Dtn 19-5-15

NSE GAINERS AND LOSERS AS AT 17th May 2015.

EXCHANGE RATES AS AT 18th May 2015.

Currency

Buying(NGN)

Central (NGN)

GAINERS

Selling(NGN)

LOSERS

US DOLLAR

196

196.5

197

FO

189

15.77

8.34%

CAP

41

-2.00

-4.88%

POUNDS STERLING

307.132

307.9155

308.699

TOTAL

156.9

6.90

4.40%

CUSTODYINS

4

-0.17

-4.25%

6.24

-0.14

-2.24%

34.9

-0.10

-0.29%

EURO

223.3812

223.9511

224.5209

GUINNESS

158.5

3.50

2.21%

VITAFOAM

SWISS FRANC

212.9509

213.4941

214.0374

PRESCO

32.55

2.55

7.83%

FLOURMILL

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NIGERIA

ABUJA Low 25°C High 41°C

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TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2015 VOL. 1. NO.109

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Supreme Court stops sale of oil blocks Monday Agu Jnr ƄƑƉ

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ÏÏÏA legal block was on

Monday put by the Supreme Court to the planned sale of three oil blocks, a day the country learnt of a fresh huge crude find.

A five-man panel of the Supreme Court ordered that the status quo ante bellum be maintained in plans by the Chevron conglomerate to sell Oil Mining Leases 52, 53 and 55 to an oil firm, Seplat Petroleum Development CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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Niger Delta wants resource control

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ÏÏÏNiger

Delta militants may be preparing for a new round of violent agitations, going by the posturing of one CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

3

Politics Page Three Æ s Editorial Honour for citizen Josephine Ugwu

I

t is not all the time that Nigerians get to hear of honest people in their midst. In fact, honesty is a world that rarely comes up in any conversation among Nigerians. There is a pervading belief that to succeed in the Nigerian society, one must embrace dishonesty as a way of life. Moreso, society will taunt and frown at anyone seen as meek, diligent and ill -disposed to corruption and other fraudulent practices.

This negative attitude at building civic ethos that edify honesty and patriotism is a consequence of the obscene display of wealth by an immoral few whose means of livelihood are not only opaque but also questionable. In fact, a general notion is that honesty does not pay in Nigeria, that only fools and anyone willing to be a dreg of the society would toe the path of honour in the midst of such monumental national perversion.

That is why we are joining millions of Nigerians in congratulating Ms. Josephine Ugwu, who was recently honoured for honesty with ‘Citizens Responsibility Recognition’ award by the Federal Government.

Ms. Ugwu, a cleaner working for a concessionaire with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Patviliki Industrial Cleaning was celebrated for returning N12million found at the Lagos Airport toilet. Such display of honesty has continued to be a topic of discussions across the country.

Reason for the interest is that her action is very rare among Nigerians, especially when Ms. Ugwu’s salary is a miserly N7, 800 per month in compari-

son with the jumbo sum she returned.

It is even more bewildering that she did so out of good conscience and patriotism without prompting from anyone.

It would be recalled that not long ago, a taxi driver in Abuja returned large sums of money found in his vehicle. In recognition for such patriotic act, he was also honoured by the Federal Government.

We are therefore calling on Nigerians to emulate such good examples of character and discipline in their daily lives, as that would help restore the country’s image, especially among foreigners who erroneously believe that Nigeria is home to only crooks and fraudsters. It is left to the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to leverage on this patriotic act and educate Nigerians on the need to be honest while going about their daily callings.

Sadly, Nigeria’s lack of development in spite of the munificent revenue from crude oil sales in the past 57 years is traceable to the culture of dishonesty pervading all facets of national life.

The monumental corruption, especially among the political elite and top government functionaries is responsible for the lack of patriotism and even willingness of ordinary Nigerian to engage in all manner of shenanigans to get rich quick. The action of Ms. Ugwu therefore serves to underline the fact that good name is more than filthy riches. We are calling on the Federal Government to go further by offering her a permanent employment. That would go a long way in encouraging others to emulate her example.

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Unnecessary fixation on Rivers’ poll Sam Nzeh

ÏÏÏThat the Peoples Demo-

cratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) both engaged in electoral malpractice during the last general election is an obvious fact. What is irritating is the fixation of the APC on the outcome of the poll in one out of the 36 states of the federation. That state is Rivers.

Just last week, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), the president-elect and presidential candidate of the party in the poll singled out Rivers State, vowing that he would neither forgive nor forget those behind the electoral fraud and violence witnessed in the state as if elec-

tions in other states were fraud and violence-free.

He was on Sunday joined by the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, who during a church service in Port Harcourt, the state capital, also vowed to bring to book perpetrators of electoral fraud and violence in the state during the elections.

It is good that both Buhari and Amaechi have vowed to deal with those behind the alleged electoral fraud and violence in Rivers State during the polls, but they should be reminded that their party, just like the PDP which they seek to crucify, also committed varying degrees of electoral fraud and violence in states other than Rivers.

This, they should admit, and stop making it appear as if it was only in Rivers State that electoral fraud and violence took place during the

Words On Marble :

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polls.

So, enough of this fixation on Rivers State. Both the APC and PDP cannot in clear conscience swear that they did not engage in electoral fraud and violence during the polls in all states of the federation, Rivers State inclusive.

Therefore, they should to allow the judiciary to adjudicate on all cases brought with respect to the outcome of the polls not only in Rivers State but also all others.

Beyond this, there is the need to further reform the nation’s electoral laws to make it difficult for elections to be manipulated. There is also the need to make public office less attractive such that candidates and their parties find no need to spend outrageous amounts during elections which they hope to recoup once in office.

STATEMENTS BY THOSE WHO MATTER

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Publisher

Fidelis Anosike

Group Managing Director

Editor, Standard, Archives and Special projects

Associate Editors

Tunji Okegbola

Isime Esene Remi Ogunkoya

Chief Commercial Officer

Editorial Director

Group News Editor

Group Managing Editor

Deputy Editors

Editorial Page Editor

Noel Anosike

Doyin Awomosu

Gabriella Osamor

Editor

Yinka Olujimi

Chude Jideonwo Yemi Ogunsola Sam Nzeh

Acting Bureau Chief, Northern Operations Lateef Ibrahim

Segun Adio Okay Osuji

Sports Editor

Andrew Ekejiuba

Head of Operations Innocent Nwankwo

Online Editor

Adetayo Adelaja

Business Editor

Emmanuel Ogbonnaya

Head ICT (Shared Services) Banjo Ayorinde

Head Graphics King Ododoru

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.

Amilcar Cabral

John Quincy Adams

Theodore Roosevelt

Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures.

Claim no easy victories...

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

News 4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

EFCC docks Sylva again

ÏÏÏFormer Bayelsa State Governor

and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Timipre Sylva was re-arraigned on before Justice Evoh Chukwu of the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged financial misdeed put at N2.45 billion.

Sylva, who was alleged to have committed the offence between October 2009 and February 2010 while in office as governor, pleaded not guilty to the six-count charge preferred against him.

Similar charges against him are pending before Justice Ahmed Mohammed also of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The former Governor had earlier pleaded not guilty to the Monday’s six counts when he was first arraigned for the offences before Justice Adamu Bello (retd) on June 5, 2012.

With the retirement of Justice Bello, the trial had to start de novo, hence the re-arraignment before Justice Chukwu on Monday.

In the charge sheet, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo, accused Sylva of converting various sums belonging to the state with the aim of concealing their illicit origins.

He was also accused of inducing Union Bank Plc to fraudulently grant him a N2bn overdraft facility under the pretext of using the money to aug-

ment workers’ salary.

He offences were allegedly committed in conspiracy with other unnamed persons who were said to be at large.

The anti-graft agency alleged that on January 22, 2010, the former Governor converted the sum of N380m, property of Bayelsa State Government, “through the account of one Habibu Sani Maigidia, a Bureau De Change Operator with Account No. 221433478108, in Fin Bank Plc, which sum you knew represented the proceeds of an illegal act with the aim of concealing the nature of the proceeds of the said illegal act.”

Count 3 read that the former governor converted N50m belonging to his state “through the account of one Enson Benmer Limited with Account No. 6152030001946, in First Bank Plc, which sum you knew represented the proceeds of an illegal act with the aim of concealing the nature of the proceeds of the said illegal act.”

Count 4 alleges that the accused, on January 5, 2010, converted the sum of N20m belonging to Bayelsa State, “through the account of one John Daukoru with Account No. 04800250000418, in United Bank of Africa Plc, which sum you knew represented the proceeds of an illegal act with the aim of concealing the nature of the proceeds of the said illegal act.”

EFCC said the offence in Count 1 is contrary to provisions of Section 17(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition Act), 2004 and the offences in Counts 2 to 4 are said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 14(1) of the same Act. In counts 5 and 6, the former governor was accused of conspiring with others to induce Union Bank Plc and actually inducing the bank “with the intent to defraud, to grant an overdraft facility of the sum of N2bn under the false pretence of using the amount to augment salaries of the Bayelsa State Government workers.”

The conspiracy offence in count 5 is said to be contrary to provisions of section 8(a) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act 2004 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act. After the arraignment on Monday, Justice Chukwu granted bail to Sylva in the conditions and terms previously granted by the former trial judge.

The oral bail application by Sylva’s lawyer, Israel Olorundare (SAN), was not opposed by the prosecuting counsel from Keyamo’s law firm, Mr. John Ainetor.

Ainetor had only urged the court to grant the bail if it was willing to do so in terms that would secure the availability of the accused person in court.

The court fixed May 25 for commencement of trial.

Dokubo-Asari beats war drums Continued from page 1 of their outspoken leaders, Alhaji Mujahid Abubakar Dokubo-Asari, at the weekend.

Dokubo-Asari, leader of the Niger Delta People Salvation Front (NDPSF), gave indication that the scheduled exit of President Goodluck Jonathan from federal power on May 29 would lift what he called “restraining order” for the next phase of struggle in the oil-bearing region.

He spoke at the annual Major Isaac Adaka Boro Memorial Public Event convened by his spokesman, Rex Ekiugbo Anighoro.

Dokubo-Asari said that outgoing President Jonathan had been the one mitigating the moves for the struggle for self-determination in the Niger Delta region, adding that with a new government emerging in Nigeria, the next phase of the struggle would also begin.

President Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta, lost his reelection bid to Major General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Katsina State, in the March 28 general

election. He is billed to hand over for a new government on May 29.

Dokubo-Asari said that Jonathan’s exit from the saddle would “revoke” the “restraining order” on Niger Delta militants who had suspended their struggle for selfdetermination and resource control since one of their sons was in power.

Henceforth, they will restart the struggle in the region, he said, adding however, that the people of the region were awaiting the Buhari administration to draw the “first blood”.

He said: ‘’Yes, a new government begins in Nigeria and a next phase of our struggle shall begin. Also Jonathan Goodluck Presidency was like a restraining order. Now, that the restraint is lifted. However, we will watch and wait. Let them draw the first blood and we shall determine our best way forward.”

He added: “Truly Nigeria will never be the same again. The future is pregnant.”

Dokubo-Asari stated that it remained clear that the APC, as currently constituted and by the posturing of its key members, is “an enemy party determined to murder the remnants of the Niger Delta

struggle.”

He continued: ‘’Should Buhari, who like Pharaoh has determined in his heart to turn desolate the Niger Delta region, draw the first blood by undermining certain interest of the region, begin the systemic arrest, maiming and murder of our comrades, continue the confiscation of our rights to self-determination and treat the region as a conquered region, then it may be honourable for some of us to die in prison or in the field of war as nobody is afraid of him.”

He also berated some self-styled ‘Generals’ of the Niger Delta struggle whom he said had proven more than ever that they were “petty penny merchants” as according to him, they had fled the battlefield even before the first fire of the gun, desperately negotiating to be accommodated in Buhari’s government as “field slaves”.

Dokubo-Asari called on Niger Delta youths to wake up and be ready for the days ahead, noting that the existence and survival of the Niger Delta People rest with them.

“Let it be known that we were not Continued on page 6

J O N AT H A N

A LEGACY OF REFORMS May 29 this year will be epochal in the chequered history of Nigeria and its years of social engineering. That day, the country will turn a new page as President Goodluck Jonathan leaves office a hero, with a bag-load of legacies.

He leaves legacies for which the nation will eternally remain grateful.

These include electoral reforms, giant strides in the economy, particularly the automotive and agricultural sectors, as well as infrastructure.

As Nigeria’s newspaper of record, the Daily Times will on May 29 publish a special report to put the Jonathan enigma in proper perspectives, highlighting the significance of the handing over from one political party to another, as well as the innumerable giant strides of his outgoing administration.

To participate in the ground-breaking event, kindly contact: OLUYINKA OLUJIMI, Editor: 08033009648, y2olujimi@yahoo.com IFEANYI EMEFU, Special Projects: 08086296714, ifeanyi642001@yahoo.com

Supreme Court stops sale of oil blocks

Continued from page 1

Company Limited.

The planned sale is being challenged another company, BrittaniaU Limited, which is laying claims to the oil blocks.

The Court of Appeal had in a ruling set aside an order of interlocutory injunction, restraining Chevron and Seplat from proceeding with the sale.

The five-man panel of the apex court, presided over by Justice Tanko Muhammad, on Monday ordered a stay of action pending the determination of the appellant’s appeal.

The appellant’s lawyer, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN), had earlier reminded the court that the appellant’s application for mandatory injunction at the last sitting on March 24, 2015, was adjourned till Monday for hearing.

But Damian Dodo (SAN), counsel for Seplat, urged the court to entertain the main appeal, and leave interlocutory matters.

Dodo’s submission was supported by the counsel for Chevron Nigeria and BNP Paribas Securities Corp, Uche Nwoye (SAN), as well as the counsel of Chevron U.S.A Inc and Mr. Hermant Patel (also a

respondent in the suit), Mr. A. V. Etuwewe.

In his response, Tarfa told the court that it was necessary to hear his application for mandatory injunction as there might be nothing to benefit from the appeal if an injunction to protect the subject matter of the suit was not issued.

Justice Muhammad thereafter asked the respondents’ counsel if they were ready to give undertaking on behalf of their clients not to take any action against the subject matter.

In its unanimous decision, the apex court, then ordered parties to maintain the status quo pending the outcome of the appeal, which it adjourned for hearing till October 6.

Justice Muhammad ruled: “Parties in the matter are ordered to maintain status quo. No party is allowed to take any step that will affect the res (subject matter) of the appeal”.

Meanwhile, Oyo-8, an oil well owned by an Ibadan-Oyo State born multibillionaire who is based in the United States, Dr. Kaase Lawal, on Monday announced that it had struck oil in large quantities.

Continued on page 6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

APC holds forum on policy direction for new govt Augustine Aminu Abuja

ÏÏÏAhead of the May 29th inau-

guration of the new government led by the All Progressives Congres (APC), the roadmap for the policy direction of the Muhammodu Buhari-led administration would be unveiled at a two-day Policy Dialogue in Abuja on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Policy dialogue themed: “Implementing Change: From Vision to Reality” is being organised by the Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

A statement in Abuja on Monday by the Deputy Head of the

Directorate and former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said Buhari would declare open the dialogue which would be chaired by Vice President-elect, Prof. Yemi Osibajo (SAN).

Former British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, is the keynote speaker at the dialogue where input to the roadmap for the actualisation of the policies of the incoming administration would be made by experts drawn from different fields and members of the public.

Abdullahi identified the core areas of focus in the two-day dialogue to include the economy, governance, job creation and Se-

curity in line with the APC manifestoes for change.

He added that topics for discussion include: “Improving the National Economy for Shared Prosperity; “Repositioning Agriculture for Job Creation and Economic Prosperity”; “Developing Infrastructure for National Development”; “Achieving Sustainable Reforms on Oil/Gas Sector”; “Reducing Inequality and Achieving Sustainable Human Development”; “Achieving Holistic and Sustainable Reforms in the Education Sector”; “Developing and Education System Relevant to Nigeria’s Developmental Aspiration”; “Achieving Qualitative and Affordable Healthcare”

Alleged money-laundering: Aregbesola’s son demands fresh apology

Aregbesola

Sodiq Adekunle Osogbo

ÏÏÏKabiru, the first son of Osun

State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has asked a national daily (not Daily Times) to re-publish the apology written to retract a story alleging that he was arrested for money-laundering at the Murtala Muhammed International Air-

port, Lagos.

The national daily on Friday, May 15, 2015 carried a story titled “Controversy Trails Aregbesola Son’s Alleged Arrest.

Kabiru, while rejecting the apology through his counsel, Bashiru Ajibola, said the apology was not directed to him.

Through the publication, Kabiru alleged that his reputation has been injured and reduced in the eye of the public as a moneylaunderer.

He, therefore, demanded that new apology should be published in two national newspapers within seven days.

Kabiru’s counsel also complained that the circulation of the apology was limited to the tabloid without the on-line portal.

The statement read, “We are not unaware of the belated half-hearted apology in your Vanguard edition of Saturday 16th May, 2015 in

an obscure location. The said apology fell short of the remedy for the damage which your publication had caused our client.”

Also, the Osun State Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa has been asked to retract and tender unreserved apology within seven days.

The counsel added: “It may also interest you to know that our client has never been arrested anywhere in the country or outside the country for any offence since he was born. Our client is a young professional with a brilliant career. However, your orchestrated lie had reduced the image of our client in the estimation of every right thinking member of the public.

“It has also injured our client’s reputation and that of members of his families as you have portrayed him falsely as a money launder.”

PDP summons ex-acting gov, seven others before probe panel in Bayelsa Akam James Yenagoa

ÏÏÏThe

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State on Tuesday summoned the former acting governor of Bayelsa State, Hon. Werinipre Seibarugu, and seven others to appear before a disciplinary committee set up by the leadership of the party over alleged anti-party activities during the last state and National

Assembly elections in the state.

Also shortlisted is a serving councillor in the Southern Ijaw legislative Assembly, Hon. Kaizer Leghemo; a former chairman of Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa state, Hon. Robinson Etolor and the personal assistance to incumbent Senator Emmanuel Paulker, Hon. Osomkime Blankson.

Others are Hon. Stephen

Kayama, Hon. Ebikapadei Dibiya, Hon. I. E Brigidi, Hon. Benimor Conliff Fiebai.

Some loyalists of the summoned party members alleged that the summons are a clear case of witch-hunting and desperation by the State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, to ruffle the camps of perceived political enemies, particularly those from the Central Senatorial district of the State.

Andrew Orolua Abuja

ÏÏÏThe President of

Foundation for the Victims of Child Abuse, Major General Abdulmalik Jibrin (rtd), on Monday appealed to the federal government to hasten the integration of Internal Displaced Persons (IDP) into the society as their makeshift camps do not guarantee good future.

General Jibrin made the appeal while presenting food items, bundles of roofing sheets, mosquito nets and pri-

Presidential inauguration: Army alerts public of 21-gun salute

ÏÏÏThe

Guards Brigade of the Nigerian Army on Monday in Abuja alerted the public of the firing of artillery guns for Presidential Inauguration and swearing-in ceremony on May 29, 2015.

Assistant Director, Army Public Relations in the Guards Brigade, Maj. Charles Ekeocha, said this in a statement, add-

5 News

Foundation urges FG to hasten reintegration of IDPs mary school writing materials to 783 IDPs living in Kunchigoro camp, a suburb of Abuja.

He said although the government was trying to uproot the Boko Haram insurgents whose activities led to the unrest and displacement of millions, little is being done to assuage the plight of children who are in the majority.

ing that the “rehearsal for the Presidential Inauguration and Swearing in Ceremony has commenced since May 4 at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

He said the rehearsal involved firing of the traditional 21-gun salute.

He stated that “the practice session for the 21-gun salute will take place on May 20 and May 25, and on the inauguration day, May 29.

“The public is hereby notified, especially those living within Asokoro area of Abuja and its environ not to panic at the sound of simulated firing of military weapons during the dates.”

BUHARI’s DATE WITH

HISTORY

In a time of great turbulence and challenge, Providence always throws up certain individuals to calm the waters and sail the ship to safety. It always places the task on one man, one team leader.

Fate has just placed Nigeria on the broad shoulders of the Daura, Katsina State-born Major General Muhammadu Buhari who will begin to steer the ship of the country from May 29.

As Nigeria’s newspaper of record, the Daily Times plans a special report on The Man, Buhari.

To be published on June 1, as he takes office, the report will weave the past and the present with the future on the nation and the incoming leader. It will be a collector’s item.

To participate in the publication through congratulatory adverts, kindly contact:

OLUYINKA OLUJIMI, Editor: 08033009648, y2olujimi@yahoo.com IFEANYI EMEFU, Special Projects: 08086296714, ifeanyi642001@yahoo.com

News 6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Fayose denies providing cover for gangs ÏÏÏEkiti

State Governor, Mr Ayo Fayose has faulted claims that he is providing cover for armed gangs levelled against him by a prominent Lagos State-based lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN).

Fayose accused the human rights lawyer of hypocrisy.

A statement by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, accused Falana of always standing truth in the head.

The human rights legal practitioner had been reported on Monday as accusing the Governor of sponsoring hoodlums to operate in Ekiti State. But Fayose described the activist as “a hypocritical political merchant, who always keeps silent whenever (the

All Progressives Congress) APCcontrolled States are involved.”

He asked; “Is this not hypocrisy? And Falana did not find it important to ask those All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled states what they have done with their workers’ salaries if truly he is a human rights activist as he claims to be.

“Hypocrisy has made Falana not to say a word on the collapse of the judiciary and the legislative arms of government in some APC-controlled States. Or is the judiciary in Rivers State working? And has Falana said a single word on the collapse of the judiciary in Rivers State?”

While urging the human rights

lawyer to live up to the meaning of his name by minding his own business, Fayose wondered why Falana “would be pretentious about some issues and acted to be a defender in others not involving his friends and paymasters.”

He continued: “Falana should be ignored because he is fond of beating about the bush and his utterances are always dictated by the percentage of stomach infrastructure from his paymasters.

“I have never and will never provide official cover for armed gangs. It is only a governor or leader that is not popular or loved by his people that would adopt such unconventional means to rule,” he said.

The governor said the love for him by Ekiti people was further demonstrated in the last general elections by the pattern the people voted for his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governor added that instead of Falana advising the APC and calling them to order, he was leading them astray.

“The reason Nigerians should stop paying attention to any comment by Falana on Ekiti is that during the administration of Kayode Fayemi, 11 killings were sponsored by that government.

Murder cases involving the State Chairman of APC, Chief Jide Awe; some aides of the former governor and four APC lawmakers, are pending in various courts and Falana kept quiet and pretended as if nothing happened.

“It is this same man, who as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria,

ought to protect and encourage the protection of the judiciary, is the one underneath encouraging the APC lawmakers to disrespect court orders all in the name of politics.

“It is this same party of his, which owes workers seven months salary in Osun and four months in Oyo and Ogun that is crying every day in the press over a little delay in the payment of April salary in Ekiti.

“Nigerians need to be told that Falana is yet to recover from the humiliating defeat in the hands of Fayose in 2003 as the National Conscience Party (NCP) governorship candidate. Since then, he has not stopped plotting evil. But by the grace God, whoever plans evil in Ekiti State will perish, just as Pharaoh’s army perished in the Red Sea in the pursuit of the Israelites,” he added.

Dokubo-Asari beats war drums

is about our being conferred a slave status and seen as a conquered people who must exist at the mercy of the overloads and supremacist class using our own brothers as taskmasters against us in a Nigerian Union.

“Our status in the Nigerian enterprise remains that of a conquered people living a slave and prisoner status. This is the collective identity we have as a people, whether you are rich, poor, high, low, big, mighty or small. No matter how well dressed, well fed a slave or a prisoner is, he remains a slave and a prisoner who constantly lives at the mercy and dictates of others with his contributions and consent of no consequence. This is why we must now than ever stand up like the Scottish to determine our going forward for our platforms and reject our oppressors. This will not come easy.”

In the same vein, the Ijaw Youth Council’ spokesman, Omare, pointed out that the Niger Delta People were still not equal stakeholders of the Nigerian project, adding that the calls for the scrapping of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) among others, indicates what is ahead of the region with General Buhari.

Continued from page 4

L-R: Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Ltd, Mr. Oladele Sotubo; Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Mrs. Sola David-Borha; Executive Director, Business Development, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Haruna Jalo- Waziri; and Executive Director, Technology, NSE, Mr. Ade Bajomo, at the Corporate Challenge Race against Cancer co-sponsored by Stanbic IBTC in Lagos… at the weekend

Supreme Court stops sale of oil blocks Continued from page 4 Reuters reported on Monday that his company, Erin Energy Corporation announced that the Oyo-8 well located in OML 120 offshore Nigeria has exceeded expectations and is currently producing at a stabilized rate of 7,080 barrels of oil per day. Erin Energy is the operator and has a 100% interest in the well.

Erin Energy is currently engaged in drilling and completion operations on the Oyo-7 development well and expects to achieve first oil production from the well in a few weeks.

Additionally, in preparation for the planned drilling of one of its Miocene exploration prospects lat-

er this year, the Company has completed site survey of three of its top prospect drilling locations. Erin Energy announced last year that it had identified, and high-graded to drill-ready status, four Miocene exploration prospects. The four prospects have a combined 2.4 billion barrels of recoverable P50 prospective resources.

Lawal is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

He is a board member of the National Urban League, and the Cullen Engineering Research Foundation. He is also a member of the Board of directors and a shareholder of Unity National Bank, the only FDIC insured and licensed African American-owned bank in Texas.

Lawal earned a bachelor’s de-

gree in chemistry from Texas Southern University and an MBA in finance and marketing from Prairie View A&M University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy from Fort Valley State University, and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Texas Southern University.

Also on the management of the company’s board are Segun Omidele, Senior Vice President (Exploration and Production), Nicholas Evanoff, Senior Vice President (General Counsel and Corporate Secretary), Femi Ayoade (Country Manager, Nigeria), Augustin Nkuba (Country Manager, Kenya), Tunde Fahm (Country Manager, The Gambia), and Peter Oriaifo (Country Manager,Ghana).

defeated, it was Jonathan and his party that lost an election. We, as a people, indeed the Niger Delta region alongside the Igbos, were never defeated. We collectively rejected the born-to-rule and supremacist agenda which some of our brothers as field slaves and taskmasters supported yet their number shows that they are of little consequence.

We must however not take them for granted.“ Continuing, he said that many good and intelligent Niger Delta people did not even know or understand what the region’s struggle was all about, expressing doubt that even the Nigerian President truly understands it.

His words: “He (Jonathan Goodluck) was never in the struggle, he was not a product of the struggle but an establishment beneficiary of our struggle. Our struggle is not and never about becoming the President, it was not about being awarded oil licenses and mouth-watering contracts, it was not about massive infrastructural development of the Niger Delta region, it was not about high scale appointments, employment and empowerment, it was never about interventionist programmes and projects.

“Our struggle indeed is about our collective freedom from a false and forced colonial union that has remained divided and unintegrated. It

Dokubo-Asari

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Senate Presidency: Senators-elect urge Buhari, APC to allow due process Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

ÏÏÏ As the race for the Senate

Presidency hots up, a group of ranking senators-elect has called on the in-coming administration of Muhammudu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to abide by its change mantra and allow due process to be followed in electing the principal officers for the apex legislative chamber.

The ranking senators-elect posited that if due process was followed, Senator Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe) should be the next Senate president.

The President-elect, General Buhari had, last week, declared that he has no preferred candidate for the Senate president and the speaker of the House of Representatives, stressing that he is ready to work with anybody elect-

ed into the positions.

The group of ranking senators-elect, who rose from a brain storming session in Abuja Monday on the stance of the presidentelect and the APC on the Senate Presidency race, said if indeed "due process would be allowed as the red book (Senate standing order) stipulates, then Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan is the aspirant to beat."

According to one of the Senators, who sought anonymity, “if indeed the president-elect and the party (APC) are for due process and rule of law, then Ahmed Lawan should be the next Senate President”.

The senators-elect, according to the source, advised the in-coming administration to abide by its change Mantra, which means that it would not be ‘business as usual’. They pointed out that even

under PDP controlled 7th Senate session, extant rules of the upper chamber were not compromised.

According to them: "It should dawn on the party that there is the urgent need to adhere to parliamentary culture already in place in the conduct of the primaries and elections into the National Assembly’s elective positions.

Armed with the ‘red book’, which is the ‘Senate Standing Order’, the senators-elect quoted Order 3, rule 2 of the Senate Standing Order governing the election of Presiding and other Officers, which gives pride of place to ranking of Senators.

The rule states that "nomination of senators to serve as presiding officers of the Senate or on any Parliamentary delegations shall be in accordance with the ranking of senators. In determining ranking, the following order shall ap-

L-R: Ogun State Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa; Celebrant, Osiele Oke-Ona Egba, Oba Dr. Dapo Tejuoso and Mrs. Bola Are during the 26th Coronation anniversary of Tejuoso, held at OOPL International hall, Oke-Mosan Abeokuta… on Monday Photo: DAVID IDOWU

Adamawa Assembly chides govt over N2b agric loan Wale Akintunde Yola

ÏÏÏ Adamawa State House of

Assembly has chided the state government over its handling of the N2 billion agricultural loan it received from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on behalf of the states’ farmers, and has directed it to refund the money to the state coffers, because the loan was diverted for other uses.

The house resolved, during its plenary sitting on Monday, after the house had received the report of an ad-hoc committee, chaired

by Aminu Iya Abbas (Uba Gaya constituency) constituted to investigate a petition by farmers in the

state, to the effect that they did not benefit from the said loan granted by the apex bank.

It also recommended the intervention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by ensuring that the said money was repatriated to the state government’s coffers, should the executive arm of government fail to heed to its call.

The lawmakers noted that although the sum of N2 billion was collected for Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS) from the CBN into the account of Adamawa State government in Zenith Bank on March 2, 2015, no dime was disbursed to the intend-

ed beneficiaries.

"There are 28 registered farmers' cooperative societies/unions in the state, and they requested for the sum of N1,243,919,000, out of the N2 billion, neither the registered farmers, cooperative societies/unions were given any amount from the said N2 billion, nor were any sum utilized for other areas of agricultural development in the state, as enshrined for (CACS)," the report noted.

However, the House also summoned the Accountant General of Adamawa State to appear before it today to explain allegations of diversion of pension funds to offset the severance package of lawmakers loyal to the state government.

ply…(i) Senators returning based on numbers of time re-elected, (ii) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives and, (iii) Senators elected as senators for the first time.”

The ranking lawmakers pointed out to their colleagues that going by the Order, Senator Ahmed Lawan is the most qualified among the contestants for the Senate Presidency, as he shall conclude a period of 16 years as a legislator at the end of the current Assembly, pointing out that he (Lawan) had spent eight years as a member of the House of Representatives, and another eight years as a senator.

According to them, other aspirants like Senators Bukola Saraki and George Akume would have spent a period of eight years each as a Legislator at the end of the current assembly session.

7 News

NUATE tasks Buhari on Aviation minister Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo

ÏÏÏThe National Union of

Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has called on the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to appoint an aviator as the next aviation minister, in order to move the industry forward.

In a congratulatory letter dated May 18, 2015 and signed by Comrade Olayinka Abioye on behalf of the union’s secretary, NUATE said an internationally regulated and highly technical industry should not be left in the hands of political manipulators/jobber.

The union advised that a principled, properly trained and experienced professional, with a solid track record of integrity, performance and strong character should be appointed to do the job.

"The choice of a core professional would also inspire other professionals in the sector to work hard and be counted. In the same vein, a professional would be better positioned to stop ‘cutting of corners’, a term used to refer to malpractices in the sector.

Niger ex-councillors protest non-payment of PDP sheds light on official allowances communication Pita Chikwem Minna line ÏÏÏNIger

State former local government councillors have embarked on a protest over their impending N1.7 billion balance of severance allowances that are yet to be settled.

Speaking to newsmen on Monday at the State Secretariat in Minna during the protest, Chairman of the Councillor's Forum, Comrade Yahaya Shehu, said the government only paid N1.1 million to each councillor for furniture allowances, leaving N1.4 million yet to be paid.

According to him: "We are 274 councillors, 175 Supervising councillors, 25 vice chairmen and 25 secretaries that are being owed.

"We were compelled to call an emergency meeting on April 27, over the impending balance of our severance and furniture allowances, after many write ups and appeals, considering the terrible condition we are in, which we have stated in our several letters and during courtesy calls on the commissioner for Local Government Affairs, the secretary to the state government, speaker of Niger State House of Assembly and the leadership of Association of Local Government of Nigeria.

Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

ÏÏÏThe

national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared that only statements, utterances and positions of its National Chairman and the National Publicity Secretary, or any other national officer of the party authorized by the National Working Committee, shall be regarded and reported as its official position, in line with the relevant provisions of the PDP constitution.

Similarly, the PDP national leadership has charged all members of the party with genuine grievances to channel such through the appropriate organs of the PDP for redress, “using the internal conflict resolution mechanisms that abound in our party.”

The PDP made the clarification in a statement issued on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh.

The leadership of the party observed that in the course of the 2015 campaigns, personal positions and opinions of party members were generally reported in many instances by the media as official positions of the PDP.

8

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Politics

BUHARI

Æs

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

NASS leadership: APC in dangerous balancing act Akinjide Akintola Unless a miracle happens, the same fate that befell the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011 when its members in the House of Representatives broke rank with the party leadership over the choice of House leadership is threatening to rear its head within the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In the past few weeks, the APC

had been unable to resolve its choice of the leadership for the national assembly following disagreements over which section of the country should hold which position.

Just like what happened in 2011 when the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) backed the rump of those who broke rank with the PDP, the PDP is waiting in the wings for a pay back four years after.

In 2011, the PDP was rooting for Mulikat Akande from the south west as Speaker of the House of Representatives but some aggrieved PDP members from the north wanted someone from the north in the person of Aminu Tambuwal from Sokoto State in direct contrast to the zoning formular of the party which had zoned the party to the south west.

However, with the backing of the opposition ACN in the house

in a form of alliance, despite its numerical strength, the PDP zoning arrangement was truncated and Tambuwal became speaker.

Thus while the north had vice president, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representative, the south west had just the leader of the house.

Thus as the APC appears incapable of resolving the issue in CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

2019: PDP will field northern presidential candidate – Shelle Captain Tunji Shelle is the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State. Recently, the party lost in the 2015 elections even though it had the best result so far since 1999. But all of a sudden, a faction led by the state secretary emerged, made some allegations against him and subsequently announced his sack from office and replaced him, thus throwing the party into confusion. He spoke on the issue and others in this interview with Political Editor, AKINJIDE AKINTOLA. Excerpts: What is the situation of things now?

I have tried as much as possible to remain calm and to continue to respect the Constitution of the party. I expected that if anybody has any allegation against the chairman of the party, he ought to have put it into writing, give me a copy and send a copy to the national headquarters. They have failed to do this; they failed to make any allegations at the meetings I called before they called a press conference. I got a wind of what they were about to do about two weeks ago, because of that, I tried as much as possible to call meetings which they attended, but I was amazed that they didn’t even say anything throughout the four meetings we held before they eventually called a press conference. I attended a meeting on Monday in Ibadan, south west zonal meeting, the state secretary was supposed to be at the meeting with me but he stayed back

Shelle

and took the advantage that I was not in Lagos in the office; I learnt they started from one Army Barrack, gathered there and from there changed the venue of their meeting to the state secretariat.

They went there with armed policemen, as they were doing their

Jonathan

press conference, declaring me removed from office, I got wind of their action at the meeting in Ibadan and fortunately, we were at the zonal meeting. I hinted them of what was happening and they were really disturbed that they ought to have passed any ac-

tion they wanted to take through them and then pass it onto the national. Apart from that, being a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC), I don’t think they have such powers to even remove me from office. The best they could have done was

to prepare their allegations and invite me to defend my actions and forward their report to the national for implementation that was if there was any substance in their allegation. I will say it CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Why we held emergency summit of African First Ladies, by Patience

Patience

First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan said the emergency session of the Africa First Ladies Peace Mission was held in Abuja in order to prevent a misunderstanding between Nigeria and other countries in Africa.

Speaking at the forum of the

National Council for Women Societies to honour her for her contribution to women, she said: “This emergency summit, therefore, is to forestall a misunderstanding that Nigeria intentionally orchestrated it to remain in office as AFLPM President.”

She spoke in reaction to reports that she hosted the summit in order to ensure that the wife of the President-elect does not emerge as AFLPM after her tenure expires.

According to her, Nigeria CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

APC: Avoiding the banana peels that fell PDP

Tinubu CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

spite of its numerical strength in both chambers after weeks of intense lobbying with all the gladiators sticking to their guns, the stage is set for a repeat of the 2011 episode.

This time around, the north that has the presidency slot is also angling for the senate Presidency or the Speaker of the House while the south west with the Vice Presidency position is also insisting on the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Both groups especially the gladiators are unbending especially as the party is yet to come out publicly with its zoning arrangements.

Following the inability of the party to quickly nip the crisis in the bud, President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in what amounted to washing his hands off the unending crisis to pick the leadership of the national as-

Atiku

sembly announced that he was ready to work with anyone that emerged.

According to the Presidentelect he is willing to work with any leader of the Senate, irrespective of what part of the country he or she originates from.

In a statement, General Buhari described as false, insinuations in the media that he was in support of any particular Senator’s emergence as Leader or that he belonged to any camp pushing for the emergence of a leader from a particular part of the country.

“I am prepared to work with any leaders that the House or Senate selects,” General Buhari said, adding, “It doesn’t matter who the person is or where he or she is from.”

He added that these insinuations were probably born out of people’s expectations based on the way things had happened in the past, but reminded Nigerians

that CHANGE had truly come.

“There is due process for the selection of leaders of the National Assembly,” General Buhari said, “and I will not interfere in that process.

“Nigeria has indeed entered a new dispensation,” he said, adding, “My administration does not intend to repeat the same mistakes made by previous governments.”

Buhari spoke amidst reports that he was backing the candidature of one of the gladiators in the race while other leaders like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu were also backing other contestants which essentially made it a three horse race. Those gunning for the plumb posts are from the north east, north west, north central and the south west.

Unconfirmed reports at the weekend said former President

9 Politics

Olusegun Obasanjo is also one of those insisting that the APC must ensure all the different zones of the country especially the south was that had been marginalised be adequately taken care of in the new dispensation to avoid any bad feelings.

But the gladiators have continued to mop up support from across the country. Last week, a group of Senators under the aegis of “Like minded Senators”, who endorsed the candidacy of Senator Bukola Saraki to become the Senate President in the 8th National Assembly, said their action was premised on the ability and expertise of the former Kwara State Governor to take the Upper legislative chamber to the Promised Land.

The endorsement of Saraki by the 65 Senators took place during a meeting in Abuja attended by many Senators mostly from the PDP and APC, including Sabo Nakudu, Mohammed Gobil, Ali Ndume, Danjuma Goje, Binta

“I am prepared to work with any leader that the House or Senate selects. It doesn’t matter who the person is or where he or she is from.”

Garba, Andy Ubah, Sam Egwu, Shehu Sani, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Governor Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto State.

The Convener of the “Like minded Senators” meeting and Kogi West Senator-elect, Dino Melaye, who chaired the meeting said: “the meeting was a mixture of PDP and APC Senators: 40 APC and 25 PDP Senators in attendance. We resolved that we have to produce a senator that is made by Senators and by no matter everything, Saraki has the capacity and capability to stabilise and hold the Senate together. Our resolve is that no matter any circumstance, we are committed to making Saraki the next Senate President. 80 percent of Senators from Ahmed Lawal’s North East zone attended the meeting and endorsed Saraki.”

The President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), had denied media report that he had given his nod to the ambition of Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe, North East) to be Senate President.

Others in the race, apart from Lawal, include Ali Ndume, Borno, Danjuma Goje, Gombe, North East, Senators Bukola Saraki (Kwara), George Akume and Barnabas Gemade (Benue) from the North Central.

Though the APC had earlier zoned the slot to the North Central it later announced that a decision was yet to be taken, a development which fueled series of political intrigues and speculations and that the earlier announcement does not have the backing of the President-elect.

However, one of the contestants, Sen. Ndume (APC BornoSouth) said the North East zone will not flout the party’s zoning arrangement even if it fails to secure the Senate Presidency slot.

He told newsmen that although the North-East, particularly Borno, deserved the position, the zone would respect the party’s decision even if otherwise.

According to him, the contest was between the North East and the North Central zones, adding CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

“What we are still waiting for is the zoning, I am a party man, the party is supposed to guide members as to where the Senate presidency is supposed to come from.

“We are agitating that the Senate Presidency should be zoned to the North-East for obvious reasons.

“If the party decides that it is North Central that means I am out already but if the party decides that it is going to North East, you know I am one of the contenders.’’

Saraki

Politics 10

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

They moved against me because I refused sharing party funds CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

with all sense of responsibility, nobody called me to any meeting to discuss the matter before they called a press conference and probably took a copy to the national and the national are doing as if they don’t know what they are doing. They already called me to send a report on what and what transpired. And that’s what I’m trying to put together and by Monday, they will have it. I didn’t expect them to go that far, that action is illegal, null and void.

Procedurally, shouldn’t they have sent it through the zone and did they do that?

They didn’t do a thing like that, they didn’t even make any reference to anybody and that was even after they had locked up the party secretariat after their press conference. Another strange thing they did was to rush to INEC to go and inform me that they had removed me from office and I think the Resident Electoral Commissioner saw it as a laughable matter.

Shouldn’t NEC referred the issue to the Zonal for their input before taking the final decision?

They have not even waited for any action, they took the decision and it was beyond them and that’s why they have run foul of the law, they constitution of the party and the psychic of the members of the party in general.

I feel sad about the whole issue.

I’ve never seen a people like this before, I was the secretary before becoming the chairman and I tried as much as possible to re-

spect myself, try as much as possible to do things properly. I have been able to bring the leadership together because there were crisis in the past before I became the chairman to bring all the party together and that’s why we had a good outing both during the campaign and during the election and to the best of my knowledge, we won the election in Lagos in the governorship and some local government constituencies even though we were robbed of victory in many areas. I thought what we ought to be doing now is face the cases we took to the tribunal, remain focus on them and ensure victory is given back to them in the various places where we won. This, I thought we should be doing together. But I think they must have an agenda and I believe somebody is behind this action, perhaps I must have offended some people during the primary. I knew I did because I stood my ground that the right person, the one who won the primaries got the ticket. Probably that was my offence.

So you think that’s the major cause of the crisis?

Yes, that’s the cause. Before now, the partystate committee was divided along personalty lines- Agbaje and Obanikoro.

Some of them took sides with Obanikoro openly which they were not supposed to do. I maintained that the best standard and the best practice must be observed and that was what we did.

And when we saw that there were irregularities in the first primary, we complained to the national

‘‘I believe somebody is behind this action, perhaps I must have offended some people during the primary. I knew I did because I stood my ground that the right person, the one who won the primaries got the ticket.

Probably that was my offence.’’

Muazu

and they sent another person as the chairman of the Primaries Committee and we had another primary and Jimi Agbaje eventually emerged. They didn’t like it, they have not recovered from the shock up till this moment and they wanted to hit back at me and I think this is why they are doing all this and this is part of it. But I cannot be moved, I cannot be swayed. I will continue to pray, I will continue to do my part for this country. I don’t have to be chairman to participate in the running of the events of this country. I want to be myself, I want to serve. I retired after an

eventful career, I worked in the Lagos State civil service, I was in the Navy and people can go and check my pedigree and antecedents. This is unfortunate and actually uncalled for, but in politics, anything can happen, people can behave and misbehave and I want to leave posterity to judge all of them.

But they had some allegations against you: About the handling of campaign funds and being teleguided by Chief Bode George. How far are these true?

No campaign funds came to me directly or indirectly. Even

as at the time we wanted to start our campaigns, we didn’t have resources. I don’t want to say so many things now but we didn’t have resources. It was the candidate that I met then after the flag off who sponsored the local government rallies we did as well as the town hall meetings. When we didn’t have money, I had to sit down with him and we formed a campaign team. And some of them were complaining that they were not part of the campaign team; they worked against someone during the primary.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Choice of NASS leadership threatens APC unity CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

that the contenders were waiting for the party’s decision to know whether or not to continue their bid.

“What we are still waiting for is the zoning, I am a party man, the party is supposed to guide members as to where the Senate presidency is supposed to come from.

“We are agitating that the Senate Presidency should be zoned to the North-East for obvious Saraki

reasons.

“If the party decides that it is North Central that means I am out already but if the party decides that it is going to North East, you know I am one of the contenders.

“I am in this race, it is not basically personal; I will be in the race if it is zoned to North East, if it is not zoned to North East, I will not be in the race.

“If it is zoned to the North East I will have to be in the race because Borno State deserves to

be given that Senate Presidency.”

He explained that the state had been so devastated by insurgency, adding that the state also gave 100 per cent of its votes to the APC which was why the position should be zoned to it.

Ndume said that he was in the race to be a Senate President that would make a difference and not a senators’ president.

He said that any senator was qualified to preside over the senate as all senators are supposed to be equal.

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, May 19, 2015

11 Politics

‘It was in the interest of Africa’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

has held the position for the past seven years instead of the twoyear tenure assigned to each country in the internal regulations of the Peace Mission.

She refuted the allegation that she was “rigging anyone out.”

She said that she had drawn the attention of members at the 3rd Executive Bureau meeting of the AFLPM in Pretoria, South Africa in 2014, to the last general elections in Nigeria.

She added that she had told AFLPM that preparations for the elections would not allow her to host the summit then, which she said was to facilitate the election of new executives and handover.

Mrs Jonathan explained that it was accordingly agreed that the summit would hold in July in Abuja.

The agreement was with the understanding that if President Goodluck Jonathan did not succeed in his re-election bid, she

Mrs. Buhari

would convene the summit in May 2015.

She stressed that the holding of the summit was to enable the election of a new President of AFLPM and to ensure a smooth handover.

At the forum, women, under the aegis of the NCWS, said that the first lady’s support for the empowerment of Nigerian women was “unparalleled”.

The NCWS President, Mrs Nkechi Mba, said “the first lady gave us voices and took us to where we least expected to be.”

She added that during the tenure of the first lady, more women were recognised and given sensitive positions in government.

She noted that “we want to say thank you, we are proud of you and may God bless you and your family.”

Similarly, the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Zainab Maina, said that the first lady championed the initiative that gave Nigerian women the exposure they

needed in the political space and governance.

Maina said: “I owe my gratitude to the first lady who was instrumental to my appointment; today, every woman can stand tall and be proud to be a Nigerian.

“You have left a legacy in the sands of time and we will ever remain grateful to you.”

Also, the wife of the VicePresident, Hajiya Amina Sambo, described the president’s wife as a mentor, a mother, an advocate and a supporter of the cause of women.

She commended the NCWS for its support during her tenure and prayed for a united Nigeria.

The first lady was sworn in at the occasion as the new Chairman of the NCWS Board of Trustees.

In her acceptance speech, the first lady thanked members of the NCWS for the “unflinching support and for working so hard to increase the capacity of our women.’’

I’m nobody’s stooge CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

And they wanted to be part of the campaign team, you can see the irony. I tried as much as possible to balance it so that we will not split or create crisis and we were able to manage it. We were working as a party and I asked the campaign team to work on their own but they wanted to eat their cake and have it which was not possible. So, it was Jimi Agbaje himself that funded the town hall meetings through the help of his friends, he was the same person who funded the rallies, so, where did the money come from.

You can go and cross check from Jimi Agbaje himself whether he gave any money to me or when he collected some money, he gave any money to me. But thereafter, we did our campaigns and nobody knew our hindrances, our constraints and what we went through. Despite all these, we had a very good outing, many people sponsored the buildboards and posters and what have you. The presidency brought things for us, the tide was on our side. In some areas they worked side-by-side with us, they were not bringing money, they were bringing items; rice was brought from certain sources and they were bagged and shared. So nobody directly gave me fund and the money that was to candidates was disbursed

directly. You can cross check from the candidate. So, where and where did I go wrong? But I have left everything in the hands of God. I will continue to protect the integrity of the party and I won’t hesitate to protect my own integrity too.

On the issue of being teleguided by Chief Bode George?

Well, its like they don’t understand politics. Its like their own type of political inclination is different from mine. I’m not a typical politician, I’m someone who is looking at politics from the point of service. I saw somebody who is a leader, the overall leader; he is the reference point in Lagos, he is the reference point in south west.

Chief Olabode George is the person i’m talking about. The man has access to call the national, the zone in case we needed help.

We have a body called the Elders Council and he is the head of the council. When we hold our meeting at the state level, ask them if we’ve not been holding regular meetings; I would have to go and report to the leaders. He’s not the only leader, Senator Ogunseye is one, Senator Bucknor- Akerele is one, Dr. Abimbola Ogunkelu, Dr. Dominic are leaders, they come together, and I brief them. If we have any problem, they can come in and if we don’t have funds, they know who to talk to. When

the issue of going to the tribunal came up and they needed money, I met Chief Bode George and he just called somebody who gave some money. So, why won’t I give reverence to the same man who has the capacity and sagacity to direct, help and assist us?

Can any of these people talking bring any money to support the party? And this money they even brought they said I should go and bring money so that we share it.

I don’t know, anything they hear money, they feel we should share it and I’m not brought up that way. I’ve had cause to concede here and there so that we could move on. But this their move, its like somebody sponsored it; somebody that lost out during the primaries wanted to have his own pound of flesh and fight back and he’s able to mobilise them to come and fight me. And fighting means they want to fight Bode George and I think that’s the bottom line. I’m not a stooge, I’m 62, and I’ve gone through the mills.

I’m an independent minded person but I won’t allow anybody to intimidate or stampede me. Chief Bode George is someone I respect, he has knowledge, he’s intelligent, he can convince you; when he talks, you will listen but you may not like him but he has what it takes to lead people. But people who cannot lead cannot have me

George

and ridicule me. Ours is to be able to manage them and I’ve managed them from being the secretary to being the chairman. Some of them were not around when I was secretary and I had to be paying staff salary when there was no money in the account. They can go and find out. I’ve done so many things for the party which a lot of party chairmen have not been able to do. I’ve been able to win six seats in the in the house of representatives and eight seats in the house of assembly; go and cross check the history of the party and it was with all my part, with dedication, commitment and with all I have to offer. And when a thing like this happened, some people tried to find out why I got involved at all in politics. But

I don’t regret my involvement, I felt I should play my part and I’ve played it. As far as I’m concerned nobody would discourage me. They said we supported Jimi Agbaje; Jimi Agbaje is the best material up till now and I didn’t rig the primaries for him, he won convincingly. They were the ones trying to manipulate and when they were checked, they were not happy. We had some candidates too that are very good, so we had a good outing and you will discover we didn’t lose any life during the campaign because everything was controlled. Thugs don’t follow me; I go with the fear of God anywhere I go to, I do whatever I want to do with the fear of God. But if they believe in thuggery, I would not join them.

News 12

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Oshiomhole vs JUSUN: Workers defy resumption order Titus Akhigbe Benin

ÏÏÏ Judiciary workers in Edo

State, on Monday, defied a directive by the State Government ordering them to call off their over-four-month industrial action and return to work or face dismissal from the civil service.

The workers, under the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) have been on strike since January 5 over alleged unwillingness of the state government to show commitment towards implementing the financial autonomy granted to the judiciary by a Federal High Court, in Abuja, on January 13.

However, in a bid to re-open the courts, the Judicial Service Commission had, in a statement signed by its secretary, Isaac Sanu, last Thursday, instructed the workers to return to their duty posts, on May 18, lest they be sacked.

But the workers described the directive as illegal and vowed not to the call off the strike until their grievances were addressed.

It was, however, gathered that the main gate of the high court was forced open at about 9a.m. under the supervision of its Chief Registrar, after some of

Fighting corruption, too much task for Buhari -Agoro Omosanya lbadan

ÏÏÏ

Corruption in Nigeria has become so endemic that the task and effort to fight it may become too enormous for the incoming administration of the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to tackle effectively.

Dr. Olapade Agoro, founder and former presidential candidate of the National Action Council (NAC), stated this in an interview with the Daily Times in lbadan, the Oyo State capital.

Jonathan attends ECOWAS summit in Accra Egena Egena Abuja

ÏÏÏ President Goodluck Jona-

Benue State governor-elect, Dr. Samuel Ortom (middle); Vice Chancellor, Benue State University, Prof. Charity Ashimem Angya (4th left) and other principal officers of the university, during a visit to Ortom in Makurdi, Benue State …at the weekend

the striking employees tried to prevent entry, a move the ViceChairman of the union, Comrade John Egbomeade, described as mere intimidation to which the workers would not succumb.

Egbomeade said: “The Chief

Registrar of the High Court, H. E. Enemaku, came to force the door open; that the workers are willing to come to work. But you can see that even some hours after the door has been broken, no staff is prepared to work.

“So, that is to tell you that they are trying to use intimidation to force the workers to report for duty. But the workers are saying there is no going back. So, irrespective of any threat, the strike continues.”

than will jet out of Abuja Tuesday (today) for the 47th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government holding in Accra, Ghana.

The summit, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), would receive reports on the current situation in Burkina Faso and Guinea- Bissau and deliberate on issues of democratic consolidation and regional peace and stability.

Save us from marginalisation, 197 drug convicts Igbo group appeals to Buhari evaded prison - Giade Mathew Dadiya Abuja

ÏÏÏ A pressure group, Nsukka Vanguard of Hope (NVH), on Monday, appealed to Presidentelect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to halt the continued marginalisation of Nsukka people by appointing one of their sons or daughters as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in his in-coming government.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, the Chairman and Secretary of the group, Mr. Cyril Chukwuemeka Ugwuoke and Barr.

Chibuzo Ezikiel frowned upon the injustice meted to the people of Nsukka, since the return of democracy in 1999, stating that none of its sons and daughters had been appointed minister.

While making a case for an

Nsukka indigene to be appointed to fill the Enugu State ministerial slot, the group expressed great confidence on the personality of Gen. Buhari as one of the most disciplined leaders in the nation.

The group however, expressed confidence that Buhari would heed their entreaty.

According to Ugwuoke, equity and justice should be considered when appointing a minister from Enugu State because no Nsukka man had been nominated to occupy the exalted position since 1999.

He regretted a situation whereby a certain group of people, who are key stakeholders in Nigerian project, are alienated from the scheme of things for no just cause.

Ugwuoke recommended that an Nsukka man should be made a minister for equity and in con-

formity with the change mantra and justice preached by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Buhari

ÏÏÏ The Chairman/Chief Ex-

ecutive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade, has revealed how 197 convicted drug traffickers manipulated their way out of lawful custody.

Giade made the disclosure during the public destruction of a huge quantity of illicit drugs at Bereko, Badagry Lagos.

The drugs include 18,420.71kg of cannabis, 268.9533kg of cocaine/heroin and 101.932kg of methamphetamine/ephedrine.

Giade said: “The plot was uncovered by the NDLEA when a drug convict who ought to be in prison was re-arrested, while attempting to smuggle drugs at the Kano airport. That was how a cartel that aided 197

convicted drug traffickers to evade serving their sentences was detected by the NDLEA. “The police investigated the case and confirmed my findings that 197 drug convicts were left off the hook with the connivance of some court clerks and prison warders”.

He explained that “statutorily, NDLEA has no business taking care of an accused once the person had been arraigned and remanded in prison custody.

The agency, Giade said, discovered that the criminal act took place between the court and the prison after an accused had been sentenced.

“This is a wake-up call for stakeholders to remain sensitive and prevent any act capable of undermining the criminal justice system,” he added.

13 Africa

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Burundi deploys army to quell protests ÏÏÏHeavily

armed soldiers were deployed in Burundi's capital on Monday to quell persistent street protests against the president's bid for a third term, which sparked a coup attempt that was foiled last week.

In Bujumbura's Musaga neighbourhood armed soldiers faced off with hundreds of angry protesters who called for President Pierre Nkurunziza to reverse his decision to seek another term in office, which many say is unconstitutional.

An Associated Press reporter in Musaga, where protesters put up barricades of burning tires, saw two soldiers fire into a crowd of protesters, who had repeatedly shouted, "Shoot us." No injured demonstrators were seen. The soldiers who fired the shots were then ordered to leave the front line.

"The military is shooting at us, you have seen for yourselves. They came here pushing and shoving us and also doing the same to journalists then they shot," said protester Alfred Nsengumukiza.

No police were seen in Musaga, a sign that the army, which pre-

viously had acted as a buffer between angry protester s and the police, has now taken over operations against demonstrators who have staged almost daily protests against the president for more than three weeks. The soldiers are armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Seventeen security officials, including five generals, accused in the attempted coup were charged Saturday with attempting to destabilize public institutions, said lawyers of some of the suspects.

Major General Godefroid Niyombare, the former intelligence chief who announced the coup on Wednesday, remains at large.

Nkurunziza, who was in Tanzania for a summit to discuss his nation's troubles when the coup attempt was announced, made his first public appearance in Bujumbura on Sunday.

On Monday protesters emerged again in three neighbourhoods of Bujumbura, including Nyakabiga and Cibitoke, despite Nkurunziza urging residents to stop protesting so parliamentary elections can take place later this month.

ÏÏÏ Police in southern Republic

Some protesters being checked by anti-riot military men

UK won't compensate evicted Zimbabwe white farmers ÏÏÏBritain has reportedly main-

tained its position that it won’t compensate white farmers who were evicted from their farms during Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform programme.

The Daily News reported on Sunday that Prime Minister David Cameron’s new Conservative government won’t support any compensation scheme set up to help evicted white farmers in Zimbabwe.

This comes as Britain adjusts to a new political landscape after a shock election victory for Cameron that decimated the opposition in the May 7 elections.

"The UK has never agreed to accept responsibility for compensation but we have always said that we would support a fair, transparent and pro-poor land reform programme as part of an international effort," British ambassador to Zimbabwe Catriona Laing was quoted as saying.

Catriona said the UK supported aspirations for a "more democratic, stable and prosperous Zimba-

bwe".

It had been hoped that Cameron's administration would take a softer stance on the country’s land reform programme after Tony Blair's Labour party called for sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government following the eviction of white farmers from their farms.

Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party launched the land reforms in 2000, taking over white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks.

The land seizures were often violent, claiming the lives of several white farmers during clashes with veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation struggle.

In February, London mayor Boris Johnson openly admitted that Britain played a “shameful” role in Zimbabwe’s economic woes.

In an article published in a UK daily, The Telegraph, Johnson stated that Zimbabwe was now the second poorest nation in the whole world, adding that Blair had a hand in the country's mess. "... It is vital to recognise that

DR Congo police abused illegal immigrants

172 Tunisian nationals held by Libya militia ÏÏÏTunisia

Mugabe

Zimbabwe was not always like this, and did not have to be like this. This [Robert] Mugabe tyranny is no accident – and Britain played a shameful part in the disaster," Johnson wrote.

In a 1979 Lancaster House Agreement, then prime minister Margaret Thatcher granted independence to Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) and guaranteed compensation for Britain's setter farmers.

But in 1997 when Blair and the New Labour came in, the agreement was unilaterally scrapped, with the then overseas development minister, Clare Short, making it clear that "neither she nor Blair gave a stuff about the former colonial farmers", wrote Johnson.

said on Monday that it was negotiating for the release of 172 nationals being held by a Libyan militia as bargaining chips for one of its commanders detained in Tunis.

The foreign ministry's Arab and African affairs chief Touhami Abdouli said the Tunisians had been detained in western Libya by a militia that is part of the Libya Dawn alliance which controls the capital Tripoli and third city Misrata.

"We are going to try to make the effort to resolve this at the political level," Abdouli told Shems-FM radio. "I am optimistic."

The Tunisian consul in Tripoli, Ibrahim Rezgui, told Jawahra FM radio late Sunday that he had received complaints from Tunisian citizens about the arrests.

"Around 172 are being held by a militia allied to Libya Dawn... but there could be more," said Rezgui.

of Congo used violence and subjected illegal immigrants to degrading treatment in the second phase of a crackdown that drove thousands from the country last year, the Catholic Church and a local charity said on Sunday.

Congolese authorities on Thursday launched the next step in operation "Mbata ya bakolo" ("The slap of the elders" in the local Lingala language) in the economic hub of Pointe-Noire.

A similar drive in April 2014 forced an estimated 250 000 workers from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo back across the river in a few weeks.

Public radio reported that 600 foreigners had been arrested in just two days last week.

The Catholic Church in PointeNoire and local rights charity RPDH said illegal immigrants were now the "subject of a fullblown manhunt by police," whom the UN has accused of numerous abuses during a similar sweep in the capital Brazzaville in April 2014.

"Many abuses or violations of human rights have been reported," the Church and RPDH said in a statement.

"These acts, contrary to the rules and principles of the rule of law, are notably characterised by intimidation and threats, violence, inhuman and degrading treatment as well as arbitrary arrests."

Police spokesman Jule Monkala Tchoumou had no immediate comment on the allegations.

The conflict-ridden DRC ranks last on the UN development index and over the years tens of thousands of its nationals have found menial jobs in neighbouring Congo, where living conditions are slightly better.

Official figures from Kinshasa in April showed around four million residents in Congo, equivalent to around one in 10 of the population, hailed from DRC.

President Kabila of DR Congo

World 14

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

192 bikers face charges in Texas shoot-out

192 bikers face charges in Texas shoot-out ÏÏÏCentral

Waco went into lockdown as police officers began their investigation into the shootout.

Texas police say 192 people are to face organised crime charges after the Waco bike-gang shooting that left nine people dead and 18 others injured. The feud broke out between several gangs at a shopping district in Waco.

What started as a fist fight soon descended into a battle with

Spain arrests five accused of trying to buy immigrant's kidney ÏÏÏSpanish

police said on Monday they had arrested five people accused of trying to buy a kidney from an impoverished immigrant for $6 835.

Officers in Spain made the arrests working in collaboration with others in Germany and Belgium, a brief police statement said. It did not say exactly when the arrests were made.

"The immigrant tried to pull out of the deal while he was un-

knives, clubs, chains and eventually guns.

One witness described the scene as "a war zone", while a Waco policeman called it the most gruesome scene he had encountered in his career.

The incident happened shortly after midday on Sunday at the Twin Peaks Sports Bar and Grill in a shopping area called the Central Texas Market Place.

Up to five rival gangs got into

dergoing clinical tests, so he was kidnapped, beaten and threatened with death to make him go ahead," the statement said.

The person wanting to buy the organ was the leader of a criminal gang specialised in robberies, who wanted it for a son suffering from kidney disease.

Police chiefs and the head of Spain's National Transplant Organisation were due to give more details at a press conference later on Monday.

In March, 14 European nations in Spain signed the first ever international treaty to fight human organ trafficking.

The business generates $1.2bn in illegal profits worldwide every year, according to the Council of Europe, which drew up the treaty.

In January 2014 Spanish police arrested a rich 62-year-old Lebanese man suspected of trying to buy the healthy liver of a Romanian.

a fight, apparently over parking space near the restaurant. Diners and staff at the nearby cafe managed to lock themselves in a freezer room for safety and were later escorted off the premises by armed police.

"Twenty-five feet away there were families," Waco police sergeant Patrick Swanton said.

"This is one of the worst gunfights we've ever had in the city limits. They started shooting at

ISIS kills 500, takes Iraq's Ramadi

ÏÏÏ ISIS killed at least 500 people, both civilians and Iraqi soldiers and forced 8 000 to flee their homes as it captured the city of Ramadi, a provincial official said on Monday, while Shi’ite militias vowed to mount a counter-offensive and reclaim the Anbar provincial capital.

The statements followed a shocking defeat as ISIS seized control of Ramadi on Sunday, sending Iraqi forces fleeing in a major loss despite the support of US-led airstrikes targeting the extremists.

Bodies, some burned, littered the streets as local officials re-

our officers."

In addition to announcing the large number of arrests, Waco police department said on Monday they had temporarily closed the Twin Peaks restaurant for at least a week "due to the ongoing danger it presents to our community".

The authorities have increased security in the area to prevent further outbreaks of violence, as there are fears some of the gang members might return.

ported the militants carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians. Online video showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment speeding out of Ramadi, with soldiers gripping onto their sides.

"We do not have an accurate count yet," said an Anbar spokesperson, Muhannad Haimour.

"We estimate that 500 people have been killed, both civilians and military, and approximately 8 000 have fled the city."

The estimates are for the past three days, since on Friday, when the battle for the city reached its final stages. The 8 000 figure is in addition to the enormous exodus in April, Haimour said, when the UN said as many as 114 000 residents fled from Ramadi and surrounding villages at the height of the violence.

Local officials have said that ISIS carried out mass killings of Iraqi security forces and civilians.

Netanyahu: Not too late to stop Iran nuclear deal

ÏÏÏIsraeli Prime Minister Ben-

jamin Netanyahu said on Sunday there was still time to stop an Iranian agreement with world powers that he says would give Tehran nuclear arms.

"It's still not too late to retract the plan that gives Iran an agreement which will pave it a road to a nuclear weapon," he said at a ceremony marking Israel's capture of Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War. The United States as well as Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany are in the midst of negotiations with Tehran to finalise a deal by June 30 that would prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, in exchange for an easing of crippling economic sanctions. Israel says that Iran cannot be trusted to honour the nascent deal, which is anyway full of loopholes. "We oppose this deal and we are not the only ones," Netanyahu said. "It is necessary and possible to achieve a better deal."

Arab and largely Sunni Muslim states of the Gulf fear a nuclear deal could be a harbinger of closer US ties with their Shi'ite archfoe Iran, a country they also see as fuelling conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

Netanyahu

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

15 Opinion

Counsels for outgoing President Jonathan

L Muhammad Ajah

ike a ‘man of God’, he suddenly began to prophesy. Like a prodigal son, he suddenly realized the efficacy of parenthood. And like a love-spoilt, he is bracing up with the reality in woo-manhood. I earnestly appeal to those who are close to the outgoing President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to counsel him to calm down and feel relaxed as a Nigerian citizen cum statesman. His utterances in most recent times have revealed the trauma of a man awaiting trial for crimes he disclaims in advance. He should be man enough to face the reality of life outside Aso Rock villa. After all, the downfall of a man is not the end of his life. He has not fallen down to poverty or dejection.

Yes, the fear of the name Buhari is the beginning of wisdom for Nigerian politicians and looters. It is the beginning of wisdom for the outgoing President and his cabinet, so GEJ should explore the wisdom in that fear and do the needful before the handover day and final exit from the Aso Rock villa. Let the inherent wisdom not lead to jittery and confusion. Let it not lead to sorrow and indignation. Let it be the wisdom

that leads to Nigeria’s unity and greater expectations.

Worried by some actions and programmes embarked by GEJ recently, one thinks it necessary to offer these pieces of advice to curtail further engendering of rancour and acrimony in the polity. We can recall that the incoming government is feeling that GEJ is tactically setting traps that will make governance uneasy after handover.

GEJ is predicting persecution and hard times for himself and members of his cabinet.

Howbeit, in as much as it is true that more than half of members of his cabinet were incorrigible, there were few who were above the law. They defiled all civil ethics and culture, bamboozled all legislative and judicial procedures and powers, and hid under the Presidential wings to commit anything that was imaginably possible for them. They know as much as GEJ was their cover. Therefore, now that the Day of Account comes closer and every cabinet member must carry his or her cross, there is no need of shedding the crocodile’s tear or seeking sympathy.

GEJ, who recently confessed he has been deserted by confidants, should act fast, gather and treat

them to a secret dinner. He should not beg in futility trying to stop them from writing their experiences under his government. He should rather beg them to soft pedal in exposing the dirty businesses that transpired during the height of politicking and politricking at Aso Villa.

Chief Bode George in an interview with the Channels Television has indicated strong interest to gather his political experiences in a book.

Many of his likes will soon become writers and publishers. As difficult as writing has been, Nigerian politicians create time to write only after they have been forced out of political offices. Even many Nigerian professors and doctorate degree holders have not written such volumes by politicians. Recall that former President Olusegun Obasanjo has beautifully written books to his credit, though politicians engage the services of academicians to achieve the feat.

The 11th-hour contracts and appointments by the outgoing government would be serious issues of contests after handover. Apart from, yet not limited to statutory ones because government is a continuum and there should be no vacuum in governance, these actions are seen as final steps to compensate party

loyalists. It is simply viewed as fixing PDP stalwarts who have serious connections with GEJ and his aides.

How they can work harmoniously with the policies of the incoming government? But the dismissal or forceful removal of some appointees on the ground of their stringency to laid-down rules and regulations, not mere loyalty to a fault, demands review. Let GEJ allow the few remaining days to pass without gang-up of frustrating the incoming government. Deputy National Chairman (North) of APC, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, asserted, “We are going to revisit these last-minute contract awards and appointments; they cannot stand.

I am sure Nigerians would want them revisited. Though they are still in charge, they should have put the collective interest of Nigerians before personal interests. I don’t think they are doing that.” APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed raised an alarm over last-minute looting of the nation’s resources, hurried recruitment into the public service and rushed privatization of key financial institutions by the outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan administration, warning that such egregious actions would have serious repercussions.

Nigeria must not expect miracles from Buhari

A Akintokunbo Adejumo

s we move closer to handover day to a brand new Federal Government of Nigeria on 29 May 2015, with a mixture of optimism and trepidation, if Nigerians think that the problems that have besieged and dragged Nigeria down for several decades are going to disappear with a wave of a magic wand,we have another think like the Americans will say.

Our expectations are, understandably high. However, while most of us are optimistic, there are saboteurs and agents provocateurs lurking and waiting for the promised change not to happen.

That is the reality. It is not going to happen. We will have to endure some more wrenching agonies and suffering before it gets better. In fact, the suffering will only ease a little after the first four years of Buhari’s presidency.

Nigeria, and her people, have been subjected to decades of appalling deprivation, degradation, dilapidation as a result of gross and criminal mismanagement and crass corruption and impunity, that it will be a herculean task by even the most sincere and ruthless of

men and women to even attempt a rescue operation. Therefore, I do not see Buhari, doing it in the short term. Sincere men like him need longer, because he is not a magician or miracle-maker. That is the fact, despite both gullible and cynical people expecting wonders from him.

The rot, the ruin, the rape, the looting, the impunity, disregard for humaneness and degradation of over forty years simply cannot be undone in four years. However, if we, as a people, are sincere with ourselves and approach the task of “change” with a certain degree of altruism, and want the best for ourselves, our children and future generation, it would serve us best to have all hands on deck to approach the massive and onerous, mostly painful tasks ahead.

There is therefore the need for mediocre, corrupt and purposeless politicians and other public servants to be kicked out, prosecuted and jailed when and if found guilty of having partaken or collaborated in the looting of this great country.

This is the time when no Nigerian must be above the laws of the country; no sacred cows. All cows must be slaughtered.

We do away with drug dealers, murderers and other criminals making our laws for us. We do not

want dishonest politicians calling the shots from the state houses and from the corridors of power. We must reject in its totality, mediocre and political-jobbers as ministers, commissioners and other appointees. We do not want situations and environments where political leaders reward mediocrity but sacrifice and neglect merit.

There is a real need to prosecute and severely punish corrupt highranking government officials and political office holders who had arrogated illegally to themselves the common wealth of this country, taken undue advantage of, and have abused the positions and authority entrusted to them and who had cause, directly and indirectly, millions of deaths and suffering to our people. They must not be allowed to go scot-free. No way! There must be actions to deter others who think it is their right, or do not see anything wrong, in plundering government treasuries and taking us for granted.

Since Independence in 1960, and perhaps even before, what we have seen in Nigeria is a pervasive desire for power, status, fame, recognition and unimaginable wealth. In the political arena, the corridors of history are littered with much destruction, pain and suffering because of the unrestrained lust for

power and wealth. Thousands and millions of our people have suffered and dying and are still suffering and dying because of the despotic and undemocratic rule and the whims and fancies of corrupt, insincere, clueless, self-centred, conscienceless and insensitive leaders and their acolytes, owing to unending political and social instability as a result of endless jostling for power and all kinds of political manoeuvres.

Politicians lie to us because the people want to be lied to and the people, psychosomatically, do not usually want to hear the truth, because Truth, as the saying goes, hurts and no one wants to hear things that threaten their existence, their beliefs, or words that will make them uncomfortable. It is decidedly better for politicians to tell people what makes them feel comfortable. Peoplealso always expect too much.Politicians know their followers will believe them, even in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary. If a lie is told enough times, people will accept it is true. It is not a stretch to understand why people would believe something if they hear it enough. People expect that lies will be disproved and fade away. So if the lies continue to be heard, people assume, then they must be true.

16

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Business Times Æ s

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

17

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

L-R: Company Secretary, Custodian and Allied Plc. Mr. Adeyinka Jafojo (representing Custodian Trustees).

Chairman, Custodian and Allied Plc. Chief Michael Ade Ojo. Director, Custodian and Allied Plc. Wole Oshin

Cargo diversion to neighbouring countries looms after NPA’s directive Funmi Coker Diversion of Oil and gas cargo to neighbouring countries’ ports is imminent following the recent directive by the new management of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, that all oil and gas vessels should henceforth go through Intels facilities in Onne, Rivers State.

Members of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and others have threatened to divert oil and gas cargoes to neighbouring countries unless the directive is rescinded.

The association which decried government’s moves to grant such monopoly said that it would instruct its members and principals who handle oil and gas cargoes to henceforth direct their vessels to boycott all Intels-controlled seaports, unless the directive was reversed.

National President of the association, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, who spoke on the issue said what the Federal Government has done was very irresponsible. “What they are doing is creating a monopoly that is anti-people, and not in the interest of the economy,” he said.

“Everybody should have a choice of where they want to take their cargoes to. The government concessioned the ports, all of them (concessionaires) signed the same documents. Why do you have to force people to take their cargo to Intels…so that they can charge them in dollars, and not only that, their charges are 300 times more than regular charges in other ports.

“We have started our campaign also to call for the boycott of all Intels’ ports facilities. In addition, we are prepared to take our oil and gas goods through Cotonou.

If that discrimination is going to

AfDB approves $50m to boost power in Nigeria, Zambia Tony Nwakaegho The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved $50 million investment in CEC Africa (CECA) Investments Limited, a multinational power company headquartered in Nigeria and Zambia.

CECA seek to acquire and develop distribution and transmission assets and complementary Greenfield generation projects throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

By investing across the energy value chain of generation, transmission, and distribution, CECA

aims to reduce electricity losses while improving the overall economics in Africa’s power sector.

CECA has already invested in two operating companies in Nigeria: Abuja Electricity Distribution Company and North South Power, which holds a 30year concession on the 600 MW Shiroro Hydro Power Plant, both acquired during the recent Nigerian Power Sector Privatisation Program.

AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka said “By supporting an indigenous power developer (CECA), the Bank is helping

create a pool of pan-African investors besides assisting in mobilising the necessary capital to increase access to energy in Africa”.

CECA also have a number of Greenfield power projects under active development in Southern and Western Africa, as well as a reserve pipeline spanning Eastern and Central Africa.

Through these investments, CECA aims to become one of Africa’s leading power utilities, thereby catalysing additional private sector participation in its energy markets.

happen, then we go through the border. “It is very unfortunate because Intels have been a problem and it is like a country, a sovereign of its own. That is because the promoters are holding the government and Nigerians by the jugular. It is very unfortunate.”

The ANLCA President criticised out-going government of President Goodluck Jonathan for embarking on some recent controversial appointments, which he described as deliberate plots to create problems for its successor.

“Like many things the out-going government is doing now, I think they are just out to create prob-

lems for the new administration.

We should be talking about the in-coming government, not the out-going one that is just creating booby-traps all over the place for its successor,” he said.

The ANLCA leader, however, opined that such “booby-traps can be dismantled by the in-coming government if they can put their acts together. “While tackling the issue of the economy, he (in-coming President Muhammadu Buhari) should also be looking into the Maritime Industry.

The maritime industry is a very viable avenue for government to meet its revenue needs.”

Ebonyi workers threaten to resume strike Joy Ekeke The Trade Union Congress, TUC, in Ebonyi said it would resume its suspended strike if the state government did not implement the agreement it reached with the union.

The TUC Chairman, Mr Ikechukwu Nwafor, told newsmen that government was yet to fully implement the agreement reached with the union which necessitated suspension of the

industrial action.

Nwafor said government was not sincere with the implementation of agreement it reached with leadership of the congress. ``The withheld September, 2011 workers’ salaries and arrears of January and February, 2015 workers’ salaries are yet to be paid to workers. `Labour will on Monday 25, resume its suspended strike if its calls are not heeded by government,’’ Nwafor said.

Aviation 18

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

ABX WORLD partners Arik Air, SAHCOL for agro-allied export ABX WORLD, an EU certified (EUC) cargo agent, recently signed agreement with Arik Air and Skyway Aviation Grand Handling Company (SAHCOL) as cargo airline and process handling company for its export business.

Arik Air and SAHCOL are also EU certified with ACC3 and RA3 certifications respectively, an evidence of the acceptability of EU Governments to rely on the due compliance of ABX WORLD and the partners to help ensure that all laws are abided.

EUC compliance assessment is defined as a “demonstration that specified requirements relating to a product, process, system, person or body are fulfilled.”

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ABX WORLD, Captain

John Okakpu said Nigeria has immense agricultural potential, even as only 40% of her 84 million hectares of arable land cultivated, plus 263 billion cubic meters of water - (having two of the largest rivers in Africa).

He said the company, having secured the certification of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as an “Authorised Cargo Agent”, is set for an unrivalled speedy export of agro-allied produces, especially perishable items such as vegetables and fruits.

He noted that the stability and sustainability of the world economy have been and still depend on agriculture, because agriculture is the major source of survival for man, animals and the industrial sectors through the provision of

food and raw materials according to STAN in 2000.

In other words, agriculture is taking back its position as the leading contributor to the economy; hence oil & gas sector is seriously in shambles.” He told journalists.

Okakpu said Nigeria has the required manpower to support agricultural expansion affirming that with an estimated 80 million farmers, Nigeria can cultivate enough food for its people and feed the world.

He said, “There is a need to engage the private sector, investors, local banks and International Financial Institutions with the view of connecting (Supply chain) the vast investment opportunities of Nigeria Agriculture with local

and international investors.

Putting together all sectors in Nigeria especially Agriculture will surpass the $128.00 per barrel of crude oil needed to balance the budget. That is where most Nigerians and world misunderstood General Muhammad Buhari (GMB), the newly President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when he was credited for saying the he will stabilise the price of crude oil.

On the choice of Arik Air as cargo airline partner, he said that as Nigeria’s leading commercial airline, the airline was the first to operate a fleet of 26 state-of-the arts regional, medium haul and long haul aircraft.

This means that Arik Air’s clients now have an unprecedented

freighting opportunities and possibilities.

“Similarly, SAHCOL as the process handling company with state-of-the-art facilities, serves as a major gateway to import and export in the Nigerian Aviation Sector,’’ he said.

SAHCOL Boss conferred with Doctorate Degree

Plane crash site

AIS seeks inclusion in accident investigations Stories by Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo The Aeronautical Information Service AIS has called for their inclusion in the participation of Accident and incident investigations based on their roles in flight operations.

The National President of Aeronautical Information Service AIS Mr Babatunde Shittu who made this call in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state during the world AIS day celebrations said the role of AIS in case of accidents and incidents cannot be over emphasised in flight operations.

According to Shittu, every flight originates from AIS office and expected to terminate at the same office with post flights in-

formation from pilots.

He maintained that AIS was the first to call for investigation when accident or incident occurrs.

Shittu called on NAMA, NCAA and NCAT for training and retraining of its AIS /ATM personnel to keep them abreast with modern day technology in the world adding that it remained critical in the changeover from manual to digital operations.

The AISAN president called for the consideration of the licensing of AIS /ATM due to the critical nature of data handled.

Shittu regretted that since 1998, that the International Civil Aviation Organisation ICAO has sensitised all contracting

States on the need for the service of AIS to be automated adding that since then Nigeria has been doing it on paperwork and has not been completed.

He noted that in the last five years that that a lot of progress was made in trying to automate the AIS but there have been no direction since last year adding that it has been a great impediment to the project.

Shittu while saying that fund has remained a challenge said ICAO has given November 2016 as the deadline for the completion of the program and appealed to the Federal government to as a matter of urgency complete the project in order for it not to become an elephant project.

The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), Oluropo Owolabi, has been honoured with a Doctorate Degree.

The award was given by the Commonwealth University and London Graduate School Consortium at the Ange Hill Hotel, Accra, Ghana to recognise Oluropo Owolabi’s esteemed contribution to the Nigerian Economy.

The Commonwealth University (CU)was established as a private International University company fully owned by the Island Open University Belize under the laws of the Government of Belize, pursuant to the International Business Companies (IBC) Act of 1990. The University appointed the London Graduate School as its official tuition provider and administrator of its academic activities.

The award ceremony which

was also the African Leadership Summit 2015 was attended by the crème de la crème in the Government, Expatriates, dignitaries in the academia and distinguished guests of all works of life. Oluropo Owolabi was presented with a Doctorate Degree of the University and also a certificate in Professional studies in Leadership.

Oluropo Owolabi who is the Managing Director of SAHCOL is involved in the day to day running of the company which includes Passenger Handling, Ramp Handling, Cargo Handling and Warehousing, Aviation security, Baggage Reconciliation, Crew bus and Executive Lounge services and other related ground handling services.

He has in the past received honours and awards for his astute business acumen, innovative skills, corporate excellence and innovative approach to corporate turnaround.

Oluropo Owolabi receiving the honorary certificate

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

19 Labour

L-R: Abdulrahman Tunde, National Treasurer, TUC; Comrade Bobbi Bala Kaigama, President TUC; Comrade Sunday Salako, Deputy President 1, TUC; and Augustine Etafo, Deputy President II at TUC National Executive Council Meeting.

TUC tasks Governors to clear outstanding salaries before May 29

NLC urges President-elect to review minimum wage, tackle corruption

Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), has called on all outgoing governors to pay workers outstanding salaries before May 29 handing over date.

Speaking recently at the congress’s National Executive Council Meeting which was held at the Airport Hotel in Lagos, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, President, TUC, also tasked the Federal Government and employers of labour to consider an upward review of the national minimum wage.

He specifically condemned all state government owing workers, saying they had spent the money on the recently concluded election.

“Every five years, national minimum wage is supposed to be reviewed and we are in the eighth year, and more so the issues is compounded by the devaluation of Naira and issue of inflation,” he said.

Comrade Kaigama also lamented that, the President who

serves for eight years will receive life pension, including an instant package during exit from office, while a civil servant who serves 35 years, retiring at 60 years will neither get pension nor any package till he or she eventually dies of stroke.

On the privatisation of power, “we are seriously having our reservation because since the commencement of privatisation process, electricity supply rate has drop from about 4,000MW to 2,000MW. “We strongly believe the incoming government will declare a state of emergency in the power sector,” he said.

In a communiqué issued by the Union during it NEC meeting, the body enjoined the incoming government to urgently address the following: High Cost of Governance, stressing that incoming government should drastically reduce the high cost of governance in the country, and the need to cut down on political appointments and the situation

where lawmakers fix their own salaries and allowances must be discouraged and discontinued.

Other issues include: Upward review of wages and payment of salaries, noting that of serious concern is the fact that the minimum wage of eighteen thousand naira N18, 000 which is less than $90 has not been implemented in some states.

On the scarcity of petroleum products, the union called on Federal Government to halt the continued scarcity of petroleum products as it impacts negatively on all components of the Nigerian economy, and that the government should immediately reconvene a stakeholders meeting to address the controversies with the marketers with a view to urgently resolving the demand and supply deficit while concrete steps should be taken on the issue of local refining to put a stop to the issue of importation of petroleum products and payment of subsidy.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has advised the newlyelected President, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, to initiate policies that would tackle corruption headlong as well as make sure that workers’ minimum wage is reviewed.

The NLC’s President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, told newsmen in Lagos that the labour movement would play an advisory role to support Government policies for peace to reign in the country, he also advised the incoming administration to harp on government at all levels, ministries, agencies and parastatals to pay salaries as at when due.

He said: “it is only when government lead by example that employers of labour in the private sector will emulate government and make the workers to get paid promptly and adequately for industrial peace to prevail.”

Also, the Deputy President of NLC, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, who insisted that the labour movement will not allow the current poor salary structure for the nation’s workers to continue, told newsmen that the organised labour is currently working on an appropriate new minimum

TUC calls for new solutions to unemployment

With the rate of unemployment still very high, the President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, (TUC), Mr Bobboi Kaigama, has called on policy makers at all levels of government, to formulate new solutions that would create the much needed jobs in the country.

Kaigama said in Lagos that irrespective of the figure declared by the National Bureau of Statis-

tics, the ratio of the unemployed people in the country was worrisome.

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, had stated that the number of those unemployed had dropped, after a review of the country’s labour statistics.

It said that the unemployed people had dropped from 16.07 million or 23.9 per cent in 2011 to 4.67 million or 6.4 per cent, as at

the fourth quarter of 2014.

The TUC president said that whatever the statistics presented by the NBS, it is obvious that the figures of unemployed people in the country were on the increase. ``Every household in Nigeria has a minimum of two or three graduates without jobs. If you multiply that by no fewer than 160 million people in the country, it is a terrible figure,’’ Kaigama said.

Stories by Joy Ekeke

wage to be presented to president Buhari.

He said: “a serious government that will fight corruption must guarantee that the workforce is paid wages commiserate with the responsibilities they rendered and must tally with the prevailing economic indices in the country”.

The labour leader said, the Gen. Buhari led Government should expect a new minimum wage proposal from labour, as the leadership of NLC has constituted a committee to review the current minimum wage, using empirical economic indices to ensure the take home of Nigerian workers can sustain resistance from stealing and sharp practices in places of work.

He however warned government not to cut down the workforce because of wage review, stressing that the country is blessed with enough resources that can cater for a better wage and welfare of the workers.

“We know that wage increases are always followed by threats of reduction in government and private workforce, and in some cases, such threats have resulted in massive lay-offs in the civil service.

He appealed to the Federal Government to resuscitate the Power sector, to create and boost both medium and large scale businesses. ``With electricity, industries will spring up. Lots of jobs will be created. Let the governments develop our solid minerals, tourism potentialities, as well as the agricultural sector,’’ the labour leader said.

Money 20

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Expert wants specific laws against internet fraud Opeoluwani Akintayo

Making laws against internet fraud more specific rather than ambiguous has been advocated by an Information Communication Technology expert, Mr Olufemi Abidoye, as a more efficient measure of tackling the menace.

Abidoye, who is the Managing Director of FEMTECH Information Technology, made the call in Ilorin on Sunday while speaking with newsmen.

According to him, such laws

should spell out offences and penalties for anyone that hacks into people’s website.

He urged the National Assembly to sponsor to hasten action to review the laws for the police to promptly prosecute offenders.

The ICT expert added that there was the need for anyone that hoisted a website to embark on regular update and get his site secured to guard against internet fraudsters.

Abidoye advised management of various banks to be proac-

tive by embarking on more sensitisation and enlightenment programmes for their customers on the need to be securityconscious in handling their accounts.

He disclosed that another way to solve internet fraud and other related cybercrime in the country was for the government to provide jobs for the unemployed youths.

The expert implored the youth to be focused and determined, stressing that Information Technology has the capacity of

providing job opportunities to several people.

He observed that new openings and fresh ideas were coming up daily from the internet business.

Abidoye commended the efforts of the Kwara Government for injecting additional N2 billion to scale up the government’s entrepreneurship scheme.

He advised the government against politicising the scheme and to ensure that the right people were engaged in the programme.

(L-R) Vice President, LCCI and Managing Director of Jawa Ltd, Mr. Varkey Verghese, Chief Executive Officer, CEO Economic Associates, Dr. Ayo Teriba, Managing Director, Lead Capital Plc, Prince Bimbola Olashore, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Nevin and Director General, LCCI, Mr. Muda Yusuf, at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry Economic & Business Roundtable held in Lagos recently.

Honeywell, Dangote partner on technology for Africa’s largest refinery Emmanuel Ogbonnaya Honeywell technology has been selected to run the Dangote Oil Refining Company which is the largest proposed refinery in Africa.

Dangote Oil Refining Company selected Honeywell’s UOP technology for its world-scale integrated refinery and petrochemical plant to be built in Lekki, near the capital of Lagos in south-western Nigeria.

Honeywell, announced on Monday that its process technology, catalysts and proprietary equipment will form the basis for the

largest refinery in Africa, reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuels and petrochemicals.

“UOP has been designing stateof-the-art refineries and petrochemical plants for more than a century, so we are well-equipped to help Nigeria develop a massive new installation to meet its domestic needs,” said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of UOP’s Process, Technology and Equipment business. “This project will enable Dangote to improve Nigeria’s oil refining capabilities, reduce the country’s dependence on imports, and work to revive and transform

the Nigerian economy.”

The Dangote Group is the largest industrial conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest in Africa. The company has a number of interests, including cement, real estate, oil, natural gas, telecommunications, fertiliser and steel.

Piotrowski stated that in addition to processing crude oil to produce high-quality gasoline, diesel and jet fuel that meet Euro V specifications for reduced emissions, the new facility will produce world-scale quantities of polypropylene, a key petrochemical used

in plastics and packaging.

UOP technologies at this facility will include: The UOP Resid Fluid Catalytic Cracking process to produce transportation fuels from crude oil. It will also supply propylene, which will be used as a feedstock for polypropylene; The CCR Platforming™ process to produce high-octane gasoline blending components; The Unicracking™ process to produce diesel; The Penex™ process to produce high-octane gasoline and the crude distillation unit (CDU) design, which will be provided by UOP’s alliance partner, Process Consulting Services.

Children’s day: Fan club kicks-off celebrations Godwin Anyebe Indomie Fan Club (IFC), Nigeria’s largest children based fan club has commenced its annual celebrations to mark this year’s children’s day. Over 70, 000 children are expected to take part in this year’s IFC celebrations which would hold in multiple locations across Nigeria namely; Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Akure and Ogun state.

The celebrations which will be officially declared open tomorrow the 20th of May, 2015 at the National Theatre Auditorium, Lagos, will run through to the 27th of May. Public Relations/Events Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Mr. Tope Ashiwaju disclosed that Indomie, children’s favourite brand, will continue to ensure that the children are happy by creating an atmosphere of fun and excitement for them through the Fan Club.

According to him, “Children’s day is something Indomie takes very seriously and as such we devote more than a week to celebrate these children. It is an opportunity for the Indomie brand through the Indomie Fan Club, to create an atmosphere of fun and excitement to celebrate with thousands of kids across Nigeria.

“Indomie is a children centric brand and we will continue to support causes and activities that will help their development both mentally and physically and as well ensure that they are happy”. He added.

The Indomie Fan Club is an initiative of Dufil Prima Foods, makers of noodles brand – Indomie Instant Noodles. The club was founded in July, 2005 with the aim of creating an environment of learning, fun, and excitement and bonding for children between the ages of 5 - 12.With well over 100, 000 members spread across different parts of Nigeria; the club has grown to become a phenomenom.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Today in History Æ s Compiled by ‘Tunji Okegbola

Cartoons from our Archives

1588 Spanish Armada sets sail A massive Spanish fleet, known as the “Invincible Armada,” set sail from Lisbon on a mission to secure control of the English Channel and transport a Spanish invasion army to Britain from the Netherlands.

In the late 1580s, Queen Elizabeth’s support of the Dutch rebels in the Spanish Netherlands led King Philip II of Spain to plan the conquest of England. A giant Spanish invasion fleet was completed by 1587, but Sir Francis Drake’s daring raid on the port of Cadiz delayed the Armada’s departure until May 1588. The Invincible Armada consisted of 130 ships and carried 2,500 guns and 30,000 men, two-thirds of them soldiers. Delayed by storms, the Armada did not reach the southern coast of England until late July. By that time the British were ready.

On July 21, the outnumbered English navy began bombarding the seven-mile-long line of Spanish ships from a safe distance, taking full advantage of their superior long-range guns. The Spanish Armada continued to advance

1916

during the next few days, but its ranks were thinned considerably by the English assault. On July 28, the Spanish retreated to Calais, France, but the English sent ships loaded with explosives into the crowded harbour, which took a heavy toll on the Armada. The next day, an attempt to reach the Netherlands was thwarted by a small Dutch fleet, and the Spanish were forced to face the pursuing English fleet. The superior English guns again won the day, and the Armada retreated north to Scotland.

Battered by storms and suffering from a lack of supplies, the Armada sailed on a difficult journey back to Spain through the North Sea and around Ireland. By the time the last of the surviving fleet reached Spain in October, half of the original armada was destroyed. Queen Elizabeth’s decisive defeat of the Invincible Armada made England a worldclass naval power and introduced effective long-range weapons into naval warfare for the first time, ending the era of boarding and close-quarter fighting.

Daily Times May 19, 1961

Britain and France conclude Sykes-Picot agreement

On May 19, 1916, representatives of Great Britain and France secretly reached an accord, known as the SykesPicot agreement, by which most of the Arab lands under the rule of the Ottoman Empire are to be divided into British and French spheres of influence with the conclusion of World War I. After the war broke out in the summer of 1914, the Allies—Britain, France and Russia—held many discussions regarding the future of the Ottoman Empire, now fighting on the side of Germany and the Central Powers, and its vast expanse of territory in the Middle East, Arabia and southern-central Europe. In March 1915, Britain signed a secret agreement with Russia, whose designs on the empire’s territory had led the Turks to join forces with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1914. By its terms, Russia would annex the Ottoman capi-

tal of Constantinople and retain control of the Dardanelles (the crucially important strait connecting the Black Sea with the Mediterranean) and the Gallipoli peninsula, the target of a major Allied military invasion begun in April 1915. In return, Russia would agree to British claims on other areas of the former Ottoman Empire and central Persia, including the oil-rich region of Mesopotamia.

More than a year after the agreement with Russia, British and French representatives, Sir Mark Sykes and Francois Georges Picot, authored another secret agreement regarding the future spoils of the Great War. Picot represented a small group determined to secure control of Syria for France; for his part, Sykes raised British demands to balance out influence in the region. The agreement largely neglected to allow for the future growth of Arab nationalism, which at that same

moment the British government and military were working to use to their advantage against the Turks.

In the Sykes-Picot agreement, concluded on May 19, 1916, France and Britain divided up the Arab territories of the former Ottoman Empire into spheres of influence. In its designated sphere, it was agreed, each country shall be allowed to establish such direct or indirect administration or control as they desire and as they may think fit to arrange with the Arab State or Confederation of Arab States. Under Sykes-Picot, the Syrian coast and much of modern-day Lebanon went to France; Britain would take direct control over central and southern Mesopotamia, around the Baghdad and Basra provinces. Palestine would have an international administration, as other Christian powers, namely Russia, held an interest in this region.

1935

Lawrence of Arabia dies

T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia, died as a retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an assumed name. The legendary war hero, author, and archaeological scholar succumbed to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six days before.

Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Tremadoc, Wales, in 1888. In 1896, his family moved to Oxford. Lawrence studied architecture and archaeology, for which he made a trip to Ottoman (Turkish)-controlled Syria and Palestine in 1909. In 1911, he won a fellowship to join an expedition excavating an ancient Hittite settlement on the Euphrates River. He worked there for three years and in his free time traveled and learned Arabic. In 1914, he explored the Sinai, near the frontier of Ottoman-controlled Arabia and British-controlled Egypt. The maps Lawrence and his associates made had immediate strategic value upon the outbreak of war between Britain

and the Ottoman Empire in October 1914.

Lawrence enlisted in the war and because of his expertise in Arab affairs was assigned to Cairo as an intelligence officer.

He spent more than a year in Egypt, processing intelligence information and in 1916 accompanied a British diplomat to Arabia, where Hussein ibn Ali, the emir of Mecca, had proclaimed a revolt against Turkish rule. Lawrence convinced his superiors to aid Hussein’s rebellion, and he was sent to join the Arabian army of Hussein’s son Faisal as a liaison officer.

Under Lawrence’s guidance, the Arabians launched an effective guerrilla war against the Turkish lines. He proved a gifted military strategist and was greatly admired by the Bedouin people of Arabia. In July 1917, Arabian forces captured Aqaba near the Sinai and joined the British march on Jerusalem.

Lawrence was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

23 News

Imo guber: Ihedioha drags Okorocha to tribunal Val Okara Owerri

ÏÏÏThe Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Imo State and Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, has finally filed a petition at the Election Petitions Tribunal in Owerri, against Governor Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

His action against Okorocha,

at the weekend, has ended weeks of speculations and rumours on whether he and his party would challenge Okorocha at the tribunal.

He alleged conspiracy between APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), stressing that people’s votes did not count.

In suit No. EPT/IM/GOV/3/2015 against Okorocha, APC and 35 other respondents, Ihedioha main-

tained that the election was characterised by violence, intimidation, widespread malpractices and partisanship on the part of INEC. He also stressed that the process was fraught with substantial non-compliance, particularly the extensive infringement of Paragraph 28 of the guidelines for the 2015 election, by declaring results on votes obtained without accreditation or in excess of accredited voters, and the total breach of the

principle of neutrality embedded in the Electoral Act, as flagrantly perpetrated by INEC’s staff and agents.

Ihedioha had earlier cited the alleged arrest of more than a dozen personnel of INEC in the state, whom he alleged conspired with the APC to manipulate and change the results of elections already declared in favour of PDP. Ihedioha, through Chief Mike Ahamba, SAN, who leads seven

other counsels, is praying the tribunal to declare him winner of the election or, alternatively, cancel the said election and conduct a fresh governorship poll in the state.

Declaring that the election was invalid, for reason of acts of noncompliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, Ihedioha prayed the tribunal to also order Okorocha to return the certificate of return issued to him.

MDAs can use our CBT facilities, says JAMB Augustine Okezie Abuja

ÏÏÏThe

Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) has told government departments, agencies and ministries that they can freely use its newly constructed computer based centres (CBT) that were used recently for the nation-wide conduct of

St. Cyprian Catholic Church Parish Priest, Rev. Father Austine Nnaemeka (left), presenting an Award of Excellency to The Leader, Catholic Women Organization, CWO, Group B, St. Jude Thaddeus Society, Mrs. Joy Omovudu (right), during the 2015 Lagos Archdiocese Council of Catholic Women Organization (LACCWO) Day celebration, held in Lagos... at the weekend PHOTO: OLAWALE ROTIMI

Health experts advocate PPP for immunisation in Bauchi

Daniel Jolly Bauchi

ÏÏÏExperts within the sector of

routine immunisation have advocated for Public Private Partnership (PPP) with telecommunication firms and Nigeria Bottling Company (NBC) ‘Coca-Cola’, to fund routine immunisation in Bauchi State.

The stakeholders envisaged that the funding was in line with the global polio end game strategic plan 2013 to 2018, which is aimed at sustaining the zero-level polio case recorded for the last 20 months, and to ‘certify all local government areas in the state

Jonathan fires NIPC boss

polio-free and ensure that polio virus stocks are safely contained, among other objectives’.

The health experts made the recommendation during a oneday roundtable discussion on routine immunisation indicators performance coverage and funding, as well as sustainability plan, organised by Community Health and Research Initiative (CHRI), on Monday, to mark this year’s ‘Africa Vaccine Week’, held at Emergency Operation Centre Bauchi.

The Executive Director CHRI, Mohammed Shuaibu, commended the tripartite agreement signed by the Bauchi State Government, Dangote and Bill and Melinda

Gates, which is ongoing and is yielding results.

He added that the initiative provides a unique opportunity for the state to strengthen its immunisation programmes through advocacy and partnership, adding that this can only be done through creating awareness on the value and importance of immunization, increasing vaccines coverage and take up of new existing vaccines, prioritising services provision for the hard-to-reach areas with selected high impact to child survival package based on strong evidence, while at the same time increasing the funding for routine Immunisation programme.

Monday Agu Jnr.

ÏÏÏAbout 11 days to the end of

Jonathan

his administration, President Goodluck Jonathan has fired yet another head of parastatal.

He ordered, on Monday, the immediate sack of Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC),

the 2015 Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

The Public Relations Officer of the agency, Mr. Fabian Benjamin, told the Daily Times in Abuja that JAMB would allow the MDAs to use the facility for such activities as aptitude tests, mass selection interviews, other public examinations and recruitment exercises.

Kidnapping: Lawyer accuses Ekiti Police of silence Tosin Ajuwon Human Rights Activist Lawyer, Morakinyo Ogele, has picketed the Nigeria Police Force in Ekiti State, over the rising kidnapping cases of innocent citizens in the state.

In a statement issued to journalists on Monday in Akure, the Ondo State capital, Ogele accused the Police of continuous silence in seeking urgent action to stem the activities of the murderous kidnappers in the state.

Already, the activist lawyer had issued a 7-day ultimatum to the Police in the state to uncover and arrest the kidnappers and their godfathers in the state.

Ogele wondered why the Police in Ekiti have allegedly kept mute over the kidnapping cases in the state.

“Why Police are remaining

silent in this type of situation is unknown, when prominent indigenes of Ekiti are kidnapped and carried to unknown places is shrouded in secrecy. It was learnt that some of these criminals are within Ekiti State,” he said.

He noted that the Police in the state have not been doing enough to protect the lives of the Ekiti people, and questioned why no one has been arrested in connection with the crime.

“Ekiti State Police Command should tell the world why they have not arrested any of these kidnappers, or prevent them from kidnapping innocent citizens.

“The rate at which kidnappers are operating in Ekiti State with impunity, without police intervention is embarrassing. It is surprising that the activities of these criminal minded persons are flourishing on daily basis,” he observed.

Mrs. Saratu Altine Umar.

While no reason was given for her sack, the President, through a statement signed by his spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, approved Mrs Uju Hassan-Baba as Umar’s replacement.

The new Executive Secretary/ Chief Executive had served previously as Director-General,

Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in Anambra State, and Director, Legal Services, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

Umar was appointed NIPC boss in May 2014 to replace Engr Mustapha Bello who held the position for several years.

Akure

ÏÏÏA

News 24

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Kidnapping: ASUU may go on strike as members protest in Ekiti Gbenga Sodeinde Ado Ekiti

ÏÏÏFollowing

the abduction of another member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ekiti State University chapter, at the weekend the body, on Monday, staged a protest in Ado-Ekiti, against the incessant kidnapping of its members and gave the state government until Friday to rescue the victims, failing which they would go on indefinite strike.

The body expressed displeasure with the abduction of five of its members at various locations in the state within the past two weeks, two of whom had been released to look for a sum

of N210 million being demanded as ransom for the release of the remaining three hostages.

Some of the placards carried by the protesters read: ‘ASUU says no to kidnapping’, ‘Kidnapping is a crime against humanity’, ‘ASUU Demands unconditional release of members’, ‘Ensure safety of lives and property’, among others.

They were protesting against the kidnapping of Dr. Femi Omisore, a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Dr. (Mrs.) Folasade Alade of Ekiti State University and Dr. (Mrs.) Kikelomo Adegun, wife of the former Chief Medical Director of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti.

ASUU members, led by its

EKSU Chairman, Prof Olufayo Olu-Olu, marched from the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital in Ado Ekiti to the Ewi’s Palace, where they were addressed by Oba Rufus Adejugbe and members of his council.

Prof Olufayo also received solidarity from his colleagues from OAU, Dr. Caleb Aborisade and Federal University of Technology, Dr Bola Oniya.

They later moved to see Governor Ayodele Fayose at his office, but they were received by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kolapo Olusola, because the governor was said to have gone to Abuja to meet with the Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase over the soaring cases of abduction in the state.

Akor Ejumene Abuja

ÏÏÏResidents of Dutsen Alhaji

and Sokale, in Bwari Local Government Area of the Federal Capital Territory, are now in total darkness for protesting against huge electricity bills given to them by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

The residents, at the weekend, continued their protest after the 3-day ultimatum given to the company to cut down what they described as outrageous and crazy electricity bills in the area had expired.

The residents, under the umbrella of Dutse/Sokale Com-

Kehinde Akinpelu

ÏÏÏThe

newly elected chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Kwara State chapter, Comrade Yekini Kareem Agunbiade, has advocated prompt payment of salaries and entitlements of local government workers in the state.

Agunbiade, who made this suggestion in an interview with Daily Times in Ilorin on Monday, also commended the state government for prompt payment of workers’ salaries.

He, however, emphasised the need for the gesture to be extended to all the local government workers, some of whom, he alleged, were being owned three months’ salaries.

Tony Elumelu to speak on power, climate change in US, Europe ÏÏÏFollowing his advocacy for

entrepreneur-led development for Africa at the White House and Georgetown University, African business leader and philanthropist, Tony O. Elumelu, is billed to speak on African

Treasury looters must be punished, Says el-Rufai Sunday Isuwa

ÏÏÏKaduna

el-Rufai

munity Concerned Group, had directed its members not to pay the bills unless the company reversed its earlier decision.

But this development did not go down well with the AEDC, as it ordered the shutting down of power in the area, an action that had, since Saturday last week, plunged the community into darkness.

Kwara NLC advocates prompt payment of salaries Ilorin

Ogun State Governor, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun (Middle) Presenting Certificate of Occupancy and Building Plan to Alh. Mrs. Oluranti Ayoola (left) and Admin Officer Bureau of Land, Mr. Akindele Festus (right) during the Home Chatter Programme held at Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan Abeokuta, Ogun State… on Monday PHOTO:DAVID IDOWU

Abuja community protests power outage

State Governorelect, Malam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, said on Monday, that treasury looters must be punished, in line with the Constitution of the country.

El-Rufai, who was reacting to the attempt by the out-going Kaduna State government to secure approval to spend N2.744 billion SURE-P funds, said the government had put pressure on the Kaduna State House of Assembly for the spending approval, barely two weeks to the end of its tenure.

El-Rufai, in a statement in Kaduna by his spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, disclosed that

the in-coming All Progressives Congress (APC) government would punish anyone culpable in the SURE-P funds diversion.

The statement quoted El-Rufai as saying: “I have been made aware of desperate attempts to secure approval to spend N2.744 billion Sure-P funds. Less than two weeks to its exit, the outgoing government of Kaduna State is seeking to pressure the out-going House of Assembly to permit it to spend 50% of the money on the Kawo Road project, while the 23 local government councils will share the balance.

“As Governor-elect, it is my duty to caution every official involved in these last-minute deals that the in-coming

government will ensure that there are consequences for illegal conduct, breach of trust and stealing of public assets.

Our government will certainly insist on accountability and no one should be in any doubt about our resolve, be it the instigators or those who facilitated and executed it.

“Our transition committee is daily inundated with reports about the dire financial straits in which the out-going government has placed the state. While I await the formal submission of the committee’s report, I am compelled to publicly affirm that we cannot and will not turn a blind eye to bad behavior,” he observed.

energy issues at the Sustainable Energy For All (SE4ALL) Global Advisory board meeting in New York today.

The event will be co-chaired by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim. Mr. Elumelu, chairman of the United Bank for Africa and the Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, is on the Advisory Board of SE4ALL along with global leaders such as U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the Directors-General of the UNDP and UNIDO. The initiative brings together leaders from all sectors of society to collaborate to help increase energy access and build a more prosperous and safer world.

Elumelu

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

25 News

FG designates MedView on London, nine other routes Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo

���Foreign airlines’ extor-

tion of Nigerian traveling public, through high fares on some international routes, is gradually being addressed, as the Federal Government has designated a domestic airline, MedView, on 10 foreign routes.

The approval was con-

tained in a letter addressed to the airline’s management dated April 23, 2015 by the Ministry of Aviation.

The letter, signed on behalf of the Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, by the Deputy Director, Air Transport Management in the ministry, M. S. Noibi, listed the new designated routes as London in United

Kingdom, Lisbon in Portugal, Douala in Cameroon and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Other routes are Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire, Bamako in Mali, Monrovia in Liberia, Conakry in Guinea and Freetown in Sierra Leone.

The letter, however, gave the airline deadline within which to commence opera-

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Glo to sponsor 2015 African Fashion Week Nigeria

Titus Akhigbe

Association (AFBA) has condemned the attempted coup in Burundi, maintaining that the foiled coup was a major setback towards the sustenance of democratic governance in the country.

The body also implored President Pierre Nkurunziza to jettison the idea of his third-term bid and concentrate more on good governance that would translate to the aspirations of his people.

However, in a statement signed by the President and Secretary of AFBA, Mr. Hannibal Uwaifo and Mrs. Flavania Charles, yesterday in Benin City, the association expressed joy at the return of the ousted president, and the establishment of a proper constitutional order under the rule of law.

Burundi, last week, went into political turmoil, following protests by thousands of Burundians over the third-term bid of the president that resulted to a coup masterminded by Major General Godefroid Niyombare.

The statement noted that the advent of military coup in any part of the African continent can no longer be tolerated under any guise.

Even at that, AFBA further pointed out that the people of Burundi deserved peace in their country and should not be subjected to avoidable crises that have been claiming innocent lives in the wake of crises trailing the third-term bid of the Burundian president.

Commending international organisations for moving swiftly against the entrenchent of military dictatorship in Burundi and the prompt return to constitutional democracy in the country, AFBA said it was saddened by the untold sufferings and misery this unfortunate adventure has brought against the people of Burundi.

"We will not hesitate to press for criminal charges against those behind the attempted coup in Burundi at the International Criminal Court. AFBA is currently studying the development in Burundi with a view to ascertaining what next step to take in the forthcoming confab of the association," it stated.

Meanwhile, AFBA has commended the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Augustine Alegeh SAN, for repositioning the association to play its role as the conscience of the society.

rican and African-inspired designers and fine artists globally. In a joint press statement on Sunday in Lagos, Globacom and AFWN noted that the sponsorship of the second edition of the event by the telecommunications colossus further demonstrated Globacom’s commitment to the promotion and sustenance of Afri-

can arts and culture. “Globacom identifies with the objective of the organisers to promote emerging Nigerian designers within and outside the shores of the country. We will continue to be associated with the development of Nigeria and Africa’s rich culture and its works of art,� the statement added.

Ă?Ă?Ă? The West African Bar

���Nigeria’s most empowering telecommunications company, Globacom, has been announced as the exclusive telecommunications partner and sponsors of the second edition of the African Fashion Week Nigeria (AFWN) scheduled to hold in Lagos between Saturday and Sunday.

The two-day event, which

would hold at the Oceanview Marquee and the Convention Centre of Eko Hotel and Suites, will offer platforms for promoting ‘Madein-Nigeria’ designs, whilst creating visibility and awareness for indigenous designers.

The shows will, in addition, provide a forum for promoting the work of Af-

Association (IATA) seasons would lead to revocation of the designation in accordance with extant policy on designations.

When our correspondent visited the airline, preparations were in motion by the management to put all logistics on ground for the commencement of operations on the foreign routes.

West African lawyers slam Burundi coupists

Benin

tions to the affected routes, or lose the right.

The letter partly stated: "You are advised to comply with all the rules and regulations of the aeronautical authorities of Nigeria and the respective countries. “Also, failure to operate any of the routes mentioned above for more than six International Air Transport

Chidoka

Akpabio declares Science Park failed project

Ă?Ă?Ă?Akwa Ibom Governor,

Chief Godswill Akpabio, has described the Science Park in Uyo, inherited from the previous administration, as a failed project.

Akpabio, who stated this during his valedictory State Executive Monthly Prayer meeting at St. John’s Chaplaincy, Government House, Uyo, hinted that “the Science Park, to me, was not an abandoned project. It is a failed project. A failed project is a project that money has been paid for, and the contractor failed to execute it. “The Science Park was contracted at about N5.6 billion and, from the records, about N5.3 billion had been paid upfront to the contractor, a South African company, and nothing was done. But the Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort and Akwa Ibom International Airport were, to me, on-going projects, and I went in and completed them,� he remarked.

The governor, who noted that his administration has not abandoned all projects inherited from the previous administration, stated that projects inherited have been completed and delivered to the people, except the Ibom Science Park.

Akpabio thanked the men of God for partnering his administration with prayer intercessions throughout his reign in Government House.

In his homily, Rev. Prince Antai, who preached on the theme: ‘Thanksgiving’, said thanksgiving was appreciation to God for what He has done, and advised leaders not to neglect the place of thanksgiving.

26

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Law

Æs

Law was not his first degree, Taiwo O. Taiwo, former Chairman; Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Lagos branch read History and Politics at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State before he proceeded to the University of Ibadan, Oyo State for his law degree and was called to the Bar in 1986. Mr. Taiwo, 2nd Vice-President of the NBA told PETER FOWOYO, in this interview that there ought not to be any confrontation between the judiciary and legislative arm of government over the constitutional amendment. Besides, he spoke on the issue of corruption in the society, the crisis rocking the River State judiciary and sundry other issues.

Speculations are rife that the Rivers state governor elect may not be sworn in into office due to lack of substantive Chief Jugde in that state. How do you view this constitutional crisis?

Well, that the governor-elect would not be sworn in is not an issue, he will be sworn in and I believe that there’s a way around this crisis. Personally, I believe that the person who has been functioning in the position of the CJ can perform that role. I know that there’s a problem between Justice Agumagu and Justice Okocha but notwithstanding at least somebody has been functioning in that role up till now and I believe that he can do it and there is no doubt that the man has been elected for a four year term and the constitution says that he should be sworn in and when there’s substantial compliance with the provision of the constitution, nobody is likely to worry about that. Once the election has been conclusive, nobody is likely to worry about the unusual situation which we have in Rivers state. The most important thing is that he has a mandate and the little niceties about his swearing in ceremony will not invalidate his mandate.

As a senior member of the Bar, are you not worried that the Rivers state judiciary has been under lock and key for about a year now?

Well, I don’t have any other job apart from legal practice and when I see all these things happening in the legal profession, it is not only a cause for worry, it is something that make me feel very, very sad indeed and that is because all what is happening is a result of politics, nothing but politics and when you have politics creeping into legal practice that is the type of thing which you have. I believe that with the new election now and with the ouster of Governor Rotimi Amaechi that everything will be brought under control.

That takes me to the last ques-

tion which you asked, you know when President Obama was to be sworn in as the President, I think in his second term, there was some mistakes in the wordings which he was supposed to repeat and in order to ensure that nobody makes capital out of it, he had to go and repeat the swearing in ceremony in the privacy of the White House. So, this problem is not peculiar to Nigeria alone, we have it all over the place, in the case of America, it was not any political maneuvering that caused it, it was just in the statement that the CJ was gabbling over the wordings which he repeated to Obama.

All these things are not as serious as one will think.

Apart from the issue of constitutional crisis in Rivers State there is also the issue of bombing of courts, do you think it is wise for the election petition tribunal to sit in the state with the spate of attacks on the judiciary?

Once the atmosphere or the position of things in the state makes it difficult or impossible for the safety of the judiciary and parties in the election tribunal panel to sit, I think alternative arrangement could be made for it, it is not cast in stone that the tribunal must sit in Rivers state. You have the case of Governor Fayose, the tribunal sat in Abuja instead of Ado-Ekiti because of the safety of the members of tribunal could not be guaranteed. I believe the same arrangement can be made because throwing bombs in courts and things like that is very, very bad and the rule of law cannot function under a violent environment, it is not consistent with the rule of law. Alternative arrangement would surely be made.

How do you view the Inspector General of Police direction that Commissioners of police should establish judges protection units for the protection of judges and courts in their respective areas of jurisdiction?

I think that is a salutary directive and I agree with him because

Law makers must obey Supreme Court— Taiwo

Taiwo

‘‘You see a situation like that in Ekiti where a judge was beaten and his clothes torn. Apart from the fact that it derogates from the respect being given to both the judge and the judiciary and the administration of justice itself, it is something that is condemnable.‘‘ you see cases where judges are being assaulted. You see a situation like that in Ekiti where a judge was beaten and his clothes torn.

Apart from the fact that it derogates from the respect being given to both the judge and the judiciary

and the administration of justice itself, it is something that is condemnable.

I will tell you the story of a judge who was travelling from Lagos to Abeokuta and he had a flat tyre so he had to change the tyre while the driver was changing the tyre, he stood by the road and one vehicle drove past them, later the vehicle stopped and reversed and somebody came out from that vehicle and greeted the judge and also helped to change the tyre.

After that he told the judge: “of course, Your Lordship may not remember me but you actually convicted me of an offence and sentenced me to imprisonment.” The judge was in mortal fear for his life because they were in the bush, this man could kill him there and that would have been the end.

But the man said: “Don’t worry, I actually committed the offence and the judgment you gave was quite correct, I have served my term, I am free now so, there is nothing for you to worry about.”

That is the type of things that happens to judges, while they are sitting on the bench in lawful discharge of their duties, some

people might feel offended and be inclined to take it out on them so that the job they are doing is fraught with a lot of dangers and the state should not only see that they are well protected while in office but even after they retire because some people have long memory, if you throw them in jail they will say no matter what, you will pay.

Some of them might have tried to bribe the judge and if the judge refused to take any bribe then they will take it upon themselves to punish or even kill the judge when they are out. I believe that the directive given by the IGP is very correct. I think it should be extended to the lower bench too because they are closer to all these criminally minded people and they are the ones who really need protections.

What are your expectations from the election petition tribunals that have been set up by the President of the Court of Appeal?

Well, I expect that the Justices who have been appointed to sit on the election petition tribunal will CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

27 Law

Don’t blame constitution for unwholesome corruption in Nigeria— Taiwo

Taiwo CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26

do very well. That is because the incoming government, the President-elect is noted for discipline and already since election of General Buhari, people have already been taking their cue and sanity has been reigning in Abuja because like I was telling you before that Nigerians don’t want to go to prison, they loathe going to prison and the stigma that it will have on them and their family they want to avoid it at all cost.

So, the present atmosphere in the country now is that everybody is complying to ensure that the correct things are done. The other time my friend who came from Abuja actually told me that in Abuja now, people have been complying and that the atmosphere there is that people have been turning in money but people have also been behaving properly and I think this one will also affect the judiciary. The issue of impunity and the fact that people can get away with murder makes judicial officers to misbehave. But now when they know that somebody who has vowed to do away with corruption is taking over, you will see a marked difference in the behavior and attitudes of justices sitting in the election tribunals.

Section 271 subsection 3-5 of the constitution states the guidelines for the appointments of Judges in the states, are you comfortable with this mode of appointment?

Well, with the present situation in the country, I think I am quite satisfied with it. I tell you why, when I came into practice people

were not applying to be Judges, at that time, they would have kept their eyes on some outstanding members of the Bar, having observed their performance at the Bar and their integrity and all that so that people were actually invited to come and take appointment as judges and it worked quite well, at that time Judges were not paid very well, not as much as they do these days so, nobody actually wanted to go to be Judges.

The people who went, went for the sake of putting their names down for posterity or for the prestige of their family names and their own immediate family because once you go there at that time, you sentenced yourself to a life of penury and you have to live within the little salary that was being paid at that time but now that people have to apply, not only that they apply, they lobby and use all sorts of connections to get it, they now change it as to what we have in the constitution so that there is a regulating body, that is, the NJC, that approves but it is the executive that will make the appointment and the whole thing will be supervised by the NJC. I believe that by and large, Judges are the make-up of the NJC and the legal practitioners and up till now, they’ve been making good appointments although you have some misfits that go in there but by and large, you can never have a perfect arrangement and this arrangement is alright.

A professor of law, Itse Sagay SAN, has condemned the judgment of a Federal High Court

which asked a former Governor of Edo state, Lucky igbinedion to refund N3 million out of the N25 billion allegedly stolen from the state treasury.

Do you share his view on the judgment?

Of course, I share his view. Professor Sagay was one of the lecturers in the University of Ife when I was there more than 40 years ago so I know him very well and he has very strong opinion about that. The point is that you don’t have to be an SAN or a professor to see what is wrong in somebody who has stolen billions and then you asked him to refund only N3 million. That is the corruption that we are complaining about, forget about law, just look at the scenario where somebody stole billions and you want him to be punished so that it will serve as a deterrent to other people because the joke in Nigeria is that all you need to do is to steal enough money that will enable you to assemble about 10 SAN and you can be sure that if you stole enough money at the end of the day, you will still be able to escape with substantial

amount which you can enjoy for the rest of your life. It’s only in Nigeria that such things happened.

In saner climes, you will see that if somebody stole money, even in China, they execute them. Once you’re charge with corruption in China, you will be executed and in some other countries they take very serious view about it.

My father was a civil servant before he died in 1960 but I remember that he told me that if you stole two pounds of the colonial government, they were prepared at that time to spend more than three thousand pounds to hunt for those two pounds. But look at where we were at that colonial era, where the colonial power made sure that anybody who stole money was seriously punished to now where we have make a mess of public service. That is why I agreed with Professor Sagay that what we have is a travesty of justice and that the judge who gave that judgment should be relieved of his appointment so as to act as a deterrent to other corrupt judges who might be inclined to toe the same line.

How do you view the Supreme Court decision that status quo be maintained in the face-off between the executive and the legislatures over the constitutional amendment?

I have not read the judgment but I believe it makes a lot of sense because in few days’ time, there will be a change of government and if there are very, very profound things that should have been done before the election and they failed to do so, they should let the new government come into place, take a look at these things and then see if the amendment they have made should be allowed to stay or that the new in-coming legislatures will think otherwise or make some corrections.

This reminds me of the spate of appointments and dismissal being done by President Goodluck Jonathan. This is somebody who was there when Justice Salami

‘‘you don’t have to be an SAN or a professor to see what is wrong in somebody who has stolen billions and then you asked him to refund only N3 million. That is the corruption that we are complaining about’’

was removed and then the NJC saw the need to have him reinstated and they recommended to Jonathan but, up till the man retired, Jonathan failed to do anything and that was what he was doing, appointments which he ought to make, he will refused to make it, the people he ought to take action against, he won’t take action and now, just a few days for him to stay in office, he is now sacking people, telling people he remains president until the 29th of May, I mean, I am really disappointed about what he’s being doing.

For instance, the petroleum minister who was flying all over the place with billions of naira and in a private jet which she rented or owned, Jonathan did not do anything about it. So you begin to wonder what type of president he is and how were we able to survive under him because there were critical issues, issues that affects the polity which he should have taken action and he didn’t do it, a few days to the end now, he is running all over the place sacking and doing all sorts of things.

That just shows you the man is not a statesman and that his integrity is seriously in doubt and it is no wonder he was voted out of power and he has a distinction as the only incumbent president who has lost an election. The position taken by the Supreme Court is very correct, let the new government come and take a fresh look at what they have done.

How will you rate the performance of the seventh National Assembly that has few days to end their tenure?

They performed very, very woefully and they stole and shared so much money. All that we are hearing is plates of squander mania and if anything did not affects them even when they go to perform their oversight functions, they begin to fleece all the corporations and the government departments that they have gone to, those are the things we are hearing. They didn’t do very well at all. Now you find that David Mark wants to return as Senate President even when his party lost the election, it’s because he is not going there to serve, it is because he wants to go and continue to take care of himself. Maybe the in-coming assembly will do better than the one going. They stole, shared so much money and did very little. We thank God that they’ve not done more damage than what they did; they are responsible for bringing the econo-

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Tuesday, May 19, 2015

EXTRATIME

City set to offer Etaghara pro deal

CBN Tennis: Babalola, Atseye scale first round huddle Andrew Ekejiuba

T

he defending champion of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Senior Open Tennis Tournament, Abdulmumuni Babalola, was off to a fine start on Monday, when he defeated Uche Oparoji 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the next round of the competition, while tournament 5th seed, Henry Atseyo beat Joseph Iyoroube 6-2, 6-1 to also move on to the next stage.

Men’s singles 3rd seed, Thomas Out, also justified his tournament ranking when he outstroked Taiwo Owolabi 6-4, 6-4.

Edward Christopher defeated John Henry 6-0, 3-0 (retired), as Augustine Nwokedi beat Ayuba Dauda 6-0, 6-3 to qualify for the round of 32.

Speaking after his match, Nwokedi confessed that he struggled to win his game as he was not in his best form.

He however promised to improve in the next match which comes up today against tournament’s 5th seed, Henry Atseye.

Action will continue this morning in the men’s and women’s singles categories while those featuring in the doubles events will also be on the court today.

The wheel-chair category which will only be played in the round of 16 will serve off tomorrow at the Tennis Court of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

I

Toure

gets £8m per year deal in Qatar

I

vory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure has reportedly been offered no less than £8million a year to join Qatari side Al Gharafa.

The Ivorian, who looks set to leave Manchester City this European summer and has been linked with a move to Inter Milan in Italy, could be offered a three-year contract by Gharafa.

The deal, as reported in the

English media would net the 32-year-old the equivalent of £280,000 per week in the Premier League due to the tax breaks in the Middle East.

This figure is likely to be much more than he could earn elsewhere, considering that he is surely entering the twilight years of his career.

t has been revealed that a third Nigerian youngster, Bright Etaghara, is set to sign a professional contract with EPL side Manchester City, following the footsteps of Nigeria U-20 stars Kelechi Iheanacho and Chidiebere Nwakali.

Etaghara is expected to return to City this summer after he impressed on a week-long trial at the club in February.

He was at City along with a 19-yearold striker Ugochukwu Oduenye.

Impressed City officials say the 18-year-old attacking midfielder has “got something” and they wish to see him again.

He was scouted by Francis Aduga in Lagos and already several top European clubs are hot on his chase after he shone at a major tournament recently.

“He is super talented. He is very skillful, quick and intelligent,” remarked someone who is familiar with this transaction.

Already discussions are that he may be shipped out on loan when he signs as he will not qualify under the “special talent” argument that fetched Iheanacho a professional contract.

Ronaldo firing towards Golden Boot Award

Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid won’t win any major trophy this season, but the Portuguese is on track to win the Golden Boot award and could perhaps even set a personal record. The 30-year-old scored a perfect hat-trick (one goal with his right foot, one with the left and one with the head) in Real’s 4-1 win at Espanyol on Sunday. Following his seventh La Liga hat-trick of the season, Ronaldo has now scored 45 goals in the Spanish league.

Mane scores fastest EPL hat-trick in history

Southampton forward Saido Mane scored the fastest ever English Premier League hat-trick in history in their 6-1 win against Aston Villa.

The Senegal international netted three of Southampton’s six goals in 2 minutes and 56 seconds, beating Robbie Fowler’s record of 4 minutes and 33 seconds to score the fastest ever Premier League hat-trick. The forward expressed his delight with his new record, saying that it’s the most memorable moment of his career.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

EXTRATIME

NBA, Africare, Exxonmobil boost Power Forward

L-R: Dorode Doherty (AFRICARE Country Manager), Chiney Ogwumike, Amadou Gallo Fall (NBA VP), Anibor Kragha (Exxon Mobil), Olumide Oyedeji and Patrick Utomi (Exxon Mobil).

Andrew Ekejiuba

T

here is need to appoint a technocrat in the Sport business industry as minister of Sports by the incoming Buhari administration, the Association of Sports Veteran, Nigeria (ASVN) has advised.

Speaking at a well-attended Annual get-together of the association in Lagos over the weekend, the President of the body, Chief Jonathan Ogufere, a highly travelled Sports administrator, former member of NFA and past president of the West African Football Union (WAFU) said such a move will arrest the present slide of our Sports.

The Association of Sports Veterans Nigeria is an umbrella organization of sportsmen and women who have made their marks in the various segments of sports such as participation, coaching, officiating, supporting, management, administration and sport writing, has as part of its aims and objectives, to contribute as veterans and professionals to the growth and development of Sports in Nigeria through advice and suggestions based on the wealth of their experience wherever and whenever necessary in the interest of Nigeria Sports and to champion the course of development of Nigerian Sports.

President Ogufere said the Ministry of Sports in the past has been used by past administrations as a dumping ground or used as a last resort in the appointment of Ministers of Sports where it takes incumbents years to understand the intricacies of present day sports administration and leadership at that level. “..This development accounts for the decline of sports over the years…”

Ogufere pointed out the failure of past governments to fully appreciate the crucial role which sports is accepted to play in nation building by giving the sector a quality leadership.

“Sports should be recognized as a veritable goldmine both for the coun-

try and its youth which requires administrative leadership comparable to most corporate or commercial setups.

“With the potentials which Nigeria have and considering the strides taken over forty decades ago. Nigeria ought to be in the elite class in the world of sports like boxing, athletics, weightlifting, wrestling, football, table tennis and swimming,” he said.

The Veterans posited that aside from the office of Minister, there should also be a Special Adviser to the President on Sports and this should be someone with wealth of knowledge and experience in Sports Development.

Ogufere acknowledged that it was during the first coming of Presidentelect Buhari as Head of State, that Nigeria won the 1st World Cup via the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria –in 1985 in faraway China, when Nigeria defeated Germany by 2-0 in the final.

Other speakers on the day, contributed to the debate on the need to revamp our sports given the socio political importance of sports in the development of the youth worldwide and this included the guest of honour, Barrister Seyi Akinwumi who represented NFF President Amaju Pinnick, Mr Fabio Olanipekun who spoke on the importance and intelligence of left footed (Southpaw) athletes, Linus Mba (Development of refereeing), Joe Erico (Dearth of goalkeepers), Gen. Gregory Adebiyi (motivation in Sports), Yusuf Ali and Gabriel Okon (Future of track and field), Gen. Emmanuel Okaro, (Quality of match Officials), Babatunde Obisanya (Neglect of table tennis) among others.

The media was not left out of the muscular debate for the need to place Sports in its proper perspective as Dare Esan, Duro Ikhazuagbe, Tony Ubani, Godwin Enakhena , Peter Edema, Mumini Alao, Felix Simire, Onochie Anibeze, Adekunle Salami and Andrew Ekejiuba spoke passionately on the way forward for our sports.

Andrew Ekejiuba

T

he National Basketball Association (NBA), Africare and ExxonMobil on Monday announced the launch of the second year of Power Forward, a youth engagement initiative that uses basketball to develop health, leadership and life skills among Nigerian youth.

The launch event took place at the Model Secondary School at Maitama in Abuja and was attended by WNBA All-Star and Nigerian-American Chiney Ogwumike of the Connecticut Sun; ExxonMobil Nigeria Upstream Treasurer, Kragha Anibor; NBA Vice President and Managing Director-Africa, Amadou Gallo Fall; Nigeria Basketball Federation President, Tijjani Umar; former NBA Player and D’Tigers captain, Olumide Oyedeji and Africare Nigeria Country Manager, Dr. Orode Doherty.

Ogwumike said of the programme: “The Power Forward programme is a great example of how the values of basketball are important in everyday life and help build social cohesion. I am thrilled to be back in Nigeria for the programme’s

29

second year and to work with these young boys and girls.”

The Power Forward pilot program was launched in 2013 in partnership with the NBA, Africare, ExxonMobil and local school and education officials.

Nigerian native and Hall of Famer, Hakeem Olajuwon, former NBA player Obinna Ekezie and threetime WNBA Champion Swin Cash attended the inaugural event. The programme was originally implemented in 10 high schools in Abuja.

The curriculum incorporates leadership training and health awareness through a combination of classroom and athletic activities, with student evaluations at different stages of the initiative.

NBBF President, Umar, in his remarks said the: “Programmes such as Power Forward play an important role in developing our youth and help us develop healthy and productive future leaders.”

The second season of the Power Forward pilot programme will include basketball games, clinics, life skills seminars and train-the-trainer sessions for the coaches, culminating in a 2015 Boys and Girls Power Forward final game.

Sports Veterans task Buhari on minister’s

appointment

NFF Vice President, Barrister Seyi Akinwumi (left) and ASVN President, Chief Jonathan Ogufere, at the Veterans Forum in Lagos.

New Zealand 2015: We are set for battle –Muhammed Mike Otanwa

A

Muhammed

s the FIFA U-20 World Cup draws closer, Flying Eagles skipper, Musa Muhammed, has commented on their readiness for the competition, which kicks off on May 30, in New Zealand.

The 18-year-old has made Nigeria’s final 21-man squad for the competition and has been featuring in the team’s friendly games in Germany, where they have scored 10 goals and conceded just two in the two matches played so far.

Muhammed says he and his teammates are ready to take on the world.

“We are ready to take on the world,” he said.

“The friendly matches we have

played have really helped us. Starting with the Super 6, and the games we have played here and I will say we now have a compact side.

“This is not about being boastful, but I believe we are ready to take on the world because we have had such a good preparation for the competition and we are ready to go,” he stated further.

The Flying Eagles have been impressive in the two friendly games they have played in Germany, where they are camped before heading to New Zealand.

They will play their third and final friendly match against the U-23’s of Freiburg today, before leaving for New Zealand.

30

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

EXTRATIME

Johnson bailed over underage sex charges

S

Turkish international and current captain of Turkey’s Fenerbahce, Emre Belozoglu, has been attacked

by Besiktas supporters while traveling on a ferry.

The incident happened after Besiktas supporters verbally attacked the footballer who responded by confronting them.

Belozoglu was travelling with Orhan Ak, a Basaksehirspor player, who allegedly drew a gun, leading the Besiktas supporters to disperse.

“They surrounded me in the ferry and cursed me out. I then stepped out of the car and started fighting with him. I have filed a complaint against the individuals who attacked me. I will be giving a statement to the police,” said Belozoglu in a statement to the Turkish press.

Orhan Ak has refuted claims that he pulled a gun on the assailants and said if other passengers had not intervened, the assailants would have thrown them into the sea.

Gabi slams Neymar over provoking gestures

F

ans of final day suspense will probably feel let down following the 37th, and penultimate, round of Ligue 1 action.

Paris Saint-Germain officially eliminated the doubts that lingered over their third straight title win by beating Montpellier.

Meanwhile, last week’s subject Evian now know that beating Saint-Etienne, rather than losing to them, as they did, would not have saved them from relegation to Ligue 2, after Reims’ narrow win over Rennes.

Lyon’s 1-1 draw with Bordeaux sealed the runners-up spot, and the second automatic Champions League place, though their goal difference advantage over Monaco meant only a mathematical miracle was going to deny them as things stood at the start of proceedings.

Willy Sagnol’s team are assured of 6th place, but must hope PSG beat Auxerre in the Coupe de France final on May 30th, which would confirm Les Girondins welcoming Europa League football to their plush new stadium.

There is life in the old dog yet, though. The third and final Champions League spot is up for grabs after Monaco, Marseille and Saint-Etienne all emerged victorious on Saturday night, and go head-to-head this coming Saturday in another round of fixtures to decide who secures a place in Europe’s elite competition.

A

tletico Madrid captain, Gabi, has slammed Barcelona superstar, Neymar, for his provoking gestures, after allegedly blowing kisses at the opposition players.

The Brazilian and his club clinched the La Liga title following their 1-0 at Atletico on Sunday, but he was later criticised for his attitude.

“It’s always the same with Neymar,” Atletico captain Gabi said.

“He should learn a thing or two from his great teammates Xavi or Iniesta.

“He makes provoking gestures that you shouldn’t do. That stays on the pitch.”

Neymar was allegedly blowing kisses at Atletico’s players towards the end of the game, which particularly left Gabi and Diego Godin frustrated.

Neymar

UEFA to ease rules on club spending –Platini

U

EFA President Michel Platini says rules limiting spending on player transfers and wages could be eased next month.

Platini revealed that the UEFA executive committee could relax some Financial Fair Play regulations. The executive committee will meet on June 29-30 in Prague.

UEFA has had regular talks with European clubs since October about modifying the rules, which first sanctioned clubs last season for

overspending.

UEFA and the European Club Association declined to comment Monday on details of any proposed changes.

Last May, UEFA fined Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain 20 million euros ($22.8 million) each for breaking rules designed to curb spending above clubs’ income from football business.

Both clubs spent heavily after being bought by owners from Abu Dhabi and Qatar, respectively.

Platini

well placed to cinch Ligue 1 title

Besiktas fans attack Fenerbahe’s Belozoglu

Willy Sagnol, coach of Bordeaux on duty.

Monaco

Johnson

underland winger, Adam Johnson, has been bailed, until next month after appearing in magistrates’ court to answer three underage sex charges.

The 27-year-old, who last month was charged with three counts of sexual activity with a girl under the age of 16 and one count of sexual grooming, appeared at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The case was adjourned with Johnson released on conditional bail to appear at Durham Crown Court on June 3.

Former Manchester City and Middlesbrough player Johnson was arrested back in March on suspicion of sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.

After initially being suspended

by Sunderland following his arrest, Johnson has since returned to action to aid the club in their fight against relegation from the Premier League.

Johnson has featured in six of the last seven games for Sunderland, missing the 1-1 draw at Stoke City after the charges against him were revealed.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

EXTRATIME

31

ATHLETICS

Ayana targets world record in

MOTORSPORT

Beijing

Monaco “not the most difficult circuit” –Perez

S

N

ergio Perez does not go along with the widely-held view that the Monaco Grand Prix is the toughest race on the Formula One calendar.

“It’s not the most difficult circuit,” said Perez, “but if you get it wrong, you get punished.”

Perez was injured in a crash on his first visit to Monaco in 2011 and was unable to start the race. He is yet to score a point at the track, but was running fifth when brake failure put him out in 2013.

He considers Monaco a track where the contribution from the

ew Ethiopian star, Almaz Ayana, has been left astonished by her own success as she looks poised to become the latest Ethiopian distance runner to challenge the record books.

Despite seeming almost bewildered by coming so close to breaking the world 5,000m record in the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai on Sunday, her performance has convinced the shy Ayana that the landmark could fall to her at the world championships in August.

In the month when the country’s greatest runner Haile Gebrselassie retired, Ayana’s brilliant solo effort signalled that Ethiopia has yet another rare talent ready to beat the world.

The 23-year-old had previously shown her ability with a bronze medal at the 2013 Moscow world championships but it had not prepared athletics for her remarkable breakthrough run of 14 minutes 14.32 seconds, the third fastest ever, on a windy evening in the Shanghai Stadium.

McIlroy

sets Wells Fargo record with win

R

ory McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship by seven strokes, setting a new tournament record score of 267.

The Northern Irish world number one, 26, finished on 21 under par with a final round 69 in North Carolina to earn his second win at Quail Hollow.

GOLF

Pampling

honours late father with win

A

driver matters more. “I enjoy the challenge of Monaco and I believe that the driver can make more of a difference compared to other circuits,” he said.

“To be quick you have to take some risks, push the limits, and kiss the walls. I enjoy the quick parts of the lap – the swimming pool section and Casino Square. It’s all about being accurate and precise.”

“When you get together the perfect lap it feels great,” he added.

“That’s why I think it’s the one race where there is a chance to do something extra special.”

GOLF

Ayana

n emotional Rod Pampling felt his late father was smiling down from above in South Carolina on Monday when he snapped a six-year winless streak to honour him.

The veteran Caboolture product uncorked one of the best scoring weeks of his two-decade pro career to grab 29 birdies in his BMW Charity

Perez

Pro-Am triumph.

Pampling’s career-best 63-63 start set it up but a composed fiveunder-par 66 finished it in style for a two-stroke win at the Thornblade Club in Greenville.

There was no certainty that Pampling would even play the second-tier Web.com Tour event, his first since rushing home to

Pampling

Caboolture a month ago after the sudden death of father Ken. Keeping a clear head through his final round was a big part of reaching 25-under to beat American Kelly Kraft for his first win since the 2008 Australian Masters.

“It was tough to focus but I spoke with my wife and my family about how to deal with it,” Pampling said.

McIlroy

America’s Patrick Rodgers and Webb Simpson tied for second on 14 under.

“Everything is firing on all cylinders for me,” said McIlroy. “I’m a more controlled player these days. I’ve learned how to finish things off.”

He added: “I felt if I made six birdies there was no chance of anybody catching me.

“I did what I wanted the last few weeks, got a couple of wins, got myself up the Fedex Cup standings and solidified my positions in the rankings.”

It was an 11th PGA Tour victory for McIlroy, who shot his lowest career round of 61 on Saturday to lead by four strokes going into the final day and break his own Quail Hollow course record, set in 2010.

A bogey at the par-three second, where he three-putted, was his first blemish since the first round but he made the turn at 19 under.

He held form to ease past the previous tournament record of 16 under set by Anthony Kim in 2008.

McIlroy, who won the WGC Match Play title two weeks ago, now has six top-10 finishes in his last eight PGA Tour starts.

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APC should face the real issues Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

ÎÎÎ Recently, the Chair-

man of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. John Oyegun, was quoted as saying that he was “sad” that his party could not produce a lawmaker from the South East to be elected as senate president or speaker of the House of Representatives when the new national assembly would be inaugurated in June.

This was because during the last elections, the APC performed so poorly in the South East that it was unable to win a single seat in the two houses of the national assembly in the region. Ordinarily, this should have been an exclusive problem of the APC, but given the way Mr. Oyegun spoke, someone might be deluded into thinking that some really monumental tragedy had hit the South East , for

which the people of the area should be in deep mourning by now.

Since the presidential election which the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, told us was won by the APC’s General Muhammadu Buhari, one has lost count of articles ecstatically celebrating how the “wrong voting” of majority of South Easterners has now put the zone to a “great disadvantage.”

Some solutions have also been “kindly” proffered by quite a number of people to “help” the South East out of its predicament, like the very absurd suggestion that a senator-elect from Enugu State should decamp to the APC so he could become the senate president; or even the much more off-putting call on a female Senator-elect from Anambra State to step down for the APC candidate she defeated, since the man is a “very good material” for the senate presidency.

One could go on and on, but what is of concern here is that Mr. Oyegun’s

assertion would seem to have somewhat elevated these clearly pedestrian views and clothed them with the false robe of serious discourse. Now, apart from providing another juicy job for another member of the largely parasitic and incompetent political class, what exactly will the South East gain if somebody from the zone becomes the senate president?

Or, put another way, the zone has produced senate presidents before now, and apart from the delusive emotional satiation some fellows from their villages might have felt when they heard that their “brother” had “crossed over” to join other fat cats as a distinguished member of Nigeria’s Eating Class, what exactly (in practical terms) did their communities or even states gain from their occupation of that position?

I sincerely wish to know how a South Easterner becoming the senate president would affect the price of fish at Afor Umuaka or Eke-Ututu market, even in this era of “change.” Okay,

after the 2011 elections, the position of the speaker of the House of Representatives was zoned by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the South West. But the lawmakers from the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) – the dominant party in the same South West at that time, led by Bola Tinubu, reportedly, conspired with some PDP “rebels” in the House and some powermust-remain-with-us elements from the North to ensure that Aminu Tambuwal from Sokoto State became speaker.

Now, did the South West cease to exist because it neither produced a House speaker nor senate president?

And where were these pundits who are now afflicting Nigerians with fantastic (some would say, infantile) analyses on the “misfortune” just suffered by the South East?

Why did we not hear some “sad” mourners or impulsive “analysts” composing boring dirges in 2011 about the “great misfortune” that visited the South West, how

some fellows from there scored a “disastrous” goal against their own people by conspiring to give away such a “juicy” position offered to their zone on a platter of gold?

The attempt to always profile South Easterners and brand any action undertaken by them is increasingly lacking in imagination, but the real tragedy is that those who have made it a cherished occupation are yet to realize it.

As the report of Buhari’s appeal for patience from Nigerians (since he now believes that the promised “change” may not come as quickly as he made Nigerians believe it would, the questions on the lips of several Nigerians are: did he not do his research very well, and counted the cost, before he began to reel off those clearly unrealistic promises to Nigerians during the campaigns?

And how does his coming out to sing a different tune after he has won the elections make him to look before Nigeria?

That is why I think that instead of going about looking for some clearly

inconsequential matters to feel “sad” about, the APC leaders should hasten to rouse themselves to the yawning reality that the campaigns are over and all eyes are now on them to demonstrate that they are capable of providing the quality leadership they so loudly promised Nigerians.

What exactly does their promised “change” mean in practical terms?

How soon will the naira acquire the same value as the US dollar? When are we expecting to witness uninterrupted electricity supply, the one free meal a day for school pupils or the payment of allowances to discharged but unemployed NYSC members? The list is endless. The APC must hasten to realize that very soon, they would no longer have a President Jonathan to blame for everything that goes wrong in Nigeria or their inability to deliver on the grand promises they rolled out during the campaigns.

Excerpted from http://ngex.com/ n e w s / p u bl i c / a rt i cl e . php?ArticleID=2759

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 Hotline: 08086296714

Life&

TIMES Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Teen’s world

Violent games as behavioral problem PL6

Fashion & Style

Fashion quick fixes

L4

P

Adeleke Victor Matanmi The new kid on the block L2

P

Interview L2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday May 19, 2015

Adeleke Victor Matanmi

I was tensed, first time on stage stage name Brain?

The name Brain was born out of the fact that I realised that most of the songs we come forth with is as a result of a lot of thinking. I task my brain. I had earlier decided that whenever I was ready to take music fulltime, I will look for a name that is unique and that was how the name was born. I am also of the view point that if your brain defines the music and the music defines you then the brain defines you automatically What has been the reception since you started?

It’s been wonderful. It’s actually been one of the things that has kept me going. Because everywhere I go and people see me do my thing, the acceptance is always awesome. I know that people love it so I just keep doing my thing.

Mutiat Alli

sojourn into the music business.

He is only 24 but already poised to take over in the music scene.

From Ogun State, the 24 year old graduate of Industrial and Labour Relations from Olabisi Onabanjo University, who goes by the stage name, Brain, speaks on his passion for music and what makes him tick.

What was growing up like for you like, do you recall any fond childhood memories?

Growing up was fun. It was odd but fun. I came from a very humble family, my father and mother tried to give us the best we could have. We were always indoors because my parents were scared of us mixing with other kids and as such wanted us to avoid peer pressure. There was a time my brother and I had a chance to step outside of our comfort zone when our parents weren’t. We played with other kids who were rolling tyres on the street. On our way back home, we saw our grandmother at the balcony, waiting for us. Of course that meant trouble. She signalled for us to come up and when we did, she beat the living day light out of us and ever since then, we dared not try to go out without permission again. Be that as it may, we had the best el-

What have you been up to?

I have been working and recording songs as well as pushing it out for public awareness. I am also trying to get myself out there more.

Life&

T E A M

What single do you have currently now?

I just released a new single called Gara right now, but I am planning to drop another titled Ileke. The Ileke single is my own way of connecting to the ladies out there and appreciating their keen support all through my

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

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

ementary education. We went to the best schools around and presently, we are all doing them proud in all ramifications.

How did music start for you?

It started from listening to a lot of music. My father plays music a lot, he is a music lover. Unconsciously I started loving music and in my own spare time I look for the latest song to listen to and sing alone. After a while I started singing in class to popular songs and people actually loved listening to me singing when they come around. I started loving it. After a while I started to write my own songs and the love for taking it up professionally just grew from there. Then I met a couple of guys who were rappers and we decided to come together to do stuffs as a group and from that moment, I knew I was going to be a musician.

How did you come about the

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

Which music label are you currently signed on to?

Magikal Entertainment artiste What was your first experience on stage like?

My first experience on stage was frightening. I had so many things popping up in my brain, I was going to face a huge audience, and I wondered if they will like my music.

When I eventually got on stage, I almost lost my voice because I was totally blank for some moment but after some minutes, I got back my courage and sang. I realised that the audience loved my performance. I was fulfilled that night.

Were you parents in support of your music career?

Not totally. They weren’t in objection like that though but there was no support in any way for my music.

They didn’t say plainly that I shouldn’t do it. It gradually came to their notice.

I am a very quiet person so they usually don’t know what I am doing aside schooling. But after a while they start-

Society Correspondent Isaac Oguntoye i.ogundoye@dailytimes.com.ng 08069489893

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

ed noticing me writing something’s in a book, singing to myself etc. They knew I was singing but they didn’t object. They didn’t support me financially. As far as I was going to school there was no objection. But they have been supportive seeing that I am making progress and appearing on television.

Where do you see yourself musically in the nearest future?

I see brain taking over Africa and not just Nigeria but beyond the shores of the continent. I want to be the kind of person that does music that touches lives, music that relates to things happening in the country, music that helps to build nations.

What differentiates your music from others?

I am original and true to myself. My voice texture is second to none. The way I rap brings out the uniqueness in me. I am diversified in the sense that I can do a blend of reggae, RNB and hip-hop and still make a whole lot of sense.

What drives you?

First of all, God and the fact that what I have is a talent given to me

by Him. That talent is meant to be an instrument to touch lives. So I don’t see myself doing anything else besides music and I am ready to go all the way to touch lives with my music.

Life is not a bed of roses and tears of thorns, it is simply a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly. You can’t eat your cake and have it.

Now that you are fast becoming popular, how have you been coping with the female fans?

I try as much as possible to be nice to everyone because as you know, it’s the female folks that constitute most of male artiste’s fan base, so you can’t ignore them. I know where and when to draw the lines.

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

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 19, 2015

L3 Relationship

Communication: A solution that can save relationship

Adetoun Okesola Communication is important in relationships as it allows us to share interests, aspirations and concerns, to support each other, to organise our lives and make decisions. Good communication is about the way we talk and listen, and about our body language. Talk to each other. No matter how well you know and love each other, you cannot read your partner’s mind. We need to communicate clearly to avoid misunderstandings that may cause hurt, anger or confusion. When you talk to your partner try and think about what you want to say and how you feel when you say it. Be clear about what you want to communicate.

Be clear about your messages so your partner hears it accurately and understands what you mean. Talk about what you want and feel and also share positive feelings with your partner, such as what you appreciate and admire about them, and how important they are to you.

Communication either makes or breaks you

Communication either makes or breaks most relationships. Be open to your partner. Decide on some ways to communicate differently with your partner. Start simply. You might talk about something you did during the day and ask your partner how their day was or you could comment about something you heard on the news and ask for your partner’s opinion. Don’t let on to each other what aspect of communication you are going to change, but see what effect this has on your partner, and change the way you communicate based on the response you get.

After an agreed period (perhaps a week) sit down and compare notes.

Remember changing your part in the communication will lead to changes.

You don’t have to wait for your partner to change.

Open and clear communication skills saves relationships

Communication is complicated. It is best to be clear about what you want to communicate so that it can be received and understood by your partner. Open and clear communication skills can be developed, but some people find it hard to talk and may need time and encouragement to express their views. However, they may be good listeners or they may be people whose actions speak louder than their words. When trying to communicate keep as calm as you can. Though you may not be able to be as cool as you can during heated conversations with your partner, the calmer you are, the easier you will be able to express your feelings. So, if you are feeling furious in the middle of a conversation, or even livid before you bring up the issue, take a breather until you feel calm enough to start a productive discussion. Speak in a slow, even tone to articulate your ideas. Don’t talk over your partners. This will only make you angrier. Take deep breaths.

Don’t get hysterical in the middle of an argument.

Elements of communication to help you pass your message across clearly Body language

When we communicate, we can say a lot without speaking. Our body posture, tone of voice and the expressions on our face all convey a message. If your feelings don’t fit your words, it is often the non-verbal communication that gets ‘heard’ and believed. Notice whether your body language reflects what you are saying.

Be a good listener

Listening is a very important part of effective communication a good listener can encourage their partner to talk opening and honestly. When listening keep comfortable eye contact. Lean towards your partner and make gestures to show interest and concern. Face your partner, don’t sit or stand sideways. Avoid distracting gestures such as fidgeting with a pen, glancing at papers, or tapping your feet or fingers. Be aware that physical barriers, noise or interruptions will make good communication difficult. Show genuine interest and attention. Ask for feedback from your partner on your listening.

Be in control of happenings Open and clear communicate can be learnt. To improve communication, ask questions and share responses with your partner. Consider and try ways to communicate differently. See whether the results improve your communication. When you are more aware of how to communicate, you will be able to have more control of what happens between you. It might not be easy at first, but opening new areas of communication can lead to a more fulfilling relationship.

Project your ideas with confidence

Make sure you project your ideas with confidence. This doesn’t mean you should walk into the discussion like you’re going for a business meeting. Instead project confidence by acting as comfortable as you can in the discussion. Smile from time to time, speak carefully, and don’t hesitate, ask questions or sound uncertain of what you say. If your partner doubts your commitment to your feelings he won’t take you as seriously. The more confident you are, the less likely you get scared off.

This will help you state your ideas.

Have a game plan before you begin, this is an important point. Don’t

just jump into arguments when you least expect it, and start telling your partner things he or she is doing wrong. Even if you are upset or hurt for a variety of reasons, it is important to focus on the main point you want to make, and to think about the result you want to achieve from the conversation; if your only goal is to make your partner feel bad about themselves about what he or she has done, then you should give it more thought before you begin. Remember what your goal is; to show your partner why you are upset or hurt, to bring up and important conflict and find a compromise that will make you both happy, or to discuss how you can deal with the stress as a couple. Keeping your goals in the back of your mind will keep you on track.

Put yourself in your partner’s place

Use the power of imagination to fully envision what your partner’s perspective might be in a given situation. Be aware that there might be factors you don’t know about. When he or she is talking, putting yourself in his shoes can make understand why your behaviour, or the situation at hand, may be frustrating him.

When you are angry or upset, it is hard to see your side of the argu-

ment. Empathy can always help you solve a problem in a relationship. It can help you validate his feelings and let him know that you understand his struggles. Give him or her your full attention. Know the cues that your partner wants to talk about and take it seriously. When he or she wants to talk, turn off the TV set, put away your work, hide your phone, and do everything you can to give your partner full attention. If you are multi-tasking or distracted, then he or she will get more frustrated. If you are really in the middle of something, ask if you can have just few minutes to wrap it up so you are less distracted.

Learn to articulate your feelings

When you are listening to your partner, you should know that you don’t have to accept or understand everything he has to say. No matter how in sync you are, how similar you are, and how aligned your goals are, there will be times when you just don’t see eye to eye on a situation, no matter how hard you both try articulate your feelings.

And that’s okay- being aware of the gap between your understanding of the situation and your partner’s will make you more receptive to what he has to say.

Fashion & Style L4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday May 19, 2015

Fashion quick fixes Eyola

eyola@aol.com

Nail polish: Tighten

your sunglasses with a dab of clear nail polish. If the arm of your sunglasses is a bit loose and you don’t have a tiny screwdriver handy, paint a small bit of polish over the hinge to temporarily tighten it. Also paint clear nail polish over a loose button thread to temporarily stop it from unraveling.

Vodka:

Spray a small amount of vodka on your clothes to eliminate strong odors. If you don’t have time to wash a shirt before wearing it again but it has a strong, lingering smell, just spray on some vodka and let it dry. The alcohol will kill odor-causing bacteria.

Hairspray: By Vaseline: To

avoid squeaky shoes, remove the insole, apply Vaseline, then refit the insole. Also fix a stuck zipper with a cotton bud and petroleum jelly.

giving your tights a quick spray with cheap sticky hairspray, your tights will be tear resistant.

Glass cleaner:

Make patent leather shoes shiny again with a little bit of glass cleaner.

Beeswax: Canvas shoes

Hand sanitizer, whole milk and vinegar: To remove

ink stains from fabric and clothing either cover the stain with hand sanitizer and let it sit for about ten minutes then launder the fabric normally in the washing machine with hot water or to soak the affected garment in a bowl containing 2 parts whole milk, 1 part vinegar and let it to soak overnight before laundering.

Moisturiser:

If you don’t have shoe polish, grab a cloth or towel and rub your leather shoes with a bit of lotion to bring them back to life.

are extremely light. While the advantage to this is that they are breathable, the downside is that they soak up water. A simple waterproofing solution is beeswax. First of all wear rubber gloves to safeguard your hands.

Rub the beeswax all over the shoe, use a hairdryer to melt the beeswax and let it set for approximately 5 minutes. Your canvas shoes are ready for their first test-drive. Try splashing some water over the shoes to see if it works. If your other pairs of shoes get wet, do not dry them using heat. Let them dry naturally in open air to increase the lifespan of your shoes.

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 19, 2015

L5

Kiddies World L6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday May 19, 2015

Austine Agbovi

Words on marble

Funny tongue twister Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Inspiration

Who is the real

Know your heroes/heroines

King Jaja of Opobo Jaja of Opobo, (Jubo Jubogha; 1821–1891) was a merchant prince and the founder of Opobo city-state in an area that is now part of Nigeria. Born in Umuduruoha, Amaigbo in Igboland, he was sold at about the age of twelve as a slave in Bonny. Jumo Jumofe later took the name “Jaja” for his dealings with the British.

Jaja proved his aptitude for business at an early age, earning his way out of slavery; he was enculturated according to Ijaw (Ibani) rituals and eventually established himself as head of the Anna Pepple House.

Under Jaja’s leadership, Anna Pepple soon absorbed a number of Bonny’s other trade houses until an ongoing dispute with the Manilla Pepple House led by Oko Jumbo forced Jaja to break away as Opobo city-state in 1869.

Opobo soon came to dominate the region’s lucrative palm oil trade, and was soon home to fourteen of what were formerly Bonny’s eighteen trade houses. Jaja also moved to block the access of British merchants to the interior, giving him an effective monopoly; at times, Opobo even shipped palm oil directly to Liverpool, independent of British middlemen.

At the 1884 Berlin Conference, however, the other European powers designated Opobo as British ter-

Poem:

foo?l

How do the rainbow form?

Rainbows happen when sunlight and rain combine in a very specific way. The beams of sunlight separate into the colors we see in the rainbow as they enter a raindrop. Sunlight is actually made up of different colors that we don’t usually see. When a beam of sunlight comes down to Earth, the light is white. But, if the light beam happens to hit raindrops on the way down at a certain angle, the different colors that make up the beam separate so that we can see them — in the form of a rainbow.

The angle for each color of a rainbow is different, because the colors slow down at different speeds when they enter the raindrop. The light exits the raindrop in one color, depending on the angle it came in, so we see only one color coming from each raindrop. Light at different angles coming through many raindrops form the rainbow that we see, in stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

here

(1) A man who sprays him self baygon to chase away mosquitoes King Jaja of Opobo ritory, and the British soon moved to claim it. When Jaja refused to cease taxing British traders, Henry Hamilton Johnston, a British vice consul, invited Jaja to negotiations in 1887.

When Jaja arrived, the British arrested him and tried him in Accra in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) then took him to London for some time, where he met Queen Victoria and was her guest in Buckingham Palace. After some other turbulent history, he was exiled to Saint Vincent in the West Indies. Plans were also made for him to be relocated to Barbados.

In 1891, Jaja was granted permission to return to Opobo, but died en route, allegedly poisoned with a cup of tea. Following his exile and death, the power of the Opobo state rapidly declined.

(2) A guy who removes his shoes to enter a taxi (3) A lady who went to bed with a ruler just to know how long he has slept (4) A man who goes to the the bank with a spanner to open a bank account.

(5) A nurse who wakes up a sleeping patient simply because he forgot to give him sleeping pills (6) A bank manager who lowers his tv volume because he wants to read a text message (7) An husband who watches news on tv and waves at a news reader (8) A guy who polishes his shoes to take a passport size photo

Colour me

Why do you cry when you cut an onion?

When you cut into an onion, a powerful acid sprays up into the air. If your eyes are in the way of the spray (which is likely if you are cutting onions), the acid, while not damaging to your skin, will cause your eyes to sting. Immediately, your lacrimal glands or tear glands, go into overdrive. Your eyes start to tear, and tears continue in excess until they’ve successfully gotten rid of the irritation.

Cool, huh?

African Tale The Lightning and the Thunder In the olden days the thunder and lightning lived on the earth amongst all the other people, but the king made them live at the far end of the town, as far as possible from other people’s houses.

The thunder was an old mother sheep, and the lightning was her son, a ram. Whenever the ram got angry he used to go about and burn houses and knock down trees; he even did damage on the farms, and sometimes killed people. Whenever the lightning did these things, his mother used to call out to him in a very loud voice to stop and not to do any more damage; but the lightning did not care in the least for what his mother said, and when he was in a bad temper used to do a very large amount of damage. At last the people could not stand it any longer, and complained to the king.

So the king made a special order that the sheep (Thunder) and her son, the ram (Lightning), should leave the town and live in the far bush.

This did not do much good, as when the ram got angry he still burnt the forest, and the flames sometimes spread to the farms and consumed them.

So the people complained again, and the king banished both the lightning and the thunder from the earth and made them live in the sky, where they could not cause so much destruction. Ever since, when the lightning is angry, he commits damage as before, but you can hear his mother, the thunder, rebuking him and telling him to stop. Sometimes, however, when the mother has gone away some distance from her naughty son, you can still see that he is angry and is doing damage, but his mother’s voice cannot be heard.

All answers, stories and suggestions should be sent to: stynemail@gmail.com

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 19, 2015

L7 Teen’s World

Do violent games cause behavioral problems in teens?

Austine Agbovi

stynemail@gmail.com Violent computer games have long been popular with teenagers, and with the improvement in technology, many violent games have become more realistic. Excessive violent gaming can become a serious problem because teenagers can develop antisocial behavior and become disconnected from reality.

Addiction Teenagers who frequently play violent video games are more likely to become withdrawn. She states that addiction to violent games is a cause in itself. A 2010 BBC news report about the risk of computer addiction included an interview with a 19-year-old boy who skipped school and had angry outbursts if his parents tried to stop him from playing a violent video game. The American Psychiatric Association is calling for more research before placing computer

games addiction as an international recognized mental health disorder.

Violence as normality According to reports and research violent gaming can increase feelings of aggression and antisocial behavior in teenagers, regardless of their sex. Overexposure to violent images found in computer games can lead to the view that violence is a normal way of life.

Positive behavior An argument can be made that limited use of video games, including violent games, can have a positive role in a teen’s behavior. As the case maybe, many violent games involve helping others or saving people from an enemy and being a “hero.”

This could produce positive behavior in some teenagers such as an increased desire to help, protect and care for other people. If playing violent games is

a shared activity among friends or family, it can increase social skills and sharing behavior in teens.

Other factors It’s usually not violent video games alone that play a part in a teen’s behavior problems. Arguement had it that, on top of ex-

cessive video gaming, there is usually a combination of different factors at play such as low self-esteem, antisocial friendship groups and an insecure family life.

Music & Movie Chart

Opeoluwani Akintayo and Mutiat Alli

Top 10 music chart

Nigeria

1 Tiwa Savage- My Darlin 2 Davido FT Uhuru & DJ Buckz- The Sound (New Entry) 3 Kiss Daniel – Woju 4Mavin- Looku Looku 5 Falz Ft. Yemi Alade- Marry Me 6 D’ija- Awww 7 Iyanya- Finito 8 Korede Bello- God Win 9- Phyno- Yayo 10- Olamide- Falila Ketan

Top 10 music chart

International

1. Wiz Khalifa Feat. Charlie Puth See You Again 2. Omi Cheerleader 3. Jason Derulo Want To Want Me 4. Mark Ronson Feat. Bruno Mars Uptown Funk 5. Ellie Goulding Love Me Like You Do 6. Walk The Moon Shut Up And Dance 7. Britney Spears & Iggy Azalea Pretty Girls 8. Maroon 5 Sugar 9. Major Lazer Feat. DJ Snake & MO Lean On 10. Little Big Town Girl Crush

Top 10 movie chart

English

1. Ewatomi 2. Boniseri 3. Were Meta 4. Dara 5. Ki ni Ife 6. Ifedayo 7. Dragon Girls 8. Ejika 9. Omo University 10. Fifehanmi

Top 10 movie chart

International

1. Avengers: Age of Ultron 2. Hot Pursuit (2015) 3. The Age of Adaline 4. Ex Machina 5. Furious 7 6. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 7. Woman In Gold 8. The Longest Ride 9. Home (2015) 10. Monkey Kingdom

L8 Television

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday May 19, 2015

Showing on

Showing on

153 Africa Magic Urban

141 Eva Channel

00:00

01:25 Tue, 19 May | PG13

Tue, 19 May | 16VSL

‘S1/E41 - 1/41’. Marcela wants to divorce René.

Margarita tries to talk to Marcela aiming to change her mind, but she remains firm in her decision. Victoria is supportive of her daughter, but she doesn’t want the separation to happen.

A tycoon hires a private detective in an attempt to uncover the reason for his wife’s strange behaviour. However, things change when she’s accused of killing a wealthy playboy. JENNIFER ELIOGU JIM IYKE, JIM IYKE STAN K AMADI. (2003) Emeka Tai Obassi.

101 M-Net West

00:30 Penthouse North 02:00 Hours 04:00 MasterChef Australia 05:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 06:00 Two And A Half Men 06:30 Arrow 07:30 My Story 08:30 The Makeover 10:30 The Middle 11:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 12:00 MasterChef Australia 13:00 Elementary 14:00 Mysteries Of Laura 15:00 Grey’s Anatomy 16:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 17:00 2 Broke Girls 17:30 MasterChef Australia 18:30 Chicago Fire 19:30 American Crime 20:30 NCIS: Los Angeles 21:30 Elementary 22:30 CSI: Cyber 23:00 The Following 23:00 The Following

120 BBC Entertainment

118 Telemundo

00:30 The Del Monte Dynasty 01:20 The Impostor 02:10 Labour Of Love 03:00 Part Of Me 03:50 Queen Of Hearts 05:20 The Del Monte Dynasty 06:10 Labour Of Love 07:00 Part Of Me 07:50 Queen Of Hearts 08:40 The Impostor 09:30 Forbidden Passions 10:20 Labour Of Love 11:10 Part Of Me 12:00 Queen Of Hearts 12:50 The Impostor 13:40 Forbidden Passions 14:30 Labour Of Love 15:20 Part Of Me 16:10 Queen Of Hearts 17:00 The Impostor 17:50 Forbidden Passions 18:40 Labour Of Love 19:30 Part Of Me 20:20 Queen Of Hearts 21:10 The Impostor 22:00 Forbidden Passions 22:50 Labour Of Love

00:35 The Weakest Link

11:30 Hell’s Kitchen USA

01:20 Silent Witness

12:20 Top Gear

02:15 Total Wipeout UK

13:15 Come Dine With Me

03:10 EastEnders

14:10 Total Wipeout UK

03:40 QI

15:05 The Weakest Link

04:10 Top Gear

16:00 EastEnders

05:00 Spy

16:30 Deal Or No Deal

05:25 QI

17:10 The Cube

06:00 The Thin Blue Line 06:30 EastEnders

18:00 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

07:00 Antiques Roadshow

19:00 Big School

07:55 The Weakest Link

19:35 QI

08:45 The Cube

20:05 Would I Lie To You?

09:30 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

20:40 The Graham Norton Show

10:20 Deal Or No Deal

22:10 Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow

11:00 My Family

21:35 My Family

155 AfricaMagicWorld

155 AfricaMagic Family

00:00 Tinsel 00:30 Living With Trisha 01:30 Family Ties 02:00 At Home With Joselyn Dumas 03:00 Good Morning Africa 04:00 Music Block 05:00 At Home With Joselyn Dumas 06:00 Good Morning Africa 07:00 Star Gist 07:30 President For A Day 08:30 Living With Trisha

09:25 The African Child 10:00 Good Morning Africa 11:00 Tinsel 11:30 Star Gist 12:00 Music Block 13:00 At Home With Joselyn Dumas 14:00 Prem 14:30 Ise Dale 15:00 Family Ties 15:30 At Home With Michelle Attoh 16:30 Living With Trisha 17:30 Comfort Zone 18:00 Meet The Adebanjos 18:30 Jane And Abel 19:00 Tinsel

00:10 Noose Of Gold 00:40 Good Morning Africa 01:40 The Dzigbordi Show 02:30 Good Morning Africa 03:30 Good Morning Africa 04:30 Prem 05:00 Good Morning Africa 06:00 Secret Adventure

08:40 Prem 09:05 Good Morning Africa 10:05 So Wrong So Wright 10:30 So Wrong So Wright 11:00 Lies That Bind 11:30 Lies That Bind 12:00 Jara 12:30 Jara 13:00 Series TBA 14:00 53 Extra 14:30 53 Extra

15:00 Kakibe Ki 15:30 Noose Of Gold 16:00 Foot Print 16:30 Lies That Bind 17:00 Lies That Bind 17:30 Star Gist 18:00 Star Gist 18:30 Star Gist 19:00 Prem 19:25 So Wrong So Wright 20:00 Sins Of The Flesh 22:40 Series TBA

128 SONY MAX

02:20 Max Knight: Ultra Spy 03:45 Most Shocking 04:35 South Beach Tow 05:00 Criss Angel Mindfreak 05:25 Exposed 05:50 Exposed 06:15 Video Zonkers 06:40 Repo Games 07:10 World’s Wildest Police Videos 08:10 Disorderly Conduct: Video On Patrol 09:10 South Beach Tow 09:40 Most Shocking 10:40 Most Shocking 11:40 Video Zonkers 12:10 Repo Games 12:40 World’s Wildest Police Videos 13:40 Disorderly Conduct: Video On Patrol 14:40 South Beach Tow 15:10 Max Knight: Ultra Spy 16:40 Video Zonkers 17:05 Repo Games 17:30 World’s Wildest Police Videos 18:30 South Beach Tow 19:00 Disorderly Conduct: Video On Patrol 20:00 Upload With Shaquille O’Neal 20:30 Hip Hop Squares 21:00 Freakshow 21:30 Poorman’s Bikini Beach 22:00 Kenny vs Spenny 22:30 Tool Academy 23:20 The Real 22:00 Kenny vs Spenny 22:30 Tool Academy

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Tech Times Æ s

TT 1

Inye Kemabonta, Editor, Tech Times inye@technologylaw.com.ng

NITDA to publish standards for service ducts on highways — Ikoti Barrister Lazarus Ikoti is the Acting Head, Standards, Guidelines and Regulation Department of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). Last Wednesday in Lagos he chaired the meeting of the National Technical committee (NTC) on Standards and Guidelines for IT Service Ducts on Highways and Access Roads. He spoke with Tony Nwakaegho in an exclusive interview on the intricacies of developing standards and their implementation in Nigeria. Excerpts:

Ikoti The NTC met today. What are the NTC and the meeting all about?

There are two things that are involved in it. The National Technical Committee Meeting on Standards that was a baby of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

You know that IT has so many standards that need to be developed and we decided that we cannot get the correct standard unless we involved the stakeholders. They created what is known as National Technical Committee (NTC), so that any standard that is developed or any standard that is initiated, the NTC will sit on that standard and look at its applicability, content and how far the standard will be effectively applied in the IT industry. That is why we created the Technical Committee on Standard. Today’s meeting deals specifically with IT Standard on service ducts on highways and access roads. You know most of the time when people want to lay IT cables they have to dig along the roads and in the process of cutting the roads it is either the roads are not properly covered or they just leave it alone. Those actions cause a lot

of danger not only to motorist but also to the users of the road.

Are there any challenges being experienced in the process?

There is no any regulation or standard in this country that has one agency that is responsible for it. We have many agencies that we are going to work on it.

For example in trying to meet these guidelines on standard to be implemented or for it to be functional we will discuss with the Ministry of Works, which is principally responsible for the construction of roads. We have to discuss with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and through them what we have done is going to a national standard, and the moment it becomes national standard it means that it can be applied in the states, and it can also be applied in the Area Councils so that if you are constructing the feeder roads you know that you have to make provisions for it. If you are constructing the state road you know that you have to make provision for the service duct and if you are constructing the highway or trunk ‘A’ road which is normally

‘‘You know most of the time when people want to lay IT cables they have to dig along the roads and in the process of cutting the roads it is either the roads are not properly covered or they just leave it alone.’’ a federal government road you have to make provision for it.

How long will the process last before the standard becomes functional?

This is the last committee meeting and from now on everything that we are going to do is going to be purely administrative. We have done the technical aspect of it and it is now left for us to compile and come up with a very clean copy, and if you want it to be national standard we send

it to SON. SON is also going to call his own technical stakeholders and they will work on it and make it to be a national standard.

But on our own side, we will soon transmit the draft standards to the Federal Ministry of Works as the key stakeholder.

Are you aware that Lagos State Government has granted telecom companies the right of way to lay cables?

The issue of right of way for Lagos State is only as far as road construction is in Lagos. What we are trying to do now is to have a national standard so that where it applied in Lagos it will also be applied in Akwa Ibom and other states in Nigeria. It is not only restricted to Lagos, but the issue is that if it comes to implementing the laws in the country the implementing agencies will have to look at how best they are going to implement it in such a way that it will not affect the users adversely. That is what we are going to do. If there is any conflict between that of Lagos and the one we are trying to develop we will sit down together and iron out the area of conflict and then get it to be applied.

Now that we have old roads and sparingly developing new ones, how would this standard programme work out on the old roads and proposed new ones?

If you look at our present regulation, we said that it is going to be used on new roads and any part of the old roads that is going up for repairs.

How would you rate the outcome of the National Technical committee meeting that was held in Lagos?

I must confess that when you have such people, from the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) who are ready to discuss the document dispassionately, then those people must produce a good document. I must also confess that the whole product of the discussion is an excellent one. By the time this document is applied or goes to the industry for its implementation, I know it’s going to be swift.

Tech Times TT 2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Most LGAs unwilling to switch to .gov.ng Stories by Tony Nwakaegho Most local government areas in the country are unwilling to comply with the directive to register their presence on .gov.ng, country’s top level domain name, some eight months after the expiration of deadline handed them to do so.

Immediate President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) Mrs. Mary Uduma, said that the body has achieved less than 30 per cent compliance as at end of April this year.

NiRA and National Information Development Agency (NITDA) have mounted various campaigns to get the 774 local governments in the country to register in .gov.ng, in line with egovernment policy of the federal government.

Uduma attributed their noncompliance to lack of awareness of the benefits of their presence on the internet to them.

According to her, “this system has been standardized among federal government ministries, department and Agencies (MDAs) and we are trying to do so at the local government level.

To this end, we are planning to launch ‘switch to .gov.ng’ campaign in the six geo-political

zones of the country targeting local governments in each of the zones. The sensitization programme will also correct wrong impression that some of the local governments are holding against launching their presence on the web”.

Federal government had directed all local governments in the country to register their domain name on .gov.ng before the end of August last year and to do this in collaboration with NITDA. She noted that though NiRA has made remarkable progress in marketing of .ng, and that they are not relenting which inform NiRA’s renewed strategy by giving registrars targets to meet which will be rewarded if met thereafter.

“We having been setting target for ourselves which eventually are not met, we have now decided to approach it through the registrars who are the ones driving the registration of .ng,” she added.

It would be recalled that NiRA had targeted 250, 000 registration at the end of last year which was not met even with several promos at creating awareness on .ng.

Investigations have shown that most businesses in the country shun .ng but rather prefer to register -ng.com or ng.com as against

Juwah

NCC links poor service quality to power outages Tony Nwakaegho

Uduma

.ng, while senior government officers are using yahoo, gmail among other email accounts against secured email account of their ministry account.

Managing Director, Africa.com and Immediate Past Chief Operating Officer, NiRA, Opeoluwa

Odusan revealed that hidden costs such as cost of changing company’s letterhead paper, complementary cards, branded documents among others is responsible for corporates organisations such as banks from switching to .ng.

Vodacom, eBusiness life partner for development of ICT skilled women Vodacom Business Nigeria in partnership with e-Business Life Communication Limited have continued in their commitment to supporting female senior secondary school students interested in studying Information and communication technology at tertiary education level.

Speaking at the event, Senior Manager Product Portfolio, Vodacom Business Nigeria, Mrs. Obafunke Atanda, revealed that the number of females currently employed in ICT in Nigeria is extremely low compared to males which is attributable not only to the relative lack of females studying science and technology at secondary and tertiary institutions but, also the number of females given access to formal education.

This partnership, which is part of Vodacom’s ‘power to you’ project, is aimed at encouraging youths especially females to include science and technology

among their career choices.

The company’s intention is to increase the number of females in the ICT sector of Nigeria which is currently dominated by men, by promoting the education and training of girls in primary and secondary schools, thereby empowering them at a much earlier stage of their lives.

“We feel it’s our responsibility to support initiatives aimed at increasing the number of skilled and qualified women in Nigeria, and we enjoin other companies to contribute to this course,” Atanda said.

She explained that empowering female students would be beneficial to addressing the root cause of the lack of female advancement such as poor education, unwanted teenage pregnancy and domestic violence.

Chief Executive Officer of eBusiness Life Communication Limited, convener of the Girls in ICT for Lagos, Mrs. Ufoma Emuophedaro, said “Companies

like Vodacom are playing a key role in the global push to get young women and girls excited about a future career in ICT. You educate a woman, you educate a generation. We are grateful for Vodacom’s participation and support for this event”.

Girls in ICT Day, is a time when

girls have the opportunity to reflect on the importance of ICT to their future careers. It is a day where girls gain hands-on skills in ICT development, and realize that coding, blogging or app development is a fun and creative way to make a difference in the digital world.

L-R: Mrs Efem Nkanga, Special Media Adviser to Minister of Communication Technology, Yemi Keri, Chairperson Edo State ICT Agency, Lynda Nwafor Chief Technical Officer MTN Nigeria, Obafunke Atanda, Senior Manager and Francis Eza, Marketing Communications Manager at MainOne at the Girls in ICT Day celebration held in Lagos, recently.

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has flayed impediments such as poor power supply, multiple taxation by government at various levels and the vandalization of telecommunications infrastructure of telecommunication service providers, as the direct causes of the poor quality of service.

Executive Vice Chairman, Mr. Eugene Juwah who was represented by Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo at the second yearly stakeholders’ conference in Lagos, made this assertion as he offered more insight on why persistent poor quality of GSM service being experience by subscribers in the country has refused to abate.

The EVC, in a paper he presented at the second yearly stakeholders conference in Lagos, admitted that the recurring challenges that have bedevilled the growing telecommunications sector were the monster making the quality of service to remain poor.

He also said that other challenges include multiple regulations, right of way challenges, and infrastructure deficit, among others.

While admitting that the quality of service currently being experienced is not an acceptable benchmark, he however said NCC has not been complacent in its obligations to ensuring that the quality of service is improved upon.

“Having gone through the rigours of several meetings with operators, it is proper to let the public know that the regulator is not complacent. Only the elimination of some or all of these will provide the critical success factors in finally eradicating quality of service challenges,” he added.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

TT 3 Tech Times

Aviat, MainOne, others support 2015 West Africa Telecom Summit & Expo Information Communication Technology players, Aviat Networks and MainOne have given their support to the hosting of the 2015 edition of the West Africa Telecom Summit & Expo billed to hold on 21st May at the prestigious Movenpick Hotel.

Aviat Networks, the global wireless solutions and leading microwave networking specialist, have recently signed on as sponsors of 2015 WATSEA, while MainOne, the leading provider of innovative telecom services and network solutions for businesses in West Africa have signed on as well.

Country Manager for Aviat Networks, Ahmed Adama, said that sponsoring WATSE 2015 is an opportunity for the company to push the industry to its next frontiers.

In his comments, MainOne’s Business Executive responsible for Ghana and West Africa, Kazeem Oladepo said, “Our sponsorship of the West African Telecoms Summit provides us the opportunity to directly support a platform to exchange ideas on strategies for increased internet penetration in West Africa; share insights with industry players and identify dynamics, future trends and expected developments in the industry”.

Ghanaian-owned telecommunications network providing super-fast and reliable 4G LTE services; Surfline is also pushing the frontiers of West Africa’s ICT as the company recently signed on as a sponsor for 2015 WATSE. Chief Executive Officer of Instinct Wave, Akin Naphtal, who is one of the organisers of the

award, expressed his delight at the support from industry players.

He commended the companies for recognising the need to invest in gathering of stakeholders to discussing challenges and opportunities in moving the industry to the next level of growth expected.

The Summit, now in its second year, which has been themed Broadband: Driving Economic Growth In West Africa will address some topical issues such as focus on dynamics, forecasts, future trends and expected developments in the industry across the region.

According to Mr. Naphtal, “while sub-Saharan Africa has been very successful in increasing access to basic voice communications, and Africa’s rapid adoption of the mobile phone is quickly closing the ’digital divide’ in voice services, the broadband access gap between the region and the rest of the world is getting wider. WATS 2015 will provide a compelling environment to discuss broadband as the new frontier for economic growth in West Africa”.

Seasoned speakers and experts will at this year’s summit deliberate on the landscape of the telecommunications industry and critical industry related topics and trends currently affecting the telecommunications development.

The summit will also deliver thought-provoking insights from the prime movers of the industry and give delegates the opportunity to hear and network with them in a structured atmosphere of panel discussion.

L-R: Barr. Nicole Efienemokwu of NITDA, Edith Udeagu of NiRA, Barr. Lazarus Ikoti, Acting Head of Standard, Guideline and Regulation, NITDA, Engr. (Mrs) I.T Ihenachor of COREN, Mr Abdulmauk Bello of NITDA, Mr, Kussiy Wanza of SON, Okelola Temitope of CAPDAN, Mr Abubakar.A.Umar of NITDA, Engr Olusola Teniola 1st Vice President, ATCON and Ibrahim Z.B Tizhe at the NTC meeting on Standard &Guidelines for IT Service Duct held in Lagos, recently.

DG NITDA pledges to fulfil regulatory role, complete standards Stories by Tony Nwakaegho

Omobola Johnson

Peter Jack, Director General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has pledged the commitment of the Agency to fulfil its regulatory role and ensure that all Standards are completed.

The DG NITDA made this statement in his address to the National Technical Committee (NTC), meeting on the Standards and Guideline for IT Service Ducts held in Lagos, stressing that the forum has come at most auspicious time because of the importance of IT in the lives of the people.

Jack, who was represented on the occasion by the Acting Head, Standard, Guideline and

Regulation, Department of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Barrister Lazarus Ikoti, explained that “we cannot shut our eyes to the happening in our environment. We have seen situations whereby in the process of laying cables, the highways or access roads are cut. After laying the cables, it is either not covered up or properly covered up, which portraits dangers not only to motorist but all users of the road alike”.

According to him, the purpose of this standards and Regulations is to make it mandatory for road constructions to make provision for service ducts, adding that this service ducts will not only prevent the cutting of

roads but also serve as an avenue for future users to make use of it, while acting as a source of revenue for the owners.

He implored the NTC members to draw from their wealth of experience and expertise to come up with a document that can stand the test of time, while assuring them that all Standards and Guidelines that have been initiated shall be completed under his watch.

Essentially, the NITDA boss said, that he will ensure also that he remove any administrative bottlenecks on the many Standards which have been completed but are not yet in use, by gazetting and publishing same in order to make these documents available to the practitioners in the industry.

Tech Times TT 4 GCI ranks Nigeria 47, top three in broadband markets The Global Connectivity Index (GCI) has at the Huawei Cloud Congress (HCC) West Africa 2015 in Lagos ranked Nigeria 47th out of 50 countries, as well as the highest number of internet users in Africa and top three emerging broadband markets.

GCI is a platform that partners with policymakers and enterprise leaders to identify, harness, and create new digital economy opportunities with the aim of building a better connected West Africa.

Daily Times gathered that the survey rated Nigeria as having a small fixed base but huge potential in the uptake of mobile products as she is one of the world’s largest mobile subscriber markets and offers impressive opportunities primarily in the mobile broadband space, where rapid m-Commerce uptake is driving market growth.

President of Huawei Western Africa Region, Mr. Peng Song, while announcing the result, noted that “Overall, the 2015 GCI shows that 20 per cent growth in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) investment will increase a country’s Gross Domestic Prod-

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, May 19, 2015

uct (GDP) by 1 per cent. It also identifies five enablers of digital transformation – Data Centers, Cloud Services, Big Data, Broadband, and the Internet of Things (IoTs). These technologies represent the targets that stakeholders should focus their investments on in order to most efficiently transform their economies for the digital age.”

Based on the GCI findings, the HCC came up with three commendations for a better connected West Africa; to include increasing data centre investment, developing economies need to move from investing in supply to building demand and learning from developing countries’ success, to become leaders in GCI. “Make Information Technology (IT) simple, and make business agile. It is an amazing era with rapid growth and data explosion. In this dynamic environment, Huawei will continue to invest in IT industry, and will continue to emphasize on the concept of being integrated, customer-centric and providing customers with innovative, differentiated, leading-edge products and solutions,” Song said.

It will be recalled that Huawei, which forecasts that by 2025, 100 billion connections will be generated globally with 90 per cent of which will come from intelligent sensors, also launched the FusionCloud Solution and OceanStor V3 Converged Storage solutions at the Huawei Cloud Congress, where Accenture, Etisalat, Fidelity Bank, Intel, SAP and other Huawei partners, shared the cases of deploying Huawei enterprise business solutions to enable business success.

Safaricom selects Ericsson for network upgrade

Rerolle

ITU Council opens session, examines strategic plans Stories by Tony Nwakaegho ITU’s governing Council has opened its annual session under the Chairmanship of Mr Wonki Min of the Republic of Korea with a view to examine in detail the implementation of the strategic plan and activities of the Union for 2014-2015 and the annual budget for 2016-2017.

Following the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in October-November 2014 in Busan, Republic of Korea, the Council welcomed newly elected members, including Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Pakistan, Uganda and Tanzania.

ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao in his State of the Union address delivered at the opening of the Council session noted that the 2015 Council is the first since the 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-14), which successfully drafted the ITU Strategic Plan and Financial Plan for the Union for the next four years.

Zhao commended Mr Min for having ably steered the Plenipotentiary Conference as its Chairman and assured Councillors that “we will always be mindful of the challenges and our mandate to connect people, to connect the world, and in particular to connect those not yet connected, and to facilitate the ICT/telecommunications industry and markets with innovations and sustainable new technologies.

“I will continue working closely with the elected officials and ITU staff to best serve the Union and we will continue to improve

our efficiency without sacrificing quality.”

The ITU Scribe also thanked the Councillors for their support and good wishes for the 150th anniversary of the Union, while outlining the challenges and a busy schedule for the year, including the WSIS Forum, 25-29 May to follow up on the World Summit on the Information Society; The Global Symposium of Regulators (GSR), 9-11 June in Libreville, Gabon; ITU Telecom World, 12-15 October in Budapest, Hungary; the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-15), 26-30 October and World Radiocommunication Confer-

ence (WRC-15), 2-27 November in Geneva; and the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS-15), 30 November – 2 December in Hiroshima, Japan.

On his part the Chairman of Council, Mr Wonki Min, in his opening address said “this Council session is extremely meaningful for all of us because we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of ITU. For a century and half, the Union has strived to enhance the lives of citizens around the world through the application of ICT – from telegraphy to more modern technologies, such as satellites, mobile phones and the Internet.”

Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile operator has selected Ericsson to support the upgrade and expansion of its converged mobile network infrastructure, having signed a multi-year agreement with Safaricom.

Under the terms of this agreement, Ericsson will deploy Wi-Fi technology for the first time on the Safaricom network as well as expand and enhance the MINILINK microwave transmission network; enabling subscribers enjoy a richer quality of mobile broadband in Kenya.

Deployment of the Wi-Fi solution will enable Safaricom to optimize its use of spectrum resources while enhancing 3G services and boosting broadband app coverage for customers in selected densely populated areas. Ericsson’s MINI-LINK microwave products and IP port-

folio will enable Safaricom to seamlessly migrate to an all-IP transmission network that supports coming technologies and Safaricom’s five-year network evolution strategy. The Ericsson SSR 8000 family also provides Safaricom with a highly scalable, consolidated platform for both fixed and mobile services for IP/MPLS routing.

Director, Technology, Safaricom, Thibaud Rerolle said As we move into an era where the customer experience is re-defining our networks, this development will place us in an optimal position to continue to grow our data footprint, especially in heavily populated areas such as the CBD, in the most cost-efficient manner.

Ericsson’s microwave transmission includes MINI-LINK TN, LH and PT, which support

capacity growth and the use of new frequency bands such as V and E bands. It transports voice and data traffic from the radio access to the core network, enhancing the capacity of the mobile transmission network to cope with increased traffic in the radio network. The Wi-Fi solution, comprised of Ericsson Wi-Fi Access Points and Ericsson Wi-Fi Manager (Ericsson’s Wi-Fi Network Management software solution), will complement the data services provided by the existing 3G network and ease the load on the 3G resources through traffic offload to Wi-Fi in selected areas. In addition, the Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) based on SSR 8010 is deployed by the service provider as the first aggregation point in the Carrier Grade Wi-Fi network.

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Man City (F. D. E.) Man City Reserves

France U-21 France

Cannes Milan Arsenal Juventus Inter Man City

FC Trappes FC Drouais Tours

Patrick Vieira June 23, 1976 Dakar, Senegal 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Midfielder Manchester City Reserves (manager)

•Vieira’s family moved from Senegal to Dreux, France, when he was eight, and he did not return to Senegal until 2003.

His parents divorced when Vieira was young, and he never met his father again.

His grandfather served in the French Army, making him eligible for French nationality at birth.

His surname Vieira, which is Portuguese, is his mother’s maiden name, who is from Cape Verde.

•Vieira is a retired French footballer who is the Manager of the Reserves squad at Premier League club Manchester City, known as the Elite Development Squad.

Patrick Vieira

About

Full name: Date of birth: Place of birth: Height: Playing position: Club Info: Youth career 1984–1986: 1986–1991: 1991–1993: Senior career 1994–1996: 1996: 1996–2005: 2005–2006: 2006–2010: 2010–2011: National team 1995–1996: 1997–2009: Teams managed 2011–2013: 2013–Till date:

Personal Information

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Vieira

Patrick

•Vieira was a complete, powerful, tenacious and aggressive footballer, with outstanding physical and technical attributes.

He was a competent tackler, and a tactically intelligent midfielder, gifted with good ball skills, distribution, and vision; he also excelled in the air. These attributes, in addition to his pace, strength, pressing ability, and stamina, allowed him to link up the defence with the attack effectively.

He announced his retirement from professional football on July14, 2011.

•Vieira transferred from Arsenal in 2005 and spent one season at Juventus, helping the team to the Serie A championship.

Following Juventus’ relegation for their part in a match-fixing scandal, Vieira moved to Internazionale and won three Serie A titles. He has 107 caps for France, and was part of their 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000-winning sides, as well as their runner-up finish in the 2006 World Cup.

•He rose to prominence during a hugely successful spell at Arsenal from 1996 to 2005, where he eventually became club captain, and won three Premier League titles – one unbeaten – and four FA Cups.

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Fantastic duo! Patrick Vieira (l) with Thierry Henry.

Bellerin reveals exit plans

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Bellerin

rsenal right-back Hector Bellerin has revealed he “was close to leaving” the Emirates Stadium during the 2014 summer transfer window before establishing himself in the first team.

The 20-year-old followed the footsteps of Cesc Fabregas in summer 2011 when he left the prolific Barcelona youth system to move to the north London academy and he has since worked his way through Arsenal’s ranks, becoming one of the sensations of the current campaign after making 25 first-team appearances since his debut against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League earlier in the season.

But Bellerin has revealed things could have been different after manager Arsene Wenger bolstered the right-back role in 2014 with the signings of Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle United and Calum Chambers from Southampton.

“I was really close to leaving on loan again and was talking to the coaches about where to go next season, but it turned out way differently. I knew that I was going to work hard wherever I was, fight for a spot wherever I was, and that’s what I did. I got my chance and I think I took it,” Bellerin revealed.

frica’s richest man Aliko Dangote, who’s worth £10billion, has made no secret of his desire to make an offer for Arsenal and it has been revealed that he aims to replace Arsene Wenger with a combination of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, according to reports.

Dangote is confident that he will be able to make an offer that cannot be refused to major shareholders, which includes current owner Stan Kroenke and other multi-billionaire shareholder Alisher Usmanov.

The power-struggle between the latter duo has been evident over the past few years with Usmanov not even offered a seat on the board, despite owning more than a 30% stake in the club.

“Wenger needs to change his style a bit. They need new direction,” Dangote said. “I still hope I will buy the team.”

A source close to the Nigerian billionaire revealed that Dangote aims to appoint Vieira as manager with Henry alongside him should he become successful in a takeover bid.

Title tilt a must, insists

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rsenal will have “no excuse” if they do not mount a serious title challenge next year, according to Gunners star Theo Walcott.

Arsenal all but secured third place in the Premier League on Sunday when they drew 1-1 at Manchester United and the team have had to go through the preliminary stages of the Champions League for three of the last four years, but barring two big losses against Sunderland and West Brom, they will go directly into the group stages next season.

Walcott believes Arsenal are punching below their weight, though. He was disappointed that Arsenal did not pose a challenge to Chelsea until the spring.

“Next season has to be a different story”, the Arsenal winger insists. “Third place is a step forward from where we finished last year.

“There was an opportunity in the season when we were getting close to Chelsea and people were talking about us competing, but I sensed throughout the dressing room that we were never quite up there with Chelsea.”

Arsenal announce Emirates Cup line-up

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Wenger

rsenal have announced the teams that will make the journey to London to play this season’s Emirates Cup. Spanish side Villarreal, Olympique Lyonnais, and Bundesliga outfit VfL Wolfsburg will battle it out for pre-season’s thirteenth most prestigious trophy.

The games will take place on July 25th and 26th with two games each

day. Current Arsenal player, Joel Campbell, is on loan at Villarreal and there are some suggestions he might make that move permanent in the summer too.

And the French side currently have a couple of players heavily linked with the Gunners. Forward Alexandre Lacazette and winger Nabil Fekir are reportedly on Arsene Wenger’s summer radar.

Walcott