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Saturday, September 27, 2014
FAMOUS SLAVES
Africa’s heritage, Kunta Kinte Kunta Kinte, a character created by Alex Haley in his book, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, is undoubtedly and unarguably one of the famous and most talked about slaves in history. He is believed to be one of 98 slaves brought to Annapolis, Maryland aboard the ship Lord Ligonier in 1767. With the character of Kunta Kinte, the writer created one of the classic stories of slavery which led to a screen adaptation titled Roots many years later. The TV mini-series in the long-run, affected the way a generation felt about slavery and the slave trade. It was published as non-fiction, and purported to be the result of Alex Haley’s
quest to discover his ancestry. What we know about this famous slave is that he was born around 1750 in the Mandinka village of Juffure, The Gambia, when slavery was the order of the day. According to the story, Kinte was chased and captured by four men one particular day in 1767, when he was searching for wood to make a drum for his younger brother. He awoke to find himself blindfolded, gagged, bound, and a prisoner of white men. He and others were transported aboard the Lord Ligonier for four-months on a Middle Passage voyage to North America. Kinte survived the trip to Maryland and
was sold to a Virginia plantation owner in Spotsylvania County, Master Waller, who renamed him ‘Toby.’ He rejected the name imposed by his owners and refused to speak to others. After being recaptured during the last of his four escape attempts, the slave catchers gave him a choice: he would be castrated or have his right foot cut off. He chose to have his foot cut off, and the men cut off the front half of his right foot. As the years passed, Kunta resigned himself to his fate and became more open and sociable with his fellow slaves but he never lost his connection to his African heritage.
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
FAMOUS SLAVES
Margaret Garner, the fugitive Margaret Garner is known as being the slave who had to go on trial for trying escape, killing one of her children and attempting to kill the others, just to prevent them from being re-enslaved after a failed escape plan in January of 1856. According to records, she was an enslaved domestic on the Archibald K. Gaines farm in Richwood (Boone County), Kentucky. At the time of the escape Margaret was only 22-years-old but pregnant and dragging behind her four children ranging from 9 months to 6 years. She was also accompanied by her husband, 21-year-old Robert Garner, his parents and many other domestic slaves. The family fled from Kentucky in record cold temperatures, crossing the frozen Ohio River into Cincinnati, Ohio. At the time slave catchers and US Marshals caught up with Margaret and her family at the home of Margaret’s uncle, former slave Joe Kite, she had already killed one of her children and wounded
the others. Because Margaret was subject to the terms of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and was also liable for the murder by the state of Ohio, she was tried in a trial that became the longest fugitive slave case of this era, pitting a free state against the United States. The Cincinnati Slave Case, as it is sometimes called, was reported upon by newspapers all over the United States, but the coverage was particularly strong in Ohio newspapers. Some were horrified by what had transpired, but others regarded Margaret as a heroine. The Garner case symbolises Black women’s determination to resist their enslavement. In a single act of defiance, Margaret destroyed the master’s ‘property’ and his progeny. The dynamics of slavery in which race, gender and class play a significant role, help to explain Margaret’s infanticide, her resistance to enslavement and likely her resolve to escape from sexual exploitation and physical abuse.
Harriet Tubman, freedom fighter Harriet Tubman is an American hero. She was born enslaved, liberated herself, and returned to the area of her birth many times to lead family, friends, and other enslaved African Americans north to freedom. Harriet Tubman fought tirelessly for the Union cause, for the rights of enslaved people, for the rights of women, and for the rights of all. She was a leader in the struggle for civil rights who was forever motivated by her love of family and community and by her deep and abiding faith. Born Araminta Ross in 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland, on the plantation where her parents were enslaved, she took the name ‘Harriet’ at the time she married John Tubman, a free black man, around 1844. Harriet Tubman lived and worked enslaved in this area
from her childhood until she escaped to freedom at age 27 in 1849. She returned to Dorchester County approximately 13 times to free family, friends, and other enslaved African Americans, becoming one of the most prominent ‘conductors’ on the Underground Railroad. In 1859, she purchased a farm in Auburn, New York, and established a home for her family and others, which anchored the remaining years of her life. In the Civil War she supported the Union forces as a scout, spy, and nurse to African-American soldiers on battlefields and later at Fort Monroe, Virginia. After the war, she established the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged, which institutionalised a pattern of her life -- caring for African Americans in need.
Famous slave revolts The Zanj Rebellion
Long before African slaves were ever brought to North America, they incited a rebellion in the Middle East and went head to head with an empire. The insurrection began in 869 A.D. when Zanj slaves – an Arabic term used to describe East Africans – joined with an Arab revolutionary named Ali bin Muhammad and rose up against the Abbasid Caliphate. Spurred on by promises of land and freedom, the Zanj began conducting night raids on nearby cities in order to seize supplies and liberate fellow slaves. What began as a humble revolt slowly grew into a full-scale revolution that lasted 15 years.
The Haitian Revolution
The most successful slave rebellion in
history, the Haitian Revolution began as a slave revolt and ended with the founding of an independent state. The main insurrection started in 1791 in the valuable French colony of Saint-Domingue. Inspired in part by the egalitarian philosophy of the French Revolution, black slaves launched an organised rebellion, killing thousands of whites and burning sugar plantations en route to gaining control of the northern regions of Saint-Domingue.
The 1733 St. John Insurrection One of the earliest slave revolts in North America saw a group of African slaves effectively conquer the Danish-owned island of St. John. At the time, most of St. John’s slaves were part of the Akan, an African people from modern-day Ghana.
Plagued by widespread illness, droughts and harsh slave codes, in November 1733 a group of high-ranking Akans began to plot against their Danish masters. The rebellion began when a group of slaves used smuggled weapons to kill several Danish soldiers inside a fort at a plantation called Coral Bay.
planned to break the strike by force, the protest turned into an outright rebellion. In what became the largest slave uprising in the history of the British West Indies, the slaves burned and looted plantations for several days, eventually causing $1.1m in property damage.
The Baptist War
Known as the ‘first liberator of the Americas,’ Gaspar Yanga was an African slave who spent four decades establishing a free settlement in Mexico. Yanga’s odyssey began in 1570 when he staged a revolt at a sugarcane plantation near Veracruz. After fleeing into the forest, Yanga and a small group of former slaves established their own colony, or Palenque, which they called San Lorenzo de los Negros.
While it started as a peaceful protest, Jamaica’s Baptist War ended with a bloody uprising and the death of over 600 slaves. It began when on Christmas Day 1831 under the direction of a Baptist preacher and slave named Samuel Sharpe, the bondsmen vowed not to return to work until they were awarded basic freedoms and a living wage. When rumours spread that British colonists
Gaspar Yanga’s Rebellion
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
FAMOUS SLAVES
Religious Nat Turner Deeply religious Nat Turner made history as the leader of one of the bloodiest slave revolts in American history. Born on October 2, 1800, in Southampton County, Virginia on the Virginia plantation of Benjamin Turner, he was allowed to be instructed in reading, writing, and religion by his master. To many, young Turner was thought to have some special talent because he could describe things that happened before he was even born. Over the years, Turner worked on a number of different plantations. He ran away from Samuel Turner, his former owner’s brother, in 1821. After thirty days hiding in the woods, Turner came back to Turner’s plantation after he received what he believed to be a sign from God. After Samuel Turner’s death, Nat Turner became the slave of Thomas Moore and then the property of his widow. When she married John Travis, Nat
Turner went to work on Travis’s lands. Believing in signs and hearing divine voices, Turner had a vision in 1825 of a bloody conflict between black and white spirits. Three years later, he had what he believed to be another message from God. Turner took a solar eclipse that occurred in February 1831 as a signal that the time to rise up had come. He recruited several other slaves to join him in his cause. On August 21, 1831, Turner and his supporters began their revolt against white slave owners with the killing of members of the Travis family and 55 more white men, women and children. Initially Turner had planned to reach the county seat of Jerusalem and take over the armoury there, but he and his men were foiled in this plan. They faced off against a group of armed white men at a plantation near Jerusalem, and the conflict soon dissolved into chaos. Turner himself fled into the woods.
George Washington Carver, the farmer George Washington Carver was born into slavery in Diamond Grove, Missouri. When George was only a week old, he, a sister and his mother were kidnapped by night raiders from Arkansas. George’s brother, James, was rushed to safety from the kidnappers. The kidnappers sold the slaves in Kentucky. Moses Carver hired John Bentley to find them, but he located only the infant George. Moses negotiated with the raiders to gain the boy’s return, and rewarded Bentley. His parents were owned by Moses Carver, a German American immigrant. After slavery was abolished, Moses Carver and his wife Susan raised George and his older brother James as their own children. They encouraged George to continue his intellectual pursuits, and Aunt Susan taught him the basics of reading and writing. George grew up to be a scientist, botanist, educator and inventor. In 1896, Booker T. Washington, the
first principal and president of the Tuskegee Institute, invited Carver to head its Agriculture Department. Carver taught there for 47 years, developing the department into a strong research centre and working with two additional college presidents during his tenure. Carver’s reputation is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life. The most popular of his 44 practical bulletins for farmers contained 105 food recipes using peanuts. He also developed and promoted about 100 products made from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, and nitro-glycerine.
Famous slave ships Slave Ship Zong
The Zong slave ship was owned by William Gregson and George Case, well-known merchants in the City of Liverpool. Both were former Mayors of that City. The Zong sailed from the west coast of Africa on September 6, 1781 with 442 slaves aboard. She was grossly overloaded and did not have sufficient provisions for such a large number. The voyage took nearly 2 months by which time most of the slaves were malnourished and succumbing to sickness and disease. The ship was under the command of Captain Collingwood who lost his way in the Caribbean Sea which added to the length of the journey. Many of the slaves had already died and Collingwood knew that those who survived would not
fetch a high price on the slave market. He decided to use a shortage of fresh water as the pretext for recording that his ‘crew were endangered’. In this way he justified throwing overboard 133 slaves.
Lord Ligonier
The Lord Ligonier was an 18th-century slave ship built in New England that in 1767 unloaded slaves in Annapolis, Maryland. The ship was made famous by the novel and television series Roots, as the ship that brought the main character, Kunta Kinte, from the Gambia to the United States. The ship was originally laid down for construction in 1763. It was built for hauling cargo such as slaves, tobacco, spice, and lumber. In June of 1765 the ship’s
owner, Horace Andrews, hired a crew of 40 men and 1 captain named Davies. The ship had six decks in all, four for carrying slaves and two for hauling spice, lumber, and tobacco. The Lord Ligonier was a sailing ship, built to weather Atlantic storms. She could carry 170 slaves, 40 crew members, and various amounts of other cargo.
La Amistad
Known for the mutiny that involved Cinque, the son of a Mendi village leader in the village of Mani in West Africa, the Spanish slave ship La Amistad was a 19th-century two-masted schooner of about 37m. Built in the United States, La Amistad was originally named Friendship but it was renamed after being purchased by a Spaniard. Strictly speaking, La Amistad
was not a slave ship; it was not designed to transport large cargoes of slaves, nor did it engage in the Middle Passage of Africans to the Americas. The crew of La Amistad, lacking purpose-built slave quarters, placed half the captives in the main hold, and the other half on deck.
Adelaide
The French slave ship Adelaide perished off the Cuban coast in 1714. The ship which weighed 400,000kg left France from the port of Lorient in Brittany to pick up 360 slaves in Guinea that year. After disembarking the slaves in Leogane, Haiti, fate caught up with the Adelaide. During the night of October 10, she was thrown onto a reef by a hurricane and sank within an hour.
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Saturday, Semptember 27, 2014
GADGETED
GAMETROPIC
TechLife
More often than not, our mobile phones die due to low battery. The Mr Boost Portable Charger aims to remedy that. With its portable universal USB charger, Mr Boost Portable Charger looks cute while it does its job quietly.
SPARX, a video game designed to treat depression has been found to work better than counselling.
What you did not know about The Drone aircraft Today one aerial vehicle reigns above all others in grabbing the news headlines on almost a weekly basis: The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). These pilotless planes, or drones, are being used in an ever growing range of roles, with national militaries now fielding vast remote-controlled squadrons across all theatres of war. You only have to look at images of the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, a combat-centred UAV considered one of the most advanced hunter- killer craft ever built, and it’s not hard to see why some have claimed that drone technology Is something to be feared. Indeed, as its name suggest, the Reaper specialises in long - endurance, highaltitude strikes at enemy targets with a variety of armaments, including a combination of highly accurate AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and GBU12 Paveway II laser guided bombs. However this militarisation of UAV tech and the frequent bad press it gets fails to give credit to its many other applications, and arguably shrouds Its true importance in the future of aviation, which is seeing incredibly successful results across all current fields. Just to take one example out of many, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) currently uses the Aerosonde UAV as a hurricane hunter and weather monitor. The reason? Because this drone is
Although this app is free, you might need at least one activity tracker for it to work well. The Fitbit Flex and Fitbit Force are among the best trackers to look into. Even if you don’t want to buy the tracker, the Fitbit app can still help you reach your fitness goal. Without a tracker, the app can be used to log your weight, count calorie intake, and record your glucose levels and blood pressure. an incredibly advanced piece of kit more than capable of out-sensing and outperforming any manned aircraft in the role of collecting atmospheric data. Indeed, the Aerosonde is able to record temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity and wind measurements over oceans and remote areas with ease, remaining airborne up to a range of 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles), at an altitude of 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) and a speed of 148 kilometres (92 miles) per hour, This performance is delivered through the partnership of the Aerosonde’s modified Enya R120 engine and sleek, aerodynamic chassiswhile its endurance is guaranteed by
the lack of human pilot. In fact, prior to the use of drones as weather monitors and early warning systems, many lives were lost or endangered when piloted aircraft were brought down by bad weather. The arrival of drones such as the Aerosonde has removed that risk. Indeed, what is not reported is that today, UAVs are used in many useful, non-military applications, ranging from fighting forest fires to saving trapped civilians from disaster zones, and all without further endangering human life. The speed, agility and reconnaissance capabilities far outstrip those of any single human.
Click! Click!!
Argus monitors your eating habits With the Argus app, there’s no need to have a pedometer to know how many steps you have walked daily. The app uses GPS mapping of driving, cycling, and running, and it keeps track of your tea, coffee, and water intake. Moreover, you can snap photos of each meal to save on the app and become more aware of your eating habits.
fitocracy helps make workout fun?
? ? ? ? ? A rapidly expanding subsection of the UAV field, combat drones specialise in delivering guided missiles and bombs to enemy targets without risking a pilot’s life. Combat drones have recently seen much use in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, patrolling battlefields for hostile infantry, vehicles and strongholds. Their high speed and small size make them excellent stealth vehicles too.
Apptitude The fitbit app will help you reach your fitness goal
Main Drone Uses
cOMBAT
for the upwardly mobile
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eMergency
recOn
From combating forest fires to exploring natural disaster zones, UAVs are increasingly seeing a large uptake across emergency services across the globe. Micro drones are often used to explore earthquake-struck buildings, thereby not risking a human life to a potential collapse. Radiation spills are also often initially explored by remotecontrolled drones, with the unmanned vehicle impervious to any harmful side effects.
The bread-and-butter routine of the UAV sector, reconnaissance is being taken to new levels of omniscience with drone deployment across the world. With UAVs capable of remaining in the air for well over 24 hours without landing, thanks to the absence of pilots on board, and being fitted with next-generation sensing and recording equipment, they can deliver constant high-fidelity data streaming.
Science/reSeArch Many UAV aircraft built today are done so purely for research and development, with their small size and unmanned nature making them ideal test vehicles for new aviation technologies or aircraft designs. Historically, experimental aircraft were piloted by expert pilots, with many lives lost when things went wrong. They are also perfect for conducting scientific research around the world.
The Fitocracy app is certainly worth checking out. Use the app to track your workouts, beat quests, earn points and unlock achievements. Fitocracy uses game-like stats that initiate friendly competition and boost your dedication at the gym! Consider joining a wonderful community of supportive Fitocrats who will help you stay motivated on your journey.
Sworkit Pro is the best app for circuit-training workouts From strength training and cardio to stretching and yoga, the options are endless! The Sworkit Pro will take you through 30-second intervals, and you’ll need to try and keep up. Choose what part of the body you want to train and for how long and start working out.
Safety tips from hackers
It’s easy to get hacked. And yes, it can happen to you. Follow this advice from actual hackers, and you’ll be a lot safer online. 1. Turn off your phone’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Hackers are religious about this. Keeping these features ‘on’ all the time makes it easy for strangers to slip into your phone. 2. Use two-step authentication. Nowadays, a single password
isn’t enough. They get exposed all the time. 3. Create a smart password strategy. For the select few websites with your most sensitive information (email, bank), create some long and unique passphrases, like +hisPl@ tinumDr@gonBreathesF1re. 4. Use HTTPS on every website. Install the HTTPS Everywhere tool developed by the pro-
privacy Electronic Frontier Foundation. It encrypts all the information your browser is sending between your computer and websites. 5. Don’t hide your home Wi-Fi. Your home router asks: ‘Hide the SSID?’ If you say yes, then your devices are forced to ‘actively scan’ for the home network you’re trying to hide. Sure, they’ll connect. But as
a result, your device ‘actively scans’ for networks all the time. 6. Think twice before buying an Internet-connected device. Do you really need a ‘smart’ fridge or oven? Tech companies are in a rush to slap the Internet on everything. Cool features get all the attention. Privacy and safety don’t. As a case in point, a foul-mouthed hacker hijacked a baby’s monitor last year.
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
CulturEd! CulturE Cultur
CULTURE
for the uninformed & clueless
SHOCK
Italians regularly stay at home until 30 or more. The cash they save on not paying rent lets them buy all those designer goods so necessary to maintain appearances.
Superstitions
Dresssense
Lady Gaga goes topless beneath ultra-sheer mesh gown Lady Gaga went topless beneath her ultra-sheer mesh gown at Belgium jazz club L’Archiduc on earlier this week. Leaving nothing to the imagination, the 28-yearold pop diva showcased her curvaceous 5 feet 1inch figure beneath the black tube frock. The five-time Grammy winner’s pasties and golden thong were the only thing preserving her modesty. It was the official after-party for Mother Monster’s concert with Tony Bennett, and the 88-year-old music legend followed close behind her. However, Lady Gaga - born
Stefani Germanotta - decided to make the bash an album release party, even donning the same 1980s curly wig she wore on the album cover. ‘Popping Champagne and counting down till #CheekToCheek,’ she tweeted to her 42.3 million followers. Interscope Records will officially drop the unlikely duo’s album of jazz standards, Cheek to Cheek, on Tuesday. In the process of recording it, the Applause singer said the 17-time Grammy winner saved her life. ‘Six months ago I didn’t even want to sing anymore,’ Gaga told Parade.
Indulge
Why this Swiss watch costs $1.1m Watches don’t have to be dripping in diamonds or date back to the 17th century to be worth millions of dollars. Though it hasn’t even been around for 20 years, the Roger Dubuis watch brand has become well-known for its craftsmanship as well as prices that soar into the seven-digit range. The latest star watch from Roger Dubuis is the 2013 Excalibur Quatuor – the silicon watch has four sprung balances, requires 2,400 hours to build, and is the result of 7 years of research. The cost? $1.1m, making it one of the most expensive watches in the world. One of the reasons the Excalibur Quatuor is so expensive is that it moves away from a traditional watch ‘complication’ known as the tourbillon that has been lauded by watch manufacturers for its aesthetic beauty. The tourbillon mechanism improves the time-telling accuracy of a watch and is typically found on the face of expensive brands who want to show off the craftsmanship of the piece. Instead, Roger Dubuis and movement development designer Gregory Bruttin created four sprung balances for the Excalibur Quatuor. A balance spring or balance wheel is not new in watch manufacturing, but what Dubuis and Bruttin did differently was to have not one, but four balances that work
in tandem for unprecedented accuracy. The balances are each set at 45 degree angles and work in pairs to continuously factor in gravity. The watch’s balances are so precise, in fact that they can even account for the wearer’s movement. The sound of the watch is also unique. Each balance pulses four times per second, and no two balances oscillate simultaneously. That means instead of the classic ticking of the watch, it sounds more akin to the whirring of a machine. The watch itself is made of 590 distinct parts and has a 40-hour power reserve function that is so high-tech, the company has applied for a patent. Silicon was used for the entire watch case because of its low weight and durability. It is four times harder than steel, yet uniquely weighs much less. Despite the rather large watch face of the Excalibur Quatuor (48 millimetre), it would still weigh less that your standard gold watch. And like anything worth having, the silicon version of the Excalibur Quatuor is extremely limited edition. Only three silicon Excalibur Quatuor watches exist in the world, complete with a handstitched alligator strap and silicon buckle. That $1.1m price tag now makes a whole lot more sense.
uncommon history of common things The etiquette reminder to ‘Keep your elbows off of the table while you eat!’ is such a universal experience. For parents trying to teach table etiquette to their children, it may help to know the origins of the custom in order to appreciate, and teach, its importance. As with many rules of etiquette, ‘elbows off the table’ isn’t necessarily about stiff formality or protocol; it’s about making sure that other people
are comfortable. Elbows get in the way. They can knock another person’s arm while it is bringing a fork or spoon to her mouth or tug abruptly at the table-cloth, disrupting dishes and silverware. An elbow can also knock a dish or bowl from the table, or get in the way of a server putting something on the table. In other words, keeping elbows close to one’s sides during meal service and while eating serves a practical purpose.
In Vietnam, it is considered bad luck to let a woman see you as you go out your door or on the way as you set off on a business trip.
Proverbs Do not walk into a snake pit with your eyes open. -Somali proverb Whoever ploughs with a team of donkeys must have patience. -Zimbabwean proverb What was hard to bear is sweet to remember. -portugueSe proverb
Excusez-moi Conversing with the Estonians Estonians love to converse, you need to use a moderate tone when conversing though: Estonians associate loud talking with drunkenness. Don’t think Estonians are rude if they utter short exclamations or inject comments and questions when you’re speaking. Avoid using sarcasm or irony. You might only talk about their historic and natural treasures: castles, cities, manor homes, islands, beaches, and forests. Or their Song Festival (Laulupidu) and Dance Festival (Tantsupidu) and their national basketball team Don’t ever talk about personal topics like religion, job, political beliefs, and so on. Also don’t talk about sensitive topics like Russia (there’s a long history of antagonism towards Russia.) Keep in mind that Estonians don’t use many hand gestures when talking. Don’t point with your index finger. The thumbs-up gesture is acceptable.
Elbows off the table
One of the reasons people originally kept their elbows off the table was the crowded dining conditions during medieval times. When there was opportunity at court to dine with the rulers, so many people wanted to say they’d ‘dined with the king’ (or queen or emperor) that they would pack themselves into the space, often sitting shoulder to shoulder on long wooden benches. Under those tight conditions, there was no room for
one’s arms on the table. Etiquette experts disagree on whether elbows can be on the table when there isn’t food around. Is it alright to lean on your elbows while making conversation during cocktails? After a meal? Some say yes, others say use your forearms and still others say never. The choice can come down to consideration for you and your table companions’ personal space and comfort.
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
DESIRABLES The fabulous life of Sheryl Sandberg TRAVELOGUE
THE MUSTREADS AND LINGER-ONS
Tune into your average wildlife television programme and you can’t fail to be dazzled by Antarctica’s majestic icebergs, calving glaciers and unexplored mountain ranges. Good news is that you can also stroll there to enjoy the scenery for real.
With a reported net worth of $1.1bn, Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg is one of the wealthiest women in tech. Though Sandberg lives in a stunning contemporary home in Silicon Valley with her husband and two children, she isn’t known for having a particularly extravagant lifestyle. Sheryl Sandberg was born August 28, 1969, in Washington, DC. She has two younger siblings: a brother named David and a sister named Michelle. The family moved to North Miami Beach when Sheryl was only 2 years old. Sandberg’s father was an ophthalmologist, and her mother taught French at a local college. The couple founded the South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry through their local synagogue, and their home soon became a safe haven for Soviet Jews looking to escape anti-Semitism. Sandberg always shone in school. ‘In public schools, for a girl to be smart was not good for your social life,’ her mother Adele told The New Yorker. She went on to Harvard, where she researched with future treasury secretary Larry Summers and graduated at the top of the economics department. Summers would serve as an important mentor for Sandberg in the beginning phases of her career. When Summers became the Secretary of the Treasury in 1999, Sandberg was his chief of staff. But after the Democrats lost the 2000 election, she decided to move to Silicon Valley to join the booming tech industry. Though at the time Google was a small company with no consistent revenue, she found the company’s mission attractive. Eric Schmidt reportedly called her every week, telling her ‘don’t be an idiot ... This is a rocket ship. Get on it.’ She joined Google as business-unit general manager in 2001. Google grew immensely during Sandberg’s time there, and she was eventually promoted to VP for global online sales and operations. But after nearly seven years at the company, she was ready for a new challenge. She began meeting Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg for dinner once or twice a week, first at Menlo Park’s Flea Street Cafe and then at Sandberg’s Atherton home. Sandberg returned to the cafe for an interview with Oprah in 2013. After six weeks of
InterestIng facts about
sheryl sandberg
Sheryl and her husband Dave Sandberg
dinner meetings, Zuckerberg eventually offered her the COO job. ‘There are people who are really good managers, people who can manage a big organization,’ Zuckerberg told The New Yorker. ‘And then there are people who are very analytic or focused on strategy. Those two types don’t usually tend to be in the same person.’ Sandberg celebrated her six-year Facebook anniversary this past March. She married her long-time best friend, Dave Goldberg, CEO of SurveyMonkey, in 2004. They have two young children together. Last year, the couple completed construction on a 9,210-square-foot home in Menlo Park. The home has six bedrooms, a wine room, gym, movie theatre, basketball court, and giant waterfall. Like the upcoming Facebook headquarters, Sandberg’s home has a living roof. Rows of solar panels make a bold statement in this traditional neighbourhood. She is known by many as an advocate for women’s rights in the workplace. In December 2011, she provided some troubling
statistics about working women in a TED talk that has since been viewed more than 4 million times. In March 2013, she published ‘Lean In,’ a book that recounts some of her own personal work experience as well as advice for women to pursue top positions in their field. With `Lean In,’ Sandberg has sparked a feminist movement she hopes spreads across the globe. Her aim is to give women the practical skills they need to reach their goals while encouraging them to support each other in small peer groups she calls ‘Lean in Circles.’ In February 2014, she partnered with Getty Images to take stock photos that are meant to change the perception of women in the workforce. The photos depict women in fashionable clothing that aren’t pantsuits, as well as older women and ‘cool’ working moms. She’s enlisted the help of some famous friends along the way. In March, Beyoncé, Jennifer Garner, Jane Lynch, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Condoleezza Rice starred in a Lifetime PSA
that encouraged young girls to take the lead without worrying about being ‘bossy.’ Sandberg has campaigned against using the word ‘bossy,’ arguing that it damages women’s confidence and desire to pursue leadership roles. ‘Lean In’ will soon be a movie as well. Sony Pictures reportedly acquired the rights to a film based on the book in January, and all proceeds will go to Sandberg’s foundation. But not everyone has been so crazy about Sandberg’s advice to lean in. Some critics say that it’s not enough to tell women to have confidence if they’re not being given the opportunity to succeed. Others say it’s unfair to use Sandberg as a model for all women as she is able to afford a nanny and a staff at work. For her part, Sandberg is fairly open about the things she and her husband do to maintain a balance and make sure they are both pursuing their career goals. Sandberg says she has a rule for leaving the office each day at 5:30 so that she can enough time with her family. And whether or not you agree with her feminist movement, it’s clear she’s
• Sheryl Sandberg was born on August 28, 1969 in Washington, D.C., United States. • She served as a Management Consultant with McKinsey & Company and as an Economist with The World Bank. She also served as Chief of Staff to then U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers under President Bill Clinton. • After her stint at the Treasury, she joined Google Inc. in 2001. Where she served as VP for global online sales and operations. • She was married for the first time at age 24 and divorced a year later. She says in her book that she was young and didn’t know what she wanted. • She later married David Goldberg CEO of Online review firm SurveyMonkey in 2004 at the age of 34. • Sheryl Sandberg has been the Chief Operating Officer at Facebook, Inc. since March 24, 2008. • Sandberg is the author of the bestselling book ‘Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.’ • She and Kate Middleton, Britain’s Royal Princess, were both named among Time magazine’s most influential women of 2013. • Her annual salary along with bonus from Facebook is $988,390. • She owns a 0.5% stake in Facebook • She is currently worth is $1.7bn, due to her stock holdings in Facebook and other companies. • She has two children: a son born in 2005 and a daughter born in 2007.
making a difference. Fortune has included her on its list of Most Powerful Women since 2005, and Facebook’s stock continues to soar. She’s also led the social network in revamping its mobile strategy. A new comic book called ‘Female Force: Sheryl Sandberg’ tells her whole life story in drawing form, from working for former treasury secretary Larry Summers to joining Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook. The ‘Female Force’ series has highlighted a number of successful women in the past, including Melinda Gates, Hillary Clinton, and Arianna Huffington. The imprint was created by Bluewater Productions, who has also written about Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs, among many others.
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
MiNDFUL
RANDOM
for the LeISUreLY-MINDeD & thoUGhtfUL
FACTS
LAST WEEK'S
CROSSWORD
SOLUTIONS 1. Prank (5) 4. Small community (7) 8. Everlasting (7) 9. Accolade (5) 10. Wear away (5) 12. Voter (7) 13. Alter or regulate (6) 14. Refuge (6) 17. Repossess (7) 19. Travel lodge (5) 21. Mound of stones used as a marker (5) 22. Sincere (7) 24. Latticework (7) 25. Herd or flock of animals (5)
WORDSEARCH AGILE CLAWS CROUCH FOOD FURRY HAIRBALL HISS KITTENS LITTER BOX MEOW MILK PAWS POUNCE PURR SCRATCH SLEEP STEALTHY TAIL WHISKERS
SUDOKU CLASSIC
WORDSEARCH
WORDLADDER Can you climb the ladder and find the missing numbers?
? 12 ? 10 40 8
SUDOKUCLASSIC
24 6 12 4 See solution below
HOMEWORK FOR GROWN-UPS 1 What country drinks the most beer? a) Germany b) Zimbabwe c) USA 2. An Enologist studies what? a) Wine b) Beer c) Juice drinks 3. What was the cartoon character shown on British TV before World War II? a) Cinderella b) Daffy Duck c) Mickey Mouse 4. Klagenfurt international airport is in what country? In Somalia a) Angola b) Austria c) Azerbaijan
5. What is the most widely eaten fish in the world? a) Herring b) The Mackerel c) Sardines 6. What is the only essential vitamin not found in the white potato? a) Vitamin E b) Vitamin A c) Vitamin B 7. In which decade was The Lord of the Rings first published? a) 40s b) 60s c) 50s 8. What is actor Charlie Sheen’s real name? a) Carlos Cambiasso b) Carlos Estevez c) Carlos Jean Answers
WORDLADDER SOLUTION
HOMEWORK
a) Germany a) Wine c) Mickey Mouse b) Austria a) Herring b) Vitamin A c) 50s b) Carlos Estevez
1. Subject (5) 2. Frozen water (3) 3. Dog houses (7) 4. Smooth fabric (6) 5. Letting contract (5) 6. Flat (9) 7. Senior (7) 11. Target (9) 13. Fruit (7) 15. Stuck (7) 16. Hot fragments from a fire (6) 18. Declare invalid (5) 20. Supple (5) 23. Self (3)
CROSSWORD
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
ACROSS
4(x3)=12(/2)=6(x4)=24(/3)=8( x5)=40(/4)=10(x6)=60(/5)=12 (x7)=84
DOWN
Put each of the numbers 1-9 once in every row, column and 3x3 box
Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a ‘Friday the 13th.’
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
a la carte
40%
gRaffiti
THE LOTS TO CHEW ON AND REGURGITATE
Percentage of Twitter users worldwide that use the media for reading news rather than tweeting.
90%
Percentage of US dollar bills that carry traces of cocaine.
lady'S WORdS When a lady’s close lady friend asks if she looks fat (and she does)… She does not say: “No, actually I thought you’d lost weight.” “Who am I for you to ask? Look how much weight I’ve gained.” “Maybe it’s just those slacks.” “Why worry? Some guys like their women sort of chunky.” But she does say: “You’re a great-looking woman (or a beautiful one, if she means it). If you’ve gained a little weight, you’ve got the style to carry it off.” A lady attempts to avoid lying, at any cost. When a lady friend asks this question, in most cases she already knows the answer. She’s the one who checks the scales every
morning; she’s the one who just struggled to fit into the size eight jeans that fit perfectly a couple of weeks ago. The kindest, and most honest, course is to offer reinforcement and reassurance. A lady knows that sort of response will never come back to haunt her. When a lady’s unmarried woman friend tells her she is pregnant and plans to keep the baby… She does not say: “Well, gee, Gloria, don’t you think a child should have two parents?” “Do you know who the father is?” “What’s the matter? Couldn’t you get him to marry you?”
But she does say: “Congratulations. You’ll make a wonderful mother.” If her friend is sharing the news of her pregnancy, a lady may assume that she is not ashamed of her condition. She greets the news with the same good wishes she would offer any expectant mother. The mother-to-be is probably well aware of the challenges before her; she does not need the lady’s reminders, no matter how well intentioned.
change yOuR WORld Inflate your tyres correctly Here’s a good example of something that takes no time, saves you money and helps the environment. First step: know the correct pressure at which you should be inflating your tyres. It should tell you in your car’s manual, or sometimes
there is a sticker on the inside hinge of the driver’s door. It’s usually somewhere in the range of 180 - 200 hPa. Then, every time you fill up, take up the attendant on his offer to check your oil, water and tyres. You’re there anyway; it isn’t going to
take up any more time to keep the guy busy while your tank is being filled. Keeping your tyres at the correct pressure not only saves them from unnecessary wear, it should also save you around 5% in fuel economy. That’s easy money.
Keep your car for longer than five years It’s the best-kept secret in the car business. No matter how swish your new car is, no matter how long you’ve wanted that particular brand, model, engine note, after a couple of weeks the novelty wears off and you’re left with ... just another car. Something that is often overlooked when working out
your carbon footprint is what we called the embodied energy of some- thing. That is the energy that actually goes into making (in this case) the car. As long as you started off with something reasonably efficient and you’ve kept it in good nick, a car’s overall environmental impact decreases over time.
It is certainly better than forking out for a new one every couple of years or so. And if you’ve taken the savings on repayments and new car insurance and stuck that money in your bond, the financial savings are huge. It’s like getting paid a second salary to be a bit greener.
laugh–Out–lOud Office Jokes The boss was complaining in our staff meeting the other day that he wasn’t getting any respect. Later that morning he went to a local sign shop and bought a small sign that read:‘I’m the Boss!’ He then taped it to his office door. Later that day when he returned from lunch, he found that someone had taped a note to the sign that said:‘Your wife called, she wants her sign back!’ A boss had to write letters of recommendation for the following categories of employees: For the chronically absent:‘A man
like him is hard to find…It seemed her career was just taking off.’ For the office drunk:‘I feel his real talent is wasted here…we generally found him loaded with work to do. Every hour with him was a happy hour.’ For the employee with no ambition:‘He could not care less about the number of hours he had to put in. You would indeed be fortunate to get this person to work for you.’ For the employee who is so unproductive that the job is better left unfilled:‘I can assure you that no person would be better for the
job.’ For the employee who is not worth further consideration as a job candidate:‘I would urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment. All in all, I cannot say enough good things about this candidate or recommend him too highly.’ For the stupid employee:‘There is nothing you can teach a man like him. I most enthusiastically recommend this candidate with no qualifications whatsoever.’ For the dishonest employee:‘Her true ability was deceiving. He’s an unbelievable worker.’
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
BONUSPACK $150 7,242 kmh billion
THE TAKE-AWAYS THIS WEEK
KEEPSAKES
FASTFORWARD
The speed at which an airbag moves within a second when it’s triggered.
Frivolous political parties 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70.
country
Deadly Serious party australia Imperial British conservative party australia Sun ripened Warm tomato party australia party! party! party! australia Surprise party australia Beer Lovers party Belarus canadian extreme Wrestling party canada fed-up party canada parti citron canada rhinoceros party canada rhinoceros party of canada/parti rhinoceros canada friends of Beer party czechoslovakia union of conscientiously Work-Shy elements Denmark royalist party of estonia estonia Hin Stuttligi flokkurin faroe Islands Die parteI Germany appD anarchist pogo party of Germany Germany DBu German Beerdrinker union Germany Double-tailed Dog party Hungary Best party Iceland Don’t Give a feck party Ireland pikanti Israel partito dell’amore Italy the party of uniform number Japan Deracine’s party Japan World association for purification of human soul Japan civil movement for banishment tanaka Kakuei from Japanese politics Japan the party to cut diet members by half Japan the union of minor parties Japan ufo party Japan the party for the promotion of Small business Japan new party of automobile Japan all Japan Drivers’ club Japan Vinegar Lovers’ party of Japan Japan Happiness realization party Japan Bill and Ben party new Zealand Imperial British conservative party new Zealand mad Hatter’s tea party new Zealand new Zealand mcGillicuddy Serious party the civilian party new Zealand party of the future netherlands rapaille partij netherlands Beer unity party norway the political party norway orange alternative poland Good Humour party poland polish Beer-Lovers’ party poland Beer Lovers party russia Donald Duck party Sweden ukrainian Beer Lovers party ukraine adam Lyal’s Witchery tour party uK church of the militant elvis party uK citizens for undead rights and equality uK Death, Dungeons and taxes party uK fancy Dress party uK Happening Happy Hippy party uK mongolian Barbecue Great place to party uK new millennium Bean party uK miss Great Britain party uK official monster raving Loony party uK raving Loony Green Giant party uK rock ‘n’ roll Loony party uK teddy Bear alliance uK mickey mouse uSa Guns and Dope party uSa oWL party (Washington State, 1976) uSa Straight talking american Government party uSa Surprise party uSa rent Is too Damn High party uSa youth International party uSa
please cut along this line and keep
SEEN & OVERHEARD
Amount spent to build The International Space Station, the most expensive object ever built.
ENGLISH PHRASES Wall
christmas & holidays
and so during these holiday season, we thank our blessings...
GEORGE W. BUSH
i think they should move christmas to July when the stores aren’t so crowded. GOLDIE HAWN
We are quite lucky this year because christmas falls on christmas Day. BOBBY GOULD
animals - general please cut along this line and keep
name of party
JUST UNBELIEVABLE
i was riding a horse, and its leg was broken, so i had to shoot it. everybody on the carousel freaked out.
TOM COTTER
Due to the shape of the North american elk’s oesophagus, even if it could speak, it could not pronounce the word ‘iasagne’. CLIFF CLAVIN
it’s a known fact that the sheep that give us steel wool have no natural enemies. GARY LARSON
comedy
The inability to get a joke is the first sign of ignorance. like when you tell a joke about a guy and he gets mad at you? That’s a dumb guy. CHRIS ROCK
Before i got into comedy, i was a plumber for 150 years - although that’s just an estimate. GORDON SOUTHERN
if you know any jokes, send them in. They don’t have to be good, just funny. DJ, Classic FM
letters & e-mails
Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without an address on it.
MARK TWAIN
i would have answered your letter sooner, but you didn’t send one.
GOODMAN ACE
Go over the wall To escape from a prison or confinement, literally by scaling a wall to freedom. Go to the wall 1 to lose a conflict or struggle. If this (religion) be corrupted, Justice perisheth; and if Justice shrinks, this goes to the wall. Climb/run up / drive somebody up the wall Informal to be affected by (or to affect somebody with) extreme frustration or exasperation. What would you do if a crowd of crazy relatives turned up to stay? Kirstie Alley solves her problem by moving to a tent in the garden. They still drive her up the wall- and no one acts it out quite as well as Kirstie. Off the wall 1 informal chiefly North American odd or unusual. It appeal, he said, is the excitement it generates in search for off the wall ideas ... not to mention opportunities it creates for involvement in radio. 2 informal, chiefly North American ridiculous or foolish. The Russians would much rather deal with a rightwing conservative any day because they know where they stand, rather than a left-wing liberal who might do something off the wall, like act on principle for heaven’s sake. Turn one’s face to the wall To be ready for death. To whom else could she in such plight look for love? When therefore, she heard that he was slain, her heart sank within her; she turned her face to the wall, and laid herself down to die: to die a double death for herself and the fatherless babe that was now quick within her. Walls have ears (Proverb) used as a warning to be discreet in case of being overheard. Here one may kiss, and laugh, and think no harm, for country love has neither joys nor fears and bushes break no trust, though walls have ears. Wall-to-wall Informal complete and uninterrupted, occupying all the available space. John Hunt, manager of Marks & Spencer, said: ‘There are wall-to-wall customers. You wonder where all the money is coming from, they are spending like mad.’ Tailbacks affected all roads into Leeds and there was a two-mile queue on the M1.
49
Saturday, September 27, 2014
House of rePresentAtives Committee On Water Resources
Congratulations to a PATRIOT Rt. Hon.
Aminu WAziri tAmbuWAl Cfr
Honourable Speaker, House of Representatives
A
s Speaker of the Green Chamber, you have demonstrated vision, courage, tact, selflessness, commitment to the advancement of our democracy and peaceful coexistence irrespective of creed or tribe.
Your turbaning is a well-deserved honour because you have demonstrated outstanding leadership, patriotism, diligence and hard work. Your contribution to national unity is invaluable. It has been great working with your leadership.
SIGNED Hon. Aliyu AHmAn PAtegi Chairman 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Hon. Lawal Hassan Anka Hon. Ado Alhassan Doguwa Hon. Godfrey Ali Gaiya Hon. Bello Mashi Hon. Bello Kaoje Hon. Adamu Hassan Hon. Aminu Shehu Shagari Hon. Amiru Tukur Hon. Oluchi Ibeji Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwogbo
11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Hon. lAssun yusuff Deputy Chairman
Hon. Ezenwa Onyewuchi Hon. Bethel Amadi Hon. Elumelu Ndudi Godwin Hon. Akpatason Peter Hon. Chinda Kingsley Hon. Dawari George Hon. Yusuf Ahmed Tijani Hon. David E. Ombugadu Hon. Sadiq Asema Mohammed Hon. Sunday Adepoju
21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29.
Hon. Ahmed Madaki Gololo Hon. Yusuf Manu Swa Hon. Ismaila Ahmed Gadaka Hon. Mahmud Lawan Maina Hon. Bimbo Daramola Hon. Rafeequat Onabamiro Hon. Johnson Adeoba Hon. Buraimoh B. Taofeek Hon. John Dyegh
50
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Congratulations
Mutawallen Sokoto
RT Hon. AMInu WAzIRI TAMbuWAl, CFR Honourable Speaker, House of Representatives
I, on behalf of the North East Caucus of the House of Representatives congratulate Your Excellency, Rt Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, CFR, Honourable Speaker, House of Representatives on the conferment of the traditional title of Mutawallen Sokoto on you by His Eminence, The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, CFR, mni. As you receive this honour, our prayer is that may this be a catalyst to greater things to come to you and your family. We wish you many years of peaceful reign as the Mutawallen Sokoto.
Signed: HoN. ISHAkA MoHAMMEd BAWA Chief Whip House of Representatives
Saturday, September 27, 2014
ALL HAIL THE MUTAWALLEN SOKOTO! On behalf of my family and the entire Constituents of Owan Federal Constituency of Edo State, I, Hon. Pally Iriase congratulate and felicitate with the Peoples’ Speaker, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (CFR), on your turbaning as the Mutawallen Sokoto. You have displayed a commendable ability by managing a bi-partisan House of Representatives to everyone’s admiration. You have displayed uncommon courage by tackling through legislative activism, the myriad problems confronting Nigeria, especially corruption in high places. We have found in you a pan African leader of Northern extraction. The Cap Fits You, Mr. Speaker.
Congratulations!
RT. HON. AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL, CFR
Speaker, House of Representatives Federal Republic of Nigeria
Signed:
Hon. Pally Iriase
Member representing Owan Federal Constituncy, Edo State
51
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
RiveRS State CauCuS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Congratulations to the New
Mutawallen Sokoto
We, Honourable Members of Rivers State Caucus of the House of Representatives in the National Assembly rejoice with Mr. Speaker on your turbaning as the Matawallen Sokoto by His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alh.(Dr.) Sa’ad Abubakar today. Indeed we are not surprised at the attainment of this feat in your life considering your track record of personal and public service. Over the years, you have exhibited humility, honesty, integrity, patience, courage and determination to uplift the lives of Nigerians. You therefore truly deserve this honour and title. Once again, congratulations!
Signed:
rt. Hon. WAZiri AMinu tAMbuWAl
Speaker, House of Representatives
Hon. AsitA HonourAble Chairman Hon. sokonte H. DAvies Secretary
53
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Jonas Agwu
Khadija Abdu Iya
Road Safety Column
Searching Inward
08077690055 122 FRSC Toll-free emergency number jonasagwu@yahoo.com
The Ten Commandments CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK
The speed limit for private cars on an expressway is 100km/ph. Taxis and buses are allowed to maintain speed limit of 90km/ph on an expressway while articulated vehicles like tankers and trailers are to maintain speed limits of 60km/ ph on the expressway and 50km/ ph on the highway. Within built-up areas, taxis and buses are to maintain speed limits of 50km/ph. However, you must note that common sense often dictates lower speed limits. Common sense speed should therefore be lower in bad weather, or bad roads. The same should apply when the roads are busier. Sixth Commandment learn the art of defensive driving Globally, defensive driving is the ‘voodoo’ to safety on the road. It is therefore and all round medication. A defensive driver assumes he is the only sane on the road. Since crashes are caused by individual errors, he is always cautious, obeys all rules, develop the right attitude such as patience, care, skill and consideration for other road users. A defensive driver never allows his safety to depend on the response of others, anticipates wrong action of other gives correct, prompt, adequate and clear signals.
Today the use of phone while driving, reading and text messages on the wheel has become the vogue all over the country
Seventy Commandments: Over confidence is dangerous and precursor of road crashes Are you a prayer warrior? An experience driver? Are you are familiar with the roads you travel? Do you drive a sleek or state of the art car? Or do you drive an articulated vehicle the size of your vehicle get into your head and cause you to drive aggressively towards others or affect your comportment. Drivers often feel they are masters of the road and tend to allow these and other factors affect their attitudes to road usage. Remember that that machine beyond you although you are the pilot. Never assume that it can never happen to you, Drive by the rules. Driving under the influence of alcohol or hard drugs is dangerous and illegal. This is because alcohol causes over-confidence, poor judgment, lack of coordination and reckleness and also affect your vision. To stay alive, please drink but stay off the wheels. Eight Commandment: thou shall not make or receive calls while
driving Section 4 subsection z (ff) of the Federal Road Safety Commission (Establishment) Act, and 2007, prohibits making or receiving phone calls while driving. In fact, it was because of this ugly trend that as Sector Commander in the Federal Capital Territory, I introduced a compulsory psychiatric test for such offender at the national Hospital, in addition to one week public enlightenment. You would be shocked to know that a good number of those arrested were found mentally unstable. Today the use of phone while driving, reading and text messages on the wheel has become the vogue all over the country. In Abuja, it is the past time for even drivers still struggling to master their grip on the steering. Here in Lagos, Kaduna, Kano and other cities, the madness has even caught up with Okada riders (commercial motorcyclists) and trekkers as they compete with drivers. Phoning-philia is not just a Nigerian problem. It is global. After all human beings exhibit same mannerism irrespective or color or race. In far away England, a Derby hauler was slammed four and half years jail team for causing a fatal crash while talking on a Bluetooth headset. According to care on the Road, a publication of the Royal Society for the prevention of Accident, Marvyn Richmond, aged 49, was so engrossed in a conversation with his mother that he failed to notice traffic ahead of him had come to standstill. He ploughed into the back of the queue, killing a passenger in the van. He was jailed after being convicted at Lincoln Crown Court for causing death by dangerous driving. Richmond, an HGV driver for 25 years was oblivious to all round him because of his 23 minutes call to his mother and did not even apply the brakes of his Scania HGV before ploughing into the traffic. Michael Buston was killed outright, his brother inlaw, Peter Long was badly injured, and the driver of the lorry at the front of the queue, Andrejz Matkowski, lost both arms. According to the report, the fact that he had both hands on the wheel did not alter the fact that he was severely distracted by talking on his Bluetooth headset. The use of hands free, according, with concentration level reduced for 10 minutes after the call had ended. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
07033726351 (Text only)
0708 370 1955
searchinwards@yahoo.com
cedarministriesintl@yahoo.com
Lies We Tell Ourselves (2) The Root Of Conflict Salim’s case isn’t inimitable to him alone, as many have been indulging in such excesses over the years. Yours truly isn’t left out in indulging in self-delusion sometimes too. I won’t say it is human, but it’s a big step forward if we all can actually talk to ourselves once in a while and stop deluding ourselves when serious decisions or situations present themselves to us. It is the root of the conflict we face on a larger scale in Nigeria. Many issues we sugar coat in Nigeria are murkier than we want to admit and if we do not come to terms with them, another century would pass us by in a jiffy and we would still be wallowing in all the issues that confront us today. If we can start doing something about it, starting from self; actually looking ourselves in the mirror and telling ourselves that that dark mole we see on our faces is actually bigger and uglier than we want to believe. Surviving the lies That person staring at us really needs to be spoken to, and we must confront certain realities of our lives. Our indiscipline towards spending moneys we do not have – spending more than we earn; wearing borrowed clothes we cannot afford – just to show off is uncalled for. Scrambling for political positions you are not competent to handle, or staying-put in a position you have been in for four years or more and yet haven’t really achieved or accomplished anything significant for the people that chose or rigged you in is self-delusional. Oh! Did I mention ‘rigged’? Yes. When you know you did not win at the polls and yet survived the lies to yourself for many years? Of course, there wouldn’t be any significant value your soul can add to the community you cheated to be their leader anyway. These and many more are the messy issues we should confront and find answers to, ourselves. Striped garment You know quite well that there are so many people in this country that had been indulging in this kind of egotism or should I call it jamboree about going for Hajj or pilgrimage, instead of engaging in a spiritual journey to search inwards. Rather, it has become a yardstick to make a ‘class statement’ (JP or Alhaji); and this is in conflict with the fundamental purpose of the hajj or pilgrimage.
Approximately, three million people go to Mecca each year from every part of the globe, just as millions of Christians go to Jerusalem, thereby providing a unique opportunity for people from different nations to converge and congregate. Pilgrims wear special clothes Simple garments which strip away distinctions of class and culture stand equally before God-The Supreme. Removing the outer difference and donning the dress of unity-Ihram to accomplish this. The result is that all feel as one in brotherhood and equality. The Hajj is a major example of the universal message of Islam and its teachings on equality. People gather purposely to declare their servitude and loyalty to God alone; thereby freeing themselves from any trace of polytheism and ignorance in a deeply, effective and collective way, which fills the soul with feelings of faith, love and unity. How then can people go there on borrowed moneys when it is said that it violates one of the fundamentals of embarking on the journey in the first place? You are supposed to pay all your outstanding debts before you leave home because you do not know if you would ever return or not? I leave you with the story below and hope that you find meaning and reason to dump the shallow and baseless reasons we go to hajj or pilgrimage these days in Nigeria… The Best Hajj Abdullah Bin al-Mubarak was making his way to perform a Nafl (Umrah) Hajj. When he entered Kuffah, he saw a young woman sitting at a garbage heap plucking a dead duck. It occurred to him that it was carrion. So he asked her if it had been sacrificed. She replied that it had not. “Then why are you plucking it?” he asked bewildered. She replied, “So that my family and I can eat it.” He informed her that it’s impermissible to consume any dead meat or pork in Islam. She said, “My brother and I have only one piece of clothing. We have no food except what we find thrown in the dumps. Carrion becomes permissible for us to consume for some time now (due to severe poverty). Our father used to be rich but his wealth was oppressively seized and he was killed.” Abdullah Ibn al-Mubarak then asked of her family’s whereabouts and she informed him. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
– spending more than we earn; wearing borrowed clothes we cannot afford – just to show off is uncalled for
54 Feature
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Dodo Behaved Like A Member Of The Family –Dan Galadima One sometimes marvels at the special attachment some people have to pets and animals that make them so important in their lives. We have all heard the saying that goes, ‘dog is man’s best friend’ but what about a cow? ZION ZADOK writes about ‘Dodo’ a priceless bull named by its owner for its incredible size and mannerisms.
H
e was called Dodo, the first thing you would see when you enter the Kubwa abattoir and a sight that will surely be missed by not only the owner or other butchers but even customers who frequent the abattoir. Dodo in Hausa means masquerade. It was a name given to this bull probably because of its size and certain mannerisms it exhibited which had people intrigued and excited. Going by its gigantic size, one certainly would expect it to be the owner’s not only most cherished but also most prized possession- one he would surely sell to the highest bidder. However, to the owner, Mallam Abubakar Galadima, Dodo’s worth was far more than a whopping sum of N400,000 or even more. You may ask, what is so special about this cow that makes it so priceless and endearing. Abubakar Galadima popularly known as Dan Galadima, the man who raised Dodo explained why Dodo is no ordinary cow. Dan Galadima who hails from Shagari Local Government of Sokoto State, said he raised Dodo’s mother and she had given birth to four calves before she gave birth to Dodo. He said Dodo was born in Kubwa while the mother cow was with the Fulani herdsmen that tends his cattle. Surprisingly, Dodo was born with three eyes, a feature the herdsmen found to be very scary and so they asked him to come and take the calf away. He said at that time he didn’t take the calf away because it was too small. However, when Dodo was almost a year and was consistently getting sick; the herdsmen brought it to him at the abattoir. At first it was as if Dodo was going to die and severally he had contemplated slaughtering it but the cow surprisingly survived. However, Dodo never leaves the Abattoir for any-
thing, not even to go out and graze like the other cows do and return in the evening. Dan Galadima said over the years Dodo became more endearing and a part of not only him but the entire Kubwa abattoir family. It also became a side attraction to customers who came to buy meat; some would take out time to take a picture with the amazing cow. He said although Dodo was not troublesome, it exhibited some mannerisms like knocking down the motorcycle of whoever usually fed it but failed to do so at that particular time. The cow, he said, had never gone across the road but if it must go out of the gate, it maintains the side of the road where the abattoir is and will usually come back in good time and concentrate on moving round the abattoir. Galadima narrated that Dodo was once picked up by the police and taken to the police station, and the allegation leveled against it was that it entered someone’s farm and ate his crops but after telling the policemen the story of how the cow lives its life, he was immediately released and allowed to go back to the abattoir. Prior to that, the police said Dodo kept ‘crying’ the moment it was brought to the police station as if to say it was wrongly accused. So Dodo became priceless to Galadima who decided not to sell it no matter the amount but to wait for the time God has marked out for it to be slaughtered and the meat distributed as charity. Eventually, after almost six years, Dodo lost its battle with life when it slumped in the abattoir and left Galadima with no option than to slaughter it. There was plenty of meat to take home free of charge for those who worked at the abattoir as well as the customers who initially came to buy meat. While everybody that knew Dodo was not happy that he
A customer at the abbatoir admiring Dodo, while it was alive
had been slaughtered, they were thrilled to share in the blessing of having free meat to eat. Galadima recounts that during the month of Ramadan, someone offered him N400,000 for Dodo but he refused, because he had vowed not to sell this particular cow and indeed he had kept his word. Dan Galadima said Dodo was not sick when it was slaughtered and they didn’t have to tie it down to be slaughtered but he decided it was time for it to be killed because a Fulani man once told him that when it was time for Dodo to be slaughtered, wherever it falls it will not rise again, and that was how it happened. He said Dodo right now has a lot of siblings, both male and female that will either live as long as it lived or not depending on how healthy they turn out to be. He also said the mother cow that gave birth to Dodo has in her linage not less than 27 cows before it was slaughtered. LEADERSHIP Weekend asked if he took part of the meat to eat as the owner, he smiled and said yes, he ate of it too, indeed there is a limit to getting used to an animal. Some people at the abattoir expressed how much they will miss this extraordinary cow: Uba Ba Matsala said he was in the abattoir when Dodo was born and one interesting thing about this cow is that there is nothing human beings eat that it does not eat, until the day it was slaughtered. He said he prays that God provides a replacement for this cow, one that will be as endearing and familiar with people as Dodo is. He said Dodo was almost humanised and they related to it as such. He said Dodo would respond when beckoned and it was more obedient than the other cows. Mallam Sani said if he is asked to describe how much he will miss Dodo he will be beyond words because after the owner
of the cow, he is the next person that the cow was used to in the abattoir. He said while the cow was still young on several occasions it got so close to being slaughtered but then the owner will change his mind and God kept it too. It got to the level where he started exhibiting certain characteristics and intelligence that other cows don’t have. For one, he said it was not troublesome, it did not fight with people or other animals; children would come around and play with it. So all these features endeared this cow to people to the extent that they didn’t want to part with it for he has never seen an animal that behaves this close to a human being. Mallam Sani said early in the morning Dodo would come to the front of his table where he displays and sells meat and sit down for a while as if to say good morning and after an hour or two it would get up and move on. He said in the mornings when other cows are going to graze, it will accompany them from the stable but not go beyond the gate and in the evening when they came back, it will be waiting for them at the gate and lead them back to the stable. This had been a routine for Dodo. He said these are the reasons why the cow was loved and well taken care of until it got to the time when it was time for it to be slaughtered. Mama T, a regular customer at the abattoir said she took interest in the cow after hearing its story. She also discovered it liked bread and so anytime she went there she would come along with bread and the moment it sighted her car, it knew that she had brought bread for it. According to her, it was so incredible relating with this cow that she was sad when she heard it had been been slaughtered and that she will really miss Dodo.
Over the years Dodo became more endearing and a part of not only him but the entire Kubwa abattoir family
Feature 55
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Odunlami Street: Where Honouring The Dead Is Big Business
The duty of giving the dead a befitting burial is one that a lot of Nigerians take seriously. Over the years, one area that has become a one-stop shop for funeral activities in the country is Odunlami Street, on Lagos Island. The street, which is located around one of the busiest business districts in Lagos State, is widely known for casket-making, training pallbearers and conveying the dead from the mortuary to the point of burial. OLUGBENGA SOYELE examines how the multi-million naira business thrives
Caskets on display at one of the funeral homes on Odunlami street
I
t was the popular American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who said in 1850 that, “Of all the events which constitute a person’s biography, there is scarcely one to which the world so easily reconciles itself as to his death. Though everybody agrees that death is inevitable, it is a topic that no one likes to discuss as most people see talking about death in Nigeria as a big taboo or even inviting Mr Death. But in a country where a World Health Organisation statistics put life expectancy at 54 years in its 2012 report, the 17th lowest in the world, death is an everyday reality. The high rate of death in Nigeria has been attributed to a number of factors by public health experts and they include: the level of education and public hygiene, low standard of living, poor access to good food and better healthcare delivery system, poor awareness on public health issues and inefficient management of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Culturally, like other Africans, Nigerians believe that life does not end with death but continues in another realm. This belief is the reason why relatives try to give the deceased a dignified funeral,
sometimes sparing no expenses. The kind of funeral a person gets when he dies is oftentimes tied to his religious and social standing while he was alive. According to Forbes, the cost of burying the dead in the United States of America is very high. The magazine stated that the US funeral industry accounts for about $20 billion in annual economic activity with about 130,000 employees making a living on the 1.5 million people that go to rest each year. Though there is no reliable data on the value of the funeral home industry in Nigeria, it is, however, estimated by players in the industry to be worth at least N200 billion with about 50 thousand people employed directly or indirectly in the sector. Available data however shows that one popular way of burying the dead the world over is with the use of casket. A casket is typically a four-sided rectangular box and it often contains a split-lid for viewing purposes. In Nigeria, the sale of casket has become a big business with a large turnover. This may not be unconnected with the large population and some innovation that has been introduced into the business over the years. One popular location in Nigeria
that has over the years been identified as the ‘home of caskets’ in the country is Odunlami Street in Lagos Island. To a casual observer, there is nothing unique about the street which is located in the heart of one of the busiest business districts in Lagos State. Like other adjoining streets on the Island, Odunlami Street is narrow, with closely knitted houses and it is crowded. But what makes it stand out from other streets is that, the only business being carried out from the beginning of the street to its end is the sale of caskets. The first thing a new visitor to Odunlami Street see any day of the week in the casket market is the open display of locally made and imported caskets of different sizes, colours and designs. Though some of the prosperous outlets like MIC and Ebony have showrooms where their products are displayed, many others conduct the business of casket-selling right along the street. Many people at Odunlami Street have made the business of taking care of the dead and preparing them for interment their chosen careers. And this not only puts food on their tables, it’s a business that is often passed on to their offspring. A resident of the street who claimed that his family has been in the business for over 40 years, Wale Thomas, gave an insight into how the business of making caskets and training pall bearers developed at Odunlami Street. According to him, he was told by his father that a woman, whom the residents of the area popularly refer to as Iya Oniposi, started the business in the area, on a small scale during the colonial era. He also said that one of the earliest people that went into the business in the area was Theophilus Oladipo Okusanya, the father of the late Tunji Okusanya, the owner of MIC Funeral Homes, which is located at 17, Odunlami Street. The late Okusanya, it’s claimed, actually trained most of those engaged in the business today. Thomas further stated that others who engage in casket making and sales on the street included Sir, Mobolaji Bank-Anthony, who started from the importation of
church furniture and later, Tunji Loco, the uncle of the owner of Ebony Caskets, Dehinde Harrison, also joined the business. He said the major reason why there is a large concentration of those engaged in the business on the street was because most of those trained by the pioneers also established their own businesses on the street. However, over the years, the business has grown beyond just casket making and sales as most of the outfits now provide diverse services and have also adopted various marketing principles. These services include sale of clothes and other beauty products for the corpse, provision of pall bearers and band boys, as well as provision of transportation for the corpse. One of the casket makers who has his office on Odunlami Street, Adebayo Jaiyeoba, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the caskets go for different prices depending on the quality. “Our caskets cost between N150,000 and N550,000 for locally made coffins. These are the wooden ones. The imported cost between N1.5million and N8.5million,” Another casket maker, Akeem Ilori, who also has his office on the street said a low-income earner can also afford one as the price range from N30,000 to N250,000. He also said that locally made caskets with different grades of fittings could also cost as much as between N70,000 and N120,000. Ilori also told LEADERSHIP Weekend that depending on the distance, especially between Lagos and other neighbouring towns, getting pall bearers and band boys also attracts different costs. He said, “For instance, it could cost N60,000 to employ the services of a group of six professional pall bearers for a funeral to be held anywhere in Lagos, but N100,000 or more when it involves travelling outside Lagos. “Also, getting the services of a full set of horns men (trumpeters and drummers) will cost N50,000 to N100,000 for an event to be held in Lagos. The same applies to ambulances, which are hired for between N25,000 to N300,000, depending on the brand of vehicles. Justifying the expenses, another casket seller and funeral planner, Taiwo Dawodu, who is one of the managers of Time Limited Funeral Undertakers, at number 49, Odunlami Street, said that it is the last respect the living pay to the dead and it is not out of place to do it in style. Dawodu, who has also been in the business for about three decades, maintained that if there was nobody to do the job of taking care of the dead, it would mean that the dead would be treated with utmost disdain and sent to their eternal journey without any honour. “If one has the means, there is nothing one does for the dead as a mark of honour that is too much. Our job as undertakers is to ensure that the dead receives a befitting funeral,” he said.
Though there is no reliable data on the value of the funeral home industry in Nigeria, it is, however, estimated by players in the industry to be worth at least N200 billion
56 OPINION
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Pastor T. O. Banso Faith 08155744752
cedarministryintl@yahoo.com, cedarministryng@gmail.com
Using Your Gifts Faithfully (2)
G Those who have special gifts for certain things achieve amazing results than the rest not specially gifted in those areas, and they’re so relaxed doing it
od has not given all Christians and ministers the same gifts. He has given us different gifts and we’re to use the gifts that He has given us. 1 Cor 12:4-11 says, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will” (KJV). The Bible likens the church (the body of Christ) to the human body that has many parts performing different functions, and the make-up and location of each part is determined by the functions it’s supposed to perform. Every part is useful and no part can perform all functions – each can only
do that which is given to it to do. All the parts work in cooperation and harmony, and gifts are to be used to bless others not for selfish use. That is the summary of 1 Cor 12:12-31. Rom 12 also talks about the different gifts that God has given believers in the body of Christ to use. These gifts are not the same, and believers are to use whatever gift God has given them. “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness” (Rom 12:4-8 KJV). Get this clear, please: every Christian is expected to win souls but there are those who are specifically gifted to be evangelists; every Christian is called to intercede but there are Christians who have the special gift of intercession etc. Those who have special gifts for certain things achieve amazing results than the rest not specially
gifted in those areas, and they’re so relaxed doing it. Peter was able to identify his place in the body of Christ. He knew his part and used the gift that God had given him. He didn’t play the same role that Dorcas played but each was able to identify his or her place and functioned there. That is what God expects you to do. Have you identified your gift? If you have, use it. Your gift may be different from that of another person but you can’t say you don’t have any gift. The problem is always about using the gift God has given you. Paul told Timothy, his protégé in the ministry, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership” (1 Tim 4:14 NKJV). Peter did not neglect his gift. He identified it and used it. Like he said to the man at the Beautiful Gate born lame from his mother’s womb, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6 NKJV). The gift of money wouldn’t have brought Dorcas back to life; it was the gift of special faith and working of miracles that was needed. Dorcas had silver and gold, which she used generously to provide for the poor and the wid-
ows. And Peter had the gift of special faith and working of miracles which he used and caused Dorcas’ restoration to life. You don’t have everything but certainly there’s something you have – a particular gift, natural (natural ability or talent) or spiritual (gift of the Holy Spirit). I believe God has spoken to you through this message. I’ll continue this message next week. Be a doer of the Word. Use your gifts faithfully. Take Action! If you want to be born again, kindly say this prayer now: “0 Lord God, I come unto you today. I know I’m a sinner and I cannot save myself. I repent of my sins and forsake them. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and surrender my life to him today. I invite Jesus into my heart today. By this prayer, I know I‘m saved. Thank you Jesus for saving me and making me a child of God” I believe you’ve said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You’ll need to join a Bible believing, Bible teaching church in your area where you’ll be taught how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon.
Friday Ebinyi Impactful View impactfulview@gmail.com
Tel: 08150741383 (text only)
Transformation Versus Reformation
Transformation according to English dictionary is the act of transforming or the state of being transformed; it is also a marked change in appearance or character, especially for the better. While reformation is an improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institution or practice etc. intended to make a striking change for the better in social or political or religious affairs. In Christian context, reformation is the act of reforming, correction or amendment of life, manners, or of anything vicious or corrupt, as the reformation of manners, reformation of the age, reformation of abuses. Transformation on the other hand, is a change of heart in man, by which his disposition and temper are conformed to the divine im-
age; a change from enmity to holiness and love. There are lots of assertions and confusion among Christians about which of the subjects, Transformation or Reformation is more important .There is this notion among people that to just believe the gospel makes you a reformed person, though it is not that moral piety doesn’t occur through the gospel but it can occur without the gospel, nor does it signify that a deep heart transformation has taken place. Trying to live a moral life is not the ultimate goal of Christianity. The goal of the Christian is love for God, which can only come from a transformed heart by grace. When moral reformation is the fuel and goal, the heart will seize like an engine without oil. The human heart is made to run
on grace not legalism. God’s desire is for everyone to be transformed. This was cited by Paul the Apostle in Romans 12:2 where he says “… and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”. Reformation of life is when one is moved to become a “Christian”, to act like a “Christian”, to follow Christ’s teachings. He is reformed by his own power and decision to live a better life with the Bible as his guide. He has faith and determination to live a better life in order to be a good Christian since he has made the bible his guiding principle on the way of life. Reformation is not tantamount to salvation. Transformation is synonymous
to terms such as regeneration, justification, sanctification, etc. and in agreement with 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. It describes what takes place at real salvation. A sinner becomes a “new creature” in Christ. The desire of God for every human is to be transformed. He sent his only son to die for our sins so that we can be redeemed and transformed. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. When one is transformed by the Gospel, it creates an avenue where there is prompt obedience to God.
The human heart is made to run on grace not legalism. God’s desire is for everyone to be transformed
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
NORTH CENTRAL CAuCuS OF THE FEDERAL HOuSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Congratulations
on Your turbanning aS
Mutawallen Sokoto Rt. Hon.
Aminu WAziri TAmbuWAl CFr Honourable Speaker, House of Representatives
O
n behalf of the North Central Caucus of the Federal House of Representatives, we heartily congratulate mr. Speaker, rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal CFr on his well-deserved turbanning as the Mutawallen Sokoto by His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar iii CFr today, 27th of September, 2014. Mr. Speaker, this honor bestowed on you by the sultanate is in recognition of your outstanding Leadership Qualities, statesmanship, unbiased political disposition and your numerous contribution to the wellbeing of the people of this country. As you receive this honor today, we pray Almighty Allah to continue to grant you good health, wisdom, foresight and abundant blessings to serve the greater interest of Nigeria.
Congratulations, our Honourable Speaker. Signed:
rt Hon. mohammed muktar Ahmed (Gurara/Suleja/Tafa)
Deputy Chief Whip and Vice President of the ACP-Eu Joint Parliamentary Assembly (Brussels)
NORTH CENTRAL MEMBERS OF THE FEDERAL HOuSE OF REPRESENTATIVES bEnuE STATE 1. Hassan Anthony Saleh 2. Adamu Entono 3. Emmanuel Jime 4. Alaaga Christina 5. Emmanuel udele 6. Hember Iorwase 7. Okwu Samson 8. Ezekiel Adaji 9. Emmanuel Yisa 10. John Dyegh 11. Aboho Benjamin FCT 1. Isah Dobi 2. Jisalo Zephaniah
(Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu) (Apa/Agatu) (Makurdi/Guma) (Gwer East/Gwer West) (Katsina Ala/Logo/ukum) (Konshisha/Vandekiya) (Obi/Oju) (Ohimini/Otukpo) (Buruku) (Gboko/Tarka) (Kwande/ushogo) (Abaji/Gwagwalada/Kuje /Kwali) (AMAC/Bwari)
KOGi STATE 1. Adulrahaman Badamasiu (Adavi/Okehi) 2. Mohammed Idirisu (Ankpa/Omala/Olamoboro) 3. Zakari Tom (Dekina Bassa) 4. Ismaila Hussein (idah/Ibaji/Igalamela/Ofu)
5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Yusuf Tajudeen Sadiq Mohammed Yusuf Tijani Karim Sunday Steve umar Buba Jibrin
(Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu) (Ajaokuta) (Okene/Ogori-Magongo) (West/Mopa) (Lokoja/Kogi)
KWArA STATE 1. Mustafa Moshood (Ilorin West/Asa) 2. Alh. Zakari Mohammed (Baruten/Kaima) 3. Ali Ahmad (Ilorin East/Ilorin South) 4. Rafiu Ibrahim (Ifelodun/Offa/Oyun) 5. Ahman-Pategi Aliyu (Edu/Moro/Pategi) 6. Aiyedun Olayinka Akeem (Ekiti/Isin/Irepodun/Oke-Ero) nASArAWA STATE 1. Mohammed Onawo 2. David Ombugadu 3. Ahmed Ishaq Kana 4. Kigbu Joseph Haruna 5. Musa Onwana Baba
(Awe/Doma/Keana) (Awanga/Nassarawa Eggon) (Keffi/Karu/Kokoma) (Lafia/Obi) (Nassarawa/Toto)
niGEr STATE 1. Ibrahim Ebbo (Angaie/Lapai) 2. Abdulmalik usman Cheche (Bida/Gbako/Katcha) 3. Salihu Shadaffi (Boso/Paikoro) 4. Mohammed Muktar Ahmed (Gurara/Suleja/Tafa) 5. Mohammed Sani Kutigi (Edati/Lavun/Mokwa) 6. Haliru Zakari (Agwara/Borgu) 7. Abdullahi Mohammed Ricco (Shiroro/Rafi/Munya) 8. Idris Garba (Kontagora/Wushishi/Mariga) 9. Atiku Shamaki (Magama Rijau) 10. umar Mohammed Bago (Chanchaga) PlATEAu STATE 1. Bitrus Kaze 2. Mwaakon Simeon 3. Aminu Jonathan 4. Emmanuel Goar 5. Lar Beni South) 6. Innocent Zettet 7. Idris Ahmed 8. Suleiman Kwande
(Jos South/Jos) (Barkinladi/Riyom) (Mangu/Bokkos) (Pankshin/Kanke/Kanem) (Langtang North/Langtang (Shendam/Mikang/Qua’an/Pan) (Wase) (Bassa/Jos East)
58
Congratulations Saturday, September 27, 2014
ON YOUR TURBANING AS
MUTAWALLEN SOKOTO
We wish to state that this is a proof that you stand out among men of honour. You are deserving of the honour being bestowed on you today by the good people of Sokoto and we congratulate you.
RT. HON. AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL CFR
Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria
HOUSE COMMITTEEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY Hon. Chukwudi Victor J. Onyereri (Chairman) Hon. Haruna Manu Deputy Chairman Hon. Shehu N. Garba Hon. Munir B. Dan’Agundi Hon. Suleiman Salisu Hon. Mohammed S.U Kalgo Hon. Aliyu S. Madaki Hon. Abdullahi Balarabe Salame
Hon. Lawal Anka Hassan Hon. Azodo Eucharia Hon. Linus Okorie Hon. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi Hon. Ini Udoka Hon. Mutu Nicholas Ebomo Hon. Iriase Pally Hon. Apiafi Betty
Hon. Zakari O. Tom Hon. Ishaq Ahmed Kana Hon. Umar M. Bago Hon. Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim Hon. Isa Hassan Mohammed Hon. Lawal Yahaya Gumau Hon, Ali Yakubu Hon. Rafeequat A. Onabamiro
Hon. William Olusegun Samuel Hon. Moshood Bakare Hon. Fakeye O. Julius Hon. Murtala Kayode Adewale Busari Hon. Micah Umoh Hon. Mohammed Sani Kutigi Hon. Olumide Babatunde Osoba M. D Ibrahim (Clerk)
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
All Hail The New Mutawallen Sokoto Speaker, you got it again! We salute you on the occasion of your turbaning as the Mutawallen Sokoto. In you we see the sublime in the words of a great sage. having worked with you, we have seen you deploy uncommon diligence, dexterity and integrity in your duty as Speaker. There is no gainsaying the fact that this is an Honour well deserved. As always, I am very proud of you and happy that Nigeria is lucky to have a patriot like you.
Congratulations Sir!
Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, CFR
Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Signed:
Hon. (Dr.) Ife Arowosoge Member, House of Representatives Representing Ikere & Ise-Orun Federal Constituency, Ekiti State
60 news
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Killings: Southern Kaduna Accuses FG Of Neglect “ It is on record that even in sitPastors Declare Vote Of ical Church Winning All (ECWA) playing politics with the people’s lives by not speaking out when in Kaduna State yesterday asked uations where the communities No Confidence On Yero BY Kunle Olasanmi, Abuja and Midat Joseph, Kaduna
A coalition of Southern Kaduna civil societies have at a press conference in Abuja accused the federal government of not taking adequate and urgent steps to end the killings in their area, as well as identifying the attackers and bringing them to book. Also, 38 pastors of the Evangel-
the state governor to step aside if he cannot end the continuous killings of Christian farmers in southern Kaduna. The civil societies stated that they are weary of petitioning, protesting, demonstrating and appealing to the government to end the killing, adding that drastic measures must be taken to bring peace back to the area. Vincent Bodam, who read the statement, further accused government officials from the area of
they should. “Indeed, the more effort our people have made towards ending this bloodshed, the more ferocious and frequent the attacks have become. These attacks have occurred despite the presence of security forces in the area. The response of government to the killings has been rather very lackadaisical and merely palliative, without any concrete effort or measure to forestall future attacks and or apprehend the attackers and bring them to justice.
have captured the perpetrators redhanded, while in the act of terrorising our communities and handed them over to security forces, none has been prosecuted in court.” Some of the CSOs present at the briefing include Southern Kaduna Women Lawyers Forum, represented by Gloria Mabiem Ballason; SOKAPU (youth wing), represented by Sebastine Luka; Gurara Forum, represented by Vincent Bodam and Francis Kozah Esq of Southern Kaduna Lawyers Forum.
short news Delta Police Arrest Man For Alleged Robbery Police detectives in Asaba, Delta State have arrested a 24year-old man who claimed to be a student of Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka, after he had allegedly connived with armed robbers to snatch his ex-girlfriend’s car. Reports state that the suspect, Ifeanyi Uchechukwu, was the victim’s exlover. The victim, who is a mother of two was said to have contacted him, complaining her children were suffering from a strange ailment. The suspect had linked her with an herbalist who promised to cure the children. It was reliably gathered that the native doctor after examining the kids, charged the lady N120,000 for his services which was paid instantly after which the herbalist gave the woman the medicine to give the children. By Kola EkeOgiugo, Asaba
Benue: Fulani Herdsmen Kill 4, Scores Missing Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen yesterday attacked the Tse Shima, Mbatsoho community of Mballagh council ward in Makurdi local government area of Benue State, raping women and killing four persons. The armed herdsmen also destroyed farmlands, just as scores were declared missing. The ugly incident occurred at about 3pm when the villagers had gone to their farms. Survivors of the attack who narrowly escaped death, narrated that they had gone to their farms, situated behind the NASME Barracks to fetch firewood when the herders attacked them and raped girls in the process. Yesterday, at the Police C Division in the Northbank area of Makurdi, LEADERSHIP Weekend witnessed the mutilated corpses of the deceased been conveyed to the place by an armed security search party that had combed the attacked village. The corpses were later deposited at the General Hospital, Northbank mortuary. Family members and sympathisers thronged to the hospital to confirm the fates of their loved ones and fellow villagers. A 13-year-old girl, Nyieshile, had a deep cut on her neck and could not speak while she was being attended to by medical personnel at the General hospital in Northbank. By Solomon Ayado, Makurdi
L-R: Chairman, Abuja National Mosque Management Board, Alh Yahaya Abubakar; Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura; former president, Alh Shehu Shagari and Vice President Namadi Sambo, at the 54th Independence Day Celebration Special Juma’at Prayers at the National Mosque Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO BY REMI AKUNLEYAN
A/Ibom: Woman Buries Baby In Synagogue Collapsed Building: Lagos Begins Identification Of Corpses Shallow Grave
lieve their relations could have been in Calls For DNA Samples From analysis of recovered bodies. Idris explained that forensic identhe collapsed building to visit the DeRelatives BY GEORGE OKOJIE, Lagos
Lagos State government yesterday said it has commenced the identification of recovered bodies from the Synagogue Guest House collapse that killed over 100 people recently in Lagos State. The state’s commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris who revealed this to newsmen, urged family members and all nationals who believe their relations were in the collapsed building to come forward and submit samples to aid forensic identification and DNA
tification, including DNA analysis of the bodies recovered from the site of the collapsed building inside the premises of the Synagogue of All Nations (SCOAN), Ikotun, will help the government release the corpses to the right families. He added that the state government has considered it necessary to start forensic identification and DNA analysis of the recovered bodies to identify each of them. The commissioner appealed to family members, especially parents, children and siblings of nationals who be-
partment of Forensic Medicine at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) at the Ikeja area of the state. He said government health officials will be on ground in the hospital from Friday 26th September, 2014 to attend to relatives coming to submit samples that can aid the forensic identification and DNA analysis of recovered bodies. Idris pointed out that those eligible to give samples for the forensic identification and DNA analysis in order of preference include; parents, children and siblings of the deceased.
N503m Scam: We’ll Appeal Lagos Speaker’s Acquittal – EFCC By BODE GBADEBO, Abuja and Olugbenga Soyele, Lagos
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has said it will appeal against yesterday’s ruling of Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos, which acquitted the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji and his aide, Oyebode Atoyebi. Ikuforiji and Atoyebi have been
standing trial on a 54-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N503 million since 2013. In a statement by the agency’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, made available to LEADERSHIP Weekend in Abuja,the commission stated that it would explore the option of appeal to bring the accused persons to justice. Justice Buba had ruled that the prosecution failed to prove its case against the accused persons, saying
the trial was “anachronistic,” and that the prosecution “misconstrued and misinterpreted the Money Laundering Act”. EFCC revealed that the lead defence counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), had prayed the court to discountenance the charges preferred against Ikuforiji, saying that, the Money Laundering Act 2004, with which the accused person was charged, have been repealed and re-
placed with the Money Laundering Act 2011, and so should not have been used in charging him while Atoyebi’s counsel, Tunde Akinbisi, aligned his submissions with the arguments of Olanipekun. Justice Buba upheld Olanipekun’s submissions and ruled that “the first and second defendants are hereby discharged and acquitted” but the EFCC opposed the ruling saying, the learned judge erred in this ruling.
Police in Akwa Ibom said they have arrested a middle-aged woman who buried her one-day old baby in a shallow grave in the state. The state police commissioner, Gabriel Achong who made the revelation yesterday in Uyo during his maiden chat with journalist, said the woman, Patience Sunday, was arrested at Afaha Abia village in Nsit Ibom local government area of the state. Achong decried the attitude of some mothers who conceive without adequate preparation for the care of the babies when they are born. He explained that the woman was arrested by the police after a tip off from a Good Samaritan in the area. The police commissioner therefore advised youths in the state, especially girls to always exercise caution in their dealings with men to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Achong, who regretted the current high level of moral decadence among children, urged parents to keep a keener eye on their female children in order to avoid unpleasant consequences. By Bernard Tolani Dada Uyo
Saturday, September 27, 2014
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
Committee on Land transport HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
We Rejoice with You
Mr. Speaker!
We congratulate and rejoice with you, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Speaker House of Representatives on the occasion of your turbaning as Mutawallen Sokoto by His Eminence, Alh. Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto. Honour has always been one of the rewards for accomplishment. This honour is not just for you but the entire parliamentarians who believe in your leadership and zest for good governance, rule of law and justice in our dear country. May Allah continue to be your guide and guardian. Once again, Congratulations!
Signed::
rt. Hon. WaZiri aminU tamBUWaL CFr
Speaker, House of Representatives
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.
Hon mUsa sarKin-adar, CHairman Hon soKonte H. daVies, depUtY CHairman Hon. Kareem taJUdeen aBisodUn Hon. emmanUeL L. Goar Hon. peter ede Hon. moHammed aLi WUdiL Hon. aKinLaJa JosepH Hon. YaCooB eKUndaYo aLeBiosU Hon. JepHtaH FoinGHa Hon. saVioUr F. UdoH Hon. oFor CHUKWUeGBo Hon. daVid emmanUeL omBUGadU Hon. adeoLa soLomon Hon. aHmed BaBBa Kaita Hon. GarBa Umar LaWan Hon. Goni BUKar LaWan Hon. aBdULLaHi BaLaraBe saLame Hon. HaLirU ZaKari JiKantoro Hon danieL asUQUo Hon. sani Umar Hon. YUsUF BaLa Hon. eZenWa onYeWUCHi Hon. adeYinKa aJaYi Hon. eZeKieL aWULU adaJi Hon. YaKUBU doGara Hon. nasir s. Garo Hon. oGBaBUrHon aUstin Hon. aisHatU daHirU aHmed
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION AND NATIONAL ORIENTATION
HEARTY CHEERS TO A DEPEnDAblE lEADER
W
e the members of the House Committee on Information and National Orientation rejoice with you on your turbaning as the Mutawallen Sokoto by His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto. Your ability to ensure all inclusive and bipartisan running of the affairs of the House of Representatives explains your high level of courage and integrity. These qualities have gone a long way in strengthening the unity of the country. Your turbaning is well deserved and is a reflection of your patriotism and commitment to nation building.
CONGRATULATIONS! Rt. Hon. Aminu WAziRi tAmbuWAl CFR Honourable Speaker, House of Representatives SIGNED Hon. Umar BUBa JiBril Chairman
Hon. Ganama Titsi Kwaga Hon. Victor A. Ogene Hon. Yakubu Dogara Hon. Hassan Saleh Anthony Hon. Christiana Alaga Hon. Mohammed T. Monguno Hon. Ndudi G. Elumelu Hon. Ikhariale Patrick Hon. Oyetunde O. Ojo
Hon. KaKo aBayomi are Deputy Chairman
Hon. Kingsley Ebenyi Hon. Mbadiwe Eddie Hon. Khabeeb Mustapha Hon. Jagaba Adams Jagaba Hon. Tijjani Abdulkadir Jobe Hon. Muhammed B. Galadanchi Hon. Ibrahim Babangida Hon. Yusuf Ayo Tajuddeen
Hon. Lanre Odubote Hon. Abayomi A. Ayeola Hon. Abike Dabiri Erewa Hon. Busari O. Sikiru Hon. Emmanuel Goar Lokji Hon. Ogbonna Nwuke Hon. Sokonte Davies Hon. Kabiru M. Achida Hon. Muhammad Bello Mutawalle
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
Congratulations
Mutawallen Sokoto On behalf of my family my humble self, i say a big congratulations to a dear friend and brother, rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal CFr on his turbaning today as Mutawallen Sokoto by His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alh. (Dr.) Sa’ad Abubakar lll CFr, mni. i am confident that this title will propel you to strengthen your service to humanity and the nation.
Congratulations!
SIGNED
Rt Hon.
Aminu WAziRi TAmbuWAl CFR
Honourable Speaker, House of Representatives
Dr. AbubAkAr bukolA SArAki CoN Turaki of llorin
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weekend politics Saturday, September 27, 2014
Politics Editor Weeklies: UCHENNA Awom
The Evolving Opposition To Jonathan’s Endorsement Chibuzo Ukaibe, in this reports looks at the fallout of the overwhelming endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan as sole candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 presidential elections.
T
he euphoria after the celebrated endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2015 presidential election is now faced with a fresh hurdle, albeit, at the judiciary. Daring the posture of the PDP NEC which overwhelmingly endorsed President Jonathan, some members of the party have gone to Federal High Court and the Appeal Court to halt the moves by the party ahead of 2015.
His fundamental human rights as a Nigerian and as a financial member of the PDP had been breached as a result of the endorsement of Jonathan
They are asking that the resolutions of the National Executive Committee (NEC), the Board of Trustees (BoT) and the PDP Governors’ Forum that endorsed President Jonathan be quashed. The appeal, instigated by Dr Umar Ardo, with Cyriacus Njoku as appellant and President Jonathan, PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as respondents, seeks to resurrect a case in suit number: FCT/ HC/CV/2449/2012 between Cyriacus Njoku vs Goodluck Jonathan delivered on March 1, 2013. The High court had ruled in favour of President Jonathan. But reviving the case, Ardo, who said he is desirous of
contesting the election to the office of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is slated to hold on or before February 2015, argued that his fundamental human rights as a Nigerian and as a financial member of the PDP had been breached as a result of the endorsement of Jonathan by the PDP, NEC and other organs of the party. The appeal filed on September 23 and signed Dr Amuda Kannike (SAN) and Doueyi Fiderikumo on behalf of Ardo, further picked holes in the decision of the lower court in the FCT which has generated “grave points of constitutional law and jurisprudence that is the first of its kind in Nigeria.” Ardo argued that “President Jonathan was sworn in as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and he took the oath of office as president to complete the unexpired tenure between May 29, 2007 and May 28, 2011. “The votes used by President Jonathan to be sworn in as president of Nigeria came from the votes in favour of Jonathan as vice-president and the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua during the 2007 presidential election.” He cited “section 135(2) of the Constitution does not state that the provision will not apply to a situation where a person assumes the position
Jonathan
of president in the circumstance where a president dies while in office. “Section 137 (1) of the constitution applies to President Jonathan when he assumed the office of president upon the demise of Yar’Adua,” he said. But the appeal case is just one hurdle for the PDP
and Jonathan over the endorsement. Two suits are also pending before Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to stop Jonathan from running for the Office of the President in 2015. In one of the suits filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja last Friday, by members of the PDP and as reported, as well as members of the All Progressives
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This Week On Backlash
Last week, various organs of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), including the National Executive Council (NEC), Board of Trustees (BoT) and the PDP Governors’ Forum, adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole candidate of the party for the 2015 presidential election. While some Nigerian’s especially members of the party have hailed the development, the move has been criticised by others who see it as a deliberate effort to shut out other aspirants. The All Progressives Congress (APC) in a statement, described the party’s action as undemocratic and an indication that the party lacks internal democracy. But the PDP, through the Chairman of its governors’ forum lashed back, saying the APC is clearly rattled by the development.
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
Backlash
Jonathan’s Endorsement, Mockery Of Democracy – APC
I While endorsements are part and parcel of democracy, they are never done to the exclusion of other candidates. This is simply not democratic
n the wake of President Goodluck Jonathan’s emergence as sole candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the endorsement, which it faults for excluding other candidates, as a mockery of democracy. National publicity secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the endorsement came at a great price to Nigerians, considering what it called the “obvious deals that were struck to make President Jonathan the sole PDP candidate”. “Obviously, those fellows in the PDP have never heard of the saying that those who must come to equity must come with clean hands. PDP, where is your own internal democracy now that you have turned your party into a fiefdom controlled by one and only one person only?” the party statement read. “While endorsements are part and parcel of democracy, they are never done to the exclusion of other candidates. This is simply not democratic. When then candidate Barrack Obama was endorsed by his party’s bigwigs to contest the US presidency, the party never excluded Hillary Clinton from its primaries. That’s how it is done.” The party said the price be-
ing paid for Jonathan’s endorsement by Nigeria is simply too heavy, considering that the PDP governors who spearheaded the endorsement have now secured perpetual immunity from prosecution by anti-graft bodies, including the EFCC and the ICPC; the automatic tickets for all first-term PDP governors, whether or not they have performed, the automatic tickets for all PDP governors running for the Senate, as well as the free ride back to the Upper Chamber, for Senate president, David Mark. ”It is now an “Open Sesame” for the PDP governors, who have no prying anti-corruption agencies watching over their shoulders. They can now simply see the commonwealth as an extension of their deep pockets. The endorsement is also a vote of approval for the proceeds of corruption that have been powering the noisy and outrageous Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN),” it said. APC accused President Jonathan of desecrating the country’s democracy because of his desperation for re-election, adding: ”It is a cruel irony that a man who has benefited, more than anyone else, from this democracy has been the one who has been doing everything possible to undermine it.”
Mohammed
The party said President Jonathan has also abandoned domestic issues while seeking international relevance, in a clear negation of the aphorism that, charity begins at home.
”Mr. President, it is only when you have achieved success domestically that you can parade yourself internationally. You cannot look good abroad if you look ugly at home,” it said.
The Evolving Opposition To Jonathan’s Endorsement 65
Congress (APC), they among others, sought to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) from allowing President Jonathan to participate in the 2015 presidential election. The suit marked: FHC/ABJ/ CS/662/2014, with Adejumo Mansouru Ajagbe (a member of the PDP from Lagos State) and Olatoye Wahab (a member of the APC from Osun State) as plaintiffs, listed the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation (AGF) and minister of Justice and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants. The plaintiffs argued that by the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the president, having contested the presidential election twice, won and taken the oath of office and allegiance twice in respect that office,
could no longer present himself for election to that office the third time. The case was filed last Friday by James Ocholi, A. J. Owonikoko, Okon Efut and Mahmu Magaji (all SANs) and has been assigned to Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed for hearing. They relied on the provisions of sections 132(1), 135(2)(a) and (b), 137(1)(b), 142(1) and (2) and the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Marwa and Nyako (2012) 6 NWLR (Part 1296) 199 at 306. The plaintiffs argued that by the provision of the constitution, the president and vice-president, who were elected in the same election and sworn into office on the same date and at the same ceremony are, in law, taken to have been elected for one single term of four years notwithstanding the death or even impeachment of
the president. “That being so, the reference to “two previous elections” in Section 137(1)(b) of the Constitution includes two previous oath of allegiance and oath of office as President. It is therefore safe to conclude that a vice-president, who had taken the oath of allegiance and oath of office for two previous terms as president is, in law, deemed to have been elected into the office of president at two previous elections, thereby standing disqualified to contest another election into that office.” However, how far those propagating the anti-sole candidature of Jonathan party are willing to go, is still a matter of conjecture. Whether or not they are seeking attention for the party for consideration in the scheme of things is another matter altogether. The party will nonetheless
hold its presidential convention on December 6 this year as the spokesman of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, has clarified. It is expected that the convention, which is the highest decision making body of the party, will be more like an affirmation of the NEC’s resolution, to avoid the hammer of INEC. But, Metuh however believes that all responsible party members will comply with the decision of the NEC to abide by the sole adoption of Jonathan. Specifically addressing the issue of other aspirants contesting the party’s presidential ticket, Metuh said, “This is a decision by highest making organ of the party and we expect all responsible and respectable members of the party to comply accordingly.” However, elder statesman ➔ CONTINUES ON PAGE 67
The party will nonetheless hold its presidential convention on December 6 this year as the spokesman of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, has clarified
weekend politics 67
Saturday, September 27, 2014
the lashback
APC Is Rattled Over Jonathan’s Adoption – Akpabio
I think the opposition is rattled. Any time that the PDP makes a move and the opposition is criticising, then you know that that thing is biting them and if they praise you, you should be worried
Chairman of the PDP governors forum and the executive governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio, justified the adoption of President Goodluck Jonathan as PDP’s sole candidate, declaring that noise raised by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is an indication that they are rattled by the development. Akpabio further described the decision of the national executive committee of the PDP to adopt President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole presidential candidate of the party for the 2015 general elections as a well calculated exercise in democracy. Governor Akpabio who made the declaration in Akwa Ibom during the PDP performance publicity tour led by the PDP national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh said, “The opposition is rattled because of the ability of the governors and leaders of the PDP to sacrifice their individual ambitions and rally behind the president who has performed exceedingly well.” “The adoption by NEC is democracy in action. In America, that we are copying, the incumbent president does not go through primaries. We are not saying that the president will not face the general elections. So the idea of him spending presidential time instead of facing insurgency, food insufficiency and other things that may affect the country and begin to campaign for the party ticket when he is already the
incumbent president is what we want to avoid. I think this is a very fantastic model of internal democracy.” “What we only said and did is, let’s sacrifice our individual ambition so that Mr. President will have a second term. We are not saying that other people should not contest election, but saying that as PDP governors, that we want to join hands and support him to win the second term. It does not mean that any person who wants to contest should not contest. We are indeed deepening democracy by sacrificing our own ambition. “ The governor added that the PDP governors, with that decision also resolved to stabilise the party and avoid the unfortunate situation that leaves the party fractured after primary elections. “Instead of fracturing the party at the end of the convention, we want to move as one family to elect the presidential candidate at the convention; and that is democracy in action. So I don’t think anybody should criticise it, rather we should be commended for not behaving like past governors who by now , nine or fifteen of them would have declared for presidency and then confusion will start in the party. So the people who sacrificed their ambition to support the president; should they be castigated or commended? I must therefore thank the PDP NEC for adopting the position of the PDP governors. It is left for
Akpabio
the National Convention to ratify. This is evidence that Nigeria is changing.” “I think the opposition is rattled. Any time that the
PDP makes a move and the opposition is criticising, then you know that that thing is biting them and if they praise you, you should be worried. “
The Evolving Opposition To Jonathan’s Endorsement ➔ FROM PAGE 66
and former information federal commissioner, Chief Edwin Clark, brushed off the petitions and urged the leadership of PDP to do same. Clark, in an open letter on Thursday, addressed to the PDP national chairman, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Muazu, said their petition is ill-motivated and sponsored by PDP detractors who mean harm and would stop at nothing to heat up the polity unnecessarily and in fact “even derail our growing democracy.”
Clarke in the letter titled “Umar Ardo’s False Representation of Law and Facts Bears No Relevance to President Jonathan’s Reelection in 2015” said, “at this point, what is required of every PDP stakeholder is a camaraderie bonding of fellowship that will see our great party to victory in the 2015 general election. All stakeholders must therefore close ranks and work assiduously to move the party to its zenith and era glory.” While the suspense builds over an outcome that cannot
be easily predicted, the endorsement palaver is already perceived as Supreme Court bound. But more troubling for the party is the distraction value of the case and it propensity to slow it’s strides ahead of the 2015 election, offering a head start to the opposition APC, that is if they get a much less rancor-free presidential primary. However, a pro-Jonathan group, National Coalition for Jonathan and Sambo Presidency (NACOJSP) has forecasted that any attempt
to stop President Jonathan through the Supreme Court, as an exercise in futility. They declared that the issue of eligibility of Jonathan to seek re-election in the 2015 presidential election has been settled by courts of competent jurisdictions, adding that those planning to approach the Supreme Court to revisit the matter, were merely “wasting their time to re-open a settled case.” Still, the ability of the party to nip the post endorsement hurdle in the bud as timely as possible will be instructive.
68 news across the states
AFCON: Keshi Names Enyeama, Moses, 22 Others For Sudan By Salifu Usman, Abuja
Super Eagles head coach, Stephen Keshi has named Lille of France goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, Victor Moses of Stoke City and 22 others for next month’s 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier match against Sudan in Khartoum. Keshi has also invited handful of new faces, including former junior international Raheem Lawal, China –based striker Aaron Samuel and relatively unknown Anyora Ugonna, who plays in Norway for the mustwin encounter. World Cup revelation Babatunde Michael also make a return to the team after the first two games against Congo in Calabar and Bafana Bafana of South Africa respectively to injury. Reading of England’s Hope Akpan and Austria –based
forward Sunday Emmanuel were also included in the team. African champions Nigeria must win both matches against pointless Sudan next month to have any realistic chance of reaching the finals in Morocco early next year. THE FULL LIST: Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama Austin Ejide and Chigozie Agbim. Defenders: Elderson Echiejile, Juwon Oshaniwa, Efe Ambrose, Godfrey Oboabona, Azubuike Egwuekwe and Kenneth Omeruo. Midfielders: John Mikel Obi, OgenyiOnazi, Nosa Igiebor, Omatsone Aluko, Hope Akpan Raheem Lawal and Anyora Ugonna. Forwards: Ahmed Musa, Emmanuel Emenike, Gbolahan Salami, Osaguona Ighodaro, Victor Moses, Aaron Samuel and Babatunde Michael.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
2015: APC Has No Zoning Arrangement – Oyegun BY bayo oladeji, Abuja
The Presidential candidate of the leading All Progressives Congress (APC) could come from any of the six geo-political zones of the Federation since the party has no zonal arrangement, the party’s national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has said. Speaking with journalists shortly after the party’s NEC meeting in Abuja, Odigie-Oyegun welcomed the level of interest generated by those wishing to compete for the APC presidential ticket. “As far as the party is concerned, the more, the merrier because they help in the process of
membership mobilisation, particularly when they are from different parts of the country. And we have not put any geographical barriers as to who becomes our presidential candidate. We hope to seize the political space when the candidates come out and this will happen almost weekly from now,” the party chairman stated. Responding to a question if the APC may consider adopting a zoning arrangement, Oyegun said the party is looking for the best candidate and as such has decided to throw the contest open to all contenders from any part of country. “No, we are not zoning. We want the best to come every part of
the country. The person who puts food on your table is your brother while the person who is depriving you of food, you will not just say because he is your brother that you will keep voting for him”, he said. The chairman also said the party is set for the Adamawa by-election, except for the legal tussle going brought up by the sacked deputy governor who is laying claim to the right to occupy the governorship. Meanwhile, the former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) on October 8 make known presidential interest in the presidential poll under the platform of the party.
Enyimba, Heartland Set For Oriental Derby In Aba By Salifu Usman, Abuja
Followers of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) in the eastern part of the country are sure to witness another thrilling football encounter on Sunday as Enyimba International of Aba host Heartland FC of Owerri in Aba.
Both teams have a misfortune of the Week 28 fixtures at midweek where the Owerri outfit inflicted a 2-0 defeat on bottom club, Nembe City, and Enyimba’s hope of closing in on Kano Pillars at the top of the table was dashed at Lobi as goalkeeper Terkaa Melai’s lone strike gave his side the three points at stake.
Zazzau Emirate Council Member Murdered In Kaduna By Isaiah Benjamin, Kaduna
The Dokajin Cika Soron Zazzau, Ungwan Muazu District in Zazzau Emirate Council, Alh Kabiru Buhari, has been murdered by yet to be identified gunmen in Kaduna. His car and body were discovered by a combined security and community search team yesterday at about 3:50pm at his farm near Maigiginya in Nariya, Kabala West, Kaduna with gunshot wound on his head. The Cika Soron Zazzau and Hakimin Ungwan Muazu, Alh Ahmed Aliyu Idris in an interview with newsmen at the burial ground yesterday, said, “ today, Friday, we lost our council member, the Dokajin Ungwan Muazu, Kabiru Y. Buhari “We closed from council with him around 5pm on Thursday where I think he proceeded to his farm Maigiginya. His family later alerted us on Friday morning that he didn’t sleep at home. So, we reported to the police and commenced a search operation. “His body was found inside his farm with his car parked around the farm round 3-4pm on Friday.
“We have left everything to God to judge whoever has hand in his death or any other innocent persons killed,” he said in a soba mood. The late Buhari, 56, is survived by one wife and five children. The area has suffered several attack by unknown gunmen. Most recently were the killing of a petrol station manager carting away undisclosed amount of money and that of a lecturer with the Shehu Idris College of a Health Technology both of which occurred in Kinkinau GRA,Ungwan Muazu District, Kaduna. On whether he is satisfied with the actions taken by the police to curtail the rampant killings in the area, Cika Soron Zazzau said, “honestly I can’t say because I don’t think they are doing much to stop this killings in the society. They always say that they are searching for the killers.” The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Aminu Lawal while confirming the incident said the police took part in the search of the Dokaji and have commenced investigation into the killing.
Wife of Katsina State Govenor, Hajiya Fatima Shehu Shema (Second right) when she visited children suffering sickle cell anaemia, recently. PHOTO: GOVERNMENT HOUSE
Cameroonian Military Capture Boko Haram Top Commander, Abakar Ali Cameroonian soldiers have captured Abakar Ali, one of the top commanders of insurgent fighters belonging to the Islamist group, Boko Haram according to an online news medium, Saharareporters. Saharareporters also said the Cameroonian army seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the Islamist militants during the operation. Abakar Ali who also goes by the name “Mustapher Umar” was caught with 5 machine guns, 14 rifles, 24 rockets, 4 rocket launchers, 6 Kalashnikovs, 60 Kalashnikovs magazines, 4 automatic pistols ,
over 500 9mm ammunition, 469 12.7mm ammunition, 4,454 7.62 mm ammunition, 1,491 5.56 mm ammunition, 822 ammunition of 7.62 mm, 6 grenades, 28 rocket launcher chargers and other weaponized accesories like pincers, tweezers and knives. A mid-level Nigerian military officer, who is serving with a multinational force that operates around the Nigeria-Cameroon border, revealed the information to SaharaReporters via telephone. He disclosed that Cameroonian soldiers nabbed Ali along with two other Boko Haram fighters in Kousseri, a town in
northern Cameroon. Our source described Ali as the insurgent commander who has been leading the Islamist sect’s attacks around border towns between Nigeria and Cameroon. He added that the arrested insurgent shuttled between various Boko Haram camps in the area and organised deadly attacks that targeted mostly civilians. The Nigerian officer stated that the Cameroonian military was expected to share intelligence with their Nigerian counterparts regarding any confessions made by the captured terrorist during interrogation.
FCT Christian Pilgrims Board Screens Intending Pilgrims By AGBO-PAUL AUGUSTINE, Abuja
The FCT Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board has conducted screening exercise for intending pilgrims from the FCT scheduled for next month to the holy land. In the speech to flag off the October/November 2014 screening exercise in Abuja, the executive secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, John Kennedy Opara JP, noted that Christian Pilgrimage is a tool for moral transformation that will
lead to national change. The executive secretary who was represented by Mrs Uneku Ughoro, commissioner for North Central Zone said, “On every occasion we take intending pilgrims to Israel, both Federal and State Governments always counsel their citizens to pray for Nigeria and our leaders at all levels. I have no doubt that the level of stability we enjoy as a nation is the answer to our prayers. You can imagine what would have happened if Nigerians are not praying,” she said.
In his remarks, the director, Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, Dr Lazarus Gaza informed that 2,000 pilgrims are expected to be air-lifted for the October/November 2014 Holy Pilgrimage. He enumerated different stages of screening exercise to be conducted for intending pilgrims which includes medical screening, immigration check-ups, scrutinising of information supplied in the forms of all intending pilgrims, as well as the validity of the applicant’s international passport.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
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Saturday, September 27, 2014
Nze Duru, Where Have You Been? By Barr EzEugo
Nze Duru, where have you been? His sudden reappearance rent the air on Monday September 15, 2014 during the PDP rally in Ihiala, Anambra State as the former member of the House of Representatives, Nze Chidi Duru alighted from his vehicle. Like Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar, my mission is not to praise Nze Duru but to appraise him. I was compelled to go into the political archives to determine what precipitated the thunderous and ovational welcome received by this rising political star that, all of a sudden, made a retreat from the political space, only to resurface. ‘A prophet, we are made to believe, is without honour except in his own place. Whatever truth there is in that biblical hand-out has been torpedoed in many a land, Anambra State inclusive. Nze Duru, the former House member who represented Aguata Federal Constituency in Anambra State from 1999 to 2007 is a ease in point. During his days in the House, Nze Duru gave not only his people but Nigeria as a whole ‘a legislative achievement of rare quality’. He chaired the House Committee on Pension Reform which brought
about the Pension Reform Act of 2004. In one of the interviews he granted to a national newspaper, while chronicling his legislative achievements, he said, “on the legislative side, I have sponsored and co-sponsored motions and bills before the House and the very striking one was that I chaired the House Committee on Pension Reform that has brought to bear this reform in the Pension Industry and this is one of the greatest achievements that I believe I have made in my sojourn to the National Assembly, and of course, we know that the pensioners over the years have had it so rough, queuing on the line and dying on the line to collect their legitimate entitlement. And with the Pension Reform as we have it now which I co-chaired in the House, I got it passed, it is very possible for people not to labour to collect their pension through Contributory Pension Scheme that we have presently in existence. “And not only did I co-chair it, I had also cochaired the Harmonisation Committee of both the House and the Senate and I’m happy that the
President quickly signed it into law and the benefit of which is that twelve pension fund administrators (PFA’s) have been licensed to operate the new pension scheme with four pension fund custodians as part of the operators in the industry. This is one achievement I’m very happy with”. With the passage of the Pension Reform Bill into law, we stood at an auspicious position, a momentous time for thanksgiving to the likes of Nze Duru that made it happen. The bill was born of the ‘blood, sweat, toil and tears of countless pensioners, members of the National Assembly, the general public and to the memories of the departed pensioners whose blood was shed so that Nigeria might find remission for her sins
of corruption; thus reaping the glorious harvest in law. On ‘Third Term Agenda’, the earth shaking speech against third term, delivered on the floor of the House by Nze Duru and published by the Vanguard Newspaper of Wednesday, May 10, 2006 set the ball rolling. Nze Duru’s contribution indeed set the machinery in motion for the shooting down of the cankerworm called 3rd term project. The monster was killed by the Senate on Tuesday May 16, 2006 and was buried by the House on Wednesday May 17, 2006 to
the utter ignominy of democratic detractors. Part of his speech titled, ‘Dangerous Precedent’ read thus: …..”My fellow legislators, for the first time in the history of this country the law of the land is being amended to elongate the tenure of the present executive. This is a dangerous precedent that is capable of throwing up unprecedented crisis that may disintegrate the country.” – Barr Ezeugo is the DG, Centre for Leadership Trust and Moral Rectitude wrote in from Abuja
LOSS OF DOCUMENT
An Honour Well Deserved! Mr. Speaker Sir, I hereby congratulate you on your turbaning as the Mutawallen Sokoto by His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto. This, indeed, is a well deserved honour for a worthy and selfless leader, one with vision and courage.
Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, CFR
Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Signed:
Hon. Abike Dabiri Erewa Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora
For and on behalf of the committee members
AMUSEMENT PARK
IF YOU WANT TO GET RID OF STINkING ODOURS IN THE kITCHEN, STOP COOkING
— Erma Bombeck
27.09.14
www.leadership.ng
FOR GOD AND COUNTRY
No. 451 N300
The Weekend Column Capt Daniel Omale
T
What we need is to have a well-run airline that symbolises our country’s name, even if it means inviting foreigners to manage it for us
he quest for a national carrier has been highlighted by every minister of aviation, at least in the past five years, despite the glaring unprofitable nature of airline business. In my opinion, if Nigeria was interested in keeping a national carrier, there was no reason for the liquidation of Nigeria Airways in the first place. Restructuring the former national carrier whereby private equity could exceed direct governmentfunding would have sufficed. To revive a government-owned airline is as good as trying to wake up a dead person, which is virtually impossible. A new national carrier is good for just one reason and that is, it will provide employment for the 500 unemployed young pilots roaming the streets of this country. It should be seen as a social service to the nation, to create jobs and reduce the number of unemployed aviation/ non-aviation professionals in our society. The airline will definitely create jobs for about 2000 Nigerians in the first year of inauguration. This will support Mr President’s proposed two million jobs for Nigerians in the next 12 months. But if the airline is being proposed as a sustainable business that will generate profit to support itself, then the promoters of the idea should simply forget it. Again, if it is going to be a wholly government-run enterprise, it will not survive beyond three years, as Nigerians will loot every penny of it. Private equity must be the guiding investment principle for the carrier, with probability of its survival. The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender growth and then earns little or no money. Think airlines. Here, a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright brothers. Airlines are wonderful generators of profit — for everyone except themselves. Even in good times, their margins are as thin as a boarding pass and in recent years, they have lost money more often
The Pros And Cons Of The Proposed National Carrier daniel@leadership.ng
than not. In a country like Nigeria, service providers like FAAN, SAHCOL and other airport agencies, each make more profit than Arik, Aero, Medview and DANA combined. Averaged over the past four decades, the net profit margin of the world’s airlines taken together has been a measly 0.1%. By contrast, other bits of the travel business that depend on the airlines — such as aircraft makers, travel agents, airports, caterers and maintenance firms - have done very nicely. According to Travel Forward, an airline lobby group, the world’s carriers pay $7billion in GDS fees a year — more than double their expected net profit this year of $3billion. The airline’s chronic unprofitability in other parts of the world is partly the result of a wave of competition — especially from new low cost carrier, rising cost of fuel and other operating expenses. To explain the narrow profit margin of airlines better, Emirates airline's 2013 operating revenue was $21.1billion, an increase of 17% over the previous year, but net profit was mere $845million. The same goes for British Airways, whose operating revenue for the same year was about $18billion dollars and net income was $680million. Other airlines, including South African Airways, posted huge losses last year. In Nigeria, in addition to the rising cost of fuel, regulatory bottlenecks, navigational and landing charges pose direct hindrances to a carrier's growth. Those who make reference to the survival of airlines in Africa, such as Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, must understand the ownership structure, management and operating principles of these two carriers. For instance, Kenya Airways was established in February 1977, after the break-up of the East African Community caused the demise of East African Airways. It started operations on February 4 1977 and was wholly owned by the Kenyan government until April 1996.
In 1986, Sessional Paper Number 1 was published by Kenya's government, outlining the country's need for economic development and growth. The document stressed the government's opinion that the airline would be better off if owned by private interests, thus resulting in the first attempt to privatise the airline. In the fiscal year 1993 to 1994, the airline produced its first profit since the start of commercialisation. Also, in 1994, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was appointed to provide assistance in the privatisation process. In 1995, Kenya Airways went through some important financial processes, including the restructuring of its debts and a master corporation agreement with KLM, which bought 26% of the shares in Kenya Airways and became the largest single shareholder. In 1996, shares were floated to the public and the airline started trading on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. In October 2004, the company cross-listed its shares at the Dar-es-Salaam Stock Exchange. In April 2004 the company re-introduced Kenya Airways Cargo as a brand and in July 2004, the company's domestic subsidiary, Flamingo Airlines was reabsorbed. In the full year results ending March 31 2005, profit after tax almost tripled over 2003-4 to US$50million. The airline is currently owned by individual Kenyan shareholders (32.5%), KLM (now Air FranceKLM, 26%), Kenyan government (22%), Kenyan institutional investors (15.7%), foreign institutional investors (4.36%) and individual foreign investors (0.07%). It has 2,408 employees (as at March 2007). Kenya Airways also owns 49% of Precision Air in Tanzania. As for Ethiopian Airlines, in 1945, Emperor Haile Selassie, ruler of Ethiopia at the time, contracted Trans World Airlines to set up and manage the airline. The agreement included the provision of spare parts and ground equipment by TWA in return for fixed payment
08054102747 (text only) based on revenue. It also included hiring of flight and maintenance crew and other key personnel. Expatriates constituted half of Ethiopian Airlines employees at the time. In 1965 the status of the airline was changed from corporation to a share company and the title Ethiopian Air Lines became Ethiopian Airlines. On April 28 2005, Ethiopian completed an agreement for the purchase of five Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets and purchase rights for five additional 787s, which they later changed to 10 purchase rights. With this ten B787 Dreamliners purchase order, Ethiopian became part of the launch team of the revolutionary airplane. This is also an unmistakable sign of Ethiopian Airlines’ commitment to be a leader in the African aviation sector and its goal of keeping its long tradition of pioneering air transport in Africa since its inception in 1946. There is no magic to establishing a new national carrier for Nigeria with 35% government stake. What we need is to have a wellrun airline that symbolises our country’s name, even if it means inviting foreigners to manage it for us. But the desire for profitability should not be the motive, because it will not be profitable in its first five years. Guaranteed.
GHANA MUST GO PDP's sole presidential candidancy has rattled opposition, says Akpabio — News
Continue clowning!
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