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Waje: Me, my daughter and what I can’t stand in men } 19

buhari

MY STORY

lLife at provincial secondary school l53 suitcases l$2.8bn oil money lShagari and IBB coups

A

Eric Osagie t his Kaduna office, a modest twin-bungalow, the gangling frame sauntered in from one of the inner rooms, spotting a complete white kaftan, the slit in his upper dentition unmistakable. The appointment was for 12 noon, and he was there not a minute later

21 days to go...

Nigeria votes

2015

ria Nige

s vote

2015

than the time.

A warm, almost shy smile, creasing his face, he stretched his hand for a handshake, even as he beckoned on the reporter and photographer to a seat. He himself settled for a seat at the head of the conference table. “I am ready. You can fire your salvos,” he said. This is Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Army General and Nigeria’s former

In South-East, Widowhood is a long , nasty road }24

military head of state.

It was not the first time I would be interviewing him. I first had an exclusive chat with him in 2004, after the 2003 presidential election; then in 2010, shortly before the 2011 polls.

But, this interview was going to be slightly different from the two previous ones: A probing, no-holds-barred encounter on his life, school days, military

abimbola azeh i started making shoes when i couldn’t get my size }13

career; then, on controversial issues like the famous or infamous 53 suitcases, the alleged missing N2.8bn oil money when he was Obasanjo’s petroleum minister, the IBB coup that swept him out of power, among other issues.

A trained marksman, and well, politician, Buhari, deflected all the questions and engaged the reporter in a repartee, you would find interesting. When the inter-

xchange our parents can’t tell us apart }21

view was conducted, Buhari had just clocked 70, and it was meant to be the reflections or memoirs of a man who had newly joined the septuagenarian club. But the issues we talked about are as relevant today more than ever before, as February 14 presidential election draws closer with all its heat and tension. This is perhaps, Buhari’s frankest interview...

SEE INTERVIEW ON PAGES 45-51

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SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Contents | 24.01.15 INSTYLE

The Mini Bag

SATURDAY

Comment

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The imperative for voter education

n February 14, barring any last minute change by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ni}16 gerians will choose a president.

But everything about the FebruLady with the Flute ary staggered elections to elect a Ebele Ezeamaka quit a job in new crop of leaders such as presithe oil industry to pursue her dent, governors and lawmakers, passion for music. Her decision points in one direction – violence. to play the flute professionally There is trepidation among the was just as confounding generality of Nigerians. Those who }22 have the wherewithal have reportedly started to book their flights to Widowhood Pains leave the country with their family INVESTIGATIONS Losing one’s husband often members before the polls. But the leaves a deep scar. But lesser mortals have left their hope sometimes it’s not as dreadful of safety in the able hands of the as the rites to which the widows Almighty. are subjected in some SouthAs the elections, which begin East communities in another couple of days, draw nigh, there is a general sense of }24 déjà vu among the people. And it is justifiable.

Post-Soccer Blues SPORT In the post-2011 general election Many ex-internationals are not violence, many innocent Nigerians only living in abject poverty were sent to their early graves while but are as well hobbled by scores of others were permanently various debilitating ailments maimed. In that gruesome display }26 of violence, at least 10 members of the National Youth Service Corps Enchanting Ethiopia (NYSC) used by INEC as ad-hoc The ancient rock-hewn churches staff for the polls were murdered in Lalibela, Ethiopia, have long in cold blood. held the imagination of tourists Several other Nigerians lost housacross the world. A Saturday es, vehicles, means of livelihood, Telegraph correspondent etc, worth billions of naira. experienced its charm recently Many people now fear a repeat }42 of that orgy of violence.

Last October, Peruvians held their municipal and regional elecTackling Leukemia tions. Two mayoral candidates, WilDr. Abimbola Adewolu, Senior ber Medina and Jose Cornejo, tied Registrar in the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital’s at the ballot box in Pillpinto. Each hematology department, says won 236 votes, representing 29.24 use of preservatives in food is per cent of the total vote cast. There reason for rise in leukemia was no run-off. The eventual win}44 ner was determined through a coin toss. The coin toss rule is part of the Plus: Street Diary 10 | Love&Living 35 | TV&Radio 18

SHOWBIZ

Carrying small bags with chain strap are incredibly chic even though they can take only a limited range of items

TRAVELOGUE

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Peruvian electoral law.

Pillpinto, the south-eastern Peruvian town, has less than 4,000 people.

Medina, then a 40-year-old teacher, said he would work to earn the voters’ trust, his opponent, Cornejo, graciously accepted the verdict.

Everybody accepted the outcome and the country is moving on.

But in Nigeria, the situation is usually different.

However, an essential ingredient of the electoral process – Voter Education – is missing in the countdown to the all-important polls.

A successful voter education will equip the electorate with the requisite knowledge on what to do or not during the elections. It is to build the capacity of eligible voters to enable them to make informed decisions on Election-Day. It will ensure that voters are ready, willing and able to participate fully in the electoral process.

This will also make the electorate to be well-informed, exercise their voting rights effectively and express their political will at the poll.

Now, than ever, is time for the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to sensitise the populace to their expected roles in the electoral process.

The agency should make Nigerians realise that Nigeria is bigger than any individual. Some leaders in the past made sacrifices, including paying the ultimate price, for the unity of the country.

It is good that the political parties have signed a peace pact to ensure a non-violent poll. But political actors and leaders alike must also educate loyalists, followers, supporters and party faithful on the need for violence-free elections.

Politicians too must focus on issue-based electioneering and stop the use of abusive or provocative language against their opponents.

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No going back on Feb 14 poll, Jega insists Onyekachi Eze, Tunde Oyesina, Philip Nyam, Johnchuks Onuanyim, Temitope Ogunbanke and Wale Elegbede

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hairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, yesterday said the February 14 date for the presidential election remains sacrosanct.

Jega’s clarification is also coming on a day the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, alerted Nigerians and international community of plans by the Federal Government to scuttle next month's general elections.

Buhari, who premised the alert on the call by the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) for the postponement of the election, likened it to what happened in 1992 during the aborted June 12 presidential election, warned that another Association for Better Nigerian (ABN) was to be birthed.

But speaking at a workshop on “Mitigation of Violence in Election” in Abuja, Jega said irrespective of the challenges so far confronting the commission, INEC had not reviewed the timetable

l Buhari alerts int’l community l Bode George backs NSA l Ohanaeze rejects postponement l Group warns against further attack on Jonathan for the general elections.

Dasuki had at a briefing in Chatham House, London on Thursday, called for the postponement of the elections, which according to him, is to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to distribute millions of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) to the voters.

“I don’t want to comment on this. Like everybody we read it in the papers. I, myself many things have been attributed to me which I know I didn’t say. So until I can confirm and get clarification it will be premature for me at this public event to start saying anything.

“In any case, whatever I communicate is the commission’s position and the commission has not discussed this matter and taken a position on it. So, I want to be more patient on this. I cannot comment on this for now,” Jega said in response to the call by Dasuki for review of the election timetable.

He noted that the commission had released the election timetable for February 14 about a year ago and

had been vigorously working to meet with the date.

He assured Nigerians that the commission was committed to distributing all the PVCs in its possession, stressing that INEC couldn't be blamed for people who refused to come out and collect their PVCs which has been produced and sent to various collection points across the country.

According to him, the commission has continued to produce PVCs to meet the 68 million registered voters already captured and certified by them to be genuine and disclosed that about four million cards were received on Thursday.

He identified Edo, Rivers, Bauchi, Plateau and Imo States as well as Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as areas prone to violence because of postprimary elections and frustrations associated with the PVCs distribution.

Jega reiterated the position of INEC that the elections would be conducted with only the PVCs, for the integrity of the election and described the call for

the use of the temporary voter's card as a drawback.

In the same vein, Buhari, while speaking through his Support Organisations, at a world press briefing in Abuja, called on Nigerians from all walks of life to stand up against the call for the postponement of next month's elections.

Director of Media and Information Management of the Buhari Support Organisation, Dr. Chidoka Maduekwe, said: “We call on civil societies, trade unions, organised labour and associations of professionals to rise up to this occasion and assist the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deliver on its promise to conduct the February elections.

“We wish to draw the early attention of ECOWAS, AU and UN to this plan to truncate democracy in Nigeria by a sitting incumbent government afraid of losing election the first time in Nigeria's political history even though it happens frequently in other civilised democracy.”

Similarly, the Nigeria

L-R: Minister of Agriculture for State, Mrs. Asabe Asmau Ahmed; President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, at the opening of AGRIFEST, in Abuja…yesterday

PHOTO: TIMOTHY IKUOMENISAN

UN ‘not needed’ to fight Boko Haram –Dasuki Ndubuisi Ugah

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he National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (Rtd), has said Nigeria does not need the help of United Nations (UN) or African Union (AU) troops to take on Boko Haram.

Fielding questions from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) current affairs programme 'Newsday' yesterday, Dasuki said Nigeria, and her neighbours-Niger, Chad and Cameroun were

in a “good shape to address the issue” of the Islamist insurgency.

He acknowledged the militants were a “real security threat” and said close to 50 per cent of the nation’s army was now deployed in the North-East.

Boko Haram took up arms in 2009, where it claimed it was fighting to create an Islamic state.

Since the government declared a state of emergency 20 months ago in three north-eastern states

to deal with the insurgency, the group has strengthened its force and now controls several towns, where it has declared a caliphate.

Dasuki said the fact that so many of the country's security resources had been deployed to deal with the militants showed how seriously the situation was being taken.

On reports that many soldiers have complained about not being given enough weapons and working equipment to tackle Boko

Haram, Dasuki dismissed such criticisms, saying there were “cowards” within the armed forces who hampered the campaign against the insurgents.

When asked if Nigeria needed outside help, he said “No”, before saying it was an option to involve UN and AU forces, but regional partners were best placed to deal with the problem, Nigerian soldiers currently make up the bulk of UN peacekeepers deployed to Africa, the security chief has said.

Civil Society Situation Room, a coalition of about 60 groups, has expressed concern over the call for the postponement of the general elections by Dasuki.

Reacting to the call by Dasuki, the group described the call as an unnecessary interference in the independence of INEC as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution, stating that dates for the elections could only be set by INEC. Equally, the caretaker committee of the apex Igbo socio-cultural group in Nigeria, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, also rejected the call by Dasuki for the postponement of the elections, warning that under no circumstance must the election date be changed.

Speaking to Saturday Telegraph yesterday, Chairman of the group, Chief Ralph Obioha, said considering the present state of the nation, shifting the dates, which were already scheduled for February 14 and 28 would be interpreted by the majority of Nigerians.

He said: “The purported statement made by the National Security Adviser in London, suggesting a shift in the date of the elections would make Nigeria look like we are not a serious nation. The last election was held four years ago and we had four years ahead to plan for another general election.

The Deputy National Chairman (South) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, backed the call for the postponement of the general elections, saying the glaringly logistic inadequacy on the part of INEC was a genuine reason for the postponement.

5

Addressing a press conference yesterday alongside a former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, the PDP chieftain said the non-issuance of PVCs to millions of Nigerians would disenfranchised many eligible voters from performing their civic rights.

George said: “The NSA sees things deeper than many of us. So many people have not got their PVCs in Lagos and they will be disenfranchised. I have not collected mine. There are logistic problems but calling for a postponement of the election does not mean it will be conducted after May 29. The NSA must ensure there is peace in the land. If we have a breather, all well and good, this will give INEC time to distribute the PVCS. I have no objection if it is done as the NSA has said.

Speaking further, he said: “I am yet to collect my PVC. INEC has said the distribution of PVCs should be decentralised to the ward level. I don't think they will postpone the elections till after May 29, what his (NSA) fears are, are genuine because the collection of these PVCs is important.”

Meanwhile, a group, Movement for the Liberation of the Niger Delta (MELINDA) yesterday warned that further attack on President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign team will be returned with “fire-for-fire.”

Spokesperson for the group, Mr. Joshua Gowa, said: “In the past months, we have watched with great interest, the plot by political stakeholders to wrest political power by any means possible from Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

We have seen an alliance of very strange bedfellows including sons of the Niger Delta and people who have been strong beneficiaries of the agitation of the Niger Delta."

Katsina College explains Buhari’s result, recent photo

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he authorities of Government College, Katsina State have explained why the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s recent photograph was attached to his released certificate.

The Examination Officer of the college, Kabir Ahmed, said the school authorities decided to release the result after the owner had demanded it.

Asked if Buhari personally applied for it, Kabir said: “Must he apply for it in person? We received a message that one of our ex-students was demanding his result and we had to release it. However, we are

still expecting him to come in person for verification.”

On the use of Buhari’s recent passport photograph on the result, Kabir said: “This happened over 54 years ago.

My work is to release the result as demanded, which I did. We have to attach his recent passport because we could not locate the one he used during registration.

The issue now is, they demanded the result and I’ve done my job.”

When prodded further to explain why the result bears ‘Katsina’ State, which was not created as at the time Buhari sat for the examination, Kabir said: “Mr. Journalist, I am going for prayer now, please call me back.”

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News

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

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FCT DHQ blogsite restored

N EWS I N BRIEF

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Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, yesterday said it has restored its hacked website.

The Defence Headquarters’ information blogsite, defenceinfo.mil.ng, was hacked into at the early hours of January 23. The site was defaced at the front end.

Olukolade, however, said the hackers could not infiltrate the database of the site.

He said; “Preliminary investigation shows that the attack was from the end of the site’s host. One ImaSadiq who posed as the hacker has been knocked off and normal activities on the channel has resumed.

Apparently, the blogsite was targeted because of its role as a major channel for disseminating information on military and security activities in the nation’s counterterrorism campaign.”

66 The sex ratio of men to 100 women in Georgia in 2012.

Source: Un.org

PORT HARCOURT Okocha not arrested-Police

The Rivers State Police Command has dispelled rumour making the rounds to the effect that the Chief of Staff, Rivers State Government House, Chief Tony Okocha, has been placed under house arrest by the police.

A statement issued by Mr. Ahmad Kidaya Muhammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), in Port Harcourt yesterday, said the report was not true and could be described as the handiwork of mischief makers, who wanted to truncate the existing peace in the state.

“It is a fact that based on intelligence at the Command's disposal, there was massive deployment of policemen at conspicuous locations in Port Harcourt to forestall breakdown of law and order. Members of the public are by this released called to ignore and disregard the rumour, please,” he said.

-66.65% The growth rate of air travel passengers of Makurdi airport (2012-2013).

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

ENUGU PDP denies hoarding PVCs

The Peoples Democratic Party in Enugu State on Friday dismissed claims by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Okey Ezea, that it was conniving with the Independent National Electoral Commission to hoard permanent voter cards.

A statement signed by the director of PDP campaign organisation in the state, Chukwudi Achife, said the claim was not only unfounded, but also a mischievous ploy by Ezea to provide excuses in advance for his “impending third-time defeat” in governorship elections.

Achife noted that contrary to Ezea’s claims, the PDP in Enugu State, and nationwide, had been at the forefront of the campaign to compel INEC to ensure that all voters were issued with their PVCs.

8,900

The number of adults and children estimated to be living with HIV in Moldova in 2008.

Source: Blatantworld.com

FG okays N26bn for dry season farming Anule Emmanuel

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday announced the release of N26 billion for this year’s dry season farming.

Jonathan, who spoke at the 2015 Agrifest held at the Eagle Square, Abuja, pledged the support of his administration to farmers.

The President used the event to highlight his administration’s successes in Agriculture.

Nigeria, he said, would not be held hostage by rice importers, adding that the country is working to attain self – sufficiency in rice production.

Jonathan said: “To further boost your efforts to produce more food for our nation, I am pleased to announce here today the release of N26 billion naira towards the 2015 Dry Season Farming Programme.

“Nigeria our dear country will not be held hostage

by rice importers. There will be no sacred cows under my watch. All those owing Nigeria on rice import duties must pay.”

The President said the private sector have put over N45 billion private investment in new oil palm plantations.

The investment, he said will allow farmers to cultivate 70,000 hectares of new plantations to allow Nigeria to become self-sufficient in palm oil production by 2016.

He said: “I am excited that today, Okomu, Presco, PZ – Wilmar and medium size oil palm estate operators such as Wilbahi are taking the lead in revamping our vast oil palm plantations."

Earlier, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said that government was supporting 27 Nagropreneur with N122 million take off grant to do their business.

Group petitions Jega over poor distribution of PVCs Uwakwe Abugu Enugu

A Vice-President Namadi Sambo inaugurating the inter-city airconditioned passenger train service in Makurdi, Benue State…yesterday

photo: CEPHAS IORHEMEN

Jonathan, Obama, UN, others mourn Abdulaziz CONDOLENCE

World leaders express sadness over the death of Saudi Arabia monarch.

Ndubuisi Ugah and Anule Emmanuel

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan alongside his United States counterpart, President Barak Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, United Arab Emirates (UAE) President, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, among others, yesterday commiserated with King Salman Ibn Abdulaziz and the people of Saudi Arabia on the death of his predecessor, King Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz.

Others who condoled with the family were Iranian President Hassan Rouhani; Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Afghan President Ashraf Ghani; Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin Abdullah died early

l Oil prices jump as uncertainty hits market yesterday and his brother, Salman became king, the royal court in the world’s top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam said in a statement carried by state television.

The President, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said King Abdullah would be long remembered for entrenching the process of progressive reform in his country.

The condolence letter read: “I have received with great sadness, news of the death of His Highness, King Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz at the grand age of 90.

“On behalf of the government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I wish to express my heartfelt condolences at the sad loss of this illustrious monarch and revered leader.”

In his condolence message, Obama said: “As a leader, he was always candid and had the courage of his convictions...One of those convictions was his steadfast

and passionate belief in the importance of the U.S.-Saudi relationship as a force for stability and security in the Middle East and beyond.”

Markel said: “King Abdullah's policies brought him and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia respect and recognition. With wisdom, foresight and great personal dedication, he strove for a cautious modernisation of his country and for dialogue between the Islamic world and the West.”

On his part, UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, said: “As the driving force behind the Arab Peace Initiative, King Abdullah left a tangible legacy that can still point the way toward peace in the Middle East.”

For Rouhani, he said: “I wish a peaceful rest for the late King, patience for his family and I wish success for the people and the government of Saudi Arabia.”

Meanwhile, oil prices jumped in Asian trading yesterday as news of the death of King Abdullah

added to uncertainty in energy markets already facing some of the biggest shifts in decades.

U.S. benchmark WTI crude futures rose more than two per cent to a high of $47.76 a barrel, but had eased back to $47.09 by 0135 GMT. International Brent crude futures rose to a high of $49.80 a barrel shortly after opening before easing back to $49.35 a barrel by 0152 GMT, up 1.71 per cent.

John Kilduff, partner, Again Capital LLC in New York, said: “The fear of the unknown is going to be supportive to crude oil prices. King Abdullah was the architect of the current strategy to keep production high and force out smaller players instead of cutting.”

To combat soaring output and falling prices, many oil exporters, such as Venezuela, wanted the 13-member Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output in order to support prices and revenues.

support group for the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has petitioned the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.

Atahiru Jega, over what it called shortage of permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) in some parts of the state.

The petition by the Lagos-based group came on the heels of the public outcry which had greeted the poor distribution of PVCs in some parts of the state.

In the petition signed by the group’s Chairman, Chief G.O. Onuorah and Secretary, Mr. Raphael Ugwu, the

group raised three posers before Jega, urging him to respond promptly to them in view of the enormity of the development.

The petition stated: “We are, therefore, writing sir, to seek clarification on a number of issues, namely, for those who have not collected their PVCs in the aforementioned places and many more, when will they collect them?

“If they will not collect their PVCs, will they be allowed to vote with their temporary voters cards? In line with President Jonathan's directive, will INEC give those who were not registered during the earlier exercise another opportunity to be registered so as to be eligible to vote in the upcoming elections?”

Akinjide: Vote Jonathan, Folarin to secure Ibadan State creation Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

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inister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Jumoke Akinjide, has enjoined the people of Oyo State to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan and Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the state to ensure the creation of Ibadan State.

The minister said this in Ibadan, during the PDP campaign rally for President Jonathan and Folarin at Sawia area of Olorunsogo in the Ona Ara Local Government Area of

Ibadan.

Akinjide, who discountenanced the rumour milling around the state that she and Folarin were at logger heads, said at the occasion: “Senator Folarin and I are brother and sister.

We are not fighting. We are together.”

She appealed to the people of Ona Ara local government where she hails from that “You should please all go out and convince others to go and collect their voters’ cards. Tell them to vote for President Jonathan and Teslim Folarin. It is by doing so that we can get Ibadan State. Vote PDP, vote Ibadan State,” she said.

24 JANUARY 2015

Agbaje, Ambode: How we’ll govern Lagos Dele Alao

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wo leading governorship candidates in Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Jimi Agbaje of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have expressed their views on how they would govern the state if any of them is elected into office.

The duo stated this in Lagos yesterday at the Private Sector Interactive Forum, organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

The forum, which held at the LCCI Conference Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, had in attendance various players in the private sector as well as political associates.

In his opening address, the president, LCCI, Alhaji Remi Bello, noted that the private sector had become a major stakeholders in the state as the economic nerve

centre of the country.

He, therefore, said it has become important to hear from the governorship candidates on what they had to offer the private sector in the state.

Both Ambode and Agbaje took time out to inform the gathering how they want to improve the governance of the state.

On his part, Agbaje noted that with the fall in the global oil prices, there was the urgent need to diversify the economy of the state.

He said new economic frontiers would be opened in the state, while internally generated revenue would be improved upon without necessarily introducing more taxes.

On public transportation, Agbaje said that transportation by road; water and rail would be improved upon from the current status through a refined and reinvigorated Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

Faction petitions Fayose over obaship crisis Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

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leadership crisis is now rocking Araromi Oke Ekiti in Ekiti East Local Government Area of Ekiti State, as a group has petitioned the state Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, urging him to nullify the selection of Mr. Folorunso David Alatise as the Olojaelect of the town.

The group, the Araromi Descendants Union, is calling on the governor to order fresh selection process that is consonance with the chieftaincy law of the state to forestall anarchy in the town.

In the petition dated January 16, the body contended that the proposed installation of Alatise as Oloja

contravened the customs and tradition of the town, having not been properly selected for the coveted seat by kingmakers and other interested parties.

The petition, which was signed by the President, Mr. Toyin Oladele and Secretary, Mr. Femi Ibiteye, urged the government to direct the kingmakers to commence a fresh selection process since there was no legal encumbrance barring such action.

It added that Justice Emmauel Adesodun of the High Court, Omuo-Ekiti, had in his judgment delivered on May 23, 2014 nullified the selection process and ordered that it should start de novo, saying it would amount to contempt for the kingmakers to act in the contrary.

Accident claims pregnant woman, three others in Ketu Muritala Ayinla and John Edu ragedy struck in Lagos yesterday when a truck carrying container lost control and rammed into five vehicles at Ketu area on Ikorodu Road, killing a pregnant woman and three other pedestrians and injured a number of persons.

It was gathered that the incident took place when many were on their way to work and it resulted in heavy traffic build up on Ikorodu road as many rushed to the scene to witness the incident.

According to an eyewitness account, some of the victims were passersby who were crushed when the container landed on them.

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SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

An eyewitness who gave her name as Blessing Alonge told our reporter that the trailer conveying the unlatched container was heading to Ikorodu from Ketu on Ikorodu Road and lost control in motion.

“It was in the process of trying to control the vehicle that the container which was not latched to the body lost balance and landed on the affected vehicles,” she said.

Confirming the incident, Lagos Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Hyginus Omeje, said four people lost their lives, adding that five others were injured and five commercial vehicles involved were badly damaged.

FCT ADO-EKITI Why we repealed Peace Olejeme to Nigerians: Corps law- Fayose Don’t be deceived NEWS IN BRIE F

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Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, yesterday gave the reason why the state repealed the law setting up the Peace Corps, saying it was set up by the previous administration for ulterior motives.

Speaking at the Governor's Office while signing into law some bills passed by the House of Assembly, the governor queried former Governor Kayode Fayemi on setting up the corps to feather his political nest and hound opponents.

The law repealing the corps was among those endorsed by the governor.

39%

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, will make Nigeria prosperous, Chairman of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Ngozi Olejeme, has said.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja yesterday, Olejeme commended President Jonathan for expanding the country’s infrastructure, developing agriculture, generating employment and advancing the cause of education.

“If you desire something better, you have to vote for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. He will continue to work for the development of the country, make our economy buoyant, create more jobs, reduce unemployment and social tension, sanitise the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil industry," she said.

The percentage of the population of Equatorial Guinea under 15 years in 2012.

Source: Un.org

3.1m

The total population of Armenia (rep. 0.045% of world’s population) in 2010.

Source: Blatantworld.com

7

FCT ‘Nigeria to begin production of anti-retroviral drugs soon’

The Country Director of UNAIDS in Nigeria, Dr Bilali Camara, on Thursday, said four pharmaceutical companies would soon commence the production of anti-retroviral drugs in Nigeria.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, Camara, who is also the UNAIDS Focal Point for ECOWAS, informed that the local production of anti-retroviral drugs would make it easier for people living with HIV/AIDS to access treatment at a cheaper rate. He stated that it will also help those on life treatment as people live on treatment for 15 to 30 years.

“We have commenced negotiations with four pharmaceutical companies; the companies have been certified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the general manufacturing practices,” he said.

38.84

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants of Bahamas in 2007.

Source: Itu.int

Don’t stone Jonathan’s convoy, Shettima appeals to citizens Ahmed Miringa

A Maiduguri

head of President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential rally in Maiduguri today, Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, who is also the state governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has appealed to citizens of the state not to disrespect the President Jonathan and his entourage.

Shettima made the call in a statement he personally signed in Maiduguri yesterday, which was made public by his media associate, Isa Gusau.

In the statement the governor appealed to his supporters and all citizens of the state not to show any form of disrespect to President Jonathan and his entourage as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),

l Group flays attack on president’s campaign team holds its presidential and governorship campaign in Maiduguri today.

“From what I have read or heard in the media, so far, there has not been any issue of such in any APC controlled states visited by the President and Borno should not be an exception. We have political differences and our differences are legitimate and based on the principles of our political parties and what we stand for.

“We must remember that His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and as citizens of this country, we have an obligation to respect his office and his person.

“Our millions of citizens who support the APC in Borno State and our Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari and

anyone that supports me or any of our National and State Assembly candidates in the state, should shun any act of violence, intolerance and unlawful political behaviour before, during and after the President's visit and should remain law abiding citizens of Borno State as our laws, norms and values demand,” the governor added.

Meanwhile, a group, Jonathan Youth Vanguard (JOY), has expressed dissatisfaction over what it described as continuous, unwarranted, and unprovoked attacks on the office of President Goodluck Jonathan by groups and youths loyal to Buhari in the country.

A statement issued by the Director General of the group, Mr. Orubebe Ebis, said: “We condemned in strong terms the intimida-

tion, harassment, victimisation and all forms of attacks meted out to supporters of President Jonathan and PDP, by Buhari and his uninformed youths in the northern part of the country.’’

He said: “We also condemn the damaging of campaign vehicles, billboards and posters of Mr. President and PDP by Buhari's supporters in the northern part of the country. We are worried that the elders and leaders in the north as well as the APC are not advising or educating the youth and the supporters of Buhari on the need for violent-free election.

“We want to use this medium to call on well informed, enlightened and educated northern youths to stand up against these embarrassing and barbaric trends currently going on in the northern part of the country.”

Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives and a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha (right) welcoming the former Special Adviser to Governor Rochas Okorocha, Mr. C.Y. Amako, for defecting to the PDP during Ihedioha’s campaign rally in Owerri…Thursday

8

News

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

OTA MAN tasks FG on multiple taxations

N EWS I N BRIEF

ST

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Ogun State chapter, yesterday appealed to the Federal Government to intensify efforts in tackling incidences of multiple taxations.

The President of the association, Mr. Wale Adegbite, who made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ota, Ado-Odo Local Government Area, said payment of multiple taxes had been hindering the development of the manufacturing sector.

“Multiple taxations are one of the major challenges that constitute impediment to development of Small and Medium Enterprises in the country,” he said.

BAUCHI NEMA appoints desk officers in three states

Gombe State Operations Office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has appointed Desk Officers in Taraba, Gombe and Bauchi States to coordinate its activities.

Head of Gombe Operations, Alhaji Saidu Minin, who said this yesterday in Bauchi, during an interactive session with stakeholders, explained that the desk officers were appointed for the state offices and also for sectoral responses under each of the three states.

He said the responsibilities of the sectoral officers include camp management, basic education, food and nutrition, logistic and telecommunication, security, protection, water, sanitation and hygiene, health, emergency shelter and non-food items.

$43.8m The total pay (including salary/ winnings & endorsements) of Matt Ryan (NFL) for 2014.

Source: Forbes.com

ADO-EKITI Fayose signs N80bn budget

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, on Friday signed the 2015 budget of N80.94bn and three other bills into law.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), caucus of the Ekiti State House of Assembly had on December 31 passed the budget in a closed-door session, after jerking it up by about N166 million from N80.774 billion.

The other bills signed into law by the governor are Ekiti State Peace Corps (Repeal) Law, Grant of Pensions (Amendment) Law 2014 and Ekiti State Change of Official Logo (Amendment) 2014.

Fayose said the budget focused on the civil servants, education, health and the overall development of the state.

0.91

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants of Bangladesh in 2008.

Source: Itu.int

1.2% The annual population growth rate of Dominican Republic in 2010-2015.

Source: Un.org

Ambrose Alli’s kinsmen, groups mobilise against Buhari VENDETTA

31 years after their benefactor was jailed in a controversial circumstance, it's payback time.

Cajetan Mmuta

I

BENIN

ndigenes of Ukeke Emaudo community in Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area, which is the political stronghold of the first governor of old Bendel State, late Prof. Ambrose Alli, yesterday vowed to move against the presidential ambition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, General Muhamadu Buhari, in the February 14 election.

They also hinted that they have embarked upon a strategic plan and mobilisation of thousands of indigenes of the entire Es-

…say it's ‘payback time’

anland both at home and in the Diaspora to thwart the ambition of Buhari at the poll next month.

Consequently, the indigenes explained that it had resolved to collaborate with the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to cast their votes for President Goodluck Jonathan.

The elders, leaders and youths of Ukeke Emaudo community in Ekpoma, at an enlarged meeting held on Wednesday, resolved to “pay back in bad coins” to the retired army General for masterminding the incarceration that led to the death of Alli.

Secretary of the community and nephew of the late former governor, Mr. Sunny Alli, said in an exclusive interview with Saturday Telegraph, that they believed in the unity, doggedness and patriotism of their late brother, who could have ris-

en to the topmost position as President or Vice-President if he was alive till date.

Alli was arrested, jailed and sent to Kirikiri Maximum Prison for 60 years, where he eventually fell ill before being released.

“I don’t think the General (Buhari) will do that (apologise) because I know him very well. He is a tactician but I expect that from him but you know these people you can’t predict them; you may think this way and they go the other way.”

“I expected that from him but I don’t know if the whole Esan people will come together as a family and say we forgive him because of what he did. He truncated the ambition of Alli. Alli could have done better for Bendel State.

“The Esan people will not vote for him. There was a community meeting on

Wednesday, I am the secretary here in Emaudo. I was there and we discussed this politics of a thing and we reached a general consensus that it is not possible; somebody who killed your own blood. We call ourselves the same blood, we are brothers here.

“So, the conclusion was that we are not going to vote for Buhari for killing somebody who if he was alive today would have vied for the President or even Vice President of this country or the senate. As a governor he did this little which is the best till tomorrow. If he was given another four years he would have done better if death had not come then.

“After the incarceration he was never himself again.

Forget it that he will win and become the President of this country, no, it is not possible.

“Buhari regime never did well by arresting or imprisoning the late Professor."

Gunmen kidnap Sakoh, Udu Kingdom President-General Gabriel Choba Ughelli

A

ctivities were yesterday grounded in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State, following the kidnap of Udu Kingdom President General, Chief Steve Sokoh, about 8p.m. on Thursday, at New-York Junction along Udu Road, Ovwian.

Thousands of youths, who got wind of the news yesterday trooped out to Udu Express junction and Orhuworhun junction and blocked the major roads, carrying placards with the inscriptions: “No Sokoh, No Election’, ‘Govt. S.O.S, We love Chief Sokoh our P.G., ‘Release Chief Sokoh now,’ ‘Kidnappers stay clear from Udu’ and ‘This madness must stop,’ and demanded his immediate release.

TAN faults Dickson’s quit notice Chris Ejim Yenagoa

T

he leadership of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) in Bayelsa State yesterday faulted the quit notice issued the group by the state governor, Seriake Dickson, over alleged acts capable of derailing the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan.

TAN in a statement issued in Yenagoa, by its Director of Publicity, Chief Nathan Egba-Ologo, said the quit notice issued by Dickson was shocking as the governor had no constitutional right to ask any group to leave the state.

According to the statement, “TAN received the reported order tagged ‘Pack and Go’ with shock and disbelief. We are shocked because we find it hard to understand how an elected governor of a state would make such a

statement in a democratic setting, as we have in Nigeria, as there is nowhere in the Nigerian constitution that gives any governor such powers.

“TAN in Bayelsa State is, however, aware of plots by some over-zealous government officials to portray groups such as TAN, Women for Change Initiative and others in very bad light, in order to make it appear as if they are against the state government. We wish to re-assure Governor Henry Seriake Dickson that TAN is ready to co-operate with his government in carrying the message of Mr. President’s achievements and need for re-election to every nook and cranny of the state.

“In the same vein, we reassure our teeming members and supporters not to worry, but rather remain resolute and focused as the Presidential election is less than a month from now.”

Yero signs N200bn budget into law

K

Bauchi State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Child Development, Hajia Talatu Barwa (middle), inspecting exhibitions, during the opening of skill acquisition workshop, in Itas Gadau Local Government Area of the state…yesterday

PHOTO: NAN

A statement signed on behalf of the protesting youths by its Chairman, Comrade Sunday Subi and Secretary, Dr. Dennis Kpoma, explained that Sokoh was kidnapped and taken to an unknown destination.

The youth appealed to the state and federal governments to immediately come to their aid and find a lasting solution to the issue of kidnap in the state.

“What is happening now in Udu is that our President General of Udu Kingdom, Chief Steve Sokoh, has been kidnapped and the entire youths and indigenes of Udu hereby demand his immediate release because all the Udu youths have vowed that there will be no election whatsoever in the local government unless Chief Steve Sokoh is released.”

aduna State Governor, Mukhtar Yero, has signed into law a total of N200.7 billion as the state’s 2015 budget.

The ceremony, which took place yesterday at the Government House in Kaduna, was witnessed by the Speaker and principal officers of the state House of Assembly as well as some other top government officials.

Speaking at the event, Yero said there was need for the state to improve its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to ensure sufficient implementation of the budget.

“I like to assure the House of Assembly and indeed the entire people of Kaduna State that we shall implement this budget on the basis of available resources,” he said, add-

ing: “We shall concentrate on revenue generation to fund this budget. There is a great challenge with the Federal Allocation and we need to improve on our IGR.” The governor condemned a report by a national daily that the state assembly rejected a proposed expenditure of N30 billion SURE-P funds.

He said: “This is misinformation because the total revenue accrued from SURE-P to Kaduna State since its inception in 2012 is not up to N30 billion. I demand apology for that erroneous report or I will be left with no option than to take legal action.”

Continuing, he said: “There is nowhere in the budget that we made a provision of N30 billion for SURE-P."

News

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

2,000 IDPs receive free medical treatment in Plateau Musa Pam Jos

O

ver 2,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who are currently taking refuge at the Stephanos Foundation Jos, Plateau State were yesterday offered free medical services by a nongovernmental organisation (NGO), Tina Bawa International Ministries.

Fielding questions from journalists during the free medical treatment, Coordinator of the foundation, Rev. Tina Godfrey Bawa, said the gesture was premised on the fact that her foundation wanted to move away from the syndrome of complaining to taking actions that would bring succour

to IDPs in the country.

About 35,000 IDPs that fled the ongoing insurgency in the North-East are taking refuge in the state.

According to her, the kind gesture was part of her foundation and family’s desire to bring succour to the IDPs since many of them are passing through serious challenges.

“The condition of these IDPs is so pathetic that it needs the urgent attention of groups and spirited individuals to help in ameliorating the sufferings of these our brothers and sisters. This is what informed my decision to give them free medicals and cash which was gathered from our family business and other individuals,"she said.

MAKURDI ADO-EKITI Mark extols Abba’s virtues APC warns Fayose

NEWS IN BRIE F

ST

The Senate President, Senator David Mark, has described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency, Mr. Chris Adaba Abbah, as a man of vision and a grassroots politician, whose philanthropy to the people leaves much to be desired.

The Senate President who said this in Otukpo, said Abbah exemplified excellence in politics and youth development, which accounted for his emergence.

He said he had no doubt that Abbah would provide the necessary leadership and dividends of democracy for the people of his constituency if elected into the National Assembly.

$77m

The estimated transfer cost of Sergio Aguero of Manchester City in 2015.

Source: Finance.yahoo.com

JOS

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State against disrupting or interfering in any way with the APC presidential campaign rally in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday, saying the governor's plan to hold a parallel rally on the same day is a recipe for chaos.

APC in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, wondered why Fayose would schedule a rally also for Saturday at Fajuyi Park, which is a major route to the venue of the APC presidential campaign rally.

“This is nothing but a deliberate act of provocation, and it is a dangerous game by a governor who has now become notorious for making incendiary statements and taking irrational actions. Governor Fayose should be told in clear terms that being the governor of a state demands huge responsibility, not brazen rascality,” the party stated.

83.8

The percentage of the urban population of Finland in 2012.

Source: Un.org

9

I will run a focus, equitable governance –Pwajok

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State, Senator Gyang Pwajok, has pledged to run an all inclusive government where resources will be distributed equitably across the three Senatorial zones of the state.

Pwajok stated this yesterday, during his campaign rally in Quan'pan, Shendam and Langtang south local government areas in Plateau South Senatorial District of the state.

He said the PDP had started the development of the state, adding that if given the mandate, his government would improve on ASTC to engage youths for a greater future.

78

The number of pending asylum seekers of Zambia at the beginning of 2010.

Source: Un.org

APC House caucus kick against postponement of polls l Obanikoro leads Jonathan's road show in Lagos Philip Nyam and Wale Elegbede

T

he All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives caucus has described the clandestine move by President Goodluck Jonathan's government to extend his tenure as “fear of imminent defeat and an afterthought ready to die in the manner of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s third term plot.”

Minority Leader of House and leader of APC House caucus, Femi Gbajabiamila, said this in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday.

Gbajabiamila, who played a leading role in the legislative processes that nipped the constitution amendment meant to pave way for former President Obasanjo's tenure elongation said the National Security Adviser (NSA) just expressed his opinion because he does not have any constitutional role in distri-

bution of voter’s cards.

“This was the plot all along. The NSA has no role to play in the distribution of Permanent Voters’ Cards.

Whatever they do and however they do it they cannot go against the provisions of the constitution which is sacrosanct and must be obeyed,” he said.

Meanwhile, erstwhile Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, yesterday in Lagos led thousands of Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) members on a road show to canvass for votes for President Goodluck Jonathan's re-election.

Leading some PDP supporters around Alimosho area of the state in a carnival parade form, Obanikoro said Alimosho area was central to winning any election in Lagos and Nigeria.

He said: “Alimosho is the largest local government in Nigeria, this is why I am leading this Goodluck Jonathan road show in Lagos.”

PUBLIC NOTICE

SEAT OF AMAZING GRACE INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY The general public is hereby notified that the above named foundation has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1.

HABIB USMAN ASMAU - GENERAL OVERSEER 2. HABIB USMAN SHADRACH 3. OPOROJAWEI CAPT. JOHN SATURDAY 4. AKPO EMILY 5. UCHEGBU KINGSLEY EMENIKE 6. IKO-AWAJI MOSES PAUL AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: To propagate the gospel of our Lord Jesus Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the registrar-general ,Corporate Affairs Commission,Plot 420, Tigris Crescent,off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, P.M.B.198, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

Signed: PALACE SOLICITORS 08023865797, 08033407197

A scene of a multiple accident on Ketu-Ikorodu Road, Lagos…yesterday

Photo: NAN

You can’t impose Buhari on us, Northern elders tell Babangida ENDORSEMENT

Northern group moves against imposition of a presidential candidate on the entire region by a former general

M

ore knocks came the way of former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, yesterday, from some Northern elders, who kicked against his recent endorsement of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major-General Muhammadu Buhari.

The elders under the aegis of Northern Emancipation Network (NEM), said Babangida’s move to mobilise retired Generals for that purpose was mere fallacy as an average Northerner is not gullible as the plans and party manifesto

of each party will be used to vote for candidates, not an endorsement by anybody.

In a statement issued by its Coordinator, Abdulazeez Suleiman, the group said: “We are deeply concerned with this type of endorsement. To us, it looks like double speak and this, at the same time, raises moral questions on Generals Babangida and Buhari.

“As concerned northern citizens who have the long term political interest of our region at hearts, we are forced to publicly raise concern about the looming danger in the quest by some of our people in the frenzy of perpetrating Buhari’s candidacy in the forthcoming presidential election. Our concerns stem from our fears of what may actually be the hidden agenda of some outsiders, notably, Senator Bola Tinubu in projecting Buhari's candidacy.

“We are concerned that the millions of Nigerians in the North, who express support for President Goodluck Jonathan are constantly harassed, sometimes with death threats, but not once have these so-called Northern elders come out to speak in defence of our constitutional right of association. Are we not Nigerians? Is President Jonathan not a Nigerian?

Is Gen. Buhari seeking to be a Northern or Nigeria’s President? Are the lives of APC or Buhari supporters more Nigerian or more precious than ours?

“First, we find it quite unfortunate that the same Buhari, who had to divorce his wife, Safina, for allegedly seeking and receiving favours from Babangida while he was in detention, should now, out of sheer desperation, turn to the same man for political support.

“We were therefore

amazed when reports said Buhari had personally gone to seek support from IBB and former president Olusegun Obasanjo both of whom he described as political enemies in a recent interview with Weekly Trust. Based on this and many other moral questions around Buhari, our group is compelled to reiterate its stand that he is not and cannot be the sole northern candidate for the presidency. The desperation for power by certain elements in the North must have the northern political elite so blind as not to consider the quality of candidate that was foisted by the opposition as the North’s sole candidate.

“The North should rather reciprocate the many efforts made by President Jonathan to change the life of the ordinary Northerner than go on a wild goose chase that could further darken its political future.”

SATURDAY

Voices Should a female child receive less than her male sibling from their late dad's inheritance? p.12

Street Diary SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2015

Artist cries out over threat to life

His room after the attack

A

Moses Kadiri pparently, it is not one of Jelili Olorunfunmi Atiku's usual live art performances where he uses art as a medium to advocate change, peace, and corrects the ills in the society.

His forthcoming performance scheduled to hold on February 5 at the Department of Fine Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, titled ‘Kill Not This Country’ (Maanifesito II) is already sparking wildfire, as some chiefs allegedly attacked him in his house. The attack on the well-known sculptor, who has held audience spellbound in numerous live performances in Europe, America, Asia, Africa at his residenc in Ejigbo, Lagos, on December 30, 2014, is believed to be connected to his post on his Facebook wall to announce events which the page was created for.

"They were insisting that it was because of the post which I approved on Facebook page of Ejigbo Indigenes Forum-Lagos on December 27, 2014, at 11:27pm and December 27, 2014 at 11:32pm respectively," Atiku said.

He narrated how the traditional chiefs in Ejigbo, Lagos, invaded his house and destroyed works he is preparing for ‘Kill Not This Country’ (Maanifesito II), and other valuable works in his archive.

“I was deeply in the course of the drawing for my show, a performance which is conceived as a campaign against Boko Haram insurgency and a method to generate or influence discussions on ways to curtail the menace when the chiefs entered into my personal room unexpectedly, without knocking," he recalled.

“Immediately they sat, they began unfolding their plans of threat to my life, intimidation and harassment. One of them, Chief Morufu Araokanmi declared that they came on the instruction of His Royal Majesty, Oba Adisa Adekunle Ojoola to warn and issue a verbal directive to me that I should henceforth stop posting any information, comments and whatever on my personal Facebook page.” ln a letter signed by Atiku and addressed to the Commissioner of Police Command, lkeja, Lagos, a copy of which

His studio after the attack

is made available to Saturday Telegraph, Atiku complained of threat to his life, and that of his family members.

He stated that when he demanded to know why such instruction should be ordered by His Royal Majesty, the question stimulated anger in the chiefs, “and they all stood in violence, throwing verbal arrows at me. Chief Morufu Kamoru said: "Wo! an’ ba e so, ofi ake kori, ti o ko lai se gbogbo ounti Kabiyesi fe, emi e ati awon omo e a losi."

This statement can literally mean "look if you don’t comply with Kabiyesi’s directive your life and those of your children will pay for it.’

“It was at this point they went violent and ransacked my room as if they were looking for specific objects or documents.

When they could not find what they were looking for, Chief Isikilu Kazeem said ‘e ma worry ti ako bari kin ni yen, adana sun yara e ni, meaning ‘if we can't find the thing(s), we will burn down his room. “I asked to know the reasons for invading my room, destroying my artworks and threatening to kill my family members as well as myself. One of the comments, which one of them, especially Chief Kabiru Ogunde made was that ‘you brought this upon yourself by your posting on facebook.’

Atiku further said that the more he

protested for them not to destroy his books, the more they became infuriated.

He said, “It was at this point that l Atiku shouted and this attracted a lot of people mostly my relatives, neighbours and passersby. I ran into my studio which also serves as sitting room. They ran widely after me and Chief Morufu Kamoru who was more violent than others picked my wooden sculptural pieces in the studio and threw it at me. When I escaped he picked up the other part of the sculpture and threw it on the glass door of the studio and sitting room.

“The door broke into pieces and this was when I became paranoid. He did not stop at the action, he went back into my room picked up my sculpture, titled ‘The Ancestor Is Here Always,’ which I created in 1995. The work was brutally destroyed and also he brought out a pocket-knife and destroyed one of my paintings titled, ‘The Abode of Common People of Lagos,’ which I also created in 1995.

“It was at this time I became defensive because destroying my works of art is the same as attacking my life. I held his shirt

10

to stop him from going further in destroying my other works but he quickly stretched his hand and grabbed my testicles and I lost my strength and control."

Atiku said the incident did not only hinder the development and preparation for his performance, he emphasised that the attack had also devastated him psychologically.

“I find it difficult to coordinate my thinking process; my family as well as myself and all the people living with me in the family house do not have a special security protection gadget; we are living in morbid fear and hypertensive of the next moment as the chiefs are seen boasting in the community that they will ‘deal’ with me and all those affiliated to me. I had gone to my family doctor, Dr. Joseph Akinde of Living Spring Hospital and Maternity Home, Ejigbo, Lagos – where I received medical attention because of the injury inflicted on me."

When contacted, Chief Isikilu Kazeem, one of the chiefs that went to Atiku’s home, said: “He is our brother, we saw what he posted on Facebook and that was the reason we went to discuss with him.

“If you can go to Facebook or if Atiku can show you the page, he titled it ‘Ejigbo Regency Council (1968-1998),’ he was telling some stories about our king and his grandfather in which he used abusive words. When we saw this, we cautioned him. In the post, he said part of the land meant for Ejigbo Market was sold by ‘unprogressive elements’ in the community.

“When we saw this, we invited him and we later went to his home on December 30, 2014. One of our brothers told him that such provocative posting is not in the best interest of the community. We advised him to yank off the post on his Facebook page or seek the consent of our monarch if he wanted to post the history of our community on social media. But he did not heed our advice and said he would continue with his posting about the community. Thereafter, we traded words. But before we left his home, he had invited the police and we were invited to the police station. When we got to the police station, the DPO was not around but a junior officer called him on the phone and he advised us to go home and settle the matter amicably. He said he would call us for a meeting when he returned.

“Before we left the station, Atiku insisted that he would write his statement.

In his statement, he did not say any of his things was destroyed. When we returned to the police station on January 3, he said he wanted to re-write his statement, but the DPO said he could only do that after January 3. When he insisted, he was allowed to write it and he claimed that some of his art works were destroyed. But there was nothing of such when we visited his home and advised him not to distort our history.”

However, Atiku said his life was being threatened, adding that he could not write in details what happened the first time they went to the station because he was psychologically disturbed by the incident.

The IPO who identified himself simply as Mr. Toyin said, “It is a court matter; and the case is in court already, but the court is on strike.”

Atiku urged the police to protect and ensure that nothing untoward happened to him.

11

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

SaturdayLetters You have a right to be heard. Send your letters and photographs to saturdayletters@ newtelegraphonline.com. Letters should not be more than 150 words and must have the name and address of the sender.

Q uotes of the week “They still have about 30 million cards to distribute. We look at the possibility of shifting this thing (election) and doing it when everybody has the cards because it doesn’t cost you anything. It is still within the law and it is safer for all of us.” - Col. Sambo Dasuki (National Security Adviser).

“It is not a conversation of the commission at all. As far as we are talking now, the date is what it is.” - Kayode Idowu (INEC spokesman).

“Yes, we have a problem with the distribution of PVCs but the position of my party, the APC, is that since we have a voters’ register then that should be used in conducting the elections.” - Atiku Abubakar (former Vice President).

Really doesn’t matter where it’s done... It’s still pedicure!

Photo: Suleiman Husaini

An advert and its morbid message Dear Sir, Shock was a mild term to describe how I felt after reading the message and the wicked insinuations in a front page advertisement sponsored by Ekiti State government, Ayo Fayose, and published by some national dailies. The advert violated every sense of propriety and I’m deeply upset that the newspapers in question would make a mercantile choice at the risk of hurting sensibilities. It is utterly disgusting.

– Solomon Nkereuwem, Uyo

LASAA’s partial guideline on campaign posters Dear Sir, The Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency recently accused the police of intimidating its workers bent on dismantling “illegally deployed” campaign posters and billboards. That’s just a side of the story; the question LASAA has failed to answer is why the billboards and posters of the APC governorship candidate in Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, are left standing even at non-traditional spots for outdoor advertising.

– Moyo Lawal, Lagos

“After realizing it will be rejected by Nigerians who have borne the brunt of its mis-governance over the years, after realizing that its campaign of calumny against our presidential candidate has failed, the Jonathan administration has now started to play its last card, which is the postponement of the election.”

- Alhaji Lai Mohammed (APC National Publicity Secretary).

“Nigeria will not divide if President Goodluck Jonathan loses the February 14th election. Rather, it is the president who will leave office and return to his hometown in Bayelsa State. He has deceived us enough.” - Babatunde Fashola (Lagos State Governor).

Rampant abuse of energy drinks Dear Editor, I want to use the medium to bring to the notice of government and the relevant agencies of government such as NAFDAC and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) on the rampant abuse of Alomo Bitters by Nigerians, especially the youths.

The rate at which Alomo Bitters and other medicinal drinks are consumed by young people these days is both alarming and extremely dangerous.

For example, during the Christmas period last year, one young man died after drinking two big bottles of Alomo Bitters in Festac Town, Lagos.

It is very obvious to any concerned

FRSC should conduct medical tests on people seeking driver’s licenses Dear Editor, I want to appeal to the Federal Road Safety Commission to first conduct a complete medical examination to know the medical history and medical status of anybody who wants a driver’s license. This is because of a bad experience I had recently. I hired a taxi from Lagos to take me to Ibadan and along the way, the driver suddenly had an epileptic fit and collapsed on the steering of the car.

I never knew that the driver I hired was suffering from epilepsy and only God saved my life that day because the car coming behind us screeched to a stop to avoid a head-on collision with the vehicle in which I was traveling, after the driver had an epileptic

fit and collapsed on the steering.

I am therefore appealing to the Federal Road Safety Commission to introduce medical tests as one of the requirements before issuing driver’s license to anybody. They must do this in order to find out the medical history of people who apply for licenses and know if that person is fit to be given a driver’s license. As far as I’m concerned, a person with epilepsy should not be given a driver’s license or even allowed to drive at all. I hope the FRSC will withdraw the driver’s license of that epileptic driver immediately. In so doing, the FRSC would save lives by preventing more unnecessary motor accidents caused by medically unfit drivers.

– From Mohammed.

citizen that medicinal and energy drinks in Nigeria are abused by the youth who needlessly ingest these substances. Government has a responsibility to stop the indiscriminate consumption and abuse of medicinal and energy drinks such as Alomo Bitters, Power Horse, etc.

From Okunola, Lagos.

Charlie Hebdo and Fox News Dear Sir, I was amused to read recently that the American cable network, Fox News, had tendered an apology to the city of Paris and its residents over a false report arising from the unfortunate killing of some journalists of the French newspaper, Charlie Hebdo.

I laughed because major networks in the West regularly broadcast falsehoods about Nigeria and never seem bothered when the government protests against the mischief in those reports.

– Nonyelum Chika, Enugu

“If you think you can manipulate this election, then kiss it bye. We want to warn anybody who wants to make these elections unsuccessful to stay clear; it will not work.” - Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukaogu (Resident Electoral Officer, Enugu State).

“Anybody who is not satisfied should go to court. We are not ready to waste our time and energy on people who obviously are not ready for elections and who would find excuses to postpone these elections.” - Lai Mohammed (APC National Publicity Secretary reacting to PDP’s claim that Buhari’s certificate was forged).

“I will create enough jobs for our people mainly by reactivating our technical colleges.” - Emeka Ihedioha (Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and PDP governorship candidate for Imo State).

“But if politicians insist that you as youth must be used for violence, then let such a politician or his children lead the battle, then you follow.” - Reverend Sunday Ibrahim (Kaduna State Secretary General of the Christian Association of Nigeria).

SATURDAY

Voices

SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2015

Should a female child receive less than her male sibling from their late dad's inheritance?

Will or deceased’s instruction should determine

No, they should have equal share of the will or they go by the way the deceased demanded it should be shared among them.

– Olorunyomi Olaniyi, civil servant

There should be no discrimination No, I see no reason why a female daughter should receive lesser when it comes to inheritance.

Since they were all from the same parents, they should have equal access to their father’s property. Even if the female had got married, there should not be discrimination.

– Jekwu Oghene, trader

It’s fair that children get equal share If the deceased did not write any will to that effect before his death then it is jut fair that the children get equal proportion of the inheritance because they are equal. I will only subscribe to disparity if it's on the basis of difference in age.

– Frank Obadan, civil servant

African tradition encourages it According to African tradition, it is believed that females should have little or no share of their late father’s inheritance because they believe they are going out to marry and bear another name.

But in my view, I think both male and female child should have equal right to their father’s property.

There may be a situation whereby the female child’s husband is not financially buoyant, she can use what she got to rescue her family.

– Ayilara David, engineer

Culture may be a determinant There is really no offence in sharing what the deceased left behind equally among the children irrespective of gender. In some cultures, it is believed that once a female gets married, she belongs to another family while a male child remains in the family and brings in more members into the family fold. This may be a reason for disparity.

– Tina Chibuzor, businesswoman

Gender should not be a factor If there is a will, the family should be bound by the content of the will. If the will says she should get less so be it. But if there is no will, then gender should not be used to give her less.

– Aret Cyril, civil servant

Inequality should be

discouraged If a female child is born the same way a male child is born, then it means God made all humans equal and gave them the same rights and responsibilities. Every inhibition against equality is man-made and therefore not only unjust but should be dismantled by man.

– Asaju Tunde, Media Consultant

All children are equal To me all children are equal regardless of whether they are males or females. That is my opinion; hence, she should not be side-lined when it comes to sharing from her father's inheritance. I agree it's part of the age long tradition to give less to the female child, especially in this part of the world. Even if she no longer bears her father's name, the man in question is still her dad. To me, bearing his name or not doesn't change anything.

– Grace Adeyemi, nurse

compiled by

john edu, AYILARA DAYO, EZEKIEL ADESAWE and CHIAZOR PEACE

Female should take less Yes of course she should take less because she is married to another man. Even the man will still take care of her with what he has. What if she was not given at all, will she not live her life? I know a man who married two wives and warned his children to study well because the only legacy he wants to leave for his children is education.

– Charles Okolo, photojournalist

Both genders should have equal rights As far as Nigeria is concerned, there is no difference between the two sexes. So, there is nothing like that. They should be given equal rights.

We have female children that even perform better than male children. So they should be given equal rights.

– Adekunle Emmanuel, teacher

I believe in equality No. I don’t think so, because they have equal rights. Since you are the biologically parent of both the male and female child, they should have equal rights.

Everything should go fifty-fifty equally. There should not be any preferential treatment. These days, we have lots of ladies who are aspiring to the highest positions in the society. There should be the principle of equality.

– Otejide Adeshina, civil servant

It depends on tribe It depends on the tribe, like in Yoruba land it's a fifty:fifty agreement but in a place like Niger Delta they don't place much value on the girl-child.

That is why they don't have share in their parents’ will.

–Rufus Akpan, civil servant

12

SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2015

SATURDAY

WeekendDelight 13

C o n v e r s at i o n

Instyle Flatter your figure in fit and flare dress p.16

Monalisa

abimbola Azeh

TV & Radio Catching the Game On fever p.18

Love&Living ‘I made my husband lose his job’ p.35

Hospitality

Beni Gold Apartment: Truly an oasis of calm p.39

I started making shoes when I couldn’t get my size Monalisa Abimbola Azeh, Chief Executive Officer of Mona Matthews, a Nigerian company that produces handmade footwear and bags, is a lawyer with over 25 years’ experience. Her passion for shoemaking began when she found it difficult to get her desired shoe type and size. In this interview with ANGELA DAVIES, she talks about how she started designing shoes, fashion and other interesting issues.

What exactly does Mona Matthews do?

Mona Matthews is a Nigerian company that produces locally-handmade shoes and bags in Nigeria for Nigerians and other people who like good quality footwear and handbags. Mona Matthews started in 2002 and we produce to customers’ order, we also have ready-to-wear shoes so it depends on what the customers want.

How do you source for materials?

We get our materials from Nigeria. And there are one or two things that we bring in from abroad but it is not about the material, it’s the quality of the workmanship that matters.

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

You are a lawyer with over 25 years’ experience, so why leave law for shoemaking?

I will be 30 years at the bar this year.

But going into shoemaking wasn’t intentional in the sense that I didn’t get up one day and say I am going to leave law practice. I first started making shoes for myself because I wanted to be able to wear the kind of shoes that I liked and I wasn’t able to get them at that time. People of my generation grew up wearing Italian shoes and real leather shoes made in England, Spain and other places. But when the global economy shifted to production from the Far East, I found out that the shoes that we were seeing in our markets and even abroad were from China. I have wide feet so it was very difficult to get shoes that were my size as well as the quality and aesthetic that matched my desire. So, I started with my own shoes and did not plan it as a business.

However, when I started making and wearing them, people saw them on me, liked them

AZEH

and asked me to make for them and I started making for people. But like I said because I didn’t plan it as a business, I did it for a while and I left it. Then I was working in my church office and I felt it was time for me to move on as my assignment had been completed there.

So after spending time praying and seeking the face of God about what He wants me to do at that point in my life because by then I was already 39 years old, I started making shoes as a business. I guess I couldn’t afford to make

mistakes as it were, so that was it.

What inspires your designs?

To start with, we look at what the trends are internationally, then, we look at what the trends are in Nigeria in terms of what people are wearing. When you know what the trends are in clothes, then you can design accessories to match the clothes. But more than anything, what inspires my designs are my customers’ needs. Feet have different shapes just like human body have different shapes. You will find out that what will fit a pear-shaped woman will not fit an apple-shaped woman. It’s exactly the same thing with shoes. You see a pair of shoes and you like it, you put your feet in them and your feet looks horrible. Meanwhile someone else will put her feet in the same shoes and her feet look nice. It does look nice on you because your feet and hers is not the same.

Also we found out that when shoes are produced abroad, they have their colours of the year. For instance, they might choose five colours for 2015. When Nigerians are choosing their lace and aso oke, they don’t bother themselves with the five colours that have been chosen, instead they create their own colours. Last year, we did a lot of shoes in coral, teal and magenta. Also, it’s about aesthetics for some customers and for some, they just cannot find their shoe size in nicelooking shoes so they come and we make them beautiful shoes with real leather or fabric they want us to use.

What were the challenges and how were you able to overcome them when you started?

The journey has been interesting. We were able to weather the storms that came. Initially when we started, the industry was more CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

14

Weekend Delight

| Conversation

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

‘The most expensive clothes in your wardrobe are probably made-in-Nigeria’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 3

geared towards male shoes. Shoemakers prefer to make male shoes because they were easier to make. Things to make female shoes were not so common, for instance, accessories were hard to find, stylish heels were scarce and leather in interesting colours was difficult to get.

But by the Grace of God we were able to innovate. I remember there was a particular heel we couldn’t find so we started making our own. There was also a particular sole we couldn’t find and we started making our own as well. When we could not find colours in leather, we learnt how to use fabric, so we got very creative. As a result, the challenges actually helped us to bring out the best in ourselves and we found out that with each challenge that we were able to overcome, we become better and even got ahead of the pack. Somehow God just gave me the grace not to give up.

Did you at any time have a formal training in shoemaking?

No, I think that is one of the things about being a child of God. If you are working in your destiny, there is a provision that God has made and put into you, it’s a gift as it were. There are some things that are innate. I have not had any formal training in shoemaking.

Everything I know about shoemaking, I learnt from my shoemakers. And fortunately for me, I have always had the best with the shoemakers. And when I am interviewing new shoemakers, they are always amazed at how much I know but that is really how I learnt. I am talking about normal shoemakers by the road side. What I knew that I needed to learn was how to run a business. So, from the first day I started my business, I attended Fate Foundation where I did business management training. But, it is not because of the training I had in Fate Foundation but the grace of God upon my life and the wisdom He has given me to do what I am doing.

How fulfilling has making shoes been for you?

It is extremely fulfilling because when

you are able to satisfy someone’s needs and the person comes back to you to say ‘thank you’, it’s a feeling you can’t put money on. I had one customer who was in his 80s, he had a bad foot and he wasn’t able to wear proper shoes.

When we met him, his daughter was about to get married and he wanted to wear proper shoes because he was tired of wearing the kind of shoes he has been wearing. We were able to give him what he wanted. It is always a happy moment when clients come back, send you text messages or even call to thank you for making the happy. You can’t really explain it except you experience it.

How many hours does it take to make a pair of shoes?

It takes eight to 10 hours because everything is completely handmade. It is a process that needs to be followed step by step. You start with the shoot of leather, cut the sole and insole and you begin the process of wrapping, blowing, gumming, nailing, stitching and adding other things. So, it takes eight hours.

Obviously shoemaking is time consuming, how do you balance your business and the home front?

My husband supports me 100 per cent in what I do. And as much as possible, he allows me to do what I need to do. Secondly, I learnt very early that you should have domestic staff that are reliable. If you are running a 100 million business, you can afford to pay N30, 000 to your domestic staff a month. So I learnt from female entrepreneurs when I was starting business that you should sort out your home front. Always have very good domestic staff, people that understand how you work so that you set a process up in the house that doesn’t

“I have not had any formal training in shoemaking.

Everything I know about shoemaking, I learnt from my shoemakers.”

disturb your work. And the kind of business that I do, people call me all the time and I need to be in touch with the shoemakers even when I am not in Lagos. I use Proverbs 31 woman as an example, it was not that she was just hardworking, she was organised, had servants, knew what she was doing and set her entire operations in such a way that it worked successfully.

What advice would you give to some female CEO’s who pay more attention to their business over the home front?

For a woman to choose her business over her home, maybe it is because she is the sole breadwinner. And so if she doesn’t pay attention to the business even the home will collapse. It is still the same thing, get domestic staff or a relation that can help you do some of your house chores. But I know it’s not easy for a lot of people. When I talk to people about business, I tell them two things: know your God and know yourself. You know the things that God has provided for you as a person, that is your capabilities and then know yourself, know the kind of person that you are and be true to yourself. As much as possible I am still learning. It is a matter of getting your priories right.

There are some businesses that you can even run from home so that you are around the children and the family to keep an eye on things. I started my business in my sitting room, I couldn’t even afford to rent a shop. I was there for seven years and customers were coming there but I still made it as professional as possible. I would have taken my bath and dressed professionally looking, locked up the private areas of the house before the first customer arrives.

So, you can prioritise and make sure that things are running smoothly as much as possible.

What do you have to say to people who still don’t believe in made in Nigeria products especially when it comes to footwear?

Those people are hard to find these days because if you look inside your wardrobe, the most expensive clothes you have in your wardrobe are probably made in Nigeria – your natives. Today, fashion determines that if you are attending an event, you’re most likely to wear traditional attire and they are sewn in Nigeria. Nobody takes their native attire to London to go and sew. What people don’t know much about is the leather industry. And in the 13 years that I have been operating in the industry, the awareness has increased. I have customers who live abroad and they call me to make shoes for them, both males and women. The problem we have is that when some people see our products, they don’t believe we made them in Nigeria. In the few instances when we see people that say they don’t believe in made in Nigeria products, you know that they are not exposed.

If you had to work with an international footwear designer, who will that be?

Manolo Blahnik. I have always liked his designs. They are always very cutting edge, elegant, of unique quality, always stands out but extremely comfortable. They are expensive but you are paying for good quality.

AZEH

Would you someday go back to law practice?

I have already gone back to law. I have some partners and we are practicing.

With all the strain of the work, what do you do to unwind?

I don’t like parties and I am not an aso ebi person but I have the things that I like and enjoy doing. I go on Facebook.

Facebook has evolved and every major company in the world have a facebook page which you can follow. Once I log onto my Facebook page, the whole world is there. I get my entertainment news, serious news, health tip and I advertise as well. I love music, concerts and stage performances and they are always putting up videos of people either seriously singing or just messing around, comedy sketches both from Nigeria and foreign and all that make me unwind. I really don’t even watch television these days and I am very up to date with whatever is going on anywhere in the world and that is because of how I configured my news feed. That is how I chill once I am done with work.

How will you define your style?

I’m very fashion conscious but I don’t necessarily follow trends. I wear what I’m comfortable in but I’m bold. I wear trousers and skinny jeans. I consider myself a stylish person and I know what suites me. For my personal style, I like comfort but at the same time when I am dressing up, I want to look striking. I tell people that when I enter through the door I want people to look at me.

How do you view marriage?

Marriage is an institution that God ordained from the foundation of the earth. When you enjoy a good marriage, it’s like heaven on earth. But unfortunately, many people do not know what it takes to have a good marriage.

But fortunately for us, God has given us the bible and it has taught us that as women we should submit to our husbands and the men should love their wives as Christ loves the church. And for a man to love a woman, the bible doesn’t say love her when she is good and respectful, it just says you should love her. Men need to love their wives regardless of how they are and prayerfully help them to become who they are supposed to be and vice versa.

How do you handle obstinate clients who want to buy particular foot wears even though it will not look good on their feet?

First, we study our customers. It is not every customer that you tell outright that the shoes will not look nice on them.

Like I said you have already formed a relationship with them even if he or she is a new customer, you are friendly, not formal and uptight with them. Then we ask them the kind of footwear they need but you have to be a good listener. After which we make suggestions and then get them to try on different shoes so that they will see the one that fits and look nicer on them.

What advice do you have for young people who want to do this kind of business?

Don’t come into the business because you want to come into it. You should come into the business if you are gifted. To be a good shoe designer you must be an artistic, meticulous and somebody who is into details. You must be stylish and also understand colours.

For instance, peach and coral are not the same colour even though they look similar. So, you must be able to distinguish such. Then whatever other skill you don’t have, you can acquire but you must be an artistic person.

Instyle

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

15

fashion etiquette Wear loose sheer fabric top

K

Flatter your figure in fit and flare dress

F

Angela Davies it and flare dresses have been around for long, however, they are gradually making a comeback in grand style. This dress style is sassy, flirty and striking.

It is a two piece dress style with a fitted bodice which usually stops just above the navel and joined to a pleated, flared or A-line skirt with a hem that typically stops above the knee. The combination of the fitted bodice and short flouncy hemline highlights the smallest part of the waist, flares out and gives the illusion of long legs. It also creates the illusion of curves for a boy-shaped body,

conceals the large bottom half of a pearshaped body and enhances the natural shape of an hourglass-shaped body.

This dress style which is extremely flattering on all body types can be easily dressed up or down, therefore, making them a nice transition from day to evening outfit.

Fit and flare dresses come in different styles, necklines, sleeves and lengths to choose from. But you should know that the shorter the length, the sexier. You can select from striking prints to sophisticated lace style depending on your personal style and the fashion statement you want to make. Also, you can add a skinny belt

to your dress for a more gorgeous look.

If you decide to wear a fit and flare dress to an evening event, pair it with a complementing clutch and pumps.

Depending on the occasion, you can wear this dress style with shoes ranging from open-toe heels, pumps, flat strappy sandal to wedge.

To wear this outfit in any style, just choose one that you are comfortable in, suits your personal style but ensure your legs are flawless and stunning to be flaunted.

Remember, the fit and flare dress stylishly shows off your legs while de-emphasizing your less flattering features.

nowing how to wear a sheer fabric top will determine if your outfit will be accepted as shoddy or sophisticated. A sheer top in a neutral colour can be styled to create a range of different looks.

Sheer tops can be styled with a lovely skirt, pants or skirt; however, you must know how to wear a sheer top that will make you stand out. There are different styles of sheer tops nonetheless the basis is that it is transparent.

So, if you don’t want to wear a camisole underneath your top. Alternatively, show off your beautiful bra underneath for a more daring look but ensure your top is loose. Sheer tops are best worn loose but not overly loose.

The more fitted the sheer top, the more suggestive your look becomes.

So, keep your sheer top chic by wearing one in a looser fitting style paired with a firmer fabric skirt, shorts or pants to create a balance.

16

Instyle

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Accessories to live for

Versatile mini chain shoulder bag Carrying small bags with chain strap are incredibly chic even though they could take only limited items, ANGELA DAVIES writes.

I

t is all about the mini bag with chain strap this season. The mini bags are making a comeback and women are rocking them in different styles and colours. These modern bags should be the perfect addition to your wardrobe this year.

Although these bags may be mini but they are trendy and also add elegance to your look. These mini bags are perfect for evening outings especially when you don’t want to clutch a clutch purse.

Different designers like Chloe, Tom Ford, Valentino, Michael Kors, River Island and others have churned out various beautiful unique styles and colours using different materials to easily choose from.

These epitome of understated bags could come with chain strap, leather combined with chain or chain intricately inter-woven with leather to give the bag a more sophisticated look. Also, some come with fold-over flap with magnetic snap closure while others come with zip closure.

The mini chain shoulder bag comes with solid chains that are a little heavy just to ensure that it does not break easily. The straps are also adjustable to carry on your shoulder or wear it across your body to run quick errands during the day to add some fresh look to your chic appearance.

The mini chain shoulder bag cannot contain so many items because of the size. Hence, it is perfect for storing your cell phones, lipstick and other little but essential items that you will need for the evening. With this bag style, minimal is key so that it does not lose its shape. Some designer mini chain shoulder bag styles come with splendid trims and details to add extra chic to your look.

So opt for a mini chain shoulder bag in a style, colour and material that catches your fancy and make your desired fashion statement.

Instyle

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

17

MY STYLE

Facts

Gowns, stud earrings and comfort

Creative Director of Cinnamon & Pearl, Ugonna Ibe, have always loved the arts; everything ranging from sketching to painting with acrylic and oil, but her interest in fashion was sparked by watching her mother develop a clothing line for which she created her own prints.

For Nollywood actress, Nkiru Umeh, simplicity is her fashion watchword.

But she would never sacrifice her love for comfort and class to look simple, writes ANGELA DAVIES. How would you define your style?

My style is simple and classy. I like it simple but classy as well.

she does. And internationally, I like Zara and Roberto Cavalli. I also like the evening sequin dresses of Jovani.

What determines the kind of outfits you wear?

It is the event. I dress according to the event, be it a daytime or night event.

Signature perfume Roberto Cavalli; I am just addicted to this perfume.

What kinds of outfit occupy the most space in your wardrobe?

I would say fitted gowns. I flaunt my beautiful figure in these gowns.

How do you like your make up?

I like it simple but well defined.

What is your fetish?

I love shoes a lot and I wear all kinds of shoes.

Is there any outfit you're unlikely to be seen wearing?

I think I can wear anything as long as it is covered up to some extent.

How do you love your hair?

I have been on low cut for two years. I have natural silky hair so sometimes I texturise it and style to suit my facial structure and style as well.

Fashion item you cannot do without My stud earrings and that is because I have three ear lobe openings.

Fashion accessory you will like to be I will like to be an emerald stone.

What fashion rule do you live by?

That will be comfort. No matter the kind of outfit I decide to wear I want to be comfortable.

Beauty A

lthough many women love to flaunt their well manicured and polished fingernails. However, how many women truly keep your nails healthy? Do you know that sometimes women unintentionally make their nails unhealthy in the name of fashion?

Well, check out some bad nail habits you need to stop now to make your nails look good and healthy.

Nail biting - No decent woman should bite her fingernails. It is bad for your fingers and teeth as well.

Skipping base coat - If you don’t want your nails looking ugly yellow, then, you must use a translucent base coat before applying the paint colour of your choice. Aside making your polish last longer, it also acts as a protection between the coloured nail polish and your nails.

Frequently wearing nail polish – No doubt, well-manicured hands make you look prim and proper. However, sometimes it is good to allow your nails breath and regain their natural form. If the polish stays on your nails for more than three weeks, it may cause discolouration of nails.

The baggy trousers were called “Oxford bags” because they had originated at Oxford University, where a ban on knickerbockers prompted the students to turn to baggy trousers instead.

Jewellery that appeals to you I love any kind of jewellery as long as it makes a fashion statement.

Can you recall the most expensive fashion item you have ever bought?

A piece of jewellery.

Best designer Anita appeals because she is good at what

Shoulder pads were the most decade-defining of the top 10 1980s fashion fads.

Umeh

Best colour I love bold colours to complement my complexion.

In 1926, designer Coco Chanel designed the simple, versatile, accessible and neutral Little Black Dress for women of all social class.

Appalling nail habits to stop Picking cuticles – Picking your cuticles would weaken your nails and may also cause small wounds around the skin near your nails.

Pulling hangnails - Hangnails is that dry small bit of nail that sometimes hangs out. You should not try removing it using your teeth as it will only cause your nails to get brittle and uneven. Instead, use a nail cutter and nail file.

Peeling your nail polish - When you peel off your chipped nail polish, the fact is that you are also peeling off the healthy layer of the nails with it. This causes them to become dry, brittle and sensitive. So you should avoid doing this.

Instead, remove nail polish with dissolver and cotton wool.

Addiction to artificial nails – Addiction to different artificial nails may sound fun, but in the long run it leads to discoloured, disfigured and ugly nails. Although, it is good to do it for a change once in a while, however, you should not overdo it. Keep at least a month gap between two artificial nail sessions.

So are you guilty of any of the bad nail habits listed? Well, it is not too late to stop and have those beautiful and healthy nails you desire.

Use translucent base coat before applying polish Limit how you wear artificial nails

Do not peel nail polish

Allow your nails breathe from time to time

TV & Radio with Angela Davies

Catching the Game On fever

T

he game is on and it is between Team Fashion and Team Football in an exciting and creative reality television show called, Game On. The show, which is a fusion of fashion and football, is sponsored by Malta Guinness.

The show is designed as a platform to help the public decide what they consider Nigerians' most beloved passion between fashion and football. Hence, the formation of two teams namely Team Fashion and Team Football.

To ensure that both teams get the best experience, fight for their passion as well as fulfil their dreams, both teams are mentored by renowned professionals. Team Fashion has as its mentor renowned fashion designer, Lanre Da Silva-Ajayi while Team Football is mentored by ex-Nigerian international footballer, Daniel Amokachi.

The reality show which started with 12 contestants pooled from across the country and lives in one house is now left with four contestants on both teams. Team Fashion members who are left after their weakest link were voted out includes Henrietta Ikharo, Ukaraobong Effiong, Precious Eminue and Mary Rogers. While Adeniji Kamaldeen, Akintoye Yemisi, Olumide Ajibolade and Isah Abdullahi are still in the race also after voting out their weakest links.

For each tasks every week, while Team Fashion show their individual and collective creativity in terms of churning out different designs, Team Football also display their various individually and collectively football skills and vitality.

For last week’s task, both teams were given four days to prepare for their task after which the community would vote for the team they were most impressed with. While Team Fashion was given the task of revamping Tamara Exclusive boutique in Surulere and then hold a mini runway show displaying their own creations in the same venue, Team Football was asked to refurbish a field also in Surulere, coach two football teams that will compete against each other as well as get jerseys for the teams. Since they were just four contestants left in Team Football, Kamal and Olumide paired

Lanre Da Silva -Ajayi and Daniel Amokachi

to coach one team while Yemisi and Isah paired to coach the second team.

At the end of the four days, Team fashion successfully revamped the boutique and also showcased their creations which consisted mainly of amazing mullet dresses, long skirt and crop top, evening gown and ankara pants.

The contestants were applauded for their beautiful designs and Lanre Da Silva-Ajayi was seen grinning, an indication that her team had made her proud.

On the part of Team Football, the four contestants spent the four days refurbishing and seriously training and coaching their teams.

On the D-day, the match between Core Goodness coached by Yemisi and Isah and Core Vitality coached by Kamal and Olumide ended 1-1 even though both team played with passion, skill and energy. However, after the penalty shootout, Kamal and Olumide’s team, Core Vitality won.

At the end of the task, members of Surulere community voted for the team they believed impressed

them more. Back in the house, when Da Silva-Ajayi and Amokachi showed up with the result, tension was seen on the faces of the contestants because they know that any team that loses would have to vote out their weakest link. However, for the first time, there was fair play as both teams won their task.

The objective of the reality show is for contestants to fight for their passion and fulfil their dreams. For Team Football contestants, it is to make them better coaches while for members of Team Fashion, it is to coach them to become better designers.

If you want to have a feel of what the show is all about and also decide which passion appeals more to Nigerians, then you still have a chance to watch the show. The final task comes up next week for the ultimate passion of Nigerians.

The one hour entertaining programme is aired on different television stations across the country. However, it airs on AIT on Sunday at 5:00 pm.

Good Morning Nigeria Show

Instant beauty queen

Video fashion

Good Morning Nigeria Show with Mannie and The Angels is a fresh and entertaining morning show with the latest in showbiz news and fun stories happening around the world. You can also listen to the best selection of international and Nigerian hits.

Instant Beauty Queen is a reality show where three young and beautiful girls appear in front of two judges in an impromptu beauty pageant. After a series of questions, the most intelligent girl is crowned an instant beauty queen.

It is a fashion programme that covers different fashion shows, interviews with designers, models and make-up artiste across the globe. It also covers all that happens at the backstage of major fashion shows as well as latest fashion.

ONTV Monday @ 6:30 pm

TVC Saturday @ 1:30 pm

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This weekend AIT

TELEVISION

ITV Abuja

Saturday 08:00 Infotech Network 08:30 Destiny Encounter 09:00 Health Monitor 09:30 Hour of Salvation 10:00 The Warp Trio 10:30 Sports File 11:00 One Cubed 11:30 700 Club Nigeria 12:00 AIT reports 2:00 Welcome to Nigeria 3:30 Our Ladies Our Pride 4:30 Dawn In The Creeks 5:00 Video Fashion 5:30 School Hunters 6:00 Trends 6:30 True Nigerian 7:30 700 Club Nigeria 8:00 AIT News Hour 9:00 Oasis 9:30 Secrets and Scandals 10:00 Taste of Love 10:30 Beautiful Liars 10:30 Views and Tunes Sunday 08:00 Movie

Programme summary Cool FM 96.9 Mon-Fri @ 5:00 am

SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2015

Saturday 8:00 Victory hour 9:30 At all at all 10:00 Children’s Theatre 11:00 Eagle XtianVoive 11:30 My Tomorrow 12:00 Angelus 1:00 Sports

10:00 The 700 Club Int’l 10:30 Gospel Music 11:00 700 club int'l 11:30 Flying House 12:00 The week in review 12:30 Documentary 1:00 Impact 360 1:30 The Gender Agenda 2:00 O & M Sunday Show 3:00 Mini Jojo 4:00 World News 4:30 Personalities, Places

and Events 5:00 Malta Guinness Game On 6:00 News 7:00 The Valley Between 8:00 News Hour 9:00 Tales of Eve 9:30 Nectar 10:00 Documentary 10:30 Music + Videos and More 11:00 Sunday Homily

Smooth FM 98.1

1:30 Christ Embassy 3:00 Troubled Waters 3:30 Omega Fire Ministry 4:00 Living Next to You 4:30 Destiny Encounter 5:00 Sports Spectacular 6:30 Family Platform 7:00 Shepherd House 7:30 ITV Main News 8:00 Salem International 8:30 WEBIC (Live) 9:00 NTA Network News 10:00 Mic Challenge 10:30 MSI Sport Sunday 7:00 Bible Movie 7:30 Church TV 8:00 Foreign Movie 9:00 Living the Life (CBN) 9:30 Green Stories 10:00 Mount Zion Movie 11:00 News review (Live) 11:30 700 Club Nigeria 12:00 Angelus 12:03 Nigerian Home Movie 1:30 Christ Embassy 2:00 Worship Forum 3:30 Mothers World 4:00 Christian Brethren 5:00 Eagle Xtian Voice of Victory 6:00 Health Monitor 6:30 Labour Watch 7:00 Kingdom ½ Hour 7:30 ITV Main News 8:00 An Hour with Pastor Kumuyi 9:00 NTA Network News 9:30 Social Event 10:00 Sports Ville 10:30 Late Night Movie

RADIO

Saturday 6:00 Breakfast in Bed 10:00 Smooth Book Review 11:00 Total Football 12:00 Metro Life 5:00 Luxury Soul 09:00 Late Night Blues

Magic Fm 102.9 Aba Saturday 7:00 Afro NaijaFlava 9:00 At Your Request 10:00 Talk Sports 11:00 Rep Your Club (Soccer) 1:00 Those Were the Days 2:00 At Your Request 3:00 It’s Our City 4:00 Old School Highlife 5:00 Music/Talk 6:00 Extra Time 7:00 The Big Saturday

Sunday 7:00 Smooth Motivations 10:00 Music Mix 12:00 Sunday Brunch 4:00 Music Mix 6:00 Soulfully Yours 10:00 Music Mix

Sunday 7:00 A Day with the Lord 10:00 Sunday Free Way 12:00 Kick Off/Predictor Game 1:00 100% Naija 2:00 Focus on Family 3:00 Tear Rubber 4:00 Campus Line 5:00 Magic FM Music Survey 7:00 Magic Request Line 10:00 Soft Side 11:00 Who’s on Your Mind

SATURDAY

Georgina Onuoha The pain behind the glam

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ShowBiz

Xchange Our parents really can't tell us apart

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SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2015

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A fan bashed my car and ran to take selfies with me Aituaje Iruobe, known by her showbiz moniker, Waje, has released a few songs that have earned her a place as one of Nigeria's most sought after singers. The Glo ambassador and mother of one in this interview with LANRE ODUKOYA speaks on career, romance and the craziest encounter she has ever had with a fan.

Words Aren't Just Enough (WAJE), your debut album made impressive impact not only for the quality of the collaboration but the depth of your repertoire; when should your sophomore be expected?

Thanks for the kind words. Incidentally, I'm already at work on my next album. I've come into a great place musically and that's part of what I explore in my next album. You can start crossing your fingers. This year, I have so many projects going on and they are all music based. I have videos and single, but the album is not coming yet. So just be eying next year.

How is your new single, Coco Baby, doing in terms of acceptance?

The reception for Coco Baby continentally has been amazing. I'm very emotional sometimes when fans in East and South Africa call me out and show love. Of all the songs I've released, this has enjoyed the most airplay and requests across Africa. Last December when the song was a month old, massive airplay statistics named it number one. I'm so grateful for the love. Shout out to all the stations and OAPs and to all my fans for requesting my music nonstop. The love is appreciated.

Have you ever had a fierce misunderstanding with her and how do you manage your differences?

Our sisterhood is strong, maybe stronger than you have ever thought.

We are aware of your early influence in music, but if music hasn't been paying the bills, what would be your plan B? My plan A- Z has always been music.

There's a quote I follow. Either I find a way, or I make one.

What other passion do you nurse?

Fashion has become my new baby. At this point in my life I've finally understood my personality and style and blending both is a fabulous experience for me.

What were your earliest challenges in rising to the top?

I would say it was being given a chance when I started. But I quickly learnt that you don't wait for opportunity, you create it.

After this single, what's next from you?

There are a lot of projects coming up in 2014. This year, I'm focusing particularly on my charity work, Waje's Safe House, we are collaborating with a lot of multinational NGOs and bodies on a few projects in the second quarter of this year.

2014 seemed a defining moment for the Waje brand particularly with regard to endorsements; to what do you ascribe this?

I would humbly say that it's God, hard work and an incredibly driven team behind me. We know what we want and we are going to get it.

What would you be doing differently in 2015, something like a New Year resolve as they say?

I've learnt to make life resolutions not New Year resolutions because the new year will come and go and come again and go again.

Everyday however we have life, so it's basically striving towards the form of perfection we desire.

You've grown almost inseparable with your colleague, Omawumi, are you still that close?

I don't think almost inseparable is the term, we have been amazing friends for a while. She's my sister from another mother.

She's family.

Did you actually pattern your career after any famous Nigerian singer when you were setting out?

Not necessarily. My career was mainly patterned after brand Waje and that’s it.

Of all your songs, which one do you mostly sing at leisure and why?

Coco Baby would be it. It's very bubbly and joyful and that beach vibe is unbeatable you know.

Is your daughter taking after you career wise?

My daughter is free to pursue any career she desires. So, if she decides to pursue a career in music, mummy's got her back.

Now that we know the MI tale is but a ruse; is there a man in Waje's life?

I would like to know too, I’m busy asking myself.

Are you looking at wedding soon as

some keep speculating?

(Chuckling) It amuses me that everybody is asking this kind of question, but really, if there are such plans, you would be the first to know.

What won't you be able to put up with in a man?

I think that’s going to be a bad attitude and disrespect.

What's your take on artistes' seemingly sudden obsession for political office?

I would say everyone has one thing or the other they aspire to be, and if holding a political office is one of those things, then they should be allowed to go on.

Can you recall the weirdest thing a fan did to you?

There are quite a few. Once a fan bashed my car on the road and immediately he saw it was me, he, ran to me hugged me quick and started taking ‘selfies’ with me and ended up calling his friends on the spot. Before I left he had already put up a post that he bashed my car with a collage of pictures which included the bashed car.

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Showbiz

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

LANRE ODUKOYA

SHOWBIZ TODAY

08059296445 lanre.odukoya@newtelegraphonline.com

Femi Kuti features Tuface Idibia, Sound Sultan in political song

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n these unfolding political times, Femi Kuti has dropped another satirical single to liven up the sphere. The afrobeat singer released the remix to lead single, Politics naa Big Business, of the album, No Place for My Dreams. The remix features Tuface Idibia and Sound Sultan. The song enlightens Nigerians with the hope of making them aware that the welfare of the country lies in their hands and that they should make informed decisions in choosing a leader who will put the people first and eradicate corruption.

Tuface and Sound Sultan showed solidarity and shared the same message in what they have highlighted to be a landmark to their individual careers. They rebuked the trend of voters choosing their preferred candidates on the terms of the rich man who influences them to vote for the very selfish reasons. Politics naa Big Business remix is uniquely composed and sees the best of both worlds as Femi Kuti delivers an Afro beat masterpiece with Tuface and Sound Sultan surpassing expectations composing their profound verses. This is Femi Kuti’s first release since signing a management deal with Chocolate City last November.

Ibinabo Fiberisima replies critics on Muna Obiekwe’s death

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ince the sudden death of actor, Muna Obiekwe, the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria has been accused of abandoning of one of its own. The guild’s president, Ibinabo Fiberisima, has finally responded to the criticisms. “We never ignore our members. If we are informed of a situation, we take action. Please, like I said let’s pray not curse. We have gone out of our way to help non-guild members much less our own. We never neglect anyone.

We have an active insurance plan. We have begged our members and are still begging them to revalidate their membership and join the health plan. There is only so much anyone can do. Muna was revalidated and on the health plan.

Pleases let's beware of what we say, if we don’t have the facts please,” she said.

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Georgina Onuoha: The pain behind the glam

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ollywood actress Georgina Onuoha Igwegbe has finally taken to social media to announce that her 10-year-old marriage had long collapsed. Onuoha was the toast of movie buffs many years back, but she disappeared from the screen after getting married and relocated to the US. The mother of two who has returned to her acting career in the US took to her Facebook page to express the hurt we didn’t know she was suffering.

"It has taken almost four years to do this; it’s taken a lot of soul searching, prayer and counselling to get to this juncture. It’s not breaking news that my relationship of over a decade is over while I do this with the highest respect for my kids, family members and friends.

SOLUTIONS TO CROSSWORD PUZZLE

I also owe you my fans my sincere gratitude for your support and prayers.

A lot have been put out there on the Internet about my marriage. I crave your indulgence to please pray for my family.

There are no victors, no vanquished.

I still have tremendous respect for the father of my kids and I ask same from you all. He is a good man, and a good father. The fact that the marriage didn't work is our failure as full adults.

I take responsibility for the part I played in it. While marriage ends, true relationship never dies. We remain good friends and parents to our two lovely daughters. We will do our best to give them the best life offers. Once again, thanks for all your love and support through the years. Sincerely yours, Georgina Onuoha," she wrote.

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Speaking on the concert, founder of Industry Nite, Matthew Ohio, said Industry Nite will continue to explore unique opportunities to ensure that Nigerian music is recognised globally.

"Our goal this year is to take Nigerian music to every Nigerian irrespective of the location. I'm always keen on promoting our music beyond the shores of the country. So Dubai is going to be our first port of call in a series of foreign cities we intend touring this year. We are taking major Nigerian acts around the US, Europe and Asia this year. These tours will also feature international acts from across Africa and America, creating a cultural exchange that will

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Burna Boy, Wande Coal to headline Industry Nite in Dubai N igerian musicians, Wande Coal and Burna Boy, have been unveiled as artistes to headline the Industry Nite concert billed to take place in Dubai on January 29. The event which will take place at the Kiza Lounge in Dubai is certain to be a night of fun and networking. It's the first time the two artistes would be performing together for the first time in Dubai. Kiza Lounge owned by Nigerian entrepreneur, Lukman Akanbi, is located in the heart of Dubai. The African-themed restaurant and lounge has played host to some top tier Nigerian artistes, including Davido, 2face, Ice Prince, among others.

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18. MALU 22. CAR 23. BAT 24. UGH 25. JAM 26. IKWUANO 15. DAMBOA 19. ALUM 20. BROW 21. RAJ

help African music to get mainstream attention," he pointed out.

Burna Boy said he was excited to be performing on the same stage alongside Wande Coal.

"I think this is just about the second time we will be performing together, so it's definitely going to be a blast," he stated.

According to Wande Coal, it has been a while since he last visited Dubai for a performance.

"I am looking forward to January 29 when I get to perform some of my latest singles. My fans in Dubai should expect nothing short of the Black Diamond Experience," he said.

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Showbiz

21

Xchange: Our parents really can't tell us apart Taiwo and Kehinde Oye popularly known as Xchange never gave up on their music dreams despite daunting hurdles. In this interview with ANGELA DAVIES, they talk about music, how their parents and girlfriends can hardly differentiate them amongst, other issues.

When did you start music?

Taiwo: We have been singing since our undergraduate days at the University of Ilorin. However, professionally we started in 2006.

What is your genre of music?

Taiwo: Our kind of song is afro hip-hop. One of our songs that is receiving massive air play right now is titled, Ore. Then our new single that people also love is titled, Presidential produced by V Tech.

How did music start for you both?

Taiwo: Music is something we never struggled with. It flows easily. Right from time, music has been there. At a time we went into modelling. I was modelling for Modela. That is why you can see the blend of fashion and music in us. Even before we gained admission into school, music has been drives us. And when we were in school, we formed a group called Xclusive Brothers.

Kehinde: Even back in the university, we still go to the studio to record songs. It was all about bringing out the best. There was a song we recorded five times because we were not satisfied. So we had to rewrite the lyrics, change the tone and readjust the sound. It is more like a remix on everything.

How do you manage the task of writing lyrics and composing songs?

Taiwo: The interesting thing about us is the way we write our song.

Sometimes a tune will just come and we will work on that tune for about a month. Once we get the suitable chorus that we want, we separately write our own solo. Then we combine and decide which one should be first solo, second solo and so on. Then, we find a bridge to it. So we both write songs.

How was 2014 and what should fans expect from Xchange this year?

Taiwo: Last year was quite fulfilling. It was a year when we had a lot of shows and many people also got to know us and they believed in us.

Thank God it is rolled into this year and will continue like that. 2015 is quite promising. Fans should expect the video of our new single, ‘presidential’. Also, they should expect a new single titled By my side.

Kehinde: We are still trying to talk to Clarence Peters for the new video we want to shoot.

Do your parents as well as friends have difficulty differentiating you?

Taiwo: When it comes to people, they cannot differentiate Taiwo from Kehinde. There is always a mix up.

Kehinde: Our parents can differentiate us when we are always around them. But sometimes they cannot especially when we go away for two weeks or thereabout. For instance, we just came back from a music tour in Calabar and when we got back, they could not tell us apart.

What about your girlfriends?

Taiwo: Of course, they hardly can tell us apart but we are honest with them. We don’t try to be mischievous because it has to do with their mental and emotional makeup. Also, it can count against our credibility and we don’t want to tarnish that for anything.

Should we say you are the next PSquare?

Taiwo and Kehinde: Actually, we are going to be greater than them.

Kehinde: That is because the glory of the latter is always greater than the former. Even P-Square themselves will agree that we should be greater than them. It is natural that if anybody is coming behind you, you want the person to be the best.

Who are those you consider role models in the music industry?

Kehinde: I will not call them role models but people who motivate us.

We feel that people who are hard working, consistent and focused should be

commended for their good works.

Taiwo: For instance, P-Square, Nikki Laoye, Sammy Okposo and Olamide are musicians who motivate us.

How would you describe the music industry's growth?

Taiwo: The music industry right now is extremely very viable but tough as well. There is a Yoruba proverb that says anybody who wants to eat from the palm tree, really have to work hard. This time around, the music industry is not for mediocre. It is for those that are serious, persistent and consistent in the industry because it could be frustrating if you are not in the game. It is very important for everyone to know what they are doing, be consistent and focused because if you are not careful you will be distracted.

How has the journey been so far?

Kehinde: It has been up and down.

But you should not be afraid of disappointment. Sometimes, that is the ladder you need to climb to get higher. When you are disappointed and you still hold on to your dream, it will definitely come to pass. It naturally works like that. And that is why we have come so far. We have been disappointed quite a number of times but we never gave up on our dreams. When we started some people saw us nobody but today we thank God for where we are and where we are going to. People should not despise little beginnings.

Taiwo: I will say our breakthrough was late 2013. But last year, we had a lot of phone calls to perform at different events and places, had lots of television interviews and a lot more.

Are you thinking of having a collaboration with any Nigerian musician?

Kehinde: We had one collabora-

tion with General Pype titled, Number 1. But in our next album, we want to do collaboration with quite a number of musicians and one of them is Bouqui.

Taiwo: We picked Bouqui because she is a diva and good rapper. She also has that charisma and also one of those who inspired us.

Do you guys dress the same way all the time or just for events?

Kehinde: We wear the same outfit when attending big events. It is the brand. But at home, we don’t like wearing the same outfit.

Taiwo: We don’t even have the same wardrobe. The only clothes that are the same, like Taiwo said are our outfits for shows alone. Even when we are attending casual events, we don’t dress the same because we don’t like all eyes been on us.

Can you recall pranks you have played on your parents?

Taiwo: We have played so many pranks on our parents. But sometimes I collect money twice; all I need to do is just change my clothes.

Kehinde: For instance, pretending that I am not the one who offended my parents also just by simply changing clothes.

Do you share similar academic background?

Taiwo: I studied accounting at the University of Ilorin after which I went for my masters in business administration.

Kehinde: I studied business administration and have masters in strategic management along with a couple of professional certificates in management and auditing.

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Showbiz

How would you describe yourself?

I am known as ‘Ebele the Flutist’.

I play the flute and sing as well. I am actually the first female who is playing flute in a contemporary tune. We have other females who play the flute but they do orchestral or classic. In Nigeria and most countries, people mostly do not see flute as one that can stand alone; they see it as an instrument that relies on other instruments to be heard. But I have been able to use the flute in many unbelievable ways and to play different genres of music. So without mincing words, I can say it makes me unique and the first female flutist in Nigeria.

But why are you obsessed with the flute?

People always ask me this question.

For me I would say playing flute started from the age of 14 years old and it was a hobby really. We had a musical school and there was a Filipino lady that trained us on music. I liked the way she played and I was determined to learn it as a hobby, but my hobby later became my passion. Also, I have always been the type who loves to do things differently. I didn’t study music; I read accounting my first degree and business administration for my second degree. Music was just something I had passion for. When I graduated I got a job in an oil company, but the passion for music became so strong that I desired to take it to the next level.

I have been doing this professionally for about five years now.

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Ebele the Flutist: I face pressure even as gospel musician After the death of Ebele Ezeamaka’s mother, her best friend, it appeared her world had crashed. But ironically, the circumstance later brought about a turnaround in her life and music. Ebele speaks with OLUSHOLA RICKETTS about her obsession with the flute.

So far, how would you describe the reception of your new song, ‘Dream Come True?’

It has been nice. It an urban and commercial song produced by Cohbams Asuquo. It is totally different from other songs I have done before. I have done jazz, classic among others, but I sang more in Dream Come True.

You could also see them playing it at other places they play the songs of Wizkid, D’banj, Tuface, etc. The message here is that you can actually use the flute to do anything.

Was there any time you had no desire to play flute again?

There was no time. Music has always run in me right from a tender age as I said earlier. When I was very young I sang everywhere, in the toilet and kitchen too. When I am down too the only thing I could think of is music. It has always been my shelter and a source of inspiration for me.

How was your growing up?

I am from Anambra State, but I grew up in Edo State. I had a Chris-

Do you have any song so particular to you?

I think all my songs are, but there is a particular song, If You Don’t Know. I was inspired to do that song when my mother died. She was my closest friend and she taught me how to pray and virtually everything I learned in my life. When she died I thought the world has come to an end because I couldn’t imagine surviving without her, but that was when I got so strong and focused. I took my music serious and knew what I wanted to do in life. So, the song explained to the people that if you don’t know what to do they should ask God. I don’t see the death of my mother as a setback again. Though it was painful to lose her, God turned things around for me.

What has been the major challenge?

The challenge is always finance, but I don’t allow it to define me. There was a time I was called for a show during the early days of my career and they told me they wanted to give me a platform for people to know me. So, I told them that at least they should pay for my transport fare. We then agreed that I should find my way to the venue and they will sort me out. I went there with a cab and people were so amazed at my performance, but they later told me they had nothing to give to me after the programme ended. I felt so bad and belittled. There were many experiences like that, but it can never happen again. Before you could get me on a show now, you must have informed my team earlier. Everything in life is in stages.

How did your loved ones react to your decision to quit your job?

My managing director for example saw the decision as a joke because we started the company together. When I insisted he said something must be wrong with me because I was doing well as an accountant. He also noted that the kind of music I wanted to do was not well accepted in Nigeria and advised I leave the country to be successful with it. But I was so determined and when he saw that, he had no choice than to encourage me. He then sponsored some of my first singles.

Are you trying to please a certain people by doing a commercial song?

I don’t really think so, though it could be part of it too. But the main reason is that I want to show people that there are many parts to me. I am a vast musician and could do many things with the flute. I want to be a bigger player in the market too.

What gives you satisfaction?

I am fulfilled and happy when I see myself influencing people. My aim is to touch people positively, so I am happy when people call or write on my facebook wall that they love my songs.

tian background and we are six in my family. I am the odd one in my family; my sister is a doctor and my brother a business-minded person. My dad loves music, but he didn’t take it serious. He normally told me that I got the music thing from my grandfather. When we were very young my grandfather had some wooden materials that he made instruments out of.

He played sound from the wood and we were always delighted to listen to him anytime we came back from school. So I want to believe that I took part of my desire for music from my dad and grandfather.

Would you call your music a success at this point?

It has not been rosy and there’ve been many ups and downs. I tell peo-

ple that if you place money before your passion, you might not go far because there are instances money will not come. Will you leave what you doing when money is not coming? Passion keeps you going even when there is no money.

The challenge is always finance, but I don’t allow it to define me

Should we be expecting your debut album anytime soon?

My fans should expect my album this year. I have released singles and videos, so the next project now is an album and concerts. It has to take this long because what I do is very different. I had to penetrate into the market first and let people get familiar with what I do. Your products need to be visible before you could make anything profitable out of it.

Do you think women are doing enough in the music industry?

We have some ladies doing well now. There is Tiwa Savage, Omawumi, Waje and few more. I am also emerging. But most of we ladies get intimidated and face many challenges.

Before some record labels sign women they give conditions. One of the reasons my brand is making headway is because I am not under a record label.

Though I have some sponsors, I have been the one pushing myself. I know of a friend that was to be signed on a label and they told her what she must be wearing, the need to befriend one of them, etc. Though I am not much into secular music, I would tell you that most females are intimidated. Some are scared too because of the pressure.

Being a gospel person I know the kind of pressure I face. I have seen cases where people wanted me to adjust my music to suit what they want.

Are you getting married anytime soon?

That is the dream of every person, but for someone like me I must be careful. It has to be someone that will key into what I do because I know some ladies that had dreams, but the moment they got married things went awry. The men like what they do, but didn’t see themselves in it. And if a man can’t see himself in what his wife does he can’t drive it with her. Most of them are struggling or have shut down completely because their husbands are not supportive. So, what I do is very delicate, but I believe God, the path will be settled very soon.

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

CONFLUENCE

... a finger on the city’s pulse

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LANRE ODUKOYA

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2014 Miss Universe: Judges decide top 15 T

he competition is definitely a tough one for the 2014 Miss Universe pageant with 88 contestants from across the world in the run to be crowned Miss Universe.

The preliminary event held on Wednesday night with the 88 contestants being introduced to the world (and the judges). For the event, the beauty queens showed off their swimwear looks and evening gown. From this event 15 women will be chosen to be a part of the finale which will take place on Sunday, January 25. The top 15 winners are still being deliberated but we are hopeful that one or two African beauties will make it to the final stage.

Bamanga Tukur’s son, Ahmed welcomes baby boy S

ometime in April last year, an elaborate wedding that held in Lagos but shook the country to its base and the host was the former chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Bamanga Tukur.

His son, Ahmed got married to Karimot and the union has just produced a bouncing baby boy. The tot arrived last Thursday.

Sisi Yemmmie tutors couple-to-be S isi Yemmie, the newly wedded Vlogger is a popular lifestyle blogger who recently got married to her long time love she fondly calls “Bobo”.

The highly elated young woman is still basking in the euphoria of the grandeur of that marriage and the charm his man oozes.

These perhaps explain why the burgeoning blogger, in her latest V-log, discusses "How To Plan A Nigerian Wedding" for couples intending to walk the same path soon.

23

Paul Okoye legalises marriage with Anita

Shina Peters grieves over wife's ailment fro juju exponent, Sir Shina Peters, is having a challenging time over wife, Sammie Ayoka’s failing health. The hitherto bubbly lady is down with cancer. Sammie is in the United States where she is receiving treatment from experts who have been battling to rescue her from the jaws of the life-threatening ailment. Sammie is one of the few entertainers’ wives blessed with the rare intelligence of sustaining a celebrity marriage for over thirty two years. With her husband solidly beside her, the stylish lady has triumphed over tougher travails. Peters still eulogizes Sammie for her extreme patience towards him. In the hit album, Ace, the stage rocker did not only profess his love for the woman whom he said was there for him when he passed through hell, he literally professed love that would last a lifetime, part of what forms his guiding principle for standing behind the woman under intensive care. Decades down the line, Peters and Sammy have remained an inseparable couple through thick and thin. Even when Sammie had difficulty having babies for her celebrity husband, the Ogun-born guitarist, Peters went back to the studio to wax another album, Shinamania, in which he encouraged his wife to wait on God for a child just like the biblical Hannah. Luck smiled on Sammie in her 40s and the couple were blessed with a baby boy. The man is said to have cut away from friends and the social circuit where he holds sway and retreated into oblivion. And suddenly, we found out that their Iju, Lagos, mansion remains under lock and key. Understandably, Peters has travelled to the US to physically lend a hand to his ailing wife.

Showbiz

aul Okoye and Anita Okoye, who had their traditional wedding ceremony last year legalized their union last Thursday at the Ikoyi Registry, Lagos. After seeing their cute pre-wedding shoot, we have been eagerly counting down to their white wedding ceremony which insiders insist will be holding in the second quarter of the year.

And as for any trace of pregnancy as the duo has since been living together, Anita still looks as fresh as an innocent teen. For their special day, Paul was joined by his twin brother, Peter, and Anita was styled by Lilian Unachukwu.

And for her beauty look, Lilian’s comment partly read: ‘Getting the beautiful @anita_okoye ready for her court registry. She said she wanted to look like she walked in her closet and pulled out her outfit. So I decided to keep it #simpleandclassy. A lil lace detail for the special occasion.We decided neutrals and she seemed happy.#happyclienthappystylist.

Wishing her and Paul God’s blessings on this special day #AnitaandPaul#2015loading” This cheery news mellows the cruel tale of acrimony that almost tore the music empire, Squareville apart.

Investigations SATURDAY TELEGRAPH 24 JANUARY 2015

24

Widowhood: The story of invisible women (1) The dilemma widows in some South-eastern neighborhoods face is dreadfully pitiable. They are condemned to a life of rejection, trauma, deprivation and poverty. However, the sufferings vary from quarter to quarter. ISIOMA MADIKE, who is on tour of this region, reports the broad patterns of these harmful traditional practices of widowhood in the communities visited

C

hidera was once cherished by her husband's family. But, not any more. They now treat her as a pariah since her husband died in 2012. They convey through spoken and implied signs, a simple message to her: "You killed your husband."

Chidera, a native of Amawbia in Anambra State still wonders why it should be her. "Why me? she mumbles every night with confusion and despair on the bed that once brought her comfort, joy and peace. She now battles with reality and wish it is all a dream. But, it never seem to go away. It was real; it is her reality, an unpleasant, heartrending reality.

But, she is not an isolated case. Paulinus, who hailed from Nanka, also in Anambra State, died in 2009. Like Chidera, Adaeze, his wife has been in torment ever since the tragic incident.

Her husband's people said she killed him. However, it did not stop at just mere accusation. She was forced to drink the bathwater from the corpse to prove her innocence. Her hair was shaved with a blunt razor and Adaeze was made to wear black mourning attire for one year during which she was confined indoors.

"I was made to sit naked on the floor for a week without bath with the corpse," she recalled, amid tears rolling down her cheeks.

Yet, Chidera and Adaeze are not alone in this ordeal. In the case of Theresa Okoye from Neibo in Awka South

Isioma madike

Editor, INVESTIGATIONS isioma.madike@newtelegraphonline.com © Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Local Government Area of the State, she was forbidden to see her husband's corpse. She does not buy or sell in the market throughout her mourning period. And she was circumvented like death; people saw her and ran away from her.

Okoye, 69, was just 28 years when her husband died in 1974. Since then she has not known peace as her in-laws have constantly made life unbearable for her and her four surviving children.

For Rosaline, her in-laws confiscated all her husband's property after he died.

She had five kids with her late husband.

"My husband left me and five children for one of his brothers and travelled to Lagos State to look for the proverbial greener pastures. When things did not work out as planned, he returned to try something else back home. But, a year after, he fell sick and died. And his family accused me of killing him.

"I was forced to sleep with the corpse for three days without food during which time native doctors were brought in to perform some rituals," she said.

Yet, if this was all Rosaline had to go through, it would have been bearable but there was no stopping the in-laws.

From verifying her culpability in the death of her husband, they went further to deny her inheritance rights. After her innocence was proved, she was forced out of her husband's home with her children. During this period her friends deserted her as her in-laws told them she was a witch. “I left everything for them.

I now live alone in a small, uncompleted building,” Rosaline sobbed.

Just like Chidera and her likes, the story of Nkechi, is not different. However, not having a child compounded the woes that befell Nkechi when her husband died in 1999. Although, they lived a happy life, her husband’s family members from Nkpoo, near Onitsha, mounted pressure on him to do something about his childlessness. He finally succumbed to family pressure and married another wife.

“When he died, I was asked by one of

Okwara coming out from herthatched mud house

Adaeze drank bathwater from the corpse to free herself

my sisters-in-law to urinate in an open place and in the presence of everyone in the village in order to prove my innocence in my husband’s death. My bladder was blocked because of the stress and the psychological feeling of doing it before the crowd. I only managed to do it an hour later, but the junior wife was not part of the ritual because they felt I was the one who killed our husband since I didn’t bear him a child.”

Nkechi said.

Her hair was shaved and she was made to cover herself with a black wrapper for three-months after which she was given two sets of wrappers to wear for a period of one year. She was alleged to have maltreated her husband and had not taken good care of him when he was on his sick bed. For this, Nkechi was made to crawl over her husband's corpse known as ige fe ukwu ozu.

Augustina's case, from Ozubulu, the headquarters of Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State, is similar to that of Nkechi's. She also narrated how her husband of 20 years had died in a ghastly motor accident and because she had no child in the marriage, she was chased out of the compound. She promptly relocated to Awka, the Anam-

A view of the residence of Ezugwu, of Isiakpu, Nsukka Urban town , Enugu

bra State capital where she started pure water business.

From the communities in Imo State, comes the same tale of woes and pains.

The Igbos are a people whose values are strongly entrenched in their culture and traditions and when it comes to the issue of practices associated with widowhood, the story is the same all over.

In Imo, these widows filed up in

SATURDAY

FREE

Sport Splash

Feature

Post-career blues for ex-internationals' health p.26

Serie A

Lazio, Milan in clash of the titans p.28

FA Cup

Ozil may start against Brighton p.28

Lifestyle

Ronaldo romances Real’s reporter p.31

The Team

Vincent EboigbelAssistant Editor Ajibade Olusesan l Correspondent

SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2015

Charles Ogundiya l Correspondent

© Daily Telegraph Publishing

25

AFCON miss puts pressure on U-23, says Amoo A

Ajibade Olusesan ssistant coach of the national U-23 team, Fatai Amoo, has confessed that the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the ongoing Africa Nations Cup is putting his team under pressure.

He said that his side, next team to the Eagles in the cadre, was condemned to restore the country's pride.

Amoo said that the technical crew was aware of the enormous challenge the development has placed on it and every member of the back room staff was working extra hard to achieve success.

“There is pressure as a result of the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the Nations Cup. U-23 is the next in line in the cadre of national teams and Nigerians will be expecting us to do well since the team they all love and support most did not qualify for a big tournament. But I also want to urge Nigerians to be patient with us, we are just building a new team and it is not easy to have a perfect blend, they just need to keep supporting us and we will not disappoint," he said.

Amoo said that the Samson Siasia-led crew had started on a solid note with the number of friendlies matches lined up, saying that would prepare the team for its first competitive match against Gabon in the All Africa Games qualifying series.

The technical crew has raised two different teams that will feature in an international friendly match with Tunisia to get the players in competitive shape and another team is scheduled to compete at the League Management Company-organised Super Six tournament in Abuja.

He describes the Gabon match as a must-win for the team even though he concedes it won’t be easy.

"Gabon are not pushovers at this level and we expect a tough opposition. We are going to do our best to make sure we move to the next round," he said.

Nigeria did not qualify for the football event of the last All Africa Games in Maputo in 2011 and did not even make the cut for the Olympics Games a year later in London 2012.

Nigeria U-23 star, Kelechi Iheanacho

26

Sport

M

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Post-career blues for

Vincent Eboigbe

any ex-internationals are not only living in strangulating penury but are hobbled by different kinds of debilitating ailments. Yet several others have succumbed to the sickle of the grim reaper at relatively young ages.

It seems a contradiction that people who were super-fit during their heyday in sports should fall rather easily to these ailments. The conventional wisdom is that such people would be the most healthy, having spent much of their youth in sports, engaging in trainings, exercises for long periods; after all, experts have recommended exercise as a sort of ‘cure all’ for many conditions.

However, on the flip side, is it possible that it is the very sporting activities that have predisposed these exathletes to the various illnesses they suffer from today? Many of these exsportsmen had injuries during their playing days, injuries that have now been aggravated with the passage of time. Most, if not all of them, were given all sorts of drugs and injections to extend the threshold of pain so that they could play, and now the chickens have come home to roost apparently.

Sunday Eboigbe is laid down with stroke, Peter Fregene has been wheelchair-bound for as many years, Wilfred Agbonavbare is down with a heart-related ailment. Aloysius Atuegbu slumped and died in 2008, and it is possible he didn’t know he had a heart condition; a week before his death he had gone to Abuja to see if he could collect the money owed him by the Nigeria Football Federation that he served directly as coach. The psychological undertone of Rashidi Yekini’s case is obviously tied to football. It is the same tale of woes for many of the retired sportsmen.

Former Green Eagles captain, Segun Odegbami, not long ago spoke of taking care of bills, arising from pains in virtually all parts of his body. It's a by-product of his playing days which entailed, for instance, heading balls travelling at unimaginable speed.

The ‘Mathematical’ insists that there is a connection between what many people of the ‘tribe’ suffer today and the rigours and exertions of the past.

“Of course there is a direct relationship. Indeed at a time, I was going to take the federal government of Nigeria to court for misleading us, for not telling us the truth that we will face some serious health challenges in the future,” says Odegbami.

“We were made to take a lot of things those days just to be able to play, and now following the passage of time, the strains and stresses have come to haunt many ex-internationals. But I refrained from taking that action because I didn’t want to be labeled an enemy of the government.”

A former Super Eagles doctor, Dr. Paul Onyeudo, agrees that being in active sports could lead to some heath complications especially when the athletes get older. He quickly adds though that doing sports does not necessarily lead to stroke, for instance, as there could be other factors at play.

He notes that the drugs sportsmen are given also do not necessarily lead to problems in the future if things are done properly.

“It is not impossible that many retired

It is not impossible that many retired footballers or sportsmen will experience certain heath challenges in the future arising from their previous sporting activities

Sunday Eboigbe...suffering from stroke

Etim Esin...takes Voltaren constantly for knee pains

footballers or sportsmen will experience certain heath challenges in the future arising from their previous sporting activities,” Onyeudo says.

“There is also a possibility of things going wrong especially if they were not properly done, if athletes were not properly evaluated or assessed before going into sports.

“It may not be the drugs that were administered that could be the culprit,

the drugs may just have been the proper ones, but they have to be given in the right dosage. That is also very crucial.

Unfortunately most of these athletes may not have qualified personnel taking care of them and that could lead to complications down the road. That is what I mean doing things properly; it is not that people who do sports are likely to have stroke or any other ailment for that matter.

“Even in FIFA now there is an insistence on people being properly evaluated before being allowed to engage in sports as there could be people who are hypertensive.”

Felix Faniran, President of National Union of Allied Health Professionals opines that the lifestyles of the retired footballers have to be looked at to establish any link with illnesses they may suffer from today.

Faniran argues that doing sports does not necessarily lead to stroke for instance as it is more associated with hypertension.

“What we have to really look at is the lifestyle of the ex-stars after their retirement. Do they have access to the funds they used to while playing? Are they able to cope with familial and social demands made on them now?

These are some of the things that can lead to hypertension that could precipitate ailments like stroke,” notes Faniran.

“Indeed, ordinarily, sportsmen should have sound cardiovascular endurance so they should even be free from some of these conditions. This is where lifestyle comes in, so we need to look at the way they live to find particular causes.”

Former Super Eagles defender, Nduka Ugbade, speaks in the same vein. He says that individual choices could be to blame for some of the conditions ex-internationals find themselves today.

“I will not say that there is a direct connection. What we need to explore will be the individual lifestyle, behavioural patterns inconsistent with high moral standard,” Ugbade said.

“You can’t place more burden on the body that is already overburdened – training three times a day, everyday – by taking illicit drugs, alcohol or smoking and not expect trouble in the future.”

The ones that have not fallen to serious ailments like stroke are battling with serious muscular conditions.

Many of them walk with permanent limps with knees that look out of alignment.

During the last CHAN in South Africa, a correspondent who covered the competition reported how he stumbled on coach Stephen Keshi, sitting on the floor near the staircase. On asking what the problem was, the coach simply pointed to his knees.

Samsom Siasia once declined to juggle the ball at a function in Lagos

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Sport

ex-internationals' health All those drugs and injections we took have adverse effects and that is what we are seeing today

Aloysius Atuegbu (r) died of heart-related disease

and the reason he gave was that his knees couldn’t hold him. Daniel Amokachi’s knees that prematurely ended his career barely carry him these days.

Even the way many of these ex-players walk clearly underlines the ongoing issues they have with their knees or health generally.

Another ex-international, Etim Esin, says that he is permanently hooked on a painkiller as a means of alleviating the pains in his knees.

“All those drugs and injections we took have adverse effects and that is what we are seeing today in retired footballers. The after effects are unimaginable; unfortunately we were naive and just took the drugs. I have continued to experience serious pains in my knees and I am always on Votarin,” says Esin.

Dr. Onyeudo provides further insight: “There is what we call in medicine the muscular skeletal system and sportsmen are prone to suffering from muscular problems overtime. As a result of wear and tear, they are likely to suffer from arthritis for instance.”

Ugbade also weighs in: “The muscular issue is another area. Injuries sustained while playing if not well taken care of can enter into the acute level where the sufferer will experience endless pains and will not be able to do what he could hitherto do. Even if the injury was treated properly but the rest and rehabilitation are not done right there will still be problem in the future.”

A former Eagles midfielder, Emeka Ezeugo, likens footballers to soldiers, who after returning from war are given rehabilitation. He wonders however why unlike soldiers, footballers are left to their own devices after retirement.

“At a personal level, I don’t suffer from any conditions but as a group we are neglected. Interestingly you could compare us to soldiers who served the country at wartime and are rehabilitated, but footballers’ case is different. Those who made money from

Thompson Oliha

the game and are able to take care of themselves now are the lucky ones,” notes Ezeugo.

“Look at Sam Okwaraji for instance, he died while on national service, but he was forgotten, what of Yekini? What I suffer from now is the aftermath of the accident I was involved in after we won the Nations Cup and went to the World Cup for the first time; the then Head of State, Sani Abacha, could not host us immediately and asked us to come back at a later date. I wouldn’t have been involved in that accident if we were not invited to the country, I was in the United States then.”

There have been arguments to the effect that the country equally owes its citizens the good life, and it doesn’t need to specially cater for any group, be it sports stars or whoever; everyone must bear their cross. The nation owes it a duty to provide good roads, electricity, water, medical care, education etc. to its people.

The counterpoise is that the nation has within it people who have carried the banner higher than most of those

who have hoisted the green and white flag in the capitals of the world, those who have brought honour and recognition to the country and deserve some modicum of care in the twilight of the lives, after all the hue and cry that follows when these players refuse for any reason to play for the country is well known.

At a time in the early '90s when Nigeria was spending billions of naira to launder the country’s image abroad, the feats of the Super Eagles at the World Cup in the United States and Dream Team in the football event of the Atlanta Olympics did far more in that regard.

Is there something the country can do for ‘its heroes past so that their labours shall not be in vain?’ England continues to rally round ex-footballer, Paul Gascoigne, anytime he has health problems, same thing applies to retired boxer, Frank Bruno. Former Manchester United star, George Best, was never abandoned by his former club and country in his darkest hours.

“Footballers are not pensioners un-

Peter Fregene...is wheelchair bound these days

27

like military men. In other climes, the players union and the FA set out plans to take care of retired footballers but it is not the same in our country,” laments Ezeugo.

Esin adds: “Of course government has a role to play in rehabilitating retired footballers; a trust or foundation can be set up to take care of the living and the families of the dead.

“But beyond the government what is the players union doing? There is so much disunity in their ranks and because of that we can’t even access the FIFpro money that could alleviate the sufferings of many of us. And then you have ex-players who have the opportunity to meet with the president of the country and yet they don’t bring up the issue, they are satisfied with just collecting ‘handouts’ for themselves alone.

“In England for instance current players like Steven Gerrard contribute money to help someone like Gascoigne even though they did not play together, but nothing like that happens here. The mentality is so poor.”

Ex-tennis star and former chief coach of the national team, Rotimi Akinloye, adds his voice to it: “It is a sad development that retired sportsmen have not been taken care of by government, it goes a long way to show that the country doesn’t care.

“This is something government should really take seriously; after all, if anyone works for government and retires, he collects his benefits. There should be something like a trust fund or scheme in place that will take care of their future. They can also be given a soft loan and say ‘okay you have done so much for this country and the country is therefore rewarding you.’

I tell you even unborn children will come and be greatly motivated. The attitude should be ‘what can we do for the country?’ but when one can no longer do anything after retirement, then it should be what the country can do in return.

“The system has not taken care of that and it is sad. It is not enough to name streets after them when they are living in abject poverty. Nigerian athletes represent the country at the Olympics and various championships, flying the country’s flag, if they are not there the flag won’t be hoisted. So government should look at it in that regard and give some thought to the future of those, who come hell or high water, hoist the green and white flag.”

aving conceded for the first time in 581 minutes on Tuesday, Middlesbrough’s defence is aiming to get back to their stingy ways and shut out the “very best” attack in The FA Cup. The Championship promotion contenders travel to Premier League champions Manchester City this weekend in the Fourth Round of the competition.

However, having seen his side’s proud run of shut-outs come to an end in Tuesday’s 2-1 league victory over Cardiff City, Boro defender Ben

H

Boro ready for Man City test

eicester City player, Liam Moore, is relishing the chance to pit his wits against England Under-21s team-mate Harry Kane in The FA Cup. The Leicester City defender could come up against the in-form Spurs striker when the clubs meet in the Fourth Round on Saturday.

And having regularly faced Kane in training with Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad over the last year and seeing him blossom at White Hart Lane this season, the 21-year-old knows what to expect.

"He’s a great player and it’s no surprise that he’s getting the goals that he has done this season," Moore told TheFA.com.

"You see it in training all the time, if you get the ball to him in good positions he’s going to put it away.

L

Leicester ready for Tottenham challenge

Moore

www.newtelegraphonline.com

NEW TELEGRAPH

A Milan are coming off a disappointing result in a 1-0 loss at home against Atalanta, where they failed to score a goal despite holding more than 70 percent of the possession and flinging in more than 30 crosses into the box, only to see most of them met by an Atalanta defender.

The Rossoneri have seemingly had a harder time getting a result against a provincial side that lock themselves down defensively rather than in a more open match against a higher-echelon team.

Against Lazio, expect a freeflowing match were both sides will

try to break on the counter rapidly, a style that should suit Milan very well given their new attacking bent.

According to the latest probable lineup sheet from La Gazzetta, Milan will deploy Jeremy Menez, Stephan El Shaarawy and Giacomo Bonaventura as the front three.

Both Menez and El Shaarawy do very well in open play, especially when they have to hit out on the counter and can exploit their searing pace and change of direction very well.

Milan's biggest problem against Atalanta was creating opportuni-

Allegri untroubled

ties from crosses. When Jeremy Menez is leading the line, this is certainly not the most effective way to get on the scoresheet. Then again, this is a problem Filippo Inzaghi will need to figure out, a problem that is usually only seen against defensive-minded provincial sides that keep an organised shape at the back.

El Shaarawy and Menez should have plenty of opportunities to take on the opposing full-back in a oneon-one situation, and more often than not, they come out victorious in that battle.

saturday

La Liga

v Sassuolo v Milan Sunday Inter Milan v Torino Juventus v Chievo Parma v Cesena Sampdoria v Palermo Verona v Atalanta Fiorentina v Roma

Serie A

Cagliari Lazio

FIXTURES Córdoba v R'Madrid Elche v Barcelona Atl Madrid v Vallecano Sociedad v Eibar Villarreal v Levante Sunday Deportivo v Granada Bilbao v Málaga Espanyol v Almería Valencia v Sevilla

Ozil

rsenal manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Mesut Ozil is likely to start in Sunday's FA Cup match against Brighton and Hove Albion.

The German international has not been in the first XI for three months due to a knee ligament injury, but he gained 17 minutes of action in Arsenal's 3-0 win over Stoke City almost a fortnight ago.

Asked about Ozil's availability, the Frenchman revealed that the midfielder is expected to start the fourth-round encounter.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Hector Bellerin are doubts for the match.

A

Ozil may start against Brighton

Sport

Valencia battle Sevilla,

C Milan are expected to emerge from their slumber when they travel to Rome to play against Lazio today.

Since standing alone in third place in Serie A, Lazio have taken a slight tumble in recent weeks, losing their last match at home against Napoli by a 1-0 margin.

Before that, they drew against Roma. While both of these matches were certainly difficult, Milan could exploit the recent struggles of the Biancocelesti and finally get back on track.

Lazio, Milan in clash of the titans

Global Football Special 28 SATURDA 24 JAN

V

Valencia's Francisco Alcacer

Stevan Jovetic has said he aims to stay at Manchester City and fight for his place.

The £22million signing has been the subject of intense speculation after the signing of Wilfried Bony last week, with Juventus asking the Blues about the possibility of a loan for the rest of the season.

Jovetic appears to be vulnerable when manager Manuel Pellegrini prunes his Champions League squad at the end of the month, having to drop one of his foreign stars to meet the 21-man quota.

eal Madrid have won the race to sign Brazilian midfielder Lucas Silva from Cruzeiro, according to reports in Spanish newspaper Marca.

The newspaper suggests that Real have reached an agreement with Cruzeiro to

R

sign the 21-year-old for a reported €15 million.

The European champions announced on Wednesday that they had reached an agreement with Stromsgodset to sign 16-year-old Norwegian forward Martin Odegaard, and Silva is likely to be their sec-

ond signing of the transfer window.

He is expected to sign a six-and-a-half year contract with Carlo Ancelotti's team, ahead of an unveiling at the Bernabeu next week.

Madrid set to sign Brazilian Lucas Silva

enerbahçe are preparing a bid for Olympiakos midfielder Jimmy Durmaz according to Turkish newspaper Sabah.

Durmaz joined the Greek champions on a £1.7 million move from Gençlerbirliği last season and still has three-years remaining on his contract.

The 25-year-old has experience playing in the Süper Lig and would be eligible to play as a domestic player.

F iorentina manager Vincenzo Montella is convinced Juan Cuadrado will remain at the club, despite apparent interest from Chelsea in the Colombia winger.

The Blues are in talks to sign Cuadrado, according to Sky sources, although it is understood no formal offer has been made by the Premier League leaders.

Since arriving in Florence, he has scored 21 goals in 82 appearances for the Serie A club and Montella is convinced he will remain with them.

“I believe as of today there are no possibilities

F

had crossed the line - resulting in objects being thrown on to the pitch by home fans, who will be baying for revenge this weekend.

Second-placed Marseille can return to the top of the table by beating a Nice side looking for their third consecutive triumph in Friday's Mediterranean derby.

In-form Monaco and Montpellier will aim to strengthen their respective pushes for a top-four berth with wins over Lille and Nantes, while Caen travel to Rennes on Sunday hoping to build on their fine 4-1 success against Reims and move off the bottom.

he will leave Fiorentina," he said. "He knows this, he knows that these situations get exaggerated.“I’m not angry with the media, in this case I’m not referring to the media, but to football.”

Montella: Cuadrado going nowhere

aint-Etienne will be keen to beat Paris Saint Garmaine when the two sides meet on Sunday.

Saint-Etienne beat Lyon 3-0 prior to their winning run, and Christophe Galtier's side can boost their title aspirations with victory over PSG. PSG are four points adrift of Lyon in third, one point ahead of SaintEtienne, and were unconvincing in a 4-2 success over Evian at the weekend following a 1-0 Coupe de la Ligue win at Saint-Etienne last Tuesday.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted the only goal in the cup game with an effort that the hosts did not believe

S

Saint-Etienne hope to beat PSG

EUROPE TRANSFERS

alencia and Sevilla will meet at the Mestalla on Sunday, in what shapes as a crucial encounter for both sides.

Valencia midfielder Andre Gomes acknowledged Sunday's clash with Sevilla means more than a normal La Liga clash.

Both sides are likely to, along with Villarreal, battle it out for the fourth and final UEFA Champions League berth

in Spain's top flight this season.

While La Liga leaders Real Madrid are only six points ahead of the fourth-placed Sevilla, it appears likely that Carlo Ancelotti's men will finish in the top three, alongside Barcelona and defending champions Atletico Madrid.

That leaves just one place to scrap over, and Sevilla are just one point ahead of Valencia in an exciting battle.

Real Madrid hit the road

Fenerbahce to make Jovetic happy to stay at City offer for Durmaz

saturday Blackburn V Swansea Birmingham V West Brom Cardiff V Reading Chelsea V Bradford Derby V Chesterfield Man City V M'brough Preston V Sheff Utd Souton V C' Palace Sunderland V Fulham Tottenham V Leicester Liverpool V Bolton Sunday Bristol City V West Ham Aston Villa V Bournemouth

FA Cup fixtures

Gibson admitted the disappointment felt within the tight backline despite picking up the points.

“We’re actually really disappointed as a defensive unit,” the England Under-21s defender told MFC.co.uk.

“We were going to concede at some point – that was inevitable.

[Middlesbrough goalkeeper] Dimi Konstantopoulos was really disappointed because we don’t concede many goals, but that’s good, it just shows the marker and the high standards we set ourselves.

NO TEAM 1 Juventus 2 Roma 3 Napoli 4 Sampdoria 5 Lazio 6 Fiorentina 7 Genoa 8 AC Milan 9 Inter 10 Palermo 11 Sassuolo 12 Udinese 13 Torino 14 Verona 15 Atalanta 16 Empoli 17 Chievo 18 Cagliari 19 Cesena 20 Parma

PTS 46 41 33 33 31 30 28 26 26 26 25 24 22 21 20 19 18 16 9 9

PTS 45 44 41 39 38 35 31 27 23 23 21 19 19 18 17 17 17 16 16 14

Arguably South Africa’s most-travelled and most experienced T20-player and a decorated Protea in both One Day Internationals and T20-matches, Albie Morkel, has returned after a three-match injury lay-off, and has endorsed the Proteas as one of the two favourites to win the Cricket World Cup. “I’m 70 percent fit to bowl, but I have played in four games since my return from ankle surgery and rehabilitation and I’ve scored three half-centuries. I’m extremely hungry to play cricket again. My last game was in the Indian Premier League seven months ago,” said a determined Morkel.

“The South African team that walked onto the park in East London, is our strongest unit, and I expect them to feature regularly at the World Cup,” Morkel said.

Albie Morkel

British boxer Amir Khan has called on his fellow Muslims to "stand up and speak out" against terrorism.

The 28-year-old, who was born in Bolton but is of Pakistani origin, fears that the religion of Islam is being dragged through the mud due to recent turmoil.

Before the New Year, Khan visited the military-run school in Peshawar, Pakistan where 132 children were killed by Taliban gunmen in December.

"There is a time to hide behind a rock and a time to stand in the tall grass," the Daily Star quotes Khan as saying. "With what terrorists are doing to the image of Islam and to the image of Muslims, there is a time to stand up and speak out."

The most recent terror attack in Europe occurred across the city of Paris, where 17 people were killed.

Amir Khan

Fernando Alonso will be the first man to test the new McLaren car as the team begin their engine partnership with Honda.

The Spaniard will drive the MP4-30 on the first day of the first preseason test, at Jerez, Spain, on 1-4 February.

Team-mate Jenson Button will test it on the second and fourth days, with Alonso driving on the third.

Alonso, 33, who has joined from Ferrari, wrote on social media that he was "ready to enjoy the challenge".

Fernando Alonso

P 18 19 19 18 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19

La Liga

NO TEAM 1 Real Madrid 2 Barcelona 3 Atletico 4 Sevilla 5 Valencia 6 Villarreal 7 Malaga 8 Eibar 9 Espanyol 10 Rayo 11 Celta 12 Real 13 A/Bilbao 14 Cordoba 15 Getafe 16 Elche 17 Deportivo 18 Almeria 19 Levante 20 Granada

TABLES

P 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19

Serie A

SPORT BRIEFLY

assimiliano Allegri will be untroubled by suspensions for this weekend’s visit of Chievo to Juventus Stadium.

Five players, however, remain a yellow card away from missing the trip to Udine at the start of February: Stephan Lichtsteiner, Claudio Marchisio, Angelo Ogbonna, Paul Pogba and Carlos Tevez.

The visitors on the other hand will be without defender Bostjan Cesar, who observes a one-match ban.

Walking the suspension tightrope are Dario Dainelli and Ivan Rodovanovic.

M

by suspensions for Chievo

AY TELEGRAPH NUARY 2015

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Sport

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Udoji weighs Warri Wolves, Heartland option

C

Charles Ogundiya hinedu Udoji has set his mind on leaving Federation Cup champion, Enyimba of Aba, as clubs continue their preparations for the new season.

Speaking with our correspondent, Udoji said he would be leaving the former CAF Champions League winners for a new challenge in the new season.

“I love challenges and I’d love to face some ahead of the new season. I am already in advanced discussions with Heartland and Warri Wolves, although there are other clubs

that really want me in their ranks.

“I am already weighing my options and very soon I will be joining a new club,” he said.

The central defender who has shown unbelievable consistency since he joined Enyimba five seasons ago was made captain of The People's Elephant at the start of the 2012/2013 season and has won two Federation Cup trophies with the club.

Udoji has established himself not only as a top class centre-half, but as a man who can steer his team from the abyss, an attribute the club will miss if the player leaves for another club.

Udoji (centre) in action in a Glo League match

Olukoya athletics tourney for February

Lagos rewards 2014 outstanding school athletes Charles Ogundiya

Charles Ogundiya

L

agos State Government on Thursday rewarded 19 school athletes who distinguished themselves in various sports in 2014.

The athletes put up outstanding performances in all the school sports competitions last year.

The event, which was held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, had in attendance parents of the athletes who came to witness the ceremony.

Speaking at the event, Lagos State Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development, Wahid Oshodi, who was represented by the permanent secretary, Office of Sports, Mr. Oluseyi Whenu, commended the parents for their support. He also praised the awardees for making the state proud in 2014.

"I want to urge other parents to always support their children who have interest in sports. The Lagos State Government will continue to reward athletes who represent the state,” he said.

Responding on behalf of athletes Master Ikoko Onengo thanked the state for the award and also praised the parents for their moral and financial support.

T

National long jump athlete, Ese Brume

he fifth edition of Dr. D.K. Olukoya National Under-18 Athletics Championships has been scheduled for February, according to the Athletic Federation of Nigeria.

There has been a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the yearly AFN curtain raiser with rumours of the sponsor's withdrawal.

Speaking with Saturday Telegraph on the telephone, a board member of the AFN, Kayode Thomas, assured athletics buffs that the competition will hold in February.

“I don’t react to rumours, what I can tell you now is that the competition will be coming up next month in Lagos.

“We are on the verge of finalising arrangements with the sponsor for a hitch-free tournament, and by this weekend, we will come up with the modalities for the meet,” he said.

Thomas said the competition had produced high profile athletes who had made the nation proud since inception five years ago.

He said: “If you look at some of the past winners of the competition, they have been performing well for the country.

“Look at somebody like Ese Brume who won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and the African championship and Divine Oduduru. You can see that the competition has been a good breeding ground for the country to discover world class talents.”

Also the technical director of AFN, Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama, said that the federation would use the tourney to prepare the country’s junior athletes for the African Junior Championship holding in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in March, while the U-20 athletes will use the tournament as a build up to the African Youth Championship in Mauritius in April.

Nesiama said: “Only athletes between ages 16 and 17 (athletes born in 1998, 1999 or 2000) and 18 and 19 (athletes born in 1996 and 1997) are eligible to participate in the youth and junior events respectively.”

Why I’m giving back to ABU – Ex-basketball star, Akiga Ifeanyi Ibeh

F

ormer basketball star, Felix Akiga, has explained why he has in recent times been involved in a lot of projects at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Akiga, who was a household name within basketball circles in the ‘80s playing for the Benue Braves as well as Nigeria’s national team, studied physical and health education at the 52-year-old university before heading off to England where he continued to play basketball before calling it quits in the early ‘90s.

In the past year and a half, the Benueborn Akiga has, through his company,

Choice Leisure Limited, constructed a 3.5km stretch of road and two bridges at the university. He has also commissioned a water project at the institution’s sports centre, and is currently constructing a 24bed space hostel for the school’s male and female basketball teams.

The former national team star has also built a 100-bedroom hotel for the institution in a build, operate and transfer deal that will see him hand over the facility to ABU by the year 2032 – 18 years from now.

And he told Saturday Telegraph: “The reason for this partnership is to create educational, sports and medical tourism for people who come to the university for dif-

ferent purposes.

“ABU is known for having the best cancer treatment facility in Nigeria and those who undergo surgery can stay at the hotel for easier check-ups and for other related activities.”

“I was in ABU on a business trip and stayed in one of the guest houses but fell ill because of the poor sanitary condition and it occurred to me to do something about it,” recalled Akiga, who in the ‘90s organised the annual Felix Akiga Basketball Camp from where former NBA player, Olumide Oyedeji, first came into prominence.

He added: “The idea behind this is to help the university generate more funds internally.”

Felix Akiga (left) explaining some issues to the Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Mustapha Abdullahi

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

B

Schweinsteiger’s new boot confirms Ivanovic affair

ayern Munich and Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has fuelled reports that his ‘new’ girlfriend is tennis babe Ana Ivanovic.

Schweinsteiger was rumoured to be dating Ivanovic last year, before he got back with long-term partner Sarah Brandner.

However, Schweinstei-

ger and Sarah appear to have split for good. Their break-up was seemingly confirmed when Schweini removed Sarah’s name from his boots.

Schweini’s boots have now been modified yet again, with the latest version featuring a Serbian flag, which many people believe is a tribute to 27-year-old Belgrade-born Ivanovic.

Sport

31

Lifestyle

“Go where you are celebrated – not tolerated. If they can’t see the real value of you, it’s time for a new start" - Unknown

Ivanovic

Ronaldo romances Real’s reporter R

Romario dates teenage beauty B

razil legend Romario has proven his prowess for scoring is not just confined to the six-yard box after netting himself a stunning beauty almost 30-years younger than him.

The World Cup winner appears to have found love with 19-year-old American singer Dixie Pratt after proudly posting images of the pair all over social media as they holiday on the Caribbean island of Aruba.

The 48-year-old is understood to have met his teenage girlfriend in October 2014 following the end of his marriage to Isabella Bittencourt and uploading images of their daily lives have led to Pratt gaining over 13,000 new followers on her Instagram account.

Although Romario remains a legend in Brazil, the irony of the 29-year age difference in his new relationship is that his young girlfriend was not even born when the prolific striker scored five goals to win his country the 1994 World Cup. The former Barcelona star also won the FIFA World Player of the Year in the same year and continued playing into his late 40s.

eal Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been linked to Spanish reporter Lucia Villalon following his split from girlfriend of five years Irina Shayk. Speculations started when Villalon reportedly posted a picture with Ronaldo on Instagram.

On Jan. 13, Villalon shared a picture with the 29-year-old Portuguese footballer to her more than 51,000 Instagram followers. In the photo, Ronaldo and Villalon were seen all smiles as they posed with his third Ballon d’Or trophy on the plane en route to Madrid. “And go three, Ballon d’Or 2014, congratulations, Zurich 12/1/2015,” Villalon captioned the photo using her native language.

Hazel

Commonwealth Games gold medallist strips off for nude magazine

H

eptathlete Louise Hazel took a break from her hectic training schedule to strip off for this week's Sport maga-

Romario

zine.

The 2010 Commonwealth gold medallist offers personal training sessions on her website, and these impressive shots of the 29-year-old give her a glowing endorsement.

Hazel looks in top shape as she bares all for Sport Uncovered, a new photography series revealing sportsmen and women as they’ve never been seen before.

Jon Enoch captures Hazel as part of Sport

Uncovered.

And the Birchfield Harriers athlete insists she's proud of her athletic physique.

She said: 'What the Olympics showed us in 2012 is that there are a wealth of inspirational women out there who are dedicated to their sport.

'As female athletes we often get tarred with the brush of being too athletic. It shocks me.

We’re sportswomen – that’s what we do. our life is about health, it's our lifestyle.'

Stories courtesy Dailymail

Villalon

32

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Okwara

their numbers, bearing the brunt and gossip signs of their individual experiences. They typify the classification of those confined to a perpetual injunction of poverty and deprivations that is created by natural occurrence of death, which represents the social inequality in the Igbo culture.

Horrible as the tales may be, though, the women themselves in most cases are

the ones, who insist on executing these stipulated hateful customs and traditions on their fellow women. In most instances, they are enforcers of the sanctions themselves.

The patrilineal daughters (umu ada) are women related to the dead spouse, often his sisters. They play a unique role in the widowhood practice as they ensure that the widow complies with the demands of culture. The number and cruelty level of rituals inflicted on the widow depends on the relationship she has with her in-laws.

If relations are poor and plagued by jealousy, the period of mourning provides the sisters with an opportunity to demean their widowed sister-in-law.

But, if she is lucky enough to have mature daughters, her treatment will be less severe, as through connection to their father, are part of the umu ada and can protect their mother from harsher treatment.

On the other hand, if the widow’s relatives are influential or wealthy, they can offer bribes to the leaders of the umu ada to be lenient towards the widow.

Umu ada, most of the time are prejudiced against their dead relations' wives for past disagreements or misunderstandings. They see the widowhood period as a time for vendetta.

However, the identification of fear and superstition appear to be the major obstacle to eliminating widowhood practices in this region. There are beliefs that the spirit of the dead husband hovers around and would want to continue to associate with the wife. The spirits, according to the people, might be malevolent if the widow does not subscribe to widowhood rights.

This may be why Rauphina Okwara of Umuokoroezike of Umunam Atta Autonomous Community in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State had no option but to dance to the turn of her neighborhood's cruel rituals. Like those in Anambra communities, Okwara was denied her rights and was subjected to other inhuman treatment for refusing to marry her husband's younger brother.

"When my husband died, his family asked me to marry his younger brother. And when I refused, they summoned a meeting to throw me and my only child out of my matrimonial home on the grounds that I refused to remain in their family," Okwara, who lost her

WOPEC office, Awka, Anambra State

Investigations

33

Dilapidated portion of Okwara's house

I was asked to urinate in the open to prove my innocence

husband in 1998, said.

Okwara cannot understand why fate could be so cruel to her. "Life has not been fair to me," she sobbed while narrating her ordeal to this reporter. Her story has been that of hopelessness as, according to her, since her husband and only child died more than 17 years ago, the world has "crumbled on my head; all hope is lost."

Today, this 69-year-old woman, who now looks older than her age, lives in squalor in her thatched mud house that wobbles in the neighborhood. The house have several cracks that makes it risky to live in. It could crumble anytime. "I have no alternative, that is why I am still in this place. I know it is not safe staying here but what do I do. I’ve lived here since my husband died. I moved in here when I saw that it was abandoned," the old widow recalled.

Adolphus (her son) was, according to her, "the light and hope of my life."

He was trading and doing well in Aba before tragedy struck about 10 years ago.

"He was about to change my pathetic situation before the devil snatched him from me. Since that time, I’ve not left this hut as I am hoping on God to give me

more strength to live on till I die. You can see that I’m getting old and can no longer do many things," Okwara said with a tired voice.

She is engaged at present in broommaking as a trade to support her existence. She said that when the thatch roof gets bad and has leakages, which happens often, she would personally fetch raffia leaves to cover the leakages. “As you can see, I’m aging fast and sometimes because of ill health, I can't weave the raffia leaves to make thatched roof and that affects me a lot when the rains come,” she said.

This may be why she is calling on the wife of the governor of the state, Nkechi Okorocha, to come to her aid and assist in putting a roof over her head.

“I’ve been hearing that the wife of our governor has been helping people in my condition. That gave me hope as I’ve also been praying to God since that news to use somebody like to her remember me.

The way things are going, I may not last too long if I remain in this condition. I’ll be grateful if she can help wipe away my tears and years of suffering. My heart longs for at least, a moment of joy and celebration before I die,” she pleaded.

There was also a pathetic story of a widow, who died six months after her husband's death in 2007. The Christian community, according to the narrative, gathered for her burial and funeral, but other members of her village resisted and insisted that the woman should be thrown into the evil forest without mourning for her since she committed an abomination by dying before the end of the traditional mourning period.

In spite of over 100 years of contact with western education and Christian religion, widowhood rites and practices considered to be dehumanising are still prevalent in many Igbo communities today. In recent times, though, there have been conflicts between families, traditional and religious groups when some of the rites and practices are being enforced, especially when working class or Pentecostal Christian groups are involved.

Such conflicts sometimes result to open verbal and physical violence even at the places of burial, resulting in disruption of social activities, ostracisation and sanctions among disagreeing groups. Apart from affecting community life, the widow is the centre of the crisis, a situation that worsens her physical and mental state.

But, there are some courageous defiants. A young woman from Ogwu in Enugu State, who refused her name in print, was working in a bank in Lagos when her husband died in 2010. She was required to restrict her movement and not go for work for six months and be CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

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Investigations

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

'I mourned but I never allowed anyone humiliate me' Umu ada see the widowhood period as a time for vendetta

Dilapidated residence of Ezugwu, at her Isiapku. Nsukka Urban town photos: ISIOMA MADIKE

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 3

in the village, confined to the compound in mourning dress. The young widow resisted this. She explained to the umu ada that she would lose her job and disrupt her children's schooling in Lagos should she comply.

Unfortunately, her pleas fell to deaf ears as she was sanctioned for breaking the traditional norm of not mourning her husband for the customary duration (ilu uju). The umu ada fined her the sum of N 10,000.00 and compelled her to stay at her father's house for one month as a punishment. Again, she stubbornly declined to obey.

The umu ada then refused to shave her head because, according to them, she did not show enough sorrow that her husband died. They also alleged that she was conversing freely and even smiled with sympathisers during this period. It was a taboo for a widow to laugh or look cheerful when her husband has not been buried, they said.

She was appropriately fined for the misdemeanour. However, not shaving one's hair for the husband is a sign of not mourning him and is feared to attract the dead husband's wrath on the widow and other members of the family. But, the young woman called their bluff and returned to her base in Lagos to continue her normal life. According to her, "nothing has happened to me since then. I believe this will encourage other young widows and together, we shall put a stop to this barbaric tradition."

Indeed, the young widow's stance appears to be gradually paying off as more women are beginning to disobey the widowhood traditions. For instance, Nkechi Okafor, 43, from Amachala community in Anambra State had three children for her late husband, who died in 2012. Like the defiant widow, Okafor told this reporter that she deliberately refused to be intimidated by her husband's people during her mourning period.

"Yes, I mourned the father of my children because he was a good husband,

Okoye

Nwaghodoh

Nnadozie

Iwuala

Okafor

Okeke

but I never allowed anybody to humiliate me. The battle started immediately he died when his siblings started making advances at me. I knew the consequences and they did not disappoint, but I gave it back to them. They wanted to push me out of the house my husband built and seized his properties. Unfortunately for them, my husband never hid anything from me. In fact, we did everything together as if he knew what will happen at his death.

"He handed over the properties' documents to me shortly before his death and that was my weapon. Though, they threatened fire and brimstone, but I stood my ground and nothing has happened and would never happened. I needed to do that to protect the future of my kids. The problem with our people is essentially, illiteracy; it makes it easier for the useless culture to mess them up. My advice to fellow widows is to be bold and fight for that which belongs to them," Okafor said.

Good advice, but the devastating effect and pain of losing her sweetheart was, however, more than just loneliness and boldness for Amaka of Oji in Enugu State.

She was, for a long time, logged in a legal battle with in-laws over her husband’s only property. To be able to make a legal claim to the home, Amaka said her in-laws forged documents claiming that her late husband willed it to them.

“My husband didn’t write any will but they manufactured one to claim the only house he left behind. According to the fake will they manufactured, his landed property too should be sold to take care of his aged mother. I wouldn't have had problem with that if at all there was any will of my late husband. But, there wasn't any,” she insisted.

The plot to dispossess Amaka of the house and landed property started shortly before her husband died. “When it became obvious that he will not survive the sickness, they came suggesting that the house be sold and the money used for further treatment. My husband rejected that; he told them it was all he is leaving behind for his children and as such they shouldn't touch it more so that he was not sure of surviving,” Amaka said.

SATURDAY

Dear Love Doctor, ‘My wife is now afraid of sex'

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L ve&Lv ng

Life Experience

'I trusted him but he betrayed me'

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SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2015

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'My husband lost his business because of me'

Confession It is said that a man or woman who has no time for his or her family doesn't deserve to start a family in the first instance.

In this story, a desperate woman goes to extreme ends in order to restore her husband's sense of family and family values.

W

Michael Uchebuaku hen I met Ola, I knew he was going to make a great father. Having grown up in a family without a dad, this was high on my list of prerequisites. Julian seemed to fit the bill perfectly — he was good with kids and spent lots of time with

his nieces and nephews. I knew he was a workaholic too at his hotel, but was sure that he would stop working too much in order to make time for his family.

By the time we had our second child, I knew our "perfect family" was in trouble. Ola returned to work at his hotel straight after the birth and after that, we hardly saw him.

He went to work early, came home briefly for lunch and to see the children and returned to work until late in the evening, when everybody was in bed.

When the kids reached school age and weren't home in the middle of the day, they never saw their father at all. Ola brushed off my complaints with reminders that he was working so hard for them in the first place, but I knew this wasn't really the case.

The hotel was doing well and we'd always been good with money; there was more than enough room for Ola to take a few days off here and there. But it never happened and so by the time our kids had almost reached secondary school, we'd never even taken a family holiday

By the time we had our second child, I knew our "perfect family" was in trouble

together like traveling to the village for Christmas.

Besides, I had heard reports that my husband kept so many girlfriends in his hotel, which I believed was the reason he seldom had sex with me.

I was very angry with him and I knew that I had to do something drastic. Infuriated by his apparent lack of concern and remembering my own childhood with a dad who lived two states away and didn't care, I decided it was time to teach my husband, Ola, a lesson. And I knew just how to do it.

Ola had a good business going with his hotel here in Lagos, but I knew he was a bit clumsy in how he ran things. No one who worked for him received proper training, for example, because it cost too much.

One day, I anonymously rang the state Ministry of Health and made a complaint. I said I'd recently eaten at the hotel and had ended up very sick.

I told them that I had watched the preparation of the food and noticed some very poor hygiene practices from the chefs. I hung up the phone, knowing that Ola was going to get a

visit from the health ministry.

What I didn't know was that Ola had already been in trouble and fined for similar infringements. For example, his staff didn't store food correctly, didn't label expiry dates, check temperatures, wear gloves or even clean up adequately at the hotel!

I had no idea things had been this bad. I only wanted Ola to get a fine, to pay him back, but it was a long way past that. When the health inspectors paid my husband a visit, they found enough wrong to shut his hotel down. And it was all my fault!

It was a blessing in disguise, though. Out of work, Ola came back to the family begging for my forgiveness. I forgave him on one condition: he should spend more time with his family.

He accepted begrudgingly and said that whenever he reopens his hotel he would start spending more time with me and the children. I laugh inside me because he has no idea how far I'll go to make sure he keeps to his promise!

36

Love&Living

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Love News

Love Songs

Four household items that destroy romance in the bedroom

S

expert Tracey Cox says their are four items that can instantly kill the romance. She says screens in bed are a no-no but equally even the firmness of your mattress can effect the mood.

They look innocent enough but these four, every-day items wreak havoc on the average couple’s sex life. Banish them from your bedroom and you’re instantly in store for a year of better, more frequent sex!

YOUR TV Couples who have a TV in their bedroom have sex half as often as those who don’t: that’s a fact, supported by reputable research.

Why? It stops you both talking, it robs you of sleep (the better rested we are, the healthier and higher our libido) and it keeps you grounded in reality.

God help us all, but reality shows like The Kardashian's suck some people into the trap of thinking what we watch on telly is actually real. It’s not.

No More "I Love You" I used to be lunatic from the gracious days I used to be woebegone and so restless nights My aching heart would bleed for you to see Oh but now...

(I don't find myself bouncing home whistling buttonhole tunes to make me cry)

Sex on telly is peppered with couples having more simultaneous orgasms than cups of tea. In real life, they’re actually pretty rare. this leads to unrealistic expectations and constant disappointment with our sex lives.

YOUR IPADS AND PHONES Ditching the telly won’t do a thing if you replace it with another device to distract you from sex and each other.

Slip into bed and pull out your ipad or phone and the effect on your relationship is even worse!

These gadgets are portable, so capable of destroying intimacy anywhere.

Foreplay should begin way before you take your clothes off and if your partner’s spent all night on their phone, giving other people attention, why would you want to give them yours?

One recent study found it’s especially harmful if one person uses technology more than

No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me No more "I love you's" Changes are shifting outside the word (The lover speaks about the monsters)

the other - the second person feels ignored and insecure.

Neither are emotions likely to trigger a bit of rumpy-pumpy.

A SOFT, LUMPY BED The best beds for good sex are firm with no hard edges.

You need a firm foundation to master creative sex positions and to be able to sit or lean on the edges without hitting anything hard.

Clean, fresh linen is inviting; scratchy, balled-up sheets, not so much (though there is something undeniably sexy about a crumpled bed that you both have just had sex in!).

A few firm pillows are perfect for lifting and supporting

body bits to make sex super comfy and those more adventurous positions more ‘doable’.

SLOPPY SLEEPWEAR Well-worn, snuggly track pants and wooly socks might make us feel cosy when it’s cold outside, but they do little to get your partner hot and bothered.

I’m not suggesting tottering to bed in high heels and sexy stay-up stockings on Monday nights but aiming for a happy medium by choosing something that’s at least a little flattering isn’t too much to ask, surely?

Courtesy: Daily Mail.

Life Experience

'I trusted him but he betrayed me' Chinenye Iwuoha

I

t was like any other day when I use my less busy time to be on Facebook. The natural thing is that when you see a familiar name, you are likely to pause and check it out.

So was the case when I saw Ukeni, from Unwana Afikpo in Ebonyi State, I knew he must be from my state, so getting along with him wasn't difficult because he had sent a message asking for my private line which I gave.

He called and introduced himself as a lawyer and pastor with a leading pentecostal church, that was also my church so it was a dual matter; same state and same faith so when he scheduled a meeting for both of us, I obliged.

We started the relationship after some months, because I wasn't just seeing a guy from my state who asked for my hand in marriage but a preacher of the gospel too.

He took time to tell me the story of his life and how he's been struggling to make ends meet. He had prospect which was what I wanted in my future husband. Moreover with a bright career in law, I felt the future would be bright for us.

He invited me to his family house to meet his people. I wasn't staying in Ebonyi State but I came in as he instructed around 7.30pm so it was dark. No one was in their house, he said his mother had traveled to his sister's place.

That night, one thing led to another. He insisted on sex saying it was one of the compatible things intending couples should be certain about. Initially, I couldn't believe a

ANNIE LENNOX

pastor could ask for premarital sex.

He justified it saying that even in the bible, when King David was hungry, he ate food kept in a sacred place.

At a point, I gave in, after which he fixed the date of marriage introduction and wedding, saying he didn't want prolonged engagement.

Ukeni had earlier convinced me of not having any woman due to his poor financial state. Days rolled into weeks, weeks into months. He came and met my sister and her family, slept in my cousin's house and discussed the marital plans with him.

The day for the introduction, he called to say that his wallet containing twenty two thousand naira and ATM card inside had been stolen. with an emotion laden voice, he pleaded that I tell my people to cancel the event.

I felt for him seriously because he pretended to be sick. He asked me for ten thousand naira to hang on till Monday when he would go to the bank and sort things out. I sent him the money.

W e kept t h e marriage issue at bay for him to recover from his illness. He then came up with another one. That he, being the lawyer of their church, the church insisted that he stayed six months praying for the marriage to avoid divorce in future! I was surprised at that development but played along with

I opened up to her, and lo and behold, it was same preacher and learned friend

my MOG (Man Of God).

One fateful day, I met another lady of our denomination from another area, who told me of her wedding coming soon. One lawyer/ Pastor Ukeni was getting married to her!!! I had these butterflies in my tummy, praying that it won't be the same person who's praying for six months before coming to marry me.

I opened up to her, and lo and behold, it was same preacher and learned friend.

It occurred to me to make my own investigation because I was believing my MOG hook, line and sinker. I found out that he had a wife and a child he kept in a different city and was parading himself as a bachelor in another city.

I met the preacher he called his mentor who was surprised when I told him what happened but none had the courage to confront him.

Strange enough, the case was reported to some of his preacher colleagues who pleaded that the issue be laid to rest like that for the sake of the image of the church.

The young man himself knowing what transpires among them bragged that we could report to any authority of the church and nothing would happen to him.

Well, in the end we didn't report. But as long as there is day and night, I know there will be a day of reckoning when every man will reap what he sows. I also believe that mother nature will not let the unjust go unpunished.

I used to have demons in my room at night Desire, despair, desire... SOOO MANY MONSTERS! Oh but now...

(I don't find myself bouncing home whistling buttonhole tunes to make me cry) No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me in silence No more "I love you's" Changes are shifting outside the word (They were being really crazy They were on the come.

And you know what mummy?

Everybody was being really crazy.

Uh huh. The monsters are crazy.

There are monsters outside.)

Love Poem

Eric R. Hughes

A Part Of Me I’ve made many wishes, I’ve dreamt many dreams, I’ve prayed many prayers, I’ve talked to God, And I’ve seen, What I thought was love, Come and go.

My hearts been broken, More times than you know, But I’ve kept the faith, I’ve held on, I believed that one day, You would come along; My most perfect love, The beginning of a fairytale, That will live on and on.

You my love, will always be, A part of my heart; A part of me.

*Send your love poems along with your name and number to ireto007@yahoo.com

Romantic Joke

Will you marry me?

Bob, a hard-bitten man of early middle age, had evaded many a marital trap, but was now hopelessly in love with pretty young Sue. Finally he said, "Will you marry me, Sue?" She smiled and said, "Oh yes, Bob." There followed a long silence, till Sue said, "Well, say something more, Bob." And Bob said hollowly, "I think I've said too much as it is."

24 JANUARY 2015

Relationships & Love Advice

‘My wife is now afraid of sex' Dear Love Doctor, Please sir, I really need your advice. I've been married for the past sixteen years and I and my wife have six children, three boys and three girls. But the problem is that if I now want to have sex with my wife, she will not agree. If she agrees after much pressure from me, she will tell me that we can only do one round. And even that one round is war. Please, I think too much because I love her and I don't know what to do. I don't have a girlfriend.

Please help me.

From Jimoh.

Love&Living

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

pregnant again by practising safe sex. Find out the exact reason for her refusal and assure her of your help & support. If she has your assurance & support, she will get over her fear of sex and your sex life will return to normal. *Send your comments/stories to Love Doctor. E-mail: ireto007@yahoo. com. For free marriage/relationships counseling, call Love Doctor Mike 07031028714, 08131161840. Visit lovedrmike.blogspot.com

Love Doctor’s Advice: Dear Jimoh, This is a delicate matter. However, you need to be patient with her.

Have a frank talk with her and find out why she is so much against sex now, after 16 years of marriage. It could be that she is scared of getting pregnant again after having given birth to six children already.

Maybe she's tired of child-bearing.

If that is the case, you might need to assure her that you don't want to have any more children & will ensure that she doesn't get

H♥♥K UP...find your heart’s desire Women SEEKING relationship/ marriage ♥ Favour, 40, Igbo, in Asaba, a graduate looking for job, needs a slim man of 40-50 years, preferably a civil servant, widower or divorcee based in Delta, Rivers or Bayelsa state only. 08125106352. ♥ Divine wants a loving, working or business, widower (not a divorcee) of 35 years for marriage. He must be a graduate, tall, and a sincere pentecostal Christian man. 08169279907. ♥ Bola, 28, pretty, romantic and good looking, needs a graduate, reliable & working man for marriage. 08037604915. ♥ Grace, 35, chocolate, 6ft tall, single mother of one, needs a loving and caring man from 50 years and above for a serious courtship.

08098957792. ♥ Becky, 31, chocolate, 5.7ft, public servant, HIV positive, needs a loving and caring responsible man of 38-40 years for marriage. 07012444576.

MEN LOOKING FOR RELATIONSHIP/ MARRIAGE ♥ Ade, 34, Christian, Yoruba, working in the banking sector, desires a beautiful and working class lady between 25 to 31 years for marriage.

She must be serious minded, mature and willing to settle down. 09050735557. ♥ Chidera, 40, from Ebonyi, in PH, civil servant, needs a very busty lady of 23-31 years for marriage. 08037317375. ♥ Edwin, 37, a writer/businessman, needs a fresh graduate lady with vision, from the Southern or Northern part of the country.

09031502399, 07080473788. ♥ Kennedy, 6ft, businessman, needs a godly working of 30-45 years for marriage.

08105266854, 08021495049. ♥ A life and relationship coach needs a kindhearted or generous person in any part of the country to invest in his ministry. 07032944123, 08023700641. ♥ Precious, 28, a young medic, needs a woman within 35- 48 year who wants to explore real romance but she should be ready to assist him financially. +234 8126650955.

Lovers’ Answers Game: The rule: Ask the opposite sex one question about love, and choose your lover from the top 3 answers.

A girl via 07031139789, is asking all men:

"Why do some men prefer to date a married woman even while she is still living with her husband?" *Call Mike: 07031028714 to send questions or issues.

Man shoots himself dead while playing Russian Roulette alone ...after his friend refused to join in

A

Blackberry Connection Omolola, 34, single mother, wants a man of 35-45 years, preferably a Yoruba man. BB pin: 2A9E3EAA. 09033643433.

• Connect with Mike on WhatsApp or BlackBerry Pin: 7ab29e22 or 21978F71 for details on how to send your BlackBerry or Smartphone Connect request.

• Call Mike on 07031028714, 08131161840 to link up and for direct hookup.

Love Education

Odd News

20-year-old blew his head off after apparently trying to play Russian roulette on his own.

Bryan Javier Aguilera Soto had taken a Taurus .38 revolver and gone to visit a friend in Coquimbo, a city in the western Chilean province of Elqui, where he proposed playing the lethal game.

His friend unsurprisingly turned down the offer before walking out of the house. Moments later he heard a shot ring out as Mr Aguilera shot himself in the head.

He was rushed to the San Pablo de Coquimbo hospital but despite the best efforts of doctors was pronounced dead at 11.50pm on Saturday, hours after firing the fatal shot.

Russian roulette is a potentially lethal game of chance in which a player places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against his head, and pulls the trigger.

37

With a six-shooter revolver, players have in theory a one-in-six chance of blowing their brains out; but in practice the force of gravity will probably make the full chamber come to rest at the bottom of the cylinder, altering the odds in favour of the player.

The term 'Russian roulette' first appeared in a story of the same name by Georges Surdez, which describes Russian officers playing it in Romania in 1917, although it is claimed the game had been widely known in Russia since the early 19th century.

Mr Aguilera's death came as the Coquimbo region's chief of police, Colonel Julio Gordon, warned of the danger of having guns in homes precisely because they could fall into the hands of the young and reckless.

Days before Mr Aguilera's death he had launched a firearms amnesty in the city, asking any citizens with firearms to 'surrender your weapon'

anonymously and with no legal repercussions.

Since Mr Aguilera's death it has emerged that the revolver he used was stolen from a neighbour, who was registered to own it.

A police spokesman said they are looking into the matter.

Courtesy: Daily Mail

What is Fibroid?

F

ibroids, also known as uterine leiomyomas, are non-cancerous tumors coming from the myometrium (the muscle layer) of the uterus. Fibroids are extremely common. Up to four out of every five women have fibroids, although most of these women have no symptoms and do not need any treatment. Fibroids cause symptoms in approximately one out of every four women of reproductive age. They are usually detected in women in their thirties and forties and are more common in black women than white women.

Fibroids usually shrink after menopause.

Fibroids can be divided into submucosal, intramural or subserosal: Submucosal fibroids: These fibroids are located just underneath the endometrium, or lining of the uterus, and protrude into the uterine cavity.

Submucosal fibroids can vary in how much of the fibroid protrudes into the uterine cavity and how much is in the muscle of the uterus. They often cause heavy bleeding and long periods, but they can also cause irregular bleeding.

Intramural fibroids: These fibroids are found predominantly in the myometrium, or muscle of the uterus. Depending on their size and location, these fibroids can also extend toward and distort the uterine cavity or protrude outside the uterus.

Intramural fibroids can be asymptomatic (causing no symptoms), cause bleeding abnormalities, or cause pressure and bulk symptoms.

Subserosal fibroids: These fibroids are located near the outside of the uterus. They can CONTINUED on PAGE 38

38

Love&Living

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

‘I lied about being a lesbian'

C

hristian and I had been best friends for ages when he was horribly dumped by his long-term girlfriend. I'd just got out of a relationship myself and been absolutely crushed by it.

We were together in my apartment one night, drinking and complaining about how cruel love was, when one thing led to another. By the end of the week, we were a couple.

Things were great at the beginning. It helped that we had a long history and understood each other, but then Christian began to get really needy. He began hinting about marriage and babies. It was just too fast for me. I knew it was a result of him being dumped, but as a friend, I felt really bad about discouraging his crazy ideas, so I didn't. But I was slowly feeling trapped, so I subconsciously began to distance myself from him.

That made things even worse. He would text me up to 10 times a day.

One day, he arrived on my doorstep

What is Fibroid?

True Story and asked me what was wrong. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was him, so I did the worst thing possible and said I thought I was a lesbian.

I lied and said that my last relationship had really made me distrust men and that I couldn't picture a future with a man any more. I went on to say that I had been interested in women for a really long time but fear of rejection had made me never pursue the idea.

Christian was surprised, but took it really well because it wasn't his fault. He turned into my best friend again and was very supportive. He even tried to set me up with his lesbian friends!

I went along with it for a few months. We would go to the mall

and "check out" girls together or we'd research articles on the Web about lesbianism. It was really good to have my best friend back, even though I felt bad about lying to him. In the meantime, he was out and about and met a girl he really liked. After a few dates, they were an item. I was happy that he had moved on.

I eventually met a guy I was interested in and told Christian that the lesbian thing was a phase and I'd finally met the guy who could turn things around for me.

At that point, he was so delighted with his relationship that he was happy for me!

Because of that massive white lie, I managed to salvage our friendship. I can't feel bad about that. It only cost me a few months of singledom … and a long-term guilt trip!

Courtesy: nine.com

Wedding Traditions

CON T INUED F R O M PA G E 3 7

be partially in the myometrium (muscle of the uterus) or hanging off the outside of the uterus. They can cause bulk symptoms such as bladder or rectal pressure.

What symptoms do fibroids cause?

Most fibroids cause no symptoms at all. Depending on their size, location and number, fibroids can become significantly problematic.

Some common symptoms associated with fibroids include: • • • • • • • •

Abnormal uterine bleeding, heavy or long periods Bulk and pressure symptoms Bladder pressure, frequent urination Rectal pressure, constipation Infertility or recurrent miscarriages/pregnancy loss Pregnancy complications Pain Anemia Source: nwh.org; Wikipedia.

Kidnapping the Bride: Germany K idnapping the bride is a recurrent theme in weddings. In Germany on the night before the wedding the couple’s friends kidnap the bride and then the groom then has to try and

find her. The search starts at the local pub, so it is assumed the idea is to find her before he passes out.

Courtesy: Irish Central.

SEXUAL COMMUNICATION

The Spirituality of Love: Soul Mate or Twin Flame W

hat is the difference between soul mates and twin flames? Is there only one love for each man/woman, or woman/woman, man/man? Since humankind’s advent into physical existence, the search for the perfect complement quest to find “the other”, the one person who completes our spiritual and corporeal nature.

Anyone in your biological family, or adopted family, or pseudo-family, is a soul mate to you. They can be close friends, co-workers, a teacher, anyone who influences your life one way or another. They play the emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental, games of third dimension with you. They can affect relationships in a positive or negative way depending on the emotional issues of the people concerned. You feel closer to certain souls, because you have attracted them into your life as they are on the same frequency as you or because you work out issues with them. Karma refers to responsibilities shared by soul mates.

Often souls mates come together to bring another soul into the physical realms. A man and woman mate and produce one or more children, the karma thus completed ends. The couple separates and share whatever karma is linked to the child. Sometimes the karma in family is between mother and child, so the child remains exclusively with the mother. Sometimes the karma is with the father and the mother leaves or deceases.

Sometimes it is with both parents or with a sibling who has entered the game before or after you.

Interestingly, there are hundreds of soul mates who come and go in our lives at specific intervals, including children, pets, lust-love, enemies (enemies often mirror deepest unresolved fears or anger), seasonal or lifetime friends. The connection is felt at the soul level, that inaudible click that cannot be explained.

Within the Spiritual Matrix, we are connected, one to the other to everyone at any time. Soul Mates can have various types of relationships, which do not always include romantic love.

During the last century, the romantic topic of love everlasting, love undivided became an overwhelming theme for the unattached; those on a quest to find their own “split apart, soul mate” and felt much missing in the entire dream-life.

Much of the problem with the theory of soul mates in ca.1960 and beyond, is that the sexual revolution crested around the same time. As Victorian attitudes changed so did the hunt for true love in disco clubs, bars, parties, or chance meetings. The only soul mate one can attract with lust, without respect and feelings evolved over time, is lust. Like attracts like, and the lust love can only leave one’s soulselfempty, longing more each time for what is truly missing.

Born of lust, turn to dust. Doors slam, another lesson learned. Where else to go for answers to life's most perplexing, and sometimes painful questions: Inside the real self, the Soul Self. People discovered an amazing spiritual lesson of life’s interesting growth: You are you own soul mate, you complete yourself, you can never find happiness ‘out there’ if you cannot find it within. No one is going to rescue you, and if that is what you believe, then eventually the cycle will begin again, until you finally realize that you rescue you.

To be continued next week.

SATURDAY

Travel &Tourism SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2015

Travel Personality Wanle Akinboboye: To make tourism happen, weave it around your culture p.41

Destination

Ethiopia: The enchanting world of Lalibela p.42

HOSPITALITY

Beni Gold Apartment Hotel: Truly an oasis of calm Opened barely one year ago, ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA writes that Beni Gold Apartment Hotel, in Lagos, has impressed in a manner that belies its age.

T

he city of Lagos has continued to witness increasing growth in its hospitality sector with hotels and guest houses swelling its ranks daily. Beni Gold Apartment Hotel is one of the newest additions. It formally opened for business last year and has since welcomed a number of corporate and leisure guests as it continues to entice with its high quality and standard facilities and professionally delivered services.

Described by the hotel management as "an oasis of calm and tranquility in the business district of Victoria Island," the hotel is a fully serviced apartment hotel and comes with style and panache that set it apart as a true apartment hotel with all the basic trappings.

The exterior beauty, which boasts an inviting façade with well polished finishing heavily, complements the stylish and lavish nature of the hotel. You get this feeling of working into an imperial enclave the moment you step through the door into the reception where you are seized by a bewitching elegance and beauty.

It is the same elements that play on your senses as you explore the various sections of the hotel, which according to the management, is devoted to offering both business and individual travellers the ultimate in comfort and convenience. "Our services are tailored to the preference and specific demands of each client both individual and corporate," a handbill announces.

Accommodation It has 150 bedrooms of five distinct categories, namely – Standard, Deluxe, Executive, Mini Suite and Presidential Suite - all fully serviced rooms, fitted and furnished with standard and high quality amenities. These include comfy and well laid out bed, built-in showers/bathtub, dining table with four chairs, a coffee table with sofas and armchairs, kitchenette with full cooking facilities, refrigerator, tea and coffee making facilities, satellite TV and balcony/terrace.

Facade of the hotel

Dining/wining The hotel is also focused on offering the best dining and wining option not just for its in-house guests but also for walk–in guests, seeking a plush and exclusively crafted environment to savour the best of national and continental delicacies.

Fitness/leisure These are two distinct service areas that the hotel wants to take the lead. The hotel boasts a well equipped gymnasium which guests who desire to keep fit will find compelling. Complementing this is a sauna and treatment room for massage. There is a swimming pool with a pool bar with a traditional tinge.

One of the rooms

Conference Devoted to business and corporate clients, the hotel offers good ambience for conferences and meetings from workshops, training seminars, retreats, annual general meetings to birthdays and wedding parties as well as other social gatherings. Its banquet and conference halls are well–furnished and equipped with basic facilities of diverse range.

Other services Other services and products on offer include Wi-Fi, butler service, medical service and airport shuttle service, among others.

Swimming pool

NEW TELEGRAPH PARTNER HOTELS

FESTAC, LAGOS

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

39

ABA LAGOS

ABA

B E N E F I TS There are lots of benefits to derive as one of our partner hotels. For enquiries and details on how to join the programme, please contact Andrew Iro Okungbowa: 08023152195 (sms only), e-mail: iroandy@ymail.com or Chinyere Opara: 08063768131 (sms only) e-mail angela_curtis-2@live.com

40

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

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NEW TELEGRAPH

Money Line

MONDAY,

JANUARY

Stock Watch

Afromedia: Incapacitated adverse regulation by

37

Interview

Okonjo Iweala, a mismatch economy, says Enwegbara for Nigerian

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Feb 14: APC blows hot

lDSS' story on hacking senseless, says Lai Mohammed Temitope Ogunbanke

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he All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday faulted the re-

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National Electoral Commission (INEC) database through the creation of party membership forms and cards to match INEC's

voters register across the country.

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Bodo spill: N16 billion Group faults Shell’s compensati on

Communities in the NigerDelta have been drastically affected by activities of oil companies

p.22

Food price drops in index December

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Vol. 1

Insurance

Claims: Policyholder’s Leadway conflict with deepens

38

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12, 2015

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24 JANUARY 2015

Travel & Tourism

41

WANLE AKINBOBOYE

To make tourism happen, weave it around your culture people in separate boxes for effective management. When you have such vast business endeavour without any form of regulation or record processes then everybody is trying to be an expert because of the financial benefits associated with it.

So you see someone who has travelled four, five, six times in a year and sees one or two things in his travels then he comes back and tells you that he is a tourism expert and he is out there telling you what you should do.

Dr. Wanle Akinboboye is the founder of La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort, Ikegun, Lagos and special adviser on tourism to the governor of Ondo State. He speaks with ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA on key issues relating to the development of Nigeria tourism industry and challenges of setting up the resort over two decades

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Background naturally ebullient personality, a robust intellectual and visionary, Dr. Wanle Akinboboye, could be best described as a man of many parts with artistic and creative ferment, which over the years he has displayed with uncommon touch and passion for his craft.

Educated and trained in his craft in the United States of America, Akinboboye who hails from Ondo State, returned to the country at the young and zestful age of 29, full of energy and armed with an uncanny vision of creating a tourism project out of this world -La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort in Ikegun Village, Lagos, a beach resort that is entirely an African themed enclave but enjoys a blend of natural and sophisticated aesthetics -The resort in 2013 was named the best beach resort in Nigeria while in 2014 it was named the best beach resort in West Africa in the annual Africa Travel Award organised by Akwaaba and has since taken the tourism industry and the country by storm through his numerous projects and interventions spanning almost 30 years.

Apart from the resort, he is also the founder of La Campagne Club, Ikeja, Atunda Entertainment and Corporate Guards, Motherland Beckons - a body devoted to the promotion and preservation of African culture and a vehicle, which he has successfully used in bridging the gap between The Diaspora and motherland –Africa. Akinboboye is also the Ambassador for tourism for the World Conference of Mayors and currently doubles as special adviser on tourism to the governor of Ondo State among others.

Birthing La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort It was the passion of a 29-year-old who wanted to make a difference, who wanted to make a change. In retrospect when I look at it that 29 years boy or that very young boy that came into the forest in 1984, I salute his courage and his ability to do that.

I think that if he has realised the kind of issues involved they might not have deterred him but may had slowed him down quite a bit. But I am glad that to a large extent I really didn’t see people then, my focus mainly was what I wanted to do

TRAVEL PERSONALITY and I didn’t concern myself about what people think but I was more concerned with what I wanted to do.

I just came back from the US at the time and a lot of people that I came in contact with –Nigerians, majority of the people; they all had one major problem of why things can’t be done. Everybody you speak to is thinking more of how it can’t be done and they are not looking at the challenges and looking at how to overcome these challenges.

They look at challenges as a stop, they look at challenges as a deterrent and they don’t look at challenges as things that will come up in any endeavour.

So, my major focus was on what I wanted to do, I wanted to build an authentic African theme resort with a very strong West African flavour because I believe very strongly that to make tourism happen you got to weave it round your culture so that everybody around that immediate culture can benefit from it and can participate in it.

It is not about when you import other people’s culture and how on a regular basis you try to be a better imitation than the original owners of

Tourism is an industry that doesn’t have an entry level; everybody can get involved in it. So, there got to be a way of regulating it and creating boxes for it

those ideas that you can begin to start to say that you have achieved something.

Success factor Very simple, just decide on what you want to do and focus on it and be prepared for the fact that everybody you come across is going to discourage you not to do it. So once you are prepared for that you just hear it and let it go but your focus must be on what you want to do and believing strongly that what you want to do is important not only for you but for humanity and realising the fact that when you are able to achieve it, when you build it, they will come and when they come you have created a legacy for tomorrow’s people.

Because the platform or the lack of platform that we are standing on today as a people is the doing or undoing of yesterday’s people and the platform or lack of platform for tomorrow’s people is in our hands, today’s people.

Challenges facing Nigerian tourism industry Tourism is an industry that doesn’t have an entry level; everybody can get involved in it. So, there got to be a way of regulating it and creating boxes for it and putting

We lack the basic understanding of how to develop tourism These are the challenges but when it doesn’t occur to you that a particular industry is important the basic needed infrastructure to boost that particular industry would not be put in place because it hasn’t occurred to us.

Why do I need to build the road to La Campagne and help Dr. Wanle Akinboboye? What is my business with his business? My business is to govern but if I know that if I build the road to La Campagne or have given electricity to the resort in the past 20 years, the resort would had created employment for more than 1, 000 or 2, 000 people.

When I look at the trickledown effect of that opportunity I will rush to build the road. But for me to do that I must have had some kind of experience, I must have that knowledge, and it must occur to me that tourism is important. I must see the trickledown effect.

And of course because government is a short term and tourism being a long term, everybody is not particular about focusing on those things that would bring long time glory but rather on the short term glory that the people will see very quickly.

Tourism is critical to our development Unless we decide that tourism is critical and we look at it as a major focus that is when we will begin to strategise and then put in place the needed infrastructure. So you have infrastructure challenges that you have to deal with, you have human resources challenges that you have to deal with because it is a new industry and we don’t have a huge bank of knowledgeable people and experience hands.

So there is a lot of training, a lot programmes and some processes that you have to be prepared for.

Then you have to identify what type of tourism that you want to be known for. Is it cultural tourism? Is it conference tourism? Is it religious tourism? Is it educational tourism? Is it sports tourism? Or is it adventure tourism?

You have to determine what you want to do and then look at the best application or the best way to go about it. Because it is not our focus yet but when something is your focus you will not only think about the monetary application of it but you will have to think about how to use what you have to get what you need or what you want.

42 Travel & Tourism

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24 JANUARY 2015

Ethiopia: The enchanting world of Lalibela

Church of St. George; one of the eleven rock-hewn churches at Lalibela

DESTINATION WOLE SHADARE, who was in Ethiopia and witnessed the celebration of traditional Christmas in Lalibela, writes on the fascinating and enchanting nature of the historic city.

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The journey to Lalibela isiting Lalibela from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, could be tedious. It is a distance of over 645 kilometres by road. But going by air makes it easier and stress free - just about 45 minutes from Gondar. Besides the stress free nature you also have the advantage of arriving early and in high spirit and expectant mood to a historic celebration that could easily be described as the "eight wonders of the world".

It was an exploratory trip for the team of Nigerian journalists who flew with Ethiopian Airlines. It was a fascinating trip as one suddenly is transported through the mountainous ranges to a mesmerizing under-

belly of a maze of historic structures, sights and sounds of the historic city of Lalibela.

The underbelly of Lalibela Your first impression is that this is truly a wonder of the world and the fact that it is in Africa – even though not as famous as the pyramids in Egypt - makes it the more alluring and exciting. Despite its ancient nature (it's actually over 800 years old),

The churches of Lalibela were constructed after King Gebra Lalibela was said to have had a vision, in which God told him to build the huge structures

it breathes a remarkable dosage of life and religion.

Lalibela is history and mystery frozen in stone, its soul is alive with the rites and awe of Christianity at its most ancient and unbending. No matter what you’ve heard about Lalibela, no matter how many pictures you’ve seen of its breathtaking rock-hewn churches, nothing can prepare you for the reality of seeing it for yourself. It’s not only a World

Heritage Site, but truly a world wonder city.

Partaking in a vigil here during one of the big religious festivals, when white-robed pilgrims in their hundreds crowd the courtyards of the churches, is to witness Christianity in its most early, pristine and powerful form.

The world-renowned group of 11 churches at Lalibela comprises a very important historical and religious site, attracting thousands of pilgrims from around the world. The churches represent a unique artistic achievement, in their execution, size and the variety and boldness of their forms.

You can feel the devotion and spirituality in every corner. Definitely worth waking up at 5am to join the local people for their morning prayers - they are very warm and welcoming and you can sit amongst them in silence, watching and soaking in the breathtaking atmosphere.

Almost bearing a semblance to the Taj Mahal in India while the rock hewn churches share similarities with Petra in Jordan (though on a much smaller scale), but what makes Lalibela so much different from Petra is its "livingness," as priests and hordes of people still use the churches as worship places. Lalibela, unlike Petra, is primarily being used as per its original purpose and hasn't (yet)

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

been reduced to a mere listless and lifeless tourist destination.

The creative ferment and intriguing as well intricacies of a group of 13 rock– hemmed churches during the 11th century, still intrigue and excite many visitors to the location. The churches come across as very massively and artistically created, exuding not just curiosity but enchantment as well.

These churches breath life and the tour guide did a good job reounting the history of the city and its various worship centres, highlighting the churches' relevance today.

On this fateful day, we were fortunate to be visiting on the same day that Christians in the city celebrate the annual Christmas (January 7). So, it was a wonderful and exciting experience to partake in this historic celebration for the first time ever, making it a second Christmas celebration as one had earlier celebrated the 2014 Christmas in Nigeria.

Exploring the innards of the churches come with their own challenges as the structures are rugged, rocky and with steeple and slippery stairways as well as having long passageways to navigate. One needs to be in a very good state of health to go through the rigours but despite the challenges, the experience is a memorable one.

All the churches are so impressive.

Except for certain repairs, they are all in one solid stone block carved on the outside and the inside. Non–Ethiopians pay ($50) to see these churches and the money generated from them don’t go into the coffers of the tourism bureau but rather it goes to the churches. But it doesn’t appear as if much of the many go into keeping the churches.

Religious tourism is supposed to be at best here given the high traffic generated, but for some reasons not many of the tourists are pleased with the level of religious tourism as tourists from Europe, Caribbean, Africa and the United States of America who are more in numbers here described the brand of tourism as "more commercial and less religious".

Though this is a pretty little town but the churches have given it colour and character, making it an impressive and must place to visit. The constructions here are sights to behold with noble intentions and their religious nuances quite obvious to feast on.

Lalibela may originally be a pious city with its magnified and monstrous churches, but over the years, especially with the influx of tourists, its religiousity seems to be enjoying less emphasis while commerce appears to be taking over most of the religious rites.

For instance one witnessed a baptism scene during the visit where the participants seemed to be more interested in the outward celebration of the event and not the solemnity and seriousness that are attached to such an important rite in the Christian faith.

Some concerted effort must be put in place by the people and even the churches, who seem to be enjoying the attention and commercial gains, to preserve the religious nuances and essence in order to retain its originality and make it appealing to many who want to savour authentic religious values and practices and the commercialized ones.

History Lalibela is in a mountainous region in the heart of Ethiopia, some 645 kilometres from Addis Ababa and noted for the 11 medieval monolithic churches, which are hewed out from the underbellies of rocky ranges and plateaus.

These building are attributed to King Lalibela who set out in the 12th century to construct a "New Jerusalem", after Muslim conquests halted Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Lalibela flourished after the decline of the Ak-

sum Empire.

There are two main groups of churches – to the north of the River Jordan: Biete Medhani Alem (House of the Saviour of the World), Biete Mariam (House of Mary), Biete Maskal (House of the Cross), Biete Denagel (House of Virgins), Biete Golgotha Mikael (House of Golgotha Mikael); while to the south of the river are: Biete Amanuel (House of Emmanuel), Biete Qeddus Mercoreus (House of St. Mercoreos), Biete Abba Libanos (House of Abbot Libanos), Biete Gabriel Raphael (House of Gabriel Raphael), and Biete Lehem (House of Holy Bread). The eleventh church, Biete Ghiorgis (House of St. George), is isolated from the others, but connected by a system of trenches.

The churches were not constructed in a traditional way but rather were hewn from the living rock of monolithic blocks. These blocks were further chiseled out, forming doors, windows, columns, various floors and roofs among

pink, gold and moss green.

No wonder people thought celestial help was needed. These awesome buildings were carved with hammer and chisel, each out of a single scoria block, by an estimated 40,000 workers.

In the 1520s, the Portuguese priest, Francisco Alvares, wrote that he was “weary of writing more about these buildings because it seems to me I shall not be believed”.

Features of Lalibela’s churches Lalibela packs the kind of aesthetics and mystical power of Macchu Picchu and Angkor Wat, with the advantage of not being mobbed by tourists, at least not yet.

Grouped in two clusters, the churches have roofs at ground level and plunge down 40 feet. Seven of the 11 churches are organically embedded in the rock while four are self-standing, with well-defined geometrical volumes. Among these is the world’s

Travel & Tourism 43 This translates into a constant play of up and down, light and shadow, wide and narrow, dry, dusty sun and dark, incense-scented coolness.

The tunnel connecting Beta Gabriel and Beta Mercurios, although short — a three-minute walk — is so dark and narrow it can be scary.

There are many holes and cavities in the walls that are used for meditation, praying and fasting, and pilgrims sleep in them during festivals. Some caverns are blackened from baking holy bread.

Many people have been entombed here and bones and skulls protrude from the rock, giving a sense of continuity, history and peace with death.

Other tourists attractions Exploring the tourist attractions of the country has been made somewhat easier for tourists as the attractions are well identified and structured into different tourism circuits or routes, such as: Historic route – these feature an

Baptism pool at St. Mary's Church, Lalibela

others. This gigantic work was further completed with an extensive system of drainage ditches, trenches and ceremonial passages, some with openings to hermit caves and catacombs.

Ten centuries ago, King Lalibela had a vision: That his capital, Roha, in what is now northern Ethiopia, would equal Jerusalem in spiritual and architectural glory. It was this dream, which gave birth to the 11 fantastic churches, which were hewn in the reddish-pink volcanic scoria rock, each unique in style and this is what has given the town it character and allure.

King Lalibela lived to be 96 years old and saw to the completion of his dream, which was one of the legacies he bequeathed to the people and town. When he died in 1221 BC, he was buried in Beta Mikael Church and Roha became known as Lalibela. Today, it stands as a historic landmark of sacred architecture and a World Heritage Site inscribed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and if one may add also as one of the wonders of Africa.

According to popular legend, angels were believed to have greatly aided the construction work at night while St. George supervised the construction as his horse is believed to have left hoof prints on the passageway leading to his church — Beta Gyorgis, the last to be built, and arguably the loveliest, crossshaped, with elaborate windows. When the sun sets over the hills, it glimmers in

Ethiopia

Known as ‘the land of thousand smiles’ and’ home of 'Lucy’ (Mother of all mankind), it teems with vast monuments and home to the three Abrahamic religions – Islam, Judaism and Orthodox Christianity.

Emperor Haile Selassie's legacies bestride the landscape, which is home to people of diverse cultures and traditions with over 80 nationalities and 200 languages. Amharic is the official language while English, French, Arabic and Italian are fairly spoken in the country.

Addis Ababa, the capital was created around 1886 and named by Queen Taytu, one of the many women of Menelik 111. The country is located in East Africa and is part of the area generally regarded as the "Horn of Africa".

It is bordered by such countries as Djibouti, Eritrea, a country with which it engaged in war for many years; Kenya, Somalia and Sudan are the other bordering neigbhours.

Addis Ababa is one of the enchanting cities to visit and is regarded as the "political capital of Africa".

largest monolithic rock-hewn building, Medhane Alem, with 72 pillars and five naves.

The complex rambles underground, a labyrinth of narrow passages, causeways, steps and tunnels.

photos: Wole Shadare

endless historic landmarks for which the country is famed, they include carved obelisks; the Ark of Covenant, Gondar with its castles and palaces; Negash Amedin Mesgid – walled Muslim city of Harar and Lega Oda, some distance from Dire Dawa where carved paintings of ancient time are preserved; Cities, notably among them are Addis Ababa, which is the political, socio – cultural and commercial nerve centre of the country; Aksum and Gonder.

Cuisine Top on the list of traditional cuisines is the wot meal, which is more or less Ethiopia's national menu and there are varieties of it such as meat, fish or poultry and vegetable of hot pepper spiced with stews and supported by unleavened bread known as Injera.

There is also the popular Buna, Ethiopian brand of coffee. Ethiopia is one of the world’s coffee producing nations.

Nightlife Nightlife in Ethiopia is phenomenal and full of colours with a blend of outdoor activities and spots to keep you busy round the clock. Addis Ababa, the capital city is a suitable place to savour the vivacity of the people same as such cities as Gonder, Aksum and Lalibela where you find different levels of night clubs, bars, restaurants and events centres to unwind.

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Health

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

‘Preservatives in foods could be reason for rising cancer cases in Nigeria' Dr. Abimbola Adewolu is a Senior Registrar in Hematology Department, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and specialises in Hematology. In this interview with MICHAEL UCHEBUAKU, he talks about the deadly rise of the Leukamia type of cancer in Nigeria and the danger it poses to adults and children.

yearly. However, I wish to add that hematological malignancies are among the top five cancers in Nigeria. The World Health Organisation estimated that by year 2020 the annual worldwide cancer incidence would rise from 10 million to 20 million and 70 per cent will occur in developing countries which have less than 10 per cent of resources for cancer care and control. It has also been estimated that cancer incidence in Africa would grow by 400 per cent in the next 50 years. Nigeria responded by creating the National Consultative Committee on cancer on October 19, 2006. I am quoting Professor Durosinmi on Haematology, Oncology, Chemotherapy, 3rd Edition.

What can or should be done to prevent people, especially children, from dying from Leukamia?

Cancer generally does not have a cure yet. We just try to prolong the lives of our patients. There are some of them, some lymphomas like Hodgkins Lymphoma which can be cured. But most cancers don't have a definitive cure. But what we try to do is to prolong the life of the patient as much as possible.

What is leukamia?

Leukamia is a type of malignancy that affects human beings. It is characterised by the accumulation of blast cells in the blood. Blast cells are a special type of immature cells and a precursor of the white cells. Under leukamias we can have the acute leukamia and the chronic Leukamia. Under acute Leukamia, we have acute lymphoblastic leukamia and acute myeloid Leukamia. Acute Leukemias are a group of clonal malignant disorders of the blood cells. They are characterised by impaired maturation of early haemopoietic cells and accumulation of blast cells.

The white cells may be normal, low, or elevated, anaemia and thrombocytopenia are invariably present. Acute Leukemias may be myeloid or lymphoid. But chronic leukemias can be myeloid or lymphocytic.

How does it affect adults?

Adults can have any form of Leukamia like I described earlier, but majorly, the kind of Leukamia they have is chronic lymphocytic Leukamia, like that seen in the elderly. Adults between 30-40 years can also have chronic myeloid Leukemia.

And of course, children between 13 and 14 years can have acute myeloid Leukemia and acute lymphoblastic Leukamia.

How does leukamia affect children?

The commonest forms of Leukamia affecting children are the acute lymphoblastic Leukamia and the acute myeloid Leukemia. Acute lymphoblastic leukamia is characterised by the accumulation of lymphoblasts in the blood. And acute myeloid leukemia is characterised by accumulation of myeloblasts in the blood.

Those are the common Leukamias you see in children. Chronic myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia are not common in children.

What are the causes?

Like any other malignancy, the cause is not actually known. Leukamia has been tied to genetic abnormalities in the body.

We have what we call mutations, deletions, and inversions. That is, mutations of the genetic makeup in children. It can also be inherited from the parents. Most people have proto-oncogens in their body and these proto-oncogenes can become oncogenes when they are activated.

We have other environmental factors too, which can cause malignancies. For example, radiation, eating moulded groundnut, groundnut containing afla toxin and also by taking certain drugs. For example, the drugs used to treat Leukamia can also cause Leukamia.

Adewolu

Why is leukamia on the rise right now and affecting so many people, especially children?

Leukamia is on the rise right now probably because we have better detection facilities. There are more doctors and nurses produced now and the understanding of leukamia is more now. So it may not be that we have an actual increase of people with leukamia. It might be a relative increase. We now have automated machines to measure the full blood count. So the so-called increased incidence and prevalence of leukemia might be because of better screening facilities and more medical personnel, and also because of increased education. Again, medical employment tests are being carried out more. Some people discover that they have cancer when they go for a medical test concerning their employment with a company or organisation that they want to work for.

Again, people no longer eat original food.

Nigerians don't eat what they used to eat before. We now eat preserved foods. They all have preservatives. Nigerians now eat foods that have preservatives. So that might be a reason.

Many parents complain that their children are dying of leukamia in various hospitals in Lagos, including LASUTH. Does it mean that the doctors in LASUTH are not doing their best in the management of leukamia?

The doctors here are doing their best in the management of Leukamia. But I think the reason why children die from Leukamia is because they don't have access to basic treatment that could make them bet-

It can be inherited from their parents, and if that is the case, it may be difficult to prevent leukamia ter, like stem cell transplant. We are not doing any stem cell transplant in Nigeria for anybody. But stem cell transplants are being done in India and European countries. But if stem cell transplantation is brought to Nigeria, more lives will be saved. Again, the cost of drugs used in treating leukamia is very expensive and these are drugs that they will take regularly for over six months. Most people cannot afford them. Patients die because there must be a collective will to save cancer patients. A tree does not make a forest.

There is an old Roman adage that “if there is no way we would build one.� There is no expertise and equipment to do stem cell transplant in Nigeria.

From your records, how many children die from Leukamia every year?

There is no proper record keeping in the country yet, so it is difficult to give a particular figure for the number of children that die from leukamia in Nigeria

What can Nigerians do to avoid Leukamia?

Like I said before, it can be inherited from their parents, and if that is the case, it may be difficult to prevent leukamia. But I feel that people should have healthy eating habits. People should exercise more.

People should also do complete medical tests annually. They should do a full blood count annually. Through these measures, we would be able to detect cancer very early. If some of the cancer that we have, (like chronic lymphocytic leukamia and the lymphomas, that is, both Hodgkins and non-Hodgkins lymphomas) are detected early, they can be completely cured within three months using some special drugs.

Should a national emergency be declared on Leukamia?

I feel that a national emergency should not be declared on leukamia because the government has already instituted a National Board for the control of Hematological conditions. A national emergency should not be declared. But I feel that Nigerians generally need more enlightenment about their health. Creation of health awareness should be made more. Health issues should be given priority by both the government and the public. Prevention is also important. If someone thinks he has cancer, he should go to a hospital for proper medical tests.

Are there any plans to carry out public enlightenment programmes in Lagos about Leukamia in order to create awareness among Lagosians, especially parents on the dangers that Leukamia poses to them and their children?

I'm aware that there are many organisations that are working on public enlightenment about malignancies. I know that the Association of Resident Doctors do public enlightenment every now and then. And there is a National Board on Oncology too which I know does public enlightenment. I feel that the churches and mosques should do more health talks.

Let people be taught more about their health. In schools, health science should also be taught.

SATURDAY, 24 JANUARY, 2015

SATURDAY

Politics 45

Politics

Buhari was Head Boy at Provincial School – Saulawa p.51

Milestones

Tarzoor re-invents the aborigine p.52

Perspective

Obasanjo can't turn women against Jonathan for Buhari p.52

'Another civil war unlikely in nigeria' What kind of childhood did you have?

Well, from my father’s side, we are Fulanis. You know the Fulanis are really divided into two. There are nomads, the ones that if you drive from Maiduguri and many parts of the North you will find. They are even in parts of Delta now. And there are those who settled.

They are cousins and the same people actually. From my mother’s side and on her father’s side, we are Kanuris from Kukawa.

Where’s Kukawa?

Kukawa is in Borno State. We are Kanuris. On her mother’s side, we are Hausas. So, you can see I am Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri combined (he said laughing). I am the 23rd child of my father. And the 13th on my mother's side. There are only two of us remaining now; my sister and I. I went to school, primary school, in Daura and Kaduna, also a primary school, in Kachia. I also attended Katsina Provincial Secondary School, now Government College. I didn’t work for a day. I joined the military in 1962.

You mean as a boy-soldier?

No, after school certificate. There was an officer cadet school from here in Kaduna, called Nigeria Military Training College then. In April 1962, I went to the United Kingdom (UK), Mons Officers Cadet School.

You mean the famous Mons Officers…?

Yes. And when I was commissioned, I came back and I was posted to 2nd Infantry Battalion in Abeokuta. That was my first posting. The battalion was in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I went there. When I came back from there, I was first in Lagos, as Transport Officer. That was where I was till the January coup. I was posted back to my battalion and we were posted to Kaduna here. And then, there was a counter coup, civil war, coup and counter-coup. We participated. I too was overthrown and detained for more than three years. And having had that major political setback when I was made a head of state and then, ended up in detention, I went out and eventually, I decided to join party politics, participated three times and lost as presidential candidate and I am still in and fighting.

You have never given up?

Even though I said at some stage that I wouldn’t present myself for candidature again, I said I remain in party politics as long as I have breath in me.

Your Excellency, why did you join the Army?

The interest was built while I was in secondary school. The emirs of Katsina, from Dikko, were known to be interested in the military. They always have members of the military or police in their family right from World War II. One of the emirs of Kaduna-Dikko died in Burma. And of course, everybody in the country knows General Hassan, the son of the Emir of Katsina. He was grandson of Emir Dukko. So, when General Hassan was in Sandhurst, we were in secondary school in Katsina. His father, the Emir of Katsina, Usman Nagogo, used to ask him to go and talk to the senior students who were in Form Four to Six, to get them interested in the military. And we were told that he delib-

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

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Cover

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

'It's mischief to say we allowed 53 CONTINUED from PAGE 45

erately wanted a military cadet unit in Katsina Secondary School. Then, it was limited to Federal Government Colleges or Government Colleges and we had a military cadet unit, which I joined.

That was the transition?

That was where the interest started.

Did your parents object to it?

No. Well, I didn’t know my father really.

Oh! How old were you when he died?

I think I was about three, four years?

I couldn’t remember his face. The only thing I could recall about my father was the horse because it threw me down. We were on the horse with one of my half brothers going to water it and then, it tripped and I fell. It stepped on me. So, that is the only impression I have of him.

That is the only thing I could recall.

What of your mother?

Oh! my mother died in 1988 when I was in detention.

Ok, I remember then the controversy of allowing you to go and see her buried. Did they eventually allow you?

No. It was quite an issue then, wasn't it?

Yeah, it became an issue; so I was immediately released after she was buried.

You didn’t see her buried?

No. It was after you were released you then went to her grave and all that?

Exactly!

What kind of childhood did you have?

Well, you know communities then were living a communal life. Clearly, I could recall I reared cattle. We had cattle; we had sheep and then, there was good neighbourhood. Not many children had the opportunity to go to school, but I went to school. I left home at the age of 10 or 11 and went to school, like I said. And I was in the boarding school for nine years.

In primary school and secondary school, I was in the boarding house and from there, I went straight into the Army.

So, you have always been on your own?

In those days, there were not many schools and the teachers then were professionals. They were working teachers and were committed. And teachers then treated the children as if they were their own students. You were made to work and if you don’t, they never spared the cane really. So, I was lucky to be in the boarding school for my impressionable years, nine years. I was very lucky.

Did you play any pranks as a young person?

Oh, certainly!

What were the things you did?

(Laughs) I wouldn’t like to mention them.

Can you recall some?

We used to raid the emir’s orchard for mangoes mainly. Of course, unfortunately we were caught and punished.

When people talk of Buhari today, they are looking at a disciplined man. Was it the boarding house that put you through that or the military? Was the boarding

house part of where you got your Spartan, disciplined life?

Both did. As I told you, the teachers then treated their students as if they were their own children. So, we got the best of attention from teachers. And as I told you, they never spared the cane. You were meant to do your homework; you were meant to do the sports and clean up the environment, the compound and the area of the school and so on. And from that type of life, I moved into the military, the military of that time.

Would you say going into the military was the best thing that ever happened to you?

I think so, because from primary to secondary school and in the military, it will continue, both the academic and the physical one. I think it was so tough, but then, once it was inbuilt, it has to be sustained because you don’t contemplate failure.

You just succeed? Does it mean failure was not an option?

No. It was not.

Was it also the Fulani training of perseverance? Because when you have reared cattle, for those who have been doing it, they said it toughens you…

It did.

In the sun and in the rain, you are there with your cattle…

The period was remarkable, in the sense that those who are brought up in the city have limited space. If you are in a confined school, you learn from the school and what you see immediately. But the nomadic life exposes you to nature. You will never learn enough of plants, of trees, of insects and of animals. Everyday you are learning something. You have seen them and everyday you are learning. You will never know all of them. So, it is so vast that it takes a lot of whatever you can think of. And then, the difference again in the environment. In the Savannah, in the Sahel, after harvest, you can always see as high as your eyes can go. And then, at night when there is moon, it is fantastic.

So, I enjoyed those days and they made a lasting impression in me.

What are the remarkable things you can think of during your military trainings?

Initially, from here in Kaduna, at the end of your training, the height of the field exercise was then conducted in two places. Here in southern Kaduna and somewhere in Kachia area. There was a thick belt in that forest. You go for field firing and so on. And then you go to Jos for map reading and endurance. That was why mathematics at that level, the secondary school level, geometry and algebra, were absolutely necessary. It had always been, because to be a competent officer, you may be deployed to be in charge of artillery; physics, where you help find your position. Wherever you are from, you work it on the ground in degrees and so on. You have to do some mathematics. We were in Jos. Again, I was made a leader of a small unit. We were given a map, a compass and you dare not cheat. If you are found out, you are taken 10 miles back. So, you have to go across the country. You find your way from the map; you go to certain points and on those points, mostly hills, you climb them and you will get a box. The weather there is cold. You put your own coat and you cover it over the hills and at the end of the exercise, part of your scorecards, are those marks

We used to raid the emir’s orchard for mangoes mainly. Of course, unfortunately we were caught and punished

you won or you lost. We arrived with one compass, which led us to a certain bushy hill.

In Jos? Yes, in Jos. And it was night, dark and it was raining lightly and definitely, our compass led us to that hill, which means there was a point there.

And there were five of us: me, one Sierra Leonean or Ghanaian, one from Sokoto, and one other. I think the other person was Katsina-Alu, the former Chief Justice.

You mean he was in the military?

He was. He did the training but he was never commissioned. He went to university and did law. I went up to the hill. I picked the box. I copied the code, and I said if I was forced to join the Army, I would have left the following day because that place, a viper or a snake or something or hyena or lion could have finished me. But I said if I run away the following day, people would say well we knew you couldn’t make it, we knew you would be lazy.

But because I voluntarily joined the Army, I said I had to be there. That is one point. The second one was when I was in training in the UK. I came there and we were drilled so much and at night again, we were on an exercise. We were putting our formation. In anyway position was created, and they fired at us. We went down automatically that day and by the time the commander asked us to move, I fell asleep. It must be few seconds, not up to a minute.

That was how exhausted I was.

Was it really the cold or what?

It was cold. It was 1962. It was cold and it was rainy again just like in Plateau. Just between the time we went down and to move and climb the mountain, I fell asleep. So, those two moments, I would never forget them.

Who were your classmates in the military and in the officers’ training in the UK? Well, the late Gen. Yar’Adua. I was together with him throughout the nine years primary, secondary school and in the military.

So, you have always been colleagues…?

We were together from childhood.

Ok, that is interesting. Who else?

Well, not the ones that are here.

In the military, most of them did not reach the position I reached; myself, and Yar’Adua. They couldn’t make it.

Why did you choose the infantry and not the other arms? What was the attraction?

Maybe it was the training of the cadet unit in secondary school. I found the infantry much more challenging

and when we were doing the training, the Federal Government decided that we were going to have the Air Force.

So, I was invited. A team came from the Ministry of Defence to interview cadets that wanted to be fighter pilots in the Air Force. I was the first to be called in our group. I appeared before them and they told me that those who could pass the interview would be recommended to go to the Air Force training either in the UK, some went to Ethiopia or United States or Germany. So, they asked me whether I wanted to be a fighter pilot and I said no. They asked why, and I said I wasn’t interested. We were given three choices. Number one, maybe you went to infantry; number two, you went to reconnaissance then before they became armour and later, maybe artillery. So, all my three choices, I could recall vividly, I put infantry, infantry. So, they said why? I said because I liked infantry. And they asked if I wouldn’t like to be a fighter pilot. I said no, I didn’t want to join them. They said why. I said I hadn’t done physics.

Normally, I did some mathematics but to be a fighter pilot, you must do some physics. They said no, that it was no problem, that I could have an additional one academic year. So, since I had some mathematics background, it was just one year purely to do physics and I would reach the grade required to be a pilot. I said no, I didn’t want it.

They again asked why. I told them I chose infantry. The reason is: when I am fighting and I was shot at, if I was not hit, I can go down, turn back and take off by foot. They laughed and sent me out. So, I remained an infantry officer.

Where were you during the coups and counter-coups? And what rank were you in the military then?

I was in Lagos, in the barracks, as transport officer. I was only a second lieutenant.

That was during the January 15, 1966 coup?

Yes, January 15, 1966.

The coup met you in Lagos?

Yes. I think that was my saddest day in the military because I happened to know some of the senior officers that were killed. In the transport company, after the 2nd Battalion and we came back, I was posted to Lagos to be a transport officer and in my platoon, we had staff cars and Landrovers. So, I knew the Army officers, from Ironsi, Maimalari, because I detailed vehicles for them every working day. So, I knew senior officers.

So, you were in contact with them?

I was in contact with them somehow because I was in charge of transportation.

Where were you that night of January 15 coup?

I was in Lagos.

Can you recall the circumstance, how you got to know?

The way I got to know was, my routine then was as early as about six in the morning, I used to drive to the garage to make sure that all vehicles for officers, from the General Officer Commanding (GOC), who was then General Ironsi, were roadworthy and the drivers would drive off. And then, I would go back to the Officers Mess in Yaba,

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suitcases into the country illegally' where I would wash, have my breakfast and come back to the office. And around the railway crossing in Yaba, coming out from the barracks, we saw a wounded soldier. I stopped because I was in a Landrover. I picked him and asked what happened. He said he was in the late Maimalari’s house and they were having a party the previous night and the place was attacked. So, I took the soldier to the military hospital in Yaba and I asked after the commander.

Maimalari, I think, was commander of 2 Brigade in Apapa. He was the 2 Brigade Commander. They said he was shot and killed.

Then, you didn’t know it was a coup?

Well, that became a coup. That was the time I really learnt it was a coup.

And then there was a counter-coup of July?

Yes, July.

Where were you at this time also?

I was in Lagos again. I was still in Lagos then at Apapa at 2 Brigade Transport Company.

And then, there was ethnic colouration and all that. And at a point, they asked some of you to go back to the North. Am I correct?

Yes, because I was posted back then to the battalion. That was in Abeokuta.

It was first to Ikeja Cantonment, but after the counter-coup, we were taken to Lagos by train, the whole battalion.

Did you play any role in the countercoup?

No! Not that I will tell you.

You know at 70, you are reminiscing.

You are saying it the way it is, you don’t give a damn anymore…

Well, there was a coup. That is all I can tell you. I was a unit commander and certainly, there was a breakdown of law and order. So, I was posted to a combatant unit, although 2 Brigade Transport Company was a combatant unit. You know there were administrative and combatant units and the service unit, like health, education.

Even transport, there are administrative ones, but there are combatant ones also.

The question I asked was, did you play any specific role?

No. I was too junior to play any specific role. I was just a lieutenant then. In 1966, January, I was a Second Lieutenant, but I was promoted, I think, around April, May, or June to Lieutenant.

And what were your impressions of that period?

You see, senior military officers had been killed and politicians, like Sardauna, Akintola, Okotie Eboh. They were killed. And then in the military, Maimalari, Yakubu Pam, Largema, Shodeinde, and Ademolegun; so really, it had a tribal tinge.

The first one?

Yes. And then, there was a counter.

One mistake gave birth to another one?

Certainly, certainly.

And then long years of military came?

Oh yes.

From 1967-75, it was Gowon. At that

point in time, where were you?

When Gowon came into power, I wonder whether I would recall where I was. It was July 1967 that Gowon came in. That was when I was in Lagos. I was again in Lagos, then in the transport company.

Then he took over?

Yeah, Gowon took over or Gowon was installed.

Well, more like you…

(Laughs) Yes. And then in 1967?

Civil war.

So, you have to give me that part because there are some books I have read, that featured your name. So, what were your experiences during the civil war?

Well, I told you that we were packed into the train from Ikeja (Lagos) to Kaduna, 2nd Infantry Battalion and when states were created by General Gowon, police action was ordered; we were moved to the border in the East. We were not in Nsukka, but in Ogoja. We started from Ogoja.

And you took active part?

Yeah. Well, I was a junior officer.

Who was your GOC then?

My GOC was the late General Shuwa.

How did you feel during that period of the civil war? Did you ever think the first coup would result in a civil war?

No. I never felt so and I never hoped for it. Literally, you are trained to fight a war but you are not trained to fight a war within your own country. We would rather have enemies from outside our country to defend our country, but not to fight among yourselves.

Some of those officers you were fight-

You are trained to fight a war but you are not trained to fight a war within your own country

ing were your comrades…

They were.

You knew some of them?

Some of them were even my course mates. We were facing one other, like when we were in Awka sector. The person facing me was called Bob Akonobi. We were mates here.

Robert Akonobi?

Robert Akonobi.

Who later became a governor?

Yes. He was my course mate here in Kaduna.

And there you were…

Facing each other.

It must have been quite awkward?

It was. It was unfortunate, but it is part of our national development.

And the way we are going, you think it is a possibility again?

I don’t think so. No, I don’t think so.

After Gowon, Murtala came.

Yes. By that time you were no longer a small officer…

No. I was just, I think, a colonel?

Was it a lieutenant colonel or major?

I think I was a lieutenant colonel.

But during the Obasanjo administration, you had become a minister, as it were.

No. I first became a governor when Murtala came, in North-East.

This same North-East that is giving problem now.

Yes. I was there and there were six states then: Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba.

And they were all under your control

or command?

North-East went up to Chad; anyway, they are on the same latitude with Lagos. The bottom before you start going on the Plateau, Mambilla Plateau, if you look here on the map, the same latitude was in Lagos and then, up to Chad. That was the extent of the whole North-East.

Now, some of them can’t govern even one state…

They are now six states.

I know, but you governed six states and now, some of them have problems with one state…

Yes. What were the challenges you faced governing the North-East as a military governor?

I was a military man but once you get to the rank of a lieutenantcolonel, after major, you are taught some management courses. It needs a few weeks for somebody who has gone through the military management training, you have junior staff college, senior staff college; by that time, you will have enough experience for most administrative jobs because you must have had enough of the combat ones. I think I didn’t have much problem. And then, the competent civil servants. Civil servants then were very professional.

And not political as we have them now?

No. They were really professionals and they can disagree with you on record, on issues.

They were not afraid to make recommendations to the military governor or administrator?

No, they were never. People like the late Liman Ciroma, Waziri Fika, who was eventually Secretary to the Government of Babangida. And the late Abubakar Umar, who was Secretary to the Government of Bauchi State; and the late Monguno. They were real professionals, committed technocrats.

So, you didn’t really have much challenges?

No, not much challenges.

There was no insecurity then, like we have in the North-East today?

No, the police then, with their Criminal Investigation Department (CID), were very, very competent.

They interacted closely with the people. So, criminals in the locality were easily identified and put under severe surveillance. And really, there was relative peace in the country.

What were your major achievements in the North East as governor?

I think the way the state was divided into three; if you remember, it became Borno, Bauchi and Gongola.

So, the way we divided the assets, including the civil service and so on, I think it was one of our achievements because it was so peaceful then. We had a committee on civil service.

And eventually you became minister of petroleum under Obasanjo?

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mander-in-Chief. But maybe it was too slow for them, for me to withdraw, but you don’t disengage so quickly.

CONTINUED from PAGE 47

That was the only ministry you held under Obasanjo?

Yes. During your time as petroleum minister, what were the things you did differently that they are not doing now?

Well, I was lucky again. When I was made a minister, I met an experienced man, a person of great personal integrity, the late Sunday Awoniyi. He was the permanent secretary then before the Supreme Military Council approved the merger of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and made Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Sunday Awoniyi was then the permanent secretary of the ministry. That was when I was sworn in eventually, I think in 1977, it became NNPC when the ministry and the NNOC were merged.

He retired from the civil service. Another competent technocrat, Marinho, he became the Director of Petroleum Resources and he had a very competent team of Nigerian engineers, petroleum engineers and chemical engineers. And as minister of petroleum, I signed the contract for Warri Refinery, for Kaduna Refinery, for more than 20 depots all over the country, for laying of pipelines, more than 3200 kilometres and I couldn’t recall Nigeria borrowing a kobo for those projects. And then, by the time I became head of state, because I went to War College in the United States before the military handed over to the Second Republic and came back in 1980 and then, there was coup at the end of 1983. And that time, you can verify from Professor Tam David-West who was Minister of Petroleum Resources. We were exporting 100,000 barrels per day of refined products.

Exporting from the country?

Yes, refined one.

Refined one, not the raw one they are taking to import to…?

No. 100, 000 barrels?

Yes. Because we had four refineries then.

They have all collapsed…

Well, that is the efficiency of the subsequent governments!

You achieved so much success and all that. But there was an issue that became quite contentious: N2.8billion.

They said N2.8billion oil money was missing.

It couldn’t have been missing. The governor of the Central Bank then, the late Clement Isong, said it was ridiculous, that N2.8billion couldn’t be missing because he said even the king of Saudi Arabia, couldn’t issue a cheque of N2.8billion. When you have paid your money for petroleum, they are normally put in the country’s external account and no bank will release that amount of money at a go because it was deposited. And then, at that time, Nigeria was exporting about 1.82 million barrels a day. And the cost of barrel a day was about $18.

You work out N2.8billion. How could N2.8billion be missing and we still have money to run the country? So, it was just a political…

How did that issue come about? What happened and how did you feel during that period?

No, no. Shagari did the only honourable thing. He ordered a judicial enquiry and put a serving Justice of the Supreme

But after that, Shagari was overthrown?

Yes. It was said you were invited to head the government after the coup?

Yes. As the most senior officer?

Yes. What really happened because it was not a Buhari coup?

No. Could we say you never plotted a coup throughout your military career?

No. I didn’t plot a coup.

You were not a coup plotter?

No. You were invited?

Yes. Where were you when you were invited?

I was in Jos. They sent a jet to me flown by one of General Gowon’s younger brothers. He was a pilot. He told me that those who conducted the coup had invited me for discussion.

Buhari as military Head of State

You can verify from Professor Tam David-West who was Minister of Petroleum Resources. We were exporting 100,000 barrels per day of refined products.

Court, the late Justice Irikefe, to carry out investigation. And their terms of reference were put there. They said anybody who had an idea of missing N2.8billion, let him come and tell Justice Irikefe. Nobody had any evidence. It was just rubbish. Well, later, Tai Solarin and Professor Awojobi were confronted and Fela, the late Fela, to go and prove their case. They had no evidence, most of them took the newspaper cuttings of their allegations to the tribunal.

As evidence?

They simply presented cuttings of newspapers publications where they said N2.8billion was missing as their evidence. That was their evidence. That was what they took to the Irikefe panel.

And Fela sang about it! Fela was your friend, is that correct?

He couldn’t have been, because of what Obasanjo regime did to him. Because we were part of Obasanjo regime.

There is one other incident that has also been in the public domain: that Shagari gave you an order and you disobeyed your commander-in-chief. What happened then?

Which order was that?

That he gave you an instruction not to go to war against Chad or something like that?

Well, that was when I became GOC. When I came back from War College, I was in Lagos. Then, 4 Infantry Division was in Lagos, in Ikeja. I was in War College when I was posted there before General Obasanjo’s government handed over to Shagari. So, when I came, after about four months or so, I was posted to Ibadan, to command 2 Infantry Division. And after that, I was posted to Jos to command 3rd Armoured Division. It was when I was there as the GOC that the Chadians attacked some of our troops in some of the islands and killed five of them, took some military hardware and some of our soldiers.

Then, I went into Army headquarters and told them then, the Chief of Army Staff then, General Wushishi, why they shouldn’t just allow a country, our neighbour to move into our territory, where we had stationed, to kill our people. So, I moved into Maiduguri, former Tactical Headquarters, and I got them out of the country. Something dramatic happened: I didn’t know I had gone beyond Chad and somehow, Shagari, in the United States, was sent pictures that I was with my troops and had gone beyond Chad, beyond Lake Chad. So, I was given direct order by the president to pull out and I did.

Oh, you did?

I did. I couldn’t have disobeyed the president. So, I handed over the division to Colonel Ugokwe, who was my course mate but was my…

He was in National Population Commission?

I think so, Colonel Ugokwe. Yeah, he must have been. I handed over the tactical headquarters to him.

So, you never went against presidential directive?

I couldn’t have. He was the Com-

You went to Lagos?

I went to Lagos. I was flown to Lagos. Yes. And they said ok, those who were in charge of the coup had said that I would be the head of state. And I was.

When you made that statement that ‘this generation of Nigerians have no country other than Nigeria,’ for me it was like a JFK statement asking Americans to think of what they could do for America. Twenty months after, your same colleagues who invited you sacked you. What happened?

They changed their minds.

They changed their minds? So, what happened in between that, because part of what they said when they took over power was that you had become “too rigid, too uncompromising and arrogated knowledge of problems and solutions to yourself and your late deputy, Idiagbon. What really happened?

Well, I think you better identify those who did that and interview them so that they can tell you what happened. From my own point of view, I was the chairman of the three councils, which, by change of the constitution, were in charge of the country. They were the Supreme Military Council, the Executive Council and the National Council of State. I was the chairman of all. Maybe when you interview those who were part of the coup, they will tell you my rigidity and whether I worked outside those organs: the Supreme Military Council, the Council of State and the Council of Ministers.

Before I come to that, there was also this issue of Decree 4, alleged drug peddlers who your regime ordered shot. Looking back now, do you think you made mistake in those areas?

You see, maybe my rigidity could be traced to our insistence on the laws we made. But we decided that the laws must be obeyed.

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the three hard drug couriers' But they said it was retroactive.

Yes, they said so. But I think it should be in the archive; we said that whoever brought in drugs and made Nigeria a transit point committed an offence. These drugs, Indian hemp, is planted here, but the hard drug, cocaine, most Nigerians don’t know what cocaine is. They just made Nigeria a transit point and these people did it just to make money. You can have a certain people who grow Ashisha or Wewe and so on because it is indigenous. Maybe some people are even alleging that those who want to come for operation, brought the seed and started to grow it in Nigeria. But cocaine, it is alien to our people. So, those who used Nigeria as a transit, they just did it to make money. And this drug is so potent that it destroys people, especially intelligent people. So, the Supreme Military Council did a memo. Of course, I took the memo to the Supreme Military Council and made recommendation and the Supreme Military Council agreed.

There was no dissenting voice?

There was no dissenting in the sense that the majority agreed that this thing, this cocaine, this hard drug was earning Nigeria so much bad name in the international community because Nigeria was not producing it, but Nigerians that wanted to make money, didn’t mind destroying Nigerians and other youths in other countries just to make money. So, we didn’t need them. We didn’t need them.

But there were pleas by eminent Nigerians not to kill the three men involved in the trafficking?

Pleas, pleas; those that they destroyed did they listen to their pleas for them not to make hard drug available to destroy their children and their communities?

So, it is not something you look back now at 70 and say it was an error?

No, it was not an error. I didn’t do it as an head of state by fiat. We followed our proper system and took it. If I was sure that the Supreme Military Council then, the majority of them decided that we shouldn’t have done so, we could have reduced it to long sentencing. But people who did that, they wanted money to build fantastic houses, maybe to have houses in Europe and invest. Now, when they found out that if they do it, they will get shot, then they will not live to enjoy at the expense of a lot of people that became mental and became harmful and detrimental to the society and so on, then they will think twice.

media.

Those who did it, the editors, the reporters, we jailed them. But we never closed a whole institution, as others did. We investigated and prosecuted according to the laws, because shutting a newspaper, it is an institution and we lose thousands of jobs. But we found out who made that false report, who was the editor, who okayed it and then, we jailed them.

No regret?

No regrets, because we did it according to the laws we made. We did not close a whole institution and cause job losses.

Then, you left power, 20 months after…

No. I was sent packing from power.

Ok, you didn’t leave on your own volition?

No. That is a good one. For Nigerians, they remember War Against Indiscipline you brought. What was the philosophy behind it?

Well, I think we realised that the main problem of Nigeria, then and now, was indiscipline and corruption. When I say we, I mean the Supreme Military Council.

Those two, are Nigeria’s Achilles heels.

And I believe the Nigeria elite knew it then and they know it now. So, we started to discipline them. People must realise their level in the society and accept it.

If you go and read hard and get a PhD, certainly you will get the best of life than somebody who hasn’t been to school at all or who has been a drop-out. And then, in the public, people must behave responsibly. If you go to bus stops, it is step-by-step or turn-by-turn, and not to force your way. If you go to bank, you find out if people were there before you. Why can’t you go behind them?

Or you come early and be number one.

Exactly! I think that was accepted. And up till now, I think it is the only thing that survived out of our administration, the queue culture. People accepted it with

calmness. And in Lagos, they wouldn’t like to associate themselves with the military, so they call it KAI. That is right. Kick Against Indiscipline. But it is still the same thing. It is the same. The only difference is that one was brought by the military and this one is through democratic system.

When you were eased out of power and you had time to reflect for three years, what did you then see that was wrong?

We gave them the opportunity in the three councils I told you. Those rules are supposed to be in the Nigerian archives, except somebody destroyed them, destroyed the evidence. Otherwise, what did we do wrong to warrant being sacked? For example, when we overthrew the Second Republic, we had what we called the SIP, the Special Investigation Panel that comprised the police, the National Security Organisation (NSO) then and the intelligence community of the military. We did nothing by impulse or ad hoc. We went through the system.

And then, you handed down long jail terms, some 100 years. That was

Would you say your detention period made you a new person?

I think I have always been the same person. When I came out, I was amazed, amazed in the sense that people in my immediate constituency didn’t seem to bother about the major setback I had. They were still coming to me, expecting me to help them in a way. Not in terms of material help, because they knew that I didn’t have money, house or any petroleum bloc or any filling station…

How could you say a whole oil minister like you didn’t have any oil licence?

No. Not one, and not any for any blood relation or anybody close to me.

Really, somehow, people in my community felt that I can still help them.

But with that setback, I was wondering how. So, the only way for me, I think, was to join partisan politics so that I can have a platform to speak about the opinion of my constituency, immediate constituency. But the thing that convinced me more than the pressure from immediate locality was the change in 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union. I have said this so often that an empire in the 20th century, collapsed and a lot of people ran back home, leaving strategic installations behind, like missile sites, nuclear formation and so on. And now, there are about 18 to 19 or 20 republics.

It was then that I believed, personally, in my own assessment, that multi-party democratic system was and is still superior to despotism.

That was your turning point?

That was the turning point. But there is a big caveat: elections must be free and fair! And that is what we need.

Elections must be free and fair, otherwise, the whole thing will be something else.

During your tenure, one case kept coming up: the 53 suitcases. You had ordered the border shut and your Aide de Camp (ADC), Major Jokolo, was alleged to have escorted 53 suitcases into the country. What happened?

Why were you selective?

There was nothing like 53 suitcases.

What happened was that there was my chief of protocol; he is now late.

He had three wives, and I think about 12 children. He was in Saudi Arabia as Nigeria's ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

He was in Libya before, as an ambassador and later, he was posted to Saudi Arabia. And then, I appointed him as my chief of protocol and he was coming back. Three wives, about 12 children. And then, by some coincidence, the late Emir of Gwandu, the father of Jokolo, who was my ADC then, was coming back with the same flight. And somehow, some mischievous fellows, everything, including the handbag of maybe, their small daughters, were counted as suitcases. Atiku (Abubakar) then was the Commandant of Murtala Muhammed International Airport as customs officer. And that day, we were playing squash. Jokolo my ADC and I. At some point, I said to him, ‘Mustapha, is your father not coming back today again?’ He said, ‘yes, sir, he is coming.’ I said, ‘what are you doing here?

Decree 4 was what you used to gag the press?

Decree 4. You people (press), you brought Nigerian factor into it. When people try to get job or contract and they couldn’t get it, they make a quick research and created a problem for people who refuse to do them the favour. What we did was that you must not embarrass those civil servants. If you have got evidence that somebody was corrupt, the courts were there. Take the evidence to court; the court will not spare whoever it was.

But you don’t just go and write articles that were embarrassing.

But don’t you think you went too far?

What do you mean by going too far?

But you went to the extreme that public officers could do no wrong, as if they were saints. You called the decree ‘Protection of Public Officers Against False Accusation,’ and clamped down on the

Those who did it, the editors, the reporters, we jailed them. But we never closed a whole institution, as others did

something else. Why did you do that?

They would never see the daylight again to commit another crime against humanity.

Major Jokolo allegedly brought 53 suitcases into the country

CONTINUED ON PAGE 50

50 Cover

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

'There was no evidence that N2.8b oil revenue was missing'

CONTINUED from PAGE 49

Why can’t you go and meet your father?’

He said, 'yes, sir'. He went to wash and met his father. I am telling you there was no 53 bags or suitcases. It was a bloody lie. It was a bloody mischief.

So, not that he was detailed?

No, he was not detailed. He was not even about to go. I was the one who made him to go and meet his father. He was a respected emir, in fact, if not the most respected emir in the North then. He was learned, he had fantastic credibility and personal integrity. And this man was just coming on posting with his wives and children and they counted every imaginable thing, they said 53 suitcases.

Was that why Atiku was retired?

I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t think I retired Atiku. I can’t recall because I had nothing against anybody.

But the argument was that the border was ordered shut. So, how did those people then come in?

They came by air. We didn’t stop aircraft coming in. They came by air, from Jedda to Lagos. They didn’t drive through Chad to Maiduguri and… People just say 53 suitcases when all borders had been ordered shut because that is how you can sell your papers.

Then you came into politics and every election you are there. Would you still do politics at 70 years, elective politics, offering yourself for election?

This is what I told the audience that came to listen to my address before we started the campaign for the 2011 elections. But my party and supporters were sending representatives. Up till today, they haven’t stopped. But what I told them was that we are in the process now of reorganising the party and perhaps, come into an alignment with other parties. Whatever the parties decide, whether my party or the new party that align and we are hoping to develop; if they give me the ticket or recommend me, I will consider it. That is the position we are now.

Until you get to that stage you can't give a definite answer?

Until we get to that stage, there is no clear answer now. Let’s wait and see.

Is it that you don’t like money? Anytime somebody sees you, they say General Buhari is so austere. What gave you that kind of lifestyle? Nobody is associating you with millions. So, how did you develop this frugal lifestyle? Is it that you don’t like good life? How do you unwind?

Well, some of us have heard that you used to smoke. Do you still smoke? What are those things you have given up?

I used to smoke, but of course, I abandoned it I think in 1977.

Fela: Accused Obasanjo's government of misappropriating N2.8bn oil money

Even as a young man and all that?

No, no. Even in the military tradition, how they break you in, I said well, the military did not stop anybody practising his religion. My religion said no alcohol and no alcohol. So, that was respected.

I was never forced to take alcohol and I have never voluntarily taken it because I want to remain alert all the time. There is a tendency that when you drink, you would want to have a bottle more, or a glass more and do something stupid.

As a young man, very handsome because I saw some of your old pictures, did you have women flocking around you? And women like soldiers, people who have power…

I also thought women ought to have taken more interest in me but I don’t know why they didn’t. I must have something they didn’t like. I assure you of that. I didn’t drink, I smoked, I had girlfriends; it was true.

How many did you have?

I hope you won’t publish this because my wife will read the interview. So, you will be very kind to me if you don’t publish that (general laughter).

Oh really? Before you became head of state?

Yes, I stopped smoking.

You joined the army and there was coup and counter-coup and civil war. You still had time to unwind?

You can create it but we had too much eventful time, professional career. It was too eventful. There were too many things happening almost at the same time. If I could recall, the 30 months civil war that we had, I was just having two weeks after every six months to come back home just to see my old mother and some of my relatives because I refused to get married till after the war.

Have you ever taken alcohol?

No.

Was it deliberate?

It was deliberate.

Never?

Never.

Why? I thought that would have been the reason to get married.

No, no. Some of our colleagues, like late

I declared surprisingly, even the number of my cows then. Even if they were supposed to be producing every year, but I declared them the time I was there

Vatsa, like Babangida, they were more adventurous than myself. They took a weekend and had a quick marriage and went back to the front. I thought I would be putting the poor girl or the poor woman under a lot of stress. So, I said if I survived the war, I would get married, but if I didn’t survive, no woman should cry for me other than my relatives.

Some of your General-colleagues became stupendously rich. Today, they have means. I am not a lawyer taking inventory of your assets or preparing your will, but tell me what property do you have now at 70? I am sure you have a house in Abuja, you have one in Lagos.

You have one in Daura and you have one here (Kaduna). So, if I count your property, maybe five. Am I right or wrong?

You are right but am not going to read or declare with you. My assets were on record, I told some of your colleagues when they came. When Murtala/ Obasanjo regime came, they made sure that certain grades of public officers must declare their assets when they assumed that office and they must declare when they were leaving. So, when I was sworn in as governor of North East, I declared my assets.

What did you declare?

I declared surprisingly, even the number of my cows then. Even if they were supposed to be producing every year, but I declared them the time I was there.

And when I was leaving governorship, I became petroleum minister. When I was leaving to go to War College, I declared my assets. I could recall General Jemibewon then, was the Adjutant-General of the Army. He rang me and said he was sending me asset declaration form, that I must fill it, sign it before I left for the United States. And I did. General Jemibewon is still alive. And when I became head of state eventually, I declared my assets again. So, all of us; when I say that, I mean Obasanjo downwards, those who are alive who were governors, ministers,

head of states, they had declared assets.

So, if you people are serious and interested about political officers becoming multi-billionaires, you can find out from Murtala downwards. And those of us who were not very good in making money you should pity us.

Is it that you don’t like money?

Everybody likes money but I am not very good at making money. Let me put it that way. I borrowed from the banks to build the house in Daura and the one in Abuja that you mentioned and the one in Kano. The bank then was Barclays, now Union Bank. Kaduna State or North Central then housing scheme and the Federal Mortgage Bank for the house I am in and AIB, which was, I think, terminated by Central Bank. So, when you go through the records, you find out that the houses I built, I borrowed from there.

You are a respected former head of state. What is your relationship with others, Obasanjo, your former boss and at a point, your political opponent, General Babangida, the man who took over from you and then, Shagari…

You are very nice. He took over from me and I took over from Shagari. You are very nice.

I want to be polite.

You are very nice. Ok, carry on.

What is your relationship with them. I see some parts of patching up here and there, but when a man is 70, you say it the way it is. What is your relationship with all these people I have mentioned now, deep down?

I think the worst thing one can do to oneself is to have either hatred or grudge on a daily basis. One thing will happen and you better forget.

Have you forgiven Babangida now? You once said you felt betrayed over the coup against your government?

I did. Publicly, I did.

You have?

I have and some of your papers published it. I said as a Muslim, I have forgiven him.

But during that period it happened, you must have been really angry?

Of course, I was angry because I can’t recall what I had done for him to mobilise the military to overthrow me and detain me for more than three years. Yeah, it is natural for me to be upset.

Were you going to retire him before your overthrow, as has been alleged?

This is an opportunity to lay it because we have heard those speculations that you were going to retire him and he moved against you quickly.

Something like that happened but not him. I moved to retire his Director of Military Intelligence.

Akilu?

General Aliyu, not Akilu.

Aliyu?

Aliyu Gusau.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 51

Politics

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Did you meet General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) when you enrolled at Katsina Provincial School?

Yes. We were enrolled into Katsina Provincial Secondary School in January 1960, the year of independence. And we met General Buhari, at that time when they were in form five. I stayed two years with General Buhari at the school. They passed out in 1961 and we passed out in 1964. Buhari had leadership qualities since secondary school; in form five, he was a House Prefect. Their set went up to form six but we were the first set that finished school at form five. Normally, out of those in form five, the school authorities used to pick House Prefects and when they get to form six, House Captains were chosen from those who were House Prefects. In Buhari’s case, he was a House Prefect in 1960 when we joined. By 1961, when he was in form six, he was chosen to be the Head Boy of the School. There were four Houses during our time in the school; Magaji House, Kaura House, Alkali House and Durbi House. Buhari was the House Prefect of Magaji House in 1960, Justice Umaru Abdullahi was the House Prefect of Alkali House, the late Mamman A Zango who became a policeman, was House Prefect of Kaura House while the late General Shehu Musa Yarádua was House Prefect of Durbi House. By 1961, all of them became the House Captains of their respective Houses but Buhari became the Head Boy. We had just formed an association of old students of Katsina Provincial School, right from when it was a Middle School till date. And His Royal Highness, the Emir of Katsina, as an ex student of the school, invited some of us as the representatives of different sets, to his palace and we decided to even form a secretariat. I thought that the secretariat of our association should have clarified the status of Buhari’s certificates long before it took this dimension. You know that I’m not a politician but the truth needs to be told that I know Buhari since 1960. He passed through the school that I also attended. He sat for his Cambridge/ WASC examination and came out with Division 2. He then joined the Army, rose to become Major General and Head of State.

Could you tell us the difference between a House Prefect and a House Captain The set up was that when you get to form five, you leave the main hostel and go to cubical; where two prefects are put in a room because they are preparing for their WASC. The rest form five students will be four in a cubicle. Out of these seniors in form five, they will choose four students who will be House Prefects. And form six students will be House Captains. In the main hostel, there are about 30 students

51

Buhari was Head Boy at Provincial School – Saulawa

Alhaji Lawal Yusuf Saulawa was a three-time Commissioner of Information in Kaduna and Katsina states and Executive Director of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Kaduna. The Managing Director of the Kaduna-based Nagarta Radio speaks to IBRAHEEM MUSA, about General Muhammadu Buhari as a student of Katsina Provincial School.

Buhari was very tall even as a student

the Army? We used to hear stories that the late Sir Ahmadu Bello used to go round schools to encourage students to join the army, did the late Premier come to your school for such recruitment drive?

Sarduna did come to lecture the senior students on the need to join not only the army but other professions as well. I recall that before we left school, different organisations did come and lecture us about pursuing careers in their fields. And those who were interested in them gave their names. That time students used to pass out in December. Some of us even got January salary. Immediately you leave school, the organisation that has taken your name will ask you to write an application. In fact, you will write the application while you are writing your WASC between November and December.

Saulawa

on either side of the row in those days.

There were not more than 200 students in the entire school. Before then, it was single stream of 25 and not more than 30 students per class. But we were the first set of double stream and we were the first set to pass out in form five.

You said that Buhari finished form six in 1961, was Katsina Provincial Secondary School offering a Higher School Certificate(HSC) programme at that time?

No, they were not doing HSC at that time. Secondary School then was six years, from form one to six. It was us that came in 1960 that passed out in 1964, with the people that came in 1959.

Did Buhari show any inclination towards the military during your school days? Was

he in Boy Scout or school Cadet Club?

He was among the first set of school cadets. And he was the Head, the one that wore red cloth on the shoulder, across the chest. That was why he and his friend, Shehu Yar'Adua joined the Army at the same time. The late Mamman A and Saminu Daura joined the Police.

Was Buhari active in sports while he was in school?

Yes, he was good in athletics and hockey, while Shehu Yar'Adua was an all rounder.

Shehu was so good at football that he was nick named after one player of Hungary.

Buhari also engaged in long distance running because he was very tall even as a student.

Could you remember how Buhari joined

From the result that was released, Buhari got credits in English Language. Some people have expressed surprise that given the high standard of Cambridge examination at that time, there may not be enough local teachers to teach standard English.

Were you taught by British teachers at the Katsina Provincial School?

Most of our teachers were English people. The principal was Mr Galbelth. But in the result that was published, Buhari didn’t pass Mathematics. Mark you, at that time, Mathematics was optional. I didn’t even sit for Mathematics. Interestingly, I was in the science class but I wanted to read English Literature so I was urging my teachers to transfer me to the Arts class. I was good at English and I wanted to read Literature.

Eventually, I sat for only six subjects and I passed five and failed Woodwork just like Buhari(general laughter). But I was still awarded the school certificate because I had five credits.

Who were Buhari’s close friends in school?

Shehu Yar'Adua. I think it was the closeness that made them to join the army together.

‘I have forgiven Babangida. I've said so publicly several times' CONTINUED from PAGE 50

You were going to retire him?

Yes. I took a paper to Army Council.

Babangida was there…

As the Chief of Army Staff.

Yes. Idiagbon was there, Bali was there as Minister of Defence, and I was there as the head of state and commander-in-chief.

And reasons for him to be removed was in that memo. Go and find out from him or from Babangida. They are both alive.

Not against Babangida per se?

No. But if you touched Gusau, his intelligence chief, invariably, you were going to inch towards the Chief of Army Staff, Babangida. Eventually, he might have been touched.

I didn’t know but at that point, it was Aliyu Gusau.

You were inching closer?

Yes, we were inching closer. You could say that.

But you have forgiven him for all that happened.

I have forgiven him. I said it and it was published by some of your colleagues. But I didn’t say it will be forgotten. It cannot be forgotten. If I say I forget about it, I will be lying. But I have forgiven him, just as I expect Shagari to forgive me as the one who succeeded him.

But Shagari said you detained him and then…

I too, was detained (general laughter).

Ok, what of Obasanjo? What kind of relationship do you have?

He mobilised Nigerian voters against me.

But you have forgiven him?

No, I haven’t forgiven him (laughter).

ity, both intellectual and resource to make an in-depth investigation.

Finally now, finally, finally, finally…

I don’t know when your final will come to a real final.

Nigerians should be fair to you?

They should be fair to me.

No, this is the end now. If the end comes, how do you want Nigerians to remember you, if you have the chance to write your epitaph?

I want Nigerians to be fair to me. Like this case of 53, 55 suitcases, like the case of N2.8billion. I want Nigerians to be fair and to be fair, all these documents are in the Nigerian archives. As I said, I didn’t do anything important outside the three organs of government: the Supreme Military Council, Council of States and Council of Ministers. On serious issues, Nigerians should do some research. That is why I always make emphasis on investigative journalism. If you want to be fair and impartial, I am sure you can have the capac-

Your daughter just passed on?

She would have been 40 before she died.

Oh, when life was just beginning.

Yes. What was the circumstance? Some said she was a sickler; she had sickle cell anemia.

She was a sickler and she had complication when she was delivered by Caesarian.

And that remains a very sad incident for you.

Yes. Thank you, General.

You are always welcome.

52

Milestones

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Tarzoor re-invents the aborigine The brief but memorable trajectory of an indigene in power is generating considerable excitement among the people of Makurdi, FRANCIS AGBO writes.

S

ince 1999, Benue State has remained a core PDP state. The people have always cast their vote en mass and in all elections for the ‘largest political party in Africa’.

It was in recognition of this that Benue State produced two national chairmen of PDP and other sensitive positions in the party’s apparatchik.

Once an aspirant emerges a candidate or flag-bearer of the party in the state, it is automatically cast- in-stone that the person wins because of the dominance of the PDP behemoth. And from all intents and purposes, it may be too early to say if the electorate is in a hurry to dump the party in the February general elections. Although the PDP is bedevilled with its fair share of internal contradictions symptomatic of the Nigerian state, it remains the only true political party where every Nigerian, irrespective of creed, status or tribe, could realize his aspiration without whimsical encumberance. Indeed, only the PDP could provide its platform for a minority within a minority in person of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to be president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Other political parties never found minority ethnic group worthy of the crown until the PDP came to judgement and shattered the regime of injustice. And

since Benue, (peopled by minorities) is a strong hold of the party, majority of the power elites want to stick to PDP so that after Jonathan, they could also plot for one of their own to be President of Nigeria. Similarly, there are a few ongoing projects in Benue initiated by the Jonathan administration and the fear is that if the president is not returned to Aso Rock, the opposition may jettison them as had always been their lot. Curiously, PDP chieftains believe if the party loses the presidential election which comes first on Valentine’s day, February 14, it may negatively affect the pattern of subsequent elections, in- Tarzoor cluding the February 28 gubernatorial polls. It is against this background that the PDP might, once again, sweep the polls resoundingly in Benue this year, irrespective of the machinations and propaganda of the opposition.

So, the emergence of the charismatic former Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Prince Terhemen Tarzoor as the Benue State PDP goverMakurdi’s norship candidate excites not just bejoy was cut cause he is my friend but also because we both share Yenagoa as our second short in 2012 home. It is not because he is my contemporary or because of his capacity, comwhen the petences, uncommon courage, strong Benue State conviction, political savvy and sagacity but because a native of Makurdi is on Elections the verge of becoming n governor of Petitions Benue State for the first time in history.

Like the emergence of Barrack Obama Tribunal as the first black American president, the rise of the cerebral and workaholic nullified native of Makurdi, Prince Tarzoor holds Tarzoor’s a lot of promise for Benue people and the Tivs in the MINDA axis, in particuelection lar.

The natives of Makurdi, the state capital are even more upbeat than I am.

Many of them already have a mental picture of the new Nigerian Dubai that Tarzoor they expect him to turn Makurdi into. From the defunct Agan Tollgate to the airport, from the airport to Naka road and Apir, the livestock, the birds and the vegetation are jubilating, awaiting the return of the aborigine to Government.

This high expectation is not misplaced. Though Tarzoor’s successful stint as Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly was short-lived, he however superintended the passage of many bills into law, protected the interest of his colleagues more than ever before, spoke truth to power, restored dignity to his office, made Makurdi proud by attracting projects to the state capital through lobbying without necessarily compromising the independence of the legislature. But Makurdi’s joy was cut short in 2012 when the Benue State Elections Petitions Tribunal nullified Tar-

zoor’s election and declared Hon. Avine Agbom of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) winner. The tribunal’s hammer effectively took the shine off Makurdi. The general thinking in the state capital today is that with his likely return to power in a higher capacity, Makurdi will recover, a hundred fold, what it lost to the opposition.

Aside Makurdi, Benue people are equally lucky to have a Tarzoor as governor. Leadership is a function of time.

And as the Chinese would say, Nigeria is in interesting times of credit crunch occasioned by the fall in oil revenue. The onus is usually on critical stakeholders to identify the personality that is sufficiently prepared to take on the difficult times head on. For us, the PDP collective in Benue, we have elected Tarzoor in a transparent and crisis-free primary election because the delegates that constitute the Electoral College believe the astute economist and turn-around expert is the best man to navigate the state through the envisaged hard financial times ahead. What Benue needs now is a friendly and compassionate governor with tight financial management acumen that could manage our scarce resources and our impatient but resourceful population, raise IGR, provide critical infrastructure, deliver concrete developmental deliverables with the available public funds, plug the leakages in the economy, fight corruption and shore up the image of the state.

• Agbo, a public affairs analyst and Benue South Zonal Coordinator, President Goodluck/Sambo 2015 Campaign Organisation, wrote viafrancisagbo38@ gmail.com.

Perspective

Obasanjo can't turn women against Jonathan for Buhari Felix Kamsochi

T

he recent meeting in Abeokuta, Ogun State, between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and market women leaders in the South West, which was obviously designed to rally South West women against President Jonathan's second term ambition, was a gross miscalculation on the part of the otherwise well-calculating Obasanjo.

The reason is simple: more than any other Nigerian leader in recent memory, Jonathan has done very well for Nigerian women. So, what made the former president think that he could successfully use Jonathan's glaring strong point against him? What was he really thinking?

To be sure, Obasanjo himself did well for women. He employed Ngozi OkonjoIweala, the late Dora Akunyili, Nenadi Sambo, the late Remi Oyo, Kema Chikwe, Oby Ezekwesili and several other women of substance who came to play very important roles in his presidency. But, Jonathan has tremendously improved on that record, acting on an official policy of progressively increasing the percentage of women in positions of authority in government to 35 per cent. Thus, at the last count, the Jonathan administration has employed three females Justices in the Supreme Court; 16 female heads of ministries; nine female special advisers; 12 female permanent secretaries, 26 female heads of federal government parastals; 29 female federal commissioners; 16 female heads of federal tertiary institutions; four female representatives in international

Obasanjo did not say things that would ordinarily resonate with the women

multi-lateral organizations and 12 female ambassadors and high commissioners. In addition, under this government, women are now admitted to the Nigerian Defence Academy, a taboo even under Obasanjo.

These are not records over which Nigerian women will turn against the leader who made them possible. The surprise is that even with the above information at his disposal, Obasanjo still deemed it worthwhile to try rallying women against Jonathan.

There are two possible reasons for that rather thoughtless line of action. One is that Obasanjo, as visceral as ever, may only have sold APC a dummy by purporting to be working for them while in reality demarketing them by making their opponent's strong point a campaign issue. The second possible reason is that the old man, never one to brook any rubbishing of his personal or official record, may have mischievously advised himself that the best way to diminish Jonathan's stellar records in the area of women empowerment was to get influential market women leaders in the South West to rail at Jonathan for

supposedly failing to address problems confronting them and Nigerian women generally and the APC fell for the dummy.

Otherwise, the much publicized meeting, which some of the papers said the PDP was even jittery about, was completely pointless, a non-starter.

To worsen matters, Obasanjo did not say things that would ordinarily resonate with the women. Expectedly, he simply used the opportunity to burnish his waning public image, to remind us what a great and frugal president he was, how he saved billions in foreign reserves only for a spend-thrift Jonathan's federal government to fritter all away ( if only we had allowed him to stay on, he must have intoned!). In order words, President Olusegun Obasanjo called market women leaders in Yorubaland to talk about foreign reserves!

According to an online report, the former president told the South West market women leaders led by Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja-general of Lagos and daughter of APC national leader Bola Tinubu: "When I was leaving office about eight years ago, I left a very huge reserve after we had paid all our debts. Almost $25bn we kept in what they called Excess Crude Account...was the excess from the budget we were saving as reserve for a rainy day."

“When we left in May 2007, the reserve was said to have risen to $35bn," he added.

"But today, that reserve has been depleted.

After paying our debts, which was about $40bn, including debt forgiveness, the remaining (debt) was not more than $3bn.

Our reserves after we had paid off these debts amounted to about $45bn. As I said, they continued to rise till the end of 2007. I heard that the reserves increased to almost $67bn before the end of the year. Our reserves now, I learnt, stand at only $30bn.”

Obasanjo, the most Nigerian of all, then launched into his usual hyperbole about Nigeria. "God made Nigeria a GREAT (emphasis mine) nation," he declared in his familiar turn-off voice. "Is it that those living here have no brain? Is it that the leaders are not thinking? Or that we don’t have the resources? When I was in the army, our slogan was, ‘There are no bad soldiers but bad officers.’ Wherever soldiers are not doing well, blame the officers. The same thing obtains in the family, communities, towns and the nation."

In other words, blame the present rot on the crop of leaders running the show at the moment (of course, Obasanjo is not to blame for anything!). The great salesman, Obasanjo (remember the annoying 'welcome to Nigeria...' stuff on CNN?) had a group of market women to tell why they should not support President Jonathan's second-term presidential ambition and all he considered germane to talk about was external reserves? It's obvious that the wily old man was only interested in using the presence of those media-savvy women to indulge in what he does best: draw attention to himself when we should all be discussing more important national issues. If not to draw attention to his rather forbidding self, which other former president in the world constitutes himself into a leading voice of the opposition.

Perspective

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

53

Charlie Hebdo, those cartoons and freedom of speech

A

rticle 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right to freedom of expression as a human right. It is also recognised in the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

Specifically, Article 19 of the ICCPR states that “everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference” and “everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.” Article 19 goes on to say that the exercise of these rights carries “special duties and responsibilities” and may “therefore be subject to certain restrictions” when necessary “(for respect of the rights or reputation of others)” or “(for the protection of national security or of public order or of public health or morals.”)

On January 7, two gunmen and French Muslim brothers of Algerian descent Said and Cherif Kouachi, forced their way into the Paris headquarters of French satire magazine, Charlie Hebdo, opened fire on those they found there and killed 12 of them. The majority of those killed were Charlie Hebdo’s staff.

During the horrendous and barbaric attack, the gunmen shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic) and also “the Prophet is avenged,” a veiled reference to a series of satirical cartoons of Prophet Mohammed published by the newspaper in September 2012 but which Muslims considered to be offensive to their faith.

The day after the attack, the remaining staff of Charlie Hebdo said they won’t be cowed and the newspaper would continue in its tradition. From its usual 60, 000 copies, its first post-attack print was over five million. The post-attack cover features a banner saying (Tout est pardonne) “All Is Forgiven” and a caricature of a crying

Waheed Bakare on Saturday 08124877036 (sms only) waheedbakare2003@yahoo.com ‘Mohammed’ holding a sign saying ‘Jesuis Charlie’ ‘I am Charlie,’ a phrase, which resonated in different parts of the world, and has since become an international symbol of sympathy for the publication. The edition, which was published on January 13, sold like a hot cake and has been translated into 16 languages.

While the Western world celebrated Charlie Hebdo’s latest edition, the Muslim world considered such posture as recalcitrant.

Some 15,000 people rallied in Russia's Muslim North Caucasus region of Ingushetia against it. There were also protests in Pakistan, Algeria, Niger and in Gaza the French cultural centre was defaced with graffiti, reading: ‘You will go to hell, French journalists.’

The Niger protest was the worst and lasted for two days. In the former French colony peopled mostly by Muslims, around 1,000 youths wielding iron bars, clubs and axes went on the rampage, burnt eight churches and French Embassy in Niamey as if that would guarantee them places in heaven as some naïve youths believe under the pretext that their religion has been desecrated. After the hostilities, at least five civilians were killed.

But President Francois Hollande said France was committed to “freedom of expression”, calling it “non-negotiable.”

This has further fuelled the debate, once again, whether it is right or not to pontifi-

NEWS

Benin

T

he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Edo State has said it has recovered 983 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) from suspects, who made away with the cards in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of the state.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Mike Igini, said this at a meeting with stakeholders held at the state head office of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Benin, the state capital.

An anonymous caller had earlier expressed the willingness to return the cards to the commission after the electoral body raised the alarm over the missing PVCs, which it said was capable of disenfranchising some voters during the general elections.

He said: “I received anonymous calls saying they were going to return those permanent voters’ cards. As I speak to you, as at yesterday, we have received a total of 617 from Orhionmwon Local Government Area. That is good news.”

According to him, 661 cards were recovered from Urhonigbe North while 322 others came from Urhonigbe South.

The cards were stolen from the polling units of the councils.

JUSTICE NOW FOUNDATION OSUN 2014 GUBER ELECTION DOSSIER

INEC receives 983 stolen PVCs, 1,861 card readers in Edo Cajetan Mmuta

cate that freedom of expression can be absolute.

Besides, people are also asking why Charlie Hebdo is yet to respond to the allegation that one of its cartoonists, Maurice Sinet, was sacked in 2009 for refusing to apologise after creating a caricature showing Nicolas Sarkozy’s son converting to Judaism for financial reasons, a position it considered to be anti-Semitic.

I remember a puerile attempt by one of my colleagues in one of the places I had worked to draw me out of my cocoon and put to test my perceived gentle nature so as to know where my pendulum will swing between ‘moderation’ and ‘extremism’ or ‘fundamentalism.’

It was during Ramadan, a period when Muslims observe fast. The colleague came to me and wanted to know whether I would complete the fast that would last for either 29 or 30 days. I told her that it was a religious obligation that I must fulfil. I was miffed when she gave me a lesson why her ‘God’ would not subject her to the kind of ‘harsh treatment’ my God would put me through for one month. And ended the unbridled remarks with: ‘I just pity you.’

This was a deliberate provocation.

Should I then garland her for her profanation that lacked any modicum of rectitude and profundity under the pretext that she is entitled to freedom of expression?

A few years ago, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) consistently ran an advert on TV meant to dissuade youths from peddling hard drugs and picked ‘Chike’, an Igbo name as the lead character and a drug peddler. But beyond the surface, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the umbrella body of the Igbo, kicked against the use of an Igbo name.

To the Ohanaeze, the NDLEA’s position that the choice of ‘Chike’ was a mere coincidence was like a fury signifying nothing and such could not hold in a heterogeneous society like ours where there is mutual suspicion among the ethnic groups. How about MTN’s ‘Mama na boy’ advert that drew the ire of women, who felt the campaign, was meant to relegate girl-child to the background? The two adverts were yanked off. This points to the fact that people can be emotional about certain issues like faith, ethnicity or even gender and such should not be sacrificed on the altar of freedom of speech. It is for this reason that a medium like the CNN and some others said it would not rebroadcast any of those cartoons. It is also for this reason that some governments restrict speech using common limitations such as libel, slander, hate speech among others.

I will neither associate myself with promoters of absolute freedom of speech nor align myself with those who believe violence is the best option whenever their religion is traduced. But I think there is wisdom in: ‘let sleeping dogs lie.’

On the proper conduct of the forthcoming polls, Igini said the commission had also taken delivery of a total of 1,861 card readers, assuring that the application of the cards would guarantee accredited voters to vote on the day of elections in the state.

In attendance at the stakeholders’ forum were representatives of various security agencies, civil society groups, officials of National Orientation Agency (NOA) and members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The leaders of the various political parties at the forum signed a non violent agreement to ensure a free and fair general election in the state.

Igini said the recovered cards were part of the 3,661‎PVCs stolen in the 18 polling units in the local government.

He also sought for the return of the remaining missing PVCs so that their owners can take possession of them in order to cast their votes during the February polls and subsequent elections.

The REC added that a total of 1,046,960 PVCs had been distributed to registered voters in the state.

Igini expressed disappointment at non registration of party agents with the commission by the various political parties after about one year of their being notified.

• Where to Get Detailed and correct Information on the State of Osun August 9, 2014 Governorship Election Results - http://osun2014electionresults.com

1. We are aware of attempts by the leaders and members of an opposition party in the State of Osun to mislead Nigerians, particularly the residents and indigenes of the state, on the results of the August 9, 2014 governorship election.

2. We are, therefore, publishing the site, where the people can assess correct information and receive facts and figures on the election results as released by the constitutionally authorised agency, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in all the polling units in the State which results were duly authenticated by agents of political parties including that of the mischievous opposition party.

3. The site: http://osun2014electionresults.com is now available to clear air on rumours, insinuations, deliberate plans by the unscrupulous and mischievous elements within the State of Osun political space to misinform and mislead the people and therefore attempting to establish falsehood in place of the truth. This site is available 24/7 for those seeking the truth.

4. Thank you.

Signed:

AKEEM O YUSUFF

for the J U S T I C E N O W F O U N DAT I O N

54 Sport Extra

SATURDAY TELEGRAPH

24 JANUARY 2015

Federer bundled out of Australian Open

Sport Slaming

F

our-time champion Roger Federer is out of the Australian Open after being beaten in the third round by unheralded Italian Andreas Seppi.

The 33-year-old Swiss second seed went down 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) to Seppi, who is ranked 46 in the world.

Seppi, 30, had never beaten the 17-time Grand Slam champion in 10 previous meetings and his win ends a 23-match losing streak against top 10 opponents.

"I just tried my best and it was one of my best matches for sure," said Seppi.

British number one Andy Murray is through to the last 16 but it is the first time since 2003 that Federer has failed to reach at least the semi-finals in Melbourne, and it extends his run without a Grand Slam title which stretches back to Wimbledon 2012.

Adekunle Salami adekunles@yahoo.com 08050498539 (sms only)

Who is afraid of Keshi?

Congo's Sagesse Babele (right), defending against Equatorial Guinea's Emilio Nsue during the opening AFCON Group A match.

CAF changes Nations Cup format

T

he Confederation of African Football Executive Committee has approved the format of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, following its meeting on January 14.

The host country of the 2017 edition shall be announced on April 8, after the CAF Ordinary General Assembly in Cairo, Egypt.

The qualifiers for the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations will begin in June this year using the two dates

Federer

Ifeanyi Ibeh

4:00pm 7:00pm 6:00pm 6:00pm

fixed by FIFA, June 8-16.

For the first time, the host country will participate in the qualifying stages; though the matches concerned will not be computed for points, they shall count as friendlies.

Fifty-two teams will be engaged. They will be divided into 13 groups of four teams each. The first from each group shall qualify for

a massive club, who have some fantastic players who I believe can help to develop my game to the next level. It was also a big incentive to be able to play in the UEFA Women's Champions League, which is a huge competition and one I'm confident we can do well in."

The WSL will commence in March and

the final stage, as well as the best two runners-up, exclusive of the group of the host country, from which only one team will qualify.

Also, if due to the withdrawal of one team and a group happens to be left with just three teams, this group will not be considered when determining the best second placed team.

The draws for the groups shall be done on April 8, in Cairo, immediately after the announcement of the host country of the 2017 edition.

Flying Eagles ready for league top guns

Liverpool move thrills Oshoala

R

eigning African Woman Footballer of the Year, Asisat Oshoala, has described joining Liverpool Ladies FC as "absolutely fantastic" after completing her switch to the English club on Saturday.

Oshoala, who joined the reigning English champions from Nigerian champions, Rivers Angels, told the club’s website, Liverpoolfc. com: "Since I began my football career I have always dreamt of being a professional footballer, so to be able to join the reigning Women's Super League champions is absolutely fantastic.

"Liverpool Ladies are

AFCON Fixtures Saturday Ivory Coast vs Mali Cameroon vs Guinea Sunday Congo vs B'Faso Gabon vs E 'Guinea

Charles Ogundiya

Ifeanyi Ibeh

N

igeria U-20 team, the Flying Eagles, are in an optimistic mood over the expanded Super 4 tournament, which kicks-off on Saturday at the Abuja National Stadium.

The Flying Eagles and the Nigeria U-23 team have been handed special invitations to feature in the pre-season competition, which has drawn league champions Kano Pillars, Enyimba, Warri Wolves and Dolphins.

The Nigeria U-20, who arrived Abuja on Thursday from their training base in Kaduna, will play their first match on Saturday at the Abuja National Stadium against league runners-up, Enyimba.

Kick-off is 3pm.

Liverpool Ladies coach, Matt Beard, is confident that the acquisition of Oshoala, nicknamed 'Seedorf' after Dutch legend Clarence, will go a long way in helping his side retain the league title.

"We've won the league for the last two years and we'll aim to do it again, although next season is going to be the most competitive ever,” said Beard.

GAMES/CROSS WORD PUZZLE Nigerian Capital Cities-1

KEY WORDS

UMUAHIA YOLA UYO AWKA BAUCHI YENAGOA

MAKURDI ADO EKITI MAIDUGURI ENUGU CALABAR GOMBE ASABA OWERRI ABAKALIKI DUTSE BENIN KADUNA

Y C A L A B A R H U A

E N A O R I G D T U N I A W K B S E A D O U S D C B A H A Y I C A

G C G N A A G H N B L

A L O E U J O F U S A

I B D B D K E G D F B

H I R U G U D I A M A

A B A L O Y T E K N T

B

I

L

A

K

A

B

K

I

U M U M O G O Y U N I N M B E T I M R R A S R K G E U F W R E O D A Y I

1

2

8

3

4 7

5

6

9 10

11

12

13

14 16 18 19 21

17

22

1 5 7 8 9 10 11 12

LGA in Adamawa state, (7).

Flipper, (3).

Nat. Orientation Agency, abbr., (3).

Naval air station, abbr., (3).

Igbo king, (3).

Partner in wedlock, (4).

Former Zenith Bank's CEO, (4).

Barium's symbol, (2).

DOWN 1 Area in Ikeja, Lagos, (7).

20

2 Of whole universe, (6).

23

3 Metallic element, (4).

4 Land mammal, (6).

5 Done quickly, (4).

24 25

15

ACROSS

16 17 18 22 23 24 25 26

Actinium's symbol, (2).

Lowest singing voice, (4).

Ex. ECOMOG Commander, (4).

Automobile, (3).

Flying mammal, (3).

Expressing disgust, (3).

Block something up, (3).

LGA in Abia state, (7).

14 Gov. Isa Yuguda's state, (6).

15 Town in Borno state, (6).

19 Colourless solid, (4).

20 Forehead, (4).

21 British rule in India, (3).

6 Short sleep, (3).

26

13 Rice dish in Italy, (7).

See solution on page 20

T

he 2015 Africa Cup of Nations started last Saturday in Equatorial Guinea with some interesting results already posted even in the preliminaries. The Bafana Bafana were punished for throwing away chances in a thrilling Group C encounter which Algeria won 3-1. The South Africans scored first, bungled many other chances including a penalty but later conceded an own goal and two other goals. Senegal showed promise not with the 2-1 victory recorded against Ghana but with their overall level of play.

I was so impressed with the Teranga Lions. Though the Super Eagles are not in Equatorial Guinea, the competition has been highly competitive and interesting. Who would have thought that Cote d’ Ivoire would struggle to pick a point in their opening fixture against Guinea? Nobody saw that coming. The absence of the Super Eagles has not taken the shine off the competition like many Nigerians thought.

Despite the two friendly games staged for the homebased Eagles, the NFF is yet to show seriousness in its rebuilding plans. For example, the reluctance of the NFF in naming a new coach for the Eagles is absurd.

It was wrong to have asked Daniel Amokachi to lead the team to the two recent friendlies when a substantive coach is NOWHERE. A new coach should have started his rebuilding job with the friendlies because there is no time at all. FIFA windows for friendly matches are just five in 2015 and so there should be a good plan on what to do with such windows. There is need for the coach to start his monitoring process that will determine those to be invited for the friendlies. It is only a substantive coach who can do a thorough job based on his thinking, style and technical personality.

After the failure to pick a ticket for the ongoing 2015 AFCON, it was clear that the technical crew of the team would go. I expected Keshi to have thrown in the towel.

Instead, the former international is banking on those he knows in the corridors of power to remain as Eagles Head Coach. Sad enough, the NFF seems to have no clue on how to deal with the situation. The body language of the NFF has shown that the federation is not ready to give Keshi another contract. However, there are fears that engaging a new coach could give the Glass House multiple problems just as the officials claim they experienced when Shaibu Amodu was named to replace the ‘Big Boss’ at the heat of Eagles’ poor run in the qualifiers. It was so tough that “Powerful Keshi” was tactically recalled then to complete the qualifiers. During the week, Acting NFF boss, Seyi Akinwunmi, told journalists that some clauses included in the contract papers were the reason for the delay in Keshi’s contract. That again was a political statement. If the NFF is equal to it, this issue would have been sorted out. And If Keshi is ‘reluctantly’ employed, how will the NFF relate with him as an employee?

Truth is that the NFF is scared of taking a decision on Keshi and this could affect the national team in the long run. I cannot understand why the issue of a national coach will be heavily politicised in this manner. Those who are behind Keshi are not doing the country any good because that was the same way they forced him on the country to complete the qualifying series which Amodu could have salvaged for the country at a point.

Since Keshi has decided not to choose the honourable path, the onus is on the NFF to take the right decision.

The country yearns for another coach to salvage our football. We need a coach that will not tell us that a 20-year-old player is too young for the Eagles. A coach that will rate players on what they can do on the pitch and not who they are.

The NFF should also play the politics with Keshi.

Not to beg or lobby but to state its intentions to those in the corridors of power evidently. The board members as well as Congress members nationwide should rise to save the country’s football from going down the drain.

They should tap their contacts at the ‘top’ to explain in clear terms why there is need for a fresh breath in the technical crew of the Eagles. No individual is bigger than Nigeria. Enough is enough. Keshi is not big enough to hold the country to ransom.

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24 JANUARY 2015

55

DESTINATION

Ethiopia: The enchanting world of Lalibela

P.42

Sanctity of Truth

SATURDAY

SPORT SLAMING Who is afraid of Keshi?

N150

SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2015

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Enyeama faces Monaco test S

Ajibade Olusesan

uper Eagles goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, will enter into an interesting duel with Monaco goalkeeper, Danijel Subasic, as his side, Lille, host the Principality club today (Saturday).

The two goalkeepers are currently the most reliable goal tenders in the French Championat and it will be interesting to see how the duo help their teams to victory at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.

Enyeama has played all of Lille’s 21 matches so far this season and has conceded 18 goals in 1,890 minutes of football for his club.

The former Maccabi Haifa goalie is also one of those leading the chart in the number of saves.

He has 59 saves and blocks, 19 of them at home while he recorded 44 away.

Similarly, Subasic is enjoying rave reviews for Monaco as his statistics show that he is on the same pedestal as his rival. He has being in goal in every minute of Monaco’s league matches so far this term, he has also conceded 18 goals, making 50 saves and blocks with 34 of them away from home. The Croat has bagged two yellow cards.

Monaco’s chances against Lille on their home soil have

been slim in recent times as their last four trips had ended in defeat.

Moreso, Enyeama has not conceded at home in their last three matches and has conceded just two goals against Monaco in their last four meetings in all competitions.

He will however be wary of Dimitar Berbatov who will make a return to the team after a short stay in the treatment room.

The Bulgarian scored against the Nigerian in the reverse fixture last August as Lille sealed a 1-1 draw.

Lille’s three-match unbeaten run ended when Lorient beat them 1-0 last weekend, a result that pushed them to 12th place on the log, and the Nigerian will be desperate to immediately lead his club back to winning ways.

Also expected in Monaco’s party to Stade Pierre Mauroy is Enyeama’s national teammate, Elderson Echiejile, who may play a part in the match.

The defender who celebrated his 27th birthday last Tuesday has said that he would delay his celebration until his side beat Lille.

"There will be little or no time for me to celebrate this birthday because we have a game on Saturday,” he said after inspiring his team to victory over Evian in the French Cup midweek.

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by Banex Junction, Mabushi, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Advert Hotline: 01-8541248, Email: info@newtelegraphonline.com Website: www.newtelegraphonline.com ISSN 2354-4317 Editor: Laurence ani.