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IBB backs Buhari

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 VOL. 1. NO.27

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L-R: President Goodluck Jonathan; Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar 111 and Vice President Namadi Sambo, during the President’s visit to the Sultan in Sokoto ... on Monday

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ÏÏÏThe

presidential ambition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) General Muhammadu Buhari, got a boost yesterday from his primary constituency, the military.

Former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, declared the support of all

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OLUFUNKE OSHONAIKE

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OLUFUNKE OSHONAIKE

OLUFUNKE

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Full name: Nationality: Born: Place of birth: Sport: All-Africa Games

Olufunke Oshonaike Nigeria

October 28, 1975 (age 39) Lagos, Nigeria Table Tennis record

Gold: Bronze: Bronze: Silver: Silver: Silver: Silver:

2007 Algiers 2007 Algiers 2007 Algiers 2011 Maputo 2011 Maputo 2011 Maputo 2011 Maputo

Team Singles Doubles Singles Doubles Mixed Doubles Team

My dad, he’s my greatest fan any day. He was not rich; we were not born with silver spoons, but he made sure we lacked nothing…

My father just wanted me to succeed in anything I do and he never stopped me from playing table tennis, even when it meant I had to dodge domestic chores and missed classes at school. Thank God for what he saw in me as a child because, right now, I can’t complain of poverty. Table tennis has given me what I could only dream of.

I entered the game because it was my older brother’s sport. As a tomboy, I played mostly with boys and always tagged along with my brother anywhere he went. As a young player, I never thought I would be playing on the international level. It never even crossed my mind there was a higher level than playing local competitions.

—Olufunke Oshonaike

”

OSHONAIKE Tuesday, January 20, 2015

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retired generals for one of their own.

Also yesterday, leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-South zone, declared that the party’s flag-bearer in the presidential election, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, will surely triumph.

Babangida spoke when he played host to the APC presidential hopeful in his Uphill

Chad joins Cameroun in fight against Boko 6 Haram

residence in Minna.

The former military president said he was proud of the persistence and perseverance of Buhari in offering himself for service at the highest level in the country’s young democracy.

Babangida told his guest: “You have beaten some of us in proving wrong Gen. DougCONTINUED ON PAGE 6

L-R: Executive Director, Personal Banking, Access Bank Plc, Victor Etuokwu; Executive Director, United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), George Kell; Chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Foluso Phillips; Chairman, Honeywell Group, Dr. Oba Otudeko and Head Transparency and Anti-Corruption, UNGC, Olajobi Makinwa during the Africa Sustainable CEO Business Roundtable sponsored by Access Bank in Lagos ... on Monday

Kudos, knocks over fuel price slash Ï 0ƑƆƋ Ɛ Ɛƈ ƇƋ ƑƐ ƗƈƏƆƅƐƈƒƆ

Storm rocks Oba of Lagos stool

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TIMES Tuesday January 20, 2015

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Politics Page Three

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s

Editorial

Recurring fire incidents in Lagos

T

he constant incidence of fire outbreaks in markets of Lagos State has become a source of concern to every resident. In the past few days, the state has witnessed no less than two major fires that engulfed the Balogun and Berlin markets on the Island. Estimates of the properties lost in the infernos run into millions of naira.

That is not the first time the state has been the receiving end of such disasters,especially during and immediately after major festivities. It is a fact that Lagos is the country’s largest commercial centre with thousands of business outfits engaged in daily economic activities. It therefore behooves the authorities to constantly guard against such avoidable tragedies which are fast becoming commonplace in the state.

Much as some of the fires were as result of carelessness of the victims,it still does not vitiate the fact that the government should have put in place measures to effectively deal with such incidents whenever they occur. Lagos is one of Africa’s largest cities and is predicted to be among the five biggest megapolis in 2025, with a population far exceeding those of New York and London put together.

But it is a crying shame that the provision of infrastructures are too slow and far between to make much expected impact. Even where they are provided, the infrastructures are too outdated for a society struggling to catch up with modernity.

For example, the metropolis and its suburbs lack dedicated water mains and fire hoses that should be constructed at every street and strategic junction. Even when they are built in some areas, are more of ornaments than tools for fire fighting.

Reason is that most lack adequate water at any given time. While,it is in the habit of the citizens to always look on the government for the provision of all facilities, they are unwilling to carry out their civic obligations to the government. It is not enough to expect any government to meet its duties to the citizens without the latter paying their taxes as and when due.

Governments in the country,need money for the provision of services to the people. They also have many competing demands with the limited resources at their disposal.

That is why we are calling for the establishment of social security for the citizens,in order to mitigate the impact of such disasters on them whenever they occur. Also, the citizens must be persuaded to build modern fire retardant buildings that can withstand the impact of hazards at any given time. Those engaged in commercial activities,especially in the markets must observe the specified building plans for construction.

It has been observed that many of our markets are built in haphazard fashion with access roads to them too narrow and that makes it impossible for emergency equipments to go through while fighting fires.

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Sam Nzeh

ÎÎÎIn the days of yore, traditional rulers across the country were revered by all and sundry. Then they were seen as the embodiment of the cultures of their respective peoples.

They were non-sectarian and non-partisan. They hardly took sides when politics was in the air.

Those times are over now particularly as the February general elections inch closer. Today, our royal fathers are not only misrepresenting their respective cultures by the way they

live but also sectarian and openly partisan.

If not how else can one qualify the endorsement of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate for Lagos State in the February 28 election by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu.

Hear the revered monarch: “Jimmy (Agbaje) is my personal pharmacist and a very good person, but I’ve made it abundantly clear to him that I’m not going to back him”.

The Oba of Lagos is not alone in the endorsement of political office seekers by persons occupying royal stools across the country.

The Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers recently

Words On Marble :

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Who will call our royal fathers to order? endorsed President Jonathan.

The list is endless but the sad thing is that these royal fathers who are expected to be non-partisan and nonsectarian and their backers see nothing wrong in their actions.

Someone needs to drum into the ears of these monarchs the need to retrace their steps. They must of necessity get back to being embodiments of cultures of their domains, non-sectarian and non-partisan.

They must in words and deeds be fathers to all and sundry. This way, they will continue to earn the respect of stheir subjects and enhance peace in their domains.

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

Enoch Adeboye

Tam David-West

Oyewole Fashawe

We are a spoilt nation because we have everything in abundance. We should still be grateful to God because in spite of the fact that we waste our resources, we are still the most formidable economy in Africa.

I see Gen. Buhari as an extraordinary man, a real man and detribalised Nigerian. He is clean, not corrupt. He is a man of integrity. And I challenge anybody, both President Jonathan and all his supporters, to contest it in an open debate.

There is no need to hide a good product. Tinubu has paid his dues and perfected the art of returning the Yoruba political wheel back onto the national track.

4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

5 News

2015: I don’t have PVC, Sultan tells Jonathan ÏÏÏSultan

of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III has told President Goodluck Jonathan that he is yet to be issued with a Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying that he may not be able to vote in the February 14 election.

According to him, if the situation was not addressed before the elections, many Nigerians, in similar situation would be disenfranchised.

The Sultan, speaking when the

president and his campaign team paid a courtesy visit to his palace before kicking off the presidential campaign rally at Shehu Kangiwa Square, told Jonathan that “Let’s respect people’s wishes, let’s not try to disenfranchise anybody. We have had issues of the Permanent Voter’s Cards and I want to tell you that I don’t have my PVC, so it means I will not vote on 14th February, so we have to look for a way out.

“It is for your government to now look for what to do, how to

ensure that all the cards get to the voters before the voting day or in the alternative, find a way out, because for any problem, there is a solution. We believe you will find a solution as regards this very serious hitch facing us, because millions of Nigerians seem to be heading towards disenfranchisement and they won’t be able to vote but I have heard comments from the INEC Chairman, we are still waiting for our cards to come”, the Sultan said.

Court-martial of 22 officers postponed

L-R:All Progressives Congress (APC), Vice-Presidential Candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; Presidential Candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd); APC Governorship Candidate for Niger State, Mr. Abubakar Sani; and former Governor, Ekiti State, Engr. Segun Oni during the APC Presidential rally in Niger State on Monday

Segun Adio

ÏÏÏ

dent, Chief Udo Udeogaranya, and released on Monday by the group said “He that is trusted with a little, maybe trusted with much, but If a Presidential candidate cannot remember the name of his running mate, who he has been with on campaign trail for weeks, how then can he remember and keep abreast with the needs of a council ward, not to talk of a com-

plex nation like Nigeria.

“We compel Northern leaders to show gratitude and ensure massive support for President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the South-East, South-South and South-West leaders have, since, pitched their tent with Jonathan, which translates to pitching tent with… a progressive Nigeria.”

The General Court Martial of 22 senior officers earlier scheduled for Monday at the 9 Brigade Headquarters of the Nigerian Army, Maryland, Ikeja, Lagos did not hold, after all. It has been postponed until end of January.

The court martial was earlier scheduled to hold on Friday, January 16, 2015 but was postponed.

Sources at the 9 Brigade, Ikeja, told Daily Times on Monday that the case was rescheduled to commence on Monday, January 19, 2015 but had been shifted again.

This would be third postponement since the army authorities signified the intention to hold the trial in Lagos.

This is the first time senior army officers would be standing trial for offences related to the military’s campaign against the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East. Those that have been court-martialled were, mostly, non-commissioned personnel, many of whom were either dismissed or sentenced to death.

Raphael Ogbonna

Chima, until his appointment, was the Secretary of Ebonyi Founding Fathers Forum.

Speaking during the swearing in ceremony of the new SSG, on Monday, at the Government House Abakaliki, Elechi commended the former SSG for his dedication to service for the

past seven and half years of his administration.

Elechi also used the occasion to announce his cabinet reshuffle. According to him, “the exercise became necessary due to the resignation of some members of his cabinet to vie for various political offices.

Buhari unfit to govern a local council, says Ndigbo group Bisola Oyewole Lagos

ÏÏÏ

Ndigbo Cultural Society of Nigeria (NCSN), has urged the electorate not to waste their votes on General Muhammadu Buhari’s candidacy arguing that he is not fit to govern a local council let alone a nation.

A statement signed by its presi-

Elechi reshuffles cabinet, gets new SSG

While expressing concern over the way religion had been introduced into the campaigns, the Sultan said that the outcome of the elections should not be based on religious considerations.

According to him, electioneering campaigns should be issue-based and not on religious sentiments, saying “it is not possible to have an election based on religion in this country because as Muslims and Christians, we have no choice than to live together”.

Abakaliki

ÏÏÏ

Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State has appointed a new Secretary to the State Government (SSG) following the exit of Chief Fidelis Mbam on health grounds.

The new SSG, Dr Boniface

Enahoro

Peter Enahoro turns 80 ÏÏÏ

A series of activities have been lined up to celebrate the 80th birthday of media icon, Peter Enahoro turns 80 on January 21, 2015.

A release signed by Ben Asante, on behalf of the Committee of Friends, stated that number of television and print interviews, panel discussions and lectures have been slated in some tertiary institutions across the country.

Enahoro is also billed to launch some books, including the new edition of his autobiography, ‘Then Spoke the Thunder.’

Enahoro, who currently lives in London, was only 23 when he edited the “Sunday Times” and later the “Daily Times” national newspaper.

Enahoro, a prolific Nigerian journalist, wrote under the moniker, Peter Pan, when he worked for the Sunday and Daily Times. He had strong and penetrating desire for change and the development of his country in the pre and postindependence days.

Peter Enahoro is the younger brother to the former Federal Commissioner for Information and frontline pro-democracy activist, the late Chief Anthony Enahoro, who famously tabled the first demand in the motion for an independent Nigeria in 1953.

Enahoro is an author, distinguished journalist and media administrator of repute.

He started his journalism career in the Daily Times at the youthful age of 19 and rose through the ranks to become the paper’s Editor before going into self-exile unwilling to live under military rule after the 1966 coup.

He later became the Managing Director of Daily Times several years later. Peter Enahoro’s years of journalism produced exciting and interesting pages of news items and feature write-ups. He had also published in 1966 “How to be a Nigerian” – a satire, “You gotta Cry to Laugh” in 1972, “The Complete Nigerian” in 1992 and in 2009 “Then Spoke the Thunder” – an autobiography.

News 6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

IBB pledges Generals’ support for Buhari Continued from page 1 las Mc’Arthur’s theory that, ‘old soldiers never die but fade away gradually’. You have refused to fade away.”

He then commended APC for honouring the military by nominating Buhari: “I wish to congratulate members of the party for the honour of nominating my colleague, General Muhammadu Buhari, as your presidential candidate in 2015 election.”

The former military president later said that the media had misrepresented his relationship with Buhari alleging that the media had created the impression that they were at loggerheads.

“You media men have created this impression that we are fighting each other. Look at us here today; he knows what I mean and I know what he means. We both fought to keep Nigeria one when we were young majors. We are well-travelled.

“I want to commend APC for choosing our colleague as your flag-bearer. All of us will support you (Buhari) in this cause to salvage this country,” IBB stated.

Earlier, the APC Presidential candidate said he was in Minna in continuation of his nationwide shopping for votes to salvage the country from16 years of misrule by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government.

Buhari who was elated

by IBB’s words of assurance said he had earlier met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo who supported his ambition though he was unable to pull him to the APC. Buhari said the party was set to take over the state with the calibre of candidates presented for various offices and the quality of those that decamped from the ruling PDP. On Buhari’s entourage were the deputy national chairman of the party, Senator Lawan Shuaibu; national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Chief Audu Ogbeh, Chief Bisi Akande, Governor Rotimi Ameachi, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Mr. Segun Oni.

Others were General Abdulraham Danbanzzau, Senator George Akume, Chief Niyi Adebayo, Senator Bukola Saraki, Alhaji Kawu Baraje and Chief (Mrs) Kemi Nelson.

The South-South PDP leaders particularly declared the progress and preparedness of the zone for the election, stressing that “all was well” for President Jonathan’s victory.

They therefore directed PDP stakeholders to work as a team to achieve resounding success for the party at the election.

In a communique at the end of a meeting of the Presidential campaign committee of the zone, held

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (2nd right); All Progressives Congress (APC), Senatorial Candidate, Mr. Dapo Abiodun (2nd left); House of Representatives Candidate, Mr. Ganiyu Odufuwa (left) and Chairman, Ikenne Local Government Council, Hon. Tajudeen Ishola during Amosun’s re-election campaign at Ward 6, Ogere, Ikenne Local Government Area.

PHOTO BY DAVID IDOWU

Chadians forces join Cameroun to fight Boko Haram ÏÏÏThe dreaded Boko Ha-

ram terrorist group have freed two dozen hostages after a mass abduction by its militants in Cameroon, as Chad prepared Monday to engage in the international battle against the extremist group.

Twenty-four of the 80 people taken hostage by Boko Haram in the north of Cameroon Sunday were released as Cameroonian armed forces pursued the Islamist extremists, according to

a

government source.

Boko Haram fighters then fled back into Nigeria, with the fate of the rest of the hostages taken in the raid still unknown.

An army officer based in Cameroon’s Far North region said Boko Haram had attacked two villages and kidnapped what Cameroonian state media said were 80 hostages, in one of the group’s biggest abductions outside Nigeria yet.

Three people also died in the assault.

As the militants retreated, the Chadian army said it was putting 400 military vehicles, attack helicopters, and a still unspecified number of soldiers amassed in northern Cameroon into action against Boko Haram, as part of a regional effort to defeat the notoriously violent group.

“We are going to advance (Monday) towards the enemy,” Chadian army colonel Djerou Ibrahim, who is leading the offensive against

Boko Haram, told AFP from the strategic crossroads town of Maltam in northern Cameroon.

“Our mission is to hunt down Boko Haram, and we have all the means to do that.”

But Cameroonian Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary warned the armies of the two nations still had considerable planning to complete before being able to launch offensives against Boko Haram.

in Abuja signed by the National Vice-chairman (SouthSouth), Chief Cairo Ojougboh; the zone accepted its strategic duty to the overall success of President Jonathan.

They emphasized the need for the support of the zone to move Nigeria to the next level and called for all hands to be on the deck.

The communique emphasized that members of the party should go to their respective states and ensure their voter’s cards were collected before the election.

They also mandated party members from the zone to seek ways of reconciling members aggrieved over of the recently concluded primaries.

Kudos, knocks trail fuel price reduction By our reporters

ÏÏÏMixed reactions on Mon-

day trailed the reduction of fuel pump price from N97.00 to N87.00 by Federal Government on Sunday.

While the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) commended the decision and the N10 reduction has nothing to do with politics and the forthcoming general elections, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and some consumers described the reduction as not sufficiently deep enough.

Speaking on the fuel price reduction, PDP National Publicity Secretary said: “This is not the first time that we have had fuel decrease in this country”, adding “You will recall that when the former president, President Yar’Adua, came into office, he reduced the pump price from N75 to N66. And it was on N66 for a very long time. That was not politics. He did it in June 2007.

And there was no election”.

However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in a statement signed by General secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson on Monday described the reduction in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N97 to N87 per litre by the Federal Government as not sufficiently deep enough.

Reacting, a motorist in Abuja, Abdulahi Idris, said the pump price reduction is political and a desperate move by President Goodluck Jonathan to win the election. He said that in as much Nigerian electorate are wise now, they know who to vote for despite the reduction. Abduilahi went on to say that the price reduction is a fluke which will not guarantee availability of the petrol.

Also reacting in anger, a civil servant, Mr. Emmanuel Dung, who works with the Ministry of Education, said the reduction in pump price came when Nigerians expect less of such pronouncement.

Kaduna agog for Buhari ÏÏÏAnd

in Kaduna, the arrival yesterday of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, was heralded with tremendous cheer and he did not disappoint his teeming admirers as he pledged his total commitment to truly transforming Nigeria by stamping out corruption and taking the country to enviable heights.

Traders had abandoned their wares, while School children abandoned classes as they scrambled to have a

glimpse of the presidential candidate who was in the state on campaign tour.

Supporters of APC and admirers of the former general started trooping to the famous Murtala Square, venue of the political rally, as early as 7 am.

Though the presidential candidate was scheduled to arrive at 10 am but changed it to 2 pm but still did not show up, the supporters remained at the campaign venue while motorcyclists put on displays while others chanted pro-APC/Buhari slogans.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

7 News

Death wish advert: APC petitions INEC, DSS, police, others Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

ÏÏÏ

All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, (APCPCO), is to petition the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Department of State Services, (DSS), and the Nigeria Police Force to protest the “malicious death

wish” on the party’s presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) through a wraparound advert placed by the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.

The campaign organisation had similarly advised President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), to take control of the electioneering campaign before their surrogates plunge Ni-

Sacked Osun PDP chief indicts chairman Michael Bamigbola Osogbo

ÏÏÏ

Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is embroiled in crisis following the sack of Mr. Diran Odeyemi as the party’s Director of Publicity and Strategy by the state Working Committee of the party, headed by Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa.

Irked by the sack, Odeyemi petitioned the national secretariat of the PDP and asked the state chairman to account for over N700 million belonging to the state chapter of the party.

Odeyemi, in a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo described Olaoluwa as “a tout who ruins the party”, recalling that under Olaoluwa’s leadership, notable chieftains of the party, including two former governors withdrew their membership of the party.

He said Olaoluwa lacked the wisdom to lead a big party like the PDP and called for a thorough investigation into his activities as party chairman.

The state PDP, while reacting through its Publicity Secretary, Prince Bola Ajao said Odeyemi was suspended based on his alleged romance with the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Oyo State, Chief Adebayo AlaoAkala.

The party alleged that Odeyemi wasinvolved in anti-partyactivities and financial impropriety during the governorship campaign of the party, thus his sack from the party until he furnished the party with details of his activities with AlaoAkala since the latter’s defection to LP, insisting that his loyalty to PDP was in doubt, thus his being sacked as its Director of Publicity.

Aregbesola

geria into chaos.

The APCPCO disclosed these Monday while reacting to a front page wrap-around cover advertisement on the Monday, January 19, 2015, edition of some newspapers in which Nigerians were asked to choose between life and death.

The alleged advert grouped the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari among former Nigerian leaders

Val Okara Owerri

ÏÏÏ

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and All Progressive Congress(APC) candidate’s bid for re-election may have suffered a setback as the people of Orlu Senatorial Zone advised him to forget his re-election as his first term was a disappointment.

According to Orlu Zurumee, the apex socio-cultural group in the zone, Okorocha was advised against joining the governorship race and threatened to mobilise forces against him should

who were either killed or died of natural causes while in office.

In a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu Monday, APCPCO said, “this is the height of desperate tactics by the PDP, which is capable of degenerating into unnecessary bloodshed and destruction.

“They are choosing death for us. This is not politics. We are, therefore, asking our supporters

to stay calm and be law-abiding.”

The statement added that “petitions are being sent to the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), INEC, DSS, Nigeria Police and newspapers involved to protest this malicious death wish. Even as a candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has a duty to lead the country with responsibility up until May 29, when a new President will be inaugurated.”

Okorocha’s kinsmen reject his second term bid he disregard the warning. According to the group “no man is greater than his own people, Okorocha’s second term will be a disaster”.

The President General of the group and former Special Adviser on Project Monitoring to Okorocha , Prince Macdonald Akano, who disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the Chairman, Imo State and South East

Councils of Traditional Rulers in Owerri, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, argued that “Okorocha has overstayed his welcome and that there is a dire need for positive change in Imo State”.

In his remarks, Eze Ilomuanya advised the group to remain focused as the task ahead was enormous. “I have confidence in you and you can always count on my support”.

News 8

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

2015 polls: RMG to insure 13, 000 election observers Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo

Ex-Labour leader warns Kaduna Gov VICTOR JIBRIN, Kaduna

ÏÏÏRights

Monitoring Group (RMG), a coalition of 45 civil society organisations, has concluded arrangements with two leading insurance companies to provide adequate insurance policy cover for all observers of the group during the forthcoming general elections.

The organisation plans to deploy 13,000 observers to monitor the poll.

The National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Olufemi Aduwo, said members would give a good account of themselves all through the period of the election.

RMG, along with 87 local and foreign other organisations and foreign missions, are accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to observe the general elections.

It will be recalled that the group started election monitoring in 2003, and it has also monitored elections beyond the shores of Nigeria.

Aduwo was a member of INEC delegation that observed the United States, Ghanaian and the United Kingdom general elections in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively.

He also served as a member of INEC Election Monitoring Board for Anambra State Governorship election in 2009.

He was appointed by the INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, in 2011 to observe the collation of presidential election results.

Briefs

Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole addresses the All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters at a mega rally of the party in Edo Central at Eguare Primary School, Irrua, recently.

While speaking on the preparation for the forthcoming election, Aduwo said “our mission during the exercise is to assess all aspects of the electoral processes, the constitutional and legal framework.

Each observer would limit his observations during the election to his specific area of coverage in order to ensure that the reports the observers would be filing after the election would be detailed and faultless”.

He also appealed to other accredited observers to distinguish among complaints, rumours, ac-

cusations and facts.

“Only facts that they witnessed or verified on the field should be used as the basis of their reports.

Our main objective as stakeholder in the electoral management should be how to entrench democracy through free and fair election and enhancement of public confidence in the electoral process, to detect fraud, to strengthen respect for human rights, and to contribute to the electoral resolution of conflict”, he said.

The activist, who is a returnee of World Bank/IMF Boards of

Governors meetings expressed gratitude to the Centre on Convention for Democratic Integrity (CCDI) and World Bank Good Governance Programme for financial support and for extending a hand of fellowship to the group in the areas of re-training and rendering assistance to observe the election.

He appealed to the politicians to have confidence in the Prof.

Jega-led INEC, saying “the Commission needs the cooperation of political parties and not condemnation by politicians”.

ÏÏÏA former labour leader, Comrade Daniel Bissala, has charged the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to reorganize itself and embark on grassroots/house to house campaigns for vote, particularly in the Southern part of Kaduna state if it really wants to win the elections coming up next month.

Similarly, he charged supporters of the various political parties, especially PDP and APC, not to be carried away by the euphoria of campaigns trailing their favourite candidates to draw conclusion that the ensuing democratic exercise would be decided in their favour.

Bissala, a former Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Kaduna state Chapter, made the charges in an exclusive interview while reacting to the prediction on who wins the February 28th Governorship election in the state.

ECOWAS Court boss tasks judges EMMA OBI

ÏÏÏThe President of

APC charges Jonathan to take charge of his campaign ÏÏÏThe APC Presidential Cam-

paign Organization has advised President Jonathan and the PDP leadership to take charge of their campaign for re-election before their surrogates plunge Nigeria into confusion and anarchy.

Reacting to a front page wraparound cover advertisement on the Monday, 19th January, 2015, edition of some newspapers in which Nigerians were asked to choose between life and death, grouping General Buhari among former Nigerian leaders who were either killed or died of natural causes while in office, the

APC campaign said, “this is the height of desperate tactics by the PDP, which is capable of degenerating into unnecessary bloodshed and destruction. They are choosing death for us. This is not politics. We are therefore, asking our supporters to stay calm and be law-abiding.”

The statement, signed by Mallam Garba Shehu, Director of Media and Publicity of the Campaign said, “even as a candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has a duty to lead the country with responsibility up until May 29, when a new President will be inaugurated.”

Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS, Mario Do Silva Montero has urged ECOWAS College of Judges to always ensure clarity and predictability in the discharge of their duties.

Montero stated this on Monday in Calabar at the opening of the Sixth Judicial Retreat of the Court.

The President said that the identity of justice was derived from, and established upon the name of the judicial activity carried out by the court.

According to her, ``such identity constitutes the image litigants form of the court in placing their hopes and expectations in that court. ``Under such conditions, the challenge facing a community court of justice is that of ensuring clarity and predictability in its mandate of stating the law.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

9 News

PDP to Buhari: Without certificate, you’re not qualified to run Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

ÏÏÏThe

People’s Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, PDPPCO, insisted Monday that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), will not be qualified to run for the nation’s presidency as long as he cannot produce his secondary school certificate.

The PDPPCO maintained that Buhari, just like any other Nigerian, must be compelled to abide by the law and he must prove his eligibility for the Presidential election by simply producing his secondary school certificate.

The Campaign Organisation stated these in a statement issued by its Director of Media and Publicity, Chief Femi FaniKayode in Abuja.

Chief Fani-Kayode declared that the fact that General Buhari got away with the issue of the certificate and contested the 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections did not make it right.

He pointed out that the minimum that Nigerians require from the APC presidential candidate is the presentation of his secondary school certificate which enabled him to gain admission into the Nigerian Military College in 1962 and on which basis he became a commissioned officer of the Nigerian Army.

The statement by FaniKayode reads: “It is disingenuous for Buhari to say

that he contested previous elections and that the issue of his qualifications did not arise.

“Had INEC not complied with the Electoral Act this year, which requires that they paste the academic credentials of all the Presidential candidates, Nigerians would have remained ignorant of the fact that Buhari has probably been submitting affidavits for the past elections.

“The fact that he got away with it in 2003, 2007 and 2011 does not make it right.

“The minimum that Nigerians require from Buhari is the presentation of his secondary school certificate which enabled him to gain admission into the Nigerian Military College in 1962 and on which basis he became a commissioned officer of the Nigerian Army.

“This forms the fulcrum

Senate President, David Mark (2nd right), speaking during PDP North Central stakeholders meeting in Abuja recently, with him are Governor of Plateau, Jonah Jang (left); his counterparts in Benue, Gabriel Suswam (2nd left) and Niger, Babangida Aliyu.

A’Ibom teachers embark on indefinite strike Eno-Obong Okon, Uyo

ÏÏÏThe

Nigeria Union of Teachers, (NUT) Akwa Ibom State Chapter, has embarked on an indefinite strike over non-payment of teachers’ salaries in the state.

The teachers, who began strike on January 19, said they would not go back to classes until the state government fufil the agreement it reached with them in concrete terms.

A circular Marked; NUT/ AKSW/SWEC.13/Vol./70, signed by the Union’s Secretary, Dr. Mike Ike-Ene and made available to the press on Monday indicated

for the subsequent courses that he attended as he rose in the Army, including the U.S. War College.

“Failure to produce that school certificate implies that Buhari's entire career in the Army was based on falsehood which cannot stand.“This brings to question the admission system/policy into the Army in the early 1960s. Were the rules bent for certain individuals in fulfillment of the quota system?

that the union proceeded on the strike following the breach of agreement earlier reached between the Akwa Ibom Government and the union.

“The teachers of Akwa Ibom State have resolved that failure to address all the issues already negotiated and, agreement reached in concrete terms will make teachers not to report for work,” statement added.

The circular, however, decried the non-payment of promotion arrears since 2009 to date to her members in the primary schools by the state government.

“All appeals by the union to make State Universal

Basic Education to clear the backlog of the arrears promotion owed primary school teachers in the state has proved abortive.

“Teachers in the primary schools system have not been paid their leave grant since 2012,” the union alleged.

The union in the circular also alleged that pensions and gratuities due to primary school teachers in the state and their 2014 December salaries had not been paid. The union then advised its members not to return to classrooms until all cases of Bio-metric data capturing issues were resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.

Akpabio

ÏÏÏAs more casualties are

recorded on daily basis following terrorist activities which have continued to overwhelm them, medical doctors in Gombe State have stated that they are doing their best to contain the situation.

The doctors spoke Monday in reaction to some media reports that victims of last Friday night bomb blast were not attended to as a result of an alleged strike action.

The bomb blast which claimed the lives of six and wounded over ten others were taken to government hospitals in Gombe metropolis.

Dr. Adamu Danladi Bojude, Chairman of Gombe State chapter of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), while briefing news-

Delta: Isoko reconciles with Okowa Henry Omunu, Abuja

ÏÏÏ The Isoko nation has

at last endorsed Senator Ifeanyi Okowa in his bid to govern Delta state in spite of the furore generated by his failure to pick his running mate from Isoko in next month’s gubernatorial election.

Senator Okowa’s endorsement was secured at a stakeholders’ forum held in Ozoro and Owhelogbo last weekend by People’s Democratic Party chieftains where it was resolved for the Isoko people to sheath their sword and embrace the governorship ambition of Okowa.

Secretary to the Delta state government, Comrade Ovuzuorie Macaulay, speaking at the forum, appealed to the Isoko people to forget the past and massively vote for PDP as there was no alternative party in the state.

“We’ve more than 260, 000 registered voters that we will deliver on that day of the election, please be rest assured that we will not back out.

“PDP remains our party as we are not known for jumping ship in the middle of the ocean, rather we shall stand by our bond which has made our people a unique race in all ramifications” he stated.

Gombe doctors deny strike allegation men denied the report and said they are not on strike but rather overwhelmed by the number of patients.

Dr. Adamu, who spoke in one of the hospital wards of the Gombe State Specialist Hospital said the report that doctors were on strike was wrong and very unfair to the doctors. According to him, the report that other health workers such as nurses and some aid workers were the ones attending to the bomb blast victims was entirely wrong and intended to mislead the public.

News 10

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

Strike: Ogun PTA sues for peace Abiodun Taiwo, Abeokuta

ÏÏÏAs

L-R: National Secretary, Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar; National Chairman, Chief Olu Falae; wife of SDP governorship candidate,Tamunominin Makinde; Oyo State SDP governorship candidate, Mr Seyi Makinde and the state Chairman, Mr Sunday Adelaja, at the SDP governorship campaign rally in Ibadan on Monday.

Niger dep gov, 200 others defect to APC

SAKA BOLAJI MINNA

ÏÏÏNiger

State Deputy Governor, Hon. Ahmed Musa Ibeto, on Monday, in conjunction with 200 other members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He made the declaration at his Tunga residence, on the outskirt of Minna, the state capital amidst a swarming crowd of broomwielding APC members.

At a press conference, in Minna, Ibeto said: “We decided to defect from the

PDP to APC for obvious reasons. You know what has happened in the state, there was a gubernatorial primary conducted by my former party, the PDP, which was not actually in accordance with the rules and regulations stipulated by the party. We decided to make our positions very clear to the top officials of the party at the national secretariat of the PDP, in Abuja, with evidence, hoping that they would actually take action, but they never did. So, we believed that if there is no justice, if there is no fair play and equity

in that party, then it is no longer a party that we can belong to.”

Justifying his defection, alongside other former PDP chieftains in Niger State, among whom were some members of the state House of Assembly and their National Assembly counterparts, Ibeto explained that the Nigerian constitution guaranteed freedom of choice, saying, in Nigeria, “you can either belong to party A, B, C or even to remain partisan, which you know is not anybody’s business. The state governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, is

aware that I am defecting.”

Ibeto said, besides, that: “We are going to APC to welcome our leader, General Muhammadu Buhari, who is coming to Niger State this morning (Monday).”He said that apart from himself, there were about 200 other former PDP members in the state, adding that they decided to take only those who are currently holding elective positions and those who had held positions in the past, right from the local government and state government levels and at the National Assembly tier.

ÏÏÏThe

Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP), has defended the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, over his certificate saga, saying that Buhari was eminently qualified for the presidential race having deposed in an affidavit to the loss of his certificates.

The group reacted to recent statements credited to Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), a prominent lawyer and human rights activist aired on African Independent Television programme, Kakaaki, to the effect that Buhari was not qualified to contest the February 14 presidential election, having failed to attach or bind his certificates to his nomination forms to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Oghenejabor Ikimi, the group disagreed with Ozekhome saying that his comment was a non-issue as Buhari was eminently qualified to run for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), having deposed, in an affidavit, to the loss of his certificates.

Olejeme drums support for Jonathan ÏÏÏChairman

of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, on Monday, described President Goodluck Jonathan as an epitome of development, saying the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate would continue to be accountable, accessible and approachable.

Olejeme, who is also Deputy-Chairman of the Finance Committee, Presidential Campaign Organization advised the electorate to lay emphasis on the

ÏÏÏMinister

Ozekhome

achievements of the current administration.

Speaking in Abuja, Olejeme said that Jonathan, through his citizen-oriented programmes and policies had not only rekindled the people’s confidence in civil rule, but their hopes and aspiration for a better and prosperous future.

“It’s time for Nigerians to come together around one choice, one candidate, who we know will work for us,” said Olejeme. “And that candidate is Dr. Goodluck Jonathan” she added.

Borno blackout: Minister issues 48-hr ultimatum Augustine Aminu

Rights group defends Buhari, faults Ozekhome on certificate Joe Ogbodu, Warri

the strike embarked upon by public primary and secondary schools teachers in Ogun State enters its first week, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) has called on the state government to urgently look into the grievances of the striking teachers. The strike, which started last Friday, has resulted in some pupils in the major cities being idle, while others have taken

to hawking goods on the major highways. The state chapter of the PTA faulted the strike, declaring that the present economic situation in the country did not warrant such step.

The teachers, under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Academic Staff Union of Secondary School Teachers (ASUSST), commenced a state-wide strike over the failure of the government to meet their requests.

Leaders of the two unions had vowed to commence on an indefinite strike, after what they described as the failure of the governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, to meet with them, in person, instead of sending government officials.

of State for Power, Hon. Mohammed Wakil, has disbanded the Technical Committee on Reconnection of Borno state to the national grid and issued a forty-eight hour ultimatum to that effect.

Wakil has also directed the Transmission Company of Nigeria to speed up work on the 330/132/33 kv substation in Damaturu, which, when completed, will improve the quality of supply to Borno and Yobe, declaring that “ Borno should have three sources of power supply

from the national grid” A press statement from the ministry said: “Following marathon meeting on the black-out crisis, the Minister subsequently took direct charge of the reconnection efforts, insisting that Maiduguri must be reconnected irrespective of security and sabotage challenges facing the state.”

The minister took the decision after a high- level review of the situation with security and intelligence personnel, especially when reports indicated that sabotage and insurgency were twin evils responsible for the persistent blackout.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

11 News

2015: PDM flags-off campaign in Adamawa Tom Garba, Yola

ÏÏÏThe

L-R: Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), deputy governorship candidate, Alhaja Safurat Abdul Kareem; governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, and Chairman, DSTV/Multi Choice Nigeria, Mr. Adewunmi Ogunsanya, during PDP Town Hall meeting with non-politicians and eminent personalities in Ikorodu and its environs in Lagos, on Monday.

FG decries states’ refusal to sponsor Christian pilgrims Monday Agu, Jnr

ÏÏÏThe

Federal Government has decried the refusal of six northern states to sponsor Christian pilgrims.

The states involved are Sokoto, Zamfara, Jigawa, Kebbi, Yobe and Kano.

Speaking after he received the 2014 Hajj report in his office on Monday, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim said “Christian pilgrimage is not tourism but a religious exercise” that would benefit individuals and the states.

The report, performed by pilgrims from 23 states , including Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to Israel, Rome and Greece, which was submitted by the chairman, Pilgrims Commission, Primate of Anglican Communion, Most Rev’d Nicholas Okoh, stated that no single death was recorded neither did anybody abscond, while those on self-sponsorship increased by 50 per cent.

According to him, “We made progress in the 2014

pilgrimage, we had 50 per cent increase in self sponsorship. With this development we are no longer afraid of government pulling out of sponsoring pilgrimages”, he said.

Okoh, who said he was giving a bird eye’s view of the activities of the commission in 2014, said a pilgrim centre was also commissioned to make the coordination of the pilgrimage a success, adding “We covered 27 states in the course of our duty. We met governors and stakeholders that increased the number of pilgrims.

“Unlike the previous year, none died in 2014, some suffered minor illnesses, were treated and recovered fully.”We were also able to reconnect with the European Union (EU) for the issuance of Schengen visa, because of this, we were able to move people to Greece and Rome, this was facilitated by the Italian Embassy”, Okoh added.

He listed major challenges of the exercise to include insecurity and the non-implementation of the BASA

agreement; hence, there was no direct flight to the pilgrims’ destination.

He also regretted that despite the early notification to states on the commission’s calendar, some states were not able to pay up while those that paid, did so late, resulting in their pilgrims not being airlifted, but assured that they would be among the first batch that would be airlifted this year.

Speaking on states that were not sponsoring pilgrims, Okoh said the com-

mission was not indicting them but only making an appeal. “Some states in the north are yet to sponsor pilgrims, six states in the north did not participate in the 2014 pilgrimage”, he said.

The cleric also made case for the Nigerian House in Israel to come on stream.

He said though it had been in the pipeline for the past six years, it was yet to materialise, urging that it would make things easy, especially, for those on presidential sponsorship.

Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), has flagged off its campaign for the February polls at the Mahmud Ribadu Square in Adamawa state, with thousands of supporters across the 21 LGAs taking over the venue to show their solidarity with the “party of the common people”.

Chairman of the party, Dr Bashir Yusuf, while addressing the mammoth crowd with a resounding slogan which symbolises light, an enemy of darkness berated PDP members by calling them artificial looters, initiators of all the Nigerian problems and destroyers of our democracy.

“I am giving a torch to Adamawa people who can trace the evil agenda of PDP, I am giving you a torch that you

can use to navigate the bad roads the previous government created for us in this country, with no electricity and this torch will be used to expose every hidden agenda of PDP. “Above all, I have come to flag off our party campaign that is going to form the next government in Adamawa and to also give a flag of victory to our gubernatorial candidate, Dr Modibbo Ahmed and his running mate Engr.

Anthony Madwatte, and to other aspirants who are vying for different elective positions.”, Bashir said.

State chairman of the party, Alhaji Sa’adu Maiyaki reminded the candidates of the task of going to the grassroots to canvass for their votes and educate the electorate on the new wind of change blowing across the country through PDM.

Ekiti INEC gets non-sensitive voting materials ÏÏÏThe Independent Na-

tional Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ekiti State says it has taken delivery of non-sensitive materials, including Smart Card Readers and ballot boxes for the February general elections.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State, Mr Sam Olumekun, said that the Commission “has taken adequate and necessary steps to ensure free, fair and credible elections” Olumekun, who spoke during his maiden press briefing in Ado Ekiti on

Monday, assured the people that “the era of election malpractices by stakeholders is gone for good, “we must all ensure that those elected to drive our polity and allocate values and resources are truly the choice of the people”.

The REC, who disclosed that INEC had received 1,555 Smart Card Readers and 4,009 ballot boxes, said the commission’s decision to use card readers for the elections was “to add value and credibility to the process and remove all tendencies for manipulations”.

Lagos doctors extend strike ultimatum Lara Adejoro

ÏÏÏThe

Fashola

Association of Lagos State Government Employed Medical Doctors under the aegis of Medical Guild has extended, by four weeks, the ultimatum given to the state government to address issues relating to the maltreatment of the association and profession.

The association, on December 29, 2014, gave a 21day ultimatum to the state government to resolve the issues or face an industrial action. The ultimatum lapsed on Sunday, January 18, 2015.

Highlighting some of the issues at a press briefing on Monday, Chairman of the Guild, Dr Biyi Kufo said, “doctors were being em-

ployed as casual workers by the administration, with no apparent career path.

“The residency training programme in Lagos State University Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, had been truncated, with the hospital in dire need of resident doctors. Doctors face continuous harassment from incessant disciplinary boards.

Africa 12 ÏÏÏKenyan

police on Monday teargassed schoolchildren demonstrating against the removal of their school’s playground, which has been allegedly grabbed by a powerful politician, said a Kenyan human rights activist.

The students from Langata Road Primary School were in the front line of people pulling down a wall erected around the playground which was acquired by a private developer said to be a powerful politician, said Boniface Mwangi.

Primary school children in Kenya are usually between 6 and 13 years of age.“The governor, the senator and other government officials are all scared of the politician, they cannot do anything to stop the playground from being taken,” Mwangi said.

Television footage showed children, some being carried away, writhing in pain, screaming and choking because of the tear-gas.

Police officers later brought dogs to the playground.

Police spokesperson Masoud Mwinyi was not available for comment. Elijah Mwangi, who was in charge of the police officers at the school, said he was following orders.

Opposition politician Eliud Owalo said last week that the playground had been grabbed to construct a parking lot for the politician’s hotel adjacent to the

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

Kenyan cops teargas protesting school kids

School children from the Lang’ata Road Primary School scramble up a bridge in Nairobi to escape tear gas after police attempted to break up their demonstration against the removal of their school’s playground. (AFP)

school.“This is brutality beyond words and greed beyond description. It is difficult to believe that police can actually deploy against primary school children and lob teargas at them to defend a land grabber. This image of a nation

Police shoot anti-Kabila protesters in DR Congo ÏÏÏPolice

wounded two students on Monday when they opened fire to disperse thousands of youths protesting against President Joseph Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo, witnesses and an AFP correspondent saw.

One student at a demonstration near the University of Kinshasa in the south of the capital was injured after a police officer warned his men would shoot if protestors failed to leave. Several witnesses said a second youth was also injured by gunfire.

Earlier, they teargassed several thousand students gathered on the day opposition parties had called a demonstration against legislation that would extend the president’s mandate.

In a similar scene at Victory Square in the heart of the city, police fired teargas at hundreds of youths throwing stones, AFP journalists and witnesses said.

From 08:00, police and elite troops of the Republican Guard sealed off the parliament building, where the lower house on

Saturday passed an electoral bill that would delay presidential and parliamentary polls beyond late 2016, when Kabila is meant to step down.The legislation was due on Monday to go for debate before the Senate, the upper house of parliament, while police and soldiers were stationed at every major road junction in the Gombe district, where ministries and administrative buildings are located.

Police also surrounded the headquarters of the third biggest opposition party, the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC), after members of all the leading opposition parties urged Kinshasa residents “massively to occupy” parliament on Monday to hamper the Senate debate.

Kabila has ruled over the vast and troubled central African country since he was catapulted into office as a young soldier by Kinshasa politicians in 2001, days after his father, LaurentDesire Kabila, who was president at the time, was assassinated.

determined to steal forcefully from its own children cannot be what we aspire to. It cannot be the legacy we want to bequeath the children,” said opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Allegations of land seizures by

In 2006, three years after multiple peace deals ended the Second DRC War, which embroiled troops from at least six foreign countries, Kabila won the first free, democratic presidential poll since independence from Belgium in 1960.

Kenyan officials has become a controversial issue in the country.

Twitter was abuzz on Monday with reactions from the developments in Kenya.

Mali, UN declare country Ebola-free ÏÏÏThe Malian government and

Kabila

the United Nations on Sunday declared the country free of Ebola after 42 days without any new cases of the deadly virus.

Health Minister Ousmane Kone said no confirmed cases had been registered since 6 December when the last Ebola patient had tested negative.

“I declare this day... the end of the epidemic of the Ebola virus in Mali,” he said in a statement broadcast on state television ORTM. The west African country “had come out” of the epidemic, Ibrahima Soce Fall, the head of the Malian office of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), confirmed.

In accordance with World Health Organisation recommendations, the spread of the Ebola virus could be declared over after 42 days without any new cases being recorded, he said in a separate statement.

Zambians go to polls ÏÏÏZambia

will hold a presidential election on Tuesday to replace Michael Sata, who died in October after a long illness.

Eleven candidates are vying for the top post in the southern African nation. Zambia has been led since Sata’s death by acting president Guy Scott, a white Zambian of Scottish descent who is not a candidate.

The main presidential contenders are Edgar Lungu of the ruling Patriotic Front party and Hakainde Hichilema, leader of the opposition United Party for National Development.

Lungu, in charge of Zambia’s justice and defense ministries, is portraying himself as a candidate for continuity, saying he wants to complete economic development projects initiated by Sata.

Hichilema, an economist, says he has the necessary experience to revamp the economy of Zambia, a major copper producer.

Libyan army, militias agree on partial ceasefire

ÏÏÏThe

Libyan army has declared a partial ceasefire, two days after some of the militias based in western Libya announced a unilateral truce.

The ceasefire was due to begin at midnight on Sunday (22:00 GMT).

They added that their forces would adhere to the truce but would continue to pursue “terrorists”.

The decision comes after the first round of UN-sponsored talks in Geneva last week that seek to end months of escalating violence in Libya.

Libya has been plagued by instability and infighting since Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was ousted from power in 2011.

Forces from the internationallyrecognised government have been battling militias in different parts of the country.

The army’s ceasefire declaration comes after some factions from an alliance of militias controlling the capital, Tripoli, announced a truce on Friday.

The Libya Dawn militia alliance also said that it would open up “safe passage to channel humanitarian aid”, according to the AFP news agency.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

Cameron raises alarm as threats sweep across US, Europe ÏÏÏBritish

Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain faces a “severe” threat of terrorist attack, while a European law enforcement official describes the security environment as “difficult”. A U.S. lawmaker also warns of a growing threat of “homegrown violent extremism.”

Appearing on the CBS program “Face the Nation” on

Sunday, Cameron said Britain faces a “severe threat” and that an attack is “highly likely.”

“This threat keeps morphing because it’s the same fundamental problem, extremist Islamist terror. The threat has changed and altered, but still based on the fundamental problem of a poisonous death cult narrative, which is a perversion of one of the world’s major religions,” said Cam-

eron.

Cameron said the struggle against these extremists will take a long time and require international cooperation.

“If we take the issue of Islamic extremist terrorism coming out of Iraq and Syria, it is going to take a very long time to deal with this. While we’ll have to show a great deal of perseverance, we cannot do this on our own as Western

Oprah Winfrey locks arms with some of the cast of the new movie “Selma” as they march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., on Sunday, in Selma, Ala. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Three burnt to death in Hindu-Muslim clash

ÏÏÏAt least three Muslim villag-

ers were burned to death on Sunday when their thatched huts were set on fire during a clash between Hindu and Muslim groups in eastern India, a government official said.

Atul Prasad, a Bihar state administrator, said the violence erupted after the body of a young Hindu boy was found in Sarayian village more than a week after he went missing.

Prasad said Hindu fishermen blamed Muslims for killing the boy who was friendly with a Muslim girl from the village, 105km north of Patna, the capital of Bihar state.

countries. We need a functioning government in Iraq, a functioning government in Syria to be the legitimate authorities that with us help to stamp out this perversion of the Islamic religion,” said Cameron.

Rob Wainwright, the director of the European Union law enforcement agency Europol, said a determined police response is underway in the wake of the January 7 and 9 terrorist attacks in France that killed 17 people.

“We’ve seen action now in Belgium, in Greece, Berlin and other locations as well, and it shows the nature of the threat we’re facing right now. It’s spread across so many European countries, perpetrated by a community of perhaps thousands of people who have been radicalized on the Internet, by their conflict experience in Syria and Iraq, and many of them have returned to European society with perhaps some of them with the intent and capability to carry out the attack,” said Wainwright.

In an appearance on the ABC program “This Week,” Wainwright said it is not just the scale of the problem police are facing that presents challenges, as the nature of the threat has changed since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Ukraine offers ceasefire to Russia ÏÏÏUkraine

on Monday offered an immediate ceasefire to Russia, after Moscow claimed that Kiev rejected a fresh peace initiative by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We are ready to work with Russia to ensure ceasefire and implementation of the provisions of Minsk agreements in their entirety,” foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin wrote on Twitter.

Klimkin’s Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine wants Moscow to commit itself to implementing the peace accords signed in the capital of Belarus in September.

The Russian foreign ministry retorted that Kiev should first withdraw heavy weapons from the front line, as stipulated in the accords.

“Only this approach will lower

the risk of a fresh armed confrontation,” the ministry said.

The Kremlin said over the weekend that Ukraine had rejected a proposal by President Vladimir Putin to immediately withdraw heavy weapons.

Heavy fighting broke out last week in and around the airport of Donetsk after the city’s pro-Russian separatists tried to retake it from government troops.

Ukraine claimed over the weekend that it repelled the separatists, but the fighting continued Monday.

Exact casualty figures remained unclear, but separatist leaders in Donetsk said Monday that nine civilians were killed and 44 injured in shelling, and blamed the Ukrainian army.

Ukraine accuses the separatists of provoking civilian casualties by

positioning their “Grad” missile systems in residential areas.

The organisation for security and co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which brokered and monitors the September ceasefire, urged both sides to show restraint.

Putin

13 World EU hails Iran nuclear talks ÏÏÏNegotiators for Iran and six

global powers striving to reach a complex deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme had “serious and useful” discussions in Geneva on Sunday and will meet again next month, the EU said.

High level officials from the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia met with Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi for a day of talks as part of “ongoing diplomatic efforts to find a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear issue,” the European Union said in a message sent to journalists.

“They had serious and useful meetings convened by EU political director Helga Schmid and decided to meet again in early February,” the message said.

The negotiations are aimed at hammering out a comprehensive deal which would rein in Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for relief from a tight network of sanctions.

Following an interim accord agreed in Geneva in November 2013, two deadlines for a final deal have been missed, and now a third one is looming on 1 July.

Araghchi had met with senior US officials for three days prior to Sunday’s meeting and also met with Russian officials in preparation for the thorny talks.

Houthi, Yemeni forces clash in Sanaa ÏÏÏHouthi

rebels and government forces have clashed in Yemen’s capital near the palace of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Witnesses said Monday’s fighting in Sanaa involved heavy gunfire and explosions that sent civilians fleeing from the area.Officials said later that the two sides had agreed to a cease-fire, but gunfire continued in the city.

The violence comes days after Houthis kidnapped President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s chief of staff to disrupt a meeting about crafting a new constitution.

The Shiite rebels have been in control of Sana’a since September when they swept into the city and later signed a deal calling for a new government. But violence in the capital and in other areas of Yemen has continued, as the rebels and other groups including al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula battle for power.

Opinion 14

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

2015: The change we really need

W

Uzezi Edo

e are in the middle of electioneering campaign and facts appear to be no more sacred. Propaganda and outright lies are being peddled as facts and the unwary are buying into them with all religiousness.

Of the two main political parties, the All Progressives Party (APC) is clearly ahead in the propaganda war while its main rival, the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) tags along.

The APC propaganda machinery is so well honed and working at optimal level at the moment. It is clearly on the offensive while the PDP is on the defensive.

Preoccupied with sharing the spoils of power, the PDP perhaps paid little or no attention to the media offensive orchestrated against it in the months leading to the elections. PDP trusted in its achievements under President Jonathan in the past six years believing that flaunting them was all that it needed to convince the electorates to vote for the party.

Sadly, the APC does not believe the President achieved much.

The thrust of its campaign is to

discredit whatever the PDP lay claims to as the achievement of President Jonathan. And in fairness to APC, it is succeeding in pooh-poohing whatever achievement the ruling party can lay claim to. APC is bombarding the media space with the CHANGE message and it is really stifling for the PDP. The insecurity in the northern parts of the country occasioned by the raging insurgency becomes the benchmark for rubbishing the achievements of President Jonathan.

While they press on with the smear campaign against the PDP on the one hand, the APC is also promising a near state of ‘Paradise’ where there will be jobs for all the youths, social security system, elimination of insurgency within weeks, ending kidnapping and other acts of criminality and putting the economy back on track. What is more, their standard bearer, Muhammadu Buhari performed wonders while he was military head of state and is going to perform such wonders again. He fought corruption to standstill; built refineries as a minister; stopped insurgency, blah, blah, blah.

But remind APC apologists that Buhari truncated our democracy through a coup d’état;

enacted retroactive laws while in office; gagged the press and suppressed freedom of speech; etc, they are quick to tell you that their man has since metamorphosed to a democrat or they deliberately distort historical facts to disprove the assertion.

Of course, the APC is aware that a substantial number of the

Preoccupied with sharing the spoils of power, the PDP perhaps paid little or no attention to the media offensive orchestrated against it eligible voters were not yet born or still toddlers when Buhari was Head of State. Propaganda and brainwashing therefore recommend themselves as tools in capturing the votes of young Nigerians. Frustrated by the social-economic environment, our youths naturally yearn for a change.

Obviously, the promoters of

the Buhari enterprise are merely taking advantage of the frustrations especially among the youths to smooth talk themselves to power.

His sponsors also know that his anti-corruption reputation is built on sand and would quickly fizzle out when subjected to scrutiny. As military head of state,Buhari set up military tribunals to try politicians for corruption. Within weeks, trials were concluded and jail sentences ranging from 50 to 300 years were handed down by the tribunals. So inglorious were these tribunals that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) staged a boycott.

Interestingly, while Buhari hounded southern governors into prison, he shielded their northern counterparts from trial.

The Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) that Buhari headed under Abacha was also a citadel of corruption.

For now, the die is cast. Nigerians would have to choose between two options: Buhari and Jonathan. The Buhari option appears attractive at least for the sake of change. But discerning minds know it is nothing but an illusion.

A new Nigeria of our dream

W

Omeiza Lukman

ithout doubt, we are into the final lap of what must be the most hotly contested general election in our nation’s history. To many, the match is between the incumbent government, the People Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition coalition, All Progressive Congress (APC). To some the choice is between Gen.Muhammadu Buhari and Dr. Goodluck Ebere Jonathan.

But I want to say that this election is not about PDP or APC. Why? For usually in any contest, the winner is the one with the better skills, strategy, funds and even luck. But in an election, the winner or loser is decided not by the contending parties but by the voters. For in a democracy, we, the people literally, have the power to decide who wins or loses. This election is really about us, the

voters, being able to exercise our democratic right in a free and fair election.

Going beyond our right, it is also our duty as responsible citizens to vote. Choosing not to vote is like a family member w that chooses not to take out the trash in the house but then complained about the stench. We lose our right to complain about the state of affairs when we choose not to vote when we can.

It doesn’t matter if you are the Senator or a labourer, rich or poor, young or old, male or female, as long as you are a Nigerian above 18 years, with no criminal record and are of sound mind, you have one vote each. That is the beauty of democracy. In this way, in a functioning democracy, this system ensures that the rights of the masses are protected and the rich and powerful cannot exploit the system to their advantage.

A friend once said, “Giving money and power to government

is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” There is truth in that observation. Perhaps, we are where we are as a nation because we have given the keys of power to the same group for the past 16 years. We need to remind them who are the real boss in a democracy. We want to hold our government accountable, be it PDP or APC. In any general elections, we are voting for a government that would carry us into the next four years of their term. But on February 14,2015, we have a viable alternative government. The choice for us is clear, we either vote for more of the same or vote for change. If we are dissatisfied with the way our country has been managed and believe that things should be better, then this is our chance to vote for change. We are not voting for our own comfort but for all our children. But before we make our choice, it is imperative that we find out for ourselves the vision of the future. American journal-

ist, Tony Snow said, “Voting is a right best exercised by people who have taken time to learn about the issues. So the choice is for us to make, save the future generation or be part of a failed generation.

Even the incumbent president has admitted the fact that his own generation has failed.

The result of PDP’s political hegemony over the past 15 years is that the ills confronting us are Corruption, abuse of power, violations of human rights, racial discrimination and intimidation are part and parcel of life in Nigeria. Is PDP capable of reform?

The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.

If we don’t use our vote to bring about systemic change, I fear that our children one day, in desperation, will have to spill their blood on the streets to bring about that change.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

15 Opinion

Did Buhari defeat the Maitatsine?

H Danlami Aminu

istory can only be based on truth. Mohammed Buhari and his supporters have been claiming that he alone can deal decisively with Boko Haram, claiming he “destroyed” the Maitatsine terrorists in the 1980s. But the truth is that the problems of rebellion and insurgency in the North of Nigeria, has a very long history, going back to colonial times since 1903.

The problem did not begin or end in the 1980s. This is a problem that has lasted for more than 100 years in one form or the other.

Buhari is from the North and he surely knows better than what is currently being trumpeted as one of his landmark achievements.

This problem of riots, rebellions and insurgency in the North did not start with the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. In the 1980s, we had Maitatsine rebellion which was also against Western education, and culture.

Mohammed Marwa, leader of Maitatsine was from Marwa in the Cameroun. Boko Haram had

been recruiting, training and attacking Nigeria from Cameroun as far back as 2001.Marwa started his rebellion in the North of Nigeria under the British Colonial Government. He was finally killed during the riots in 1980. Many of the followers relocated to Maiduguri after their leader was killed in Kano.

Malam Musa Makaniki, who took over the leadership escaped into Cameroun and was eventually arrested in 2004. It has been reliably reported that Makaniki was discharged and acquitted by the Court of Appeal, Jos in 2012. He walked out a free man.

Today, we are unsure of what has become of him or where he is.

There have been other problems in the Northeast and other parts since the 1980s. Recall the Kala Kato rebellion that caused many deaths in Bauchi in the 1990s.

There was the group known as “Taliban” that started in 2002. The Yusiffiya group, also believed to be closely related to the Maitatsine was also attacking security operatives in the North East as recently as 2011. Mohammed Yusuf founded Boko Haram in Maiduguri in 2002, but he also

had a base in Yobe State. Some commentators believe that one of the senior leaders of Maitatsine was actually an uncle of Mohammed Yusuf, who helped train and taught him the history of Maitatsine.

The problem did not begin or end in the 1980s. This is a problem that has lasted for more than 100 years in one form or the other.

Buhari should stop “rewriting history”. The truth is that he never destroyed the Maitatsine.

Winning one battle does not mean you won the war. Buhari should know this and stop making false claims about defeating the Matatsine”. He knows well, that the British colonial authorities, former President, Shehu Shagari,

and others fought these groups long before Buhari . The presidential candidate of APC needs to admit that this long-running problem has been ongoing for more than 100 years and should stop playing politics with the lives of the victims of Boko Haram.

The federal government under President Goodluck Jonathan has only inherited the problem which started as far back as 1903, and which has grown in the modern era due to of the influence of international backers. Many nations with larger military might, like Iraq; Syria etc are using the help of international coalition to fight because they cannot contain them alone. In the end, the Boko Haram insurgency requires more than just a military battle to solve it. Buhari knows that.

The Jonathan administration is the first to ever attempt a more comprehensive solution, including the involvement of other governments in the region. In every war, there could be some setbacks, ask Sir Winston Churchill, the great British War hero. There are also multiple socio-economic and other issues underlying this Jihadist problem.

What exactly do Jihadists want?

H

Ozodi Osuji

uman beings are those creatures that ask questions. In that light let me ask: what exactly do Islamic jihadists want to accomplish with their current spate of violence all over the world. What is their end goal?

They transform wherever they are to chaos, a state of total anarchy (Afghanistan was returned to seventh century state of being; the areas of Iraq they control is reduced to chaos; Syria is in a state of anarchy; Yemen is what Thomas Hobbes called state of nature where each person looks after his interests and fights others . In Northeastern Nigeria life is now pointless for the Jihadists kill people at will.

All economic development comes to a halt wherever the jihadists take over. I would say that Arabs worst enemies would not do to them what Jihadists do to them. It is as if Muslim Arabs

enemies planned to retard the progress of the Muslim world, to get them to kill each other and create chaos in their world.

Is economic development taking place in the Muslim world where Jihadists took over? Point to one such place?

Most of us buy stuff to live with. Other than oil which is nature’s gift to the Arab world I do not recall buying anything that is made in the Muslim Arab world. Car, computer, Internet, CD player, radio, television, microwave oven, cell phone, clothes, shoes... as I look around my house I do not see anything in it that is made in the Arab world. Is this good?

Is this really what jihadists want? These jihadists have returned their people to seventh century mode of primitive existence. I bet you that the gun manufacturers are glad to sell it to them, to kill off their people and while making some monetary profit.

So, what exactly are these Muslim folks aiming at achiev-

ing? Convert the world to Islam?

What worlds are they trying to convert to Islam; a world that sees them as murderers and sociopaths?

Would you really want to join a religion that preaches hatred and violence? Would you like

Would you like to join Boko Haram, a bunch of murderers that look like people from medieval times. to join Boko Haram, a bunch of murderers that look like people from medieval times?

We are now in the age of science and technology and folks are not motivated to fill their heads with superstitions. In the age of science folks are supposed

to test all hypotheses that come their way and accept only those they can verify and discard unverifiable ones.

We all know what terrorism is. It is using terror to control people. The terrorist randomly kills some people and hope to convince the rest to see him as a potential killer who means business and does not hesitate in killing. He hopes to make the people afraid of him. He wants to make people fearful and out of fear do whatever he wants them to do.

Terrorists rule people through the auspices of fear, not through reason and persuasion.

It is now time we told these folks that they are insane and ought to go learn what living in reality is. Seeking to return to a past that is merely remembered but is not known as it was is foolishness.

Sanity consists of behaviours that love all people; any unloving behavior is symptomatic of insanity. Those who kill human beings are insane. They need to be healed instead of tolerated.

16

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Today in History

s

1945 FDR inaugurated to fourth term Compiled by ‘Tunji Okegbola 1945 FDR inaugurated to fourth term On January 20, 1945, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the only president to be elected to three terms in office, was inaugurated to his fourth term.

At the height of the Great Depression, Roosevelt, then governor of New York, was elected the 32nd president of the United States. In his inaugural address in 1933, President Roosevelt promised Americans that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself ” and outlined his “New Deal”--an expansion of the federal government as an instrument of employment opportunity and welfare. Although criticized by the business community, Roosevelt’s progressive legislation improved America’s economic climate, and in 1936 he swept to re-election.

During his second term, he became increasingly concerned with German and Japanese aggression and began a long campaign to awaken America from its isolationist slumber. In 1940, with World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, Roosevelt agreed to run for an unprecedented third term. Re-elected

by Americans who valued his strong leadership, he proved a highly effective commander in chief during World War II. Under his guidance, America became, in his own words, the

1981

1981 Iran Hostage Crisis ends Minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Teheran, Iran, were released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis.

On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian students, outraged that the U.S. government had allowed the ousted shah of Iran to travel to New York City for medical treatment, seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran. The

“great arsenal of democracy” and succeeded in shifting the balance of power in World War II firmly in the Allies’ favour. In 1944, with the war not yet won, Roosevelt was re-elected to a fourth term. Three months after his inauguration, he died. Roosevelt’s unparalleled 13 years as president led to the 1947 passing of the 22nd Amendment to

Iran Hostage Crisis ends Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s political and religious leader, took over the hostage situation, refusing all appeals to release the hostages, even after the U.N. Security Council demanded an end to the crisis in an unanimous vote. However, two weeks after the storming of the embassy, the Ayatollah began to release all non-U.S. captives, and all female and minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the government of the United States.

the U.S. Constitution, limiting future presidents to a maximum of two elected terms in office, or one elected term if the president already served more than two years of another president’s elected term.

1961 John F. Kennedy inaugurated On January 20, 1961, on the newly renovated east front of

1909 GM takes an interest in Oakland Motor Car Corp On January 20, 1909, newly formed automaker General Motors (GM) bought into the Oakland Motor Car Corporation, which later becomes GM’s longrunning Pontiac division.

Oakland Motor Car was founded in 1907 in Pontiac, Michigan,

by Edward Murphy, a manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages.

The following year, another former buggy company executive, William Durant, founded General Motors in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for the Buick Motor Company. GM soon bought other automakers, including Oldsmobile and Cadillac. In 1909, Oakland became part of GM. The first Pontiac model made its debut as part of

the United States Capitol, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States. It was a cold and clear day, and the nation’s capital was covered with a snowfall from the previous night.

The ceremony began with a religious invocation and prayers,

1909 the Oakland line in the 1920s.

The car, which featured a sixcylinder engine, proved so popular that the Oakland name was eventually dropped and Pontiac became its own GM division by the early 1930s.

Pontiac was initially known for making sedans; however, by the 1960s, it gained acclaim for its fast, sporty muscle cars, including the GTO and the Firebird. The GTO, which was developed by auto industry maverick John DeLorean, was named after a Ferarri coupe--the Gran Turismo Omologato--and is con-

and then African-American opera singer Marian Anderson sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and Robert Frost recited his poem “The Gift Outright.”

Kennedy was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Earl Warren. During his famous inauguration address, Kennedy, the youngest candidate ever elected to the presidency and the country’s first Catholic president, declared that “the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans” and appealed to Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1917, Kennedy was the son of Joseph Patrick Kennedy, a wealthy businessman. Both of his grandfathers were politicians, and his father served appointed positions in the Roosevelt administration, most prominently as U.S. ambassador to Britain. Kennedy volunteered to fight in World War II and was decorated for an August 1943 action in which he saved several of his men after the PT torpedo boat he was commanding was sunk in the South Pacific. In 1944, Kennedy’s older brother, Joseph, was killed in a bombing mission over Belgium.

Joseph had planned to make a career in politics, and Kennedy, discharged and working as a reporter, decided to enter politics in his place.

GM takes an interest in Oakland Motor Car Corp Inaugural gala sidered the first classic muscle car. According to The New York Times: “More than any other G.M. brand, Pontiac stood for performance, speed and sex appeal.”

Pontiac’s sales reached their peak in 1984, with approximately 850,000 vehicles sold (about four times as many as 2008), according to the Times, which noted that experts believe GM hurt the Pontiac brand in the 1970s and 1980s by opting for a moneysaving strategy requiring Pontiacs to share platforms with cars from other divisions.

In 2008, GM, whi any other automak American auto gia

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Politics SHEHU SANI

Shehu Sani

INEC, security agencies playing double standard

s Malam Abdulmumini Shehu Sani is the Chairman and governorship candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) Katsina State.

In this interview with ALEX MOMOH, he accused the Independent National Commission (INEC) of double standard ahead of the forthcoming general elections in the country. He also expressed disappointment over the roles of the Katsina State Police Command and the State Security Service (SSS) in

giving priority to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state in spite of a memo sent to them by the National Taskforce (NTF) Headquarter, Abuja warning them on the illegality of wearing security uniform to conduct training, workshop and seminars during this period of electioneering campaign rallies.

Excerpts: How do you see the forthcoming general elections in this country, do you believe

the Independent National Commission (INEC) and the security agencies are prepared?

When one looks at the issuance of the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) by the INEC all over the country, I do not see the possibility of the commission conducting fair, free and credible elections next month. This is as a result of the unjustifiable manners in which other poCONTINUED ON PAGE 18

Storm over Oba of Lagos stool Akinjide Akintola A storm is raging over the Oba of Lagos stool presently occupied by Oba Rilwan Akiolu.

At the centre of the storm is the Akinsemoyin Royal family of Lagos which is accusing the Monarch’s family line of monopolising the stool for centuries.

According to findings by Daily Times Nigeria, since inception of Lagos, two royal families have been in existence, rotating the Obaship stool. They are the Akinsemoyin and the Ologunkutere families.

The two are said to be the descendants of King Ado, the son of Ashipa who founded Lagos and reigned around1570 . Ado, who reigned after him had three children- Gabaro, Akinsemoyin, both males and Erelu Kuti, female whose son, Ologunkutere started the Ologunkutere family branch since a woman cannot be king. But Gabaro had no surviving child, hence leaving only Akinsemoyin and Ologunkutere to rotate the Obaship of Lagos Stool between them.

Akinsemoyin was said to have reigned first between 1704 and 1749, whose reign spanned 45 years. After him came his sister’s son, Ologunkutere, whom Akinsemoyin insisted should reign after him in succession in

“At the centre of the storm is the Akinsemoyin Royal family of Lagos which is accusing the Monarch’s family line of monopolising the stool for centuries” order to maintain the rotation.

However, since the Ologunkutere assumed the stool in 1749, the family has not allowed the Akinsemoyin family near the throne as they have been relegated to the background.

The Akinsemoyin family has now moved to challenge the status quo alleging that the incumbent is planning to substitute his branch with the Akinsemoyin family in order to make it extinct.

The Ologunkutere or Erelu Kuti family has five branchesAkitoye, Adele-Ajosun, Eshinloku, Olusi and Akiolu, who were the children of Ologunkutere while the Akinsemoyin Ruling House comprises of six branches- Sadeko, Amore/ Olukokun, Abisako, Jolasun, Gbosebi, Ambose, Adeyalu and

17

Aderogba.

The first major move the Akinsemoyin family made in order to recover their lost stool was shortly before and after the installation of Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, when they protested their being schemed out from the stool for about 200 years.

Thus, following the widespread clamour and protest against the injustice, the state government in 1975 set up the Sholanke Tribunal of Inquiry into the Lagos Chieftaincy including the Oba of Lagos Chieftaincy. The tribunal, after its sittings where many people gave evidence submitted its report on 15 January, 1976. In its report, it concluded that there should be two ruling houses in Lagos- the Akinsemoyin and Erelu Kuti, adding that the next ruling house should be Akinsemoyin since the current one was from Erelu Kuti.

Perhaps to further shed more light on the branches, the state government sent the report of the inquiry to another tribunal headed by Justice J. O. Kassim which submitted its report on 19 September 1978 and also recommended six branches – Sadeko, Amore/Olukokun, Abisako, Jolasun, Gbosebi and Aina Egbe who were the children of Akinsemoyin. Erelu Kuti’s branches CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

Oba Akiolu

Politics 18

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

‘God fatherism, bane of Nigerian politics’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

litical parties are being carried along by the commission when it can no longer give authentic reports but only on rumors that every adult will have his or her PVC before the elections.

Everybody knows that Nigeria politics is based on God fatherism. In a country like Nigeria where corruption is the order of the day, free, fair and credible elections cannot be guaranteed as those in power are always favored in votes manipulation.

It had been announced in the state that no political party should use any government property or premises to promote political campaign in the state; but surprisingly, vehicles belonging to the state government are now being used for the campaign rallies of the PDP governorship candidate in the state while the candidate is also at the same time residing in government house and is the only one that has access to security as over 30 security personnel are attached to him. While his posters are all over the places the opposition are being treated more or less like cockroaches.

How do you see the registration for the PVC exercise in Katsina State?

For Katsina State which is expected to have over four million votes, INEC could only afford to produce 1/3 of the PVC in the state. How can one million PVC cards be enough to conduct fair, free and credible elections in the state. We are now watching out for new tactics they want to use against the elections.

This is a memo addressed to the Katsina State police commissioner copied to the Director, State Security Service (SSS) by the Secretary General of the National Taskforce Headquarter, Abuja, Hon. Kingsley Chikezie, with reference no: NTF/N/D.12/002 of 10th December, 2014 and NTF/U/ ADMIN.11/002 of 27th November, 2014”, respectively, titled, NOTICE OF DISSASSOCIATION on the illegality of using security uniform conducting any training, workshop or seminar and warned if any person found, is at his or her own risk and otherwise should be arrested and prosecuted.

The memo indicated that the “National Taskforce uniform for now is CRESTED T-shirt/ cap on black trousers or jeans until the Bill in the National Assembly is passed to law”, warning that anyone found selling or in possession of uniform belonging to other security agencies should be arrested.

Many of these people claiming to be security agents in Katsina State are massively extorting money from the youth and at the same time posting their personnel on duty across the state while their next target is to post them across neighboring borders of the state.

You keep on talking of security breakdown in Katsina State, what are the problems envisaged?

What’s your message to INEC, security agencies and Nigerians towards the forthcoming general election?

INEC, security agencies, Katsina State Police Command, the State Security Service (SSS) should sit tight to ensure a just and fair level playground so that Nigerians can record a fair, free and credible elections next month. The success and failure of the forthcoming elections rest in the hands of both INEC and the security agencies in the country.

Shema

Surprisingly, vehicles belonging to the state government are now being used for the campaign rallies...

Sani

Many of these people claiming to be security agents in Katsina State are massively extorting money from the youth...

Jega

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

were given as Akitoye, AdeleAjosun, Eshinloku, Olusi and Akiolu.

The report, as accepted by the state government also indicated that there should be two ruling houses for the Oba of Lagos stool- Akinsemoyin ruling house and Erelu Kuti ruling house and that since the current ruling house is Erelu Kuti, the next ruling house should be Akinsemoyin.

The recommendations were placed before the Council of Lagos Chiefs which unanimously accepted and endorsed the report. It was then sent by the Lagos State government to Oba Oyekan as the Chairman of the Lagos Island Chieftaincy Committee before it could be registered. But since then nothing has been heard.

After the demise of Oba Oyekan, the Akinsemoyin family presented candidates for the throne but before anybody knew anything, Oba Akiolu had been nominated suddenly and taken to Iga Iduganran , on 23 May, 2003 for traditional rites.

The Akinsemoyin family then went to court to stop the process demanding that it was its turn to present a candidate for the stool having been shut out for so long. But to preempt them, the state government quickly announced Rilwan Akiolu as the new Oba of Lagos.

Promptly, the Akinsemoyin challenged the nomination and the eventual coronation of Akiolu in court and the case raged

19 Politics

Family challenges Ologunkutere’s monopoly

The late Oba Oyekan in court for some time, raising tension in the city of aquatic splendor.

But the tension was doused when the Oniru of Iruland approached the court asking to be allowed to meditate and later

brokered a terms of settlement between the two royal families for peace to reign.

Part of the terms agreed upon included: that after the reign of Akiolu, the Akinsemoyin family should present the candidate

to fill the vacancy of Oba of Lagos. As a result of this agreement, the Akinsemoyin family withdrew the case from court for an amicable settlement.

However, since the terms were agreed upon, Oba Akiolu

“Part of the terms agreed upon included: that after the reign of Akiolu, the Akinsemoyin family should present the candidate to fill the vacancy of Oba of Lagos” has not signed the agreement for over a year now, raising tension that Akinsemoyin may be shut out again. The family has been in limbo since then.

The head of the family, Alhaji Prince S.M. Olowonifela Akinsemoyin told Daily Times Nigeria that the family was at a quandary over the injustice meted out to them pointing out that they might be forced to return to Court.

According to him, the Ologunkutere family has been using power and might to cheat them out of their inalienable right. He assured that they were ready to go to any extent to seek redress.

However, when contacted, Oba Akiolu said it was a storm in a tea cup. According to him, they were all one and the same family pointing out that the Akinsemoyin family had nowhere to go but to come to the palace where he said everything will be resolved amicably like brothers.

We are being cheated- Allah de We want you to set the record straight on the Obaship of Lagos. We understand that only one ruling house, Ologunkutere, has been dominating the position while the other, Akinsemoyin has been relegated to the back seat for many decades.

All efforts to effect a change has been thwarted. What is the position of things now?

But first, can you explain who you are and your position in the family?

My name is Alhaji Prince S.M. Olowonifela Akinsemoyin, alias Allah –de. Secretary and spokesman of the family.

From the onset we have only two branches- Akinsemoyin and Erelu Kuti for the Obaship of Lagos.

Since when did they start to rule?

Akinsemoyin started to rule

in 1704 till 1749, he spent 45 years on the throne before he died. Since then the Erelu Kuti branch has been on the throne and they have not allowed Akinsemoyin branch back on the throne using everything in their powers to frustrate all efforts by them to assume the throne.

They have not allowed us to be there. And it was supposed to be rotational. They used everything in their power, politics, money and threat to scare the children of Akinsemoyin out of town.

Their father, whom they called Alagba was a powerful babalawo to Oba Akinsemoyin who married Erelu Kuti, Akinsemoyin’s junior sister. He was a strong man, hence, Akinsemoyin’s children ran away so that they might not be killed. If they wanted to come, they would not allow them to come. Since then, when any Oba dies in the Olo-

gunkutere branch, they pass it on within themselves. That is why you get, Ologunkutere, Adele, Oyekan, all from the same lineage etc.

So what have you done about it?

When we came back together, we asked for our entitlement but they did not answer us.

Was there any dispute between them when Akinsemoyin was on the throne?

None, it was even Akinsemoyin who prayed for Erelu Kuti Children Ologunkutere, that they would be king.

Was Akinsemoyin not in the good books of the government in power?

All the children of Ologunkutere were in politics so they used political power to override us. Akinsemoyin had eight

children, five males and three females So, what do you want now?

What we are demanding is that Oba Akiolu should remain on the throne but after his demise, the thrown should be returned to us. It is our turn. We had gone to court and the court had resolved in our favour that we should go and settle. There was a settlement claim which has not been obeyed. Our lawyers sat down with them but nothing has been done so far on this. We drew terms of settlement and sent it Oba Akiolu and for over a year now Akiolu has done nothing over it as he has not replied.

Did you involve the state government?

We took oba Akiolu to court and joined the state and local governments. The court, two

Akinsemoyin times now said we should settle out of court because Oba Oniru wrote to the court that he is part of the family and that he would like to settle it out of court. So our lawyers (Fashanu, SAN) withdrew the terms of settlement from the court to pave the way for amicable settlement.

Politics 20

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Protesters out to reclaim King’s legacy On the eve of Martin Luther King’s Birthday, protesters mobilised by the shooting deaths of young blacks and outraged about racial inequality are evoking his work, denouncing what they say is an attempt to sanitise his message.

The website Ferguson Action, for instance, which has been a focal point for information on protests and activism in the aftermath of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., says Dr. King’s “radical, principled and uncompromising” vision should be a model for protest and disruption for our time.

The iconic images of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. come from an era when he was confronting legalised discrimination, and communication tools included mimeographed fliers and the holy grail of a network television report. Protesters today cite myriad ills embedded in the economy and culture and spread their messages instantly through websites, Twitter hashtags and text messages.

At a time of widespread social unrest over race and inequality, the King holiday on Monday is highlighting both the power of Dr. King’s vision, brought to the public again in the film “Selma,” and the enormous difficulties of forging a new movement along similar lines.

Nonetheless, today’s protesters are embracing Dr. King’s spirit and the tactics of his era with a sense of commitment that has not existed, perhaps, for decades.

“We’re in the business of disrupting white supremacy,” said Wazi Davis, 23, a student at San Francisco State University, who has helped organise protests in

“But the protesters say civil disobedience and disruption were also at the heart of Dr. King’s vision”

the Bay Area. “We look toward historical tactics. The Montgomery bus boycott, the sit-ins — those tactics were all about disruption.”

What is far less clear is whether today’s protesters have the ability, or even the intention, to build an organized movement capable of creating social change.

David J. Garrow, a historian and the author of “Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,” said the impromptu protests that had erupted in recent months were not comparable to the strategies used by civil rights groups of the 1960s, which had clear goals such as winning the right to vote or the right to eat at a segregated lunch counter.

“You could call it rebellious, or you could call it irrational,” Mr. Garrow said of the new waves of protests. “There has not been a rational analysis in how does A and B advance your policy change X and Y?”

Marthin Luther King Jr and wife, Coretha Scott King Mr. Garrow compared the protesters to those of Occupy Wall Street. “Occupy had a staying power of, what, six months?” Mr. Garrow said. “Three years later, is there any remaining footprint from Occupy? Not that I’m aware of.”

After the deaths of Mr. Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in Staten Island and others, protests have included angry marches

and mass “die-ins” in streets and public buildings. They have grown to include actions like “Black Brunch,” in which protesters have confronted white diners in upscale restaurants.

On Thursday, several dozen people shut down a major highway carrying suburbanites into Boston by attaching themselves to 1,200-pound drums filled with concrete and standing in the

middle of Interstate 93.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston and other officials called the protests dangerous and counterproductive, and asked protesters to reconsider their methods.

And many, even those who are sympathetic, say today’s protesters run the risk of alienating people rather than persuading them through their tactics.

But the protesters say civil disobedience and disruption were also at the heart of Dr. King’s vision.

“We really feel that Dr. King’s legacy has been clouded by efforts to soften and sanitise that legacy,” said Mervyn Marcano, a spokesman for Ferguson Action.

It is not only the new wave of protesters that is linking last year’s police shootings to this year’s holiday. At many of the official commemorations — breakfasts and worship services around the country — speakers are expected to talk about Ferguson. And the issue has made its way into much of the conversation about the holiday.

For example, the Martin Luther King’s Birthday statement from Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, declared, “Continuing tensions and violence in our communities remind us that although significant progress has been made in erasing the stain of racism and the cycle of related violence, we still have much work to do.”

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, marching from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965.

Dr. King’s fight for equality is still influencing many social activists. Credit Associated Press.

Oba Akiolu: we will resolve the crisis CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

What about the crisis on the Oba of Lagos stool?

What is wrong with the Oba of Lagos stool?

We understand that the Akinsemoyin family has been shut out from the stool as only one family, the Ologunkutere family has been monopolising the stool over the years since the death of Oba Akinsemoyin in 1749 af-

ter spending 45 years on the throne?

We are one and the same family. At times some of them… this question, I have to be very careful because I’m a lawyer, the matter is in court now, but I assure you that by the grace of God Almighty Allah, they have nowhere to go than to go and withdraw the case and come here. It is only God and my very self who can integrate them into the family stool. As I’m here as Ologunkutere, I’m

also part and parcel of the Akinsemoyin something. But something led to something, the matter is in court and it will be dealt with. The three things they are arguing about, they can never succeed, I’m a lawyer because you can not build something on nothing.

They were saying that it is not up to 90 days. That tradition is not in this house, But there were two previous Obas who spent few days- Oba waja gbogbo wa n sunkun, Dosunmu o ku,

ara lomuro; Obas appointed the third day another the seventh day; that’s why usually, I don’t allow my children to stay here; ile aye ni. It belongs to the dead, the living and those coming in the future. That’s why I advise all of them: don’t allow the glamour of the Oba of Lagos to come to your head. And the man leading them knows he cannot succeed. The case is just clear but the matter is in court. Just let us leave that one.

Oba Akiolu

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Abuja File Come to our aid, Shezoko community cries out

Augustine Aminu and Ckika Okafor Ordinarily, one will think communities in and around the Federal Capital Territory, will enjoy same privileges that are found in the city centre but ironically, it is the direct opposite of all the basic amenities found in FCT. Shezoko, a community situated close to Niger State but among the communities in Gwagwalada Area Council of

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s the FCT is an example of such communities. The community for years now has suffered lack of basic amenities.

Basic amenities like good roads, electricity, potable water and other amenities that make life worth living have been lacking from the community even after many promises from the government. Shezoko like many other communities in the rural area of the territory, though have continued to survive without these amenities, the lack has

hampered its growth to development.

The challenges of communities like Shezoko include being far from Gwagwalada which is where the area council is situated. The safest and most accessible way to get to the community is moving through Zuba Express Way and all the way to Niger State through Iziom. Therefore accessible road remains their greatest challenge.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Bala Mohammed, FCT minister

Chicken suya at the Nigeria’s ‘Zimbabwe’ fun joint

Life inside Nigeria’s ‘Zimbabwe’ fun joint Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja The original name of the village is Uke. It is one of the communities that make up Nasarawa State. Uke is situated along the eve- busy AbujaKeffi road. One surprising thing about this village, however, is that it has come to be popularly known and referred to as Zimbabwe rather than Uke.

Despite the fact that the distance between Uke and Abuja is over 30 kilometers, many residents of the nation’s capital are not deterred by it. They do not see the distance as a barrier any more. They troop to Uke mainly on Saturdays and Sundays to go and catch their fun. White men and women also come to Uke to enjoy themselves.

A visit to Uke by a first-timer

on a typical Saturday or Sunday, no doubt, would make him to start hazarding so many guesses as to what could be taking place in this rusty community, especially judging by the number and quality of cars that are always parked all around the area.

As a matter of fact, parking has become a major problem within the vicinity of this local market/ spot where people come to catch

their fun.

What makes Uke tick?

The naturalness of this community is the very first reason why many fun seekers make it a place to be, especially during weekends, public holidays and festive periods. Some other things that make this community tick include; freshly tapped palm wine, fresh bush meat of all sorts and fresh fish, which are

usually roasted upon request.

The villagers also sell different kinds of beer and other liquors and spirits, but majority of fun seekers who visit this place do so, primarily, to take fresh palm wine, eat well- garnished fresh fish and even take some home.

The affordable prices of these items equally make them attracCONTINUED ON PAGE 24

Abuja File 22

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Shezoko Community

Come to our aid, Shezoko Community Cries out CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

One of the elders of the village, Isa Guni, stated that the lack of accessible road had made it difficult for the council administration and other people who wanted to come to the place to visit. ‘’That makes it hard. It is when you visit a place that you know their problem and how to help them. You have seen the community. The problem of road remains our greatest challenge.

I am sure that is the reason our council administration finds it hard to come here to see us and

know our problems. As we are now, we are closer to Niger State than the FCT. The remoteness of our village is the reason for the neglect,’’ he said.

He said that the bad road will in a way hinder the growth of development as many people who would have settled in the community have always gotten scared because of the road. ‘’I know of a teacher who was posted to teach at our primary school; she couldn’t stay. She just stayed for a week and stopped coming. This is the type of problem we face,’’ he said.

Guni added that apart from

the problem of inaccessible road, the people in the community suffer from lack of potable water for domestic uses. He disclosed that a single borehole serves the community and as their population keeps increasing, the single borehole is not enough to serve the people.

“Our only source of drinking water is the borehole. Since it is just one, we keep wondering what will happen to us when it packs up. Our women have to wait for several hours before they can get water. We need more boreholes because without water, we can’t survive. We are

pleading with the area council administration to help us in this regard,’’ he said.

Another resident, Shuaibu Abdulaziz, explained that the people complement the water they used from the borehole with what they can get from the stream adding that the water from the stream was not drinkable. ‘’ We mostly use the water to take our bath and wash our clothes. The one from the borehole is what we drink and cook with,’’ he added.

Even the water they get from the stream becomes scarce when

rain refuses to show itself in the community. In the dry season, the community has to go through the challenge of searching for water everywhere which is always a tough task. ‘’The streams are dry now. We don’t know what is happening.

We just hope it will rain soon.

That will help us and our crop too. It will also help the Fulani herdsmen in our community because they have to travel far distance in search of water for their cattle,’’ Bawa Shamaki, a farmer in the community said.

Another major problem of CONTINUED ON PAGE 23

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

‘We need amenities’

23 Abuja File Metro News

2015: FCT PDP flags off campaign Idu Jude Abuja

ÏÏÏ As political campaigns kick

off at different states of the country, the FCT administration, has assured of adequate security to protect lives and both individual and Federal Government infrastructure already built in the Capital City.

Emphasis on the way to curb pre and post-election violence, has been a source off major concern to citizens and friends of Nigeria, an effort to eschew violence and avoid a repeat of 2011 catastrophe that claimed millions of innocent souls.

Speaking exclusively with the Daily Times, while attending the FCT, PDP 2015 campaign flagoff Saturday at the Old Parade ground Abuja, the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, said that his administration was ready to protect lives and properties in the Capital city of Nigeria, hence the Federal Government presence. “I must tell you that the spate of insecurity in the FCT, has been fought to a stand still. People no longer live in fear. We are well equipped for the commencement of this election, every security apparatus, has as well been put in place” According to him, the Youths of the FCT through its party Youths

Thatched huts

Vanguard, has been adequately sensitised, as the youths and the women are the most vulnerable of all.

The occasion, was also used to hand official PDP flags to those seeking Senatorial and of House of Representatives slots.

Highlights of the occasion, were the welcoming of decampees from the opposition parties such as the APC, and the minister’s commissioning of about 100 buses and over 200 motor cycles, which the minister, said will be used for campaign mobility through all the nooks and crannies of the FCT. He said that the items will be handed over to the area council councellors, who are originally grass roots mobilisers.

Dignitaries who, made the party campaign flag- off occasion, used the opportunity to make passionate appeals for the support of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Other PDP candidates across the country as elections come under way in February.

Speaking, during the occasion, the representative of the PDP Chairman Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, the National Organising Secretary, Alhaji, Abubakar Mustaphar, said it was very clear that the FCT kicking off its campaign ahead of other states showed its leadership role among other states.

Spread fruits of democracy to grassroots – Iya Augustine Aminu

ÏÏÏ A Peoples Democratic Party

the community is lack of health facility. The community has no clinic. To get their health care service, the people have to travel all the way to Iziom in Niger State. The bad road constitutes a problem for the sick people in this journey. Pregnant women travel this far distance to get care and deliver their babies, a journey that is always a nightmare for them.

“People who have health challenges and our pregnant women suffer a lot because we have to take them through a far distance when they are sick or in labour.

Because of the long distance we

have to travel to access this care and the bad state of the road, it compounds the problem they have,’’ the residents said.

For years, the community has lived without electricity and it is not really particular in the issue of electricity supply. For them, getting a health care facility and providing potable water supersedes all others. ‘’It is when you are alive that you can start enjoying things like electricity. But when you are not alive, all these things are nothing to you. That is what we feel in this community. We do not ask for electricity, but if

it comes, we will be happy. We are starting from the one that is more important to our livelihood. What can we do without water? We need them urgently and pray the council administration come to our aid and fast,’’ Zaki Yahaya, one of the residents said.

Shezoko like many other communities in FCT are wishing that life becomes better for them and called on the council administration to work towards making their dream come true through the provision of various basic amenities.

(PDP) candidate of the Niger State House of Assembly, Suleja constituency, Alhaji Shu’aibu Liman Iyah, yesterday challenged politicians to spread the dividends of democracy and good governance, especially at the grassroots.

Liman Iyah in an exclusive interview with Daily Times praised Governor Babangida Aliyu for championing the party’s grassroots objectives of educational development and good governance, urging him not to rest on his oars but to continue to march forward in the task of evolving a new society.

He said: “Of all the gifts a nation or parent can give, education is the greatest. It empowers, it builds self-confidence and restores dignity. Above all,

it equips to face challenges. In spite of the existing challenges, we must all help the Nigerian children and youths to find, pursue and achieve their purpose in life through education.”

Though Gov. Aliyuhad upgraded almost all the dilapidated public primary schools, he said, he noted that much still needed to be done at the grassroots and other levels before the nation could enjoy the full benefits of democracy.

He, thereafter, urged the people of the state to support the present administration and PDP in the forthcoming February election to enable continuity in order to be able to complete all ongoing projects in the state.

“We have seen what our amiable governor has done in Niger state; I call on stakeholders in the state to come out to vote PDP again for a sustainable democracy.”

Abuja File 24

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

‘Here, life is fun’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

tive. A litre of palm wine goes for N150, while an average size cat fish attracts between N900 and N1,000.

Aside these, there are local musicians who entertain those around, singing and hailing them, hoping to be rewarded with money ranging from N50 to N200 or more. One of the local musicians, who identified himself simply as Mohammed, told the Daily Times that he makes an average of between N2,000 to N3,000 daily. Some men also come there with their families, while some other younger ones come with their girl friends and lovers. The local community women also sell other things like sweet potatoes, irish potatoes, oranges, cucumber, plantain, banana, melon, pepper, tomatoes and onions for those who wish to buy at affordably cheap prices.

One of the fun seekers, Jacob Danladi, told Daily Times that his primary reason for frequenting Zimbabwe is the fresh palm wine that the place has to offer, stressing that it (the palm wine) always remind him of the one he was used to in his village in Southern Kaduna. Danladi, who stays in Kubwa, one of the satellite towns in Abuja, stressed that he comes to Zimbabwe at least once in a week to catch his fun.

A young lady, Miss Adeola Oke, who came with her boyfriend for the very first time, told Daily Times that the quietness of the place, the serenity of its

surroundings coupled with the comparatively affordable items in the area is one of the reasons why she would be willing to visit the place whenever the opportunity presents itself.

The Zimbabwe market opens as early as 8am every day --Monday to Sunday --- and does not close until there are no longer people to patronise the traders. People, especially traders, also come to the market from far and near to buy fresh cat fish in large quantities, which they in turn use to make fresh fish pepper soup to be sold to their customers.

The traders spoken to in Uke confirmed that they always record their biggest sales at weekends and public holidays.

“Aside these, there are local musicians who entertain those around, singing and hailing them, hoping to be rewarded with money ranging from N50 to N200 or more” Ready for consumption

Elections: Lawyer advises Presidential candidates to stick to accord An Abuja-based Human Rights Lawyer, Mr Paul Eshiamomoh, on Sunday, cautioned all presidential candidates in the February election to avoid statements that could incite violence as agreed in the accord they signed on January 14.

Eshiamomoh who gave the advice in an interview in Abuja advised that the violence-free accord signed by the presidential

candidates should go beyond paper work.

The human rights lawyer called for issue-based and idea-driven campaign, “rather than throwing abusive words.’’

It would be recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan, along with other presidential candidates for the 2015 general elections had on January 14, signed a violence-free accord before, dur-

ing and after the elections.

In that document, all the presidential candidates pledged to shun words that could incite violence before, during and after the elections.

Jonathan signed the document alongside, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, APC presidential candidate and 10 other presidential candidates contesting Nigeria’s Number One seat.

The rights lawyer, therefore, said “I wish to see the parties abide by the violence- free pact; we should see them in their speeches and their body languages, making that commitment to Nigerians.

“We also want to see them taking steps to ensure that there is no element of violence in their conducts.’’

Eshiamomoh also advised the political parties to take the

violence-free election message to their supporters at the grassroots and urged INEC to guarantee a level playing field for all contestants by ensuring zero militarisation of the forthcoming elections.

He said: “Where there is transparency in the process and procedure of the elections, if a candidate loses, definitely he or she will accept defeat.’’

Money

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

s

Union flays telcos over fraudulent subscriptions

Growth for African airlines likely weeks away from boost Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo As African leaders under the African Union plan to converge in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by the end of January, one of the expectations of the continent especially airline investors is to see a deliberation that would support the full implementation of the Yamoussoukro Declaration, which was reached in 1988 to open the African skies up, for the stimulation of synergy among various African airlines operating in the continent.

For whatever political reasons the YD may have been suffering this perpetual setback in implementation, stakeholders believe that it is time the leaders of the continent put economic development on the front burner in order to close the gaping pace of sectorial economic development

between Africa and rest of the advanced world.

Even before other continents started implementing open skies with encouraging results, the idea had been developed in Africa and at a time when the number of investments in the aviation sector was still negligible.

Addressing newsmen in Addis Ababa recently, the Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopia Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, said the whole sector was waiting with their breaths held, to know what the outcome of deliberations by the continent’s chief economic pilots, later this month would have to offer African aviation.

According to him, African aviation sector is tottering because of absence of a common policy on air transport that would

Tewolde Gebremariam drive development, where investments were not lacking.

“Basically what we are looking for in the coming meeting of heads of states of Africa is full implementation of the Yamasokoro Declaration on one hand, which means that the African airspace will be treated as a single airspace. So, any African carrier will be able to fly from any point to any point without any restriction in the continent.

The second objective which we are pushing as African airlines, the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) and the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), which is headed by a Nigeria, is

to formulate an aviation policy, single market for Africa which will have the same community clause as the European Union has today,” he said.

According to Gebremariam, European Union member states treat the European airspace as a single market; they have full freedom of the air for their airlines within the European Union but when it comes to air services agreement negotiation between member states of the European Union and other countries outside the European Union, the European Union acts as a single market.

Continued on page 26

Out-of-date policy costs maritime sector N7trn revenue, says Agbakoba Funmi Coker

Olisa Agbakoba

The untapped revenue in the maritime sector has been estimated at N7trillon by a law firm, Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL).

Former National President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba,(SAN) stressed the need to overhaul the outdated

25

government’s policy, institutional, regulatory and legal framework while speaking to Daily Times in his office on revenue generation from maritime sector as alternative to oil.

He noted that the last major review of Nigerian Shipping Policy was 28 years ago when the NSP act no 10 of 1987 was enacted.

Agbakoba advised that gov-

The National Union of Posts and Telecommunication Employees (NUPTE) has condemned the constant unsolicited adverts on cell phones being posted by telecom providers in the country.

Mr. Sunday Alhassan, President, NUPTE, said this in Abuja, adding that the unsolicited adverts, drop-in-calls and others charges had become very worrisome.

He said that there had been a lot of complaints from different quarters on how unnecessary charges had been deducted for calls or unsubscribed ringtones. `` What we are condemning is the text you get saying that your subscription has been renewed automatically when you never subscribe to such a product. ``Then the text is telling you, if you intend to unsubscribe key into some numbers and as soon as you key into those numbers they will tell you that it is an error. ``We believe that this is a fraud on the part of the telecom providers. We have also discovered that a lot of calls drop or fail while making them and till date none of the providers has given us any explanation. As a union we seriously condemn these acts, ‘’he said.

Alhassan said that the union had complained to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the regulatory body of the telecommunication operators, on the matter.

He said that the commission had assured the union that something would be done about the issue. ``We are not taking on the operators specifically because some of these operators are yet to allow their workers to belong to the union,” he said.

ernment should create enabling environment in the industry to encourage investors.

He added that the Nigerian ports which supposed to be the hub of shipping for West and Central Africa had become uncompetitive.

According to him, the country’s ports had been abandoned for those in Benin Republic and

Continued on page 26

Unsolicited text messages

Money 26

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2014

NNPC to crash kerosene price Augustine Aminu In a bid to get kerosene to consumers across the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja at the regulated price of N50 per litre, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has initiated a scheme aimed at cutting off the several layers of middlemen who make it difficult for the end users to enjoy the subsidy on the product.

This was disclosed in Abuja over the weekend at a one-day workshop organised by the Corporation to enlighten members of some grassroots non-governmental organisations and volunteers drawn from all over the country who have been engaged to help monitor the distribution and sales of the product at NNPC Mega and affiliate stations across the country.

Speaking on the objective of the ‘Kero Correct’ initiative, the Executive Director, Commercial of the Pipeline and Products

Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Frank Amego, explained that the scheme was aimed at getting kerosene to the Nigerian masses who use the product as their domestic cooking fuel at the correct price He observed that though kerosene was the most subsidised product, the Nigerian masses have not been enjoying the subsidy because of the long arbitrage system involved in its distribution and retail, diversion of the product by marketers to the construction industry where it is used for blending bitumen, and the fact that NNPC has no direct control over most of the marketers involved in the distribution and sales of the product.

“The Kero Correct initiative is thus designed to distribute and sell kerosene directly to end users from NNPC Retail mega and affiliate stations across the country at the governmentregulated price of N50 per litre to ensure effective control,” Mr. Amego stated.

People queueing to buy kerosene at controlled price

Arik aircraft at MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos

African airlines optimistic about growth Continued from page 25 “For instance, today as it is, if one of the European Union member country airline wants to fly to any country in Africa; in the air services agreement there will be a clause mandating the European airline to fly to that country through any other European country. For instance British Airways can fly to Addis through Paris with the European Union community clause.

But unfortunately Ethiopian Airlines or Kenyan Airways or Aril Air will not be able to fly to a European countries through other African countries which doesn’t have an airline.

“For instance, if we want to

fly to Paris through Chad in the existing arrangement, we will not be able to do so. While AirFrance will be able to fly to Addis through one of the member countries in Europe.

So, this kind of block to block, the African Union as a block, and the European Union as a block, block to block negotiation should be there to make it competitive and create level playing ground for everybody.

“So, because of lack of these two policy instruments, the first one is the Yamoussoukro Declaration and the second one is what I explained now, what we see today is unfair competition in the continent. And the result

of it is that 80 per cent of intercontinental traffic between African and the rest of the world is carried by non-African carriers, only twenty percent is carried

by African carriers and this is lopsided and it has to be corrected,” he said Gebremariam, stressed that in order to correct this imbalance and unfair competition, it was necessary to enact those two instruments. “And I hope and I wish and I sincerely hope that Nigeria will lead the change because Nigeria is a big aviation market, she is the most populous country, the largest economy now in the continent, so Nigeria has a lot of ways to

Maritime: Agbakoba seeks overhaul of policy Continued from page 25 Togo.

Agbakoba stressed: “Until recently, there is no clearly recognized Economic Regulator for the shipping sector. The Federal High Court has held that the Nigeria Shippers Council is an economic regulator. It is only when the Nigerian Shippers Council, is empowered to regulate, that stakeholders in the sector can turn around their businesses and generate huge revenue for the Nation as their counterparts in other jurisdictions such as

Malaysia, Indonesia, and Hong Kong, USA etc.

“This is due to lack of regulation in the sector, which has led to a plethora of uncoordinated activities and exorbitant port charges which make Nigeria very unattractive for business.

Government hardly implements its own policy thereby creating leakages in the system.

“Invariably Nigeria due to paucity of its shipping regulations is violating international trade facilitation laws. For instance, Nigeria as a coastal state is to provide port importation sup-

Containers at Apapa port, Lagos port and access to landlocked countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso. Cameroun and Ghana are now providing those services in spite of long distances between the countries.”

The former national president also hinted that Nigeria had lost out on tonnage that would have accrued from its international carrier status.

However, he said no vessel

carries that flag today in the country. Agbakoba said that new laws are urgently required for that industry. There are a raft of Bills before the National Assembly such as the PIB, the Ports and Harbour Bill, the Bill establishing the Economic Regulator (shipping sector), and the Maritime Zones Bill etc. waiting to be passed. It is even incumbent to review Nigeria’s Ocean Policy to tap abundant national resources. These and other vital issues will form part of the Policy Dialogue.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

27 Capital

market

Seplat secures US$1 billion debt re-financing Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc (“Seplat”), has successfully refinanced its existing debt facilities with a new US$700 million seven year secured term facility and US$300 million three year secured revolving credit facility. The seven year facility also includes an option for the Company to upsize the facility by up to an additional US$700 million for qualifying acquisition opportunities. The Company also provides an update on its operations where it has delivered on full year 2014 guidance.

The US$700 million seven year secured term facility has been closed with a consortium of banks in Nigeria comprising First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc and Zenith Bank Plc, is repayable quarterly from end June 2015 and has a margin of LIBOR +8.75% per annum.

Cappa & D’Alberto gets delisted from NSE daily list Effective from January 16, 2015, the shares of Cappa and D’Alberto Plc has been delisted from the Daily Official List of The Exchange.

Delisting of Cappa and D’Alberto brings to closure a sixty-nine month impasse regarding its purported delisting pursuant to resolutions passed at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Company held on 24 March 2009.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange hereby gives notice that, Henceforth, shareholders wishing to exit the company on account of its unlisted status may contact the Company, which has undertaken not to unduly hinder such exits.

Aig-Imoukhuede, NSE president

L – R: Mr. Emmanuel Nnorom, President/CEO, Transcorp Nig Plc; Mr. Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, MD, Transcorp Hotels Plc; HRH Baba Mohammed, Director, Transcorp Hotels Plc at the listing of the company’s shares on the Daily Official List (DOL) and closing gong ceremony at NSE recently.

Transcorp lists on stock exchange, trades 57,000 units Kayode Adelowokan The listed shares on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last Thursday gained more muscle as the shares of Transcorp Hotel Plc became the first listing of 2015.

The Nigerian based hospitality group raised N4.2 billion in its initial public offering with 57,000 units of shares traded.

Recall that Transcorp Hotels Plc approached the Nigerian stock market last year through an initial public offering (IPO) of 800 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N10 per share.

Transcorp Hotels raised N4.2 billion in an initial public offering that was made to the investing public between September and October 2014. The share price is N10 per share.

The company aims to utilise proceeds of the IPO in Transcorp Hilton Ikoyi project with an estimated completion year of 2017 as well as Transcorp Hilton Port Harcourt project, also with an estimated completion year of 2017.

Meanwhile, the Managing Di-

rector/CEO, Transcorp Hotels Plc, Valentine Ozigbo, said: “The journey till this moment has been a long one and we thank God for the success so far. We intend to leverage on the success of the past to grow the company in a best possible manner in line with good corporate governance. The timing of the listing is critical to the market. Nigeria’s hospitality sector is experiencing significant growth. We will reward our shareholders.

“We will continue to run this company in a very profitable manner. We have a consistent dividend payment policy. Shareholders who participated in the offer will benefit from the 2014 dividend payout.”

This he said is a mark of generosity on the part of the company because it has made those promises at the time it was appealing for the listing. “We are living up to those commitments”, he added.

Also, Peter Adebola, Managing Director, BGL Securities, lauded the coming of Transcorp Hotel to the Nigerian Stock Ex-

change which decribed as a huge plus to the market.

The broker said: ‘‘When you look at the capitalization that it’s going to be aded to the market, it’s about N79 billion value and this is one of the exciting thing, because if you look at other companies that have been listed within the same sector, put their capitalization together, it’s not even up to half of what Transcorp is adding to the total market capitalization and that is one of the excitements that we have for listing Transcorp hotel Plc. “Not only that, investors would now have a wider choice to make in terms of their investment, because we are now having additional companies in hospitality business that investors can actually look at when they want to diversify their portfolio.”

Learning from the shortfall of others, Adebola tasked the management of the company to ensure that it complies with post listing requirements by giving adequate information regularly to the market.

“So that investing public

would be aware of the development in the company in order to make their investment decisions”, he said.

“There are so many developments that are going to take place in the company, just as you heard that the purpose of the IPO is actually to develop Transcorp PLC in Lagos, Calabar and Port Harcourt. So put this together, it’s going to add significant value to shareholders as well as the company itself. And with this we are going to see that many investors that are going to come into the company are going to benefit substantially from the company.

“If you Look at the valuation of the company just before the initial public offering opened, the valuation of the company is actually higher than the offer price because they look at the cash flow, they used discount valuation model to actually determine the fair value of the company and at this they see something that is much higher than the company’s offer price and that is why we came up at that N10,” he added.

Global business 28

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, january 20, 2015

Alpari, UK currency broker folds over Swiss franc crisis

Juncker

European Commission tag Amazon tax deal probable ‘state aid’ The European Commission has disclosed a preliminary finding that Amazon’s tax arrangements in Luxembourg probably constitute “state aid”.

The EC’s doubts about the arrangement were detailed in a document on Friday.

The EC said that its “preliminary view is that the tax ruling... by Luxembourg in favour of Amazon constitutes state aid.”

However, Amazon said it “has received no special tax treatment from Luxembourg”.

“We are subject to the

same tax laws as other companies operating here [in Luxembourg],” it said.

The Luxembourg finance ministry said: “Luxembourg is confident that the state aid allegations in this case are without merit and will be able to convince the Commission of the legitimacy of the anticipatory decision in question and that no competitive advantage was granted,” it said.

Doubts The European Commission began a probe of the tax arrangement last year, saying that it had suspicions it broke EU rules.

West Ham football club sponsor and currency broker Alpari has shut its UK arm following the Swiss National Bank’s decision to end its capping of the Swiss franc against the euro. The foreign exchange broker said in a statement that the move had created “exceptional volatility and extreme lack of liquidity”.

As a result, the majority of Alpari clients had “sustained losses”.

The euro rose 1.2% on Friday to buy 0.9869 Swiss francs.

Thursday’s euro-franc close was 0.9755, well above its lowest point of 0.85 following the sudden removal of the cap.

“Where a client cannot cover this loss, it is passed on to us,” it said. “This has forced Alpari (UK) Limited to confirm today that it has entered into insolvency.”

The Financial Conduct Authority said it was “working closely” with the company.

West Ham said Alpari’s collapse would not affect the club, which was in talks with potential new shirt sponsors for next year.

The SNB shocked markets on Thursday by reversing a three-year-old policy.

BP oil spill less than feared, judge rules

West Ham stadium The bank had previously capped the value of the franc at 1.20 per euro.

FXCM shares suspended At one point on Thursday, following the decision to abandon the cap, the franc soared more than 30% against the euro.

Derek Halpenny, a currency strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, described the currency move as “unprecedented”.

The euro regained some ground on Friday, rising 2.5% to 1.01 francs.

Alpari, which signed a £3m, three-year deal with West Ham in 2013, is one of a number of companies to be affected by the volatility caused by the SNB’s action.

Shares in US forex trad-

ing group FXCM were suspended shortly before trading began in New York on Friday after the stock plunged by 90% in premarket dealing.

FXCM said on Thursday it might not be able to meet certain regulatory capital requirements due to “unprecedented volatility” after clients suffered losses of $225m.

The US market regulator, the National Futures Association, said it was in “constant contact” with FXCM. “We’ve been watching the volatility in light of the activities that occurred early yesterday morning, so we are monitoring all of our firms,” a NFA spokesperson said.

BP faces a fine of up to $13.7bn (£9bn) after a US judge ruled that the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill was smaller than initially feared.

His ruling put the spill at 3.2 million barrels - the US government had estimated it at 4.09 million barrels.

It shields the oil giant from what could have been a $17.6bn fine. A final figure is expected later this month.

The case relating to the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion was heard in New Orleans.

In his ruling the judge said BP’s response to the disaster had not been grossly negligent.

However, he stuck to his earlier decision that it had been grossly negligent leading up to the explosion, in which 11 men aboard the drilling rig were killed.

BP is appealing against that decision.

Oil spill

Goldman Sachs profits drop to $2.17bn for last three months

Blankfein, CEO, Goldman Sachs

The Wall Street giant saw earnings fall to $2.17bn (£1.5bn) in the last three months of 2014.

However, for the full year, net earnings were up 5.4 per cent to $8.48bn.

Total bonus, expenses, and salary expenditure for the year was $12.69bn. As a percentage of its net revenues, this total was a slight fall on 2013.

The amount the company paid in bonuses as a percentage of income was 36.8 per cent, about the same as in 2013.

Of all the banks operating in the UK, Goldman Sachs paid the highest bonuses in 2013, according to a poll by Reuters.

Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase have all reported weaker trading revenues recently.

In the division covering fixed income securities, currencies and commodities (FICC), where Goldman is typically a strong performer, revenue was down 29 per cent to $1.22bn in the fourth quarter, largely because of low turn-

over of key products in debt and mortgages.

By comparison, of the banks that have reported so far, only Bank of America did worse than Goldman in its FICC division, with a fall in revenue of 30 per cent.

JPMorgan Chase’s revenue was down 14 per cent and Citigroup down 16 per cent.

The FICC division once supplied 40 per cent of Goldman’s revenue, but has been falling since 2009 after new rules discouraged banks from trading

on their own account.

It provided 16 per cent of revenue in this latest quarter.

Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chairman and chief executive, said: “We are pleased with our performance during a year characterised by mixed global economic and financial conditions.

“Looking ahead, we see evidence of a continued pick up in momentum for the global economy that will improve the opportunity set for 2015.”

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Law FAGBOHUNGBE

It’s unfair to decide all electoral matters within 180 days

29

s Chief Felix Fagbohungbe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, read Law at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State and was called to the Bar over three decades ago. In this interview with PETER FOWOYO, he spoke on the industrial action embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), the removal of immunity clause from the Constitution, the delay in the administration of justice and other issues.

Members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria are still on strike, a few weeks to the February general elections.

What does this portend for our democracy?

The strike is inviolable because this is the time they can put pressure on government to yield to their demand. Their demand is not personal, but it is a policy, a compliance with the judgment of a Federal High Court, which decided that states and the federal government should comply with the

provision of the Constitution because there is separation of power.

The separation of power must be implemented as provided for by the Constitution not just on paper but by financial autonomy which has been contemplated by the Constitution and also decided by the court. If they are not financially independent and separable, the salaries and allowances of judges will be delayed or not paid at all.

The governors and the president, even at the federal level, may CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

Fagbohungbe

Lawyers back bills to empower SON against substandard products Prior to this time, the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) is an agency of government that has little or no legal backing hence, its inability to clamp down on those who engage in substandard products.

However, this may soon be a thing of the past as the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly is looking into a Bill for an Act to Repeal and Re-enact the organization in the proper discarge of its mandate. Writes PETER FOOWOYO Lawyers under the aegis of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have, unanimously, threw their weight behind the consolidat-

ed bills giving more power to the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to prosecute offenders of counterfeit products and services.

According to the lawyers, who spoke, exclusively, to Daily Times, such bills, they argued, was long overdue to protect consumers from the unnecessary hazards and, sometimes, death, considering the high rate at which substandard products are allowed into the country.

The consolidated bills, which have passed a second reading at the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, are being sponsored by Victor Ndoma-Egba and Nenadi Usman, both Senators.

The bills passed include: A Bill for an act to repeal and re-enact the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Act Cap 59 LFN 2004 for the purpose of provid-

Mark ing additional functions for the organisation, increase penalty for violation; and for other related matters incidental thereto (H.B.153), sponsored by the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba and a bill for an act to repeal and re-enact the Standard Organisation of Nigeria Act CAP S9 LFN 2004 for the purpose of providing additional functions for the organisation, increase penalty for violation and for other related matters incidental thereto (S.B. 394) sponsored by Senator Nenadi Usman.

Usman, who led the debate

on the general principles of the bill, said the legislation is intended to ensure the standardisation of products and services, undertake investigation on complaints lodged by consumers on poor standard of products, regulate the inflow of substandard goods into the country, enhance the ability of SON in the discharge of its mandate, ensure compulsory assessment scheme of all products produced in the country or imported into the country to ensure conformity with international practice before such goods get to the consumers and

prescribe severe punishment for violators as well as recall products that could be harmful to human health.

While referring the bills to the Senate Committee on Investment, which was to report back to the Upper Chamber at a later date, Senate President, David Mark, noted that SON is truly a very important institution vested with very significant functions that need to be reviewed regularly to check the distribution of substandard products in the country. He added that CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

Law 30

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

‘Removal of immunity clause will amount to CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29

decide not to pay them as at when due or pay them at all, they will be using the fund of the judiciary for the Executive’s projects. I think, as it is now, this strike will put government under pressure because it will need the court to do a lot of things for it, if it cannot get it, then it will have to obey the court order.

It is commendable, the striking workers should press on the government to be able to do what the law says, i think I agree with them.

Should the strike continue without a truce, even after the elections, don’t you think there will be chaos as aggrieved politicians may to take the laws into their hands?

That is a presumption, politicians and all arms of government have too much at stake, they need the court and they cannot afford not to negotiate with the judiciary workers, who are not at the receiving end, it is more of the Executive that needs the Judiciary so, they will be the one losing and it means by implication, it will not even cause anarchy, they themselves will not be able to go to court, it will put pressure on the Executive to obey court order and that is the only way or means for the Judiciary to secure its autonomy, if they don’t do it this way, they cannot get financial autonomy, it is good, it will not affect the electoral process because it will end before that time,

the Executive, both at state and federal level will surely comply, it won’t get to that stage.

Speculations are rife that the government is deliberately ignoring the judgment so as to forestall court resumption to hear pre- and post-election matters. What is your take on this?

It’s a presumption as I said earlier. All of them need the Judiciary, for one urgent reason or the other, and that is one part of the matter, but, it will come to an end very soon. Even pre-action matter can still be joined with any petition, it can be heard together with any petition and so it is not a big problem.

There are legal arguments that the 180-day duration prescribed by the Constitution for all electoral matters to end, is not enough. What is your view on this?

The issue of 180 days is a very serious provision in the electoral act, more so, that the Supreme Court had, clearly, decided that you cannot extend it, so, as long as you cannot extend it, it behoves on the National Assembly to, quickly, amend it to increase it to a reasonable period, for a petition to assist litigants in getting justice. As it is now, it is affecting all the stakeholders in politics such that whoever wins an election may be the one who win finally because if you are unable to get to the Supreme Court, the person who gets judgment at the Ap-

peal Tribunal may be the only one who can get justice at that level but the other party will not be able to.

It is an unfair provision, because it was not tested when it was inserted, but now that it has been tested, up to the Supreme Court and those in the know see the danger, the hardship that is giving to people and the injustice that it is also causing to people, it is still possible for the National Assembly to, quickly, address and amend it, it doesn’t take time, in order to help all the parties in this matter.

“I think, as it is now, this strike will put government under pressure because it will need the court to do a lot of things for it, if it cannot get it, then it will have to obey the court order” Notwithstanding the various rules and fast track procedures to forestall delays in the administration of justice, we still have matters dragging in the courts. How do we overcome such delay, especially, in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

Fagbohungbe

‘SON must be seen more than a toothless bulldog’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29

for Nigeria to be part of the international community, it is imperative for the SON to step up on efforts in combating fake and substandard products from reaching the general public and ensure that only products that conform to international practice are allowed to get to the consumers.

Commenting on the bills, Chief Felix Fagbohungbe SAN, said if the bills are finally passed into law, it will not only save the lives of the populace in the health sector, but, will also protect our local industry which had gone into extinction.

He said: “ I think so, because the hazards our society is facing as a result of substandard

products being imported to the country, is so much that apart from the fact that it kills the local industry, almost completely, the substandard products can injure our health and endanger our security, so the SON really needs to be empowered statutorily to deal with the issue and that will help Nigeria, no doubt, to protect our local industry and it will remove the danger in our health sector because when they import drugs that are fake into the country, it kills people.

My Pikin issue is still fresh in our memory and it is a notorious issue as an example. It is a very good move, it is supported.”

Also supporting the bills, a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Robert

Emukpoeruo said on Monday that: “Well, I think the question of standard is really important because I do not think we can over-emphasise the danger of substandard goods and products flooding the market and the agency that is meant to regulate standards generally must be seen more than a toothless bulldog, it must not just be a dog that can only bark but also bite effectively, because some of all the collapsed buildings and many other things are all products of substandard items, flooding our markets, flooding our lives everywhere and then you will wonder that we have SON but, the truth of the matter is that, what can they do without legal backing?

“I suppose that the proposed bills are meant to strengthen the powers of SON more effectively to carry out their functions, particularly in the areas of sanctions. You will recall that when the late Professor Dora Akunyili was heading NAFDAC, it was very effective because she had the legal backing to go after owners of substandard drugs because of the great danger same posed to the health of the public, the same thing with substandard goods and services. Substandard goods pose serious danger and I think it is something that should be welcomed. I am in support of it”, Emukpoeruo said.

However, at the annual memorial lecture organised by a Pro-

“I apprehend that the proposed bills meant to strengthen the powers of SON more effectively to carry out their functions particularly in the areas of sanction” CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, January 20, 2015

distraction in governance’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30

criminal justice system?

Delay in hearing matters at all levels of the court is a notorious issue, there have been many lectures, debates and papers presented on this, but, there is no breakthrough at the moment. In the first place, the level of awareness is increasing every day, the number of cases we get per day is, astronomically, high, as such provisions are not being made, contemporaneously, to accommodate the growth in the number of cases filed per day.

So, this still boils down to the number of judges and court rooms we have and this will also eat into the revenue of government because if they don’t have enough money to take care of payment of judges’ salaries, building of new courts, even at the Supreme Court level, they don’t have the full complements of 21 or 26 Justices as provided for by the Constitution because a Justice of the Supreme Court will need a library, accommodation, cars, chambers, etc. To maintain a Justice of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, and judges of other courts at the state level, government must provide financial resources for them to be able to cope and, as we know now, the revenue of government is dwindling daily, you can imagine how the congestion will continue to increase and people will still be filing cases.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30

fessor of Law, Bankole Sodipo, in honor of the late Chief G. O. Sodipo, at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Victoria Island, Lagos in December, last year, a lawyer, Dr. Nnamdi Dimgba, who spoke on the theme Is there a need for a competition law to protect consumers in Nigeria?, expressed disappointment that the country is yet to enact a competition law regime, decades after it started the journey. He stated that more than a hundred countries around the globe have adopted competition laws, of which, approximately, two-thirds are lessdeveloped while many other countries are in the process of adopting the same.

He noted that competition law and consumer protection law are quite related in that they both seek to ensure that

The government is financing the Judiciary from the Consolidated Fund, which must be there for the Judiciary to appoint more justices or judges as the case may be. Unless litigants are now made to pay to government for the purpose of maintaining the Judiciary, which cannot happen, because payment of judges’ salaries and allowances or the appointments of judges and their finances are part of the social responsibility of government. Therefore, if government doesn’t have money to pay, it can only restrict the number of judges it can cope with; it is part of the problem which may not be, easily, resolved at the moment.

There are suggestions that only constitutional cases should go to the Supreme Court for adjudication and not all cases. Do you share this view?

A lot of debates have been held on this matter, in fact, there is a proposal in line with what you have said and submitted to the National Assembly, that this kind of restriction on the type of cases that gets to the Supreme Court can be included in the Constitution so that not all cases will get there.

However, Supreme Court cannot be just a constitutional court; there are other important cases that should get to the Supreme Court. Experts have looked into all these things and have proposed to the National Assembly on the matter. I am sure, with the cur-

markets can function for the maximum benefit of consumers, however, “competition law is not, directly, about consumer protection, or trading standards, though both may benefit from the application of competition law.” According to him, “the common goal of both competition law and consumer protection is to provide consumers with access to an array of competitively priced goods and services in the market place.

“However, the proper view is that on proper balance, both on the short, medium and longer terms, the Nigerian environment is very ripe for a competition legal regime for a number of reasons which are in the overall interest of Nigerian consumers.

“The argument is that if governments, like Nigeria’s, which over the decades have committed themselves to market

Boko Haram, terrorism and fundamental human rights: The challenges that confront us CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

Chief Bolaji Ayorinde SAN

Fagbohungbe rent amendment, part of this will be done to the Constitution, which will help in this regard.

There has also been a call, by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, to lawyers to stop filing frivolous injunctions to delay matters in court. How do you react to this?

Well, the court is there for anybody who is aggrieved to approach, it is for the court or the judge to decide whether one is frivolous or not because you cannot determine whether one matter is frivolous or not until you get to court and the judge says ‘this one is frivolous, I cannot grant it’.

liberalisation, through privitisations and deregulations of various sectors of the economy, do not have a competition law, they, unwittingly, create new dangers. When vital sectors of the economy are liberalised and deregulated as such had been done in Nigeria, ushering in, in place of government monopolies, private players who are not constrained by social interests and whose overriding drive is profit, in the absence of a competition law, there is nothing to prevent the new undertakings from engaging in cartel and abusive behaviour such as price fixing, market division, and excessive pricing no matter the intensity with which they hurt the consumers. The moral to be drawn from this is that half liberalisation could, in some cases, be worse than no liberalisation at all, since it ends up creating, hitherto, unknown dangers.

31 Law

Section 44 deals with the issue of compulsory acquisition of property inNigeria while Section 45 opens up a vista for certain restrictions and derogation from the earlier stated Rights thereby allowing for the Promulgation of laws that are reasonably justifiable in a democratic society in the interest of the defence of the country, public safety, public order, public morality and public health.

This section also allows for the making of laws enacted for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons thereby establishing a level playing ground where there are competing rights between persons or persons and the state.

Nigerian Courts have over the years also played a pivotal role in ensuring that cases related to fundamental human rights have received adequate and urgent attention. There is an established set of procedural rules different from the ordinary civil procedure rules to rights cases in Courts. These are to be found in the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement procedure) Rules.

Again this under-scores the importance attached by the judicial system in dealing with cases relating to fundamental rights. This is the trend all over the world as Courts would deal with fundamental rights cases speedily so as to continue to safeguard those rights from abuse especially by government and security authorities and agencies The norms of fundamental human rights were universally accepted and there was no debate as to its applicability until the world changed.

A NEW WORLD ORDER On the morning of September 11, 2001, 14,000 men and women fought for life at the World Trade Centre in New York, United State of America. Suicidal attacks by terrorist in airliners was followed by raging fire and total collapse of the twin towers.

The North Tower was hit first at 8.46am; Sixteen minutes and twenty eight seconds later, the South Tower was hit at 9.02am.

The South Tower, though hit second, was the first to collapse at 9.58am while the North Tower fell at 10.28am. Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn in their bestseller titled “102 minutes” described the

fatalities and casualties in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 vividly and I quote: “And then there is the brutal calculus of death by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York. Of these, 147 were passengers or crew members on the two flights; in the buildings, no more than 600 people were on floors where the planes hit, close enough to be killed immediately. Another 412 of the dead were rescue workers who came to help. The rest, more than 1,500 men and women, survived the plane crashes, but were trapped as far as twenty floors from the impact. Like the passengers on the unsinkable Titanic, many of the individuals inside the World Trade Center simply did not have the means to escape towers that were promised not to sink, even if

“Again this under-scores the importance attached by the judicial system in dealing with cases relating to fundamental rights” struck by airplanes”.

Before the events of 9/11, isolated terrorist attacks even in the United States were not unknown.

Investigations would later reveal that thetreatment of those events as isolated contributed to and unfortunately the success of the 9/11 attacks.

A significant example was the assassination of Meir Kahave, a radical rabbi and Isreali politician who openly expressed antiArab views. One of the assassins was arrested and upon a detailed search of his home and work locker, the police found ammunition, tracts calling for the destruction of the edifices of capitalism, pictures of American landmarks such as the Statue of liberty and the World Trade Centre. This was in 1990 and it turned out to be an error to treat the case as isolated.

Evidence generated after 9/11 reveal that the assassin was converted to a cell of fundamentalist who had emigrated from Central Asia and the Middle East to the United States.

CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

SHEHU SANI

Shehu Sani

INEC, security agencies playing double standard

Malam Abdulmumini Shehu Sani is the Chairman and governorship candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) Katsina State.

In this interview with ALEX MOMOH, he accused the Independent National Commission (INEC) of double standard ahead of the forthcoming general elections in the country. He also expressed disappointment over the roles of the Katsina State Police Command and the State Security Service (SSS) in

giving priority to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state in spite of a memo sent to them by the National Taskforce (NTF) Headquarter, Abuja warning them on the illegality of wearing security uniform to conduct training, workshop and seminars during this period of electioneering campaign rallies.

Excerpts: How do you see the forthcoming general elections in this country, do you believe

the Independent choking National because of the tear-gas.

Commission (INEC) and the Police officers later brought dogs security agencies are prepared? to the playground.

When one looks at the issuPolice spokesperson Masoud ance of the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) by the INECwas all overnot available for Mwinyi the country, I do not see the poscomment. Elijah Mwangi, who sibility of the commission conducting fair, freein and credible of the police offiwas charge elections next month. This is cers atunjustifiable the school, said he was folas a result of the manners lowing in which orders. other po-

Opposition politician Eliud Owalo said last week that the playground had been grabbed to construct a parking lot for the politician’s hotel adjacent to the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

Augustine Aminu

is portraying Marketing Company (PPMC), himself as a canMr. Frank Amego,didate explained for continuity, saying he aimed at In a bid to get kerosene to that the scheme was wants to complete economic deNigerianprojects initiated by consumers across the 36 states getting kerosene to the velopment masses who use theSata. product as the Federation and the School children from the Lang’ata Road Primary School scramble up of a bridge in Nairobi to escape tearFedgas after police attempted fuel atan economist, says he Capital(AFP) Territory, Abuja at their domestic cooking to break up their demonstration against the removal of their school’seral playground.

Hichilema, the regulated price of N50 per the correct price has the necessary experience to He observed that though kerolitre, the Nigerian National Perevamp the economy of Zambia, school.“This is brutality beyond determined to steal forcefully Kenyan officials has become a troleum Corporation (NNPC) sene was the most subsidised a major copper producer. words and greed beyond descrip- from its own children bea scheme controversial in the the counproduct, Nigerian masses hascannot initiated aimed atissue tion. It is difficult to believe that what we aspire to. It cannot try. layers of have not been enjoying the subcutting be offthe the several police can actually deploy against legacy we want to bequeath the Twitter was abuzz on Monday middlemen who make it diffi- sidy because of the long arbitrage involved in its disprimary school children and lob children,” said opposition thesystem developcult forleader the end with usersreactions to enjoy from Daily Times Nigeria January 20, 2015 the subsidy on the product. teargas at them to defend a land Tuesday, Raila Odinga. ments in Kenya. tribution and retail, diversion This wasbydisclosed in Abuja of the product by marketers to grabber. This image of a nation Allegations of land seizures over the weekend at a one-day the construction industry where workshop organised by the Cor- it is used for blending bitumen, poration to enlighten members and the fact that NNPC has no Arik aircraft at MMIA,

Storm over Storm over Life inside Police shoot anti-Kabila of Lagos Nigeria’s Oba of LagosOba stool protesters in DR Congo ‘Zimbabwe’

Politics Abuja File Features s Augustine Aminu and Ckika Okafor

Akinjide Akintola

TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015

VOL. 1. NO.27

www.facebook.com/dailytimesngr

A storm is raging over the Oba of Lagos stool presently occupied by Oba Rilwan Akiolu.

At the centre of the storm is the Akinsemoyin Royal family of Lagos which is accusing the Monarch’s family line of monopolising the stool for centuries.

According to findings by Daily Times Nigeria, since inception of Lagos, two royal families have been in existence, rotating the Obaship stool. They are the Akinsemoyin and the Ologunkutere families.

The two are said to be the descendants of King Ado, the son of Ashipa who founded Lagos and reigned around1570 . Ado, who reigned after him had three children- Gabaro, Akinsemoyin, both males and Erelu Kuti, female whose son, Ologunkutere started the Ologunkutere family branch since a woman cannot be king. But Gabaro had no surviving child, hence leaving only Akinsemoyin and Ologunkutere to rotate the Obaship of Lagos Stool between them.

Akinsemoyin was said to have reigned first between 1704 and 1749, whose reign spanned 45 years. After him came his sister’s son, Ologunkutere, whom Akinsemoyin insisted should reign after him in succession in

stool

Price: N150

order to maintain the rotation.

However, since the Ologunkutere assumed the stool in 1749, the family has not allowed the Akinsemoyin family near the throne as they have been relegated to the background.

The Akinsemoyin family has now moved to challenge the status quo alleging that the incumbent is planning to substitute his branch with the Akinsemoyin family in order to make it extinct.

The Ologunkutere or Erelu Kuti family has five branchesAkitoye, Adele-Ajosun, Eshinloku, Olusi and Akiolu, who were the children of Ologunkutere while the Akinsemoyin Ruling House comprises of six branches- Sadeko, Amore/ Olukokun, Abisako, Jolasun, Gbosebi, Ambose, Adeyalu and

dailytimesng

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

Oba Akiolu

P 17

Ordinarily, one will think communities in and around the Federal Capital Territory, will enjoy same privileges that are found in the city centre but ironically, it is the direct opposite of all the basic amenities found in FCT. Shezoko, a community situated close to Niger State but among the communities in Gwagwalada Area Council of

the FCT is an example of such communities. The community for years now has suffered lack of basic amenities.

Basic amenities like good roads, electricity, potable water and other amenities that make life worth living have been lacking from the community even after many promises from the government. Shezoko like many other communities in the rural area of the territory, though have continued to survive without these amenities, the lack has

News

Libyan army, Business militias agree

on partial NNPC to crash Police shoot Mali, UN ceasefire Afric kerosene price anti-Kabila ÏÏÏ protesters in declare P 26 optim country DR Congo P12 Ebola-free of some grassroots non-governmental organisations and vol-

hampered its growth to development.

The challenges of communities like Shezoko include being far from Gwagwalada which is where the area council is situated. The safest and most accessible way to get to the community is moving through Zuba Express Way and all the way to Niger State through Iziom. Therefore accessible road remains their greatest challenge.

direct control over most of the marketers involved in the distri-

unteers In 2006, three years after drawn mul- from all over the bution and sales of the product.

“The Kero Correct initiative country tiple peace deals ended thewho Sec-have been engaged to embroiled help monitor the distribu- is thus designed to distribute ond DRC War, which to end sales of the product at and sell kerosene directly The Libyan army has detroops from at leasttion sixand foreign Retail amega NNPC partial ceasefire, two days countries, Kabila won theMega first and affiliate sta- users from NNPC clared and affiliate stations across tions across the country. after some of the militias based in Saturday passed an electoral free, democratic presidential poll the country at the governmentSpeaking on the objective of western Libya announced a unibill that would delay presidenindependence from BelCONTINUED ON PAGE 22 since Bala Mohammed, FCT minister the ‘Kero Correct’ initiative, the regulated price of N50 per litre Continued from pag lateral truce. tial and parliamentary polls gium in 1960.

Executive Director, Commercial to ensure effective control,” Mr. The ceasefire was“For due instance, to begin at beyond late 2016, when Kabila to of the Pipeline and Products Amego stated. midnight on Sunday GMT). is meant to step down.The legif one(22:00 of the Euro The Malian government and They added that their forcesa islation was due on Monday to member country the United Nations on Sunday dewould adhere to tofly the but go for debate before the Senate, to truce any count clared the country free of Ebola af- would continueinto the pursue air “terrorservice the upper house of parliament, ter 42 days without any new cases ists”. there will be a claus while police and soldiers were of the deadly virus. the European airli The decision comes after the first stationed at every major road that country throug Health Minister Ousmane Kone round of UN-sponsored talks in junction in the Gombe district, European country . said no confirmed cases had been Geneva last week that seek to end where ministries and adminisBritish violence Airways can registered since 6 December when months of escalating in trative buildings are located. through Paris wit the last Ebola patient had tested Libya.

Police also surrounded the pean Union commu negative.

Libya has been plagued by instaheadquarters of the third bigBut unfortunately “I declare this day... the end of bility and infighting Cologest opposition party, the Union Airlinessince or Kenyan the epidemic of the Ebola virus nel Muammar Gaddafi was oustfor the Congolese Nation (UNC), Aril Air will not be in Mali,” he said in a statement ed from power in 2011. after members of all the leading a European countr broadcast on state television Forces from the internationallyopposition parties urged Kinother African coun ORTM. recognised government shasa residents “massively to doesn’t have anhave airl west African country People queueing toThe buy kerosene at controlled price“had been battling militias “For in instance, if different occupy” parliament on Monday come out” of the epidemic, Ibrahi- parts of the country. to hamper the Senate debate. ma Soce Fall, the head of the Ma- The army’s ceasefire declaration Kabila has ruled over the vast lian office of the United Nations comes after some factions from and troubled central African Mission for Ebola Emergency Re- an alliance of militias controlling country since he was catapulted sponse (UNMEER), confirmed. the capital, Tripoli, announced a into office as a young soldier by In accordance with World Health truce on Friday.

Kinshasa politicians in 2001, on a typical Saturday or Sunday, their fun. usually roasted upon request.

Organisation recommendations, The Libya Dawn militia alliance days hishimfather, no doubt,after would make to WhatLaurentmakes Uke tick?

The villagers also sell different start hazarding so many guesses The naturalness of this com- kinds of beer and other liquors Continued from page Malaysia, and Hong 25 of the Ebola the spread virus Indonesia, could also said that it would open up Desire Kabila, whomunity was as to what could be taking place is thepresivery first reason and spirits, but majority of fun Kong, USA withetc. in this rusty community, espe- why many fun seekers make seekers who visit this place do be declared over after 42 days “safe passage to channel hudent at the cially judging by the time, number was it a placeassassito be, especially dur- so, primarily, to take fresh palm Togo.

“This is due to lack of regula- aid”, according to and quality of cars that are al- ing weekends, public holidays wine, eat well- garnished fresh out any new cases being recorded, manitarian nated.

Agbakoba stressed: “Until tion in the sector, which ways parked all around the area. and festive periods. Some other fish and even take some home. has led As a matter of fact, parking has things that make this commu- Kabila The affordable prices of these he said in a separate statement. the AFP news agency. become a major problem within nity tick include; freshly tapped items equally make them attrac- recently, there is no clearly rec-

fun joint

opened fire to disperse thousands of youths protesting against President Joseph Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo, witnesses and an AFP correspondent saw.

One student at a demonstration near the University of Kinshasa in the south of the capital was injured after a police officer warned his men would shoot if protestors failed to leave. Several witnesses said a second youth was also injured by gunfire.

Earlier, they teargassed several thousand students gathered on thesuyaday opposition parties had Chicken at the Nigeria’s ‘Zimbabwe’ fun joint called a demonstration against legislation that would extend the president’s mandate.

In a similar scene at Victory Square in the heart of the city, police fired teargas at hundreds of youths throwing stones, AFP journalists and witnesses said.

Despite the fact that the disLateef Ibrahim, Abuja From 08:00, police andUke and elite tance between Abuja is The original name of the over 30 kilometers, many resitroops of Itthe Guard dents of the nation’s capital are village is Uke. is oneRepublican of the communities that make not deterred by it. They do not sealed off the parliament buildup Nasarawa State. Uke is situ- see the distance as a barrier any ated along the eve- busy Abuja- more. They troop to Uke mainly ing, where the lower house on Keffi road. One surprising thing on Saturdays and Sundays to go

21

ÏÏÏ

Life inside Nigeria’s ‘Zimbabwe’ fun joint

Maritime: Agbakoba seeks ov

2015: The scary choice before Nigerians about this village, however, is that it has come to be popularly known and referred to as Zimbabwe rather than Uke.

ÎÎÎAs

For those in the North East, parts of the North West and the Eastern parts of the North Central, security will undoubtedly be a much more immediate concern.

Aderogba.

The first major move the Akinsemoyin family made in order to recover their lost stool was shortly before and after the installation of Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, when they protested their being schemed out from the stool for about 200 years.

Thus, following the widespread clamour and protest against the injustice, the state government in 1975 set up the Sholanke Tribunal of Inquiry into the Lagos Chieftaincy including the Oba of Lagos Chieftaincy. The tribunal, after its sittings where many people gave evidence submitted its report on 15 January, 1976. In its report, it concluded that there should be two ruling houses in Lagos- the Akinsemoyin and Erelu Kuti, adding that the next ruling house should be Akinsemoyin since the current one was from Erelu Kuti.

Perhaps to further shed more light on the branches, the state government sent the report of the inquiry to another tribunal headed by Justice J. O. Kassim which submitted its report on 19 September 1978 and also recommended six branches – Sadeko, Amore/Olukokun, Abisako, Jolasun, Gbosebi and Aina Egbe who were the children of Akinsemoyin. Erelu Kuti’s branches

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Dele Awogbeoba

“At the centre of the storm is the Akinsemoyin Royal family of Lagos which is accusing the Monarch’s family line of monopolising the stool for centuries”

Come to our aid, Shezoko community ÏÏÏPolice wounded two students on Monday cries out when they

21

the February elections approach, one thing is clear: Things cannot continue as they are. Swathes of Nigeria’s territory are under attack from rebel forces, the Nigerian army in the North East, are fighting a war where they are inadequately armed and are compelled to follow orders from a corrupt and inept military command. The economy, long threatened by supply and demand side, is starting its rocky decline which is likely to be exacerbated by the incompetent application of economically constricting fiscal and monetary policies.

The Shale oil revolution has finally deprived Nigeria of its biggest end market for its oil and its geographic location has placed it at a competitive disadvantage when attempting to replace the U.S with China or India.

Despite the protestation of surprise from our Minister for the Economy, the fall in the price of oil is the clear manifestation of the glut in the supply of

oil over the last couple of years.

With this reality, Nigeria is faced with a yearning for change. In embarking on change it has opted for an election that will boil down to a choice between President Jonathan and a possible President Buhari.

President Jonathan is allegedly from the ijaw tribe of the Niger Delta. It is home to one of the few tribes along Nigeria’s oil coast that feeds the entire nation from the sale of oil.

President Jonathan has been accused of being sectional and tribalistic. In all honesty, he has not been tribalistic in favour of the ijaw people. His clannishness and favouritism have been enjoyed by an entirely different ethnic group that has appropriated all government positions relating to the financial regulation of the economy.

The Niger Delta’s rivers and way of life have been damaged by oil spills and exploitation and the Niger Delta people rightly made a decision that it had had enough!!

The alternative to Presi-

and catch their fun. White men and women also come to Uke to enjoy themselves.

A visit to Uke by a first-timer

dent Jonathan is a possible President Buhari.

This kind of change is a change towards the past.

In analysing the challenger, one needs to look at his previous actions as Head of state as an indicator of his future actions. His previous actions indicate that he represents a number impulses within the Nigerian state. He is also a very sectional and clannish person. In 2000, he led a delegation of armed northerners to the Oyo State Government house to protest the alleged killings of Fulani herdsmen in the state. A man clearly uncomfortable with working within the law under a democratic government, he chose to raise his own militia in order to intimidate the then Oyo State government instead of using his moral authority to pressure the police into investigating the matter.

That action from a former head of state is very telling. At other points in time, he was reported to have stated that it would take decades for Northerners to regain their pre-

the vicinity of this local market/ spot where people come to catch

palm wine, fresh bush meat of all sorts and fresh fish, which are

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

ognized Economic Regulator for the shipping sector. The Federal High Court has held that the Nigeria Shippers Council is an economic regulator. It is only when the Nigerian Shippers Council, is empowered to regulate, that stakeholders in the sector can turn around their businesses and generate huge revenue for the Nation as their counterparts in other jurisdictions such as

eminent position in Nigeria following the changes made to the army in the early 2000’s. No doubt, one of his more subtle policies will be aimed at turning back the clock to the Fulani pre-eminence within Nigeria.

As head of state, Buhari inherited a government faced with similar challenges. His economic prescription against inflation was to get army officers to forcibly open shops belonging to traders and compel the sale of their products at arbitrary prices. On the flip side, he oversaw the laying off of many members of the armed services and civil servants in order to bring government expenditure in line with revenues. The Nigerian economy made few consistent improvements under his government.

In area of education, Buhari’s previous government tilted education policy towards science students. His government was at the forefront of making it more difficult for potential undergradu-

to a plethora of uncoordinated activities and exorbitant port charges which make Nigeria very unattractive for business.

Government hardly implements its own policy thereby creating leakages in the system.

“Invariably Nigeria due to paucity of its shipping regulations is violating international trade facilitation laws. For instance, Nigeria as a coastal state is to provide port importation sup-

ates of law to study law as a first degree. President Jonathan has himself committed Nigeria to supporting science graduates.

His post-graduate scholarship awards have targeted first class science degree holders.

On issues of security, Buhari’s antecedents mark him out as a clearly more effective commander in chief than the present President Jonathan. That Nigeria has descended into a war in which large parts of the North East has become the playing ground for rebels for the last five years means something very drastic and different must be done otherwise the country will undoubtedly implode in the most violent of ways.

The choice for Nigerians will inevitably depend on where one lives. For those in the North East, parts of the North West and the Eastern parts of the North Central, security will undoubtedly be a much more immediate concern. There can only be one wise choice on that issue.

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

Containers at Apapa p port and access to countries such as Burkina Faso. Cam Ghana are now pro services in spite tances between the

Life&

TIMES Tuesday January 20, 2015

Mercy Johnson,

Ramsey Noah star in thy Kingdom Come PL6

How I started movie directing –Omoni Oboli PL3

I faced discrimination because of my dreads PL4 -Raskimono Detoxing

A way to PL7 good health

Fashion L2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

AMAA, AMVCA politicise their awards -Omoni Oboli Ugochukwu Onyeocha How far is Nollywood from getting to its desired position?

The truth is it might seem that we are still far, but we are not. The reason being that we are getting more film-makers into the industry, who are interested in doing the right thing. We are getting such people because our movies are certainly of world quality. Our movies are going to film festivals around the world, and those kind of festivals will not accept your movie if the quality is bad. They won’t accept your movie if the sound, for instance, is bad or if other things they hope to find is not there. Our movies are being accepted, and this is because we are now looking more at projecting better quality. The truth is that we have always had the stories.

Nobody can tell a Nigerian or an African story better than a Nigerian or an African. The road is not very far, believe me. For a Nigerian movie to get to the Oscars, it’s just a matter of a very short time.

What steps are being taken to make sure that 8 out of 10 movies meet the acceptable quality, considering the huge churn out of movies?

It’s going to be very difficult to do that. The truth is that even in Hollywood, you can’t get 8 out of 10 rated quality movies. There are so many big movies we don’t hear about.

We get to hear about only the big studio movies, but there are so many others from Hollywood that nobody gets to hear about because they are made for ‘straight to DVD’ movies for the communities. There would always be ‘straight to DVD’ movies and, as such, it would be difficult to rate them.

With many actors going into production, don’t you think the industry would soon have a shortage of quality actors, and more of producers?

I can’t speak for everybody, but I think most of the people act and produce at the same time are still much in the acting game. For instance, I haven’t stopped acting because I started producing and directing. I am actually in all my movies and I still work for other people as well. I did a couple of productions that were not mine in 2014. So, I am still much into acting. Acting is my first love and I’m never going to go away from it.

Producing and directing for me started as a means to an end.

Marketing of movies has always been a problem in Nollywood, what are you not doing right in this area?

This is a tough problem that has been there for a long time. One of the solutions to the problem is the cinemas but, of course, not every movie would go through the cinemas, so where we need to have a lot of focus is DVD distribution, which has been a pain in the last couple of years. You put your movie out there and it doesn’t seem to do great on the DVD market and, of course, there is a lot of piracy. I think pirates would always be there because thieves would always be among us. The thing is to curb their activities to a great extent and make the penalty for piracy very stiff and to, actually, punish offenders.

What is Nollywood doing to ensure that these laws are put in place to tackle piracy, because nobody would fight for you guys like yourselves?

I’m really not into Nollywood politics, but I know that there are things going; I know that there are talks with the government, and stuffs like that, though I’m not a hundred per cent sure of the outcome of these talks. I have been privileged to be in some for a, and discussions were made on setting up some bills, but I don’t know how far they have gone.

As an actress, are you not disturbed about the fights in the body? Is that not a distraction?

It’s really disgusting and irritating. I don’t see any reason why we should be fighting amongst ourselves. It really makes no sense.

Can you tell us if actors/actresses are well paid?

It’s a tough question. If we want to compare ourselves with our counterparts in Hollywood and Bollywood then I would say no, but if I am to compare us with the average Nigerian out there, then I would say it’s not that bad.

Movies from other African countries seem to have overtaken ours in terms of awards like in AMAA, AMVCA and others, what is Nollywood doing to assert its dominance as Africa’s leading movie industry?

The truth is that our leadership in Africa has not been in question at all, in my opinion, and you can quote me on this. The reason it seems that they are getting more awards is not because they are doing better than us.

I see their movies and, I’m not being biased

Kunle Afolayan

bags ‘Nollywood man of the year’ award

here; I assess my movies and I begin to think ‘I should have done this here and there’ and ‘this is not the kind of expression I should have used here’ and all that. I criticise myself and I’m not in any way biased. I think they are waking up, and they are just being encouraged. The organisers are just trying to encourage them by giving them awards, and not necessarily because they have acted better in many instances.

How much has the industry done in attracting private investment?

A lot. I have personally preached to lots of private businesses to partner the industry because for me it’s not just about being a celebrity, it’s a total packaging. I am not just interested in being a star, because that comes with the job. I am also interested in how I move my industry forward. When I talk to investors, I tell them it doesn’t have to be my movie, just support the industry.

I tell them that we can’t just go on without you guys because we have been doing this for 20 years, and doing it with personal money.

Is it easy accessing loans from banks when you want to make a movie?

Well, it is not really an easy one there, because the banks here demand a lot in terms of collateral, which we actors or producers do not have, because we have not made the kind of money we ought to.

How do you combine your role as a wife and mother with the acting business?

It’s a tough job for every mother. Even if you were not an actress or just a banker or business woman, you have to work sometimes till some odd hours. When you add the traffic situation, it makes you get home real late. So, it’s indeed a tough job for every mother out there but, like I would always say, I got to do what I’ve to do.

Acting has placed a lot of strain on relationships.

Looking at the high level of

Mutiat Alli

Prolific film director-cum-actor, Kunle Afolayan, has been crowned ‘Nollywood Man of the Year’ at the just concluded The Sun Newspapers awards, held at the prestigious Eko Hotels and Suites on Victoria Island, Lagos.

During the awards, held on Sunday, Kunle was given the award based on his contributions to the entertainment industry at large, with productions of blockbuster movies that have been recognized across the globe.

His award winning movies include ‘The Figurine’, ‘Irapada’, ‘Phone Swap’ and ‘October 1’.

separations and divorce cases in the industry, how have you managed to cope?

The first issue we must look at is the partnership. How strong is the partnership?

How much does your spouse understand your job? That is the very key here. I know a lot of my female colleagues who their husbands don’t understand the business.

They want you to come home immediately… and the lady tries to tell him that she’s not done yet. “Someone has paid me already and I can’t just leave the job half way.” They must first understand the dynamics of the job and know how we work, for them to be able to say ‘I miss you, but I’ll have to wait ’til you finish.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

L3 Movie

Orlando Julius ft. Seyi Shay in ‘Ololufe’ urban mix

Opeoluwani Akintayo Music legend, Orlando Julius, has kicked off 2015 with the release of ‘Ololufe’ (urban mix) featuring sexy Seyi Shay.

Produced by Jay Sleek, the song being released under the Now Muzik Recording imprint, is a remake of the saxophone maestro’s ’94 hit classic

‘Ololufe’.

‘Ololufe’ (urban mix) is a collaborative effort that involved some of the best talents in the game, including Joan Ekpai who was on the backup vocals, Eniola Akinbo a.k.a Niyola who co-wrote, Sean Stan of Vintage Sounds who mixed and mastered, and Efe Omorogbe who charted the A&R direction of the project from the beginning.

y z z a J n o D The Sun

Creative wins ar award Person of the ye evening, during the

Mercy Johnson, in thy Ramsey Noah star Kingdom Come

the award, Sunday Don Jazzy receiving , Lagos.

Hotel and Suites, V.I event held at Eko

Throwback photo

Sir Victor Uwaifo

Wow, this is a major throwba ck photo of Niger ia’s highlife m usic legend, Sir Vict or Uwaifo, pict ured as a body build er when he was 19 years old.

SeeMeSeeNiger ia got a grab of this epic shot sh owing cute Uw aifo pictured at O balende, Lago s, in 1960, showin g his muscles to the amusement of all present.

He later went into music in th e 60s, producin g hits like Jo romi, Mami Water, Guitar Boy, Ba by Jowo and othe rs.

He’s presen tly signed to Tuface’s Hyper tek records.

Mutiat Alli Multiple award winning movie producer, Obi Emelonye, is at it again this year. Emelonye has gathered talented Nollywood stars like Ramsey Nouah, Mercy Johnson Okojie, and Mary RemyNjoku, amongst others in his new movie, ‘Thy Kingdom Come’.

‘Thy Kingdom Come’ is a deceptively calm family thriller that tells the story of a happily married head of a big church (Ramsey Nouah) whose wife (Mary Njoku) ‘died’ seven years ago, only to resurface, and his entire world is thrown into turmoil.

The prolific film-maker also features Miss United Nations Nigeria, who is equally Miss United Nations Global, Precious Chikwendu, in the movie.

‘Thy Kingdom Come’ premieres at the BFI MAX cinema, London, come February 26.

Obi Emelonye co-produced the flick with actress Mary Remy.

’ r a F o o T e n ‘Go emas opens in Cin

British-Nigerian comedy ‘Gone Too Far’ hit Nigerian cinemas.

A play by Bola Agbaje and directed

by Destiny Ekaragha ‘Gone Too Far’, won a Laurence Olivier award as far back as 2008.

Stars in the play are Malachi Kirby, OC Ukeje, Shanika Warren-Markland, Adelayo Adedayo, and Golda JohnAbiola. Also in the movie are Tosin Cole, Miles McDonald, Eddie Kadi, Bhasker Patel and Kulvhinder Ghir.

It was first released in the UK in 2014, and is just now being released in Nigeria.

Plot Outline When London teenager, Yemi’s big brother comes to live with him from Nigeria, Ikudayisi’s terrible fashion sense, broad Yoruba accent and misplaced confidence with the opposite sex, threatens to destroy Yemi’s already small amount of street cred.

When the pair are forced to spend the day together on their Peckham estate, Yemi is forced to confront local bullies, the unattainable girl of his dreams and his own African heritage, eventually teaching both of them the values of family and self-respect.

Hairways L4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

I faced discrimination because of my dreads -Raskimono Opeoluwani Akintayo

o.ogunjimi@dailytimes.com.ng Talking about who Ras Kimono is in Africa and in the Nigerian music industry, the rastaman needs no introduction.

Born in one of the roughest towns in Nigeria, Ajegunle, he’s one of the best reggae acts the country has ever produced.

Enjoy his hair experience on today’s Hair Ways.

When did you decide to start keeping dreadlocks?

Ah! It’s not something I decided on my own. I’m a rastaman from birth. So, it’s a gift from God, which has become my identity.

How do you keep it clean?

Since it’s my natural hair, all I do is visit the salon once a week to get it washed. I also use natural shampoo to keep it clean.

Can you cut your dreadlocks for any reason?

Are you Delilah? I can’t cut my hair for any reason. The only reason that can make me cut it is if I have an accident and doctors ask me to cut it. But since that hasn’t happened, then I can’t cut it.

What about tinting it from black to, maybe, gold?

No, I can’t tint it for anything in the world!

I’m not a fashion freak and I live a decent lifestyle.

How did your parents feel about you being a rastaman?

Since I was born with it, they didn’t object to it when I was still young. But when I grew older and they noticed I was still keeping it, they weren’t happy. They talked against it but when they saw that I neither smoke nor drink, they decided to let me be.

As an artiste, have you faced any discrimination as a rasta?

At first, yes. You know the Nigerian environment where rastas are seen as dirty and lesser humans, people never wanted to have anything to do with me. If I were some other artiste, they’d always tie a scarf on it. I faced discrimination from fellow artistes too.

But as it went on, everything changed.

Lice on your head?

Head lice is a common problem, especially among children.

The head louse is a tiny, wingless parasitic insect that lives among human hairs and feeds on tiny amounts of blood drawn from the scalp. They’re contagious and can be hard to get rid of.

Lice aren’t dangerous. Don’t worry, you can’t contact diseases from them if you have them. Although because they get itchy and can tempt you to scartch, it can lead to infection.

often under running hot water after each combing.

-Once you have combed out your child’s hair, use shampoo, rinse, and repeat. Wash all the towels used and clean out the lice comb.

Follow this procedure every day for a week.

Hairpick

Although very small, you can see them by your naked eye.

Lice eggs are tiny yellow, tan, or brown dots before they hatch. Lice lay nits, which look like dandruff on hair. They can’t be removed by brushing or shaking them off.

Treatment -Sometimes, all you need to do is use a lice comb to comb your child’s hair every morning and evening for three weeks. You can also use some home treatments like ea tree oil and olive oil.

-Coat the hair with olive or almond oil.

Coat the comb, instead of the hair, and reapply the oil as needed.

-Separate the hair into small sections as you comb the lice out. Rinse out the comb

of the week

Signs of Head Lice

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

L5 Society

Ita Giwa, others top list of

single wealthy society women Isaac Oguntoye

Before now, women are assumed to be marginalized both nationally and internationally, in Africa especially.

But if you are conversant with the happenstances in today’s business and political world, it’s quite obvious that more women are dictating the tunes now.

Yes! They are rich, powerful and a good number of them are drop-dead gorgeous, but still single. Some of them actually have grownup children who are already married.

Ita Giwa

Mama Bakassi, Florence Ita Giwa, was elected Senator, Cross River South constituency of Cross River State, Nigeria.

She’s also a notable socialite who was once President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters.

Aside the fact that this woman made so much money in politics, she’s among the top socialites that control every social gathering both within and outside the country. Without mincing words, during her daughter’s wedding, the high calibre of people in attendance caused a heavy traffic around Eko Hotel in Lagos, last year. Gossip has it that her status within the society might not have risen that high if she was married. Whether it is true or not, she’s doing tremendously well as a single parent.

Bola Shagaya

Hajia Bola Shagaya is a Nigerian businesswoman and fashion enthusiast. If you say she is one of the richest women in Africa, you are still on the right track. Hajia Bola Shagaya (MON) who was married to Alhaji Shagaya, a Kwara State-based transport mogul, with whom she has four children, has since moved on with life.

Single, Hajia Bola Shagaya is also the managing director of Practoil Limited, one of the largest importers and distributors of base oil in Nigeria, serving local lubricant blending plants. Her businesses also include huge investment in real estate spanning major cities in the country with over 300 employees.

Iyabo Obasanjo

Gbemi Saraki

Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki is a senator elected to represent the People’s Democratic Party in the Central Senatorial District of Kwara State in April 2003. She was re-elected in 2007.

She hardly honours party invitations due to her busy scheduled as a politician, yet, whenever she steps out, she controls the ambience with her teeming entourage and influence.

Meanwhile, despite her wealth, her father’s influence and political status, the ever-radiant politician finds it difficult to manage her marriage to one Segun Fowora. After her divorce, she has remained single and waxing stronger in wealth and politics.

Hajia Aisha Guobadia

When you talk about a young and enterprising business women in Lagos, one of the very first names that comes to mind is Aisha Guobadia, the purveyor of Gold.

So much in demand was her gold that her shop was the toast of the mighty and affluent in the society, from the very top of the military hierarchy to the civil society.

Aisha is one of the very few Nigerians respected on the basis of her high and sophisticated taste in the business circle.

Her new business line is interior decoration. The owner of St. Clair Ventures is also a single parent who is doing tremendously well in her newly discovered business.

Former Nigeria’s president Olusegun Obasanjo’s daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo, is another single parent who claims she left her marriage because she was not happy.

And since the mother of one assumed political office, she hasn’t really had time for any other affair.

Iyabo buries herself in her job that you hardly see her at social gatherings.

Whether her status as a single woman will remain for life is still unknown. Going by her status and achievements, she has more than enough to bring into any marriage.

Princess Adenrele Ogunsanya’s

Still looking dashing at her age, former secretary to Lagos State government, Princess Adenrele Adeniran-Ogunsanya, is very dynamic in nature. Her carriage and poise stands far tall ahead of many in the political and social circles in the state.

Little wonder her overwhelming popularity in Ikorodu Town, especially among the political juggernauts.

A Chieftain of APC and a well respected woman in the society, Princess Ogunsanya, who is the Secretary General of Lagos State Women Forum, in the last few months, seems to have reaffirmed her leadership role in the political structure of Lagos East. Although Ikorodu town was not given the governorship slot, the beauty was at the forefront of clamouring for the area before it was given to Epe. Her family home in Oke Ota-Ona, Ikorodu, has become a mecca of sorts, with political bigwigs in the Senatorial district paying homage and holding strategic meetings with her.

Many will recall that the father of the amiable woman, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, from whom she took her endearing social and political traits, was a frontline politician in the First Republic, as a chieftain of the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC).

Chart L6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

movie and music chart

Welcome to Daily Times movie and music chart. It’s going to be weekly and it’s our pleasure to bring you top exciting Nollywood movies and Nigerian music, straight from the hearts of Nigerians, the youths especially. These will include movies and music/music videos getting the highest attention to TV, radio, You Tube, Vevo, etc.

So as to create fair play, this forum will divide the movie section into Yoruba and English.

Feel free to participate by sending movies and music, videos inclusive, that you think can stand the heat.

Send to- o.ogunjimi@dailytimes.com.ng

DTN Movie Chart (English) 1 30 Days in Atlanta 2 October 1st 3 My life My Damage 4 Head Gone 5 Number One Fan 6 Folly 7 Unforgiveable 8 Don’t Cry For Me 9 Silence 10 Single, Married and Complica ted

Chart DTN Movie (Yoruba) 1. Alakada 2. Ewatomi rst lady 3. Kofo De Fi rsity 4. Omo Unive la el 5. B re 6. 6Arinnako 7. Aroba 8. Orisun 9. Ore axwell 10. Matade M

movie and music chart

DTN Top Ten Mus ic

Chart 1 Dammy Krane- Am in 2 Timaya - Sanko 3 Sean Tiz zle- Loke Loke 4 P-Squa re- Shekin i 5 IyanyaFinito 6 DJ Neptu de Ft. Sark odie & Ph 7 D’Prince yno- Belie - OYO ve 8 DJ Neptu de Ft. Sark odie & Ph femi Ft. D yno- Belie ’banj- Dou ve Oritseble Wahala 9 Skuki- P (Remix) eteru 10 Ice Pri nce- That Could Be Us

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

L7 Food & Recipe

Detoxing:

A way to good health

by Judith Frank-Edet During the holidays, you probably ate a whole lot of junk and I’m sure one of your top new year priority is to lose weight. To lose weight, the first thing you should do is to detox.

Basically, detoxification means cleaning the blood. This is done by removing impurities from blood in the liver, where toxins are processed for elimination.

You must detox as least once in a year, and it’s good to start at the beginning of the year.

Now, all foods and vegetables can detox, but some can detox more than others. So, let’s see some recipes on detox, concentrating on fruits and natural juice.

Avocado Green Smoothie

This wonder fruit is packed with antioxidants, lowers cholesterol and dilates the blood vessels while blocking artery-destroying toxicity.

Avocados contain a nutrient called glutathione, which blocks at least 30 different carcinogens while helping the liver detoxify synthetic chemicals. To make the avocado green smoothie, add pineapple chunks avocado, fresh spinach, pineapple juice1 bananas and blend. The taste is yummy enough to make you always want to detox.

Ginger

Garlic

Just before you rule out garlic because of its repulsive smell, many detox diets list garlic as a crucial piece in the list. The reason is that garlic boosts the immune system as well as helping out the liver. One good thing about garlic is that you can up your intake without having to worry if your body is going to get used to it or build up a resistance. Sulfur is found in high quantities in garlic, which makes it a good detox food and its antibiotic properties heal your body.

Garlic is proven to be 100 times more effective than antibiotics and working in a fraction of the time.

Ginger is one of the world’s most potent disease-fighting spices.

Ginger spikes your metabolism, flushes out waste, is thought to help liver function, and has some astringent properties. Some detox diets ask you to chew on ginger root. You may also find that adding it to hot water makes the water taste better. Basically any way you can think of it, getting it into your system is going to be beneficial, especially if you’re suffering from a fatty liver caused by too much alcohol, or too many toxic foods and drinks.

Golden Tips Don’t Skip Breakfast

Carrot-Orange Juice

Each of the fruit in itself can detox the body when you take it. However, to fortify it, you could do a carrot-orange juice. In this healthy juice recipe, you could vitalize it by adding a tomato, apple and carrots to pack in immune-boosting vitamins A and C. You will need a juicer or blender with this.

This is the meal that feeds your body when it’s most busy. Studies have shown that eating a healthy breakfast helps you lose weight faster.

Make sure your breakfast contains plenty of complex carbs.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015

Showing on Telemundo 118

Showing on FOXCRIME 126

Tue, 20 Jan | 18+

Tue, 20 Jan| 13 LSV

17:00

Broken Angel

16:05

‘S5/E10- Remembrance Of Humps Past’. Sipowicz assists an old friend wh fears his daughter has fallen in with the wrong crowd. Medavoy and Martinez uncover a body- snatching ring. Naomi reveals a secret.

‘S1/E 117- 1/117’. Arturo and Mara come to an agreement with Liseth and Father Milton. Santa finds her room covered with intimate pictures of Santigo and Ines. (2013)

124 E! Television

130 MTV

00:00 Kourtney And Khloe Take The Hamptons 01:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 02:00 Giuliana & Bill 03:00 Dr. 90210 04:00 Dr. 90210 05:00 Tori Spelling 06:00 Modern Family 07:15 Celebrity Style Story 08:00 Giuliana & Bill 09:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 10:00 Rich Kids Of Beverly Hills 10:30 Rich Kids Of Beverly Hills 11:00 E! News 12:00 Kourtney And Khloe Take The Hamptons 13:15 Celebrity Style Story 14:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 House Of DVF 16:15 Celebrity Style Story 17:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 18:00 The E! True Hollywood Story 19:00 Kourtney And Khloe Take The Hamptons 20:00 Kourtney And Khloe Take The Hamptons 21:00 Fashion Bloggers 21:30 Fashion Bloggers 22:15 Celebrity Style Story

00:00 Are You The One? 00:15 Ink Master 01:00 Twilight Mix 05:05 #ChooseDay 08:20 Pranked 09:05 Punk’d 09:30 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 10:15 The Ex And The Why 10:40 Teen Mom 2 12:10 Awkward 12:35 Punk’d 13:00 Punk’d 13:25Ridiculousness 13:50Ridiculousness 14:35 Teen Cribs 15:45 Pimp My Ride 16:10 Awkward 16:35 Awkward 17:25Ridiculousness 17:50 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 18:40 Jersey Shore 19:30 Sleeping With The Family 20:35 Ex On The Beach 21:05 Geordie Shore 21:55 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 22:45 Ariana Grande: Total Live!

135 BET

00:00 Real Husbands Of Hollywood 00:30 Real Husbands Of Hollywood Reunion 01:30 Centric’s Next Comedy All-Star 02:30 BET Now 03:00 BET Now 03:30 BET Now 04:00 Late Night Heat 06:00 Soul Sessions 07:00 Soul Sessions 08:00 Soul Sessions 09:00 Keeping Up With The Joneses 09:30 Keeping Up With The Joneses 10:00 The Sheards 11:00 The Wendy Williams Show 12:00 Keyshia & Daniel: Family First

154 AfricaMagic Family

00:00 The Johnsons 00:30 Lies That Bind 01:00 Meet The Adebanjos 01:30 Foot Prints 02:00 Kings Of Segou 02:30 Tinsel 03:00 The Johnsons 03:30 Katemba Mu Kkooti 04:00 Rolling With Faith History 04:30 Tinsel 05:00 The Hour 06:00 Good Morning Africa 07:00 So Wrong So Wright

L8 Television

07:30 Hired Husband 08:30 Rolling With Faith History 09:00 Meet The Adebanjos 09:30 At Home With Joselyn Dumas 10:30 Katemba Mu Kkooti 11:00 Affections 11:30 Lies That Bind 12:00 A Day In Life 13:00 Prem 13:30 Tinsel 14:00 Deception 14:30 Foot Prints 15:00 At Home With Joselyn Dumas 16:00 Fashion Coast 16:30 Mashariki Mix 17:00 The Johnsons 17:30 Lies That Bind 18:00 Meet The Adebanjos 18:30 Foot Prints 19:00 Kings Of Segou 19:30 Tinsel 20:00 The Johnsons 20:30 Katemba Mu Kkooti 21:00 Mashariki Mix 21:30 Tinsel 22:00 At Home With Joselyn Dumas

12:30 Keyshia & Daniel: Family First 13:00 Let’s Stay Together 13:30 Let’s Stay Together 14:00 Being 15:00 The Wendy Williams Show 16:00 Apollo Live 17:00 Keyshia & Daniel: Family First 17:30 Keyshia & Daniel: Family First 18:00 Nellyville 19:00 Keeping Up With The Joneses 19:30 Keeping Up With The Joneses 20:00 The Sheards 21:00 The Message 22:00 The Wendy Williams Show

252 Silverbird

00:00 Patitos Gang 00:30 Hollywood On Set 01:00 Music Africa 02:00 Boom Town 02:30 STV Sports Café 03:00 Local Movie 05:00 Symphony 06:30 Insights For Living 07:00 STV AM News 07:30 Today On Stv 09:00 Magic Morning 10:30 Sports Show 11:00 Spice 12:00 SB Lifestyle 12:30 Rhythm Of The City

253 AIT

13:00 Music Africa 14:05 Good Life 14:30 So Wrong So Wright 15:00 Together 15:30 Brights 16:05 Nickelodeon 17:00 The Journey 17:30 Health Wise 18:02 MTV Base 19:00 STV News @ 7 19:30 Taste of Love 20:00 Local Movie 21:30 Global Perspectives 22:00 STV News @ 10

00:00 AIT Midnight News 00:30 Movie: 02:00 Da New Live Beats 02:30 Sports Today 03:00 Focus Nigeria 04:00 What Life Took From Me 05:00 Oremus 06:00 Kaakaki 09:00 Golden Footprints 09:30 Studio 10:00 Focus Nigeria 11:00 The Money Show 12:00 AIT Reports 13:00 Sports Extra 13:30 Echoes 14:00 Inside The Parliament 15:00 Matters Arising 15:30 Policy On Track 16:00 World News 16:30 Nickelodeon 17:30 Oil And Gas Forum 18:00 Shakatawa 18:30 One Mic 19:00 Allison’s Stand 19:30 This Life 20:00 AIT News Hour 21:00 Prime 21:30 MTV Base 22:00 What Life Took From Me

XT Exclusive

AYEW PLAYS DOWN

TITLE DREAM

Poster!

OLUFUNKE OSHONAIKE

QUOTES ON

OLUFUNKE

X4,5

X3

“

OLUFUNKE OSHONAIKE

Full name:

Olufunke Oshonaike Nigeria October 28, 1975 (age 39) Lagos, Nigeria Table Tennis

Nationality : Born: Place of birth: Sport: All-Africa Games

record

Gold: Bronze: Bronze: Silver: Silver: Silver: Silver:

2007 Algiers 2007 Algiers 2007 Algiers 2011 Maputo 2011 Maputo 2011 Maputo 2011 Maputo

Team Singles Doubles Singles Doubles Mixed Doubles Team

My dad, he’s my greatest fan any day. He was not rich; we were not born with silver spoons, but he made sure we lacked nothing…

My father just wanted me to succeed in anything I do and he never stopped me from playing table tennis, even when it meant I had to dodge domestic chores and missed classes at school. Thank God for what he saw in me as a child because, right now, I can’t complain of poverty. Table tennis has given me what I could only dream of.

I entered the game because it was my older brother’s sport. As a tomboy, I played mostly with boys and always tagged along with my brother anywhere he went. As a young player, I never thought I would be playing on the international level. It never even crossed my mind there was a higher level than playing local competitions.

—Olufunke Oshonaike

”

OSHONAIKE Tuesday, January 20, 2015

WILLIAMS, SHARAPOVA TARGET AUSTRALIA TITLE X7

O G O G A N DA HARPS ON G N I D L I REBU EAGLES X2

MOURINHO DEMANDS RESPECT FOR GERRARD

X8

AFCON: CAMEROUN, MALI BATTLE IN MALABO X3

X2

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

EXTRATIME

Umeh

Anambra FA Elections

We’ll provide level playing field for all –Umeh Kalu Kalu

F

ollowing the directives given to state football associations last week by the President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Melvin Amaju Pinnick, to ensure that they conduct elections into their respective associations before February 28, the immediate past first vice president of the NFF and the Chairman of Anambra State Football Association, Chief Mike Okereke Umeh, has assured all stakeholders in the state of a level playing field during the conduct of the elections into the board of state FA. Umeh gave the assurance in exclusive telephone interview with Extra Time and assured that the state FA elections will be conducted, even before the deadline given by the Pinnick led NFF. He said that a level playing ground would be made available to enable interested persons test their popularity with stakeholders in the state.

“Of course we are aware of the directive from the Amaju Pinnick-led board of the Nigeria Football Federation on the conduct of elections into the state FAs,” Chief Umeh began.

“I would want to use this opportunity to assure stakeholders in the state that we are going to ensure that we provide a level playing ground for all the parties who would want to contest elections into the board of Anambra FA to enable them test their popularity with the electorate.”

Returnee Super Eagles striker, Ike Uche, bemoans lost chances during the 2015 AFCON qualifiers.

DANAGOGO TASKS NFF, COACHES ON REBUILDING EAGLES Andrew Ekejiuba

S

ports Minister and Chairman, National Sports Commission, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, has urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and coaches of the Super Eagles to make the senior national team competitive and ensure that only the best players represent the country at all times.

The minister made this plea on the heels of the recent two-legged friendly matches put together for the home-based team against Cote d’Ivoire and Yemen, where the team lost 0-1 to star-studded Cote d’Ivoire in Abu Dhabi and beat Yemen 2-0 in Dubai.

A statement from the minister’s SA on Media, Patrick Omorodion said that Danagogo argued that with regular friendly matches for the Team B Eagles, the coaches

would be able to beef up the first team for crucial matches with new players discovered as the Eagles prepare for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers scheduled to begin after the on-going 2015 edition.

“If the Team B gets regular friendly matches, the coaches will have a pool of players to select from to beef up the main team. They have to make the team competitive so that only the best will represent

the country at all times,” he said, as he commended the NFF for arranging the recent friendly matches.

He urged Nigerians to continue to support the Super Eagles despite their failure to qualify for the on-going AFCON in Equatorial Guinea, adding that he was sure the NFF and the players have learnt from the mistakes of the past to make progress in the coming months.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

EXTRATIME

AFCON 2015

AYEW PLAYS DOWN TITLE TALK G

Mbia

, N U O R E CAM TLE IN MALI BAT ENER GROUP D OP

C

ameroun and Mali are set to meet in an interesting 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Group D opener at the Estadio de Malabo in Equatorial Guinea tonight.

Both sides will aim for three points to launch their campaign for glory in the 30th edition of the continental showpiece. The two sides have already met twice at the AFCON. Their first meeting was in 1972 which ended with a 1-1 draw while Cameroun defeated Mali 3-0 in the semifinal of the 2002 edition.

Although the captain, Stephane Mbia, will miss the opening tie due

to suspension after receiving a red card against Ivory Coast during the final match of the qualifiers, he said it’s important they get ready for the tournament.

The Indomitable Lions are in one of the toughest groups, however, one would say the only threat is the Cote d’Ivoire team which could dampen their progress beyond the group stages.

Volker Finke’s rejuvenated team have also been touted as favourites to do well in this continental tournament and Mbia has also heaped praise on the German tactician.

“The Cameroun team are in a rebuilding stage, but we need to be well

prepared for this 2015 AFCON finals which is very important for our country and for us players,” said Mbia.

Looking at the Malian camp, their last match to finalise their preparations was disappointing as they were walloped by South Africa 3-0.

However, that’s all in the past now and their aim is to start well. The Eagles finished in third place in the 2012 and 2013 tournaments and will be hoping to source inspiration from the captain, Seydou Keita.

The Serie A player with Roma will be making his 100th appearance for the national side, a feat that makes him the first player to reach such a milestone.

Losing Gyan would be a blow –Grant

G

hana coach Avram Grant has acknowledged losing Asamoah Gyan would be a significant blow to his side’s Africa Cup of Nations hopes.

Ghana’s star striker is suffering from malaria and is in significant doubt for his side’s remaining Group C battles.

Grant said: “It’s not a secret. Asamoah Gyan is a very good player, very important for us.

“His stats speak for themselves about the goals and the other things

that he’s doing for the Ghana national team.

“Of course we want him to play but if he cannot play, we’ll think about what we can do.

“We want him to play but if he’s sick, we can’t do anything about that.”

Grant added that he was “looking forward” to the challenge of leading Ghana at the tournament, and that he was determined to bring the best out of the many talented players at his disposal.

Gyan

hana winger, Andre Ayew, has deflected the pressure of 2015 Africa Cup of Nations favourites off his country’s team.

The Olympique Marseille man stated that “I wouldn’t say we are here to win the trophy.”

But Ayew would not rule out their chances as he wants to see the Black Stars take the tournament “one game at a time.”

Interestingly Ghana won their last African title in 1982, seven years before the striker was born.

The 25-year-old recalled how Ghana reached the showpiece game in the 2010 edition when they lost to Egypt in Luanda, Angola.

Ayew believes that Ghana also ruffled feathers five years ago in Angola but admits that “the situation is different” now after featuring at the 2014 FIFA World Cup which also had an off-pitch incident that hogged the headlines.

“We have lots of young players and I wouldn’t say we are here to win the trophy. We’ll go one game at a time. In 2010 we got to the final not long after winning the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, we went into the tournament full of confidence,” Ayew told the media in Mongomo on Sunday.

“We did some good things on the pitch and caused problems for the eventual world champions.

Of course there were things that happened off the field, but that is behind us now. We have come through the qualifiers since then and I congratulate all the players for the way they have applied themselves.

“The situation is different to when we were in Brazil. We have changed coach several times in the last six months, but we are all professionals and we need to be able to adapt to the situation.”

Ghana are now managed by former Chelsea boss, Avram Grant and Ayew is of the view that the Israeli’s “experience” will come good for the Black Stars, who are drawn in a tough Group C along Algeria, South Africa and Senegal.

Ayew

AFCON RESULTS Equatorial Guinea 1-1 Congo Burkina Faso 0-2 Gabon Zambia 1-1 RD Congo Tunisia 1-1 Cape Verde

TODAY’S MATCHES Cote d’Ivoire v Guinea 17:00 Mali v Cameroun 20:00 Wednesday, January 21, 2015 Equatorial Guinea v Burkina Faso 17:00 Gabon v Congo 20:00 Thursday, January 22, 2015 Zambia v Tunisia 17:00 Cape Verde v RD Congo

20:00

Friday, January 23, 2015 Ghana v Algeria 17:00 South Africa v Senegal 20:00 Saturday, January 24, 2015 Cote d’Ivoire v Mali 17:00 Cameroun v Guinea 20:00 Sunday, January 25, 2015 Congo v Burkina Faso 19:00 Gabon v Equatorial Guinea 19:00 Monday, January 26, 2015 RD Congo v Tunisia 19:00 Cape Verde v Zambia 19:00 Tuesday, January 27, 2015 South Africa v Ghana 19:00 Senegal v Algeria 19:00 Wednesday, January 28, 2015 Cameroun v Cote d’Ivoire 19:00 Guinea v Mali 19:00

X3

X4

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

EXTRATIME

OLUFUNK

OSHON

KE

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

EXTRATIME

QUOTES ON

“

OLUFUNKE OSHONAIKE

Full name: Nationalit y: Born: Place of bi rth: Sport: All-Africa Ga mes Gold: Bronze: Bronze: Silver: Silver: Silver: Silver:

Olufunke O shonaike Nigeria October 28 , 1975 (age 39) Lagos, Nig eria Table Tenn is record 2007 Algier s 2007 Algier s 2007 Algier s 2011 Map uto 2011 Map uto 2011 Map uto 2011 Map uto

Team Singles Doubles Singles Doubles Mixed Dou bles Team

My dad, he’s my greatest fan any day. He was not rich; we were not born with silver spoons, but he made sure we lacked nothing…

My father just wanted me to succeed in anything I do and he never stopped me from playing table tennis, even when it meant I had to dodge domestic chores and missed classes at school. Thank God for what he saw in me as a child because, right now, I can’t complain of poverty. Table tennis has given me what I could only dream of.

I entered the game because it was my older brother’s sport. As a tomboy, I played mostly with boys and always tagged along with my brother anywhere he went. As a young player, I never thought I would be playing on the international level. It never even crossed my mind there was a higher level than playing local competitions.

—Olufunke Oshonaike

”

NAIKE

X5

X6

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

EXTRATIME

Stars of yesteryears

CHIOMA AJUNWA-OPARA Nigeria’s first Olympic

GOLD MEDALIST

C

hioma Ajunwa-Opara (MON) was born on December 25, 1970. She was a former Nigerian athlete who specialised in the long jump event, but after various setbacks in her career she achieved fame when she became Nigeria’s first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and to date remains Nigeria’s only individual Olympic gold medalist.

Currently, she is an officer with the Nigerian, Police Force.

Early life Born into what she describes as “a very poor home”, in Ahiazu-Mbaise, Imo State, Ajunwa was the last of nine children, with six brothers and two sisters.

Her father died while she was still young, leaving his wife to solely support a large family.

At 18, Ajunwa, who had been a keen athletics participant during her school years, gained admission into university, but was unable to register due to her mother’s inability to pay the fees. She later decided to become a motor mechanic, but abandoned the idea following her mother’s disapproval.

Football As a professional sportswoman Ajunwa originally played football for the Nigerian women’s team and was a member of Super Falcons squad during the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup held in China in 1991, but as she was constantly benched, her skill was seldom used.

Of her short-lived football career, Ajunwa stated: “I’ve never regretted the decision to leave football because I’ve made my mark in athletics. I could have continued with football but there was a particular coach... He knew then that I was the best player in the team but decided to keep me on the bench throughout our matches, so I left the team’s camp.”

Track and Field Ajunwa performed as a track and field athlete and specialised in 100m, 200m and long jump, eventually competing at the African Championships in 1989 and the All Africa Games in 1991, where she won gold medals in the long jump before being banned from the sport for four years, after failing a drug test in 1992, despite Ajunwa maintaining her inno-

cence.

“There was no error in drug intake.

I was victimised by some Nigerian officials. Everybody that was at the AFN knew it; even the messengers knew this.

They told us what happened,” she said.

“I was victimised because I had no godfather to fight for me. The urine samples that were taken were kept in the cupboard at the AFN office for days before sending it by courier (to the World Anti-Doping Agency) for testing. Are they telling me that nothing would have happened to the samples before sending them abroad?

“We were made to serve the ban for four agonising years but God paid me back for my suffering because I came back to win gold at the 1996 Olympics.

I never even trained for long jump during the four-year layoff.

“I used to be a workaholic as an athlete. I would always go a step further during training and that was why some people thought I was on drugs. My coach at Rice University in the USA, George Diaz, would always use me as an example to my colleagues because I usually got his training techniques right.”

Following the completion of her suspension, Ajunwa went on to become the first West-African woman, as well as the first Nigerian, to win an Olympic gold medal in a track and field event when she emerged victorious in the women’s long jump event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, with a jump length of 7.12 meters (on her first attempt) during the final.

Her feat, however, was overshadowed by Nigeria’s Olympic football team – renamed the Dream Team for the tournament – who matched her achievement when they beat Argentina to win a gold medal.

In 2003 Ajunwa stated in an interview with the media how she toiled too much for Nigeria, but later dumped.

“I toiled so much for this country, but then I was dumped. So many people wanted me out of the way. Sports directors, chairmen and their deputies and secretaries all wanted me out. It was a galling experience. That I could be the only individual gold medal winner for Nigeria in over half- a-century of participation in the Olympics and I could still be treated like a scourge, I couldn’t believe

it,” she said with a tinge of regret.

Member of the Order of Niger (MON) Following her Olympic gold medal achievement at Atlanta ‘96, Ajunwa was given a national award – Member of the Order of Niger (MON) – by the then Head of State of Nigeria Sani Abacha, but complained that she was overlooked compared to the Nigerian football team claiming “I was given the MON award, right, but without ‘E-Y.’ When I heard of what was given to my brothers in the Super Eagles for winning the Nations Cup, I was amazed because you can see the difference...I’m not envious of any-

body but this is the time to express my feelings that I deserve more.”

Nigeria Golden Jubilee Independence Awards On October 1, 2010, Nigeria celebrated its 50th Independence anniversary. As part of that celebration, on Thursday September 30, 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan conferred special Golden Jubilee Independence Awards on 50 distinguished Nigerians and friends of Nigeria including Ajunwa for their contributions to the development of the country.

Appointments and membership of bodies Ajunwa was made chairperson of the

Golden leap! Chioma AjunwaOpara makes a leap of 7.12m to become Nigeria’s first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Wome n ’s Development Committee of Imo State Football Association in 2011.

Same year,

she became a member of Committee on the Revival of the Nigeria Academicals Sports Competitions.

Anti-doping campaign On Friday, April 30, 2010 Ajunwa delivered a paper on “War against the use of illicit Drugs in Sports” at an Interactive Session organised by Athletics Federation

of Nigeria (AFN) for Athletes as part of the 3rd Leg of AFN Golden League at Yaba College of Technology Sports Complex, Yaba.

An abridged version of this paper titled “Fighting the Root Causes of Doping in Athletics” was also available online.

In the second half of 2010, Ajunwa stepped up her anti-doping activities by starting an integrated campaign aptly tagged ‘Compete Fair & Clean’. This personally-financed initiative involves communicating anti-doping messages directly to athletes and coaches at athletic events.

Awareness and Red-flag workshops and seminars are being organised with t h e

Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).

Banners are placed at athletic events and informative publications as well as t-shirts with anti-doping messages are given to athletes and coaches.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

EXTRATIME

X7

Tennis:

Golf:

STAL TRIUMPHS AFTER KAYMER’S COLLAPSE

W

orld number 357 Gary Stal claimed his first European Tour title following an astonishing collapse by Martin Kaymer at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.

US Open champion Kaymer began six shots ahead and that soon extended to 10.

But after 47 holes without a dropped shot - a bogey then double and triple bogeys saw his lead gone by the 13th.

Germany’s Kaymer shot 75 and was third as 22-year-old Frenchman Stal carded a 65 to reach 19 under and win by one, with Rory McIlroy second after a 66.

Stal, who tied for fifth at last week’s South African Open, was eight shots behind going into the final round, but birdied six of his first 11 holes.

After securing victory he said: “When I saw my name on the leaderboard I thought it was possible.”

An emotional Stal revealed his

thoughts after winning turned to his late mother Christine, who died last May while he was playing the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth.

Serena Stal

Cricket:

De Villiers hits fastest ODI century

De Villiers

S

, S M A I L WIL VA

outh Africa batsman AB de Villiers hit a century off 31 balls to record the fastest ever one-day international ton.

De Villiers, 30, set the new landmark during an innings of 149 against the West Indies in Johannesburg.

He smashed eight fours and 10 sixes in beating the previous ODI record of 36 balls by New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson against West Indies last year.

“I was on 92 when I realised it was going to be close. I wasn’t going to take singles in the nineties,” he said.

“I got really fired up in the changing room and sort of played my knock before I even came out to bat.

“Aggression was the main thing for me today - I just wanted to go right from the start.”

Chris Gayle’s 100 from 30 balls in the Indian Premier League in April 2013 is the fastest century in cricket history.

South Africa scored 439-2 as they registered their highest ever ODI score, beating the 438-9 in a win against Australia in March 2006.

The total was just four short of the all-time ODI record score of 443-9 set by Sri Lanka against Netherlands in July 2006.

O P A R A H S O T N E E K P U E K A M 4 1 0 2 R FO

T

op seeds Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are determined to make up for early exits last year at the Australian Open.

Number one seed Williams, 33, lost to Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic last year and struggled at the Grand Slams until she won an 18th major title at the US Open.

She looked unconvincing at the recent Hopman Cup but is focused on a sixth Australian title.

“I’ve been going for number six for a number of years now,” said Williams.

“It would be really special for me. I want it I think more than anyone else here but that doesn’t mean I’m going to get it, so I’ll have to fight hard.”

Williams has won the Australian Open

five times but not since 2010, and has suffered with injuries on more than one occasion in the opening Slam of the season.

“I remember last year I felt really good, was playing well,” she said.

“I was feeling amazing on the court.

This year I feel a little off. But I feel off in every Grand Slam - except for last year.

That didn’t work out for me, so maybe this is different.”

Second seed Sharapova, 27, won her only Australian title in 2008 and last year went out to Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova in the last 16.

However, the Russian won her fifth major title at the French Open, ended the year as the world number two and began

2015 with victory at the Brisbane International.

“I thought I did many things well but I’m not going into this week throwing flowers at myself or anything,” said Sharapova.

“I’m starting from scratch. I’m hungry.

I’m determined to do better. I lost in the fourth round here. That’s not a result I want. I want to do much better. I’m here to try to win the title.”

With last year’s champion Li Na now retired, many see Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova as the leading candidate to topple the top two.

The 24-year-old Czech won the title in Sydney on Friday and is determined to make up for early exits in Melbourne over the last two years.

X8

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

EXTRATIME

EXTRATIME

RONALDO’S BALLON D’OR WIN ABSURD –CRUYFF J

ohan Cruyff says its “absurd” that Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo won the Fifa Ballon d’Or following his disappointing performances for Portugal at the World Cup. Cruyff, who landed the prize in 1971, 1973 and 1974 feels the trophy should have gone to someone who did not only excel individually, but also enjoyed a successful World Cup, adding that Toni Kroos would have been a worthy winner.

“At the highest level, it’s all about the combi-

Bony: Time was right to leave Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony has told Sky Sports News that the time was right to leave Swansea. Bony, who joined City last week on a four-year contract, is currently in Equatorial Guinea with the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations. The 26-year-old talks to SSN reporter Geraint Hughes in an exclusive interview about his friendship with new City team-mate Yaya Toure and his strong desire to play in the Champions League.

Ronaldo

nation of individual quality and achievements,” the Netherlands legend said.

“From that point of view, it’s absurd that for the second year in a row a player has been given the award who did not both play excellent and win the most trophies.

“Back in 2013, Bayern Munich won every single trophy out there, yet Cristiano Ronaldo still won the award instead of a player like Toni Kroos or someone else from Bayern.

“In 2014, Kroos was a key player again for the team that won the World Cup, yet he was not even among the final three nominees. Ronaldo was completely anonymous at the World Cup. “Let this be clear, I cannot take this FIFA award seriously anymore.”

Ronaldo, 29, finished ahead of Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer in the vote to win the third Ballon d’Or of his career.

DEMAN FOR GERRARD

A

rsenal manager Arsene Wenger has heralded Santi Cazorla as the perfect role model for young players aspiring to impress at the top level.

Spain international Cazorla was in impressive form as Arsenal triumphed 2-0 at Premier League champions Manchester City on Sunday, scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot.

Wenger believes the attacking midfielder is reaping the rewards for his versatility and feels the young players in his squad can learn from the way he plays the game.

“Cazorla has started playing centrally - he played wide a lot and now he’s at a level of his career where he can have more influence centrally,” Wenger said.

“He’s been fantastic because he gets you out of pressure in very tight situations. He finds openings that are very interesting.

Bony

INHOCT MOUR DS RESPE

Wenger: Cazorla is perfect role model!

J

ose Mourinho has called on Chelsea supporters to stop taunting Steven Gerrard and show the Liverpool captain respect.

Gerrard has been the subject of a chant from Chelsea supporters referencing his famous slip in last April’s Premier League contest that allowed Demba Ba to open the scoring in a 2-0 victory at Anfield.

That result proved a turning point in the race for the title as Manchester City overhauled Liverpool at the summit and never relinquished their grasp on top spot.

With Chelsea set to visit Anfield in toay’s League Cup semi-final first leg, Gerrard is sure to be the subject of more Mourinho

BRIEFS

derision from the away end.

But manager Mourinho has asked for Gerrard - who will join LA Galaxy in July not to be targeted.

“He’s a historic player for Liverpool, a historic player for the Premier League,” Mourinho said. “He’s an opponent I always admired and respected. There is a song that my fans have that I don’t like at all.

“A couple of times it’s good fun but to go and go and go, especially when a player like him deserves respect, we don’t need that.”

Mourinho has long been an admirer of former England captain Gerrard, and the Portuguese still harbours regrets that he was unable to lure him to Stamford Bridge during his first stint in charge at Chelsea.

Al Habsi: Ryan ready for Liverpool Oman’s former Premier League goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi has given Australian shot-stopper Mat Ryan a ringing endorsement to make it in England. Al Habsi, who played in the Premier League with Wigan and Bolton, has been impressed with Ryan and is adamant he has the talent to make it in Liverpool.

Bruce rules out Gestede’s signing Hull City manager Steve Bruce concedes that a deal to sign Blackburn Rovers striker Rudy Gestede is a “nonstarter”. The Premier League strugglers have been hit by a series of injuries in recent weeks, with forwards Nikica Jelavic and Abel Hernandez among those sidelined.

Steve Bruce