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Ifeanyi Ubah: Driven by uncommon passion, a Nigerian to watch `14

54 DAYS TO SWEARING-IN

BUHARI UNDER PRESSURE

Easter: Jonathan, APC, others greet Nigerians `8 Army frees Aljazeera reporters, tackles Boko Haram in Borno `7

Fayose, factional zOver appointments, oil sector reforms, ` 6, 7 speaker dismiss shake-up in military, security services, others impeachment `7 notice zNLC president pleads: Don’t sack workers

Igbinedion, Ibori, Ogbemudia’s daughters jostle for House ` 17 of Assembly seats `38-40

Igbinedion

Ibori

Ogbemudia

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Contents | 05.04.15 BODY & SOUL

The preachers’ wives A synopsis of women with interesting stories of their call to lead great flocks with their celebrity husbands

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POLITICS

Voter apathy The failure of over 40 million PVC holders to vote in the last elections has raised concern over voter apathy in the country

}51

BUSINESS

Re-focus economy Worried by Nigeria’s monocultural economy, experts urge president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to refocus economy on agriculture, real sector

}23

FAITH

Pope’s nightmare Pope Francis would have preferred staying outside the Vatican. What gives the great man of God nightmares in Santa Marta?

}31

SPORT

Hero in New Zealand Described as the best bestkept secret in New Zealand’s combat sports, Israel Adesanya has been voted the ‘King in the Ring’ in the southwestern Pacific country

}59

LIFE

‘The unexpected new’ It began with a slim margin which swiftly rose to a point that left no one in doubt that it was a lost battle for the incumbent

}57

SUNDAY

Editorial

Before History goes extinct

hat history, as a school subject, is fast going into extinction in Nigeria’s school system, is no longer a thing of debate, or a matter of conjecture. The reality, going by the little or lack of attention being paid to history by our educational and curriculum planners, no doubt, indicates that if nothing is done to address this critical area of child’s need and growth, the country may be doing a disservice to the younger generation, who inadvertently has lost their sense of the nation’s history. If the relevance of history as that aspect of human activities that presents the past, document the present and shape the future is still potent, then the abysmal level of recognition given it in the school system and which has assumed a dangerous dimension is a major concern to all discerning minds. A country without a history is a country without a past. And indeed, a country which relegates its history like Nigeria is currently doing today is already playing with its future. That may sound alarming but History has lost its relevance in the scheme of our national development. No wonder, therefore, that experts have warned of the ‘death of History’ after shocking figures revealed the subject is becoming virtually extinct in the country’s school system. Great and renowned historians, and their umbrella group, the Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN), have at different fora in the last few years registered their dismay and apprehension for the state of History in our schools. Decrying the evolving crisis, the Executive Director of Caleb Group of Schools in Lagos, Dr. Dolapo Ogunbanwo, once expressed regret over the ‘cancellation’ of History in the school as a subject. According to the educationist, the day that step was taken to make History an elective subject in schools was the day the country embarked on the voyage of obliterating the sense of history in Nigerian children. The unfortunate thing about this is that the children have lost their self-pride, selfconfidence and self-esteem, because of their apparent lack of access to their history, culture and geography. In the good old days, history occupied a veritable position in the school syllabus, where the children learnt about the Nigerian peoples, culture and geography; today it is a different ball game as they have no or limited knowledge of the country’s history

and that of the people. To add salt to injury, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Educational Research Development Council (NERDC), the government agency responsible for curriculum development for basic and secondary school education in the country, averred that History as a subject could only remain as elective subject from Primary I to secondary school. His argument was that since several other subjects including Physics, Chemistry, Economics, Government and Commerce, among others, are electives, History could not be made compulsory in the school syllabus. Sadly enough, in most of the nation’s universities, the Department of History has changed in nomenclature, to an extent, that History has been bellied in their academic briefs. What we now have is History and International Relations since to them the course could not stand alone. However, the reasons for this may not be farfetched after all: it is to give History another face, in order to attract students since enrolment into History has continued to dwindle over the years due mainly to lack of employment opportunity for graduates of the course in the labour market that is skewed towards technology. It is also worrisome that less than 70,000 candidates write History in the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) yearly, as against the almost one million who register for Government. For the country not to lose its history in the near future, the Federal Government should bridge the gap in the study of Nigerian History in schools. Some of the problems have also been traced to the government’s inconsistent policy that has given rise to students classifying History as optional. Unless such policy summersault is addressed by bringing History to the mainstream of government’s education scheme, the country will remain perpetually the consequential negativity of the import of its decision. In other developed climes, such as the United States of America, Israel, China and United Kingdom, their National History is being accorded priority attention in the school system in order to give the upcoming generation a sense of history of their country. Nigeria, as a country and people should do the same thing in order to address and foster those elements that will boost the children’s knowledge of history and unite us, than those that divide the people.

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SUNDAY

The Sunday Magazine SUNDAY APRIL 5, 2015

Puzzles as man kills daughter’s alleged lover

Douglas

Clement James

Calabar

oet John Lyly’s 1579 novel, ‘Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit,’ is one of the sources of the evergreen expression that “all is fair in love and war.” However, this was evidently not entirely the case for the romantic story of Douglas Ojugbo and his lover, Mercy Elewana, which ended on a tragic note on March 10, 2015. The raging fire of the 22-year-old’s love for Mercy was crudely extinguished by her father, when he allegedly shot the young man dead and later secretly buried his corpse without the knowledge of his family. Sunday Telegraph learnt from a source that the murdered lover boy often visited his girlfriend at her father’s home at River Basin Authority, 8 Miles, Calabar where they spent hours chatting and dreaming of their future together. On one of such visits, Douglas was confronted by his lover’s father, Godwin. He was told clearly to stop visiting the girl. However, this was apparently a hard nut to crack, given the fact that they had been together since their days at University of Calabar Secondary School. The dead boy’s sister, Ogeyi Ojugbo, said her brother was preparing to sit for the postUTME exam when he met his untimely end. She said that it was on March 12, 2015, after a frantic search by parents and family members for their missing son, that Douglas’ parents got wind that their son had been shot and taken to the Federal Housing Police Station in Calabar.

On getting to the police station, the boy’s parents learnt that he had died and been buried at Goldie Cemetery without their consent. It was also learnt that the Divisional Police Officer coerced their father, Augustine Ojiugbo, into signing an undertaking not to let anybody hear what happened nor make any complaint to any authority whatsoever. But Augustine, a lawyer with Kanu G. Agabi & Associates, said he later found that absurd and went ahead to petition the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 6, Calabar and the National Human Rights Commission to investigate the cause of his son’s death and bring those who killed the son to justice. In the petition, he refuted claims that the son was having an affair with Elewana’s daughter. He said his son had sold his mini laptop to Elewana’s daughter who made a part payment and it was the balance the son went to collect when he met his untimely death. “The late Mr. Douglas Oga Augustine Ojugbo is my son. He is 22 years old. Sometime this year, my son sold his used mini laptop to the daughter of Mr. Elewana Godwin who lives with him at his River Basin Authority home. Mr. Elewana’s daughter (name is unknown to me at the moment) made a part payment of the agreed sum leaving balance. “My son in a bid to collect or recover the balance of his money had been visiting the home of Mr. Elewana until he ran into Mr. Elewana on his previous visits. Mr. Elewana not pleased with the boy’s presence inquired or demanded to know what he was doing in his house. My son tried to explain to Mr.

Elewana of his transaction with his daughter. Mr. Elewana without any effort to verify the boy’s story asked him to leave his house and warned him never to visit his house again. “My son was about leaving when Mr. Elewana’s daughter cornered him and asked him to come on the 10th of March, 2015 and collect the balance of his money. On that fateful day, 10th of March, 2015, my son went to Mr. Elewana’s house hoping to see his daughter as they agreed but unfortunately he saw Mr. Elewana. “Mr. Elewana upon sighting Douglas and (without provocation) ran into his room and fetched his gun, late Douglas, my son upon sighting Mr. Elewana with a gun took to his heels to save his life. “However, Mr. Elewana having made up his mind to kill my son, pursued him until he caught up with late Douglas at the gate of Basin Authority, a distance of a kilometer from his house where he shot my son first on the leg as a result of which the late Douglas fell down and to accomplish his goal, Mr. Elewana shot him the second time on the arm to make sure that my son is dead. “Furthermore, Mr. Elewana, haven accomplished his goal, bundled the body of the late Douglas into his car and took same to the DPO Federal Housing Police Station. Mr. Godwin Elewana conspired with the DPO at the Federal Housing Police Station, Calabar, Supol Mike Ezenwenrem, to get rid of the body of Mr. Douglas in order to conceal his death. “In furtherance of this agreement, the Divisional Police Officer Federal Housing police station and Mr. Elewana hurriedly went and buried the body of the late Douglas in the

night of 10th March at the Goldie Cemetery, Calabar.” A neighbour said, “The girl’s father had warned the small boy not to come near the daughter again. That is what we were made to understand but the two of them could not leave each other and we hear that it is because of that that the man decided to kill the boy. “On that fateful evening, we saw the man running after the boy who was panting and running but the man caught up with him around the basin authority gate in front of security personnel attached to the estate, shooting him in the process. “After shooting him, he dragged him into his car and drove off. All of us were running for our dear lives.” In the petition, Ojugbo added: “It is my opinion that this callous act of murder and hurried burial cannot be swept under the carpet in other not to allow or encourage other blood thirsty vampires’ feast on innocent souls. “I strongly believe that the commission is the proper body I should complain to. I therefore call on the commission to take whatever action within the confines of the law with the view of ensuring that justice is not only done but seen to be done to my family.” As of the time of writing this report, Elewana has not been arrested in connection with the alleged murder by the Cross River State Police Command. Attempts to obtain comments from the spokesman for the state police command, Mr. Hogan Bassey, failed as he said he was in transit when our correspondent called on Saturday.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY 5 APRIL, 2015

SUNDAY 5 APRIL, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Politics

Buhari under pressure over appointments, oil sector Onwuka Nzeshi and John-Chuks Onuanyim

resident-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has come under intense pressure from various interests within Nigeria and abroad over appointments to his proposed cabinet and radical steps he has vowed to take after his swearing-in on May 29, 2015. Sunday Telegraph learnt that various interests were reaching the president-elect through his associates and senior figures in his All Progressives Congress to prevail on him to water down some of his campaign pledges. Buhari has vowed to enthrone a new regime of accountability and transparency in the management of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. He also promised to probe the military and security services and the federal civil service and as well investigate alleged malfeasance in the management of the economy by successive administrations. An international news website, Africa Confidential, quoted an unnamed senior member of Buhari’s transition team as having given the hint that the president-elect had been receiving “overtures” from “local and foreign vested interests” keen on blunting his campaign promise of reforming the sector. Some of Buhari’s associates are also reportedly urging him not to consider sections of the country that did not support him in the presidential election for appointments. It was learnt that some Northern APC elements had pushed the

possibility of excluding the South-East and SouthSouth from his cabinet. Though Buhari said in his acceptance speech on Wednesday in Abuja that he would not exclude any part of the country, some Northern politicians believe both zones should be punished for the dismal performance of the APC in the presidential and National Assembly polss in their regions. But APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is said to have intervened in the brewing crisis and prevailed on Buhari to avoid bowing to sectional interests that could make his government lose the popular support and goodwill of Nigerians. Sunday Telegraph learnt that some elements in the APC had canvassed that given the party’s poor performance in both zones, they cannot claim equal rights to key political positions in the new government. This proposal appears to have pitched the Northern and Southern blocks of the party against each other. Sunday Telegraph learnt that Buhari has been torn between conceding to the Northern elements in the party and listening to Tinubu, who is said to have warned against forming a sectional government. A source within the party, who was at one of the inner caucus meetings, stated that though the APC does not believe in the concept of zoning, Tinubu was said to have called for a fair distribution of positions to give the incoming administration a nationalistic outlook. With the results of the March 28 poll election

handing out the presidential and vice-presidential seats to the North-West and South-West, the inner caucus of the party has proposed that the position of President of the Senate should go to the NorthCentral. Senator George Akume (APC/ Benue) and Senator Bukola Saraki (APC/Kwara) have been tipped to slug it out for this position in the eighth National Assembly. In the House of Representatives, the Northern elements in the party are currently pushing for the position of Speaker to go to the North-East and have tipped Hon. Yakubu Dogara (APC/ Bauchi) for the position. However, the South-West has kicked against this

proposal, insisting that it would be unfair to keep the two key leadership positions in the National Assembly in the North. The South-West has therefore tipped Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, the current Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, as Speaker. Feelers within the party indicated that the South-South and South-East may have to make do with minority positions in the two chambers of the National Assembly. Buhari is also reported to have come under pressure in the appointment of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Some party leaders also want the position kept in the North but other interest groups are demanding

that the position should be zoned to either the SouthEast or South-South. If the position eventually goes to the South, the contest would be between Dr Ogbonnaya Onu (South-East) and the Director-General of the APC presidential campaign organisation, Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi. The party has reportedly told Buhari to act fast on the oil probe but he is said to have pleaded for time to critically evaluate the current situation of the sector before taking appropriate actions. APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, however, dismissed these issues as mere speculations. He stated that the major concern of the party at this time was how to achieve

victory in the April 11 governorship and state houses of assembly polls. “I think you are just hitting the breeze. The only thing that is paramount in our minds is the elections on Saturday April 11, 2015. All our emphasis now is on Saturday. We are not concerned about any other thing. “I should know if anything like that (pressure) exists. I can tell you that all our focus is on April 11. There is nothing like pressure on Buhari for appointments. We are focused on how to win as many members of the state assemblies and as many governors as possible in the forthcoming elections. Every other thing is taking the backstage,” Mohammed said.

L-R: Wife of Oyo State Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi; Governor Abiola Ajimobi; bride’s father, Mr. Segun Abolarinwa; his wife, Deola and wife of Osun State Governor, Mrs. Sherifat Aregbesola, during the wedding of the Personal Assistant to Mrs. Ajimobi, Damola Abolarinwa, in Ibadan …yesterday

How Jonathan, Ahmadu Ali averted post-poll crisis Onyekachi Eze, ABUJA

ndications emerged yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan and the Director-General of the Peoples Democratic Party Campaign Organisation, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, were instrumental to preventing violence after the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections. Ahead of the declaration of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as the winner of the poll, Jonathan convened a meeting of his campaign organisation and the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Working Committee on Tuesday afternoon to deliberate on the looming defeat of the President. A source said that at the meeting, Jonathan said he was ready to concede and avoid violence. The source noted that

“Ali’s close relationship with Jonathan also helped create a synergy between the Villa and the Campaign Directorate such that each had the other’s confidence. It should be noted that all through the campaigns it would have been noticed that Ali cautioned against the use of incendiary words. Ali was never heard using hate language all through the campaign. “Ali helped to properly organise and structure the campaign and also worked tirelessly with some other leaders of the party like the BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, in bringing together the many tendencies within the party for unity.” The source stated that, to Jonathan’ and Ali, even though there were irregularities during the polls, the peace and stability of Nigeria was far more important. To prevent a repeat of the 2011 post-poll crisis in some parts of the North, Jonathan

“felt that conceding even before the final announcement was made would douse tension and douse the instantaneous jubilation that could have turned out any which way.” Aside this, the president and Ali, the source said “also agreed that congratulating the APC and General Buhari ahead of time would also force APC to begin to focus more on the transition and governance than on politicking.” Meanwhile, one of Jonathan’s foreign advertising consultants, Michael Moszynski, has blamed his uncoordinated media campaign for his loss to Buhari. He told Africa Confidential that Jonathan’s alleged $300 million campaign was unwieldy and kept churning out a cacophony of messages. “There were about 12 different campaigns being run simultaneously, some of them openly contradicting or undermining each other,” the

British advertising guru said. In contrast, former governor of Ekiti State and one of Buhari’s campaign directors, Kayode Fayemi, told Africa Confidential his party was running far more of a grass roots campaign on far less money. “We tried to build a movement for change as much as run an election campaign,” he said, adding that most of the party workers running campaigns on social media, radio and television, and in the press were volunteers. “Also critical to APC’s success were its ‘situation rooms’ in each state: run by groups of psephologists, computer scientists and journalists, they created and compared statistical models of voting intention and performance and analysed all the data that their opinion polling outfits were bringing in from the field. Although most of the public opinion polls were widely excoriated, both parties

claim their private polling operations proved remarkably accurate, state by state, across the country. It seems both sides used the public polls as a key weapon to shape opinion. “Over the past three months, the APC had managed to build up Buhari from a staunch anti-corruption campaigner with the respect of the military to a national figure that could stop the country’s drift,” the report said. In a statement yesterday in Abuja, PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, blamed the party’s loss on voter apathy. Mu’azu said he believes that Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections would provide PDP with a softlanding after conceding the presidency to APC. ”The key to winning the remaining elections is a heavy turnout and voting the PDP all the way. There should be

Jonathan

no tactical voting. Be consistent in your support for the party. What we experienced in the presidential election is merely a hiccup which we must cast out in the gubernatorial polls,” he stated. Mu’azu expressed confidence that PDP would win at least two-thirds of the states, adding that ”nothing will be sweeter than PDP taking Lagos, our own Rivers State and Imo. Our candidates in these states are first-class materials who have fully penetrated the political structures of those states and are set to win.”

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY 5 APRIL, 2015

News

Fayose, factional speaker dismiss impeachment notice Adesina Wahab

Ado-Ekiti

kiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, yesterday described the impeachment notice posted online by All Progressives Congress members of the state house of assembly as a “joke of the century” and advised the legislators to stop acting like jesters. Speaking through one of his aides, Lere Olayinka, in Ado-Ekiti, he said, “The script being acted by the APC is a failed one because no one, no matter how highly placed, will be allowed to test the will of Ekiti people.” The governor, who faulted the purported impeachment notice, advised the lawmakers to first resolve the issue of who the speaker of the assembly is.

According to him, “The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly is Hon Dele Olugbemi and not Dr Adewale Omirin. He (Omirin) is already in court, challenging his impeachment. Common sense dictates that when you are challenging an action in court, you have accepted the consequences of such action pending the determination of the suit you filed.” He said the APC lawmakers should stop advertising their ignorance and crudity in the market place by posting impeachment notice online. “Since last year November, these so-called lawmakers abdicated their duties and ran to Lagos, only for them to resurface on Wednesday. But they hurriedly ran away again. “Now they are posting a notice of impeachment signed on March 9, 2015 and

Ekiti people are asking; Was the motion for impeachment moved and adopted in Lagos or Osun State House of Assembly? Is impeachment of a governor done along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway inside a moving bus? “Rather than going about advertising their ignorance and crudity, the APC lawmakers should wait for the court to adjudicate on the case they filed because even the President-elect, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, will respect the rule of law when he assumes office,” he said. Olugbemi dismissed the notice, describing it as a ploy by the APC to distract the state government. The factional speaker, who has also petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, and Director of the Department of State Service, accused

Omirin of forgery, impersonation and an attempt to cause a breach of public peace. In a statement, he said; “The House never sat at any time to deliberate, and or pass any Motion for Impeachment of Mr. Ayodele Fayose.” In an April 4, 2015 letter written to the State Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, Olugbemi said; “Dr Adewale Omirin, who signed the purported Impeachment Notice as Speaker of the State House of Assembly was duly impeached at the plenary session of the House on November 20, 2014.” The letter signed by Rt. Hon. Olugbemi and Clerk of the House, Joseph Tola Esan read; “Our attention has been drawn to publications in some online newspapers of a purported notice to impeach the Ekiti State Governor,

Mr Ayodele Fayose by the State House of Assembly. The purported Notice of Impeachment dated March 9, 2015 was signed by Dr Adewale Omirin, who claimed to be the Speaker of the State House of Assembly. We wish to dissociate the Ekiti State House of Assembly from the purported impeachment notice, as the House never sat at any time to deliberate, and or pass any Motion for Impeachment of Mr. Ayodele Fayose. “Resolutions of the house of assembly cannot be taken outside the precinct of the House and as at today, there is nothing in the records of proceedings of the Ekiti State House of Assembly to show that matter(s) on impeachment of Governor Ayodele Fayose was discussed in the hallowed chamber of the House of

Assembly of Ekiti State. “Dr Adewale Omirin, who signed the purported Impeachment Notice as Speaker of the State House of Assembly was duly impeached at the plenary session of the House on November 20, 2014. “Votes and proceedings, Order Papers and Hanzard of sittings of the House are available for clarification. “In the face of the law, and going by records of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin and Hon Adetunji Orisalade stand impeached as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House respectively.” Omirin’s media aide, Wole Olujobi, said he was yet to be briefed by his boss on the development. Omirin could not also be reached to react officially to the matter.

NLC president to Buhari: Don’t sack workers Yekeen Nurudeen

igeria Labour Congress’ newly elected president, Comrade Ayuba Wabbah, has expressed fears about impending economic crisis in the country after the elections, but urged President-elect Muhammadu Buhari not to sack workers. Speaking in an interview with Sunday Telegraph, he lamented that four or five states are currently unable to pay their workers, even as some of them are owing up to three to four months arrears. Wabbah said that the purchasing power of the average Nigerian worker has drastically been eroded by the recent 20 per cent fall in the value of the naira. “However, we have taken cognisance of the political and security challenges in the country and there crave for peace in the polity. We are on a balance and workers’ voices need to be heard. If we don’t speak for peace

and unity and at the end of the day there’s crisis, it is the working class families that will be the victims,” he said. He said the congress has commissioned people to look at alternatives to these current economic crises and the belt-tightening measures that government is proposing. “We need to engage the process. If decisions are taken without the interest of the working class being considered, at the end of the day those decisions would be imposed on us, especially the issue of devaluation of the currency. “The currency is being devalued and it has a huge negative impact on the working class. This is something that needs to make us running now, to be able to address those issues. We should be able to address key players in the economy, especially the Federal Ministry of Finance. We should be able to sit down and engage them.”

Yoruba elders laud Buhari

he Yoruba Unity Forum has appealed to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari to carry all Nigerians along in the formation of his government, because the hopes and aspirations of all Nigerians rest on him. In a congratulatory message signed by its chairperson, Yeye Oodua, Chief (Mrs.) H.I.D. Awolowo, the forum said the task of rebuilding the country certainly requires the cooperation of all Ni-

gerians. The statement which also commended the election of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as the vice-president, said the victory was a hard-earned one. “The entire members of Yoruba Unity Forum, the umbrella body for all Yoruba socio-cultural organisations in Nigeria and in the Diaspora, pledges to support you and your team to restore greatness again to our dear country Nigeria,” it said.

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, chieftains of the All Progressives Congress and party supporters during the governor’s senatorial district campaign at Ijebu East in Sagamu...yesterday.

Muritala Ayinla

agos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday described as “propaganda and falsehood,” the claim by the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje’s claim that the state government has not been paying minimum wage to its workers. Fashola said the state government remains the first ‎state in the federation that implemented the Federal Government’s approved minimum wage structure.

he Nigerian Army yesterday freed two Aljazeera reporters, Ahmed Idris and Ali Mustapha, detained for some days for allegedly loitering around areas of military operations. They were released on Friday night after spending 10 days in detention in their hotel room. Director of Defence Information, Gen. Chris Oluko-

Agbaje lied on minimum wage - Fashola Fashola, in a statement signed by the Special Adviser on Media to the Governor, Mr. Hakeem Bello, explained that his administration also added to the N18,000 minimum wage across board, a gesture for which the workers commended his government. He explained that the issue of minimum wage was settled on Tuesday, February 7, 2011, when the state government signed an agreement with the 14

approved labour unions in the State Civil Service to pay N18,780 to the lowest paid of its workers. The agreement, brokered by the then Commissioner for Establishment and Training, Mr. Jide Sanwoolu, according to the statement, increased the minimum wage of the lowest paid worker in the employment of the government by 69.6 per cent; which is a 7.6 per cent increase over the National Minimum Wage.

Army frees Aljazeera reporters lade, had explained that the duo were moving around “restricted areas” in Yobe and Borno states without protection, accreditation or clearance. However, the reporters had sued the Nigerian Army challenging their detention, which has been con-

demned by Nigerian and international civic groups. Isa Gusau, spokesman for Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, confirmed the release of the reporters to Sunday Telegraph. He said the governor had received them and that they would soon leave

Fashola, however, debunked the insinuation that the APC’s governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, was dismissed from the state’s civil service, describing it as one of the many lies of the ruling party aimed at deceiving voters. He explained that Ambode retired voluntarily from the public service after 27 years of meritorious service to the state, adding that he (Fashola) wrote him a letter of commendation. the state. Meanwhile, troops yesterday engaged Boko Haram insurgents who attacked Kayamla village of Borno State. An official of the local vigilante called Civilian-JTF in Borno, Muhammed Gava, who confirmed the attack to wire service providers, said the attack took place yesterday afternoon.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL5, 2015

NEWS

Easter

Jonathan, APC, govs preach peace, unity, political stability Anule Emmanuel, Adesina Wahab, Dominic Adewole, Uwakwe Abugu, Tai Anyanwu, Chijioke Iremeka, Sola Adeyemo,

P Ibadan

resident Goodluck Jonathan has called on Nigerians especially Christians to use the opportunity of the Easter celebration to pray for greater unity and stability as the country passes through a critical period of elections. The President in a statement to commemorate this year’s Easter celebration, said it was important for the citizens to reflect on what can offer the nation a sound future. “We must therefore, seize the opportunity of the Easter holiday to reflect deeply on what more we need to do as a people, to ensure that the political process in which we are currently engaged is successfully concluded and that our beloved country, Nigeria continues to move towards a better future for all of its citizens. Jonathan expressed happiness that the country has already scaled through the hurdle of selecting a new President and members of the federal legislature. He said, “Happily, we have already successfully scaled the hurdle of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections. I am quite hopeful that the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections will also be conducted peacefully. “This year’s celebration of Easter is taking place at a period of very critical national choices and decisions, during which we must all be prepared and willing to make sacrifices for greater unity, peace, political stability and progress in our beloved country. “To the glory and pride of our fatherland, our collective actions since March 28 have assured the world that the democratic spirit is alive and well in our nation. By the grace of God, our beloved nation, Nigeria is moving forward despite all challenges. The President called on all Nigerians to pray that this Easter, “God Almighty who has brought us this far, will continue to bless our nation as we march onward towards the fulfillment of our collective vision of a truly united, strong and prosperous nation. He said that for Christians all over the world, the major lessons of Easter, which we celebrate

this year in the midst of general elections in our nation, are to be found in the Messiah’s divine love and glorious self-sacrifice for the redemption of mankind.

APC urges unity The All Progressives Congress has urged Nigerians to come together, irrespective of the fault lines separating them, for a national rebirth, in the spirit of Easter which is currently celebrated in the country and around the world. In its Easter message, contained in a statement issued in Lagos on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said this year’s Easter celebrations could not have come at a better time, hence the lessons must not be lost on Nigerians. ‘’At the core of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, are the messages of renewal and rebirth, sacrifice, forgiveness and love. In the culmination of his life of selfless sacrifice, Jesus Christ gave his life for others to live. Let us emulate him, in our private and public lives, by exhibiting those virtues for which he lived ‘’This year’s Easter celebrations have coincided with an ongoing political transition that has so far been widely adjudged a success, and one that also paves the way for us to have a national rebirth. In doing this, we must show love and eschew bitterness. We must put the acrimony of the long drawn electioneering campaign behind us. ‘’Just like Jesus Christ remains a shining light in a world of gloom, let us be beacons of faith, hope and love as we, irrespective of our political leaning, embark on the onerous task of making our nation great again,’’ it said.

Put Nigeria first, says Mark

President of the Senate, Senator David Mark has urged Nigerians to make the interest of the nation a priority in all their endeavors in spite of religious or political differences. “Whichever side of the religion or political divides we may find ourselves,

Nigerians besiege storm markets in preparation for Easter celebration in Lagos …yesterday

what must be paramount is the interest of our country. What makes for the good of all; welfare and security of our citizens must of a necessity be our vision and purpose,” Senator Mark stated. In his message, signed by Paul Mumeh, his Chief Press Secretary, he took note of the socio-economic and political challenges facing the nation and stated that with collective will and cooperation of all, we can surmount our difficulties. He called for renewed faith and commitment to the ideals of nationhood saying that Nigerians should continue to demonstrate resilience and perseverance as always in order to reach the Promised Land. Specifically, Senator Mark advised citizens to maintain peace and order especially during this period of transition in the overall interest of the nation. He expressed satisfaction with the peaceful conduct of citizens during the presidential and National Assembly elections saying “such conduct which has won us the accolades of the international community must be sustained during the remaining processes”. Senator Mark praised the Christian community for their prayers and fasting during the Lenten season and urged them to sustain the tempo for the contin-

ued peace and unity of the nation. He reminded Christian faithful of the need to remain steadfast and always promote religious harmony between and among various groups as the needed panacea for peace and unity of the country.

Fayose preaches humility

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has advised Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of humility displayed by the Lord Jesus who offered himself a sacrifice for all by dying on the cross. Fayose, who stated this in his message in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said that humility, no matter the exalted position one occupies as shown by the Lord, must be a top virtue Nigerians should aspire, if our nation would move forward. The governor also charged Nigerians that they must be ready to make the necessary sacrifices and endure some unpleasant situations for the unity and progress of Nigeria. “Our Lord Jesus offered himself a sacrifice for us and bore our burdens. He was humiliated, punished and killed for what he did not do. But he took everything in his strides because of his love for us. “As Nigerians, and going by political developments in our dear nation, it is clear that whether we

are leaders or followers, we need the virtues of humility, sacrifice, tolerance among others. The ongoing electoral process cannot succeed if losers and winners are not magnanimous. “I also plead with Nigerians that our individual and collective expectations should be reasonable and within limited resources. As we mark Easter, we must not allow the lessons and reasons for the season be lost on us,” he said.

Obi advises on Christian virtues

Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi has called on all Nigerians to emulate our Lord, Jesus Christ at this Easter season and afterwards. In his message to the people, the former governor said that, “Easter is a period which calls for sacrifice just as our Lord Jesus Christ exemplified when He shed His spirituality and assumed a human form in order to save humankind from sin and eternal damnation” He added that this singular action culminated in our Lord’s death. The former governor who reminded Christians and non-Christians alike that it was “the sacrifice and service offered by our Lord which brought Him to glorious resurrection and exaltation,” urged all to take a cue from Him.

PHOTO:GODWIN IREKHE

To political and other leaders, the governor urged them to lead the life of Christ at all times.

Chime preaches peace, tolerance

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, has urged Nigerians to use the occasion of the Easter celebrations to pursue peace and tolerance among all ethnic and religious groups while praying for divine intervention in the nation’s contemporary challenges. Chime, who stated this in a goodwill message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Chukwudi Achife, congratulated Christians on the successful conclusion of the Lenten season, noting that it had been a period of purification and deep reflections on God’s eternal love and compassion for mankind. He such reflections would help Nigerians appreciate the need to respect the rights of one another especially the rights to life and peaceful co-existence with their neighbours. “As we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we must encourage ourselves to use the occasion to rededicate ourselves to values and actions that promote love, tolerance, brotherhood and unity among all Nigerians,” he said. He disclosed that the state government has CO NTINUED O N PAGE 9

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL 5, 2015

Easter CON TINUED FR OM PAGE 8

taken concrete measures to ensure that the celebrations were peacefully observed in the state and enjoined citizens to conduct themselves orderly in a manner that would reflect the joy of the occasion.

We have reasons to thank God —Oshiomhole

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said that the peace which has prevailed in Nigeria post-election is enough reason for Nigerians to give thanks to God this Easter season. He said there were apprehensions of violence during and after the elections, “but God has decreed peace “and there is peace everywhere.” In his Easter broadcast to people of the state, the governor said “this period of Easter offers us another opportunity to reflect on our lives and our commitment to God; a period to remind us of God’s love for us. This period, we are enjoined to show love to our neighbours, our family members and indeed to our great country.

Amosun talks harmony

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, joined millions of Christians the world over to observe the Easter season. In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Wakama, Amosun stressed the need for harmony in the quest for a new Nigeria, irrespective of ethnic, political and religious affiliations, adding that “the period is symbolic for us as a nation, having recently elected a new President. “As we commemorate the resurrection of Christ, I see a new Nigeria under the leadership of the Presidentelect, Mohammadu Buhari and I urge all well meaning Nigerians to join hands with him to bring about accelerated socio-economic progress,” he said. The governor urged all to ponder over the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and take a cue from His selflessness, by eschewing all forms of political, social and religious vices. He prayed for God’s guidance and blessings for the Buhari presidency and continuity in Ogun State, as Nigerians go to the polls to elect their governors and State Assembly members next Saturday.

Amaechi prays for love, peace, unity Rivers State Governor and Chairman of the Ni-

geria Governors’ Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has called for peace, love and unity among Nigerians. Amaechi urged Christians all over the country to use the Easter celebrations to thank God for his grace on Nigeria and continue to pray for peace, development and the greater good of the country. In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. David Iyofor, Amaechi said Christians have a task to reflect their belief of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ through constant prayers for the nation. “Our Christian leaders should use the Easter period to pray for peace, unity and love among Nigerians, we are one Nigeria. Christians, at this time, have a duty to always reflect their belief according to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ through prayers for our nation. This is because, Jesus Christ died and was buried, and on the third day arose that the world may be saved,” Amaechi said. He stressed the need for Christians to use the Easter period as a moment of sober reflection and thank God for the success of the 2015 Presidential election while praying for peaceful conduct, fairness and credibility in the April 11 elections. Amaechi enjoined Nigerians to put God first in all their endeavours, adding that the Easter celebrations will bring more blessings and desired results for the country. He also called on Rivers people to continue to support his administration’s effort at bringing more development and prosperity to improve the living standard of the people.

Methodist prelate tasks politicians

In his message, Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu Uche said that the death and resurrection secured the opportunity for humankind to believe, hope, dream, aspire, expect and wish for a brighter tomorrow and more importantly have the opportunity for eternal life. Said he:‘ Brothers, it is that time in the history of Christendom when we remember and celebrate the essence of Christianity, that is, Jesus Christ, the cornerstone upon which our faith is built and anchored. He said Easter “is a day of rejoicing, celebration, happiness and hope restored and renewed. It is a defining moment in human history because it epitomises the liberation of humankind from the tragedies of the past and the trajectory of the sins committed by the first man, Adam which

was brought upon the human race. “With the significance of this season in mind, I would like to say hearty congratulations to Christians in Nigeria and around the world, for the successful completion of the forty days of fasting and prayers, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and His victory over death, sickness, poverty, strife, war, starvation, hunger, hatred and every other sin-inflicted challenges which the arms of flesh alone cannot surmount. He urged the nation’s political leaders, especially

the President in-waiting, General Muhammadu Buhari to sacrifice their personal egos and forge a common front to make life better for the common man whom they have been elected to serve.

CAN chief lauds post-election peace

The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria Lagos Chapter, Apostle Alexander Bamgbola has called on all Christians to develop the spirit of self-sacrifice in imitation of Jesus Christ as they celebrate the season.

News “What Christians celebrate during Easter is the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus made on the cross to wash away the sins of mankind. Jesus gave his life for the human race, we must also be ready to sacrifice for one another and live in love. He commended President Goodluck Jonathan, whom he said has served Nigeria well, for congratulating the winner of the election recent presidential election, adding that that “is why there is peace in the land today. The in-coming President has also been magnanimous in victory. This is the Lord’s doing.”

While noting that the prevalence of peace in the land “is an act of God,” Bamgbola said, “Nigerians have every cause to thank God who made it possible for us to have a peaceful election devoid of rancour and war.” “The atmosphere in the country has been peaceful. God has been good. As we celebrate this Easter, I want to appeal to believers in Lagos State to display love and be ready to make sacrifices at every time for the peace and progress of Nigeria. We are certainly going to be great as a nation again,” he said.

A cross section of indigenes and non-indigenes of Osun State boarding the free train provided by the state government back to Lagos State, during the Easter celebration, at Osogbo terminus…yesterday

Akala urges true liberation

Labour Party governorship candidate in Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao- Akala has urged Nigerians to pray for true liberation and progress of the country during Easter celebration. The former governor said this in his message to the Christian faithful on the 2015 Easter celebration, said genuine liberation will positively affect the progress of the nation. “The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ bring hope to the Christians and liberate them from the shackles of death and suffering. So, we must also use the occasion of celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection to pray for our nation so that we could be able to stand on our feet as a nation. “Nigerians should also pray for successful transition and conduct of other elections which will take us away from where we are now as a nation and place us at the exact place where we should be in the comity of nations”, he said. While expressing optimism that his party would clear the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections

in the forthcoming election, Alao-Akala said, “We are ready for the election. It won’t go the way of the presidential and National Assembly elections, and I can assure you, Labour party will win the election.” He stressed that Labour Party was the hope of the masses, adding that “our party manifesto encapsulate programmes that will make life better for the youth, women and children in the state,” he said

Fayemi greets Christians Former Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has congratulated the people of the state and Nigerians in general for witnessing another Easter season, urging them to emulate the sacrificial nature of Jesus Christ who laid down his life for the salvation of mankind. He also congratulated them for the successful completion of the Lenten season, a period of 40 days of fasting and prayer which culminated in the Easter celebration. Fayemi, in his Easter goodwill message,

signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, also called on Christians to always demonstrate the virtues of love and sacrifice which the Lord Jesus Christ exhibited in ensuring the salvation of humanity. He stated that despite the merriment of the Easter season, the period also provides Christians ample opportunity for sober reflection. He urged Nigerians to imbibe and reflect on the lessons associated with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Fayemi advised the people of the state to be moderate in celebrations during this Easter season, noting that the period was not for eating and drinking alone but to reflect on the past and present as well as hope for a better future for themselves and the country.

Ekwunife pays indigent patients’ bills

In the spirit of Easter, Senator-elect for Anambra Central Senatorial District, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife yesterday visited some hospitals in her constituency

and offset medical bills of indigent patients. At Zion Specialist Hospital, Enugwu Ukwu, Ekwunife expressed joy at the level of recovery of some patients in the hospital and made donation of cash to offset their medical bills. She had earlier commenced distribution of medical materials which include drugs and other aids to various hospitals in the district. She said the essence was to give out to the less privilege especially during Easter celebration, and enjoined Christians to look beyond merriment of Easter celebrations and cultivate love, peace and tolerance. She further called on Christians to deepen their faith in God during this period and always love one another. “I call on you all my people to look beyond the merriments if Easter to cultivate love, peace and tolerance especially knowing that these virtues made Christ to die for mankind. We too could change the face of the earth by giving back to the society especially those that do not have,” she said.

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

OPINION Prospects of Great Green Wall Initiative

Moshood Isah

any Nigerians are not aware that Nigeria is losing about 2,168qKM of its fertile land almost every year to desertification and putting the lives of many in jeopardy. As a matter of fact, desertification had drastically affected the quality of life in northern Nigeria, and it had resulted in high levels of migration, instability, damaging the social fabric of the North and confining them to a future of low productivity, limited economic growth and marginalization. The problem of environmental degradation has become a global phenomenon, with some developing nations like Nigeria stand a high risk of major consequences like desertification, erosion, soil infertility and ultimately depreciation in agricultural production. There is also no gainsaying that Agriculture plays a significant role in the nation’s economy after crude oil exploration. Thus, President Goodluck Jonathan has taken it upon his administration to boost agriculture from improved fertilizer distribution to releasing of huge amount to farmers for dry season farming. As a matter of fact, Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava with an output of over 45 million metric tonnes in 2014 according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In a bid to further improve Agriculture and increase environmental sustainability, President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the upgrade of the great Green wall Programme implementation

Unit (GGW/PIU) to become an independent agency. The GGW/PIU now known as National Agency on Great Green Wall (NAGGW) was endorsed by the administration to urgently and holistically address the challenges bedevilling desertification in the Northern parts of Nigeria. The Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Alhaji Goni Ahmed, who disclosed the new development, added that the President saw the need to upgrade the unit because of his belief and passion in environmental protection. Mr. Goni Ahmed who is agricultural scientist and respected environmentalist, therefore called on stakeholders to support the Great Green Wall Programme so as to deliver dividends to Nigerians. He said the support and assistance from stakeholders would ensure the desertification threatening the northern region was brought under control. The key areas that required assistance in the programme include nursery rehabilitation, shelterbelt establishment, sand dune stabilization, agro-forestry, farmers’ managed natural regeneration and integrated water and natural resources management. The Great Green Wall initiative is a pan-African proposal to “green” the continent from west to east in order to battle desertification. The vision of a great green wall to combat ecological degradation was conceived in 2005. The vision evolved into an integrated ecosystem management approach in January 2007, when the African Union adopted declaration 137 VIII, approving the “Decision on the Implementa-

tion of the Green Wall for the Sahara Initiative.” It is a strategy adopted by African leaders, supported by the international community and development partners, to fast track the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), roll back poverty and address the specific risks and vulnerabilities in our dry lands. Other areas are trans-boundary ecosystem management, sensitization and awareness, development of alternative sources of energy, gender mainstreaming, scientific expertise and research, capacity building and knowledge sharing. Interestingly some development partners have shown interest in the project with World Bank leading the pack. A leader of World Bank team to Nigeria who is also World Bank Senior Social Development specialist on Carbon Finance, Haddy J. Sey, who led a team to the agency said the Bank would collaborate with the agency on an initiative to reducing emission from desertification and forest degradation (REDD+) in developing countries. In this vein, the federal government has taken the first giant stride in expending resources for the success of the Great Green Wall (GGW) project, aimed at addressing desertification along the 11 northern frontline states. The Minister of Environment, Mrs. Laurentia Mallam who has also demonstrated greater commitment of the government to the project, has stressed that the project will provide shelter for the communities and also create an ozone-friendly environment in the selected states.

By all accounts, President Goodluck Jonathan appears to have taken the bull by the horns in mustering the political will to formally launch the Nigerian component of the Great Green Wall (GGW) Programme in states, like Katsina, Kebbi, and also taking the trend towards Borno state. To further boost the initiative, the Federal Government has also approved contract for the procurement of 750,000 units of clean cooking stove, worth N9.2 billion, and 18,000 wonderbags (ecofriendly non-electric portable slow cookers) for free distribution to rural women nationwide. From all intent, the Great Green Wall will check soil erosion in the affected communities. Since trees take carbon dioxide from the air, planting large scale trees will help to absorb excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thereby contributing its quota in checking ozone depletion and global warming. The idea is that the project will principally check the advancement of desertification and erosion as well as restore eco-balance, even as it creates sustainable jobs for thousands of our youths who are without jobs. The initiative undoubtedly presents us a great opportunity to advance our vision of a green pathway for human development, and address new and emerging environmental challenges in our country. Thus this is clarion call to citizens to support the government in their bid to curb environmental degradation in the country. •Moshood Isah writes from Wuye District, Abuja moshoodpm@gmail.com

May the oil wells run dry

have always maintained that the voo-doo accounting and modelling used by Nigeria’s leadership and professionals to prop up the economy is on quicksand. As a single commodity dependent nation with lousy public probity on/for its national resources, Nigeria is bound to experience wide and wild swings anytime the oil price fluctuates. And going forward, Nigeria is in for a shock of its corporeal life – it will crash but may not burn; wounded and seriously bruised except it reinvents itself and abandons the reckless manner it manages its resources. Devaluation is just the beginning of further fall. When a bucket has been leaking at a rate of more than 25 per cent, to keep the bucket full, one has to diligently keep pouring water at the same level of leakage to maintain fullness or at 26%. Nigeria’s leadership never mastered that simple method of checkmating its finances to plug holes and stabilise its leaks. With Naira devaluation, the economy has lost 8.4%. May the shock continue to reverberate so the ‘Giant of Africa’ may wake up. Since 1970 when the civil war ended, naive and barely literate Gen. Yakubu Gowon announced to the world that Nigeria was/is rich. Nigerians have followed that ‘beer parlour’ chant and chest pounding to their own peril. Nigeria is not a rich nation and was never one – always imagined. By the devaluation from N155 to

N168, I predict that before the end of first quarter 2015, Naira exchange rate will be N200 to $1. I just got back from a three-country trip to UAE-BahrainQatar, as part of a United States Chamber of Commerce delegation. The feeling in that region, even if the oil price were to fall below $70/bbl, they can handle it. The difference between that region and Nigeria is that they finance their operations and their liquidity per capita is very high. It is a cushion that affords them the opportunity to move on and wait for correction. In the case of Nigeria, with a population of 165 million, about four times the entire Gulf Cooperation Council’s regional population, the stress and shock with falling oil price will be devastating. It is amazing that with Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Madam Okonjo-Iweala, famed former World Bank top executive and her handpicked followers and admirers in the nation’s monetary and fiscal echelon, there are no apparent gains as a result of her superior knowledge; should I say imagined superior knowledge. There are never enough reserves in Nigeria to cushion an oil price swing. With undue reliance and echoed sentiments that Nigeria is rich because it is an oil producing nation, many unduly abandoned other sectors. How can a bunch of CLOWNS in leadership who can barely read and understand financial structure safeguard an economy as fluid as Nigeria’s? Their dance is about

how much money they take home, milking the system. I keep hoping that the oil price falls below $50/pbbl, so that Nigeria drinks her oil and may be forced to look inwards to adjust its ways and become productive. Texas witnessed that in the late 1970s and 80s, and now Texas is the United States’ most stable and viable economy. In Texas, we do not celebrate oil but use it to oil our way to productivity and prominence – a diversified economy. Given that the United States is now a net exporter - http://blogs.ft.com/ beyond-brics/2014/10/02/victim-ofshale-revolution-nigeria-stops-exporting-oil-to-us/, we love it because our gasoline price is dropping – adding more spending money to our purses. We want it further down. As U.S no longer buys Nigerian crude, I hope they stay away from that and hopefully, Chevron and ExxonMobil will divest their holdings and Shell pulls back. Nigeria needs critical shock treat-

I keep hoping that the oil price falls below $50/pbbl, so that Nigeria drinks her oil and may be forced to look inwards to adjust its ways and become productive

ment so that it may wake up and smell the rotten manner it has been handling its natural resources. Also, when the crude oil flow drops to a trickle, the Niger Delta will face environmental challenges that in 100 years, they will still be suffering what they have allowed to happen. Nigeria will be the worst hit because of inadequate planning, corruption, over-dependence on the importation of refined petroleum products and a poor federal system of government, where other federating units depend mainly on the central government for monthly allocation. If Jonathan makes it in 2015, Madam Okonjo-Iweala and Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke should be FIRED. The two have not delivered solutions to make Nigeria’s economy hum or gain traction. They have instead sold naive and almost illiterate House and Senate members, including their admirer President Jonathan VOO-DOO numbers. The Naira has been losing value and becoming a worthless currency, and that flies in the face that 30 years ago, N1 million was nearly $2m. Today, same N1m is worth less than $6,000. Anyone who believes that such a loss in value is proof of ‘Nigeria as the Rising and Biggest Economy in Africa,’ may very well believe that Nigeria is the richest country in the world. That too, is allowed. •Ejike Okpa writes from Dallas, Texas, United States via eokpa@airmail.net

Sunday Mail APRIL 5, 2015

You have a right to be heard! Send your letters and photographs to sundayletters@newtelegraphonline.com. Letters should not be more than 150 words and must have the name and address of the sender. No to election violence

Dear Editor, Politics is like a game of football where we have players, referees, spectators and fans. At the end of the game, even if the game exceeds normal time to extra time or penalty, there must be a winner and a loser. But one good quality of politics is that at the end we are all winners. For the future of our children, together let us say no to political violence. Remember that life has no duplicate, go out on the day of election and cast your vote peacefully. Also ensure that your vote is counted. Alfred Thomas Bayelsa.

Monarchs are not bees

Dear Editor, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan should know that monarchs are not bees. They can’t vote more than one time and they can’t make electoral decisions for their subjects in this modern dispensation. Conscience and integrity are integral to the dignity of humans. Average Nigerians are already aware of all the happenings in this country and they are ready to make their choice of who to lead them. Rabiu Habib Kogi State

One million-man march Dear Editor, This one million march of a thing that political parties and their supporters are doing in respect of their candidates is becoming something else in Lagos State. You can imagine when some party supporters irrespective of their personal activities choose to constitute a nuisance on a Monday morning of all days on the major roads in Lagos, thereby causing unnecessary and chaotic traffic jams. So many people were stuck in the serious traffic jams caused by these party loyalists, hindering the masses who had important appointments to meet. It is on this note that I wish to advise that the next time such an activity will take place, those concerned should endeavour to make public announcements so that people can adjust their programmes. Balogun Kayode Ojota, Lagos State

Chelsea vs Arsenal Dear Editor, It is said that nearly can neither kill a bird nor qualify a team for quarter finals. Where men (Chelsea) could not qualify to go, will never be an easy-ride for boys (Arsenal). Knocking Arsenal out of UCL at this stage is not surprising because this is the fifth or sixth time in a row. It is only Chelsea that is surprising because we are not used to it. I wish to candidly advise Arsenal and her fans to keep calm since I am sure they will lose out in the game. Idachaba Achimugu Kano

LG toll collectors

Dear Editor, I wish to draw the attention of Nigerians to the menace of local government revenue collectors on major highways. It is so unfortunate that these uncouth fellows are allowed to control the roads. Government should find more creative ways of generating revenue and providing jobs for the ‘boys,’ instead of this crude method. James Olay Berger, Lagos

Call of nature…

Not all men are real fathers Dear Editor, In my journey of life, I have realised that some men are heartless and without the fear of God. I observed a woman worshipping God in the bus. She started singing when we got to Warri till we got to Port Harcourt. When we got to Port Harcourt, she brought out her phone to call her husband; the man picked the call but I don’t know what they discussed though. The wife had given the driver the phone to talk to her husband who apparently thought his wife was joking when she said she was in Port Harcourt. When ther location was given to the husband who resides in PH and knows the environment very well, it dawned on him that for real, his wife was in Port Harcourt. The driver asked for his location so as to drop his wife with their two little kids but the man said he was not in Port Harcourt and that he did not ask her to come. He contacted his pastor and told the cleric that he has another woman who is currently living with him and that he doesn’t want her to be troubled. We asked the lady why she didn’t tell him before leaving Obajana to Port Harcourt and she said the man abandoned her and her kids for over two years with nothing for family upkeep, she has lost her job and can’t cope again. Finally, we contacted the man again but he told us to stop disturbing him and then switched off his phone. What will happen to the kids? Why will the man abandon his family? This is why I said not all who have children are fathers. Benjamin Atamodu Port-Harcourt

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Security during elections Dear Editor, The I-Nigerian Initiative has urged security agencies to remain professional, non-partisan and apolitical at all times, especially during the general elections. I-Nigerian Initiative declares that Nigerians are the only ones who can ensure and guarantee peace, if they collectively refuse to allow themselves to be used to cause any violence or rancour during and even after the elections. The I-Nigerian Initiative which had hosted security agencies to interactive forum with the media on their activities, also lends its voice to the many calls on Nigerians to ensure peace during and after the general elections. We also remind the Forum of Spokespersons of Security and Response Agencies (FOSSRA) to adhere to its recent pledge that members will continue to ensure that press statements as well as official pronouncements of individual members as well as their organisations remain professional, non-partisan and apolitical at all times efficient and effective interagency collaboration. We emphasise that our security agencies must appreciate their vital role in ensuring the safety of lives and property during the period of the elections. Stella Ada Apisfi Abuja

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Moments

L-R: Former Senator, Osun Central Senatorial District, Bayo Salami; Governor Rauf Aregbesola and Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun, during the special Jumat service marking the victory of General Muhamadu Buhari at the just concluded Presidential/National Assembly elections in Osogbo…on Friday

Sustainability Manager, British American Tobacco West Africa, Mrs. Oluwaseyi Ashade (left), presenting certificate of participation to Mrs. Obajumi Janet, during the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation’s poultry farming training for women in Abeokuta, Ogun State…recently

L-R: Chairman, Nigerian Chambers of Commerce, Dr. Bashiru Gwandu; President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari; Kebbi State APC Governorship candidate, Senator Bagudu Atiku; Mrs. Onari Duke and her husband, Donald Duke, during a congratulatory visit to Buhari at his residence in Abuja.. on Thursday

L-R: President, Collation of Igbos, Chief Nnamdi Nwaigwe; President, All Igbo Town Union, Pastor Okey Anorve; Leader of Obigbo Organisation, Chief Charles Ahize and President General, Berger Auto Dealers, Chief Metche Nnadiekwe, during a press conference on the endorsement of All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate, Akinwumi Ambode, by the Igbo business Community in Lagos…yesterday. PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

L-R: Head, Training Department, FRSC Anambra State, Mr. Olusegun Akinola; Sector Commander, Mr Sunday Ajayi; Chief Executive Officer, Trigpoint Hotels, Chief Felix Ogbuefia and Head, Public Education, FRSC, Mrs. Chinelo Ezekwesili, during the presentation of safety tip materials to Ogbuefia in Awka … yesterday

Editor-in-Chief, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Lawal Ado (left), with the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, during Ado’s visit to NAN Headquarters in Abuja …yesterday. PHOTO-NAN

L-R: Economics Teacher, Lagos State Senior Model College, Badore, Mr. Okeowo Adewale; Head of Department, Business Studies, Methodist Girls High School, Yaba, Mrs. Bola Mustapha; Regional Programs Coordinator, Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), Mr. Adegbola Abiodun; Program Manager, Mrs. Rita Odion and Head of Department, Business studies, Edidot College, Badore, Lagos, Mr. Nwosu Michael, during the Intel Easy Steps Train the Trainee workshop by Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), in Lagos… on Thursday. PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

L-R: Police Public Relations Officer, Ken Nwosu; Public Relations Manager, Toyota (Nigeria) Limited (TNL), Mrs. Bukki Ogunnusi and the Lagos State Police Commissioner, Kayode Aderanti, during the presentation of Toyota Corolla donated by TNL to the Lagos Police Command in Lagos

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL 5, 2015

NewsExtra

Ifeanyi Ubah: Driven by passion, a Nigerian to watch

f there is one individual who made immense impact on the second term quest of President Goodluck Jonathan, it was one young Nigerian: Ifeanyi Ubah. The Nnewi, Anambra State-born unassuming businessman and politician brought so much colour, candour and seriousness to the campaign, that it was clear to all who was really ahead in terms of marketing President Jonathan’s bid. While many others were still contemplating whether it was safe to stand with President Jonathan or not, Ubah threw his hat in the ring and led the way. He founded Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, TAN, and began organising rallies and galvanising support for the President’s bid. As at the time Ubah began his rallies on August 16, 2014, Jonathan had not declared his intention to seek re-election. The President said he was still consulting widely and was desirous of reaching all segments of society to ensure a solid ground for his bid. Ubah, whose passion for President Jonathan’s success is unparalleled, channelled personal funds into mobilizing support for Jonathan’s re-election. Briefing journalists in Abuja on July 25, 2014, TAN Director of Communications and Strategy, Dr. Udenta O Udenta, said the rallies would enable the group to identify its followers “wherever they may be and create formidable grassroots structures in all the states, local governments and wards of the nation.” He also said the mass mobilisation and the nationwide rallies would provide the opportunity for TAN’s followers to openly endorse its stand on crucial issues of national development. He said, “That TAN is already a household name is not in doubt with leading politicians, nationalists, patriots, young people and women and indeed Nigerians from all walks of life proudly endorsing its approach to public policy advocacy, its measured language and its respect for diverse political and ideological opinions.” When the rallies kicked off in Awka, the Anambra State capital, Ubah made the President really proud with the assemblage of the cream of Igbo politicians. TAN moved on to other states, bearing the gospel of the Jonathan ticket to all and sundry. He even spread the gospel to other parts of the world, even infusing his legendary philanthropy into it, as TAN members put funds together and procured various items for the less privileged. At every point, Ubah drew huge crowds and mobilised millions of signatures of Nigerians who aligned with his vision of returning Jonathan to continue his good work. For the first three months after the first rally, his efforts were initially ignored by the Peoples Democratic Party but this did not dampen Ubah’s enthusiasm as he trudged on. Perhaps, the President’s party felt it was best to keep away from TAN’s rallies as the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, had not blown the whistle for the commencement of political activities. But Ubah preferred to pay any price to ensure that Nigerians were mobilised to support Jonathan’s bid. By October 2014, PDP said in a statement by its spokesman, Chief Olisa Metuh, that:

Dr Ifeanyi Ubah has proven to Nigerians that it is possible to believe in a cause, pursue it convincingly and remained gallant, even as his candidate failed to hit the mark. This is the spirit of the new Nigerian

”The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wishes to congratulate the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) for successful conclusion of its sensitization rallies across the country in support of our sole Presidential candidate, His Excellency, Dr. Gooduck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR. “The party notes that through these rallies, the numerous achievements of the President Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP administration were adequately projected to the Nigerian populace and the international community. Metuh said further “The TAN movement, which is a novelty in the nation’s political development has indeed deepened democracy and broadened citizen participation in the polity. The collection of over 17 million signatures in support of President Jonathan during the rallies, is a clear demonstration of the far-reaching acceptance of our standard bearer and his party. “The PDP particularly notes the unique contributions of Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, the leader and the brain behind the TAN movement even as we recognize the willingness of TAN to work with our great party in furtherance of our collective objective ahead of the 2015 general elections.” It is important to note that Ubah has never pursued politics of bitterness or acrimony, even when he was heavily vilified as governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Anambra State in 2013. He carried the same noble attitude to marketing Brand Jonathan and remains one of the politicians to watch out for in the nearest future. Love him or hate him, Ubah is someone who pursues a cause he believes in vigorously. Even with the victory of Buhari in the election, Ubah placed front-page adverts on behalf of TAN in some newspapers, congratulating the APC candidate. His words on marble in the adverts speak volumes of his personality as a future Nigerian leader. He also did not forget to thank the teeming supporters of TAN for “their efforts and support throughout the electoral process.” Dr Ifeanyi Ubah has proven to Nigerians that it is possible to believe in a cause, pursue it convincingly and remained gallant, even as his candidate failed to hit the mark. This is the spirit of the new Nigerian.

Ubah

SUNDAY

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SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

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393 4407 0803

NDER LE LI LITT

Contents 05.04.2015 COVER

The preacher’s wife-role has moved from that of a silent companion who rarely had a part to play in ministry other than being a wife and helpmate...

} 18-19

BEAUTY Under eye bags have a way of making you look tired, older and sometimes, ill

} 21

GLAM DUDES Strut your stuff in amazing native designs and enjoy the Easter holiday in style

FASHION If you are going out for a special occasion this Easter season, an outfit in a lace fabric will make a statement

T h e Te a m Juliet Bumah (Editor)

Vanessa Okwara (Correspondent) Wole Adepoju

} 22&43

Biwom Iklaki (Correspondent) Ugochukwu Nnakwe (Graphics)

MY PASSION My mum was always crying, saying that I wanted to use my music to kill her in Lagos

Edwin Usoboh (Graphics) +234 (0) 811 675 9770, +234 (0) 701 110 1014 julietbumah@gmail.com julietbumah@newtelegraphonline.com

} 17

Associates

BED, WORK & LIFE “Doc...” Dave begins, “How is she? Is she alright? Why is she here? Is she in labour...” “Calm down sir. I’ve been with her since he brought her in and...” He? Who is the he? Dave wonders. Something is just not sounding right here

} 20

} 44

Helen Paul

Eyitayo Aloh

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SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015

Body&Soul

Why I parted ways with Timaya - Hip hop rave, Patoranking Patrick Nnaemeka Okorie, aka Patoranking, is the new kid on the block in the Reggae/ Dance hall genre of music. The Girlie O and Alubarika crooner tells VANESSA OKWARA about life in the slums as a kid and how music has changed everything Describe your growing up years. My life story is something I am always happy to share. I grew up in the ghetto; I grew up in the slum. When I mean slum, some people hear about poverty and some actually live in poverty. I belong to the group that lived in poverty. I wanted to go to school to read Information Technology but I had no opportunity to do that. I just had to pursue music. Life in the ghetto offers you few options. It’s either I did music or I would have been on the headlines of that popular TV programme that showcases robbers, Crime Fighters. I was determined to come out of poverty. Being the first child of the family, I needed to change the face of my family. So I did a lot of hustling. Rat killer was one of the few things I hawked on the streets of Lagos. I hawked on the popular Kingsway Road in Ikoyi, close to Golden Gate. I sold rat killer in traffic and did other types of ‘runs’ just to make ends meet while I pursued my dream of making music. Now that you have fame, will you still pursue your dream of studying Information Technology? Yes definitely, I am working towards that. It’s not going to be easy though, I am just going to try and find a way around it all. If you check it very well, I am on my fourth song, so still very new and I am trying to create a balance and then go back to school. Of all the many genres of music why did you choose the Reggae/Dance hall? I only wanted to stand out in my music career. One of the major reasons I choose reggae was to fight my shyness in getting the girls. I remember back then in secondary school, if you didn’t know how to mime songs, you are not going to get the girls and I like standing out. So I listened to more reggae songs and learnt how to mime them. I learnt how to sing all Bob Marley’s songs by heart. You have always said you wanted to be the next Bob Marley which is actually a big dream. How are you preparing yourself to fit into that big shoe? Yes, I am getting closer to the dream every day. My career is about 16 months old and the signs are there that we are going to be big by God’s grace. We are doing everything possible to make that dream a reality. How do you get inspiration for your songs? It comes from above and above alone. Last year, you left Dem Mama Records and there was a rumour everywhere that there was problem between you and Timaya. Can you throw light on what really happened? I didn’t leave Dem Mama Records. Timaya is like a father and a mentor to me. Timaya is like my boss as well as my family. We still speak almost on a daily basis. What happened was that I got signed to an international outfit which is Foston Musik from South

Africa and everything went accordingly. If it was done accordingly, why was it all over the media that you had problems with Timaya? Well, not from Timaya, he didn’t say if we had issues or not. But I am telling you from Patoranking and from Timaya’s mouth right now, there was no issue. Are you saying you didn’t sign any form of contract with Timaya’s record label and also don’t you think it is criminal to leave a label before your contract expires? No I didn’t leave; I was on Timaya’s album last year. That should tell you that nothing happened. I am being very honest with you on this. Dem Mama Records is like a family; so many artistes under it are doing their thing. What happened was that an international outfit came and said they would like to take Patoranking to the international stage. So everything was done amicably. Dem Mama Records will always continue to be my family. So are you rich? Well I am happy right now. The most important thing is that so many things have changed. My family is happy and everybody around me is happy and that is what counts for me. Have you moved your family away from the slums? Yes, I have moved them away from Ilaje Ebute Metta precisely where we lived for so many years. What would you like to give back to the Ilaje community where you started? I would like to give them virtually everything I can give within my own power. Last year, I went to a school there and killed two cows. I am a Rastaman and I know how it feels coming from the ghetto. Anybody that lives in that slum is still in t h e

dark. I grew up in a compound where there was no toilet. The only toilet we had was under the bridge; the one that led to Costain and Apongbon from the National Theatre - that was our toilet for so many years. Do you know what that feels like? I am currently doing things in that direction now. I have projects going on and I’m talking to people. I want to build schools for my people and also a health centre for them. I would also like to build a football turf, like the kind of football pitch they built around Lagos with artificial grass. Those are the things I would like to do and that will put smiles on their faces. For now, I am still climbing. My career is quite young but these are things I have in mind to do for my people.

What kind of memory brings you close to tears when you think about it? I think there are two instances. I remember the first time I gained admission into a secondary school. I was nine years old and Citizen Comprehensive College in 1999 and it was quite expensive for my folks. That was the first time I was seeing my Dad in tears. I am not saying this for people to pity me. That is how life is. Secondly was when I told them I gained admission to the university and they told me that I had to wait for the training of my younger ones. Did your parents oppose your music career at the beginning? They were scared. I remember my mum was always crying, saying that I wanted to use my music to kill her in Lagos. She wanted me to go to school by all means and was scared that my love for music was distracting me from that dream. Can you name some of the people that helped bring you to limelight? I had so many people that helped to shape my music career. First and foremost, God, and then different people played different roles. If I wasn’t able to meet any of them, I wouldn’t have met the other person. This is because I met Slanky in Ghana; through Slanky, I met K Solo. When I was in K Solo’s camp, I got to meet Timaya and from Timaya to where I am today. So I am very thankful for the chain of friends God brought to my path. At a point, you started dressing like a school boy. Is that your own fashion sense? I had a school boy outfit while I was performing. I can tie wrapper and perform on stage. It’s all about the art. It is just a stage thing and not necessarily what I call my fashion sense. Describe your style. My style is called the ‘Whayasay trend.’ Let me define the ‘Whayasay trend.’ It’s a style that is unplanned. You just wake up, two hours to your meeting and dress anyhow you feel like. What other stream of income do you have aside from music? I intend to set up a record label in future. That is also how I want to give back to society. Why are you not on dreadlocks like fellow Rastas? I don’t have to wear dreadlocks to be a Rasta. You can have the longest locks in the world but if your heart is not clean, if you don’t have a good heart, you can’t be a Rasta man. So it is all about your mindset. What is your signature perfume? It is B o n d NYC

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

Women behind Nigeria’s VANESSA OKWARA

s pastors go about teaching their congregations the incredible works of Jesus while He was on earth, they are also unequivocally supported by their wives both at home and in the ministry. Gone are the days when these women were relegated to the background. Recently, there has been a crop of highly educated and motivated new breed of pastors’ wives who are equally doing great and amazing things in the ministry as their husbands. Today, most of them have thriving charity organisations,

schools and other channels they have used to positively affect the lives of their members and the world at large. The preacher’s wife’s role has moved from that of a silent companion who rarely had a part to play in ministry other than being a wife and helpmate to becoming as conspicuous as her husband and an invaluable asset in the service of the kingdom. She has become more visible, assertive and fashionable as well. In this special Easter edition, we bring to you brief chronicle of wives of some pastors in Nigeria, their works and lifestyle as they join hands with their husbands in building the Lord’s Vineyard. Ibidun Ighodalo

Foluke Adenike Adeboye Mummy G.O. as she is popularly called is the wife of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. She has been a strong pillar and efficient planner that complements the efforts of her husband. She is endowed with immense initiative and great capacity for hard work. Pastor Mrs. Foluke is a missionary and minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She has a passion for planting Christian schools and has contributed immensely to the Nigerian education sector. She coordinates the work in the field of Christian education through a vigorous movement called Christ the Redeemer ’s School movement. This has led to the founding of several Christian educational institutions caring for children in Nigeria and internationally. She is the Chairperson of Christ the Redeemer ’s Schools Management (Movement) CRSM, overseeing 200 Foluke Adeboye Nursery/Primary/Secondary Schools belonging to RCCG Churches nationwide and internationally. She is also known for her charismatic nature and modest fashion sense. She does not wear any form of jewellery or show flamboyance in her dressing. She’s mostly seen in skirt suits and gowns with a hat to match. Her hat style, which has become her trademark, soon gained followership as a fashion style for Sunday services among Christian women across the country. Foluke Adeboye is 66 years old and she is blessed with a daughter and three sons who are all pastors and happily married. She is a dotting and loving grandmother to her grandchildren.

Faith Oyedepo Faith Abiola Oyedepo is the wife of Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of the Living Faith Church worldwide a.k.a Winners Chapel. She met him at a bus park on her way to school when she was a student at Obafemi Awolowo University Ife while he was only a Polytechnic student in Kwara. She joined her husband to build a strong ministry reputed be one of the richest in the country today. She is co–pastor with her husband and heads the board of Faith Academy, the church’s secondary school arm, with schools scattered across the country. Faith Oyedepo has a unique style that has not changed over the years. She loves wearing skirt suits and traditional outfits. Though, she is a bit conservative in dressing, she spares no expense on her love for jewelleries. She is known to depict a particular hair style which is usually short wigs and with minimal makeup.

Faith Oyedepo

Ibidun Ighodalo is the wife of flamboyant man of God, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo. Pastor Ituah Ighodalo was the resident pastor of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Christ Church, Gbagada, Lagos, and was known for his eloquence and stylish mannerisms. He became a hot topic when he was sacked by the General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, for divorcing his wife of many years, Lucy-Ann Suinner, and marrying Ibidun Ajayi now Mrs. Ibidun Ighodalo. After his sacking from RCCG, he established his own church called Trinity House which started operating from a tent. Today, he has bought a multi-million dollar facility in Oniru Estate, Victoria Island. On the Island, Pastor Ighodalo became an instant hit with the hip, happening crowd and the upwardly mobile men and women mainly due to his style of preaching. Behind the success of this charismatic pastor is Ibidun, a stunning beauty who won the first maiden Edition of the then Miss Lux contest. She runs an event planning outfit, Elizabeth R. Her company plans the events of rich and highly rated Nigerians. She is an elegant woman whose beauty and style are adored by many young women who love to emulate her stylish dress sense. In August 2014, Ibidun and her husband were voted Most Stylish Man (50s), Most Stylish Leader of the Faithful and All-Time Beauty Queen at the fifth edition of Encomium’s Elegance, Style and Substance Awards called Black & White Ball. She is one of those celebrities who enjoyed the klieg lights right from her teenage years. Ibidun’s style commands influence. Some have described her as a style icon and the queen of glamour.

Blessing Agboli She is a nurse by training and the beautiful wife of the General Overseer of Victorious Army Ministries, Rev. Joseph Agboli. Mostly referred to as Mama Blessing, the Delta State-born lady plays a prominent role in the church as a co-pastor and administrator in the ministry. According to her, she hates poverty and seeing people suffer. So she goes out of her way at night to minister to prostitutes and destitute on the streets and caters to their needs. However, Mama Blessing’s love for jewelry and flashy fashion cannot be rivaled. It is believed that in Nigeria, she is one of the best dressed pastors’ wives around.

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great pulpits Evelyn Temitope Joshua Evangelist Mrs. Evelyn Joshua is adorable wife of the General Overseer of the Synagogue Church of all Nation. She is said to be the most powerful force behind the popular pastor, T.B Joshua. She is a workaholic and a wonderful counselor who complements her husband. They have been married for close to 25 years now. Evelyn, in an interview, revealed that TB Joshua proposed to her 45 minutes after their first meeting. She is a very private person and hardly makes public appearances. However, church members say this woman, who is not a publicity freak, remains a fantastic counselor who would always show her love for the prophet at every given opportunity. She is beautiful no doubt but not ostentatious in her dressing even as her husband is reportedly one of the richest evangelists in the world. She just loves being moderate with the way she puts her clothes together.

Helen Oritsejafor

She is the charming wife of the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and General Overseer of the Word of Life Bible Church, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. She got married to him after the death of his first wife, Stella. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Flight Microfinance Bank. Mama Helen, as she is fondly called, holds a regular TV show on African Broadcasting Network, ‘Mama Helen and You’. She is the assistant pastor in the church and oversees the Eagle Heights Group of Schools, Eagle Heights Clinic and an orphanage owned by the Word of the Bible Church. She is known for her showy style, wide brimmed hats and her signature ‘Madam Kofo’ head gear. She also loves expensive jewellery which usually runs into millions of naira.

Nike Adeyemi Adenike Adeyemi is wife of Pastor Sam Adeyemi of Day Star Christian Centre, Oregun, Lagos. She is a 43-year old mother of three and graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife where she studied Architecture. Pastor Nike, as she is fondly called, is a woman who is passionate about charity, enterprise and education. She is a gracious helper and problem solver, anointed to bring emotional healing to hurting women through the teaching and preaching of God’s word. She is at the forefront of the reformation of dysfunctional families, with the belief that right parenting and godly values shape children into exceptional leaders. Nike Adeyemi founded The Real Woman Foundation in 2001 to bring healing to distressed women as a means of building nations. The foundation strives to get rid of sexual violence against women and the scourge of prostitution in our society. Through this organisation, she hosts impactful periodic seminars and conferences that address issues that women go through in their everyday

Peace Okonkwo Peace Okonkwo is the pretty wife of the presiding Bishop of the Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Bishop Mike Okonkwo, MFR, and they are blessed with a daughter, Uche. She is the Resident Pastor of the Headquarters Church of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), and proprietress of the Word of Power Group of Schools. Her passion is giving hope to women and children around the world. Standing behind the scene and giving huge support to her husband has brought h e r to the limelight as a woman worthy of emulation. In 1998, her passion for women and children gave birth to the International Women Prayer Conference, a monthly meeting for

lives. She also runs a TV programme called ‘Real Woman’. The Real Woman Foundation equally runs a rehabilitation centre and orphanage where distressed and displaced ladies, abandoned and abused children are offered shelter. Nike Adeyemi who has authored three books is an international conference speaker. Through her works, she is a recipient of PSR Woman Empowerment Award, the Woman of Merit Award for outstanding contributions in service to humanity and nation building. Nike Adeyemi is stylish but at the same time moderate in her mode of dressing. Although she wears jewellery, she is very careful not to flaunt her husband’s wealth and she is not ostentatious.

women. This meeting has become interdenominational and holds not only in the TREM World Headquarters but also in other states of Nigeria and other nations of the world including United Kingdom, Israel, United States, Republic of Gabon and Cote D’Ivoire among others. In a bid to ensure a solid foundation for children, she established the Word of Power Group of Schools. She is also the Founder of the Women of Global Impact and has expanded her outreach to the desolate and street ladies by creating a home for them called Rehoboth Homes and Skills Acquisition Centre. She is a recipient of several awards which include: Nigerian Woman of the Year Award (2005), SUMA Humanitarian Support Award (2006), and International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Award (2007) amongst others. Bishop Peace is 63 years old and quite ageless with her high sense of fashion and style. She loves to wear bold jewellery and makeup. She makes it a point of duty to remain fashionable and liberal in her choice of clothing. She still wears trousers and jeans with stylish shirts for her meetings and makes sure her hair styles are in tune with what is currently in vogue. She also loves to wear hats or head ties in colourful style.

Ifeanyi Adefarasin She is the pretty wife of Paul Adefarasin, the founder of the House on the Rock Church. The 43 years old Igboborn former model is the pillar behind the baritone voiced handsome clergy whose church is making waves on the Island area of Lagos. She is easy going and quite natural. She prefers to work silently behind the scene in the things that concern the ministry and she supports her husband doggedly to build a mega and modern church that attracts celebrities and high flying citizens living in Ikoyi and Lekki areas of Lagos State. Although Pastor Ify, as she is fondly called, is very pretty, she is not the loud type and hardly likes to be in the public eye. She is blessed with three children, Hilda Adebola, Alvin Adegboyega and Alexander Adekunle.

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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with

Juliet Bumah +234 81 1 675 9770

ave walks into the hospital. The nurses on duty know him. “Oh, welcome sir. The doctor is with your wife. You may have to wait a little,” a nurse tells him. Dave takes a deep breath and exhales loudly. “Doctor with my wife? What is wrong with her,” he asks, perplexed. “The doctor is with her. Exercise patience,” she says. Dave nods and paces a bit. Then he dials a number on his phone and steps out of the reception area, back to the car park. He needs fresh air. This isn’t what he bargained for. Could his wife be in labour? Or is something else wrong with her? Gosh! He needs to talk to somebody fast. He fiddles with his phone and as he looks up, his face lit up. What a coincidence; he has been trying to get James on the phone and there is James walking away. “Hey, my man! Where the deuce are you going? Been trying to get you on the phone,” he shouts, relief in his voice. James turns, his heart in his mouth. As Dave runs towards him, he nearly takes off. His phone is ringing and with shaky hands, he picks it and shouts “Hello...hello...” Dave looks at his phone and realises that James has picked his call. He says, “My man, what’s the problem? Stop wasting my airtime. Why are you so jumpy? You picked my call!” “Oh, sorry. Wasn’t thinking clearly,” he replies, breaking out in sweat. “It’s obvious,” Dave says. Does Dave suspect he had been with his wife? How long has he been within the hospital premises? Did he see them when they arrived? Oh no! “You look sick, my man. What’s wrong? Did you come to see the doctor?” Dave asks, concern in his voice. “Yes,” James replies. Although he doesn’t know what he’s affirming. “My wife is here. The doctor is with her. Don’t know what is wrong yet...” Dave says and James relaxes. Apparently, Dave didn’t see them arrive. “You mean you brought her here?” he asks, trying his pot luck. “No. Actually came to look for her here,” Dave replies. Colour gradually returns to James face and he relaxes. “Have you seen her? What did the doctor say? Is she okay?” James asks. “She’s still with the doctor. I’m waiting to see her. Couldn’t reach her for hours. Her phone was switched off. I called Alice and she wasn’t with her and I panicked. By the way, how far with your wife? You have to go back home. She needs you. What if she goes into labour at night? You have to go home,” Dave tells him. “I really want to go home. However, there’s a big issue that I don’t know how to handle for now. I’m so confused right now,” James says. “What’s the problem?” Dave asks? James hesitates. Dave watches as he walks a few metres away and comes back. It’s obvious that whatever it is is a source of serious worry to him. “My man, what’s the problem?”

julietbumah@gmail.com

With bated breath

Dave asks again. James scratches his head. Sweat beads appearing on his forehead. Dave stares at him. “Bros, they say I no be man,” James says, voice lowered. Dave stares at him, lost, while James scratches his head the more. “You no be man...” Dave begins and then it dawns on him and he asks, “Who said so?” “Who else will say so? Native doctor or chemist? Doctors say so!” James replies. “Doctors?” Dave asks again, mouth agape. “Yes, doctors. Two doctors. Different times and different hospitals,” he replies. It takes a while before the import of James’ predicament hits Dave. “Oh no!” He exclaims. “Now you understand my predicament,” James says. Of course, Dave does...and more. Now he’s in deep sh*t. How could Kiki deceive him? So she knew James was responsible for her childless state and hid it from him? So she used him? Agh! That’s too calculative! How could she? All his calculations have just fallen like a pack of badly stacked cards. What will happen to his unborn child? “I know you will understand. I would love go to back home but how do I live with her, knowing that I’m not responsible for her pregnancy? She is mean. Alice is very mean. How could she do that to me? So

why was she harping on my escapades when she was probably doing worse? Can a woman be so deceptive!” James rants on and on. Dave isn’t listening to his litany of woes. He just realises that you can’t mould life into what you want. His feather-lined bed has just been ruffled in the most unkind way... A nurse rushes towards them. She goes to James and says, “Sir, the doctor wants you. Your wife is...” James expression makes the words freeze in her throat. Surely, this is the man that brought the woman in the labour room. He was so loving and supportive then. Why this strange expression? She shrugs and starts again, “I mean the woman you...” The look James throws her way could kill! Dave gives them a strange look. The confusion he is grappling with in his mind is not helping matters. Then, he remembers why he is there. “Is the doctor free now? Can I see him? Can I see my wife?” A confused nurse turns to him, nods, gives James a strange look and prances into the building. “Let’s go see my wife. I guess you’re not in a hurry,” Dave tells James. James nods, he still has a hazy look. “Are you okay?” Dave asks. “Yes,” he replies, shaking his head as if to clear the fog. Something just doesn’t jell in Dave’s mind but he cannot place a finger on it.

As they move towards the building, Dave’s phone rings. Alice! He picks it. “Hello...yes I’ve seen...no not yet but she’s in the hospital,” he says and ends the call. They rush into the doctor’s office. “Doc...” Dave begins, “How is she? Is she alright? Why is she here? Is she in labour...” “Calm down sir. I’ve been with her since he brought her in and...” He? Who is the he? Dave wonders. Something is just not sounding right here. James wishes that the floor would open and swallow him. Why did he enter the doctor’s office with Dave? He wishes he would wake up from this dream. **** Alice clutches the phone. What could be the problem? Why was Dave so curt with her a while ago? Kiki in the hospital? What’s wrong? Is she in labour? Well, she won’t find out if she stays at home and it’s obvious Dave doesn’t want to talk to her. She tries Kiki’s phone again and it’s still switched off. Well, to the hospital she must. She picks her car key and the bag she dropped less than an hour ago on her bed. ****** Is the bubble about to burst? Did Kathryn pull through? Let’s meet here next week. •Send your observations to the email above.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015

Body&Soul

Boot under eye bags Biwom Iklaki

etween the elections, prayer and fasting and generally high stress levels, many Nigerians now spot under eye bags. Under eye bags have a way of making you look tired, older and sometimes, ill. With the Easter celebration well underway, everyone wants to look their best for those ‘selfies‘which will definitely be happening this season. Luckily, the problem can be fixed with a few changes. 1. Get drinking Nothing hydrates your skin and gives

a quick pick-me-up to your skin like good old water does. Drink as many glasses of water as you can, aim for one litre every day. A tip to get you drinking is to make it interesting. Add a few squeezes or slices of lemon to each glass. This also helps with bloating and you will be killing two birds with one stone! 2. Cool as a cucumber A few slices of cucumber are not just for your cocktail garnishes, they actually work well as cold compresses for your tired eyes, especially if you spend long hours in front of a screen. Place the slices over your eyes for 10-15 minutes

when you wake up in the morning and it as good as heals the puffiness away. 3. Conceal all signs Luckily for women…and men who are not afraid of getting in touch with their feminine side, makeup works its wonders here. Apply a light concealer over your lower eye lids and blend gently. This can mask any puffiness and get rid

of any darkness around the eyes. 4. Sleep easy Sleep is a medicine that can cure many an ailment. Puffy eyes, though, not an ailment, can cause havoc to one’s confidence. But sleep is the magic potion that is capable of sweeping away the cobwebs from your eyes and rid you of those tired, sallow under eye bags.

Body&Soul

aster is a season of joy and love. It is also a season of high fashion as women attend church service and

Vanessa Okwara

trimmings on fancy dresses or lingerie. Also, lace is popularly used to make wedding gowns and some evening dresses. But in Nigeria, the lace fabric is a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;big doâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for the ladies as it turns out every fashion season

an outfit in a lace fabric will make a statement. In the Nigerian market today, you have a variety of lace designs and fabrics to choose from depending on your budget. You will see the latest French lace, bling sequins

Make sure you choose complimentary accessories such as statement necklaces made with beads or gold to complement your attire. Lace outfit is best paired with high heeled sandals and a cute clutch. You can cap

Exotic lace outfits for Easter

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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SundayBusiness SUNDAY

SUNDAY APRIL 5, 2015

News

Nigerians need security against e-frauds – Onajite p.24

Analysts urge Buhari to rejuvenate economy

Brands Buhari: Experts xray emergence of political brand p.28

Interview

Nigeria’s capacity to produce essential drugs is poor – Ayebae p.25

Buhari

Paul Ogbuokiri

Paul Ogbuokiri Head, Business paulogbuokiri@newtelegraph online.com

he verdict of economic analysts is that the Nigerian economy is currently in a crisis. They pointed at the price of oil, which provides over two-thirds of government revenue and 90 per cent of foreign income, saying it went down by over 50 per cent in the international market since last June. According to them, the situation forced the value of the naira to depreciate by about 18 per cent against the dollar in the past six months, the steepest decline among 24 African currencies tracked by Bloomberg. It was against this background that the International Monetary Fund cut its 2015 growth forecast for Nigeria to 4.8 per cent, about half the average rate over the past 15 years, they add. Standard & Poor’s also downgraded the country on March 20 one level to B+, four levels below investment grade. This came as Fitch Ratings cut Nigeria’s credit-rating outlook to negative on Monday, citing the drop in oil prices and the tight election contest, while affirming the country’s BB- rating, three steps below investment grade. Also speaking, renowned economist and Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Limited, Mr. Bismark Rewane, says Nigeria has an unhealthy dependence on its oil exports, which means public sector jobs will have to be cut, in view of the economic realities. No fewer than 24 per cent of Nigerians are unemployed. According to Rewane, Nigeria must double its in-

Utomi vestment in infrastructure, where it is in over $400bn deficit, and improve the power sector, water and sanitation sectors as well as road networks and air transport safety. Nigeria also has to be serious about health, he said. The World Health Organisation recommends that governments spend 15 per cent of their budget on health, but Nigeria spends only six per cent of its budget. Nigeria records no fewer than 40,000 pregnancy-related deaths a year, accounting for approximately 14 per cent of the world’s total in 2012. According to a shipping intelligence firm, Loadstar, the 2015 elections and the insurgency in the NorthEast have drowned out events in the south and offshore where maritime crime is prevalent. Particular threats include sabotage by oil thieves, sea pirates, illegal bunkerers, illegal and unregulated fishing and sea robbers within Nigeria’s coastline. “Despite the current administration’s efforts, 98 per cent of Nigeria’s trade is still threatened by insecurity in its territorial waters. This is currently spreading across the entire Gulf of Guinea and even South of Angola. “The country is still losing $2bn annually to oil theft alone. As illegal boarding, oil theft and kidnappings continue to threaten Nigeria’s maritime sector, it is likely that government will have to re-invigorate its national security strategy by placing anti-corruption at the centre of maritime security agenda,” it said in an email message to Sunday Telegraph. In the face of this huge economic challenge, experts say the incoming government of Gen. Muhammad Buhari would find limited room for maneuver because Nigeria’s main source income isn’t diversified

enough away from oil. Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, affirmed this last month. But a former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Kingsley Moghalu, says the oil price shock may be a “blessing in disguise” if it forces fiscal and economic reforms. “It’s a resource curse,” Moghalu, who will take up a post in July as professor of international business and public policy at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, said by phone from Washington. “I would like to think we learnt from the oil price crash of 2008. Maybe I was too optimistic.” But the downturn in the economy has struck across the social divide of Africa’s largest economy. Nnanna Agbaso, owner of three Grand Cantina Wine & Spirits stores in the upmarket Victoria Island and Lekki districts of Lagos, home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country, will have to raise prices as much as 13 per cent for his next shipment of Italian wine and Prosecco. At the top, Dangote, who controls Africa’s biggest cement maker and has interests in food, oil, salt and sugar, has reportedly lost $5.3bn of his fortune this year, more than anyone else globally, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s now worth $13.1bn and ranks 79 out of 400 tracked by the index. In import-dependent Nigeria, a weaker currency means higher prices of goods ranging from mobile phones to food. Inflation will probably accelerate to 10 per cent or more in the second half of this year as predicted by Mr. Rewane. This is because of a weaker C ON TI N UE D ON PAGE 24

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL 5, 2015

Business/ News

Nigerians need security against e-frauds – Onajite

Mrs. Regha Onajite is the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria. In this interview with KUNLE AZEEZ, she speaks on the need for bank customers to be security conscious when carrying out electronic transactions.

s this year’s Easter approaches and given the current election mood in which everybody would want to carry one bank transaction or the other, what would be your advice to banking customers who carry out their transactions using electronic platforms? Well, as the Easter period coincides with the 2015 elections in Nigeria, we should sound a note of warning to banking customers by giving them tips on how they can achieve up to 80 per cent financial security against the antics of cyber criminals and fraudsters. Banking customers should not, because of obsession with the elections, fail to properly protect sensitive data connected to their financial activities. This is the period of election and there is a lot of anxiety. We are trying to change to a new administration or retain the existing one and because we are anxious about our political future, a lot of people may become careless in their financial security. We should always be focused and on the alert because financial fraudsters are always focused. And they always say that fraud migrates to a state of less security. So, if you are not alert, you can fall victims of frauds in this period. What we should do as individuals is to protect ourselves, our personal details because once you are able to protect our personal details, it reduces your chances of being defrauded by 50 per cent and even by 80 per cent. The other 20 per cent would be handled by the financial institutions through different measures they have put in place to ensure that their customers are safe. Electronic payment come with a lot of convenience. It uses a lot of speed. It, therefore, means that if somebody is able to get your details or cards and access your channels of payment, the person will also be able to conveniently and speedily steal your money. What are the key initiatives that have been taken in recent times to improve electronic payment system in Nigeria? There has been a lot of improvement in the payment chain industry. One of the major things that have happened in the industry is the inauguration of the Payment System Strategy Board (PSSB) by the Governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and we also have four payment systems boards inaugurated and nine initiatives working groups and four special interest groups. All of these inaugurations are to help to deepen the financial system and to improve on what we have been doing as a nation concerning the payment system vision 2020. That is a very great move and it has caused a lot of activities within the payment system, because stakeholders in the industry have now formed themselves into one working group or the other, trying to make things happen, trying to ensure that the payment system is better off than we have always had especially in terms of seamless transactions and improved security. Apart from this, what other initiatives have been implemented in the electronic payment industry? Well, we also have the implementation of the central anti-fraud system that is hosted in the Nigeria Interbank Settlement Systems. As we speak, the pilot has already started and there are transactions currently going on there. Some banks are signing up

for transactions on the central anti-fraud system. Also, within the industry, the Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum (NEFF) has come up with a lot of initiatives one of which, and of great interest, is the plan to implement the Security Operation Centre (SOC). This will be implemented and ride on a new organisation that will be set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria within the Bankers’ Committee. The plans are also ongoing to establish a central risk information centre, which takes care of banking risk in the country. To what extent would you say the issue of electronic fraud has been tackled in Nigeria to boost customer confidence in the system? The industry has implemented a lot of activities to checkmate fraud. But you know as more and more transactions go electronic, we have an increase in fraud. Just as we know that fraud migrates

What we should do as individuals is to protect ourselves, our personal details because once you are able to protect our personal details, it reduces your chances of being defrauded by 50 per cent and even by 80 per cent to the side that is less secure, we know that as everybody struggles to improve his or her security; the fraudsters will also try to see how they can break into people’s data to get their information. We would say that in 2014, we had increased fraud over 2013. For instance, Nigeria witnessed actual loss value of N6.2bn to different cases of electronic frauds last year, according to a fraud report obtained from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System

Onajite

CO NTINUED O N PAGE 27

Analysts urge Buhari to rejuvenate economy CO N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 2 3

naira, according to the Head, Africa Economic Research at Standard and Chartered Plc, Razia Khan said in a March 17 note that prices climbed for the third consecutive month in February by an annual rate of 8.4 per cent. Foreign investors have also felt the impact. South Africa’s Tiger Brands Limited., which bought a majority stake in Dangote’s flour milling business three years ago, doesn’t expect to turn a profit from its Nigeria operation until 2017. “We anticipate more challenging times rather than less challenging times,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Matlare said on a conference call with Reuters last month. Nigeria’s economic turbulence is being amplified by continued attacks by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and a tight election battle. Jonathan’s ruling People’s Democratic Party faces Buhari’s All Progressives Congress, formed by the merger of the main opposition parties. With the presidential election out of the way without any incident, and the capacity of the insurgents in the North East of the country greatly reduced by the Nigerian military, Nigerians have urged the president-elect to focus on the economy and give all sectors urgent priority. According the a former president of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Dr Samuel Nzekwe, within Buhari’s first 100 days in office, Nigerians deserve a State of the Nation Address, in which he will provide an honest and detailed view of the country’s financial situation. “When that is done, a clear direction he intends to take on the economy should be enumerated to serve as a cardinal objective of his administration.” He urged Buhari to assemble an all-encompassing team of technocrats, politicians and people with deep knowledge in security and defence to help him lead the country out of the

woods and return the economy to the path of greatness. President of National Association of Chambers of Industries, Mines and Agriculture, said Nigerians want proper pricing of fuel in line with the current realities in the world crude oil market. “Thank God this is a man that told us that there is no fuel subsidy, so we don’t want to hear of fuel subsidy again. Furthermore, let the existing refineries start to work while those granted licences to build refineries should be called upon to utilise them or lose them. Everything must be done to get the GENCOs and DISCOs to give us light. If they are incapable, the agreements with them should be reviewed or negotiated. We just need light,” he said. Prof. Sunny Oladele of the Department of Economics, Lagos State University, lauded the efforts of the Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, but stressed that the impact of the socalled revolution in agriculture in terms of price food items should be felt by Nigerians. “I commend the campaign promise of the president-elect to ban rice importation. He should also consider banning fish and most basic foods item we are importing today and channel the foreign exchange to important capital projects. But before embarking on such a policy, he should first of all confirm the nation’s capacities and set targets for achieving lacking capacities,” he said. A social commentator, Biodun Ladepo, in an open letter to the president-elect, says what Nigerian youths want from Buhari is a reduction in the high rate of youth unemployment in the country and ensure that epileptic electricity supply is addressed. Professor of Political Economy and Director of Lagos Business School, Pat Utomi, says Nigeria is not in an economic crisis. “What is important is for the insurgency to be nipped in the bud so that Nigeria’s burgeoning tourism industry should regain momentum.

The country can also run well on the current price of oil because when we were selling at over $100 per barrel. About 50 per cent of it is being wasted through leakages. If the leakages are blocked, the economy can run well on the current price of about $50 per barrel. “ I recall that the famous Arugungu Fishing festival had been suspended for the past five years. There are also the Dubar festivals, which yearly attract a lot of foreign visitors. They need to be revived. People have not been going to the Yankari Games Reserve in large numbers. These are sources of revenue which will come back alive if the insurgency is checked. The economy needs to deeply diversify and oil revenue will de-emphasised,” he said During Buhari’s campaign tour across the country, he was quoted as saying that oil has served Nigeria, “but it has also excluded majority of Nigerians from the mainstream of our economy. I am convinced that our guarantee for inclusive growth is agriculture.” He further said that all Nigerians deserve to benefit from our collective wealth. “We promise not to leave any Nigerian behind in our determination to create, expand and ensure equitable and effective allocation of economic opportunities. No matter the amount of wealth we create, it would be meaningless unless it benefits the majority of our people,” he said. He added that his administration would address the gaps in power sector privatisation to ensure it serves the needs of Nigerians. His administration will explore and develop alternative sources of power such as small, medium and large hydro plants, wind, coal and solar and other forms of renewable energy to ensure efficient and affordable power supply, he promised. He also said his administration would make agriculture a major focus of the government and lay the institutional foundation to attract large-scale investments and capital to the sector.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL 5, 2015

Business/ Interview

Nigeria’s capacity to produce essential drugs is poor – Ayebae

Dr. Fidelis Ayebae is the Chief Executive Officer of Fidson Health Plc. In this interview; he speaks on inadequate government support, the plight of local pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria, business expansion and others Yours was the first company to produce retroviral drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa. How do you feel about this achievement? Did you achieve the objectives that informed the innovation? The objectives of pursuing the manufacture of anti-retroviral drugs locally were twofold. One was that people were dying because they couldn’t afford anti-retroviral drugs to manage HIV virus infections or keep them in check. Then, the treatment regime was going for thousands of dollars per annum. We then thought of how we could help our fellow citizens, because in most parts of the world, the drugs are being given free by the government. For this reason, we anticipated that sooner or later, our government would be buying in order to keep our fellow countrymen alive. So, the first objective was to see how we could crash the price by manufacturing locally and we succeeded in doing just that. As soon as we started manufacturing, within months of launching the products, the price came down to about $500 per regime. The second side of it was to see how to sustain the availability of the product in the local market. One of the ways we could sustain it was to make sure it was being manufactured locally. In other words, whenever anybody wants it, it is readily available, not at the mercy of importation challenges. That is something we have not been able to sustain, not because we are not willing to do it but because the government that was supposed to be patronising us suddenly stopped. There are two ways anti-retroviral drugs are being procured or used by people that are HIV-challenged. One is through international donors; the second is through Federal Government purchases funded by the federal budget. Talking about the first one, which is through international donors, we could not supply because part of the requirements for international purchases is that our factories must be WHO (World Health Organisation) certified and the products themselves must be WHO pre-qualified. So we do not have a WHO pre-qualified product neither do we have a WHO-certified factory. This is part of the international politics employed over the years to deprive developing nations of patronage of anti-retroviral, anti-T.B drugs or anti-malaria drugs. It is part of the international politics that developing countries have been subjected to over the years by the developed world. We have some countries that put funds into a donor fund and they are expected as it were to dispense these funds to purchase drugs for the member countries. Now, Nigeria is one of the donors to that fund, but unfortunately, because of these so-called funding rules that they have in place, Nigerian companies are not able to access international bids that ensure that we are able to avail ourselves of some form of patronage or the other that will improve our local industry. However, during the Obasanjo era, we ensured through engagement with the government, that every fund was being used to purchase these products. We are WHOregulated to the extent that we have internationally acclaimed NAFDAC regulating us. Therefore, the standard with which we were being regulated is the international standard. The only reason that we do not have the international qualifications, as it were, is because the investment we needed to get the

pre-qualification or to upgrade our factories to the level that we can be certified by WHO is huge, running into millions of dollars. When Obasanjo left, the pipeline that was activated to facilitate the sales of our retroviral drugs was shut. Instead, portfolio vendors that come to Nigeria are being patronised. We have engaged the Federal Ministry of Health to facilitate strategies for ensuring solutions to this situation. We have about 110 local pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria and it is obvious that the capacity to manufacture these essential drugs is available and lying fallow. How do you dispense anti-retroviral drugs? They are purely prescriptive drugs for people that suffer HIV. They are sold to people who get prescriptions directly or they obtain it from Federal Government medical centres where they are dispensed free of charge. So the incidence of direct purchases is very low. Do you have any technical partners and joint ventures? In Nigeria we do not have any joint venture with anybody. What we have with some of our suppliers is technical collaboration. We have this collaboration with countries where we exchange technical know-how and ideas on best practices. We send our people out to learn one or two things because we know that the production of drugs is also an art, though primarily science. What prompted the listing of your shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Was that there was no fear of the bubbles? There are two things. We wanted a company that would outlive us. Even after we would have gone, we want this company to remain. In Nigeria of old, there were no second generation businesses that outlived the promoters of their businesses. Either because their children were not interested or the business was not left in the hands of professionals. One potent thing to sustain the company many years after I’m gone is to bring in the investing public to buy into it. So if anything happens to me as the promoter, the board will appoint an adequate person to manage the company. The other way is to share our success story to users of our products. About the bubbles, I must confess I did not see any bubbles coming. But I must be frank to let you know that these things happen from time to time in the stock market, but we did not foresee such a prolonged bubble as we have. One or two years are usually the duration of such bubbles and instability in the market. After all, it does not really affect your value and your operations as a company. Do you have plans for more investors, considering the capital intensive nature of the business? No, currently we are doing two things. The new factory we are investing in was funded primarily through investors’ fund when we did our private placement. Now we had hoped to do an IPO for the remaining funds required to finish the project, but we could not do that because of the slump in the capital market. However, we have actually got mid-term loans from FCMB and BOI to finish the project. When there is stability in the market we could decide to go and raise funds to pay off both loans. A bit of credit

Ayebae

is good for business. Right now, we are not shopping around for any investor. What are your plans for physical expansion? We would prefer to concentrate on our core business area which is the manufacturing and marketing of core pharmaceutical products. We would not want to distract ourselves. However, we do have a company affiliated with us that is into FMCGs. This means we may see the name Fidson on some products but it is not going to be from the stable of Fidson Healthcare Plc. The plan for the next five years is to have a factory that is WHO-certifiable. We are already working on that. The factory has the nomenclature – BIOTECH, where we would be manufacturing infusions and where our current oral dosage forms will also be transferred, after which we would be able to go to the next step which is to pre-qualify some of our products. Once we have succeeded in achieving these, we would be able to export. We will cover all the grounds in Nigeria before venturing into exporting. Exporting requires its own kind of specialisation. Our business is very margin-sensitive. It is penny sensitive. Therefore, one must do his homework properly before venturing into

The industry can flourish if 80 percent of Nigeria’s pharmaceutical needs are manufactured locally

anything. The business is also technologyintense. They are things consumed by human beings therefore one has to be very careful. The only thing that is not imported in the process of producing our drugs is water. Every other thing from active ingredients to packaging material is imported. How do you combat drugs counterfeiting and how do you scale the many hurdles of NAFDAC? The NAFDAC team is made up of courageous people. Most Nigerians will not know the risk they go through in sanitising the industry. Selling fake and substandard drugs is big business like hard drugs business. It has become an enterprise of a type, which we will continue to fight. However, there is a twopronged approach that NAFDAC is using to fight the people dealing in fake drugs. One is via modern technology and the second is the traditional way of using the customs at the borders to check thoroughly. However, the third way is to empower local manufacturers to manufacture all pharmaceutical needs in Nigeria. The industry can flourish if 80 per cent of Nigeria’s pharmaceutical needs are manufactured locally. The incidence of fake drugs is with the imported drugs; if it is with the local drugs it is very low. For our own drugs at Fidson, we have introduced an innovative technology that makes it difficult to copy. For example, we have enrobed one of our products in soft gelatine. If the local industry is well and up to dat, NAFDAC will be able to dispense all their energy and concentrate on the local pharmaceutical companies. Source News Day

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

NSEASI surges by 17.60% WoW

he Equities market went agog during the week as the NSEASI advanced by 17.60% in the week. This pushed the YtD return of the index into the positive zone (+3.09%) for the first time this year, even as volume and value of transactions surged by 122.14% and 320.97% respectively. We are of the opinion that the peaceful conduct of the general election, in addition to earnings releases and corporate actions aided the revival of interest in the equities market. 75 stocks appreciated in the week, while 6 stocks declined in value. This translated to a market breadth of 12.5x, as all NSE sector indices advanced in the week ended, led by the NSEBNK10 index (+23.97%). Others were NSEOILG5 (+16.42%), NSEFBT10 (+15.14%), and NSEINS10 (+3.46%). NSE30 also advanced by a 17.91% in the week. FIDELITYBK emerged as the top gainer for the week with a 38.00% gain, trailed by NAHCO (33.93%), ZENITHBNK (32.54%), OANDO (31.34%), and GUARANTY (30.87%). On the contrary, PHARMADEKO trimmed by 4.91% to top the losers’ chart for the week. Other decliners were FO, VONO, REDSTAREX, and TRANSCOHOT which declined by 4.40%, 4.30%, 4.00%, and 3.70% in that order. The positive sentiment which permeated all sectors in the week was due to the perceived upturn in the outlook for the nation’s economy and financial markets, as the incumbent government peacefully ceded power to opposition, a rare feat in the country’s history. Although most companies have released their scorecards to the market in the past weeks, we still expect a hand full of result in the coming week. Despite the excitement in the market, we advise investor to trade cautiously as we envisage pockets of profit taking on some stocks that have advanced dearly during the week. In this report, we review events in the economy, laying emphasis on performance of different segments of the financial market while presenting our expectations for the week ahead.

Economic Round-Up: Smooth Election Conduct signals Economic Recovery

The voice of Nigerians seemed to have resounded loud and clear in the recently concluded presidential elections, as the people united to select the next president of the country, in spite of the overwhelming power of incumbency usually wielded in African elections. Contrary to general expectations, the announcement of General Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the 2015 general elections was received with jubilations across most regions in the country, facilitated by the quick concession of defeat by the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan. After 16 years of sustained democracy, 4 elections and 3 presidents all from the People Democratic Party (PDP), Nigerians, set a new precedence for democracy and electoral processes in the country. We believe this feat was achieved due to the growing frustrations of citizens with regards to the state of the economy amidst security challenges, coupled with the rise of a formidable opposition party following the merger of key regional political parties (ACN, CPC and ANPP) in February 2013. Given the knackered condition of the economy (ext. debt of USD26b, devaluation, low-level global oil prices, currency volatility etc.), we do not envisage an immediate change in the economic state of the country. We nonetheless believe that the anti-corruption drive of the incoming government may help plug in leakages, reduce wastages and significantly cut back on cost of governance, thus freeing up funds for increased government spending and growth stimulating activities. Given the significant international focus on the country, owing to Nigeria’s position as the largest economy and most populous country in Africa, coupled with the body language of foreign observers and stakeholders which, in our opinion, suggested a preference for Buhari’s candidacy, we expect a turnaround in the nation’s economic fortunes. This, we believe will be driven by increased inflow of foreign direct and portfolio investments into the country driven by improved perception of the country’s potentials by foreign governments, investors and rating agencies.

Fixed Income Brief: Market liquidity results in bullish trend

OMO maturities worth NGN148bn hit the system in the week, spurring substantial rally on Bills in the week. Average yield change on T-Bills settled at -0.88%, as the 1M, 2M, 3M, 6M, 9M, and 12M T-Bills pegged at 12.10% (-2.04%), 13.88% (-0.51%), 14.12% (-0.34%), 14.68% (-0.11%), 14.85% (-1.00%), and 15.35% (-1.28%)

…as political headwinds abate

respectively. Reflecting the liquid nature of the system, average NIBOR decreased by 1.28%, with the OBB and OVN rates closing at 9.50% (-3.25%) and 10.17% (-3.00%) in that order. Yields across the bond market pared for the week, as investors seemingly had renewed confidence in the Nigerian market on the back of a fairly seamless presidential election. Our Meri Bond index, which reflects the change in market price, was +3.14% for the week. We expect a viable sustenance in the recent trend going forward. Naira appreciated marginally by 0.01% against the greenback in the week, as mid-price settled at NGN199.10. However, with political risks nearly completely out of sight, reducing global crude oil prices remains the only substantial threat to the local currency. We expect that a committed drive towards seeking alternative revenue sources for the economy, as reiterated by the elected administration, will further abate pressure on the Naira in the face of global oil price challenges.

all released FY2014 numbers during the week. DIAMONDBNK recorded a laudable growth in gross earnings of 15.04%, while Profit-AfterTax (PAT) declined by 10.27%, to make the bank the first to post a decline in this earnings season. FIDELITYBK recorded YoY growths in gross earnings and PAT of 4.32% and 78.68%, while STANBIC also followed suit, consolidating on a strong 2014 by posting 17.43% and 57.40% YoY growth in Gross earnings and PAT respectively. All three banks declared final FY2014 dividends; DIAMONDBNK (NGN0.10/share), FIDELITYBK (NGN0.18/share) and STANBIC (NGN0.15/share). Much in line with our expectations, market has been resurgent since the conclusion of the presidential Elections on Tuesday 31 March. However, we implore investors to take position in only fundamentally justified tickers so they do not get stuck when the momentum subsides

Agric sector: Okomuoil declares NGN0.25K

The consumer goods sector ended the week with a spectacular WtD return of 15.14%, and sector breadth closed at 14.00x. The positive sentiment permeated all the counters in the sector save for VONO that declined by 4.30%, while NNFM and AGLEVENT retained their market prices from the previous week. The gainers’ chart had counters like DANGSUGAR (15.57%), NASCON (20.44%), INTBREW (27.06%), CHAMPION (15.49%), UNILEVER (12.96%), UACN (12.96%), NESTLE (17.00%), 7UP (3.21%) and FLOURMILL (9.58%) UACN released its FY2014 result, showing group revenue of NGN85.654bn, an increase of 8.82% over previous performance. Earnings after tax also increased by 8.64%. The company declared a dividend per share of NGN1.75, implying a dividend yield of 4.86% at current market price. Closure date has been slated for 6th-10th July 2015. The race to take position in fundamentally justified counters, after the smooth election process could be credited for the significant gains recorded in the sector during the week. However, we anticipate a moderation in the coming week, as we envisage that there might be a degree of profit taking.

On the back of the positive sentiment that permeated the equities market and impressive scorecards released by companies in the week, the agric sector’s index increased by 3.64% WtD to settle YtD return at 13.97%. LIVESTOCK led the gainers with a 13.24% gain, which we attribute to the company’s impressive FY: 2014 result which showed revenue and PAT growths of 29.45% and 20.60%. PRESCO followed on the gainers’ chart, returning 7.67% for the week. However OKOMUOIL’s poor showing in its FY: 2014 result, with respective declines of 2.31% and 25.75% in top-line and bottom-line, reflected in its performance for the week, as it pared by 0.46%. No other stock declined, while ELLAHLAKES and FTNCOCOA traded flat. We expect the optimism in the market to be maintained in coming weeks, as the peaceful recently concluded election, in our opinion, has boosted investors’ confidence. The said optimism, we anticipate will bode well for the agric sector in the near term.

Banking Sector: Strongly resurgent, with Political headwinds dissipated

The banking sector was strongly resurgent during the week, as investors flooded the market post elections. There were 14 gainers, while UNITYBNK traded flat, to bring the YtD return to 23.43%. DIAMONDBNK, FIDELITYBK and STANBIC

Consumer Goods: NSEFBT10 returns 15.14% WtD

Healthcare Sector …GLAXOSMITH declares NGN0.75 dividend and 1:4 bonus

The positive sentiment which permeated the equities market was also felt in the Healthcare sector, as the sector’s index (MERI-HLTH) advanced by 21.02% WtD to drive YtD return into

the positive zone (2.00%). Four stocks advanced in price, while only one stock declined. The Sector Giant (GLAXOSMITH) was the major gainer for the week, as it advanced by a whopping 21.52% WoW to peg the share price at NGN51.04. The ticker was trailed by EVANSMED, which saw its price appreciate by 7.32%. MAYBAKER and FIDSON also advanced by 4.40% and 3.65%, to settle share prices at NGN1.66 and NGN3.41 respectively. On the flip side, PHARMADEKO was the only counter that stayed in the negative region, as it declined by 4.91% to NGN2.13. All other counters traded flat. GLAXOSMITH’s FY2014 result released on the 1st of April 2015, showed revenue growth of 4.58% YoY, while Earnings declined by 36.67% YoY. In our opinion, the ticker’s significant gain on the trading floor, despite the unimpressive earnings performance, was primarily due to the final dividend declaration of NGN0.75K (which brought total dividend for 2014 to NGN1.00/ share) and a bonus issue of 1 for 4 existing shares. We do not expect this flowering performance to remain strong, as we imagine some profit takings on some stocks in the coming week.

Industrial goods: Bargain hunting drive sector gains

Building Material stocks which had hitherto been severely hit by the bearish trend in the market since 2014, were major benefactors of the upbeat mood witnessed especially in the last two trading days of the week. The Meri Industrial Index gained 18.04% during the week to drive YtD return to -7.20%. None of the sector stocks traded in the negative zone, while 7 stocks recorded accretions to value. DANGCEM, the sector leader by market share and capitalization, enjoyed the most positive sentiments as the ticker gained 18.95% in the week to push share price to NGN182. ASHAKACEM, CCNN, CUTIX, BERGER, WAPCO and PORTPAINT were not left out, as they gained 16.75%, 14.65%, 14.48%, 13.25%, 10.71% and 4.85% accordingly. BERGER released its FY2014 scorecard, showing a 13.72% YoY increase in revenue (NGN3.083bn Vs NGN2.711bn). Profit after tax however came in at NGN0.15bn (42.23% lower than previous year) due to YoY growths in Production (11.11%), Operating (27.97%) and finance (38.26%) costs. The company, however, declared a dividend of NGN0.75 (EPS of NGN0.51) which implied a dividend yield of 8.28% at current market price. Despite the economic and operating challenges faced in the country in 2014, CAP reported a revenue of NGN6.99bn at a YoY growth of 12.78%. The paint market leader continued to show superiority in its cost efficiency strategies as cost-tosales margin and OPEX ratio dropped to 48.51% (from 49.08% in 2013)) and 19.56% ( Vs 20.09% in 2013. ). Consequent upon this, PAT grew by 17.34% during the period. CAP also proposed a dividend of NGN0.85 indicating a dividend yield of 2.50%. CCNN, during the week also declared a dividend of NGN0.35 implying a dividend yield of 2.78%. This, came on the back of the cement company’s 23.05% expansion in bottom-line, despite the 1.25% decline in top line. The company also reported cost savings in production (-7.28% YoY), operations (-13.56% YoY and financing (-13.94% YoY) As envisaged, Investors have started taking advantage of attractively priced stocks in the sector basket. We expect this trend to continue in the weeks to come, although at a slower rate, as stocks gradually near their fundamentally justified prices. Oil & Gas Sector: Sector Enjoys Market Upturn Six stocks appreciated in the week, as the NSEOILG5 gained 16.42%. OANDO led the pack with 31.34%, followed closely by MOBIL (+18.28%), CONOIL (+16.48%), TOTAL (+13.44%), ETERNA (+12.68%), and SEPLAT (+11.28%). FO was the lone decliner, shedding 4.40%, while other stocks traded flat. MRS Oil Nigeria Plc and SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company released their FY2014 results, with varying performances noted. MRS top-line grew by 5.17%. Other income increased by 105.02%, while OPEX ratio and Tax payable for the year moderated by 10.79% and 30.68% respectively. This resulted in a 17.65% gain in PAT, and a dividend of NGN0.88k was proposed. For SEPLAT, on the other hand, a 56.43% increase in Gas sales was not enough to offset the 1.44% decline in Crude oil sales, as its revenue dropped by 8.99%. Poor cost management resulted in 3.12% and 11.3% respective growths in Cost to sales and OPEX ratios. This, coupled with the massive 133.83% jump in finance charges contributed to the 52.62% decline in earnings after tax to NGN40.481bn (vs. 85.431bn FY 2013).

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL 5, 2015

How to save and prosper Success Nuggets Victor Okwudiri

08037674300 (SMS only) o far we have identified the following as reasons why people cannot save:

1. Indiscipline 2. Ignorance of ‘the percentage principle.’ This week, we are to look at another reason why people cannot save. I have termed it ‘The Law of Isolation.’ Though this new point is related to ‘The Law of Discipline,’ which I discussed earlier, I think it is appropriate to discuss it separately.

No matter how much one has in that account, he cannot respond to very short-term contingencies, especially those that arise at ‘offbanking’ hours and nonbanking days

ness is to cut of from the object of temptation. For some, the object of the ‘temptation of financial recklessness’ is the ‘ATM Card.’ In the light of the forgoing, I suggest that if you are not sure to be financially disciplined, you can help yourself by operating a ‘special savings account’ isolated from an ATM card. Please note that I said a ‘Special Here we go. savings account’ (SSA). I said so 5. The Law of Isolation because, while the law of isolation Another reason why some people may be helpful, it is also advisable to cannot save is their failure to prac- have at least ONE money-accessible tise ‘the Law of Isolation.’ ATM card, to enable you to take care Money has a ‘spirit’. It propels a of important contingencies. drive to spend or give, sometimes There are two dimensions to the beyond what is necessary. operation of ‘The law of isolation.’ With the advancement of bankThey are discussed below. ing technology, with particular 1. Do not apply for an ATM card reference to ATM/Credit cards, it for that special savings account becomes easy to access and spend (SSA). money on the go. Advantage Discipline is key to saving, but the The thought of going to the bank, truth is that ‘discipline’ may not and the sometimes endless queues be enough, for some people. I have in the banking hall, are enough to learnt that the best (and, indeed, knock off or check the temptation of easiest) way to deal with a weakfinancial recklessness.

Disadvantage a) No matter how much one has in that account, he cannot respond to very short-term contingencies, especially those that arise at ‘off-banking’ hours and non-banking days. b) *I will address it later. Just keep reading. 2. Keep your ATM card out of sight. Out of sight, they say, is out of mind. This may apply here. The point here is that you may apply for an ATM card for that special savings account, but keep the ATM card in such a place that the thought of the stress of getting it out will restrain you. Advantage Whereas it helps one work on financial discipline, it also positions one to respond to very important contingencies, as the ATM card is accessible, though kept at a distance. Disadvantage One may still be tempted to go in search of the card, even when a contingency has not arisen. Someone reading this might want to ask, “Which option, of the two, would you adopt?” My response: I would adopt the second option, because of the second disadvantage of the first option. Don’t worry, I hope to discuss that second disadvantage of the first option some other time, in a piece to be titled, ‘What Your banker wishes You never knew.’ You will succeed. Please, follow me on Twitter -@ VictorOkwudiri

Personality type/temperament (2) developed. They can do well as leaders, warriors, founders, kings, mayors, lords, law enforcement agents and entrepreneurs. They don’t easily show affection and can easily carry a grudge for a long Julian Atufunwa time. A choleric finds it difficult to delegate 08032810713 (SMS only) work because he feels he is energetic enough to handle all his tasks. They ast week, we discussed person- are not afraid of anything and don’t give a damn about what people say ality types. We did say we are or think about them. That is, they all unique and are made the way we are for our assignment or pur- are insensitive to criticism. Cholerics express themselves constructively and pose on earth. Nevertheless, changes usually insist on their ideas. They can are necessary to correct defects and be persuasive. They love to dominate achieve great and worthy goals. and are not given to worry. Once they are set for a task, they There are four major temperaments, don’t go back until it’s through. They namely:are goal-oriented. They want result 1. Sanguine and faster too. 2. Choleric They can run over people merciless3. Melancholic ly, if in a position of authority, in order 4. Phlegmatic to meet their objectives. Their way of saying “well done” is to criticise. They We discussed Sanguine last week, don’t believe others can do an exceland now let’s discuss the Choleric lent job. They are perfectionists. personality They never slow down even when they heap success upon success. They • CHOLERIC can be dictators and hasty to attain This is the most active of the four personality types. They are extroverts. greatness. Friends get disgusted because of Cholerics are forceful and strong their ‘know-it-all’ attitude and somewilled. They love being independent. times abandon them. This does not Dependence means weakness for them. They thrive on activity and love deter them because they believe they can stand alone. competition because it’s an opportuThey lose sometimes because of nity to feel better and stronger than their inability to heed advice. They others. an will never admit that they arethe very Cholerics are fearless people and cause of their failure. Never willing tend to confront challenges or opto give in because they believe they position with much courage. They know better than anybody else. Don’t can be fierce. They have issues with anger because their emotions are least try to remind them of their ‘sins’

The Big Picture

because it’s not good for their selfesteem. Their words can hurt like bad. Examples of these people are Julius Caesar, Alexander, Adolf Hitler and Saul of Tarsus. They have issues with pride and can be very inconsiderate. •Their remarkable strength Cholerics seek for excellence and are never mediocre. They can only submit to spiritual powers and that can be the only thing that can get them to submit. They love spirituality and care for holiness. They can make great sacrifices for God and for mankind if they are renewed. Cholerics don’t give in to temptation because they are strong-willed. Cholerics are reliable. They can keep secrets for generations. If they learn to conquer their pride, they can conquer anything. •How to cope with a choleric Do not interfere with their independence. Give them space to meet their goals. If they don’t ask for your assistance, don’t offer it. Gently make them realise how much success they will accomplish if they can learn to delegate work and also prevent burnout for themselves. Don’t expect them to be there all the time. Meeting their goals is their number one priority. Cholerics can be very great partners if they have a renewed heart and mind. •There is need for change to excel. Finally, keep a date with us next week. We will be discussing the melancholic and phlegmatic of personality types.

SundayBusiness/News

Nigerians need security against e-frauds – Onajite CO NTINUED F R O M PAGE 24

Plc (NIBSS). The transaction value through the central switch system is around N40trn. In 2013, both the value of transactions and value of fraud cases were lower. But then, a lot of measures are being put in place to checkmate e-frauds. There has been concerns in recent times on the increase in cases of phishing where bank customers have been losing money. When you talk about phishing, we know it is when people send false emails make false representations, junks pretending to be genuine as if they are trustworthy entities and then, they are able to deceive people and make them part with their money and entities. When you talk of phishing, we have seen these criminals create an impression that they are genuine entities and from that impression, they are able to harvest people’s emails, details such as accounts and PINs and all of that to be able to cheat people out of their money. So, that is what phishing is all about. Interestingly, the only way we can deal with phishing is for people to be well informed of what these fraudsters are doing and when you are informed, you would be able to guide yourself and protect your personal details. The question is, what are the various manifestations of phishing? The phishers send you an ordinary email, claiming to be who they are not, asking you to provide your details to them. People are not aware that this may be fraudulent and that when they get such emails, they shouldn’t respond. Criminals have also now improved on their techniques. What they do now is to create a website that looks like the customer’s bank’s website and then, they ask you to fill in your details online. So, when you fill in your details online, they are able to get those personal details, your passwords, your mails and all of that. What are the measures that can be taken to ensure that bank customers are shielded from the cons of phishers? Thank you for this question. What people need to do is to be vigilant and be able to protect themselves from these phishing websites. Banks are doing a lot because on a daily basis, they pull down these phishing websites. So, what people need to do is to be cautious when they receive these emails and check who the senders of the emails are. If the sender is not a recognised sender, then bank customers should not put any details in there; they should not respond but delete it as soon as possible. Then, they should not communicate personal information via any unsecured sites. Even if you want to give any details to your bank, make sure you initiate the call; you know your bank’s numbers. If anybody calls you on a telephone number that he is calling from your bank, we would advise customers not to divulge any personal information. We should know that increased personal security measures are needed to be observed by Nigerian banking public to safeguard themselves against e-frauds. What has been the level of e-payment adoption in the public sector vis-a-vis the volume in the private sector? What I would say is that electronic transactions have been growing and it will still grow more as we begin to implement, in a short while, the limits in every state of the federation. People are beginning to understand that the cashless scheme is not for the benefit of the government but it affects them positively as well. In terms of volume in 2014, we can say that we had over 100 million transactions from NIBSS report that we have on the electronic platforms. Finally, E-PPAN is currently planning the maiden edition of its e-Government Summit in Nigeria. What are the objectives of the conference? The e-government Summit is actually flagship programme of E-PPAN and what we are going to do this year is going to be very big. Previously, E-PPAN holds the e-payment for government summit. With that summit, we were able to raise awareness of the benefits to government to use electronic payment in their operations. Usually, when you bring electronic payment into the payment system you find that it becomes more efficient for citizens to interact with the government. But this year, we decided that we would like to expand what we have been doing over the past three years and we are fortunate to have partnership with FSS 2020 of the CBN. So, what we are looking out for this year is e-government as a key sustainable development and we are partnering FSS 2020 for this summit.

SUNDAY

BRANDS SUNDAY APRIL 5, 2015

Buhari: Experts x-ray emergence of political brand A

DELE ALAO

gainst the successful conduct of the presidential election which produced Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as a winner, some experts in the field of Integrated Marketing Communications have given insight into how the former military leader emerged. Gen. Buhari had defeated the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 28, 2015 presidential election. The Lead Consultant/ Chief Executive Officer, Leap Communications, Muyiwa Akintunde, said: “I would have expected the campaign strategy of the incumbent president to focus on the milestones of the administration as a justification for a second tenure. Rather, so much time, energy and resources were devoted to bringing

the opposition down. In the end, the electorates were denied the opportunities to adequately access the performance of the now outgoing president.” Also, Managing Director, Marketing Mix & Co, Boye Adefila, who noted that he would rather see the outcome of the presidential election from the core marketing perspective said that marketing communications was only useful in building on the perceived good product. He said: “The incumbent party and candidate had much more fire power in terms of budget allocation and virtual and non virtual omnipresence. The prevalence of pro -Jonathan campaigns was to say the least overwhelming on all media. So we must take solace mostly in the first ‘P’; a good product was well packaged, well priced and well promoted. Having commended the APC on fielding and re-packaging a vi-

able candidate (good product) I would say the platform that worked most was Word Of Mouth (WOM).” “This is not scientific but I wager that majority of new converts to the Buhari product/candidature were convinced by word of mouth,” he added. Adefila, said that the arguments to mitigate the two major communication barriers were that he (Buhari) may have been or appears to be a Muslim fundamentalist but in a democratic dispensation he cannot and will not try to Islamise the country. This argument, Adefila noted, gave succor to many Christian and non-Muslim elites and middle class voters who percolated the argument to their drivers, domestic workers and relations. “ He (Buhari) may appear rigid and undiplomatic because of his military antecedents with human rights violations, but APC

and Buhari himself argued that this was in the past and mistakes were made and Buhari should not be judged by his past but by his noble objective to rid the country of corruption and other vices,” Adefila said. He added: “These arguments could have been pushed above-the-line but the real work was face-to-face and I daresay it was because the first level converts or early Birds as we call them, truly believed in the product truth! so it was only natural that the wanabees would follow.” It would be recalled that ahead of the elections APC hired a foreign firm, AKPD Message and Media. The agency is widely believed to have helped President Barack Obama to get reelected. AKPD also had rich experience in working with key Democratic Party candidates throughout the U.S. and has a strong reputation for supporting leading populist movements across the globe.

Dufil unveils Indomie in-carton promo

akers of Indomie Instant Noodles, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, have activated a nationwide promo tagged “Indomie In-Carton Promo. It will afford loyal consumers of Indomie Pepper Chicken and Indomie Oriental Fried Noodle brands, the opportunity to win up to N1, 000 instant recharge cards in each carton of the Stock Keeping Units (SKUs.) The Brand Manager, Indomie, Mr. Amber Yadav, said that the promotion would produce at least 300,000 winners, declaring that over N20 million worth of recharge cards would be won. “We are excited by the opportunity to excite our consumers and we believe that they will appreciate and take advantage of the opportunity. We consider it an obligation and commitments of our company to constantly reward, connect with our numerous consumers while building excitement in appreciation for their patronage and loyalty towards the brand,” Yadav added. On the mechanics of the promo, the Public Relations Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Mr. Tope Ashiwaju, said that to participate, consumers must buy a carton of Indomie Pepper Chicken / Oriental Fried Noodles brands, then check the inside for a recharge card. “Indomie is the category’s leading brand of noodles in Nigeria so it is fitting that as a caring brand, we wish to use this promo to reward our loyal customers for their patronage and commitment over the past years” he said. Mr. Ashiwaju added that the growth of the company in Nigeria was a clear indication of the trust reposed in its brands, noting that the Nigerian market, though competitive, was highly favorable for companies that deliver products of excellent quality. It will be recalled that the company just concluded the Indomitables Comic Promo, where five lucky children has emerged to visit Disney Land along with their guardians.

L-R: Head, Corporate Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Anton Marais; Executive Secretary, Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce, Iyke Ejimofor; Head of Corporate Finance and Capital Markets, SPA Ajibade & Co, Kalu Abasi; Group CEO, Old Mutual Nigeria, Zom Chizura; Chairman, Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce, Foluso Phillips; Managing Director, Old Mutual Nigeria Life Assurance Company, Keith Alford; Treasurer, Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce, Sam Oniovosa and Consul General, South African High Commission, Amb. Mokgeth Monaisa at a recent breakfast forum of Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce in Lagos.

Global mobile ad spending hits $100bn in 2016

he mobile ad spending pie is set to reach $100 billion next year, according to a report by eMarketer. This figure, according to eMarketer, is more than a 400 percent increase from 2013, and it will likely double to nearly $200 billion between 2016 and 2019, accounting for more than a quarter of all media ad spending worldwide. “Through 2018, companies in the U.S. are expected to continue spending the most on mobile ad spending, with those in China coming in second place. U.S. mobile ad spending is expected to reach $40.2 billion by 2016, and spending in China is expected to rise to $22.1 billion in the same timeframe.

This year will bring big changes for China’s mobile ad spending, which is set to nearly double from $7.5 billion in 2014 to $14 billion in 2015. The increase in China’s ad spending could correlate with its number of mobile users next year, a fourth of the world’s estimated two billion smartphone users will be in China. Other countries seeing big mobile spending include the U.K., Japan and Germany, respectively. By 2018, the U.K. will see $11.1 billion in mobile ad spending, Japan will see $7.8 billion and Germany will see $5.2 billion. The eMarketer report noted that the majority of digital ad spending won’t come from mobile devices until 2017, the year when mobile ad spending is set to

double desktop ad spending, according to a March eMarketer report. Through 2018, the current top five countries will remain the same, but there are some up-and-comers, including Canada and Australia, both of which will pass South Korea in mobile ad spending. Also, Brazil is slated to become the ninth-largest mobile ad spender with $2.7 billion. The upswing in mobile spending correlates with more mobile device users, as well as users spending more time with their devices. The number of tablet users is nothing to sneeze at, either, with a projected number of one billion in 2015, a number that is growing slowly but steadily.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL 5, 2015

afarge Africa Plc has rewarded its trade partners with valuable prizes including cars, cash and electronic gadgets at the 2014 Partners Award held in Lagos. Alhaji Olasunkanmi Buraimoh Olaoshun of Temitope Enterprises emerged First National Winner and went home with a brand new Sport Utility Vehicle, while Engr. Basiru Atinsola, CEO, Oyinbashy Enterprises came second and smiled home with a Hyundai Sonata Executive Car. Others who went home with brand new cars include Alhaji Rasheed Ishola, CEO, Rasheed Ishola Ventures Limited who was presented a KIA Cerato Car as third national winner and Mr. Innocent Okafor Obi, CEO, Rosent Investment Limited, based in the Eastern Part of the country, who got a Hyundai ix35 jeep for winning the special recognition gifts award for outstanding performance. Aside the cars, other distributors, corporate partners and outstanding sales staff of the company also won various electronic gadgets and volume of cement products. Speaking at the event, Chairman, Lafarge Africa Plc, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye , described the event as a rewarding scheme to impact and empowers their trade partners who have contributed to the continued growth and overall wellbeing of the organisation. “We are witnessing the 10th edition of this open demonstration of our company’s appreciation of your role as a key stakeholder and partner in our business,” he said. While reassuring the trade partners of the company’s determination to continue giving support to boost their performance, the Chairman said that the recently released 2014 full year financial results indicated that the company was yet able to put up a good performance even in such

Etisalat Cliqfest hits LAUTECH

tisalat Nigeria has taken took its youth-centric education and entertainment initiative, Cliqfest, to Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho , Oyo State, with no fewer than 6,000 students of the University benefiting from the initiative. The two-day programme at the University’s premises, featured series of activities, including an inspirational session, a five-a-side novelty football match, raffle draw as well as an exciting concert featuring Nigerian hip hop stars such as Jaywon, Reminise and Skales. While flagging off activities for the event with an inspirational session tagged, “Seizing Opportunities,” renowned motivational speaker, Niyi Adesanya, dwelt extensively on talents development. Adesanya provided insights on sectors where opportunities abound in the country, urging the students to explore their talents and choose careers that suit their skills. Speaking at the event, Head, Youth Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Elvis Daniel, reiterated the company’s commitment to empower the youth and position them for successful careers in future. Daniel said: “Cliqfest is an initiative designed to encourage young Nigerians to pursue their dreams. The essence is also to help them identify their passions, have fun and also experience Etisalat’s youth product-Easycliq.” The peak of the event was the raffle draw for the ultimate prize of a brand new Hyundai car, which was won by a 400- Level Civil Engineering student, Olaniyi Oluwaseyi. Etisalat Cliqfest has been to over 54 tertiary institutions in Nigeria, inspiring thousands of students with its unique combination of education and entertainment activities.

SundayBusiness/Brands

Lafarge fetes trade partners a volatile market as an affirmation of the strength of the new company and the group’s commitment to achieving excellence. Also speaking at the event, the Managing Director, WAPCO Operations, Lafarge Africa Plc, Mrs. Adepeju Adebayo, said as an organization, Lafarge was passionate about providing world class building

solutions to individual home builders in Nigeria, through value adding partnerships with its esteemed trade partners. She said that the strong equity and rich heritage of the company’s flagship brand, Elephant Cement, which has been sustained for over 50 years, has made it possible for the company to contribute visible landmark in the area cement manufactur-

ing in Nigeria. To further improve on the service of Lafarge to its customers, the Managing Director said that the company had appointed Field Sales Managers to individual Key Distributors, who are expected to provide support and traction needed to win in the highly competitive market place.

L-R: Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Dr.Joseph Odumodu; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment of Nigeria. Dr. Olusegun Aganga and a guest at a recent event in Lagos.

NIMN invests new president

he National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) has conferred Mr. Ganiyu Koledoye with an investiture title as the new President and Chairman of the Council of the institute. Koledoye who recently emerged the President of the institute after defeating Mr. Tony Agenmonmen of Nigeria Breweries Plc during its annual general meeting in Kaduna was honoured in an elaborate ceremony held in Lagos. Meanwhile, no fewer than 19 members were conferred with the title of fellow of the institute. Some of the members who attended the event commended the leadership team for creating a new direction for the institute saying that they were of the hope that his administration would signal a new dawn. One of the newly decorated fellows,Mr. Michael Umogun, described the new administration being led by Koledoye as one that has shown preparedness to take the institute to the next level going by its recent roadmap. Among those that were conferred with the title of fellows include; Executive Director, Promasidor, Mr.Kachi Onabogu and a marketing executive in Millward Brown, a marketing research company based in Lagos, Michael Umogun. Umogun who was highly delighted on the occasion said the conferment offers him the greatest responsibility to continue to do more in uplifting the profession. He said it was a great opportunity to be found worthy of such honour by the institute. The new president is a graduate of The Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) from theSouth West London College, UK. He is also a Master’s of Science (Msc) degree holder in Business Administration from the University of Bath, UK. He was a

lecturer in Marketing and Systems Theory at the Centre for Marketing and Management Studies, Tooting Bee. London, UK. He established The Clapham College of Technology, Clapham Common, London UK in 1980. In Nigeria, Koledoye had worked in various capacities in Ebun Nigeria Limited, Churchgate Group, Texlon Group, Coastal Bottlers Limited and Zaria Industries Limited where he was CEO in the last two com-

panies. He lectures at Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (CIMA) UK, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and is currently the chairman of Harmattan Oil Services Limited, Lekki, Lagos. The National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria is established by act of parliament (Act no 2003) of the Nigerian National Assembly to regulate marketers and marketing practice in Nigeria.

Jeep Cherokee ad banned for promoting dangerous driving

n ad for Fiat Group’s Jeep Cherokee, has been banned by the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for encouraging unsafe driving practices. The radio spot, by Arc London, part of Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett network, begins with a mock weather forecast. It starts, “Overnight snow has brought severe disruption to much of the country. The Met Office has warned drivers ...” after which the volume is turned down and the voiceover suggests, “Time to Play.” The listener then hears the sound of a car door being unlocked, with wind blowing in the background and snow crunching under foot. The endline is, “Make winter your favorite sport with Jeep. This season, get the new Jeep Cherokee.” Complaints to the ASA, the U.K. regulatory body for ads, claimed that the ad was irresponsible because it portrayed driving in poor conditions as fun and

therefore encouraged unsafe driving practices. Fiat responded by pointing out that time is limited in a radio spot and said that the ad was part of a larger campaign intended to promote the vehicle, by offering the reassurance of its 4x4 snow mode for use in winter driving. The automaker insisted it did not encourage unsafe driving practices and that “Time toPplay” alluded to the fact that the vehicle is ideal for winter conditions and so helped people to partake in winter sports. However the ASA ruled that the “Time to Play” line would be understood as a reference to the fun to be had from driving in potentially dangerous conditions using the “snow mode” on the vehicle, and that this was backed up by the “Make winter your favorite sport” line. The ad was therefore judged to have broken ASA codes relating to social responsibility and motoring.

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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Front row: L-R: European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker; Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu; former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy; Mali's President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita; French President, Francois Hollande; Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel; Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas and Italy's Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, at a solidarity march against terrorism in Paris...yesterday. PHOTO: ReuTeRs

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Vol. 1

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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

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Monday, January 12, 2015

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Politics SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

The Sunday Interview

Ex-general to Buhari: You must take tough decision p.32-33

Interview

Adegbulu: Nigerians are tired of PDP’s ineptitude p.35 I’ll stop youth restiveness in Oshodi, says Rep-elect p.37 Gov, assembly elections: Amazons in the ring p.38-39

Voters at a polling unit

Nigerian elections and low voter figures The disparity between the number of registered and accredited voters during elections in Nigeria has continued to widen. BIYI ADEGOROYE and ONYEKACHI EZE investigate what is responsible for this

D Biyi Adegoroye biyi.fire@yahoo.com

espite the hue and cry over the collection of Permanent Voter Cards ahead of the elections, only 31, 756, 490 voters showed up to be accredited during the March 28 presidential election. Out of this number, 29,432,083 eventually cast their ballot. The Independent National Electoral Commission had said that it had 68, 833, 476 names on its register after it cleaned the 2011 voters’ register of irregularities like multiple registration and other associated malpractices with the Automated Finger Print System. A breakdown of the figures showed that Lagos State has the highest number of registered eligible voters with 5,822,207, followed by Kano State with a total number of 4,975,701 registered voters. Kaduna State had 3,407,222 registered voters; followed by Rivers State which had 2,537,590. But out of the over 5,822, 207 potential voters who registered in Lagos, about 1, 424, 787 of them voted, representing about 20 per cent. In Kano, where a total of 4.975,701 registered, the number of voters was 2, 119,778 and in Kaduna

State which had a total number of 3,407,222, only 1,611, 845 of them cast their votes during the elections. In all, while over 68 million people registered for the elections, only about 28 million peoples actually cast their votes. During the PVCs distribution, which officially ended on March 22, a total of 56, 431, 255 people (which is about 81.98 per cent) collected their PVCs. This leaves about 12, 402, 221 PVCs undistributed. As at February 7 when INEC rescheduled the general elections, PVCs distribution stood at 37. 8 million. This led to the call for the postponement of the elections to enable people who were yet to collect their PVCs to do so. In previous elections in the country, there had been a huge disparity between the number of registered voters and the number of voters who eventually turned out on polling day to elect their leaders. Even in the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was widely adjudged to be credible, free and fair, only 12 million out of over 60 million registered voters cast their ballot. The 2003 presidential election so far had the

highest voter turnout of 42,018,735, which is 69.1 per cent of 60,823,022 registered voters that year. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who won the election scored a total of 24, 456, 140 votes which is about 61.94 per cent. His closest rival, General Muhammadu Buhari had 12, 710, 022 votes (about 32. 19 per cent). This was followed by the 2007 presidential election with an approximate of 58 per cent voter turnout of 61, 567, 036 registered voters. The number of valid votes that elected Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua as President was 35,397,517. The election that brought Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as president in 2011 recorded a total of 39,469,484 (53.7 per cent) voter turnout out of 73,528,040 registered voters. Jonathan scored 22, 495, 187 votes (about 58. 89 per cent) to become president. In 1999 when Nigerians first went to the polls to elected their President in this political dispensation, the total voter turnout was 30,280,052 (put at 52.3 per cent) out of a total 57,938,945 registered voter. Political analysts have laboured to explain why there is decrease in the number of voters who go to the polls to elect their President during elections. INEC is equally worried about low turnout of voters in elections. The commission’s Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, at a workshop in June, shortly after the 2011 general elections noted that at “The National CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 S

The Sun

Ex-genera You must

Maj-Gen. Ishola Williams (rtd) is a crusader for Afri from the military as the Chief of Defence Operations in 1993. The anti-corruption advocate tells ONWUKA Buhari as president-elect is a statement that Niger So there were some polls that said Buhari would win but there were more of such polls in favour of President Jonathan and it was difficult to know whom to believe. Another thing many people did not realise was that most of the polls conducted online were based on the opinions of people in the Diaspora who were not even going to vote in the elections. What do you have to say about the action of President Goodluck Jonathan in conceding defeat when the results of the election indicated that he was losing the battle? He did the right thing and you can see that everybody, from the President of the United States, Barack Obama, to the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has commended him for it. But we must know that he is not the first person to have conceded defeat in an election as an incumbent. It has happened in Kenya, Zambia and even in Somalia. In the case of Nigeria, he is the first incumbent to be in this kind of situation and he behaved maturedly and has received commendation from all over the world. It is good for Nigeria. It is also good for him because he has put himself in a special class of former presidents who quit power with humility and a sense of responsibility. Now, he has moved to the class of former presidents who are now symbols of democracy in Africa and are being used by the African Union and United Nations as special envoys for peace and democracy.

What are your impressions of the results of the presidential elections that produced Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as the president- elect? I am not surprised at all. Many people who have been following the trend in the past two months or so were not surprised too. The result of the election just showed that most of the people who said they were conducting opinion polls were not in touch with reality. They were not in touch with the people on the ground. They did not base their calculations on simple arithmetic. If you look at the number of Permanent Voter Cards collected in the North, compared to the number collected in the South, you would have seen the trend the votes would go. There were a greater number of PVCs collected in the core North than in the South. So no matter what number of people get in the South, they have to catch up with people in the North. Assuming that everybody in the South

voted for PDP and some few people were going to vote for PDP in the North, it would still have been difficult to beat the APC. Look at the result from Kogi State, for example. Who would have believed that Kogi would vote APC or Buhari? Look at Niger State; from the position of Governor Babangida Aliyu, who would have thought that the state would also fall to APC? So you can see that while some people were conducting opinion polls and doing their analysis, the people on the streets had made up their minds on what they wanted to do in terms of whom to vote for on Election Day. Even those who thought they were in control of the situation were not really in control. They were not in touch with the people on ground. This is a very good lesson, especially for you journalists who write on politics. You need to get to the ground yourselves instead of relying on these opinion polls that did not reflect the reality of

the situation. But there were also some opinion polls that churned out results in favour of Buhari and predicted that he would win. Are you also dismissing such polls and those who conducted them? Yes, I was following up all the polls on the Internet. There were a few online platforms who were independent and predicted correctly the situation. But one thing that I noticed was that PDP supporters dominated the social media and they succeeded in getting the mobile telephone companies to shut down the mobile phone connection that APC was using and APC took these mobile phone companies to court and the court awarded APC half a billion naira. The National Communications Company (NCC) is going to pay heavily for shutting down those mobile lines.

What would you like the President- elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to concentrate on as he assumes the leadership of the country? If you were to advise him, what would you set as an agenda for him? Well, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe in advising anybody who is going into government or is already in government. The point is that I have never been in government; I have never been a governor, minister or anything political. I just make noise from the sideline. So it is difficult for me to give any advice to somebody who has more experience. Buhari is a former governor, former head of state and a former minister. Even if I want to give him any advice, it should not be through the newspaper or from outside. If he believes that I have something to say and I am invited to meet with him, I can tell him what I think will help him and Nigeria. Is it that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to do free consultancy? (Laughs) I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be a consultant to anybody. What is important at this stage is that all of us must contribute our quota

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

nday Interview

al to Buhari: t take tough decisions

ican democratisation and development. He retired s, Planning and Training at the Defence Headquarters A NZESHI that the emergence of Gen. Muhammadu rians don’t accept corruption as a norm towards making the government to succeed. First of all, the civil service is the heart of the governance system and if the civil service is working well, then Nigeria will work well. Secondly, the issue of tackling impunity is also very important. The third issue of course is security. These are three important areas that the in-coming administration should look at and see how it can make a positive impact. The slogan of the APC is change. Now they have got the mandate, some Nigerians are wondering what next. Do you really see change coming to our country? Change is already here. What is needed in Nigeria now is mission. We have had so many visions from so many leaders in the past; we now need a missionary - somebody with a mission. Secondly, we need somebody who is innovative. So to me, I think that we are on course for the change we all desire. You were in the army at the time General Buhari was the Head of State. Do you think that his military background will allow him to be fully transformed into a democrat and make a success of this opportunity? What is the meaning of a democrat? For me, a democrat is somebody who can disagree with people and when they disagree with him, he listens to them to understand their point of view. But I must tell you one thing, most of the great leaders in the world - whether it is in the United Kingdom under Winston Churchill, Singapore under Le Kuan Yew, Malaysia under Mahathir Mohammed - they were democrats. They were holding elections but at the same time, they were taking tough decisions. The whole idea about having this kind of people is for you to be able to say: Hey, all of you have said no, but I am going ahead to do this thing for the good of the people. In most cases, they succeeded. So once in a while a great leader must be able to say that in spite of criticisms, I am going ahead. It is very important. Leadership is not a question of whenever some people say “no,” then you say yes we cannot go ahead. Many times, the majority can be wrong. With the victory of the APC in the presidential election, don’t you think that there will be a bandwagon effect during the governorship and House of Assembly elections and that so many states will vote APC and turn Nigeria into a one-party state? You are very correct because that is what usually happens in Nigeria. People don’t normally like to be in the party of the opposition. Who could have predicted three years ago, that we would have APC? Who could have predicted that we would have somebody like

Buhari, who would contest the presidential election three or four times? Sometimes, in the life of a country, somebody like that comes up at a particular moment. Don’t let us deceive ourselves; people did not vote for APC as such. They voted for Buhari as a person. If APC had put another person there, they would not have won the election. Tell me which other candidate they would have put there to be able to defeat Jonathan. Give one name among those people in APC. See, Buhari won on personal integrity because people believe that he is incorruptible, decisive and disciplined. Buhari won because of Buhari, not because of what APC did. APC was a vehicle. You must have heard about a car that can drive itself but we have not seen that kind of car in Nigeria. APC was a vehicle, it needed a good driver and Buhari happened to have come along as a good driver. So the only credit you can give to APC is that those who supported Buhari were right. Even when you are talking about the choice of Osinbajo, to me, that was just to ensure balance. Who knew Osinbajo before? So it was the name ‘Buhari’ that won the election and not necessarily APC. However, this victory has raised so much expectations from among the populace. The expectations are very high. It is just like 1999 when Obasanjo emerged as president and we were just coming out of military regime. The expectations this time is even higher than what it was in 1999. So to me, the stakes are high and he needs the support of every Nigerian to succeed in the task ahead. Even you people in the media need to help him see what needs to be done by focusing your reports on those issues. What is the significance of the election of a man like Buhari at this time? We used to believe that corruption had become a culture in our country, but with this election of a man whom we all believe is incorruptible and disciplined, we have made a loud statement that Nigerians do not want corruption. It is like saying, we are tired of corruption and we have now found someone who can help us to chase the monster away from our land. This is the meaning of this election and that was why I was dancing when I heard the results. I was singing and dancing because of that principle of integrity which the man exudes. It has shown me that Nigerians have voted that corruption cannot be allowed to be a culture in our country. Even in the South-East and South where he did not win, I am sure the people there still believe that Buhari is an incorruptible person. I am not the only person that has said this: Those who voted for him and even those who did not

vote for him believe that the man is incorruptible and competent. But when you talk about competence in leadership, it is not so much about the leader himself but about his ability to choose the right people to work with him. So if he chooses people of like minds, it doesn’t matter whether the people are from PDP or APC. They must be Nigerians of proven integrity who are ready to make sacrifices for the common good of all the people. That is what Nigeria needs now. How would you describe Nigeria’s democracy? What we have is not democracy. It’s ‘contractocracy’ - the government of the contractors by the contractors and for the contractors. It’s as simple as that because it is the businessmen who control parties in Nigeria. If you join a political party in Nigeria, the aim is to make money through business or through godfatherism. You are either a godfather in which case you select people for elective and political appointments and once they get there, they give you contracts to make money whether you execute these contracts or not. On the other hand, you can simply become a contractor who supports the party to get into power and in return, you are rewarded with contracts. If we don’t change our political party system, we are going nowhere. The second issue is that you can become very rich in Nigeria very easily. If the governor of a state likes you, he can give you half a billion naira contract which you can do with about N300 million and pocket the remaining N200 million. What do I want to do again after making such a huge amount of profit from a contract? Another governor that you know in another state could give you another contract and if within one year, I can make N400million, what is my problem? So when an election is coming and they ask me to donate to the party, I can donate a hundred million because when the party comes back to power they will give me more contracts and more money. So, if the system works like that, what democracy are you talking about? All the demons have gone crazy! It is as simple as that and because we have that type of situation, there is no difference between legality and legitimacy. But we must be able to differentiate between the two. Legality is that you won the election; legitimacy is that you have not rigged the election in order to win. When President Umaru Yar’Adua came, he confessed that they rigged the election that brought him to power and that he was going to change the system. But he didn’t want to start at the political party level; they thought the problem was with INEC. No. Jonathan also came and said that elections in the country have been flawed and that he was going to change the system and therefore, you get surprised why his party should be against the use of card readers to authenticate voter cards during elections which is supposed to make the election transparent and credible. Thirdly what we have not been able to control is money going into political campaigns. The money they are spending on this campaign has never been spent in the history of elections in Nigeria. Never! Where is the money coming from for God’s sake? A group of people got together in Aso Villa and contributed N21billion in one day. If you can raise N21 billion in one day, why should there be poverty in Nigeria? If you have a system built on chop and let’s chop, even if you

bring Barack Obama from the United States, he will become a billionaire in a few days. We need a system where the political parties have control over those they put in office and the people also should have the power to sanction governments that do not serve them well by simply voting out such a government at the polls. So much have been said about corruption and how we are swimming in it. In your own assessment, how corrupt do you think this present government is? You see, the problem is that we don’t have a lot of investigative journalists in Nigeria and therefore, people just form an opinion and pass it through the media. You get more information about corruption in Nigeria, abroad with oversea newspapers. Global Witness did some work on Malabo and Nigerian newspapers rely on such investigative journalism stories published abroad to be able to put their news stories together here. The second thing is that most of the monies realised from corruption here are kept abroad but it is becoming somewhat difficult to steal money here and go and keep it abroad. Why is it becoming difficult? Banks overseas are becoming very strict. Anything above $10,000 is questioned. This secret banking in Switzerland is coming to an end. So where most people go now is the Middle East and countries like Ghana. It has always been difficult for us to pinpoint who stole what and kept where. It is only the individuals who are involved who know what they are doing. When they tell you some of the stories, you will be amazed. The Minister of Petroleum Resources did say recently that there were certain funny things going on about petroleum subsidy but she did not disclose the figures that she was talking about. So how do we know? Why can’t she mention the figures so that we can get the true figures from her? At least that would have made us to forget about those other figures being used around by other people. But she did accept that there were some funny things going on with the oil subsidy. So if we do more investigative journalism in Nigeria, it would be easy for us to know how corrupt the system might be. You can get the facts when you talk to the civil servants in some of these ministries, department and agencies. They should be able to tell you their stories because they see that every day. It is not only at the federal level; it is also at the state level. For example, look at what they are accusing Bola Tinubu of in Lagos and what they are accusing the present government at the centre are all allegations, but nobody has been able to provide the facts for us to be able to draw informed conclusions. The problem is that as soon as these stories break, they are either swept under the carpet or some people are taken to court, after some months, that’s the end of the story. The APC accused the PDP of not doing enough to combat corruption but, President Jonathan said he has done a lot in the area of preventing corruption. What is your view on this argument? See, we’ve gone beyond the stage of preventing corruption now. Anybody telling you he is going to prevent corruption is a joker. When you want to prevent cancer and you’ve already got cancer, what do you think you are doing? CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Politics

Nigerian elections and low voter figures

Jega and IGP Suleiman Abba C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 1

Assembly elections, the presidential and governorship elections and those of the State Assembly conducted in April showed that voters’ turnout hovered around 35 per cent”. This, he said amount to waste of resources. He believes that, “an apathetic citizenry contribute to wastage of investments committed to procuring sensitive election materials as well as money spent on voters’ education activities and election personnel remuneration.” Before the workshop, INEC had commissioned Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation, a German non-governmental organisation, to undertake a study on voter apathy in Nigeria. The foundation, in its report, identified lack of transparent elections, election violence and politicians’ non-committal to their campaign promises as major reasons for voters’ apathy in the country. Professor Adigun Agbaje who was lead researcher, at a public presentation of the report, said people don’t participate in elections because they feel that the process is not transparent, that votes don’t count. Some of the reasons advanced for voter apathy in Nigeria are electoral violence and inadequate security at polling units. For this reason, people don’t participate in the elections. Agbaje said, “49.4 per cent of the 103 respondents interviewed believe that votes do not count in Nigeria, 28.7 per cent were discouraged by unfulfilled promises by politicians while 14 per cent believed that there is corruption in the system. About 7.9 per cent see violence during elections as an obstacle”. He, therefore, suggested that “government should provide support to INEC, fulfill electoral promises, engage in public enlightenment campaign, ensure adequate security for voters, stop corruption, and enforce law and order in the society and non-interference in the electoral process. “Politicians should fulfill the electoral promise made during campaign, stop violence and do or die politics, educate their supporters and organise peaceful political rally, accepting election results without manipulation, avoiding bribery and corruption.” INEC also blamed voter apathy and low participation in elections on low level of awareness on electoral matters by citizens, noting that “elections are guided by rules and regulations which stakeholders are expected to comply with. It is therefore necessary to promote positive attitudes and responses among the citizenry, encourage compliance with the regulations as well as discourage apathy, violence and all forms of malpractices.” In the 2013 Area Council elections in

Electorates queuing to cast their votes

per cent cannot be a pass mark in any examination. He blamed the poor turnout on the fact “that most Nigerians are scared that polling stations are easy killing ground for terrorists who will take out their grievances at the leaders in the DISPARITY AT A GLANCE country on helpless and harmless Registered Actual Nigerians who may wish to carry States Voters Voters out their civic responsibilities during elections. ABIA 381,697 1,396,162 Okorie however, warned that if ADAMAWA 626,365 1,559,012 nothing was done by the government to introduce more reliable, 1,028,551 1,680,759 AKWA-IBOM transparent and safer means of ANAMBRA 1,011,705 1,963,173 conducting of elections, “the turn out of the electorate in the 2015 BAUCHI 678,688 2,054,125 general elections would be so BAYELSA 366,403 610,373 abysmal that Nigeria will become a laughing stock of the world inBENUE 677,698 2,015,452 cluding much poorer countries in BORNO 499,183 1,934,079 Africa that have reformed their electoral process in line with modCROSS RIVER 414,748 1,175,623 ern technology”. DELTA 1,260,315 2,275,264 He, therefore, canvassed for the introduction of electronic voting EBONYI 343,171 1,074,273 system in future elections, notEDO 495,338 1,779,738 ing that Nigerians have lost conEKITI 296,797 732,021 fidence “in the present archaic method of voting”. Perhaps, this ENUGU 567,160 1,429,221 may encourage most Nigerians FCT 303,594 881,472 to participate in elections. But the National Assembly has not yet GOMBE 458,118 1,120,023 passed the bill for the introducIMO 732,438 1,803,030 tion of electronic voting system in Nigeria. JIGAWA 1,028,892 1,831,276 Giving other reasons for the KADUNA 1,611,845 3,407,222 disparity, a professor of Political Science at the University of Lagos, KANO 2,119,778 4,975,701 Prof. Derin Ologbenla, identified KATSINA 1,444,378 2,827,943 fraudulent practices of the two major political parties, apathy on KEBBI 668,855 1,470,648 the part of the middle class as well KOGI 414,838 1,350,883 as relocation by registered voters. KWARA 434,748 1,142,267 “I can tell you that before the elections, many politicians, esLAGOS 1,424,787 5,822,207 pecially in the two major parties NASARAWA 510,298 1,242,667 have stock-piled the PVCs with the view to rig elections. They NIGER 806,900 2,014,317 wanted to vote with his cards, OGUN 516,240 1,829,534 (you know political parties rig elections in Nigeria). But with the ONDO 551,257 1,524,655 introduction of the card readers, OSUN 633,532 1,407,107 they could not utilise them because they were careful about the OYO 831,996 2,415,566 consequences of being caught,” PLATEAU 978,755 2,001,825 he said. For that reason, he said, these RIVERS 1,556,313 2,537,590 politicians who collected the cards SOKOTO 824,125 1,611,929 through their agents or some traTARABA 572,126 1,340,652 ditional rulers could not use the cards. They wasted them. Akin to YOBE 471,791 1,099,970 this, he said, were failure of the ZAMFARA 757,035 1,495,717 upper and middle class people who neither collected their PVCs Total 28,280,083 68,833,476

Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, which recorded as low as 15 per cent voter turnout, the presidential candidate of United Peoples Party, Chief Chekwas Okorie, said the elections lacked legitimacy because 15

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

nor came out to vote in the elections. “Those of us who went out to vote discovered that most of the people on the queue were the artisans and lots of poor people who really believe in the system. They took the pain to come out to exercise their franchise. Lots of the upper and middle classes people were at home watching television. This is very bad,” Ologbenla, who was the spokesman for the National Republican Convention in Lagos State in 1992, said. He also identified the fact that many electorate registered in their home towns or had relocated from areas of residence where they registered for one reason or another. “This set of people should be educated that voter’s cards are transferable. They should have made efforts to carry out the transfer at the nearest INEC office in their respective states.” A party chieftain in Ondo State, Mr. Ayo Fadaka, attributed the disparity, to a reasonable extent to the distribution of the PVC. He said while about 1.5 million people registered in the state, only about 700,000 received their PVC while about 550,000 voted in the elections. He said the distribution was lopsided while a number of voters have no confidence in the electoral system, the leadership of the parties, whereas some are more interested in the state governorship and House of Assembly elections which are closer to them. Chief Bayo Dayo, Peoples Democratic Party chairman in Ogun State, in his response, blamed the marked difference on the non availability of PVCs and use of the card readers. He said that over 160,000 PVCs were not distributed in the state- a situation that prevented many people from voting in the elections. “You will recall too that in the last elections, due to the hiccups in the accreditation process, the card reader was jettisoned and the people were allowed to be accredited manually. In the North in particular, this was allowed and that was why some states were able to record about 2,000,000 votes. But here in the south, we were too fixated on the rules and we lost out,” he said Proffering solutions to this, Ologbenla and Dayo made a case for increased mobilisation of voters for the elections and called on people to be ready to make sacrifices in order to cast their votes for their candidates. They only called on INEC to ensure that electoral officers are well trained on how to handle the card readers and where possible, jettison it for manual accreditation in order that the people can actually contribute to the change they desire through the electoral process.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Politics

Adegbulu: Nigerians are tired of PDP’s ineptitude Femi Adegbulu, a security expert, is an Associate Professor of International Relations and Secretary of American Society of Industrial Security. In this interview with CHIJIOKE IREMEKA, he explains why the Peoples Democratic Party lost the presidential election and sets agenda for President-elect, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) Why do you think that the PDP lost the presidential election? Honestly, both parties worked assiduously to ensure that their respective candidates win the election. It’s just that the votes were given to the candidate that Nigerians preferred. Many people have been yarning for change with all seriousness. The quest for that change actually led to the result of the election. In fact, many dynamics that played up during the campaign, in one way or other, were in favour of the candidate, which eventually won. Though, two of them actually made use of blackmail here and there, but it seemed to boomerang on the other that over used it. The other went on using the weapon to the extent of saying certain things that people would rather not want to talk about as an individual. These people played on that in order to relegate their opponent, eventually, those who supported them were not pleased with that strategy, which was too personal against the opponent and out of sympathy they went to the other party, which eventually won. Do you consider the loss on lack of internal democracy within the PDP or the sectional politics in the North? The loss is as a result of combination of factors you mentioned and others that you didn’t. If you see lack of internal democracy within the PDP as a pitfall, then, I would say it also played out in the other party. Definitely, there is no internal democracy within the two parties. But the fact remains that the President has to emerge anyhow. Ethnicity was at play too, religion, money and so many other factors were on display during the election. But the fact remains that the person whom most Nigerians wanted to paddle the ass won. This is one thing I know for sure. Look at the issue of insecurity for instance, in my tour of the North, whenever I throw question to the electorate on how they feel about the election, they will say this person. People were like they wanted somebody who will help them restore security, look after our children and bring back the Chibok girls. In Adamawa State, people hardly sleep. We need somebody who will put a stop to all this. Also, another factor that aided loss is the issue of corruption, which seem to have eaten seriously into the fabrics of our country and nobody seems to have an answer to it;

nobody probes anybody. The institutions (ICPC, EFCC) that were set up to checkmate corruption are just there sleeping and earning salaries for doing nothing. Again, the reason for youths’ unemployment is corruption; the reason for not having energy is corruption; the reason for schools being in coma is corruption, and even the state of insecurity in the country is due to corruption too. These are the things that people saw and turned their back on PDP. I do not believe that Nigerian military is incapable of dealing with Boko Haram; rather we don’t have the political will to stop Boko Haram once and for all. When you don’t have political will to decisively take actions, as an executive, you are a weakling and inept. So, that ineptitude also played out and gave out PDP for people to criticise and wanting a change of all these. So, as I said, there is a combination of many factors that gave this victory to Buhari. Some have said that President Jonathan is either weak or he is surrounded by mediocre. The two were also at play. He was also surrounded by mediocre. If you are a President that is weak and you surround yourself with wise people, who know what they are doing and will not lead you astray, they will be able to level up to that shortcoming. But in this case, we have hawks around the President, self-centered people who do not care about what is happening to the country. Only a few of his ministers and aides were actually working to positively affect the lives of the people, the rest are just selfcentered people. So, apart from the fact that the man is very weak, he surrounded himself with people, who do not have that pedigree of selfless services, who only think of what the power can do for them without minding what the power can do for the larger society. As a result of this, people were tired. It was like what happened during the Second Republic of the National Party of Nigeria. People were tired and it got to a point that they were yarning for a change. To this extent, the masses were happy when the military seized power. The same thing happened this time around but the difference is that, it’s from democracy to democracy. So, it’s the combination of the weakness of the incumbent and hawks, who are surrounding him,

pushing him for what they didn’t know how to do. These gave rise to his failure. Also, this gives us the impression that he does not have a minds of his own to take decisive steps that would be attributed to him to say that this is what the President said. On any issue, he is indecisive and that is why we are where we are today. Look at the issue of the Chibok girls and Boko Haram. At earlier stage, the government never accepted that Boko Haram has human face. They were playing the ostrich. They were denying until the whole thing blew up on their faces. So, we have a lot of problems, which I have summarised under leadership deficit. All these things played out to work against PDP. What were the roles played by insecurity in this whole election? The role played by insecurity in the election is the immediate straw that broke the camel’s back. Now, when we talk about ineptitude, youth unemployment, and corruption, all these have been here with us. I will say that Jonathan inherited them. But the insecurity in the recent time, and the inability of the government to do anything about it, to assure the people of their safety, was a major factor to reckon with. This is because the first and foremost duty of a government is to secure the lives and property of the citizenry. This government seemed to have been unable to do that. Any government, which fails to assure its citizenry, has lost its own head, and there is no need keeping such government in power. All the while, the government didn’t seem to have any answer to Boko Haram. All of sudden, just few weeks to the election, he declared that he was going to end Boko Haram in six weeks.

While about 68, 833, 476 registered for the elections, only 28, 280, 083 people actually cast their votes. A whopping 40 million stayed away

All of us were circumspect and look at it, asking, ‘Does it mean that this man has an answer to it all the while, but deliberately refused to take this action?’ And now, in the time of election, he declared war against Boko Haram, telling us he will finish it in six weeks? That didn’t go unnoticed by those who are circumspect enough to think how come he just woke up, realising what it takes to stop Boko Haram after hundreds of people have been killed and others maimed. Boko Haram was busy hoisting flags, taking territories for itself. That’s an insult to our collective sensibility and our sovereignty too. A lot of issues were brought up by this insecurity and we are now having a man, who promised that if elected, he will end Boko Haram and ensure the security of lives and property. He said that he has a method of ending this insurgence and bringing succour to the people and that is why people were willingly casting their votes in his favour. How do you see the way and manner Jonathan accepted the defeat against the bloody aftermath of 2011 general elections? I must salute President Jonathan for the act of sportsmanship that he displayed. It’s rare for a seating President to accept defeat even before the final whistle was blown. He accepted the defeat and asked his people to come down. It’s not something that is common in this part of the world. I salute him for that. Against the background of 2011 election, I think the communication was not well managed. Not well managed in the sense that the way issues were communicated to the followers was bad. The perception of people that period was quite different from what we have now. But let’s blame it on political communication. In this case, everybody was monitoring the election to the end. In 2011, there was nothing like PVCs, it was open to manipulation and rigging. The communication that I’m talking about is the perception that we have been rigged out of the victory that we envisaged. That was what actually gave that impetus to the violence that erupted in 2011. But this time, people are watching and monitoring everything. They know the manner and pattern of voting. So, people CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Politics

‘Nigerians are tired of PDP’s ineptitude’ C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 5

will be convinced in one area or the other that the results that were given out in a particular area were expected, unlike in 2011 that was open to rigging and manipulation. For instance, in 2011, we saw where two million people registered in a centre but during the election, more votes were recorded than the number registered. All these didn’t go well, hence the violence. I think the era of PVC is the best thing that has happened to our politics in the recent time. In this same manner, how would you assess the conduct of the elections? Well, apart from hiccups here and there, some of which were not expected anywhere, like INEC officials, not arriving at the venue of election on time for verification and voting. Verification that was supposed to start

Obaze

by 8am didn’t start until about 2pm in some places. And that was the time the electorate should have been on the queue for actual voting. So, many people were disenfranchised and after accreditation, a number of them didn’t go back to vote because it was getting dark and they didn’t want to endanger their lives in fear of uncertainty. Some of them didn’t vote in spite of the fact that they were accredited. Others didn’t even see their names at all because of the new technology that we were in use. We have not perfected that technology. In most cases, the ad-hoc staff of INEC did not know what to do with the card readers. There were a lot of mishandling of these sensitive machines and many of them malfunctioned and denied a number of people voting. Some got frustrated and moved out of the place. And before those who could

handle the card readers came, many had gone home. By and large, it controlled the system, it didn’t encourage rigging. So, many people who wanted the status quo to remain were disappointed. To a very large extent, I think PVC is the way to go. It has given us the compass on how to navigate in the subsequent elections. What agenda would you like to set for the President-elect? In terms of economy, the fact remains that without energy, there is nothing any government can do. I’m not taking what the incumbent government has done from him. I learnt he has set the pace; the template is already on the ground to get electricity for the country. I will advise the incoming President to study the template well to see whether

he can build on the foundation laid by the President to get the economy jumpstarted. Buhari should not go the way of discountenancing the work of his predecessor to start it own. This will ensure continuity in the development plan of the country and in avoidance of resources wastage. He should start by encouraging the manufacturing sector. Though things might be hard, but sometimes, you have to take some hard measures to protect your own industry and make it grow. We have to consider banning further importation of power generators. I’m not saying that we should destroy the ones in existence but Buhari has to discourage importation of new ones so that our electricity will work. The impact of the generator sellers in our economy is unbearable. It’s not in doubt that they will never want our electricity to work well so that they can continue to sell. Whatever measures that incoming President will adopt in order to discourage the importation of generator for our industry to pick up, is allowed. It might affect the call for diplomatic culture here and there but it will help the country. In international relations, national interest is what determines the foreign policy of every country. In the natural law, self defense is the very first law of nature. Our national interest now is how the country will grow; how the country will have electricity; how SMEs can thrive and how graduate unemployment will stop among others. The graduates are no more looking for government jobs because they know they are a mirage. They want to create wealth but when they realise that they have to provide light, water, and other social amenities themselves, they are crippled. If Buhari will be able to conquer electricity problem in Nigeria, I can assure you that the businesses will boom and industries will be springing up here and there. All he needs to do is to create enabling environment for businesses to thrive. The reason China is growing in such exponential manner is the fact that there is enabling environment in China. And that is why American capitalists are going to China to have their plants, couple with their cheap labour. Establishing industry there is quite very easy for them. We can do that in this country and encourage local manufactures and engage local contractors as well. This is the way the country will grow. In construction of roads, bridges and others, instead of hiring Chinese and German contractors, we have to engage our local engineers. That’s how a country grows. The people should have their hands in the country’s building. We have a lot of arable land that are not cultivated. We can go back to what Chief Obafemi Awolowo did in the First Republic on farm settlements. With this, the people in the farm will not envy those in the city because they have everything in the farm.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Politics

I’ll stop youth restiveness in Oshodi, says Rep-elect Mr. Tony Nwulu, elected last weekend to represent Oshodi/Isolo Federal Constituency II, of Lagos State at the House of Representatives, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, speaks with CHIJIOKE IREMEKA on his victory and plans for his constituency How would you assess the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections? I believe that Independent National Electoral Commission has done its best so far, but it was not a perfect system in some areas. I still think it’s a work in progress. There is need for improvement. I’m sure there will be improvement in subsequent elections. So far, we are monitoring to see the whole exercise before we can make a complete statement on the conducts of the elections. How do you feel over your victory? I feel good and I’m grateful to God Almighty and the people of my constituency who voted me into the federal legislature. And as they say, to whom much is given, much is expected. It is a huge task and responsibility, I must say. The expectations are high because for some years now, my people have been yawning for good and effective representation, which they have never had. I’m heating the ground running and we are going to see how we will cover up the gap that existed between the leaders and the people. My people are wonderful people and I have plans for them. I will ensure that their expectations are not cut short. So, I will cover that gap that has been in existence for long. What should your constituency expect from you in the next few months? My promises to them have always been the same promise I made during my campaign, which is to engage them. I have to engage them, interact with them and find out what they want in specific terms. And we will address those things. I promise to fill the gap between the representatives and the people. At this time, we are going to have a robust feedback system to enable us do our work. We take it up from there. It’s going to be all inclusive representation. As a Representative-elect, how do you intend to address the incessant fights in Oshodi/ Isolo, your constituency?

Yes, I have a lot of roles to play in that regard. The boys that fight in Oshodi get their direct instruction from their sponsors. These people don’t just wake up in the morning and start fighting. The fights are induced by some people. The first thing to do is to look at those sponsoring the fight with a view to bringing everybody to a dialoging table. I believe it’s not something that we can’t put an end to. It doesn’t speak good of us that people are killing themselves because of politics. We shouldn’t just go and start killing and maiming our brothers in the name of politics. It does not worth it. I want to appeal to the sponsors of the fights to desist from such act. For you to know that the fights are induced, you would discover the most of the warring groups are poor people who cannot afford a bullet. Some people buy and give it to them. I appeal to the sponsors to give peace a chance to rule in Oshodi. I want to appeal to the people being used for this dastard act too. What I’m telling them now is that those using them for these killings and fighting cannot use their own children for the same task. Then, why should you be better tools in their hands? They sent their children overseas to become doctors and lawyers. They equipped their children academically and then equipped you for criminal activities. I’m therefore speaking to those being used by these politicians to stop and rethink. You can be a better doctor too. They will give you guns to kill one another, without telling their children to join you. Don’t you think there is no equity and sense in it? So, when next they ask you to go and fight, tell them to bring their children to join the street fights if they claimed to be helping you. I want you to understand that you can be good doctors and lawyers and responsible fathers, doing legitimate businesses. If we engage these people in legitimate businesses, I’m sure these fights will not be a subject of discussion. Somebody, who has office and bills to pay will not come out in the morning and start looking for fight to engage in. They are idle

Nwulu

and that is the reason it’s happening. Idle mind, they say, is Satan’s workshop. If we empower the youths, you will lessen the crime. They are being used during elections and dumped afterwards to be used again after four years. If there are skills acquisition programmes to empower them, they will see that a lot of them will break out from such practice, get married and support their families. But when they are given pump action guns, and they are arrested and jailed, sometimes, they get killed in the process for a little fee, what do we gain from them? The children of the sponsors are becoming leaders over them. I appeal to those being used for these acts to open their eyes and see that they are not doing them any good. Say no to violence and insist that they should bring their children to join the street fights and political killings if they want a fight. If you empower them, they will be good people. How much do they pay them that they will go and lose their lives? Also, the sponsors should have a change of heart. This is the only country we have. We can’t go to another place and let us think in united manner.

That’s all that I have been saying. I’m going to carry out youth empowerment programmes. I will go all out to ensure that the youths get what they deserve in this country. I will ensure that my position in any national issue will be to carry the youth along all the time. We have vibrant youths. We have bundles of talents in them but locked up. All we need is to harness these talents and Nigeria will be great for it. We, the youths hold the future of the country and what we want it to be, will be. It’s our generation that will do it. We are the change generation.

With what programmes will you empower these youths?

How do you intend to manage this situation since you are a minority in the House? It’s not the issue of being in the minority or the majority party. The most important issue is the interest of the state first. Minority or majority does not really work for me. For me, the interest of Nigeria comes first. At all time, I will stand for any issue that will represent the interest of the people and not the issue of minority or majority opinion. Also, Nigeria’s interest must be bonded by rule of law and equality. That’s my take on it.

‘APC will win Lagos gov race’ Stanley Ihedigbo

chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Nicholas Chidiebere Ajayi, has advised the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State to jettison the governorship election in the state, as that would amount to a waste of resources. Ajayi said the PDP should rather concentrate its energy on getting one or two seats in the State House of Assembly that would help it to build its political structures for future elections. He urged the PDP in the state to form a formidable and constructive opposition that would help the APC government deliver more services to the citizens. Ajayi said that the electorate in the state would vote massively for the APC, which he said would win over 70 per cent of votes cast in Lagos in the coming governorship election.

“There’s no doubt about it. Lagos is an APC state; Lagos people believe in the APC; they are going to vote massively for the party. I am not excited about the victory; I am more concerned about what comes after the victory. How do we really fulfill our promises to the people because this is what we would be judged by in 2019,” he said. According to him, the PDP cannot win the governorship race in Lagos State, because right now, the party does not even have a councilor or a local government chairman in the entire state. “Again, the party does not have a member in the State House of Assembly, a member of the Federal House of Representatives and a senator; the party does not have the structures. “It is not sufficient for a candidate to be of a good character. That will not attract the winning votes from the electorate. There must be a platform. The reality is that there’s

no PDD in Lagos state. PDP exists only in time of elections, I advise that they should be educated on what to do in order to become relevant in the scheme of things; they are not relevant, they don’t exist. He said that the Babatunde Fashola administration on the platform of the APC has set a very high standard that today many governors in the country including the PDP governors are emulating. “Before now, there was no index for measuring the performance of governors in the country. But today, governors are measured by the number of schools they build, roads, hospitals and other infrastructural and developmental facilities they put in place. “These are the things that the APC government has brought into the Nigerian polity as dividends of democracy. I doubt if a PDP government in Lagos State can deliver such because, of course, for a very long time, they have not come into governance.”

How many non-Yoruba speaking legislators from Lagos State are going to Abuja? I’m not the only one. My colleague, Barr Rita Orji, from Ajeromi Ifelodun also emerged on PDP’s platform. And I want to use this opportunity to appeal to my opponent to accept the defeat in good faith and let us work together, because I don’t believe it is my victory, rather it is my constituency’s victory. My policy has always been let the constituency win. Let him come on board so that we can work together. I’m willing to work with everybody.

In other words, if the minority comes with a good idea or project, you will go with them and if the majority comes with a good idea, you will join them too? As long as there is a programme or issue that benefits this country as a nation and it is an issue that is in the best interest of the country, I will align myself with that position, which is in the best interest of my country. The interest of my country comes first. I mean the very best interest of my country and that is where you will always find me. I want to thanks the good people of Lagos State for the opportunity given to me to serve. I pray that I would able to work above the expectations of my people and I promise to be fair to all, accommodating all tribes. In fact, I will be seen as the unity representative in my constituency.

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Politics

Gov, assembly elections: Unlike before, more Nigerian women are out to contest various positions in this weekend’s governorship and House of Assembly elections write Kunle Olayeni, Cajetan Mmuta, Uwakwe Abugu, Ibraheem Musa, Musa Pam and Tony Anichebe

ith political activities on the upward swing all over the country, the womenfolk are gradually taking the front seats in the search for elective offices. For instance, a number of them like Senator Remi Tinubu and Senator Uche Ekwunife and former Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, secured seats at the Senate in the elections held penultimate week. Similarly, this weekend, not a few of them are gunning for seats at the governorship and the states House of Assembly elections. In Taraba State, Senator Aisha Alhasan is the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress while Senator Helen Esuene is the candidate of the Labour Party in Akwa Ibom State. Not a few of the women are also running mates of various governorship candidates all over the country. Both APC and the PDP governorship candidates in Lagos picked women as their running mates. They are Dr. Idiat Adegbule, Alhaja Safuratu Abdukaerrem respectively, while in Ogun State, Mrs. Yetunde Onanuga is holding the same position. In Rivers, Nyesom Wike, the governorship candidate of the PDP is contesting the election with the former Secretary to the State Government, Dr. (Mrs.) Ipalibo Banigo as his deputy. In Kaduna, Mrs. Cecilia Umaru is the running mate of Mr. James Bawa Magaji, the LP candidate in the state. Also in Enugu State, Hon (Mrs.) Cecilia Ezeilo, a member of the State House of Assembly, is the running mate of the PDP governorship candidate. Since the commencement of electoral campaigns, they have criss-crossed various parts of their constituencies to canvass for votes like their male counterparts. Below is a bird eye view of the backgrounds of some of the women and the respective positions they are gunning for in this week’s elections. Senator Aisha Alhassan , Taraba Currently the senator representing Taraba North at the National Assembly, Senator Aisha Alhassan, a lawyer, was elected the governorship candidate of the APC in the state, at the party’s primaries held last year. Though three aspirants, Dr. Muhammed Julde, M. T. Tumba and Yusufu Akirikwen boycotted the primaries, Alhasan scored 2,425 of the votes, Julde scored 14 votes, Akirikwen 14 votes and Tumba got 18 votes. Alhassan, a former Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in the state, was also the Chief Registrar of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. In April 2011, she was elected to the Senate on the platform of the PDP and later defected to the APC. The 56 years old Senator is the Vice Chairman

Aisha Alhassan

of Women Affairs Committee at the upper House where she served for four years. During his tenure as Senator, she brought many dividends of democracy to the people, drilling several boreholes in the six local governments in her constituency. Her mantra during the campaign is “Try a woman for once and I can assure you that you will see a great difference.” Though he scored over 116,000 to emerge Senator in 2011 while in the PDP, observers believe that contesting against the incumbent governor from her former party might be a tough one. Senator Helene Esuene , A’Ibom Also a ranking senator in Seventh Senate, Esuene, is the widow of the former Military Administrator of defunct South Eastern State, late Brig. General E.U.J Esuene and former Minister of Environment in Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Currently representing Eket senatorial district, she is contesting on the platform of the Labour Party. Esuene has reasonable structures to advance her dreams and it is on record that after the Akwa Ibom State Government, Esunne is the next biggest single employer of labour in the state, owing to her various firms mainly in the oil servicing industry and a chain of hospitality firms. Esuene, who defected from the PDP to the Labour Party, has toured all parts of the state canvassing for votes, and on more than one occasion, her supporters have been attacked. She however, has an uphill task to defeat the PDP candidate, Mr. Udom Emmanuel in the April 11 governorship election. Hon. Elizabeth Anifowose, Ogun Elizabeth Anifowose is a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly, represent-

Helen Esuene

ing Obafemi-Owode State Constituency. In 2011, she was elected on the platform of defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, but in November 2014, the lawmaker defected to the Social Democratic Party following the power tussle between loyalists of Governor Ibikunle Amosun and former governor Olusegun Osoba in the APC. Anifowose is one of Osoba’s loyalists. For the April 11 House of Assembly election, the female lawmaker is seeking re-election as the SDP candidate for Obafemi-Owode Constituency. Mrs. Bimbo Lanre-Balogun Mrs. Bimbo Lanre-Balogun is a former Special Adviser on Environment to Governor Ibikunle Amosun. She was appointed in July 2011 but resigned from her position in September 2014. She complained of being made redundant in the government. Mrs. Lanre-Balogun soon joined the PDP where she later emerged as one of the few female contenders for the forthcoming polls. The party nominated her as its House of Assembly candidate for Obafemi-Owode Constituency. Hon. Elizabeth Ativie She remains one of the most experienced legislators with bright chances among the various candidates jostling for the plum seats at the Anthony Enahoro legislature in Edo State. Ativie hopes to return to the House after a dogged four-year of seasoned legislative business during which she touched the lives of people of the agrarian communities of Uhunmwonde constituency. As a consistent legislator, she is expected to slug it out with Murphy Imasuen of the PDP. She was at the chambers in 2007 on the platform of the PDP, but was removed by the

election petitions tribunal before the end of her term. She later defected to the then Action Congress of Nigeria on whose platform she launched herself back to the house in 2011. The soft spoken lawmaker has remained the only female lawmaker of the 24 member state assembly since 2007 and has weathered the storm with the support of leadership of the APC, groups and people of her constituency, because of her interest in the welfare of people of the area. She has attracted many development projects for improved standard of living of the people of the constituency. With a passion for increased number of women in active politics, Ativie once noted that: “The fact that I am a woman is an added advantage. It should not be the primary reason that I think I should be there. Women must be focused.” Ms. Uyi Ogbemudia, Edo Ms Uyi Ogbemudia is a daughter of two time governor of old Midwest and Bendel State (now Edo and Delta states), Dr Samuel Ogbemudia. The Uhunmwonde-born politician, like her father, is not a pushover in the realm of politics. As a chieftain of the PDP, she is strongly eyeing the Oredo West constituency seat in the State House of Assembly. Ms. Ogbemudia was a Commissioner for Education during the 18 months administration of ex-PDP Governor of the state, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor. With the strong backing of associates of her father and the popularity of the octogenarian, the candidate stands tall among the Binis and she is expected to clinch the top seat considering the high population of voters in the constituency in the South Senatorial District of the state. The contest is not expected to be an easy for

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Amazons in the ring

Elizabeth Anifowose

Elizabeth Ativie

Idiat Adebule

Uyi Ogbemudia

Omosede Igbinedion

Safurat Abdulkarim

her because of the presence of another popular contender, Chris Okaeben of the APC who was also commissioner in the state. It is expected that the battle will be a tough one as the candidates seemed ready to match force and funds to edge out one another. The APC which had a not too impressive outing during the just concluded presidential and National Assembly polls in the state is not leaving anything to chance. Ms Omosede Igbinedion She is a daughter of popular business mogul and the Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion. All eyes are on her to make a difference in the Ovia Federal Constituency federal constituency. The influence from her father had played a major role to secure victory for her during the March 28 National Assembly election. Apart from the sizzling influence of Chief Igbinedion, the internal crisis within the APC in the constituency where two chieftains of the ruling party, the incumbent representative at the Lower House, Nosakhare Osahon and the party’s aspirant Charity Amayanvbo have laid claim to the ticket, helped to boost Ms. Igbinedion’s victory. Igbinedion declared that her decision to go into murky waters of politics was personal and not due to her father’s intervention nor influence. She has consistently stated her strong desire to do her utmost to represent the federal constituency at the National Assembly. Bisi Idaomi The Akoko Edo-born politicians is expected to spring some surprises during next week’s Saturday’s polls into the State House of Assembly. She is from the ward with the highest voting population in her constituency. The voters have always been uni-directional in

their voting pattern in the past elections and it may not be different this time. The incumbent member representing Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Peter Akpatason of the ruling APC is from the same ward. The PDP candidate is expected to have a rough ride with candidate of the APC, Mr. Emmanuel Agbaje from Ososo. As a young and popular politician, Agbaje may not leave anything to chance for the female PDP candidate. Although, there is the fear that it will be a battle of cash, influence and might between forces like Senator Domingo Obende of the APC, Hon. Akpatason of the APC and former House of Representatives leader, Hon. Tunde Akogun who are expected to lock horns in the make-or-mar contest to determine who holds the ace at the state. Idaomi, said: “I have been in the system for over 10 years now. I am from a political family and we are known to deliver and being the only woman in Edo North and in the local government area, the women want to send a woman there. It is their turn; they are yearning for women empowerment and effective representation.”

of revitalization of the economy of the state through aggressive agro-based activities that would make the state far less dependent on allocation from federation account. Although she is not known to have been a politician with keen interest in partisan politics before her nomination for the lofty position, she has earned herself respect for her activism and assertive mien judging from her human rights activities.

Mrs. Juliet Ibekaku, Enugu Mrs. Chikaodili Juliet Ibekaku, the deputy governorship candidate of APC is a rights activists and lawyer was nominated by the Chief Okey Ezea, also a lawyer and candidate of the APC for the April 11 governorship election in Enugu State. She has spent about 20 years working on anti-corruption activities, women welfare and has passion for youth development. Ibekaku joined Ezea in declaring that when elected, they would work hard to change governance structure in Enugu State, especially in the area

Hon. (Mrs.) Mfon Ekong She is the incumbent Chairman of Nsit Ibom Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Her performance as a council chairman prompted the massive support she got during the PDP primaries which saw her defeated the incumbent and other strong politicians from her area for the slot. She has touched lives of her people positively in various ways according to some of the beneficiaries. Mfon may have an easy ride to the State House of Assembly.

Mrs. Ethel Oyibo Ugwuanyi She is PDP House of Assembly candidate for Igbo-Eze North Constituency 1. A former aide to Governor Sullivan Chime, Mrs. Ugwuanyi has been very visible in the political circles of the very populous Igbo-Eze North Local Council area of the state. She has equally been outstanding among the notable PDP women activists in the state. She grabbed the ticket of the party during the last PDP primaries following the zoning of the seat to her part of the large constituency. Known to be a deep grassroots mobiliser, she appears as good as winning ahead of the contest in view of the strength of the party in the area

Politics

Hon (Mrs.) Felicia Bassey She is the incumbent chairman of Okobo Local Government of Akwa Ibom Sate. A vocal and vibrant politician whose achievements in Okobo local government area are very visible, she is seeking election into the House of Assembly. A strong ally of the wife of the state governor, Mrs. Unoma Akpabio, she defeated other strong politicians in the area to clinch the state House of Assembly slot for the Okobo State Constituency. But she seems to have an uphill task to clinch the assembly seat in the April 11 elections owing to the dominant presence of the opposition, APC in her constituency after the area which is part of Oro nation lost the PDP governorship ticket to Mr. Udom Emmanuel. Hon. Zainab Dogo, Plateau Among the two female candidates jostling for the elections in Plateau State this weekend is the current Deputy Majority Leader of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Zainab Dogo. She is seeking re-election to represent the people of Qua-pan South Constituency. Hon. Dogo was elected into the House of Assembly in 2011 on the platform of the PDP and many believe that she has done very well and deserves a second tenure. She is the only female legislator seeking re-elections among the three of them who were elected into the assembly in 2011. Investigations revealed that Dogo’s performance makes her stand tall amongst her male counterparts, which earn her victory in the primaries. Mrs. Mary Adar Gar Another female candidate to watch during CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Politics

‘You must take tough decision’ C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 3

We should stop analysing corruption in Nigeria, we should accept that corruption has become cancerous in our society. When you have cancer and you go to a doctor, he diagnoses your ailment and prescribes chemotherapy or surgery to remove the tumor or other remedies. He doesn’t go on analysing the disease anymore because if he doesn’t act fast, the patient would die. The case of corruption in a country is that it won’t kill, but it kills the development of that country. If you allow it to fester, it becomes a culture and tradition and becomes difficult to eradicate. Who suffers? The people of the country. What has been the problem is not simply because there is corruption in Nigeria. There is corruption all over the world but the only difference between us and other countries is that in those other places, they punish corrupt people when they are caught no matter who they are. In those countries, they know that some corrupt practices can be hidden, so if you are a whistle blower and government succeeded in recovering some looted funds from a corrupt individual, you the whistle blower would be compensated. In Nigeria, that person who blows the whistle against corruption will be victimised instead of being compensated. So that is why there is impunity in the land. When you have

a situation like that in a society where there is corruption, it is difficult to prevent anything. We have passed the stage of prevention. What we need to is to stop impunity, encourage and compensate whistle blowers and punish corrupt people. Due to fears of violence, the federal government deployed soldiers to strategic locations during the election but the opposition protested against it. What are your thoughts on troops deployment during elections? Who told you that soldiers are responsible for public security? Soldiers are not supposed to do peace keeping in their own country. You have the Police and Civil Defence. These security agencies have been doing it before. This idea of deploying soldiers during polls is a recent phenomenon. I was in the Army for 30 years and nobody ever told me to go and take my soldiers to go and police elections. None. The army is not even a counter-terrorism force; it is the Police. So all those stories they are telling you about security and why they must deeply soldiers are all lies. They are lies from security point of view. The police and civil Defence can deal with the problems easily. It’s a lie. We have turned the Army into a counterterrorism force and it’s a very big mistake.

I am surprised that the army is happy to be doing that too. It is not their job. Counterterrorism is not the job of the army. It is the last stage of security that you bring in the army. Once you bring in the army then it means the situation is very serious but not for elections. Why do we have the Mobile Police? Why was the Mobile Force Unit created? So, don’t let people deceive you with all these political talks. No. The army should not get involved in all these stupid things. As a veteran of the Nigeria Army, are you comfortable with the performance of the Army in the North -East? Right now, one can say that the Nigeria Army is doing its best, with the support of our neighboring countries and the special people they said they brought to be training them. In the past (laughs), it was nothing to write home about but now, they are recovering their reputation and I hope they continue. I will continue to wish them best of luck and they must not give up. That’s all I can say for now. Do you think that it was the fault of tbe Army when they were not doing well in the battle against the insurgents? It was the fault of the Army to a certain extent and much more so, the political con-

trol of the Army. Normally, within the Army itself, there is supposed to be a continuous thinking process about the type of new wars that the Army will need to fight in the future. Looking at the past, this counter- insurgency should not have been so difficult to handle. We’ve had Maitasine and similar uprisings in this country. What lessons did we learn from those experiences? We learnt about the existence of this Taliban Kingdom in Yobe. What did we do? We were not prepared because we just treated the issue like business as usual. The same government took it the same way. So we need a thinking Army; we need a thinking strategic leadership. If both are working together, most of these things that happened would not happen. The second thing is that we must recognise the importance of intelligence from the community level to the highest level. We need to constantly work with our neighbours in terms of intelligence cooperation, sharing and exchange of intelligence to ensure that what has happened to us on the case of Boko Haram dies not repeat itself. It has been a faulty system which strategic leadership, the military itself and of course the intelligence system could have been able to handle. This is an opportunity for us to e able to cover these gaps and make sure that these sort of things will never happen again.

Gov, assembly elections: Amazons in the ring C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 9

the April elections in Plateau State is Mrs. Mary Adar Gar who is contesting the State Assembly position for the first time to represent Jos-East Constituency. Gar defeated two men in the primaries to clinch the PDP ticket. If her people eventually elect her, the Eighth Assembly would only have two female lawmakers instead of the three that adorned the sixth and seventh assemblies. However, Gar would need extra-ordinary political strength to win the election because during the just concluded presidential election, her party, the PDP which lost Jos-East to the All Progressives Congress. Orezi Esievo – Isoko South Orezi Esievo is a lawyer by profession. She served under former Governor James Onanefe Ibori as Commissioner for Culture and Tourism. His successor, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan inherited her and appointed her as his Commissioner in-charge of the Directorate of Infrastructure. It was during her time, that the state government accessed N50 billion loan from the capital market to build 10 Model Primary and Secondary Schools across the state. She is believed to be very close to the leadership of the PDP Board of Trustees and she is trying to unseat the popular candidate of the APC, Hon. Essien Okemute, who is believed to enjoy the support of the electorate in Isokoland. Pundits are of the opinion that with the overwhelming votes President Goodluck Jonathan garnered in the state, and the since the state is a wholly controlled by the PDP, she stands a good chance. Erhiatake Ibori -- Ethiope West Eriatake is the daughter of the former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori. She is new in the political scene of the state and young enough for the seat. She is banking on the goodwill, popularity and general acceptance of his father, who largely empowered the people of the state during his eight years period as the governor of the state, to coast to victory. Besides, she is supportive political daughter of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, the PDP governor-

Zainab Dogo

Ipalibo Banigo

Erhiatake Ibori

ship flag-bearer in the state. When she joined the race, she gained quick acceptability of the PDP caucus in the state and her people in Oghara Kingdom. For this reason, she grabbed the party’s ticket to contest the seat unopposed. She is likely to win the seat.

Angela Nwaka -- Aniocha South Chief (Mrs.) Angela Nwaka is also somehow new in the politics of the state. Little is known about her except for her footprints in philanthropic work. She was compensated with the ticket of the PDP for Aniocha South constituency, owing to the humanitarian gesture. She was a US-based medical practitioner before she returned to Nigeria to contest for the constituency seat in 2011, under an alien opposition party but lost to the then sitting member, Evang. Joan Mrakpor, who has won the House of Representatives seat for Aniocha /Oshimili Federal Constituency. Now that she has gained an in-road into the mainstream party, she is likely to win the seat.

cal career. A two-time chairman of Sanga Local Government, the ‘’Iron Lady’’ of southern Kaduna, as she is referred to, was also Commissioner of Women Affairs. According to reports, Amwe is likely to win the coming election, owing to her popularity and that of the PDP in the area. Apart from Amwe, no one seems to know the antecedents of the other State Assembly candidates also as neither their posters nor billboards were found in their constituencies. Efforts to get comments from NCP officials proved abortive but the following candidates will run on the party’s platform during the state assembly election that is scheduled to hold on April 11. They are Mrs. Zainab Solomon (Kajuru); Hajiya Hauwa Ahmed Tijani (Igabi West) and Mrs. Naomi Danjuma (Kachia). Others are Mrs. Murna Ishaya (Kagarko); Mrs. Tero Haro (Makera) and Mrs. Esther Christopher (Zangon Kataf); Mrs. Monica Sunday (Zonkwa) and Mrs. Mary Tyaka (Jaba). As they go to the polls this weekend, it hoped that they will use their numerical strength to ensure victory for themselves, to gain the platforms to effectively advance issues affecting the womenfolk and children in the country.

Princess Pat Ajudua -- Oshimili North Pat Ajudua is the wife of Chief Fred Ajudua. She is currently seeking a third term in the House of Assembly for Oshimili South constituency. She appeared on the political scene in 2007. She was one of the candidates of PDP that Ibori delivered, alongside Senator Patrick Osakwe, via the Accord Party and thereafter, decamped to the ruling party. She won the constituency seat in 2011 in a landmark judgment delivered at the Court of Appeal in Benin, Edo State, in 2012. This was after Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan had appointed her as a Commissioner for Special Duties (Public Works), a portfolio that has since gone into extinction. She is in the race again, but this time, the candidate of the All Peoples Grand Alliance in Ibusa axis of the state, is posing a serious threat. Her chances of returning to the House are very high.

Mrs. Comfort Amwe, Kaduna Out of the 34 state constituencies that would be contested for in Kaduna State, only nine women are seeking election into the House of Assembly. Although seven women will slug it out on the platform of the National Conscience Party, only one of them will run on the ticket of the PDP. On the other hand, Mrs. Comfort Amwe, the PDP state assembly candidate from Sanga Constituency, has a fairly distinguished politi-

Life SUNDAY

SUNDAY APRIL5, 2015

Presidential poll:

The ‘nays’ have it in Aso Rock I

Anule Emmanuel n every contest, there is always a winner and a loser. In fact, a former American President, Abraham Lincoln, re-echoed the strength of the ballot in democratic systems where votes are allowed to count, when he emphasised that it is stronger than the bullet. The 2015 presidential and National Assembly elections which held on Saturday March 28 have indeed not come withoutmuch tension, as the Peoples Democratic Party strove to retain President Goodluck Jonathan in power while the opposition All Progressives Congress worked hard to get him replaced by its candidate, Muhammadu Buhari. The pendulum has since swung in the direction of the latter. In the seat of power, the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, no one was left in doubt that everything possible needed to be done by Jonathan to secure a second term. On the eve of the polls, Jonathan, his wife, Patience, and mother, Eunice, along with several of his aides departed for his village, Otuoke in Bayelsa State, where he registered to prepare for the election. Security in the entire Ogbia Local Government, under which his village falls, was quite tight. With the President and Vice-President Namadi Sambo away to their hometowns to cast their votes, activities in the Presidential Villa came to a near halt since most staff had also travelled for the elections. However, notwithstanding the drama that played out in Otuoke over the failure of the card reader to authenticate the Permanent Voter Cards of President Jonathan and his wife, they were eventually accredited and voted. The President did not spend more than a day in his home state but returned within hours to take charge of the seat of power and monitor events from the nation’s capital. He also needed to be around to receive firsthand information from key actors across the states and confer with party leaders as well as appointees who came visiting with feedback on the elections. The mood generally inside the Villa was of great optimism. Most aides of the President had strong hopes that their principal would win a fresh term of four years in office. Confident that he would triumph in the presidential election, President Jonathan attended the Palm Sunday church service at the Aso Rock Chapel the next day with several of his aides. Special prayers were offered to thank God for the relative peace that the country witnessed during the election. Since the Independent National Electoral Commission had extended elections in some parts of the country, official results had also not started pouring in. Attendance at the church service presented a worrisome signal to a few people. On a usual day, the Aso Rock Chapel is filled to capacity, with worshippers living within the Presidential Villa and visitors who see the Sunday service as an opportunity to rub shoulders with power brokers in government. Those in attendance during the Palm Sunday service, besides the choir, did not exceed the first three rows on both sides, while workers and few security aides and the media occupied the last lines of pews. Then, news filtered in that the unexpected

Voters at an Aso Rock polling unit

Nigeria succeeding will be not only in Nigeria but to West Africa and to the continent. We will all be made proud of the success achieved by Nigerians for themselves and for all of us

had happened: Buhari had defeated Jonathan in the only two polling units located inside the Presidential Villa! Infact, APC led in both the National Assembly and presidential elections. Failure, they say, is an orphan. Had friends of the President started deserting him, having perceived that he might lose to BuharI? Of course, on the night of the Election Day, the social media was awash with unofficial results, with signals showing that the polls were mostly in favour of the opposition party. Despite INEC’s call for Nigerians to discountenance results on such platforms, the process of announcing results at the polling units, from which the social media reportedly picked its results, saved a great deal of time. As workers resumed on Monday morning at the Presidential Villa, it was time to gather in clusters and exchange feelings on the turn of events. While some expressed optimism that the President would defeat his opponent by a wide margin, a few including security

aides, especially those from the South South, doubted the possibility of their principal penetrating the core Northern states and securing the needed votes for his victory. While the group discussions in the Presidential Villa lasted, civil servants carried on with their normal duties. ‘Soja go, soja come, barracks remain,’ is a popular Nigerian saying. The system had to continue. By nightfall on Monday, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s collation officers in eight states and the Federal Capital Territory had announced the results from their areas at the National Collation Centre in Abuja. As the results were being read live from the International Confreence Centre, venue of the event, Jonathan was shown to be in the lead, with the total votes cast. He had won in just three states and FCT while Buhari led in five states. It was a morale booster for the President’s camp. Jonathan also received members of the African Union and Economic Community of West African States election observer team. They had visited him to submit an interim report on their findings about the conduct of the polls while the announcement of the final results was being awaited. The team, which was led by former Ghanaian President John Kuffour, commended the Federal Government, INEC and Nigerians for the level of peace witnessed during the elections throughout the country. “We have come this far and we wanted to give an interim report to the authorities that mandated us to come; and to the world and to Nigerians in particular, to let everybody know that Nigeria so far has been at peace with the process. So, we appeal to Nigerians to continue in this mood throughout the entire process,” Kuffour noted. He emphasised that: “At the end of the day

the people of Nigeria will be satisfied with themselves that they used the process to get the government they want and they deserve. Nigeria succeeding will be not only in Nigeria but to West Africa and to the continent. We will all be made proud of the success achieved by Nigerians for themselves and for all of us.” The visit of the foreign observers was not far away from an earlier agreement reached between Jonathan and Buhari in what is today referred to as the ‘Abuja Accord.’ At the time of the visit of the observers, Jonathan’s facial look really depicted that of an embattled personality. Jonathan, who donned a casual attire to receive his guests, obviously appeared worried even with the result of 28 more states pending. His strongholds and those of Buhari had yet to be officially announced. But was it possible that the President had had prior knowledge of the eventual outcome? Only he can best answer this question. Besides, the news making the rounds was not cheering. The next day was therefore to present a clearer picture of the possible winner since INEC had suspended further announcement of results for the day. Few hours into INEC’s resumption of announcement of results early Tuesday, Buhari over took the lead from Jonathan. It began with a slim margin which swiftly rose to a point that left no one in doubt that it was a lost battle for the incumbent. While the result for Rivers State was being awaited because of irregularities that were under investigation by INEC, a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, took the centre stage with a drama that temporarily disrupted the announcement process at the CC. Orubebe held the audience in the expansive hall hostage for over 30 minutes that his drama lasted, as he C O N T ’d O n PAG E 5 8

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH MARCH 29, 2015

Life

Flora Onwudiwe

hree robbery suspects posing as army officers have been arrested by operatives of the Special AntiRobbery Squad of the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja. The impersonators were arrested after one of their victims, simply identified as Adewale, informed Olosa Police Station, Mushin, Lagos that they robbed him on January 15, 2015. The suspects were walking on OshodiMushin Road between 5p. and 6p.m when they sighted Adewale driving a Honda car. They also noticed that their target was dressed in what looked like an army uniform. One of the suspects, Ugo Williams, a dismissed soldier, stopped Adewale’s car and asked him to explain why he was putting on an army uniform. The victim was putting on military fatigue under his clothes. Not satisfied with Adewale’s answer, Ugo threatened to drag him to the Nigerian Army Resettlement Centre, Oshodi. The young man started begging the suspect not to take him to the barracks but to bail himself out with a bribe. Unfortunately for him (victim), he had no cash on him but his ATM card. So they all left together for First City Monument Bank, Mushin branch. It was there they discovered that the victim had no money in his account. They gave him a serious beating and seized his ATM card and phone. The victim managed to flee while the suspects drove away with his car to Akala, a seedy neighbourhood in Mushin. There, the suspects allegedly took some hard drugs before driving down to Ladipo Auto Spare Part Market, also in Mushin, to source for a buyer for Adewale’s car. When they could not immediately sell the car, they left it at a safe spot, hoping to return

Police nab dismissed soldier, others for robbery

The suspects

another day for a more successful search. The following Sunday, while the victim was returning home from church service, he sighted Ugo at a distance. He quickly dismounted from the commercial motorcycle that was about to take him home and ran after the suspect. Upon getting close to the dismissed soldier, he gripped

him by the shirt and raised the alarm. This attracted a crowd and they assisted Adewale in dragging the suspect to Olosha Police Station. When the policemen at the station discovered that they could not handle the case, since it involved robbery, they transferred the suspect to SARS.

The ‘nays’ have it in Aso Rock CONTINUED FR O M PAGE 57

accused INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, of being partial in the conduct of the elections and of also failing to attend to the PDP’s complaints as contained in a petition. What most Nigerians did not know at that moment was that Jonathan quickly intervened in stopping Orubebe’s drama. Jonathan placed a call to Jega, according to Presidency sources, during which he told the INEC boss to ignore Orubebe and proceed to complete his assignment. Had the President not intervened, Orubebe’s interruption would have been interpreted as a Presidential Villa script intended to disrupt the process. Jega has been commended for handling the situation wisely, in a manner which observers said actually saved the country from plunging into a repeat of the 2011 post-election crisis. While the announcements of the result continued at ICC, a former head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, and members of the National Peace Committee on the 2015 Presidential Election did not relent in pushing for the main contenders in the polls to respect the content of the peace accord. Abubakar led members such as President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; a former Chief of General Staff, Ebitu Ukiwe; and the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, to a meeting with the President at the Villa. It was seen as a move to calm his nerves and encourage him to respect the peace agreement should he lose to Buhari. They were expected to also pay a similar visit to the APC candidate, having already seen the handwriting on the wall. Unknown to Abdulsalami and his group, Jonathan had already made up his mind to concede defeat. He had also been able to put up a call to Buhari to congratulate him on his emergence as the president-elect. This unique statesmanly action from the President came as a shock to the team and several of his aides. He conceded defeat in the election even before he knew the official results. “We were at the middle of a meeting with the international observers to try to see how we could still water down the tension, when I

Had the President not intervened, Orubebe’s interruption would have been interpreted as a Presidential Villa script intended to disrupt the process

gladly called Gen. Buhari that we were coming to see him. He told me that Mr. President called him at about 5:15p.m, congratulated him and conceded defeat.” Abdulsalami told reporters after the private meeting with the President. He explained that by the singular act, President Jonathan had proven that he is a man of his words. In fact, he said the President had at different times maintained that he would to accept the result of the elections, whichever way it fell. According to the former head of state, the

committee will help him execute a smooth process for the transmission of power to Buhari. Jonathan also addressed the nation on Wednesday why he took the bold step and allowed the will of the people to prevail. In a nationwide broadcast, the President said, “I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word. I have also expanded the space for Nigerians to participate in the democratic process. That is one legacy I would like to see endure. “Although some people have expressed mixed feelings about the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, I urge those who may feel aggrieved to follow due process based on our constitution and our electoral laws, in seeking redress.” He stressed that: “As I have always affirmed, nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian. The unity, stability and progress of our dear country is more important than anything else.” Since his public statement on the polls, some level of calm has returned to the Presidential Villa. A number of aides have come to accept the reality that power is transient and they must move on. Interestingly, the President’s wife has also extended congratulations to the wife of the President-Elect, Hajia Aisha Buhari, on the election of her husband. Many groups have come visiting to console the President on the defeat. He has met with the service chiefs, the leadership of the PDP and a few of his cabinet members. While such visits are expected to continue, there are indications that the process for the handover on May 29 has already commenced. Buhari has also since began to receive all complements of a president-elect, beginning with a full security detail.

The SARS detectives swung into action and followed the suspect to his gang’s hideout at Akala. They discovered that suspected criminals usually gather at the hideout to sniff hard drugs, especially cocaine, before going out on suspected robbery operations. The SARS detectives received a rough welcome as some of the suspected drug users opened fire on them. They replied and this led to sustained exchange of fire, in which some of the operatives sustained varying degrees of injury. From there, the team headed for Ladipo Market, where they found the car being dismembered by a suspect named Obinna and some other alleged accomplices and arrested them. but for the swift intervention of the SARS team, the alleged Ladipo accomplices would have succeeded in dismantling the car and selling its parts. During interrogation, Ugo put his age at 28 and said he hailed from Awkwunawnaw Local Government Area in Enugu State. He said, “I joined the Nigerian Army as a private in 2007 and my monthly salary was N49,000 until 2014 when I was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal and I was now earning N53,000.” He said his father’s death forced him to look for other means of survival. “My father was a civil servant before he died and I took over the family responsibilities. I was trying my best with the meagre salary,” he said. On why he took to hard drugs, he said that “when the family problem was too much for me, I started taking cocaine. That was where my money was going to. I was smoking because of too many responsibilities. I went into car snatching, armed robbery and street robbery. “My trouble started when I met a victim at Olosa bus stop. I saw a man driving a Honda car and putting on what I suspected to be an army uniform. I asked him why he was putting on an army uniform. “What the man told was he wanted to use the uniform to force a debtor to pay him. I was not satisfied with his explanation because he did not shave his moustache. I asked him if he was a soldier and he said he wasn’t. I asked him where he got the uniform and he told me that it was from a military friend. I decided to take him to the Nigerian Army Resettlement Centre at Oshodi and report him for impersonation. “He pleaded with me to the point of bribing me and I said we must reach the barracks. He drove to FCMB and parked. He told me that he wanted us to settle amicably and stated that he had N12,000 in his account.” He said the victim could not make any withdrawal from the account because it meant closing his account with FCMB. Ugo said he got angry when Adewale told him that if he was not allowed to go, he would put a call across to some of his friends and they would deal with him (Ugo). “I was provoked by that statement and slapped him. He ran away and abandoned his car. I did not know how to drive but somehow I managed to get the car to Akala.” His alleged accomplice, 29-year-old Obinna Onuma from Orlu Local Government in Imo State, claimed that he had a child outside wedlock. “I met the woman I impregnated where we usually smoke hard drugs. And I met Ugo where we usually take cocaine at Akala and we became friends. But we met the victim at Olosa Mushin while he was driving in his Honda car. “When he got to Akala, Ugo told me that the victim gave him N1000. So, we used the money to buy cocaine. After smoking, we went to Ladipo, but very late, and parked the car there till the following day. “Operatives of SARS met us where we were trying to vandalised the car in parts for sales. I’m happy about the detention because it has helped me a lot. You can see that I’m refreshed. When I was smoking cocaine, I looked sickly. If I leave here, I will not smoke again. Cocaine is not good,” he confessed.

other special events slated for this short holiday in their colourful African attire. Ladies are especially seen in beautiful designs, styles and colours of the lace fabric. Outside Nigeria, many people use the lace fabric to sew curtains or as in different designs. Today in Nigeria, there is no wedding or Owambe party without gorgeously dressed ladies in exotic and expensive lace fabrics. If you are going out for a special occasion this Easter season,

lace, tulle lace, in-vogue cord/ guipure lace and many others. You can use them to make beautiful styles -Iro and buba, skirt and blouse or beautiful long and short gowns that accentuate your African woman curves.

it with a matching Gele to add pizazz and ethnic touch to your entire ensemble. Go ahead and dazzle in sexy lace outfits this Easter season and be the cynosure of eyes at that event.

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

Fantastic â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nativesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for Easter E

Vanessa Okwara

aster holidays bring with it an atmosphere of pure relaxation with family and friends. It is also a restful time away from work and a well needed break from the election fever that gripped the nation for months. It affords you the luxury of shedding off the stuffy suit you have worn to work all week and relax in native attire. African outfits are best worn for

religious and social events. Nigerian designers like MUDI and Yomi Casual are front liners when it comes to creating amazing contemporary native designs for men. They craft these designs to fit perfectly with modern tailoring techniques that give form and fitting to the wearer. These designs are created with various fabrics such as brocade, cotton and linen materials. Designers mix and match fabrics with intricate designs or embroi-

dery to make each creation unique. What makes you stand out in any native attire is the fitting. You have to make sure your tailor has your perfect measurement to avoid making clothes that are either too tigh or loose for you. The beauty of native attire is that the designs are exclusive to you, making you stand out at any occasion. Strut your stuff in amazing native designs and enjoy the Easter holiday in style.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015

Body&Soul

Easter, a season for second chance

reg and Bunmi got married four years ago and they are blessed with two kids. They met at a friend’s wedding and hit it off immediately and within a year, they got married. Greg was yet to secure a decent job but managed the pittance he got from teaching in a private school. Bunmi didn’t mind his poor financial status and gladly accepted his proposal and they got married with the help of their friends and relations. Initially, Bunmi supported her husband with the money she made from the clothing business her Dad set up for her as a wedding present since she came from a wealthy home. They were so happy when she got pregnant and delivered a bouncing baby boy a year after their wedding. Thereafter, it was as if the baby gave Greg a stroke of good luck. He got a mouthwatering job with an oil company few months after the baby was born. The boost in their finances was supposed to be a blessing to the family; rather their love life took a twist for the bad. Greg became distant and somewhat preoccupied. He hardly came home early from work and used the excuse that he was working late to brush aside her complaints. It was when she gave birth to their second child and was at home most times that she picked up signs that her husband was cheating on her. One day, she decided to do his laundry since the washer man called in sick. Ransacking through his trouser pockets to be sure nothing was in it, she was surprised to discover a sachet of condom! She couldn’t believe her eyes. She and her husband did not use condom as a form of contraceptive, so

CONNECT NG vanessaonsunday@yahoo.com what was condom doing in her husband’s trouser pocket? When he got home, she confronted him with it and he outrightly denied it claiming it was a free sample pack that was distributed at the work site. She believed him but the seed of doubt had been planted and she became more observant and started monitoring his movements. One day, he called her from the office that he would be working late. On impulse, she decided to drive down to his office to see for herself. Opening his door, she got rooted to the spot as she saw her husband passionately kissing his secretary who snuggled up to him on the office couch. She was so shocked and hurt by the scene that was playing before her eyes that she could only let out a stifled scream which alerted them that someone was in the room. When they saw her, her husband jumped up and came towards her while the secretary scuttled away like a rat. All she could ask her husband with painful tears was, ‘’WHY’’? He started pleading with her, but she just turned and left. When she got home, she packed her things and put her two children into the car and went to her parent’s house. Since then, Greg had begged for for-

giveness, but she couldn’t bring herself to forgive him. The scene she saw in her husband’s office was still engraved in her memory. Everyone including her parents told her to forgive him but she still hurts so much from the betrayal. Would he not cheat on her again if given a second chance? As Easter approaches, she is yet to make up her mind on the issue.

It is also a season of second chance for everyone who has offended you at one time or the other. God forgives you when you offend Him, so why are you finding it difficult to forgive another person or give them the opportunity to make amends?

Easter is indeed a season of forgiveness. It’s a time of deep reflection as you take a critical look at your life and relationships to see how you can make it better. It is also a season of second chance for everyone who has offended you at one time or the other. God forgives you when you offend Him, so why are you finding it difficult to forgive another persons or give them the opportunity to make amends? Yes, it was a terrible thing for Greg to cheat on his wife so callously, but he’s remorseful and has begged for forgiveness. I believe that the number of divorce cases we see in our society will be reduced if only couples will practice what I call advance forgiveness. It means, no matter the offence your partner committed, you had already made up your mind to forgive. With that said, I’ll also like to point out that allowing second chances does not mean that you will sweep issues between you and you partner under the carpet without resolving the underlying problems that must have led to the break up initially. Communication plays a vital role here and talking about it helps to ease pain and bring both of you closer again. Giving a second chance means reconciling differences and getting to the root of the problem. However, resolution of these problems must be executed before a true second chance can be actualized. Allowing second chance in a relationship gives two broken hearts the opportunity to mend hurts and resolve other issues that might have caused the breakup. Why don’t you give someone a second chance today? I wish you all a Happy Easter! •Send your views to the email above!

Glut of ideas from an engaged and informed polity

here are times in a writer ’s life when he experiences the writer’s block; that time when all ideas desert him and he gropes unsuccessfully for what to write. If a writer tells you he has not experienced those moments, then you can just conclude he is not a writer. On the other hand, there comes a time of glut; that period when the writer experiences a kind of super highway of ideas and events to comment upon that he struggles to prioritize on what to write. It is in this latter position that I find myself presently. After months of waiting and agitations, the Nigerian polity eventually got to make a choice of new sets of leaders for the next four years. It was a battle of who will help in the process of keeping body and soul together, of guidance and above all, stabilising the economy. Having lived outside the country for over a decade, I can honestly say that I have never seen the Diaspora so engaged as they were last weekend. My phone did not stop ringing and at some point, I had to block entries unto my social media pages as it simply was difficult to keep up with all updates that I was getting; both real and imagined. At a point, I felt that Nigeria must have the largest number of authors in the fiction writing genre of literature as the stuff people came up with and alluded to the umpire organisation, (INEC) and many of the other contestants is the pure stuff of literary genius. I tell you there are people who are missing their calling. There are also those I think are deserving of Oscars for their acting skills, but are rather part of the governing structure. Take Godsday Orubebe as

an example. Aside from his poor sense of fashion (I am sure there are fashion experts on this page who can help him), his theatrics at the collation centre is the stuff of Nollywood. I guess he needed to do an audition for all the Nollywood di-

Newspaper journalists will now have to look for real news to write, television stations (Channels in particular) will now need to source materials for their international audience and comedians, especially Ali Baba, must now find new materials to keep us entertained. Dear ma, they will not tell you so, but they will miss you

rectors as a preamble to joining the acting industry since he will be out of work in a matter of weeks. Dear Elder, your place is assured as that was a most despicable but credible acting. Then there is the theatrics of Prof. John Etu-Efeotor in reading out the results of the Rivers State Polls. My world, Prof, kindly consider joining my comedy crew for our next movie; perhaps you will prefer a stand up session and I will be game for that also. These stuffs can only happen in Nigeria. However, the best performance was not seen on the night (or nights that followed), but before the election proper began. Step forward Dame (please, I really need to know who knighted our beloved Mama Peace) Patience Jonathan and claim your Prize. Who can forget your performance in Bayelsa that is still an Internet sensation, outclassed only by your ‘diaris godu oo’ performance? Some of your other performances in Delta and Ekiti are also still the stuff of legends. I want to assure you that the country will miss you. Newspaper journalists will now have to look for real news to write, television stations (Channels in particular) will now need to

source materials for their international audience and comedians, especially Ali Baba, must now find new materials to keep us entertained. Dear ma, they will not tell you so, but they will miss you. Nigerian universities must also not miss this trick. Now is the time for someone to put together a curriculum for an investigative and concise study of Nigeria’s political system especially the power of ethnicity and religion in our decision making patters. A study of individuals in leadership and their; leadership styles, in comparison to known political figures will surely yield an interesting result. Can you just imagine a thesis comparing the leadership, dress sense and style as well as speech patterns of Dame Jonathan and Michelle Obama? I can just see an A star written on such a thesis. Shame, mine is done already. When German scholar, Jurgen Habermas, postulated his ‘Public Sphere’ of discourse, engendered and mediated by print text, he missed a trick; -he did not include orality and oral inspired textual actions in such a public sphere. Nigeria’s polity is showing that while the print text gets the conversation started, it needs the oral elements to keep it going forward and shaping the course of the discourse. This past week, Nigerians broke the Internet, broke every social media platforms and once again showed just why the giant of Africa never sleeps. This polity is educated and unique and collectively, I think it is time that this polity is recognised and empowered for good, otherwise, they use the power in their thumb to send out their message.

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul with

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Mixed feelings for Shade Tinubu Makinde

Rotimi Makinde grieves

he story of actor turned politician, Rotimi Makinde, is one that is inspiring. Osun State-born Rotimi, from a humble background, armed himself with determination to rise above the level he was back then. Therefore, this mindset made him become one who does not turn back or take impossibility for an excuse when he sets out to achieve a particular goal. This spirit of not giving up has paid off for him very well. Rising above every obstacle his humble background imposed on him, Rotimi was able to pick up a job in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as an accountant and he rose through the ranks. At the same time, he had his hands in auto business and was doing very well. As at the time he decided to venture into the movie industry, it did not take long before he became established. He was the toast of his colleagues since he was rich. As a pacesetter who loves challenges, having succeeded in his endeavours, the hotelier delved into partisan politics but this time, he had tougher things to contend with. At his first attempt, Rotimi was kidnapped and late released. He also lost out. The second time he tried, he sailed through. An attempt was made on his life but he was lucky to have escaped the attack. However, casualties were still recorded as he lost relations and followers. Makinde in 2011 was elected to represent Ife Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. His days in the House of Representatives may have come to an end as his bid for re-election bid failed. That he lost out at the polls is not considered as anything serious but what has been of interest to those in the know is how Makinde has been left to lick his wounds alone. Infact, his colleagues in the movie world are said to be happy that he did not make it. His offence, Celeb Lounge learnt, is that he made himself unavailable to his people while in office and treated them like lesser beings each time they ran into him. Sources revealed that a popular actor, months ago, disgraced him at Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos when Makinde allegedly attempted to treat him in an unpleasant manner.

Benny Obaze breaks new ground

he name, Benny Obaze, may no longer ring a loud bell but what many who are conversant with the personality that carries it will readily attest to, is the fact that he is a man who deserves respect and kudos for his contribution to the society. With the in-

yaloja General of Nigeria, Chief Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, who happens to be the daughter of the man of the moment, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is one lady who loves to keep a low profile. Despite the status of her father in the society and all the trappings associated with it at her disposal, Shade has never lost her head or sought public attention. However, she began to lose her well cherished private life when she started working with her late grandmother, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji, and she finally came under the spotlight when she was elected the Iyaloja General of Nigeria. She has come under fierce criticism, mainly as a fallout of envy by her father’s opponents. But all that would be worth going through for her father when his ultimate goal to ensure victory for his party, the All Progressives Congress, in the presidential election was realised a few days ago. The victory at the polls was considered the most appropriate birthday gift for Tinubu, who was still basking in the euphoria of his 63rd birthday. Naturally, his daughter who was vilified along with him is supposed to share in the joy of the sweet victory but instead, she has been alternating moods because she’s faced with mixed feelings. While she’s celebrating with her father, she is on the other side grieving with her husband who lost at the polls. Her husband, Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, who was elected in 2011 to represent Efon / Ijero Federal Constituency of Ekiti State in the House of Representatives, lost his bid for another term.

troduction of his upscale clothing lines, Bevista and Rivista for men and women respectively, Benny was able to change the face of clothing. He also introduced innovations which led many into the business. With branches all over major cities in the country, Benny, indeed, set a pace and built a solid foundation. Aside from dealing in attires, well built and light skinned Benny also made his presence felt on the social scene with his powerful dress sense. This endeared him to many. The momentum generated by Bevista and Rivista may have reduced just like Benny has ducked from the social radar, but Obaze as Obaze a pacesetter has gone ahead to conquer new grounds. Unlike some of his colleagues in the fashion world, who tried and failed, the Bevista boss set his target to achieve a feat in partisan politics when he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives. But many saw him as an unserious contender, who was treading on an unfamiliar terrain. Fortunately for him, he has been able to set a new pace by being elected to represent Ogbaru Federal Constituency in Anambra State under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Actress Bimbo Thomas robbed

eleb Lounge can authoritatively reveal these are not the best of times for one of the wave making Nollywood actresses, Bimbo Thomas. The beautiful and sexy Theatre Arts graduate was robbed late on April 1. Riding in her deep blue Toyota Camry car somewhere around Oshodi in Lagos, she was stuck in traffic. Like a scene in a movie, traffic robbers smashed one of the windows of her car and forced her to surrender her valuables. Bulky and pretty Bimbo, it will be recalled, broke into the limelight some years ago when she played a significant role in Funke Akindele’s blockBimbo buster movie, Omo Ghetto.

Gani Adams pampers self

koko, Ondo State-born National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Otunba Gani Adams, many years ago, became a popu-

lar figure through his agitation for the rights of Yorubas. He was hunted by the government so he went into hiding. But he became a hero and pride of Yorubas. His struggle afforded him the opportunity to wine and dine with prominent South-West figures. At another time, he became controversial when OPC was factionalised, but all that have long been put behind as he enjoys the treatment of a VIP where Gani Adams ever he goes. Gani, who loves spotting white attires, recently assumed a controversial status when he was awarded a pipeline security contract by the Federal Government. He also ran into a storm when he recently led a protest march for the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, in Lagos. While the dust raised by his action has yet to settle, many had thought Gani would concern himself with these controversies. The soft-spoken man, Celeb Lounge can reveal, does not appear to be bothered as he found time to spoil himself in the heat of the controversy. Gani, few days ago, took delivery of the latest edition of a brand new white Range Rover sport.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015

Body&Soul

Thinking

Bola Austen Peter’s passion

he popular saying that where there is a will, there will be a way aptly describes the story of Bola Austen Peter. Born to legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), she was privileged to have had a good education. Slim-built Bola, having completed her studies in International Human Rights Law at a UK university, she became an employee of the United Nations. But the passion she harbours for the arts would not stop brewing in her and as time w e n t by, she g a v e up her job to attend to her passion. Bola Austen Not only Peter’s did many not see sense in her quitting such a promising job, it was only few that were ready to give her a chance at nurturing her dream. Determined to satisfy her urge for arts and culture, Bola started Terra Kulture on Victoria Island in Lagos. The arts and culture centre went through various stages and 11 years down the line, it has become more or less an institution. So many want to identify with the brain behind the whole thing for the success she has recorded and the beautiful story she has to tell. Terra Kulture, an educational and recreational private sector organization, has successfully promoted the richness and diversity of Nigerian languages, arts and culture.

Mohammed Fawehinmi cools down

ohammed, scion of late legal giant, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, has since his father passed on stepped into his shoes. Several charity works Gani was engaged in while he lived have not stopped as the family still makes it a point of duty. Also, Mohammed does not fail to lend his voice to any tropical issue. When President-elect Muhammadu Buhari contested in 2011, the late Gani’s son opposed his candidature. Even when B u hari’s s o n visited the Fawehinmi Ikeja home of Fawehinmi to seek audience with the family, Mohammed made public his interest in Ribadu. He did same against celebrity journalist, Dele Momodu, who contested on the platform founded by Gani, the National Conscience Party. Wheelchair-bound Mohammed has,

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in recent times, not been his usual self as he’s not been making public comments on the elections or other issues. Though unconfirmed, but people close to him say he’s currently attending to his health.

Reuben Abati eyes legal practice

is intelligence, academic excellence and outspokenness as a columnist and social critic put him in the spotlight of a kind. The same feat fetched him a job as the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Communication. In the course of discharging his duty, many have criticised him, but Abati appears to have remained unperturbed. The Ogun State dude, we can tell, is c u r rently caught in a d i f f e re n t web. Tessy His first child, it was learnt recently graduated as a lawyer from Buckingham University, United Kingdom. While he was still basking in the euphoria of being the proud father of a lawyer, the unexpected happened: his boss, President Goodluck Jonathan, could not get a second term. This means Abatiwill vacate his position in a matter of weeks Meanwhile, dependable sources have revealed Abati is likely to jettison the media for the legal profession when he finally leaves office very soon.

About Royal Diamond Orphanage

he number of orphanages in Lagos may have increased, with the berthing of a new one around Ojodu, Royal Diamond Orphanage. The home, a brainchild of Pastor Favour Olayemi, and his wife, Jane, was recently declared open. Royal Diamond Orphanage Home, a non-governmental, non-profit organisation set upto render voluntary care and upbringing services to orphans, was commissioned by His Royal Highness, Oba Adelani Obatula, the Olojodu of Ojodu, Lagos. The monarch in his words admonished the founders to keep the flag flying . He also urged them not to rest on their laurels in their bid to explore the opportunities of humanitarian services. Pastor Olayemi, co-founder of the home, who ascribed all glory to God for the realisation of his dream to establish an orphanage, described the move as an opportunity to render service to God. He also called it his core aspiration in life. He further said he conceived the initiative with his wife during their years of courtship, and committed their hearts to the cause till it saw the light of the day.

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The big white cock

he much heated presidential parties or candidates. I remember election has come and gone, that the likes of Jay Z campaigned and a winner has emerged. for Barack Obama, so this is not Congratulations to Gen. peculiar to Nigeria. Muhammadu Buhari because it But then, we tend to overdo was not an easy feat. The only sat- things in this part of the world. isfaction I got from the whole elec- We shouldn’t be partisan when ention process was the fact that it was dorsing someone. We entertainers largely devoid of violence. are like the big white cock that is I was really worried before, dur- desired by everyone. Unlike politiing and after the election that our cians, we don’t need to embark on society could suddenly be engulfed rallies before the people will love in political violence. I quickly di- us. We are also more popular than rected all my staff to embark on the politicians, so there is no point an emergency break and that all stooping so low when they ask for of them should remain indoors our services. in their respective Yes, they may be homes, at least till richer than us, but we are certain that we have many things I have realised there will be peace. that are the stuff of Thank God it all dreams at our finger that no leader can went well. But like tips. So our integrity satisfy Nigerians. I said in one of my should always be our previous articles, priority – it is priceWe expect miracle the change Nigeriless. ans need has yet to Lest I forget, my from our leaders, come. students at the Helyet we don’t want to en Paul Theatre and I will not be disappointed if NigeAcademy (HPTmake any sacrifice. Film rians begin to critiFA) had their matriccise Buhari months ulation ceremony on We haven’t had after his swearingTuesday last week. It in. I have realised was a day I had ala leader that the that no leader can ways looked forward people didn’t satisfy Nigerians. to. I always wanted We expect miracles to float a school that complain about. from our leaders, would help build yet we don’t want a better society deSince majority of to make any sacvoid of charlatans. Nigerians have now For some years now, rifice. We haven’t had a leader that the project has been spoken with their the people didn’t in the making, and I complain about. votes, let’s hope for thank God that it has Since majority of finally come to stay. the better Nigerians have Our mission is to now spoken with raise impeccable their votes, let’s stars; promote excephope for the better. tional and experienced students of Like I said in one of my previous theatre and film, who can compete articles, I have personally not seen favourably anywhere in the world. my ideal leader in the crop of old We are prepared and equipped to men and women Nigeria has been produce students who will set a parading as leaders for some de- pace in the theatre and film sector, cades now. The change we need is and subsequently make Nigeria for youths to take over. After all, proud globally. they promised that we are the leadHPTFA has started the process ers of tomorrow. But that ‘tomor- of liaising with the Federal Minrow’ may never come if we don’t istry of Education (FME), State take our destiny in our hands. Ministry of Education (SME) and I have heard and read a lot of the National Board for Technical criticisms on social media about Education (NBTE) in Innovation entertainers campaigning for poli- Enterprise Training. ticians. Well, people are entitled to Like I said earlier, this is just a their opinions. As for me, enter- tip of the iceberg. Once again, weltainers are professionals who can come to Helen Paul Theatre and be contracted to use their popu- Film Academy (HPTFA), the home larity in campaigning for political of impeccable stars.

GLOBAL fashion

Body&Soul

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Fashion and the street Biwom Iklaki

hen fashion is considered, away from the runway and magazines, the truest test of the impact of fashion can be felt on the pulse of the street. During Fashion week in London, Paris, Milan and New York, as much attention is paid to the designs as displayed on the runway as on the people on the streets who interpret these styles. People are excited about designers and their collections, but most times they are even more excited about how they can take these designs and make them their own through their choices when styling. Every designer is excited beyond seeing his designs on his models on the runway, to the lady on the street. Sometimes, they are even inspired by the interpretations that the people on the street give these designs. Many lessons on fashion can be picked up from studying and following the street style. It is the reflection of the true fashion icon, as fashionistas, models, socialites and celebrities all make this roll call. A plethora of personalities come to bear in a peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s street style. It can be fun, sexy, flirty, quirky, gothic, girly, colourful, androgynous, athletic, and minimalist plus many more. Chose to express who you are, as reflected by your favourite street style.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015

Wine & Dine

Body&Soul

Whisk the palate Ibukunoluwa Kayode

ooking to have a change from the conventional grape wines and get a new thrill to fill the palate? You can never go wrong with the Whisky experience. Though many believe whisky to be a hard, unfriendly drink, unlike the grape wines, the argument is not farfetched from the truth. Whisky is a drink that lovers of hard drink go for as it serves them many advantages than the grape wines according to them. However, with the high ABV volume in whisky, it has continued to receive much attention from the innovative brewers and consumers from all around the world. The origin of whisky can be traced to Scotland where many distinctive variations of whisky were made. The advancements in the technology gave the manufacturers the ability to control all the aspects of the whisky production-from growing of malt and other grains to the harvest, preparation, distillation, blending, aging, packaging and transportation.

Easter eggs, bedeviled Biwom Iklaki

his Easter, while the Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, many tables will be groaning from the weight of many different tasty and mouthwatering meals. With the Easter theme often wrapped around Easter eggs and bunnies, there is a fun way to improve on the Easter theme; Easter deviled eggs as part of the menu. Here are two that will be part of my Easter feast table: Avocado (guacamole) tang 4 eggs, hardboiled, slice in two equal halves 1 medium avocado, seeded and mashed 1 garlic, ground ½ a lemon juice

1 red bonnet, chopped Pinch of salt Mix all the Ingredients with a drizzle of olive oil and pipe them into the egg halves and serve. Salty bacon Mix the egg yolks with a drizzle of olive oil and mash. Chop bacon into small pieces, sautée with some onions, chop some parsley or chives and add to the mix with a pinch of cinnamon to enhance the flavours. Each mouthful will bring a pleasant mix of salty from the bacon, savoury and sweet from the sautéed onions.

This blend of alcohol is a great party mix or a soul refreshment that can be shared with friends at home in the office; as some people rightly believe it helps lower pressure and raise agility to work and think logically. It can be indulged by anyone who doesn’t like sweet wine as it gives a lingering smooth sharp taste on the palate. There are basic types of whisky made from different fermented mash produce like malt barley, rye and corn maize in which some of these can be mashed or blended together to make different whisky. As cool and savoury whisky can serve the palate, it is advisable to keep the consumption at minimum slow pace as it tends to gradually do more harm than good to the health. Also, whisky should never be indulged by an ulcer patient or someone suffering from heart disease as it tends to aggravate the illness. To really enjoy whisky it should be served with ice cubes and be paired with smoked fish, bread butter pudding, toasted oatmeal and raspberry, soft cream cheese.

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

The mouse trap

My Cook Corner

Rice krispies Easter treat Biwom Iklaki

aster can be a very fun holiday with family and friends. Even though your mum will come up with great ideas for dessert and treats, you can suggest and even help her make this rice Krispies treat. Now you get to have the best of the rice krispies and some extra sweetness. Enjoy!

here are many people in today’s world that want nothing to do with helping other people. Their thought is, “why should I go out of my way to help them with the problem that they are facing? It has nothing to do with me.” Well, sometimes this decision can come back to affect them. The story today clearly illustrates why, sometimes, we should go out of our way to help others. A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. What food might this contain? The mouse wondered – he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house! The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be

bothered by it.” The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The pig sympathised, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.” The mouse turned to the cow and said “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.” So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone. That very night, a sound was heard throughout the house — like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she

Colour Art

INGREDIENTS 3 tablespoons butter 1 pack marshmallows 6 cups rice Krispies cereal

returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer’s wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness. So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember...the mouse in the Q. How does the Easter Bunny stay fit? A. Lots of eggs-ercise and hare-robics! house. www.goodtimestories. Q. What kind of music do bunnies like? A. Hip Hop wordpress. com Q. What did the Easter Bunny say to the carrot? A. “It’s been nice gnawing you!”

PREPARATION In large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add colouring and kellogg’s rice krispies cereal. Stir until well coated. You may want to mix colour in separate bowls to get variety. While still warm, press mixture into muffin tins or ramekins and fill with M&Ms. And you have your favourite sweet and cereal all in one.

Gags

Q. Why shouldn’t you tell an Easter egg a joke? A. It might crack up! Q. What do bunnies do when they get mar-

ried? A. Go on a bunnymoon! Q. What do you call a rabbit that tells good jokes? A. A funny bunny! Q. How do you know carrots are good for your eyes? A. Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?! Q. How does Easter end? A. With the letter R!

MOYIN & FRIENDS

LITTLE LINDER

Food colouring M&Ms

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SUNDAY

Faith 51

SUNDAY APRIL5, 2015

News What Easter means to us - NIgerians p.53

Interview Easter is confirmation of Christian faith – CAN Chairman p.57

Sermon The Goodluck we all need p.54

Tai Anyanwu Head, religous Desk titus.anyanwu@newtelegraph online.com

I don’t like travelling - Pope Francis Do you like being Pope? Do you like living in Santa Marta? Do you feel alone? These are some of the questions that Pope Francis answered in an interview with Vatican Television The Vatican – as you said once on the plane – wasn’t exactly your cup of tea. What happened on that day, when you realised that you would be pope? The thing was very simple. I came with a little suitcase, because I made the calculation and figured that the new papacy would never begin during the Holy Week. So I can come with all tranquillity and plan to be in Buenos Aires for Palm Sunday. I left the homily for Palm Sunday prepared on my desk, and I came with what was necessary for those days, even though I thought that it could be a very short conclave. In any case, I prepared myself as much as possible just in case it were long, so I had the return ticket. I could change it or leave earlier. But I had it, just in case. Moreover, I wasn’t on any list of ‘papabili’ or possible popes, thanks be to God. But it never even crossed my mind. In this matter, I want to be sincere, to avoid any stories and all that. With the odds-makers in London, I was, I think, number 42 or 46. An acquaintance of mine, out of kindheartedness, bet on me. He made a killing! But I must remind you that it was a Mexican nun who had a great intuition. Because the Saturday before the election, you ate in the house of your friend, Card. Lozano Barragán, and Mother Estela said to you: “Your Eminence, if they make you pope, invite us to eat up there.” Mother Estela did say that to me. And so, the conclave began. The journalists said that I was, at most, a kingmaker… an elector, a great elector, who would indicate who to vote for. The first vote began, Tuesday evening. The second was Wednesday morning, and the third was Wednesday before lunch. The phenomenon of the voting in these groups – always, not just in the conclave – is interesting. There are already some strong candidates. But many people don’t know who to vote for. So they pick six or seven – which are place-holding votes. So I place my vote with you for now, and then when I see who is pulling ahead, I give it to him. They are like ‘provisional’ votes. It’s typical in the voting of large groups. So, yes, I had some votes, but ‘provisional’ votes. Is it true that in the previous conclave you had some 40 votes? Is it possible to say? No. That’s what they said. Yes, well, so they said. Some cardinal said so.

Well,let’s leave that to the cardinal. Even though I could say so, because I now have the authority to say it; but it’s better to leave it at what the cardinal said. But really, nothing. Until noon on that day, nothing. And then something happened. I don’t know what. At lunch, I saw some strange signs. They asked me about my health, these things that… and by the time we got back in the afternoon, the cake had already been baked. With two votes, it was all over. For me too, it was a surprise. What happened to me? In the first vote of the afternoon, when I already saw that this might be irreversible, I had at my side – and I want to tell this out of friendship – Cardinal Hummes, who is, in my mind, one of the greats. At his age, he is the Delegate of the Episcopal Conference for Amazonia. And he goes in there, and he goes around in a boat and visits the churches. I had him at my side, and already in the middle of the first vote of the afternoon – there were two; there was a second – when the situation was clear, he leaned over and said to me, “Don’t worry, this is how the Holy Spirit works.” I thought it was funny. Afterwards, in the second vote, when they reached the two-thirds, there’s always applause. In all the conclaves, they applaud. Then there’s the counting. And then he gave me a kiss and

said, “Don’t forget about the poor.” And that got me thinking and prompted the choice of the name later. During the voting, I prayed the Rosary. I usually prayed the three daily Rosaries. I was full of peace. I would even say obliviousness. The same thing happened when the choice was made, and for me that was a sign that God wanted this: the peace. Even now, I still haven’t lost it. But it is something inside, like a gift. And later, what I did, I don’t know. They made me stand up. They asked if I accepted. I said yes. I don’t know if they made me swear something. I don’t recall. I was at peace. I went and changed my cassock. And I came out and went first to greet Cardinal Días, who was there in a wheelchair. And then I greeted the cardinals. Then I asked the Vicar of Rome and CONTINUED O N PAGE 52

Pope Francis

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I don’t like travelling - Pope Francis CON TINUED FR O M PAGE 51

Cardinal Hummes, as my friend, to accompany me – something that was not foreseen in the protocol. That’s when your problems with protocol began, I think. What did I know? I was put there… That was the first of many. And we went to pray in the Pauline Chapel, while Cardinal Tauran announced the name. Then I went out, and I didn’t know what I was going to say. And, well, you all are witnesses to the rest. I had a profound sense that a minister needs the blessing of God, but also that of his people. I didn’t dare tell the people to bless me. I just said, “People, pray that God, through your prayers, may bless me.” But it all came very spontaneously. The same goes for praying for Benedict. I didn’t prepare anything. It just came by itself. And do you like being pope? I don’t dislike it! Because one might have imagined that you wouldn’t like being pope. No, no. Once the thing is decided, you just do it. What is it that you like and dislike most about being pope? Or do you like everything? Yes, the only thing that I would enjoy is being able to go out one day, without anyone recognising me, and go eat a pizza in a pizzeria. That would be great! I say that by way of example. In Buenos Aires, I was often out walking in the street. I came and went through the parishes. And naturally, changing one’s habits… I find it a little difficult, but no – I don’t know – things settle down, one gets accustomed. One finds other ways of passing through the streets: the telephone, the… And the fact that you don’t like the Vatican much isn’t any secret. You didn’t like to come. And now that you are inside for two years, do you like it a bit more or a bit less? No. Not just the Vatican. This is something I need to clarify. I believe that my greatest penance are trips. I don’t like to travel. I’m very attached to my habitat. It’s a neurosis. Once I read a very beautiful book called ‘Rejoice in Being Neurotic.’ So one has to discover which neurosis one has, feed it mate every day, treat it well, so that it doesn’t do you any harm. And one of my – it seems to me - neuroses, or my way of being, is to be very attached to my habitat. I don’t like any type of trip. And I came to Rome and I didn’t like it, because there’s an environment of rumor-mongering. That’s why I would come and I would leave immediately. If Benedict took the chair of Peter at noon, by the evening I was already up in the plane. And now I don’t dislike it. There are very good people here. The fact of living here helps me a great deal. Do you like being here in Santa Marta? It’s simply because there are people here. Alone there, I couldn’t take it. Not because it’s luxurious, as some say. It’s not luxurious. The papal apartment is not luxurious. It is big. But I wouldn’t have been able to put up with the isolation. To come here, to eat in the dining room, with all the people, having the Mass four days a week with people who come from outside, from the parishes… it gives me a bit of spiritual comfort. I like it a lot. You don’t feel alone? No, no, no. Seriously, not at all. Pope Francis, there’s something that worries us a bit. There have been occasions on the plane flights, which is when we have the opportunity to speak with you, when you say,

Pope Francis

“Well, in two or three years, I will return to the house of the Father...”. Then someone comes who is organizing an event or a conference five or ten years from now, and you say, “I wish you well, but I won’t be there.” Things of this sort. Why do we have the sensation that you, on one hand, seem to be in a hurry in your way of acting, and on the other, seem to see your pontificate as being a brief one. Your age is what it is, but, I mean, considering how long people live these days, you are not very old in reality. No? It’s relative. Why do you have this sensation? Why do you suddenly say these things to us? I have the feeling that my pontificate will be brief. Four or five years. I don’t know, maybe two or three. Well, two have already gone by. It’s a rather vague sensation. Maybe I’m wrong. Here we may be dealing with the psychology of someone who bets and believes that he is going to lose so that he won’t be disappointed later. And if he wins, he’s happy. I don’t know what it is. But I have the sensation that the Lord has placed me here for something brief, no more…. But it’s a feeling. That’s why I always leave the possibility open. And you have also told us that you would follow the example of Pope Benedict if you were to realise that you couldn’t… This changes the idea of the pontificate somewhat. Because we were accustomed, before the modern era… I mean, for us the pope was an institution, because of the Holy Spirit. A pope was made and… until death, no? Well, there were some cardinals in the pre-conclave, in the General Congregations, who addressed the theological issue. Very interesting, very profound, no? I believe that what Pope Benedict did was to open a door. Seventy years ago, there were no emeritus bishops. And today we have 1,400. We reached the conclusion that a man, after he’s hit 75, around that time, cannot carry the weight of a particular church. As a general rule. I believe that what Benedict did, with great

courage, was to open the door for emeritus popes. One could envision, perhaps, as in the case of bishops, a pope who resigns as soon as he reaches 80. There might be that possibility. That too. One can imagine it, but it does not appeal to me, this idea of setting an age. Because I believe that the papacy has an element of being the final authority. It is a special grace. For some theologians, the papacy is a sacrament. It’s a sacrament. The Germans are very creative with these kinds of things. I don’t believe that, but what I want to say is that there’s something special. So, saying “OK, this fellow is 80 years old,” creates the sensation of the ending of a pontificate which would not be good. Too predictable, no? I’m not in favour of setting an age, but I am in favour of what Benedict did. I saw him the other day at the Consistory. He was happy. Respected by all. I go to visit him. Sometimes I speak with him on the phone. As I’ve said, it’s like having your wise grandfather in the house. You can ask him for advice. Loyal to the death. The thing about Benedict – I don’t know if you remember it – is that, when we said goodbye to him, in the Clementine Hall, he said: “Among you is my successor. I promise him loyalty, fidelity and obedience.” And he keeps his word. A man of God. I’m going to ask a very personal question. The first time that we saw two popes dressed in white in Castel Gandolfo – I’m going to be very sincere – it caused a bit of a shock, because we weren’t used to it. It is very fine for you to say that the institution of emeritus popes has been opened. To say it now. But the first time that you see two living popes, dressed in white, you say, “What’s going on here?” Isn’t that right? On a personal level, you had just put on the white cassock, because you’d just been elected a few days earlier, and I suppose that you were getting used to it. But then to suddenly encounter another pope dressed in white, at an intimate, personal level… was it as normal as you now describe it? No, no, no, no. It was the 23rd of March, in Castel Gandolfo, and there I felt as though my dad were carrying me and teaching me and making me take a seat. He was the host in the truest, most human sense of the word. And now we have to pass to a topic that is one of your favorites, the Curia. We know that you have undertaken a reform of the Curia. The reform can be understood as something technical, right? Seeing how to make things function better: the congregations, the dicasteries. But I think that your ambition goes beyond the technical issues. We have the sensation that what you would really like to do is to change much more than the structures: to change, instead, the mentality, to change the heart. That’s the word. This is my impression. I would like to know if it’s the case and if you believe it can be done. Every change begins with the heart. The conversion of the heart. That’s why, for example, we’ve had the closed spiritual exercises for two years now. Those of us from the Curia, the prefects and secretaries of the dicasteries, about 80 of us, go there and we’re cut off from the world, praying. And we listen to the preacher. It’s a conversion of the heart, right? And – someone may challenge me on this – but it’s also a conversion in one’s way of life. I think that this is the last court that remains in Europe. All the other courts have been democratised, even the most classic ones. There is something about the Papal Court, which retains much of tradition, that is a bit atavistic. I don’t say that in a pejorative sense, but as a culture. And this has to change. It has to let go of what is still courtly and become a working group in the service of the Church. At the service of the bishops. Obviously, this means a personal conversion. You know better than I that here inside there were problems. When they published the documents of ‘Vatileaks,’ and there was the conviction of the pope’s butler. These are not minor matters. People talk about grave moral problems. We still have one prisoner for economic issues and one for a little moral scandal too. These things are known. It is public. To clean all this up a bit: conversion. Starting with the pope, who is the first who needs to be converted. To keep changing according to what God is asking of him. I try to do it. But I don’t always succeed. But… You have wanted to emphasis symbols. It’s apparent that you want those symbols – not just the palace, which we’ve said is not luxurious, but also the way of dressing, the car of a certain type, carrying your own briefcase. Some people say, “Well, they are symbols. Just because he has these symbols doesn’t mean he’s better than others, who perhaps dressed in another way or were driven in a car that was the usual car for popes.” Do you understand what I’m trying to say? But this emphasis of yours, in some way, is a daily reminder to everyone here inside that one can live in another way. Yes. It’s not entirely intentional. For example, when, after CO NTINUED O N PAGE 57

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What Easter means to us - Nigerians To many Nigerians, Easter is significant. But it means different things to different people, as TAI ANYANWU, STANLEY IHEDIGBO and DEBORAH MAKOJI report

Kelechi Oparaocha – I don’t celebrate Easter

Elizabeth Christopher

– Easter is when we eat rice and chicken

aster, to me, means the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Since my childhood, we celebrate it by just sitting down and eating rice and chicken. In my house, we don’t really take it seriously as in going to church to pray. Yes, there is a lesson to be drawn from Easter. The fact that Jesus resurrected shows that we are serving a true God.

Joshua Peter – Season of resurrection

aster is the season of the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection from death; death from sin, death from sickness, death from poverty, death from hell fire. So the death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the most important gift ever given to man. Whoever receives it, receives eternal life. That means with all our struggles and fights, if we don’t have Jesus as Lord and saviour, we have not achieved anything yet. Jesus Christ is the reason for the Easter.

Kayode Abolaji – Poverty, sickness are over

ersonally, I believe that Easter is a celebration of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is to show that everything is over for anyone who believes in His death and resurrection. Whatever thing that is dead in any person’s life, Jesus says, “It is finished.” Poverty is over, sickness is over, and that is what Easter is to me. Just the fact as a Christian has to believe that whatever has a beginning surely has an end. If the dead bones can rise, every bone will be kept alive because resurrection surely happened. Whatever thing that is looking dead will surely one day receive life. Everybody is looking for change and the permanent thing in life is change. Nigeria is dead already but now you can see that dead bones are coming alive.

don’t celebrate Easter because I am a Jehovah’s Witness. The Bible doesn’t instruct us to do so. Rather, the Bible told us to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is what is found in the Bible and as witnesses, we try as much as possible to let people know what they should celebrate is the memorisation of Jesus Christ, not the resurrection of Christ .

Rev. Joseph Usman – God has defeated Satan

Aderemi Adewale – Shows Jesus is real

o me, Easter means the day of the celebration of the death of Jesus Christ. That He came to die for us and after His death on the cross for our sins, he rose, it is left for human beings to believe Him; that He is real. We should learn to live peacefully and love others. Easter is a great season and a season of life. It is a season where someone paid for our sins, as well as all the wretchedness of our struggles, all the evil that mankind has suffered in the hands of Satan. Easter is that redemptive death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary by which He gave life to mankind. Mankind in its original state without the death of Jesus Christ was dead; when Jesus came, mankind came alive. That means that whatever you achieve on earth, whoever you are, if you don’t have Jesus Christ, you are still lagging behind. Jesus Christ is the reason for the season.

n brief, Easter has always been a celebration of God’s power over Satan and evil with the resurrection of Christ from the dead. It is also the celebration of God’s love and grace given to us through the sacrifice of Christ. It is the celebration of victory and Christ’s words that we should not be afraid for He has conquered the world and all the powers. He was killed but He rose again. Our worldly troubles and all the like cannot hold us down. By the power of Christ we can rise above our hurts, pains, setbacks etc., both physical and spiritual. In John 16:33, he says that we should be brave for He has conquered the world.

Pastor Matthew Olusoji We should be dead to selfishness, wickedness

aster is significant in the life every true Christian. Easter symbolism the victory the Christians have today because Jesus laid His life for us and rose again. He ascended into heaven and today we have victory and rejoicing because of the work He did. The Bible tells us that without the shading of blood, there will not be redemption of sin. If he didn’t shed His blood for us, we wulsnot be talking about salvation. The blood of cows or goats cannot save. If you remove the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, Christianity is just a mere jamboree. What makes Christianity powerful and unique is the death of Jesus, His buryal, His resurrection and His ascension to glory because that was what saved us. If you remove the blood He shared, His death, there is nothing like salvation again. He said that a true shepherd lays down His life for his sheep, that we might be saved and that is the purpose of celebrating Easter.

Mrs. Ijeoma Elunwa, Lekki – We should emulate Jesus’ love

aster is the day our Lord Jesus Christ died. He was crucified on Good Friday and on the third day, Easter Day, which is Easter Sunday, He rose from the dead. So, Christians all over the world celebrate it because without the death and resurrection of Christ, there will not be salvation. We should learn that He laid down His life for us and we should love ourselves as Jesus loves us. We should love one another, protect one another and make sacrifices so that our society will benefit us all.

Agatha Achile Ihiabe – We celebrate the risen Christ

aster means the day when we (Christians) celebrate Jesus Christ rising from the dead. Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday; now He offers to us the gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins.

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The Goodluck we all need Firm Faith:

Right Reason Most Rev.

Emmanuel A. Badejo fradebadejo@yahoo.

0803 949 4219 (SMS only)

Milestones of history Some moments in victory are too beautiful to be forgotten but there can be also some moments in defeat that are too beautiful to be forgotten. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has lost the presidential election in Nigeria as an incumbent president. That is a very bad position to lose from and there must have been very ugly moments in the contest for him and for his Peoples Democratic Party. However when the President, soon after defeat became obvious, called up his opponent, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress to accept defeat and congratulate him he created for Nigerians and for posterity one moment that would become a landmark of history, one that is too beautiful to be forgotten. It was the first time ever that an incumbent President would lose an election in Nigeria and the first time that the loser would peacefully admit defeat. The President said as he had said several times before, that the ambition of any politician was not worth the blood of any Nigerian. His gesture took much bite off the backlash of violence, protests and street fights which many feared would follow any such upset in Nigeria. This

kind of goodluck is indeed what we need in Nigeria today for a smooth transition and maturation of democracy. If Nigerians did not think that President Jonathan’s name ‘Goodluck,’ made any sense in real terms, here was a positive and successful demonstration that his name really brings positive and progressive change. He who laughs last, laughs best. The good luck of salvation Surely more important than the good luck of a peaceful transition, however, is the good luck we all need to attain our salvation. The mere thought of salvation underlines man’s hope that evil will never have the final word in God’s world. The average human being wakes up every day looking forward to better times not only in his day-to-day business but also in his eventual end. As holy Job said in the Old Testament: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and he, the last, will take his stand on earth. I will be there behind my skin, and in my flesh I shall see God. With my own eyes I shall see him - I and not another. How my heart yearns” (Job 19:25-27). The longing for God is innate in all human beings and all genuine religious endeavour is meant to draw them closer to God, the object of their longing. So did David express himself: “My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life. When can I enter and see the face of God” (Ps.42:3). That same desire was captured by St Augustine who declared that our souls shall remain restless until they come to rest in the living God. Saint Paul made it even clearer in his letter to the Romans: “Consider moreover the time that Christ died for us:

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and he, the last, will take his stand on earth. I will be there behind my skin, and in my flesh I shall see God. With my own eyes I shall see him - I and not another when we were still helpless and unable to do anything. Few would accept to die for an upright person; ...But see how God manifested his love for us: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us and we have become just through his blood” (Rom. 5:6-9). The cost of true discipleship The truth is that if the coming of Jesus Christ had not been real, humanity would have had to invent it. For how would we have coped with that strong compulsion to be lifted up, to be redeemed and to be translated to a higher, better plane of existence! The experience of Peter on the occasion of the Transfiguration speaks to that compulsion. Having seen the Lord transfigured in His splendor, Peter proposed the idea of no longer returning to the drudgery of the world and to dwell evermore with Jesus in glory. Though Jesus would have none it, he told his disciples exactly what they had to do to be part of his resurrection and victory: “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. For whoever chooses to save

his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 16: 24 -25). It is really not possible to be truly Christian without putting this dimension of the journey to the resurrection into consideration. The gains of true discipleship But true discipleship is not all about giving without getting. In fact, Easter is the assurance that for those who struggle to follow Jesus on the right but tedious way of the cross, there is a crown at the end of their tribulations in the world. The great Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote: “Scarred men come for healing only to scarred hands! Only a Risen Christ with Scars can understand our hearts. This is not an age of wars but an age of scars. We all have scars! Everybody! Scars in bodies - the wounds of war; scars on souls - the wounds of godlessness. Scars of hate, fear, anxiety, melancholy, bitterness!” Archbishop Sheen was right! No one can claim to live a painless, trouble-free life here on earth. Christians especially do not have things easy in these contemporary times. G.K Chesterton once wrote: “These are days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.” Chesterton did not say that that was a good thing. He actually implied that all those who believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection need to put more effort into authentic living, praising God with their lives and singing their Alleluias in a resounding manner as witness to the Lord. This is Easter! Jesus is risen, death is defeated forever. That doubtlessly is the good luck we all need here and hereafter.

Changing levels Stop complaining – are you faithful?

Insight Rev.

Femi Akinola

www.thehebrewsng.com

01-790 3163; 0808 584 5864

“B

eloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prosper-

eth.” III John 2 It is the will of God that your life and level should change; men should noticeably see that you are progressing. It becomes a taboo when you remain on the spot. Every normal child or student is expected to move progressively to higher grounds and if this is not the case, it becomes a thing of worry for everyone concerned. Likewise, God is unhappy when you remain on the spot contrary to His expectations. “For promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Psalm 75:6-7 Promotion is your spiritual heritage in Christ; promotion in your spiritual, financial, physical, academic and in all facets of your life but God has to test and find you faithful. Until you have been tried on the scale of faithfulness and you have passed, you cannot graduate to the next level. Just as you cannot jump into the university but must have sat and passed certain examinations and also met certain requirements, so also life is in levels. You cannot escape this test of faithfulness. In the school of the Spirit, the spiritual rules over the physical.

What does is it mean to be faithful? To be faithful means to be consistently reliable in the transaction of business, execution and implementation of instructions or the discharge of duties. It means doing what you are told to do with what has been entrusted to your hands. Employers are in search of faithful people; even God needs faithful people to commit tasks into their hands. “Most men will proclaim each his own goodness: But who can find a faithful man?” (NKJV) Pro 20:6 “Help, LORD; for the Godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.” (KJV) “Save me. Lord! We can no longer trust anyone! All the good, loyal people are gone.” (ERV) Psalm 12:1 Faithful people are scarce and God is out to ensure you are one before He entrusts greater things to you. In Luke 16:10-12, Christ opened our eyes to three levels of faithfulness; Faithfulness in small things “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Luke 16:10 Indeed, some things are really small in size, amount and rank in the estimation of men but demand faithfulness. Why would God give you a bigger task to handle when you have not proved faithful in that corner shop that you are now? Someone rightly said: “A small thing is a small thing, but faithfulness in that small thing is a big thing.” Faithfulness is the way you handle little assignments, when no one is seeing you,

Faithful people are scarce and God is out to ensure you are one before He entrusts greater things to you. In Luke 16:10-12, Christ opened our eyes to three levels of faithfulness when there are no awards, appreciations or applause. The Bible says in Eccl 9:10, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might…” The days of small things are the training ground for the season of great things that lie ahead. Before David was called to play before Saul, he had being playing before sheep. He sang in the woods. His audience were sheep and goats while the applause he got was simply ‘meehn’. He defended those sheep with his life such that when the bear and lion came roaring, he faced them putting his own life on the line. Meanwhile, God was watching and thinking, ‘who could better lead and guide My people if not this young lad who could go the extra mile for mere sheep?’ For David, those were the days of small things and he passed. Joseph dreamt of greatness; the sun, moon and stars bowed to him yet things got from bad to worse for him. He soon found himself in Potiphar’s house, yet he remained faithful in little things so much that Potiphar committed all that he had to him. Instead of being rewarded, his faithfulness landed him in prison. Still, he was not discouraged and the head of the

prison committed everything to him. He remained faithful. One day, he woke up and God had committed the whole Egypt, in fact, the whole world, into his hand. “And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.” Gen. 47:14 Pharaoh had committed the running of the affairs of the State of Egypt to Joseph and was not really interested in how he ran it. By implication, Joseph could have decided to ‘corner’ the funds, but he remitted ALL the money to his master, Pharaoh. Remember that Joseph also had his family far away (he had responsibilities, so to say) which he could worry about and thereby begin to divert or embezzle fund. But he didn’t do that, because he was aware that only righteousness can exalt a nation. He therefore reported everything to the last dime. Friend, if you must change level, then it is time for you to pay attention to small things. Long before Judas sold Jesus out, he had been unfaithful in little things. He had been stealing from the treasury, so when his master’s life was in his hand, he couldn’t do less. Faithfulness in finances “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” Luke 16:11 Many of us have been unfaithful, even in tithing. Your tithe is a tenth of your finances, income or your increase. It is a covenant obligation for you remit the tithe of all your earnings into the storehouse. It is after you have been able to faithfully pay your tithe that you can now talk of other Kingdom commitments. If God cannot tell you how

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Nuggets for real success Mystery ofAnxiety Bishop

John Ogbansiegbe

0803 341 6327 God’s counsel for your success The word of God says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shall meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shallt have good success,” – Joshua 1:8. By God’s standard, our success must be tested and measure with God’s yard stick of measurement and in accordance with His own standards of success, to know and prove whether your success is indeed good success. From the above scripture, it means that there is good success and bad success. For you to have good success, God instructs (as a divine participation for success) every Christian to have the word of God in their mouth not in their hand. “This book of the law shall not depart from thy mouth.” This is also the secret of sound Christianity. God wants the word of God to always come out of your mouth each time you open your mouth. He wants you to be positive and always speak the word of God to all your circumstances and situations, whether they are good or bad. This was why he said in His word: “I am the Lord

thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: Open thy mouth wide and i will fill it,” Psalm 81:10. There is power divinely deposited in your mouth. The devil is afraid of your spoken words, that is why he always want you to close your mouth or if you must open it, say something negative about your life and destiny. Let the word of God never to depart from your mouth as far as you are in the world. Preach the word of God at all times. The moment you stop preach the gospel, your success becomes retarded. To this end, the word of God declared, “Even in thy mouth, in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we preach, Romans 10:8. Again the word of God said, “And how shall they preach except they be sent? And it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things Roman 10:15. Physically, the feet of those those bring the gospel are always dirty and dusty. But this scripture here is figuratively referring to their source of livelihood. That business or hand work that sustains you and your family without which, you cannot stand shall be made beautiful by God as you preach and continue to preach the gospel. In other words, this scripture is saying that as you preach and continue to preach the gospel, God shall make you prosperous and successful in every aspect of life. The word of God has je truth of every matter. God has established this through His words in every situation. Let God’s word never depart from your mouth, and your good success will surely come in the name of Jesus Christ. Also meditate on these words day and

I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: Open thy mouth wide and i will fill it,” Psalm 81:10. There is power divinely deposited in your mouth night. The word of God also said, “So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading,” Nehemiah 8:8. The word of God must be read distinctly. To read the word God distinctly means to read it carefully, meticulously, articulately and attentively. Meditation is thinking over the word which you have heard or read until it makes sense, or more meaning. Make sure that you develop the culture and quality of quiet time with the Lord every day. Quiet time with the Lord is like a hen laying eggs, and incubating it until something realistic comes out of it. The word of God is a living seed and whatever a man soweth that he shall reap. In Joshua 1:8, God used the phrase “Observe to do”. This means that until you do and practice whatever you read and heard from the word of God, you cannot have or attain the height of good success. It must be noted that it takes the man that is doing right to know when he is wrong. Christianity is a doing affair. Do what you have heard and you shall have good success. In addition, learn the following nuggets for attaining real success:

Faith

How you think is everything, always be positive – Think success not failure. Beware of negative environment. Your belief that you accomplish your goals has to be unwavering. The moment you say to yourself “I can’t” then you won’t. If possible, strike those words off your dictionary. Decide on your dreams and goals – Write down your specific goals, and develop a plan to reach them. There is an adage that says “A new resolution not written down is just a mere dream.” And dreams are not goals. Goals are those concrete, measurable stones of achievement that track your progress towards your dreams. Take action to actualise your dream/vision - Goals are nothing without action just to go ahead and start something. Don’t ask how, the best way to start is to start. Seek knowledge – Never stop learning; read more books that will educate and equip you on the achievement of your goals and actualise your dreams. Be persistent in your pursuit – Work hard, success is a marathon not a sprint. Never give up. Patiently learn to analyse past and present details of your work – Discover your past mistakes, loopholes and learn from them. Never take any decision with an incomplete data. Be focused; concentrate on your dreams – Avoid distractions. Also direct your money and time towards the actualisation of your vision. Watch who you associate with – Always surround yourself with positive people that encourage you and believe in you. Don’t be distracted by those who are not helping you achieve your goals.

The truth about Easter (part 1) the of

Oracles God

Frank Oboden Olomukoro frankolomukoro@yahoo.com

0703 362 1866

hen referring to the annual Christian remembrance of Christ’s resurrection, we prefer to use the term ‘Resurrection Sunday’ rather than ‘Easter.’ As Christians, we would hasten to point out that the fact that we believe Jesus did live, die and rise again is more important and profitable to the redemption of man, because like Christmas, Easter is another example of mixture between paganism and Christianity. Biblically, from where then did Easter observance come? Did the early church dye Easter eggs? Did Peter or Paul ever conduct an Easter sunrise service? The answers are of course obvious. The observance of the remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ is not just an annual thing but as Christ instructed: “As often as you eat my flesh and drink my blood in what is referred to as the Lord’s supper, you do show forth my death.” “Take, eat….. after the same manner also he took “the cup, when he had supped saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often (not just annually) as ye eat this bread and drink this cup. Ye do show the Lord’s death till he come “(I Corinth. 11:24-26). However, Easter has come to stay for the world. ORIGIN AND ROOT OF EASTER

The word “Easter” appears once in the King James Version: “………. Intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people “(Acts 12:4). In this context the usage of the word ‘Easter’ is pascha, the Greek word for Passover - as all scholars know. However, it is a well-known fact that the word Easter is not a Christian expression-not in its original meaning. The name ‘Easter’ has its root in ancient polytheistic religion (Paganism). This name is never used in the Original scriptures, nor is it ever associated Biblically with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Basically, almost every vile, profane and idolatrous practice you can think of originated at Babel with Queen Easter/Ishtar (Semiramis) the mother goddess and Nimrod. As the people scattered from Babel with their different names for Nimrod (Tammuz) and Semiramis after God confounded their language that they may not understand one another’s speech. (Genesis 11:7) some called the mother Goddess ‘ISHTAR’ (but pronounced in modern day ‘EASTER’). In other lands, she was called Eostre, Astarte, Ostera and Eastre. Other names for semiramis, the mother Goddess, include wife of Baal (Mary is substituted today as the mother of God to Christianise the paganic name) Ashtoreth and Queen of Heaven (another reference to Mary too today). SCRIPTURAL ORDINANCES ASSOICATED WITH CHRIST’s DEATH THE LORD’S SUPPER, the drinking of the blood of Jesus Christ in a symbol of wine and eating His body also symbolized in unleavened bread remains the only scriptural ordinance commanded, instructed, ordered and exemplified by the Lord Jesus Christ to be done often. The Christians in the

early church ensured it was an integral part of their fellowship with the insight in Acts 2:36 “And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. The other ordinance is the entry point of admission into the fellowship of the body of saints which is WATER BAPTISM by immersion in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. Acts 2:38 (NOT THE USUAL TITLES OF FATHER, SON AND HOLY GHOST). Water Baptism is another symbol of dying with Christ and resurrecting to the newness of life. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into into Jesus Christ were baptised into His death? (Romans 6:3-4). A third ordinance has to do with the worshippers of Christ who have accepted Him as Lord and Saviour and admitted into fellowship upon hearing the gospel and believing it and yielding unto water baptism, may partake of FEET WASHING.(John 13:17). A symbol of humbling ourselves to one another with the capability of protecting and covering the weaknesses of one another in love. That is what feet washing symbolises (Rom. 13:5-17) “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if you love one another.(John 15:13). No other religious rites were so instructed scripturally as seen practised today. SOME OLD CHURCH FABLES WOVEN INTO CHRIST’s DEATH. Numerous Easter customs and traditions had their beginnings among non-Christian religions. Some of these are namely: ASH WEDNESDAY: Another old

fable associated with Christ’s death when many Catholics abstain from most substituting fish in its place. Certainly, the scriptures never associate fish with Friday or Christ’s death: EASTER EGGS, where eggs are coloured, hidden, hunted and eaten a custom done innocently today but anciently, it’s a sacred symbol among the Babylonians. SUNRISE SERVICE OR GALILEE: it is not uncommon for Christians to attend sunrise services. It is assumed that such honour Christ because he rose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning just as the sun was coming up. But when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb it was yet dark and the tomb was already empty (John 20:1). However, Christians may worship anytime but no scripture supports this traditional Easter sunrise service. LENT seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ that anchors the Easter remembrance of good Friday and Easter Sunday. This practice or belief was adopted into the church from the pagan practice to commemorate the death and resurrection of Tammuz or Nimrod. The Catholic Encyclopedia very honestly points out that “writers in the fourth century were prone to describe many practices (e.g, the Lenten fast for forty days) as of Apostolic institution which certainly had no scriptural claim to be so regarded. It was not until the sixth century that the pope officially ordered the observance of lent, calling it a ‘Sacred fast.’ Is there a Bible instruction to such a 40-day fast?”

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL 5, 2015

Faith

The eyes of grace Taming your Emotions Bishop

Lawrence Osagie 0806 325 0667 www.powerlineministriesinc.org mail:powerlineministries@mail.com

ut God said unto Samuel look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him, for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the heart (I Samuel 16:7). How does God qualify people for His unmerit favour. What are His criteria? The questions are necessary because they set the pace for us to truly appreciate the manifold mercies and love of God upon us as mortal souls. First of all likes as I said earlier, the thoughts and choice of our existence from creation analogy were God’s scrupulous choice. It was God who chose to make us in His image and likeness. And this appreciation sets the pace for us to understanding that His well thought out favour has been upon mankind from creation. Grace literally connotes the infinite love, mercy, faithfulness and favour of God upon mankind especially those who have accepted the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is the power that graces us the liberty from sin as made possible by our faith in the death

of the cross of cavalry. So, grace amplifies the love and favour of God upon us. And it is in this context that I am led to share with you this mystery behind what qualifies us for unmerited favour of God which in broad terms the grace of God represents. Many times we are the very individuals that disqualify ourselves from the grace of God. The word grace beyond literary connotations in Christendom means God’s reaches at Christ’s expense. In other words grace is the riches of God bestowed upon you as paid by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It comes to you as the gift from God not because you are the best behaved individual or the one with the expedient moral conduct. First of all you need to know that God is big enough to give you whatever he wants to give you. That is why 2Corinthians 9:8 says, “God is able to make all grace abound.” Whatever department of your life you need to see the hand of God, God is well able to make it abound. He is more able than able. God has the capacity to meet any need and every need in your life. No wonder in Ephesians 3:20 we read in the scriptures: “Now unto Him who is able you do exceedingly, abundantly above all that you can ever think or imagine or ask.” God is able to make all grace abound towards you. These scriptures keep me excited and hopeful. The fact that God everything that I need and He is willing to give it to me without making me go through unnecessary travail gets me excited. You

“Now unto Him who is able you do exceedingly, abundantly above all that you can ever think or imagine or ask.” God is able to make all grace abound towards you. have not seen anything yet, you will be the very best of God in every near future. You will see the glory of God. The grace of God will be manifested in every area of your life. God is all sufficient; this is why he is called EL-Shaddai. He has all that you need. Even as you are reading this message, God has everything that you need. Now let us do some exercise here. Just think of that thing that will make you leap in great joy and delirium, should it happen in your life now? Something that will really some uncommon excitement in your heart and in your life; what is that thing that will make you run around and want everyone to hear and refuse to be stopped by anyone when it happens. And I will be glad to announce to you that the grace of God is not looking for what you can offer before you can access the throne of God. In fact, grace is made available to those who are least qualified. That is why somewhere along the line in

the course of this teaching, I said to you favour is not always fait. Because there are people who believe they are the only individuals that are qualified for popular position given their societal influence. They are the ones that have things they can boast about. There is nothing in your background that you can boast about. There is nothing in your background that you can present. There is no certificate in your hand that can pull you through; there is no money anywhere to link you. There is no complementary card from special individual anywhere that will give you the lead way to where you want to go. Therefore you are recklessly rejected and abandoned. You are the one the grace of God is looking for. You have been in pain, you have been in tears, you have known sorrow, and you have knocked on every door; and on each door you knocked you have been turned back in rejection. Now the grace of God is visiting you, I mean the resurrection power of God is upon you right now. The grace of God has stepped into your case. You don’t serve a dead God, He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. He is the Lord, he changeth not, and you will not end your journey in shame. The grace of God is not looking for what you can bring to the table or what you can offer. If this message has blessed your life, you can get more at the Powerline Bible church. We invite you worship with us at powerline Bible church glass house, Odolowu Bus Stop, ijeshatedo, along Mile2- Oshodi Expressway, Lagos.

Peace,’ benefit of Christ’s resurrection Liberation Tidings Pastor Samuel Daniel

globalgracechurch@ymail.com

08060143296 (SMS only)

want to speak on a message I titled ’Peace, The Benefit of Christ’s Resurrection.’ The book of Romans 14:17 says: “For the kingdom of God is not meat and bread but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” One of the benefits of Christ’s resurrection for all children of God is redemption from sin and peace with God. The book of John 14 says, “Peace I leave with you and my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth. If I give unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid.” In this portion of scripture, you see that when Christ was about to depart from the earth, He said that he is leaving His peace with us. In the book of John 20 :21 , Jesus visited his disciples after resurrection and said to them ; ‘Peace be unto you as my father has sent me, even so said I unto you.” Giving the word of Jesus, he was reiterating his gift of peace and that His father has sent Him,

Jesus, with a message of peace. The same way every man needs to walk in peace. A peacemaker is one that brings peace, one that preaches peace; a Christian that is led by the spirit of God to share the word of God. As we celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ, we need to realise that one of the important things about Easter or benefits is that anyone who has received Christ into his life will experience the peace of God. If there is no peace in the life of any child of God that means such person has not received Jesus into his or her life. The evidence that you have received Christ is that you will have the peace of God in you. You will have peace not as the world gives, but when God gives you peace, everything around will be peaceable. A lot of people are looking for peace and the Bible said in the book of John 16:33, “These things are spoken unto you that in me you might have peace, in the world you should have trouble but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. ” It is in our Lord Jesus, you can find true peace; many people are looking for peace in many places, and you may bring soldiers to guard you but that may not guarantee you peace, The passage I read before said the kingdom of God is not about eating and drinking. Some think that when they have money, they will be at peace; but when the money

If there is no peace in the life of any child of God that means such person has not received Jesus into his or her life. The evidence that you have received Christ is that you will have the peace of God in you

comes they will be trouble. People think when they acquire power, they will be at peace but when they get that power, they continue to struggle just as when they were ordinary people. The truth is that you can find peace in Jesus. That is why He said, “These things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace.” Anyone that has Jesus in inside of him without true peace needs to do an inward re-examination. There was a man called Zacchaeus. He was very rich but had no peace of mind. Despite all the money he made, as a politician and public figure, he

was not at peace with himself. One day he decided to seek for Jesus. And when he found Jesus Christ, the Bible said that he received Jesus and decided to give people all the wealth that he had acquired wrongly. He made peace with Jesus. That is how the life of any one that finds Jesus turns around for good. Such a person will be at peace. The new life in Christ makes one to make peace with all men. The Bible says that he maketh a man’s enemies to be at peace within him when your way is pleasing to the Lord. When you accept Jesus, that is the gift God gives to us; hence Jesus said, “In me you might have peace.” The book of Ephesians 2:14, says; “For He is our peace, who has made the wall and broke down the middle wall the division between us.” Jesus is our peace and any one that received Jesus into his life, has received peace into his life. Though they may be trouble all over the world, what troubles others will not trouble you. Now the question is: How can we work in peace? The only way we can work in peace, according to the book of Galatians 6:15 A, “As many that work according to the will of God, peace be unto them; and many that work according this rule peace be unto them.” There is a rule that one will follow to have the peace of God, said Apostle Paul.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL 5, 2015

Faith

Easter is confirmation of Christian faith – CAN chairman Prof. Magnus Atilade is the chairman, South West Zone of the Christians Association of Nigeria and the National President, Christian Welfare Initiative, a Christian vanguard advocating freedom of religion, worship, political awareness and participation. He spoke to CHIJIOKE IREMEKA on the significance of Easter What does Easter signify in the body of Christ? As everybody knows, Easter is the basis for Christianity and a confirmation of our Christian faith. This makes Christianity distinct from every other religion in the world. Jesus was the Word of God, which came to earth in the form of man This Word of God went about doing good, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, raising the dead, freeing the demon-possessed, and making the blind to see. At the end, He was crucified and His blood spilled, which was for the remission of sins of all mankind. His blood is for the redemption of those who accepted Him as their Lord and personal Saviour. As I said, He was crucified but it wasn’t the end of His impact on Christendom. He was dead and buried but the good news remains that He rose from the dead after three days and that is the joy of Easter. Both the cross and tomb where He died and was buried became empty after three days. To confirm His resurrection, Christ appeared before many people; two of them were on their journey to Emmaus. He talked to them and reminded them of the prophecy that Christ would come again, and He disappeared. Then, they realised that it was Jesus. That was a confirmation of our faith and a distinction between Christianity and other religions. Christians are followers of a living man, who died and arose, the only person that has conquered death. So, we are serving a risen Christ. Jesus, yes, was crucified, yes was dead, yes was buried but He rose from the dead and the grave could not hold Him captive. This is what Easter is all about. It’s our victory over death. So, when we accept Him, we died with Him and we rose up with Him; Hallelujah. Now, having explained what Easter means for the entire body of Christ, what

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the election, I was going downstairs, there was an elevator with several cardinals in it. And someone said, “No, you have to go alone in that other elevator.” No, I’m going with them. And when we got downstairs, there was a car waiting, one that was used on these occasions. And I said, “No, I’m going in the bus with them.” These things come naturally for me. It’s not that I am making a deliberate effort… I try to be myself, as it pleases me. And sometimes I exaggerate in some matter that might offend someone. I don’t know. I have to watch myself here. But the symbols, the way of carrying oneself, the car… The Mercedes is there. I can’t go around in a Mercedes or a BMW. Now there’s this Focus or whatever it’s called, which is what I use, which is a compact, more or less within the means of a bank employee. That would be appropriate, no? I believe in simplicity. What you said to the Curia in December – in all truth, in 40 years, I had never heard so many diseases named at one time: 15 different expressions. I said to myself, the pope spent two years here making this list, one by one. Strong words, Pope Francis. Is the Curia so sick? You spoke about people who think they are immortal, petrified in their souls,

Atilade

does Easter mean to you? First and foremost, Easter makes me to be stronger in my faith any time, any day. When I accepted Him as my Lord and my personal Saviour, His resurrection gave me the assurance that He is with me all the time. He works with me, He feels my pains and His resurrection is a constant reminder to me that the tunnel might be dark, but at end of the tunnel, is light. And so, it’s the strong basis for my faith that he is a living God not a god that is dead. This is what I’m emphasising, In all other religions, their founders are dead, buried and their bones are still there but Jesus Christ is the only person that is raised from the dead. That is the assurance He has given me. So, from then on, I have had no fear again because I know that the man that I

believe in is still alive and ever present with me. He is not dead and buried like others; He is alive. So, being alive, His presence is always with me. I know He is inside of me. So, He that is inside of me is greater than any other person. And He had assured me that there are no weapons fashioned against me that will prosper. He is there to provide for me and answer my calls any time, any day I call on Him. Even unto death, He has made me happy because I will still live with Him. This is the only basis of my Christian life and faith. Easter is talking about the death and resurrection of Christ. What would have become the fate of the disciples, if Christ didn’t resurrect as He promised? Well, they like us would have looked like foolish people. They would have been very disappointed and they would have been damned. Their hopes would have been dashed and people would have mocked them; but they became justified by His resurrection. So, all of us believers are justified and we live with the resurrected Christ. That is the great difference and news for us that though Christ died, He rose up from dead and is ever present with us. What then is the significant lesson that the memory of Easter teaches the church of Christ? Easter teaches all believers about the hope for eternity. There is life after death for those that are in Christ Jesus. The founders of other religions even required all their followers to pray for them that they might go to heaven but Christ is the only one, who said, “I’m going to prepare a place for you, that where I am is where you will also be.” This promise is the great hope we have, and that is the difference between us and those who are not believers. We are people of hope and faith and this is why it behooves on all of us to go out and spread the good

‘I try to be myself’

people who think only of their own interests, of positions of power and influence. In short, a description with impact. They were your own people, and one of their own speaks to them with a certain frankness; it’s like a father talking to his children. But,it was in public… I want to explain that. There were 15. Later, in the last consistory, a cardinal added one more, the 16th, which was very, very good. He was very sharp. I liked it. Can we know which one it was? Yes. The one about those who don’t have the courage to criticise someone face to face. If one is not in agreement with the pope, go tell him so. It’s beautiful, no? That courage isn’t there. The context for what I said was this: we are at the end of the year; let us make an examination of conscience. And, in my judgment, the temptations or sicknesses – I use them as synonyms – most common in the Curia are these. And there occurred to me, for example, one to which no one paid attention, and for me it is the main one: the forgetting of one’s first love. In other words, when someone is transformed into a good employee and forgets that he has a mission to be identified with Jesus Christ, who is the first love. Yes, I went over the temptations that I had, as Archbishop,

because they crop up in clerical circles, or the ones I have seen in others, which they might have. I called them temptations or illnesses. At the end, a mischievous cardinal approached me – a bit younger than me, but not much – and said to me: “Listen, Your Holiness. What do I have to do now? Go to confession or go to the pharmacy?” It was an examination of conscience, and I wanted to make it graphic. Perhaps, it wasn’t received well. The style wasn’t very traditional for an end-of-theyear message, but, at the end of the year, we ought to make an examination of conscience. I said it clearly. Twice, I said that it’s necessary to go to confession. Because I want everybody here to go to confession. And we do, no? I think that, in this regard, they are faithful. But real confessions, specific. Let us ask forgiveness from Jesus for the things that we have done wrong or because we have offended others or because we have been unjust. It was an examination of conscience in which I used these synonymous terms: temptation or sickness. But it’s not as though the Curia is collapsing from all these complications or diseases. And do you feel resistance from within the Curia?

news that He is alive and change their status from condemned persons to saved persons. We are all sinners but we believe that our sins are forgiven by the death of Christ and nothing as such remains in us. We have life after death. For us, who are Christians, whether we are alive here or not, we can stay with Jesus, propagating His name and spreading the good news of Easter. As the country celebrates Easter, what is your message to Nigerians? My message to the country at Easter, is that, Christians should reaffirme their faith in the crucified, dead and buried but risen Jesus Christ. The fact that He has risen will keep our hope alive and stronger in Him. He said, those that taste from this honey should go and preach the gospel to all creatures and bring them to the knowledge of the truth. That is, we shouldn’t allow the world to be in a hopeless situation. We should live peacefully with one another. The Bible says, as much as it is possible, be at peace with all people. To sound it very well, if you have the fear of God in you, which is transformed into a desire of helping other people, the world will be a better place for us. God wants us to be our brothers’ keeper. Just as He asked Cain, “where is your brother?” and Cain replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” we, as Christians, have to reaffirm that yes, we are our brothers’ keeper. We must live our lives in such a way that we care for orphans, widows and those who need our help. That is how to be our brother’s keeper. If we do that, Nigeria will become a better place. All the vices that are plaguing us in this country will go. The vices of greed, heartlessness, wickedness, all of that will change in the country and bring about peace, reconciliation and commitment to a better future for all of us in this country. People are saying vote for this party or that party. With all due respect, none of the parties will deliver a 10th of their promises. But if we accept Jesus Christ, as our Lord and our personal Saviour, which is the reason for the season, then we would have taken the first step of making the country a better place for all. Would you say that interfaith prayers of CWI yielded any positive result in the just concluded presidential and National Assembly’s elections? If you prayed and things are bad, then you can imagine what would have happened if you didn’t pray. Definitely, with a strong emphasis, prayers have been answered. That is why everybody is confirming and attesting that we have conducted one of the best elections that the world had seen.

Let the stuff out, no? There are always different points of view. They are licit. What I want is for them to emerge and be said. It’s the sixteenth disease, right? Let things be said face to face. Have the courage not to be quiet, to speak up. And never never never – I say this before God – ever since I was a bishop, have I punished someone for telling me things to my face. Those are the collaborators I want. And do you have them? They exist. I have found them here. A lot of them, or a few? Quite a few. Enough, I would say. And there are others who do not dare, who are afraid. But you have to give them time. I am betting on the goodness of people. They all have much more good than bad inside. Pope Francis, How would you like to be remembered for your impact on the Church in these two years? I’d continue doing the same thing. I would speak as I speak, like a parish pastor. I like to speak this way. I don’t know. I have always talk like this. Always. Out there, it’s a defect. I don’t know. But I think that the people understand me. I thank you for your kindness and in you I thank the Mexican people whom I love very much.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH APRIL 5, 2015

Faith

Experiencing the wonders of praise! The Voice of Dominion by

Bishop David Oyedepo

7747546-8 (SMS only)

oday is Easter Sunday, a day when Christians celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As you celebrate, don’t forget that Christ is the reason for the season. I Wish You a Happy And Glorious Easter! Recognise that there is wonder-working power in praise. The Bible says: Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who

is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11). We have witnessed that as individuals. There is no doubt that Wonder-working power is embedded in praise. We must appreciate that praise is part and parcel of our worship. So, when you praise, you are expressing your approval and commendation to God, for His faithfulness in your life and in the lives of others. So, praise is part of our worship of God. I am talking about the type of praise that follows you to your closet! Note that God manifests His wonders in praise. What is a wonder? A wonder is something that makes you to wonder. Recognise that prayer delivers gradually, but going through scriptures, it is clear that praise delivers suddenly! Note that you can praise yourself out

of prison! Remember what happened to Paul and Silas in Acts 16:25-30? They were thrown into the prison, while awaiting execution the following day. Everyone thought their case was already closed. As they prayed at night and nothing happened, they engaged praise. As they praised God audibly, there was an earthquake! God appeared on the scene and delivered them from prison with dignity! Also, you can praise your way into victory. Remember how King Jehoshaphat of Judah and his subjects praised God, when three nations besieged Judah? As they praised God, God set ambushments against their enemies and they were all smitten (2Chronicles 20:22-24)! Thirdly, you can praise your way out of sickness to health (Jeremiah 30:27; Proverbs 17:22). Also, you can praise your way out

of poverty. Only praising believers are permitted to prosper. If you don’t water your seed with praises, you won’t harvest anything. Murmuring, complaining and ingratitude are what won’t allow your seeds to deliver your harvests. Recognise that you can praise your way out of struggles into miracles! To experience the wonders of praise, we must understand that: Praise provokes divine intervention (2 Chronicles 20:22-24). God divinely intervened in their problems via their praises. Praise is the master key to victory and triumph in times of battle. James 5:16 says: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So, the praise of the righteous avails much more definitely. You have prayed fervently; it is now time to praise God fervently. Praise provokes multiplication in every area of life. During the ministry of Jesus, there was a time He needed to feed 5,000 people excluding children and women with only five loaves and two fishes! As Jesus gave thanks, the five loaves and two fishes multiplied and were able to feed the large crowd (John 6:5-11). Besides, there were 12 baskets of remnants after they were fed! Finally, praise provokes delivery of answers to prayers (Ps. 67:7; Ps. 150:6). Here is this testimony: A man’s wife was poisoned. The man came to our Church service with his wife. As they were praising God in the service, the woman was healed of the poison! God set her free from poison! Friend, the power to engage praise for your turnaround, is for those saved. You get saved by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord. If you are set for it, please say this prayer: “Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!” I will continue this teaching next week. Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, please get my books: Understanding The Power Of Praise and The Wonders Of Praise. I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. respectively. I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 77475468; or E-mail: feedback@ lfcww.org

SUNDAY

Sport 59

SUNDAY, APRIL 05, 2015

EPL

Man Uted, Arsenal keep pressure on Chelsea p.61

Football

Ike Opara: Nigerian star on top in MLS p.60

Tennis

Murray, Djokovic to clash in Miami final p.61

Rugby

Buffalo’s Onwukanjo invited to Black Stallions p.61

Deputy Sports Editor Dapo Sotuminu

Adesanya: New Zealand’s ‘King in the Ring’ I Dapo Sotuminu

nternational boxing whiz kid, Israel Mobolaji Adesanya, described as the best-kept secret in New Zealand combat sports, has been voted the ‘King in the Ring’ in the southwestern Pacific country just as other Nigerian boxing legends like Samuel Peter, Ike Ibeabuchi, Henry Akinwande and Herbie Hide ruled the world in the fistic sport. Today, the boxer with Nigeria heritage reigns supreme as the ‘King in the Ring’ in New Zealand. With a record of 37 wins, and just two losses, Adesanya is signed to Glory; the greatest stage in world kickboxing. It’s the equivalent of the UFC or old school K1, and yet he is still to receive the same mainstream exposure as many previous representative athletes. As far as he’s concerned, fame is inevitable. There are some who don’t believe him, but he’s used to pulling off the unlikely. “I’ve been telling my parents I’m the best in the world since my first fight,” he says. His second fight, against an opponent with 12 wins and a single loss was held under full Thai rules, which allow for knees and elbows. Adesanya doesn’t do things by halves. Born in Nigeria, Adesanya lived a nomadic early life, travelling with his family in pursuit of work for his father, an accountant. From Nigeria, they travelled to Ghana, a country of 27 million bordering the Atlantic on the West Coast of Africa. From Ghana, they left for New Zealand when his father was employed in Rotorua. Adesanya attended Rotorua Boys’ High - but life as an immigrant in small-city New Zealand wasn’t always easy. He said: “School was hard at times, man. It’s never easy being the foreign kid, but there were other guys who got a hard time there too.” Fortunately, he had an enduring passion for dance, incubated during his time in Ghana. When Adesanya’s father had a falling out with his employers the family moved to Wanganui. It was in this small west coast town that Adesanya would get his first taste of fight sports, both the good and the bad. Last weekend, Adesanya claimed the Super 8 crown. He needed an extra round but he emerged victorious at the Super 8 boxing tournament with a split-decision win

over American Brian Minto. Adesanya, a 25-year-old who boasts a 41-2 record as a kick-boxer, moved to 3-1 as a boxer, while Minto fell to 41-9 in Christchurch. The final was one of the more entertaining fights on the bill and the bonus frame was needed after a three-round final produced a split draw from the judges. Adesanya’s fitness helped him in the sudden-death stages as he edged the 40-year-old who has form with New Zealand fighters, having previously clashed with Shane Cameron and Joseph Parker. It was through dance that Adesanya began to embody the showmanship he exhibits today. It was dance, too, where he cultivated the beginnings of a champion’s mentality. Against the wishes of his trainer, Adesanya took a mixed martial arts bout in Auckland. During his seven months in China, Adesany a brought his professional record to 32 wins with just one loss. His sole defeat came in an extension round at the hands of Canadian Simon Marcus, in the semi-finals of an 8-man tournament. The defeat was controversial. “I quit my job in September last year to move to China,” says

Adesanya. “I didn’t really tell anyone I was going; I just snuck out of the country.” Promoter and former world champion Ethan Shepp has secured Adesanya to fight on an upcoming Knees of Fury card in Hamilton against England’s Joe Boobyer and further opportunities await him in the Glory World Series. Shepp believes Adesanya is destined for the top. “He’s a special talent. He’s just got that x-factor. I’ve got no problem saying he is going to be a future world champion.” For Adesanya, fighting is a lifestyle and, at his current victory rate, a good living too. “Fighting is life. If you wake up every day, you’re fighting. You get out of bed, you’re fighting. “All I want to do is eat, sleep, train, repeat.”

SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Sport

Ike Opara: Nigerian star on top in MLS

Dapo Sotuminu

igerian-born Ikenna Martin “Ike” Opara is an American soccer player who has become very influential plying his trade in the United States. He currently plays for Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer At the moment, he sits on top of the MLS performance index as he was last weekend voted the league’s Player of the Week after scoring a fantastic goal from him position in the centre-back making more interceptions and blocks than any other player on the pitch in Sporting KC’s win at NYCFC. He also made 13 clearances - an amount matched. Opara is a product of Wake Forest University and was drafted by the San Jose Earthquakes in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft as a generation adidas signing. After three years with the club, Sporting Kansas City acquired Opara prior to the 2013 MLS season. The soccer star represented the United States at the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup and at the U-23 level during the 2012 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The 26-year-old was diagnosed with a chondral defect in his right ankle last year April, costing him the rest of the 2014 season. Playing his first minutes in the league in nearly a year, Opara not only started, but scored a header for Sporting KC as his team drew 1-1 with the New York Red Bulls at Sporting Park. So far in the 2015 season, he has earned four starts and contributed to two clean sheets. Opara scored a goal in a draw against the New York Red Bulls on March 8 which was his first MLS match since March 29, 2014. In 2014, Opara made three appearances with two

starts in the month of March and tied MLS career highs for shots (3) and shots on goal (2) in Sporting KC’s 1-0 win against his former club, the San Jose Earthquakes, on March 22. The Nigeria-born star whose parents Emmanuel and Clarice Opara hail from South East Nigeria was voted Sporting KC newcomer of the Year in the 2013 season, as he appeared in a career-best 18 games with 16 starts. He tied his career-high with three goals scored. He appeared in three matches during MLS Cup Playoffs. Opara started three 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League group stage matches, scoring the gamewinning goal in a 2-0 win at Real Esteli on September 17. He played sixteen matches during 2012 MLS season for San Jose Earthquakes. On the international scene, Opara started all three matches at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt in the colours of the United States. He was invited to camp with the U.S. Olympic squad (U-23), where the super brat scored a goal during camp in a friendly with FC Dallas on 2/22. He started playing serious football right from College in 2009 where he appeared in 17 games during junior season at Wake Forest, scored three goals and notched two assists. This earned him the All-American honors from the NSCAA In 2008, he was a member of defense that didn’t allow a goal for 401 minutes 59 seconds early in the season. He was Player of the Year as a junior. High school’s Most Valuable Player in 2005 and 2006 and named his high school’s Defensive Player of the Year as a freshman.

PROFILE Current Club: Sporting Kansas City Height: 6’ 2” Weight: 180 lbs. Birth Date: 02-21-1989 Birth Place: Durham, North Carolina

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY APRIL 05, 2015

Sport / News

Buffalo’s Onwukanjo invited to Black Stallions

niversity of Buffalo junior, Ike Onwukanjo, has been invited to the Nigerian national Sevens Rugby side this summer as they try to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games. The Nigerian Rugby Football Federation has been looking for overseas players eligible to compete for Nigeria as a way to boost their efforts to qualify for the Rio Olympics. Onwukanjo holds dual United States and Nigerian citizenship. The team will compete in a series of tournaments this summer in Europe and Africa and will later compete for the Africa Cup Championships. “Being invited to play for Nigeria is a tremendous honour,” said Onwukanjo of his selection. “It’s a challenge that I am really looking forward to.” Ike began his rugby career as a sophomore at New Rochelle High School and joined UB Men’s Rugby upon his arrival in Buffalo where he quickly established himself as a starter on both their Fifteens and Sevens sides. Ike’s strong play in Sevens led to an invitation to last year’s Northeast ODA Sevens camp where he had the opportunity to train with some of the best Sevens’ players and coaches from across the Northeast.

Dele Alli targets promotion

igerian-born England youth international, Dele Alli, has set his sights on helping his League One side, MK Dons, secure promotion to the Championship before he returns to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer. Alli signed for Premier League side, Tottenham Hotspur, in January, but has returned on loan to his former club until the end of the campaign. The 18-year old midfielder thus returned to action for MK Dons on Saturday as they thrashed hosts Swindon Town 3-0.

RESULTS

Barclays Premier League Arsenal 4 - 1 Liverpool Everton 1 - 0 South’pton Leicester 2 - 1 West Ham Man. United 3 - 1 Aston Villa Swansea 3 - 1 Hull West Bromwich 1 - 4 QPR Chelsea 2 - 1 Stoke City Germany - Bundesliga Leverkusen 4 - 0 Hamburger Frankfurt 2 - 2 Hannover Freiburg 1 - 0 Cologne Hoffenheim 1 - 4 Mo’gladbach Bremen 0 - 0 Mainz Wolfsburg 3 - 1 Stuttgart Dortmund 0 - 1 Bayern Italy - Serie A Roma 1 - 0 Napoli Atalanta 1 - 2 Torino Cagliari 1 - 3 Lazio Genoa 1 - 1 Udinese Hellas Verona 3 - 3 Cesena Inter 1 - 1 Parma Palermo 1 - 2 AC Milan Sassuolo 1 - 0 ChievoVerona Fiorentina 2 - 0 Sampdoria Spain - Liga BBVA Eibar 1 - 2 Rayo Vallecano Cordoba 0 - 2 Atletico Madrid France - Ligue 1 Monaco 1 - 1 Saint Etienne Guingamp 1 - 3 Lyon

Man Uted, Arsenal keep pressure on Chelsea A rsenal trounced Liverpool 4-1 to close to within four points of Premier League leaders Chelsea and Manchester United also retained their slim title hopes

by beating Aston Villa on Saturday. Arsenal applied a little pressure to Jose Mourinho’s side by sweeping away Liverpool before halftime at The Emirates with Hector

Bellerin, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez all on target. Olivier Giroud curler sealed victory in the final minute after a Jordan Henderson penalty had briefly raised Liverpool’s hopes,

Olivier Giroud celebrated his seventh goal in six games

Murray, Djokovic to clash in Miami final

ndy Murray’s rivalry with Novak Djokovic will continue in the final of the Miami Open after the duo came through their semi-finals. Murray beat Czech eighth seed Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-4 and will now have a chance to win the Florida title for a third time after victory in 2009 and 2013. His opponent will be the world number one who took care of bigserving American John Isner 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 in just 90 minutes to book his spot in today’s showpiece. The Scot and Djokovic faced each other in the final of this year’s Australian Open, with the Serb coming out on top while he also beat Mur-

ray in the semi-finals at Indian Wells, but the British number one appears happy with his game after a clinical display against Berdych. “I did most things well; there’s not a lot I could complain about,” he said after the contest. “My second serve was much better in the second set. I served well on the big points and got a lot of free points behind my serve. “I’ve played well this week, much better than I did at Indian Wells.” Djokovic was also pleased with his performance and is now expecting a tough clash with Murray in the latest Masters 1000 final. “I played a terrific match,” he said. “The opening set was pretty close.

Ighalo dedicates Watford’s goal to daughter

uper Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo, who scored his 18th goal in the English Championship to help Watford salvage a point away at Derby County on Friday, has dedicated the goal he scored to his daughter, Bernice Ighalo, who was a year old on Saturday. “I am happy with the goal and that we didn’t lose the game. I dedicated the goal to God and to my daughter, Bernice, who clocked one,” Ighalo said.

Watford is fourth on the league table with 73 points from 40 games. The former Granada ace fired the second goal in the 75th to end the game 2-2. He has now scored 20 goals in all competitions this season for Watford. Similarly, one-capped Eagles forward Kayode Odejayi scored one of the goals for Tranmere Rovers as they drew 2-2 at Stevenage in an English League One game on Friday.

His resistance wilted a bit in the second set. Andy has been playing so well this year. He lives here and spends a lot of time practising on these courts, so he’s familiar with the conditions.”

only for Emre Can to get sent off late in the game. “What we can master now mathematically is the top four, where we will finish,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told reporters. “For the title we need us to be perfect and Chelsea not to be perfect, so let’s focus on what we can master.” Ander Herrera scored at the end of each half and Wayne Rooney added a spectacular strike in between as Manchester United moved above champions Manchester City into third place with a 3-1 home win over Aston Villa. Liverpool’s top-four hopes are fading fast and they are on 54 points in fifth place. “It was a game we needed to take something from,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. “We didn’t defend well enough in key moments of the game.” Liverpool, badly disrupted by the absence of suspended defender Martin Skrtel, wasted a great chance to go ahead when Lazar Markovic fluffed a pass to Raheem Sterling who was denied a tap-in after a quick counter-attack. Punishment came in the form of Bellerin’s precise finish, Ozil’s sweet free kick and a ferocious Sanchez strike. Rooney’s stunning volley set Old Trafford abuzz as United racked up a fourth consecutive victory but the team received mixed reviews from manager Louis van Gaal.

Kano Pillars out of Champions League

igerian champions, Kano Pillars, have crashed out of the 2015 Caf Champions League. Pillars defeated Moroccan club Moghreb Athletic de Tétouan (MAT) 2-1 on Saturday in Kano but still crashed out 2-5 on aggregate to the Moroccans. Pillars dominated the early exchanges at the Sani Abacha Stadium and had gilt-edged opportunities through Ezekiel Mbah and Adamu Hassan. The hosts were staring down a barrel following a first-leg 0-4 loss to the Moroccans a fortnight ago and they were made to rue missed chances when Moghreb Athletic de Tétouan scored the game’s only goal late in the first half. Mouhcine Iajour, who scored a

hat-trick in the first leg, was the man who practically ensured Pillars’ hopes basically went up in smoke with a neat finish on 33 minutes. Pillars now had to score six times as well as ensure they kept their fluid-playing opponents at bay at the other end to progress to the second round. It was always going to prove a difficult ask but Pillars went about the task the right way and were back on level terms 13 minutes after the break through Tony Edjomariegwe. Moghreb Athletic de Tétouan’s was shown a red card for a second bookable offence midway into the second half but the visitors defended manfully before eventually conceding a second late on.

Serena captures Miami Open title

erena Williams won her eighth Key Biscayne title Saturday and remained unbeaten this year by drubbing Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-0 in the final of the Miami Open. Williams became the fourth woman to win the same WTA event at least eight times. Martina Navratilova won Chicago 12 times, the most titles by a woman at any tournament. The top-ranked Williams

claimed her second title this year. She won her 19th Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open in January, and has now won 12 consecutive finals. Williams improved to 18-0 this year. She withdrew before the Indian Wells semifinal last month with a knee injury but quickly recovered. Williams is 73-7 at Key Biscayne, where she has won her past 18 matches.

The Area Sales Manager, Enugu Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Chris Ibe with the four lucky winners of Heineken ‘Champion The Match’ promotion held in Enugu

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Triumph of the grand, old conspiracy against East

olomon Dalong, a lawyer, is a vocal member of the Northern Elders’ Council and a former chairman of a local council in Plateau State. A former special assistant to the late Solomon Lar, he is widely admired in the north for his passionate advocacy of northern unity based on Christian-Muslim understanding and mutual respect as a basis for peaceful co-existence as espoused by the late Sardauna, Sir. Ahmadu Bello. On May 29, last year, I had the privilege of meeting Dalong at the Jigawa Government House, Dutse. I had led a four-man business development team from New Telegraph Newspapers, Lagos, for a business meeting with Governor Lamido and Dalong had come to deliver the Democracy Day lecture on ‘Youths, Religion and Democracy.’ After the lecture, which was very well received, we were all waiting in the office of the Director of Press to be ushered into the governor’s office when I drew close to Dalong and asked, ‘why do you people here (north) hate President Jonathan so much in spite of all he had done for the north?’ His answer was revealing. When the Igbo, ‘who are influential’ in Jonathan’s government started talking about Civil War reparations and possible inquest into the conduct of the Nigerian Civil War, he said, the north immediately saw a danger signal there and started consulting with the South West on what the two biggies must do to save their necks. Thus was hatched the plot to remove Jonathan by all means and thus began the vicious, relentless campaign against the President who has done much more for the North in just four years than all the Nigerian presidents from Shehu Shagari put together. The pattern of voting (or rigging) in this election gives a lot of credence to Dalong’s ‘alarm bell’ theory. The grand, old conspiracy against Eastern Nigeria was brought back in its full measure and used to clinical efficiency: PDP won in only the 11 states of the South East and South South, plus Ekiti, where Ayo Fayose had a point to prove and proved it; Plateau, which has a historical axe to grind with Muslim North; Taraba, where Danjuma’s body language dictates political direction and Nasarawa, where the numerically stronger natives who stood for Jonathan overwhelmed the votes of Hausa-Fulani settlers. So, out of 36 states and Abuja, PDP, a ruling party running a performing government, won only 15 states plus Abuja to APC’s 21 states. Isn’t it shocking to many that one of the middle belt states won by APC is Benue, a poster child of the middle belt’s agelong struggle for emancipation from the stranglehold of the Hausa-Fulani? But, it would appear that the usually unfounded fear of Igbo, nay Eastern Nigerian, domination is more powerful in the minds of people of Benue and Kogi than the instinct of self-preservation. But are Dalong and Co’s fears founded? Would the Igbo, however favorable the conditions might be, really rekindle the animosities of the Civil War by pressing for reparations from the federal government and seeking punishment for war criminals? I doubt that. But, that of course was a good excuse, the ‘red flag’ they needed to ‘vote out’ a performing government run by a lowly, self-effacing Niger Delta minority man called Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan was certainly not going to allow reparations or the declaration of any one or group of persons Nigerian Civil War criminals on account of Igbo agita-

Sunday w

Felix Oguejiofor Abugu

abugufex@gmail.com 08076290498 (sms only)

Achebe

Ekwueme

tion to that effect and they knew it. But, it was the veritable smokescreen for one of the main reasons Jonathan must not be allowed to complete his tenure, namely, to cut short his government so that Eastern Nigeria, the whipping boy of the dysfunctional Nigerian federation, the place every other region had been taught to despise and treat as dirt, would not take the credit for taking Nigeria to the next level of development after the princes of the desert and Oodu’a had despoiled it. With massive road construction and reconstruction across the country, with the trains back on tracks and running efficiently, with new airport terminals springing up in strategic parts of the country and with 22 federallyowned airport terminals remodeled and in use, with 14 new universities built and functional, with 125 almajiri schools that have taken hitherto idle and religiouslymiseducated Northern children out of the streets, with agricultural revolution that has halved food imports in four years, with industrial production growing by the day, with the stock exchange back to life and bullish, the administration of Goodluck Jonathan has, to be sure, done more than any other since the First Republic, to move Nigeria forward. But, in Nigeria’s grotesque federal setup, self-serving political elite constantly coral the people into hating the messenger rather than his message, so that no matter how well Goodluck Jonathan may have performed as President, he just had to go because he comes from the wrong place and uses the wrong people to record the achievements credited to him. It was the late Chinua Achebe who once wrote in seminal slim volume, The Trouble with Nigeria, that the one thing in which Nigerians of different ethnic groups are united is their hatred of the Igboman, whose only crime, as far as I know, is that he travels out of his community to live among people of other cultures and faiths

and while there, works hard to contribute his best (which is often good enough) towards nation-building. But, in a country where many are leeches and seek after easy wealth that comes from stealing from public treasury, those who dare to work hard and upon whom fortunes, unimaginable fortunes, consequently smile are usually the objects of envy and jealousy, which drive their compatriots, often through the instrumentality of government, to unbelievable lengths to stop their political and economic ascendancy. It is unfortunate for the Eastern minorities that they share some cultural and geographical affinity with the Igbo of the South East. Were they alone, the economic predators of North and South West wouldn’t be this vicious in their conspiracy to render Eastern Nigeria politically useless in the scheme of things and economically diminished despite the enormous resources that lie under the bowels of its soil. Indeed, I wager also that were the Igbo a nationality living on the periphery of the country, with little or no resources that an Obasanjo would expropriate ‘for the nation’ using a dubious land use act, the unconscionable, state-sanctioned efforts to destroy the Igbo as a nationality in Nigeria so that its its numerous smart, highly intelligent sons and daughters would not constitute a hindrance to the mindless exploitation of the resources of Eastern Nigeria by the callous, selfish biggies of the North and West, would have been less vicious. But, we are entwined with our brothers and sisters in the South South in a marriage that is not exactly blossomy but, which we cannot, fortunately or unfortunately, annul. Here, then, is, the wisdom in all this: fate and history have presented the South East and South South with an opportunity to work together for the good of their peoples. When Fulani irredentist former Governor Nyako wrote his now infamous

letter warning Ndigbo against supporting Jonathan in his ‘contrived’ war against Boko Haram, I wrote an article in which I argued that knowingly or unknowingly, Murtala Nyako, the failed and impeached governor of Adamawa State, was bringing Ndigbo and the Eastern minority brothers together in a manner that was hitherto thought improbable. What Jonathan’s clear victory in the South East and South South signifies is that not only are the two zones the only ones which have demonstrated faith in a Nigeria built on justice, equity and fairness as evidenced by the progressive government of President Jonathan but they are also the very ones upon which it has fallen to carry the torch of liberal democracy, which was lit by the very eminent scholar, politician and statesman, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme and other eminent Nigerians when they founded PDP in 1998 before Babangida, Abdulsalami, Danjuma and Gusau brought in Obasanjo to destroy the party. The South East and South South have a historic opportunity to change the narrative about their common destiny: their relationship must henceforth change from that of mutual suspicion to one of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence. With 11 states in the two zones under PDP (that means the party must win in Edo and Imo, especially Imo on April 11) and additional five states and Abuja, it can form a formidable opposition to the APC, which is only built on the numerical supremacy of the North West and South West as political philosophy. The last thing the PDP needs now is despondency. When Obasanjo was imposed on the party, he brought all kinds of people and philosophies into the party and destroyed its very essence. He destroyed party cohesion and supremacy and invented a leadership system that made the party an appendage of government instead of the vehicle that drove the government in power. Needless to say, the party soon became a self-destructive behemoth that cared little or nothing about fine points of democracy and governance; instead what mattered was win election, either by hook or crook. It is on record that under Obasanjo, Nigeria conducted the three most worthless presidential elections in history. When Jonathan came into power and made to dispense with the way Baba did things, it became a problem. Those who lost out in the new dispensation, those who never believed in a Pan Nigerian organization where a minority man is head; indeed, those who wouldn’t play by the rules, left to form the APC while some of those who stayed behind, rather than reform, became the saboteurs that worked against the party from within. Goodluck Jonathan may have lost his second term bid, but he has reformed our politics. He has separated the wheat from the chaff; he has brought the real PDP, the only party that can build a united Nigeria, back to life. There may still be defections to the new ruling party (it is the way of chop-I-chop politicians and they are many here) but those who will remain (and they are also many) will reinvent the PDP, the party of noble men and women that Alex Ekwueme and Co. founded as a vehicle to drive Nigerian unity and progress. Let South East and South South and other like-minds work together to midwife that new PDP and use the party as a bulwark against the shenanigans of economic predators in the name of Nigerian leaders.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY, APRIL 05, 2015

The presidential election: The winners, the losers C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 6 4

Law. Jonathan had maintained since 2011 that no one’s political ambition was worth the blood of any Nigerian. No one had believed him. Everyone thought he was simply playing politics of Polemics and that when shove becomes the push, he would not be able to walk the talk. He shamed and diminished the traducers by his exemplary conduct and rare spirit of sportsmanship. The violence that erupted after Buhari lost in 2011 is matched in reverse, in equal measure, with commensurate peace and tranquility that enveloped the Nation when Jonathan lost to the same Buhari. This is a lesson for all that no one should attempt to throw away the baby with the bath water. Step into the Hall of Fame, father of the modern day Nigeria, President Jonathan. GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI The Spartan-like, no nonsense soldier of the koboko and bulala ‘war against indiscipline’ fame has equally etched his name in the sands of time in proving that sheer determination, tenacity of purpose and stubborn perseverance could pay off with a large doze of consistency and focus. Here is a man who lost the presidential elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011, taking the grievances up to the Supreme Court on each occasion. So frustrated was he with his total rejection by Nigerians at the polls that he actually wept publicly after the 2011 loss, vowing never to contest again. Confucius, the great philosopher ’s immortal words appeared to have resonated with him, to the effect that one’s greatest glory should lie, not in never falling, but in rising every time one falls. Says Proverbs 24:16, “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” Buhari did. He fell. But he rose up from his fallen posture, picked up his tattered political garments, sewed them together at the broken seams, and came out in shining armour of victory. What a man! His immediate acceptance of President Jonathan’s congratulatory message in which he described the latter as a respectable statesman that should be appreciated by all Nigerians, cast him in the mould of a humble person magnanimous in victory. Buhari’s persistence in his quest vindicates Winston Churchill who once admonished, “If you are going through hell, keep going.” Perhaps, it is Randy Pausch’s statement in ‘The Last Lecture,’ that best reflects Buhari’s victory. He said, “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people.” Welcome, General Muhammadu Buhari, the born-again democrat, to the Hall of Fame. NIGERIANS AND DEMOCRACY Perhaps, two of the biggest winners in this presidential election are Nigerians and Democracy. A very resilient, peaceloving, hardworking, intelligent, but easily gullible people, Nigerians from all works of life, were determined, as they did in the 1993 M.K.O. Abiola election, to keep a date with history. They wanted something different, no matter the colouration or form; just something different. The hoi polloi persevered, laboured in the political vineyard, to reap the fruits of democracy.

Jonathan

Democracy itself, that much abused and maligned word, that ought to represent government of the people, by the people and for the people, according to Abraham Lincoln in his 1863 Gettysburg Declaration, came out triumphant, strengthened, deepened and widened. Like the proverbial phoenix, it rose from its near extinct ashes during military dictatorship, to flourish under Jonathan who created the most enabling and conducive environment for opposition to, not only blossom, but ironically, to actually torpedo him from power. Democracy, welcome to the Hall of Fame. But listen democracy, you must continue to shout, scream, kick, struggle, wrestle, weave, dance, protest, box and fight, insisting that your dividends must trickle down to the people, the beleaguered people, who embrace you with their votes. DAME PATIENCE JONATHAN This is one woman after my heart. Ever audacious, bold, courageous and daring, Patience (Mama Peace, as she is popularly called), damned all the insults, invectives, expletives and abuses heaped on her, in support of her husband. She was called names, maligned, taunted, caricatured, jeered at, stoned, even dragged before the ICC. But she refused to be cowed, dissuaded or intimidated. She stood by her husband, as solid as the Olumo rock of Abeokuta, nay, the Aso Rock of Aso Villa, the seat of power. Through rain, sunshine, she crisscrossed the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, the hills, valleys, caves, mountains, Savannah, creeks and deserts, not only canvassing for votes for her dear husband, but fighting for a place for Nigerian women through 35% affirmative action (Beijing Declaration). She has largely achieved this under the Jonathan administration, with some of the A-list key Ministerial portfolios such as Finance (Co-ordinating), Petroleum, Water Resources, Housing and Urban Development and Communications, firmly in the bosom of women. She sang,

Buhari

danced, clapped, gyrated, trekked, ran, weaved, rallied, stood and sat for the Nigerian woman. No Nigerian politician has been caricatured as much as Patience and her husband, Jonathan. While the former fought back gamely in equal, at times, greater measure, the latter dismissed them with smiles, affability and a spirit of geniality. Mama Peace, welcome to the Hall of Fame. APC The All Progressives Party (APC) was an amorphous collection of birds of different plumages that started flocking together early in 2013. Not a few Nigerians dismissed them as incongruous and vengeful. Indeed the leading lights of this main opposition were actually products of the ruling PDP party. Name them – Audu Ogbeh, Barnabas Gemade, Govs Ameachi, Kwakwanso, Saraki, Timipre Sylva, Okorocha, George Akume, Segun oni, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Isiaka Adeleke, including Senators, House of Representatives members, etc. All had their tap roots in PDP. Their resilience and determination to conquer their differences, bury their party names such as CPC, ANPP, ACN, etc., surprised many. I am one of those who did not give them a chance of success. I was proved wronged. They congealed, cemented and distilled together, their variegated and disparate differences, to form perhaps, the strongest opposition ever since the time of UPGA and NNA of the First Republic. Here is a party that merely tried to have a shot at power; not really believing it could snatch power. I am sure the APC surprised itself in this mission accomplished, of taking the presidency in its first attempt, within two years of its formation. And this, from a sitting president and a party that has existed for 16 years. Step out APC and its handmaids, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief John Oyegun, Abubakar Atiku, and all those who helped to midwife this opposition party. We will not forget Chief Tom Ikimi in whose Abuja house sitting room, the

first formative meeting held in 2013, though he later defected back to his PDP, consequent upon irreconcilable differences with Tinubu. INEC – JEGA Professor Jega’s INEC was stumbling, groggy, fumbling and wobbly before the earlier date of 14th February, 2015, fixed for the Presidential and National Assembly elections. They were obviously not prepared, with over 35% of Nigerians yet to collect their PVCs. Indeed, nearly one million of its ballot papers were still being printed in China. The problematic card readers, which still largely failed during the election, had not even been showcased, or tested, before Nigerians. Thank God for His mercies, the military requested for six weeks to confront and downgrade Boko Haram, a mission it has largely succeeded in. INEC and Jega were clever enough to latch in on this insecurity spectre painted by the military to readily accede to a postponement, a very smart move that lifted it from imminent disgrace, opprobrium and infamy, to accolades and encomiums. Whatever the imperfections registered, whatever the shortcomings, INEC and Jega deserve our praise and commendation, to have successfully executed the elections and declared Buhari he President elect of Nigeria. Step therefore, into the Hall of Fame, Jega and INEC. SECURITY AGENCIES The Nigerian security apparatchik deserve special recognition and induction into the Hall of Fame. In the midst of vituperations and insults hauled at them, they stood their ground, fought like true Trojans, even with not-so modern equipment. The arrival of new weaponry and partnership from neighbouring security agents brought out the best in our courageous force, that has always proved their mettle globally. Next, the losers, those to be inducted into the Hall of Shame and the challenges that lie ahead.

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FAITH I don’t like travelling -Pope Francis

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The presidential election: The winners, the losers INTRODUCTION The Presidential election has come and gone. I write the morning after, I see peace, tranquility, joy and democracy at work. Contrary to doomsday prophets, soothsayers and seers of fortune who predicted crisis of monumental proportion. God has shown that He is indeed a Nigerian. Rather than blood, pains and pangs, there is merriment, friendship, back slapping and hugging.In a most unconventional, uncommon and uncharted manner not known in Africa, nay the black world and third world countries, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had called his main challenger, the APC presidential candidate, at 5:15pm (16:15 GMT). Not only did he concede defeat, he went ahead to congratulate Buhari. This, even when the result of Borno State was still being awaited, and the final tally of the states results had not been taken. JESUS CHRIST!!!. A sitting President of the largest black nation and the seventh most populated black country in the world conceding defeat and congratulating his opponent, even before the final results had been declared? This is incredible! Jonathan, take a bow, feel proud, raise your head and shoulders high and savour these times of redemptive messianism that you rightly epitomise. GEJ’s grace even eclipsed the triumph of the victor, General Muhammadu Buhari, himself. HISTORICAL EXAMPLES Mahinda Rajapaksa, the 6th president of Sri Lanka (November 2005 – January 9, 2015 ), of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was the commander-in-chief of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. After two terms in office, he was defeated by Maithripala Sirisen on 9th January, 2015 in the presidential election. Mahinda was standing for a third term re-election against one of his closest allies and ministers in his Government, Sirisena, who had united a fractured opposition and promised to wipe out corruption and undo unpopular reforms that had concentrated humongous powers in the presidency. While Sirisena was leading with 51.3% to incumbent president Rajapaksa’s 46.9% of votes cast by about 15 million voters, with a campaign marred by about 400 incidents of violence, fraud, intimidation, with predictions of disruption of polls, the president surprisingly met the incoming Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to concede defeat. He requested him to facilitate a smooth transition. In the United States of America, John Kerry, the US Senator from Massachusetts, who was the Democratic Party presidential candidate, had challenged incumbent President George W. Bush, in the US election of November 2, 2004. In a surprise move that caught the entire world unaware, Kerry conceded defeat in a telephone call to Bush at about 11am EST, on the morning of November 3, 2004.

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Nigerian Project

MIKE OZEKHOME san, ofr mike.ozekhome@yahoo.com 08094777755 (sms only)

Jega

RATIONALE FOR CONCEDING DEFEAT Many reasons have been adduced as to why candidates concede defeat to their opponents. Some claim it is a duty owed to volunteers and supporters who have put in huge amount of work, to say “thank you.” Sooner is better than later. It’s better to tell them face-to-face to clean up the war room and go home in peace. Skipping that early concession alienates your supporters and lowers

your prestige and dignity. It affords you a rare opportunity to reinvigorate them and make you look less of a twerp or twit. Although to lose sucks, having it linger on without end sucks more. In the words of Lewis Rothchild (“The American President”): “People want leadership, they are so thirsty for it, they will crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they will drink the sand.”

BUSY BODY

It is therefore wrong for a true leader to allow his staff to drink sand. In times of uncertainty, the people need leadership, direction, strength of character, courage and encouragement. It enables the leader tell his troops that though the battle may have been lost, there are chances of winning again in the future.

THE WINNERS, THE LOSERS THOSE IN THE HALL OF FAME PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN President Goodluck Jonathan epitomised the above leadership qualities in conceding defeat. At a time Nigeria was on the edge of the precipice, when Nigerians and the international community expected blood, chaos, anarchy, war, schism and a total breakup, Jonathan bestrode the Nigerian political firmament like the colossus that he is. He poured oil on troubled waters. He displayed rare statemanly behaviour, elbowing out sit-tight kitchen cabinet proponents. He thus put himself squarely in the hallowed Pantheon of international statesmen and women of iconic credentials. Jonathan is surely the undoubted prodigy of our own new democratic experimentation. History will judge him so fairly. He will be surprised at his own achievements by this singular decision, which pales to insignificance, whatever he may have achieved as president for five years. He can rightly be proclaimed as the father of Nigeria’s nascent democracy. It was George Woodberry who once theorised that “defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.” By imbibing Winston Churchill’s cliché that “in war, resolution, in defeat, defiance, in victory, magnanimity,” Jonathan literally walked into the hall of fame as a global citizen of the world, who for many years to come will be in hot demand across international community to teach leadership, democracy, governance, statesmanship and Rule of C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 6 3

By Aliu Eroje

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