and the powers hoping to be. As you have probably read in your history textbooks, the general elections of 2015 was the deciding moment for the existence of Africa’s most populous country. So ominous was the period that those polls were postponed for six weeks to enable the military machinery of the state decimate the strength of the terrorist group Boko Haram, whose actions you have probably read with horror in your history books too. Like the moonlight tales our grandmothers told us, the story of Nigeria’s elections and our eventual emergence as one of the top twenty economies of the world, five years later has a moral to it.

I should tell you my own story first and then, let you draw parallels with that of Nigeria. That way, I can allow you the dignity of freedom

that we have always fought for as an undivided race. On a September morning the year before the elections, I went to my optician’s practice to replace my spectacles, which had been broken days back.

Although, I didn’t meet the good old eye doctor, his supervisor, a dashing lady attended to my request to get new frames and lens. She assured me that she knew the right solution to my unnecessary visitations.

Without warning, she picked up another pair of frames from the gallery and handed it to me. “Put it in your pocket,” she instructed, calmly.

I didn’t flinch at her strange bidding but went ahead to obey without as much as a protest. Immediately, I knew what she had done. She had just stolen from her employer for me. Honestly, I wanted those second pair of frames and I very much wish I could keep them but my conscience just wouldn’t let me.

After a few moments, I went to her in private, removed the beautiful glasses from my pocket and handed them back to her. “I cannot accept this ‘gift’,” I managed, praying she would understand. She looked at me without emotion, collected the glasses and returned them in the gallery. Almost at once, I felt proud of what I had done. I knew right, I did right! Within minutes,

the frames, which I had paid for, were ready and I slipped them on with a sense of light: it seemed a newly found illumination of the human nature had beamed upon me. “When we say, ‘No!’ to evil, good thrives!” In like manner, after 15 years of reckless looting and unbridled waste, Nigerians would finally show Africa what ‘Enough is enough’ meant when we collectively voted out a corrupt government and embraced the change promised by an incorruptible general, the people’s general seven months later from my encounter at the optician’s. That was when the tide turned for Africa, for it was Nelson Mandela who said, ‘The world will never respect Africa until Nigeria earns that respect.’

I am happy that our resolve to take our future in our own hands by rejecting a corrupt government paid off in time. The due process, which that era ushered in, ensured that monies allocated for development projects were judiciously spent to build roads, purchase vaccines, establish schools and create jobs. The change of that time disabused the minds of our citizenry that one has to steal to survive.

People began to shift their minds from the lies of half a century that Nigerians are lazy and are only out for a free lunch.

Sustaining Abia’s forward movement

S

Charles Ajunwa

ince the beginning of the ongoing transition process, the people of Abia State have been very apprehensive of the person that Governor Theodore Orji would hand over the mantle of leadership to at the end of his tenure. The people wanted a successor who will continue with the legacy projects of the governor.

Expectedly, several aspirants expressed interest and actually participated in the race to choose the standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As it turned out, the man who emerged, Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, has satisfied the yearnings of the people for equity.

Indeed, his emergence was based on this age-old Igbo adage of onye aghala nwa nne ya (Be your brother’s keeper) and egbe bere ugo bere (live and let live).

Both Governor Orji and PDP stakeholders appropriately and courageously responded to the call when they took the decision to work for power to shift to Abia South senatorial zone. Those who were doubtful of the governor’s sincerity in his

promise to support an Ukwa/Ngwa person from Abia South to succeed him have now come to appreciate him as a man of his own words. He has not only worked to ensure that an Ukwa/Ngwa was elected as the ruling party’s standard bearer but also the person so chosen enjoys popular support.

Given the rancour and divisiveness that the PDP governorship primaries in some states, Abia State has turned out to be a model. The way and manner Governor Orji steered the party to walk through the land mine of party primaries unscathed has continued to baffle political observers.

But for those familiar with the peaceful disposition of the state governor, his leadership skills and political experience, the outcome was not a surprise. It has further demonstrated that Governor Orji is very much in control by keeping everybody in line. The respect and confidence he enjoys in party is an asset that his contemporaries crave for.

Even with Orji’s dexterity in handling complex political issues, it was not as if everything rolled into place smoothly during the primary

elections. Naturally some feelings were hurt, hopes dashed and egos bruised.

In recognition of the incidental emotional and mental pains, the governor has set up a reconciliation committee headed by Chief Vincent Ogbulafor.

The cheering result is that at the end, Abia PDP has remained intact.

Unlike in some other states where party members left in droves to the opposition, the PDP family in Abia State has remained united and cohesive. Again, the leader of the ruling a party in God’s Own State should be commended for his fatherly attributes in keeping his children united under one umbrella. It is on record that ‘Ochendo’, has strived to ensure that no section of Abia State was ever denied its fair share of amenities and political appointments. Even in his youth empowerment programmes and scholarship awards, the beneficiaries were equitably distributed across the local governments and zones.

But the peaceful conclusion of the PDP governorship and other primaries did not signal that the battle has already been won. Rather it is the beginning with the opposition.

Hence, all members of Abia PDP should close ranks. The task facing the party leadership and members is to make sure that Abia continues to remain PDP state after the elections.

The stakes are very high because of the desperation of the opposition to wrest power.

The opposition has oiled its propaganda machine and has continued to bombard the people with falsehoods.

But they cannot succeed. The legacy projects are evident everywhere.

There is no doubt that Abia State has finally made appreciable improvements in its march to development. The song that should be on the lips of every well meaning Abia man and woman is “Forward Ever, Backward Never”.

It therefore behooves on the good people of Abia State to play their own part to sustain the achievements already made. Let us stick with the tested and trusted party, PDP in the remaining election coming up on April 11, 2015. Surely that is the way to chart the right course in sustaining the forward movement of Abia State.

16

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

bringing it all together www.bglgroupng.com

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Features

17

s

Features Editor: Gbubemi God’s Covenant Snr. E-mail: gbubemi.godscovenantsnr@dailytimes.com.ng

ODUYOYE

Celebrating a language expert at 80 It was a gathering of radical, unapologetic thinkers at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital. The occasion was the celebration of a most distinguished exegete, language engineer and polyglot, Octogenarian Modupe Oduyoye at 80. Deputy Editor, YEMI OGUNSOLA and Features Editor, GBUBEMI GOD’S COVENANT SNR were part of the celebration. Their report.

Wednesday, March 18th was a day Christians, scientists, Orunmila devotees, atheists and agnostics, gathered to celebrate Modupe Adedoyin Oduyoye, the man who speaks and teaches in English and Yoruba fluently and reads and writes Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Akkadian and Ugarit. Oduyoye also has teachable knowledge of many Nigerian and African languages like Hausa, Tiv, Efik, Ibibio, Igbo, Fon, Twi… the list is endless.

All these he wields as a formidable WMD – Weapon of Mass Discovery – to make astounding discoveries about the origin, meaning and relationships between words, languages and the peoples who speak them.When he turned this “weapon” on the Book of Genesis, he came out with “The Sons Of The Gods And The Daughters Of Men”; When he turned it on Yoruba language, he came out with “Yoruba Religious Discourse”.

There are about eleven other equally illuminating books in

his kitty.

He tells us Yoruba alejo (stranger) is cognate with Arabic Elhaj; that Igbo dibia (medicine man) is cognate with Arabic tibia, Hebrew baal (lord), eloahare cognate with Yoruba baale and oluwa respectively; Yoruba ehoro, English hare and the words hurry, hour are all linked by the h-r consonants expressing the concept of time, speed. He draws our attention to the fact that the species of cows reared by the Fulani has as part of its scientific name ‘indicus’ (related to India) then asks us why in all West Africa, it is the Fulani maid that exposes her navel without feeling ashamed – like it’s done in India.

Let us meet this man who started out poor in mathematics, not good in algebra and who failed his first year in secondary school at Ijebu Ode Grammar School in 1947, but overcame all that to study Hebrew at Yale in the United States in 1964, Comparative Semitic Linguistics at the Linguistics Institute of the Linguistics Society of America on a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies in 1965, Arabic at Yale from 1965 to 1966 and Middle Egyptian in London from 1969 to 1970.

Daily Times wondered what propelled the frail-looking academic into studying all those languages. His reply: “Latin was taught in almost every secondary school in Nigeria in my time; so that gave me CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

Oduyoye

Oloruntoba murder case:

Family abandons Chiemerie

... Page 18

Features 18

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

‘Wielding philology as CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

my third language automatically after Yoruba and English.

“Hausa and Ibo came as a result of environment circumstances because my father was transferred to the North when I was about five years old.

“While in Jos, I went to St. Jude’s school; it was an Anglican primary school and most of the pupils there were from Southern Nigeria comprising Yoruba and Igbo mostly. While we played together as pupils, I listened and learnt when they spoke their Ibo language, and in the Jos environment I picked up some Hausa. So, I already got more than one Nigerian language even before I left Primary School.

Like stepping into destiny, the passion for language research came naturally after his secondary education. Oduyoye was teaching at Ibadan Boys High School when he was approached to teach Yoruba language to some expatriates who were in town, and this was arranged through the Extra Moral Department of the University College, Ibadan.

“I was teaching the expatriates Yoruba language and this enabled me to ‘roll back’ (because years of English literature and English Language was distancing me from Yoruba); now that I had to teach people my language, the etymology (meaning of words) of my language began to come back.

“I began to analyse and exCONTINUED ON PAGE 19

Photos of friends and colleagues celebrating Oduyoye at 80

OLORUNTOBA MURDER:

I know something went wrong, Chiemerie Since Chiemerie took murder in her stride sometime ago, the youth is learning to carry her cross all alone. ANYIM JOY NDUDI reports that no family member showed up at the station or at the court before being sent to Kirikiri prisons.

Chiemerie seems to have chosen a path she may have to

travel all alone. Daily Times gathered that since the arrest of the 17 year old for the murder of one Lawrence Oluruntoba, she has been disserted by family members, even her mother.

It was learnt that no family or friend has come for the suspect.

Although she recently appeared in a court in Yaba, but the hearing for her case was

however adjourned to the 7th of May, while she was remanded at the Kirikiri prisons.

A source at the State Criminal Investigation Department where the case is being investigated told Daily Times that since the case was transferred from the division to SCID, no member of her family or even friend has come to know if the case has

been charged to court or not.

“It is quite pathetic that Chiemerie has been abandoned. Aside from one elderly man who came to visit her once and claimed to be her uncle, no other person has come for her not even her father or mother who she claims to live with.” Police source said.

When Daily Times visited the scene of the crime at Nnemeka

Uzor Street in Iba, which happens to be the same place where the parents of the suspect live, no member of her family was available for comment. However, a neighbour who pleaded anonymity said since the incident, the whole family is scarcely seen around.

“After the unfortunate murder incident, mama and papa Chiemerie as well as their other chil-

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

19 Features

weapon of mass discovery’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24

plain to them things which we Yoruba did not need to explain to ourselves. So, this was the beginning of my analysing the language in order that a nonnative speaker can understand it. That procedure is called ‘contrastive linguistics’. You analyse one language and analyse the other, then you transfer from one to the other to teach to pupils.”

Still flying on the wings of destiny, Oluyoye offered to be Travelling Secretary for the Students Christian Movement in 1963, and the President of the Movement, Professor Okparaji Idowu, noticing his passion, thought theological studies would do him some good. That threw Oduyoye into digging further into ancient European languages at Yale Developing School in the United States where theOld and New testaments of the Bible were studied.

“The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, while the New Testament was in Greek, so there was opportunity for me to study Greek and Hebrew; that was strengthening the Indo-European side of my acquisition of European languages. I addedSanskrit (?) to the Latin, but the Hebrew was my first Semitic language.

“At the same time I was doing a course in Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics in the Linguistics Department at Yale; so by the Photos of friends and colleagues celebrating Oduyoye at 80

CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

is not the violent type –Neighbour dren fled the house. It was only some days ago that we started seeing them again. They would come in late at night, and then leave very early the next morning. They hardly talk to anyone, so we don’t even get to ask them what the situation of things is.”

A friend of Chiemerie who also pleaded anonymity said her friend must have been pushed

suddenly into the act by some mysterious force. “I know something unusual seized her that day, because the incident would have happened in the morning, but it was averted when her elder brother forcibly took the knife from her.

“But what is it that made late Oloruntoba to cross her path again the same day, and espe-

cially, why did Chiemerie go for that same knife again a second time? We have not known not her to be the violent type, not to talk of brandishing knives at a simple quarrel with neighbours.

I know something seriously went wrong, and now that she is held in prison, that demon or whatever it was has left her to face the music alone. I am really

sorry for her.”

When Daily Times visited the State Criminal Investigation Department where the case is being investigated, the department said that though the case has been charged to court, further action into the matter will be subject to the directive of the Department of Public Prosecution.

Chiemerie

Features 20

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

The making of a polyglot...

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

time I got to second year when I was going to start Hebrew, I had already got interested in the comparison of languages.”

During his first long vacation in the United States, Oduyoye won a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies to study at the Linguistics Institute of the Linguistic Society of America. “There I did a course in grammar, phonology and in Comparative Semitic Linguistics with comparison with Ancient Egyptian and other African languages and that threw me into what I now call the Afro Asiatic Languages --- and Hausa was already recognised as one of them. When I came back to Nigeria, I decided to brush up my childhood Hausa at the Department of Linguistics at the University of Ibadan.

“There I was told Prof Hoffman was going to take a course in Hausa and I told him I wanted to register for the course; he asked me why, and I told him about my interest in pursuing the relationship between Hausa and Hebrew, Arabic and Yoruba. He said he didn’t think it was worthwhile, that he didn’t think there was any possibility of doing that kind of comparison.”

But unwilling to discourage the young African altogether, Prof Hoffman personally took Oduyoye to Professor El Garr, an Egyptian in the Department of Arabic and Islamic studies, who was so excited at the young man’s record that he asked him to be coming from home to his Arabic Literature class even when he didn’t register as a student at UI. “Gradually I was informing him of the parallels I was seeing between Arabic and Yoruba and then one day he said, ‘I think it’s time for you to give a seminar in the Department of Linguistics on this matter’.

“So I did a seminar in UI on Multiple Stage Linguistic Relationship, Yoruba and Semitic Languages in January of 1968.

By the time I gave that lecture, I think I was already launched on my career of exploration of linguistics comparisons.”

Who would he really say the man, Modupe Oduyoye is?

“If I say I am Modupe Oduy-

Book stands at venue of celebration. oye, I don’t know if that means anything. I would say circumstances of life from teen age have thrown me into periods of problems.

“My father was invalidate from the Federal Civil Service because of illness and that changed our family structure.

We used to be ‘civil servant’s children’ with our father’s salary assured every month, pension to look forward to, travelling on government’s ticket.

When your father is transferred from Jos to Ibadan, for example, government just issues a warrant on Nigerian Railway and all of you get into 2nd Class cabin. We lived in government

quarters in Jos. “Now, daddy had to be on his own and we began to see money coming in; money not coming in; and he had to become an employer of labour and since he couldn’t afford so many, he began to involve his growing children in his work. We began to face the reality of self-employment...

“I am glad that those circumstances happened in our lives because it didn’t make us rest on our oars thinking that the future is secure. We lived from week to week, I can say, but we managed to have a living.

“Since my father left government service as a result of fail-

ing health, the failing health began to manifest as alcoholism.

Later on in life, I learnt that alcoholism is a type of mental illness. We had to cope with that from when I was about ten … till practically when he died in 1983.

“That meant that my elder brother and I had to grow up fast to uphold the family. He had given us very good foundation.

I can speak for myself. When I saw things trying to crash, I said to myself, ‘no, this house cannot crash; this man has two sons’.

A house of our own We moved in here when I was 25 years old. I graduated at 23

and closed my eyes to owning a car in an age when, if you were graduated, by the following week you’re driving a car around. But I just shut my eyes to it because I said to myself, my father had a house before when we were young, he sold it; we had no address anymore. I felt like a person without a fixed address. So I said we must restore this fixed address of ours.

This place has been our fixed address since 1960; and to be able to do it, I had to forego a car; and I remember somebody who said, ‘Dupe, you’re still riding a bicycle after you graduated? You will not get a wife in this country’.

“Lo and behold, I did not get a wife in this country, because it was difficult at that time to call yourself a graduate and you’re riding a bicycle around, who was going to marry you?

Did attempt wooing any lady?

“No lady actually said ‘I won’t marry you because you don’t have a car’, but I noticed they were watching and waiting for me to have a car, and I was telling myself: ‘Sorry, that’s not what’s in my head. I can’t be driving a car around and my father will be living in a rented house; and then when our family is coming to meet your family, when it comes to yours coming to meet us, where would you come? A rented apartment? No.’ “So I went in for the house; and I told myself this premises is my first car; I got it in 1960, and I am still living in it by God’s grace.”

How long did he have to wait to get married?

“I waited eight years; met her at a conference of the World Students Christian Federation in Ghana. I was General Secretary of the Students Christian Movement in Nigeria and she was treasurer of the Students Christian Movement in Ghana.

We got married in 1968.

NEXT

The discourse with Oduyoye continues with his findings on blood, reincarnation, abortion, God and Christianity, the forbidden fruit and many others.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

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7,373.44

313.37

12

10”X6

294,200.16

12,503.51

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7”X4

121,533.92

5,165.19

42

1”X1

3,686.72

156.69

13

10”X5

245,208.10

10,421.34

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7”X2

51,614.05

2,193.60

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10”X4

196,185.05

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6”X4

108,668.25

4,618.40

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147,138.80

6,253.40

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66,360.90

2,820.34

44

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6”X2

33,282.11

1,414.49

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5”X2

27,736.42

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4”X2

22,187.85

942.98

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3”X2

16,640.27

707.21

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2”X6 (BOTTOM STRIP)

12

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22

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Today in History Compiled by ‘Tunji Okegbola

s

Cartoons from our Archives

1860 Pony Express debutss On this day in 1860, the first Pony Express mail, travelling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously leaved St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet’s arrival in St. Joseph by two days and setting a new standard for speedy mail delivery. Although ultimately shortlived and unprofitable, the Pony Express captivated America’s imagination and helped win federal aid for a more economical overland postal system. It also contributed to the economy of the towns on its route and served the mail-service needs of the American West in the days before the telegraph or an efficient transcontinental railroad.

The Pony Express debuted at a time before radios and telephones, when California, which achieved statehood in 1850, was still largely cut off from the

1936

eastern part of the country. Letters sent from New York to the West Coast traveled by ship, which typically took at least a month, or by stagecoach on the recently established Butterfield Express overland route, which could take from three weeks to many months to arrive. Compared to the snail’s pace of the existing delivery methods, the Pony Express’ average delivery time of 10 days seemed like lightning speed.

The Pony Express Company, the brainchild of William H. Russell, William Bradford Waddell and Alexander Majors, owners of a freight business, was set up over 150 relay stations along a pioneer trail across the present-day states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. Riders, who were paid approximately $25 per week and carried loads estimated at up to 20 pounds of mail, were changed every 75 to 100 miles, with horses switched out every 10 to 15 miles.

Bruno Hauptmann executed

Richard Bruno Hauptmann, convicted in the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the 20-month-old son of Charles A. Lindbergh, was executed by electrocution.

On March 1, 1932, Charles Lindbergh Jr., the son of the famous American aviator who made the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight in 1927, was kidnapped from the nursery of the Lindbergh home in Hopewell, New Jersey.

A ransom note was found on the scene of the crime demanding $50,000 in payment for the return of Charles Jr. Three days later, the Lindberghs involved the authorities against the kidnapper’s advice, and the ransom was increased to $70,000. On April 2, at New Jersey’s St. Raymond’s Cemetery, John F. Condon, a friend of the Lindberghs, handed over the $70,000. The Lindbergh baby was not returned, however, and nearly six weeks later the infant’s battered and mostly decomposed body was found in the woods just a few miles from the Lindbergh home. The cause of death was de-

termined to be a massive fracture of the skull occurring roughly two to three months before.

Following the tragic discovery, the Lindbergh kidnapping case became a sensational media event, and authorities launched an extensive manhunt for the guilty party. Using the serial numbers of the ransom money as a guide, investigators in September traced more than $11,000 of the ransom money to the Bronx, New York, apartment of Richard Bruno Hauptmann, a German carpenter. During the subsequent criminal trial, Hauptmann maintained his innocence, claiming that a business partner, Isador Fisch, gave him the money before returning to Germany, where he died in 1934. However, other evidence also implicated him, such as the discovery of Condon’s telephone number on a closet wall in Hauptmann’s home and eyewitness testimony from the night of the kidnapping. In February 1935, Hauptmann was convicted and on April 3, 1936, after a series of appeals, executed by electrocution.

Daily Times April 3, 1961

1942 Japanese

launch major offensive against Bataan On this day in 1942, the Japanese infantry staged a major offensive against Allied troops in Bataan, the peninsula guarding Manila Bay of the Philippine Islands.

The invasion of the Japanese 14th Army, which began in December 1941 and was led by General Masaharu Homma, had already forced General Douglas MacArthur’s troops from Manila, the Philippine capital, into Bataan, in part because of poor strategizing on MacArthur’s part.

By March, after MacArthur had left for Australia on President Roosevelt’s orders and been replaced by Major General Edward P. King Jr., the American Luzon Force and its Filipino allies were half-starved and suffering from malnutrition, malaria, beriberi, dysentery, and hookworm.

Homma, helped by reinforcements and an increase in artillery and aircraft activity, took advantage of the U.S. and Filipinos’ weakened condition.

1948

Truman signs Foreign Assistance Act

President Harry S. Truman signed off on legislation establishing the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, more popularly known as the Marshall Plan. The act eventually provided over $12 billion of assistance to aid in the economic recovery of Western Europe.

In the first years following the end of World War II, the economies of the various nations of Western Europe limped along.

Unemployment was high, money was scarce, and homelessness and starvation were not unknown in the war-ravaged countries. U.S. policymakers considered the situation fraught with danger. In the developing Cold War era, some felt that economic privation in Western Europe made for a fertile breeding ground for communist propaganda.

A key element of America’s policy to contain the influence of the Soviet Union was the recovery of Western Germany (Eastern Germany was occupied

by Soviet troops), and that recov-

ery required the revitalization of Germany’s natural markets in Western Europe. In addition, strengthening the economies of other Western European countries would better equip them to fight the threat of communism, either from Soviet expansion or from domestic communist parties. In June 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall made a dramatic call for a massive economic recovery program, one that would provide billions for the stagnant economies of Western Europe. The result of Marshall’s call to action was the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, which was passed by wide margins in Congress. In signing the act, President Truman declared that it represented “perhaps the greatest venture in constructive statesmanship that any nation has undertaken.” Secretary Marshall congratulated Congress for having “faced a great crisis with courage and wisdom.”

The act provided an initial grant of $4 billion for Western Europe.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

23 News

Enugu Assembly candidate calls for unity, tolerance ÏÏÏA contestant for the Enugu

L-R: President, Coalition of Igbos, Chief Nnamdi Nwaigwe; President, All Igbo Town Union, Pastor Okey Anorve; Leader of Obigbo Organisation, Chief Charles Ahize and President General, Berger Auto Dealers, Chief Metche Nnadiekwe during a press conference for the endorsement of All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate, Akinwumi Ambode by the Igbo business community in Lagos… on Thursday.

‘Jonathan’s acceptance of defeat averts national crisis’ Nasiru Suleiman Sokoto

ÏÏÏThe

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s governorship candidate for Sokoto State, Alhaji Abdallah Wali, on Thursday, said President Goodluck Jonathan’s congratulatory message to General Muhammadu Buhari has done a lot to douse tension in the country and has stopped the country’s drift into crisis, which is a proof of Jonathan’s statement that his ambition was ‘not worth the blood of a single Nigerian’.

He said Jonathan’s action has proved him to be a true democrat, whose action ought to be emulated by Nigerian and African politi-

cians.

“It is an uncommon characteristic in Africa and many parts of the world, for a sitting president to not only lose an election, but also accept the loss in good faith and congratulate the winner,” he observed.

Wali, who made this known in a press release made available to reporters in Sokoto on Thursday, however, urged the people of the state to consider the outcome of the Presidential election as the will of Allah, and to also re-strategise for the April 11 governorship election.

He added that the people should choose the right personality to lead them as governor, based on good character and achievable

Wali

promises, and not necessarily on the party he comes from.

He further said that only by so doing would the state’s problems, in areas of portable drinking water, education, health and rural infrastructure be properly addressed.

Polls: Church commends Nigerians, Buhari, Jonathan, INEC ÏÏÏNigerians have been com-

mended for rising above religious and ethnic lines to ensure the nation moved in the path of progress and democratic consolidation.

The commendation was made by the Cherubim & Seraphim (C&S) Unification Church of Nigeria, in a statement issued by its Supreme Head, His Most Eminence, Prophet Solomon Adegboyega Alao.

He was apparently reacting to the smooth electioneering process of last Saturday and its the results.

Alao, who commended the out-going President Goodluck

Jonathan for displaying what he described as exemplary and rare leadership qualities in Africa, also used the medium to commend Nigerians for the peaceful conduct of the polls.

Alao also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), its Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, for their doggedness in seeing through one of Nigerian’s freest and fairest elections in the nation’s history.

Particularly, the head of C&S commended the electoral umpire for its use of the Permanent Voter Cards and the Smart Card Readers which, for the most part, made the voice of the

voters count.

The church also wishes to congratulate the Presidentelect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) on his victory at the polls. “It was really a victory well deserved, as his election was the wish of majority of the voters, who defied the heavy downpour in many parts of the country to cast their ballots.”

Alao said special mention must be made of “the exemplary sportsmanship displayed by the out-going president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, when he put a call through to his main challenger when it was obvious that he had lost the contest.

State House of Assembly seat, Mr. Magnus Ozongwu, has called for greater love and unity for the country, rather than emphasis on political parties and individual interests, especially as the nation undergoes a democratic transformation.

Ozongwu, who is contesting under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) for Udi-North House of Assembly, said oneness of mind would expedite the electoral dispensation.

According to him: “It is only when we see the interest of our nation above any personal in-

Val Okara Owerri

ÏÏÏCandidate

of the Labour Party (LP) in Ngor Okpala state constituency in Imo State, Mr. Andrew Ugwuezumba, has been assassinated by gunmen.

Ugwuezumba, who hailed from Umunehi village, Obiangwu Autonomous Community, was said to have been shot dead at about 8pm. on Tuesday night on Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, Road.

It was gathered that the deceased met his untimely death while returning home after a campaign rally at Umuowa Community, also in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area.

Daily Times learnt that the assailants had trailed Ugwuezumba in an unmarked car from the venue of the rally, until they caught up with him

terest that we can move ahead.

Elections should not be turned into violent or ethnic crisis.

“Charity begins at home, we are expected to express this love primarily from our homes to our immediate constituency, which filters automatically into the larger society,” he said.

Ozongwu described the just concluded presidential election as a model in Nigeria’s electoral history.

While commending the spirit of sportsmanship by all those concerned in the just concluded presidential elections, he called for similar spirit at the state level.

Imo Assembly LP candidate killed a few poles from his home town and shot him on the head and fled.

Sources close to Ugwuezumba’s family confided that the late LP candidate was in company of his cousin, who was also attacked but is currently receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.

Also on the same night, another indigene of Ngor Okpala LGA, Mr. Bennett Nnaji, popularly known as ‘Coach’, who hails from Umuekwune Umuorisha, in Umuohiagu Autonomous Community, was murdered by assassins.

Nnaji, 54 years, was the only son of his aged mother.

NLC tasks Buhari to fight unemployment, fix refineries Abiodun Taiwo Abeokuta

ÏÏÏThe

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the President-elect, General Mohammadu Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, fix the nations refineries and tackle unemployment with the seriousness it deserves, as soon as he assumes office on May 29.

The Ogun State Chairman of the congress, Comrade Ambali Akeem, made the call on Thursday in Abeokuta, the state capital, when he visited the secretariat of the Nigerian Union of

Journalists (NUJ) on campaign for his re-election.

Ambali, who is currently the National Secretary of National Union of Local Government Employees, advised the president-elect to fix the refineries and the power sector.

“The president-elect should face the issue of corruption head-on immediately. If we are able to resolve the problem of corruption in Nigeria, we will get it right. We also have to face epileptic power supply, the high dollar rate, infrastructural decay, threat to security etc.”, Ambali said.

News 24

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Ebonyi N15b bond: Court vacates order against SEC, NSE

Adamawa IDPs return after Buhari’s victory

Jacob Aike Mbam

Tom Garba

Abakaliki

•••Justice

Ada Onyetenu of the Federal High Court, Abakaliki, has vacated an interim order issued by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos in January, this year, restraining the Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange,( NSE), from releasing the N15 billion bond approved for Ebonyi State government.

The vacation followed the application by counsel to the state government, Mr. Frederick Onobia, urging the court to vacate the injunction.

A member of the State House of Assembly, Odefa Obasi Odefa, had filed a motion in the Federal High Court, Abakaliki, praying the court to restrain the state government and its agencies from accessing the bond facility.

Ruling on the motion, Justice Onyetenu frowned at what she described as antics of the plaintiff and the defendants in the case to defeat the course of justice and, therefore, struck out a motion seeking to disqualify the counsel to Ebonyi State Government, maintaining that the order had elapsed.

GOAT BUTCHERS AND MEAT SELLERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA This is to inform the general public that the above named association has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES: 1. Bello Isumaila Asamu - President 2. Durojaiye Adisa Adediran - General Secretary 3. Ajadi Kayode -Treasurer 4. Ogbonlawe David Adebola- Financial Secretary 5. Oladapo Tirimisiyu Gbolagade - P.R.O AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. To foster Peace, unity and love amongst members 2. To promote good cleanliness in business environment of our members.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria within 28 days of this publication.

Signed: Secretary

YEWA POWER PLUS FOUNDATION The general public is hereby informed that the above named foundation has applied to the Corporate Affair Commission for registration under part “C “ of the companies and allied matters act 1 of 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:1. Ilo Abiodun Olalekan 2. Bunmi Ogunshina 3. Hamed Abu Satar Idowu 4. Mrs Olowookere Deborah Arike 5. Olusegun Olakemi 6. Emmanuel Abiodun Ogunleye The Aims and Objectives are:1. To foster unity among members 2. To help less privilege ones in the society.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the registrar- general, corporate affair commission, plot 420, Tigris Crescent, off Aguyi Irosi Street, Maitama, Abuja, within 28 days from the date of this publication.

SIGNED BY: - Secretary

BETTER- LIFE CHRISTIAN OUTREACH This is to inform the general public that the above named church has applied for Registration to the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part “C” of the Companies And Allied Matters Act 1990.

Trustees.

1. Pastor Phillip Sunrise. - President.

2. Evangelist Alice Sunrise. - Vice President.

3. Pastor Phillip Sunrise , Jnr - Secretary.

4. David Phillip Sunrise.

Aim and objective To preach the word of the lord Jesus Christ.

Any objection to the Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar general, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

Signed: Barr. UDUEBOR. O. SOLOMON

Justice Onyetenu reserved ruling on another motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court to May 6, 2015.

Counsel to the plaintiffs, Mr. Ogwudu Uche, said they would challenge the ruling, ‘’There was a motion filed in court asking that the counsel for the 1st -7th defendants should be disqualified in that they are parties to the bond; the subject matter of the suit’’, he said.

Reacting, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ebonyi State, Dr. Ben Igwenyi, hailed the ruling of the court.

Yola

•••Internally

displaced persons (IDPs), have started trooping back to Yola, Adamawa State, after the announcement of General Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the just concluded presidential election.

Hayin Gada, a settlement after River Gongola in Girei Local Government Area of the state, had been home to thousands of IDPs from different parts of the North East. However, on Wednesday and Thursday, many of them were seen at the central motor park, now renamed Tashan Buhari, meaning Buhari’s motor park, boarding ve-

OLOGONLA SPIRITUAL EVANGELICAL MISSION The general public is hereby notified that the above named Ministry has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for Registration under part C of the Companies and Allied Matter Act 1990.

THE TRUSTEES: 1. Apostle Prophet James Oluwole Omotoso Rotola 2. Elder Olu Mathew 3 Miss Tolu Adumasi 4. Mrs. Toyin Omotoso 5. Aboro Mayokun Omowunmi AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. To liberate men from satanic bondages through the preaching of the gospel of our lord Jesus Chris to all nations and to prepare the church for coming of our lord Jesus Christ.

2. Healing, Deliverance, Counseling, Liberating the oppressed, equipping disciples for service, sustaining souls for the kingdom of God through discipleship and Healing the broken hearted by strengthen their fellowship with Christ and one another.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria within 28 days of this publication.

Signed: Apostle Prophet James Oluwole Omotoso Rotola

CHRIST’S DUNAMIS DELIVERANCE MINISTRY INT’L

hicles to Michika, Madagali, Gwazo, Biu, Maiha and Maiduguri, jubilating that the end of Boko Haram insurgents was near, with the victory of Buhari.

Kwada Adamu, from Michika, said “We are certain that our town had been recaptured by the military, but, we are afraid that the insurgents may return, we are convinced now that Michika is safe, because with the kind of President we have, he will not be too weak to chase the evil miscreants away, our land is secured now”.

Another IDP, Ali Zarma, seen crying profusely because he missed a lorry heading to Madagali, his home town, explained how badly he needed to return home.

“I am missing home, my land and house, I need to see how it is after a very long time of leaving it because of Boko Haram, besides, here is too hard to live, people are even chasing us from their various houses, when they discovered you did not vote Buhari, so it’s even better to return home”, he said.

Early intervention is crucial for autism patients - Expert Lara Adejoro

•••As Nigeria joined the

rest of the World to mark the World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) on Thursday, the founder of Autism Associates of Nigeria and National Coordinator of the Centre for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (CADD), Okey Martins, has urged people to embrace the importance of understanding autism disorder.

Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder characterised by impaired social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviour.

Speaking to Daily Times, Martins said, “Every April 2 is UN Day for autism, let us increase the awareness about autism, those living with it, as well as their families and carers.

If more people know about the red flag of autism, if effective interventions are made available, we would identify people with autism early and help each person become the best he or she can be.”

BLESSED ONE HEART CLUB OF NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL

This is to inform the general public that the above named Church has applied for Registration to the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part “C” of the Companies And Allied Matters Act 1990.

This is to inform the general public that the above named CLUB has applied for Registration to the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part “C” of the Companies And Allied Matters Act 1990.

Trustees 1 Oseloka Chukwunonso Emmanuel General Overseer.

2. Chukwunonso Favour Chioma - Treasurer.

3 Obeta Hilary Chinweume - Secretary 4. Dunkwu Nchekwube Hope -Member.

Trustees.

1. Mr Chibuzor .C. Osuji - (Chairman) 2. Mr Silas .M. Anyanwu. -(Secretary).

3. Barrister Mike Anyanwu 4. Mr. Stephen .C. Obi 5. Mr Chukwuebuka Ogu

Aim and objective.

To preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to save sinners.

Any objection to the Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar general, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: J. E Anaekwe & Co

NDI-RISING STARS SOCIAL CLUB OF NIGERIA The general public is hereby notified that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for Registration under part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990.

The Trustees Are: 1.Basil Ogbonna Obasi - Chairman 2.Onuh Felix Emeka - Secretary 3. Jideofor Tobechukwu - Member 4. Victor Emenike C. - Member Aims and Objective; 1. Social Networking Services 2. Activities of membership organization 3. To promote and foster mutual beneficial relationship among members.

4. To promote interest of members.

5. To promote peace and unity.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to Registrar General Corporate Affairs Commission Pot 420 Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28days of this publication.

SIGN: TRUSTEES

Aims and objectives.

1. Helping the needy and less privileged.

2. community development and social services.

3. Improve the welfare of members.

Any objection to the Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar general, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

Signed; MR SILAS .M. ANYANWU. -(secretary) NGOZI GLADYS OGBONNA

HAMMED ADEKUNLE RAUFU

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ngozi Gladys Evurulobi, now to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ngozi Gladys Ogbonna.

All documents bearing my former names remain valied. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Lamidi Adekunle Raifu, now to be known and addressed as Hammed Adekunle Raufu. All documents bearing my former names remain valied. The general public please take note.

EMAKIRUN KOLA ABDULAHI

PLACE YOUR ADVERT HERE

I, formerly Alli Kola Abdulahi now wish to be address as Emakirun Kola Abdulahi. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

25

Agbakoba frowns at voting along ethnic lines

Buhari’ll return Nigeria's lost glory – Ige's son

Jonathan Eze

Osogbo

Ă?Ă?Ă?Constitutional

lawyer, Dr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, on Thursday, advocated for balanced voting in Nigeria's elections, in order to deepen the nation's democracy.

Agbakoba made this known while briefing newsmen in Lagos.

He noted that a critical appraisal of the just concluded presidential and parliamentary elections showed that some Nigerians were still voting on ethnic lines.

Agbakoba said: "We

hope that the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections would be balanced. We need to get rid of ethnicity in our political system. We want to see balanced voting everywhere, and devoid of ethnicity.

"I don't accept that the South East would have voted 90 per cent for President Goodluck Jonathan, and the same goes to the North West which voted for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. What helped Buhari was the consistent balanced voting across majority of the states.

"As a politician, it makes sense to appeal to everybody. If President Barack Obama had stayed with the blacks alone, he would have lost. He appealed to all Americans," he observed.

According to him, the failure to understand balanced voting cost the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the presidential election.

He noted that the restructuring of the country, which was one of the objectives of the 2014 National Conference, would help to eliminate such im-

Buhari, God's chosen instrument of change – Mbaka Moses Oyediran Enugu

Ă?Ă?Ă? The fiery Enugu-based

cleric, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka of the Adoration Ministry, has congratulated General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), on his victory at the presidential election.

Mbaka's New Year message, entitled: 'From Goodluck to Badluck', drew mixed reactions across the country when he described Buhari's emergence as a divine victory for the entire Nigerians.

The priest, who spoke through his media officer, Mr. Maximus Ike Ugwuoke, in a press briefing, urged the president-elect to devote attention to tackling the myriads of problems facing the country.

"We wish to reinstate that before President Goodluck became President of this country, Fr. Mbaka prophesied it in his message, titled: 'Okolo'.

"The ministry, with magnanimous heart, holds no grudge against anyone who attacked it in one way or the other in the rage of controversies surrounding Fr. Mbaka’s message, and view their actions as being orchestrated by their misconstruing of Fr. Mbaka’s prophetic calling.

"The ministry joins the rest of Nigerians to congratulate Buhari as God’s chosen instrument of change to tackle the myriads of problems facing Nigeria and pray God to endow him with the wisdom to go about this onerous

task.

"We see Buhari’s victory as divine victory to all Nigerians irrespective of our religious and ethnic divide", he stated.

The cleric was, however, quick to advise Buhari to seek divine wisdom before choosing people he would work with.

"The prayer of Fr. Mbaka is that God will give Buhari wisdom not to surround himself with the wrong people. That was the major problem with Jonathan's administration.

"Fr. Mbaka has advocated that Nigerians should be patient with Buhari because the holes dug in the country are too much.

Holes of corruption, holes of unemployment, among others", he stated.

Obiano congratulates Buhari, Jonathan Doris Nnabuenyi Awka

Ă?Ă?Ă?Governor Willie Obia-

no of Anambra State, has congratulated the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) for his electoral victory at the polls, and President Goodluck Jonathan for his display of statesmanship in conceding defeat.

In a broadcast on Thurs-

day at the Government House, Awka, Obiano also condemned what he called “acts of brigandage and lawlessness displayed

by People’s Democratic (PDP)'s stalwarts in last Saturday's election in Anambra'' The governor called President Jonathan on Wednesday to commend him for “displaying the qualities of a good statesman and the sacrifi-

cial depth of a great statesman. “Jonathan’s humble acceptance of the results of the presidential election is a watershed in our country’s search for peace, unity and brotherhood. With this singular act, President Jonathan has earned the respect of many Nigerians, irrespective of political ideologies� Obiano stated.

balances in the future.

Agbakoba, however, hailed Jonathan for conceding defeat to Buhari, adding that the president must be given credit for laying the foundation for a more credible electoral system.

Said he: "Jonathan allowed the democratic space to open. He allowed multi-party democracy and free and fair election.

"He took the shine off Buhari by calling and conceding even before the final result was announced by the Independent National Electoral Commis-

Sodiq Adekunle

sion (INEC),� he added.

Agbakoba also commended the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, and all Nigerians for working assiduously and relentlessly towards the success of the election.

Agbakoba

Ă?Ă?Ă?Son of

the late minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige, Mr. Muyiwa Ige, has said the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd) will bring back the nation’s lost glory.

Ige, who was the immediate past Commissioner for Lands, Physical planning and Urban Development in Osun State, stated this in his congratulatory remark.

He added that the polity and economy would also get major boost from the "sweet victory".

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Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Tourism

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Tayo Adelaja Email: t.adelaja@dailytimes.com.ng

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Turning Nigeria’s tourism to world class through asset investment ÏÏÏd ƋƋƕ nƓƆƅ ƑƆ -Mbanefo, DG, NTDC

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Nigeria is blessed with waterfalls, caves, hotels, parks, sandy beaches, large lakes, and historic sites, which offer a range of tourism experiences applicable to the general holidaymaker as well as the traveller looking for something off the beaten track. To invest in tourism in Nigeria, there must be clarity on how people can invest their tourism dollars for a fixed period, how they can monetise this tourism investment and how they can see a clear path for exit or sale of their investment if need be.

According to the DirectorGeneral of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs. Sally UwechueMbanefo, on her plan to turn

tourism into a world-standard investment in Nigeria, “my idea is to identify tourism projects for investment, aimed at specific tourists and to create an enabling environment that respects and encourages this investment.

The first step, she says, is to identify one project each in the six geo-political zones, which can attract investment that can become world-standard. I see a road across for Nigerian tourism with countries like Morocco, Tanzania, Vietnam, Zambia, Rwanda, South Africa, parts of the Caribbean and even Peru, in terms of creating a unique experience, not to mention beach and golfing experience, where, with the right type of investment, will provide alternatives to Morocco and the Caribbean.

Once identified, “I intend to put the six (specific) projects into a prospectus, which forms the compendium of investment opportunities that would give Nigeria a world standard tour-

ism experience. To do this, we will target the cooperation of those with the experience managing emerging markets, tourism experiences and turning same into benchmarks that attract hundreds of millions of tourism dollars annually.

“Tourism in Nigeria is now where telecommunications was about 20 years ago, but, today, as an investment proposition, Nigerian telecom is, probably, the best in the world. The same will be said of tourism in five to ten years from now, if appropriate measures are taken. Investors will be given long term tenure for their investment and, where applicable.

“The underlying asset will either revert to the government, after the project investment period lapses or continue with the pioneer investor, once revenue has been created for the government and a generous return on capital achieved for the investor.

With this plan, we can achieve Nigeria’s goal of being a tour-

Continued on page 27

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

27 Tourism

‘Potential for Tourism Bond abound in Nigeria’

Relic of slave trade from Arochukwu

Continued from page 26 ism hot spot, where people visit to spend foreign currency and this is achievable within the next five–ten years.

But what can Nigeria do to achieve this laudable project?

“First, we must define what makes the world-standard experience unique to the country.

What we want to create is a must-have experience with international benchmark for tourists and investors”, UwechueMbanefo said.

For example, according to her, “a tourist may want a wellplanned tour of durbars and festivals, but, know that at each place he will be spending the night in comfortable world-class accommodation that enhances the experience. We want to create family holiday destinations, whether these are at beaches; water parks or even focused around Nigeria’s numerous lakes. There are ideas that we need to focus and galvanise to create a product that meets

Zuma Rock

all health and safety requirements”.

What’s the way out?

To achieve the aforementioned, NTDC intends to launch a Tourism Bond, which would be a revenue stream generated from a prospective tourism development levy on departures.

“The bond will give us the money we need for investment in the six projects and these investments will create jobs and the right product.

In Lagos, for example, there is the Lakowe Lakes Golf and Country Estate, a growing Epe Health Resort and Spa, that aims to be a market leader. We have Old Lagos, which we should use to create a heritage experience of small cafés. We can partner with Lagos State to make Old Lagos a heritage site with good access and paved roads and sidewalks. There could be a law that protects the heritage of those (historical) buildings in old Lagos and whose architecture tells a compelling story that will in-

“First, we must define what makes the world-standard experience unique to the country.

What we want to create is a musthave experience with international benchmark for tourists and investors”

terest many people around the world. In Abuja, for example, we have Jabi Lake, which is a tourism gold-mine, which must be developed by tourism investors that the bond targets.

In Obudu Mountain Resort in Calabar, there are the ecological experiences that require further investment to make them comparable with those in Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

In Rivers and Bayelsa, we have hotels to be renovated and turned into real five-star standard. We have riverine communities where their boating experiences can be turned into a world-class product.

The festivals and durbars of the North are a rich and vibrant tapestry of colours and enchanting mystery sought after around the world.

The vast geographical features of Nigeria have long been an object of fascination to people around the world, who want

Ikogosi, Ekiti

to spend time enjoying their inherent assets.

Others, according to her, include Sports Tourism. For example, Polo is a huge selling point for Nigeria, but, we need to make it world standard, because Polo lovers are passionate and can travel anywhere for a polo game, like the famous Kaduna 5th Chukker.

Art Tourism is another area that can attract investors. If properly nurtured the bespoke tourist, looking for that experience, would pay the money to be in Nigeria to enjoy that experience.

We have a fast growing middle class that wants to spend

Ogbunike Cave

Obudu cattle ranch

and have value for the money through well-thought out and developed top quality tourism products.

NTDC already has a well-organised private sector as partner, including the Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN), a body for all hotel owners and travel agencies and it is also targeting state and local governments in this direction.

There is an urgent need for Nigeria to create and exploit its other natural resources, because this is the time to make tourism a considerable contributor to our Gross Domestic Product.

28

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Business Times

s

Business Editor: Emmanuel Ogbonnaya Email: emmanuelogbonnaya@dailytimes.com.ng

Dangote, Saipem joint venture, raises competition Charles Okonji Africa’s leading indigenous conglomerate, Dangote Industries Limited has announced a multi-million dollar Joint Venture agreement with Saipem, Italian engineering and construction giants.

The agreement has birthed a new company named SaipemDangote E&C. According to a statement from Dangote Group, the company, Saipem-Dangote E&C is a significant new player in the Nigerian and Central/West African market, with high technical and financial capabilities.

The statement quoted Group Executive Director, Dangote Group, Mr. Devakumar Edwin as saying that the new Company aims to secure complex Engineering & Construction projects and to execute them at the highest levels of efficiency in terms of costs and timing.

Edwin stressed that the new venture will maintain sufficient flexibility to adapt to different project requirements.

Saipem and Dangote Group have a track record of successful collaboration, drawing on the strengths and competences of both Companies. Dangote’s financial strength, expertise and standing in the Sub–Saharan Af-

Abdullahi

rican market will complement Saipem’s unique capabilities in E & C. This new partnership confirms the shared commitment of the two groups to both the Nigerian market and sub-Saharan Africa more widely.

Edwin said, “We are confident that our partnership with Saipem will position us as a major player in the oil & gas sector.

“Dangote’s financial strength, expertise and standing in the sub–Saharan African market will complement Saipem’s unique capabilities in E & C in developing new business.

“Saipem values the satisfaction of its clients in the energy industry, tackling each challenge with safe, reliable and innovative solutions. Dangote Industries and Saipem shall gain mutual benefit from this partnership”.

Saipem Central Africa Regional Manager Giuseppe Surace said: “The combination of two excellences like Saipem and Dangote in Central Africa creates a new efficient and sustainable way of working along the whole value chain” Dangote Group is one of Africa’s largest industrial conglomerates. It has been a key investor in the Nigerian economy for a number of years, and is seeking to help the country create a more

Ehiguese

PR firm to partner journalists on capacity building Charles Okonji

Dangote

efficient industrial and energy infrastructures, via strategic investments in a number of upstream oil and gas projects.

It is also at an advanced stage of project development in the downstream sector. The Group is developing power generation, gas

exploration and fertiliser production projects.

The Nigerian economy will benefit from Dangote Group’s investment plans, which include a major refinery and petrochemical complex in Lekki, new E&P gas supply pipelines and other infrastructure.

Mediacraft Associates Limited, a PRO media outfit Thursday met with journalists under the aegis of Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria to synergise on viable ways to enhance media content development.

In his welcome address, Mr. John Ehiguese, Group CEO, Mediacraft stated that the partnership was necessary to strengthen the relationship between the two organisations, stressing that it will go a long way in reaching their target audience.

Ehiguese stated that the partnership would also help to build up practitioners’ capacity, assuring that Mediacraft would use its strategic position to ensure support from it numerous stakeholders across the country.

Earlier in his speech, Toba Agboola, chairman, CICAN, applauded the Group CEO of Mediacraft for identifying with CICAN and his willingness to sustain the collaboration.

NPA expands tugboat fleet at Lagos ports

Nigeria can provide 50% of Africa’s seafarers by 2020 – NIMASA

Funmi Coker

Funmi Coker

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Management have acquired two 60-tons buller- pull tugboats with state of the art, fully computerised engines, in order to keep to its promise of boosting efficiency and to meet the increasing demands of critical stakeholders, within the Lagos Pilotage District.

The Managing Director, Mallam Habib Abdullahi had last year, during the 2nd year anniversary of the present management’s administration assured stakeholders that he had completed arrangements for the ac-

quisition of four new built, out of which two built, have now arrived, in validation of a determination, to significantly boost the efficiency and productivity of the ports in Lagos. It was discovered that once the two new tug boats procured through tenders, were effectively deployed, a significant reduction may come to end the present complaints of tugs insufficiency, within the Lagos ports. The two tugboats, with one of them christened “Uromi”, had twin fire fighting pumps, with a reach of above 300 meters and the flow is over 600 cubic meters per hour of

water and foam, making it the strongest equipment in its category in the country. Presently, the biggest tugs in Lagos have capacity not beyond 45- ton buller-pulls, while the biggest in Port Harcourt pilotage district, according to investigation might not be up to 50-ton buller pulls.

Speaking after a thorough appraisal of both tugs, followed by a boarding and demonstration of powers in one of the new built, by NPA top staffers, led by the General Manager, Marine and Operations, A. A Goje.

Mr Felix Bobnabena, the Director, Administration and Personnel, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has tipped Nigeria to provide 50 per cent of Africa’s requirement of seafarers by 2020.

Bobnabena speaking in Lagos stressed that the maritime sector held immense potential to employ Nigerian youths, citing the nation’s 853 km coastline.

He said that with a population strength of 170million, mostly youths, Nigerians can excel in maritime careers and will be in demand worldwide.

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

29 Real Estate

A Honduran affordable housing project

Housing-for-all in developing countries, role of DFIs Debra Erb

Managing Director, OPIC Housing Programs

One of the fundamental steps to advancing development in emerging markets is giving low-income people a secure place to live.

As a banker who has successfully assembled financing to help builders construct low-income housing in some of the world’s most challenging regions from Honduras to South Africa, I

know that it is possible to provide homes that are not only affordable and high quality but also financially sustainable to the builders and investors.

But I also know that this isn’t easy.

Most real estate developers in Africa are small groups with limited capital who are most comfortable building a few highend houses at a time, using the buyers’ money and reaping high return over a relatively short period. Affordable housing, on the other hand, is only profitable in scale, and large scale development requires large investments of time and money and comes with a high level of complexity.

Developers must not only assemble a plan for building the project quickly and efficiently, they also have to ensure there is financing for the buyers, who are usually first-time homeowners and may not even have a bank account.

There are also many other players that need to work together to successfully build an affordable housing development.

Builders and property managers, land owners, local governments, investors, suppliers, mortgage lenders and surrounding com-

munities form a sort of ecosystem in the housing sector. When they come together to work on a project, they often represent a set of conflicting agendas and incentives. I’d argue that the reason we don’t have more affordable housing around the world is that we haven’t fully addressed the gaps in this ecosystem.

This notion of an affordable housing ecosystem comes from Ron Adner, professor of strategy at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, and author of The Wide Lens, which highlights some of the hidden challenges that can impede business plans and general innovation.

All of these interested parties leave the developer in the center of a group of competing interests. Rather than in a position to take the lead, the developer must navigate all of these competing interests. The best developers understand this and become adept at working with different parties.

Government, for example, is often one of the primary stakeholders, since mass housing construction addresses issues of economic development, land use, and public safety. But gov-

ernment is not a single entity.

It includes national, regional and local governments as well as different ministries of public works, land and finance – each which has its own priorities.

Landowners represent another key party whose interests are often not aligned with an affordable housing mandate. Left to themselves, private landowners have no incentive to support affordable housing developments.

Even tangential groups like utility providers play an essential role in the successful completion of a project. I have seen projects where an entire community of completed houses awaits connection to power or water or sewage treatment systems that were promised but never delivered.

Then there are the investors.

Housing developments require capital, of course, but since capital generally looks for highest return with lowest risk, investors often prefer to build a commercial property or high-end housing. With low-income housing, there is the added financing challenge of converting families in need into qualified buyers.

How governments and DFIs

can help Development finance institutions like OPIC play a key role in the developing low-income housing by providing debt capital and working to structure mortgages in a way that are affordable to poor families. A perfect example is Los Castanos de Choloma (pictured), a Honduran affordable housing project developed by Inter-Mac International, the U.S. investor, and HOLA Realty, the local builder. We were able to structure a loan that not only funded land development, home construction but also a 25year lease-purchase plan putting nearly 2,500 low-income families on the path to home ownership.

The project was successful because it was built with significant investors’ equity capital and solid investor balance sheets.

OPIC has also supported successful low-income housing projects in Africa, where the need is great. But the universe of investors interested in housing projects in Africa is very small, and the number of African developers with strong balance sheets to support completion guaranties is smaller still.

The point here is that, even though the low-income housing is built for low-income families, it’s not the families that drive the construction process. Something as simple as construction and delivery of a 37-square-meter house involves a large number of players and sufficient capital to see a large housing project through to completion.

Even in the best scenarios, it takes a long time to identify and develop a project before a single shovel of earth is excavated, and timelines are unpredictable throughout the process. Execution risk is extremely high, not surprisingly!

If we are going develop more large-scale affordable housing projects, we need to understand the challenges and work to ensure that all key stakeholders have the right incentives. Government can and should play a major role, with tax incentives, policies, subsidies, land grants and other well-designed programs to encourage qualified companies to enter the market.

Development finance institutions can support these projects with capital, and perhaps even by taking a lead in helping to encourage partnering of larger builders with smaller developers and contractors. This leads to greater local capacity and a deeper, more functional market for all participants.

(Adapted from a speech Debra Erb delivered in November 2014 at the general meeting of the African Union for Housing Finance.)

Auto 30

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Hyped cars that fail to measure up ‘Niyi Omo-Okiri Mitsubishi Mirage: 29 overall score Lows: Clumsy handling, noise, vibration, acceleration, feels really cheap and insubstantial.

The Mitsubishi Mirage lives up to its name. While its low sticker price and good fuel economy of 37 mpg overall may conjure up an inviting image of an enticing, economical runabout. That illusion quickly dissipates into the haze when you drive this regrettable car.

This little hatchback is powered by a tiny and vibrating threecylinder engine. But the car is way too slow and noisy, even for a cheap subcompact, to effectively compete in this competitive class.

Chevrolet Spark: 42 overall score Lows: Noise, ride, acceleration, transmission, agility, front-seat comfort, complicated radio.

The Spark is a tiny car that’s smaller than Chevy’s sub-compact Sonic and intended primarily to provide easy urban maneuverability and parking. But the Spark’s drawbacks can grate on your nerves in daily driving. It’s painfully slow, relentlessly noisy, rides uncomfortably, and feels Spartan and insubstantial. Yasris’s 31 mpg overall is less than several larger,

quicker, more substantial cars.

Forget enjoyable handling in the Spark, too. Handling is secure enough, but it’s neither agile nor engaging, especially for such a diminutive car.

Toyota Yaris: 47 overall score Lows: Noise, ride, agility, driving position, front seat comfort, fit and finish, radio controls, rear visibility.

The Toyota Yaris, the company’s impressively fuel-efficient and least expensive car, falls short of making the cut as a Consumer Reports-recommended model. For 2015, Toyota freshened the front appearance but that can’t hide the shortcomings. The powertrain remains a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine making 106 horsepower and hooked up to either a fivespeed manual or vastly outdated four-speed automatic. The Yaris is noisy, its ride is choppy and its driving position is awkward with stretched arms and bent knees and the front seats are uncomfortable. Plus, handling lacks agility and acceleration is slow.

Toyota Tacoma: 49 overall score Lows: Ride, handling, driving position, high step-in, low rear seat.

With a punchy powertrain, the Toyota Tacoma excels for hauling, towing, and off-road use. But for everyday driving or commut-

ing, the Tacoma feels dated and is uncomfortable. Clumsy handling makes it a chore to drive, and the rough ride is fatiguing, with constant jiggling and a rubbery feel over even small imperfections.

Fair cornering capabilities and long stopping distances contributed to the low score. A redesigned Tacoma launches in the fall.

Jeep Compass: 52 overall score Lows: Engine noise, acceleration, driving position, front-seat comfort, rear visibility, cornering limits, braking, reliability.

In 2014 the Compass received a freshening that replaced the CVT with a six-speed automatic for most versions. But it remains outdated and uncompetitive. The sluggish 2.4-liter four-cylinder returned 22-mpg overall. The upright front seats are narrow and are not particularly comfortable, and the cabin is cramped. Controls are straightforward, and the basic interior is austere.

Nissan Versa sedan: 56 overall score Lows: Agility, engine noise, front-seat comfort, fit and finish, small-overlap crash-test results.

Nissan’s subcompact Versa sedan is unimpressive, with a noisy and cheap interior. The engine drones as the car gathers speed, and the continuously variable transmission exacerbates engine

noise. Handling, though secure, lacks agility. The ride is compliant but jumpy. To its credit, the rear cabin is relatively roomy and fuel economy is commendable at 32mpg overall.

Jeep Patriot: 56 overall score Lows: Engine noise, acceleration, driving position, front-seat comfort, complicated optional radio, small overlap crash-test result.

Although the small Patriot SUV has a compliant ride and mostly simple controls, little else stands out. Even with its 2014 freshening, which included replacing the CVT with a six-speed automatic for most versions, it’s pretty much outdated and outclassed.

Handling lacks agility, and the sluggish 2.4-liter four-cylinder returned just 21-mpg overall. Once inside, passengers will notice the narrow cabin, wide center con-

sole, low-rent interior, and small windows, which give the car a closed-in feeling.

Lexus IS: 58 overall score Lows: Acceleration, ride, road noise, lackluster handling, fuel economy, driving position, controls, tight quarters, access.

The IS fails as a sports sedan.

Though the 250’s small V6 is refined, performance is rather pokey, and its 21-mpg overall is unreasonably thirsty. The IS 350 is punchier but also underwhelming to drive. The IS interior is extremely cramped. Fit and finish is OK but not a standout. Controls use a mouse-like controller, which takes too much attention away from driving. Reliability of the IS 350 is well above average; the IS 250 is average, but it scores too low to be recommended.

Adapted from ConsumerReports.org

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

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The Buhari we know

Tunde Oduntan

•••

Business

I know of only two instances when most Nigerians have been proud of their government. The first was around July 1984 when the exiled Umaru Dikko was kidnapped and bundled into a van to be smuggled out as “diplomatic baggage”.

That botched-kidnap, among other incidents, has been used in electioneering campaigns by the ruling PDP with claims including that Muhammadu Buhari plans to construct more jails and force Nigerians into exile.

Young people, born into a world of liberal democracy, human rights,

American uni-polarity and the Internet, who are unschooled in the knowledge produced by Moscow and Havana publishers, or the fist pumping rhetoric of anti-racism, anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism, may view the incident with contempt; but for many old enough and aware of the context, the Buhari-Idiagbon government acted heroically.

The government responded in kind to everything the imperialists threw at Nigeria, sanction for sanction, ambassador for ambassador and many Nigerians proudly acquiesced. Buhari at the time led a military government, which had overthrown a democratic government very similar in its greed, rudderlessness, and visionlessness, and for its corruption and impunity, to the current government.

The second instance was a few hours ago when Nigerians across the world jubilated at the victory of the ACP over Goodluck Jonathan’s PDP. Nigerians jubilated in the hope of a restoration of values, and of a better tomorrow.

This hope is not simply because the economy

will improve overnight, or that Boko Haram will disappear, or even that our overspent fragile treasury will immediately rebound. Unemployment will not disappear quickly, and neither will the National Question, upon which tribal jingoists and their militias have fed fat, be resolved. The hope is drawn from a reasonable measure of confidence, that Nigerians know Muhammadu Buhari, and they can trust that the “change” he promised will be a sharp contrast to the incumbent.

Buhari’s victory was not on account of the sophistication of his political philosophy, the clarity of his manifesto or any coherent programme to solve Nigeria’s many problems. Indeed, if ever there was a political campaign lacking a coherent political manifesto, this was it. We can only at this point guess what broad policy direction the new government will pursue, whether it will unroll the inordinate influence of the IMF, whether public companies shared to political cronies as privatization will be revisited, or whether free education is doable. Yet Nigerians

could look past manifesto or the lack thereof to the single vision of Buhari’s simplicity, discipline, integrity, doggedness, and the most endearing of his attributes, that he loves his country – here is one proud Nigerian.

The form of Buhari’s patriotism is as unprecedented as it is unparalleled, and no other Nigerian in history comes any close. It is such that he does not have to say it, but his patriotism radiates through his quietness and simplicity. Until this election when it became necessary to establish his difference from the ruling party, never had the former General openly criticized any previous government or been known to push any sub-national agenda. It is a curious type of patriotism, in much distance from the self-serving political rhetoric of garrulous, so-called detribalized Nigerians. It is love in a nonself seeking way, which many might see as a lack of an intellectual capacity to articulate the various ways in which Nigeria is unlovable. Such simplicity might excite many especially when contrasted with the incumbent; it is cause for worry for more

thoughtful minds who know that a constitutional, economic and political restructuring of the country is necessary and maybe urgent if the Nigeria will begin to achieve her full potential.

The Buhari we know will not convene a national conference or propose any revolutionary constitutional process to change the current stasis. He will not evolve or promote any new revolutionary idea to engage with discourses of racism, imperialism, international terrorism etc., among other isms, which continue to consign our part of the world to the global margins. Yet, we can anticipate what we will get from an administrator-par excellence: no drama. Nigerians can look forward to a much more simple but forthright budgetary process, at variance with the current system, which is complex because it is overladen with many vested corrupt influences. A budgetary process that does not draw all the energies of the state as government officials, parliamentarians and civil servants jostle over cuts, but one that goes on to ensure how budgeted funds are put to use. Nigerians

can expect a judiciary conscious of governmental oversight and capable of simply sending criminals and corrupt persons to jail. They expect that the conscientiousness of the President will radiate to civil servants doing their jobs, simply and effectively; that rescued from prebendalism, public services will simply work; they hope for some moral order in public life in which despicable characters will stop flaunting ill-gotten wealth and positions claiming to be above the law.

Sadly, patience is not an attribute of suffering masses, and rightly so it should not be. GMB consciously inherits a liability government, to resolve problems that simple solutions may not solve. It is to this challenge, and with an awareness that the Buhari we know is not capable of grand ideas, that knowledgeable and well meaning Nigerians should offer grand ideas for social mobilization towards innovation and productivity. Congratulations Nigeria.

Dr Oduntan lives in Towson, MD. Maryland, U.S.A.

Published by FOLIO COMMUNICATIONS LTD, Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja. website: www.dailytimes.com.ng; email: info@dailytimes.com.ng. Tel: 018447948. EDITOR: YINKA OLUJIMI News Hotlines: 08138773277, 08173901838. Advert Hotlines: 08169118913, 08075038528

Life&

TIMES Fridday, April 3, 2015

Adedoja Allen Finding fulfilment in broadcasting L2 Pat Utomi honours Sagay and Solanke L7 P

P

L2

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

You don’t have to be a broadcaster to run a radio business

- Adedoja Allen

Isaac Oguntoye She is the managing director of City 105.1 FM and has since her assumption she has been able to re-position the station to compete favorably with other radio stations around the Lagos metropolis, by injecting the much need technology, infrastructure, skilled staff etc. The stylish and industrious mother of two boys opened up on her job, marriage and challenges on the job How did you feel winning the best Female CEO of the year at the City People recognition awards?

I am excited and it’s a big honour for me. I’m grateful and thankful to the management of City People Magazine.

Did you see it coming?

No. It came as a very big surprise when I got the letter from City People telling me that they wanted to honour me as the best female CEO of the year. I feel really honoured about it.

Why do you think you were chosen for the award among the array of other hardworking female CEOS? WelI, I think it’s the hard work I put into revamping City 105.1 FM. When I joined the station as the CEO, the stabut I was able to re-position the organization and make among other competitors.

What prompted you take up the job?

Well, because of my success and my career history in business process re-engineering. The organisation needed my skill and my qualdio station.

Life&

T E A M

Weren’t you afraid to take up the job seeing that the station was

struggling at the time you were contacted and also knowing that stiff competition in the industry?

I wasn’t afraid to take it up. I took up the challenge because I knew that I could make the station compete with the big players in the industry. So, it wasn’t anything that I needed to worry about.

But I knew that I needed to work very hard to ensure that I get the station to where it should be.

What are some of the things you brought to the organization that actually transformed it to what it is now?

I did quite a lot. To start with, I employed the services of a veteran broadcaster to work with me. And then, I formed a new management team, new creative team, got new on air personalities.

I changed everything from scratch which is more or less like building a business from scratch. It was about relationship building, hard work, understanding the industry and positioning ourselves for the position we wanted to be in the industry.

Achieving all these, you must have passed through some challenges.

How were you able to overcome them?

Yes, you’re right. I did encounter a lot of challenges and one of it was to ensure that I made the right decision.

I made sure that people’s lives, career and investor’s funds were well managed. In the course of it, I made one or two mistakes which we all can’t run runaway from. I’ve learnt from those mistakes anyway. There were challenges but honestly, the challenges are over now.

Can you paint a picture of what the station was like before you were employed?

It was a struggling radio station before I came on

Editor Nkarenyi Ukonu n.ukonu@dailytimes.com.ng 08029030427

board. They were struggling to make money, to keep staff and they were struggling to balance in the industry. But cially stable. We no longer owe staff salaries. We are getting recognized and making so much money in the industry.

Give us one or two reasons why we should listen to City 105.1 FM when there are other radio stations?

You need to tune in because we have more qualithe morning shows, mid-day shows and the night belt.

We do more of lifestyle and entertainment. This is what people want to listen to, in order to get their mind off the stress off the day. So, we do what most stations don’t broadcast which gives us that advantage and edge over others.

No doubt, you look radiant, what is the secret of your beauty?

Hard work, God’s goodness and I eat healthy. Once in a while, I do my exercises Will you describe yourself as a stylish person?

I don’t really know but I’m always conscious of what I wear and how I look. I like to look presentable and neat.

What were you doing before you joined City FM? I was working as an in-

Music Correspondent Akintayo Opeoluwani o.ogunjimi@dailytimes.com.ng 08126223784

Movie Correspondent Mutiat Alli m.alli@dailytimes.com.ng 08115557378

vestment manager. I was into asset management at ARM Investment Managers.

Judging from your background, it is obvious you have little or no experience in the broadcast business No I don’t but I’ve done a few courses on it. Meanwhile, it is a business and I’m not the one on radio. I’m running a business and ensuring that the business makes be a broadcaster to run a business.

For sometime now, Society Correspondent Isaac Oguntoye i.ogundoye@dailytimes.com.ng 08069489893

people complain about some unprofessional on air personalities. How do you guard against such in your station?

I’ve been trained despite the fact that I don’t have any broadcasting background but those trainings have exposed me to the kind of things to look out for in my presenters.

We’ve been married for 11years and we’re blessed with two boys.

How do you cope as a career woman and a wife?

My husband is very understanding. He’s a Libra and very supportive. He’s always there to cover up for me.

The name of my husband is Akinsola Allen, a surveyor.

Where do you see City FM

Photography Quadri Olowolagba q.olowolagba@dailytimes.com.ng 08029745478

What has been the sustaining force in your marriage for these 11years?

It’s been God. We can’t do anything without the Almighty God.

By the grace of God, it will be among the top three radio station in Lagos. At the rate we are growing, I’m very sure the dream will come to pass

Graphics Austine Agbovi a.agbovi@dailytimes.com.ng 07060402397

Daily Times Nigeria

Friday, April 3, 2015

L3 Society

Isaac Oguntoye

On Hailmary Aipoh’s rising profile Presently, Hon. (Mrs.) Hailmary Aipoh, a businesswoman turned politician is in a joyous mood. The very popular female politician in the Federal Capital Territory chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), was recently crowned the best female politician of the year

by Global Excellence Magazine. In her acceptance speech, the delectable beauty said, “Politics is a calling. I never liked politics. But later in life, I just found myself affecting lives positively. And when I thought about how to have the opportunity to do more, I decided to join politics. So, if God is crowning it with this award, who am I not to be happy? So, I give God all the glory”

Fire engulfs Bisi Olatilo’s studio The renowned broadcaster and show compere who has been in the industry for over two decades is currently not in a good mood, no thanks to his broadcasting studio, BISCOM, which got engulfed studio broadcasts a variety of proThe Bisi Olatilo Show. The amiable broadcaster who is friends with some of the highly placed people in the society, lost several equipments worth millions of dolRubbles from the burnt BISCOM

Hailmary Aipoh

Dade Keshinro ties nuptial knot with Astra Ejaife in Lagos At last MTN big boy, Dadeowo Keshinro, one of Lagos eligible bachelors, has quit the singles club as he tied the knot with his belle, Astra Ejaife in style, two Saturdays ago. After the solemnization ceremony, the wedding train moved to D Cubicle Event Centre, Idimu area of Lagos, where a lavish reception was held. It was an extraordinary gathering of friends family members and those who matter in the society, all of who supported the adorable couple. It was indeed a joyous moment as the groom and the bride joyously beamed with smiles all through the day, lending credence to their dream of getting married and getting old together as a couple.

The couple’s families played their roles as perfect hosts; they made sure well wishers who had come to felicitate with them were pampered to no end with different kinds of African and continental dishes with choice liquor. No doubt both families spared no cost to send their beloved children into marital bliss.

Between Modupe Oguntade and Sade Okoya

Modupe Oguntade and Sade Okoya That Modupe Oguntade, the famous society lady and wife of Honourable Justice George Adesola Oguntade (rtd) and Sade Okoya, wife of multi millionaire businessman, Chief Razaq Okoya, are two inseparable friends, is not in contention. One thing you can’t take away from the two socialites is their modest and classy fashion sense. Wherever you see Sade, you are most likely bound to see Modupe, not too far off. Some people have described their friendship as one made in heaven as they grace events together.

Dade Keshinro and wife, Astra

Rumour trails Sifax boss, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi

What you don’t know about Muheez Bello’s death It is no longer news that one of the Chairmanship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muheez Bello died after the boat conveying him from a polling unit where he had gone to cast his vote capsized. But what many people don’t know is that the young man died on his birthday. While friends, family and social pals were getting ready to wish the agile politician happy birthday, news that he had kicked the bucket, broke. He died on the day of the Presidential, House of Representatives and National Assembly elections, on the 28th of March, 2015.

News reaching Life & Times from the grapevine has it that Dr. Taiwo Afolabi will be delvthe top players in the shipping business in Africa, plans to invest heavily in hotel business.

To this end, he is doing everything possible to keep the location and name of the hotel close to his chest until such a time when he will be ready to disclose the information.

Muheez Bello

Society L4

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

Isaac Oguntoye

Unveiling Lagos big boy, Ebitibi Michael Akele The name might not ring bell in the social circle but Ebitibi Michael Akele, is one Lagos lawyer to look up to when it comes to legal matters. He’s an industrious philanthropist whose commitment to enforcing rule of law in the country knows no bound.

The young astute lawyer has as clients several well placed individuals and also represents major organisations. He hardly talks but when he does speak, everyone listens.

What will become of Reuben Abati now?

Reuben Abati

viser on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati. But the question on the lips of everybody is whether the one time ‘very busy man’ will be back to do what he knows how to do best, which fore his appointment, Reuben was a columnist and the chairman of the editorial board of The Guardian newspaper, from 2001 to 2011. There are speculations that he may likely become a publisher of a newspaper to be called Mail Express. Only time will tell.

Ebitibi Akele

Finecoat/Shield paints boss, Aderemi Awode rewards painters

Lamex, Ayo Sobuyi, others storm Adewale Ayuba’s birthday

The image of the CEO, Chemstar Manufacturing Company, Apostle Aderemi Emmanuel Awode, has been soaring high of recent what with the company’s decision to appreciate and reward painters who can bring as many paint covers of their premium paints from either the as possible, to claim a cash prize from the paint company. Aside the premium products manufactured from the company which has seen it receiving thunderous applause from distributors and customers alike, Chemstar Manufacturing Company has made it a point of duty to appreciate the patronage of their customers which cuts across all walks of life. This is part of their effort to establish a mutually ben-

Adewale Ayuba Aderemi Awode the painters, who are major stakeholders in their business with a scheme, tagged ‘Cover 4 Cash’.

The unique promo is staged as one of the line of activities put in place to celebrate the company’s 20 years in business.

Fuji musician, Adewale Ayuba recently celebrated his 50th birthday at his hotel in Lekki penultimate Wednesday. Lots of celebrities from the music and movie industry were at the

night of celebration that had music from other notable musicians from the Fuji and Juju music industry.

Mixed reactions trail Buruji Prince Lanre and Moji Tejuoso set to relocate to Kashamu’s senatorial seat Abuja Buruji Kashamu is a well known businessman turned politician decided to take the bull by the horn to

ruler, the Oke Ona of Egbaland, Oba Adedapo Tejuosho, Prince Lanre Tejuoso and his beautiful wife, Moji Tejuoso, will be relocating to Abuja come May 29. The man who has been parading himself as the next

he was announced winner of the general election but the opposition party would have none of that and ing the election as undemocratic and marred by gross irregulari-

senatorial district, even before the the ticket. Presently, the suave gentleman who was the commissioner

Kashamu played a major role in ensuring that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s re-election bid sails through, unfortunately, all his efforts proved abortive especially Buruji Kashamu

we scooped has began his relocation process with his wife, Moji The two notable socialites will be sorely missed on Lagos social scene

Lanre Tejuoso

Daily Times Nigeria

Friday, April 3, 2015

L5

Society

Nkarenyi Ukonu

Omome Osime marries quietly She is one of the trios that make up the Osime sisters; Grace and Ruth, the style editor of This day style. For a long time, the three sisters were their own greatest companions and hardly ever attended events alone even though they each have their own circle of friends. It took a while before many noticed that Omome no longer tagged along with the sisters but incidentally, no one thought anything of it until much later. Indeed, no one can say exactly when the youngest of the three sisters quietly got married but she is indeed married and her husband’s name is Ola Oloyede, a seemingly quiet and unassuming man.

Omome Osime

Omua Onikpaku-Alonge gets her groove back

boy for the fun loving doctor whom they named, Olumide.

But their relationship came to a halt when Dr Tunde who once occupied a permanent suite at Nicon Hilton hotel, now Transcorp Hilton, met and began a relationship with Nike Osinowo whom he later married. So distraught was the barrister at law at the end of the relationship with a man she was clearly in love with that she took a break from the social scene. Well Omua who has since moved on presently runs Busywheels logistics, a general logistics and

Omua Onikpaku-Alonge She is the ex girlfriend of socialite, Dr Tunde Soleye who is former most beautiful girl in Nigeria’s ex-husband, Nike Osinowo. Back when Omua and Dr Soleye were an item, it was very rare to see one without the other at social

events. So smitten were they with each other that Dr Tunde asked her to move in with him, even though he was still Dr Funmilayo. The two lovers lived together for three years and she even had a baby

also one of the six-man board of directors re-inaugurated by the Lagos State government to exploit the potentials of the State’s waterways and realise its inter-model transport policy for the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA).

Unveiling Aisha Suleiman Achimugu When she celebrated her 40th birthday a year ago, she literarily shut down Abuja with an elaborate party that many are still talking about long after it ended.

The superlative party which took place at Thisday Dome had a lot of top government sides the huge birthday cake which had exactly 40 mini cakes all staked atop each other, Achimugu had about four change of clothing, all from Walid Atallah, Dubai based fashion designer who’s luxury designs and fame has brought him international recognition.

For entertainment, she had Banky W, Chidinma, Tuface Idibia, Arabian Beyonce, and popular South African brought down the roof of The Dome with music. She also had actress, Michelle Dede host the red carpet

Aisha Suleiman Achimugu her birthday bash, not many knew who she was. For those who may not know, Dr Aisha Suleiman Achimugu is the MD/CEO of Felak Concepts Limited; a company into Consultancy Services related to health, equipment procurement, training and capacity building. A winner

of the prestigious African Achievers Award in 2013, as the fastest growing entrepreneur in Africa, she has been described as having a heart of gold, the type that supports humanitarian projects.

Obviously not one to blow her trumpets, her birthday afforded her the opportunity to do so.

Two peas in a pod: Pela Okiemute and Fifi Usman, the skin lightening merchants

Fifi Usman

What do these light skinned duo both have in common? Their passion for selling creams, injectables and pills, capable of transforming one’s skin colour from ebony to ivory with claims of no side effects. Both are not only walking advertisements of their trade having turned fair skinned from their original ebony colour, they are seriously cleaning out as their places of business, situated in high brow areas, have been turned to Meccas of some sort by men and women who besiege them daily and are willing to part with huge sums of money for their services. Welcome

digene of Delta State and a graduate of Bells -

Pela Okiemute

on his own part, combines his skin lightening business with hair styling and interior decoration.

He is a medical practitioner of repute whose interest in public relations and media has gained him over 25 years of experience in conceptualising, corporate communication strategies, developing public relations policies and spearheading mass media drives for corporations and governments across West Africa and public speaking under the platform of MessageWise LTD where he is the executive vice chairman.

Eyamba herself is no push over. A princess from Cross River State, she started

On Henry Nzekwu and Eyamba Henshaw’s enduring union

industry and later became the State Accountant General for Cross River State between 1999 and 2005. With the end of her tenure in the state, she took up a brief is currently a director at SLG Limited. Both have been married for about a year, an arrangement that escaped public notice and has managed to escape public scrutiny, probably due to the fact that they are holed up in Abuja. To say that they have have found themselves to be worthy companions of each other, notches up from their previous relationships. Even though Henry has had his own fair share of re-

Eyamba Henshaw

Henry Nzekwu

he seems to have found a worthy and enduring companion in Eyamba. Eyamba on her own part feels the same way with Henry even though she also has a constant

Events L6

Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 3, 2015

All you need to know about Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 7th annual colloquium and 63rd birthday Issac Oguntoye

Amidst all the frenzy associated with the expected election results and polls analysis, ex-governor of Lagos State and the National leader of All Progressive Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu made another political statement when he gathered friends, political stalwarts and stakeholders to mark both his 7th Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium and his 63rd birthday with the theme, “Change: How It Will Work”, at the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. Personalities from all spheres of life pledged their support by attending the lecture. The two-in-one event did not end at Eko Hotel as a few APC members converged at his Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi abode three days after, for a prayer session organized by an Islamic cleric.

At the book presentation About the book presentation

and Kayode Fayemi were also present at the book presentation. The duo were adorned in Agbada attires.

The title of the book presented was Common Sense Revolution, which was unveiled by the Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and other top personalities.

9ice, Olamide, Dj Jimmy Jatt and other showbiz stars graced the book About the birthday cake launch The cake was spelt, ‘Change and how it will

Singer, 9ice, indigenous rapper, Olamide, Dj Jimwork’. In green and white colours, the cake had the my Jatt and other notable showbiz stars were at the APC logo on it. book launch to lend their support to Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu.

Rotimi Amaechi in his native apparel

The outgoing governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, who was the Director-General of the All Progressive Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, was at the colloquium, smartly dressed in his native attire and a red cap. He was however not at the after party.

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo spoke about the birthday ‘boy’

Before now, the question on the lips of many Nigerians was how the president-elect, Gen. Buhari and his vice president-elect, Prof. Osibanjo would achieve the total change they have been touting, when elected. The duo were able to throw more light on how they plan to implement this to the letter.

Kemi Nelson and Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora were actively involved

Adeyemi Ikuforiji back to the basis

Cutting of the birthday cake

Shortly after the governorship primaries ended, the Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker and a former contender for the Alausa round house, Adeyemi Ikuforiji went on AWOL from both the social and political scenes, including all APC rallies until last week when he resurfaced at the book presentation.

Muiz Banire and Ganiyu Olarewaju Solomon’s ‘blinding’ absence

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde One would have expected the two APC stalwarts Raji Fashola (SAN) and 1st Lady, Ogun State, to be at the forefront of the book launch and taking Funsho Amosun charge of events but they were nowhere to be found before, during and after the event. However, some claim they were saddled with party projects necessitating their absence.

Olanrewaju of laredo and Demola Seriki

Birthday ‘boy’ and wife, Remi Tinubu in rare public display of affection

Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Many people would have expected him to be Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji and All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, busy taking calls and text messages concerning Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode the on-going general elections. But his reaction and comportment showed that there was no cause for alarm. He was full of life as he kept staring at his beautiful wife, Senator Remi, every passing minute.

Former commissioner, Kemi Nelson and Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora do not need much introduction as far as APC affairs are concerned. The two have represented the party both at the state and at the federal level. They were also at the forefront of the just concluded presidential election campaign.

To show that they were fully in support of their godfather, Kemi who is the Lagos APC woman leader and Mamora, an ex-lawmaker, were present at the The event that was supposed to start by 1pm colloquium. did not start until 3pm. The hefty bouncers at the venue of the party, did a wonderful job by ensuring the safety and orderliness of guests without harassments. There was however, very strict entry code as one could only gain entrance with an invitation card.

Yemi Cardoso

At the house party

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s special interest in Gov. Babatunde Fashola

Laredo boss shows off new equipments

Celebrant exchanging pleasantries with Islamic Cleric

Not so many people know about the bond that exists between Prof. Osinbajo and Gov. Fashola.

Throughout the event, the duo were together laughSmall chops master, Olanrewaju of Laredo Small ing and chatting without minding who was around or Chops showed class at the birthday party as he within ear shot. showed off the new equipments he just imported from Toronto. Coincidentally, the APC national lead-

Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Kayode Fayemi also made it

The young man who started his small chops business in 1996 with headquarters on Lagos Island, is Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle glad he acquired the equipments, to move his busi- Amosun addressing journalists The current serving and ex-governor of Osun and ness to a higher level.

Ekiti States respectively, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola

All Progressives Congress (APC) Vice President Elect, Professor Yemi Osinbajo

Abba Folawiyo and First Lady, Lagos State, Emmanuella Abimbola Fashola

Photos: Quadri Olowolagba

Daily Times Nigeria

Friday, April 3, 2015

L7 Events

Isaac Oguntoye

Prof. Pat Utomi’s CVL honours Chief Olufolake Solanke and Prof. Itse Sagay

It was double celebrations at the Centre for Values in Leadership as the foundation owned by Prof.

Pat Utomi, rolled out the drums to honour both Chief Olufolake Solanke who is 83 and Prof Itse Sagay who is 74, for their contributions in the legal profession in Nigeria, in a leadership tribute colloquium through its programme, ‘21st CVL Leader without title’. The low-key event which took place on Thursday, March 26th, was well attended by prominent lawyers both home and abroad.

What the ‘Leadership Tribute Colloquium’ is all about According to the founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership, who initaited the Leader Without Title Leadership Tribute Colloquium, Prof. Pat Utomi, the LWT and the Leadership Tribute Colloquium was designed to honour outstanding leaders in various sectors of the economy for their special contributions in the sector they represent, saying, “This programme is in keeping with our commitment to affect the generation’s next-to-be leaders without care for title. It is a honour for people who are 70 years and above who have left a mark worth emulating.”

Guest speakers at the event

The theme for the colloquium or-

ganised for Prof Sagay and Chief Solanke was: The Rule of Law and Nation Building. Panellists were Augustine Oyarekhua Alegeh (SAN), Festus Keyamo, Femi Falana (SAN), Caroline Etuk and Fabian Ajogwu (SAN) while Ebitibi Michael Akeke represented Tony Idigbe (SAN).

Chief Olufolake Solanke’s heartfelt message

Looking radiant in her evening gown, she responded to the heartfelt honour bestowed on her.

“When I received the letter, many but one of them has been touched to dollarize the Nigerian economy forgetting that naira is the legal tender. The Central Bank for the against defaulters. To government, people like Femi Falana and Festus Keyamo are the troublemakers but we appreciate them. And I agree with the panellists that we must all obey the law no matter what the status we have attained”. She later thanked everyone who thought it important to attend.

business for so many decades, commended CVL saying “It is a very important work that CVL has embarked upon, I must tell you.

When I got the letter that I was to be honoured, and I looked at the people who were honoured before me, I felt I was unworthy to be in that class because these are the greatest icons of Nigerian leadership. So, this program is doing a very good job in recognizing this rare species.

Friends, family and associates converged at the reception

After several lectures quoting from the Rule of Law, the celebrants and their invited guests moved straight to the reception which took place in the same building for proper celebration. It was

Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) commends CVL

The septuagenarian who is the managing partner of Itse Sagay & Co and who has been in the legal

Game Solution to last week’s game Catch-Words Solution 01

Stella Odesanya (MFR), Joyce Eza & Emeka Ugwu

A roaring gust of seething brine, A long and mighty sigh.

Falling . . falling . . falling down, Towards the swirling foam.

Through the roll and surface swell, Emerald ocean home.

Then the sound of predators, Closing for the kill.

Hunting bloodied waters,

This week’s game Crossword puzzle

Puzzle Verse Crossword Fit the underlined words correctly into the grid.

Up . . up . . up above, Away from the darkened deep.

Surging up towards the light, In one gigantic leap.

Crashing through the tossing waves, Ocean meets the sky.

Panelists

food and drink.

Mixed Grill

Far, Far, Below

by Duncan MacKellar

Cutting of the Cake by the celebrants

Turn . . turn . . turn again, Still they follow on.

Drifting down below once more, Soon he will be gone.

The rumble of the iron beast, Slowly fades away.

Those who ride upon its back, Curse against the spray.

Down . . down . . down . . down, Here no man will go.

They fear the depth of his domain, Far, far, below.

Mrs Sagay, Ifoma Utomi and Lagos State AttorneyGeneral and CommisChief Olufoluke Solanke & Prof. Itse sioner for Justice, Ade Sagay Ipaye Photos: Quadri Olowolagba

e r e h W ‘N’ hen W Midnite night musical satire @ Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos. April 4th 2015

Gidi Culuture Music Festival @Eko Atlantic, April 4th 2015

Screening of October 1st @LTV 8, April 3rd - 5th, 2015 AY Live concert @Eko Hotels and Suites, April 5th, 2015

Daily Times Nigeria

Friday, April 3, 2015

Showing on

L8 Television

Showing on 102 M-Net Edge

130 MTV

00:10

01:00

Fri, 3 Apr | 16L

Fri, 3 Apr | 18VSNL

‘S26/E3 - 26/3’. Tension among the room-mates is high after Frank brings a guy home and hooks up all over the house. But that’s nothing compared to what happens the next day, when an explosion may send one room-mate packing.

101 M-Net West

00:00 Behind The Scenes: Trash 01:10 Pompeii 01:30 Behind The Scenes: No Good Deed 02:00 Entertainment Now! 04:10 X-Men: Days Of Future Past 05:00 MasterChef Australia 06:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 06:30 The Middle 07:16 The Mentalist 07:30 Behind The Scenes: The Giver 08:30 Chicago Fire 10:30 Mr Peabody And Sherman 11:00 Entertainment Now! 12:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 13:00 MasterChef Australia 14:00 Carte Blanche 15:00 The Blacklist 15:30 Modern Family 16:00 Two And A Half Men 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show

120 BBC Entertainment

118 Telemundo

00:30 Fearless Heart 01:20 The Del Monte Dynasty 02:10 The Impostor 03:00 Aurora 03:50 Fearless Heart 05:20 Labour Of Love 06:10 The Del Monte Dynasty 07:00 Aurora 07:50 Fearless Heart 08:40 Labour Of Love 09:30 The Impostor 10:20 Forbidden Passions 11:10 Aurora 12:00 Fearless Heart 12:50 Labour Of Love 13:40 The Impostor 14:30 Forbidden Passions 15:20 Aurora 16:10 Fearless Heart 17:00 Labour Of Love 17:50 The Impostor 18:40 Forbidden Passions 19:30 Aurora 20:20 Fearless Heart 21:10 Labour Of Love 22:00 The Impostor 22:50 Forbidden Passions 23:14 Aurora

‘S1/E7 - 1/7’. High-octane action pulses through this Emmy nominated drama that follows two Special Agents who conduct risky missions. Section 20 must recover a rogue MI6 agent who is rumoured to be leaking information.

00:00 My Family

07:55 The Weakest Link

00:15 Tough Love

00:15 Top Gear

08:42 The Cube

00:40 Unbeatable Banzuke

01:07 Call The Midwife

01:05 Unbeatable Banzuke

01:59 Come Dine With Me

09:29 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

02:48 EastEnders

10:17 Deal Or No Deal

01:55 Poorman’s Bikini Beach

03:25 The Weakest Link

10:56 My Family

03:20 Pootie Tang

04:10 Top Gear

11:31 Hell’s Kitchen USA

05:02 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series

12:12 Top Gear

04:05 The Smoking Gun Presents: World’s...

13:10 Come Dine With Me

04:30 Unbeatable Banzuke

05:27 QI

14:03 Series TBA

05:00 Unbeatable Banzuke

05:57 Spy

15:12 The Weakest Link

06:25 Code Name: Pheonix

06:22 EastEnders

16:02 EastEnders

06:50 Exposed

07:01 Antiques Roadshow

16:36 Deal Or No Deal

07:35 The Smoking Gun Presents: World’s...

17:30 About A Boy

154 AfricaMagic Family 00:00 Tinsel 00:30 Living With Trisha 01:00 Star Gist 01:30 Making Of A Mogul 02:00 At Home With Michelle Attoh 03:00 Good Morning Africa 04:00 Channel O: Volt 04:30 Channel O: Volt 05:00 The Comedy Club Live In Lagos 06:00 Good Morning Africa 07:00 Star Gist 07:25 President For A Day 08:15 Behind The Scenes: Invasion 08:30 Living With Trisha 09:13 Comedy Club Live In Lagos 2010 10:02 Good Morning Africa 11:00 Tinsel 11:30 Star Gist 12:00 Channel O: Volt 12:30 Channel O: Volt

13:00 At Home With Michelle Attoh 14:00 Through The Eyes Of An African 14:35 53 Extra 15:02 Making Of A Mogul 15:32 Coco Bill 15:46 Coco Bill 16:00 The African Child 16:30 Living With Trisha 17:11 Comedy Club Live In Lagos 2010 18:00 At Home With Joselyn Dumas 19:00 Tinsel 19:31 Star Gist

128 Sony Max

154 AfricaMagic World 0:03 Noose Of Gold 00:33 Good Morning Africa 01:33 The Dzigbordi Show 02:33 Good Morning Africa 03:33 Good Morning Africa 04:34 Noose Of Gold 05:00 Good Morning Africa 06:00 Foot Prints 06:30 Foot Prints 07:00 Star Gist 07:30 Star Gist 08:00 Lies That Bind 08:30 Lies That Bind 09:00 Good Morning Africa 10:00 So Wrong So Wright 10:30 So Wrong So Wright 11:00 Affections

01:30 Guy Code

08:30 Most Shocking 09:25 World’s Wildest Police Chases 09:50 Repo Games 10:50 World’s Wildest Police Videos 11:15 Exposed 11:40 Exposed 12:40 Most Shocking 13:35 Top 20 Countdown: Most Shocking

11:30 Jara 12:02 Jara 12:32 Katemba Mu Kkooti 13:00 Music On Africa Magic 14:00 Noose Of Gold 14:30 Noose Of Gold 15:00 Deception 15:30 Foot Prints 16:00 Foot Prints

14:35 World’s Wildest Police Chases 16:10 My Rebelious Son 17:05 The Smoking Gun Presents: World’s...

18:00 Top 20 Countdown: Most Shocking 19:00 World’s Wildest Police Chases 20:00 Most Shocking 21:00 The Incredible Mr Goodwin

XT Exclusive

AGBIM

OPENS UP ON RANGERS’ X6 RETURN

Poster!

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X4,5 Friday, April 3, 2015

Inter Milan line up ‘big’ money for

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I H S E K , S E S I G O APOL X2

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Friday, April 3, 2015

EXTRATIME

KESHI MAKES DESPERATE

BID TO SAVE JOB

S

tephen Keshi has made a last-ditch attempt to save his job through his agent and brother, Emmanuel Ado, who has insisted the coach is willing to work with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president while also apologising on behalf of Keshi for the failure to qualify Nigeria for the 2015 AFCON. Keshi’s agent Ado in an interview with journalists described the relationship between NFF president Amaju Pinnick and his client as one of mutual respect.

According to him, any perceived problem “whether real or imagined” between them would always be resolved amicably in the interest of the game and the country they both love.

“Keshi has always related well with Amaju as a brother and as chairman of

the Delta State Sports Commission before now. The chairman’s passion and achievements over the years bear eloquent testimony to what he is capable of replicating in his new job at the NFF,” he said.

Ado further described as unfortunate the story in certain newspapers that Keshi called the president of the federation a liar.

Ado also said Keshi was not behind the arrest of former NFF boss Aminu Maigari by security operatives and apologised to the country for the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2015 edition.

On the issue of the NFF reportedly offering his client a “slave contract”, Ado explained that he was the one who made the statement in the context of reports

Keshi that “Keshi was going to sign the contract without negotiations”.

“I made that statement that Keshi will not sign the contract until he has made an input. That contracts are not take it or leave it documents. And that only a slave has no say when his destiny is being decided,” he said.

Ado confirmed that they have been vindicated by the federation’s meeting with them and issues that the federation and Keshi had reservations about were thrashed out.

Kehinde Soyoye

N

igeria Powerlifting Federation has called on government to assist in the development of the sport by sponsoring its events.

The Secretary of the federation, Mr. Ademola Aderoju, revealed this in an interview with Extra Time in Lagos.

He said Team Nigeria athletes will soon commence preparations ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic qualifiers.

Aderoju also added that the list of some athletes to be invited to camp includes Alexandra Agboola, Waheed Kareem Olayinka, Toyin Adetunji and others.

Meanwhile, one of the athletes invited to camp, Waheed Kareem Adeyinka said

Powerlifting Federation tasks govt on sponsorship they are ready to make the country proud if they make the final list.

“I’ve won so many medals in my previous competitions both in and outside the country.

“We are fully prepared to face the world at the Olympics because we know that we have the potentials to win medals,” he assured.

Premiership Fixtures Saturday, April 4, 2015

English Premier League Arsenal v Liverpool Everton v Southampton Leicester v West Ham Man. Utd v Villa Swansea v Hull City West Brom v QPR Chelsea v Stoke City

Friday, April 3, 2015

EXTRATIME

Federation Watch

X3

With Osaretin Emuze Some African runners in action at the Okpekpe International 10km Road Race

T

FOREIGN

ATHLETES ARRIVE EARLY FOR

OKPEKPE

RACE

AAG: Ahmed

vows to involve more NBA players

T

to you that the international athletes will be arriving from May 14,” he stated.

The former African long jumper confirmed that they have contacted the best marathoners across the globe for the Okpekpe mini marathon that has taken the world of athletics by storm.

“Because of our plans for the race, we have contacted some top long distance runners across the continent, while some others have also signified their interest to participate in the one day race,’ he said.

On the performance of some of the country’s athletes at the Splash FM Integrity Race in Ibadan, the 1990 Commonwealth Games gold medallist said it was a welcome development.

He however said the target of the organiser, Padmodzi, was to see in the nearest future a citizen of the Okpekpe community representing Nigeria at the Olympics in long distance races.

NCF boss wins House of Reps seat

D’Tigers against China at the 2013 Stankovic Cup

he coast is now clear for the Team Nigeria Basketball team, D’Tigers, to defend both the All Africa Games (AAG) gold it won four years ago in Mozambique and the elusive AfroBasket tourney, as the national basketball coach, Sanni Ahmed, has vowed to involve more NBA players in the competition.

Ahmed, who led the team to qualify for the two tourneys at the expense of Burkina Faso said he would involve more NBA players to prosecute the two tournaments.

He said only two players were used in the qualifiers, but the numbers will rise because they want the best for the AAG/

op athletes have signified their intention to arrive early for this year’s 10-kilometre Okpekpe Race holding in Edo State on May 16.

Extra Time investigation revealed that top international marathoners from Kenyan Ethiopia, Morocco and other parts of the world are planning to arrive early in the country in order to get acclimatised.

Over $75,000 price money has been earmarked for this year’s race by the organisers.

Coordinator of the annual Okpekpe 10km Road Race, Yusuf Alli, corroborated the story but quickly added that the international athletes will be arriving the country from May 14 ahead of the race scheduled for May 16.

“All the athletes penciled down for the race have confirmed their participation and will be coming in from May 14. We are going to intensify preparation immediately after the national election and I can confirm

AfroBasket tournaments.

The image-maker of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Patrick Omorodion confirmed what the coach said and expressed optimism that D’Tigers will strive hard to retain the gold medal they won in the last edition of the AAG held in Mozambique four years ago.

“Despite the fact that majority of the players we used were home-based, we still qualified for the AfroBasket and AAG. By the time we have a complete team and the foreign professionals, the sky will be our limit,” he emphasised.

Nigeria sealed qualification to the 2015 FIBA AfricaBasket Championship in Tunisia and the AAG in Congo Brazzaville with a 63-50 victory over Burkina Faso in the 2nd Leg of the qualifiers at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National stadium in Surulere, Lagos.

D’Tigers who won the 1st leg by 23

points in Ouagadougou jumped off the starting block in style, in front of the ecstatic Lagos crowd with an 8 points lead in the 1st quarter with the score line at 18-10 points.

According Femi Adefeso, Basketball media coordinator, ‘It was a tougher game for the host after the break as the Burkinabes’ gave a tough fight in the 2nd half winning both the 3rd and 4th quarters 15-14 and 18-17 points respectively.

Nigeria now joins 13 other qualified countries -Angola, Egypt, Cote d’ Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali, Morocco, Uganda, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Gabon, Congo and host Tunisia- for her 17th appearance at FIBA Africa Championship built for the cities of Nabuel and Hammamet, Tunisia from the August 2030, 2015 vis-a-vis the 11th All African Games scheduled for September 4-19th in Congo Brazzaville.

P

resident of the Nigeria Cycling Federation (NCF), Alhaji Mohammad Nur Sheriff, has won a seat into the Federal House of Representatives from Kata Badge Ngala and Bama constituency of Borno State under the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket.

Mohammed Bashir, the Technical Director of the Federation, told Extra Time that the president promised to use his position to improve

the fortune of cycling in Nigeria.

“My president has just been elected into the House of Representatives in last Saturday’s general elections.

“We at the Federation are happy and have sent him a congratulatory message,” he said.

Speaking after his success in the election, the NCF boss said, the victory was to all especially the cycling family and promised to take cycling to greater heights.

Volleyball: Nigeria will qualify for AAG, says Gumel

T

he President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), Engineer Habu Gumel, has expressed great optimism that Nigeria male and female volleyball teams will qualify for the next All Africa Games (AAG) holding in Congo Brazzaville in September this year.

Speaking with Extra Time, the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) President said, all hands were on deck to

see that Nigeria volleyball teams qualify for the AAG. He said the teams have crossed the first huddle by qualifying from the first stages of the qualifiers.

“The Federation is waiting for the draws for the second round of the qualifiers to know the country we are playing. As soon we know our opponents, the boys and girls will be camped for proper monitoring,” he said.

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney October 24, 1985 (age 29) Croxteth, Liverpool, England 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) Forward Manchester United 10

Everton

Everton Manchester United

England U-15 England U-17 England U-19 England

Name: Full name: Date of birth: Place of birth: Height: Playing position: Current team: Number:

Youth career 1996–2002:

Senior career 2002–2004: 2004–Present:

National team 2000–2001: 2001–2002: 2002–2003: 2003–Present:

PERSONAL INFORMATION

”

Football is made up of all kinds of conflict. In a dressing room, between players, between us and the manager, between us and loads of people who don’t seem to matter. It’s constant and harsh sometimes.

—Wayne Rooney

Pulling on your country’s shirt is the greatest honour a footballer can have. It’s what I always dreamed of as a kid and I get a buzz every time.

I just hate losing and that gives you an extra determination to work harder.

WAYNE ROONEY

“

QUOTES BY

X4

EXTRATIME

Friday, April 3, 2015

ROONEY

WAYNE

Wayne Mark Rooney, born October 24, 1985, is an English professional footballer who plays for and captains both Manchester United and the England national team. He has played much of his career as a forward, but he has also been used in various midfield roles.

Aged nine, Rooney joined the youth team of Everton, for whom he made his professional debut in 2002 at the age of 16. He spent two seasons at the Merseyside club, before moving to Manchester United for £25.6 million in the 2004 summer transfer window.

Since then, with Rooney in the team, United have won the Premier League five times, the UEFA Champions League once, the FIFA Club World Cup once and the League Cup twice.

In September 2013, Rooney scored his 200th goal for United. He is currently on 229 goals, making him the club’s third-highest goalscorer of all time.

Rooney made his senior international debut in February 2003, aged 17, becoming the youngest player to represent England (a record since broken by Theo Walcott) and he is England’s youngest ever goalscorer. He played at UEFA Euro 2004 and scored four goals, briefly becoming the youngest goalscorer in the history of the European Championship. Rooney has since featured at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups and is widely regarded as his country’s best player.

He has won the England Player of the Year award three times, in 2008, 2009 and 2014. As of March 2015, he has won 103 international caps and scored 47 goals, making him England’s ninth most-capped player and third-highest goalscorer in history.

About Wayne Rooney

Friday, April 3, 2015

EXTRATIME

X5

X6

Friday, April 3, 2015

EXTRATIME

NPFL League on hold for FA Cup, resumes April 19

M

atch Day 4 fixtures of the Glo Premier League scheduled for this weekend has been postponed to Sunday, April 19.

A statement from the office of the Chief Operating Officer of the League Management Company (LMC), Salihu Abubakar, said the games have been rescheduled, sequel to the directive of the Nigeria Football Federation fixing all States’ FA Cup finals for this weekend of April 4 and 5.

Abubakar also said the rescheduling would allow the players and club officials participate fully in the on-going national election and also allow clubs on continental engagements focus on reaching the next stage of their various competitions.

“All Match Day 4 fixtures will now hold on Sunday, April 19, and we will release the date for Match Day 5 fixtures in due time,” Abubakar stated.

With Mike Otanwa

AGBIM

OPENS UP ON

Agbim

RANGERS’ RETURN G

oalkeeper Chigozie Agbim is in talks to return to Enugu Rangers, according to reports.

The home-based Eagles skipper has opened discussions with Rangers General Manager Paul Chibuzor and Team Manager Innocent Abana over a return to ‘The Flying Antelopes’.

A top club source said that the player’s move could be finalised before the end of this week.

The 30-year-old goalkeeper first featured for Rangers between 2006 and 2009.

Two seasons ago, Agbim made a sensational return to Rangers from Warri Wolves.

Agbim, who has also played for Al Merriekh of Sudan, is now a free agent after he quit relegated Gombe United at the end of the past season.

Rangers reach 3SC players celebrate after scoring a goal

3SC will bounce back, Olabiyi assures

3

SC midfielder Rasheed Olabiyi has backed his team to bounce back to winning ways in the league after a shaky start to the topflight.

The former Enyimba player said it was too early to write off 3SC, as they will come through as the league gathers momentum.

“It is true that we lost our first two games of the season which was so painful, but that’s football. That does not mean we are a bad team. I strongly believe that we will get it right and do well this season,” he said.

He also revealed why he joined 3SC despite interests from bigger clubs some of who are campaigning on the continent.

“I just decided to follow my heart, and I’m very happy to come back home and play on my soil,” he said.

Fed Cup final after late rally

NPFL TABLE Odah Onoriode (right) celebrates late winner for Rangers with his team mates

E

nugu Rangers had to wait for a late rally to overcome non-league side F B F FC 2-1 and qualify for the final of the 2015 Enugu State Federation Cup. Rangers will now battle in the final, with another nonleague side, Samba F.C, who defeated F.C Inter by a lone goal in an earlier semifinal played at the same venue.

Coach Kelechi Emeteole said after the encounter: “It was very tough. We nearly paid the price for some slack defending.

“Thank God we were able to come back and earn a win that

is well deserved.”

Obinna Gerald had silenced the Rangers supporters who had thronged the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium to watch the encounter with a well-taken goal on 29 minutes after a loss of concentration by the Rangers backline.

The amateurs were the better team as their fluidity in the middle of the park, where Ekene Nwaobosi, Ekene Akalazu and Ezionye Chinedu held sway ahead of their much experienced players fielded by Coach Kelechi Emeteole.

With the game almost running out of their grasp,

Rangers bench threw in Chisom Egbuchulam and Odah Onoriode and their impact was immediate as the sleek moves of Chisom was too much for the opponents’ defence.

A well-taken spot kick on 80 minutes by Chisom after a defender was adjudged to have handled the ball in the vital area, drew Rangers level, while a quick interchange of passes between the trio of Chisom Egbuchulam, Ousmane Pape Sane and Dada Bitrus released Onoriode to fire in the winning goal on 87th minute to the huge relief of the Premier League side.

Team

P

W

D

L

Pts

1

Taraba

3

2

1

0

7

2

Heartland

2

2

0

0

6

3

El-Kanemi

3

2

0

1

6

4

Gabros Utd

3

2

0

1

6

5

Kwara Utd

3

1

2

0

5

6

Enyimba

3

1

2

0

5

7

Wikki Tourists 3

1

1

1

4

8

Sharks FC

3

1

1

1

4

9

Sunshine Stars 3

1

1

1

4

10

Abia Warriors

3

1

1

1

4

11

Giwa FC

3

1

1

1

4

12

Kano Pillars

1

1

0

0

3

13

Warri Wolves

2

1

0

1

3

14

Lobi Stars

3

0

3

0

3

15

Rangers

3

1

0

2

3

16

Nasarawa

3

1

0

2

3

17

Dolphins

2

0

1

1

1

18

Akwa Utd

3

0

1

2

1

19

Bayelsa Utd

3

0

1

2

1

20

Shooting Stars

2

0

0

2

0

Friday, April 3, 2015

EXTRATIME

X7

Golf

McIlroy

Serena

R Tennis

A N E R SE IN THE

S

erena Williams has admitted she did not know that victory over Sabine Lisicki at the Miami Open was her 700th career triumph.

The 33-year-old booked her spot in the semifinals of the Masters 1000 event with a hardfought win over the German.

Having taken the opening set with ease, the American ace lost her way in the second and committed 17 unforced errors as the 2011 Wimbledon finalist levelled affairs.

But the Florida resident rallied in the decider to run out a 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-3 winner in Key Biscayne.

In doing so, the 19-time Grand Slam winner brought up her 700th singles victory in an illustrious career but confessed to being oblivious to the milestone.

“I had no idea,” she said. “I saw them bringing out a cake and I thought, ‘Whose birthday is it today?’ But I really had no idea about it, so I’m really excited right now.”

Meanwhile last year’s French Open finalist Simona Halep beat rising US star Sloane Stephens 6-1, 7-5 in an hour and 15 minutes to set up a last-four encounter with Williams.

Tennis

Murray

faces Berdych in Miami semis

A

ndy Murray will face Tomas Berdych in the Miami Open semi-finals after beating Austria’s Dominic Thiem.

The 27-year-old Scot lost the opening set to world number 36 Thiem, but rallied to secure a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win.

Murray will face Czech Berdych for the first time

targets Masters’ glory

ory McIlroy believes it is ‘unthinkable’ that he will not win the Masters at some point to complete the career grand slam.

And the world number one has revealed how his final-round collapse at Augusta National in 2011 was the most important day of his career.

McIlroy is looking to claim his first green jacket and become just the sixth player to win all four major titles after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

“For me now it’s a career-long goal to win there to achieve something that only a handful of players have ever achieved,” the 25-year-old said.

R E V O K R A D

CAREER RECORD

since winning January’s tense Australian Open semi-final.

Third seed Murray, who reached the quarter-finals with a 500th career victory, over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, made a sluggish start in his first meeting with 21-year-old Thiem.

In the second set, Murray capitalised on a couple of unforced errors after Thiem battled back from 3-0 down to level at 4-4, and the Briton dropped only one game in the final set.

“I was getting myself into break-point positions and it is a fine line between going for winners and trying to finish the point and making your opponent

Boxing

xx

MAYWEATHER, PACQUIAO

play.

“Being a good match player is understanding when to go for your shots and when to back off a little bit,” he said.

Eighth seed Berdych beat Argentine Juan Monaco 6-3 6-4 in his quarter-final.

Murray and Berdych’s Australian Open semi-final was punctuated by an exchange of words in the first set, which Murray lost before winning in four.

Murray, whose ex-coach Dani Vallverdu works with Berdych, also defended his fiancee Kim Sears after the match for an apparent outburst aimed at Berdych’s team.

I

PPV to cost $99

n a few week to come, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will meet in the fight everyone wanted five years ago, as the Pay Per View (PPV) is expected to cost $99.

HBO and Showtime are deep into negotiations with distributors to carry the May 2 fight.

Under the terms being discussed, the fight will be sold for $99 for a highdefinition feed and $89 for standard definition, both of which are record prices.

The previous high was $74.95 for high-definition and $64.95 for standard.

That’s a lot of money! But, then, this is a very big fight. The biggest fight boxing has been able to offer in 18 years—or at least the one with the most mainstream appeal.

Even with the price tag, it’s expected to shatter PPV and gate records, and according to the Associated Press, Floyd Mayweather’s share of the purse could be $180 million.

Mayweather Pacquiao

X8

Friday, April 3, 2015

EXTRATIME

EXTRATIME

MANCHESTER CITY

Inter line up ‘big’ money for

I

nter Milan boss Roberto Mancini is reportedly lining up a big money move for Manchester City‘s midfield powerhouse Yaya Toure and, according to report, Inter are willing to pay £43.5m for the 31-year-old Ivorian.

Toure is yet to sign a new deal with Man City and it is looking increasingly more likely that he could move on this summer, with Mancini interested in

acquiring the services of his former player once again.

Mancini has claimed that Inter will be dipping into the transfer market this summer in order to strengthen the squad.

“Some change will happen next year. We have a chance to take a top player because we are Inter, a top team and we have to fight for the title,” he

TOURE

enthused.

Toure’s contract doesn’t expire until 2017, so he won’t come cheaply but Mancini wants a world-class star to help the Nerazzurri take a step towards regaining their European status and bringing success back to the club.

have anchester City aul erh ov what it takes to ir the ain ret Chelsea and to ng rdi co ac e, Premier League titl ger Alan Pardew. na ma e lac Pa l sta Cry ll find themThe champions wi d Chelsea if hin be s selves nine point e Stoke City on the leaders overcom nuel Pellegrini’s Saturday, with Ma

M

Toure

til Monday’s trip men not in action un to Selhurst Park. the battle for But Pardew reckons ch on, parmu ry ve ll the trophy is sti fact that City’s ticularly in light of the hs were only setwo top-flight triump y. cured on the final da y have fantastic Cit an “M id: He sa in decline, they players. They aren’t

as they have inwill continue to grow . credible finance ver over, when “The title race is ne to the last secthey won it, it went take a victory at onds but they won’t nted.

Selhurst Park for gra their money “Man City have used players in the d an well, the facilities t.” tha of n tio lec their team is a ref

N A C CITYWIN EPL

TITLE

W E D R A P –Pellegrini Pardew

NPFL TABLE

aims for winning run

M

anuel Pellegrini admits Manchester City have to win all of their remaining games if they are to stay in with a chance to win the Premier League title.

City have a total of eight games remaining in their campaign as they aim to finish top, but currently have Chelsea sitting above them and Arsenal, finishing the season strongly, chasing behind.

Pellegrini’s side face Crystal Palace on Monday night and the Chilean is focusing all his attention on that game.

“If we want to continue in first position of the table we must not drop any more points,” he said.

“It’s easy to say but not easy to do it.

We just know that from now until the end of the season we must try to win all the games and we will see what we can do.”

Pellegrini expects to have a fullstrength squad for the Monday night match against Crystal Palace, albeit with ‘maybe some small problems’ as a result of players’ international commitments.

Pellegrini

Team

P

GD

Pts

1

Chelsea

29

36

67

2

Man City

30

34

61

3

Arsenal

30

27

60

4

Man Utd

30

25

59

5

Liverpool

30

12

54

6

So'ton

30

21

53

7

Tottenham

30

5

53

8

Swansea

30

-4

43

9

West Ham

30

3

42

10

Stoke

30

-3

42

11

C Palace

30

-5

36

12

Newcastle

30

-15

35

13

Everton

30

-4

34

14

W Brom

30

-12

33

15

Hull City

30

-12

28

16

A Villa

30

-20

28

17

S'land

30

-21

26

18

Burnley

30

-23

25

19

QPR

30

-23

22

20

Leicester

29

-21

19

Confusion at City, as fans split

I

t’s a confusing time for Manchester City fans at the moment. Clearly, this season has been below par and there’s a palpable sense of disappointment that comes with it, especially when compared to the expectations at the beginning of the campaign.

Yet that’s a feeling directly at odds with the realisation that the club is more than lucky to have been twice champions of England, given their very recent struggles.

To think that the lowest-ever point in the side’s history came just 15 years ago when they were languishing in Division Two, it’s extraordinary the amount of honours the club has won.

Of course, it couldn’t have been done without the financial backing of Sheikh Mansour, but that’s a criticism of how football’s elite has gradually cut itself off more than anything else.