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NTWEEKEND Cobhams: Being born blind brings out the fighter in me p.22

SHOWBIZ For Jibola Dabo, white is an expression of spirituality p.21

Saturday Edition

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Saturday, MARCH 1, 2014

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Retake S’West from APC, Jonathan tells Mu’azu, Anenih Vol. 1 No. 11

Nigeria’s most authoritative newspaper in politics and business

l PDP Chairman: Obasanjo remains our leader Lanre Odukoya Less than four months to the governorship election in Ekiti State, President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to retake the SouthWest from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ekiti governorship election will be held on June 21. While Governor Kayode Fayemi is the candidate of the APC, the PDP is yet to pick its candidate.

The second governorship election in the South-

West this year in Osun will be held on August 9.

Jonathan, who strongly believes a victory for the PDP in the two elections will boost his re-election chances in the February 14, 2015, presidential election, gave the order at a special meeting in the Abuja residence of the former Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Chief Olabode George, Wednesday night.

At the meeting were the National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, Secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo, Chairman, Board of Trust-

ees (BoT) of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, Chief of Staff to the President, Major-General Jones Arogbofa, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, agriculture minister, Dr. Adesina Akinwumi, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mulikat Adeola Akande, Chief Yomi Akintola, Dr. Bode Olajumoke, Dr Frederick Fasheun, Senator Hope Uzodinma, Prof.

Tunde Adeniran, Chief Remi Adiukwu, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Chief Buruji Kashamu, Chief Olusola Oke, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, Chief Segun Oni and Chief

Dosu Oladipo.

Others are Senator Jubril Martins Kuye, Elder Wole Oyelese, Mr. Ayo Fayose, Erelu Olusola Obada, Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, Chief Kayode Amusan, Chief Wole Oke, Chief Hazeem Gbolarunmi, Chief Ishola Filani, Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Sola Omole, Apostle Dave Salako, Hon Ajibola Muraina and others.

Jonathan, who was represented at the meeting

by Vice-President Namadi CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Conflicting reports over Boko Haram’s attack on Gov. Nyako’s convoy Ndubuisi Ugah

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bout 29 years after Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), left office as head of state in 1985, it has emerged that the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero’s personal visit to Israel nearly cost him his revered throne.

Speaking with the New Telegraph in Abuja, a former minister of works and hous-

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The Aneke Twins: A Nollywood grass to grace story

‘How Emir of Kano’s visit to Israel almost cost him his throne’ ing and military administrator of Kano State, Air Vice Marshal Hamza Abdullahi (rtd), said but for providence, Bayero would have paid dearly with the throne for

daring to “visit” Israel.

Abdullahi, who went memory lane recalling how he was asked by the then Chief of General Staff, late Maj-Gen. Tunde Idiagbon,

had ordered him to depose the monarch upon his arrival from Israel, said the directive by Idiagbon was one of the most difficult decisions posed to him

in his entire life career as sheer providence saved the state (Kano) and nation in general from running into political chaos.

According to him, “I have

always told people that my most difficult moment in public life was when I was asked to go and remove the Emir of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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NEWS

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

‘Retake S’West from APC’

Content 01.03.14

CO N TI N U ED F RO M PAGE 1

INSTYLE

Ties That Really Bind It’s often said you really can never go wrong with a black tie. Angela Davies on why this fashion accessory remains riveting.

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THE ARTS

Documentary Festival

This month, a stream of documentaries would be unleashed in Lagos as the iREP International Documentary Film Festival opens at the Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos.

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AIRWAVES

Music on the Go

Radio stations are making a frenzied pitch for the attention of rush hour listeners, but just a few are hitting the right note.

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TRAVEL & TOURISM

Calabar Still Excites

An up close encounter with the brains behind the renaissance seen in Cross River State’s tourism experience.

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POLITICS

Governors’ Hunger for the Senate Senator Alloysius Etok flays the bid by some serving governors for the Senate as their term winds down..

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SPORT

Yobo’s Timely Move Super Eagles skipper, Joseph Yobo, says his move back to the English Premier League is a deliberate attempt to earn a recall into the national team.

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‘Idiagbon asked me to remove Ado Bayero’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Kano (Ado Bayero). That was my toughest moment, not only in public life, but in my entire life because I know the system, I grew up in Kano, I went to school in Kano, and I knew the way the Emir was revered.

And then I am also from the ruling class. So, I know how we respect that institution. I am also aware of how volatile Kano can be.

While noting that the visit though a personal one had nothing to do with government as the intention was simply to fulfil a religious quest. “When I came back, I

called the emir and sat with him and he told me that it was not his idea, he only went to see the Al-Aqsa mosque. In Islam, we have three sacred places. First is the mosque in Makkah (Ka’aba), then the Prophet’s mosque in Madina and then the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

“So, you see you cannot crucify somebody without hearing from him. And that is another lesson I learnt. I took his explanation and I really felt sorry.

“So, I came back to Gen. Buhari and told him and he saw with me and that was

all. The Emir of Kano is one of the best individuals you can ever meet. He accepts life as it comes. He is a good Muslim. He accepts that anything that comes his way is not man-made.

He felt he was destined by God to go to Israel and it was destined by God that it would happen that way.

He took it calmly and did not show any sign of panic.

He believed it was destiny.”

Nigeria had no diplomatic ties with Israel at the time of Bayero’s visit.

SEE INTERVIEW ON PAGE 47

Sambo, said the first task before the leadership of the party is to ensure that all aggrieved members are brought back to the party.

Sambo wore a white agbada, a pair of black shoes and a brown Yoruba cap.

“A house divided against itself will fall. What we need to do now is to ensure that any form of hostility, crisis and enmity is immediately nipped in the bud,” he was quoted to have said.

The decoy for the meeting was a special dinner hosted to honour Arogbofa who was appointed last month to replace Mike Oghiadomhe.

A source said Jonathan's speech, read by Sambo, was “frank and declarative”.

To him, the gathering of eminent PDP members in the zone was an indication that the party has what it takes to take over the zone

from the opposition APC “starting from June 21, August 9 in 2014 and eventually in the 2015 general elections” .

The first thing the president did in the speech was to apologise for sending Sambo to represent him.

He said he had wanted to attend “but for other pressing national matters”.

To Jonathan, the appointment of Arogbofa, a Yoruba from Ondo State, was an indication of more good things to come from the South-West in the quest for the PDP to win the zone back.

He promised that more Yoruba indigenes will soon join his cabinet but implored the leaders to put their house in order.

The president said aside the manipulation of votes, the PDP lost South-West because of the absence of unity among its leaders.

Anenih said there was no way APC would defeat

PDP “in June and August”.

“I urge you all to close ranks in the interest of our party. I am convinced that collectively, we can achieve victory for our party,” he said.

He also said the party had directed ministers to take over party structures in the zone Mu'azu promised that with the new leadership in place, South-West would return to the PDP “as from this year”.

“I want to strongly advise that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is our father.

Anything you are doing in the zone, you must always consult him,” he said.

George said the leaders of the party in the zone had no choice than to present credible candidates to win the elections.

Committees were later set up to ensure the execution of decisions reached at the meeting.

Another meeting has been scheduled for middle of March.

Nyako’s convoy attacked Ibrahim Abdul, Yola, and Emmanuel Onani ABUJA

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t was a chaotic scene on Friday as Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State came under apparent attack during his visit to Shuwa, in Madagali Local Government Area.

The governor was visiting the area to commiserate with the residents of the town where 37 people had been killed last Wednesday after coordinated attacks by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram.

But the Director of Defence Information, Major Gen. Chris Olukolade, has refuted report that the governor was attacked.

New Telegraph’s correspondent in Yola who was in the governor’s convoy said pandemonium broke few minutes after Nyako and the district head of Shuwa, Alhaji Musdafa Muhammad Shuwa, had given their speeches when a soldier fired some shots in the air, causing the crowd to scamper for safety.

The governor expressed shock over the incident, but

said that he could never be cowed or intimidated by the antics of those he called “the evil few”. ‘’I am neither perturbed nor rattled by the antics of the evil few whose intention is to cause disharmony in the land. They have just wasted their bullets and scared the people,” he said.

Nyako also blamed the incident on soldiers whose actions he said had fuelled crisis in the state. “When we came out, the road was blocked by two vehicles and two soldiers came out from them while I was walking towards my car, and started shouting: ‘they are here’. So, I asked who they meant by ‘they’ and they said ‘Boko Haram’.

“Before we knew it, the soldier at the back started firing. And, of course, what we ought to do naturally is to get out of the scene,’’ Nyako said.

In the confusion that ensued, some of the vehicles in the governor’s convoy rammed into each other, while some people on the governor’s entourage sustained minor injuries.

Nyako added that yester-

day’s incident in Shuwa underscored how serious the threat to lives and property in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states has become.

Denying the reported attack on the governor yesterday, Olukolade explained: “The truth is that the governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, visited Michika and Shuwa areas of the state to sympathise with the communities that were attacked by terrorists recently.

“While returning, the convoy came across a noticeable pandemonium which resulted from the alarm raised by some people who had mistaken a convoy movement of troops on patrol at Kirchinga village, for another impending attack by terrorists,” he stated.

“In the ensuing stampede and confusion, people scampered into the bush ostensibly to escape from those mistaken for terrorists.”

The statement issued by the defence spokesperson added further: “The incident which was presented as a breaking news is therefore not a true reflection of what actually happened.”

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

Nigeria ‘at war’ with Boko Haram, says presidency WAR As killings of Nigerians by suspected insurgents continue unabated, presidency declares ‘war’ on Boko Haram Ndubuisi Ugah with agency reports

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n an apparen t reference to the renewed onslaught by the outlawed Islamic sect, Boko Haram in the wake of its attacks in Yobe and Adamawa States this week, the presidency yesterday said the country was at war with the sect, apparently backing

off previous claims that the Insurgents were on the run and desperate.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has been fiercely criticised over its handling of the conflict, both for its inability to stop massive attacks on defenceless civilians and for what some have described as mixed and contradictory messages on the severity of the crisis.

The Agense FrancePresse (AFP) reported that Jonathan had termed the ongoing military offensive in Boko Haram’s north-eastern stronghold a success and maintained that normality would be restored to the

embattled region by May. However, presidency spokesman, Dr. Doyin Okupe, told the private Channels television station that the Boko Haram conflict was a “war situation”.

“We are dealing with a very, very serious enemy.

We are engaged in a war that has been internationalised,” he added in an apparent reference to Boko Haram’s reported but unconfirmed presence in neighbouring countries like Cameroun.

The conflict has killed thousands since 2009 but many argue the plight of civilians in the North-east has worsened since the military

began its operation in May. Since then, nearly 300,000 people have been displaced in the region, according to the UN, and more than 1,500 people killed, according to the UN and figures compiled by AFP. Speaking further, Okupe said: “It is very difficult, very costly in terms of lives lost.

But we will overcome. We are in the dying phase of this insurgency.”

The Ministry of Defence had on Thursday said the insurgents were “desperate” to escape Nigeria because of military pressure and would be “degraded towards elimination shortly.”

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The Week Ahead

Lagos Assembly resumes plenary March 3 The Lagos State House of Assembly has announced that it will resume from its four-week recess on March 3, 2014. A statement issued by the Spokesperson for the assembly, Mr. Segun Olulade, said when the assembly resumes, it will deliberate on issues affecting the wellbeing of residents of the state.

Senate resumes for budget debate March 11 The Senate will resume plenary on March 11 for its Committee on Finance to complete work on the 2014 budget, after it suspended plenary, following investigation into the alleged non-remittance of $48 million to the Federation Account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Reps C’ttee summons AGF March 4 Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Solomon Adeola (APC- Lagos), has directed the Auditor General for the Federation (AGF), Mr. Samuel Ukura, to appear before the committee on March 4 to defend the 2014 budget. The committee also summoned the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr. Emeka Eze.

Court hears Sanusi’s suit March 12 The Federal High Court, Abuja Division will on March 12 hear the suit filed by the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, challenging his suspension from office by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Ekiti: INEC to begin registration exercise March 7 The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) registration exercise for the electorate ahead of the 2014 governorship election will begin from March 7.

R-L: President Goodluck Jonathan; General Ibrahim Babangida and former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), at the Centenary award night at the State House, in Abuja…yesterday

Sanusi soft-pedals, resigns fate in God SANUSI’S SAGA With an Abuja High Court declining his prayers for reinstatement, Sanusi turns to God.

Mohammad Kabir Ya’u, Kano he suspended Governor of the Central Bank, Mallam Sunusi Lamido Sunusi, may have soft peddled on his earlier hard stance against his ousting from the apex bank by resigning his faith in God, saying it is only

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God who gives powers and collects it from anybody he so wishes.

Sanusi had gone to court to challenge his suspension and also to be reinstated, a prayer that was turned down by the Appeal Court in Abuja on the account that the defendant [Federal Government] should be served the motion before it entertains the case.

But, Sunusi, who visited Kano on Thursday, told New Telegraph shortly after meeting with the Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, that

as Muslim he knew that it is God that gives power and he do take when he so wishes, and by that he was not disturbed by the turn of event.

“First of all, it is God that gives position and takes it away. As Muslims, we all know that anything that happened to you was ordained, but even at that we are ready to respond to any allegation raise against us.”

“Even as we leave office the issue which we raised should be on the table for appropriate actions on them and we will

not relent on the quest for the right to be done in the financial life of this great country,” Sanusi said.

On the outcome of the court’s judgment, Sanusi said it was the discretion of the judge to rule otherwise, stressing that he could as well been given an exparte order he asked for.

“The fact, however, is a fact of law the question is whether the president as the legal authority to suspend a governor of Central Bank and that is a matter that will not change whether it is today, yesterday or anytime,” he said.

Glo Premier League kicks off March 7 The League Management Company (LMC) has fixed March 7 for the commencement of the 2013/14 football season, after granting some waivers to the 20 Glo Nigeria Premier League clubs to begin the season on a strong financial base.

NAFDAC’s herbal medicine training begins March 3 The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) will conduct a two-day workshop and training on herbal medicine development, starting from March 3 to 4 in Lagos, Zone 1, for South-West, March 10 to 11, in Kaduna, Zone 2, for northern region; and March 24 to 25, for the eastern region.

Entry for NHEA awards closes March 5 The Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards (NHEA), Global Health Project and Resources (GHRR) in collaboration with Anadach Group, United States, has fixed March 5 as closing date for the maiden edition of the award, which has received about 800 nominations.

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KADUNA Jonathan re-appoints NITT DG N EWS I N BRIEF

President Goodluck Jonathan has re-appointed Dr. Aminu Yusuf as the substantive Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, Kaduna State, for a second term of four years.

A statement by the Chief Public Relations Officer of the institute, Mr. Paul Mshelizah, said the reappointment would take effect from March 19, when the first term would expire.

2,419m

The highest point in Nigeria (Chappai Waddi).

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

JOS

IKEJA

PDP wins Plateau LG polls

DANA Airline takes 500 students on excursion

The Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) yesterday released results of the February 25 elections into local government councils with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), winning 14 of the chairmanship positions declared.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that 15 local governments participated in the exercise after two - Jos North and Wase, were excluded over security concerns.

The Dana Airline yesterday flew about 500 pupils drawn from various schools across Lagos on an excursion of airport facilities.

The company said that this was part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

The Chief Pilot of the airline, Capt. Segun Omale, told aviation correspondents at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMA2), Lagos that the company would once again lead in the drive to impact positively on children.

2.61%

3% The percentage of permanent crops in Nigeria.

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

The population growth rate of Nigeria’s as at 2001.

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

Former Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu (left), and Chief John Nwodo Jnr, during Kalu’s condolence visit to Nwodo over the death of his wife…recently

FG to spend N35.830bn on ex-militants in 2014 REHABILITATION For a complete rehabilitation of ex-militants, FG budgets N35.830bn Phillip Nyam ABUJA

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he Federal Government is to spend a total of N35.830 billion for the reintegration of ex-agitators enrolled in the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) in 2014.

Special Adviser to the president on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, said this yes-

terday, at a budget defence session with the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta.

He said another N23.625 billion was required for the payment of N65,000 monthly stipends to 30,000 ex-militants, adding that N3.825 billion would also be needed to cover the cost of operations in the Presidential Amnesty Office.

Kuku said about 2,200 transformed ex-militants were expected to be placed in either formal education or vocational training explaining further that out of the 1,100 of them that have opted for vocational train-

ing, 700 would be trained locally while 400 would be trained offshore.

According to him, the balance of 200 will be placed on foundation or pathway programmes that will be conducted within the country to prepare the delegates for placements for universities offshore.

He explained that of the 30,000 statutorily enlisted in the PAP, a total number of 18,000 delegates have either graduated or are currently in either vocational or educational training facilities within the country and abroad.

“With this figure, we are left with a total number of

11,200 delegates awaiting placements in reintegration facilities,” he said.

The special adviser also informed that in 2013, the sum of N38.909 billion was appropriated for already demobilised ex-agitators, adding that in compliance with the United Nations Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) Charter Code, a total sum of N546 million was provided for in the 2013 budget to take care of the reinsertion/ transition safety allowance for 3,642 transformed exagitators and their leaders enlisted in the third phase of the Amnesty programme.

Suswan blames drop in power supply on saboteurs l 42 firms qualify for financial bid opening of 10 plants Anule Emmanuel ABUJA

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overnor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State yesterday attributed the sharp drop in electricity supply in the country to the deliberate activities of saboteurs.

The governor stated this in an interview with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, after a meeting of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and National Council on Privatisation (NCP), which was presided over by Vice-President Namadi Sambo.

Suswam, who pointed out that the work of the saboteurs had compounded gas supply in the country due to lack of gas infrastructure, said: “Well, you know that there are difficulties in any transition. For the first time, since independence in this country, government has controlled the monopoly of power generation and distribution. This is the first time that they are going to transit from government to private sector.

“We have some issues, no doubt about that. Issues of gas basically is where we are having issues. The gas in-

frastructure as you all know has not yet been properly put in place. And so, some of the generating companies are experiencing some hiccups with gas supplies.

This is being attended to in conjunction with the NNPC and the Ministry of Power.

“I think that down the road within the shortest possible time, the issue of gas infrastructure will be over. Now the fundamental problem with the issue of gas infrastructure is the vandalism of those infrastructure. You know, this is purely sabotage because in crude, you know that people who vandalise these crude pipelines are lifting them and selling them for money.”

He said: “But when you vandalise the gas pipelines, there is no way you can scoop it. You know it is like air. You can’t scoop it. These are people who are economic saboteurs and they should be treated as such.

“So, this is something that should be of concern to the whole Nigerians because any person who goes intentionally to sabotage an activity of government that would impact positively on the economy of this country should be treated as economic saboteur.”

Auditor-General begins audit of NNPC Simeon Ogoegbulem ABUJA

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he office of the AuditorGeneral of the Federation (OADGF) may have commenced preliminary audit of the books of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), New Telegraph has learnt.

NNPC, which manages Nigeria’s petroleum production, the country’s major revenue earner has not been audited for a very long time.

There has been controversy over the actual amount the country is making from the sale of petroleum products.

The controversy over revenue earnings from oil was further heightened with the recent suspension of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the governor of Central Bank of

Nigeria (CBN). Sanusi had earlier alleged that the national oil company was yet to account for over $20 billion (about N3.3 trillion).

President Goodluck Jonathan however dismissed such insinuations, insisting that no responsible government would allow such a huge amount of revenue to develop wings, adding that “government would get to the bottom of it”.

A presidency source noted that the exercise would be the first time in many years that the auditor-general would be looking at the books of the national oil company.

According to the source, the team from the AGF has been at the NNPC in the last one week been “carrying out painstaking scrutiny” of the corporation’s financial transactions.

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Tributes as Okeowo, ‘Ali Must Go’ activist is buried l Jonathan, Amosun, Aregbesola, Daniel bid farewell

Kunle Olayeni Abeokuta

I L-R: Mr. Bisi Adegbuyi; Prof. Titi Filani; Olu of Ilaro and traditional ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle; Chief Olaniwun Ajayi; Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye; a representative of the South-west Senators’ Forum, Senator Iyabo Anisulowo and Pastor Tunde Bakare, at the unveiling of the state’s delegates to the national conference, in Abeokuta …Thursday

Anambra Guber: Ngige heads to Appeal Court CASE Not satisfied with the Tribunal ruling, Sen. Ngige heads to Appeal Court.

Uwakwe Abugu AKWA

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he candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 16, 2013, Anambra State governorship election, Dr. Chris Ngige, yesterday vowed to challenge the rul-

N EWS IN BR IEF

ing of the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Awka, which upheld the application of the governorelect, Chief Willy Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), seeking the excision of some paragraphs of the petition filed by Ngige.

After the pre-trial ruling yesterday by the Justice Ishaq Bello-led panel, on the application of Obiano challenging some paragraphs of the Ngige’s petition challenging the return of the APGA candidate as the winner in the election by the Independent Na-

tional Electoral Commission (INEC), Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN), who stood in for Chief Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), lead counsel for Ngige and APC, told the tribunal that the petitioner would appeal the judgment.

Ngige told the tribunal that the petitioners were going to contest all the rulings of the tribunal so far delivered.

He requested the tribunal to make the copies of the rulings available quick enough to them to enable them to approach the appellate court soon enough.

As was the case of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the election, Chief Tony Nwoye, who had greater potent part of his petition struck out last Monday by the tribunal, Ngige’s petition suffered the same fate yesterday when the tribunal had upheld the applications of counsel to Chief Obiano, APGA and INEC, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), Chief Patrick Ikweto (SAN) and Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) respectively seeking the striking out of some paragraphs of Ngige’s petition.

ILORIN

MAKURDI

FCT

Jonathan’s Visit: Kwara Govt sues for peace

PDP flays Amaechi over teachers’ salaries

Absence of judge stalls bail for Boko Haram suspects

Ahead of President Goodluck Jonathan’s planned visit to Kwara State on Monday, the state governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, has called on politicians and their supporters to conduct themselves lawfully and avoid any action capable of disrupting the peace.

A statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr. Muyideen Akorede, said: “Although the president is not on a state visit, we welcome him to our state of harmony.

The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has berated Governor Chibuike Amaechi, for not keeping faith with his promise to the 13,000 newly recruited teachers in the state to pay the seven months salaries owed them before the end of February.

A statement yesterday, which was signed by Jerry Needam, Special Adviser, Media to the state Chairman, Mr. Felix Obuah, expressed regrets that Amaechi could only pay the suffering teachers their February salary.

The absence of Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday, stalled ruling in the bail application for three men charged with terrorism.

The three accused persons; Mohammed Yunus, Musa Umar and Salami Abdullahi, were arraigned on an eight-count bordering on having links with the outlawed Boko Haram sect.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that a court official said Justice Kolawole had travelled out of Abuja, for an official engagement.

13,854,740 5,963m 17,962,000 The total population of Istanbul, Turkey (the highest in Europe).

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

The height of mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa.

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

The total population of the urban agglomerations of Sao Paolo, Brazil (the highest in South America).

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

t was an outpouring of tributes yesterday as the remains of former National President of the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS), Mr. Segun Okeowo, were committed to mother earth.

Popular for his heroic involvement in the 1978 student struggle, otherwise known as ‘Ali Must Go’, Okeowo died on January 28 at the age of 73.

At a funeral service held at St. Matthews’ Anglican Church, Simawa, Sagamu, dignitaries from all walks of life came to pay their last respect to the departed icon of student unionism.

In attendance were President Goodluck Jonathan, who was represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Youth and Student Matters, Mr. Jude Imagwe; Governor Ibikunle Amosun, represented by Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Segun Odubela; Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, represented by Segun Mayegun, and former Governor Gbenga Daniel.

Others present were Senator Gbenga Kaka, Chief

Titilayo Ajanaku, the National President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Yinka Gbadebo, and former leaders of the student body, including Dare Ogunlana and David Oladele, and students from various tertiary institutions.

In his message, Jonathan described the late Okeowo as an upright man who lived a life devoid of corruption.

He said his death had deprived Nigeria of the priceless presence and service of “an eminent commander of courage and virtue.”

The president noted that the deceased cherished his name more than titles and urged Nigerians to emulate him.

Jonathan used the occasion to further condemn the massacre in Yobe and Adamawa states and appealed to Nigerians to rally round his administration as it confronts the Boko Haram insurgency and the prevailing insecurity in the country.

In his condolence message, Daniel described the late Okeowo as a man of superior courage and principle whose contributions in the liberation of the Nigerian students and youth were colossal.

War on terror: Military kill 13, arrest many insurgents - DHQ Emmanuel Onani Abuja

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he new counter-terrorism campaign adopted by the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) to contain terrorist activities in the Northeast region, may have started yielding fruits, as the DHQ said 13 members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect have been killed, with many of the insurgents arrested.

A statement by the Director of Defence Information, Maj.Gen. Chris Olukolade, disclosed that the arrest and killing of the sect members was made possible, following a raid carried out “on their make-shift camp sited between Borno and

Adamawa states.”

“Some of those who escaped from earlier raid”, the statement noted, stressing that “I have also been picked up in Maiduguri and environs.”

It, however, assured that “calm has returned to Shuwa after the pandemonium generated by the panic in the community this morning (yesterday) when people sighted the convoy of troops going after terrorists and mistook it for another round of attack.”

It further clarified that “The confusion also led to the claim that the Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, who had visited the community was attacked by terrorists.”

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Insurgency: NLC president urges new approach

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he President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar, has called for a new approach to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in parts of the North.

Omar, who said this yesterday in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, while reacting to the recent killing of some students of the Federal Government College in Yobe by the suspected Boko Haram sect, said: “We call on the government to have a rethink over what they do.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that

the NLC president was in Calabar for the 4th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the National Union of Printing, Publishing and Paper Products Workers and a meeting of the NLC. He said, “there is nothing wrong in Nigerian government coming up with special task force with a special squad to ensure that we get to the root of the matter, unbundle it and brought to an end.”

Omar condemned the killing of innocent students by the insurgents, describing the action as “callous and unreasonable.”

‘Ombatse has no right to sue Nasarawa govt’ Godwin Ojoshimite lafia

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he counsel representing Nasarawa State government at the ongoing Ombatse suit, Mr. J. S Okutepa, has assertained that the group does not have the legitimacy to sue the state government for abuse of fundament human rights.

Okutepa made the statement yesterday, while speaking to journalists at the High Court 1, Lafia.

He said, “they (Ombatse) are claiming that they brought an application on behalf of Ombatse group and that Ombatse group is a person. But, I searched with

my lenses to find where I can find a copy of a certificate of incorporation and I couldn’t find it. Which means they are not registered.

He added that: “It is only human beings or association with certificate of incorporation that has the capacity to sue and be sued. But, once you are not a registered group, then you are operating an illegal institution.

Also speaking to journalists, counsel representing Ombatse group, Mr. Zachary Zamani Allumuga, argued that he had the locus standi to sue the state government for the abuse of his group’s fundamental human rights.

N14.7m fraud: EFCC arraigns ex-Bayelsa officials Emmanuel Onani Abuja

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he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday arraigned two former officials of the Bayelsa State Government before Justice Kate Abiri of the Bayelsa State High Court, Yenegoa.

The two officials-Apiri Richard Tonye and Paul Charles, were both arraigned on a four-count bordering on conspiracy and stealing.

While Tonye was a former Head of Capital Expenditure in the office of

the Accountant-General of the state, Charles was an Accountant with the state Directorate for Project Monitoring and Implementation.

The accused persons were alleged to have diverted and stolen about N14.7million, being funds meant for the monitoring and supervision of ongoing projects in the state.

Spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement noted that “Justice Abiri granted the accused bail in the sum of N200, 000,000.00 and one surety each in like sum. The surety must be a level 14 officer with Bayelsa State Civil Service.”

NDLEA uncovers narcotics in dried fish at Lagos airport CAUGHT NDLEA detects concealed drug shipment from Thailand at MMIA. Wole Shadare

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he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) yesterday detected narcotics hidden inside a consignment of dried fish imported from Thailand.

The detection occurred at the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), Murtala, Muhammed Inter-

national Airport (MMIA) Lagos, by anti-narcotic agents who apprehended a 35-year-old Customs licensed agent, Chukwu Onyekachi Emmanuel, in connection with the illicit import.

The shipment was detected during inward screening of goods onboard an Ethiopian airline flight.

According to the NDLEA Airport commander, Mr. Hamza Umar, three different narcotics were found in the consignment containing dried fish.

“Three types of drugs were found concealed in

dried fish. The drugs recovered by the NDLEA during the search operation include 24 packs of morphine injections weighing 14.960kg, 24 packs of pethidine injections weighing 10.820kg and 157 packs of apresoline injections weighing 3.505kg. In all a total of 29.285kg was seized.

“It is pertinent to note that unlike cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine drugs like morphine, pethidine and apresoline are not frequently seized in the country. Besides, the seized drugs have been industri-

ally prepared in injectable forms. This increases risk of abuse particularly among injecting drug addicts,” Hamza stated.

According to the NDLEA, the suspect who lives in Lagos with his wife and three children told investigators that he was paid to clear the consignment.

Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, in his reaction promised to charge all persons linked with the import to court.

“The Agency shall prosecute all persons connected with the unlawful import,” Giade stated.

KADUNA

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COAS: Nigerian Army rated among best NEWS IN BRIEF

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, yesterday said the Nigerian Army was among the best in the world.

Minimah, who is also the reviewing officer, made the statement at the passing out parade of 70 Recruits Intake Trades Men/Women held at the Depot Nigerian Army, Zaria, Kaduna.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Minimah as saying: “With the calibre of young soldiers there is no doubt the Nigerian Army also ranks best among her contemporaries in the world.

274,593

The number of deaths recorded from water related diseases this year.

Source: Worldometers.info

Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos declares 2014 year of the family The Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos has declared 2014 as the year of the family with an inaugural mass at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos, for the event, which officially ends in November this year.

Speaking at the event, the First Lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, explained that it was a wake-up call for all stakeholders to rise to their responsibility and salvage the family to save the nation.

749.9m

The number of people with no safe drinking water source.

Source: Worldometers.info

89th birthday: Group congratulates Shagari The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) has congratulated former President Shehu Shagari on his 89th birthday.

Kalejaiye said Shagari was indeed an elder statesman who served Nigeria and initiated an economic stabilisation programme towards positive growth.

The group noted that part of the key objectives of president Shagari’s administration were to limit import licences, reduce government spending and raise custom duties.

10.4m The number of cars produced this year Source: Worldometers.info

L-R: Managing Director, REDMoney (publishers of IFN), Mr. Andrew Morgan; General Manager/Head, Listings Sales and Retention, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mrs. Taba Peterside; Mr. Dele Olajundoye (Kole Awodein & Co); Commissioner for Finance, Osun State, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro; Chief Executive Officer, Lotus Capital, Mrs. Hajara Adeola and Director, Lotus Capital, Mrs. Lateefah Okunnu, at the Islamic Finance News Awards…recently

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Wike, ASUP Governing Council meet over four-month strike Emeldah Ogene

T Vice-President Namadi Sambo (right) and Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, during a joint meeting of Niger Delta Power Holding Company and National Council on Privatisation (NCP), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja…Photo: Timothy Ikuomenisan

SOKOTO NEMA introduces air ambulance service N EWS I N BRIEF

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday said it had introduced a nationwide air ambulance service with the hub in Abuja.

The Director-General of the agency, Alhaji Sani Sidi, who said this in Sokoto, spoke through the agency’s Director of Administration and Supplies, Dr. Zanna Mohammed, during a courtesy call on the Secretary to the Sokoto State Government (SSG), Alhaji Sahabi Gada.

N31.950bn The total export value of cashew nuts, in shell, fresh or dried of Nigeria in the second quarter of 2013.

Source: Reuters

UYO

IKEJA

SSG, two commissioners get cabinet endorsement

EFCC arrests lawyer over alleged N1.2m bribe

The race for Akwa Ibom State Government seat of power, yesterday took a different dimension, when members of the State Executive Council presented three aspirants, who are members of the council to Governor Godswill Akpabio for consideration as his successor in 2015.

The aspirants were the Commissioner for Rural Development, Effiong Abia, the SSG, Udom Emmanuel and the AG and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ekpenyong Ntekim.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Thursday, arrested a legal practitioner, Ayodele Owoka, for allegedly offering a bribe sum of N1.2 million to operatives of the anti-graft agency, ostensibly to compromise investigation.

The suspect, who is said to be currently in the commission’s custody, was arrested at the commission’s office in Ikoyi, Lagos State, stated Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC’s spokesman, in Abuja yesterday.

N21.567bn

755,761bn

The total import value of frozen fish of Nigeria in the second quarter of 2013.

Source: Reuters

The amount of water (in litres) consumed this year.

Source: Worldometers.info

Ministry of Niger Delta makes U-turn on East-West Road l Says poor funding may stop planned delivery of road by December Chukwu David Abuja

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upervising Minister of the Niger Delta Ministry, Mr. Darius Dickson Ishaku, yesterday stated that the Ministry would not be able to deliver the East-West Road by December 2014 as earlier promised due to insufficient funding.

Ishaku, who gave the revelation at the National Assembly, while

appearing before the Senate Committee on Niger Delta to defend the ministry 2014 budget explained that the ministry would be compelled to renege on its promise as a result of its persistent under-funding in the yearly budgets.

A former Minister of Niger Delta Ministry, Mr. Godsday Orubebe, had last year, promised that the ministry would ensure that the East-West Road was completed and delivered by December

this year.

But at the budget defence session, the supervising minister told the lawmakers that, unless the budget of the ministry was improved upon in the 2014 budget, and releases made on time the planned delivery of the road project would be elusive.

He lamented that the budget of the ministry had witnessed progressive retrogression since 2009, recounting that the ministry received

N96 billion, N145 billion, N52 billion, N59 billion, N62 billion and N49 billion for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively.

The minister argued that, going by the enormous task facing the ministry in terms of socio-infrastructural development of the oil producing region, the annual budgetary provision of the establishment should rather be improved progressively instead of the current trend of downward reduction.

he end seems to be in sight for four-month strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) with the intervention of the governing council of the union.

Chairman of the forum of Polytechnics Governing Council Chairmen, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said yesterday, during a courtesy visit on the Supervising Minister of Education Nyesom Wike in Abuja, that the council is interested in seeing to the end of the lingering strike.

Babatope, who led other members on the visit, told the minister that they had been briefed by the Executive Secretary of National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr. Mash’d Kazaure, on the steps taken so far towards resolving the issues in contention, saying the visit was to enable them hear from the

minister.

He expressed confidence that the federal government would keep to the commitments it has made to the leadership of the union as President Goodluck Jonathan is not known to renege on his promises.

The former minister urged the Union to give the federal government benefit of the doubt.

Babatope told the delegation that the federal government offered to pay the outstanding arrears of over N 20 billion in two instalments, which the Union was opposed to and expressed worries at the hard stance of the union over government decisions on the matter.

In a related development, the supervising Minister of Education, Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has called on stakeholders in the education sector to support the Federal Ministry of Education’s programme to promote reading culture among Nigerians.

Sanusi: Court gives AGF, others time to respond to suit Joseph Jibueze

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he Federal High Court Lagos yesterday gave the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN), and others more time to respond to a suit filed by the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Following this, the presiding judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, adjourned till March 21 for hearing of Sanusi’s motion seeking to enforce his rights.

The court had on February 21 restrained security agencies from arresting Sanusi.

Respondents in the suit are the Attorney-General Mohammed Adoke (SAN), Inspector General of Police,

Mohammed Abubakar and the State Security Service (SSS).

They were restrained fromarrestinganddetaining Sanusi or subjecting him to any form of degrading treatment.

Justice Ibrahim granted the ex-parte orders pending the determination of Sanusi’s fundamental rights suit.

Sanusi had filed the suit through his counsel Prof.

Yemi Osibanjo (SAN) and Mr. Kola Awodein (SAN).

Yesterday, counsel to the AGF, Dr. Oscar Nliam, holding the brief of Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Dr. Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), said they had just been briefed of the matter.

He told the court that they were yet to receive all the processes filed by the applicant.

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CALABAR

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KADUNA

Farming: Ex-ANPP guber candidate advises youths

Four youths arraigned over alleged conspiracy

NGO lauds Akpabio over healthcare policy

Former governorship candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in Cross River State, Chief Patrick Okomiso, has advised youths to be more committed in farming, predicting that farming that is largely neglected today all over the nation will soon takeover from oil.

Okomiso made the prediction after been inducted into the prestigious Yakuur Ledu title holders as a farmer in Cross River State.

83.47

The life expectancy at birth in Andorra (the highest in the world).

Source: worldfactsandfigures.com

Four cattle rustlers, Danjuma Yale 28, Samuel Manpin 24, Silvanus Danwesh 25, and Pansum Dungse, 27, were on yesterday arraigned in an upper Area Court, Jos, Plateau State over alleged conspiracy and theft of 10 cows.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the cows belonged to one, Malam Yakubu Musa of Gindiri village in Mangu Local Government Area of the state.

A group,Pan African Leadership League, has commended Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State for introducing free healthcare programmes for women and children in the state.

Executive Director of the body,Stephen Achi,gave the commendation in a statement issued on Friday,and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.

“The free and compulsory education programme,free healthcare for children under five,pregnant women and the aged.

10.6%

15.1 The average age of Niger’s citizens Source: Telegraph.co.uk

The percentage increase of China’s total exports value in January 2014 over January 2013.

Source: Reuters

APC can’t shake PDP in Delta, says Okubor Temitope Ogunbanke

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elta State Governorship hopeful, Dr. Festus Okubor, has dismissed the All Progressives Congress≠≠ (APC) as a non-starter party which comprises strange bedfellows.

Okubor, who spoke in Asaba, Delta State capital while fielding questions from journalists said the party would not succeed because some of its leaders were dictators. “APC like the tablet APC is bound to be taken off the shelves,” Okubor said.

He said there is no valuable person had left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for APC, whether at the federal or most importantly, Delta State.

Pointing out that the APC lacked value, and did not possess what it takes to ruffle the feathers of PDP at the polls, he explained that in terms of electoral value, the APC

would not upset the PDP. Okubor said: “APC is not coming on strong. I need you to get this very clear. A party that has been in existence now for how long; they cannot even form local government executives of their party.

Are you not seeing what I am seeing? The only value they have is newspaper talks. But when the nittygritty comes, when everybody would go back to his ward and ensure electoral victory for their party they have no chance.

They cannot. What you have their as APC is the coming together of very, very, very strange bedfellows. Let them decide who would be their national chairman. Let them call a convention; let them form structures of a party. As far as I am concerned, APC is not a party; it is an interim organisation. These are boy scouts. They can’t do anything.”

Advocacy groups demand justice, good governance The Director General, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs. Sally Mbanefo (left), with the former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc and winner of the Sun newspaper best Banker Awards, Mr. Reginald Ihejiahi, during the presentation ceremony in Lagos…recently

Immunisation: Fashola urges mothers to make babies available CALL As fight against polio continues, mothers urged to vaccinate their children

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overnor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on yesterday urged mothers to make their babies available for immunisation for the fight against polio and other vaccine preventable diseases to be won.

Fashola made the appeal at the flag-off ceremony of the first round of the 2014 National Immunisation Plus Days, held in Agege, Lagos.

The News Agency of

Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first round of the immunisation plus days will hold from March 1 to March 4 across the federation.

Fashola, who was represented by his deputy, Mrs. Adejoke OrelopeAdefulire, said there were concerted efforts to ensure that Nigeria was certified a polio-free country.

“This marks another collective effort in the eradication of wild polio virus in Nigeria. I encourage our mothers and caregivers to continue to show up for appointments given for the vaccination of their children and wards.

Immunisation remains the most cost effective and

efficient child survival strategy for children who are the future of tomorrow. And this informed our unrelenting efforts in protecting our children from the vaccine preventable childhood killer diseases,” Fashola said.

According to him, the state has been consistent in the implementation of child survival programmes, especially in the area of strengthening routine immunisation activities.

“Lagos State has been polio-free since April 2009 and we cannot afford to rest on our oars. It is, therefore, imperative on us to continue active surveillance, bearing in mind

that people migrate into Lagos in huge numbers on daily basis,” Fashola said.

The governor explained that the exercise would involve house to house, transit and fixed post teams.

He said children under five years of age at homes, playgrounds, markets, religious places, major car parks and social event centres would be specifically targeted, irrespective of their immunisation status.

“I am assuring you that concerted efforts involving all state governors and even the President and international partners are being made to ensure uninterrupted supply of vaccines always,” Fashola said.

Angela Davies

A

ggrieved citizens of Nigeria from different advocacy groups yesterday, staged a warning protest in Lagos to clamour for good governance in the country.

The groups include, Spaces for Change (S4C), Kudirat Initiative For Democracy (KIND), Tiny Beating Hearts Initiative (TBHI), Slum-Ed, Movement for Accountability and Good Governance (MAGG), a network of youth associations, and non-governmental organisations.

The warning protest, which was coordinated by Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, Executive Director of Spaces for Change (S4C), kicked off at the Tai Solarin statute/ roundabout at Yaba with all participant dressed in black pants and T-shirts.

The grievances of the citizens include the 20 abducted school girls in Borno, Boko Haram massacre, yet to be traced $20b oil proceeds earned between January

2012 and July 2013 and Youth Votes 2015.

In one voice, they condemned the continuing acts of brutality visited on innocent citizens at a scale rarely seen elsewhere.

They also described these acts as abhorrent, barbaric and constitute a systematic violation of the rights of life, education and human dignity guaranteed by the Nigerian constitution.

According to IbezimOhaeri, this is a warning protest. She said, “It is a warning protest. It’s a wake-up call for our leaders because there is nothing to celebrate.

“There are still more protest to come. Enough of words, we need action. This is just a citizen action.

“Citizens came together from different places to express their anger and to present our demands to the government of Nigeria and we hope that they will hear us.”

Also, the Executive Director of KIND, Amy Oyekunle, stated that: “We are demanding accountability from the government.”

Ekiti: PDP may settle for guided primary to pick candidate SETTLEMENT Party leaders settle for ‘guided primary’ for choice of flagbearer Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

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he Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may settle for guided primary to pick its candidate for the June 21 governorship election.

Findings by our correspondent showed that the issue of guided primary is coming up following the inability of party leaders and aspirants to agree on consensus arrangement or outright primary.

In the guided primary, party will first prune down the num-

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NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

ber of aspirants to two or three from which it will direct delegates to vote for their preferred candidate when the party holds it primary on March 15.

A source told the New Telegraph in AdoEkiti yesterday that the step would help to assuage the feelings of both protagonists and antagonists of the consensus approach.

“Party leaders are trying to evolve means of picking our candidate at low cost to the aspirants and in a way that will generate less rancour.

We know how important it is for our party to win this election.

“We cannot afford to be in the political wilderness for another four years. Among aspirants and party leaders are those calling for consensus and those opposed to it.” the source said.

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Adeboye Marks 72 Birthday with Messiah Praises

5.000 to jog with Ex-LG Chairman

‘Access Bank is into oil and gas financing’

The Youth Coordinator and Area Pastor (Ogun Province 8 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Frankline Agbelusi, has said this year’s 72 hours ‘marathon messiah praise’ of the church would essentially be geared towards celebrating the 72nd birthday of the General Overseer of the church, Pastor.

E.A. Adeboye.

Speaking to New Telegragh on Thursday, Agbelusi said the event, which is in its third edition, would begin on March 3.

2bn

The total number of World Population in 1927.

Source: Infoplease.com

About 5, 000 residents of Oshodi/ Isolo Local Government Area of Lagos State have indicated interest to participate in the jogging/walking exercise planned to celebrate the 50th birthday of a former Chairman of the Council Area, Hon. Afeez Ipesa-Balogun.

The exercise, being put together among other activities by friends of the former council Chairman for March 1, 2014, to honour him, is to re-awake the monthly half marathon health and fitness exercise, “Jogging with the Mayor.”

2.29m

The total daily domestic production of crude oil in September 2013.

Source: Cenbank.org

A former Managing Director of Access Bank, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has expressed happiness with the bank’s current investments in the oil and gas sector.

Aig-Imoukhuede made this known as a guest speaker at the KPMG Alumni cocktail session on Thursday in Lagos, titled “Leader, Growth and Succession”, according to the News agency of Nigeria (NAN).

40% The percentage of Christian in Nigeria.

Source: Infoplease.com

Journalists urged to face challenges of Information Technology Andrew Iro Okungbowa

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o remain relevant and responsive, Nigerian journalists have been urged to embrace advancement in Information Communication Technology (ICT) with particular reference to learning the skills and challenges that the new social media network possesses to the media world.

This and many more formed the crux of the communiqué issued at the end of a three -day training conference for journalists organised by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ogun State Ministry of Information and Strategy in conjunction with the Edge Group.

Some of the issues considered at the conference, which was held at Forest Gate Hotel, East Legon, Ghana, with the theme: ‘The Challenges of Social Media on Journalistic Practices’, include ‘Time Management Skill for Effective Reportage,’ ‘Under-

standing and Embracing Positive Change,’ ‘Team Bonding Skills for Journalists’ and ‘The Challenges of Social Media on Journalistic Practices.’

The communiqué adopted the following issues: journalists in Nigeria should brace up to the challenges of social media and keyin into the Information Communication Technology (ICT) revolution in order to remain relevant in keeping up with timeliness and latitude which are the hallmark of social media information dissemination; • Corruption was identified as the bane of the African countries, hence Journalists as the conscience of the nation should rededicate themselves to the fight against corruption and impunity by using their writeups to improve the skills of the populace to demand for accountability from their elected representatives.

L-R: Opthamological surgeon, Dr. L. Isaiah; Chairman, Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Delta State chapter, Dr. Omo Ogoja; General Manager, Health, Safety, Security and Environment of SEPLAT, Mr. Bryte Oghor; General Manager Corporate Affairs and New Business Development of SEPLAT, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku and Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility, Mrs. Esther Icha, at the opening ceremony of SEPLAT’s ‘Eye Can See’ Programme in Sapele…yesterday

Duke: Nigeria’ll overcome Boko Haram threat ASSURANCE Former Gov of Cross River State, Donald Duke, assures Nigerians of overcoming Boko Haram saga Mohammad Kabir Ya’u Kano

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s the killings and wanton destruction of properties by the outlawed Boko Haram sect continues, a former Governor of Cross River State, Mr.

Donald Duke, has said what is happening in the country is a dark cloud that would soon be over.

Duke, who spoke yesterday after a meeting with the Governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, at the Government House, told the New Telegraph, that he was an optimist, who believes that everything has an end and the killings though saddening, will not affect the Centenary celebration.

He said that events in Nigeria had made the celebration worthy, because whether one likes it or not, something had hap-

pened in Nigeria.

Duke, who noted that many youths had remained idle due to lack of education, urged the Federal Government to do more to address the situation.

He also commended Kwankwaso for making education a priority in his administration.

On the killings in the north, the former governor urged those affected to take the incidents in good fate.

“The event in the north is saddening and we must come together and extinguished it, we cannot be pretending that all is well

where as an integral part of our body is sick, so we must stand together and do something about it,” he said.

Duke similarly disclosed that he did not believe in the next coming constitutional conference, arguing that the country should be more active and jettison rhetorics.

“The last 100 years has been that of reunification and unity, therefore the next hundred years should be that of tremendous development and progress, we have talk too much the conference is not needed,” Duke noted.

Voice

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Street Diary

What will you do if your spouse is gay or lesbian?

I will be disappointed I will be disappointed the moment I find out that he is a gay. I will be embarrassed and assumed that he has wasted my time. So, the best thing for me is to quit.

It is better to walk away I will be disappointed and embarrassed if I discovered that my spouse is a gay. I will just end the relationship no matter how much I love him. If I am not okay for him, it is better I walk away. It may take time before I get over it, but I will surely get over it and move on with my life.

Augusta Ogwens- student

Egonu Esther - student

I will disown her If I do discover that my spouse is a gay, I will disown her.

Her response will determine the relationship I will first of all seek her opinion on why she is into it.

I will find out from her what are the benefit she derives from it? I will seek her consent if she is ready to denounce it or not. Her response will determine my next line of action. But obviously, I won’t condone such a practice.

Peter Ukannah - IT specialist

I will pray for him

That is the end of the relationship

First, I believe communication is king and every bridge could be crossed with effective expression. I will listen to him, know his reason for engaging in such act and then make him see reason why his action is wrong. I will try to make the relationship work out by praying for him, hoping that he will change. If he doesn’t, I will then end the relationship.

Comfort Ogunlade -Student

James Abuo - civil servant

I will not even think twice

In the first place, I wish I don’t have such a boyfriend.

But if I am in such a position, I will just end the relationship immediately.

Benedicta Bassey-student

I will cut off the relationship straight away.

I will not think twice before taking the decision.

We will talk about it

It will end our relationship

Adeniyi Awolusi - civil servant

I don’t believe such a thing can happen to me. It’s forbidden, so God won’t even allow it. And in case it happens, that is a signal that the relationship has come to an end.

There will be I will be disappointed, no doubt. I will still give room for repentance, and if she feels remorse and repent, I will forgive her but if otherwise, I will let her go.

Temitope Boboye - civil servant

It‘s a sin before God and man

Mimi James - student

Christiana Asuquo- businesswoman

Bodunrinde Adeyehun- ICT expert

It’s against my faith

No more trust

I will definitely end the relationship. But before I do that, I will try to make him change his way and tell him that it is a sin before God and man.

I can’t even imagine it in the first place. Why would she venture into such a devilish act? In fact, I can never trust her any more.

Bernard Odeh- civil servant

If I get to know that I will definitely be annoyed. I won’t turn him down in the first place, but rather we will have a reasonable discussion with him. I will try to know if he is prepared to quit. His reaction will determine whether I am going to continue or not.

compiled by

The practice is against known or natural way of life, especially between man and woman. So, it is against my belief, it is against my faith.

Onaho Joy- a graduate

TUNDE OSOWE & TAIWO JIMOH

Instyle Ties that really bind p.14 Airwaves Listening to my parents’ music p.17

NTWEEKEND

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www.newtelegraphonline.com/weekend

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C o n v e r s at i o n

Inseparable... Chidinma and Chidiebere Aneke

Chatting with Chidinma and Chidiebere Aneke is a reporter’s delight as the identical twins take turns to respond to all questions. Though they are now celebrities in their own right, their story was a clear case of grass to grace. Sony Neme speaks with Chidinma, the more vivacious of the duo popularly referred to as Nollywood twins in Abuja about their career and grouse with DSTV for allegedly airing their movie without their consent.

The Aneke Twins’ grass to grace odyssey So how did it begin?

It all began with my elder sister that has some friends in the industry. Some people in the industry heard about us, and they wanted to see us and we made ourselves available and the rest like they say is history.

When precisely?

That was in 1999. We were cast in Ebuka. Then we were in school at Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu. I read mass communication, Ebere read business administration. I do the communication, Ebere ensures the cash comes in.

We do everything together. At the end of the day, they wanted us to become Ebuka’s (Pete Edoche’s) children. We were so happy to be part of the film, but at the end of the semester our grade dropped.

So we went back to school as our mother was so angry. So we quit acting. We were at 100 level then. So after school in 2003, we came back again.

How has it been since then?

It has been so awesome, from grass to grace. We thank God that we were able to have our own company, Greenville Production International Ltd.

Who is the chairman of this outfit?

It is two of us. We are co-chairperson.

How can it be one person when both of us owned the money? We started producing after we went to Bible school.

Which was your first production?

Broken Ambition. Then we were producing movies and selling outright. As for the cost, then it was by the grace of God for us to finish with the productions. We weren’t really looking at money because afCONTINUED ON PAGE 12

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The Aneke Twins’ success story in Nollywood C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 1

ter graduating from Word of Faith Bible School, in Enugu, we contemplated going back to the movie industry. Then we realised that for you to be useful to yourself, you have to take your case to God first. Because when we lost our dad in 1989, things became so difficult and we had to start all over again. We sold our cars, we did a whole lot menial things to keep ourselves going. We learnt a lot of trades. For instance, I can construct weave on and sell it, but you won’t know the difference.

How did you arrive at your decision on the industry?

We sat back and asked ourselves some hard questions and home truth about life and what we wanted to make of it. That was after our graduation. I served at Oyo State and my sister (Chidiebere) served in Osun. So after our bible school we than ask God what else He want us to do, and He said, produce. But then there was no money to do the production.

We brushed aside the idea that we should borrow, because I said then ‘when God gives you a vision, He will also provide you the means to accomplish such task’. Then we had a programme in the church called “Miracle Basket” in it whatever you pick from the basket, with faith, it works for you, you know that faith cometh by hearing the word of God. And we just came out from hearing the word of God. It was a month-long big program. At the end of the day God provided and made available all we need to carry out the production and sold it outright. The man even paid our tickets to Lagos. We’ve never gone chasing marketers. The film is titled Female Lion. After that we did an epic movie, Onoja. In that film we were mocked by people, but Mama

Daring,... the Aneke Twins strike a seductive pose

Gee (Patience Ozokwor) urged us on. She is like our second mother. She consistently told us God will see us through.

And that it doesn’t matter who you are now, you should just hold on to your faith. Some cast members left midway and refused to continue with us. But Mama Gee was there all through, encouraging us, not to relent. We were able to pull through, and we are still being owed. Interestingly, God did it in a way that our movies are taken up by marketing as soon as we are done with production.

Next was Compulsory Risk. We had done Broken Ambition, Broken Soul, Desperate Soul, Personal Desire, Onoja

and Revenge of the Gods. At this point we had to register our production. How do we go from here, because my pastor had preached that if you wanted to attain any heights in life you have to take risk. So we weighed different options to take. For me, the pastor was talking to us. That was how we did the Compulsory Risk. And before long everything was in market The film, Compulsory Risk, had pitched you against MultiChoice; what is the situation now?

We are in court with them over our movie that they aired in 2010 without our permission. We had done that film in

2009 and released in December 2010. I was shocked when friends told us they have been watching our film on Africa Magic. I was shocked because I know that films are not just shown on Africa Magic, except the films they have paid for its right.

So on a day I was meant to be at the church for a programme, while waiting for the cab that will take us, I put on the television to while away the time; and there was my film right on DSTV. It was like a dream! That was during their peak of the month when they air only films that were on high demand. That is a film that has Mama Gee, Van Vicker, Michael Augustine and both of us, among others. I got through to a friend who is late now. He gave me number of a DSTV agent, Segun, who didn’t take our calls. I had to put a call to Mr. Emeka Mba, DG, Nigerian Broadcast Corporation, NBC. Then he was in charge of the censorship board; then to the South East coordinator of the copyright commission. He advised that I should record the visual, which I did. As I was recording it the DSTV agent called.

I said they are showing my movie. The phone I used in recording it is kept safely somewhere. He stood his ground that it was not my movie, even after I told him to check the names of the executive producers – Joy and Peace. We told him that we are the twins in the movie, but he remained adamant. He later said if we wanted them to stop airing it, we should get a court order. He also told me that if I needed his assistance on how to go about seeking redress, I should pay for his services. Through the services of a lawyer, we were able to stop them from the free show. They called us in 2011 for a truce, which we obliged. All through last year we waited as we are trying to avoid any problem with them.

Later some falsehood where bandied about trying to work out modalities of settlement. We got another rude shock because when our lawyer met with Segun and another lady, nothing about payment was discussed.

The ding-dong affair continued, until much later when a call came through Jennifer that our lawyers gave our numbers to, that they wanted to settle. But the lady never got back to us. They acknowledged airing it and said they were coming for settlement. That never was. I had traveled on February 2013. Another drama unfolded when we returned in March as my lawyer showed us what they brought from censorship that it wasn’t our movie; and that the purported owners gave them the right to air. We got in touch with NCC’s Onitsha office were we registered the copyright. They advised that we should write to their Lagos office, which my lawyer did. They said that as at that point, the woman was no longer there, that the woman has since left the censorship office in Lagos. And the film was censored in Onitsha they confirmed that the film was directed by Joy and Peace Aneke. And the person that presented it was our director then, Evans Orji. So I came to Abuja to get some relevant documents to prosecute the case, but I was told the person in question was dead and has been buried since January 2010. That they can’t find the document.

The case came up on February 6, and they sought for adjournment on the ground that the people that gave them the movie can’t be reached, they were hoping to bring along as their evidence, can’t be reached as the office address they were given has turned out to be fake. They were served on the pages of a newspaper. The next hearing has been fixed for March 26 at Enugu High Court. What we have now officially is the order stopping them from airing the movie.

They knew that whoever gave them the movies does not own it. Because you cannot sponsor a movie, even as a marketer, and use another name to sell it. Before you buy it, you are supposed to watch it; especially the prints on the CD and its jacket that have our company name and telephone numbers. Why not call our numbers I am aware that outside movie making you are also into other projects, can you please, take us through?

After Compulsory Risk we have done a couple others. We premiered Onochie in London last year. We are still taking it round the country, as well as other African countries. The

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“It’s not about being the first to get married, but being able to know the right thing and the right person.” safe in God’s hand. Because He said, ‘I will bless those that bless you, and curse those that curse you”.

You were rumoured to be engaged?

itinerary will be made available to the public soon. We also have other movies we want to put in the market such as Heart of Isiaku, which has Mama Gee, both of us and other notable names in the film. We also have Adaora in it. We have done quite a lot for the widows and other less privileged. Every February 14 we spend time with physicallychallenged. We usually get people to stay with them. Not just giving them food and gifts. We believe in spending time and putting smiles on their faces. That is where we normally spend our Valentine Day. Apart from that we celebrate our birthday on August 6 with the widows, the dwarfs and physically challenged and motherless babies. The whole essence is to put smiles on their faces, because the bible tells us in Genesis 12 that, “I will bless you and you will be a blessing to others”. And if God blesses you and you are doing what you are supposed to do, then you are

There is nobody o. We are waiting on God’s time, because my pastor warns that when you rush in, there is the tendency for you to rush out. Like on Val’s day, after our visit we went for a program in the church. It’s not about being the first to get married, but being able to know the right thing and the right person. Marriage is not courtship that you can just break up. And in marriage you have to be very careful. It is not about money.

It is not about being yuppie, handsome and all that. It is all about a heart that cares, and the future. It’s a journey you must have all your senses in place. For some they will be in a courtship they know that it is not going to work, and for them they will manage it. So once they go into it, the next day they are out.

I had a friend then that had a very elaborate wedding, but it ended in just two weeks. She travelled to meet her husband abroad after the wedding, and when she came back that was it. So we prefer to wait for God’s time. He knows the perfect time for everything. And He said in the book of Jeremiah that ‘before you were formed in your mother’s womb, I knew you. Before thou came out I sanctified you.’ So before we were even formed in our mother’s womb, He knew the day we are going to get married, and who I am going to be married to. So trying to rush into it has no meaning. I don’t even mind who that person is. You know marriage is like an egg.

It is when you break it that you know what is in there. That person becomes part of your life because you wake up in the morning you see him there. That is why the bible said two shall become one.

What is the size of your family?

My father had three wives. From my mum, we have three girls and two boys.

We are the last born. We didn’t close the gate because we have younger half brothers.

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INSTYLE

TIES

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

that really bind

Angela Davies

A

re you thinking of how to dress up that semiformal, formal or business outfit? Then why not add a sleek and superb accent to your outfit by accessorizing with a black tie.

A necktie can add interest into a boring outfit as it comes in a variety of styles, colours and patterns. Although there are different types of neck ties, however, the two distinctive types especially among Nigerian men are the long, straight necktie and the bow tie. The straight neckties are usually preferred to accessorize semi-formal or business attire, while bow ties are reserved for a more formal occasion like evening events.

Although the straight neckties come in a variety of colours, and patterns, you will not go wrong with wearing any pattern of black neck tie which could be solid, plaid, print or stripe provided it is matched with a crisp white shirt.

Wearing a black tie or bow tie with a crisp white shirt is not only sleek but elegant.

This neutral coloured tie will blend in naturally with your outfit for a look that is sophisticated.

As much as you want to wear a black tie, it cannot be worn alone.

Hence, the standard black tie dress code consists of a black tuxedo, white crisp dress shirt, black bow tie or straight tie, and black dress shoes.

‘It’s OK to move with the trend sometimes’ Yinka Lawanson, whose stage name is Lamboginny is a dancehall musician. The anti-crime crusador and Nigerian Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) ambassador has an obsession for bling. He tells Angela Davies why his style is simple but classy.

How would you define your style?

I try as much as possible to keep my style simple but classy.

Sometimes I can go all blinged out. Also, because of my anticrime projects, you will never see me sagging.

What determines your style?

The occasion determines my style. Sometimes, I keep it very cool and calm, and other times I go all blinged out especially if I’m going on stage at that event.

What kind of outfit takes up a larger part of your wardrobe?

It is mixed. I like normal simple pants a lot. I love colourful shoes, so, I have red, orange, Burberrys and brown of different shades.

But as an entertainer, a dancehall artiste at that, I have a lot of bling.

However, I try to look corporate in everything because my brand is a special one.

What sort of outfit do you feel most comfortable in?

I feel very comfortable in anything I wear that I like and love.

Do you colour-block?

I think anybody can colour block. I can put on my orange shoes on a deep ash pants, a light ash top with a simple belt on it and I’m good to go. You will see that it is almost colour blocking.

But if you look at it again, the world is changing.

Lamboginny...skinny jeans a no-no for him

with my chains be it gold or silver.

Are you a fan of trend?

I am not a fan of trend, but sometimes in order not to be totally lost you have to move around the trend. I am an entertainer so if I don’t move around with the trend, I will be totally lost from my fans and the society.

Your best designer

Favourite piece of clothing

Most priced accessory

My favourite piece of clothing is always my shirts. I don’t joke with my shirts.

My most priced accessories are my shoes. I spend a lot on my shoes.

I love Versace because I love gold. I also love Calvin Klein. Locally, the designers I love are not big names but they are doing very well. I like Wale Clothings, Oyimine and Naija Edition.

Signature perfume What clothing item are you unlikely to be caught wearing?

I have never worn agbada before though they say you must wear it when you are getting married. But I don’t know if I will wear it. Also, I won’t wear skinny jeans which is almost like leggings.

I don’t have a particular designer perfume that I wear. If I use a particular perfume and it is not too harsh and smells, nice I’m alright. The truth is that I wear any good cologne that makes me smell nice.

Favourite colour

What is that fashion accessory you can never do without?

Men in black...Who Wants To Be a Millionaire Presenter, Frank Edoho and Singer, Anis Halloway

I love my belts and chains. I don’t joke

Red is my favourite colour. It is bright, attractive, represents love and I’m a very caring and loving person.

INSTYLE

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

15

Accessories to live for

Add some pep to your style with trendy handbags Fashion is incomplete without accesories Angela Davies writes on a few that accentuate the inidividual’s style.

H

ave you wondered why women love expensive handbags so much or why they even spend many hours trying to find the ideal handbag that would complement their outfits? Handbags are a woman’s most essential fashion item. They also reflect a fashion statement.

There are lots of trendy 2014 designer handbags for every woman of style. These handbags come in different styles, numerous colours, unique designs, size and elegant shapes. They are made with leather material to ensure you get the best value for your money. Some have shoulder strap which can be further aided with small handles. The shoulder straps are padded and come with adjustable length.

Elegant designer brands such as Dolce and Gabbana, Fendi, Givenchy, Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Gucci can be stylishly carried to the office as well as other informal evening outing as they add an edge to your dressing. These handbags are roomy enough to contain all your important stuff like mobile phone, make up bag, keys, purse, sun shade as well as other items. So why not get a trendy designer handbag and make your own fashion statement?

Adorn your wrists with elegant cuff bracelets

C

uff bracelets look simple yet they bring sophisticated style to any look. A cuff bracelet is one which does not close on the wrist with a gap or opens on the inside of the wrist and worn low on the wrist bone rather than pushed up the fore arm.

You can spruce up your “day-to-evening” look by adorning your wrist with gorgeous cuff bracelets as you don’t have to save them just for the red carpet.

You could choose from the bold and eye-catching, glittery, silver, gold pleated or even simple to match your fashion taste.

These captivating accessories add interest to an elegant evening gown, feminine feel to a work-day suit or outfit or even chic style to a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

Remember, you will look and feel absolutely fabulous when you step out adorning your wrist with fascinating cuff bracelets.

Facts Folorunsho Alakija, emerged as the best designer in the country in 1986 under her fashion label, Supreme Stitches. A few years later, the name was changed to Rose of Sharon House of Fashion.

False eyelashes were first invented in 1916 when Hollywood producer D.W. Griffith wanted to enhance one of his actress’ eyes for one of his films.

They were made out of human hair.

Umbrellas were invented initially to shade people from the sun and not from the rain.

The first bra was invented by a New York socialite, Mary Phelps in 1914.

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The Therapist

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PRINCESS ODUNayomi OKE

princess.oke@newtelegraphonline.com odunayomitide2010@gmail.com 0909 124 6811 (sms only)

Who Needs a Heart...? (1)

“N

ow, listen girl, I can’t continue to bear with you at this stage, can’t you see you’ve done enough harm to yourself just in four weeks? You know what I think? You’ve got to call up your psychologist and let her know you’re far from doing fine.’’ ‘‘Oh my psychotherapist you mean?’’ ’’Whatever you call her! You need a specialist attention at the rate you’re going. I’ve done all I know to do, just to help you get over the shock, but not a single of my effort has produced any positive result. Instead, you keep going deep into your shell. Why? I mean why are you doing this to yourself! why don’t you accept it as something you cannot change , why don’t you ask God to give you the grace to bear it, why don’t you go see your therapist for treatment, or why…’’ ‘‘Oh, can someone just help me tell my LM to shut it up? Can’t you see I’m like torn into bits already, and I can do just fine without anyone disturbing my brain? Can’t you hear LM? I say let me be! I only need time, and I will get this also behind me. But for now, leave me to mourn this ‘death,’ till I get over it.’’ ‘’But remember, your therapist warned you about bottled-up emotion.’’ ’’And you also should remember that I have told you the last I need now is a psychotherapy session. Can’t you feel, at least if you can’t see the devastating effect of the last advise from her? Now, all I want is to brace up, face reality, and get properly healed from within. Though this may take time, but it will work. Can’t you see it that way life mate?’’ ‘’Oh, I’m sorry dear, I could not equally produce the answer to that question, but what you’ve been programming into me is ’Am I getting hysterical?’ ‘Oh, let this not lead to hallucination,’ ‘should I see a therapist?’ ‘Oh, I’ve been treated with disdain,’ and so on. But it’s only that you’ve never given it a consideration, otherwise you will not need to travel anywhere or consult anyone to rebound. This is because without me no therapist, psychologist or whatever can succeed in helping you, as I am the real therapist. I did it that the other time, even long before you were referred to that therapist; but she only lent a voice to what I’ve been impressing upon your mind.’’ ‘’Now stop LM, or I’ll scream. And I’m sure you know too well what happens each time I do that. Now, don’t make me do it! I mean if what you are now telling me is that you collaborated with that psycho-whatever to make me take the misleading step that has now left me shattered, then are you really a friend?’’ ‘’Oh, but we did it together! It was there in your mind, and you know my own is to carefully follow your thought pattern an d produce it into a chip; ready to use. I’m sorry friend, I never meant to hurt you! But you know what I think? I think next time both of us should be more careful in our program-

Laff

therapy

P

“Whenever I fall into error and blame her for it, or for not warning me ahead of time, she would say that was because I often ignore her moves” ming and processing, so we could avoid syntax errors. (Pause) Oh, oh, she’s no more responding! Friend, are you still there? Oh, she’s like tired of me, let me just take a break.’’ ‘’Hah, thank God, she’s finally off! Let me now relate with the conscious me.’’ ‘’Not so fast, you just sent a data, and it has in it a little smile. A wink kind of, but as I’m processing it now, I see it broadening into a big smile, oh broader into a bigger smile - beautiful! A big smile you now have here. You see what I mean, now your willpower is coming up and, watch it, if you don’t fight it again the glow will soon return to your skin, the shine to your eyes and flesh to your body. Byeee!!!’’

Oh my, that was me and my subconscious in a dialogue. Though she could be very playful, but she’s up to great accomplish-

ments, particularly when she feels involved.

Whenever I fall into error and blame her for it, or for not warning me ahead of time, she would say that was because I often ignore her moves. The only issue I think I have with her is that she kind of imposes her will on me. Though she has never agreed to that, she would rather say it was unanimous.

For example, the conscious me would be saying a thing, and LM would simply download another version. If I resist, she would insist that is what my brain, my mind, and everything in my body is giving her to process. More of importance, is that on many occasion she has walked the talk with me to achieve some level of success.

Now that she’s quiet, let me make a try to give you a peep into what both of us have been dragging for weeks. Well, it happened that sometimes last year, I was billed for surgery [though it never was] and maybe because of the state of my purse, the complexity of the process, and some mental fatigue I went through, I became apprehensive. As if that wasn’t bad enough, insomnia set in, and my mind began to send false alarm to my brain that I probably could begin to hallucinate.

To be continued next week

astor asked all the single ladies in the Church to stand up for recognition, but on discovering that they were more than he envisaged, he asked them all to step out for prayers.

Within a minute, the isles were filled with ladies of different shapes and colours. Then the Pastor asked them to face the congregation, so the bachelors in the Church could see the beautiful sisters they have on ground.

Immediately they did, the whole congregation clapped and some blew whistle in appreciation of the beautiful creation of God. As the Pastor picked up the microphone to pronounce prophetic prayers on the ladies, a woman rushed out from the back pew.

There was laughter everywhere, because people felt she just woke from her sleep; but they were wrong. She went straight to one of the ladies, and said, ‘’Yes, God has caught you today.’’ Pastor, please you can’t pray for this one, because she is not single, but in a relationship with my husband.

There were shouts of ‘’Aaaah’’ everywhere, and as if from a movie scene, a young man also got up from his seat, and said ‘’But you have not stopped seducing me with your smiles and special greetings every Sunday, you even sent me a red tie on Valentine day’’.

Another rounds of ‘’aaah, aaah’’ filtered the air. The woman was so stunned she just went back to her seat in shame. The Pastor was left with no other option, but to pray for all the single ladies.

At the end of the service, the young man blocked the lady at the entrance, and said, ‘’now will you marry me? After all, I bailed you out of that shameful scene.’’

The lady said ‘’you mean that was made up?’’

And at the parking lot, the woman was found begging her husband, telling him it was a lie, but the man drove away with the children and said, ‘’Your boyfriend should at least give you a ride to the house, see you at home.’’

Lesson? Please send in what lesson you think this seeks to teach.

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Airwaves

17

with eve banigo

Rediscovering my parents’ musi I t was quite by accident that I discovered the Drive Time Show on Classic fm.

It was Valentine’s Day, love was in the air and I needed good music to help me enter the mood.

As I tuned in the show was airing already. I fell straight into the past. The host, Chico, promised to give his listeners beautiful soulful music that would suit the evening. He stayed true to his word. All through the show, beautiful music from the 80s and 90s seeped into my soul - soul, rhythm and blues, disco.

All at once I was a child - honestly, I cannot recall feeling so nostalgic. The songs played took me back to my childhood, those sunny days when I had no worries, where life was just one huge colourful bubble. Cyndi Lauper, Gerald Levert, Whitney Houston, Boys II Men, and other wonderful musicians who ruled during that era held me in an almost unbroken rhythm.

I say almost, because the almost unbroken commercials kept interfering with the flow of the music. I got a bit lost and disinterested after a while. So, I tuned to Smooth fm 98.1, “Love Music, Love Life” station, which was also airing its own Drive Time Show.

It was almost no different from Classic fm’s, except that Smooth fm played more songs I wasn’t familiar with, but they were lovely all the same. Midway, there was a programme which talked about Insurance and its immense benefits. I found it informative, as well as interesting - although I wondered about the connection. The commercials were not as incessant as classic fm’s. It’s quite understandable that commercial radios have to advertise, especially during times they have the highest number of listeners, but advertisements tend to be made the focal point during the show.

If listeners are going to enjoy music on a show, they need to do so without too frequent advertisements. I found it a bit disconcerting. Although I enjoyed both shows immensely, I thought that songs with a little more modern vibe could be infused. Of course, I enjoyed the “oldies”, but younger listeners might have not been familiar with some of the songs played.

Overall, I think both programme’s were, music-wise, really good, suitable for calming frazzled nerves, when stuck in the bumper to fender sort of Lagos traffic. It serves a good purpose for its listeners. I do wonder, however, if DJs and TV/radio stations ask themselves how good music can be conveyed to the largest possible audience, if they know that a person tunes into a music programme to enjoy good music. Talking over the beginning, middle or end of a song disrespects the artist and his work. It is like vandalising a work of art. To be sure, as a listener I expect to be given information about the song and singer, but surely this can be done as the song fades or between songs, not while it’s playing.

Still on information, why do I have to listen to canned monologue and practiced, insincere laughter? Just the other day, in the wake of recent scandals trailing certain celebrities, I discovered that Marvin Gaye sang Let’s Get it On to a sixteen year-old girl. I think we need to get to the point where information surrounding an artist and a particular song should be part of the presentation. We need to know our artistes, we need background knowledge of them as fans, as listeners of their songs.

I must confess that the lyrics from the oldies really expressed feelings that lovers may have difficulty putting into words. This, I think, is in stark contrast to the blatant sexualisation of my era’s ‘love’ songs. One question nags me, however: The need to go back in time to capture the feel of love. Is it that songs from my generation are not

Radio stations are battling for the attention of rush hour listeners....Classic fm’s Drive Time Show is a huge favourite

Cyndi Lauper

“ I do wonder, if DJs and TV/radio stations ask themselves how good music can be conveyed to the largest possible audience ”

suitably tender for lovers?

Listening to these songs, what struck me was how more and more music from my era functions as a commodity.

Check-out the top pop artists and songs of last year, and you’ll have difficulty picking a song you really want to listen to, let alone dissect. (The same goes for most music programmes on radio and TV.) The airwave is dominated by popular songs that sound alike in their lack of originality and

Gerald Levert

digitized sound. With the music scene dominated by several past music reality-TV - our newest cultural obsession - contestants, what do you expect? As these singers my parents love held me in musical magic, I ask myself if there was a downward spiral of the music industry. How many of today’s singers will be remembered as important musical artists?

With this, I welcome you to Airwaves - an exploration of TV and radio from a young female’s perspective.

Woman towoman

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with PRINCESS ODUNayomi OKE

18

Helpful Tips

How good is your lingerie?

Y

ou may be surprised that this is not a question for any particular class of women, but for majority of us as women. Hence, the need for this discussion.

I have observed that every woman wants to look good, but the question is, how many care about feeling good?

Feeling good in this context goes beyond the outward, to the real care of our first layer of clothing; our underwear.

Though this lies beneath our outer clothing, but it is an essential part of our total packaging, which deserves to be given the best care and attention.

I mean, if after all the heavy dressing, applying foundation here, putting paint there, some of us still go about wearing old and worn out lingerie, then we are not being fair to ourselves.

I was at a big boutique sometimes ago, where a woman wanted to try on a skirt, as she made to remove her wrapper (an expensive Swiss lace material) she said ‘’close your eyes o, because… And truly, she meant it because my eyes caught a glimpse, and sincerely what I saw was not fascinating.

Little wonder someone insisted that married women are guilty of this, because they feel who cares after all. Am I show-

ing off my undies to any other man? Some even take time to wash and keep their panties in particular, clean but how old and attractive are they? I mean do you feel good about them?

Again, I got the shock of my life recently when a supposed big girl said what is wrong in using a pant for about three to five years, as long as they are good cotton stuff and are still in good shape. Haba, what good shape? Little time now, you see them carrying bacterial cream about, complaining of fungal disease. What toilet disease? Those are panties disease, if you must be told.

Well, the full gist is that it is time to do away with those old stuff, and give your body a feeling of freshness. Also, let your husband smile and feel good anytime he sees your undies spread on the hanger.

You may think he does not care about this ‘’little details’’, but truth is, he does.

THINGS TO NOTE zz Always ensure the lines of your panties are invisible when you wear a tightly fitted material. zz If you must wear thongs, ensure it is well tucked inside your jean or pant, so it doesn’t start showing above the belt line. zz Your lingerie should not be a visible part of your dressing, especially when you wear a light and transparent material. zz Wearing a bra with straps (transparent or translucent) inside a boob-tube is disgusting, and

far from being a mature way of dressing. zz Bras that divide the boobs across are better worn inside thick and flowered fabrics. zz Avoid wearing white or bright coloured undies under a whitecoloured material, as this could be too revealing and embarrassing. zz Girdles could be worn on the tummy, but don’t indulge in wearing your panties on, or above the belly button.

Instead, let it rest a little below, for comfort and a feeling of goodness.

zz Cotton panties are the best to wear for menses, as nylon or silk pants could get your outer clothing messed up on time. More so, they retain and release out odour. zz *If you don’t use disposable panties for menses, try to separate the ones you use for menses from the ones for everyday use. zz Also, note that black, or dark coloured panties are more like it for menses. zz The use of panty liners is encouraged, at least for the first few days after menses.

• Wear your lingerie comfy, and not necessarily tight; as this may be harmful in the long run.

• Cotton undies are more body friendly, and the benefits far outweigh the cost.

• Panty liners should not take the place of daily changing.

• Don’t leave your undies soaked in detergent for over 48 hours, if such occurs, endeavourto rinse them out in warm disinfected water.

• Don’t keep worn-out underwear, you may be tempted to still wear them, particularly while in the house.

But this is very unattractive.

• It is better to sun dry than to blow dry with fan or use of airconditioner.

• If you must spin dry in the washing machine, endeavour to iron out.

• Never spray perfume or use deodorants on your panties, instead wash with luxury detergent.

• Finally, get new sets every 3 to 6 months.

• Before I come your way again next week with another challenging topic, the question to ask yourself is, how good is my lingerie, is it as good and attractive as my look?

FEEDBACK ( from the therapist page) Hello Princess I am a 19-year-old girl, I met a guy who said he wanted to date me, and I asked him to give me time to think about it.

But when I was ready to give him my answer, he sent me a text message that he was only kidding. Now, I don’t know what to do, I’m stranded.

– Girl, 0810126….

Hello dear Girl, You are not stranded, and can never be if you rise up from your despondent state on time. At 19, you still have the whole world before you, so don’t ever feel bad because someone turned you down.

Move on dear, face your studies and good will come your way, because you are destined to have the best.

Reviews Centenary gift from a poet p.20

THE ARTS ON SATURDAY NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY

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19

In March, a festival of documentaries Tony Okuyeme previews next month’s documentary festival that holds in Lagos.

W

ith “Rhythms of Identity” as its theme, this year’s edition of IRepresent (iREP) International Documentary Film Festival will hold from Thursday March 20 to Sunday March 23, at the Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos. iREP was initiated in 2011 by three Nigerian culture workers and activists to promote independent documentary film production, expression and discourses, especially to spread global awareness about the role of documentary films in deepening participatory democracy. Some of its other objectives include creating a platform of awareness and expression for aspiring and practising filmmakers, and providing a forum for people’s ingenuity to be showcased without prejudice to style or subject.

Announcing this in a statement, the organisers of the festival said iREP 2014 will interrogate the patterns of representation in Africa using the metaphor of music and rhythms which significantly stands us out from the rest of the World. “The 2014 iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival is conceived on the traditional framework of Africa in Self-conversation. It will explore the theme “Rhythms of Identity”. Everything is about representation.

Images are important, they are political; they form the rhythm of our identity and are present in all the elements that define

who we are – music, dance, language, religion, governance, dressing, etc.

“As Africans, our relationship with sound and movements is remarkably distinct from any other cultures of the World; whether or not an African is born and bred on the continent, there is a sense of appreciation for sound and movement that can almost be described as a ‘sense of one-ness’ with sound. This innate attachment to rhythms and the musical is far beyond body gyration or wanton excitement; it is an identity that reaches far into the cosmos of African existence; a tool for self-awareness, selfinterrogation, and self-edification.”

Noting that in the myriad of complications that come with consumerist globalization, the African identity is at a huge disadvantage, the orgainsers further stated that the African identity is always as defined by international capitalist media; a definition which constantly raises the question of whether there is any form of humanism in Africa.

“At such times as this, our rhythms provide us with a repertoire of examples that raise a rebuttal to the prevalent argument and mindset that intractably seek to write Africa into dark ages. What do our rhythms tell us about our identity as Africans, what might we discover about ourselves if we dare to interrogate our past. These are the arguments that the 2014 iREPRESENT

Coming Soon Diagnosis for Lagos Theatre Fest

AS part of the ongoing British Council Theatre Festival, Ifeoma Fafunwa Productions presents Diagnosis - a hilarious play telling the story of ‘Johnnie’ who is into internet fraud and will stop at nothing to secure a particular deal.

Written and directed by Ifeoma Fafunwa, the show features Deyemi Okanlawon, Kemi Lala Akindoju, Tope Tedela and other talented actors.

The three-day Theatre Festival which began yesterday is “part theatrical experience, part real life and part city journey”. It aims to transform the historic Freedom Park, a public space born out of the ruins of a colonial prison and reconstructed to preserve the history and cultural heritage of Nigeria.

“At this festival, theatre will be in non-theatrical/unconventional spaces, fringe shows and exhibitions.

Odugbemi

“Our rhythms provide us with a repertoire of examples that raise a rebuttal to the prevalent argument and mindset that intractably seek to write Africa into dark ages. ” International Documentary Film Festival will explore.

Key features of iREP 2014 include keynote address that will be delivered by the director-general of the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Mr. Emeka Mba, on the opening day, March 20. The keynote is titled “Rhythms of Amalgamation- Fashioning a Nigerian Identity.” iREP 2014 will feature highly respected filmmakers from different parts of the World. It will also feature a rich collection of award-winning documentary films from across the world, complemented by works of young and old filmmakers in Nigeria.

This year, we also introduce a special room; which is entirely dedicated to films screenings all day throughout the period of the festival. This is to cater for participants who are wholly interested in films screening, and also allow other participants see a film they might have missed.

The festival will feature the Producers’ Roundtable an international co-production and co-operation forum for documentary filmmakers, established during the 2011 festival. The Filmmakers’ Roundtable will hold on March 21 and March 22, and will explore innovative options and opportunities in international co-productions and distributions. The forum will bring together international organizations such as Goethe, AGDOK, DOKFEST, AWDFF, Africa Magic and other relevant support Institutions for African cinema.

Other activities lined up to hold during the festival include Filmmaker’s Workshop targeted at upcoming filmmakers who need an immersion into how to take advantage of

digital filmmaking possibilities. The trainings will introduce aspiring filmmakers to Techniques of Doing More with Less in Digital Filmmaking, and Documentary Appreciation and Styles, facilitated by Lanre Olupona and Barbel Mauch. This holds on March 21 and March 22.

The plenary sessions of the Festival will also include Paper Presentations and Panel Discussions by top culture workers, intellectuals, scholars and art activists. The festival will close on March 23 with a Jazz concert.

The Conceptual framework of iREPRESENT (iREP) is Africa in Self-conversation; and it is designed to promote awareness about the power of documentary format to serve as a means of deepening and sharing social and cultural education as well as encouraging participatory democracy in our societies.

The festival is conceptualized to create platform of awareness and expression for aspiring and practicing filmmakers who are creating socially relevant documentary films to positively impact our world. To fully engage an array of trans-cultural creativity, iREP will provide a forum for everyone’s ingenuity to be showcased without prejudice to style or subject. iREPRESENT celebrates the ever expanding world of documentary films by inviting talents from across the globe to share ideas on trends and technological advancements in the format. iREP International Documentary Film Festival was founded by a board of directors which include Femi Odugbemi, Awardwinning Producer/director, past President of ITPAN (Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria) and CEO of DVWORX Studios; Jahman Anikulapo, culture journalist and activist, Programmes Director of CORA (Committee for Relevant Art) & Project Director of Culture Advocates Caucus, (CAC); and Makin Soyinka, culture activist and filmmaker- all are operatives of the West African Documentary Film Forum, WADFF – with a mission to develop and nurture the talent of young filmmakers in Africa and internationally.

20 arts

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 march 2014

Centenary Gift from a Poet A Hundred Years of Servitude by Isidore Emeka Uzoatu; 2014; Borodoro Books; Lagos

r e v i e w

Michael Jimoh

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hose who genuinely love their country are not the dodgy politicians who preside over its affairs. A confirmation of that is this handy collection of poems. It is less than 60 pages and contains only 32 poems. After browsing A Hundred Years of Servitude, Isidore Emeka Uzoatu’s most recent publication, readers will be in no doubt about his undeniable love for Nigeria.

A former editor of Mister Magazine, teacher and journalist, Isidore is now a full time writer and trader living in Onitsha where he does his business. He has two books to his credit, Vision Impossible, 2006, and Credo – The Poem, 2011. He is the younger brother of Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, a journalist without equal and editor of the pages where this review appears as well as the Op-Ed editor of The Union. Because of his ardent belief in the Nigerian dream – to make things better – Isidore tried unsuccessfully to get a party nomination to represent his constituency in Anambra State.

Where politics failed him, writing has not. In fact, it runs in the family. Maxim himself has written extensively in both the prose and poetry genre, made the shortlist of the Caine Prize for African fiction. Nor is Isidore’s claim that his creative output is fuelled by what he calls “altruistic nationalism” an idle boast. It shows in this collection. It also shows that writers, more than politicians, have a deeper understanding of, and concern for, humanity.

Till date, no political speech of the time matches what Nigerians remember of Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests, a satire on Nigeria’s independence staged in 1960 and by 1960 Masks, a theatre troupe given wings by Soyinka himself. Indians of a certain generation consider Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children more profound and insightful than all the heroic declamations of the founding fathers of the Asian state at the time of its creation in 1947. Isidore has now joined the ranks of those whose muse find full expression on historical dates in a country’s

calendar.

Isidore’s title easily recalls Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s immortal novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. But there is no magical realism here. Here is a poet telling it starkly, boldly and in visceral language. For example, he refers to the British colonizers as “pirates lured inland by colonial lucre” and their thieving Nigerian successors as “primitive primates of power.”

His opening poem, “The Song Died,” gives the reader a taste of what is to come, followed by “Nigeria Ronu” – ronu in Yoruba means think. That is precisely what the poet enjoins his countrymen to do instead of getting caught in the gaudy celebration

the centenary will turn out to be.

“Dearest country o’ mine/ As you turn centenarian/ I craved to croon you a ballad/ Like none ever ventured/ Since the amalgamation,” is Isidore’s enthusiastic opening. He concludes on a pessimistic note: “Yet come twilight/ When songs come to birth/ I’m thrown overboard headfirst/ Nipping the bud in the thought/ Lest I penned a paean/ To a pantheon/ Of demigods.”

Older than some African countries at a hundred, Nigeria is no more than a grown up child trying to become an adult, and almost always failing to be so. Ghanaian nationals once invaded Nigerian cities and towns mending shoes

“Older than some African countries at a hundred, Nigeria is no more than a grown up child trying to become an adult, and almost always failing to be so.”

for a fee. Now they’re back in their country, secure in their buoyant economy. For many years, Nigeria bankrolled the struggle against apartheid in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Today, South African companies – shopping malls or communications concerns – provide jobs for Nigerians in some state capitals. What went wrong?

Though there is no direct reference in this collection, it is hard for such thought not to run through the reader’s mind. That is Isidore’s unstated question in A Hundred: A country with so much promise, with boundless potentials has literarily ended up in a cul de sac.

“The ship has become rudderless/ Rendering citizens useless/ In unforeseen poverty/ In the midst of plenty,” Isidore writes gloomily in the second stanza of “Our Renascent Frontiersmen.” “Money only in the hands/ Of a rapacious few/ Who now mock the many/ For their lack of reason/ Or they would not have ended/ So destitute and desolate.”

Nothing can be sadder for a country whose head of state once boasted there was so much money he didn’t know what to do with it.

Today, as Senator Iyabo Obasanjo so aptly wrote, Nigeria is a country where intelligent people prostrate before fools so they can put food on their tables. The poet takes a sweeping survey of Nigeria’s existence from amalgamation till date, dedicating some of the poems to individuals who shaped the last century for the country - whether for good or bad. “Entity to Iniquity” is dedicated to Zik and Awo; Zik’s ceremonial status as Nigeria’s first president is underscored: “Handing you a painted sceptre/ Giving and receiving waves at parades/ While a middle-school graduate/ Ran the affairs of state.”

He rues Awo’s unrealized dream. “Dear Jeremiah of the gold spoon fable/ All your dreams in season/ Came to pass but for the main/ Despite your many attempts,/ Making you the best of it/ The country never had/ As opined by a bearded foe.” Achebe gets his due, “…a man of peace/ Born in a time of strife/ Who thought about things/ When the rest are blown away/ On the wings of his tidings.”

Though Isidore’s “Enigmata” for Wole Soyinka was written 10 years ago, it still rings true today about the country’s only Nobel laureate: “The enigma you shall forever be/ Even as they grope in vain/ Left in the slippery wake/ Of your inscrutable presences.”

The longest poem (199 lines), “Biafra: A Requiem,” is a lamentation for an unnecessary fratricidal war. Isidore is Igbo by birth but he

does not allow his origin to becloud the reason for the war and the deception of the Biafran High Command: “By a mass stuffed on the propaganda/ That even the grass they stepped on/ Were potential weapons/ In the hands of their commandos/ Mere adolescents conscripted/ And moved to the war front untrained…/ Mere traders, labourers, craftsmen and a poet.” (The poet here is Christopher Okigbo who died in the war.) To him, Igbos should move on with their lives and stop being crybabies.

Isidore’s language is trenchant.

You can feel the full force of that in many of the poems. Here is an example taken from the sixth stanza of “Biafra: A Requiem:” “Raw words become the monotonous jangle/ Occasioned by stringed empty shells/ Of the slowly giant African gastropod/ Ghastly garlands of civic dishonor/ On the wiry necks of war-time thieves/ Liberators of their neighbour’s harvests.” Besides that, Isidore’s story-telling gift is evident. Good poetry unravels like a well told story, and the poet leads the reader on from page to page such that even a tyro won’t feel alienated. And then, there are two poems in pidgin for those of us who may likely be turned off by those intimidating words.

However, you can’t help but wonder why the poet is preoccupied with the Big three tribes in Nigeria. It is there in “Igbo Kwenu,” a paean to three cities – Aba, Lagos and Kano. You see it again in “Tribal Rectangle” though you suspect the poet actually meant triangle because Isidore sings in praise of three fetching ladies - Amina, Lola and Ngozi - and not four. These are not the only drawbacks. The poem dedicated to Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana titled “Osagiefo” is wrongly spelt. It should have been Osagyefo. There are a few spelling errors and though well bound, thus assuring it a lasting shelf life, the book can be better packaged.

Isidore’s gift to Nigeria at a hundred couldn’t have come at a more auspicious time. The cover comes decorated with the 36 states of Nigeria. As is very well known, the federal and state governments have made great plans for a befitting celebration. Anyone can guesstimate how much would have been squandered by the time the ceremonies come to an end later in the year. For far more less, this charming collection by a writer who holds Nigeria dear to heart is the best gift you can give to any school boy who loves poetry.

Cobhams Being blind brought out my fighting spirit p.22 Tiwa Savage Rallying against cancer p.33

SHOWBIZ NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY

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Apart from being an actor, what else do you do?

Jibola Dabo you all know is an actor. But Jibola Dabo is actually a writer, a jazz musician and a total artiste. I practise arts in its totality. I dance to music, jazz specifically, because I am a percussionist, but lately acting has actually taken me away from music. I am a father, grandfather and a happy-go-lucky man. I am a political activist and teacher of the arts. When I am not acting, I am doing the teaching and presently, I am vying for the political arena of this country. I am vying for the House of Representatives for my constituency, Owo local government in Ondo State.

21

For Jibola Dabo, white is an expression of spirituality

ression p x e n a e is bo, whit bo a D la o ibola Da J r o For Jib t c A Acting is time consuming; likewise politics. Are you uality He lives . it n ir p io s t c is u sure one will not suffer? d of h any intro s d e Definitely, I will create time to do that which I have e n here Nolw e arely m o h decided to do because I have been blessed in my profes- b g in every ed. Havin h c sion. I have been taken to the peak of it and I think the virtually t a w , ies are an actor ways I can help give back to the community is to get to the s a s ood mov e d w a ly ec place of power. You cannot have any control or give back s. r three d e v o is stripe in h t d really if you are not in position of power. Taking time off e pu n r a urely e from acting, not completely, but at least giving time to be count of c a n bo has s o a e D hit bo able to give back, will be better. So I will give some time ed Mr W tfits, Da m u a o n e k it ic h to acting but mostly to community service.

N hw is sion wit s Have you declared for any political party yet? e ies on h s v b a o D is a h l e I am yet to declare in any particular political party. Some ith Ang e is conw h y s k h a w e p d offers are quite attractive, but since it is not about party, I s an ess code r d first of all came out in my constituency to ask the people if , r e e r ca t politics a t they wanted me to represent them and they said “yes”. So, I o h s a sidering want to see that I have a solid platform so that when we say

You obviously love white outfits a lot; Is it something spiritual?

White is what agrees with my spirituality. A lot has been written about it, while some say I am a cultist others said that I am a ritualist. But no I am neither a ritualist nor a cultist but the point is that the only colour that agrees with my spirit, my soul is white. I don’t sleep right if I don’t sleep on a white sheet because I will have nightmares and I feel dirty if I wear something coloured unless I am working. Anything coloured is for work but my everyday life is white. I have been wearing white for about 20 to 25 years now and I love it. I am a lover of colours. In my years in the state for example, I will buy a nice jean and I might fly for four or five hours to go and look at the belt or shoe that will match my jacket.

I was a designer freak but I might have my own fashion line and it is going to be white. They call me Mr. White in my area. When God starts speaking to you and you don’t listen, usually you will pay for it.

Before I started listening to God, I think I paid for mine dearly too.

this is where we are going, the people are sure to follow me.

Are you saying God asked you to start wearing white?

When did you actually start your acting career?

Well, you are in your church for example when they are praying for you and you are putting on this nice bright wine or red T-shirt and your pastor says ‘brother, do you know you are supposed to be wearing white?’ Or you are sitting in front of your house and a man or a woman walking by suddenly stops and looks at you and says, ‘you this man you are supposed to wear white clothes’. I will just laugh because I love colours and it’s been going on for years. But after sometime, I became quite restless. I became a restless person because I kept searching for something that I didn’t know. You know constantly agitating for something and then since I started listening and wearing white, I am more at peace with myself.

I grew up acting. I am not one of those that can tell you a story that something just happened and I went into acting. I have been acting before I got to primary school. And we have been doing it in this country before Nollywood started. I have been on television since the ‘70s and in the ‘80s when we were producing satire. We’ve been talking about things that are wrong in Nigeria. But professionally, earning money from it started around 1980 or 1981.

How would you rate Nollywood?

We’re going fast. As a matter of fact, we are going too fast but there is always room for expansion and growth. Looking at Nollywood today, I think where we are is tremendous for the work we have done. I am just hoping that we will be able to take a break, look back and see how to proceed so that we can proceed technically, more correctly. We have lapses in technical areas and in the areas of content as well. We have a lot of infringement from religion into our productions. Nollywood is supposed to be the image laundry for this country. The government has seen us as image launderers; however, we ask ourselves sometime when we are together: “are we really laundering the image?” because a lot of times in the name of religion we insult our own culture which is very sad and there are very few of us who know and fight it every time. It is one of the reasons I know that if I have political power I will be better positioned to fight such and then my voice will be heard a little better.

Are you a polygamist or do you support polygamy?

How do you cope with fame?

I think it is easy for me to cope with fame because fame or stardom was never in our vocabulary when we started.

There was nothing about being a star, you could be seen to be popular and that was all we had. When we were doing shows like Awada kerikeri, we were just popular, people see us and say that is him, even children want to rush after you, they will admire you but you don’t see yourself as a star. So today when you wave at me, I am glad that you appreciate my job, it doesn’t get in my head, I don’t really see the stardom. I am just happy that today I can earn money doing what I love doing.

How would you define your personal style?

My style is quite local because most cases whatever I wear except for my shoes for example are Nigerian made.

Every now and then, I do buy stuffs from abroad but mostly, my style is local. And the brand that you see in Jibola Dabo is not what I put on myself, it is God’s created brand that I have created. And it just so happen that I see that this is something nature has given me and I began to nurture it.

For example, what I am wearing was sewn by a local tailor on my street. My first degree is in graphics, so when I see something that I like, I do the drawing and give it to him to design for me as long as the colour is white.

I don’t have anything against polygamy. I am an ardent supporter of polygamy but do not confuse fornication with polygamy. It is what is going on in the society. They misunderstand having many girlfriends and having a wife with polygamy. When you have one wife, then you have a mistress there, a girlfriend there and another one had a child for you somewhere, that is not polygamy. Now God doesn’t want that.

But polygamy is when you marry your wives, brings them home and you provide for them and you also take care of their children. I love it because it is what we are created to understand in this continent. The fact that we have turned against it. Whether we agree with it or not we are suffering it.

I have kids from more than one wife but mine was not designed as polygamist. Mine came because I have travelled around the world. When I am in a country instead of going around with women, I will have somebody in my life and if you want to have a kid with me, fine.

Many men are fans of foreign clubs. Are you one of them?

Yes, I actually played soccer to help my mother pay my fees in school. I played football for years before the knees started getting old. I still play when I want to. I am a football fan but I don’t support any club outside this country. However, I have some footballers that I like to watch when they play because their game is enjoyable but I am a full supporter of Nigerian teams.

22 SHOWBIZ

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

Cobhams: Being born blind brings out the fighter in me Visually-impaired singer, songwriter and music producer, Cobhams Asuquo turned 33 in January and celebrated with friends at a restaurant in Victoria Island, Lagos. The popular artiste with a brilliant resume spoke with LANRE ODUKOYA about career, principles and marriage NEW WORKS

“We’ve been working on a lot of materials,” the gifted artiste say. “We are rounding off on Bez’s album. His sound is more defined. I’m happy to share the experience to the world. My Baby is already a massive hit. Stan Iyke is also a force to be reckoned with. He has grown and exploded. He did a song with Tiwa and his next single is going to be amazing. My album, Ordinary People was released to overwhelming support and it will be released in the first or second quarter of this year.”

DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY

Would 2014 prove more challenging than the previous years? Cobhams said: “I would create music differently and create based on experience built over the years.”

TIWA SAVAGE’S VOICE TOUCHES MY SOUL

Love or loathe it, Cobhams is enamoured of Tiwa Savage. He believes she’s unapologetically good. “I think Tiwa is special to every Nigerian. She has an amazing voice and the gift of songwriting. She also has a great personality. I like to work with people who don’t make work difficult. We haven’t done enough work. She is a great person and musician and Nigerians love her.’’

WHO I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH MANY TIMES OVER

Over time, he’d built an army of loyalists and friends and we love to know if he’s got favourites. “I’ve worked with a lot of great musicians. I don’t like working over and over again and I think I’m lazy. I have a voice but it’s heard through the music I produce. Otherwise I’d like to hang out and play golf and do movies. In general, I’ve worked with a lot of musicians and I’m proud of them.”

WORKING WITH ASA

It once made the rounds that after making the debut, a mega hit album for Asa, Cobhams and the award-winning singer drifted apart. Here’s his reaction: “Relationships don’t dissolve like candy. They’re built to grow strong. We have a relationship that has existed through the years.

She doesn’t only go up; she goes up with people who were part of her success. We

Cobhams

are in constant connection, but our jobs don’t leave us time in the task of building and grooming an army of musicians who have value. There’s a lot left of the relationship.”

NOW THAT I’M MARRIED

Married to a beautiful woman who’s into the 9am-5pm job, nevertheless, Cohbams is having all he wants in marriage. He confesses; “Life for me has been a dream as a married family man. People say marriage is overrated but I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve been married to my best friend for over 3 years.

I learnt a different level of kindness and responsibility of being married.

NIGERIAN MUSIC TODAY

He lends his voice on how the music industry is faring and his reservation too.

“The industry is growing in leaps and bounds. Music today is where football used to be some time ago. Music and Nollywood are like football. We are able to produce and consume our own products. These are foundation issues. That’s not just the responsibility of the industry but of everyone.

Its growing but everyone should watch out.

I’m happy to be involved in creating music in this industry.”

ARTISTES TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2014

As one who holds his own, his optimism is strong. “Bez and Stan Iyke for obvious

“I think Tiwa is special to every Nigerian. She has an amazing voice and the gift of songwriting. She also has a great personality. reasons.”

ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT SOCIETY OF NIGERIA

Notwithstanding, he demonstrates some apathy to raging issues in the only recognized music collecting organization in Nigeria, COSON. “I’m not best informed, so I don’t really have an opinion. Everything I would say would be based on hearsay.”

through life seeking and praying.”

NUMBER OF KIDS I LOVE TO HAVE

Don’t force him to admit a number, Cobhams wouldn’t just budge. “I’ve never thought about that. Any number is fine.”

MY FIRST LOVE

More than anything that is and is to be, he loves, “music and food.”

I’D NEVER TRIED TO QUIT

Would he have ever considered a detour? More so as a sightless man? “I don’t go through life expecting things to work.

Try to open doors and if they don’t open, break them down. Being born blind prepares you to be a fighter.”

SINGERS WHO INSPIRE ME

WHAT I’D DO DIFFERENTLY WITH A SECOND CHANCE

To any regret whatsoever, the man of sounds and notes refuses to own up, rather he expresses his singular wish. “I’d have to think hard. I would seek wisdom at an earlier age.”

WHAT I WOULD HAVE WISHED FOR

If his heart is ever heavy, what could he be asking from God? “I don’t know. I’m taking life one day at a time and learning to manage my wishes, trust God, and I go

He stands tall as inspiration to many and if you dare ask who inspires him, what do you hear; “I am a product of all the musicians I’ve listened to. Every Nigerian musician has inspired me. My influences are eclectic. From great artistes in America, UK, Greece, SA…to worldwide! In fact, to fully mention the number of artistes that have inspired me, you would have volumes of books of people mentioned. Even up and coming musicians inspire me – there are so many. It would be difficult to name names.’’

SHOWBIZ

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

SHOWBIZ TODAY

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LANRE ODUKOYA - 08059296445 lanreodukoya@gmail.com

Don Jazzy, D’Banj comeback tale, a ruse

I

f indications become rife that estranged partners, Don Jazzy and D-Banj are planning a comeback, it must be because they have sheathed swords faster than people thought. Their rancorous breakup which went virile two years ago no longer gather as much heat. The sour relationship grew to the extent that when D-Banj was asked if he ever missed Don Jazzy, he bragged, “Do you miss a Mercedes Benz when you own a Ferrari?” Don Jazzy on the other hand hardly ever sent missile of equal weight, but carried some resentment, maybe regrets as he was sometime also quoted to have said: “ D’Banj makes me who I am”. In similar vein, D’Banj was to later admit: “I miss Don Jazzy and the whole Mo’Hits crew”. Several months have gone by and both artistes have gains and losses to count from a “professional marriage” that once made them the envy of several other record labels and recording artistes. The separation blew the gasket. It demystified Don Jazzy, first of all. The era of acting Lord of the Manor was over and

who would believe Don Jazzy didn’t know how to drive until the Mo’Hits crash? This is to underestimate the scale of the influence he wielded. The first car he would drive (by himself ) was a Bentley which he bashed several times shortly after the crash. Don Jazzy suddenly became one who’d drive himself to a media house for an interview. But ask anyone close to Don Jazzy; he is music, he lives it and that’s one thing sorely missing in D’Banj’s life. D’Banj is a businessman, he discerns opportunities in the unlikeliest places and is always ready to be a small fish in a big pond unlike Don Jazzy. Well, they’re adults and know better now. Their grouses are gradually giving way for peace. The same explains why fans were taken aback when they shared cigarettes at Ice Prince’s Fire of Zamani concert last year. But that they’re coming together as partners again? By no means! Yet, one can never displace the possibility of getting them to sing together again anytime soon. Like they say in politics, “there’s no permanent foe, but permanent interest”.

D’Banj

E-BRIEFS

Skales moves into Timaya’s house We feel for Skales because for so long, it was effortless for him to hide under the star power of Wizkid and Banky W to benefit from the manna that streamed into the EME family before his contract expired. Banky W and his team disengaged Skales on the premise that the ‘venture may no longer be profitable’. He has since then been willed to Timaya, who we learnt now houses the rising rapper and may sign him on Dem Mama Records any time soon.

Youssor N’dour was here Senegalese maestro and one of Africa’s most respected singers, YoussorN’dour, was in Nigeria for the second time last Sunday. He was brought to thrill hundreds of arts enthusiasts at the Etisalat Prize for Literature award which held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. His live performance, in a function pretty much an exciting evening already, N’dour’s notes and tones was an enchanting symphony of tunes. With a set of African drums, three guitarists, a sonorous male back-up vocalist and a keyboardist, it ended up being a conference of melodies to the excitement of the discerning audience.

That Davido’s new video, Aye The video of Davido’s latest song titled, Aye was released a few days ago and it’s massively trending. The epic romance video has an enchanting storyline, but wait, which Nigerian girl will ditch a Ferrari or high end designer for Davido’s love? That’s just a rhyme the songster has in the well accepted song. The storyline of the video began with a queen on the chariot with the king, she sees an irresistible young man, Davido and lust after him. The promiscuity continues and the unsuspecting king, at last never even caught wind of the sin. A tale told in tuneful melody but of bad moral.

Don Jazzy

Daddy Showkey out of the blues for val show Dreadlocked galala exponent, Daddy Showkey made a spectacular appearance after a long lull. The ghetto soldier took to the stage to entertain thousands of children, mothers and fathers with his golden hits including Somebody Call My Name, Dyna and Fire Fire at the Nnenna & Friends Valentine Show. The show which took place on February 16 at the National Theatre, Lagos, was full of top-notch family entertainment while the audience was also excited to witness outstanding performances by Nnenna and the N-Stars, Papa Ajasco & Company, The Oshadipe Twins, MC Prince, Desmond Osarobe, Universal Crew, WAP TV’s Omonla and an exclusive never-before-seen live performance by Super Story’s Chief Ahun. An estimated 5,000 satisfied fun-seekers who graced the event went home with numerous souvenirs.

Where is Ramsey Nuoah’s teen daughter?

It’s about eighteen years that star actor, Ramsey Nouah and Ameze Imarhiagbe’s brief romance produced a baby girl. How time flies! Interestingly, Ameze is back from the US and her reappearance reminds us of the teenage daughter they have together, more so that the beautiful actress is still single.

Oge Okoye now lives single A few years after waltzing into the klieglights, Oge Okoye seems not to have only climaxed in her career, but also in marriage as it reportedly crashed last year. Though she had thrashed the breakup tale a number of times, her close allies confirmed on condition of anonymity that her marriage to the Belgium based hubby of Igbo descent has all but ended. There are indications the star actress now live single with their two kids after moving out of her matrimonial home on Lagos Island.

24 NTSHOWBIZ

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 march 2014

Emmy Odunze Back to Home Turf With a New Song US-based Gospel singer speaks with Sony Neme

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mmy Odunze (born Chukwuemeka Odunze), a United States-based gospel-recording singer, is out with an interesting effort, titled …But God. It is a masterpiece from a songwriter, author and composer with the anointing for praise and worship. Born and raised in a Christian home in eastern Nigeria, his early musical influences include Fred Hammond, Commissioned, The Winans, Boyz II Men, and his father, Dr. Don Odunze. In a chat with New Telegraph at Victoria, Island, Lagos, recently, Emmy the founder and CEO of Psalmist Music, revealed why many describe him as a passionate young man, a dynamic speaker, singer and visionary. He reasoned that the transitional process of birthing in the booming Nigerian entertainment industry has been interesting.

His words: My switch has not been too bad because I come home each year. And I have always been in touch with the music and movie industry here. I also have a huge family and fan following here and that kind of soft- landing here. I have people who are supporting my effort and helping me to push through and that has made my transition very easy. Because I prepared myself and make efforts to keep in touch, so I know what is on ground, and I started building relationships with some key people in the industry before I came”.

He further revealed: “This has been on in the last two years. I will send songs, they will critique it and tell me what will work and what doesn’t work here. I believe that whatever you are doing in the world, and your people don’t know you, your gift and talents, I don’t think you are achieving very much. Who do you go home to at the end of the day?”

He added: “That encouraged me to come home so my people could know me and the things that God has put in me. I believe that with my years of experience in the US, I have many things that youths here can benefit from. Especially those aspiring to go abroad for the proverbial golden fleece, there are things they can learn from me.”

He recalls that, “as a young boy, I would spend long hours in church watching the church band and choir rehearse. My family and friends soon realized that my interest in music was genuine, deep and unwavering. At that point, I began to accompany my

parents on their ministry trips, for marriage seminars and crusades”.

Emmy did not mind the long hours spent on the road travels and ended up playing a part in the events. As he recalled, “my dad would give me five minutes to sing a song before he would preach. I remember the first time I sang in front of a crowd of about 3000 people at the age of 12. Something stirred within me that day, which I still can’t describe, and from t5hat moment on, I knew I was born for this.”

By the time he was 13, his music teacher realized he could comfortably sing and differentiate all four parts of harmony, and suggested he be moved up to the senior church choir. Emmy’s love for music blossomed as he sang Acapella with his siblings, and led youth choirs and groups within the city of Enugu in Nigeria.

In search of a better life, Emmy later moved to United States in his early 20s and acquired a degree in Communications and Public Affairs, graduating with honors.

That didn’t stop him as Emmy continued to flourish in his chosen calling. He currently serves as one of the lead worshipers at House on the Word, a family church in Houston, Texas, USA. His current projects include his first film production, a book titled ‘Back Stage’ (to be published), and his long-awaited debut album titled ‘...But GOD’ now available online and on music stands.

His words: “Pretty been here all my life. I was born into music and my dad was music director at Assemblies of God Enugu for over 27 year. Growing up, I was just surrounded by music. All my siblings grew up with music, and they all sing. But it was five years ago that I started devoting more time to it. I went into the studios when I decided to do an album. The debut is entitled ‘But God’ and is a 13-tracker and I wrote all the songs”.

To ensure that he got the debut right, four different studios in the US worked on the album with Cobham as one of the three producers.

His words: “We used four studios in the US to produce. It was produced in Houston, Baltimore, Dallas. I worked with three producers; one of them is the famous Cobhams

“The most insignificant thing from other people naturally pops out for you.”

Odunze

Asuquo. He produced the first track, Celebrate. It was a wonderful experience working with him in 2013. It is about celebrating your life daily. I have since realised that you must thank God for everyday of your life; that is what the track is all about. When you celebrate God daily, you will remain inspired for greater joy.”

He continued:, “As a script writer, what inspires each of my music note are from different aspect of life that bond us. Different song comes in different ways. For example I got a lyric while watching a cartoon. If you are an artiste, you will see what other people don’t see even within their own environment, is what makes a huge different.

You can ride out and get inspiration from anything.

“The most insignificant thing from other people naturally pops out for you. For me, lyrics come from different experiences,

places and situations. That is why I always have a tape recorder with me so that whenever such ideas jumps into my head even when I am driving, I will just excuse myself and put it down. Most times I wake up with a song on my lips. Other times I will just wake up singing and I will put it down”.

Though he has done gospel pretty much all his life, “ I have also written some inspirational songs for other people, I have done awards shows with inspirational and R&B stuffs, depends on what the event is about I try to suit the situation. We did the Golden Icon Academy Movie Awards, GIAMA, at Houston, US with RMD, Lanclot Imasuen and other Nollywood practitioners in attendance.”

He said that now that he is in Nigeria, with so many popular gospel artistes in high demand, he hopes to make a difference in the Nigerian music industry.

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My EPL move timely for World Cup - Yobo Adekunle Salami

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World Cup: My fears for Super Eagles –Obaseki

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uper Eagles skipper, Joseph Yobo, has said that his move back to the English Premier League is a deliberate attempt to earn a recall to the national team and also to make the cut for the forthcoming World Cup holding in Brazil.

Yobo who left the EPL two seasons ago to join Fernabache of Turkey is not happy that only UEFA Champions League games of Turkish teams are seen in Nigeria.

He noted that the best way to show his form was to move to a league that would be easier for the Super Eagles coaches to see and also for Nigerians to evaluate him.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

2014 Int’l Lagos Polo ends with fanfare

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Brazil: Agbim on cliff hanger over poor run

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26 SPORT

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Leaguemania with Chimaobi Uchendu princehench@yahoo.com

08092747532

Taraba to retain premiership status –Babangida

Pillars aim to lift trophy for keeps

Ileagues especially the Nigeria Pre-

t has been exciting times for Nigeria

mier Football League since innovations aimed at reviving the interests of both managers, players, coaches and spectators were put in place by the League Management Company (LMC).

The League kick-off now makes sense to spectators and sponsors alike, unlike previous experiences, when no one wanted to be associated with it.

Then, it was insinuated that winners were already known even before the season commenced, but with the photo-finish last season at the top of the log and the decision to make players’ remuneration better to avoid negative reports about players’ welfare, the League would witness better times this season.

The questions now on the lips of sports followers and league enthusiasts are; can Kano Pillars retain the league trophy this season to make it three out of three, especially now that they have been ousted from the CAF Champions League.

Their exit might be the tonic they need to refocus on the local scene and concentrate on making it three out of three.

PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES Day 1 fixtures 9/03 Giwa FC 16:00 Kano Pillars 9/03 Akwa United 16:00 Gombe United 9/03 Heartland FC 16:00 Dolphins FC 9/03 Lobi Stars 9/03 Bayelsa United 9/03 Warri Wolves 9/03 Abia Warriors 9/03 Enugu Rangers 9/03 Taraba FC

16:00 Crown FC 16:00 Sharks 16:00 El-Kanemi 16:00 Kaduna United 16:00 Nembe City 16:00 Nasarawa

airman of FC Taraba, Cinsisted Tijani Babangida, has that his goal for h

Top four finish, my target for Akwa United –Udoh …laments lack of funds Shagari Mohamed of Kano Pillars against Bayelsa United

Ctall target for himself and his side as the season kicks oach of Akwa United of Uyo, Patrick Udoh, has set a

off next week.

Udoh said he has set his sight on a top four finish at the end of the 2013/14 season and also a continental ticket to announce his return to top flight coaching in the Nigeria Premier League.

The former First Bank of Lagos coach told Leaguemania in a chat recently that his dreams and targets for his home-state team are realisable, but lamented the delay in the release of funds by their sponsor.

He said his second coming to the team is an act of God and asked those who are still wondering what he wants to do with the team to wait till the end of the season before they crucify him.

“I have a clear vision of what I want to do with Akwa United next season. Though, some who never see anything good in our state are still doubting my ability, I want to surprise them with a top four finish in the league and

Winning laurels, responsibility of all –Ogunbote Ssays a clubs success remains a col-

harks FC Coach, Gbenga Ogunbote,

lective responsibility and cannot be determined by one department alone.

Ogunbote was reacting to questions on the target of either winning the Federations Cup or securing Sharks a continental ticket as set by the management of Sharks FC. He said the management would have to ensure that they chip in their quota to complement that of the technical crew and the players who would surely give their best to ensure a successful season.

“Giving me such a target, I must say is a collective responsibility. You cannot clap with one hand. The manage-

ment must be seen to be doing what is expected of them and I as a coach, same as the players, we also have to do the right thing. So when they complement our efforts, we will be able to clap.”

The former Sunshine coach can be regarded as a victim of his own success. Having performed a remarkable feat with Sharks last season, management and fans alike are yearning for more.

Ogunbote joined Sharks midway into last season with the club at the bottom of the Premier League table, not only did the club beat the drop, the coach also steered them to an 8th place finish.

a continental ticket.

“We have the materials here, though they are yet to test real action, because the League season is yet to kick off, but I believe in them.

“One can only access his team with friendly matches and pre-season games, but the real test comes when the season kicks off, when the boys will be separated from the men.

“We have played some warm up matches and I believe we are on course. I want to beg Akwa Ibom State government to come to our aid with money to settle all outstanding debts which would allow us focus on the task of fulfilling our target for the season.

When the players are not happy, it reflects on their output and performance, I want to avoid any of such this time around because my vision for the club is very robust.

I don’t want the players and officials to have any reason not to do well. We have a listening governor and I believe he will come to our aid soon.

the club is to retain their Premiership status at the end of the 2013/14 season.

The Jalingo-based club lost 1-0 to Lobi Stars last week Friday and another 2-1 defeat to Enugu Rangers on Sunday.

But, Babangida said he was impressed with the general performance of the club, which is the first club from Taraba State to ever play in the topflight, having gained promotion last season.

The ex-international said the essence of engaging in such tune-up games was to examine the team and look out for areas that needed to be improved upon.

He further revealed that being their maiden season of campaign in the topflight, the primary aim of the club is simply to retain their Premiership status.

He, however, sounded prophetic when he said that the club might surprise Nigerians at the end.

“We in Taraba United are happy where we find ourselves presently. We’re the first team to taste top flight football in Taraba State and we have come here to stay.

We are not promising anything at the moment, but we can surprise bookmakers at the end of the season. Our ultimate goal, however, is to stay in the Premier League.

Enyimba ’ll see off AS Bamako –Okoyoh Eball Club of Aba midfielder, nyimba International Foot-

Michael Okoyoh, Thursday said the club will see off AS Real de Bamako when the Malians file out for a second round first leg tie of the CAF Champions League tie on Sunday.

He said his side is looking forward to the encounter with the conviction of a first leg victory: Okoyoh said; “We are not afraid of the Malians, because we are equally a top team with a lot of great players. I think the game will be evenly matched and full of excitement, but we will certainly be the winners.”

He was adamant that AS Real Bamako’s knocking out of Mo-

rocco’s FAR Rabat will have no bearing on the game.

“They may have knocked out the Moroccan team, but that would not matter much over the two games we will play. We know they are a good side and we respect them, but we remain confident in ourselves and what we too are capable of doing.

“Our fans were behind us against Anges de Notse and we are counting on them to come out again and support us against this team, so we can make the atmosphere worthy of a CAF Champions League match.”

Michael Okoyoh was a second half substitute in the return leg game of the preliminary round

Okoyoh

against Anges de Notse and his presence helped give Enyimba the balance they needed in the midfield.

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

World Cup: My fears for Super Eagles –Obaseki Former Chairman of the Nigeria Premier League and Oyuiki Obaseki, in this interview with CHIMAOBI UCHENDU, spoke on the forthcoming 2014 World Cup in Brazil and his expectations. Excerpts: Sir, you have been part of Nigeria’s preparation for major football events as a member of the Nigeria Football Federation, would you say the team and the administrators are on course to represent the nation well in Brazil?

I’m not happy that at this time, when everybody involved in preparing the national team should be speaking with one voice, discordant tunes still prevail.

Super Eagles technical crew, players and officials of the Nigeria Football Federation should be working together instead of what we hear and read on the pages of the newspapers.

I fear that this might have a negative effect on Nigeria’s performance, because all parties are working at cross purposes.

So, how can they get it right, since we still have some time left?

It could be corrected with sincerity of purpose. But the right things must be done so that nobody feels cheated at the end of the day. By this, I mean that the football house should face the task of administration while the technical crew concentrates on the preparation of players that would do the job on the field.

Do you think Nigeria can get to the quarter final of the World Cup? Why not, I even see them getting to the semifinal if the right players are picked to represent our beloved country. But what boarders me most is the exclusion of some players that could do the job for the country.

Can you explain further sir?

I want to say here with all sense of responsibility that most of the players that are currently left out of the Super Eagles’ squad for whatever reasons are crucial for a quarter final berth.

Keshi’s insistence on excluding some players even when they are doing well with their clubs is not acceptable.

So what is your fear for Nigeria at the 2014 World Cup? My fear for the Super Eagles is not whether they will do well in Brazil or not, but I’m worried about the attitude of everybody concerned in their preparation, some months to the kickoff of the greatest football showpiece on earth, all hands are not on the deck for a successful outing.

It is not in the interest of Nigeria that discordant tunes are still being heard after what happened to the team during and after the Nations Cup in South Africa.

I thought both the NFF and Keshi had learnt their lessons not to wash their dirty linen in the public. But, I’m happy that the presi-

dent of the NFF had come out to douse the building tension.

Be that as it may, I want to ask all parties to shun personal interests and focus on how to guide theSuper Eagles to a good outing in Brazil.

What is your advice to Keshi?

My advice for Keshi concerning some of the good players that has been left out of his squad for whatever reason should be reversed.

He should take them as his children that had erred and are begging for forgiveness, because if he fails with the players he considers cool-headed, Nigerians will forget his good performance and descend on him like a prodigal son.

Again, he should know that it is the duty of a coach to tame any good player with bad behavior, if not the likes of Balotelli will not have clubs or country to play for.

I have watched from the sideline for some time now and has observed that the present crop of players in the national team are good players, but they are not as good as those that have been castrated for indiscipline.

How can we explain that in a World Cup year, when countries that hope to do well are going after the best players in the world, Nigeria is busy disparaging our best legs with dirty slogan of indiscipline and the like?

The earlier we wake up from this slumber the better for us, because we must not be disgraced in Brazil.

I want to beg Keshi to recall, Anichebe, Osaze, IK Uche and his brother and any other good player that can make the difference for Nigeria in Brazil.

SPORT

27

Don’t force Ike Uche on Keshi, Chukwu warns Mercy Jacob

Fper, Christian Chukwu, has

ormer Green Eagles Skip-

warned Nigerians to stop distracting Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi, on his exclusion of Villareal forward, Ike Uche from the 2014 World Cup team, insisting that Keshi should be allowed to do his work.

Chukwu, who is also a member of Nigeria Football Federation’s Technical Committee said the World Cup is not a childs play as Keshi stands to bear the consequences of whatever decision he takes after the World Cup. “I don’t know why Nigerians are clamouring so much for Ike Uche’s inclusion in the team. When I know everybody can not be in the team at the same time. Keshi has been saddled with a responsibility, he should be left alone to do his work, Ike Uche may be the best player for a particular coach, but Keshi said he doesn’t need him, why won’t Nigerians respect his decision?

He has even explained why he won’t need him in his team. We should stop distracting him with Ike Uche’s issue and allow him to concentrate on his World Cup preparation.

All Nigerians need to do is to support him and stop troubling him with Uche’s case, Chukwu said.

“The World Cup is different from the Nations Cup; it is where the best players from

Stephen Keshi

different countries gather to test their might, Keshi has a herculean job ahead of him, knowing fully well that he is the one to bear the consequences of every of his decisions.

“When Keshi was going to the Nations Cup, nobody gave him a chance of getting to the finals with his team, yet he won the Nations Cup, so nobody should interfere in his team selection.”

Keshi has been quoted to have dumped Ike Uche as a result of the player’s attitude to always have things done his own way and not playing according to instructions, which he demonstrated at the finals of AFCON in 2013 against Burkina Faso, which almost cost Nigeria the game.

Uche last played for Nigeria in the finals of the 2013 African Nations Cup against Burkina Faso and has not been invited to the team since then.

LMC gives reasons for introducing pension scheme Chimaobi Uchendu

C

hairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Nduka Irabor, has said that the league body is introducing a pension scheme for players in the league to ensure that they give their best without fear of what happens to them in case of career threatening injuries.

He further said the decision was also arrived at to take care of unexpected accidents that may befall any player in the course of plying his trade.

This innovation, according to the chairman, is one of way of encouraging players to dedicate themselves to the game, knowing that there is something to fall back on after retirement.

“This is an innovation that has never happened before in

the history of the Nigerian League and we can hold our heads high and blow our trumpets.

The players have not been considered by their employers for pensions and this has bothered us from the first day we came on board, but we are happy that an agreement had been reached on its implementation.

Most of our players retire into penury and their clubs have nothing to offer them as compensation, but now they can be assured of a future after retirement or injury lay off ”.

“The LMC shall pay the employers 7.5 per cent portion of the contributory fund in the first year as required by law”.

28 SPORT Briefs

Abidalstill fearscancer threat

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Chelsea ou to Fulham’s

Monaco defender Eric Abidal revealed he still lives in fear of cancer returning to his system.

The French international was diagnosed with a tumour in his liver while playing for Barcelona in 2011, undergoing a liver transplant a year later. Abidal made a miraculous recovery, and was back on the field for Barca just twelve months after his surgery.

Yet the left-back, who returned to his first professional club Monaco last year, says he is still afraid the life-threatening disease may return.

“I go for a checkup every month and every time I go, I’m scared that it [the cancer] might come back,” Abidal said in an interview with RAC1.

PREMIERSHIP

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Liverpool Ponder Bojan deal Liverpool are said to be weighing up making an audacious cut-price move for FC Barcelona front man, Bojan Krkic, at the end of the season, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.

The former Spain international is currently spending a seasonlong loan spell with Eredivisie champions Ajax, however, it is still expected that the 23-year-old will return to Camp Nou when his loan spell comes to an end this summer.

‘Napoli can finish second’ N a p o l i m i d f i e l d e r, Marek Hamsik insists that the club can still finish second in the table, despite dropping more points in a disappointing draw with Genoa on Monday.

The Azzurri drew 1-1 with Genoa to fall six points behind Roma, who currently occupy second place. The Slovakian international, however, remained upbeat that an automatic Champions League spot is not beyond them.

Speaking to the official club website Hamsik stated: “I’m sorry about losing two points on Monday. But we still believe we can get a second place.”

“Our lack of goals doesn’t worry me, we just need to feel good on the pitch and try to play better than we are at the moment.”

Real look to bury Atletico’s title challenge LA LIGA

R

eal Madrid can bury Atletico’s hopes of winning La Liga with a third straight victory against their city neighbours on Sunday (1600 GMT) that would leave the capital’s second club trailing by six points.

Atletico stunned their bitter local rivals 2-1 at Real’s own Bernabeu stadium in last season’s King’s Cup final and followed up with a 1-0 success at the same venue in La Liga at the end of September.

However, Real have greatly improved as the season has progressed and they dumped holders Atletico out of this term’s Cup 5-0 on aggregate in their two-legged semi-final this month.

Unbeaten in 27 matches in all competitions, Real are in ominous form before Sunday’s trip across town to Atletico’s Calderon stadium and will be buoyed by their 6-1 success at German side Schalke 04 in the Champions League on Wednesday.

They took over from Barcelona, who host promoted Almeria on Sunday, at the top of La Liga last weekend when both Barca and Atletico suffered surprise defeats.

Real have 63 points with 13 games

left, with Barca, chasing a fifth title in six years, and Atletico on 60.

Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, who took over from Jose Mourinho at the end of last term, has eliminated the defensive lapses that cost his team earlier in the season.

With Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale in a threepronged attack, the Italian has one of the most lethal forward lines in football and each scored twice in Wednesday’s romp in Gelsenkirchen.

N

Atletico, who are also through to the last 16 of the Champions League, are mounting a genuine challenge for the La Liga title for the first time since they won a league and Cup double in 1996.

Diego Simeone, a former Argentina midfielder, was part of that team and has transformed the club since he took over as coach at the end of 2011, leading them to a Europa League triumph in 2012 and the Cup success last season.

igerian international, Ramon Azeez, will prove his worth against some of the best midfielders in the world when his Spanish side, Almeria, visit Camp Nou for La Liga match against Barcelona on Sunday.

The 20-year-old will fight with more illustrious Barca midfield duo of Xavi and Andre Iniesta for the control of the match.

This surely will be about his biggest test since breaking into the first eleven of his team this term. The last time Almeria faced the champions, Azeez was only a second half substitute as the Mediterranean side slumped to a 2-0 defeat.

But the former Flying Eagles midfielder will surely be a starter in this tie.

op meets bottom in the Premier League when leaders Chelsea make the short trip across west London to Fulham looking to consolidate their title bid. Picture: Scott Heavey/ Getty Images London - Top meets bottom in the Premier League on Saturday when leaders Chelsea make the short trip across west London to Fulham looking to consolidate their title bid and increase the relegation worries of their neighbours.

With third-placed Manchester City playing Sunderland in the Capital One (League) Cup final at Wembley on Sunday, Chelsea can increase their advantage over Manuel Pellegrini’s side to six points.

Chelsea top the table with 60 points from 27 games, one more than Arsenal (59), who are away at Stoke on Saturday, and t h re e clear of City, who have 57 from 2 6

J las the ond and tas lea F in s giv Fel his afte Bro wee S wh the Sto har tan A see in to Fre out era wh ham inju

games.

Liverpool are fourth on 56.

Azeez battles Barca st

zAs z Ike Uche, Igiebor clash in Spain He has played 20 league games for Almeria this term, starting 16 of them with his strike against Real Betis his only goal so far. This statistic has earned him a call-up into the Super Eagles for the match against Mexico and a duel with Barcelona is a tough way to prepare him for his first full international assignment.

The champions will be desperate to return to winning ways after a disappointing 3-1 loss at Real Sociedad which has severely affected

their dream of retaining t title.

However, his compat chukwu Uche and Nosa Ig slug it out when Villarea Betis clash in another fix Uche who was sideline weeks by injury returned Monday and helped Villar win over Espanyol. He di the game but might be ca starting line-up against Betis.

ball Special

ut to add s woes

Jose Mourinho’s side st lost to Fulham in 2006, e year they won their secd successive league title, d they drew 1-1 at Galasaray in the Champions ague on Wednesday.

Fulham, without a win seven, will be hoping to ve new German coach lix Magath a victory in s second game in charge er drawing against West omwich Albion last ekend.

Second-placed Arsenal, ho beat Sunderland 4-1 in eir last outing, travel to oke having found wins rd to come by at the Brinnia Stadium.

Arsene Wenger has not en his side beat Stoke their last three trips the Potteries and the enchman will be witht left back K i an Gibbs ho has a mstring ury.

tars

the La Liga

triots, Ikegiebor will al and Real xture. ed for three ed to action real to a 2-1 id not start alled to the struggling

City’s Fernandinho targets Capital One Cup

M

anchester City midfielder Fernandinho is hoping to secure his first trophy in England when his side take on Sunderland in Sunday afternoon’s Capital One Cup final at Wembley.

The Brazilian, who joined the Citizens from Shakhtar Donetsk last year, admitted that games are more challenging in England than in other leagues he has played in, but hopes his side can put in a good performance and win their first tournament on offer this season.

“In England, each game is difficult,” the midfielder told his club’s official website.

“The performance of the team always has to be very good to win – this is the main difference between football in England and where I’ve played previously.

“I have no doubt that Sunday will be like this against Sunderland and we must be at our best to make sure we get to lift the trophy.”

PREMIER LEAGUE

Bayern set to compound Schalke problems

L

eaders Bayern Munich could compound the problem of Schalke 04 when the two teams meet in a Bundelsiga fixtures today.

Schalke who have Nigerian international, Chinedu Ogbike Obasi in their fold were humiliated by visiting Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The homers were spanked 6-1 by their more illustrious opponents and coming against another tough opponents few days later might be so difficult for the club.

Bayern will be aiming for a 15th consecutive win on Saturday when they host fourthplaced Schalke and the Bavarians are really coasting home to another Bundesliga title.

Third-placed Dortmund bounced back from their loss to Hamburg with a 4-2 win at Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League round

of 16 on Tuesday and will face Nuremberg next.

Hertha Berlin will begin the weekend’s action against 17th-placed Freiburg, who are a point behind Hamburg, while bottom club Eintracht Braunschweig (15 points) host Borussia Monchengladbach.

In other fixtures, Bayer Leverkusen will host Mainz, Hannover will travel to Augsburg and Hoffenheim take on Wolfsburg.

Hamburg will move out of the Bundesliga’s relegation positions with a win against northern rivals Werder Bremen on Saturday.

A run of five straight defeats in all competitions after the German winter break came to an end last week for Hamburg, as they stunned Borussia Dortmund 3-0 in Mirko Slomka’s first match as head coach.

Roben

BUNDELSIGA

PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES Saturday

Saturday 4:00pm

Everton

v

West Ham

4:00pm

Fulham

v

Chelsea

4pm

Hull City

v

Newcastle

4:00pm

Stoke City

v

Arsenal

4:00pm

Southampton v

Liverpool

SN

Team

P

Pts

1

Chelsea

27

60

2

Arsenal

27

59

3

Man City

26

57

4

Liverpool

27

56

5

Tottenham

27

50

6

Man United

27

45

7

Everton

26

45

8

Newcastle

27

40

9

Southampton

27

39

10

West Ham

27

31

11

Hull City

27

30

12

Swansea

27

28

13

Aston Villa

27

28

14

Norwich

27

28

15

Stoke City

27

27

16

Crystal Palace

26

26

17

West Brom

27

25

18

Sunderland

26

24

19

Cardiff City

27

22

20

Fulham

27

31

SN

Team

P

Pts

LA LIGA

1

Real Madrid

25

63

2

Barcelona

25

60

3

Atletico

25

60

4

Athletic Club

25

47

5

Villarreal

25

43

6

Real Sociedad

25

43

7

Sevilla

25

35

8

Valencia

25

35

9

Levante

25

33

10

Espanyol

25

32

11

Celta Vigo

25

30

12

Osasuna

25

29

13

Granada

25

27

14

Elche

25

26

15

Getafe

25

26

16

Almeria

25

26

17

Malaga

25

25

18

Valladolid

25

22

19

Rayo

25

20

20

Real Betis

25

14

3:30pm

Augsburg

v

Hannover

3:30pm

Leverkusen

v

Mainz

4:00pm

Malaga

3:30pm

Dortmund

v

Nurnberg

6:00pm 8:00pm 10:00pm

3:30pm

Braunschweig v

M’gladbach

3:30pm

Bremen

v

Hamburg

3:30pm

Bayern

v

Schalke

PSG, Marseille in battle royale LIGUE 1

P

29

SPORT

PH ON SATURDAY CH 2014

aris Saint-Germain and Marseille take centre stage for France’s biggest fixture in what is set to be a fascinating weekend in Ligue 1.

The rivalry between leaders PSG and UEFA Champions League hopefuls Marseille, known in France as ‘Le Classique’, had long been dominated by the Provencal club, but it is the capital outfit who have begun to dictate matters over recent years.

And Laurent Blanc’s men will look to underline their superiority at the Parc des

Princes on Sunday as PSG seek a first league double over Marseille since 2003 following victory at the Stade Velodrome back in October.

PSG will need no extra motivation to beat their bitter rivals - who themselves will be looking to keep pace in the race for a top-three spot - but could have the added incentive of potentially going eight points clear at the top of Ligue 1 should Monaco slip up at SaintEtienne on Saturday.

Claudio Ranieri’s side demonstrated great fighting spirit to overcome Reims 3-2 last Friday, but a trip to the intimidating Stade Geoffroy Guichard promises to provide an even tougher test.

LA LIGA (SAT) v

Valladolid

Levante

v

Osasuna

Getafe

v

Espanyol

Elche

v

Celta Vigo

12:00pm

Villarreal

v

Betis

5:00pm

Atletico

v

Real

7:00pm

Sevilla

v

Sociedad

9:0pm0

Barcelona

v

Almeria

9:00pm

Vallecano

v

Valencia

Sunday

SERIE A (SAT) 8:45pm

Roma

v

Inter

12:30pm

Cagliari

v

Udinese

3:00pm 3:00pm

Atalanta

v

Chievo

Genoa

v

Catania

3:00pm

Hellas

v

Bologna

3:00pm

Sassuolo

v

Parma

3:00pm

Torino

v

Sampdoria

6:30pm

Livorno

v

SSC Napoli

8:45pm

Milan

v

Juventus

8:45pm

Fiorentina v

SUNDAY

Lazio

30 SPORT

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

By Chimaobi Uchendu princehench@yahoo.com

08092747532

S

everal artists, including Chidinma, thrilled the audience-spectators as the ever vibrant Lagos International Polo Tournament galloped to a close at the legendary Ribadu Road, Ikoyi, Lagos last weekend and more performances are expected this weekend at the grand finale.

Winners of the first stage which ended last weekend are gearing up to repeat the same feat.

The sight of Adamu Atta, Rotimi Makanjuola, Johan and Diego White on top of the podium last weekend, to share Lagos Open Cup polo gold, summed up the first stage.

The century old Lagos polo festival are always good for special moments and surprises and the 2014 edition was no exception.

Expectedly, those with nothing to lose and something to prove seized the high class moment, while some of the favourites felt the pressure.

Even the pre-tournament favourites, Fifth Chukkers and Lagos Unity teams’ golden hopes who came good as expected, had to overcome setbacks and heart stopping moments before being able to celebrate their success.

The final week of the first stage of the Lagos international polo tournament provided another wave of triumphs, disappointments and astounding athletic achievements … along with more than a few anxious moments.

Atta, a house hold name in Nigerian polo and a proud overall winner in 2011, flew into Lagos determined to correct the mistakes of the past two years that saw his Chukkers missed the top prize twice on the trot.

After rallying his highly mobile team past top rivals in four days of intense campaign, Atta left with two glittering titles and a place in history as the first visiting team to win the Oba of Lagos Cup. The final of the Open Cup match between Fifth Chukkers and Shoreline at the legendary Ribadu Road polo theater was an exciting end to the first weekend of the glamorous Lagos event that attracted 14 ambitious teams from Kano, Kaduna, Ibadan and hosts Lagos.

The overcrowded arena applauded and waved in unison as Diego White and Santiago Astrada in turn exploded with awesome skills.

The statistics back that up, White missed only three penalty shots, while Astrada made 100 percent goals accuracy for Shoreline - a typical Argentine match up that made the Open Cup final the most contested in years.

“There were numerous complaints that we didn’t score,” said Atta who scored crucial goals for his Kaduna-based side. “I thought we were dominant. I thought we played

The opening game of the Lagos International Polo Tournament pitching two Lagos based team in the series Dansa Cup. The grand finale of the Lagos polo festival is billed for this weekend in Ikoyi.

2014 Int’l Lagos Polo ends with fanfare great today. ‘’We played a good game,’’ Atta added, ‘’but we had to push extra hard, as the ordinary push would not have been enough when you play a team like Shoreline that is playing total attacking polo.

“The first thing we guard against was to talk about great defence, sometimes we get confused. Great defense means you play fast and you have the puck all the time so you’re always on the offence.”

“We were a great offensive team throughout the campaign. That was why we succeeded. That’s what we expected. We played all out without backing off, for a single second of the final.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be part of a team like that, whether your role is big or small,” said Rotimi Makanjuola, who won his first major Lagos titles, the Oba of Lagos and the Lagos Open with Fifth Chukker.

“You watch us tonight, we’re just an amazing team to watch, the way we worked together, and we were just all over them. It was fun to be a part of,” Rotimi, who was unarguably the Most Valuable Player in the Oba of Lagos Cup final victory against Ashbert 98.1.

“One of the best teams I’ve ever played against, for sure,” the minus one handicap player, who leads the Lagos Raven Rojo side in their quest for the Low Cup glory in the final

We played a good game,’’ Atta added, ‘’but we had to push extra hard, as the ordinary push would not have been enough when you play a team like Shoreline that is playing total attacking polo stage of the glamorous polo fiesta, point out.

Lagos Shoreline skipper, Tunde Karim, who had a superb performance during the campaign for the Open Cup said his side paid dearly for that momentary loss of concentration in the last Chukka of the explosive final.

“We didn’t realise that it was going to be this tough, though we had expected a good fight from them,” Tunde Karim, still sweating from the grueling Open Cup final, declared in an interview.

“It was special for us to make it to the final with better rated teams chasing the final ticket.” In our heads we really believed we can make it and we thought that it was

going to be unique because we had our teeming fans solidly behind us,” Karim who was in his second Open Cup finals in a row, pointed out.

Another Lagos side, Unity Polo team put the host firmly on the driving seat, after defeating Kano Tripple KKK 6-3 to emerge champions of the Dansa Cup. The opening minutes of the Dansa Cup match started on a cautious note until Unity team predators, Glory Ebano and Mumuni Musa turned on the heat in the second chukka. Ebano’s weak shot was almost scrambled to safety by the Kano players, but Abdulmumuni Musa broke the deadlock through a 12-yard backhand after picking up a loose ball.

Tata Ali Kura responded immediately for the visitors to level the score.

Hitman Kura and Farouk Ibrahim went close but Ebano made a frantic goal-mouth clearance to keep his Unity side in the lead going into the third chukka.

From then on, the Hakeem Shagaya-led Lagos side maintained the lead, making good use of brakes offered by the loosely making Kano Tripple K side, to finish tops and clinch their first major Lagos polo title.

In the first match of the day, Ope Banjoko and Abba Abba scored four goals each to give Team B a comprehensive 8-0 win over Team A to win

the Beginners Cup. The grand finale of the prestigious MTN international polo tournament that remains one of the biggest polo events on the African continent is billed for this weekend, with the finals of Governor Fashola Cup, the Italian Ambassador Cup, the Lagos Low Cup and the Majekodunmi Cup, respectively.

SHORT TAKES Argentina, England Spain added spice

Professional players from afar a field as Argentina, England, Spain and South Africa added spice to the 2014 Lagos Polo tournament. They competed with Nigeria for the Beginners Cup, Italian Ambassadors Cup, Governor’s Cup, Independence Cup and the Majekodunmi Cup.

Spectators have value for money

The high quality line-up ensured spectators got value for their money, especially watching Lagos Ironclad/Fifith Chaukka, Lagos Auden Delany, Kano Titans and Kano Keffi Ponies compete for the esteemed Majekodunmi Cup.

Ibadan teams hope for fortune change

The Ibadan teams, having performed poorly before this final week, will be hoping to turn their fortunes around over the next few days.

SPORT

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

Lifestyle

Aguero, Nasri attend Beyonce concert

S

ergio Aguero and Samir Nasri were among a host of Manchester City players allowed to attend Wednesday evening’s Beyonce concert.

Nasri captured a picture of the two and posted it on Instagram with Aguero looking like he was really getting into the night’s fun.

The Frenchman also took a photo with his model girlfriend Anara Atanes, when they were only metres from the singer.

31

Other players present included James Milner, Joleon Lescott and on-loan Everton midfielder Gareth Barry.

City are gearing up for their first tilt at a trophy this season on Sunday when they take on Sunderland in the Capital Cup final at Wembley.

They have a very realistic chance of winning the English cup double this season as they take on Championship side Wigan in the FA Cup sixth round in March.

Instagram addict, Neymar, shows off abs

B

arcelona may be stuttering in the Spanish title race but Neymar can’t resist showing off his body after a training session in the gym.

He posted a picture on his Instagram alongside fellow Brazilians Dani Alves and Adriano.

The Brazilian 22-year-old has taken criticism that he needs to build up his strength to reach the peak of European football.

Ronaldo, for instance, stands out from nearly all other players because of his athletic ability and determination on the training ground and gym.

Neymar is also having to deal with a transfer saga that has been threatening to disrupt the Spanish champion’s performances on the pitch.

NBA superstar, Wade, goes intimate with fiancée

T

hey recently got engaged after dating on and off for five years, but NBA star Dwyane Wade was spotted getting very intimate with his fiancée Gabrielle Union, whom he was handfeeding pizza to in Miami.

The 41-year-old actress opened wide as the 32-yearold basketballer offered her a bite during their romantic lunch on the terrace of The Restaurant at The Setai.

The Being Mary Jane star

then flashed her dimpled grin as the lovebirds shared a laugh over something on her iPhone.

Gabrielle wore an Hermèsinspired ‘Homies’ hat while Dwyane matched her in a flat-brimmed white cap of his own.

It was hard to miss Union’s custom 8.5 carat cushion-cut engagement ring by Jason of Beverly Hills - worth a reported $1 million.

Beckham treats children to special dinner date

D

avid Beckham proved he’s a doting daddy when he took his children to Nobu in Park Lane in Mayfair recently.

The 38-year-old looked like he took the outing completely in his stride as he cuddled his daughter Harper, 2, while eldest son Brooklyn, 14, walked close by.

The posh eaterie is his wife’s favourite restaurant to go to but 39-year-old Victoria did not seem to be with the family on the night.

My EPL move timely for World Cup – Yobo CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

Yobo told our correspondent on the telephone, “I had great games in Turkey but how many people knew about these? I am confident in my ability to still play football at the highest possible level and that informed my decision to return to England.

“I follow the progress of the team and I interact with some of the players to keep the flag flying simply because I was hopeful of a return to the team.

“On my own, I have also doubled my efforts to work so hard in all areas in readi-

ness for any opportunity to prove myself once again.”

The defender joined Norwich City in the January transfer window and he has already made remarkable impact in the team.

His first match was against highly rated Manchester City and Yobo led the defence to record a clean sheet in the team’s 1-0 victory. Against Tottenham Hotspurs only last weekend, Yobo was also key in another slim 1-0 victory for his team which has moved out of the relegation zone to the 13th position on the log.

“There was nothing unusual in my play. It is the

same way I have been playing in Turkey but not many Nigerians would see it. I have been working hard to keep fit because I still have much to contribute to the game at club and national team levels,” he said.

Norwich manager, Chris Hughton, during the week praised the contribution of Yobo to his team so far in the EPL. “He is playing a big role and he adjusted quickly to the team. We are really lucky to have a player with such experience in the team. Yobo has been fantastic, “Hughton said.

The opportunity Yobo has been waiting for could just

be the March 5 friendly encounter between Nigeria and Mexico scheduled to hold in the USA. Yobo is elated with the invitation and has promised to give his best to justify his inclusion in the team once again.

“Coach Keshi is a man of integrity. He insisted that I am still the captain of the team and each time he says so he gives me hope that one day I will be back in the team. Now that I have a chance, I will do my best to ensure I make it to Brazil. “ We are likely to go to Brazil with about four or five

defenders and I am very optimistic I will make it.”

Yobo with just few caps to make the 100 games mark is not thinking about the record but about his dream of going to the World Cup for the fourth time.

“For now, my target is to play at the World Cup if the record games is achieved, that is secondary. God knows best, all I want is to be back in the team again in the colours of Nigeria,” he stressed.

Yobo has not featured for the Super Eagles since February 2012 when Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

32 SPORT

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

Countdown to Fifa World Cup

Brazil: Agbim on cliff hanger over poor run Ifeanyi Ibeh

N

igeria and every other country going to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup will be at the tournament with three goalkeepers.

For the Super Eagles, the pair of Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide, baring injuries, are sure bets to make Stephen Keshi’s final 23-man list but there is uncertainty over who will be the third name on that list, especially in the aftermath of events that transpired in South Africa, at the recently held African Nations Championship.

Prior to that tournament, Chigozie Agbim seemed a safe bet for the third goalkeeping slot; afterall, he was the side’s captain and has always been called up to the national team’s camp ever since Stephen Keshi took charge of the Super Eagles in 2011.

But following a series of uninspiring displays, starting with Nigeria’s second game in South Africa – a 4-2 win over Mozambique, where he was culpable for both Mozambican goals, including one he let in from over 40 metres – Agbim has been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons, and continues to be, especially as many are still of the opinion that he wasn’t the best Keshi could have taken to South Africa.

The likes of Enyimba’s Femi Thomas and Chijioke Ejiogu, Kano Pillars’ Theophilus Afelokhai, Warri Wolves’ Okemute Odah, Moses Ocheje of Sharks, and even Daniel Akpeyi of Heartland, who was one of the goalkeepers Keshi took to South Africa, are in the opinion of many Nigerian football fans better than Agbim.

And for good reason too, it appears, especially as all of the abovementioned goalkeepers regularly manned the posts for their respective clubs this past season at a time when Agbim warmed the bench at Enugu Rangers.

Although, Agbim quickly made amends for his horrendous blunders against Mozambique in Nigeria’s 3-1 victory over South Africa, it did little to quell the growing voices of dissent with most in agreement that his performance against the tournament hosts, was nothing other than a flash in the pan.

And were they proved right as Agbim, in Nigeria’s very next game against Morocco, let in three first half goals against the Atlas Lions only to see his blushes saved by an incredible EjikeUzoenyi-inspired second half fight back.

Even though Agbim was able to pull off a series of fine saves somewhere in-between the Super Eagles’ fight back against the Moroccans and Nigeria’s third-place victory over Mali, his infamous legacy appeared already

sealed in the eyes of most Nigerian football followers, despite the fact that he didn’t concede any more goals in regulation time in both the semifinal defeat to Ghana and the third-place match against Mali.

And to make matters worse for Agbim, the pair of Thomas and Afelokhai put on a goalkeeping spectacle for Enyimba and Kano Pillars during a pre-season tournament in Abuja, which took during CHAN. “I have said it before and I will say it again that Agbim was never the best goalkeeper in the league,” said Enyimba Coach, Zachary Baraje. “Everyone who follows the league knows that Femi Thomas is the best, so when you take a goalkeeper like Agbim to a tournament of such magnitude, mistakes are bound to happen.

“Femi should have gone to South Africa because Agbim only played a few matches for Rangers and was not ready for such a big competition,” added Baraje, whose views were corroborated by Lagos-based sportswriter Emma Njoku.

Njoku, who has been covering the Nigerian league scene for close to two decades, told New Telegraph; “Last season, Agbim barely manned the post for Rangers. Even the season before that, he was not so regular for Warri Wolves.

“As a matter of fact, if I am to rate the goalkeepers in the domestic league he would not even make it into my top five. The CHAN tournament exposed his shortcomings and confirmed what some of us already knew;

that he wasn’t in the league. “ F e m i Thomas, Theophilus Afelokhai, Chijioke Ejiogu, Okemute Odah, Moses Ocheje and Daniel Akpeyi are much better. The CHAN experience should be a big eyeopener for Keshi, but I would not be surprised if he takes Agbim to the World Cup. “But I still maintain that if Keshi had taken a better goalkeeper to the tournament we might not have ended in third spot because Agbim appeared to be playing against the team all through the tournament. Everybody saw

it except Keshi and Ike Shorunmu. In fact, I would heap more of the blame on Shorunmu because he is the goalkeepers’ trainer.”

Shorunmu, in an interview with New Telegraph, however defended the decision of the national team’s coaching crew to stick with Agbim throughout the CHAN insisting the goalkeeper got better with each game.

“His performance isn’t as bad as a lot of people have made it out to be. In fact, if we had listened to what you journalists were saying and writing about him, maybe we wouldn’t have gone as far as we did in South Africa,” said the former Super Eagles number one.

“We believed in him. Even his teammates wanted him, and that was why we left him in goal even after the match against Mozambique. Yes, the first goal (against Mozambique) was to some extent his fault, but for the second goal he slipped because the pitch was wet, so we couldn’t really blame him for that,” added Shorunmu, who believes Agbim, if encouraged, can go on to become one of Africa’s best goalkeepers.

From recent comments made by Keshi to the media, it appears Agbim remains in his plans for the immediate future even though the goalkeeper, who recently joined Gombe United after being released by Rangers, has not been included in the squad for the upcoming friendly against Mexico.

And Agbim’s move to Gombe United couldn’t have come at a better time for the goalkeeper especially as the deal was sanctioned by the team’s Belgian-born coach, Maurice Cooreman.

Cooreman, who is one of the most respected coaches in the Nigerian league, coached Agbim during his time at Warri Wolves and knows quite a lot about his new buy who is expected to get regular playing time at Gombe United.

“The Agbim I know has the ability to win matches on his own for any team he plays for and that is one of the reasons why I brought him here,” said Cooreman, in an interview with New Telegraph.

“He is the best in Nigeria and that is why the (Super Eagles) coaches like him and made him captain.

They know what he is capable of, I know what

he is capable of, and soon everybody will forget about all his mistakes and really see how good he is.

“All the other goalkeepers that have been mentioned in the media (Thomas, Afelokhai et al) are okay but make no mistake about it, they are not as good as Agbim. I have seen all of them in action and I know Agbim is better,” he added.

Cooreman can be excused for defending Agbim, after all, he is not expected to criticize his player in public. But the former Enyimba and Lobi Stars handler is not alone in that regard as he has an ally in Sab Osuji, another keen follower of the Nigerian top flight division.

“Agbim is better than them. He didn’t show what he was capable of in South Africa but he is better than the other keepers in the country,” said Osuji, who was in South Africa and followed the Super Eagles all through the CHAN. He added: “I was with the team throughout the tournament and he impressed during training sessions. In fact, even when some were clamouring for the other keepers to be used he showed in training why he was much better than them (Akpeyi and Dele Alampasu), and why he was picked ahead of the other keepers in the league.”

Another keen follower o f the Nigerian league, EnitanObadina, also feels Agbim, that is a match-fit Agbim, stands o u t from the crowd.

“I have seen a lot of the goalkeepers in the league and A g - bim is one of the few that stand out. Not that he is the best, but I have seen Afelokhai of Kano Pillars and a few others like Ocheje, and they only get to do well when they play at home. But when it comes to international games they tend to mess up,” said Obadina.

“Thomas, another candidate being mentioned, was impressive last season, especially in Aba where he didn’t concede any goal, but some of the goals he conceded away from home tell you a lot about how good he is.

“So, it tends to leave a bad taste in our mouth when looking for goalkeepers for Keshi. He has a lot on his hands and I can understand why he is sticking with Agbim.

But other goalkeepers in the league have a lot to prove to show us that they are better than Agbim because most of them always fumble when they get called up to the national team.”

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

SHOWBIZ

33

SHOWBITZ WITH SONY NEME

Stars against Cancer in Concert

C

ome Saturday, March 29, a galaxy of acclaimed musical stars will converge at Concert of Stars to give hope and save cancer victims. Names of performing artistes are expected to be unveiled soon at the event billed for Expo Hall of Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos. This part of the Big War Against Cancer in Nigeria is aimed at mobilising Nigerians to fight the cancer epidemic killing an estimated 240 compatriot to a standstill.

Copyright Society of Nigeria COSON, and Hotel & Personal Services Employers Association (HOPESEA) are partnering with Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, CECP, as co-promoters. CECP is a platform promoted by Nigeria’s organized private sector.

According to Mayree Uket, of the communications department in COSON, “the event will bring together the cream of Nigeria’s musicians, corporate titans and the biggest brands in Nigeria. The show is aimed at mobilizing the entire nation to fight the cancer epidemic.”

All these efforts, she further stated, “Are to bring 37 Mobile Cancer Centres, MCCs, into Nigeria to ensure early detection of the disease and treatment in each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.” She opined that the MCCs will facilitate a nation-wide cancer screening/treatment campaign so that every Nigerian can have a fighting chance in the battle against cancer.

Tiwa Savage

Uket explained that, “a mobile cancer centre is a clinic on wheels, in which screening, follow-up and several forms of treatment (including surgeries), can take place. It includes facilities for mammography, colonoscopy, colposcopy, cryotherapy, and sonology as well as laboratory and operating theatre.”

Co-promoters are the Institute of Directors (IoD), Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Nigerian Asso-

ciation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines & Agriculture (NACCIMA), Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

While explaining the motive for their participation, COSON boss, Chief Tony Okoroji said, “we will be irresponsible not to join this battle after the frightening statistics that have been brought to our attention. Our country is giving a lot of attention to the battle against HIV/AIDS; meanwhile cancer is wreaking

havoc across our land. With 240 Nigerians dying every day from this disease, we are all practically on death row as no one is spared”.

Interestingly, the leadership of CECP Nigeria, led by Dr. Abia Nzelu, a surgeon and specialist in cancer teamed up with COSON for a benefit concert. Those involved are Efe Omorogbe, CEO of Now Muzik, Azeezat Allen and Chief Samuel Alabi, President, HOPESEA. It is noteworthy that cancer is the number one killer of mankind; far more than HIV/ AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

Nigeria now has the eleventh lowest life expectancy in the world and cancer has been fingered as a major contributor to this dastardly feat.

Sadly, cancer has cut short the lives and careers of many professionals with two past presidents of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Sonny Okosun and Mustapha Amego as victims.

Some statistics claim that over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer annually, and 80,000 die. Four out of every five cases of cancer victims in Nigeria die (described as the worst in the world).

In the light of the above frightening expose, Chief Okoroji said: “Let us not bother with the blame game. As the activities involving COSON and the other partners in this war are rolled out, let us participate fully because we may be saving our own lives. Acquisition of these MCCs will greatly improve the cancer survival rate in Nigeria, through better and earlier diagnosis.”

Wizkid, Wande Coal, Seyi Law, Others dazzle at Diamond SWAG Concert

I

t was an all-star ensemble featuring Whiz Kid, Banky W, Wande Coal, Sound Sultan and Harry Song, one of Nigeria’s finest disc jockeys, DJ Exclusive, was also on hand to dish out hit tracks from his wheels of steel. And the star-studded event was the SWAG concert, sponsored by Diamond Bank PLC, to commemorate the end of the 24th edition of the Nigerian University Games (NUGA).

Fast rising comedian, Seyi Law, ensured that there was no dull moment as he treated the audience to rib-cracking jokes. The students of the host institution, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), were not left out as some of them were invited on stage to exhibit their artistry.

Thereafter, the main acts stepped on stage one after the other to perform to the delight of the audience, belting hit track after hit track.

The audience swayed to the beats of the artistes, miming many of their songs, much to the elation of the artistes. Banky W, who was performing for the first time at OAU, hailed the crowd for the warm reception accorded him. Whiz Kid was so thrilled at the students’ rendition of his songs that he exclaimed, “It seems I have a choir here!”

The SWAG concert, held at the institution’s Amphitheatre, was indeed a night of music, comedy and dance, laced with a huge dose of fun and excitement as the students savoured the performances of the artistes.

Wizkid

Wande Coal

The concert was earlier declared open by Mr. Uzoma Dozie, Diamond Bank’s executive director in charge of retail banking. According to him, “this is not an evening for long speeches; we are here to relax and have fun.

Harrysong

However, I would like to thank you all for embracing the Diamond SWAG (Students With A Goal) Account and for all the support we have received from the students of OAU in putting this event together. I have no doubt

it’s going to be a night of pure fun, so please relax and enjoy the even.t” According to Mrs. Ayona Trimnell, Head of the Bank’s Corporate Communications Division, in a mail made available to New Telegraph, the concert was put together to help the students unwind after 10 days of intense sporting activities at the NUGA tournament.

Her words: “This is our little way of appreciating the youths who embraced our new proposition, the Diamond SWAG Account in their thousands while the Games lasted. We thought we should create this atmosphere of relaxation and fun to help them unwind after 10 days of intense sporting activities.”

The Student With A Goal (S.W.A.G) Account, which was launched during the just concluded games by Diamond Bank, is designed with the objective of providing Nigerian youths with the right support to help them achieve their financial goals.

The NUGA games which kicked off on February, 12 was brought to a close on February 22, 2014.

On the modalities for the S.W.A.G Concert, Mr. Kayode Makinde, Business Manager, Diamond Bank, Ile Ife, said that tickets for the concert were issued to students when they open the Diamond SWAG Account and funded it with at least N1, 000. Makinde said over 3,000 S.W.A.G accounts were opened and funded so far by the students participating in the games.

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Nigerian Breweries in another brand extension with Star Lite Few years after it introduced Gulder Max, an extension of Gulder, popular brewery giant, Nigerian Breweries Plc, recently introduced Star Lite, an extension of its flagship brand, Star. Would this be another experiment gone awry like the Gulder Max? DELE ALAO writes

A

ll over the world, companies embark on brand extension in an effort to either consolidate their hold on the market or cultivate new customers. Product extensions are versions of the same parent product that serve a segment of the target market and increase the variety of an offering. An example of a product extension is Coke vs Diet Coke and Zero Coke in the same product category of soft drinks. This tactic is undertaken due to the brand loyalty and brand awareness they enjoy consumers are more likely to buy a new product that has a tried and trusted brand name on it. This means the market is catered for as they are receiving a product from a brand they trust and Coca-Cola is catered-for as they can increase their product portfolio and they have a larger hold over the market in which they are performing in.

Also, Guinness Nigeria, for instance, did a similar thing for its Harp lager with Harp Lime.

According to Wikipedia, “Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this strategy to increase and leverage brand equity.”

It states further: “A brand’s “extendibility” depends on how strong consumer’s associations are to the brand’s values and goals. Ralph Lauren’s Polo brand successfully extended from clothing to home furnishings such as bedding and towels. Both clothing and bedding are made of linen and fulfill a similar consumer function of comfort and hominess. Arm & Hammer leveraged its brand equity from basic baking soda into the oral care and laundry care categories. By emphasizing its key attributes, the cleaning and deodorizing properties of its core product, Arm & Hammer was able to leverage those attributes into new categories with success. Another example is Virgin Group, which was initially a record label that has extended its brand successfully many times; from transportation (aeroplanes, trains) to games stores and video stores such a Virgin Megastores.”

“In the 1990s, 81 percent of new products used brand extension to introduce new brands and to create sales.

Launching a new product is not only time-consuming but also needs a big budget to create brand awareness and to promote a product’s benefits. Brand extension is one of the new product development strategies which can reduce financial risk by using the parent brand name to enhance consumers’ perception due to the core brand equity,” it adds.

Apparently relishing the benefits in brand extension in the face of heated competition, NB Plc recently introduced Star Lite, an extension of Star lager. It will be recalled that the

NBL officials savouring Star Lite at the product’s launch in Lagos.

brewery giant launched Gulder Max, an extension of its Gulder Ultimate beer into the market few years ago. Gulder Max, however failed in the market. It was an extension gone awry.

Star Lite, packaged in a temperature indicator bottle, was introduced in Lagos about a fortnight ago, at a trade event for key partners and distributors.

The introduction of the product, according to the company, is in its determination to capture about seven percent of the beer market not covered by the brewery industry, which has not produced the flavour and taste for the market who wants something different.

But, a school of thought thinks otherwise. It says Goldberg, also on the platform of the brewery giant, has already filled the market in which the new Star Lite is coming to play.

The new Star Lite contains up to 40 percent less calories compared with standard lager beers.

Behind the Brands

Chidi Okoro’s eventful exit from GSK

C

hidi Okoro, whose resignation from GSK Consumer Nigeria Plc as managing director and a member of the board of directors, take effect from March 15, is a man noted for successful launch of famous brands in the market.

GSK Consumer Nigeria manufactures markets and distributes a wide range of Consumer Healthcare brands including Panadol, Sensodyne, Horlicks and Lucozade.

The all new ice cold filtered and extra cold brewed Star Lite comes with a special cold protection crown cork that locks in the coldness inside the bottle.

Speaking at the launch, marketing director, NB Plc, Walter Drenth, said: “Star continues to set the trend in innovation. This is just the beginning. There’s so much more in store for 2014 and we will be announcing them in the most unpredictable ways.”

The new beer brand, he said, is a line extension of Star lager and brewed with 100 percent natural ingredients; the finest malted barley, high quality hops, and best quality water; as such, has fewer calories compared with other standard lager beers.

“Lite implies fewer calories,” Drenth said. “This beer is for modern and social gentlemen who like to stand out and lead an active lifestyle. It’s a cool innovation we at Nigerian Breweries are quite proud of, and confident our consumers will appreciate,” he said.

Okoro oversaw the launch of Sendodyne, Horlicks and other GSK Nigeria products.

While attributing the company’s success to Okoro, chairman, board of directors, GSK Consumer Nigeria Olusegun Osunkeye, said: “I want to thank Mr. Chidi Okoro for his leadership of our business. Chidi has been instrumental to the success of GSK Consumer Nigeria Plc. He has doubled our sales growth over the past four years while improving the way we run the business.”

On his part, Okoro said: “It has been a fulfilling four years serving as MD of GSK Consumer Nigeria plc. I believe the time is right for me to move on to

other challenges. GSK Nigeria has a great future and it is an opportunity for someone new to make their mark on this great business and lead the company into the future. I believe I have played my part in the evolution of our company. It has been an immense learning experience as well as an opportunity to work with some of the best people in the corporate world.”

Over the past four years, under Okoro leadership, GSK Nigeria, has won several awards including; the Pearl Award in the Healthcare category in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, which was capped with the Pearl Award for All Time Greats.

In 2013, GSK Nigeria was a recipient of two major awards – the Pearl Sectoral Award in the Healthcare Category and the Most Outstanding CEO of the Year Award.

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HOSPITALITY The iconoclastic facade of the hospitality home is an irresistible pull for a first time visitor. Yet, you still do not get a full glimpse of the hotel’s mesmerising details until you step inside, writes ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA.

Destination Cross River tourism: Up close with the dreamers p.42

Travel Personality Timeout with Mark Loxley, general manager of Southern Sun Ikoyi p.45

ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA, EDITOR, TRAVEL AND TOURISM

andrew.okungbowa@newtelegraphonline.com

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1 MARCH 2014

35

Southern Sun Ikoyi’s classic world

B

ehind the veneer of Southern Sun Ikoyi is luxury defined as the hotel’s design is a classic and appealing one.

The facilities and amenities, which take on a different life of their own, depending on which of them you experience, are equally amazing. Each exudes a blend of sophisticated artistry and contemporary feel.

On this particularly cool morning, a liveried doorman curtsies as he ushers the visitor through the revolving glass door.

Certainly one feels welcomed walking into a world of elegance with the swirling warmth of the environment enveloping one.

With measured steps one eases quietly into an inviting settee trying to take in the unfolding scenery.

The first observation is perhaps the bustling nature of the hotel this fateful morning.

The receptionists - sorry, guest relations officers - are busy with the phones while others attend to guests either checking in or out.

Casting a furtive gaze into the restaurant and bar area, which are behind, it is a colourful scene that assails one’s sight as guests attend to the rich buffet spread out - an inviting and tempting scene.

The next attraction is the conference area, which also is heavily packed with men and women gaily dressed – some in groups having friendly talks and others looking through different documents and their opened briefcases, notepads, ipads and notebooks. Obviously, these are people from the corporate world about to begin one business conference or the other.

Thankfully, one’s reverie, that is if one reckons with the scenery behind, were short-lived as the hotel’s sales and public relations manager, Ubong Nseobot, shows up. From discussions later, it emerges a typical day in the hotel is akin to this.

Obviously, the hotel management should be quite happy with this inflow of business as it appears a fulfilment of its dreams, which as disclosed by the hotel’s Britishborn general manager, Mark Loxley, is a four star business hotel tendering to the needs of corporate travellers both from the local and global markets.

Focus on corporate travellers

Opened in June 2009, Loxley says of the almost five years old hotel: ‘‘We market ourselves as a four-star international business hotel. In terms of facilities and services,

Frontview of the hotel

we are much near a four star international business model. We focus on corporate travellers but also we gladly accommodate leisure business and transit business but the main focus is obviously on corporate travellers - local and international coming into Lagos.’’

Judging by the busy nature of the hotel and the fact that five years on, the hotel has gained acceptability and won many loyalists within such a short time. It is perhaps safe to say that it has succeeded in creating a niche and identity for itself as a classy home. This much admits Loxley when he says ‘‘I think the opening period for any hotel is always very challenging but after that opening period we had to create our identity very quickly in the market place. I think the added value that we offer in this hotel was very well appreciated by the clients’’.

According to him, the hospitality market in Nigeria has witnessed tremendous growth within the last five to seven years. ‘‘The market has grown substantially in the last five to seven years, there are a lot of competitive hotels that have opened up after us and likewise there is a slow development in the pipeline that is going to bring more competition to the market,’’ discloses Loxley.

Swimming pool

Competition, he admits, is growing and stiff but the hotel has its sight trained on keeping its share of the market as it continues to focus on quality service and product. ‘‘It is important to make sure that the business environment is good; that we focus on making sure that the basic needs are addressed, good sense of safety and security.

Clean and hygienic room, it is important that the people must feel comfortable in the hotel,’’ says the general manager of the commitment of his management team.

Looking at the hotel’s profile, Loxley reveals

it has a wide spread of clientele base. ‘‘We deal with a multitude of different kinds of clients, I think we have managed to attract a good cross - section of clientele and the hotel is supported in terms of the food and beverage operations by locally based clientele. So it is not just the hotel guests alone but residents in the area that use the hotel,’’ Says Loxley.

Besides, he says of the marketing reach of the hotel: ‘‘we typically market ourselves domestically and also outside the country.

It is important to create as much awareness.’’ The hotel, he reveals is strong on giving back to the society as a responsible member of the local community.

36 TRAVEL&TOURISM

DESTINATION

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

Cross River Tourism:

Revellers at one of Calabar Carnival celebrations

DUKE The vision

W

HEN we were here (in government) we had to look at Cross River State and say to ourselves: ‘if we were a country what would we do? We can’t depend on the federation account, so let’s try and develop an economy of our own, a state economy’.

We are in the Niger Delta quite alright, there is a lot of money in the Niger Delta but unfortunately, we are not part of the money producing states in Niger Delta.

What we are trying to do is to create it (the state) as a tourist destination. So you need to have pivotal that would attract people to the state and Tinapa is one of them and Obudu Mountain Resort is also another one of them.

Every state must have its own economy and that is what forms the national economy. I think the responsibility of every state governor is to find the niche of the state and enhance it and that is the only way that we can grow.

Motivation for Tinapa

So how do we create an environment where all that money produced in the Niger Delta or a good chunk of it comes to Cross River? This is a free zone (Calabar), in other words, anything other than dangerous weaponry is free to come here. So what would take Nigerians to Dubai and other places ordinarily you should be able to find it here. That is the catchment and that is why people should come here. And I hope that with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) takeover they would get it right because I saw the

ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA speaks with both former Cross River State governor, Donald Duke, the man whose ideas helped launch tourism in the state to prominence – and the present governor, Liyel Imoke, whose zeal has nurtured that dream. advertisement for new management and all that. The management of AMCON came to interview me and I spoke to them about the original concept and if they could actualise it this should be one of the most sought after destinations in the whole of Nigeria.

So the traffic you see coming here in the month of December, which is an isolation, just for the Christmas season will become a normal thing and throughout the year you will have traffic. Therefore, the hoteliers would make a lot of money, the restaurateurs would make a lot of money and the transporters would make a lot of money.

You just open a shop and something would happen because you have people coming in to buy. That is what it is all about. It is a very simple thing and not a novel idea. If Dubai did it and Las Vegas has done it, so why not us? Las Vegas is in the middle of nowhere, just a desert area and when Bugsy (Benjamin Siegel), the man who started it did - he was a mobster - it was in the era of the prohibition.

But today take out Las Vegas from the economy of Nevada and the economy would collapse completely.

Dubai did the same thing and Atlantis City is about the same thing. You just create an avenue where people could come to relax. So here in Tinapa we have casinos and shops that you would not find in Nigeria or anywhere else in West Africa because most of the goods are prohibited.

Calabar is at the end of Nigeria, it is not Benin or Onitsha where people would pass through and therefore you put few things and people would pass through and spend money and all that.

Except you have business here – Calabar – you don’t have reason to come here so When eventually and I hope as soon that Tinapa is truly functional as envisaged we expect about three million people visiting in the course of the year.

Now you do the maths, if three million people come here in a year and each one spends N100 that is N3 billion and when you add the multiplier effect it is over a trillion naira that would flow into the economy.

I giggle when people say it is a ‘white elephant’ project because people like that don’t think outside the box.

Duke

You know you can’t legally import clothes into Nigeria but you can bring in any of those things and it would be duty free. It would be cheaper than even finding it in the United Kingdom where you pay all kinds of taxes and value added tax (VAT). But here it will be duty free. So it makes more sense to shop here though some people would still go abroad but if you are shopping this is the place to be and that is why we are trying to build this place.

Getting the people to Calabar

... It is a game of traffic, you know that

Tinapa... driven by an infectious passion

It is not easy but people just think that, oh, when you put up the building you have done it all. No, because you’ve got to get the management, you’ve got to show commitment and you’ve got to get the passion because this is a work of passion. This cost five hundred million dollars and Cross River State doesn’t have five hundred million dollars, but what made this work was the passion.

I had to get the passion to be infectious, I had to infect former President Olusegun Obasanjo with the passion and I had to infect his government with the passion and they all saw what we were trying to do here

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

TRAVEL&TOURISM

37

Up close with the dreamers and they supported it.

On the downward slide of Obudu Mountain Resort

That is also sad and, for me, it is very painful because that was another work of passion. You had at a time the longest cable car in the world, a beautiful water park and a 162-room hotel and all that.

What went wrong? Again, flights were stopped for no reason. Obudu is six hours from here (Calabar) by road. Aero was going there six times a week. I remember going to Obudu as a governor and I couldn’t get accommodation and had to squat at the general manager’s room.

You’ve got to advertise the place, keep it in the consciousness of the people and make getting in there easier. It is about 45 minutes; flight by Aero from here to Bebi Airstrip. Why the flights were stopped I don’t know, but for whatever reason they’ve got to reactivate it because it is not the most dangerous airport (airstrip) in the world.

Aero was managing that airstrip and providing schedule flights. Other airlines wanted to come in, Overland wanted to come in and there was competition. That is what is required because you can’t allow

IMOKE

IMOKE

Creating a service-based economy

In terms of what we think our vision for Cross River is, for us in Cross River, we’ve really come to terms with the fact that we can’t possibly survive as a state depending on oil revenues that are shared from Abuja.

So our focus is can we create an alternative economy that is not oil based? Can we create an economy that is driven by service?

That is because we think that we are well – positioned for it and there are a lot of investment coming into Calabar.

I mean, how can you have an event (Carnival Calabar) like this and it is free, it is at night. Where else in Nigeria can you have an event like this that runs into the morning and everybody is in town having fun and the governor is not running around with mobile policemen?

So, it is something that I think that we can build on and that is what we are trying to do now because of what we have here we think that we can grow few things in our economy by positioning ourselves as that place where you can get a number of things reasonably less stressful. Whether it is social services, whether it is basic infrastructure or whether it is entertainment and hospitality, we would like Calabar to be top for Nigerians as the place that you can go to.

Target is on emerging middle class

So, I think there are lot of opportunities here and we also understand that there is a new emerging middle class in Nigeria and that is our target because that new middle class doesn’t go to the village for Christmas anymore.

When I was growing up it was an abomination not to go to the village for Christmas, you couldn’t even think of spending

The driveway to Obudu Mountain Resort

such an infrastructure to waste.

Whether it is privately-owned or stateowned, it is all part of the national assets.

Look, Disney World (Disney Line) in the USA is privately-owned but it is part of the

United States’ assets and you can’t talk of tourism in United States without talking about Disney - but it doesn’t belong to the government.

If you own a hotel, it is part of our na-

tional assets, whether it is a small or big hotel; yes, you are the direct beneficiary but it all forms part of what is in Nigeria and so we shouldn’t allow our assets to waste. We should all make it work.

Christmas without going to the village. But the new middle class doesn’t go to the village because of a number of reasons, largely security issues and that middle class is looking for where to spend the holiday and if we can position ourselves adequately we would become that destination.

So, our vision for that destination that we keep talking about is that, there is somewhere in Nigeria where things reasonably work, where there is security and where you can have peace and that portrays our country in good light. Every time people come here, at least one or two diplomats have said to me, ‘but why is the rest of Nigeria not like this?

to build not just one event or one month event calendar but rather we are introducing few things into our calendar. We have the Jazz Festival and of course, you are familiar with the Obudu Mountain Race.

Beyond that we are also focusing on our domestic market and we know that one of the things that drive traffic in Nigeria is workshops, conferences and meetings.

Today in Nigeria, Calabar is the third largest meeting, incentive, conference and event (MICE) destination in Nigeria after Lagos and Abuja. And we think that we can over take Abuja very quickly once our international conference centre is completed.

With the international conference centre comes two new hotels - a resort hotel and a four star business hotel.

I am working with ARM, the owners of Four Points By Sheraton Hotel, in Lekki, Lagos to develop the hotel at the conference centre. That is very critical for us as we think

that if we can complete that and few other things that we are handling now this place will become a complete destination.

The type of destination that we want is traffic all year round because we want to be a service economy. If there is demand for the service that we provide then more people will come in here then we can build an all year round destination flow rather than one big event flow.

Focus now is on building domestic tourism

For us, we have been at this for long enough to understand and appreciate that when you have a good product people will come. What we try to do is to produce an excellent product. We also understand that sometime no matter how good your product is the fact that it is Nigeria, unfortunately for us, does not attract the type of attention that it might otherwise attract in other climes.

Therefore, our focus basically is domestic.

We think that we have enough expatriates in Nigeria that want to enjoy this experience; we think that we have enough West Africans that want to enjoy this experience. And uppermost is Nigerians because we have more than enough Nigerians that want to enjoy this experience.

If you can get your own people to appreciate it, believe me the rest of the world would follow suit. So for us that is why basically we think that our emphasis should be not just on the domestic market alone but on the sub – regional market in terms of attendance.

Most of the costumes are made in Calabar but a few bands have technical advisers and we are excited about that because that wasn’t the case a few years back. It is very difficult to make most of the kings and queens costumes in Calabar, so there is a lot of creativity, there is a lot of industry and even for the state our internally generated revenue (IGR) is going up and it almost doubles in December.

There are also amazing employment opportunities as we now have things like theatre academics that train these kids and the bands are registered companies, they are not show pieces. The bands run the carnival and that is where we want to carry this carnival to, it is not a government thing.

Entrenching the carnival bands

Developing all year round destination

The key thing for us is that we are trying

The gains of Carnival Calabar

Imoke

One day you will not need to interview the governor about the carnival, it will just be that the bands have taken so much ownership, the people of Cross River have taken ownership and basically it will just be something that will just continue in perpetuity and that is what we are trying to achieve. So you see that a lot more sponsors are coming in because of the value of the product as we try to package this product to create a value for it.

38 TRAVEL&TOURISM TRAVEL BEAT

Top best 10 hotels in the world

T

HE global hospitality sector is growing in lips and bounds with new outfits opening up, offering astonishing services and products while quite a few maintain outstanding architectural appeal, tradition and culture, which have served their patrons well over the years. Deciding on the best top 10 hotels is not an easy task to accomplish however Trip Advisor has come up with a list based on its travellers’ choice award for the best top 10.

We serve you this impressive list: • Grand Hotel Kronenhof, Pontresina, Switzerland; • The Upper House, Hong Kong, China; • Gili Lankanfushi Maldives, Lankanfushi, Maldives; • Nayara Hotel, Spa and Gardens, La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica; • The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, India; • Casa Gangotena, Quito, Ecuador; • Lindos Blu, Lindos, Greece; • The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort, Punta de Mita, Mexico; • The Oberoi, Mumbai, Mumbai, India; • Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

Other interesting categories of travellers’ choice are: Top Luxury Hotel in the World – Akademie Street Boutique Hotel and Guesthouse, Franschhoek, South Africa Top Luxury Hotel in the U.S. – The Grand Del Mar, San Diego, California Best Bargain Hotel in the World – Castlewood House, Dingle, Ireland Best Bargain Hotel in the U.S. – Desert Riviera Hotel, Palm Springs, California Best Hotel for Families in the World – Cavallino Bianco Family Spa Grand Hotel, Ortisei, Italy Best Hotel for Families in the U.S. – Floridays Resort Orlando, Orlando, Florida Best Hotel for Romance in the World – The Place Luxury Boutique Villas, Koh Tao, Thailand Best Hotel for Romance in the U.S. – Honor Mansion, A Wine Country Resort, Healdsburg, California Top Small Hotel in the World – Akademie Street Boutique Hotel and Guesthouse, Franschhoek, South Africa Top Small Hotel in the U.S. – La Maison Hotel, Palm Springs, California Best B&B and Inn in the World – Bindon Bottom B&B, West Lulworth, England Best B&B and Inn in the U.S. – Historic Oak Hill Inn, Natchez, Mississippi The average nightly rate of Travellers’ Choice award-winning Top Hotels is $366; Bargain is $91; B&Bs and Inns is $138; Family is $237; Luxury is $467; Romance is $356; and Small Hotels is $301.

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A Taste of Willy’s Steak

CHEF’S CORNER

I

T is not always you have a black as the executive chef in multi-starred hotels, but Chef Oluwole Oshinloye is an exception. At Golden Tulip Festac, he presides as executive chef. Affable, almost cutting the image of an introvert, he does his “culinary artistry” dutifully with a touch of expertise.

On first encounter, you are bound to make the mistake many diners at the hotel’s swanky restaurant make whenever he introduces himself, which is that of mild surprise.

But wait until you are done with your meal for the day, especially if it is one of his special days were he delights diners with his artistry. Then, like others before you, the obvious reaction is to celebrate his versatile skill.

He is highly admired for his creativity and eagerness to ensure people enjoy their visit to the restaurant, especially if you are one of those with a heavy or perhaps a healthy appetite.

You couldn’t possibly have spent about two decades in the culinary business without having a rich array of recipes. He surely has created a lot, which he calls the “Willy steak” - a coinage from his name, Oshinloye. ‘‘I have what we call Willy Steak – it is created by me and the preparation is what makes it Willy,’’ even as he explains that it is a tornado - a steak filled with chicken liver, wrapped with bacon and grilled with a nice pepper sauce as well as garnished with tiger primps. It is accompanied with red wine, he says, adding that it is one of the special offers of the hotel but it presentation, he discloses changes daily. Another of his popular recipe is called Symphony Chicken, which according to him is a combination of breed feathers - chicken, grilled lobsters and tomatoes soulie. There is also another creation of his, which he calls Banga primps.

Afro – continental, he says it is because it is prepared with local banga spices and grilled primps. It is served with cocoanut rice.

With regard to the regular menu of the hotel, the executive chef explains: ‘‘We have a buffet type of set up and a specialty night, which is being run on a daily basis.’’ Monday night is European night, Tuesday is Indian night, Wednesday is sea foods night while on Thursday night, the Chinese have a bash of Sushi and on Friday night is devoted to Africans with meals from across the continent filling the palate experience.

Oshinloye at work

Executive chef, Oluwole Oshinloye

For Saturdays, the Arabian party is on course while on Sundays, the Italians hold sway with their popular pasta. ‘‘What is peculiar to Golden Tulip is our ranges of foods which you can never find in any other hotel,’’ adds Oshinloye.

To drive home this point, he points out the Italian and pizza huts by the poolside, which are two special creations of the hotel. Talking of creativity and innovation, the sea food night is another unique experience as he explains that the live fishes - lobsters, primps – tiger primps, octopus and others are placed on a live boat for the guest to make their choice and watch the live cooking (grill) of the fish.

Nigerians, he says enjoy the sea foods and the Chinese Sushi meals while Mexican meals are beginning to catch the attention of many.

Looking back, Chef Oshinloye who says he is very fulfilled with his occupation, is grateful to one Mr. Oyebola, a friend of his father who talked him into cooking. With the pep talk from Oyebola, he developed a gradual passion for the kitchen, which later blossomed into a full scale love affair. Ever first stepping into the old Federal Palace Ho-

Photos: Tony Eguaye

tel (now Federal Palace Hotel and Casino) in 1977, Oshinloye has never looked back.

He started out at what was called Comies Cook and was later sent to Federal Palace Hotel training school to hone his skill and also to the federal government-owned catering school in Lagos. In 1985, he moved over to the Lagos Sheraton Hotel. He was also sent on different training programmes by the hotel with the training at Stockholm Sheraton a major highlight for him.

Like the golden fish that has no hiding place, Oshinloye was head hunted and poached from Sheraton by Golden Tulip when it opened for business in 2011 and since then, he has thrilled guests at the hotel to his savoury culinary acumen. ‘‘When I started l loved to be creative and our job is about creativity because what I do today I don’t want to repeat it the next day. It is the creativity that attracted me and gingered me,’’ he says of his motivation.

However, he discloses that the job is quite challenging and added to the fact that he has a demanding boss who expects him to deliver premium culinary service, Oshinloye has to be on top of his game.

He has also won some accolades and awards along the line and prominent among them is the president award for the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific of the Sheraton he won in 1996 and in 2004 he won the same award but this time under the Starwood brand. Last year he was also honoured by the Institute of Hospitality UK – Nigeria (IH) as the best in the culinary category.

One of his most memorable moments, he says, was be a part of the team from the Lagos Sheraton that catered for Nigeria’s former president, General Ibrahim Babangida, when he was the special guest of honour during the opening ceremony of The Ibru Centre, Agbara Utor, Delta State, some years ago.

TRAVEL&TOURISM

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

TRAVEL PERSONALITY General manager of Southern Sun Ikoyi speaks on the highs and lows of running a hospitality outfit in Nigeria.

T

HOUGH British-born, Mark Loxley however refers to himself as an African. And rightly so on account of his many years of living and working in different countries across Africa. ‘‘My background is basically African and the Caribbean,” he says, as he opens a window to his career path.

He has done about 22 years in the hospitality sector part of which he spent at Southern Sun Hotel in South Africa, Seychelles and Jamaica. In the last six years he has lived and worked in Nigeria as the pioneer general manager of Southern Sun Ikoyi.

Moving to Nigeria to live and work, as of the time he did, wasn’t such an issue for him because the people and culture are almost the same barring little differences. ‘‘It wasn’t completely culture shock, but people have to get used to the operating environment here (Nigeria). It is challenging and it is rewarding.

I think these are the two appropriate words.

You have to adjust to your working environment,’’ adds Loxley.

For Loxley, what makes hospitality and tourism industry a dream and perfect lifetime career for him is the fact that it is a global industry which provides ample opportunities to experience different parts of the world. Hence he has traversed the universe in a little over two decades of his stint in the industry. ‘‘I think the hospitality and tourism business is a global industry and provides one the ability to travel and experience different parts of the world. Also, your skills are transportable to a great extent. Tourism is the largest industry globally and definitely there is a fantastic opportunity in terms of growth on the African continent and specifically West Africa,’’ says Loxley.

He describes the West African region as perhaps the fastest growing regions in the world in terms of hospitality. ‘‘There is a lot of scope for people to work in the hotel industry in Nigeria and I think it is going to continue to improve. And again, I think the future potential here is very, very good.’’

The fallout from the increasing growth in the industry, Loxley informs is that there will be tremendous improvement in the quality of services and products. ‘‘I think the general point is that the quality and service will continue to improve as everybody has a commitment in providing decent quality services and keeping the staff trained correctly.’’

Lagos, he says, is a growing business desti-

T

he tourism sector is directly and indirectly responsible for 8.7 percent of the world’s jobs, 9.2 percent of the world’s GDP, 5.3 percent of the world’s exports, and 4.7 percent of the world’s investment • There were an estimated 5.5 million direct tourism jobs across the continent in 2012 • About 3.8 million jobs (including 2.4 million indirect jobs) could be created by the tourism

39

‘The experience here is challenging but rewarding’ nation being the commercial heartland of Nigeria. ‘‘It is a very dynamic market, there is good growth opportunities and I think with all the competitive hotels, international groups coming into Lagos, automatically you will see an improvement in terms of quality and service.’’

Good enough. But he still sees some downside. ‘‘I think that Lagos is an expensive destination.’’ What makes it an expensive destination is that hotel rates are on the high side. He attributes this to the operating cost. ‘‘I think that hotel rates are really structured around operating cost – the cost of diesel and power generation, you have to take care of your water treatment plant, sewage plant, which is what we do here.’’

Yet, the country remains an admirable place for him. ‘‘Nigeria is a real inspirational society, a very well - educated society, people want to get ahead and the work ethics is very good. We have a very good motivated labour content and

as long as the training and support is given, you can put a very good team together.’’

He fends off the temptation of scoring Nigeria as a destination, choosing the diplomatic option. ‘‘Every destination has it peculiarities and opportunities and to compare one destination with another is not always fair.’’ He however says Nigeria has a good spread and prevailing opportunities for growth and investment in the different parts of the country. ‘‘I have really had the chance to look at the different parts of the country as I have been to Calabar, Benin City, Asaba, Yenagoa, the Delta area, Bonny Island, Abuja, Calabar, I think the geography is very beautiful and the Delta has its own identity in terms of oil and gas. Abuja is also a city that is very well laidout and very well-designed. I think in terms of Abuja there will be opportunity for more hotels there as the time goes by,’’ he said.

He also speaks of his love for what he de-

Loxley

scribes as very healthy soups of Nigeria such as the chicken and fish stews. ‘‘The pepper soups and stews, I think I enjoy those very much. I like hot and spicy foods so it is not a problem,’’ he adds. ‘‘I really enjoy the Nigerian art works and for me that is the most interesting part of the identity in terms of arts and entertainment.

I think there are very good local musicians that are here. So in terms of entertainment and arts, I find the Nigerian arts very, very interesting,’’ he reveals.

Aside prospecting for business and keeping the hotel on its four burners, Loxley says he finds solace in the water as he makes out time every Saturday to sail on Lagos waters as a member of the Lagos Yacht Club. ‘‘I do some sailings on Saturdays. I am a member of the Lagos Yacht Club, we have a very active yacht club here and we sail very Saturday afternoon.

That is my break, we do offshore and we do harbour sailing and it keeps us busy on Saturdays and provides the much needed break.’’

To get leisure tourism on course, he advocates for resorts that would attract Nigerians. ‘‘I think it is simply the availability of resorts.

There is need for more good quality hotels and resorts that would offer family and leisure business. I definitely think the opportunity is there that would see Nigerians using the local hotels as opposed to flying to Ghana for weekends but again that is going to take some more developments. The opportunity is there.’’

This, he says requires huge investment from the private sector. ‘‘I think it is more of the private sector seeing the opportunities and hopefully capitalising on it. I think it is just a matter of providing the correct standard of resort and the services and facilities that goes with it. If it is a good quality product people will start to use it. ’’ He also believes the problem of Nigeria as a destination is not so much that of insecurity as a lot of people say, but rather more of perception. The country needs to find a way out of this by devising a means of getting people to visit the country, he says. ‘‘I think people who have been here before understand this better. Perception can also play a part but it is also important that people come here to see the great environment that you have outside of Lagos. You have some lovely beaches and some other beautiful places.’’

TRAVEL FACTS industry in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2021 • Total direct and indirect employment in tourism in Africa: 12.8 million jobs in 2011. 13.1 million jobs in 2012 (300 000 jobs added in a year) • More than 16 million people are expected to be employed directly or indirectly in Sub-Saharan Africa as a result of travel and tourism by 2021. 2.9 million additional jobs will be added in

the next eight years • Global international tourist arrivals have been growing steadily at 4-5 percent per year on average since the 1950s. Between 2009 and 2010, despite the global financial crisis, international tourist arrivals to Africa increased by 8 percent.

• The continent attracted 33.8 million visitors in 2012 from a small base of just 6.7 million in 1990, and receipts from tourism

for the same year amounted to over US$36 billion and directly contributed 2.8% to the region’s GDP. • One in twenty jobs in SubSaharan Africa is in travel and tourism • More than 10 million people travel across international borders every year within Africa for leisure, shopping, medical needs, sports, religious gatherings, business meetings and

conferences, and visiting friends and relatives.

• Up to 55 percent of international passengers on African airlines are travelling for business, compared to 15 percent for tourism and 30 percent visiting family and friends.

• By 2021, about 75 percent of all tourists to Africa will be intraregional African travellers.

Source: South Africa Tourism

40 START-UPS

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

For a start up, what do you consider challenges or hurdles to be crossed in beads making business?

For me, i will say my coming into beads making was as a result of making sure of getting practically engaged, not wanting to be dependent on the glutted job market, having read petroleum marketing in the university and having presided over a couple of businesses that failed . Ofcourse, i can say i got engaged in this particular business out of frustration, i didn’t particularly have any start-up problem. This business came about as a last resort, as i was detemined to succeed, despite the disbelief in me from the onset, even from my husband, who was disenchanted with the idea of my engaging in the beads making business at first as he said again, you want to embrace bead business after your failure with so many things. But i succeeded in convincing him to give me support for the training. I started with about N400, which spent on a pack of beads. I eventually sold to a neighbour for N5000 after making them into beautiful necklaces beads which she sent to her sister in the USA. That was how i started. Of course, i didn’t make it look as if that was my first beads making. I gave the impression that i had been in the business for a long while because it appeared starters are not reckoned with. It was not rosy initially, particularly the first one year because i was just trying to get myself together as a fresher in the business. I was just trying to get things fixed for myself. Like i said people don’t like dealing with starters, the rather prefer people that are made already.

So, for how long have you been in this business

I have been in this business for eight years now There were really no serious challenges or hurdles. For me i didn’t have starting problems, because i already have the background of a business person though those businesses fizzled out leading to my venturing into this. So, i didn’t have much challenges associated with most start-ups.

The challenge that i had failed in other endeavours actually spurred me to the height i have gotten to today. When i started though , it was not rosy, so i resorted to training people who chose to embrace the profession You said bead making requires some training, what kind of training?

Obviously, like i told you the beginning was not rosy which made me turn to training, as an opportunity to make extra income, i turned myself to a mobile trainer, training other wishing to engage in the business, and of course the business has its language, terminologies. There are certain words we use and terminologies, like the hooks that people call hook we call it clapse. What people call fishing line, is referred to as monofilament , there are other names or terminologies like what we call tigertail, which refers to flexible wire, these are terminologies.

For instance, if somebody walks in here and say i want to get hook, i know the person does not have the knowledge about the business or have knowledge about the terms and terminologies, he is not seasoned, he is not trained by a seasoned person, you need to be familiar, with the appropriate names and terminologies of the profession, like in other professions. You need to know appropriate names, know certain designs, you need work with wires, know your tools and materials, know original beads from coated ones, know your gem stones if you need to go into gem stones making. There are so many things you need to know and learn, people think the profession is platform for all comers who want to make ends meet pending when they get engaged in the

Balogun

Spurred by Previous Failures at Business, a Beadmaker’s Story of Triumph Her call for Nigerians to patronise locally-made products may sound like a jaded sales pitch, but there’s no doubt that bead-maker Bimbo Balogun, founder of Bimbeads Concept, has truly mastered her craft. She speaks with SEGUN EDWARDS on the perils and potential of her trade thing or profession they really want to embrace, but for me it is a real profession for those who know what they want in life.

Looking back now, from the start, what would say is required as capital to commence the business

At the time i started, i said i bought a pack of beads for N400 after training, so but for people who say i have acquired the training and i want to get a shop, who would say i want to get a show glass, you really don’t have to spend so much money, it is a business you don’t need so much capital to commence, and that is why it is flourishing or flooded with people. I will say you don’t need much, let me say right now the most you need as capital you won’t say more than N5000 or even less than that amount to get a pack of beads after training.

What is the place of beads in terms of use, would you say it is competing with ornament like gold and others in the Nigerian market

For obvious reasons, gold remains the exclusive of the very rich i mean, the wealthy people who can afford them, if you say gold am talking about the gold that you will wear and stand out when you are wearing them for an occasion when you are having a wedding ceremony for example, for this you need millions, They also come in two colours, it is either gold or silver, that is white gold.

But these days, there is what is called the GL or custume jewelries that people buy these are copied from the designs of real gold, so when somebody is wearing custume jewelry , and somebody else is wearing 24 or 22 carat gold, you really may not be able to differentiate, because they are durable and equally beautiful you really can not differentiate except if you know the status of that person. But on the other hand, you can wear a

How many trainees go through your school in a year?

In a year, i’ll say thirty, forty, but i used to be a bead instructor in a skill acquisition centre and its is usually a six months training which produce 120 graduates every year and people walk in here for skill acquisition on particular designs which i always give short training that fetches me money within hours, different from the conventional training school.

What are the categories of beads you produce?

Basically, we have stringing and the wire jewelries, the stringing has to do with stringing with thrunwings, like a monofilament or any other thing that has to do with stringing while ...Some of her beed collection the wire jewelry is strictly wire, which different gold of N2 million and somebody else is wearing a kinds of stages. set of beads for N50k and you are seeing them from afar, you will see that somebody with beads will ap- What can you say are the prospects in the pear more attractive because they are colourful and beads making industry? beautiful as you can do all sort of things, like layers, It depends on the purpose for which anyall sorts of designs you can work with wires and all body comes into the business, some are in the sort of things with beads, but gold is gold. Though it business for sustainability, some are there to is valuable, you can still have them as store of value, rub shoulders with leaders in the business. For but beads have come to stay, you look beautiful with me, i’m in the not for sustainability, rather i’m the colours you look elegant and golden. in this business to continue to grow fortunes in the industry, in other words i am looking How many people have you trained for the forward to the business outgrowing me. As profession, or do you have a training arm in the to the question you raised, i will tell you right business? now there is a lot of prospects in the industry Yes we have an outlet in Egbeda, that is our because Nigeria is well endowed, like we have training school then here we do like one on one, huge petroleum endowment, there is huge maximum four, five trainees but there in Egbeda Gem stones endowment that should enhance we do ten, twenty, so we train and we have trained the growth of the bead industry, but it is being a lot say over hundred if i’m not exergerating i don’t wrongly utilised and chanelled and not being want to say thousand. properly harnessed for the industry.

L ve&Lv ng

A Widow’s Story: “Life is better now that my husband is dead” p.38 Sex Traditions The Wodaabe Tribe Where it’s a custom to snatch a man’s wife p.40

MICHAEL UCHEBUAKU

NTWEEKEND ONLINE AT

michael.uchebuaku@newtelelegraphonline.com 0813 116 1840

www.newtelegraphonline.com/loveliving

Love Confession Children are said to be gifts from God. For that reason, this writer was prepared to do anything to save his son’s life, including having an extra-marital affair.

‘I cheated on my wife to save my son’s life’

W

hen I met Katie, my current wife, I had already been married before and had a young son. While the marriage had not worked out, the subsequent estrangement from 1-year-old Dave was an unbearable consequence of the divorce. I was adamant that I did not want any more children if I could not be a proper and present father to the child I already had.

When I told Katie about this — many, many months before I asked her to marry me — she was clearly heartbroken, and I thought that it may just be the end of our otherwise perfect relationship. But we talked through it, and Katie was finally able to agree that our love was worth it, no matter what.

Our part-time custody of little Dave would be enough, she said, as long as she still had me.

When Katie and I got married it truly was the happiest day of my life, and occasionally I considered how selfish I was being, and wondered if I could give her the baby she craved — create our own little family. But every time I had to hand Dave back over to his mother, I remembered the pain of everything I was missing. I had missed Dave’ first steps, first proper words — first everything. I couldn’t and wouldn’t go through that again.

Katie was wonderful with my son, and every weekend I realised how unfair I was being. But knowing my reasons for not wanting more children, my beautiful, selfless wife never said a word after we were married — though I’m sure she shed many tears in private.

Around the time that Katie and I shared our fifth wedding anniversary, my son turned eight and suddenly got very, very sick. My little boy was diagnosed with a rare type of leukaemia. He needed a bone marrow transplant or he would die.

My ex-wife, Maria, and I were not a match, and there was no match on the national donor register either. Our best chance, we were told, was to provide a sibling for Dave. I asked if Katie and I had a baby what the chances would be that he or she would be a match, only to be informed that with a different mother, statistically, the chance of it being a match would be the same as if it were a complete stranger. I was glad that Katie wasn’t at the doctor’s office to find out how close I had come to making her a mother — but if it wasn’t going to help Dave, what was the point?

Driving them home from the doctor’s office, Maria hit me with a bombshell: what if she and I were to have another baby? We

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY

1 MARCH 2014

41

Katie never learns the truth.

Occasionally, when Dave comes to stay Harry comes too, just as a play mate. For that reason, even he doesn’t know who his father is. Again, Katie is just wonderful with my new son too, and I live in fear every day of what she would do if she knew what a scoundrel I am. I won’t give her any children of her own, but was perfectly prepared to cheat on her with my ex wife, to create a sibling that would save my son.

Names have been changed. Picture posed by models.

Your say: Did the end justify the means?

Do you think this father did the right thing?

Should he tell his current wife what he did or continue to keep the secret from her? Have your say about this true confession.

Courtesy: msn.com *Do you have an amazing or adventurous love experience to share? Tell us how you met. E-mail your story to: ireto007@yahoo.com. Call 07031028714, 07032944123.

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could keep it a secret.

At first, I was outraged. It didn’t matter what the reason; cheating on Katie was cheating on Katie, and I wouldn’t do it.

But when I looked over my shoulder to the backseat where my son — once so full of life and promise — was sleeping fitfully, exhausted to his very bones, I knew I had no choice. When I got back to Maria’s house, she put our son to bed. And we slept together.

Over the next few months, Maria and I slept together whenever she was ovulating. It only took about three months before we got the news we’d hoped for: Maria was pregnant with my baby. Subsequent tests revealed the further miracle that our new

When Dave comes to stay, Harry comes too, just as a play mate. For that reason, even he doesn’t know who his father is little boy would be a perfect match for Dave.

Now we just had to wait and see if he could last the months until the birth.

I didn’t go to see Harry being born, and had to sneak out to visit him in the hospital.

For all intents and purposes, he is not my son — an elaborate denial to ensure that

H

eavy lover Gregg Casarona relives the moment he somehow managed to smash his girlfriend’s head through a wall mid-coitus When virgin Gregg Casarona had sex for the first time he smashed his girlfriend’s head through a wall.

Obese Gregg had been dating Jen Gerakaris for a month when they decided to sleep with each other.

Unfortunately as 31 stone Casarona became Casanova he failed to take into account the power behind his near quarter of a ton weight.

As the amorous 21-year-old and his eight stone girlfriend got intimate, her head went right through the wall behind them. Gregg said: “My initial reaction was, ‘I killed her. This is my first time. And Jen is dead.’”

Fortunately she saw the funny side and as she freed her head quipped: “Why did you stop?” She said: “I wanted to lighten the mood.”

He took her to hospital but the couple were embarrassed to reveal the true reason for Jen’s concussion.

Luckily, a scan found there was no brain damage and tactless Gregg joked she “didn’t have a brain to begin with” much to his girlfriend’s displeasure.

42 LOVE&LIVING

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

Love Songs

Love Crime

Drunk in Love (feat. Jay-Z)

Man arrested for padlocking his girlfriend to prevent her from cheating

E

verybody’s got a thing. For a 40-year-old unnamed man in Veracruz, Mexico his thing is to padlock his girlfriend’s blue jeans to prevent her from engaging in sex with other men. He locks in this poor man version of a chastity belt so tight that his girlfriend has no chance at taking her jeans off and fornicating with another hombre in town, not to mention it also prevents her from taking her pants off to use the restroom.

Pending on how long he padlocks her up I can foresee this being an issue.

And it looks like it has become one.

Recently, the 25-year-old girlfriend with the padlocked jeans got herself in a situation where she

had to go the bathroom but couldn’t take off her pants. She was in such extreme pain from being unable to relieve herself that she said “f#ck it” and went to the local authorities. She told authorities that her boyfriend has been padlocking her pants for years because he is afraid she will cheat on him if her pants aren’t locked up.

“Well would you, cheat on him if your pants weren’t padlocked?”

Policía asked.

“Si.” She responded.

“Why not just cut them off with scissors?” Policía asked.

“Demasiado miedo! (too scared)” She responded.

[Intro: Beyoncé] I’ve been drinking, I’ve been drinking I get filthy when that liquor get into me I’ve been thinking, I’ve been thinking Why can’t I keep my fingers off it, baby?

I want you, na na Why can’t I keep my fingers off it, baby?

I want you, na na

Police arrested the 40-year-old boyfriend. He admitted to padlocking his girlfriend as well as provided them with the key to unlock the padlock. He was initially charged with a misdemeanor, however since the girlfriend refused to press charges after he was detained the 40-yearold man was released. Nevertheless, he did have to sign a statement promising that he would never use a padlock again on his girlfriend or partake in abuse toward her ever again.

Woman cooks pet kitten in microwave for attacking goldfish

A

woman cooked her pet KITTEN in a microwave for five minutes because she thought the animal had attacked her goldfish.

In what an RSPCA inspector branded an horrific act of cruelty, Laura Cunliffe, 23, put Mowgli - her black and white female cat - in the microwave believing she had attacked her other pet, Barnsley magistrates court heard.

Cunliffe then arranged for the kitten to be buried after she died a slow and painful death.

RSPCA prosecutor Brian Orsborn said Cunliffe had had the four-monthold kitten for a short time when she put it in the microwave oven, which

Odd news

she turned on for five minutes.

Mr Orsborn said: “The kitten was in a distressed state when Miss Cunliffe took it out of the oven. She took the animal to a relative’s home.

“The animal could not get its breath and died about 90 minutes later.

Life Experience

A Widow’s Story: Life is better now that my husband is dead

Model of a happy woman

W

BEYONCÉ

“Miss Cunliffe made arrangements for the body of the kitten to be taken away to be buried. The RSPCA became involved and was able to trace the man who carried out the burial.”

Mr Orsborn added that Cunliffe disclosed what she had done three days later when she was at Barnsley Hospital.

After the hearing, Lynsey Harris, the deputy chief inspector for the RSPCA, said in the 13 years she has been in the job she had never dealt with a case like it before.

She said: “It is a particularly horrendous case because the period of suffering for the kitten would have been awful.

hen John died, it was the speed of it all that stunned me at first.

He’d been feeling a bit tired and generally under the weather and I’d told him firmly to go to the doctor, but I was convinced he was nurturing a diplomatic flu, as he was fed up at work. He was referred for further investigation immediately, which should have made us suspicious, but it took the mention of an operation to make us realise that this was serious. In the three weeks from his first visit to the doctor till the night he died, we didn’t face the possibility of his cancer being terminal. We kept reassuring each other that something could be done. All our families and quite a few friends were in the house that night, as they had been regularly once we told everyone John was ill. His brother was helping him upstairs for a lie down and John called to me and it sounded so urgent and desperate that I dropped the baby into my mum’s arms and ran to him and he just died there, at the bottom of the stairs with his brother and me holding him. People talk about

You got me faded, faded, faded Baby, I want you, na na Can’t keep your eyes off my fatty Daddy, I want you, na na Drunk in love, I want you [Hook: Beyoncé] We woke up in the kitchen saying, “How the hell did this shit happen?”

Oh baby, drunk in love we be all night Last thing I remember is our beautiful bodies grinding up in the club Drunk in love

[Verse 1: Beyoncé] Cigars on ice, cigars on ice Feeling like an animal with these cameras all in my grill Flashing lights, flashing lights

Love Poem

Devilman

Breathe Me Breathe me with your deepest eyes So you’ll feel what’s inside my heart, So you’ll see there are no lies, So you’ll know I loved you from the start.

Breathe me with your caring touch For without it, my wounds would never heal.

For without it, my pain would hurt too much.

For without it, I would never again learn to feel.

Breathe me with your sweetest smile As your smile can cheer a thousand souls, As your smile renders me senseless like a child, As your smile keeps me smiling a thousandfold.

Romantic Jokes

Breathe me with your gentle kiss To taste the conviction of my love for you, To taste the joy of my soul in bliss, To keep me there inside of you.

BELATED GUARDIAN ANGEL

Walking down the street, a man hears a voice: “Stop! If you take one more step, a brick will fall down and kill you.”

The man stopped; a big brick fell in front of him. The astonished man continued walking to the cross walk.

The voice shouted, “Stop! If you take one more step, a car will run over you and you will die.”

The man stood still; a car came careening around the corner, barely missing him.

“Where are you?” the man asked. “Who are you?”

“I am your guardian angel,” the voice answered.

“Oh yeah?” the man asked. “Where the hell were you when I got married last week?”

Words of Wisdom: Kisses are not vows of marriage

Mixed in with my grief was relief that I no longer had to worry about money living in a blur but that’s the only way I can describe the next few weeks. You don’t expect to die at 30 and it seemed totally unreal telling our three year old daughter that Daddy had gone to heaven.

Our son was still a baby at 11 months and our family and friends, who were equally shocked, looked after everything for me to begin with. John and I met at university when we were both 19 and despite being totally different — or maybe because we were so different — we were inseparable instantly. I absolutely adored him, with his relaxed attitude to life, especially since I’ve always been a bit of a control freak. We worked well together, with me getting him to most of his lectures and him persuading me that student life involved much more than just studying. Our first three

years together were so happy we got a lot of teasing from friends, as we were the only settled couple. John proposed the day we graduated and we decided to get married the following summer, which meant a lot of saving and organising. Suddenly, we were doing very grown-up things. I realised then that I had always assumed that John would become much more focused and organised once we started working.

I’m a psychologist, so the three years after university meant a lot of studying, doing my doctorate as well as working.

However, John, who was a lawyer, never felt he should help out a bit more or start concentrating on his own career. His work attendance record was dreadful, usually as a result of hangovers, and he got really annoyed when the first firm he worked in didn’t offer him a partnership — refusing to accept that he couldn’t possibly seem committed enough. He moved to another firm and two years later the same thing happened again, but he couldn’t seem to CONTINUED ON PAGE 43

LOVE&LIVING

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

Love Education:

Relationship & Love Advice

What is Fibroid?

‘My wife says she does not love me anymore’ Dear Love Doctor, My wife and I have been married for just under five years. All of a sudden she says she is leaving me. We have a two and a half year old daughter and we have decided to have joint custody. I have been so depressed lately I don’t know what to do with myself. I want so badly to get back together but she wont even hear me right now. I dont know if I should keep pressing the matter with her or should I just let her go?

From David.

Love Doctor’s Advice:

You need to ask yourself exactly why does she want to leave? Is it

Fibroids are non-cancerous growths in the womb (uterus). They are common and usually cause no symptoms. However, they can sometimes cause heavy periods, tummy (abdominal) swelling and urinary problems. Treatment is available if symptoms occur.

How common are fibroids?

because she’s unhappy with you or does she have her eyes set on someone else? Sorry, if it might hurt to think she’s in love with someone else. Have you tried communicating with her? Asking her what it is that you have done for her to feel this way? You might want to try doing things out of the ordinary that might make her feel appreciated by you. Example: Do the dishes, vacuum, bring home some flowers ( just because), set up a romantic dinner for the two of you, give her a card with your loving thoughts. Try changing your routine of things.

Have a serious discussion with her and find out why she seems to have fallen out of love with you. Do you have time for your wife? Maybe all she wants is for you to give her your love and attention. Try your best

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 42

grasp the connection between still living like a student and not being taken seriously. I probably colluded in his delusion because it was easier for me to manage all the family finances and organise things than depending on him to do it. We were delighted when I became pregnant and he was a fantastic father to both our children and still irresistible to me most of the time — except when I was too tired to appreciate a spontaneous bottle of champagne or night out. When he died, I thought it was the end of the world. I didn’t know you could miss someone desperately and yet manage to get on with all the ordinary things in life, but with small children you don’t have a choice. The second shock, however, was realising how comfortable we now were financially. The mortgage was paid off and John’s pension scheme kicked in immediately. I had always had both of us well-insured and now had a lot of money in the bank. It was an odd feeling, because John believed in living beyond your means, while I had had a gnawing worry about cash since we got our first mortgage. Mixed in with my grief was relief that I no longer had to worry about money.

As the months passed I realised that, while I still missed John, I didn’t miss the unreliability which was part of everything he did.

He was fun and totally charming, but sometimes you also need the chores done. I know that he loved me dearly, but I also know that he felt I’d become immersed in domesticity, which is difficult to avoid when juggling a job and very young children. Over the years I’d become much less lively and put on weight, but the utter misery of the first few months without John resulted in me losing every extra kilo and more. I’m not exactly dressing to go out on the town but I certainly feel a lot more confident about my looks. Six months after John’s death I was enrolling my daughter at nursery, when I got asked out by a divorced dad who I knew vaguely. It was lovely to be asked but I had no intention of going. That night I lay in bed and thought about what had happened to our family in the last six months. I’m organising the family single-handed, the way I always did, but now I’m not panicking about lack of money or other disruptions. Friends are still involving us in their lives, both families are happy to babysit, and I’m back at work. So everything goes on the same for the children, although we do miss John. It’s a terrible thing to admit, but now that I’m over the worst of the shock and the grief, I think I honestly prefer life this way.

43

Fibroids are more common in women from AfroCaribbean origin. They also tend to be larger, occur at an earlier age and are more likely to cause symptoms in Afro-Caribbean women.

Fibroids are also more common in women who weigh over 70 kg (11 stones). This is thought to be due to the higher levels of oestrogen hormone that occur in larger women.

Occasionally, a fibroid may press on the bladder which lies in front of the womb (uterus). You may then pass urine more often than usual. Rarely, pressure on the bowel (which lies behind the womb) may cause constipation.

Pain during sexual intercourse

to show her that you care and try to make her see reason why it’s good that you stay together. You can tell her parents or family to talk to her on your behalf.

However, if after all said and done she still insists on leaving, let her go, because it’s wrong to force anyone to remain with you against her will. So if she doesn’t choose to stay for the sake of love, set her free.

If you want daily love tips or advice, download The Color of Love Guide on your iPad and iPhone. Search for ‘Color of Love’ on your Apple Store now and download the App. *Send your comments/stories to Love Doctor. E-mail: ireto007@ yahoo.com If you’re in a crisis, call for help: 07031028714, 08131161840 or 08023700641. For free marriage/relationships counseling, call Love Doctor Mike 07031028714, 08023700641.

Visit www.romancestory.org

If the fibroids grow near to the vagina or neck of the womb (cervix) then this can cause pain or discomfort during sexual intercourse. This is called dyspareunia.

Miscarriage or infertility

If the fibroids grow into the cavity of the womb they can sometimes block the Fallopian tubes. This can cause problems conceiving, although this is not common. Very rarely, fibroids can be a cause of repeated miscarriages.

Problems during pregnancy

However, fibroids can be associated with an increased risk of having a caesarean section, the baby lying breech (bottom rather than head first) and early labour. Your doctor will advise you further if you are pregnant and have fibroids.

Contact a Fertility Specialist if you have a problem of fibroid.

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44 LOVE&LIVING

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

What makes two people sexually compatible?

Sex Traditions

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The Wodaabe Tribe - Where it’s a custom to snatch a man’s wife

I

n the Wodaabe tribe of Niger in West Africa, men are known to steal each other’s wives. The Wodaabe’s first marriage is arranged by their parents in infancy and must be between cousins of the same lineage. However, at the yearly Gerewol Festival, Wodaabe men wear elaborate makeup and costumes and dance to impress the women – and hopefully steal a new wife.

If the new couple is able to steal away undetected (especially from a current husband who may not want to part with his wife), then they become socially recognized. These subsequent marriages are called love marriages.

he area of sexual compatibility is sometimes forgotten when choosing a mate. I have always wondered why many men and women seem to put sexual compatibility low on their list of priorities.

How important is sex to you in your life and in your relationship? Does having good (or great) sex make a difference to you? Of course, from my perspective it is a little hard to imagine it not being important. I have always put sexual compatibility as one of the top five things that I wanted in a relationship. “Indeed, research has found that compatibility is significantly related to sexual satisfaction (Smith, Becket, Byrne, & Przybyla, 1993), and a desire for sexual activity “.(Apt, Hurlbert, Sarmiento, & Hurlbert, 1996a; Hurlbert, Apt, & Rombough, 1996) So what constitutes sexual compatibility? Is it just our astrology or the fact that we both enjoy sex that makes us compatible? I believe it is our sexual preferences, likes and dislikes, religious backgrounds and how our culture and family felt about expressing sexual love that influence our attitudes and experience with sex. All of these factors, including your astrological compatibility,

True Confession From Overseas

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had been with my partner, Dale, for 7 years. We shared everything, told each everything, we trusted each other no matter what. That all changed on one particular weekend.

Dale and I lived with his parents as we were trying to save for our first house deposit. His parents lived in a huge home and we stayed in one of their five spare bedrooms. Even though the house was huge, we always spent most of our time with his parents as Dale was very close to them both.

From the day I met them, I could tell that Dale’s parents had marital problems.

Fights and abuse was a regular occurrence in their house. At first I found it really difficult and awkward being around that. I came from a close family and had never witnessed that type of relationship.

Dale was close with both parents but their constant bickering put a lot of strain on his relationship with them. Dale was always trying to mend the rough patches between them and it started to affect our relationship.

I know it was wrong of me to think like that, but Dale and I were trying to start our own

SEX COMMUNICATION

“Good sex is very important in maintaining a healthy, happy relationship” factor in when looking at sexual compatibility. Now I am not just talking about the chemistry of a one night stand or off the chart sex. I am speaking of what creates long-lasting compatibility sexually.

I know some people who find that sex is not all that important to them, or at least is not one of their top priorities. But if you are like me, good sex is very important in maintaining a healthy, happy relationship. If you have ever experienced being with someone where there was either no chemistry or where your energy did not match your partner’s, or where your partner was just not a very skilled lover, then you know what I mean.

One of the first things you can do to find out more about what being sexually compatible means for you is to become more familiar with your own sexual preferences by writing down all the things that you like and dislike sexually. Don’t be shy here. Probe into the areas you may have not thought about and discover what makes you tick here.

The tantric perspective says that if you don’t know your sexual likes and dislikes then how can you communicate that information to your partner.

Second, make a list of the qualities that you find most attractive and that you value in a partner sexually starting with the most important to the least important. I place having a partner that is trained to some degree in tantric lovemaking skills, or who at least is willing to learn and study tantra on his own as well as with me, very important.

Good communication skills are also

very important to me as is a bit of sexual savvy and who knows his way around a woman’s body. Maybe you will find out that you love to cuddle a lot or that you are a bit more reserved and that being with someone who is uninhibited really scares you or maybe it turns you on.

You might surprise yourself by doing this exercise and discover something that you did not know previously. Ask yourself, what makes a person a good lover for you?

A few questions you might like to ask yourself and a prospective partner are: 1. Do you, (they) value good communication regarding sex?

2. What are your, (their) sexual preferences?

3. Are you (they) adventurous sexually and experimental?

4. Are you, (they) interested in Sacred Sexuality?

5. How do you, (they) like to be touched?

6. What really turns you (them) on sexually?

7. Do you (they) have to be in love to have sex?

8. How important is a person’s ability to connect via the heart with you or them?

9. Do you consider yourself open minded about sex? Are they open minded?

10. Do you consider yourself uninhibited? Are they uninhibited?

11. Do you like to laugh when making love? Do they enjoy laughing during love making?

12. What are the qualities that make a person a good or great lover for you, (them)?

13. How much experience do you want in a partner?

14. Is there anything you would reject a partner for having done sexually?

15. What are your feelings about BDSM and fetishes?

16. How do you, they feel about open relationships?

‘I caught my fiance’s mum having an affair’ life without having to worry about his parents.

One weekend, I decided to go out for lunch with friends. I was having a great time and was really enjoying myself. But then I saw something which made my stomach turn and I knew I must have turned totally white with shock. Over at the other restaurant I could see Dale’s mum intimately touching, kissing and holding hands with another man.

She was sneakily tucked away in the back of the restaurant but I could still recognise her. I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe my eyes. My mother-in-law was blatantly cheating on Dale’s father and appeared to be having the time of her life.

I excused myself from lunch and told my friends that I was getting a terrible migraine.

I rushed home not sure what to do. Dale’s father was home and looked happy for once and felt so terrible about what I just saw.

Dale came home an hour later and I pretended everything was fine. He asked me

how lunch was and, at that moment, was about to disclose what I saw when his mum came home and looked so happy. She even gave Dale’s dad a big welcoming cuddle.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. As I looked at his parents, actually smiling at each other for once, and then looked at Dale at how relieved he was to see his family happy, I couldn’t do it. I thought that, perhaps, whatever she was doing was taking the pressure off her relationship. Maybe it was doing them some good, and who was I to stick my nose in their business? I told Dale that lunch was OK — apart from my headache.

The next day, Dale’s mum said she had to go to the shops to run some errands and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was really up to. I felt a pang of guilt and started to rethink my decision to hide the truth. But I knew if I mentioned it now, Dale would be so mad at me for not saying anything sooner — not to mention the fact that his parents

were finally getting along.

As selfish as it sounds, Dale and I had finally been getting along well again too — there wasn’t the added pressure of his parents fighting all the time with Dale acting as mediator. It was nice to concentrate on our own relationship for once.

It has been six months since I spotted Dale’s mum at lunch and I can’t say that things have improved for his parents. In fact, they are now discussing separation and possibly selling their home. Soon we’ll need to find a place to rent.

I still haven’t mentioned it to Dale and I do feel very guilty about that. I convinced myself that it was better for all of them to withhold the truth, but in fact I was mainly thinking of myself and my situation. The sad thing is, no one knows the actual reason behind the split for Dale’s mum... and me.

Names have been changed. Picture posed by models.

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

FEATURES

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Think it’s a Man’s World? Well, Visit Adamawa and See Your Assumptions Tumble Somewhere in Adamawa, in a town called Arnado Debbo, near Ganye the administrative headquarters of Ganye fiefdom, the commonly assumed patriarchal structure of Nigeria’s north has been in breach for over two centuries. Ibrahim Abdul visits this unusual community where women call the shots as traditional rulers

T

he early harmattan haze had barely receded as the late morning hours crawled to mid-day, indicating the journey to ArnadoDebbo would be an arduous one. Our destination is one of the spiritual centres in Ganye local government Area of Adamawa State.

There is an unpaved road that runs through the village the way a river cuts through a thick jungle. Arnado Debbo is situated about seven kilometres from Ganye on the Ganye-Sugu road. The poor state of the road meant we had to go in a circuitous pattern, travelling from Ganye to very close to Sugu before veering off as if returning to Ganye before reaching Arnado Debbo - a journey that would have taken just a couple of minutes if the direct road from Ganye were motorable.

Although the village is nearer Ganye than Sugu, it falls in Sugu district and any dealing with the female traditional ruler, Nya Gwangwu Astadikko Buba Dimgyeb, would require the permission of the Sugu monarch, palace sources say.

The journey from Ganye to the village took about an hour, but there would be some further delay on arrival as we sought audience with the traditional ruler. The guide had to be thoroughly quizzed by her counsellors numbering about 17 to ascertain that none of us was “unclean”.

The villagers are predominantly subsistence farmers and when this reporter and his guide arrived, the village was anything but bustling as most of the inhabitants had gone to farms or nearby markets. The only notable activity was the few children playing at the only primary school in the village.

The village is hemmed in by mountains and, according to sources, most of the inhabitants lived on one of the mountains called Jangavan, but had to descend to the plains about 80 years ago as a result of frequent floods. Even though it is a Chamba-speaking community like other communities in the area, the village has sets of values that distinguish it from even the nearest village.

The close-knit ancient town displays a typical communal co-existence common in an Islamic set-up. Arnado-Debbo strictly observes the tradition of young ones bowing to their elders in greeting as a show of respect. Dogs are also not permitted to come into some houses.

But hardly anyone in the community could trace the origin of the traditions. They simply said the traditions were passed on from one generation to another and have since become a source of pride to them.

Apart from the only primary school, said to have been established in 1979, other structures in the village include a dug-out well, with an in-

Gangwum Buba

scription indicating it was completed on March 17,1954.The well is situated at the centre of the village. Paramount ruler of Ganye chiefdom, His Royal Higness, Gwangwari Ganye, AlhajiUmaru Adamu Sanda, gave an account of the reason why women take on a more prominent role in the village. Gwangwari reveals that the men actually used to rule in Arnado Debbo but that the men usually died within three months of ascending the throne. He said that fifteen male rulers died on the throne, all within three months before the elders decided to try a woman. ‘’If men cannot hold onto the throne why can’t we try a woman?’’ he explained. And so when a woman, Gangnwum Subonin, was tried in 1762 she did not die within three months, but stayed on for nine years. Since then, he explained, the men have had no qualms surrendering that right to women permanently.

Gangwun Astadikko Buba Dimgyeb is said to be the seventh woman ruler after Gangwun Subsanin blazed the trail 250 years ago. Apparently sensing my thoughts, he adds that no man had ever attempted a forcible return of the thrown to men. It,s inconceivable, the chief information officer said, adding that “our great grand fathers had decided it to be so, and even if one tries and ascends the throne he won’t

Adamu Sanda

last three months. The men do not want to die”.

He said further, for emphasis: “No Gangwun is ever dethroned. They must be allowed to stay on until their death and all the women must be appointed from the dynasty.’’

According to tradition, upon installation the Gangwun remain in the traditional compound - a sort of palace meant for Gangwuns.

The present Gangwun was said to have been

installed from Sugu and is now staying in the traditional palace. She told this reporter she is 75 years old. As Gangwun, she is considered the traditional and spiritual head of the community, and presides over spiritual and traditional ceremonies and festivals including worships.

But there is a demanding list of dos and don’ts. For instance, the Gangwun must never come in contact with a menstruating woman.

Of course, the consequence is dire and the brunt of it is borne by the offending visitor.

A python would appear and coil itself around offender and stays that way until the offender confesses. The Gangwun does not also see anyone, male or female, who have not had a bath after intercourse. The offender also has the wrath of the python to contend with.

The community cherishes its traditions, but its people are yearning for development.

Water, schools and good roads are top on the list of demands.

There was a sense of accomplishment as we made to leave, but there was still this sense that some important questions had been unanswered. Was she married? Does she have children? The courtiers calmly waved that off with a knowing smile.

46 NTWEEKEND

CONFLUENCE

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

... a finger on the city’s pulse

Florence Seriki, hubby part ways

Orubebe runs to Ibori L

O Unclear coast for Dangote

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frica’s richest man, Aliko Dangote may have been thrown into some kind of confusion following the recent happenstances in Nigeria’s political clime. Every passing government has enjoyed tremendous support of billionaire capitalists, especially during their respective campaigns. Dangote, like other giants of the nation’s economy, had found it a lot easier to discern which water to throw their nets prior to this imprecise dispensation, but all the permutations still make the coast unclear for the super rich. He’s uncertain whether to throw his weight behind the booming train of All Progressives Party or continue to roll with the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party ostensibly depreciating every passing day.

Bibopre Ajube, Segun Curson still at daggers drawn

F

or years, the cold war between two kinsmen, Bibopre Ajube and Segun Curson from the riverine Ijaw community, Ondo has dragged on and from all indication, it has defied efforts old and young to nip it in the bud. Like kids in a playgroup, their fraternity was with unsurpassed innocence; they would fight, make up, defend each other, starve and dine together when the manna flowed. But things fell apart when these young men made individual choices on whether or not to submit their arms and embrace amnesty when the late President Umar Yaradua offered it. Ajube, who earned a moniker, ‘shoot-atsight’ as a marksman in the creek, trusted the amnesty policy would better the lots of his kinsmen, but Curson differed in opinion.

This soured their relationship and pitched them against each other. Semi-literate Ajube

matek Computers boss, Florence Seriki has had to deal with the tale of marriage crash, which the other day was thrashed as unfounded rumour until lately. As there’s no smoke without fire, the story once dispelled is turning out to be true after all. Informed sources insist that the lady who is currently restructuring her company from the doldrums of insolvency has finally parted ways with her husband, Ola. The 18-year-old marriage is fractured on charges of intolerance from one and promiscuity from the other. As it stands, we gathered reliably that Ola has moved out of their Victoria Garden City, Lagos abode while the lady

LANRE ODUKOYA - 08059296445

of commerce moves on to resuscitate her company. However, their differences still seem reconcilable as the estranged couple is still on talking terms.

ike the age-long African proverb reads, “when a wandering dog finally gets bruised, it will remember its master’s place”, words have gone to town again that the sacked Minister of Niger/Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe made a clandestine visit to James Ibori at the Long Lartin Prison, United Kingdom where he’s still serving a jail term. Orubebe allegedly begged Ibori and expressed his regret for ever joining President Goodluck Jonathan to put him behind the bars. His alleged apology to Ibori is to get the Delta State former governor’s blessing on his gubernatorial ambition in 2015. No blaspheme is intended, but Ibori is to the Deltans what Nelson Mandela is to South Africa.

Incarcerated or not, he wields tremendous influence and the Deltans are counting down to his return. It’s however unknown, what the ex-governor told Orubebe after the meeting, we learnt had held sometime in the week.

Lisa Walsh returns

L

isa Walsh, the sassy lady behind Prinatan Entertainment scampered off the society radar for a while and that fuelled several speculations expectedly. Maternity, we gathered, had taken her to Ireland to join her husband. Lisa is married to an Irish and she jetted out for the delivery of their third child. She returned to Nigeria last week and has since got her groove back. Her husband has a construction company in Nigeria which she oversees apart from her entertainment and fashion outfits. Lisa, in her late 20s has traversed the world and knows what time it is. She also publishes the entertainment and lifestyle journal, Ella.

brought his IQ to better use when he founded Gallery Security company to combat crimes in all the riverine area. The company, duly registered got the security contract from Ondo State government, working with other security agencies to fight crimes. While he was building this legacy and making commensurate fortune, his kinsman, Curson controls an oil bunkering cartel and his men often run into the waiting hands of Gallery Security guards. Ajube’s men record tremendous success in their line of trade and from this fortune; he became philanthropist to his kinsmen in nearly all the nine settlements in Ilaje Ese, Odo, Local Government. In their discharge of duty, the GS guards had a boat collision with another on top speed, a girl died and Curson caught in on the accident to drag the company to court. As you read this, more frantic efforts are channeled to brokering peace between the warring brothers.

Omesede Igbinedion’s legal feud with ex-hubby drags on

Femi Otedola’s improved look

P

resident and Chief Executive Officer, Zenon Oil and Gas Limited, Nigeria, Femi Otedola no longer goes bald. The witty and handsome Yoruba businessman has also betrayed his idiosyncrasy of draping allwhite apparels which made the speculation about being in a billionaire’s cult rife at one time. He was pictured in an event, Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation (OOF) held in London recently. Dapper in graying beards, Otedola now makes more heads turn.

O

mosede Igbinedion, the daughter of business mogul, Esama of Benin, Gabriel Igbinedion is still in court with her estranged husband, Prince Aven Akenzua (nephew of Oba of Benin, HRH Oba

Erediauwa) since 2010 when their two year old marriage crashed. The marriage which produced a baby boy never got the palace blessing, but the charm of love blindfolded the young man until affair went out of hand. The union almost pitched the Oba against his younger brother for discarding his advice and going ahead to romance Esama, a perceived enemy of the royal family.

Since then, events have unfolded and Esama is said to have embraced peace with the Oba but that wasn’t strong enough to quell the separation between Omosede and Evans.

They’ve been feuding over possession of their only son, theft of some ancestral monuments, assault and intolerance for four years now yet the case nags on.

Talking Point Obiano: Challenges ahead of inauguration p.52 Sen Etok Governors have hijacked the presidency p.53 NTWEEKEND ONLINE AT

www.newtelegraphonline.com/politics

POLITICS ON SATURDAY NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY

1 MARCH 2014

47

Idiagbon once ordered me to sack Kano Emir –AVM Hamza Abdullahi

Retired Air Vice Marshal Hamza Abdullahi was the man who built structures for federal ministries relocating from Lagos to Abuja. That was his marching order when he was appointed minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Before then he was minister of works and housing and military governor of Kano State. He has remained silent since leaving the public service and kept a distance from the press. But our deputy managing director IKE ABONYI and managing editor SULEIMAN BISALLA traced him to his residence in Abuja where he opened up on his life after service as well as some of his critical moments while in service.

Excerpts: You left public office many years ago; can you recount how life in retirement has been?

I have been at peace with myself. If not for the brief moment that General Ibrahim Babangida ventured into politics, I have tried to avoid any political activity whatsoever. I am also not a contractor so I keep to myself. I am either in Kano with my family or in Kaduna where I have an office, or sometimes I visit my friends. Other than that, I am not a very active former public figure. I think I had my share of public life, having been a governor, having been minister in three different ministries from 1984 to 1991.

In Nigeria, we see people get into government and find it difficult to get out, or after getting out they tend to go back again. Why has it not been the case with you?

Well, I had been extremely active while in government. I was governor of Kano State for a short while and I was there at a very difficult time when there was total breakdown of law and order and shortage of essential commodities.

That was in 1994. It was a very busy time for me. I was then posted to the federal ministry of works and housing. Again, I was in the process of reorganising the ministry; I undertook a tour of the whole country to assess the infrastructure, especially the road networks; that was a very CONTINUED ON PAGE 48

48 THE SATURDAY INTERVIEW

NEW TELEGRAPH ON SATURDAY 1 MARCH 2014

As Governor of Kano State, there were C O N T I N U E D f r o m PA G E 4 7

hectic period. I then sat down and started planning how to go about it when I was posted to the ministry of the FCT. Before me, previous ministers only came for a couple of days or weeks and then they leave. They don’t stay here. But I decided to come here and stay, may be because the matching order I received was different from theirs.

The matching order I received was to make this capital city a reality. You know there are two different things: the Federal Capital Territory and the Federal Capital City. I was ordered to take it to a point where the federal institutions would move from Lagos to this place. That was a very difficult task because first, there were no housing units to accommodate all the federal civil servants. Second, there weren’t enough offices to house the federal ministries. So, I had to provide housing and office accommodation as well as develop the city’s infrastructure.

The city was just at inception stage, so I had a very busy time; I would start work at around 8a.m. and leave around 1a.m. to go home and sleep and wake up very early to go to office again. I would be in the office till 3pm. or 4pm. before I go home to have a quick lunch, take a little rest and return to office. By 5pm I was out again at the building sites. By 7:30 to 8pm, I would go back home and have dinner and watch the network news at 9pm. After that, I would return to the construction sites again in the night. So, it was really a tough time. But thank God that today I can say that both the FCT and the Federal

I would return to the construction sites again in the night. So, it was really a tough time. But thank God that today I can say that both the FCT and the Federal Capital City are a reality Capital City are a reality. I am also happy that I contributed to the realisation of that dream of Nigerians to have a neutral federal capital city.

Your tenure as FCT minister was a very busy one; looking at the development today will you say that it has gone at the pace that you set during your time?

The pace is alright but whether or not they are keeping with the original spirit is another thing. In fact, the pace of development is even much faster than I thought because this city was designed for a total of 3.1million people. That is when it is developed into phases 1, 2, 3 and 4. The phase 1 which I was involved with was for only 250,000 people, which is most of what we are using now.

But if you look at Abuja I think there are millions of people in the city itself, not to talk of the Federal Capital Territory. We seem to be going back to where we ran away from –Lagos. Lagos at that time was choked up, uncontrolled development and so on. Abuja was meant to be a city with everything in place. If you are a trader you have a place for trading; if it is government business there is space for government business. Everything was provided for in the master plan. Unfortunately, we derailed and be-

gan to put things in all manner of ways. Second, the way we started was that we would put the infrastructure first in a specific zone or district –we would provide road network, electricity, water, telecommunications facilities and whatever before we start allocating the land. Unfortunately, that is far from the situation now. Now land is being allocated in a place where you will not see road in the next 10 years and there is no electricity in the area, or if there is any, it is a makeshift with overhead cables. All electricity, communications cables were not supposed to be seen outside in Abuja. That is the second area I think we have goofed.

Third, we were not hoping that this city will be for only the privileged ones, the rich ones. It was meant to be a city for all.

There is low density area for the low income group and there is high density area meant for the privileged rich. However, everywhere in Abuja is now for the privileged. We are only building a city for the elites –the rich and not everyone.

You cannot rent a house with your wage. How much does the middle class earn? For a two bedroom flat, or even a boys’ quarter, they are talking of about a million naira. So, somehow we have missed the road and I think we have not been fair to the ordinary Nigerian.

It’s interesting to ask someone who should know about the issue of the ‘original indigenes’ of Abuja given their recurrent demand for compensation, resettlement and so on. How were these things addressed at that early stage?

My friend, it’s all politics. Local indigenes are playing politics with this issue of indigene, non-indigene thing. When this area was conceived, marked, demarcated and taken, a general population census was conducted for all those that lived within the enclave that is called the Federal Capital Territory. There were three states involved: Niger, Kaduna and Plateau states then. Now compensation was worked out and paid to all the states depending on how much was taken from their potion and how many people are living in that area. Later, even at the time that I came, when we realised they had started talking of politics we changed the law and said, ‘alright we admit that some people came in after that had been done and so on, and as Nigerians we cannot just decide to dismiss them’. We said we will pay compensation as, and when development catches up with them. That is to say that when we are building a road and you are living there legally –because some of them were living there illegally – all those people that make blocks, furniture and so on would just go and get a piece of land, clear it and start doing their thing claiming that it is theirs. There is procedure for acquiring land in every part of this country. The law is there and we know it but we tried to soften.

We tried to give a chance to the local indigenes when we said even though this is a federal capital territory there were people living in this place. But instead of creating local governments we decided to create Area Councils. We said the Mayor of the FCT can be anybody; it can be an Igbo man, Itsekiri man, Yoruba, Fulani, Kanuri and so on. The city is supposed to be a symbol of one Nigeria. But we said the people we met their, the local people who are mostly farmers should elect their councillors and their chairman. I made a big contribution in designing the law and I know these things. During the Constituent Assembly, I had many meetings with them just to make them understand what we hoped would become of this city. Unfortunately again, politics came into play and things didn’t come out the way we wanted, where we will make the city a truly capital city and the territory a truly federal capital territory, while respecting those people that are indigenes, not by way of paying them money as compensation.

How do you while away your time?

You know, I am very close to General IBB and I always partake in some of his activities; I go to Minna and everywhere he is going, if I am around we go together. Other than that I have a factory in Kaduna. Unfortunately, because of the Nigerian factor, the factory could not work the way I wanted it. It was a factory designed to make compressors for air conditioners and so on.

But they started importing compressors from Belgium and other places and it killed that idea, even though I made huge investment CONTINUED ON PAGE 49

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THE SATURDAY INTERVIEW 49

days I had no money – AVM Abdullahi C O N T I N U E D f rom PA G E 4 8

in it. That factory had a capacity of regrinding crankshaft. We can refill them if they are worn out and bring them out like new. So, I have an office there as the chairman of the company. But I now go there every day from midday to about 4-5pm, and if I have any mails to respond to I do it. That’s how I while away my time. My family lives in Kano, so at weekends I am home with my family. I am also a director in Dantata and Sawoe so when there is a meeting I come here to attend.

I am also the chairman of Dornier Aviation in Kaduna. As I said, I am enjoying my life, I am not complaining of inactivity.

And you are obviously looking younger than your age?

I have always told people the secret is that I am content with the things I have in life; I will not kill myself looking for money. As long as I can have my three square meals, I am okay.

I have 17 children; 10 girls, seven boys; out of the girls only three are not married, seven are married. My main concern is to train them to take care of themselves. So I have given them the opportunity; anybody that has the capacity to go to any school I sponsor such child to any level. For the girls, as soon as you have your first degree your second degree is marriage. If you want to go for second degree I wouldn’t mind to pay but with the authority of your husband.

For the boys, none of them has got married yet.

Two of them are doing their Master’s, one has finished his degree. Among my children I have a medical doctor. She is now going to specialise in gynaecology. I have always hoped that one of my female children or more will be a gynaecologist so that they can offer services - not for money - to my community up in the north. I actually pity the Muslim women because if they have an ailment, they would rather die than face a male doctor and tell him their problem, not to even talk of exposing their body. Of the three that are coming up one is training to become a theatre nurse. The other two, I am hoping that one of them will also study gynaecology. For the boys I have accountants, and one is a business administrator. So, I am happy.

It’s often assumed there’s a problem when very active public servants stop working, there is usually a problem. What was your own experience?

I had problem at the beginning. There was boredom initially because I was used to going to bed late, sometimes at 1am and then by 5am I would rise to say my prayers and go back to sleep again. Then by 7:30a.m. I was up and doing something. Then all of a sudden I found out that if I go back I could sleep till midday or beyond. I had nothing to do, and nowhere to go; that’s why I had that office in Kaduna. That’s also why I am not living in Kano, where my family is. Kaduna is home away from home; this one (Abuja) is also home away from home. I have another home in London where my children are going to school.

I also have a farm in my hometown, Hadejia, and another one in Kaduna. The farms are not really for big time commercial purposes but just to have myself doing something. I have a collection of mangoes there; I have a big orchard with over 200 mango trees. Most of the mangoes you see on that road when you pass the army bar-

cially when you know that you are in this house and the people are expecting that you are in another house. That shows that they don’t know where you are; they don’t know what you are made of. Therefore, I am always happy when people speculate that I am a multi-billionaire.

At the time they said it honestly I could not boast of N200, 000. By Allah who made me, at the time I was governor there were days I would wake up and I don’t have 10 kobo. But I had friends who helped me. There was one district head in Kano whom I knew since I was a school boy. I would call him and tell him I didn’t have money and he would send to me N10, 000 or N5, 000 and I was happy. At least I ate free food in government house. That was the only thing I benefitted from being a governor. And before I went IBB warned me, saying: L-R: AVM Abdullahi, former president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and former governor of Abia ‘when you go to Kano be careful, I don’t want to State Uzor Orji Kalu during a courtesy to Kalu’s resident in Abuja recently. hear that you have done this or that. Be careful

Photo: Timothy Ikuomenisan because Kano people can corrupt you.’ He was frank to me. And he said if you want anything, of Kano State, the biggest state in the North. From phone me. And any time I was broke I would

By Allah who made me, at there I became minister of works. Even here, I send my BG, Stephen, a Tiv boy - even now he was given a choice: what ministry do you want is here - and he would give me some money. So the time I was governor and I chose the ministry of works. Unfortunately God has created openings for me. Anywhere I there were days I would I didn’t last long there. I was asked whether I go, somehow I find somebody, either a friend wanted to come to the FCT, and I said ‘of course or my teacher who would like me because I wake up and I don’t have am good in his subject and so on. You see Ni10 kobo. But I had friends ,wherever you send me I am going’. gerians have a problem; sometimes they don’t who helped me What was responsible for that sort of privilike somebody who is succeeding and I was lege? succeeding in building this city. All the same Other than friendship, you see when you I prevailed. I was not competing with anyone rack come from my farm. So, this is how I have grow up with people, you know who is good in but struggling to excel. Only God is perfect but tried to engage myself, but it was really boring at what. We know ourselves. That is why in the you can be near perfect. If I accept to do anythe beginning. I am also lucky I have good friends military we don’t have friction. If you are good in thing I give it 100 per cent concentration. that I am used to. When I was a public officer I a certain area, I will not be ashamed to recognise tried not to forget my old friends. Yes I avoided you. When I was governor, my colleagues used to You went to Kano as governor to correct new friends who were there because I became borrow a leaf from me. I started environmental something but you didn’t stay long. Looking FCT minister, governor and so on. But I tried to sanitation and others followed. I started it be- at Kano today how do you feel? keep my old friends and I still have them. Some cause I knew Kano, I grew up there. I knew all When you go to a place you have to assess come from Kano, some come from Sokoto and parts of the city; I knew the dirty spots and the it first. What is it that makes the place what so on. We sit down, chat and play cards and while eyesores. So when I became governor it was an it is? Kano is essentially a commercial place. away time. opportunity to correct many things. I also knew They may not care about going to school, but the people of Kano. We respect authority as you will see that a local man will beat someone Do you go to the gym to keep fit? long as we recognise that the authority is hon- with a doctorate in business because that is As I said I walk around a lot. I walk around my est. When they realised that I the purpose was their life. So, when I was there I tried to facilifarm even if there is nothing to do. I have ostriches, a honest one, they cleaned up their environment tate business. I had a good godfather in the air I have swans, I have crocodiles, and I have hun- voluntarily. We started it and then the federal force, late Brig. Musa Usman. He was my role dreds of peacocks both in Kaduna and in Hadejia. government took the idea and even launched model. When I came back from Lagos after So, I don’t really have a dull moment. At the same the War Against Indiscipline in Kano. So, in the my swearing-in, I went to him and I asked him time I am content with whatever I have. I am not army we recognise everybody’s talent. I am sure what I should do. He then said he would give struggling to get more and more. I am not seek- they recognised my talent and that’s why they me a written guide on how to go about it. What ing to be a ward head, let alone district head or a posted me to those places. So it’s not just because he wrote for me was: first, when you go you governor or president. I go to bed when I want we were friends. should beware of the traditional institution. and I wake up when I want. If I am fed up with Second, you should beware of the religious this country I pack my bags and tomorrow I’m in There was an issue which did not become institutions, and third, beware of the business Saudi Arabia to go and pray to my God and thank clear to Nigerians. While you held public office community. He said: ‘the business community there was talk of a certain lottery that you him for what he has done to me all my life. can corrupt you, so make sure you do anything won amounting to billions of naira. Was it a you can to facilitate their business’. He also said: true story?

To what would you ascribe such modest ‘the religious institutions have a lot of following, outlook?

You see in Islam we pray that let the people so if you openly identify with one you will be I think it’s my family background. Whatever wish for you any good thing. But on this issue in trouble. Be sure you take the neutral path’.

I am, I attribute it to God. I am not a genius, I am I swear to God I have never played lottery. Yes, He advised me to ensure invite everyone - the not the best of all. I was brought up as an orphan cards with friends like every soldier. That’s the Christians, the Izala group, the Kadiriyya group after my father died when I was four, before I kind of thing that I do but lottery, I have never and all the others whenever I called a meeting. even went to school. I finished secondary school played lottery!

Then concerning traditional rulers, I reand I decided to join the air force. In the air force, member he stated: ‘Emirs and chiefs no longer God protected me and elevated me to a two-star But did you hear that rumour? rule, but they reign. They have tremendous general, so what else do I want? From there, all of Yes, of course, they said I won a lottery. But respect of their people and you can use them a sudden I found myself in government. I was a you see one thing I learnt in public office, and I to mobilise and implement your policies. So, governor, but before that I commanded arguably learnt it very early when I was governor in Kano, allow them to reign, and consult them from the biggest air force base in this country –the was that you should not to deny or accept such time to time’. And I did what he suggested. I Kaduna base. From there I became the governor rumour when you see them in the papers, espe- will never forget this.

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Everything about Fayemi’s govt is fraud –LP chair The chairman of Labour Party (LP) in Ekiti State, Akinbowale Omole, in this interview with JULIUS TOBA, speaks on the unfolding political events in the state ahead of the June 21 gubernatorial election.

What do you think the present All Progressives Congress-led administration is not doing right that LP wants to correct?

Everything they do is very wrong. A government that is not transparent, a government whose preoccupation is to violate rules is never a government. So, we don’t wish that such should continue in office.

A true government should be custodians of rules and regulations. A custodian of people’s property. But a government whose business is to foment trouble, coarse and harass people into its own political party.

A government which does not allow other political parties to conduct their businesses according to the law is not a government.

It is not only about road construction they talk about, though they have failed in that aspect too. But the truth of the matter is that APC-led government has no regard for rules and regulations. Are you not aware that a member of the state House of Assembly from APC is currently in prison for (alleged) murder charge? Or are you also not aware that the interim state chairman of APC in Ekiti is today standing trial for (alleged) murder. And they will sit down in an executive meeting with the governor. I’m not yet pronouncing him guilty, but morality demands that the APC chairman in the state, Jide Awe, should step aside and clear himself of this serious allegation. Murder is not a minor offence under the law of the land, but a shameless government will overlook that. But in our own political party, we don’t do that; we conduct ourselves in a very decent manner. So, what we are saying is that there must be a change. Even look at the financial recklessness of the governor in another instance, they have collected nothing less than N400 billion since 2010. Tell me, what do they have to show for it? What?

Are you going to let all these go in the event your party wins?

One thing I know is this: the government is corrupt. We don’t control the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and we can’t tell them what to do. But I can shout loud that the government is corrupt.

It is now left for the appropriate agencies to take action.

Do you have any proof?

Yes, as a political party we are compiling these records. And we would soon let the

world know. Our people are living in penury.

Our workers are not properly taken care of. LP is a party of the masses, it is bent on changing all these. It was as a result of this lack of adequate care for the common man which Fayemi is doing now in Ekiti that first led to formation of the first LP in England.

We are for the common man, the woman that sells pepper, the commercial driver and the down trodden.

Are you not proud of the monthly package for the old people introduced by Fayemi?

The so-called “OwoFayemi” (Fayemi’s stipend) is all fraud. Look, everything is a fraud. If you see how much embezzlement that is taking place under that social security scheme for the aged, I tell you, you will marvel and weep for Ekiti. I tell you it is all fraud.

Omole

How?

This is because what they allocate for this project in the annual budget is far more than what actually gets to the people. Let me inform you, the handlers of that project laugh all the way to the bank. That’s what I mean, it is all fraud. If the government refuses to give me a job but instead gives my mother N5, 000 monthly, how does that one compensate for the time I spent in school?

It does not follow. That is fraud; it is another fraud by Fayemi. Again we know how much he takes monthly as security votes. That alone is enough. It is times seven of what he spends on that social security scheme.

But he recently said he doesn’t take security votes?

They are just playing with language.

What did he call it? He said contingency allowances or something? Who is he fooling? Don’t let us go into semantics, when somebody said he’s not taking security votes but another thing; all we are interested in is that in the name of one thing, you are taking money from government coffers monthly.

Is that not so? He should not tell us that any longer because we know that the guy is rich now.

Why was it that most of you did not see all these two years ago when some of you were with Fayemi?

Number one; there was no Labour Party in Ekiti then.

But Bamidele was in ACN.

What I’m telling you now is that I’m talking as the chairman of Labour Party in Ekiti. I could not have said anything before

the inception or introduction of my party in Ekiti. The position I’m putting forward today is the position of Labour Party, others could have put forward other positions as individuals. But this one represents that of LP and the party has just started in Ekiti. So, what we are saying here is not a personal opinion; it is aggregate opinion of the party.

How prepared are you to unseat an incumbent?

We are really prepared. Because the people have assured us that they will vote for us. They have assured us that they will vote Fayemi out of power. Why? This is because he does not connect. There’s no connection between the governed and the government. They run the administration of Ekiti State as if it is an appointed government. There’s no link. They are not treating the people as if they are part of us here. Have you heard about this saying in Ekiti recently that: Ghana-must-go? The meaning is that: Let this Ghanaian who pretends to be an Ekiti man run his four years and go back to Ghana where he came from. That’s the meaning of ‘Ghana-must-go’. I didn’t invent that slogan, it is all over Ekiti now. And I

“They have assured us that they will vote Fayemi out of power. Why? This is because he does not connect. ”

want to tell you again that I subscribe to it that: Fayemi must go.

Despite what you have said, people still believe that Bamidele’s aspiration is born out of vengeance

I don’t know whether you have had interaction with MOB, he often says “Vengeance is of the Lord.” I have interacted with him; he’s a man who fears God. He told me and I verily believe him that all he wants again in this life is to be seen as somebody who has given his best to his people. And through that his name will be remembered. So, that assertion that he is coming for vengeance is a mere idle talk. It is only their past that is chasing them, probably because they have caused some injury on him and he’s now out to fight back. No. That is not the least reason why he’s coming out to contest. That’s not even part of the reasons at all.

Is LP satisfied with the level of preparedness for the election?

What I saw at the INEC meeting was encouraging. Though there were two meetings, at the one with INEC I seem to believe what they told us. But you know Nigerians for who we are, most of us are sceptics. We don’t want to believe until we see it happening, from what they have told us it appeared good but I want to see it happen. I want to see them provide adequate security on the day of election. The police too told us that they are prepared for that election but for most of us, going by past experiences and records of the police in this country we are sceptical.

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Opposition are only chasing shadows –APC chair In this interview with ADESINA WAHAB, the Ekiti State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Jide Awe, speaks on a number of issues including the chances of his party in the June 21 governorship election in the state.

governor is operating in a rented apartment.

The governor is running the state from a place meant for Fountain Hotel.

The capital of the state about five years ago was just a glorified village or at best a local government headquarters but today when you get to Ado-Ekiti you will see a different scenario.

The Labour Party in the state is accusing your party of lacking internal democracy, what is your take on that?

Let the EFCC and ICPC come, let them come to Ekiti State and investigate. You see these opposition are so myopic and they don’t have economic sense. There is nothing bad in borrowing money. Once you borrow money, you stick to the agreement and use the money judiciously and expeditiously.

We negotiated N25 billion bond and the first tranche of N20 billion was given to us and that is why they are making noise. But they ought to find out how much of the money we have taken and paid back and what we have done with the money. Those who lent us the money beckoned to us again to come and take the second tranche. If we had not used the first tranche judiciously, how would we have got the second tranche? To God be the glory, we have paid at least N15 billion. We have almost exhausted the payment of the bond which they are crying about at the rate of N400 million every month. We know what we are doing, you can borrow money but not for consumption. We borrowed money for investment which we will pay on the long run.

For instance, the pavilion is an investment.

The place can take over 12,000 people at a time and all the religious activities, political rallies that we hold in open places and obstruct traffic will now take place there.

Akin Omole of the Labour Party is not competent to accuse us of lacking internal democracy. He is parading himself as the chairman of the party when a competent court in Ado-Ekiti has restrained him. The LP had a structure before they went there to upstage those they met there. They staged a coup and we are not in a military era. He should stop parading himself as a party chairman and obey court orders. Let us be specific: when was APC formed? In which election has it participated? On what ground is anybody accusing APC of lacking internal democracy? We have just finished registration of members and the figures are being collated and we are preparing for elections in Ekiti and Osun states and the 2015 general elections in the country. The issue of Osun and Ekiti is clear regarding who will contest there. The incumbent governor in Ekiti will contest, so also in Osun. And what harm have we done to any political party choosing our candidates the way we like that they are raising the issue of internal democracy? What is even internal democracy? It is an arrangement within a party to choose candidates to run for elections. So, if a party decides to make an arrangement to choose candidates for elections in a way that it will not cause ‘katakata’ (trouble) within that party, so be it. I don’t think it is the business of any party to poke nose into the affair of another party. We all know the history of party primaries and shadow elections in this country. Even bigger democracies like the United States where we copied the presidential system of government allowed President George Bush and President Barak Obama to run for second term in office. If APC has decided that in Ekiti and Osun the incumbent governors should run for the 2014 elections, that is our business. Our party belongs to us and it is our business to run it the way we like. So, if anybody is still crying wolf where there is none, he is just chasing shadows.

Critics say the APC-led government in the last three and a half years has embarked on white elephants projects such as pavilion, civic centre, new Governor’s Office, new Government House etc. What is your take on this accusation?

Let those saying that answer this question: were those things there before? The pavilion, Government House, the double lanes in Ado-Ekiti, the Ikogosi Warm Spring

At what cost? The Labour Party is calling on anti-graft agencies to check the financial records of the state.

Awe

that has become very attractive to people, 25,000 people visited the place in December alone and is attracting investors. Now the streets in Ado-Ekiti are aglow anytime of the day, tell me were those things there before? The road networks in every nook and cranny of the state is very good. Right away from Esa-Oke Junction to Ado-Ekiti to Ikole or to Ifaki to Igbara-Odo down to Ondo State boundary, are those projects cosmetics? Those who have eyes know that these things are real and those who can feel it know that judiciously we are making use of the resources of the state.

The opposition are saying your party is jittery about the coming election and is therefore raising needless alarm.

We are neither jittery nor raising the alarm. These are beer parlour discussions or street talks. Why did we raise the alarm that federal might is coming to rig election in the state? Has it done it before? You see winning an election, especially to return for second term depends on what you have done for the people, it is not magical. Let us all walk down the street and see who will be hailed and who will be booed. Our offices in the 16 local governments function 24 hours.

This is their office next to us here; go there and find out if you will see any human being there. They operate in secrecy, we are always open here. We have our structures in all the 177 wards in the state, in the 2195 polling stations.

They also accused your party of intoler-

“Let us all walk down the street and see who will be hailed and who will be booed” ance and harassment, what do you have to say?

You see I recently watched a progamme on television in which Chief Richard Akinjide featured. Opposition will always complain, there is nothing you can do because they have lost power and the game of politics is power. They must complain, they must have their say and the party in power must have their will. These are the basic principles that we cannot deny. It is like two children playing with a toy and one is clever to collect it with whatever means from the other. The one that lost out will cry.

He should also prepare for another day and learn one trick or the other to get power or his toy back.

The opposition at whatever level must complain but what we are saying is that they must be constructive in their criticisms. For somebody to say our government has not done anything is nonsense. To God be the glory, we pay the highest minimum wage to our workers. We pay N19,000 and we do not owe any worker in this state. Of what value is a state created over 16 years ago without a Government House and yet we parade ourselves as the Fountain of Knowledge? The

Are you satisfied with the level of preparations by INEC and other stakeholders for the coming poll?

We recently held a stakeholders meeting with INEC and the electoral body proved beyond reasonable doubt that it is ready for the 2014 election in Ekiti State. And that is why we are appealing to my colleagues, the politicians, to cooperate with INEC and to allow them to put into practice some of the things they planned for us. Our party will continue to educate our people, to mobilise them and to get ourselves prepared for all the INEC timetable.

This starts with the collection of permanent voter’s card, the continuous registration of voters among others.

As for winning the election, I say once again that winning election is not magical.

We have planted our party in the minds of the people of the state. We have executed various projects and programmes that have endeared us to them. We are giving adequate care to the senior citizens in the state through our Social Security Scheme, a project that has gone beyond the state and which others are copying. These things are what people can feel and see. Our five kilometre roads in all the local governments have turned to 10 kilometres. These will bring success at the poll.

52 POLITICS | TALKING POINT

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Obiano: Challenges ahead of inauguration

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fter last Saturday’s visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to Onitsha where he was hosted by the traditional ruler of the commercial city, Igwe Alfred Achebe, the political camp of the governor-elect, Willy Obiano, revved in high spirits. This obvious change of mood, at least for that moment, followed an open declaration of solidarity with him by the revered monarch.

The traditional ruler had specifically requested the president to extend the same measure of support he had given Governor Peter Obi to Obiano, a development said to have further enlivened the camp of the in coming governor, especially viewed against five different petitions threatening his mandate at the on going Anambra Governorship Election Tribunal currently sitting in Awka, the state capital. Sources close to the governor-elect said the relief provided by the appeal for presidential support was quite a soothing balm.

In a fortnight, Chief Willy Obiano, governor-elect of Anambra State will take over power from the out going governor, Mr. Peter Obi. In this piece, UWAKWE ABUGU examines the challenges ahead of his inauguration.

Scary election tribunal

Before last Tuesday, there were ample scary feelings in the camp of Obiano following the existence of no fewer than five petitions seeking the nullification of his election. What appeared potent and scary really was the enthusiasm of petitioners to get the tribunal to scuttle his mandate owing to the allegation of multiple registration brought against Obiano.

However, a big relief came his way last Tuesday when his application urging the panel to strike out paragraphs of the petition filed by PDP governorship candidate, Chief Tony Nwoye, including the prayer to nail Obiano on the ground of multiple registration was struck out as he prayed.

It was celebration in his camp as his application was upheld which means that the petitioners cannot have their way through that threatening prayer. The visible show of happiness on the face of Umeh who would usually sit together with the governor-elect at the tribunal was clear testimony to the big relief in their camp after that pre-trial ruling was delivered by Justice Justice Akintola Akiniyi.

The hawks at work

Beside the legal battles at the tribunal, sources close to Obiano hinted that another source of worry to him is the quantum of energy he is currently exerting to contain torrents of lobbyists from those described as “political hawks seeking to ingratiate into the corridors of power ahead of the March 17 inauguration.”

On March 17, Obiano is billed to take oath of office and the sources around him said the lobbies are coming from many quarters, stating, however, that “he is handling all the pressures with a broad mind which he has always had.”

Though our sources did not give specific details of the said hawkish lobbies, they hinted that the challenge of looking forward to forming his government is making him face realities he did not perceive.

Anambra has produced prominent political and business figures whose clashing interests could be a source of worry for a governor, especially a fledgling one like the governor-elect who has not been too long in the midst of these gladiators. Hence, handling and even warding off floods of requests for appointments into his government is said to be a daily schedule of the new helmsman.

Umeh dispels rumour of rift with Obi

Again, the rumour mills have been at work in the state, speculating the straining of relationship between Obi and Obiano.

But the National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) on whose platform he was elected, Chief Victor Umeh, has punctured that line of speculation, insisting that there is no rift whatsoever between them. Umeh who spoke to newsmen on the said speculations, stated that such rumours were mere fabrications that have no roots.

Reacting to allegations that Obi’s current winding up programme christened, the final push, may have been unsettling the governor-elect since it may turn out that the cash being pushed out to public institutions under the final push could dry up the treasury and make it difficult for a smooth take off of the coming new

it was expected to be so. In all the speculations on the possible names that could make the new cabinet, a female member of the out going governor’s cabinet said to have been visibly the most powerful aide to Obi has continued to feature in political circles.

Governor-elect re-affirms four pillars of his programme

Willie Obiano

dispensation, Umeh said that it has been established that Obi has not borrowed money from any bank, either within or outside the country. That being the case, he explained, the out-going governor is not someone who would want to create that kind of situation for his successor, especially someone whom he known to have clearly supported to emerge candidate of the party and to win the election.

Umeh further went on to rationalise the activities of the governor in the final push programme, pointing out that Obi’s administration is still running and would continue to run till March 17, 2014. Therefore, he maintained, “any money he is spending now is the revenue accruing to his administration.” Moreover, Umeh noted that since government is a continuum, when Obiano formally takes over power on March 17, he would continue to receive the state statutory allocations and revenues from other sources through which to finance his own regime’s programmes.

Beside Umeh’s defence of the final push in which hundreds of millions of Naira have been generously donated to public and private institutions in the state by Obi, feeling the pulse of the people of the state showed that the programme is quite popu-

Any money he is spending now is the revenue accruing to his (Obi’s) administration. lar. A good number of people who have commented on the final push have praised Obi for having that continued zeal to reach out to those institutions even at this period which could be seen as his regime’s departure lounge.

Obiano’s cabinet

Another perceived sorepoint on the road to Obiano’s inauguration is the composition of his proposed cabinet. Again, like the intense lobby for appointments, the issue of who makes the list of the proposed cabinet is another source of perceived friction.

“That matter is not easy to handle but you know that whichever way it would go, you know that a cabinet can be reshuffled at any time after its initial constitution,” said an observer.

And asked what exactly is causing the problem, the source merely hinted that there are contending interests among the frontline leaders but stated, however, that

On the take-off of his administration, Obiano has reaffirmed his resolve to pursue vigorously a four-pillar nugget upon which his governance would revolve. It is not different from the one he had unveiled during his electioneering. He made this reaffirmation in an interview in Awka on the day the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal formally began its sitting.

Responding to a question as to how his government would take off and which policy direction would become its hallmark, Obiano said: “We will operate with four key pillars to transform Anambra and they will include aggressive mechanisation of agriculture in all the food basins of Anambra State - Ayamelum, Anambra East and West, Orumba North and South, Nsugbe and all those other areas in that group.

“If you aggressively mechanise agriculture in the medium to long terms, you basically would have a lot of food and this would attract agro-based industries and this would in turn create a lot of jobs for Anambra people, and of course, a lot of revenue to the government,” he stated.

According to him, the second pillar will be oil and gas while the third one is trade and commerce, while industrialisation as the fourth pillar of the coming government’s agenda working in tandem with the other three pillars, “will take Anambra State to a level you have not seen in recent times.”

Already, expectations are quite high among politicians in the state that Obiano appears set to do a robust governance that could have certain departures from some of the styles of the out going governor who is also seen as having performed well.

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Senator Aloysius Etok represents Akwa-Ibom North-West in the Senate. In this interview with CHUKWU DAVID, he reviewed some critical issues in the country, including the defection controversy in the Senate and plans by some governors to come into the senate after their tenures.

What is your view on the defection of some PDP senators to opposition party?

Certainly, l will like to say that we in the Senate, have a way of looking at things quite differently. Agreed that there have been these attempts to read the defection letter, but it is still the duty of the presiding officer of the Senate to determine whether or not, such letter should be read. I want to say here that the presiding officer, who is the Senate President, has handled the situation well. He has advised Senators involved to engage in wider consultations before the action is taken. He has equally assured them of protection. More importantly, he was restrained by the Madakin report which is currently being looked into by the Senators themselves. The Senate President is also trying not to offend the section of our rules which says that when a matter is before the court, the Senate would not discuss or take any action on such a matter. That is protective enough so that we don’t offend the spirit of the law and the principles of law guiding the Senate. Therefore, l would like to say that while the right to belong to a group is the individual right of every Senator, it is important to exercise such right with adequate consultation of the constituents.

I therefore want to join the Senate President in appealing to the affected Senators to tarry a while and look at the reason for the delay in reading their letter so that everything will be well sorted out later in a win-win situation.

They must belong to where they want to belong to, but the law should be respected by the lawmakers.

Are you not worried that the defection will diminish the strength of your party, PDP, in the Senate?

Well, as a member of the PDP, I am not worried about the defections. I rather will be worried in a situation of apathy. I have said in an interview that there is nothing which is too difficult for the PDP, as a party, to handle because it is a family. The new national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, has so far taken quite some commendable steps to reconcile and re-position the party. He has been addressing the key areas of differences and has even visited every one of the aggrieved governors and assured them that they would soon see a difference in his style of administration. Politics is all about your interest and the interest of your constituency. If somebody wants to trample on those interests, you can go to any length to protect such interests. So, l am sure that the new PDP chairman will be able to take care of all the outstanding issues, so that the party can move forward.

Some lawmakers are demanding automatic tickets to enable them regain their seats in 2015. As a democrat, don’t you think that they are asking for something undemocratic?

It is not only touting the idea, we are also asking for what is right. There is always this issue of first option or what is called in Ameri-

Etok

Governors have hijacked the presidency – Sen Etok can politics that we copied our presidential democracy from as the Right of First Refusal by any incumbent President or Senator or any congressman. It is done in other advanced democracies of the world, just as it has even been done in Nigeria in the past. We can do it again this time. This means that when you are a legislator and you want to come back for another election, which involves a primary, the option of saying yes or no to such offer, should first come from that particular lawmaker. It is only that we are shying away from doing the right thing. That arrangement should even be formally incorporated in our Electoral Act. But l think it should be limited to individual lawmakers who have not been found guilty of non-performance. If the party is satisfied that you did your job very well in a particular tenure, why should another person be allowed by the party to take over from you when you have not been given the option to decline or accept? The right of first refusal should be given to the sitting Senator or any lawmaker. That is why we are not moving as fast as we should in terms of the quality of legislation. It is not good for the nation’s democracy and the quality of laws made for the good governance of the country, when we keep having high rate of turnover of lawmakers in every election. The experienced ones are thrown away while new ones are brought in to start learning the ropes afresh. After every election, we always have less than 25 per cent of experienced lawmakers returning to their positions. It is not fair when you consider the cost of training one legislator. And no matter who you are or how brilliant you are, it will not take you less than one or two years to learn the legislative ropes. Having done that, you have less than two years of your remaining tenure to sharpen your skills in the art of law-making

before you go for a fresh election. Therefore, it is to the great disadvantage of the nation and the constituency, that we are not having matured and experienced legislators after every election; people who have the requisite skill to impact on good governance. So l am definitely in support of automatic tickets, not only for the PDP, but should be practiced by all the political parties, so that we can lay a proper foundation for the workings of the nation’s legislature, which is the engine room of our democracy. In fact, the rate of return of experienced lawmakers should be nothing less than 80 per cent after every election so that we can always have mature lawmakers to sustain the quality of legislation in the country.

If you are given an automatic ticket in 2015 as an incumbent senator, would you see that as an insurance against Governor Godswill Akpabio, who is challenging you?

That is a good but tricky question. But that is because some of you in the media are beginning to see state governors as the alpha and omega. What makes you think Akpabio has the right to challenge me?

What also makes you think you have the right not to be challenged by the governor, because he has accused you of non-perfor-

My problem with him (Akpabio) started when l mobilised support for President Goodluck Jonathan to succeed late President Umaru Yar’Adua

mance and.....?

Look, Governor Akpabio does not own this seat (Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial district seat). It does not belong to him. The seat belongs to the people. They are the ones who will select between the two of us who will represent them from 2015. Power belongs to God. And when you speak to me, you speak so conclusively as if Godswill (Akpabio) will just come and move me from the seat and throw me away.

But the governor is demonstrating that he could do that. Why are you not very vocal in telling him that he cannot do that?

You see, that is the problem. The problem of this nation, is that everybody thinks state governors are demi-gods. They are not! They are still accountable to the people just as l am to the people as their representative Senator. If there is a proper democratic process carried out, Akpabio and I will all be given a levelplaying field, to go to the Senatorial primaries and test our strength before the people. And mind you, there is a great difference between the work in the executive arm of government where, Akpabio is coming from and work in the legislature, where l am also coming from.

So the people of Akwa-Ibom North-West will decide whether they will go for a mature and tested legislator like me, or they want an opulent man who wants to carry himself into the Senate. It is a wrong signal. You people are setting the wrong precedence to the public. I am not talking about any protection with an automatic ticket, l am talking about a general and acceptable practice in every presidential and Westminster democracy that we are all familContinued on Pg 54

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‘My record intimidates Akpabio’ Continued FROM Pg 53

tive work. You are left with the alternative of putting your feet down on the job. But it is not like that in governorship.

iar with. In the American Senate, Senator John MacCain challenged President Barak Obama in the election and after he lost, he went back to his job in the Senate. So, MacCain’s senatorial district knows that he has something to offer in the Senate. Therefore, nobody should make it look like the automatic ticket was mearnt to protect the weak from the strong.

The governor has been accused of planning to scuttle the zoning arrangement in Akwa Ibom. What is your take on this?

Are you not concerned that the governor may use the state apparatus to humiliate you in February 14, 2015?

The people prefer me to Akpabio because l have touched their lives in many ways. I am more popular among our people in the NorthWest than the governor. The people still want me to represent them in 2015. On the basis of all these and more, l will defeat Akpabio in any free and fair election in our constituency. He is not my match even though he has too much money in his pocket. Therefore, it is only the people that can decide between the two of us.

What are those things you have done which people in your constituency have acknowledged but which Akpabio is yet to acknowledge or is trying to discredit?

You’re asking very good questions. If Governor Godswill Akpabio said l have not lived up to the expectation of the people, did you ask him what the expectations of the people are? Was he talking about his own personal expectations or that of the people? To answer your question, l am the only Senator in Akwa-Ibom today, who has broken record of public expectation. As at today, l am the only Senator in Akwa-Ibom state who has given scholarship to about 500 people.

It is on record, and l have not seen any Senator before me in the history of our area, who has a better record. I am talking about my senatorial district. From the first Senator, Umoh to Senator Ikpe who is from the same local government as Akpabio. Senator Ikpe is from the village behind Akpabio’s village. As at today, l have it on record, that l have distributed about 54 vehicles to the people. There is no senator from my area who has ever given one car to anybody. Go and investigate as a journalist because most of those past senators are still alive today.

Are the vehicles for private or commercial and for what purpose did you distribute the vehicles?

What matters that l have given them to the people. I have also given two buses to ethnic and cultural organisations in Akpabio’s town. Apart from the first bus that was given to Etinan by Dr. Ime Umana when the organisation started, no other government official or elected public official has ever given anything to that organisation. I gave them a bus before the governor did.

I gave a bus to Anang Youth Development in Lagos when it had its programme. No senator has ever done what l have done including reaching the people and taking empowerment projects to them. Generally and across the board, l have taken MDG health projects, including roads, primary schools, electricity transformers distributed to the areas. Right now, the transformer l distributed at Abak has been installed to working capacity. I did all that through the budget. But the scholarships were personal. I have, right now, a programme which will run all through my tenure in the senate especially

Etok

If anything is not done by the president, they (governors) will attack him and compel him to do their biddings in the area of education and supplementing law school training in the universities. I have been doing all these since l came into the senate.

Last December, l gave the last batch of 74 law school students’ scholarships. This year, l am equally going to give. Nobody has empowered his people more than me. So, what expectation are people talking about? I have far gone beyond Akpabio’s expectations. The governor is just intimidated by my records, my achievements in the senate. And l dare Akpabio to challenge me or contradict me. So, whenever you see the governor and he tells you again that he is more popular than I am, please ask him in which area. Power belongs to God and He gives to whoever He wants to give it to. Since power belongs to God, we will leave all that to Him to decide who He wants to give the power to.

How many local governments under your senatorial district do you actually have control over?

I am a minority in my constituency. I have only two local governments from my tribe out of a total of 10 in our senatorial district.

The other eight local governments belong to Akpabio’s Annang tribe. But whenever election approaches, wonders always happen. No group of people or local government will say l have disappointed them in my parliamentary representation and in my provision of welfare to the public when the need arises. I have given numerous supports to the people. Let Akpabio says what makes him more popular than I am.

Those who are truly popular will be known after the 2015 general elections.

There is an emerging trend now in Nigerian politics, where state governors who are serving out their eighth-year term, are perfecting plans to come to the senate in 2015.

What are the implications of such development on the legislature and democracy?

Well, the Nigerian people should be, indeed, very worried about this development. Most of these governors are not truly coming to add value or to enhance the quality of legislation in the National Assembly. Most of them are coming with very sinister motives. Already, some of them aim to be senate president. They have already drawn up a programme. They have drawn their list. They are coming to cover cover their past up. Some of them are already anticipating that the evils they committed during their tenure will hunt them, and they are looking for a cover; an umbrella that will shelter them. There are few of them who are truly honest, but the trouble is that when people like that come, they will carry what they were doing in the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) to the senate. Right now, they have taken over power from the party and the presidency, and they have become the managers of the nation.

If anything is not done by the president, they will attack the President and compel him to do their biddings. The same thing they do to the party. They insist that the party must make them a clearing house. So, they are a danger to our democracy. When those governors come to the senate, they will stop at nothing in carrying forward that kind of programme and agenda and they will endanger our democracy. They certainly will scuttle the peace of the Senate and disrupt that mature character of the senate. Some of the governors who are coming will not have legislative attitude. The legislature is a different place. Anybody can be a governor because he will have advisers and people like commissioners and specialists who will tell him what to do. But it is not everybody that can be a legislator because it is a job you must do on your own. The country has not provided enough for experts who will help in the legisla-

In fact, all the allegations against Akpabio are true. For instance, in my senatorial district, we had an agreement at the beginning. We agreed that out of the 10 local governments that are shared in the four federal constituencies, only two federal constituencies had been consistently sending people to the senate, leaving out the other two. That means Abak Federal Constituency and Ikot Ini Constituency. I came on the platform of Ikot Ini Federal Constituency. And the understanding was that when l leave senate, the next federal constituency to send somebody will be Abak federal constituency. But here we are. Akpabio, after finishing his eight-year tenure as the governor, wants to impose himself on the people against that understanding we had.

And in a bid to actualise his vaulting and vicious agenda, he has compelled the state chairman of the PDP to zone the senatorial slot to his own local government, Essieng Udom, so that he could take advantage of it. He has even made the state PDP to publish that in the newspapers.

Is that fair and justifiable? I keep on saying that any leader, who is not honest with the people and does not live with the fear of God, cannot engender love and progress among the people.

If the people say that l should not return to the senate, going by the existing understanding among our people, it will be the turn of Abak people. I will support anybody the Abak people bring out. But it is not going to work if Akpabio comes out and imposes himself on the people.

It is not going to work. Does that make him a popular politician?

How many bills have you introduced in the senate, including those that are at their various stages of consideration and passage?

My bills are so many. Of course, you are already aware of the pension probe which one journalist said is the longest probe since the history of the senate. My selflessness in rendering that service, even at risk to my life, has brought me so much pain. The number of bills l have proposed are so many that l can’t begin to enumerate them here.

But l have introduced bills like the anticybercrime bill, the money laundering bill and the bill on the professionalisation of Micro-Biology and many others.

What is the root of your quarrels with Akpabio?

My problem with him started when l mobilised support former Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to succeed late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Contrary to his latest antics, Akpabio, then, actually never wanted Goodluck to become president then to be sworn in as the president. So, when l voted in favour of Jonathan during debate in the senate, Akpabio scolded me that l didn’t consult him before voting for Jonathan. That was how his hostility towards me started.

You can seem how the man has metamorphosed into President Jonathan’s supporter.

Apart from that, l can’t think of any wrong l did to him.

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John Obi

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JayKay is still Ok!

ery few will forget the sheer ingenuity of his gubernatorial electoral campaign in 2007. The sophistication of his machinery ( the unveiling of the first Web 2.0 social networking political site in Africa) was unrivalled and remains unbeaten many years after. The ‘JayKay OK!’ slogan caught Lagosians like a bug. And it wasn’t mere rhetoric. Unlike his contemporaries, he reeled out perhaps the most ambitions plan to take Lagos to greater heights. In no time, Lagosians, especially the youth, aligned with his vision. But Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje was eventually nudged out of the race by ‘powers that be.’

Four years later, when an emperor almost irreconcilably disagreed with his godson, he pressured Agbaje, using every tactic in the books, to declare for his party and become the candidate to replace the incumbent. But the patient and unwavering pharmacist bluntly refused, urging the emperor to support the governor and not distort the little progress Lagos was making. Agbaje herein displayed an uncommon attribute and virtue scarce within our political class as he refused to defile himself with the emperor’s portion of meat.

Today, Agbaje’s larger-than-life shadow still hangs over the metropolis and its environs. And as the race to replace Governor Fashola gathers steam, Lagosians need a leader with the right qualities to surpass the senior advocate’s achievements. Max Landsberg in the book “The Tools of Leadership” gives these traits as vision, inspira-

tion and momentum. Plato adds the virtues of temperance, courage and wisdom as the qualities that make a good leader. I dare say that Agbaje has proven that he posses these qualities. Without missing words, his character, commitment, competence, courage, and passion stand him out from the crowd.

Agbaje was born on the second of March 1955 a Lagosian and in Lagos. He attended St. Gregory’s College Lagos and later the University of Ife, where he graduated in 1978 as a Pharmacist. He was later to set up his own pharmaceutical company, Jaykay Pharmacy, which for over three decades, has been successfully run as a manufacturer and distributor of high quality pharmaceutical products.

Over the years, he has occupied various positions and sat on the board of many blue chips, including Epic Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Vigeo Holdings Ltd, Protea Hotel Oakwood Park, Premier Music, Atlantic Hall School Epe, Mentor Faith Foundations and Jimi Agbaje Outreach, a project dedicated to helping the less fortunate step on the first rung of the ladder of development. He has also been National Chairman, Nigerian Association of General Practice Pharmacists (1990-1993); Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (Lagos State) 1994-1997; Chairman, 1994 National Conference Planning Committee of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria; National Secretary Nigerian Association of General Agbaje

I

Before I’m suspended

saw this coming. And wanted to warn the skinny mallam. In his characteristic brashness, he ignored me and continued as if the world was his oyster. Nigeria is filled with paper tigers! The way this particular mallam swaggered, you would think he was the commander in chief himself. He bestrode our economy and bellowed on the whole country in his cheap bow ties, like nobody or nothing could touch him. But one tiny press statement brought down all the gra gra. It was over and not even all the grand-standing political opposition could put together this skinny humpty dumpty together again.

Mallam Sanusi was, indeed, a handful. He came into office in anger, grinding imaginary axes with everybody. He sacked his former colleagues who had stolen, he took on the Senate and he did not spare the executive arm. He carried along a swagger that was much more than his tiny gait. I once met him at a function and found myself walking towards him. I shook him and asked for his number, he promptly gave me a fake number. I called the number for one year before I finally accepted that I had been scammed from a most unlikely source.

As a fellow Bow-tie- wearing buff, I am on his side o. Nobody can suspend a bowtie- wearing man. The bow-tie confers on the wearer a certain aura of invincibility that makes you bolder than you ought to be. Or how else would you stand down the Commander- in- Chief by refusing, bluntly, to resign. Kai, even me, I tried it in my church, I accused the pastor of touching the church offering, I told him that when I counted the collections, I saw 4,000 naira

Practice (1987-1990); just to mention a few.

He is also a staunch member Save Nigeria Group and Afenifere, the pan Yoruba think tank.

As he turns 59, I urge him, on behalf of millions of Lagosians, to declare his intention to rescue Lagos from the rapacious, thieving and vacillating class of politicians that have kept us in perpetual bondage. Freedom is never voluntarily given by oppressors. It must be demanded by the oppressed. All it takes for evil men to thrive is for good people to sit back and do nothing.

Beletela, Marshall, Gabriella, Ebunoluwa and I join other well meaning Nigerians in wishing Agbaje a happy birthday and a successful outing this time.

•

Obi is a public affairs analyst.

EDGAR’s WORLD JOSEPH EDGAR

but 2,000 was recorded. Unluckily for me, the church steward confirmed that it was actually N2,000 that was recorded, I had mistakenly looked at the crowded hall and had simply estimated that if everybody deposited the usual N20, we could have about N4,000. I was proven wrong ‘cos there were a lot of ASUU members there who had not received their salaries as at that time and, as such, could not make their offerings. I simply refused to apologize and also refused to resign my appointment as the church treasurer, so I was suspended.

It is the curse of the bowtie. Na so we dey stubborn.

One would have expected Sanusi to be given an award and Erastus Akingbola or Cecilia Ibru made to present it

So what is next for Mallam Sanusi? I think he should take-up a lecturer position at the University of Sudan where he graduated or he should try Nollywood. His charisma, good looks and strong dress sense would win him so many roles. He could play beside mama Gee or be the love interest of the delectable and sexy Genevieve. He could also revive The Village Headmaster and play the lead character Bassey Okon where his Bowties would be most useful.

Me I love the man, I love the attention he has conferred on the Bow-tie during his tenure at the CBN, although his Bowties were of the inelegant varieties. Bowtie na Bowtie, my brother. He also brought a lot of drama to the position. and made us forget some colourless predecessors whose only claim to fame were their signatures on our currency. His was an endless festival of drama . By the way, now that he is on suspension, what happens to my Naira, the ones that has his signature. Would I still

be able to spend them or are they also on suspension?

I await his book. He should document his exciting tenure for us to read and understand his thinking, his politics and hismelodramatic views. He owes us that. If he cannot write, he can ask his greatest friend and one of the best writers of political fiction Nigeria has produced, Mallam el Rufai, to ghost write for him.

Should there be a film on him, I recommend myself to play him. We have so much in common. We are both skinny, we both hate NNPC - for different reasons, him for their lack of understanding simple arithmetic, me for making me fail their job application test, we both love el Rufai, we both refused to resign when we were asked to, we both have been suspended for standing by our position and finally because of our love for the bow tie - him the cheap ones and me the expensive fluffy ones.

One chapter has been closed and as Simon Kolawole asked in his column, what would Sanusi be remembered for? The answer is simple, he would be remembered for two things: his difficulty with large figures especially ones denominated in dollars and his love for bowties. Funny, I did not see his name on the Centenary Awards list just released. Instead, I saw Abacha for contributing something. Na wa for this country. One would have expected Sanusi to be given an award and Erastus Akingbola or Cecilia Ibru made to present it. That would have been the crowning glory of his career.

Well sha, let us watch out for part two, assuming that the inheritors of NEPA never take light.

On Marble Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere.

Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004) U.S. president and actor

T

he magic of sai Buhari is the very antithesis of the poetic inevitability of President Goodluck Jonathan’s ambition. In my previous effort on this page last week, I admonished Jonathan that “This is not the time to sing Rock of Ages with a cleft in which you will hide yourself. This is precisely the moment to sing Stand up! Stand up! Let courage rise with danger and strength to strength oppose.” In this turn, I say to General Buhari: Be reminded that the keys that lock doors are the very same keys that open them.

I can express passionate views about this soldier partly because I know nothing about him on a personal level and partly because he has for decades inspired my deepest curiosity. I have studied his public profile with a great deal of concentration. My first and only ever encounter with him was brought about by chance.

This occurred at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, in December, 2010. The General sauntered into the VIP lounge – aristocratic in bearing, charming in comportment, cosmopolitan in his quasi-gregariousness. Everyone in the room rose to their feet. “Who is that man?” whispered a foreigner who inhaled the opiate charm exuded by the General.

Buhari brought such awe, serenity and dignified self-effacement into the room.

It was quite a cocktail of personal aura and magic. Sai Buhari!

He is the most towering politician in the Muslim North, adored and revered like a saint by his fellow adherents. He has his scant or practically non-existent following in the South but this is a man who can sit in his house and win 12 states in the core of northern Nigeria in a presidential election without lifting an eyebrow. At political rallies, his admirers sway in ecstasy and rapture, dizzy with the magical, electrifying aura of their idol.

They scream “sai Buhari” over and over ad infinitum et ultra. Their love translates to their certitude of their hero’s impeccable character, moral rectitude and inflexible honesty of purpose.

I was a teenager when Buhari romped into office as a military head of state; and still so when he was overthrown.

My practical experience of his reign is negligible but the chill of the war against indiscipline, his flagship public policy, was felt even by adolescents. But as a keen student of history, the era of Buhari’s totalitarian supremacy is one I sip like a vintage wine. This is not by any means an approbative commentary on dictatorship.

The General Muhammadu Buhari years brought about the consciousness of discipline in all facets of public life.

Those who were found guilty of corruption were quickly flushed out of the system. The exportation of 100,000 barrels of refined petroleum products per day was achieved and domestic demand was met

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SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2014

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2015: Buhari and the magic of Sai Buhari

BROADSIDE EMMANUEL ONWE dronwe@rocketmail.com

without breaking a sweat. The foundations for a functional society were everywhere laid. The war against indiscipline was waged and prosecuted with martial single mindedness. Yes, as a lawyer, the repugnance at the retroactivity of laws rankles with particular acidity and I abhor and condemn it unreservedly. But his one and a half years in power were, comparatively, a golden period for Nigeria.

General Buhari wept during the finale of his presidential campaign under Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, on 13th April, 2011. This reflexive, uncalculated exposition of his vulnerable humanity sealed his explosive emotional bond with his millions of northern Muslim followers. It is understandable that his political foes ridiculed the moment, because in adversarial partisan politics even the innocent smile of a baby is open to slander. But anyone who cared to pay attention to the specifics of the speech that brought the General to tears, would readily appreciate the pain that pierced his patriotic tear duct: “After being head of state, I am sure I could easily have retired into a life of comfort and ease as an elder statesman, as a contractor or as a beneficiary of anyone of the

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nation’s many generous prebendal offerings.

“But that is not what I wish to do with my life. And so, if I don’t take any of these alternative courses of action, it should be clear that I am not in this for the love of office or for pursuit after personal glory or in order to achieve some personal goal. Far be it from me that this should be.

“I need nothing and I have nothing more to prove. I am in this solely for the love of my country and concern for its destiny and the fate of its people. And that is why, despite the many disappointments along the way, I am still in the struggle and will remain in it to the end. I have decided to dedicate the remainder of my life to fighting for the people of this country- until their right is restored to them.”

They say he is clannish, feudal, fanatical and unforgiving. His notorious bloody dogs and baboons comments were condemned by his detractors as an incitement to violence (his admirers praised it as an incitement to vigilance). These are mere descriptions and ascriptions – the bad name given to a dog in order to hang it. If he is as thoroughly despicable as alleged, why do so many enlightened Nigerians swoon with nostalgia for the Buhari years? The

(The Youngest King) King Mswati III of Swaziland was crowned on 25 April 1986 aged 18 years 6 days. He was the 67th son of King Subhusa II and born on 19 April 1968.

years of order, decency in public space and public service?

Admittedly, there is a yawning chasm between the adoration he receives in the North and the suspicion and hostility that attend him in the South. And this was brought into practical politics in the last presidential election.

Buhari accumulated some 12.2 million votes in the election but in none of 16 southern states did he score up to 4 percent (four percent!) of the votes. The singular exception was Oyo State where he scored 11 percent. This means that even if the North had given him 100 million votes, he would still not have had the mandate of the Nigerian people, either constitutionally or morally. Conversely, in the 12 Northern states which Jonathan lost to Buhari, the President still managed to score more than 30percent in many of them except in Kano, Borno and Bauchi where he could not break above 18percent.

But in the current political climate, there have emerged new alliances that have thrown up heavy weights with potential knockout punches fighting on the side of Buhari. Therefore, as far as the 2015 presidential election is concerned, President Goodluck Jonathan is one issue. General Muhammadu Buhari is the other. The presidential contest is about these two men. Neither is pledged to any known political ideology but their respective worldviews are polar opposite – and this is as far as ideological politics goes in Nigeria. Therefore, the choice presented to Nigerians by these two men is a sharply contrasted one.

If he wins five states in the Southwest and adds Adamawa, Nasarawa and Kwara to his traditional coalition and with just 25 percent of the votes in Kogi, Plateau, Edo, Taraba and Benue, Buhari will be sworn in as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29, 2015. Take this to the bank – and if you are a Jonathan supporter, you pray that it bounces. Sai Buhari!

BY CHUKWUEMEKA EMENIKE

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